Wednesday, December 14th, The Midnight Channel

[thepull_mods]

Who: The Port's Latest Shadow Televisions Stars! And Thousands of Home Viewers!
When: Midnight, Wednesday December 14th
Where: In front of your Television Sets or Streaming NV TV. (Digital Cable? You'll still get the analog effect.)
Summary: Full Plot Details Here
Warnings: Please Put 'em In the Subject Lines As Necessary, Kids?

Comments

[hisdiscretion]

[The lights go up on an elegant bar, with a crystal chandelier and an impeccable marble bartop, adorned with velvet curtains. Classy jazz piano is playing somewhere off-screen, softly. Sitting in the center is a young man in a gold and black brocade frock coat with an ornate gold vest beneath, a glimmering, rainbow jewel in the stickpin of his ascot that catches the light.

That young man is Franz d'Epinay. He sits perched on a barstool, legs crossed and sitting at an angle that flatters the look of them. He wiggles one toe suggestively, cradling a gold-rimmed martini glass with one gloved hand.]

They say that Siren's Port is a city like no other.

[Yes, it's definitely Franz. But there's something very different about him, and it isn't just that he seems to lack his glow. The strangeness starts with his... esssesss. Every little movement and habit just screams queen in the 'worst' way - exaggerated limp-wristed gestures, the dramatic rise and fall of his voice that seems almost a womanly affectation. And yet this is not some girly

[hisdiscretion]

[Franz slumps at first, but the slump is soon turned to ordinary tension.]

...I wouldn't ever call you a tiresome bore. Sometimes I wish I could have a little more fun, instead of running around worrying about everyone else's shit all the time.

[He's tired enough that he dropped a curse and didn't even flinch guiltily.]

It's not everyone else I'm bored with.

[gaveherwings]

It bothers me, sometimes. [He sighs, not letting go, rubbing at Franz's arm. It's unsettled him for a long time, in fact.]

It really bothers me, that the human effort of supportive work is overlooked. In Romdeau, until Cogito, it was easy to overlook it- autoreiv work. Menial. Service positions. We siphoned off all the humanity out of it, so that all citizens could be rewarded for their meaningful contributions, with leisure time.

And with the Autoreiv uprising, nothing worked. Everything fell apart.

But before there were entourage- today, where all of those jobs are done by people, a sustained population of Nurses, Orderlies. [Gilbert springs to mind, beside his concern for Franz.] Servants... Personal assistants. It bothers me, because it takes so much of the stress that goes on you, for granted.

Sorry....before you think I'm just babbling- What I'm getting at is, running around and worrying about everyone else's trouble is something that should hold more valid meaning. Be appreciated. I don't mean getting a raise in salary (

[hisdiscretion]

I don't want to be some promiscuous man-loving fop who just sleeps with anyone, though. That isn't me. [The words are ugly, and Franz looks startled to have said them. They've left a bad taste in his mouth. What the hell has this strange vision turned him into?

Something for myself. And he thinks of that hazelnut coffee - no, best not to.]

I'm sorry, I didn't... I don't know what's come over me. My head is spinning. I feel like I might throw up.

[He breaks away from the embrace reluctantly to drink more water.]

[gaveherwings]

You don't 'just sleep with anyone'! [Daedalus insists with a certain fierceness about his tone this time, something defensive, a little annoyed.

He doesn't want to think of himself as 'just anyone'- nevermind that they opened their relationship with wanton promiscuity, after not spending so much casual, patient time together as most ideal couples seem to spend before sexual activity.]

But there's nothing wrong with loving a man. [For the hundredth time-] Or even more than one- provided you mind your health and their history, but that goes for any kind of sexual coupling in this place.

[What's more concerning is how this happened, than the content.]

Breathe, Franz. I know it's upsetting you, but...you're getting so wound up about this that it's making you feel sick.

[hisdiscretion]

I'm sorry. [He doesn't know what else to say, how else to deal with this right now. Everything is a jumble in his head, and he knows it must not make sense to anyone how vulnerable and horrid this situation makes him feel.]

Go on to bed, we were half asleep anyway. I need some time alone.

[gaveherwings]

There's nothing to apologize for. [Daedalus tells him, giving both hands a squeeze before stepping back. He's good about giving physical space, when it's asked for, and pauses only in the threshold of the bedroom.]

Don't sit up half the night thinking about this, okay? We'll find out what's going on in the morning.

[hisdiscretion]

I won't. I just need to think.

[And once he's sure that Daedalus is in the bedroom with the door closed behind him, Franz quietly pours himself a glass of brandy and sits in their beloved breakfast nook, thinking about darkness and doors and windows shielded with steel, and a person who wore his face and seemed just a little too close to home.]

[redpeacock]

[When he sees the show, he is suddenly apprehensive. While he's seen Franz show off a little of his more base side, this was far off the scales. This wasn't right at all. While the person on the screen was "enticing" him to go out into the darkness, Genesis' first instinct is to call Franz.]

[Ring, ring.]

video;

[hisdiscretion]

[When his NV gives off the chime that indicates he's getting a call, Franz practically throws it across the room. But he does eventually open it, revealing a pale, tired-looking face.]

Oh, hey. Genesis...

video;

[redpeacock]

Was that you on the television just now...?

[hisdiscretion]

[The young man actually twitches at the suggestion.]

No. Absolutely not.

[redpeacock]

Do you think that someone out there has something against you?

[He can't think of any other reason why this exaggerated version of Franz was showing up on the TV.]

[hisdiscretion]

[Franz shakes his head. He looks rather... gray, really.]

Well, possibly. But that dislike usually comes out in terms of death threads to the NPP, never an attack on me personally.

[redpeacock]

Hm. Looking back at it-- it actually didn't look too much of an attack. It was...

[His eyes narrow slightly as he tries to find the words to it.]

... it was as if you were set into a play. It was as if your body was simply set into this role. And to be honest... as we did meet because of what happened with the cherry blossoms, I was honestly not too shocked by what I saw. I know full well that you're capable of being so playful.

But there was something surreal and wrong about it, so I had to call you.

[hisdiscretion]

[Franz's expression completely closes off. He really, really doesn't like the idea that he's capable of behaving that way.]

Right. Well, so far I'm okay. Thank you Genesis.