31 Plays in 31 Days, #29 - "Catching Up"
Aug. 29th, 2022 05:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
breakinglight11We’re very, very close to having the full filmed version of Gentlemen Never Tell ready for display at WorldCon— all we have to do is put the captions for accessibility in. But it means the story is on my mind as I fight to finish this year’s 31P31D while also prepping for the new semester and my move. God, we’ve been busy!
This is a bit where Nathaniel and Cassius, who also went to school together and were in fact in the same year, catch up in London five years after the events of Gentlemen Never Tell. Nathaniel doesn’t totally understand what Cassius’s deal is, but I tried to make it underlie the way Cassius’s current life is going.
Day #29 - Catching Up
From the Mrs. Hawking
By Phoebe Roberts
NATHANIEL HAWKING, Mrs. Hawking’s gentleman nephew and assistant, mid thirties
CASSIUS EVANS, his old school fellow, mid thirties
London, 1890
~~~
CASSIUS: How nice it is to see you! My goodness, it’s been years.
NATHANIEL: Indeed! I’ve had news, though. From Justin, the last few times you crossed paths.
CASSIUS: Oh, God. What’s Justin’s version like, I wonder?
NATHANIEL: Much more dramatic than was warranted, I imagine, but I think I got the gist. I’m sorry I missed your wedding, it sounded like the event of the season.
CASSIUS: That’s how it’s done when you marry a Broadwater. But not to worry, it was rather a whirlwind affair.
NATHANIEL: And how is family life treating you?
CASSIUS: We couldn’t be happier. Annabel’s become quite the salon hostess, and you know how I love to travel. But I’ve been sticking closer to home now that the second one’s come due.
NATHANIEL: And your older boy?
CASSIUS: Daniel’s three now; he chatters like a mynah bird and fights sleep like a Coldstream Guard. Thank goodness for Quincy, my man; he and the little fellow adore each other, and he can manage him when I’m at my wit’s end.
NATHANIEL: Ah, the little ones; I remember those days.
CASSIUS: You know, I never thought it would be for me. After the home I grew up in, with my father… I never thought I could have that life, no matter how my brother Julius hounded me.
NATHANIEL: You have a brother named Julius?
CASSIUS: And another named Brutus. There’s a little portrait of my childhood, right there.
NATHANIEL: Crikey.
CASSIUS: But as I was saying to Quincy, I never would have imagined we could be so lucky.
NATHANIEL: I’m very glad to hear it. And this Quincy… he was Annabel’s aunt’s man before he was your valet, wasn’t he? How has he been?
CASSIUS: He’s perfect, thanks for asking. He even makes London bearable, since our travels are on hold for the meantime. Ah, we’ll have to throw a party or two. What say you, Nathaniel, could we tempt you out for an evening?
NATHANIEL: Try and stop me! I shall finally meet the esteemed Annabel Broadwater Evans.
CASSIUS: Have you never met her? Oh, well. Then you’re in for an experience.
NATHANIEL: Who knows, maybe some of the old guard will turn up for one of your bashes. Tell me, have you heard from Theo Pryce since everything happened?
CASSIUS: Last I heard, the old boy’s been the ten o’clock man to a string of bored middle-class housewives whom he knows will never really love him.
NATHANIEL: So… happy as a clam?
CASSIUS: At high water, precisely.
This is a bit where Nathaniel and Cassius, who also went to school together and were in fact in the same year, catch up in London five years after the events of Gentlemen Never Tell. Nathaniel doesn’t totally understand what Cassius’s deal is, but I tried to make it underlie the way Cassius’s current life is going.
Day #29 - Catching Up
From the Mrs. Hawking
By Phoebe Roberts
NATHANIEL HAWKING, Mrs. Hawking’s gentleman nephew and assistant, mid thirties
CASSIUS EVANS, his old school fellow, mid thirties
London, 1890
~~~
CASSIUS: How nice it is to see you! My goodness, it’s been years.
NATHANIEL: Indeed! I’ve had news, though. From Justin, the last few times you crossed paths.
CASSIUS: Oh, God. What’s Justin’s version like, I wonder?
NATHANIEL: Much more dramatic than was warranted, I imagine, but I think I got the gist. I’m sorry I missed your wedding, it sounded like the event of the season.
CASSIUS: That’s how it’s done when you marry a Broadwater. But not to worry, it was rather a whirlwind affair.
NATHANIEL: And how is family life treating you?
CASSIUS: We couldn’t be happier. Annabel’s become quite the salon hostess, and you know how I love to travel. But I’ve been sticking closer to home now that the second one’s come due.
NATHANIEL: And your older boy?
CASSIUS: Daniel’s three now; he chatters like a mynah bird and fights sleep like a Coldstream Guard. Thank goodness for Quincy, my man; he and the little fellow adore each other, and he can manage him when I’m at my wit’s end.
NATHANIEL: Ah, the little ones; I remember those days.
CASSIUS: You know, I never thought it would be for me. After the home I grew up in, with my father… I never thought I could have that life, no matter how my brother Julius hounded me.
NATHANIEL: You have a brother named Julius?
CASSIUS: And another named Brutus. There’s a little portrait of my childhood, right there.
NATHANIEL: Crikey.
CASSIUS: But as I was saying to Quincy, I never would have imagined we could be so lucky.
NATHANIEL: I’m very glad to hear it. And this Quincy… he was Annabel’s aunt’s man before he was your valet, wasn’t he? How has he been?
CASSIUS: He’s perfect, thanks for asking. He even makes London bearable, since our travels are on hold for the meantime. Ah, we’ll have to throw a party or two. What say you, Nathaniel, could we tempt you out for an evening?
NATHANIEL: Try and stop me! I shall finally meet the esteemed Annabel Broadwater Evans.
CASSIUS: Have you never met her? Oh, well. Then you’re in for an experience.
NATHANIEL: Who knows, maybe some of the old guard will turn up for one of your bashes. Tell me, have you heard from Theo Pryce since everything happened?
CASSIUS: Last I heard, the old boy’s been the ten o’clock man to a string of bored middle-class housewives whom he knows will never really love him.
NATHANIEL: So… happy as a clam?
CASSIUS: At high water, precisely.
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