Wastrel.

[etiennetoussaint]

Closed starter for @nciraphrodite​ Location : The Investor’s Ball

“Céline, I beg you, no more,” Etienne managed to say, breathlessly. They had been dancing merrily for what felt like hours, the hostess managing to entice him into yet another song long after he had grown far too tired. “I am out of breath and my shoes are pinching. I fear I will fall to the ground if you make me go again,” he pleaded. 

“The least you could do is help me to the bar. It is your fault I am in this sorry condition, after all.” 

[etiennetoussaint]

Closed starter for @madeleinebrunet​ Location : The Investor’s Ball

Nobody quite understood the relationships between those affiliated with the Moulin Noir unless they were part of the inner circle. Etienne was fortunate to count himself amongst that number. They were a family - and nothing and nobody summed that up better than Madeleine Brunet. She was his friend, and he admired her - as a mother and a woman. She reminded him of his own mother in happier times, and he could not help but feel protective over her. 

“Don’t look now, but I believe that is the Vicomte de Vogüé’s nephew admiring you from over there,” he jerked his chin subtly in the direction of the man. “I went to school with him, you know. He emptied his inkwell into my lap once,” he sniffed, the long-ago slight clearly still a sore spot. 

“If you ask me, the family is better off avoided. How about you dance with me instead, help me enact my revenge?” he offered her a hand and a raised, questioning brow. 

[etiennetoussaint]

Closed starter for @mariebernard​ Location: The Investor’s Ball

“I have been trying to catch you all night.” Trying to steal a moment alone with Marie had been no small feat. Etienne had always been a social creature, the type of man that people liked and longed to speak with. Unfortunately, none of his friends seemed to realise that tonight, there was only one person he wanted to share the evening with, and when he had found himself unaccompanied, Marie had been speaking or dancing or drinking with another. 

“Would you care to step away with me for a moment? I have something I wish to give you, away from prying eyes.” Away from anybody who may tell his father about his newest gift, more like, though he did not need to say that out loud. 

[etiennetoussaint]

Closed Starter for @dawnkissed​​ Location : The Investor’s Ball

“Look at her hat,” the look on Etienne’s face was nothing short of fascination, his amusement at the woman’s elaborate choice of headwear. “I wonder what is holding up those antlers - do you think they are real?” He turned to Aurélie, eyes bright in anticipation of her own assessment. “Why didn’t you wear a hat like that? It is clearly the pinnacle of fashion.” 

[etiennetoussaint]

Closed Starter for @demimcndaine​ Location : The Investor’s Ball  TWs : alcohol

“Quick! To the balcony!” Etienne let out a sudden cry, taking gentle hold of Henriette’s wrist and tugging her towards the doors. It wasn’t until the cold air hit him that he realised he had left his drink behind, to his ruination. That wasn’t like Etienne at all. 

“Damn it all to hell, Henriette. This simply is not my night.” He allowed a frown to cross his features, only temporarily, before it was replaced by his trademark bright smile, spotting a full, corked bottle of champagne that had been precariously abandoned on one of the tables that decorated the terrace. 

“Ah, but this makes up for it,” he scooped up the bottle, making short work of twisting off the cork and sending it hurtling into the Parisian streets below them. “I’m supposed to be having the time of my life tonight, and yet it seems I’ve spent more of it avoiding my father than having fun,” laments fall from Etienne’s lips. He raised the bottle, intent on replacing his words with the froth flowing from its neck, and drinks directly from it, before offering it to Henriette to take a sip of her own.

“But enough of my woes. Are you enjoying yourself tonight?”