ext_5958 (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
sodzilla.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
31_days2006-04-14 11:36 pm
sodzilla.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2006-04-14 11:36 pm
[April 14th] [The Three Musketeers] Lies For Love
Title: Lies For Love
Day/Theme: caught in a catch-22
Series: The Three Musketeers
Characters: Athos, Raoul
Rating: G
Weaning himself off wine, as it turns out, is the least of the challenges Athos faces while learning to be a father... though it serves as a fair warning of all the others.
Lying is the worst part. Athos has always been, in the main, an honest man. Having to juggle two or three versions of his background - of himself - at a time is not only distasteful, but more difficult than he could have anticipated. He manages by decieving himself as well, which makes things a little easier. Sometimes days go by without a thought or memory to shatter the illusion. The Count de la Fére, a reclusive country squire, who whiles away his time with hunting and gardening; a man untouched by bitterness, incapable of cynicism, without regrets beyond the fact that not one of his neighbors plays a decent game of chess.
The Count, alas, is not a father. Merely being in loco parentis suffices for the first few years, while Raoul is still an innocent, and cares nothing for blood or names so long as the affection is there. As the boy grows, however, he begins to question. Never openly, which is both relief and grief to Athos. Raoul is too polite to press his guardian for any fact he does not wish to give, and too truly grateful for the Count's care to ever imply there is anything lacking. He merely looks regretful in unguarded moments; he pounces on any reminescence more eagerly than ever, obviously hunting for some clue, some name, some reference to a lost friend or relative that might match the dead parents Athos has invented for him.
If there is one thing the new Count de la Fére has in common with the Athos that was, though, it is determination. The lies may prove unbearable in the end, both for him and Raoul, but the truth is not an option either. Not when that truth is bastardy, a drunken killer for a father, and a mother with France's longest record of love affairs. So he soldiers on, and prays the matter will resolve itself in some way that does not destroy his son.
Day/Theme: caught in a catch-22
Series: The Three Musketeers
Characters: Athos, Raoul
Rating: G
Weaning himself off wine, as it turns out, is the least of the challenges Athos faces while learning to be a father... though it serves as a fair warning of all the others.
Lying is the worst part. Athos has always been, in the main, an honest man. Having to juggle two or three versions of his background - of himself - at a time is not only distasteful, but more difficult than he could have anticipated. He manages by decieving himself as well, which makes things a little easier. Sometimes days go by without a thought or memory to shatter the illusion. The Count de la Fére, a reclusive country squire, who whiles away his time with hunting and gardening; a man untouched by bitterness, incapable of cynicism, without regrets beyond the fact that not one of his neighbors plays a decent game of chess.
The Count, alas, is not a father. Merely being in loco parentis suffices for the first few years, while Raoul is still an innocent, and cares nothing for blood or names so long as the affection is there. As the boy grows, however, he begins to question. Never openly, which is both relief and grief to Athos. Raoul is too polite to press his guardian for any fact he does not wish to give, and too truly grateful for the Count's care to ever imply there is anything lacking. He merely looks regretful in unguarded moments; he pounces on any reminescence more eagerly than ever, obviously hunting for some clue, some name, some reference to a lost friend or relative that might match the dead parents Athos has invented for him.
If there is one thing the new Count de la Fére has in common with the Athos that was, though, it is determination. The lies may prove unbearable in the end, both for him and Raoul, but the truth is not an option either. Not when that truth is bastardy, a drunken killer for a father, and a mother with France's longest record of love affairs. So he soldiers on, and prays the matter will resolve itself in some way that does not destroy his son.