Hearsay, G, Champagne Challenge #159

[LaughtersMelody]

Title: Hearsay
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I do not own Moonlight, nor am I making any money from this, though I'm certainly having fun playing with the characters. No infringement intended.
Warnings: None in this one.
Summary: Their distain didn’t matter…it was amusing, in fact. Truly, it was.

A/N: Written for Champagne Challenge #159: Seven Lines, Seven Sentences.

***This one is part of my mental canon for Coraline. It touches on elements mentioned in a couple of my other fics, One Acquainted With the Night and Lady in Red. It might help to read those first. It‘s also related to my other seven-sentence fic, Demoiselle. ***

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Hearsay

1736

“Veronique DuVall was an honorable woman, and to see her daughter now…she must be turning over in her grave.”

“I doubt that trollop cares…you’ve seen how she flaunts herself. No shame, that one.”

“Her father certainly doesn’t seem to mind - Antoine has been present in the Court every day for a month, and I’ve heard that the Marquis d'Touraine is now his closest ally.”

“Well, who can blame him for making the most of his daughter’s indiscretions?”

The women, one a duchess and the other a baroness, didn’t bother to hide their distain - or to lower their voices - when they realized that Coraline was standing nearby.

Coraline gave them a contemptuous smirk in response and strode past with her head held high, ignoring the way that the still-healing brand on her shoulder seemed to burn anew.

Fin

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A/N: Thank you for reading, and of course, please let me know what you think!

-Laughter

[allegrita]

Poor Coraline. Her hauteur and refusal to be defeated are her only defense here. You've done a wonderful job of creating a mood in this short piece. I can absolutely see this happening... rather than protecting her from her father's horrible treatment, the ladies of the court choose to despise her and blame her for what has happened.

I find this story especially poignant in view of the recent media focus on domestic abuse committed by sports stars--who are, in a way, a sort of "royalty" here in America. Much too often, the tendency is to blame the victim, and assume she is responsible. I hope that this awful trend is finally starting to change... because it has been going on for far too long (as Coraline could surely tell us).

[jen]

Very plausable.

Such was the lot of women then. Coraline learned the game and played it to her advantage when and where she could, but situations like this may explain how she could treat Mick as she did--claiming to love him and yet foist on him a life he clearly didn't want.

She never gave him a choice, much as she had never been given a choice.

Nicely done!

[diane31]

Wonderful follow up to Demoiselle! Now she gets blame for it on top of it, life has to add insult to injury. Frightfully likely, too...

She must have felt so incredibly alone, one can only hope that she already had Cynthia in her life.