Red 5: Insult

[bookblather]

Author: Kat
Title: Insult
Story: Polyfaceted
Colors: Red 5 (red flag to a bull).
Supplies and Materials: Collage (PF), brush (loquacious), feathers (Your character is abruptly seperated from someone she cares for), seed beads.
Word Count: 701.
Rating: PG.
Summary: Gabriella insults Martina to Augusto's face. This is a mistake.
Warnings: some sexist language
Notes: Fun fact? The document title for this is "cry more." Approved by Kelly.
ETA: removed canvas, thanks to Geena and Sara for correcting me!


It's Gabriella's night with Augusto, for the first time in a long time-- the bitch had some problem or other and he felt it his duty to stay with her. Well, he's hers now, all hers, and she has planned quite a night for them. The children are with a babysitter, dinner-- French, of course-- has been consumed, and now she sits beside him in her black silk dress and no underwear, running her foot up and down his thigh, dangling a glass of wine and daring him to take her here and now.

She's so pleased with him, with herself, this whole evening, everything going just as she planned. The house is clean and sparkling-- she called in the maids for an special session. The food was perfect, and the wine too. Augusto is so handsome in his tailored suit and smile, and she... she glances down at herself, rather smugly. No one looking at her would ever believe that she's had two children, and one not even six months old yet. Not like that fat cow he calls a wife.

Gabriella sets her glass down and reaches over, runs a finger down his face. "I have missed you," she says, softly.

He smiles, sets his own glass down and pulls her to him for a kiss. "I have missed you too," he says. "Things at Martina's have been... hectic."

She smirks, pats his cheek. "My poor love. So many problems, so few... consolations." A quick slide of her foot up his calf punctuates the last word nicely.

Augusto raises an eyebrow, pulling away from her a little. "What do you mean by that?"

She waves an airy hand. "Oh, you know how it is. Noisy households, children always underfoot, wives letting themselves go. Such a shame."

She has only a moment to register that Augusto has gone still before he's seized her shoulders and turned her to face him. "What did you say?" he demands.

At any other time she would stare him down, demand in her best haughty tones that he take her hands off her. This time, there is a coldness in his face and voice that freezes her heart.

"I... I only meant she should take better care of herself," she stammers, surprised."It is hard, after you have a baby, but I have managed it." She opens her hands at her waist, cocks a hip subtly, pulls back her shoulders to highlight her breasts. His eyes flicker downwards, and she knows she has him-- she smiles, and adds, "She could at least make the effort."

His eyes flash up to hers again and then he pushes her away, not hard, but startling her into a cry. He rises then, and stands over her, utterly expressionless.

"You will not," he says, in a voice as blank as his face, "say such things about my wife."

Fury rises. "Your wife--" she begins, but he cuts her off.

"I have known from the beginning that you do not respect her, and it pains me, but I will tolerate it. What I will not tolerate is open insults. She is my wife, and I love her, and you will never say such things of her again."

Gabriella lifts her chin. "I will speak as I like," she snaps.

Augusto looks down at her for another moment, then shakes his head, and walks toward the door. She is on her feet in an instant. "Where are you going?"

"Back to Martina's," he says, shrugging on his coat. "She needs me."

Her hands curl into fists. "Bâtard! It is my night!"

"Yes," he says, coolly, "but I do not spend the night with spoiled children." He turns away then, and says not another word.

She chases him out the door with French invective, and indulges herself in a storm of tears once he's gone. It's not fair. It's not fair, he should be hers, he should not love that fat, cruel bitch. She's so obviously superior it makes her teeth ache, and yet he scolds her like an errant child for that cow's sake-- it is too much, too, too much.

It's just not fair.

No one ever thinks of her.

Comments

[subluxate]

Gab. Ri. Ella. THIS WAS A BAD IDEA. Such a bad idea.

I just. She does it so casually, and she just expects him to go with it! She's so lucky he ever comes back, not that she realizes that.

Great job.

[bookblather]

I know! As much as I can understand why Augusto is attracted to her, I can't see why he keeps coming back. Except in the Paralleled Loves bits, where she actually does seem to love him and be loved by him with all that entails. But insulting Martina... no. No, Gabriella. You will lose.

Thank you!

[subluxate]

I just have to wonder how long it is before he comes back to her (not the kids) this time, because this is only second to deliberately getting pregnant on his personal list of Bad Shit Gabriella Has Done.

Though it helps that they both keep this secret.

[bookblather]

Right. Because that had reverberations through more lives than just his. This just makes him think of her as... as a spoiled child, really.

Or so I think.

[subluxate]

Oh yeah, definitely gives him flashbacks to when they first met, except this time lashing out toward someone who did nothing to deserve it (this time). So very not good.

[five_steps_back]

WELL, WHAT DID YOU THINK WAS GONNA HAPPEN

That was just not cool, Gabriella.

Awesome job!

[bookblather]

I KNOW RIGHT. Jeez, lady. At least keep it in your head.

Thank you!

[geena]

French, of course

Of course! God I love Gabriella, and I love the way you've written her. So perfect.

"Yes," he says, coolly, "but I do not spend the night with spoiled children."

BURN.

Seriously, I love this so much. It's so fitting, so very in character, and so... just, seriously, Gabriella. Come on. The ending is amazing and just so her.

Great job.

Also, this is unfortunately not a canvas. We kind of have a sprawling time frame for this story, don't we?

[sarcasticsra]

Yeah, agreed. If it were the two of them before Lea or Leo, it would be, but they exist, so not a canvas, technically, even though they don't appear.

[subluxate]

I thought Torey was the benchmark? Since it involves Augusto, wouldn't he be the one to set it? (Irrelevant to this particular fic, I know.)

[sarcasticsra]

I've always tended to go by the mother, not Augusto.

[subluxate]

In the case of Gabriella, I'd go by Torey because she and Augusto start sleeping together literally weeks after he's born. The others, if it's before they're with Augusto, then I'd count it as Canvas; if they're with him, then not, since they're in the main story and Torey's already born.

Our story is weird, timeline-wise.

[sarcasticsra]

Yeah, but since they're technically minor characters, I go by when the mother's kids are born, since the kids are the major characters.

I think Torey as the benchmark is too rigid for a story this sprawling.

[subluxate]

I don't use him outside the New York part--though I haven't considered when would and wouldn't be Canvas for the family in other cities, just what would be for Gina Sophia and CT--but for whenever it involves someone who's part of the family, I use his birth as the benchmark, just because it feels too loose otherwise. For example, Arianna might not be in the story before she and Augusto meet, but she is once they do, and since the main story has started and she's now part of the main story, I don't count when she finds out he's married as Canvas.

(Sorry for hijacking your comments, Kat!)

[sarcasticsra]

I like it loose, because strictly speaking it's not all one story so much as a fuckton of stories tied together. Torey's birth is the start of his story, but it's basically entirely irrelevant as far as the relationship between Arianna and Augusto is concerned--Romeo is what cements her place in the story.

[bookblather]

Okay! Took it off. Thanks for the heads up!

And thank you so much for the compliments! I swear, Kelly straight-up mindcontrolled me into writing this. They told me about the incident and it started writing itself in my head. It's their fault. But I'm glad I did it well anyway.

[sarcasticsra]

...oh, Gabriella. No. Just...no. Uncool, seriously, and that was never going to end well, ever.

Great job!

[bookblather]

Hahaha, I know, right? What made her think it was going to end any differently? Sheesh.

[clare_dragonfly]

Ooh, nasty :D I very much approve of Augusto's reaction.

[bookblather]

She deserves it, to be frank.

Thanks!

[shipwreck_light]

A quick slide of her foot up his calf punctuates the last word nicely.

Magnique!

And, honestly? You do a KILLER Grabriella. I mean, DEAD ON. I almost feel bad for her. But, then I think she and Ambra should go to dinner... or never, ever go to dinner. It's a hard call.

[bookblather]

Thanks! And, um... never ever. I think Ambra would teach Gabriella how to kill people and that would be a bad thing.

[shipwreck_light]

"First you can try cutting their break lines, like so. If that doesn't work, you move onto..."

Never, ever, EVER.

XD