A Victorian Story

[AmandaAce]

The Staunton Dilemma

OOC - This is a story about an orphan, Amanda Fretere, who grows up in the house of Lord Philip Staunton and his wife Elanor, and their son Hugh. The location is England, at the Staunton's estate

Amanda Fretere - (that's me) is 22, tall with dark hair & eyes,caramel colored skin, and a voice almost as deep as a boy's. Being a foundling, she's considered almost as some exotic pet, and is allowed to do much (such as horseback riding and intellectual pursuits) that other girls aren't permitted to do. She's also considered something of an old maid.

Hugh Staunton is also 22, with brown hair and green eyes. He's just returned from his studies in London. He's been gone 3 years.

Mary Chitwood is 18,Hugh's cousin who lives with the Staunton's. She is pale, feminine, and pampered.

Edward is Hugh Staunton's valet. He's 19.

Jolie is Amanda and Mary's personal dressmaid. She's a French girl about Amanda's age.

Lord and Lady Staunton are Hugh's parents. Lord Staunton is a good-looking fortyish, a former soldier. Lady Staunton is a talkative, fashionable lady. Hugh favors her.

Those are the other characters I need.

 

[AmandaAce]

Staunton Road

Amanda Fretere flew over the plains of Lord Staunton's estate. Dressed in men's riding breeches, her hair bound in a horsetail, she urged her magnificent steed across the rolling meadows. The horse, Soleil, was up to the challenge. Around the dew pond they went, up into the sheep pasture, scattering the birds. They flew past the remains of the old manor house, through the archery court, across the stream and straight down the path.
Hugh Staunton was making his way slowly up the path to the manor house. He was dressed in the heighth of fashion. His hair, a little long, curled around his ears. On his back was slung a valise full of books. He longed for a drink of water. Shielding his eyes against the sun, imagining a hot bath, he looked up the road.
He was almost immediately bowled over by his cousin, Amanda Fretere, and her stallion, Soleil. He flew head over heels into the dust, valise flying.
"What the devil---?" he sputtered.
Amanda turned Soleil around and trotted neatly back to where he sat in the road. Amanda looked down on him silently, her handsome mouth twitching with mirth.
"And what are you looking at, you little minx?" he asked irritably. He clambered to his feet and began methodically brushing the dust off his fine clothes.
"Look at this!" he said, indicating his trousers. "Edward'll never be able to get the spot out."
Amanda was unable to control herself any longer. Watching her mischievous, devil-may-care cousin fussing at his clothes like an old woman, she began to howl with laughter.
Hugh looked at her irritably, still out of temper. She was holding onto Soleil with one hand, the other over her mouth as she nearly screamed with laughter.
"Too much school's turned you into a fine lady, then?" she asked in her rich, rolling voice. Her eyes sparkled with humor.
"Well, I suppose someone has to be," Hugh remarked cuttingly.
He instantly regretted it.
Amanda looked at him for a long moment. She turned and mounted Soleil in one smooth motion and took off down the road.
Hugh sighed and picked up his valise, brushing the dirt off as best he could.

 

[Grail]

OOC: I'll be playing Hugh

__________________________________________________________________


Hugh sighed softly to himself as he watched Amanda riding down the road. He dusted his pants off for a couple moments more before he headed into the house. He looked around the old place and smiled lightly to himself. "It's good to be home..." He said loud enough for someone to hear him if they were anywhere near the room he was in. He yawned and started to look around.

He was dead tired from the trip he made, and the little fiasco with Amanda didn't help much at all. She was too tomboyish for the man, and he needed someone who was relaxed, calm most the time to get any pleasure out of the time they were sharing. Unfotunately Amanda was never that kind of girl and most the time, when he remembered, she always seemed a bit immature. Despite all this he coudln't hate the girl, even if she was a servant. There was something about her that was...slightly charming. "Mom! Dad! I'm hoooome!!" Hugh shouted this time around.

 

[AmandaAce]

Amanda stood in her room, tugging a comb through her hair. She was fuming. She and Hugh had been like two peas in a pod as children, but as they grew older he had become more and more distant. Sometime during their adolescence, he had begun to treat her as an inferior, responding no doubt to the influence of his moneyed friends. To the rest of the household she was a member of the family, but to Hugh she was simply some swarthy foundling unworthy of his attention. And she could read French and German just as well as he!
She threw her comb down on the vanity and began to dress. They always made it a point to see Amanda dressed in the most fashionable gowns, making the most of her lanky figure.
Amanda slipped her gown over her head, foregoing the corset that was fashionable, instead simply lacing her canary yellow bodice up over her bare breasts. Without undergarments to constrain her, her dress fit remarkably well, allowing her to move comfortably. It was a tactic she often used, one that would've sent Aunt Elanor and Mary white with shock.
As she donned her slippers, she heard Hugh shouting somewhere in the house. She slipped out of her room. The clock in the hall read quarter after twelve. Luncheon was in fifteen minutes and the house was strangely quiet.
Amanda went downstairs, clutching her book in one hand. Where was everyone?
"Aunt Elanor? Mary?" she called as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

 

[Grail]

Hugh cracked his neck to the side and would move over to sit in one of the nearest chairs in the living room of the humble home. Well, humble wasn't the word to describe it, but Hugh knew it was home none the less. He had studied hard in London, learning things he never knew could be possible. He closed his eyes and figured that his whole family was out on one of their little trips to something like that, so he didn't mind that they weren't there. He accepted it and decided to wait it out. Soon his eye cracked open when he heard Amanda's voice calling from the stairs.

He gazed upon her and blinked a bit when he saw what she was wearing. The three years he was gone was playing tricks on his eyes...that or she had become a lot more refined since the last time he saw her. He took in a deep breath and gave her a little wave. "Hello there wench." He said with a little snicker, eyes scanning up and down her body quickly enough. "Honestly though Amanda...it's good to see you again. You remember me don't ya?"

 

[AmandaAce]

Amanda raised her eyebrow at Hugh. "It's nice to see you, Mister Staunton." She inclined her head slightly and sat down.
She opened her book on the lap and pretended to read it, her back ramrod straight. Slowly she allowed her eyes to drift upward till she was looking directly at Hugh, her head still inclined forward.
He was apparently dozing. She turned a page, her hands shaking. Remember him? How could she forget him? And he hadn't even stood up when she entered the room!
She chanced another glance. Every time she looked at him she began to shake. In the three years he'd been gone he'd become a gentleman. His clothes, his speech, even his haughty manner with her proved that.
Amanda willed herself to remain cool towards him. Under no circumstances would she let anything he said or did affect her. He was her cousin, her childhood friend, and nothing more. She closed her book and collected her skirts around her.
Quietly, so as not to wake Hugh, she crept to the library door and opened it slowly.

 

[Grail]

Hugh was far from dozing, not yet at least. He could just make out that her hands had been shaking a bit before, and wondered why she didn't stick around longer to talk to him. He must have been playing the lazy son too well and she thought he was asleep, or maybe she just hated him. That thought made him frown slightly, but he would make it up to her. He was in a good mood because he was home, and he was going to make things better around here if they weren't already.

He slowly stood and started to head towards the library where Amanda entered into. He swallowed lightly and pushed open the doors, looking around for the woman and maid. "Amanda, are you in here? Sorry I called you wench...I just was letting you know that I haven't forgotten what names we had for each other before I left." He said. He genuinely cared about Amanda, and even though he repressed some thoughts, he still had some naughty things swimming in his mind involving her.

 

[AmandaAce]

Amanda stood up when Hugh entered the library. Taking a deep breath, she smiled and turned towards him.
As soon as she saw him all her resolutions went out the window. She determined to get a positive reaction from him yet.
He was standing in the doorway with his waistcoat unbuttoned. His hair was in his face. Picking up her skirts in one hand, Amanda walked toward him.
Placing one hand on his chest, she kissed him on the cheek. Bringing her lips close to his ear she said, "I'm glad you're back, Hugh." She slid her hand down to his waist before withdrawing, never taking her eyes off his.
I wonder what he'll do now, she thought.
He'd never refused a challenge before.

 

[Grail]

Hugh was shocked slightly by the way she was acting, three years must really change a person. He looked into her eyes after she was done and coudln't help but feel a bit hotter with what was going on. "Amanda...you have changed so much since I've been gone. You hardly seem like the woman you once were." He said softly and would move his body towards hers and gently wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "I've missed you, I really have. I've missed everyone here and I am glad to be back."

He noted how she had moved her hand down to the waist of his pants and smiled lightly at her. "I'm starting to think you've begun to miss me a lot too Amanda...what was that you just did?" He asked and would move towards her a bit more and felt something spark up inside of him. Was it attraction? No, it coudlnt' be...she was his cousin for one, and that would be wrong on so man levels...but it was so strong and she was so sexy in that outfit...

 

[AmandaAce]

Amanda took Hugh's hand and led him to one of the great couches that faced the huge east window. As they sat down she said, "You must tell me all about what you've been studying at Oxford. I've been studying my Greek like mad. I suppose you must be nearly fluent in it now."
As she chattered on like a madwoman, Amanda felt a blush creeping slowly up her neck and face. She couldn't help it. Every time she looked into his eyes, she thought she would faint.
She couldn't tell whether he was onto her or not, but she couldn't keep this ridiculous charade up for very much longer.
She had always been infatuated with Hugh, and his closeness to her, his haughty mannerisms, were driving her insane.
She slid closer to him on the couch, her cleavage hovering dangerously beneath his nose.

 

[poohlive]

Edward

Edward came into his master's room, two cases under each arm. He held his head up high, neck craning from the nose bleed angle, and the extra weight carried along with him.
"Just as I suspected," He cocked an eye, dropping one of the cases on the bed. A small flutter of dust kicked up in the morning sunshine that littered through the partially opened drapes.
"Dreadful, just dreadful. Does no one dust in this house!"
Clothing and personal belongings were also brought up, several of the servants carried large chests and other cases. Souvenirs, books, and just about anything the man could get his hands on were inside all of these. A person with style and class had to come prepared to study.
"But of course," Edward was already beginning to dust various layers of filth from the master's bedroom.
The clothing all went away, back inside the huge closet and dresser. He knew where each article went, placed just as before on the rack or in the drawer. Unmentionables at the top, and mentionables nearer to the bottom.
"Tea, and crumpets, if you please," when he was done, and refused to spend another minute in that draft room, he went downstairs to the kitchen, waiting for the master's call, or enough courage to go and clean the room.
Had no one listened to his explicit instructions?
He took a sip of his tea, sighing. It wasn't easy being perfect.

 

[MissCheevious]

Jolie

A hand clamped over her mouth as she watched Miss Amanda inch closer to Sir Hugh, her beautiful chestnut brown eyes opening a bit wide as she tries to supress a soft giggle. Miss Amanda had developed into a fine young lady, as Sir Hugh had grown into a handsome young man without a doubt. She lets her hand fall away from her pink lips, the lace of sleeves that reach her elbows tickling the inside of her arms. Gathering her skirts, she leaves her previous spot so that she may go and find another as she wants to see what happens between these two. There would be nothing better than that, and she knew Miss Amanda had feelings for him- how could she not?

Jolie swore she had heard Edward yelling from an upstairs bedroom, which makes her supress another fit of the giggles as he always was on to over exaggerate greatly over things, but then again he was Sir Hugh's valet. Her footsteps slow on the way to her new spot of hiding, her hands moving down over her chest so that she may tuck in the strings of her corset and making sure that it was painfully tight but sweet. The young French maid's dress is of a dark beige, her flawless peaches and cream skin giving off a soft rosy glow as her hair is pulled back into a bun of curls as she can't stand having her hair in her face for too long. Finding herself a perfect spot from around the door of the library, she listens to Miss Amanda continue to chatter.

 

[Grail]

Hugh

Hugh looked out that window as he sat down on the couch. He missed looking out that window ever since he left the manor, hell he missed everything. Looking out that window always put him in a serene state of mind, nothing could bother him after he had looked out that window. He turned his gaze towards Amanda and smiled as she spilled her life out to him. He saw that blush creeping up her face and smiled. "Well, London isn't all it's cracked up to be my dear Amanda. It's quite dirty in some areas and some of the men there are just appauling. Some would probably take you for a few rides if you weren't careful Amanda, it was awful sometimes."

His head didn't move away from her breasts, even though when he left he would flee at the sight of them as a little joke. Now he seemed different, more mature somehow. Who knows, maybe he hadn't had sex in three years and his affection towards Amanda right now wasn't all that real as she thought. That would be a lie though...As Hugh looked at her he felt something digging down inside of his body as she spoke and his eyes traveled down slowly over her breasts and then over the rest of her body. He snapped back to reality when he heard Edward yelling and smiled a bit. "Good ol' Edward...I don't think he's changed at all...unlike you." He siad and smiled at her now, eyes locking with Amanda's, still unaware that Jolie was spying on them.

 

[AmandaAce]

Amanda

"Have I?" Amanda asked saucily, her grey eyes sparkling with mischief. She tossed her head. "I don't think so."
She looked up at him from under her lashes and smiled. He was looking at her like he'd never seen her before.
She placed her hand on top of his and moved even closer. Their faces were less than four inches apart. She turned her face up to his and kissed him, knocking him backwards onto the couch.

They were the only two people in the world. Though Amanda was vaguely aware of Edward and Jolie's presence in the house, she hadn't given them a second thought. She never even suspected Jolie was watching.

 

[Grail]

Hugh felt his eyebrow arch up and was quite suspicious about what was happening right now. He listened to her and smiled. "You've become...more..." He said and looked up, closing his eyes for a bit, "Mature I think, and beauti-" He was cut off when her lips met his, taking the man totally off-guard. He wasn't goign to pull away at all, hell he couldn't when his body was under hers on the couch.

He didn't know what spurred on this newfound action she had performed on him, but soon he decided not to fight it, in fact, he was liking it. His lips gently pushed back at her and his hands went to rest on her hips. He so badly wanted to touch her breasts now it was like a fire inside of him...but he denied himself that pleasure, knowing that it woudln't be proper.

 

[AmandaAce]

Amanda

Amanda felt Hugh's hands slide down to her hips, separated from her body by only the fabric of her bodice. She suddenly realized what she was doing, kissing Hugh Staunton on the library couch in broad daylight in front of a window.
She pulled back, disengaging herself from Hugh's embrace. Her hair had come undone in a mass of wild curls. Her bodice was disordered. She quickly smoothed her dress and gathered her skirts.
"I don't know what came over me," she said, not daring to look at Hugh. "I'm sorry. I have to go." Still she looked at the floor. She stood up, gathered her book and made as if to leave.
At the last second, she turned and met his eyes.

 

[MissCheevious]

Jolie

She watches with wide eyes, her hand clamping over her mouth once more as she surpresses another giggle. Oh the debauchery going on beneath Monsieur Staunton's roof, how would react to all of this? Madame Staunton would surely faint from the mere thought of it and Mary? Oh, she would surely be displeased.

 

[Alexxx_Angel]

Mary

IC:

Mary's eyes fluttered open and she suppressed an unladylike yawn. The sun filtered through the gap in the heavy curtains and she pulled herself up. He undergarments had shifted during her afternoon nap and she was embarassed to notice that he bodice had become loosened.

Getting up from the bed, she rang the bell which would summon Jolie to help her dress. "Hugh should be coming home soon." she thought, "I must look my best for my cousin." Being a lady, Mary knew it was her duty to look pretty and fresh for the men of the house. She lit a lamp and looked at her pale reflection in the mirror. "I look absolutely frightful." Mary pinched her cheeks trying to bring some color to them.

"Now, where is Jolie?" Mary wondered aloud. "I must get dressed for tea."

ETA: If Jolie doesn't reply that's understandable. Mary can dress herself and feel completely put out by having to do so.

 

[Alexxx_Angel]

Bumping, so you'd know I replied.

 

[Grail]

Hugh continued to kiss her feverishly on the lips, enjoying this welcome back so far. His lips circled around hers and danced inside of her mouth for a few moments while the woman's breasts pushed against his chest. Soon enough he was breahing in air through his mouth and looked away as well. "No...I'm sorry...I...don't know what came over me either." He said blushing, knowing actually what did come over him. He coudln't stop himself earlier enough and said, "Tonight...come see me tonight."

 

[poohlive]

Edward gave a pleasant smile as he went around the upstairs opening the drapes and letting the sun and fresh air come in. This house had become so stuffy, especially in these warmer months. If one did not air it out regularly, a horrid dusty smell accumulated.
He told this to the maids several times, were none of his concerns met? Well, this would call for a stern talking-to.
"Excuse me, Miss," Edward knocked on the little misses door, noticing that she had not gotten up yet. It was almost time for tea. Had this whole house gone completely banana's during his time away?
""It's almost time for tea, are you decent?" He tried to keep his restrain under wraps. After all, this was his mistress, he couldn't very well complain to her... but he could give her a disapproving look.
That was probably for the best.
"Do you need any help?"

 

[Alexxx_Angel]

Mary

Mary shrieked, "Edward!! Do you always enter a lady's quarters in such a manner?! I'm not dressed!!"

Mary attempted to cover up as much of her body as she could. While her undergarments consisted of pantaloons which covered her nearly to the ankles, and a corset which covered her stomach and breasts the material was very thin. To be seen in such a fashion by a man (and a servant at that!) was simply unthinkable.

Mary blushed furiously, looking up at the handsome young servant.

 

[poohlive]

Edward made a huff at the air, closing the door just enough so that it seperated him from her. He had to admit that was a very nice intimate scene. He hadn't expected her to be half naked.
"Madam, you mean to tell me, you run around in nothing but your underwear all day, waiting until the middle of the afternoon before you put anything on? Have you no shame? Your cousin has just arrived. If Jolie hadn't stopped him downstairs, I would think he'd be in my place right now."
A twinge of jealousy came with that remark. He could rather be here, it was a very nice place.
"Well, do you plan on coming down for tea that way, or are you going to dress yourself in something more appealing."

 

[Alexxx_Angel]

Mary

Mary gasped at the way he was talking to her. "I was taking my afternoon repose. You don't expect me to sleep in my nice dress do you?" She growled, "Fine, I will dress myself, but that is what Jolie is for." Mary pulled a pretty blue dress off the rack and quickly yanked it over her head.

"Well, don't just stand there... help me button this." Mary demanded through the nearly closed door. "I shouldn't have to put up with this... it's so humiliating... not to mention inapppropriate. My uncle would be very displeased."

 

[poohlive]

Edward gave a bit of a smile, closing the door behind him as he came in, helping her with the blue dress over her head. He swore, if it weren't for the maids and servants in this house, no one would ever get dressed. They would all lie in their beds, waiting for their food and their clothing, crying like little lambs.
"You certainly do look good since the last time I saw you," He let his hands mold over her hips, smoothing out the wrinkles in the dress, and letting the dress hug her tight body.
"I'm sure Hugh will be dying to meet you. All the way in London, he only talked about two things, you and coming back home again. I swear, it even bored me to tears at time."
He was lying. Hugh rarely talked of coming back home, and Mary only came up once or twice, but he thought she should feel wanted, important for at least a few moments. The upper class had nothing to do all day but wait for meals to be served to them.
He started to smooth out the waist, and then moved up to her bust. One by one he got the buttons in the back, but the dress itself should look good to. Nothing but the best for his master.
"So, what sort of trouble have you been getting yourself into as of late?"