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BASICS
• current timeframe: 1927, Paris, France
• born June 1905 to a formerly aristocratic mother and an entrepreneur father who founded the Gallard Import A/S business
• her brother, Charles, was ten years older than her and when their parents died in the sinking of the Titanic, he took over guardianship of her (1912)
• he sent her off to a strict, Catholic boarding school where she stayed until age 17, then between 17 and 22 she attended an art academy in Marseille, staying with relatives who lived in Southern France
• had planned to finish her art degree, but Charles sent for her in 1927, because he needed to forge a stronger bond to his new business associate, Armand Dubois, five years younger than him, and decided to try and make a match between them
• at first, she’s flattered by Armand’s attention, but after she meets Eloisa, she only has eyes for her
• Sylvie eventually initiates a relationship with Eloisa and they enjoy a brief, dreamy affair
• however, when Charles begins pressuring her to get engaged, Sylvie desperately implores Eloisa whether they couldn’t run away together
• agreeing to leave on the next early morning train, Sylvie shows up alone at the train station, everything packed, only to be stood up by Eloisa who has left for Italy
• Charles comes to pick her up, after having searched everywhere for her, and when she asks where Eloisa is, he neither knows nor cares
• born June 1905 to a formerly aristocratic mother and an entrepreneur father who founded the Gallard Import A/S business
• her brother, Charles, was ten years older than her and when their parents died in the sinking of the Titanic, he took over guardianship of her (1912)
• he sent her off to a strict, Catholic boarding school where she stayed until age 17, then between 17 and 22 she attended an art academy in Marseille, staying with relatives who lived in Southern France
• had planned to finish her art degree, but Charles sent for her in 1927, because he needed to forge a stronger bond to his new business associate, Armand Dubois, five years younger than him, and decided to try and make a match between them
• at first, she’s flattered by Armand’s attention, but after she meets Eloisa, she only has eyes for her
• Sylvie eventually initiates a relationship with Eloisa and they enjoy a brief, dreamy affair
• however, when Charles begins pressuring her to get engaged, Sylvie desperately implores Eloisa whether they couldn’t run away together
• agreeing to leave on the next early morning train, Sylvie shows up alone at the train station, everything packed, only to be stood up by Eloisa who has left for Italy
• Charles comes to pick her up, after having searched everywhere for her, and when she asks where Eloisa is, he neither knows nor cares
BACKGROUND
When Sylvie was 7 years old, she learned that au revoir are two of the most dangerous words in the French language, because however much they imply reunion, one never quite knows. This is a lesson that becomes ingrained in you, when your parents were crossing the Atlantic on the Titanic and the Titanic sinks with everyone on board, your parents included. When they had left for England, Sylvie's parents, they had told her brother to look out for her, while they told Sylvie, simply, to be a good girl, and like au revoir those words would come to live with her for the rest of her life.
As such, she did what she could to help her older brother in the aftermath of their parents' death; indeed, she was a good girl, she went to the school he wanted her to, they rarely saw each other except during summer vacation, because he was busy training out in business and take over their father’s coffee import company, and Sylvie didn’t complain. She was grateful for his hard work, she didn’t want to burden him further, although she missed him. She missed having a family.
So, as a 22-year-old, when he suddenly and unexpectedly called for her return to Paris, after she had lived most of her adolescent life in Southern France, she didn’t hesitate to come, although it meant aborting her art studies and all her own plans for her life, she went, she took the first, the best train back north. He never told her what the rush was. He never told her what he suddenly needed her for, and when he introduced her to his new business associate, the rich coffee plantation heir, Armand Dubois, she decided not to question his motives.
What followed was a time of Sylvie's life where she was both suddenly part of something achingly familiar, the sorry remnants of the famed Gallard family, seeing as she had her brother, she had his grand parties, she had his circles of influential friends that gradually became her associates as well, but at the same time she felt foreign in Paris, she felt a stranger, a little bit outside.
Through her association with Charles and, as time went by, with Armand as well, the two of them growing close quickly, she was eventually introduced to Eloisa, her brother’s mistress, and she was immediately fascinated by this sharp-witted, sharp-tongued woman who kept everyone at an arm’s length, and the attraction was mutual. Here was someone who, despite maybe making Sylvie feel tiny and awkward and uncertain, also made her feel a part of something, something outside herself, something nameless but thrilling - and like that, the two of them fell together messily, Sylvie would be the first to initiate a relationship, though Eloisa followed right behind, until they were already in the throes of it.
Their affair was to be brief, but dreamy. Soon, Charles decided it was time to bind Sylvie to Armand, and he began pressuring her to accept his advances and his proposal. She refused at first, regretfully, because she liked Armand very much, but their approaches to their future, individual or together, didn't align, she thought, and after an ugly fight with her brother over this rejection, in a moment of privacy, she asked Eloisa if they couldn’t run away together, to somewhere that would allow them to live true. While the other woman initially refused, she would finally give in and they agreed to make their escape the next morning, taking the first train north, then a boat to England. But when Sylvie showed up with her suitcase and her papers, Eloisa stood her up. She never showed, rather leaving Paris behind with no calling card and no explanations as to why.
Frantic, for the first time showing genuine care for his sister, Charles came to pick Sylvie up at the train station. When she asked him where Eloisa was, he told her he neither knew nor cared overly much, though as he saw her despondent reaction, he agreed to look into her disappearance for Sylvie's sake later.
And in the end, Sylvie would return to the home she'd run from, finally seeing Armand again and, upon making him promise that she could "live true" with him, accepting his proposal.
As such, she did what she could to help her older brother in the aftermath of their parents' death; indeed, she was a good girl, she went to the school he wanted her to, they rarely saw each other except during summer vacation, because he was busy training out in business and take over their father’s coffee import company, and Sylvie didn’t complain. She was grateful for his hard work, she didn’t want to burden him further, although she missed him. She missed having a family.
So, as a 22-year-old, when he suddenly and unexpectedly called for her return to Paris, after she had lived most of her adolescent life in Southern France, she didn’t hesitate to come, although it meant aborting her art studies and all her own plans for her life, she went, she took the first, the best train back north. He never told her what the rush was. He never told her what he suddenly needed her for, and when he introduced her to his new business associate, the rich coffee plantation heir, Armand Dubois, she decided not to question his motives.
What followed was a time of Sylvie's life where she was both suddenly part of something achingly familiar, the sorry remnants of the famed Gallard family, seeing as she had her brother, she had his grand parties, she had his circles of influential friends that gradually became her associates as well, but at the same time she felt foreign in Paris, she felt a stranger, a little bit outside.
Through her association with Charles and, as time went by, with Armand as well, the two of them growing close quickly, she was eventually introduced to Eloisa, her brother’s mistress, and she was immediately fascinated by this sharp-witted, sharp-tongued woman who kept everyone at an arm’s length, and the attraction was mutual. Here was someone who, despite maybe making Sylvie feel tiny and awkward and uncertain, also made her feel a part of something, something outside herself, something nameless but thrilling - and like that, the two of them fell together messily, Sylvie would be the first to initiate a relationship, though Eloisa followed right behind, until they were already in the throes of it.
Their affair was to be brief, but dreamy. Soon, Charles decided it was time to bind Sylvie to Armand, and he began pressuring her to accept his advances and his proposal. She refused at first, regretfully, because she liked Armand very much, but their approaches to their future, individual or together, didn't align, she thought, and after an ugly fight with her brother over this rejection, in a moment of privacy, she asked Eloisa if they couldn’t run away together, to somewhere that would allow them to live true. While the other woman initially refused, she would finally give in and they agreed to make their escape the next morning, taking the first train north, then a boat to England. But when Sylvie showed up with her suitcase and her papers, Eloisa stood her up. She never showed, rather leaving Paris behind with no calling card and no explanations as to why.
Frantic, for the first time showing genuine care for his sister, Charles came to pick Sylvie up at the train station. When she asked him where Eloisa was, he told her he neither knew nor cared overly much, though as he saw her despondent reaction, he agreed to look into her disappearance for Sylvie's sake later.
And in the end, Sylvie would return to the home she'd run from, finally seeing Armand again and, upon making him promise that she could "live true" with him, accepting his proposal.