Generation Rolls

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Act 1.1 Ultimatum

A hard beginning maketh a good ending.~ John Heywood


  Juliet read the Prince of Verona's edict, and her eyes widened as she got to the last little bit; the whole "judgement" part.  "Marry?!" She sputtered.  "Me? Wed that...rogue of a Montague, Romeo? That immature, brash, skirt chaser? Unthinkable!"  She tossed the paper on the floor. "Impossible Nonno!  I won't do it!"

  



  Consort Capulet glared at his granddaughter.  "You will marry that ragazzo."  He said tightly.  "As our Prince demands, or you will be banished forever from this town, as decreed by our Prince, and further more, you will be disowned.  I will not let any one of my blood bring dishonor to the Capulet name!"

  "Nonno!"  Juliet cried.  "Please be reasonable!  The Prince will calm down, and everything will be fine again, we just need to wait it out!  There's no need to sign papers and..."

  Consort snorted.  "No need?  There is every need.  Prince Escalus has had enough of the fighting, and he made it very clear to me and that brutto figlio di puttana bastardo, Montague, that if we did not agree to his demands, we would be stripped of everything.  Everything!"  Consort roared.  "I will not have it!  I will not have all my hard work, sweat and toil, my whole life, be taken from me!  And for me, Consort Capulet, the most successful man out of all men, be stripped of all, including my hometown!"

  "Nonno!"  Juliet pleaded.  "Make Hermia marry him, not me!  At least she likes him!"

  Consort huffed.  "Juliet, your sister likes all ragazzi, she is not picky, and that is the problema.  No, it must be you, and that is the final word.  You have until your eighteenth birthday to get used to it, so I suggest you start."

  



  Juliet was horrified.  "Nonno, no, please!" she whispered tearfully.   Usually she was able to get her way with her grandfather, but he wasn't budging, and she was beginning to fear that he was in fact, seriously expecting her to marry that gadabout Romeo.

  "Juliet."  Consort softened his tone slightly.  "You have the most potential out of all my grandchildren, and it pains me to see you so distressed."  He hardened his tone. "But, the Prince has spoken, my hands are tied."

  She had three months.  Three months until her life was over.






    Juliet stared at the piece of paper in her hand.  The piece of paper that declared to all that she had done it, she had married that....Montague.  She had tried appealing to his better self, perhaps if he had refused to marry her, then the wedding would be off and it wouldn't have been her fault.  It turned out though, that her new husband didn't have a better self, for he flatly refused, and even tried to talk her into being the one to refuse!

  She frowned.  Married.  She couldn't believe it, and she worried that she had made the wrong decision, but in the end, she just couldn't disappoint her Nonno.  He had taken her, her sister, and her brother in when their parents had died in a house fire; a house fire that had been eventually ruled as arson.  Juliet had only been a baby, not even six months old, so she had no memory of her mother or father.  Just her Nonno, and everyone knew that she was his favorite.

  Nonno.  She sighed, dispirited.  The Prince had decided that her and Romeo's last name would be different, so that neither side of the family would be offended.  Instead, Juliet was offended, she hated her new last name, she hated that the Prince had not only shortened it, but then combined it with Romeo's last name.  It was appalling. Cappumont.  She shuddered in distaste.

  She had little choice in the matter, for whatever the Prince spoke, was law.  It irked her to no end, but to leave everyone behind?  Including her Nonno?  She just couldn't do it.  Family meant everything to her.  She would just have to suck it up and be an adult about it, she didn't have to like it, she just had to do it.

  As her new home came into view, she stared at it in dismay.  It was nice enough, she supposed, but it wasn't Capulet Manor.  This too, was one of the Prince's grand ideas.  "A new home for a brand new start!"  He had declared to both her and Romeo.  "That way there will be no fighting about where you'll live.  It'll be home for a whole new generation of Cappumonts!"




   New generation?  As in, her and that Montague.... She stopped that thought in its tracks, she couldn't imagine doing that with him!  She blushed as she remembered the words of advice her sister had given her.

  "A penny for your thoughts."

  Her husband's voice startled her, and she looked over at him.  The phone he had been so engrossed in earlier now laid silently on his lap.  He was actually looking at her, and talking to her!  She stared dumbly back at him....now what had he said?

  "A penny for your thoughts."  He repeated patiently.  "Any thought that would cause a blush like that is worth knowing about."  He smiled at her.

  "Oh, nothing."  She stuttered, and then blushed even more.  "It was nothing, really.  The house is bigger than I thought it would be!"  She abruptly changed the topic, darn Hermia anyway, putting thoughts into her head!

  Romeo shrugged.  "It's all right, it's not Montague Estates, that's for sure.  Nothing will ever compare with home."

  "Capulet Manor does.  In fact, it is better than Montague Estates, anyone with a brain would know so."  She folded her arms and looked at her husband.  Their eyes met, and it looked like he was going to say something more, but then changed his mind and just shrugged again.  The rest of the ride down the long driveway was silent.



  

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  Notes:  Still a step up chapter--so it's short, lol  

1 comment:

  1. Oh dang it I hope you continue with this XD You had me at Cappumont, LOL!

    ReplyDelete