[#002] SUGAR - A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS

[peaked]

Theme Prompt: 002 - Heartbreak.
Title: Sugar.
Fandom: A Series of Unfortunate Events (Netflix).
Rating/Warnings: This will contain spoilers for season 3, in particular episode: The Penultimate Peril (particularly part 2).
Bonus: Yes.
Word Count: 441.
Summary: Esme's heart broke for her incomplete tea set.


Esme stood on the street with Carmelita, watching as Hotel Denouement burned to ash. Carmelita tugged on her hand, stomping her feet with a high shriek. Esme didn't move.

She watched as the hotel was eaten loudly by flames, like she had always thought Josephine had been consumed by the Lachrymose leeches. It disappeared so agonisingly slowly she felt compelled to run toward the flames to retrieve it.

Of course, she didn't. She wasn't so stupid. She knew what fire would do to human flesh, and as much as she yearned to dive into the crackling flames, she knew fire diving was considered 'out'.

Her sugar bowl. Consumed alive, possibly screaming for her to save it from the evil clutches of the Baudelaires' fire.

I'm coming, sugar bowl! she'd wanted to say, but Esme knew she wouldn't even wriggle a toe.

As much as he promised, over and over in his boring tones, Count Olaf hadn't been a darling and kept his promise. All the torture, all the horrible conditions she weathered for her hair, and all the wasted time spent sitting in his car with those ridiculous buffoons had been for nothing.

Esme wasn't the sixth most important financial advisor in the city for nothing. She planned. She kept her head above water. She kept leeches and soul eating fungus far, far away from her. Yet, she could not keep the sugar bowl, outwit a dragonfly, or even avoid being dumped.

She would never be considered good enough for those people. For years she had been considered 'out', despite her best efforts to be 'in'. Smart, inventive, beautiful was 'in'. Ostracised, kept in the dark, ridiculed was 'out'.

Carmelita pulled on her hand again as though she was trying to pull a starving lion away from its feast. Esme's feet were unmoving against the pavement. Carmelita whined in the back of her throat and began to sing at the top of her lungs, fearful of the fire that she didn't know destroyed her own home.

Esme didn't think of the unsweet little girl tugging at her hand.

The sugar bowl was gone. She knew it deep in her gut. Her prized matching set would never be. Beatrice Baudelaire had won. Even when she was long since departed, ash like her sugar bowl will or already had become, she still won.

The flames roared as they ate at the front door, the volunteer fire department — the real one, with no inclinations towards anything malevolent — circled around the building, fire hoses poised, water gushing in a war cry.

Esme watched with little desire to pitch in.

The world was quiet here. Sugarless.

Comments

[etoile_noire]

Very interesting. I haven't gotten far enough to meet Esme, but... I kinda don't want to feel sorry for her? Like on one hand, it's sad that she's done all this stuff and just wanted to complete her tea set. On the other, I feel an implication that she was working with Olaf, which makes me just go 'sucks to be you'. It's an interesting emotional dichotomy for me.

Thank you for sharing it.

[peaked]

If you watch further, you'll find a lot of what was originally set up as black and white becomes grey, which makes the final season very satisfying to watch (in my opinion, anyway!). I can't speak to the books yet since I'm still making my way through them, but all the characters in this universe are super interesting. Lucy Punch's performance made me root for Esme alone. Hopefully you like her even if you'd like to push her down an elevator shaft.

Thanks for reading!

[etoile_noire]

oooh! I'll have to watch more of it then!

[dray]

I remember watching the original movie back in the day, but that's my entire exposure to the fandom... still, it rings true to the style, that strange pacing and juxtaposition of tones and concepts.

Nice work! I love the moment of loss stretched out to show the depths of her despair.

[peaked]

That was my entire exposure to the fandom until the Netflix series came along! I'd definitely recommend giving it a shot if you like unfortunate things in your life.

Thank you so much — I'm glad it rang true to Snicket's style of doom and gloom and rainbows. ♥

[dreamkist]

Excellent! Very Esme.

[peaked]

Thank you! ♥

[rivulet027]

I really really loved that last line. Really great introspection.

[peaked]

Thank you! ♥

[badly_knitted]

Never seen, nor read the books, but still a sad fate for a defenceless sugarbowl.

[peaked]

Thanks for reading! R.I.P. sugarbowl. We hardly knew ye in canon.

[canadiandiamond]

I'm not familiar with the show, but this was a lovely piece of writing. It's definitely evident that Esme is a conflicting, complicated character, and one I'd like to learn more about. Great job of making her so fleshed out with so few words.

I also feel bad for the poor sugarbowl.

[peaked]

Thank you! Esme is one of those characters I feel is so rich and interesting, and I'm glad you are intrigued by her, too. She's one of those "cast as a villain but is pretty compelling despite her villainy".

R.I.P. sugarbowl, you could've had it all!

[sarajayechan]

Amazing how you can feel for a character over the loss of a little tea set piece. I've never even seen the show, and this hurt.

[peaked]

Thank you so much!

[sunspot]

You really nailed the tone here, I love it.

[peaked]

Thank you so much! ♥