Étranges Libellules - Story Outline (pt. 1)

Étranges Libellules (strange dragonflies)
It is a sequel to The Days Before Christmas, following Clare as a 32-year old illustrator in France. The question is whether love can resuscitate someone over all tragedies past and present.

The opening has Clare working in the night as a moonlighter, performing oddjobs for extra money, with the desire of leaving her deadbeat apartment and opening her own studio to live in and do her projects. Here, she coerces a lawyer into dropping a sexual harassment case. She is on her way to her dream, but is haunted by her loss of Martin (the one who saved her in high school, who married her, only to encounter irrevocable relationship difficulties).

Second, there is Curtis Jensen - who I’ll call CJ. He’s a black American exchange student in France, and just starting on the time of his life. He’s graduating high school and spending the summer in the country - so many dreams of the best time in his life, and to top it off, he falls heads over heels with a Spanish girl: Lillian. Feisty, witty, passionate and with an energy which draws you helplessly in. Everyone in school admires her, and there’s no way he’d be in her league enough to be the one she wants. But by luck and persistence, he wins her heart during the graduation ball, and his dream promises are filled not just with exhilaration, but also love - a new emotion he’d least expected.

A chance encounter leads CJ to bump into Clare when he gets involved as a bystander in one of her more dangerous missions. It’s by a beach park, and on a quick decision, Clare saves CJ from nasty underworld henchmen. He’s left grateful, but also with questions and curiosity over what he’d experienced.

CJ’s first summer days are spent with his friends - multiplayer games, the VR arcade, surfing and sneaking in the 18+ movies (pretty women, awesome brutal violence, deep philosophical themes that keeps everyone talking after; nothing like what Hollywood has been churning out).

But thoughts of Lillian occasionally seep into his awareness - who she is, it is more out of reach than the reason Mona Lisa is smiling. He’s thinking of hanging out with her while he still can, when he bumps into her at a fast food restaurant. (When he’s around her, it’s so hard to think straight when attraction floods his nerves.) She still remembers him fondly from the ball, and some after sharing some Royale with Cheese(TM) in a very engaging conversation - she takes him to see her home with her three cats; Persephone, Nyu and Holden, named after the characters she’s found in her readings. Her music, her own photos - basically inviting CJ into her personal sanctum, a privilege that had previously existed in his wildest dreams.

Then Lillian, casually resting on her bed, but with yearning spilling out of her, coaxes CJ into making love with her. Hearts beating, impulses taking over, the heat and bodily pheromones and sexual acceptance - but they get interrupted by the rest of her family arriving home. The frustration leaves CJ panting, along with an awkward introduction with her parents and her brothers.

From this moment, he is totally in love with Lillian. It’s as if Life itself takes on a different dimension, and he can’t get her out of his head. Everywhere he goes, everything he does in that summer is inexorably twined with that joy of being with her. When he’s not hanging out with her and feeling her vibrant energies, he feels his heart pang at just seeing her pop online.

His family notices his burst of joy through online conversations, but this also gets in the way of CJ’s relationships with friends. He’s reluctant to share info, because it’s as if once they know about it, they’d joke, not take it seriously or even dismiss him.. like it’s something sacred and personal. But his in-game performance drops as he’s wrapped in conversations with her, and his friends are annoyed like he isn’t being fully present.

[In fact, that’s what’s happening in their relationship, as CJ notices Lillian becoming more withdrawn and distant - it pangs him, like these signs are foretellers of him losing her, a splinter in his mind driving him to the brink. Summer doesn’t last forever, the green leaves turn yellow/red, and soon autumne arrives in its place..]

Finally, Curtis confesses what’s been happening - the relationship and all that, to his friends. They sympathise with him; two of them have girlfriends who’ll be with them through next year in high school-- a school he won’t get to see again, all the joys and laughter he’s spent in his time as an exchange student. He realises how sad he’s been feeling, and it’s a very sincere, heartfelt moment where they tell each other of all the fun, upbeat moments they’ve had.

“Maybe she’s extra busy, or she has a lot on her plate she doesn’t want to tell you. It’s been a while since you’ve really met and talked.. try to find her, pretend you’ve bumped into her by accident, and pull off a ‘Hey, we should chill out one more time!’”

Curtis clings to that advice, his remaining hope. Two more weeks remain before he has to leave for home, and his emotional clouds verge on brimming a storm.

He thinks of that other woman (Clare) to give himself a break from Lillian for once, and one evening, after spending a day just by himself, returns to that beach where he recalls how Clare saved him - a special quality about it that he never gave any thought to until now. It’s very chill, with young families licking ice cream, and then he finds Clare, staring off at the horizons, lost in her thoughts.

She’s found her home studio, and producing a lot of personal work for herself; she’s just letting her memories slip through at the beach, and her thoughts are so strong she is actually mumbling them out - enough that Curtis can hear up-close.

He greets her, and thanks her for saving him a while ago - maybe she doesn’t remember it that well. She asks him how he’s feeling, and before he knows it, Curtis is opening up to her, a river gushing out - it feels so good just knowing you’re really listened to, that you’re felt and understood.

Clare gets unexpectedly intimate when she reveals about her marriage with Martin - the person who once was an angel long ago, who helped her save herself, is now worse than a stranger to her, because at least with a stranger, you always have a chance of making a new friend or a love, but with a person-turned-stranger, you don’t even have that. You already knew each other and yet they turned you down anyway.

An hour passes, but they’ve both forgotten about the time, as they sit on the beach sands, in a blissful understanding, feeling the tides roar in and out. Clare’s hands inch over to Curtis’s, caressing.

“I don’t even know your name,” he goes.

So she tells him her name.