leighrobertsreads

[leighrobertsreads]

*through clenched teeth* All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well

[leighrobertsreads]

Hi! Would you like to write a fic about Lady Russel holding Anne and Frederick's newborn for the first time and maybe being a litle emotionally moved because her god daughter is finally happy ? Thanks

I got inspired by the @flashfictionfridayofficial prompt and decided to use it for filling this request! Thanks for sending this story idea!

Every happiness

Fandom: Persuasion Characters: Anne Elliot & Lady Russell Rating: General Warnings: childbirth is mentioned, canonical death of a parent is mentioned Word Count: 548

Read on AO3 or below

—

“Oh, she is beautiful, Anne!” Lady Russell proclaimed as she smiled down at the tiny baby cradled in her arms.

While such a sentiment is commonly expressed when one is first shown a dear friend’s baby, it must be admitted that it is rarely the truth. Newborn children have the unfortunate habit of forcing their friends into liars by the awkward, almost alien appearance that they are usually burdened with.

But in this case, remarkably, the compliment was true: little Eliza Wentworth had been blessed with her father’s handsome features, her mother’s soft eyes, and a pretty, rosy complexion. Anne leaned closer to smile fondly at her daughter and admire the sweetness of her countenance, as if she had not done so countless times in the weeks since her birth. She would never tire of such a sight.

“You look very well too,” Lady Russell remarked to Anne, which was also true. Motherhood suited her—she had never looked so glowing, so contented, as she did now.

“Thank you. I feel well—very nearly recovered.”

Lady Russell had been relieved to learn that Anne's lying-in was not particularly difficult. Her friend Lady Elliot had always had trying births, and Lady Russell had feared Anne might suffer the same. But all had been well, just like everything else seemed to have been well for Anne over the last year and a half. Even her husband’s return to war had been blessedly brief, allowing him to be on shore for his child’s birth, which Anne had been very grateful for. Frederick had been a great help to her both before and after the birth, always devoted to her comfort, and witnessing his joy with their little Eliza filled Anne with her own joy as well.

“I am exceedingly pleased at how fortunate you have been. This is all I've ever wanted for you, my dearest Anne.”

That wasn’t entirely true. There had been a time when she’d wanted consequence for Anne. When she had imagined Anne marrying Mr. Elliot, the idea of Anne being privileged to be called Lady Elliot, with all the respect that her mother had once held with that title, had been irresistible for a time. Who deserved such elevation more than Anne?

But it had been a long time since such fancies had held any appeal in Lady Russell’s mind, and even when they had, Anne’s happiness had far outweighed any other considerations. For so many years, she had seen Anne brought low, first by her mother’s death, then by the loss of Frederick. To see her truly happy at last, deeply loved and valued by her husband, blessed with a healthy child, enjoying a life of motherhood and domestic peace, was so moving that tears gathered in her eyes.

Anne noticed them, and placed her hand upon Lady Russell’s arm in sympathy. The godmother smiled at her goddaughter through her tears. “Truly, you deserve every happiness, my dear, and now that you have them, I could not be happier myself, despite what these tears might tell you.”

They were a testament to her love for Anne, which Anne had never been in doubt of, even when the lady’s advice and opinions had been at odds with Anne’s heart. She squeezed Lady Russell’s arm gently. “I know, truly.”

[leighrobertsreads]

I loved that Pepa's wedding gown was just like the dress she was wearing in canon on two other big days: Antonio's hoped-for gift ceremony and Isabela's anticipated engagement/betrothal dinner. Why? Fabric was something that the encanteños would have been careful with, even the leading family (that adds some perspective to Abuela's upset at what happened to Isabela's tulle-covered dress, which was by far the most labor-intensive thing anyone in that movie wore). Colombia didn't have industrial cloth production until the Echavarría family of Medellín imported a few power looms and spindles from the US in 1907; until then, cloth was either imported (mostly from Europe) or hand-spun and hand-woven. Even if an Echavarría cousin or former employee who understood how to maintain the machines wandered into the Encanto at some point and managed to put together a water frame (spinning) and loom with a flying shuttle, cloth would have still been something you wouldn't wear a few times and throw away once it was "out of style" or even looking a bit shabby. Note that up through the 1950s, flour and animal feed companies in the US were still shipping it in cloth bags with prints they intended for their customers to use to make dresses, and millions of rural American women did.

Related to that, Mirabel's decorative embroidery skills weren't at all friviolous - she would have been able to cover repairs and stains, keeping cloth out of the rag bin. A "wear it once" wedding dress would have been out of the question, as it would have been for just about any other non-wealthy Colombian woman in the early 20th century (or most non-wealthy women just about anywhere else in the world). I imagine that Pepa's wedding dress hit the dye bath right away - what use does a married woman have for a white dress?

Unmarried Catholic young women wore (and in Latin America, still often wear) white dresses on various religious feast days, so perhaps she had worn it for years on special occasions before that. Though speaking of child brides, in "Sueños and Nightmares", Pepa was 17 when she married Félix "because they were so in love" (or something like that). Young women marrying at 17 was sadly not unusual in early 20th century Colombia (young men marrying before age 20 was). A rural village with a school that went past grade 5 was unusual in that time period - only about 10% of Colombians in 1950 had gone to school past 5th grade, mostly in the big cities. I think that's why I write the Encanto as having a school that goes through 8th grade and the residents being pleased with it, similar to a lot of rural US communities at the turn of the century.

June Event: Round 2 Poll 3

Princess Ariel

The Little Mermaid (1989)

Pepa Madrigal

Encanto (2021)

honestly it’s just nice. fabric animation has come a long way.

[leighrobertsreads]

Honestly, the thing that bothers me the VERY MOST in the Jane Austen or any classic lit fandom is when someone says, "I'm really struggling reading these novels, it seems like a different type of English, any tips?" And there are always a few comments like:

Austen is modern English

I read these books in high school

It's not that hard

Which I hate because

This is the internet. They may not be a native English speaker. They may be one of the dozens of people who don't live in the US!

Yes, Jane Austen uses modern English, but she has a massive vocabulary, some words she uses have meaning drift or are out of fashion, and having a knowledge of British history can really help in understanding her texts

This is not the time to brag about your reading level in high school, you pretentious, precocious, know-it-all, prick! If you actually want people to read the classics maybe try helping them instead of making them feel like idiots

Helpful things to say would be:

It is hard, though it tends to get better once you get used to her writing style

Try watching an adaptation first or using an audio book, which can help you follow the story

Feel free to ask for help if you have difficulty with a particular passage (and then don't be a dick about it)

Try Northanger Abbey first, the language there is a bit easier

Once I watched Reddit assist a reader all the way through Emma as they struggled with passages and it was beautiful! Please do not shame people for asking for help or struggling! The community will only get smaller. This is not the place to brag about your freaking reading level in your youth

[leighrobertsreads]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Frozen (Disney Movies) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Hans (Disney)/Other(s), Hans (Disney) / Constanze of Liebenstein (my OC) Characters: Constanze of LIebenstein (my OC), Lisl her maid, Hans (Disney) mentioned Additional Tags: Discord: 30+ Fanfic, monthly prompt drabble, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill, Riots, Arranged Marriage AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence Series: Part 24 of My 100 word drabbles

Source of the art

[leighrobertsreads]

El precio de la paz (FFF 308 - The Price of Peace)

@flashfictionfridayofficial

Fandom: Encanto Pairing: Bruno/Mirabel (felonious incest in most of the US… can legally marry in Colombia) Word count: 291

Also available on AO3:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/66266989

Inspired by @heartniche’s “City of Angels” series, an Encanto Bruno & Mirabel, then Bruno/Mirabel, mistaken identity AU set in modern Los Angeles and Bogotá:

Bruno had not set foot in a church in over three decades until the fateful Lenten Sunday that saw all of the Madrigal family secrets explode, and saw no good reason to bother with it again after that.

… until his mother grasped his and Mirabel’s hands from her hospital bed while recovering from that surgery that he still didn’t fully understand, and instead of excoriating them once more for their sins with each other and against the family, implored them to get married. Despite decades of faithful telenovela viewership, he’d forgotten something kind of important about Colombia: their relationship would be merely scandalous, not felonious. Mamá had apparently decided that a Church-sanctioned avunculate marriage would be less damaging for both la Familia Madrigal’s fortunes and possibly their souls than trying to sweep it all under the rug, as she would have before.

So there Bruno was, attending Mass every Sunday with Mirabel at the parish church nearest to “her” temporary apartment - at least until the Bishop of Pereira, who happened to be the brother-in-law of a Familia Madrigal board member, granted that dispensation. Despite having as little interest in what that priest in charge of their pre-marital catechesis had to say during the weekly service as he did when he was a fidgety child and sullen teenager, Bruno bore it with a far more cheerful attitude. Mirabel’s hand squeezed his any time his lack of attention turned to dozing off, which was far more pleasant than getting his ear pinched.

With that, plus the spackling and painting of a few rooms at the diocesan orphanage, the price of peace with his mother and the rest of the family was turning out to be far lower than Bruno could have ever imagined.

[leighrobertsreads]

I think more historical fantasies and alt histories that have gay marriage be allowed should mess around with the societal implications of this. If your aristocracy allows gay marriage, why? As a release valve for inheritance problems, like monasticism was in parts of medieval Europe? As a way of removing your failchild from the line of succession by legally binding them to the failchild of your political ally, ensuring any offspring they both have will be illegitimate? How about a society where the lower classes are allowed to be gay but the nobility aren’t? Idk there’s just a lot of options that are more interesting than “homophobia just doesn’t real”

[leighrobertsreads]

"Do you ever dream of land?" The whale asks the tuna.

"No." Says the tuna, "Do you?"

"I have never seen it." Says the whale, "but deep in my body, I remember it."

"Why do you care," says the tuna, "if you will never see it."

"There are bones in my body built to walk through the forests and the mountains." Says the whale.

"They will disappear." Says the tuna, "one day, your body will forget the forests and the mountains."

"Maybe I don't want to forget," Says the whale, "The forests were once my home."

"I have seen the forests." Whispers the salmon, almost to itself.

"Tell me what you have seen," says the whale.

"The forests spawned me." Says the salmon. "They sent me to the ocean to grow. When I am fat with the bounty of the ocean, I will bring it home."

"Why would the forests seek the bounty of the oceans?" Asks the whale. "They have bounty of their own."

"You forget," says the salmon, "That the oceans were once their home."

[leighrobertsreads]

“our teeth and ambitions are bared” is a zeugma

and it’s a zeugma where one of the words is literal and one is metaphorical which is the BEST KIND

[leighrobertsreads]

what a legend

[leighrobertsreads]

My new favorite version of my favorite classical piece:

[leighrobertsreads]

WIP Week (Work-In-Progress Week) Returns in June!

WIP Week is a week dedicated to updating fanfic or other types of fanworks.  All fandoms are welcome to participate.  Original works are also accepted.  Please tag your entries with the #wipweek or #wip week tag. Since multiple fandoms and ships are participating, please clearly list the fandoms, ships, and content warnings in the post so that they can be properly tagged for any potential readers.

The second WIP Week of 2025 will be held June 22-28. 

Each day will have a theme, but you do not have to post every day. You are also not obligated to follow these themes. You can work on one fic or fanwork for the entire week if you choose. If you’re not comfortable posting full updates but still want to participate in the week, you can post your daily word count and/or a small snippet from your work.

Here are the prompts for WIP Week:

June 22: Your Oldest WIP

June 23: Your Newest WIP

June 24: Your Most Popular WIP

June 25: A WIP Featuring Your OTP

June 26: Your Favorite WIP

June 27: Your Previously Unpublished WIP

June 28: Any WIP

You can post completed/updated fanworks to the official WIP Week AO3 Collection!

[leighrobertsreads]

We don't talk about Bruno, we scream his name!!

I just heard this and thought it deserves its place in Tumblr.

[leighrobertsreads]

[leighrobertsreads]

#clicking on that filtered content post

[leighrobertsreads]

Tiles, Gustav Klimt

[leighrobertsreads]

I propose a new multi fandom challenge: Make That Guy Cry

#MakeThatGuyCry

People who want female characters to cry less? No. Stop it. You're doing it the wrong way. Make male characters cry. Make those beautiful men sob on their knees. Down with all this stupid emotional constipation! Here, I can fix it:

Colonel Brandon after he tells Elinor about his lost love Eliza? Stumbles out of the room, finds somewhere private, and bawls. Edward after leaving Barton Cottage thinking he'll never be able to marry Elinor? Make him weep! Mr. Knightley was glad it was raining when he rode back to Hartfield after learning about Frank's engagement because it gave his tears plausible deniability! Wentworth thinks Anne will marry her cousin? Sobbing mess of a man. Bingley can cry during the proposal when he thinks about all the time he lost not being with Jane. Edmund cries alone in his room after Mary calls clergymen "nothing". Henry Tilney cries without realizing it when Catherine accepts his proposal because he's so glad that no one is angry with him and confronting his father was way more emotionally taxing than he let himself acknowledge at the time. Henry Crawford feeling wretched and alone after the affair and sobbing into his hands. Show us post wedding and make Darcy cry after the birth of his first child.

Make them cry! MAKE THEM ALL CRY