#(or david for patricide)

[mokkkki]

regulus' relationship with his father

[flock-of-cassowaries]

“And now the son has committed an unforgivable sin… trying to kill his father.

I think the son in question has already been forgiven for a much more significant attempt at the same sin.

[widowshill]

VAMP ROGER AU QUESTION! how would he and barnabas interact together (if they ever interact)? :3 💜

tagging @tortoisesshells because she's my co-conspirator <3

excellent question! this family and their sharp-toothed men will be the death of ... well, several community members of Collinsport, i suppose.

to start — Barnabas gets out of the box slightly differently than in canon, which colors his relationship to Roger and the rest of the household. Roger kills Willie after his attempted assault on Carolyn and Vicki (who is, by that point, his wife); Willie's mysterious disappearance and Roger's suspected involvement makes Jason that much more panicked, desperate, and correspondingly aggressive. Liz goes searching for the lost family jewels in a last-ditch attempt to buy Jason off, and, inadvertently, lets their ancient family sin out of the tomb.

ergo she's made Barnabas' thrall instead of Willie, but this goes unnoticed for a while — even though her brother would, in theory, recognize the signs, and his suspicions are raised, but she's already acting so much unlike herself with Jason around that he doesn't suspect anyone else of doing her harm. yet.

at the start, he and Barnabas get along very well, even before they discover their shared affliction: they're both relatively sophisticated, well-traveled, intelligent people, and for all that Roger decries Liz's emphasis on the Collins name, he leans towards familial connections instinctively (Roger hasn't got much in the way of friends outside of the house even in canon, and he's even more isolated as a vampire).

after he finds out Barnabas is also a vampire, things get a little more complicated, but overall, they're still friendly. Roger doesn't have much sympathy for Barnabas' relentless self-pity and decrying his doomed fate to live as a monster, because Roger on the whole enjoys his vampirism and has made a decent un-life for himself out of it (thanks in no small part to Vicki). but having someone like him around is a comfort in ways he wouldn't have expected, he's no longer solitary or uniquely monstrous out of the Collins family, he has someone else around through the night, and someone who understands the sufferings of bloodthirst and being shut out of the sun.

furthermore, Roger's very much interested in his family history and stories of the past, the building of Collinwood, Jeremiah's ships – and Barnabas was there. there's potential for some very interesting conversations about the past, and the arc of the Collins family history to the present, not to mention literature, travel, fashion, politics and the rest. Roger's his cousin's mirror in modernity in many ways, and that's something potentially interesting to explore: the world changes around them, but Collinses do not.

as an aside, they both have a funny sort of relationship to Burke. Barnabas hates him for his resemblance to Jeremiah and envies his friendship with Vicki and thinks he's crude, and Roger ... well. it's complicated. it's closer to antagonism than not, and Burke has tried to kill him once in this au, and Roger resents his flirting with Vicki, but then there's everything else with their past. so I don't think Barnabas' treatment of him would sit particularly well with Roger, he'd take the attitude of hey, only I can be a dick to Burke >:(

the definite fracture point is Barnabas imprinting on Vicki. Roger's already jealous and possessive by nature, and it's amplified by the supernatural nature of his relationship to Vicki (being closer, bodily and mentally; being necessary to each other; being, quite literally, sustenance) so he's already a little on edge when Barnabas starts paying attention to her, giving her presents, and appreciating the scenery — Barnabas doesn't, exactly, tend to have much in the way of moral inclination to leaving women alone when they have prior engagements, but it's fair to point out the irony of everything Roger was doing with his bloodbag governess when he was still very much a married man.

anyway: Roger finds foreign bite marks on his wife's neck, and he's understandably immensely upset by this. partially out of territorial sentiment, but he also knows Vicki, and he knows that she wouldn't have invited another vampire willingly — which means that she was forced, or hypnotized, or attacked in secret, and there's only the one potential suspect. this is already enough to lose his good will, but he might have been willing to let Barnabas go with a "hands off," had this discovery not lead to finding out what he'd also been doing to Liz. the combination of the two is unforgivable, and it's Barnabas' error to have made an enemy who is very personally aware of all his vampiric weaknesses, and Burke's already carved a stake.

[tyxaar]

SCAR CRIMES LIGHTING ROUND!!!

I've been getting a lot of asks in my inbox about this post relating to Scar's crimes lol.

Indeed they are.

@numbah-7-knd and @david-tennants-left-ear I've already talked about the cannibalism here, but the soul trading comes from Last Life! He made soul contracts in order to trade Lives with other players. Also he might've sold his soul to the Vex? I dunno the lore is weird so that's mostly my own headcanon lol.

@zev-the-traveler Possesion and patricide, the perfect pair! So possession is also in the weird hazy Convex lore zone, but for a while the Vex masks possessed Cub and Scar to do their shenanigans. With that context they they end up possessing False by giving her one when she helps with a prank. Source As for the patricide, that's simple! Etho is Scar's dad in the Life Series and he murdered him all three times in Secret Life. Same for Cleo's final death! :P

@welsknightenjoyer @mocah @neurotic-sinkhole and @fuck-edfrugs Ah yes, this. The Geneva Convention violation is the only crime on the list that was committed by real life content creator Scar! He used the Red Cross symbol in the Scarland medical office. However, that symbol is protected by the Geneva Convention and it's very much a crime to use it outside real Red Cross operations.

@weirdocritter Here we go!

Well, the war profiteering in S6 was kinda iconic lol. Concorp made SO many diamonds off the civil war that Scar and Cub were actually giving them away basically to stimulate the economy by the end of the season.

The cannibalism is also a fucked up favourite, that one part where he talks FAR to enthusiastically about eating the NHO is so on-brand lol.

Trading of souls is really spooky if you take it out of its original context!

Now, the one I'm most uncertain about is Oathbreaking. That happened in Third Life with the no-kill pass, especially with the Bdubs situation. That's a bit of a toss-up but considering how much they both care about keeping promises, yeah, I'd count it.

Ritual sacrifice!!!! Actually has happened like, four times on count lol. This man can NOT stop joining cults. There's the Convex Cathedral with blood on the offering altars, there's the constant boatem hole sacrifices, there's sacrificing Bdubs to the Moon, and most recently he's tried to sacrifice his friends to the Magic Mountain Bell!!! Or, well, told them they have to at least.

Ah yes, sale of human remains!!! He tried to sell Lizzie's spine (although it was prolly Jim or Mumbo cause she died in the void lol) to Joel. It's really wild when you look at it lmao.

Identity fraud is a littttle abstract, but he's worn so many random disguises and various characters that I'm almost certain there's some in there somewhere. Also, it seems pretty damn likely that Pirates Scar "murdered" S8 Tycoon Scar in order to get off the hook (pun intended) for all of his crimes.

That's a typo I swear!!! AJKSHDsfkjhfdkjsd. Anyways, I've replaced it with Treason on the OG post now.

[rc-catalog]

🖊️: fanfiction; 🖼️: moodboard; 🎨: art/edit; 🧵: web weaving; 👥: character profile; 🏳️‍🌈: lgbtq+; 📸: gifset; 🎬: animation

Rating: General, Teen, Mature, Explicit

THE DESERT ROSE

Jasmine and Nafisa by @ratanslily |🎨| Yasmin Al-Aziz & Nafisa Al-Aziz | G

W: TIME CATCHER

Someday by @secret-fungi |🖊️🏳️‍🌈| Nova x Vesper | TW: vague depictions of starvation | T

Where Do Mothers Go? by @secret-fungi |🖊️🏳️‍🌈| Nova x Vesper | TW: abandonment issues, adoption trauma, regular trauma (Vespers time in the lock-up) | T

Aria by @snow--witch |🖊️🏳️‍🌈| Nova x Vesper | TW: child abandonment | G

THE THUNDERSTORMS SAGA

Mine by @secret-fungi |🖊️| Tiss x Tai | T

Fathers Be Good to Your Children by @secret-fungi |🖊️| Tiss x Tai | TW: mentions of blood, physical injury, patricide, sexual harassment | M

KALI: FLAME OF SAMSARA

Little Loves by @secret-fungi |🖊️| Deviya x Ram | T

Devi As A Mother To Be by @ratanslily |🎨| Deviya Sharma x Ram Doobay, Saraswati Basu, Radha Basu, Amrita Rai | TW: pregnancy | G

ASTREA'S BROKEN HEART

A Day in the Life of Audrey and Her Husbands by @rosewoods-sweetheart |🖊️| Audrey x Mikael, Audrey x David | G

A Happy Family by @ratanslily |🎨| Audrey x Cassiel | G

Midnight Cravings by @romance-club-daily |🎨| Audrey x David | G

Time Out by @blatantliez |🎬| Audrey x Cassiel | G

Cassiel, Kaiza, Viktor, and Avila Lane by @a-cloud-for-dreams |🎨| Audrey x Cassiel | G

VYING FOR VERSAILLES

It Could Never Be: Part 2 by @rosewoods-sweetheart |🖊️| Renée de Noailles | TW: graphic description of body horror | T

Duchess Sylvie, Lady Bonne and Lady Charlotte by @ratanslily |🎨| Renée de Noailles x Bonne de Pons d'Heudicourt | G

All About My Mother by @reneedenoailles |🖊️| Renée de Noailles & The Dauphin | TW: references to violence & suggestive material | T

THEODORA

Why Can't Flowers Stay Forever? by @ratanslily |🖊️| Theodora Avery x Lawrence Barkley | TW: angst, mentions of gunshots, blood, accidents, infertility | T

DRACULA: A LOVE STORY

Laia As A Mom~ by @romance-club-daily |🎨| Laia Burnell x Leo Nolan | G

HELL AND HIGH WATER

Mugen With Her Firstborn by @sazanes |🎨| Lori | G

HEAVEN'S SECRET

First Months by @romance-club-daily |🎨| Vicky x Lucifer | G

[scotianostra]

March 17th 1473 saw the birth of King James IV at Stirling Castle.

James IV was arguably the most successful of all the Stewart rulers of Scotland. Two decades after his death, Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, who had known the king well, described him as ‘the glory of all princely governing’, a view which is largely substantiated by contemporary witnesses, most strikingly by the Spanish ambassador, Don Pedro de Ayala, in 1498. A combination of luck, military prowess, skilful use of royal patronage, and shrewd diplomatic manoeuvring explains King James's success.

The eldest son of James III and Margaret of Denmark, James was the figurehead in a successful rising against his father in 1488 which ultimately led to an act of regicide and patricide, he undertook elaborate penances to atone for his role in James III's death for the remainder of his life—the iron belt worn around his waist was no invention of later chroniclers.

Yet the young king benefited greatly from the manner of his accession, for he was assisted by a very wide spectrum of magnates who had found his father's rule unacceptable.

By the end of James IV's reign, the royal council displayed a much broader territorial representation than had ever been known under the king's three predecessors, embracing the crown's greatest subjects, including Hepburn, Hume, Angus, Argyll, Lennox, Arran, and Huntly. And at the outset of James IV's personal rule, in the spring of 1495, there was no violent political upheaval, but a smooth transition—the king, a late developer, was already 22. He signed the Treaty of Perpetual Peace with Henry VII of England that went some way to ease the traditional enmity between the two nations. To cap the new warm relations with the old enemy James married Henry's daughter, Margaret Tudor in 1503.

His expenditure on building, especially on Holyrood palace and the King's House and great hall at Stirling castle, was large, his lavishing of money on a royal navy was spectacular. An insight into James's court is provided not only by the treasurer's accounts (which survive in some quantity from this reign), but also by the poetry of William Dunbar, who under the King saw his pension increase from £10 in 1500 to a generous £80 by 1510

James IV also recognised that parliaments were often a focus for criticism (or worse) of the crown, he called only three in the seventeen years of his adult rule.

It was the support of the French that was James downfall, we may well blame just the Auld Alliance, but under him it was probably utilised more than other Scottish monarchs, he used France shipwrights, soldiers, ships, money, and munitions. Significantly James's fleet started taking shape late in 1502, the year of the English treaty; and in the war of 1513, it was to be paid for by the king of France. A naval race with the English resulted in the construction of the Scottish Margaret followed by the English Mary Rose; and in October 1511 James attended the launch at Newhaven of the Michael, the largest warship in northern Europe.

When the young Henry VIII sought to renew the Hundred Years War in 1512–13, James made a formal treaty with Louis XII, employed crusading language to justify his cause, accepted excommunication with equanimity, invaded England, and took Norham castle by storm (while the Scottish fleet attacked Carrickfergus in Ulster en route to France).

On 9th September 1513 James rashly committed himself to battle against the earl of Surrey at Flodden and was killed, together with no fewer than nine of his earls, and thousands of his subjects, a striking if tragic reflection of his popularity in Scotland.

[morggn]

@otasuneweek Day 6: Alternate Universe

In which a 17 year old Hal Emmerich meets 18 year old David, someone who seems to think the solution to all their problems is patricide.

But things don't go as planned, and aren't as they appear.

Collab with @raiii-bee ❗️

[meyhew]

HI SEED, how are u 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 Could u please recommend me some books 🙇‍♂️🙇‍♂️

HIIII RII im kinda sick ngl but yes of course i can <3

novels:

giovanni’s room; james baldwin ★★★★★ i havent read a ton of classics (that i rmbr and/or outside of school) and im working on changing that but this one is soooo good. trust me

a place for us; fatima farheen mirza ★★★★★ hands down my fav novel ever. it hit something so deep within me i cant even think about it without feeling every emotion possible (and i do ask ppl to lie to me if they dont like it)

yellowface; r. f. kuang ★★★★☆ i only finished this a few days ago and it was very good! the social commentary might be a Little too on the nose sometimes but i think it’s needed for a lot of people considering how many (white) readers missed the point completely. only reason i didnt give it 5 stars is it’s not like... emotionally devastating like everything else on this list

sharp objects; gillian flynn ★★★★★ mommy issues galore. small town girl grows into a pathetic loser woman and for someone who loves pathetic women this was absolute gold

transcendent kingdom; yaa gyasi ★★★★★ also mommy issues galore but in a very different way. wonderful weaving of science and faith to grapple with the death of the protag’s brother

a thousand splendid suns; khaled hosseini ★★★★★ this is perhaps a basic rec considering it’s quite old but it stands the test of time and i only read it last year so it’s fresh for me and i think it’s insanely good and one of those books everyone should read at least once

luster; ravel leilani ★★★★☆ i dont actually remember a lot about this one. i read it in 2022 and it’s very very character driven so i enjoyed the prose more than anything

one day; david nicholls ★★★★★ yeah yeah everyone’s talking abt this now but it is genuinely such a gutting read. ruined me for days. it's also one of those rare ones where i would 100% recommend watching the show for as well

poetry:

i dont read a lot of poetry but i've been reading More of it lately so here are a few just in case u wanna check them out

date & time; phil kaye ★★★★☆

patricide; dave harris ★★★★☆

the history of forgetting; lawrence raab ★★★★☆

bright dead things; ada limón ★★★★★

mistaking each other for ghosts; lawrence raab ★★★★☆

[sporkberries]

I want to hear your foxhound headcanons

GHHHHHHH okay this is rough bc idek where to start bc so much stuff in my head is built on other things so ig ill lay out some of em:

- snavid canonically is recruited into foxhound after the gulf war so some time after 1991. fox calls him a rookie in mg1 so i like to think he joined in '94 or '95 so any pre outer heaven foxhound event he's like.... 22 or 23. this isnt really that important but timelines are important to me bc i have problems.

- big boss is the boss at foxhound, venom snake is at outer heaven the whole time. that being said bb does go to africa a lot and loves skipping out on foxhound work but hes not the one running outer heaven day to day. on a similar note i just want to say that imo sniper wolf's "saladin" is venom snake.

- BB is in charge of foxhound but he's notoriously awful to work with. he plays hooky a lot and isnt the most friendly especially to high ranking members of other military branches. unfortunately foxhound brings good results and bb is bb so nobody really calls him on it. tensions within foxhound as well as between government organizations are incredibly tense.

- foxhound is a relatively small operation in terms of numbers. its really the elite of the elite yk so its not massive. BB Campbell Fox and Miller are thus the major players in terms of internal politics, with the power going in about that order. fox is essentially bb's direct right hand and does everything he wants. miller is the opposite trying to ruin bb from the inside and campbell's stuck between a rock and a hard place, he'll always defer to and inevitably agree with bb but a part of him does know something is wrong and he lives with that guilt for the rest of his life.

- kaz is a trans woman about 90% of the time when i refer to anything foxhound related. in some niche corners of my head she isnt but the vast majority of the time shes some sort of transfem wether it be more nonbinary or just a binary trans woman.

- in my weird delusion snavid's relationship with miller parallels bb's and the bosses. snavid looks up to miller and values her a lot, accepting her word above most others with maybe only the big boss hero worship exception. miller initially only wants to manipulate snavid(who keep in mind is a foster kid who never really had any stable relationships or guiding figures in his life) but she does end up genuinely caring about him which makes her feel incredibly guilty that she's manipulating him into committing patricide. not that the guilt stops her tho lol.

- on a similar note miller can sometimes be incredibly callous or cruel to david but this is largely in moments where snavid sounds too much like bb and its an almost involuntary violent response.

- in mg2 it was said that campbell also attained the title of fox alongside grey fox, going by chicken fox. this is retconned in mgs1 but i keep it in my hc.

- ocelot is a member of foxhound but i think he sticks a lot on the dl. putting things into order for bb as well as dealing with the recent collapse of the soviet union which is why hes not mentioned much here(i dont remember if the soviet union had collapsed at the same time as irl bc mg1 and 2 were released in the 80's but its implied to be the same when the solid games release so???)

- fox and snake are friendly towards eachother but not necessarily close, its the outer heaven incident that really solidifies their warrior bond or whatever. they are aware of eachother before that though and fox does have a passing interest in david even sparring with him a few times. however its one of those situations where they just miss eachother. sometimes tho i like to make them close anyways or make them meet in the gulf war first bc ily snox.... this one changes a lot depending on if i wanna adhere to canon or be rlly self indulgent.

- in terms of fox hound internal politics bb is bb. fox listens to bb and tolerates campbell. fox and miller do not get a long at all. miller does not get along with bb. and campbell and miller are kinda friends but in a co worker way.

- i think bb finds it incredibly funny to irritate kaz and make his life worse. kaz not liking bb is foxhounds worst kept secret and even recruits can kinda tell that kaz doesnt like bb. kaz for the most part is capable of keeping up appearances but bb enjoys antagonizing kaz so she'll get upset and then be publicly humiliated or seen as hysterical. its just a really awful work environment and the fact there's still sexual tension makes it even worse. foxhound desperately needs an hr department.

- i have some vagueeeee ocs in my head who are in training with snavid but they arent super concrete and mostly exist as background characters anyways

- i feel like grey fox is the type of guy to take his co workers lunch out of the fridge and eat it even if there is a note

[zahri-melitor]

Anyway Cass and Tatsu together is quite a thing! Cass deserves more friendships and mentors who have complicated emotions about weapons.

Like this? Cassie, you carried two swords! And stabbed Kendra by accident and were heartbroken about it and also were running around with TWO SWORDS avoiding killing people.

And a sword is very specifically NOT a weapon either David Cain or Lady Shiva carries. (Also she’s immediately pre-Batgirl 2008 here so is having a few patricidal thoughts)

Also because their friendship here contains multitudes, enjoy their Paris clothes shopping trip. (Rex’s outfit is from Ollie)

(Yes I am delighted by canonical Cass in Paris, I read this very intently)

[hotchfiles]

David’s gf is born 1994

His daughter is born 1999

His son is born 2002

…

oh no yeah that makes it creepy af i get you now

if my dad turned up dating someone 5 years older than me only i would go full patricide on him

[widowshill]

Top 3 Vicki's parentage theories! Dealer's choice if this is "top 3 by likelihood and/or thematic resonances" or "top 3 by amusing you the most". Please and thank you!

Sleepover asks.

this is very long so the summary is:

Paul and Betty

Jamison and Betty

Hansen and Betty

the funnie version:

Liz and Burke

Liz and Quentin

Liz and Dick Garner

explanations below!

1. Paul and Betty. as far as I know this is where they were heading in the very beginning, so even though it's sort of the boring, bookish answer, this is the one that, in my opinion, matches up with the lion's share of character motivations and behavior, and the clues that we're given, as well as ... the most interesting from a character arc perspective, for Vicki.

my overall opinion (and I know this is different from vast swaths of the fandom, I'm not saying it's the correct one! just that it's mine) is that Liz's behavior, attitude, general demeanor towards Vicki at the start makes sense as a sin she feels she owes obligation towards, rather than a secret of her own that she's hiding — a mistake of Paul's, or Roger's, or Jamison's (etc.), that needs attending. I'm taking it as pretty much fact that Liz is responsible for the $50 every month sent to the foundling home from Bangor (via Dick Garner's office), based mostly on the phone call she receives from him after Vicki's visit. the fact that the money started coming at the time of Paul's "disappearance" makes sense to me as a kind of settling of accounts, or act of contrition, for killing him — that she can act as benefactor to his child who is herself an innocent, even if Liz might (rightfully) resent her existence: not yet loved enough to say, adopt her, or otherwise get her out of that situation entirely.

she would feel especially responsible because the Hanscombe's were evidently part of the staff at Collinwood, all of whom she dismissed after Paul's death, putting them out of a job and forcing them to relocate. so she has a double-obligation in that sense, originating at the same period and via the same act. providing for their child goes a little way towards easing her conscience, which she only feels a duty towards after Paul's death — she doesn't send money the first two years at the foundling home, which I think she likely would have, had Vicki been her own daughter.

given the way Liz treats Carolyn and David — protecting them at all costs, willing to forgive any mistake or attitude or wrongdoing (even patricide!), loving them tremendously despite the sins of their fathers — I find it hard to reconcile her initial coldness towards Vicki, and her temper and intent to fire her over small missteps — i.e. playing hooky to get breakfast at Roger's invitation — with a belief that she's Liz's daughter. even with the allowance that she's illegitimate, or that Liz regards her as a mistake or personal failing, it doesn't match what I would expect from Liz (particularly given that David is dubiously legitimate, and Carolyn is the result of another mistake — her marriage to Paul). on the other hand, I would expect her to hold Paul's bastard child to a very high standard of industriousness and loyalty (before she starts to love Vicki in her own right); to invite her to the house on the strict, practical basis of employment, not as a guest; to serve as a natural companion for Carolyn as her half-sister; and to want to keep all the family secrets underfoot.

why I believe so strongly in Betty as her mother has to do with two reasons. the first is Watsonian, which is that Elizabeth lies, and instructs Roger very forcibly to lie, about Vicki's resemblance to the portrait, to convince her that there is no link between herself and Betty, which certainly suggests to me that there is a very close link of some kind. the second reason, Doylist, is that portraits play such a pivotal role throughout Dark Shadows as a marker of identity and bloodline. Barnabas' portrait proving his descent from the Collinses to the family, and proving his vampirism to us; Laura's portrait revealing her as monster and her intentions towards David; Angelique's proving her identity in her various modern guises; Quentin's portrait holding the truth of his years and condition; and so on, etc. Burke is able to question Sam and interrogate the truth while Sam paints his portrait; Tate quite literally creates reality from canvas and brush; when Laura wants to stop Sam's (Josette's) interference leading Vicki et al. to the truth, she doesn't need to kill him, she only needs to take away his ability to paint. and the paintings of ancestors adorning the halls provide the Collinses with a sense of history, purpose, duty, and blood. Jeremiah's portrait is guiding for Liz; scrutinizing for Roger; revulsive for Carolyn; and aspirational, even, for Burke. in that thematic backdrop, Vicki finding a portrait of a woman who resembles her exactly, is perhaps the most significant clue Dark Shadows can offer to the heart of who she is. words — stories and official histories — are variable and fault-ridden in Collinsport, but there is truth and preservation in oils.

that's partly why I'm willing to brush off Sam's account that Betty died before Vicki was born. and Sam is not, by any stretch, a faultless narrator: whether he's deliberately lying, or just misremembering, or mixing it up because of the quantity of liquor in the last decade, a few years give or take in Sam's memory is not significant enough for me to discount Betty. I will say, as a caveat, that the link to Betty doesn't necessarily mean she was her mother: I've seen it suggested that Betty could have been her half sister (via Liz and the butler Hanscombe) or that the portrait is of Liz (Betty being a nickname for Elizabeth). And I think both of those are reasonable interpretations! I think having different mothers and having that strong of a resemblance is very unlikely, though; and Sam's description of Betty doesn't necessarily read to me like he's talking about a young Liz Collins, nor do Roger or Carolyn remark on it looking like an old picture of her. if Jason, or Paul, would have come back and referred to her as Betty as an outdated nickname she no longer uses, or Bette, I'd be sold. As it is, I think direct descendant is the strongest read: that Betty's sudden moving away that Sam remembers was a result of the shame of getting pregnant by her employers, and without means to support her daughter (certainly no sympathy from Paul, or from his wife) gave her up. Which would mean that the portrait of Betty is, in a way, Vicki's ancestral portrait — or a mirror to them, anyway.

the reason that I'm partial to Paul as the father — aside from contributing to Liz's sense of obligation and repentance, and accounting for her coolness towards Vicki at the start — is because I think it makes a lot of sense for Vicki, narratively, to be entwined with the Collinses without being blood related (well, except to Carolyn). and by that I mean discovering she's a Collins is what Vicki wants — to neatly have her wishes granted, to give her a name and a place in the family, is not by my reckoning very compelling. frustrating her a little bit by not making her a Collins by blood, and instead having the circumstances of her birth being a little sordid, challenges her ideas that where she comes from biologically correlates directly into who she is and where she belongs — instead, finding family and the love she's seeking without blood ties to them. and I think there are a few moments that support Vicki not having any Collins blood — like not being able to buy the house by the sea, Liz confessing nothing before her attempted suicide, Liz not intervening when Roger is taking her out on dates, Vicki not having anyone she resembles in the past and instead being matched with the governess — but overall, it's the strength of my wanting Vicki's primary journey to be flawed, and to be a road to change, instead of remaining static.

it's no secret to anyone that I would prefer her to be a Collins by marriage and I will, readily, confess that the more I grew attached to Roger/Vicki the less I became interested in Liz as her mother. But that brings me to my next and final point, which is her connection to Josette, who was a Collins via marriage and not by birth. Unlike in the 1991 revival, they aren't twins, or direct reincarnations, even if Vicki sees some similarity in their appearance — she does, though, feel a close emotional and supernatural tie to Josette, and this specifically plays out during the Laura arc. What interests me is that Josette specifically appears to Vicki and David and makes a concerted effort to protect them — that Josette, in the story that is told at the start of the show, is the patron saint of lonely, miserable outsiders. Vicki and David both have some mystery surrounding their bloodline and their status as Collinses — they both feel loneliness achingly, and the people who were supposed to love them, their parents, did not love them like they should have. In many ways, David is as much an orphan as Vicki is, for all that Roger is a present and loving father; David's mother is either absent or fillicidal or dead. I think it's particularly resonant if you take the reading that neither Vicki nor David are Collinses by blood, and that Josette takes a special affinity to them for that reason — that they, like her, are outsiders among the Collins family, with no blood ties, their lives threatened through the family sins.

(worth briefly noting Roger's assurance to Vicki that "[the widows] cry, Miss Winters, but they won't harm you. Not you. You're my son's governess, not a member of the family" and Josette + Bill rallying the widows to protect Vicki and kill Matthew)

it's not definitive: there is that story Liz relays about Josette protecting her great aunt as a child — and I think it's pretty likely that the aunt is Judith, not Jenny or Laura. but I think reading Vicki as outsider, as opposed to a secret Collins princess, adds a little more weight to her, and Josette's, and David's story — moreover that it makes the way the rest of the family come to love her as one of their own a little more significant, as opposed to being Liz's daughter all along and treating her like the help all the while. plus Vicki could legally marry roger <3 yay

2. Jamison and Betty. I'll try not to repeat myself too much as many of the justifications for Paul and Betty are the same here: Vicki being a sin that Liz feels obligation towards, Betty's portrait having meaning within the broader narrative of Dark Shadows paintings, Liz's behavior not quite what I would expect towards her own daughter. Jamison is, I think, the best contender for the parent by which Vicki would have a blood relationship to the Collins family: Roger is technically an option, but no one seems to theorize his involvement with any conviction. With good reason — he'd have been very young, he was away at school for most of that period in time, she looks nothing like Roger, Roger doesn't seem to know who Betty is or even wonder that there was an illegitimate birth that could have produced a mysterious governess. Their father, on the other hand, would have had control over the household and the means to coerce a member of the staff into bed — which I do not say with any particularly negative opinion of Jamison, other than he was a man with wealth and power in America in the 20th century, and probably acted as any other man in his position has done. Collinses in particular, no matter the gender, have a particular affinity for seducing their own employees. Jamison, I think it's fair to say, regarded his uncle Quentin as role model, mentor, and close friend more than his own father, so it's reasonable to suspect that Jamison adopted a few of Quentin's habits into adulthood.

Notably: Jamison died around the same time Vicki was born, in the mid 1940's. For much the same reasons Liz could have felt it necessary to provide for Paul's child, she could have seen to it that her father's was attended to — penance for a family sin; a lone leaf of the Collins family kept out of poverty — with the added sense of duty that this girl is their half sister, though due to age and circumstances she'll never be acknowledged as such. It's possible, too, that Jamison wished for Vicki to be provided for upon his death, and that's why the $50 was sent every month (the math gets a little iffy, there, because Jamison died before 1947, so again we're faced with the problem of why they waited until Vicki was 2 years old to send her money) But! It might have contributed; perhaps Liz didn't know where Vicki had been taken and had to have it investigated, debated on whether or not to acknowledge her, etc. It feels relevant in any case that Vicki's birth, Carolyn's birth, Jamison's death, Liz's marriage to Paul, and Paul's death/disappearance all happen within a few years of each other.

I think part of why I find Jamison more compelling than Liz x whoever, is that it's just slightly to the left of what's expected, for Vicki and for the audience; it grants Vicki part of what she wants, but not in the way she wants, and in so doing feels a little more gothic. By which I mean it's uncomfortable for Vicki to discover the truth, not just for Liz to admit: there is no world in which Vicki feels discomfort or unease accepting Liz as her mother, even if she'd feel some sadness or disappointment that Elizabeth lied and kept the truth from her. Accepting Jamison as her father would be difficult for everyone involved, and it would significantly complicate the relationships in the household via that discovery. Though about the same age as Carolyn, she would be her aunt, not her sister — her half sister would be almost 30 years her senior, her half brother 20 years — and that sort of uneasiness in roles in the family is very in line with the gothic tradition, as is the kind of ... sexual disparity between generations, for Jamison to have had a child with a much younger woman near the end of his life. Putting Vicki on the same level as Carolyn feels neat, natural (even when the parent they share is Paul) — putting her on Liz and Roger's is weirder, unnatural. Gothic!

I do think, though, it fits how the family seems to treat her, even though Liz would be the only one that knows the truth — that everyone seems to regard Vicki as an adult who is much more mature than Carolyn; that Roger, for all he calls Vicki a little girl, seems to consider her an equal — or at least an equal threat — and snaps at her as such; Liz's style of cool, strict, disapproving love towards Vicki is more analogous towards that she shows towards her disappointment of a younger brother than the (in my eyes) much warmer and more forgiving love she shows for Carolyn. I don't think it's necessary to attribute that to some unknown blood relationship, as Vicki is more mature than Carolyn, generally, by fact of her circumstances and her personality, but having some element of cri du sang in which Liz and Roger feel akin to her, and Carolyn feels she can depend on her for comfort and guidance, would not be out of place.

I'm also a little more forgiving on elements of the plot where I feel Liz had an opportunity to reveal the truth and didn't: Liz's attempted suicide, the house by the sea, Vicki's marriage, Vicki's attempted suicide, etc. Liz admits to Vicki her worst secret — killing Paul — and demonstrates considerable trust in doing so, well before she's pressed to admit it to the other characters. If it's her secret, I think she'd have folded to Vicki — or to someone! — long ago, but, if it's Jamison's secret that she's keeping for him? it makes tremendously more sense to me that Liz can't bring herself to tell the truth not only because it isn't her secret to tell, but because it would tarnish the memory of her father. Liz says that she "cried for days" when Jamison passed, which doesn't necessarily mean that she idolized him, or had a purely positive and close relationship with him, but she did feel very deeply. It would be very hard for her in that circumstance to own up to what her father had done, and to what she had done in preserving the secret. Too, that she's foisting that uncomfortable familial dynamic not only on Vicki, but on Roger, Carolyn, David, etc, which she'd be (I believe) very, very reluctant to do.

All this to say, it scratches some kind of narrative itch for them to say yes, she's a Collins, but.

3. Hansen and Betty. Is this at all likely or what the author intended? no, not really. does it really interest me as a possibility? yes. admittedly most of this theory has its basis on the scene in 60, when Vicki is asking Sam questions about the portrait of Betty, and Sam slips, and says Hansen, mistakenly, before correcting himself to Hanscombe. then, when Maggie asks him about it, Sam gets a little ... defensive? as if to suggest there's some connection he's not admitting.

there's not a whole lot of contributing evidence for this one other than the similarity in their names — I can believe that Sam might have slipped in his memory and confused the two, that it was Betty Hansen, not Hanscombe, or that Hanscombe was her maiden name. The timelines, admittedly, don't add up to much — there's nothing in Vicki's story that matches with 10 years ago, and little in Betty and Hansen's that coincide with 18 years. other than, as already mentioned, the dismissal of everyone at Collinwood — which is the only real remaining link to Liz, and any reason for Vicki to receive money from Bangor. it's not the strongest case for a connection to the Collins family, I'll admit, though maybe Liz had a mind to hire Vicki after what she suspected Roger had done — a girl twice-orphaned at the hands of the Collinses, though not deliberately — or maybe Hansen was sending money every month, a burden that Liz took up upon his death.

what draws me to it is more-so the fact that this theory gives Hansen, the manslaughter victim, a more significant role in the story. his death barely seems to register on anyone's radar beyond being the inciting event that lead to the trial — Roger's lie and Burke's subsequent wrongful imprisonment, not the loss of life, is the original sin. for one thing, we don't know much of anything about him or his connections despite Collinsport being the type of small town where everyone knows everyone — no one seems angry with Burke (or Roger) for taking a life, no one seems to mourn the victim. this would furnish his life with a little more color, and give us a sense of the ripple effects of Roger's carelessness and cruelty — a girl that Hansen loved, perhaps that he had married; a child that he didn't even know he had, or that he did, and had to watch Betty give up, because neither of them had the money to support a child; becoming a widower after the girl's premature death (not uncommon in Collinsport) and seemingly growing distant and unconnected from everyone else in town afterwards. it's not a terribly unique story, but the (generational!) suffering has the Collins stamp — a habit of throwing townspeople in the meat grinder, especially when they're mostly anonymous and not particularly connected to the family, stripping away any history that isn't their own.

for another — this would make everyone's stories a little more connected, with Vicki serving as the keystone. Liz's secret (Paul and Jason, and the dismissal/self-immurement) is almost entirely separate to Roger's secret (Burke, and the trial, and Laura), and a connection between Hansen and Betty would be a kind of crossing of paths, in a way. It would also make Roger partly involved in Vicki's story, even indirectly, even if her parents gave her up long before the accident — Roger would be the reason she couldn't meet anyone left of her family. there's another version, maybe, where Hansen and Betty are involved, or married, but the baby is still Paul's, in which case everything is still more entangled.

in any case, if it were Betty and Hansen, I do think it would make sense that Burke's investigation into Vicki's past didn't yield anything substantial, because he was looking only for connections to the Collins family. a sudden trip from Liz down to New York to have a baby in secret (at a maternity sanitarium or similar) would not have gone unnoticed by any thorough investigator; and I suspect it would have been pretty easy to find gossip about which servants were favored by the lord of the manor, and a girl who very abruptly disappeared afterwards. it's almost ... ironic, that Burke might have overlooked her past because she was another poor kid from Collinsport with no real ties to the family, without any remaining roots.

part 2 .... funnie.

1. Liz and Burke. Well, to start, Liz does say how very handsome Burke is and seems to really like him more than she should and vice versa, that Burke really likes Liz, likes charming her. If it wasn't for the, well, everything, who can say? maybe they were closer and much friendlier ten years ago. Liz does have a proven penchant for strapping young men working in the Collins enterprises and ambitious smooth-talkers. It'd have practically been cradle robbing, but Burke is quite the charmer, and his jaw is so, so square.

Mostly it amuses me because it would piss Roger off significantly if Burke had gotten Liz pregnant, and to add salt in the wound, now he can't even in good conscience flirt with Vicki (at least not more than the level of flirting to which he's accustomed with his other niece). Plus I think it's great if the big soap opera reveal that the man she's been dating that she's actually related to isn't the one we expect. And Burke does look a little bit like her! sort of.

2. Liz and Quentin. Frankly this is ridiculous and I can't believe this is a semi-canon answer to the question but I haven't stopped laughing about it since I found out about it and I kind of like it the best out of all the semi-canon Liz x whoever's. I mean, why should Roger get all the incest? Why shouldn't Liz get to fuck her super hot 6'2 immortal great uncle who's saved from having every sexually transmitted disease on the strength of his Dorian Gray portrait alone? I'd believe that Quentin has a number of illegitimate Collinses out there in the world. he'd charm Liz. sure. what the hell. that's kind of a difficult one to admit to Vicki. yeah you're a product of incest and also your father was born in the 1870's :/ but he is sooooo good looking and good news, you can still meet him!

3. Liz and Dick Garner. the money comes from Bangor ... Dick Garner knows about Vicki and the money ... Liz has been garnering dick in Bangor ... the answer was staring us in the face all along.

[romeoisalesbian]

i am keeping track of every play i've read. and i need to put it somewhere

this list is long so im putting it under a cut

The Pillowman - Martin McDonagh - really interesting read, i keep going back and forth on how I feel about it which is a sign that it's REALLY well-crafted. Pieces: Katurian (act 1, mostly), Ariel (act 3, mostly).

Hamlet - William Shakespeare - what a good play!

Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare

Titus Andronichus - William Shakespeare

Macbeth - William Shakespeare

Henry V - William Shakespeare

As You Like It - William Shakespeare

Much Ado About Nothing - William Shakespeare

Fences - August Wilson

Agamemmnon - Aeschylus

Electra - Sophocles - modern story conventions mean this play doesn't age well. Contemporarily, the drama of the play is centered around whether Electra will do matricide/step-patricide (with the audience at least hypothetically against the matricide), but modern story structures lessen this drama and turmoil because of moral changes -- it seems arbitrary that Orestes has to do the murder, and Clytaemnestra can be a little girlbossified. Pieces: see conversation between Electra and her sister, maybe.

Medea - Euripides - you don't need me to tell you this play is good.

The Frogs - Aristophanes

Phaedra - Seneca

Fat Ham - James Ijames

Fences - August Wilson

LOVE/SICK - John Cariani

Almost, Maine - John Cariani

Late: A Cowboy Song - Sarah Ruhl - I need to read more Sarah Ruhl

Fairview - Jackie Sibblies Drury

Intimate Apparel - Lynn Nottage

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot - Stephen Adler Guirgis

12 Angry Men - Reginald Rose

The Laramie Project - Moises Kaufman & The Tectonic Theatre Project

You and Me and the Space Between - Finegan Kruckemeyer

This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing - Finegan Kruckemeyer

The Book of Will - Lauren Gunderson

MilkMilkLemonade - Joshua Conkel

You on the Moors Now - Jaclyn Backhaus

The Metamorphoses - Mary Zimmerman

Fuddy Meers - David Lindsay-Abaire

A Doll's House - Henrik Ibsen

A Doll's House Part 2 - Lucas Hnath

Men on Boats - Jaclyn Backhaus

The Snow - Finegan Kruckemeyer

The Phantom Tollbooth - Susan Nanus

Digging Up Dessa - Laura Schellhardt

Actually - Anna Ziegler - i'm not sure how I feel about this play. both characetrs are strongly written. a lot of potential for monologues.

[rc-catalog]

🖊️: fanfiction; 🖼️: moodboard; 🎨: art/edit; 🧵: web weaving; 👥: character profile; 🏳️‍🌈: lgbtq+; 💡: wip wednesday; 📸: gifset; 🎬: animation

Rating: General, Teen, Mature, Explicit

7 BROTHERS

Cindy Lou Who? by @webanglikethat | 🖊️| Jaynie Monroe x James Crest | TW: cheating | T

THE DESERT ROSE

Jasmine and Nafisa by @ratanslily |🎨| Yasmin Al-Aziz & Nafisa Al-Aziz | G

ASTREA'S BROKEN HEART

Invisible String by @cursedbycain |🖊️| Audrey x Cassiel | G

Midnight Cravings by @romance-club-daily | 🎨 | Audrey x David | G

Time Out by @blatantliez | 🎬 | Audrey x Cassiel | G

“I’ll Find You, Audrey. Anywhere.” by @blatantliez | 🎨 | Audrey x Cassiel | G

“All This Time I’m Thinking We Could Never Be A Pair.” by @blatantliez | 🎬 | Audrey x Cassiel | G

“The Rain Hides Your Tears along with Her Blood” by @blatantliez | 🎬 | Audrey x Cassiel | G

Double M by @blatantliez | 🎬 | Audrey x Mikael, Mikael x Malek, David | G

W: TIME CATCHER

Someday by @secret-fungi |🖊️🏳️‍🌈| Nova x Vesper | TW: vague depictions of starvation | T

Where Do Mothers Go? by @secret-fungi |🖊️🏳️‍🌈| Nova x Vesper | TW: abandonment issues, adoption trauma, reg trauma (Vesper's time in the lock-up) | T

THE THUNDERSTORM SAGA

Mine by @secret-fungi |🖊️| Tiss x Tai | T

Fathers Be Good to Your Children by @secret-fungi |🖊️| Tiss x Tai | TW: mentions of blood, physical injury, patricide, sexual harassment | M

KALI: FLAME OF SAMSARA

Little Loves by @secret-fungi |🖊️| Deviya Sharma x Ram Doobay |T

VYING FOR VERSAILLES

It Could Never Be: Part 2 by @rosewoods-sweetheart | 🖊️ | Renée de Noailles | TW: graphic description of body horror | T

Duchess Sylvie, Lady Bonne and Lady Charlotte | 🎨 | Renée de Noailles x Bonne de Pons d'Heudicourt | G

THEODORA

Why Can't Flowers Stay Forever? by @ratanslily | 🖊️| Theodora Avery x Lawrence Barkley | TW: angst, mentions of gunshots, blood, accidents, infertility | T

DRACULA: A LOVE STORY

Laia as a mom~ by @romance-club-daily | 🎨 | Laia Burnell x Leo Nolan | G

[terrorpenned]

David 0/2 on the patricide

[allael]

"Hatred of the forbidding father (patricidal desire) arouses anxiety about punishment (castration). In order to moderate the anxiety, the child represses his hatred of the forbidding father. In place of the repressed hatred, there appears the opposite affect: love for the father.

Now, this love gives rise to another form of intolerable castration anxiety, anxiety about showing love for the father in word or deed—fear of being dependent on the father, being too submissive, effeminized, that is, abused, even sodomized by the beloved father.

The castration anxiety aroused by love for the father is rejected and is projected onto the external world. The anxiety thus cast outward fixes on an object in the surrounding world (a crowd, an enclosed space, a bridge, an animal, etc.); this object now becomes the threat that the phobic subject must flee in order to avoid being flooded by a conscious fear that is more tolerable than the unconscious castration anxiety."

📚 Hysteria from Freud to Lacan: The Splendid Child of Psychoanalysis, Other Press, Lacanian Clinical Field, Juan-David Nasio, 1998.