#She taught Emma to defend her opinions

[bethanydelleman]

"How very differently we feel!—Not think they will do each other any good! This will certainly be the beginning of one of our quarrels about Emma, Mr. Knightley.” (Mrs. Weston, Ch 5)

“We think so very differently on this point, Mr. Knightley, that there can be no use in canvassing it. We shall only be making each other more angry." (Emma, Ch 8)

Jane Austen is brilliant. How similar are these two statements! How well the author shows how Emma has taken on some of Mrs. Weston's manner and style, which makes sense since Emma was raised by her.

Both of them basically say, "let's agree to disagree" which of course Mr. Knightley does not accept because he's certain he's right on both points (Emma and Harriet will be a damaging friendship and Emma influenced Harriet incorrectly).

Emma and Mrs. Weston, rightly or wrongly, stand up to Mr. Knightley. Yet, both women also attempt to smooth over the argument and make peace. They are both used to Knightley, this is how Mrs. Weston has taught Emma to deal with him.

[levitateing]

❛ you always see the good in people. even me. ❜ from emma (:

          for  as  long  as  he’s  known  her,  gaeul’s  interactions  with  emma  have  been  mostly  comprised  of  their  bickering  back  and  forth  (  he  chides  her  for  her  officious  nature,  she  deems  him  a  constant  nag  in  her  side  —  so  on  and  so  forth  it  goes  ).  one  would  assume  this  would  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  he  finds  her  unbearable  —  her  stubbornness  outweighs  that  of  her  father’s,  her  older  sister’s,  and  her  need  to  constantly  interfere  in  the  lives  of  those  around  her  baffled  him  to  a  seemingly  ceaseless  degree.

          yet  it’s  that  same  need  to  interfere  that  taught  him,  with  much  gentle  yet  firm  encouragement,  how  to  waltz  properly,  when  all  his  governesses  had  all  but  given  up  on  him;  whose  opinion  he’s  come  to  seek  out  and  think  highly  of,  whether  it  be  on  his  fashion  choices  or  business  partners  or  flower  arrangements  or  orchestra  repertoires  for  galas;  whose  name,  whose  presence,  whose  character  he’s  defended  against  those  even  nosier  than  she  is,  time  and  time  again,  and  would  gladly  continue  to  do  so  until  the  day  he  dies.

        “you  say  that  like  there’s  no  good  to  find.”  gaeul  says,  mildly  surprised  but  smiling  nonetheless;  he  spins  her  across  the  polished  marble  floors,  exactly  the  way  she  taught  him  to,  before  taking  her  hand  with  his  other  finding  purchase  on  her  waist,  secure.  “on  the  contrary,”  he’ll  mumble,  “it’s  very  easy  to  spot.”

          (  the  logical  conclusion  is  to  find  her  unbearable.  love,  as  gaeul  has  found  out  for  as  long  as  he’s  known  emma,  knows  no  logic.  )

[thekatebridgerton]

Eloise's behaviour is completely opposite from her speech. When she's dancing with that guy and he talks about the women from the ton she defendes them and then treat them like shit. I think that the two things that got me more angry than anything was

1- her saying she was happy because "there would be another intelligent woman in the house", like girl... Your mother is right there and you're basically calling her stupid, don't disrespect like this, she's never done anything to deserve this.

2- her saying that Theo was one of the only good things in her life! This isn't an anti about the ship, but more like she's privileged, rich and has a family that loves her despite everything and would never make her marry against her will. Ok, she might be unhappy with her role in society but she really needs to put things in perspective

I have come to see it as the show trying to showcase how a privileged young woman can grow up to be very inmature because she's left unchecked so much and given the freedom to do what she wants without her well meaning family warning her of the consequences

In a way show Eloise mentality is a little like Emma Woodhouse, not in the way Emma manipulates situations to go her way. But in the way Emma thinks she's the one who knows best and is equiped to look down on other women because nobody has ever taught her that she shouldn't.

(Knightley does try to instil this in Emma and of course she falls inlove with him. The one man who lovingly tells her she needs to change the selfish way she relates to other people)

Eloise thinks she knows best, that it's society who has the problem and that other ladies conforming to these rules is what perpetutes their oppression and lack of agency. When someone offers a different opinion or a perspective that could be seen as compromise, Eloise sarcastically lashes out and refuses to hear more, further confirming that she's not interested in any opinion but her own

Eloise is not rebelling because she's a feminist she's rebelling because if she voices her opposition to all things femenine and lashes out at the females around her. She can keep the imaginary control she has on her own life and doesn't have to be forced into giving up that control

Basically she's rebelling to prove she can. That she's in control. She is right, everyone else is wrong and this is how she proves it.

And like any privileged young woman she doesn't realize how that attitude hurts the women around her. Such as her mother, her sisters and even her best friend .

Eloise didn't defend other girls because she likes having the company and sisterhood of other females. She did it because she wanted to have a reason to pick a fight and stop the dance she was "being forced to endure" with that man

She disdains females as much as her brothers do. If like to venture that it's something she learned from Anthony. So there's a lot of internalized misogyny to unpack there.

And that's the tea

[comrade-meow]

This is a transcript of a speech by developmental biologist Dr Emma Hilton delivered on 29 November 2020 for the ‘Feminist Academics Talk Back!’ meeting. This talk was originally published by womentalkback.org

Sex denialists have captured existing journals We are dealing with a new religion

Thank you for the invitation to speak today, as a feminist academic fighting back.

As ever, let’s begin with a story. And, trust me, by the end of this talk, you’re going to know a lot more about creationism that you expected:

1. In the 1920s, in concert with many other American states, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed the Butler Act, making it illegal for state public schools to: “teach any theory that denies the Story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible.” In other words, banning schools from teaching the theory of evolution.

Three months later, Tennessee science teacher John Scopes was on trial, charged with teaching the theory of evolution, a crime he was ultimately found guilty of. He was fined £71 – about £1064 in today’s money – so it could have been an expensive affair for him, had he not got off on a really boring administrative technicality.

Yet, despite the evidence against him and his own confession, he was an innocent man. Scopes was not guilty of teaching the theory of evolution. He admitted to a crime he had not committed. He even coached his students in their testimonies against him. So why would he admit to this wrongdoing of which he was entirely innocent? Why would he contrive apparent guilt? In protest. In protest against a law he viewed as fundamentally incompatible with the pursuit of scientific truth.

2. The history of creationism and education laws in the US is turbulent and often opaquely legalese, especially for those of us unfamiliar with US law. Some of the methods of the wider creationist movement, however, will be immediately recognisable as they are employed by a new movement, one which seeks to erase another scientific truth, the fact of sex.

Method 1. The framing of human classifications, whether it’s species or sex, as “arbitrary”. This leads to the premise that such phenomena are “social constructs” that need not exist if we chose to reject them. That truth must be relative and consensual. Never mind that these “arbitrary” classifications appear to be surprisingly similar classifications across all cultures and civilisations.

It also necessarily spotlights tricky boundary cases – not really a personal problem for the long-dead evolutionary missing links, but a very real problem in the modern world for people whose sex is atypical and who are constantly invoked, even fetishized, as “not males” or “not females” to prove sex classification is somehow no more than human whimsy.

People with DSDs have complex and often traumatic medical histories, perhaps struggling to understand their bodies, and they deserve more respect than to be casually and thoughtlessly used as a postemodernist “gotcha” by the very people so horribly triggered by a pronoun.

Method 2. The distortion of science and the development of sciencey language to create a veneer of academic rigour. Creationists invented “irreducible complexity” and “specified complexity” while Sex denialists try to beat people over the head with their dazzling arrays of “bimodal distributions arranged in n-dimensional space”.

Creationists, unable to publish in mainstream science journals because they weren’t producing, well, science, established their own journals. “Journals”. Sex denialists have captured existing journals – albeit limited to more newsy ones and to occasional editorials and blogs about gender (which is not sex), about how developmental biology is soooo complicated (which does not mean sex is complicated – I mean, the internal combustion engine is complicated but cars still fundamentally go forwards or backwards), about how discussing the biology of sex is mean (OK, good luck with that at your doctor’s surgery). Many such blogs and articles are written by scientists who simultaneously deny sex to their social media audience while writing academic papers about how female fruitflies make shells for their eggs (no matter how queer they are), about the development of ovaries or testes in fish and about how males make sperm.

The current editor-in-chief at Nature, the first female to hold this position, studied sex determination in worms for her PhD, and she now presides over a journal with an editorial policy to insert disclaimers about the binary nature of sex into spotlight features about research on, for example, different death rates in male and female cystic fibrosis patients.

The authors of the studies are not prevaricating or handwaving about sex, but the editorial team is “bending the knee”. I used to research a genetic disorder that was male-lethal – that is, male human babies died early in gestation. I’d love to know if this disclaimer would be applied there.

Method 3. Debate strategies like The Gish Gallop. This method is named for Duane Gish, who is a prominent creationist. What it boils down to is: throw any old argument, regardless of its validity, in quick succession at your opponent and then claim any dismissal or missed response or even hesitation in response as a score for your side. In Twitter parlance, we know this as “sealioning”, in political propaganda as the “firehose of falsehood”, although Wikipedia also suggests that it is covered by the term “bullshit”. So, what about intersex people? what about this article? what about an XY person with a uterus? what about the fa’afafine? what about that article? look at this pretty picture. what about what about whataboutery what about clownfish? The aim is not to discuss or debate, it is to force submission from frustration or exhaustion.

Method 4. The reification of humans as separate from not just monkeys but the rest of the living world. The special pleading for special descriptions that frame humans as the chosen ones, such that the same process of making new individuals, common to humans and asparagus, an observation I chose because it seems superficially silly – it could have been spinach – requires its own description, one that accounts for gender identity.

3. In the Scopes trial, which saw discussion of whether Eve was actually created from Adam’s rib and ruminations on where Cain got his wife, Scopes was defended by a legal group who had begun scouting for a test case subject as soon as the Tennessee ban was enacted. This legal group claimed to advocate for:

“Freedom of speech for ideas from the most extreme left such as anarchists and socialists, to the most extreme right including the Ku Klux Klan, Henry Ford, and others who would now be considered more toward the Fascist end of the spectrum.”

The legal group so keen to defend the right to speak the truth, in this case a fundamental, observable scientific truth? The American Civil Liberties Union, a group whose modern day social media presence promotes nonsense like:

“The notion of biological sex was developed for the exclusive purpose of being weaponized against people.”

and

“Sex and gender are different words for the same thing [that is] a set of politically and socially contingent notions of embodied and expressed identity.”

and shares articles asserting that biological sex is rooted in white supremacy.

Since the Scopes case, the ACLU have fought against many US laws preventing, or at least compromising, the teaching of evolution. I cannot process the irony of a group of people historically and consistently prepared to robustly defend the truth of evolution while now denying one of the most important biological foundations of evolution.

4. How do we fight this current craze of sex denialism? A major blow for creationism teaching was delivered in 1986 while the US Supreme Court were considering a Louisiana state law requiring creationism to be taught alongside evolution. The Louisiana law was struck down, in part influenced by the expert opinions, submitted to the court, of scientists who put aside their individual and, as one of them has since described “often violent” differences on Theory X and Experiment Y, to present a unified defence of scientific truth over religious belief. 76 Nobel laureates, 17 state academies of science and a handful of scientific organisations all got behind this single cause, and made a very real change.

Support for creationism has slowly ebbed away and the US is in a much more sensible position these days, although I still meet the occasional student from a Southern state who didn’t learn about evolution until college.

Sadly, one of the Nobel laureates has highlighted how unusual this collective response was and that he could not imagine any other issue that would receive the same groundswell of community support. Although he forged his career listening out for the Big Bang, so maybe I need to go through the list and find the biologists.

Part of the problem petitioning biologists to speak out is not necessarily fear of being cancelled or whatever, but simple lack of awareness of the issue, or incredulity that it is being taken remotely seriously. I’ve been working on a legal document and was discussing with a colleague about my efforts to find a citation for the statement, “there are two sexes, male and female”. He laughed at the idea that this would require a citation, told me to check a textbook, then realised that this statement is so simple that it would not even be included in a textbook.

And he’s right. I can find chapters in textbooks and hundreds of academic papers dedicated to how males and females are made, how they develop, how they differ, yet very few that feel the need to preface any of this with the statement “There are two sexes, male and female”. It is apparently something that biologists do not think needs to be said.

But of course, I think they are wrong, and that we live in a time where it does need to be said, where some aspects of society are being restructured around a scientific untruth, and where females will suffer.

Without recognition of and language to describe our anatomy, and the experiences that stem from that anatomy, mostly uninvited, we can neither detect nor measure things like rates of violence against women, the medical experiences, the social experiences of women and girls.

And, as for creationism, the reality of sex perhaps needs to be said by those with scientific authority, in unambiguous terms. Otherwise, we are living in a society that tolerates nonsense like there is no such thing as male or female, that differences evident to our own eyes are not real, that anatomies readily observable and existing in monkey and man alike do not actually exist. I’m sure this last assertion has the full support of the creationist community. And perhaps, as for creationism, a true tipping point will be tested when it is our children being taught these scientific untruths, or worse, when it is illegal to say different.

5. At the end of his trial, the only words Scopes uttered in court were these:

“Your honor, I feel that I have been convicted of violating an unjust statute. I will continue in the future, as I have in the past, to oppose this law in any way I can. Any other action would be in violation of my ideal of academic freedom—that is, to teach the truth as guaranteed in our constitution, of personal and religious freedom.”

I do not exaggerate when I say we are dealing with a new type of religion, a new form of creationism and a new assault on scientific truth. I also do not exaggerate when I say it may take a high profile court case to rebalance the public discourse around sex. There is only so far letters and opinion articles can go.

Two things I predict: 1. It will not be defended by the ACLU, and 2. With the recent proposals on hate speech law, it will probably involve a Scottish John Scopes, who finds themself in front of a judge for the seditious crime of discussing the sex life of asparagus at their dinner table.

Dr Emma Hilton is a developmental biologist studying aspects of human genetic diseases, and her current research focuses on a congenital motor neurone disease affecting the genitourinary tract, and on respiratory dysfunction in cystic fibrosis. She teaches reproduction, genes, inheritance and genetic disorders. Emma has a special interest in fairness in female sports. A strong advocate for women and girls, Emma tweets as @FondofBeetles.

[swanqueeneverafter]

The Once & Future Queen Pt.28

Fortress of Ismere. Present. Morgana's Bedchamber. (A raven arrives with a message for Morgana. As it lands on the window sill, Morgana rises from her bed and walks over to the window. Unfurling the message, she reads the hastily written note. 'They're coming, you must leave.' Morgana allows herself a small smile before turning on her heel and rushing from the room.) Storybrooke. Dr. Hopper's Office. (Reaching into his filing cabinet, Archie pulls out a patient file and turns to speak with his guests.)

Archie: "So, Maria has magic and you're worried about what that may mean for her future?" Regina: (Nods:) "We know our daughter is being targeted." Archie: "Well I must say I'm surprised you're seeking my advice as you've had no problem defending yourselves and others from the evils of this world before now?" Emma: "That's just it, this time we believe it's different. We think that maybe Morgana has plans to kidnap Maria and take her power somehow?" Archie: "I see." Regina: "The truth is we don't know what she wants and the thought of our child being in danger..." Archie: "Have either of you spoken with David and Snow about this? They know better than anyone what it's like to have their child... oh." (Archie stops talking as he realises what he was about to say.) Regina: "It's okay, Archie. You’re right, Snow and David do know what it's like to have their child be in danger, because of both me and Zelena. (Looks to Emma:) Maybe this is my past finally catching up with me?" Emma: "No, don't think like that. This is not some karmic justice we're talking about here. Morgana is just some crazed lunatic intent on fulfilling her so-called destiny and thinks our daughter might be the key to that." Archie: "Actually, from the little I know about Morgana, it sounds as though her childhood, while far from uncomfortable, was spent seeking acceptance from those around her. Particularly her father, Uther." Regina: "So, what are you saying?" Archie: "This is merely a theory of course but, maybe Morgana doesn't wish to harm Maria but rather raise her as her own?" Emma: "Kinda like the Black Fairy did with Gideon?" Regina: "That sounds like a bit of a stretch to me. Even if that were true, that's far from reassuring. (Stands and begins pacing the room:) All we know for sure is that Morgana vanished without a trace over ten years ago. If her plan is to take Maria and disappear, we may never see her again." Emma: "But, like you said, we don't know that's what she wants." Archie: "Well, I'm sorry I can't be of more help to you both." Emma: (Nods:) "We're just looking for as many different opinions as we can get." Regina: "I guess we're not used to feeling so vulnerable." Archie: "That's completely understandable. A child changes everything." Regina: (Gives a small smile:) "Yes, they do." Emma: "And, er... I also wanted to thank you for looking out for Regina while I was away. She told me you two talked and I appreciate it." Regina: "Me too." Archie: (Smiles:) "That's what I'm here for." Fortress of Ismere. (Mordred and Morgana share a meal before they depart.) Mordred: "And you're sure the one who sent you the message can be trusted?" Morgana: "What does it matter? Whether Lancelot and his soldiers are coming or not, our time here must come to an end." Mordred: "It matters because at least here we are safe. It is a fortress after all." Morgana: "I've made my decision." Mordred: "I can see that." Morgana: (Suddenly cold:) "And what is that supposed to mean?" Mordred: "Only that when there are two clear choices in front of us, you sometimes choose the wrong path." Morgana: "I see. So this is about the child again?" Mordred: "That child is the key to unlocking untold power-" Morgana: (Yelling:) “I am a High Priestess!” Mordred: (Rolls his eyes:) “Morgana.” Morgana: “I have the power of the heavens in my hand and yet Merlin continues to defy me! He is the one we should be focusing our combined efforts towards, not some innocent child.” Mordred: “Calm yourself.” Morgana: “I want his annihilation, Mordred. I want to put his head on a spike and watch as the crows feast on his eyes.” Mordred: “And I believe if we had the child we could accomplish that and much, much more. If we took her to the place Morgause brought you all those years ago, maybe-” Morgana: “Maybe what?” Mordred: “Well, there are rumours that Morgause had a hand in turning you against your former friends and allies in Camelot. Be it through torture or-” Morgana: “My sister cared more for me during my years in exile than almost anyone else in my life ever has.” Mordred: “And yet it was not she who taught you that ‘the love that binds us is more important than the power we wield’, was it? (Smirks:) You forget, Morgana, I know your secrets.” Mordred: “Hm. And here I thought you were the one who had forgotten. Forgotten that I am the one who saved your life all those years ago. Whatever you may think you know about me, Mordred, don’t make the mistake of believing you hold power over me.” Mordred: “I wouldn’t dream of it.” Morgana: (Glares at him and then slowly, a smile crosses her lips, a plan forming in her mind:) “Oh, my dear Mordred, I believe you’ve just given me a wonderful idea.”

King Richard's Former Kingdom. (In an attempt to demonstrate his credentials for Mayor of Storybrooke, King Richard accompanies David and Snow White while they visit the kingdom he used to rule before Valencia.) King Richard: "Finally, I return home to my old kingdom. Now I realise they’ve long moved on, but I still hold some star power around here and I can't wait to just let my people adore me. (Letting him walk on ahead, Snow and David exchange wearisome looks:) Ah, here we are.” Snow White: “What are we looking at?” King Richard: “This... (Turns in a slow circle in what is now merely an open field:) Is where my castle used to be. (David and Snow follow as Richard marches across the field, pointing in all directions:) This was a hallway! Hallway, hallway, hallway, my room, fireplace! This is where I kept my formal crowns, my casual crowns, my ‘just for fun’ crowns.” David: “Okay, are we done? Because we really do need to get back and start interviewing other candidates.” King Richard: “Oh, relax, Chiseled Chin. We haven’t even met the villagers yet.” Village. (Richard and the Charmings enter the village looking for people to talk with.) King Richard: “You know, it’s the strangest thing... This place always seems oddly familiar to me.” David: (Mutters to Snow:) “That’ll be because they built the village from sections of the castle.” King Richard: (Calling out to a passerby:) “I say, peasant, we have a few questions, and please don't get all star-struck because I'm speaking to you directly.” Peasant John: “No way! It's you!” King Richard: “I know. You're flustered.” Peasant John: “Guys, look, it's Snow White and Prince Charming!” (A small crowd gathers.) Snow White: (Smiles and waves:) “Hello.” David: (Awkwardly:) “Hi.” Peasant John: “What a thrill!” King Richard: “Is there perhaps someone else here you recognize? Maybe... Your former king?” Peasant John: “Oh, yeah. (Nonplussed:) Hiya.” King Richard: (Undeterred, addresses the crowd:) “Greetings, lowly ones! It is I, King Richard! I have returned! Good to see you again.” A Short Time Later. (Snow and David are now speaking with Peasant John.) Snow White: “So, perhaps you could tell us what lead to your decision to-” Peasant John: “Tear down the castle to make homes and shops for everybody? (Snow and David nod as Richard rejoins them:) Oh, well, here's the thing. (Leaning casually on Richard:) When you left us to go in search of the Jewel of Valencia, we didn't hear anything for a really long time.” King Richard: “All right, as I’ve said before, that was on me. (Lifts John’s arm gently off his shoulder:) I should've sent word.” Peasant John: “Yeah, but while you were away, we realized that a king is only a king if the people say he is.” (Richard turns to Snow and David and chuckles.) Peasant John: (Continues:) “And if they don't, well, he's just a man with a metal hat who's only in charge because his father wore a metal hat before him, which is pretty crazy if you think about it.” (The crowd laugh.) David: (Considers this:) “You know, he's... He's got a point. It is pretty crazy.” Snow White: “So are you calling my father crazy? Hmm?” David: “Er... please continue with your story, John.” Peasant John: “So, then we came together and asked ourselves ‘what if there was a different way of doing things? A better way? A fairer way?’” King Richard: “Oh, no. I know what's coming.” Peasant John: ♪ We've been trying something new in the dominion ♪ ♪ Since you went away ♪ ♪ With no king upon the throne ♪ ♪ We've all been left alone ♪ ♪ To build a new tomorrow here today ♪ King Richard: (Sighs:) “Right.” Peasant John: ♪ What if every single soul with an opinion ♪ ♪ Got to have their say? ♪ ♪ If on every point of note, we simply took a vote ♪ ♪ We'd build a new tomorrow here today ♪ David: “So, the butcher gets a vote?” Peasant John: “Yep!” Snow White: “The baker gets a vote?” Peasant John: “Yep!” ♪ And everyone who couldn't vote before ♪ Butcher: ♪ Except, of course, the women ♪ Baker: ♪ And we won't let him or him in ♪ (Points to two men behind him:) Peasant John: ♪ We mean everybody else ♪ Merchant: ♪ Except the poor ♪ Peasant John: ♪ Then we vote on every pressing public question ♪ ♪ Either ♪ Crowd: “Yay!” Peasant John: ♪ Or ♪ Crowd: “Nay!” David: “Nice.” Peasant John: ♪ Everybody gets to choose ♪ ♪ Except the you-know-whos ♪ ♪ As we build a new tomorrow here today ♪ Crowd: ♪ Every person counts the same ♪ ♪ Except, of course, the lame ♪ ♪ And the lepers ♪ ♪ And the gingers ♪ ♪ And the witches ♪ ♪ And the Heathens ♪ ♪ And the bastards ♪ ♪ And the Gypsies ♪ ♪ And the commies ♪ ♪ And the hippies ♪ ♪ As we build a new tomorrow ♪ Peasant John: ♪ A fair and square tomorrow ♪ Crowd: ♪ A more aware tomorrow here today ♪ ♪ So, we all will march together towards the future ♪ Peasant John: ♪ Well, not all per se ♪ ♪ Just the ones who look like me ♪ Crowd: ♪ It's called democracy-y-y-y-y ♪ ♪ The landed ♪ ♪ And the wealthy ♪ ♪ And the pious ♪ ♪ And the healthy ♪ ♪ And the straight ones ♪ ♪ and the pale ones ♪ ♪ And we only mean the male ones ♪ Peasant John: ♪ If you're all of the above, then you're ok-a-a-a-ay ♪ Crowd: ♪ As we build a new tomorrow ♪ ♪ Here tod-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ay ♪ David: “Well, that is intriguing... you know if the curse hadn’t happened and Regina didn’t destroy our castle, do you think what happened to Richard would’ve happened with us?” Snow White: (Not wishing to think about it:) “Oh be quiet, David!” David: (Watching her walk away:) “Touchy.”

Storybrooke. Granny's Diner. (Stopping by the diner for some takeout, Regina goes to place their order of two grilled cheese sandwiches while Emma spots Rumplestiltskin sitting alone in a booth.) Emma: "How many times have you glued that thing together over the years?" Rumplestiltskin: "More than I can remember. Certainly much more often now that Gideon's discovered his new favourite game of throwing his dinner across the room." Emma: "Hm. I shouldn't worry, he'll probably grow out of it in say ten or twelve years." Rumplestiltskin: (Chuckles, holding up the cup:) "I'll take this over raising a child with magical powers any day." Emma: "So you've heard." Rumplestiltskin: "It's a small town, Emma, and I make it my business to know what's going on with my granddaughter." Emma: (Sliding into the booth across from him:) "All right, Grandpa, what would you do about it?" Rumplestiltskin: "I'm not sure someone who spent centuries in pursuit of power would be your best choice for advice." Emma: "Oh I don't know. Despite what you claim, when you orchestrated the curse, you made me the Savior. Both Regina and I have our magic because of you." Rumplestiltskin: "That magic was inside each of you all along, I merely stoked the embers and fanned the flames." Emma: "Whatever. My point is you know how it feels to have your magic taken from you. Both as a child and an adult." Rumplestiltskin: (Nods:) "When my Savior powers were taken from me it lead me to the Darkness." Emma: "So, if it were Gideon, what would you do?" Rumplestiltskin: "Ah, well fortunately as you know, Belle and I have firsthand experience dealing with Gideon's magic. If you're looking for my honest opinion..." Emma: (Scoffs:) "No, lie to me." Rumplestiltskin: "Raise the child, not the problem. Even if you were foolish enough to strip Maria of her powers now, that doesn't mean she can't become an all powerful sorceress later. Just ask Morgana." Emma: "Yeah, I'll get right on that. Just as soon as she stops trying to kidnap my daughter." Rumplestiltskin: "All right, bad example, but you do have someone else in this ever-expanding family of ours who knows exactly what it's like to have their magic stamped out of them." (While waiting for Emma with their takeout order, Regina stands by another booth, this one occupied by the Blue Fairy.) Blue Fairy: "You know I couldn't help but overhear." Regina: "I'm sure you could if you tried." Blue Fairy: (Continues regardless:) "If you're worried about Maria's magical powers, you could always consider the convent? My sisters and I are-" Regina: "You seriously expect me to entrust the safety of my daughter to you? Disregarding the fact that you have never once helped or acknowledged my journey back from evil, I dread to think what you would do if Maria's magic turned out to be dark." Emma: (Taking Regina by the arm and guiding her from the diner:) "All right, time for us to go." Regina: (Over her shoulder to Blue:) "You'd no doubt send her to another realm like you did to the Black Fairy!" (They leave. Rumplestiltskin allows himself a chuckle while the Blue Fairy attempts to appear unaffected by Regina's words.)

Forest. (Morgana walks along a path towards a hut that is situated the middle of some trees. Inside, there is a man sitting at a desk. Morgana opens the door and enters. The man looks up to see who it is.) Sindri: “Who are you?” Morgana: “It matters not who I am, but what I want and whether you can give it to me.” Sindri: “And what is it that you want? (Morgana walks over and places a scrap of paper on the desk in front of him. Reading it:) Very particular, what you seek.” Morgana: “It has a very particular purpose. (Sindri looks up at her from a paper that he’s been looking over:) Well? Do you possess such a thing?” Sindri: “I do. (He stands up and walks over to a shelf that is next to Morgana. He pulls two vials off the shelf:) Here.” Morgana: “What are they?” Sindri: “Valerian and Henbane. (Morgana goes to reach for them:) Ah, these are…uncommon things. Hard to come by, hard to prepare… (Morgana hands him some gold and takes the vials. He counts the gold as she walks away:) Very generous, my lady, more than enough to buy my wares. But not my silence... Morgana.” (Morgana turns and tosses more coins on the floor. Sindri bends down and picks up the coins as Morgana exits.) Storybrooke. Main Street. (Walking back from the marina where they ate their lunch, Emma and Regina pass by Mr. Gold's Pawnbrokers. Peering through the window, Regina notes that the shop is almost empty.) Regina: "It looks abandoned in there. Belle and Rumplestiltskin must have done a good job returning items to their original owners." Emma: "I realise she's shady as hell, but Blue doesn't really deserve the blame for what happened in the past.” Regina: (Smiles, turns to her:) "I know. I'm pretty sure both Snow and Rumplestiltskin were factors in Blue's decisions back then. To be honest I'm more annoyed by Rumple still thinking he can manipulate me into doing his bidding." Emma: "Well he did, right? I mean, we ended up releasing Merlin partly because of him." Regina: "Yeah, and it pisses me off. (With a naughty glint in her eye:) So I say it's high time we got back at him." (Regina waves her hand over the handle and magically unlocks the door.) Emma: (When Regina gives her a knowing look:) "Oh no... you wanna fool around in the pawnshop?" Regina: (Smiles:) "It's not like anyone's gonna drop by anytime soon." Emma: "Yeah but still. Don't you think this is a bit of a stretch, even for us?" Regina: (Considers:) "Hm. I'll tell you what. You can either come inside here with me and we'll have some fun, or..." Emma: "Or?" Regina: "We can go cause a scandal at the convent. Your choice." Emma: (Looks at her then opens the door to the shop:) "After you, milady." Regina: (Smirks:) "Why thank you." (Looking around to make sure no one is around, Emma shakes her head before following Regina inside.)

Elsewhere In Storybrooke. (Marco sits down to talk with the Reporter.) Reporter: "So, Marco, as the town's handyman, you must have some stories to tell?" Marco: (Chuckles:) "You can say that again. Although, when I first arrived here during the curse, my days were very much the same. Filled with tasks that really anybody with a screwdriver could perform, from tightening hinges inside a cabinet to re-affixing letters to shop front displays." Reporter: "That sounds like it wasn't exactly taxing for a man of your abilities." Marco: "Oh, I was always happy to do it of course, but I craved something more." Reporter: "You were cursed to be miserable after all." Marco: "This is true. Then, after the curse was broken, there would be plenty more interesting repair work for me to sink my teeth into. Replacing smashed park benches from various car chases, rehanging street signs and of course, my most frequent job seems to be maintaining the clock tower, particularly the intricate glass work." Reporter: "Sounds like that kept you busy." Marco: "It was certainly a time consuming job. (Chuckles:) Pun intended. Ever since the realms were united, I've been busier than ever, travelling with my son August to places that need the services of a good carpenter." Reporter: "Would you say most of your business comes from other realms lately?" Marco: (Nods:) "That's fair to say, yes. Thankfully, most of the time I can return home to Storybrooke and enjoy my days when I'm not working. It seems the sort of property damage that used to happen isn't commonplace anymore."   Storybrooke. Mr. Gold's Pawnshop. Night. (Carrying a flashlight, Rumplestiltskin steps cautiously through the remains of his shop. Pointing the light in various directions, Rumple turns around quickly at the sound of footsteps.)

Regina: "Rumple, what the hell happened here?" Rumplestiltskin: "Precisely what I'd like to know." (He turns back around and continues searching the shop while Emma leans over to speak with Regina.) Emma: (Whispered:) "Did we do this?" Regina: "No, of course not." Rumplestiltskin: "What are you two whispering about?" Regina & Emma: (Innocently:) "Nothing!" Rumplestiltskin: (Giving them a curious look:) "Yeah well whoever did this wasn't playing around. They were definitely after something." Regina: (While Rumple ducks behind the shattered counter:) "But what? There was hardly anything in here left to take." Emma: "Least of all a comfortable mattress." Regina: "Shh!" Rumplestiltskin: "Damnit!" Regina: "Rumple? (Emma and Regina walk closer to him:) What is it?" Rumplestiltskin: (Groans and gets to his feet:) "It’s gone. (Slams his fist on the counter:) You see this is why I wanted you both to deal with Morgana when I asked you to. Now this has happened and we're screwed." Emma: "All right, enough with the blame game. Clearly you still had something gnarly here in your shop that you shouldn't have and someone's stolen it. So why don't you use your words and tell us what's missing?" Rumplestiltskin: "Something the likes of which is the precise reason I stayed out of Camelot all those years. Something that will shift the tide in Morgana's favour and put us all in danger."

[thecharmingknightemma]

♚ Do you agree with fandom interpretation of your character? (roast the fandom again please I have popcorn)

not even remotely.  lmao okay first I need to explain something to attempt not to sound like a really bad judgy person: when it comes to princess Emma, for me only my version of her can be possibly, realistic, because it’s the only realistic results that can came from the premise I see. Now that doesn’t mean I can’t respect that other people can have different ideas of how princess Emma is, but it can never feel real to me because those ideas come from a different interpretation of David and Snow, of the circumstances around Emma and that led to Emma, of how they’d react to what they have been through and what they’d teach her, on how her personality would respond to the outside world. Those interpretations are always valid, but they are not mine, and therefore I can’t agree and I can give you a thousand reasons why Emma for me would be a different princess than most fanon versions of her starting from what would led her to be this way instead. But I’m also aware that it all depends on my interpretation of every single thing involved in her life and my view of her isn’t superior, it’s just the only one that works for me. 

I’ll put the rest under read more because whoops I may have a lot to say

Here are some common things I see that I absolutely understand where they are coming from but could never be true to me: -a princess Emma who is a serious, suave, normal classic princess. It’s extra rare in OUAT for the original fairy tale princesses to act in a classic noble-woman kind of way to begin with. Emma, the daughter of former bandit and now queen Snow White who has lived among regular people and who had drilled in her head that their people are important, and of David, formerly a stable boy, who fought against the unspoken rules of royalty like shutting up and accepting an arranged marriage, who has seven dwarves, a wolf and who knows who else being part of her parents council, who would have been taught to defend herself to be prepared to fight just in case, who would be certainly taught to speak up because her opinion and emotions matter, who has been shown and has seen from the beginning of her life that love wins, that she has all kinds of reasons to be happy and hopeful and grateful, would NOT be modest, would not be super serious, would not be a snob or unaware of her people’s struggles, and since even when it comes to Emma Swan her nature was to joke around and be happy as soon as the world gave her a minimum amount of reason to be that way, princess Emma has even more reasons to be that way. Her personality would be so encouraged by a loving, supportive family who wants her to respect others but also to express herself, to enjoy her life, the happy moments, and to find humor in everything. And David and Snow even speak in a different way from nobles like Kathryn, I doubt Emma would be too formal. It’s not that less loud, enthusiastic princess can’t be cool, I actually really like Kathryn, and Aurora may have been more ‘classical’ and out of her depth when it came to fighting but she still did everything she could to save Philip and to avenge him later, she was simply inexperienced and that’s not bad, but I cannot imagine Emma, with the family she has, her instincts, and what people around her would want to instill in her since young age, being the same kind of woman they are.  -a princess Emma who hates ballgowns and balls and everything stereotypically feminine. Emma Swan, who has all reasons to favor comfortable easy clothing and lives in our world where often dresses and pink are associated to being weaker (?), still likes to wear stereotypically feminine things and to wear makeup and curls or styles her hair whenever she has some time off from her savioring. Even in s1, yes, when the sheriff election happened and she didn’t plan to have to run after criminals, she wore a cute skirt. Why would princess Emma hate them when she clearly likes the aesthetic and she hasn’t been raised with ideas such as ‘femininity is weak you must be distance yourself from it and prove you are different from other women’? Now, if you tell me she has problems with tight corsets because they are uncomfortable, that’s cool. Otherwise it just seems like she must be ‘special’ and therefore doesn’t like ‘girly’ things because ‘girly is inferior to masculine’. Still speaking stereotypically here, of course. Snow didn’t have to dislike dresses to be strong or special, she dressed depending on what she had to do. I believe Emma would be the same, with just some initial rebellion as a kid against girls until she grew up enough to realize she was being stupid. After that, she wears dresses when she can, she also likes comfortable riding clothing, she likes flowers, she likes colors, she likes the looks she gets when she wears low cut dresses, she likes to take care of her hair... When it comes to Emma Swan specifically and to different versions of her, I feel there is some hidden misogyny involved in wanting Emma to hate innocuous things to prove she’s ‘different’ and ‘stronger’.    -helpless princess Emma: I can’t even. This is also what the Evil Queen’s wish brought to life. It’s already explained in my first point here but it bears repeating. Can you imagine two parents who were shown over and over that you must be prepared for everything because they will have more enemies come after them, enemies of them as royalty or for personal reason, leaving their only daughter completely unprepared, needing someone else to fight for her? After they had to learn the hard way, as fast as possible, and were at disadvantage for it? Emma would be trained from the beginning.  -judgmental princess Emma, I get it, David and Snow were still less than welcoming to Killian - though I felt it was more due to his behavior than him being a pirate - but at the same time I cannot imagine being raised by someone who was a bandit and another person who technically committed treason by acting like a prince, and those two clearly never judged Ruby for being a werewolf, and so on, and to grow up to be immediately against people due to what they are. I feel Emma would have all the reasons to trust her instincts and to want to make sure someone is bad before treating them as such, while simultaneously wanting to avoid being manipulated and mistreated.  -submissive Emma when it comes to men: I feel like I don’t really need to explain why when in the past I read CS involving a princess Emma who was all innocent and inexperienced I closed the page.  -a princess Emma who has to deal with ARRANGED MARRIAGES BECAUSE HER PARENTS TRY TO FORCE HER TO MARRY PEOPLE LIKE I’m sorry but this is not even a matter of different perspective and respecting other people’s view of characters. David and Snow would never force Emma to marry someone, David and Snow suffered like hell because David was meant to marry Abigail due to king George’s choices. David and Snow love Emma. David and Snow would not do that to Emma.  -just... a version of Emma that is so randomly ethereal and more similar to how real life past princesses are described in our world? when ouat woman are so real, with their flaws and qualities and opinions and motivations, and it just seems not to fit in a colorful family like the one Snow and David were going to have, dwarves and Granny included. 

[trueloveseyeroll]

The Dancing Thief (5/13)

Summary: Pretending to be a noblewoman might be the dumbest thing Emma has ever agreed to do. And she’s not sure if meeting Lord Killian Jones made the whole thing better or worse. (Better. Definitely better.)

Rating: T (language and mild violence)

Beta: The wonderful @forget-me-not-s​

Artist: The lovely @captxinswans - check out her amazing artwork for chapter 1 and chapter 2!!

Word count: 5413 (62k words in total)

Chapter 1

AO3

“So how have things been around here?” Emma asked.

Ruby gave a one-shouldered shrug, rearranging a few items behind the bar. “Same old, same old. Although there’s a new guy playing the fiddle a few times a week now - he’s not hard to look at, I’ll tell you that,” she winked.

“Hopefully he’s nice to listen to, too,” Emma said, sipping at her ale. It had been a while since she’d heard anything but string orchestras and refined tunes. Honestly, she wouldn’t mind listening to this fiddler no matter what his skill.

“He’s alright. But seriously, he’s one handsome guy...” Ruby trailed off, lost in pleasant thoughts, Emma surmised. Then, she turned towards her with a grin Emma could only describe as wolfish. “I bet he’s got nothing on that Jones boy of yours, though.”

“He’s not mine,” Emma said, perhaps a smidgen too quickly.

“Not yet.”

“Not ever.”

“You sure about that?”

Emma rolled her eyes at her oldest friend. “You haven’t even seen him, Ruby. You’ve got nothing to base him on.”

“That look in your eyes whenever he’s mentioned is plenty enough to base him on.”

“There’s no look,” Emma defended herself. Ruby merely raised an eyebrow, the unspoken whatever you say glaringly obvious.

Emma huffed, tucking her feet behind the rung of the wooden bar stool. “I don’t know, okay? He’s... he’s intriguing, I guess.”

The image of him on the beach wouldn’t leave her. His honesty when he told her about his brother and about why he’d come to Aurora’s birthday even if he hadn’t planned on it - the look in his eyes when he’d told her she was an open book... Emma had not been prepared for seeing that side of Lord Killian Jones, and now, two days later, she was still thinking about what might have happened if that wave hadn’t crashed at the very moment it did... not that she was going to tell Ruby about any of that.

“Anyways,” Emma went on before Ruby had a chance to say anything, “I really didn’t come here to talk about my current job and all that it entails. It’s my day off - I just want to forget everything that’s going on.”

Ruby took her nearly empty cup and poured more ale into it, setting it back down on the bar. “Well, you know you’ve come to the right place.”

And like that, Ruby allowed the conversation to drift into other topics. For all that she loved to pry, she always knew what every moment called for, and Emma was damned glad for it. Even if it meant getting tipsy at midday.

Emma had first met Ruby when they were both around ten and the tavern had been owned by Ruby’s grandmother. Granny, as everyone called her, had ushered Emma into the kitchen before she could even think of running away. Once a warm meal had been placed in front of her, she realized she was too starved to turn away the rare act of kindness. She promised herself to not come back though.

A few weeks later, Ruby had spotted Emma near the tavern and had offered a job, saying it would lessen her load and that Granny would love to have her around. Emma had refused the offer. She refused to get attached to anyone; previous experiences with thieving crews had taught her that much. But when Granny spotted her a month later, offering her a small job in return for two meals and a night’s rest in a real bed, Emma had been too weak to turn it down. She didn’t stay the entire night though. She did, however, return to the tavern every now and then, whenever she was low on food or needed a penny or two. When Granny died, Ruby took over the tavern, despite being only eighteen. And though the offer for a permanent job at the tavern still stood, Ruby supplied Emma with plenty of rumours and tips instead.

Now, here they were, simply chatting on Emma’s “day off” before the ball at Keep Nostos the next evening.

While Emma was laughing at Ruby’s story about a recent patron, the door to the tavern swung open. With her side towards the door, all it took was a slight turn of the head and Emma’s laughter died in her throat.

None other than Lord Killian Jones himself stepped into Ruby’s tavern, along with Phillip, Eric and Thomas.

“Shit.”

Emma didn’t have time to answer Ruby’s questioning look. She all but stumbled off the chair, grabbing her ale in the process. With her back towards the group of lords, she hurried away from the bar as they walked towards it.

The tavern had a couple of empty tables left, but for some foolish reason, Ruby had never invested in cloths – hiding under a table would therefore likely only draw more attention to Emma. Why the hell were the lords at Ruby’s tavern anyway? In an attempt to hide her face, she tucked the loose curls of her hair away from her ears.

Ruby greeted the young noblemen just as Emma sat down at an empty table in the corner of the tavern. She had her side towards the bar so she could keep an eye on them and still be able to hide her face if they turned her way.

Don’t you fucking dare turn my way, she thought, clenching the cup of ale in her hand.

The lords ordered some lunch and a few drinks, Killian doing most of the talking - even if she hadn’t been able to see them, she would have recognized his voice anywhere.

“Just take a table and I’ll be right over,” Ruby said after Killian had handed her the needed sum of coins. Emma noticed then, that while the lords obviously weren’t dressed in their fine evening suits, they weren’t dressed in fine day suits either, like at Aurora’s birthday. They were dressed rather plainly, actually - one wouldn’t even necessarily think they were nobles.

How often did they go to taverns like this? Ruby’s wasn’t exactly an upper-class establishment.

Emma didn’t have time to ponder the question as the lords turned her way. Well, fuck. She sipped at her ale, thinking the cup would help hide her face as she looked away from the group of friends. They walked towards her side of the tavern, and Emma could have sworn she could feel eyes on her, although it was likely just paranoia. They had no reason to think they’d find Lady Emma Swan in a tavern, so they probably wouldn’t even notice her, even if they caught a glimpse of her face.

Just as she thought they were headed directly for her table, they turned left, seating themselves on two chairs and a bench lining the wall. A single table stood between hers and theirs, as well as a wooden pillar, and with her back to them, they shouldn’t be able to make out her features. And she could hear everything they said.

“Well, this is certainly homier than The Golden Rooster,” one of the lords said - Thomas?

“A bit dirtier as well,” Eric added, though not haughtily.

“Aye, but it’s worth more support than a place like The Golden Rooster.” Killian’s voice was unmistakable. Emma gathered this Golden Rooster was some finer tavern for the upper-class - and Killian’s opinion of it was probably much like his opinion of balls.

“As long as the food is better than that last tavern we went to, I’m happy,” Phillip said, Emma sensing a disliked memory behind the words.

“I thought we agreed never to mention that place again... I can’t even look at crabs lately.”

“It was your own fault, Eric - now you know never to risk crabs in a place like that,” Thomas said.

“It’s not like you were much better off with your herring.”

A few more words were spoken, but Emma didn’t catch them as she saw Ruby exiting the kitchen, balancing four bowls of chicken-broth on a tray. Usually, she had more barmaids working in the evening, but during the day it was just her, the cook and a single helper.

After placing the bowls on the table, Ruby went back to the bar. A second later, she was headed towards Emma with a pitcher in her hand.

“So... what’s going on?” she whispered, pouring ale into Emma’s already half-full cup as slowly as she could.

“They’re noblemen.”

Ruby reigned in her surprise, only a tick in her eyebrow giving it away. “You know them?” Then, setting Emma’s cup back on the table, a sly curl formed at her lips. “Jones isn’t one of them, is he?”

Emma glared at her.

“He is, isn’t he? Which one?”

“Ruby. Go.”

Ruby gave a small pout, but relented - she couldn’t stand at Emma’s table all day after all. “Fine. But you’re telling me later.”

Emma knew she wouldn’t be getting out of that one, but for now, she could go back to eavesdropping as Ruby went back to the bar.

The lords’ conversation had drifted away from taverns and onto some book or another, seemingly about philosophy. Apparently, Killian wasn’t the only one who enjoyed reading. Their discussion veered towards the treatment of the common people, and Emma did her best to catch every single word they said. It seemed they didn’t quite agree with the current taxation system, saying not enough money was spent on bettering living conditions in the lower-classes. Emma’s heart pounded in her chest - with the way the young lords were talking, she could definitely see them supporting David.

A lot of their opinions were based on books though; theories and musings of philosophers that Emma had never heard of. They didn’t seem to quite understand how bad things truly were, and rather focused on how a poor distribution of welfare would only hurt the upper-class in the end, if the workers died too early. Perhaps that’s what Killian had meant, when he said that taverns like Ruby’s were worth more support.

“We should probably be careful we don’t start sounding too much like Lord Gold, only worried about profit and continued profit,” Phillip said. Emma liked him a bit more for that comment.

“Everyone’s worried about profit,” Eric said.

There was a pause, and Emma turned an ear towards their table to be certain they weren’t mumbling about something. Then, Killian spoke. “There was another calling card from Gold on my father’s desk yesterday.” His voice was low, and Emma only just caught the words, although the disgust that laced them was clear.

“There’s been more and more lately, hasn’t there?” Phillip asked.

“Aye. And I still don’t know what the bloody hell is going on.”

“It might not be anything bad, you know,” Thomas said. “If they really were meeting about something horrible, wouldn’t your father make a better effort out of hiding all traces?”

“Possibly. Or perhaps he simply doesn’t realize how often I’m in his office.”

“Gold wouldn’t be foolish enough to send all those calling cards if it’s to do with wrongful business though. He’d have a more subtle approach,” Eric said.

“He’d just threaten anyone who’d dare say anything about them.” Emma knew Killian wasn’t exactly fond of balls or court, but she’d never before heard him speak with such animosity about anyone. Had something happened between him and Lord Gold?

“Wait until you know what’s going on for sure before you get your blood boiling.”

“Don’t worry, Thomas. When have you ever known me to do something rash?”

The lords all chuckled, and two tables away, Emma could sense the mood had been lightened.

“What about you, Phillip? Still don’t think you were too rash in proposing to Aurora?” Eric asked, changing the topic and surprising Emma. Phillip had proposed to Aurora? Why hadn’t she heard about it yet? Perhaps it happened after she had left the birthday - Emma hadn’t seen any of the ladies since then, after all.

“It was a bloody long time coming.”

“I think you’re right about that, Killian.” Emma could hear the smile in Phillip’s voice, and although she’d only known him and Aurora for less than a month, she agreed with Killian too. “And I still can’t believe she actually said yes, but I am beyond happy that she did.”

“So when are you going to announce it?” Thomas asked.

“Soon. Aurora’s mother wants to be sure when and where to throw the engagement party before letting the world know.”

Ah. So that’s why Emma hadn’t heard anything yet. She’d have to prepare her look of surprise in case Aurora told her in person.

“Just promise you won’t start thinking you’re too good for us once you’re married,” Eric said. “Sooner or later, Thomas would leave as well to be with Ella and I’d be stuck with Killian.”

Thomas fumbled with the right words to say that he and Ella probably wouldn’t get engaged in the near future, although it was clear that he definitely wouldn’t mind it. While Killian acted insulted, Phillip chuckled. “Who knows, Eric, maybe Killian actually will settle down someday. Lady Emma has certainly caught his eye.”

Emma had just been about to take a drink, but the cup stopped at her lips.

“I’d be a blind man if she hadn’t caught my eye, Phillip.”

“Yeah, but it’s more than that, isn’t it? Don’t think I didn’t notice the way you looked at her at Aurora’s birthday - I’ve never seen you look at anyone like that before.”

Had Killian been looking at her? And not just because he thought she was... eye-catching? Although, apparently, he did think so. Warmth spread through her cheeks, but she blamed the ale and refused to acknowledge any happiness she might feel about the fact that Killian might... like her.

“I wasn’t... she’s just... she’s interesting, alright? I enjoy her company.”

“You’re absolutely smitten, that’s what you are,” Phillip teased. Emma didn’t know what to do with herself, not even sure if she dared believed her own ears. And it shouldn’t matter anyway. She didn’t like Killian. She couldn’t. He didn’t even know who she really was, for Pete’s sake!

“’Interesting’ seems a good choice of word though,” Eric said, and Emma was surprised she could even hear him over the thoughts running wild in her head.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, there’s just something... I don’t know, I mean, I obviously don’t know her as well as you, Killian, but am I the only one who thinks she’s come somewhat out of the blue?”

“There are always new people arriving at court,” Killian said, taking on a defensive tone. Worry started to take root inside Emma at Eric’s words though.

“Yes, but I’ve never even heard of House Swan before.”

“I’d be surprised if you’d heard about every House in the Enchanted Forest,” Thomas said, and Emma hoped his argument would keep Eric - or anyone else - from digging deeper. “That being said, I do think it’s a bit odd she’s come alone - without any family, I mean.”

“Perhaps they didn’t have time,” Killian reasoned.

“Perhaps,” Eric repeated, although he sounded quite sceptical.

“The details of her presence may seem a bit odd, but Aurora and Ella have definitely taken a liken to her,” Phillip said. “It’s not just Killian.”

Emma would have like to have heard what was said after, but a group of people at another table nearby started laughing loudly, and then she noticed Ruby headed towards the lords’ table, asking if they needed anything. When the laughter died down and Ruby headed back to the bar, throwing a wink towards Emma, the conversation behind her had changed into a different topic.

For the next twenty minutes, nothing important was said, and Emma didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed that her name was never mentioned again. Of course, she didn’t want them to suspect her of anything, and she shouldn’t want Killian to have any sort of feelings for her either, but the thought gave her a sense of thrill like no other.

Just as she thought they were starting to leave, Phillip had one last thing to discuss, his voice lowering. “I overheard the maids talking about something rather interesting this morning - apparently the physician Whale was seen headed for King George’s chambers in the middle of the night. None of them seemed to know why and I didn’t want them to know I’d overheard them by asking, but do you think he may have taken ill?”

“I haven’t heard anything,” Eric said. “But if the King has taken ill, we’re all likely to know of it sooner rather than later.”

----------

Emma sat in her usual armchair, taking in everyone’s expressions after she had relayed the overheard information. Of course, she left certain things out, such as Killian’s possible crush on her. She still couldn’t work out how she felt about that - or perhaps, she couldn’t admit how she felt about that.

“Well, a bedridden George seems like a good thing to me,” Will said, breaking the momentary silence.

“He may not be bedridden though,” Snow reasoned. “Maybe it was a false alarm or just a rumour.”

Emma looked at David, trying to guess his thoughts. Gears were certainly turning in his head, but when he didn’t say anything, Emma decided to ask the question that had been on her mind since that afternoon. “If he is bedridden though, and ends up dying, who’s next in line? They’re not gonna put a four-year-old Prince James on the throne, are they?”

“They’ll appoint a regent,” Robin answered. “And whoever it is will rule until Prince James is old enough to become king.”

“Who’s ‘they’?” Emma asked.

Snow was the one to answer, David still mulling over something. “The Great Houses; most of the leaders will probably want the title, and every member of a Great House will have a vote - King George has a vote too though, and whoever he chooses will probably be appointed.”

“Which means it’s likely to be Lord Gold.” Everyone turned to David, and Emma could tell this was the exact thing he’d been mulling over since Emma told them the news. She thought of the way Killian said Gold’s name, full of hatred and disgust. Phillip had called him a man who only cared for profit - the welfare of the common people meant nothing to him. If anything, he’d be a worse monarch than George, and Emma already knew that a lot of people saw Gold as the king’s right hand. David was right; Gold was a very likely candidate.

“Or Lord Jones,” Robin said, and Emma knew he meant Brennan. He and George were close too, after all.

David nodded absent-mindedly, then sighed. “Might as well be Lady Cora Mills too. None of them are favourable choices though.”

“We just gotta make sure people know you’re a choice too, then,” Will said. When everyone turned to him, he shrugged as if it were obvious. “They’ll have some assembly when they vote, right? We just gotta get you to that assembly, you can make your case, claim you’re the rightful heir and all that, and people will probably vote for you ‘cause you’re the easy choice. Better to choose the prince they always thought would become King than biting each other’s heads off to become regent.”

Emma tilted her head, somewhat agreeing with Will’s logic. From what she’d heard, David was very well-liked. Well, before he got exiled and all that, of course.

“It seems a tad rash,” Robin said, and Emma had to agree with that as well.

“If the king’s dying, we don’t have much choice, do we?”

“We still don’t know if he’s dying,” Snow said. “We’ve heard a single rumour, that’s all. I’ll check with some informants, but let’s not make any plans until we know things for sure.”

“We should hope he’s not dying,” David said, surprising Emma. Will was surprised too, from the looks of it, and David explained, “you might be right Will, but if every great noble thinks they have a chance of gaining power, they might not want to hand it over to an exiled prince. And if George is seriously ill, court is going to become a tense and dangerous place to be, which will make things much harder for Emma. You need to be able to talk to people to find out if they’ll support us,” he said, looking at Emma. “And if everyone is busy settling alliances amongst themselves, they won’t have time to worry about a young outsider like Lady Swan.”

“Then let’s hope the king’s alright for now,” Emma said, although it felt wrong to say so. She meant it though; she wanted to continue the job she was meant to do, even with all the danger and the confusing feelings that followed.

--------------

By the time Emma was dressing up for the ball hosted by House Nostos, Snow had had the rumour confirmed by two different informants. Whale had indeed been called to George’s chambers in the middle of the night, but not a single person knew why.

Emma hoped she would hear more about it at the ball, but nothing much happened during the evening. She was invited to sit with some of the lesser nobles, after having danced with Sir August Booth. He was kind, as were his friends, but their conversation failed to interest her. Then there was the fact that August’s dark hair and blue eyes kept reminding her of someone else, and Emma knew she really shouldn’t be thinking of Lord Killian.

She’d seen him when August was leading her to the dance floor during the early evening. He’d been standing with Thomas, and his eyes met hers just briefly, but long enough for Emma’s stomach to flutter. She hadn’t seen him since the tavern; since she overheard that he might fancy her.

Since then, despite trying to focus on the conversation at August’s table, a part of her kept trying to spot Killian in the ballroom. For some reason, knowing where he was, if he was close - if he was looking her way - was incredibly addicting. Emma absolutely hated it.

Instead, she fooled herself into believing that she was looking to see if Aurora or Ella were around. She hadn’t seen either of them, but she’d seen both Phillip and Thomas. Maybe they were busy planning the engagement party that Emma wasn’t supposed to know about yet.

An hour until midnight, Emma had drifted on to another group of lesser nobles standing near the dance floor. Every muscle in her body ached and she longed for the armchair in the lounge room of the townhouse. House Nostos seemed more concerned with decorative statues, gold and fountains than comfortable chairs. Standing was almost more comfortable.

Just as she was getting lost in thought about the cocoa waiting for her at home - Snow had made it a ritual of sorts - Emma spotted Killian across the room. Her mood picked up a bit at that, but quickly fell again. Plummeted towards the ground, even. Killian was standing with a young, gorgeous brunette, both of them laughing. And standing awfully close to each other, Emma thought. Killian wasn’t even carrying any books.

She tried to tell herself it was nothing to be sad about. Killian could laugh with whomever he pleased - that girl was probably just a friend anyway. And if she was more than that, well, it was none of Emma’s business.

So what if Killian’s friends thought he had a crush on her. Killian shouldn’t mean anything to her, and although she knew denying that he meant something was impossible, she could at least try to forget it. Sure, he was intriguing, as she had told Ruby. He made her laugh, and she could even make him laugh. He was easy to talk to, and definitely pleasing to look at, and he was passionate and loyal to his friends... Sure, he was nice, but he was also frustrating, Emma reminded herself. And he probably didn’t like her at all. She was just another girl to him. Maybe even just a means to spite his father, as David had implied.

The nobles around her laughed, and Emma faked a smile although she hadn’t heard a single word of the last minute’s conversation. She tore her eyes away from Killian and the brunette, knowing no good would come from staring at them. No good would come from being around Killian at all. He was nothing but trouble, and Emma had more than her heart to worry about now.

But Emma knew this wasn’t the first time she had told herself to stop thinking about Killian. And sadly, she expected it wouldn’t be the last.

---------------

Emma slept rather terribly throughout the night, but dawn brought good news. Aurora had sent her not just one, but two letters. Both had Emma’s name written elegantly on the envelope, but one letter was much more formal than the other - it was an invitation to Aurora and Phillip’s engagement party.

Emma’s smile widened at the second letter; an invitation to go shopping with Aurora, Ella and Grace the next day. Emma didn’t know why the invitation made her so happy, she’d never actually gone shopping after all, and she should be scared that she’d make a fool out of herself. She was scared, but apparently the joy about Aurora and Ella (and Grace) considering Emma a friend won over.

And so, Emma Swan - an adept thief - found herself on the cleanest streets of Misthaven, looking at dresses, fabrics, cosmetics and trinkets, with actual money in her purse.

They mostly talked of Aurora’s engagement and wedding (which was set to take place in the late summer). Emma made sure to sincerely congratulate Aurora, and she laughed when Ella said that she really should have placed that bet on Aurora and Phillip being married before the year was out.

“Speaking of bets,” Ella added, “the Prince’s tournament is this Sunday, right?”

“The Prince’s tournament?” Emma asked. No one had told her of any tournament, certainly not one five days from now.

The three ladies all turned to Emma with excited looks. “Oh, it will be so grand!” Aurora said. “In honour of Prince James’ fifth birthday, knights and lords will compete in a melee, and afterwards there shall be a most splendid feast at the royal palace!”

“Have you ever seen a tournament before, Emma?” Ella asked.

“No, I’ve never had the pleasure.”

In truth, she had tried to catch a glimpse of one many years ago, the excitement too much for her to withstand. But she had quickly learned that it was better to take advantage of the large crowds during tournaments and festivals – it made pickpocketing much easier.

“Lord Phillip and Lord Thomas are quite skilled,” Grace said, smirking at both Aurora and Ella.

“Yes, Lord Phillip won the jousting tournament last year.”

“That’s quite impressive,” Emma said, honestly. She knew better than to insult a lady’s fiancé.

“Sadly, he doesn’t think himself likely to do well in the melee,” Aurora said. “He’s always preferred the joust.”

“Lord Killian’s very talented with a sword though,” Ella said. “He nearly won the duelling tournament last year.”

Once again, Emma found herself having to be very wary of her expression. Aurora and Ella often sent looks her way whenever Killian was mentioned, and she was afraid they’d guessed that Emma had a... had certain, confusing thoughts where Killian was concerned.

Knowing that he was a skilled swordsman just reminded her of how she’d called him a pirate though.

“Who did win?”

“Sir Lancelot, one of the royal knights,” Aurora answered. “It was quite the exciting finale, but I do think the better man won.”

As the ladies continued talking of past tournaments, they looked at displays in the windows, fawning over a dress or a set of ribbons. Emma just went along with it, having already bought a bottle of perfume that she didn’t need, which was being carried by Robin.

At the corner of a street, the door to a store opened, and Emma was quite surprised to see who walked down the steps and onto the street.

“Mr. Scarlett!” she greeted. It was okay for a lady to greet her coachman when they met unexpectedly, right?

“Lady Emma,” Will bowed his head, though not before she caught the twinkle in his eyes.

Emma didn’t stop to exchange further words, and when her friends turned to her with questioning looks, she quickly explained that he was her coachman. They all nodded in understanding, and as they walked down the street, Emma couldn’t help but look over her shoulder to see which store Will had been to.

The answer surprised her, to say the least. Will didn’t exactly strike her as a book-loving type, he was rather the sort of person you’d expect to find in a tavern or out and about with friends. So why on earth had he been visiting a place called Maurice’s Bookstore?

[survivorsunsetrodeo]

Finale | Beauty and the Weeb - Josh

Today has been weird. I woke up with Tay mad at me, Emma got Kimmi’d and now Tay and I are stuck working together? What are we The Beauty and The Weeb? Jacob is in the best position this round and I need to be on the same page as him. I can tell Ari is defending Dan for some reason because they wouldn’t vote Dan. 

BIG SIGH

I have never ever in my life been so sad after a challenge. Like damn, these people really hate me huh. Like Josh, fuck you dude. What have you done in this game besides be Nic’s puppet and then be Emma’s puppet. Goodbye! Jacob!!! Ari and Taylor’s medallions were literally RIGHT THERE to smash and you did what? Smash mine? Ugly.

I am like 99% sure that I’m getting voted out tomorrow night because of my association with Ari. Which kinda sucks, but it is what it is.

Taylor is trying to tell me she thinks she can flip Josh on Jacob, but honestly idk about all that. Part of me wants to tell Jacob that she’s coming for him, but also, idk if I can trust any of them. Taylor also has been saying that if I’m down to target Ari at f4, then she could use her idol on me and then we can take on Ari together at f4. Idk if she just like drank the stupid juice or not, but that works for me? But will I be targeting Ari at f4 if they don’t win immunity? Idk about that. Hopefully I have immunity and we can get Taylor’s ass out of here at 4. The other option is that I go with the idol play plan, then let Ari know last minute so they can’t do anything stupid, and then vote Taylor out with Ari.

I have more options than I think, but I just don’t have the mental capacity to think them all through just now. 

I can't believe I've been playing this game for over a month. I'm so exhausted maintaining different relationships especially now when there's only 5 of us. I can't be caught playing both sides at this pivotal round. If I had it my way I would vote out Dan rather than Jacob but I can't even do that because Ari and Taylor refuses to vote out Dan. Here's how I think the vote will fall

Ari - Jacob Dan - Jacob Jacob - Dan (Possibly Taylor but I'm not counting on it) Taylor - Jacob

There is no way Jacob stays unless I can somehow convince Ari or Taylor to switch their votes. What the heck happened this round that made Taylor wanna work with Dan? Do they have a Final 2? Dan did give his money to Taylor the round Ali went. Dan is just the player that just won't go AWAY. I made a final 2 pact with him just so he doesn't vote me out this round but I don't intend to go to the final 2 with him. I don't intend to be in a final 2 with anyone here at all! The only scenario I can see myself having a chance to win is if I am at the Final 2 with Jacob because every single player here is going to win over me and it sucks.

I hate that I feel like every round is about me. Like that’s cute bc I love the attention, but also like come on y’all.

Obviously I’m worried it’s gonna be me tonight some how but I really don’t know what else I can do other than follow my gut with this vote.

I’m seeing where Taylor is at rn and acting like I’m worried that Ari and Jacob might vote me this round. If I’m able to convince her to idol me I’m obviously gonna get Jacob and Ari to vote her out. But we’ll have to see how that convo goes. She isn’t answering me which is concerning.

I’m not convinced that Josh will vote for Jacob and is going to vote for me because I think I scare him? I’m not really sure what the beef is there. Apparently he told Ari that he fears that Tay and I have a f2. Which I guess is sorta true but I also don’t wanna go to the end with her at all.

I’m hoping for an easy vote that either sends Josh or Jacob home tonight. That’s all I want universe. Help a boy out. 

im going 2 be sick. im getting 5th but like.........its ok i guess <3

i have to win this for jacob.

there is no other option.

The way I voted Josh and Jacob still went home bc of Ari!!! Omfgggg. I’m dying honestly. Thank god for this blinding light twist bc I didn’t get EXPOSED.

And I fucking won the immunity challenge. Who said a gay can’t spell? XOXO!

Honestly getting to final 3 is just so gratifying. I really would love to win the final immunity too to kind of show I have some challenge ability haha. My plan is to study the season because in the past I’ve seen the final challenge be season trivia so I really need to go back through and study shit. I feel like I have a reasonable shot at winning against most people but I know I’m gonna get TORN UP by Nick. I’m afraid to go to the end with Taylor and Ari because of their game, but I’m also afraid to go to the end with Josh because of his social connections. This is gonna be a tough tough decision and regardless of what happens I’m gonna piss someone off.

Going with Taylor seems like an okay move because I know I’d at least have Ari’s vote but I think it’s a toss up for the rest of the votes. Ari has been talked up as THE THREAT all game and honestly I see it, but they’ve also not played as flashy as I have. I have a lot more survivor-esque aspects to my game in my opinion. Like me literally attending every tribal council except for one, and being vulnerable at most of the tribal councils. I think a jury will like that I had to do what I had to do to survive. Then with Josh, I just don’t think I have a chance at many of the jury votes (Jabari, Nic, Emma) specifically, but I might pick up Jacob, Ari, Ali, and Brandi. With Taylor deciding if she wants to be bitter and tie it haha.

I mean my point here is that I’ve set myself up to have options. I know I probably won’t be player of the season but dammit I feel like I’ve played such a strong game.

It’s moments before f4 tribal council and I’m at peace with my decision.

I recognize the power that is Ari. I recognize that they may beat me. But I also recognize that I’ve made a friend for life. And that’s way more important to me these days. And if that’s an accolade to their social game, so be it.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. I would literally die for Ari. 

AND NOW I GOT A LEGACY ADVANTAGE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! h*ck

it better be an add-a-premerge-juror because i don't wanna be MEAN

This was a good ending chapter for my ORG career. I came into this game with no expectation. I took this game phase by phase. Preswap, swap, merge, end game. I knew I wanted to play differently than I have before. More loyal and less shady. I think there were moments when I was definitely tempted by people to revert to my old ways, but temptation doesn’t always mean you follow through.

I feel my game showed restraint. I stuck with Ari because I always knew they had my best interest in mind. Did I know every detail of their game? Nope. Did I need to? Nope. I still got here. I used information I had wisely. I knew when to call it quits with a plan and hang back. I never wanted to be the reason the vote switched to me.

That’s not to say I didn’t have many close calls, because I definitely did. But I survived. I went to all but one tribal council, and I survived. My social game got me here when I got swap fucked. I fucking did that.

Regardless of what the jury thinks of me, I know that I played a game worth making FTC. Is it a winning game? That’s not for me to decide officially. But, to me I’ve won. I’ve won in ways that go past having my name in a winners circle. I’ve learned so much about myself through this game and through my friendships with others. And that’s okay with me. I look forward to answering the questions about my game, but there is one thing I will not stand for and that’s being made to feel badly for the decisions I made.

At the end of the day those decisions were mine and I stand by them 100%.

This may not have been my first rodeo, but in a way I’m happy it will likely be my last.

Much love ORGs. You’ve given me a lot ✨😌

Needless to say, that was rough. Rougher than I expected tbh.

I probably should have fought more, but I fought so hard in this game that I was so beaten up by the end.

To say I’m proud of my game is an understatement. I played so well in my opinion and frankly I wouldn’t change a thing. To finish my org career with a second place finish, makes me so proud. From a 17 year old kid with an attitude problem, to a 26 year old kid with a slightly smaller attitude problem, I can thank ORGs for a lot of my growing up.

They’ve taught me to value my strengths and work on my weaknesses. I owe a lot to these silly games.

To be proud is to be fulfilled. And I am fulfilled. Time to check into my room at the retirement home ❤️

that final tribal council was ROUGH........ i think i did okay but i'm stressed over all the things i forgot to mention, definitely said "social" too many times, didn't get to talk about all the specific strategic choices i made...... i feel confident of 3 votes (jacob, taylor, ali) and that's it i seriously don't know what's gonna happen but either way i'm very proud of myself and i'm proud of dan and it has been an honor to be in this rodeo <3 so long and thanks for all the scorpions

[vagabondwrites]

every 3rd (:

mun ask meme!

3. Who was your first FC?

My first Faceclaim ever was Max Adler. I started rpíng by writing Dave Karofsky on the old non-para groups from 2010/2011. The first FC I actually choose for an original character was Emma Watson, a long, long time ago. It was not a very good choice.

6. What’s your favorite genre of RP?

Do BDSM groups count? Because lately. that would be it. I think there’s So Much you can tell about a character through BDSM, and the kind of relationships that arise from that kind of plot are my favorite relationships to write. In a more general sense, I guess, my favorite genre are the ones that focus more on character development and character relationships than a super heavy plot.

9. Tell me about your favorite group you ever joined

Oof, that’s a difficult question. I think in many ways Westmore/New Eden were my favorites just because we could explore so much stuff in that universe, and I could develop two of my favorite OCs ever, Anna and Sophia. GGG was also super important to me, but that’s a really complicated story that I won’t go into rn.

12. Do you prefer playing canon characters or OCs?

I do like playing canon a lot from time to time, and I’ve played several. Writing Buffy Summers was honestly one of the best writing experiences of my life and it taught me a lot about what I could write in terms of dialogue or the type of characters I can do, and Jamie Moriarty will always be one of my favorite characters to write, but there’s something special and deeply personal about writing OCs. OCs will always come first.

15. Do you prefer group RPs or indie RPs?

Definitely groups. I’ve done a lot of both, and I just cannot stand the indie community anymore. I also really, really love the feeling of belonging in a group. I know not every group achieves that, but the ones that do will always be meaningful to me.

18. Name an overused FC that you still love to see

Uh, I’ve been known to defend Nina Dobrev from time to time? But I don’t feel particularly strong about her, I’m just pissed at the misogyny of it all. Maybe Dianna Agron, but she’s not that overused anymore.   

21. What’s a controversial opinion you have regarding RPing?

Apps are good, actually, and one of the best thing group rps have going for them and ppl should relearn how to use them properly.

24. Have you ever met someone IRL from RPing?

I have not. There are people IRL who know I roleplay, but that’s pretty much all.  

27. Have you ever called out of school/work to RP?

asdaijd I have, actually. When I was a freshman in college and I was maybe 6, 7 months into RPing. I missed a couple of classes so I could stay home and write more. It was super unhealthy and it definitely affected my grades, though. I don’t recommend.

30. Selfie of the mun?

Why

[isleofthelxst]

🌺🦍 tara {daughter of tarzan and jane porter} // oc created for @littlemissjaneporter 🦍🌺

{ @littlemissjaneporter if you like her, feel free to keep her as your own! use her for requests and stories, anything you want! she’s yours! }

{portrayed by emma watson}

tara is the 16 year old daughter of tarzan and jane // has lived in the jungles of africa her entire life, deprived of interacting with other kids her age // she is extremely bright for her age, and most of what she’s learned are things her mother has taught her // additionally, she’s inherited her mother’s fearlessness and will power // was initally very shy at first when she transferred to auradon; her entire life, she’d been surrounded solely by her parents, nature, and various wild animals, and the atmosphere was so different now; but everyone was surprisingly sweet to her, and offered to help her adjust // always caught sneaking off into the forest to talk to the animals // protests against the unethical conditions on the isle {“i lived in a treehouse and still had better living quarters than they did!”} // english accent; hates when people ask her to say something with it {“what am i supposed to say? "hi”?“} // very crafty and inventive like her grandfather; she and carlos have a playful rivalry in physics class and often try to one-up each other by inventing new things // fiercely loyal // adventurous, and is usually the one to get her friends to step out of their comfort zone // opinionated, and can defend herself against anyone with her sharp tongue and quick wit // has her dorm wall lined with pictures of her parents and various wildlife scenes // doesn’t tolerate bs // not afraid to speak her mind, even towards ben // unapologetically herself

- lana 🌺

[penumbra-rp]

Becky, you will be playing the role of Narcissa Black! 

A cold intelligence clings to her slender frame. She sits pretty, reapplying lipstick to hide the small smirk that forms upon her mouth when others call her sisters headstrong, daring, and bold, leaving only the sweetest of words for the youngest of the brood. It is all as mother dearest taught her: the trick to being powerful is through well-maintained appearances that distract from a sharp mind.

Admin Ash: I would like to preface by saying that my love for Narcissa Black knows ( zero ) bounds. She’s quite literally the ice queen of my dreams, and the queen of my heart. I have said it once and I will say it once again, Becky, I have not encountered a single Narcissa portrayed with the sheer amount of chilling aloofness and effortless elegance as yours. She’s such a multi-faceted woman ( not that she'd ever allow you to know that about her ), the epitome of looking like the innocent flower but being the serpent under it -- and as she speaks, you can hear the calculation with her every well-strung sentence and deliberate pause. She is the golden girl, prim and proper and perfect, and I can’t wait to see the porcelain crack beneath the weight of her family’s expectations coupled with the darkness overtaking her inner circle. 

01. Out of Character

NAME: Becky

AGE: 23

YOUR BIRTHDAY: 17th January

PRONOUNS: she/her

TIMEZONE: GMT

02. In Character

CHARACTER: Narcissa Black

CHARACTER’S PRONOUNS: she/her

FACECLAIM: Emma Rigby

CHARACTER’S BIRTHDAY: 2nd January

PERSONALITY

[+] Eloquent: She is incredibly well-spoken and knows how to piece together an argument. Being persuasive is a useful skill to have when she plans her life so meticulously, precise in all that she does. Her words are posed with thought, careful and calculated, never one to speak without thinking.

[+] Dedicated: If Narcissa says she will do something, there is very little that will deter her from giving up ( besides being asked to do so by someone superior ), particularly if it involves supporting her family. She stands by ideals and traditions, defending all that she loves with a loyal, icy fierceness. Failure is not an option.

[+] Charming: Being raised on silver spoonfuls of aristocracy, Narcissa knows how to talk the talk. She is something of a people pleaser and has perfected the art of flattery, mirroring what she believes to be the ideal version of herself in the eyes of her conversation partner.

[-] Reserved: Narcissa prefers her own space and certainly doesn’t share her innermost feelings with ease. Openly seeking affection and comfort is considered a show of weakness and, as a Black, she knows better than to let people know when she is hurting.

[-] Cold: Unless you’re considered important by her, you will be met by a politely arched eyebrow and a request that you don’t stand so close. She has very little patience for the scoundrels and troublemakers who could bruise her otherwise pristine reputation and she certainly won’t make much effort to be friendly to them.

[-] Insecure: Don’t be fooled by her facade, Narcissa is plagued by her perfectionist nature and relies heavily on the opinions of others to determine her self-worth. She strives to be the best and won’t settle for anything less, no matter how much she has to sacrifice in the process.

BRIEF BULLET POINT BIO:

Prologue  |  Let it be known that Narcissa Black begins her life as a soft, gentle creature. This is a reminder that ice takes time to form. That children are neither good nor bad, but something in between that teeters on the edge of being both. With shielded smiles and knowing eyes, it is not her but her family who encourage the darkness. Their bloodline are named after stars; they shine through the gloom and know how to cope with it, but she is a flower plunged into a world where she should not thrive. Should not grow. It is for this reason that her life is theirs to mould and shape.

Appearance  |  She’s born with the family’s signature dark hair, glossy and beautiful, a deep brown that matches the mansion’s ebony wood floor. The blond hair dye changes that. Narcissa loves her sisters dearly, but her first week at university is marred by countless people mistaking her for Bella and Andy. Staying out of her siblings’ shadows requires work. It requires a delicate sort of shining; daffodils in the wake of winter. Religiously maintained golden hair catches in the light from then on, paired with a regal posture and a dedication to her appearance that some regard as narcissistic. She makes herself unobtainable. Untouchable.

Family  |  She takes after her mother, that much is clear from a very young age. Her father accepts this without much protest for he has already managed to twist the mind of their eldest daughter into something more lethal, leaving Narcissa to fill her own with the scent of her mother’s perfume and an appreciation for all things expensive. She grows increasingly protective of her, not standing for anyone saying a bad word about the woman she looks up to. Matriarchal instincts are passed on like an heirloom. She is primed, polished, and presented by her parents at every social function available. The darling daughter, the epitome of Sacred 28 society. Her shoulders forget how to relax, too busy carrying the weight of their expectations. She knows that there is a list of things that she must be (pretty, quiet, obedient) and that she cannot fail at this. They offer her up to the press circling in the water as if to prove that everything they touch turns to gold. A cold intelligence clings to her slender frame. She sits pretty, reapplying lipstick to hide the small smirk that forms upon her mouth when others call her sisters headstrong, daring, and bold, leaving only the sweetest of words for the youngest of the brood. It is all as mother dearest taught her: the trick to being powerful is through well-maintained appearances that distract from a sharp mind.

Career  |  Narcissa learns how to sell herself, sell the company, sell the upper-class dream. They’re all the same thing, after all. Nobody is surprised when she’s hired as Director of Marketing – but they do all assume it’s nepotism that got her there. Narcissa makes no comment, well-learned in the fine language of silence. Deeply devoted to her job, just as she is her family and their fashion house, her success in all things is gauged in adoration and social media likes. She harvests each and every one, tending to the comments section of Instagram photos with meticulous care. Each image is created to reflect the epitome of perfection.

Secrets |  Blood looks black at night, a dark expanse pooling across marble floor. She wasn’t supposed to be there. Wasn’t supposed to see that. The motorbike visor concealing the killer’s face flicks up, accompanied by a breathy “Shit.” She takes one more look at the murdered body and turns away, swearing herself to secrecy. Terrible things happen behind closed doors; she has always known this. And if that is what it takes to keep the things she loves, so be it.

Beliefs  |  Narcissa believes in hierarchy. She believes in social ladders and career ladders and corporate ladders and many other ladders, all of which she sits at the very top rung of, looking down. In her mind, status serves to sort the gems from the rocks. And whilst she believes that the Sacred 28 are the elite, she disagrees entirely with the idea of a world without any competition. You can hardly hold onto the title of the best without companies to be compared against.

INTERVIEW:

i. How do you feel about your current occupation?

Their question is regarded with a critical gaze, as is the face of the person who had uttered it. Narcissa is unafraid of silence. She knows it is there that power truly lies. Her answer takes its time to form upon her tongue. “The need to ask that suggests you haven’t made the effort to do any form of background research into me before starting this interview. My current occupation – my only occupation – is the second most important thing to me. The first being my family, which, given the overlap between them and my job, should give you some idea of just how much it means to me.”

ii. What song would you say describes yourself?

The unorthodox question takes her by surprise, although only someone who knew her body language well, who had learnt her cues ( Andromeda comes to mind; Bellatrix and Maya, too ) – the inaudible exhale of air; the slow blink of mascara-lined lashes; the brief parting of her lips – would be able to tell. “I think,” Narcissa begins, prim caution evident in her tone, “that you would get a more accurate answer were you to ask someone else to pick a song to describe me.” It’s an untrue statement, she’s aware as she says it. Nobody knows her better than herself. Nobody ever will if she has any say in the matter. She falls silent, standing without warning to cross the room and take a seat at the baby grand piano ( a birthday gift for her twenty-third ). “I don’t think you’re going to know it.” Fingertips press against the smooth keys, feeling their weight with each touch as she begins, refusing to lift her gaze asthe song drifts into the room.

iii. Does reputation matter to you?

“Absolutely.” The four syllables are firm and polished as they slip from her lips, accompanied by a gentle nod of certainty. Her life is built on a foundation that relies on the importance of stature and prestige. It is, perhaps, her guiding light. Her sole goal. Perfection of character, above all else. “If reputation stopped mattering to people, they would no longer strive to be the best version of themselves. They would lower their standards and risk getting lost amongst the masses of those who think they can do whatever they want and act however they please.” Her mind snags without her permission on thoughts of Sirius, the already poised length of her spine straightening a fraction more. “Nothing good comes to those who refuse to listen to other people’s opinions of them.”

iv. What is your relationship with your parents like?

A flicker of warmth dances across otherwise well-schooled features, fondness creeping into her tone. “I adore my mother. She is strong, and wise, and beautiful. I’ve never looked up to anyone more than I do her.” It has been that way for as long as she can remember; her youngest memory that of racing to keep up with her mother’s high-heeled strides, mimicking the posture of her walk, wanting to be as similar to her as any child does their hero. Reverie shifts to something hollower but no less adoring as Narcissa moves on to her father. “Daddy is a darling and puts up with my sisters and me so patiently. He has also ways been so good to us.” But she loves him for the blood they share and little else, just as he does her. Raising her chin, she allows a sliver of truth to shed its wings and free itself from the self-made cage of her chest. “I just want to make them both proud.”

v. What languages can you speak?

“Deux. French and Latin.” Two is a safe answer. Two is the sort of answer that doesn’t have people questioning whether she is perhaps more intellectually sharp than she would like them to believe. And it’s not necessarily a lie, not when French and Latin are the languages she is most efficient with, the ones she has been speaking for the longest alongside her native tongue. They do not need to know that she has also learnt Mandarin and Spanish, nor that Narcissa Black takes strength from being more than others assume.

vi. If your home was on fire and you could only save one item, what would you choose?

“That’s a horrible thing to ask someone and hardly appropriate.” She looks mildly taken aback, as if merely considering such an event has caused her some form of offence. Being materialistic should mean that she’d cherish the chance to re-furnish after only saving one item, but thought and care has gone into making her shared penthouse suite feel like a home for herself and Maya. “It’s impossible to answer. So I won’t.”

vii. Which Hogwarts University faculty did you study at? The Gryffindor School of Applied Science, the Ravenclaw School of Humanities, the Slytherin School of Social Science, or the Hufflepuff School of Art?

She has always looked good in ivy green; her parents had been sure to make that point when they’d placed the university prospectus down in front of her during breakfast. But it’s not that she hadn’t had a choice, not when her degree is precisely what she has always excelled at. “Slytherin School. I studied Marketing Communications at undergrad.” There’s a pause. The interviewer’s expectation prompts her to add more. “And Graphic Design for my masters.” She doesn’t mention what school that course belonged to. Her father had been all too efficient in getting it erased from her Wikipedia page and her name omitted from online information regarding Hufflepuff School alumni.

vix. What is your social media username?

“Cissablack.” A business card is pulled from her purse and slid in their direction across polished mahogany. Gold accents catch the light, bright against the matte black background. “All one word.”

[lindyhunt]

Everything That Upset the Internet This Week

What is the web-o-sphere up in arms about this week? A political television plot, a soap store window display and a former president trying to talk about #MeToo. Here’s everything you need to know:

Priyanka Chopra stars in a controversial episode of Quantico 

THE STORY: A recent episode of Priyanka Chopra’s ABC television series, Quantico, features a plot about Indian nationalists trying to carry out a nuclear attack in Manhattan.

In the episode, which aired June 1, FBI agent Alex Parrish (Chopra) derails a terror threat days before a summit is planned to be held in NYC between India and Pakistan. In her investigation, Parrish discovers a religious Hindu symbol on one of the suspects, leading her to believe that the plot was devised by Indian nationalists with the intention of framing Pakistan.

THE REACTION:

Latest episode of Quantico is about Hindu men with Rudrakshas who are identified as Indian nationalists with knowledge of Indian government planning a Nuclear attack and blaming Pakistan and the Great priyanka chopra with FBI team stops it

Mainstreaming fake narrative

— யோகம்=சுழிமுனை (@duvijan) June 2, 2018

If you are offended by this scene request everyone one to record their protest & tweet with #BoycottSamsung, Mocking Hindutva has become fashion these days. pic.twitter.com/1rzE5FT2Ci

— Bhaiyyaji (@bhaiyyajispeaks) June 6, 2018

Hey @priyankachopra , the love, adulation and fame that you got from us Indians is a significant reason that today you are on world stage. And you, the “Desi Girl” ,played along calmly portraying Indians as terrorists in your show Quantico #Respect 🙏🏻

— The-Lying-Lama (@KyaUkhaadLega) June 5, 2018

RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE RAGE: ABC has since apologized for the episode and defended Chopra’s role, saying in a statement: “ABC Studios and the executive producers of Quantico would like to extend an apology to our audience who were offended by the most recent episode, The Blood of Romeo. The episode has stirred a lot of emotion, much of which is unfairly aimed at Priyanka Chopra, who didn’t create the show, nor does she write or direct it. She has no involvement in the casting of the show or the storylines depicted in the series.”

That’s all well and true, but I’d like to think Chopra—an A-List actress who frequently voices her political opinions—wouldn’t shy away from speaking up if she was uncomfortable with a storyline on series she stars. The show may be fictional, but Hollywood needs to tread carefully when stepping into complex political issues. (Not that this has stopped them before. Like, ever.)

Chopra has since offered her own apology:

I’m extremely saddened and sorry that some sentiments have been hurt by a recent episode of Quantico. That was not and would never be my intention. I sincerely apologise. I'm a proud Indian and that will never change.

— PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) June 9, 2018

Lush launches their #SpyCops police campaign

THE STORY: Lush has teamed up with Police Spies Out of Lives, a U.K.-based organization that seeks to “end sexual and psychological abuse at the hands of undercover cops.” The month long campaign initiative features in-store signage, social media posts and a series of essays and videos on Lush UK’s site.

THE REACTION:

@LushLtd last time I checked you sold soap. With this latest campaign you’ve made yourself no better than the lowest tabloid papers. Won’t be shopping with you again. #flushlush

— Megan Alexander (@MeganAlexande12) June 2, 2018

@LushLtd am absolutely disgusted with your anti-police campaign. Our police officers save lives everyday and put themselves into situations to protect us all whilst you sit behind your big desks in an office somewhere. I will never be purchasing a Lush product again!#FlushLush

— Emma Johal (@EmmaJohal) June 1, 2018

There's already a public inquiry going on. Your campaign comes across as anti-police pure and simple, and should be withdrawn with an apology to serving and ex-cops #FlushLush

— John Hayes (@twpsaesneg) June 1, 2018

RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE RAGE:  Lush has the right to involve themselves in whichever political initiatives they so please. This is a noble cause with good intentions—no matter how anti-police it comes across in a shop window. Perhaps this brashness was part of the plan? We’re all talking about this corrupt undercover cop campaign now, aren’t we?

That said, shoppers have every right to boycott a retailer whose views don’t align with their own. Just buy your soap somewhere else, guy! (Though, TBH, I’d be surprised if these Twitter trolls were buying organic face masks in the first place.)

Bill Clinton made a tone deaf #MeToo comment

THE STORY: While promoting his new book on the Today Show this week, former President Bill Clinton was asked to comment on his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Clinton, clearly flustered and unprepared to be questioned on the topic, responded: “We have a right to change the rules but we don’t have a right to change the facts,” he said, suggesting that Craig Melvin, the interview, didn’t actually know the facts of the Lewinsky case.

“Nobody believes that I got out of that for free. I left the White House 16 million dollars in debt,” Clinton said, as though financial repercussions are enough to satisfy the #MeToo reckoning. Clinton then begins defending himself: “This was litigated 20 years ago … Two-thirds of the American people sided with me; I had a sexual-harassment policy when I was governor in the ’80s; I had two women chiefs of staff when I was the governor; women were overrepresented in the attorneys general office in the ’70s.”

THE REACTION:

Bill Clinton. Here is the truth of it: a human life was altered & destroyed due to your selfishness. Because. You. Could. You not only wiped your semen on a young girl’s dress, you left a stain on society. You actually owe EVERYONE an apology, especially her. #MeToo pic.twitter.com/HWnsAmXjlR

— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) June 4, 2018

Did Bill Clinton just #metoo Monica Lewinsky??? I (almost) have no words… Props for always being ahead of the curve as the first male to publicly somehow claim victim-hood from his actions against women. Balsy! Stupid… but balsy!!! https://t.co/Fvn7Cp3OmP

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 4, 2018

.@BillClinton you're a damn disgusting disgrace to yourself and our country. #MeToo has taught you nothing! You were a predator who preyed on Monica and everyone knows it. It is spooky how you can have no remorse. You may have been POTUS but you are nothing but #shameless trash. https://t.co/VkzaPDIdid

— Portia A. Boulger (@PortiaABoulger) June 4, 2018

RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE RAGE: What’s most notable here is not Clinton’s response (though his whole victim card thing is gross), but the fact that he was so clearly shocked to be asked this question in the era of #MeToo. Lewinsky has been asked to comment on this relationship for two decades. Why is it that women are always being questioned on their behaviour—and to react to the behaviour of men—while men so rarely are called out for their own actions? This was a consenting relationship, but nonetheless is an example of professional and sexual power dynamics. Time is finally up, and Bill Clinton should have been prepared to talk about it. No matter how much debt he left the White House with, he is not the victim here.

[amongushq]

Welcome to Among Us, GELLY! CAROLINE HALE ( with the faceclaim of EMMA WATSON ) has found shelter in NEW ATHENS, where we hope SHE will fit in nicely. Please make sure to check the “after applying” section of our navigation here!

This application is extremely well-written, we were shown your abilities as a writer from the get-go. While it was a bit hard to understand all that was or had been going on with Lane at first, it all got clearer as we read on, and it’s clear you put a lot of thought (and possibly research) on her background, which is something we never tire of seeing. The interpersonal relationships you show us also help depict your character in a different way, it adds another facet to her and explains without words how her mind and outlook on the world were shaped. Lane’s opinion on attending Camp and the Recall is something new, too, and throughout the audi we could feel her annoyance and strong beliefs. She is sure to shake things up in New Athens with her convictions and revolutionary mind, and her presence on the dash is more than welcome!

AND YOU ARE…?

What is your full name, and when were you born?

In a manner reminiscent of Crispin Hale (one of the more notorious activists for labor rights, or as she would call him, her grandfather), Lane stared blankly at the interviewer.

Her cool disposition remained unbroken as beady eyes beat daggers into her skull. She reached across the table– to the coffee cup she placed on the interrogator’s table ever so defiantly– and took a sip. In her youth she had learned that unless pressed for time, one must assess questions meticulously. The union she had grown up with had been thrown into panic once or twice for “inconsequential answers”. Friends had been arrested, wages were slashed, and life went on.

Words can be manipulated.

“Caroline Hale. Lane. Born and raised in New York.”

Have you been claimed, or do you belong to a legacy? If yes, state your godly parent / heritage.

The tip of her finger traced the lips of the cup, wiping the coffee stains that colored the styrofoam clean. She recalled a time, around ten or fifteen years ago, when she couldn’t answer the question. Not because she didn’t know how Athena was– because Lane did, quite well in fact. Her father had provided her with a copy of Edith Hamilton’s Mythology at the age of four, several months prior to his disappearance.

As a child, Lane believed that to answer the question would be to acknowledge a part of her that kept her separate from her grandfather and their cause.

And the distance from the chance to serve the people slowly murdered her, ideal by ideal.

Today, she didn’t hate Athena, but hated the way the goddess shackled her to a life of hide and seek. It’s as if mother had equipped her with the tools of knowledge, communication, skill, and power to challenge systematic oppression, but bound her to a certain code that she did not agree to, and couldn’t disagree with.

This man knew that. For some reason, Lane knew he was a co-conspirator to the gods. All those who complied to the recall were somehow.

“Giving me trick questions,” she grinned. “Next.”

Where are you currently based? Are you attending a Camp (Half-Blood / Jupiter), or are you living full-time in New Athens / New Rome? Is it a combination of both? / Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? ( If you’re applying for a canon character, are you diverging from book-canon? If so, how?) / What were you doing prior to The Recall?

There was no sound in the room, but the tap tap tap of a coffee cup on the table– which unnerved Lane.

Everywhere she went, there was always something. The ticking of the clock, the sounds of loud tow trucks passing by, the harsh words of entitled policemen berating the members of the labor union.

In hindsight, Lane considered herself as lucky. She was scrappy, scrawny, and up until Camp Half-Blood, almost always dirty– and she managed to project herself as innocuous and tiny during factory inspections– hiding in dark shadows and tiny cracks in between giant boxes– despite being the most dangerous person in the room. That’s not to say that she wanted to be harmful. This just happened to be the case when you’re a daughter of Athena. Or the daughter of any god, really.

“I don’t want to talk,” she whispered, fidgeting in her seat.

Walking home from school was always an ordeal for her. She stayed with other classmates– all huddled together as they navigated through the streets of their neighborhood. Poverty divided the people, separating the upper class from the working class, commodifying those down below for the convenience of the ruling class. Many of the children with her were seen as products– easily used, disposed, and replaced when necessary. Some were sold as maids, others participated in hard labor, and others, like Lane, were used as emotional blackmail.

Her grandfather was a leftist, a Marxist, a Socialist, a person who rejected the idealized capitalist American dream. Despite being arrested several times, he still ran his factory’s union– and ignoring his protests, Lane insisted on joining the cause. In the small corner of her household, in the moments Crispin was out organizing protests in the street, she learned about concepts too radical to be taught within the confines of elementary school.

At eight, she understand that the government prioritized some lives over others. By nine, she had heard of Karl Marx and the Communist Manifesto (though, never in detail). When she hit ten, she was sent to Camp Half-Blood, where she bitterly learned how to defend herself from those who stalked her in her shadows– those who reviled her for being a child of Athena, in the very same way she was distinguished for being the grandchild of Crispin Hale.

Her life in Camp Half-Blood, however, was not all bitter. She befriended Lorrie, and Dylan, and her sisters; yet she still resented the fact that she stayed within its borders for her own safety. It was a home, but it was a prison. Gifted with the glory of understanding the world in pristine clarity, chained by the terrors that stalk the children of the Olympians. A torturous paradox of excellence and obligation, of a contractual binding that she never asked for.

In her teens, she started reading more about critical theory– marxism, capitalism, feminism, technological determinism, queer studies. She took journalism when she entered college, often skipping classes to cover (and join) rallies. At eighteen, she found a roommate.  At twenty one and a half, she had re-found her purpose.

And at twenty two, she sat on the floor of her apartment– the adjacent room still as dusty, empty, and lonely as the day he left. She had set aside an article, leaving her chance at a paycheck to the benevolence of her editor, and began constructing a very polite, very courteous email to the erote named Dylan Gaspari. The recall happened that day.

“We’re done here.”