#flora greysteel

[the-busy-ghost]

Men Called Him Sir Gray Steele

Having many Strange and Norrell thoughts at the moment, but since I'm not exactly the type of fan who goes through and annotates and analyses I'm probably missing things or overthinking other details that have already been noticed.

That being said I've arrived at Chapter 51, "A Family by the Name of Greysteel" and this reminds me of my old theory about Flora Greysteel's name. Potentially the most famous Flora in British history was Flora MacDonald, who in 1746 assisted Charles Edward Stuart in escaping to Skye in the aftermath of the failed Jacobite Rising. I may be overthinking this aspect, since as a Scot I'm naturally conditioned to associate the name Flora with both that story, and stories about women who help historical and mythical "heroes" generally (note- no opinions are to be given on the character of Jacobite claimants in this post, but I have many).

What I am now less convinced that I'm overthinking is the 'Greysteel' aspect. Now Greysteil was a ballad which was extremely popular in sixteenth century Scotland (though like many popular ballads and poems from this period it may have its roots on the other side of the border in northern England as well). The references to Greysteil in Scottish history are probably related to the poem Sir Eger and Sir Grime, which may be fifteenth century in origin, but chiefly survives from 17th century versions, including in Bishop Percy's collection. The plot synopsis on wikipedia makes it clear that this is a poem replete with strange knights, and, perhaps more importantly, helpful female characters who go around giving gifts of magical swords to the heroes or generally acting as 'cunning' leeches (a leech was the term often given to a medical person, but it's more ambiguous than the rather more specific terms 'surgeon' or 'physician'). The name Greysteil refers to the antagonist of Eger and Grime in the poem- he is a mysterious knight who lives in the 'forbidden' country.

In preparation for reading chapter 51, therefore, (and while my food is cooking), I'm skim-reading a copy of the version of this poem in the Percy folio and trying to keep any important details in mind so I can compare it with Strange and Norrell. (Copy printed here)

What I do notice immediately is that when Greysteil (clad in red and gold) defeats knights who have the misfortune of coming across him, as a prize he takes the little finger of the man's right hand. This is his calling card.

It's a bit early in my read to say for certain but this absolutely calls to mind the fact that the gentleman with the thistle-down hair takes the little finger of Lady Pole's left hand as a token of the agreement when he agrees to help Norrell bring her back to life. Now taking a little finger may be a common motif in other literature too, I'm not sure, but given that there are other reasons to connect Strange and Norrell to the old poem Greysteel I have to wonder if this is significant.

In heraldry, the man's coat of arms often went on the right or dexter (viewer's left) and the woman's on the left or sinister. From what I've come across over the last decade this tends to be seen in other depictions of male-female relations in mediaeval and early modern culture, with maleness associated with the right and female associated with the left (bearing in mind that these were often married couples where the straightforward gender binary was at its most evident). So I have to wonder if Greysteil taking the little finger from the right hand of his (presumably all) male enemies, and the fairy in Strange and Norrell taking the little finger of the left hand of the woman he enchants, can be compared.

Again I have no idea yet what this may mean for the significance of Flora Greysteel, and whether we are to assume that her family has some connection to either the figure in the ballad or the gentleman with the thistle-down hair- I have yet to actually re-read chapter 51 and find out. But I'm posting this here in case it's useful to more observant fans than me and in case anyone can offer any insight. It was always a question I'd have loved to ask the author if there was ever a Q&A but I may be twenty years too late on this one.

Anyway, on with my re-read of Sir Eger and Sir Grime (and dinner)!

[fengtianshi]

Inktober without prompt

Flora Greysteel and the mirror she was asked to guard

[thinkanamelater]

*if you're a man you can still choose an option with Emma but uh she'll most likely pretend you aren't there

[lilyliveredlittlerichboy]

[...] and sing carols, whatever the weather

/

we used to hope for snow every christmas

we're praying it won't flood this year

as the days become colder, our hearts getting older

we missing the ones who aren't here

/

God this song still makes me cry almost every time. This line especially always catches me off guard, even if I'm listening to the song casually.

4 years since my best friend passed away suddenly.

Her birthday was Christmas Day. She would have been 28 this year.

4 years and I still don't know what to do with all this grief.

[recycledmoviecostumes]

Costume designer Annie Hardinge likely created this sweet little gown for the 2013 movie Austenland, where the piece made its debut on Keri Russell as Jane Hayes. It went on to be reused in the 2015 television mini-series Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, where Lucinda Dryzek’s Flora Greysteel considered it while holding it up to herself in front of a mirror. Suki Waterhouse wore it the following year to portray Kitty Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, though it can best be viewed in a deleted scene. The gown also had the distinction of being used in both the 2019 short version and the 2022 film version of Mr. Malcolm’s List, first by Olivia Caley as Lucy and later by an extra. It was used again on extras in the 2020 first episode of Belgravia, as well as the 2022 second season of Sanditon.

Costume Credit: Anne81, bellcs, Chai tea latte

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[were-rabbits]

tagged by @shisogelee thanks bestie! 🦔

rules: list your five all time favourite films and have people vote on which one matches your vibe.

tagging (if you would like to do it):

@glorianas @hotcrossedfangs @bimbogollum @misterandry @flora-greysteel @vercna @them-witches @zaegreus @jeaniefranklins @magical--realism @gasperyjacques @charlottecordays

[lacnunga]

Blah blah blah more jsamn stuff but I like to think in post canon flora takes arabella in to live with the greysteels in Italy for a while and Emma, eager to escape england takes a house in Venice (paid for by Walter bc he feels extremely guilty about the whole fairy affair) and when the greysteels return to England she gets arabella to live with her BUT ALSO they grab the attention of Caroline of Brunswick who resides near Pesaro at the time and she brings the two of them to entertain her in exile bc I think she and Emma would have well matching personalities

[limulusamebocytelysate]

Rereading Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell the book and it is literally victorian class dynamics that proves their undoing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also I was entirely correct about Drawlight - he's described as looking like an off-brand Lord Byron which the TV version definitely isn't. They also did Flora Greysteel dirty - she's tons more sensible than they made her out to be.

The TV series also portrayed Strange as a lot better than he actually was - he's not really a wife guy. Norrell's mostly right but not quite.

[blackhyena]

Tagged in a couple of these by @gablehood lets GO

Rules: Tag 10 people you want to get to know better.

Relationship Status: in a relationship

Favorite Color: purple!!!

Song Stuck In My Head: it's literally only video game soundtracks atm im sorry cool person card revoked

Last Song I Listened To: Cornershop - Brimful of Asha. I had my nineties mix on while i was cooking...

Three Favorite Foods: ive relatively recently realised i cannot each as much gluten as i used to anymore (aging userbase moment!), so the tempting answer is to just say bread, bread and bread. ed bought a sourdough for himself the other day and i was just pining after it constantly

Last Thing(s) I Googled: ahaha nothing fun. just any amount of medical paranoia related stuff which i KNOW I SHOULD NOT GOOGLE!!!! BUT IT PERSISTS!!

Dream Trip: snap I want to go to italy too!! I miss when I used to live there even though I wasn't actually that happy at the time, but maybe post-thesis with an actual disposable income and a flat that's not hostile to human life.... maybe then it would be different.

Anything I want: my plants are blooming so happily this time of year, my oxialis has 5 (five!!) bunches of little lilac flowers on it and it makes me feel maternal emotions everytime i see it 🥺

tagging: @falseomens @aurpiment @nights-decay @theuntranslated @macbethwitches @witchstone @flora-greysteel @saintbronte @romanesquearches @burningvelvet

[owl-by-night]

📓 <3

Thank you for the ask - you get one of the AUs I’ve had in my head for a very long time because it’s probably the weirdest thing I’ve come up with. Let me try to convince you! Every autumn as the days get shorter, Strictly Come Dancing appears on TV and I get nostalgic for the Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel Strictly Come Dancing AU that I am never going to write for a million reasons, the first of which is that I don’t even know why I like it so much. It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?

But what if Strictly isn’t just Strictly? What if it’s being run by an enigmatic gentleman with a penchant for velvet jackets, making bargains and hair like… thistledown? What if the ballroom where you sign up to dance all day and all night is this AU’s Lost Hope? Where you can never leave because of your contract with the Gentleman? And who knows what bargains he struck to get you to agree….

The gentleman wants his favourite pro dancer Stephen to win at any cost and he means ANY. 

Sir Walter Pole wants a good PR hit before the next election so signs up his young and beautiful wife to aid his popularity (He couldn’t take part himself of course, because he might not do well and can’t risk looking foolish. He can, however, show up to support his wife). So the Gentleman makes a bargain, pairs Emma with Stephen and he’ll do anything to get them to the final so they can dance for him forever.  And if there was a tragic accident to Emma’s finger during early rehearsals well that’s just a chance for sympathetic reporting in the popular press. 

Thistles can’t always plan for everything though - Arabella Strange is an unexpected star with a husband who does the best supportive videos and is arranging a social media campaign by accident because he just loves his wife so much and wants to tell everyone how proud of her he is. 

John Childermass was supposed to be a joke act who left before Halloween but despite looking out of place in every costume the man can dance (sort of, when Hannah takes him in hand) and his blunt Yorkshire take on things has a definite fan following. His salsa goes viral. His rumba causes riots.

Flora Greysteel is popular with the younger generation and doing too well for Thistles to be comfortable. She might once have run off to have an affair with a poet but when ‘someone’ leaks it to the press she turns out to have a formidable protector in her father and her new friends the Stranges. 

John Segundus and Mr Honeyfoot were a pair of nobodies that should both have gone out in the early weeks but Segundus just keeps coming back. Nobody can doubt his persistence or his commitment to the training. Dancing is my life, he says, and he can’t think what he’d do if it was taken from him. That earnest comment earned him a solid block of devoted viewers. It also gained him devotion of another kind. Under the cover of the general Strictly mayhem, Childermass has been making tentative overtures to ‘John S’ as he battles with recurrent dizzy spells - is it just the Viennese waltz or is it the magic of Strictly? Childermass is always there to look after him if he needs it. 

While the stakes were low to start with as the no hopers were voted off, as the final looms The Gentleman has to make a choice about who he really wants to win now and what he’ll do to get it. If that means releasing some photos to the press suggesting that the Stranges are really rather fond of Bell’s dance partner Colley Grant, well he has the footage waiting and if some people need to encounter some strategic accidents so be it. By the end of November the Gentleman is using any kind of tactic to make sure the public vote the right way - social media influence and press scandals and dubious judge’s marking (one could almost swear that Craig has been bewitched). So the series runs with even more than the usual strictly scandals - Maria Bullworth’s husband cites her dance partner Art Wellesley in divorce proceedings but was it really him or was it fellow contestant Henry Lascelles? Art has a reputation for flings but backstage rumour says he’s far more interested in Flora’s partner Will and there are uglier rumours about Henry and who really caused Chris Drawlight to be injured by falling props in movie week (conveniently removing him from the show before any nasty rumours about his business dealings could break).

But it’s Strictly and the voting public is as fickle as ever. As scandals break, the tabloids go wild, and the stars get closer to the glitter ball, the stresses and stains begin to take their toll and the press start to ask ‘how is lady Pole?’  

“Unless you’ve done it before”, she says in an interview, “nobody can really understand what it’s like to be part of the magic of ballroom and when you’re on Strictly it feels like you’ve been dancing forever. And ever. And ever.”

[ilthit]

I don't usually link my fic here but I'm pretty proud of these, the last two I wrote. They're both long enough to be worth notice and I've gotten some very nice comments (the JS&MN fandom is unparalleled when it comes to comments), so here they are.

Bonus Material Scum Villain's Self-Saving System, Shen Jiu & Shen Yuan, teen, 11248 words Summary: Shen Yuan transmigrates earlier, into a different Qiu household slave, and gets a chance to change Shen Jiu's fate. MXTX Rarepairs Exchange. Contains: Canon divergence, found family, gore, reconciliation. As a wind in the mountains assaults an oak Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Flora Greysteel/Emma Pole, teen, 6512 words Summary: Miss Greysteel's dear friend, Mrs Strange, introduces her to the famous Lady Pole. Consequently, Miss Greysteel finds her usually impeccable manners faltering. JSaMN Valentines Day Rarepairs Exchange. Contains: A gay awakening, scandalous ladies, bickering magicians.

[thinkanamelater]

Thick and Sweet (Flora/Arabella/Emma - Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel fanfiction)

Flora loves Emma and Arabella so much she'll do anything for them. Even let them drink her blood (Rated M)

Also on AO3!

“I'm not so sure about this, Emma” Arabella said, but she was looking at Flora and running her fingers through her hair. “What if it's too much for her?”

Arabella always cared so much. 

That was one of the many things that had drawn Flora close to her. And it was her concern about Emma that led them to this situation.

“She hasn't been feeling well and she lost her appetite, which makes me worry about her, but I can't exactly force her to feed, you know?” Arabella had told her one night.

“Would it help if, let's say, she could feed from me?” Flora suggested with a blush on her face.

She had a few reasons to make this offer. First and foremost, because she was honored that Arabella had confided in her, and wanted to be helpful. 

Also, because she knew Emma, and her melancholy was as beautiful and magnetic as Arabella's kindness and optimism. She wanted Emma to see her as a friend, a confidant, and perhaps more.

And, last but not least, because instead of being terrified by their condition, it intrigued and stimulated her in ways she had never experienced. The smallest contact made her whole body tingle pleasantly, so she would take any chance to be closer to them.

But now Arabella was doubting she take it.

Flora looked at Emma for support, who only shrugged, but there was a hint of a smile in her elegant face.

“Please. I can- I can do it.” She pleaded “For you” She turned to Emma once more, before looking at Arabella again “And if it is too much… I know you'll be there for me”

“Good girl” Emma complimented her, and Arabella leaned down to kiss her cheek.

“You're right, darling”

Emma led her into a big room, helped her lay her down on a big, soft mattress with a faint scent of roses. Arabella finished lighting up candles (so many candles) around the room, and turned to them.

“You're shivering, dear!” She said, sitting on the bed next to Flora and moving to take her hand “Are you cold?”

“I am a little nervous” She admitted, squeezing Arabella's hand. When she saw Arabella's expression turning into one of concern, she quickly added “But I'm looking forward to this”

Emma smiled, and Flora was ecstatic to see that it reached her eyes.

“Silly little girl” She said, with a hint of tenderness in her voice that Flora had only heard towards Arabella before, and therefore she couldn't take any offense in that.

“Let's get you ready, then”

Arabella grinned playfully, unbuttoning her shirt, exposing more and more of her skin, and kissing her lips tenderly.

It was far from being the first time Arabella kissed her, and yet Flora's stomach fluttered and her heart skipped a beat every time their lips met. When she pulled away, Flora barely had a moment to catch his breath before Emma took hold of her chin, turned her head, and pressed their lips together as well.

Her kiss was different than Arabella's: it felt colder, but also more intense and demanding. Flora did her best to kiss her back and match her intensity, and whined when the kiss was broken. The whine quickly turned into soft gasps and sighs as the cold lips followed the line of her jaw, down to her neck; and then made way to sharp teeth, tearing his skin and drawing blood.

To alleviate her discomfort, Arabella kissed between her exposed breasts, and drew circles on the top of her thighs, over her skirt. Flora soon forgot about the pain and focused instead on the warm sensation expanding through her body.

“How are you feeling?” Arabella whispered. Flora opened her eyes and had to make an effort to focus them on her.

Arabella's own eyes were glowing, and she licked her pretty red lips. It was clear by her tense posture that she was exercising a great deal of self-control. Flora wanted to give her anything she wanted, all that she had.

“I'm good” She half whispered, half moaned. The discomfort was still present, but it was overpowered by the enticing sensation of her blood flowing and Emma fervently drinking it “You can drink too” She motioned with her hand at the other side of her neck. 

Arabella bit her lower lip and her eyes widened, but she didn't move any closer.

“It's fine, Arabella, I really want you” She mewled, her eyes rolling back.

Arabella didn't hesitate after that. She and Emma quickly exchanged a look, and nodded.

Emma's hand moved up Flora's skirt, caressing the inside of her thighs, making her gasp and squirm. When she reached between her legs and Flora opened her mouth on a moan, Arabella's fangs sunk into her neck.

This time Flora let out a scream that made both ladies stop in concern. Immediately she yelled “For the love of- Don't you dare stop!” 

Of course they complied; and not only continued licking and sucking at her neck, but also Arabella moved her hand to join Emma's. She made circular rubbing motions, while Emma's fingers found their way in and out of her.

Emma's lips left her neck and kissed a trail down to her breasts, licking and teasing her nipples with the slightest hint of teeth.

The sensations were piling up in Flora's body, who was shuddering and gasping. 

She felt simultaneously pinned down the bed and floating above her body. Her consciousness was slipping, while the pleasure that was building up in her reached its limit and exploded, enveloping her like a thick mist.

She felt dazed and delighted, as she walked the line between sleep and awake. She was aware of movement near her, and her eyes opened just enough for her to catch flashes of Emma and Arabella kissing and licking the blood off each other's faces, of their bodies moving rhythmically, and in a particularly enticing vision (Flora tried to stay awake enough to capture it, but disappointingly couldn't) of them taking off their clothes.

When she woke up, there was one single candle still lit.

She felt a vague pain on her neck, and a weight besides her. She turned to check it and a gasp caught on her throat, as she was greeted by the sight of Arabella sleeping soundly, her arms around Flora's middle, and her chest, uncovered, pressed to Flora's side.

Flora stared at this magnificent view until Emma cleared her throat, and made her way towards the bed from the other side of the room. Flora looked at her with embarrassment.

"Such a pretty picture, isn't she? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stop you from admiring her. Lord knows I would only do that, if I could” Emma stopped a few steps away from the bed “I just wanted to say thank you" She mumbled this last part.

"It was nothing, really” Flora mumbled back. Emma raised an eyebrow “I really enjoyed it" She added, and Emma chuckled.

“I'm glad to hear that. Now rest, you will need it” She brushed the hair out of Flora's face and then turned, silently walking away.

“Won't you join us?” Flora called in a whisper.

Emma stopped. She looked over her shoulder at them, silent and cold for a moment, and her expression softened.

“Alright” She smiled slightly, the tiniest curl of her lips that uncovered her long, sharp teeth, and Flora beamed up at her.

[datsderbunnyblog]

Listen, I think John Segundus is most emphatically Not Straight, so I’m not shipping these two as such, but all I’m saying is that he and Flora Greysteel have that same boundless raw enthusiasm for magic and general lost puppy energy and I’m sure they’d have an unbreakable queerplatonic partnership formed within minutes of meeting.

[rubysharkruby]

Well, who are we to say madness is a curse? For many people - poets, for instance - it’s a gift. 

[rayreviews]

They were excessively pleased with the Campo Santa Maria Formosa. They thought the facades of the houses very magnificent - they could not praise them highly enough. But the sad decay, which buildings, bridges and church all displayed, seemed to charm them even more. They were Englishmen and, to them, the decline of other nations was the most natural thing in the world. They belonged to a race blessed with so sensitive an appreciation of its own talents (and so doubtful an opinion of any body else's) that they would not have been at all surprised to learn that the Venetians themselves had been entirely ignorant of the merits of their own city - until Englishmen had come to tell them it was delightful.

Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell