#her eyes are Christabelles and I wanted to somehow show that

[virulent-scum]

Mercymorn The First with eyes like a sandstorm on Mars

[tessatechaitea]

Kid Eternity #3

In this issue, Kid Eternity fucks a Rastafarian hippo.

This comic book, more than any other comic book, taught me that I don't have to keep buying every issue of a comic book just because it's under the Vertigo imprint. This comic book took me by the hand, led me out of the misty forest of Vertigo's obfuscating nonsense, pushed me out into the bright clarity of presumed reality and said, "Stop coming around here to get your butthole molested, you skanky little perv." After blinking the sunlight out of my eyes for a bit, I gasped and thought, "Sometimes art is art with tits and sometimes art is just tits distracting from nonsense. And it's up to me and G.I. Joe to tell the difference." This is where I'd post an image of tits to distract you from my nonsense but this isn't a porn site, you skanky little perv. This issue begins, like all Ann Nocenti issues, with me shaking my head and contemplating self-harm. Also tits and nonsense. So much nonsense. Like more nonsense than a shaking stick could shake another stick at. Usually I appreciate comic books with dense dialogue and a thick, rich story. But the first page has a dialogue between two of the Pope's demon children that's 160 words long. I'm not sure Ann Nocenti completely understands how comic books work. The second page's dialogue contains 199 words (and five tits). I have a new theory about Ann Nocenti's writing: she was paid by the word and the only way to keep the editor from cutting down her word count was to make the dialogue incomprehensible so the editor didn't know which words to cut. I'm not counting the amount of words on the third page but I'm pretty sure it's even more than page two. Page three sort of introduces two new characters (as if this comic book needs any more subplots). I think they're brothers but all we, as readers, are allowed to see are hands and books. One book is The Book of Sin in which the brothers invoke temptation against Kid Eternity. This sends the Pope's devil children to ruin his plans with their vaginas. The other book is The Book of Reflection in which Kid Eternity's own narcissism is used against him. I guess nobody wants the modern Buddha Christ Child to be born? But aren't they all wasting their time? Didn't we discover the magical child was fished out of a garbage can in the dirty alley where the homeless guys constantly discuss the value of women?

This newscast, awash in speculation and false premises, is still more informative than the talking head opinion pieces and non-expert debates that form the bulk of most 24 hour news stations. And look at all those words! This was just two-thirds of one page!

Meanwhile, the FBI agents are still lying around in bed. How they ended up in bed after being shot by Ares' hate arrows isn't information that was deemed necessary for the readers to understand the story. Which is fine because I think Nocenti just wrote them out of the comic book in a scene where the Fates are stitching a quilt and one is all, "What are we doing with these two?" and another one is all, "Forget them! They're lost to entropy! We have so many more stories to knit!" And she's write because I don't think I could even remember all of the character and story arcs from just the first two issues! Let's make a list! 1. The homeless guys philosophizing in the alley. 2. Kid Eternity and his search for the Christ Buddha. 3. Madame Blavatsky's search for snacks and causing time to rewind. 4. The FBI agents looking to help Kid Eternity but somehow winding up in bed not fucking. 5. Hemlock the feminist who could be the Christ Buddha's mother but has become the mother of a computer virus. 6. Dog the gross dude who wants to fuck Hemlock. 7. Keep, Kid Eternity's keeper, who probably isn't exactly into helping Kid Eternity. 8. Beelzebub deciding to go to Earth to be more like Lucifer. 9. Judas, just hanging out with Beelzebub. 10. Jesus getting drunk in a bar. 11. The Malocchio, or Pope's demon children, trying to stop the birth of the Christ Buddha. 12. The Christ Buddha who was found in a trash can but then taken away by some woman who might have been its mother. 13. Cupid, summoned by Kid Eternity to make the FBI agents do it but who arrived late because he was in a coma and shot them with hate arrows anyway so he just decided to get drunk with the homeless guys. 14. Zeus and the other Greek Gods who woke back up when Cupid was summoned. 15. The Catholic church who seem to be Kid Eternity's main atagonist. 16. Freud and Jung, brought in to show how much Ann Nocenti knows about the founders of psychology. That's all I can remember! I'm sure I've forgotten some story bits and characters. This issue wasted no time introducing even more! Now we have the brothers reading metaphysical books, the Fates, and a transgender sex worker.

Is the point that they won't date women because they're afraid to talk to them? I just thought women didn't want to date them because they're filthy itinerants with no ambition.

Oh! It turns out the "brothers" reading the books about all the other characters are Jesus and Beelzebub! Thank goodness I don't have to remember any new characters! Hopefully the transgender sex worker turns out to be Madame Blavatsky. Double oh! I just realized the transgender sex worker is one of the Malocchio! Whew! I think I'm shaking off the Ann Nocenti Dome of Confusion! I'm beginning to follow and understand her plot! I mean, really, it's not so hard. Kid Eternity wants to inspire mankind and thinks a new Buddha Christ child is the way to do it. Everybody else wants to stop him because mankind sucks ass. Now add a bunch more words and about thirty random Wikipedia entries to my summation and you'll get Nocenti's version of the plot.

This is a great example of Nocenti's profound nonsense. Sorry but the tits were in the previous panel on the previous page.

I'm worried that I'm going to completely burn out on reading old comics because after this excruciating three issue run of Kid Eternity, I've got about six issues of Grant Morrison's The Invisibles. Not that I'm comparing the quality of the two comic books! It's just that I don't understand this comic book but that in no way makes me feel stupid. But when I don't understand The Invisibles, I'm going to feel like a huge idiot. This issue, which is the final issue in my head canon, ends with Fetish, the Malocchio transgender sex worker, fucking Kid Eternity until he falls in love with her and then leaving him. His heart is broken and now he's ready to be fucked by the other Malocchio. Plus Jesus and Beelzebub are playing some kind of game with Kid Eternity and a mad girl named Christabel who can draw reality. So that's another character and piece of the plot that I never would have kept straight if I'd kept reading this comic book. Kid Eternity #3 Rating: C-. It's really fucking falling apart at this point. Yes, the basic premise is pretty easy to understand. But it's tiresome trying to keep it all straight when every single one of Nocenti's characters speaks in never ending analogies. So if love is like sailing, you don't just get, "Bright skies and still seas until the storm clouds gather and toss the ship." No, you get "Love is sailing in bright skies on a calm sea with freshly waxed decks and clean billowing sails, a pleasant breeze that stopped over in Manhattan to waft the fresh smell of baking garlic and Margherita pizza into your upraised nostrils as you watch two seagulls playfully dance in the sky until the next instant stormy seas, black skies, flailing ropes, ripped sails, riggings down, the decks awash, and death is licking the back of your neck." That whole last part where the stormy seas start is actually a direct quote. I embellished the first half!

[borisbubbles]

01. LITHUANIA

Ieva Zasimauskaite - “When we’re old” 12th place

After six, long arduous months, this ranking somehow outlived the entire Almaia relationship, and that alone should be reason enough to finish the ranking immediately, but the the upcoming ban of all nfsw stuff (/porn) from this website will also cause a homosexual exodus (homosexodus? 🤔), sooooo, definitely time to finish this ranking before I lose 85% of my current audience. 

Look, listen OKAY, just like how I naturally gravitate towards Lea Sirk’s sass and Elina’s pristineness and DoReDoS’s hilarious whateverthatwas, I was simply never *not* going to like a Lithuanian frumpy space princess and annointed HINDU with a voice more brittle than Theresa May’s position in the House of Commons, whose meditation rites include drinking a cup of boiling water (without the tea! just water) on a daily basis to *purify* her mind and soul. Okay the last MAY be an exaggeration on the behalf of the Flemish commentator (Peter Van de Veire is a known jokester), but then again, I can totally see Ieva telling this to random bystanders in her hotel lobby? Such oblivious, but well-meaning wackiness is just so Ieva SassyMouseKyte. 

Naturally, one MASSIVE part of my Ieva stanning is JUST her personality, which is both intensely kooky and disarmingly innocent, see above. Another example: Ieva serenly sliding off the stage during the semifinal, only to find the nearest camera and exclaim  ”I FELT THE PRESENCE OF *GODS* ON THE STAGE WHILE I WAS SINGING ^__^ I FEEL *ENLIGHTENED* 🤗🤗” llke she was Siddharta Gautama under the Bodhi tree <3 I am no a religious man but if Ieva said the stage was brightened with a non-descript Eastern Deity’s presence during the performance, who am I to refute it? 😁 

Gods or no gods, I will say that it took a *serious* amount of dharma to give us *the most unexpected gift* we’ve ever could’ve been granted, which is a COMPETENT EUROVISION ENTRY FOR LITHUANIA. In terms of Eurovision, Lithuania are amongst of the objective *worst* on a  terrifyingly consistent basis and here you have a fairly pleasant Ellie Goulding-inspired, frumpolicious Hindu cleric bringing a ballad about the inevitability of high medieval alliance pacts. Let’s Sing The Song That She Wrote:

Actually that’s selling the act a bit short, because for a brief moment, Ieva managed to transform her moment during the sheer INSANITY that was this year’s finale (well the sheer insanity streaked with horrifying, terrible, machinal dullness, not naming any names but *cough*austriaandaustralia*cough), into an oasis of *pure show-stopping sentiment* and that’s a powerful feat to accomplish for a Eurovision entry. Normally, you think such an entry would Blackbird itself into oblivion but as Ieva had prophetically declared, GOD WAS ON HER SIDE, AMEN, so nope, think again Christerifer Morningstar 😈

Speaking of, praise Hallellujah, Oh Glory and Mazzel-Motherfucking-Tov that Ieva qualified under the hilarity that is the current combined voting system (to those who still hate it, AISEL would’ve qualified under the old system despite being 12th in both jury and televote 🙃 Granted this would be funny if this had happened to Sennek or Ari or Eye Cue or basically anyone other than Aisel, but it didn’t so The Old System remains CANCELLED, s/n/s) because not only is Ieva an Elyon Goddess Moste High, and has the unique quality of being a Good Entry from Lithuania, “When We’re Old” is also... fucking awesome in itself?

 “When we’re old” is *not* your typical BorisBubbles fave on the surface (lol as if I can expect you to know what a typical Boris fave is after only two full rankings  on tumblr 😬), but it totally is? Ieva hits that personal sweet spot for me that I require from my faves: Quirky, but not overbearingly weird. Well-liked, but not liked *enough* to top every post-show list. Sentimental, but because her emotions are *real*, not because of some forced commercialized acting gig. (such as, um, fucking Rona Nishliu and her fake-as-fuck dry sobbing ugh die bitch! (k not literally, just musically, 5ever)). Also, this song makes me want to sing along like the soft ass fag that I am. “When Weeeeeeeeee’re OWLED Hooooooooooooooo!!!” All of this cements Ieva as a dark horse, an underdog and an eternal outsider and these are  the *specific*  type of entries that I started this blog for.   

I guess I should write a bit more, with more *sass and pizzazz*, but that’s basically my Ieva love in a nutshell! I think she’s an utter gem, both as a human and a Eurovision participant, “When We’re Old” *still* remains the only entry this year to give me *emotional attachment* in the form of shivers and near-tears and bad impromptu karaoke.  If you don’t think she’s all that, well that’s your loss, not sorry! She made the final through the good graces of Hare Krishna and did better than Jessi*can’t* and *No*lexander ! If I get a relationship, I want it be precisely like Ieva and her Hubbo’s. GET A LIFE!!

ALL HAIL THE QUEEN OF EUROVISION 2018

Thank you for reading this ranking, it’s been a blast! See you on the 1st of April 2019 for the #TelAviv2019 preshow ranking. God bless you and shalom! 

EUROVISION 2018 - POST SHOW

01. Lithuania (Ieva Zasimauskaite - “When we’re old”) 02. Moldova (DoReDoS - “My Lucky Day”)

03. Estonia (Elina Nechayeva - “La Forza”)

04. Slovenia (Lea Sirk - “Hvala, ne!”)

05. Switzerland (ZiBBZ - “Stones”)

06. Germany (Michael Schulte - “You let me walk alone”)

07. Albania (Eugent Bushpepa - “Mall”)

08. France (Madame Monsieur - “Mercy”)

09. Hungary (AWS - “Viszlát nyár”)

10. Finland (Saara Aalto - “Monsters”)

11. Bulgaria (EQUINOX - “Bones”)

12. Denmark (Rasmussen - “Higher ground”)

13. Malta (Christabelle - “Taboo”)

14. Cyprus (Eleni Foureira - “Fuego”)

15. United Kingdom (SuRie - “Storm”)

16. Serbia (Balkanika - “Nova Deca”)

17. Portugal (Cláudia Pascoal - “O jardim”)

18. The Netherlands (Waylon - “Outlaw in ‘em”)

19. Ukraine (MÉLOVIN - “Under the ladder”)

20. Macedonia (Eye Cue - “Lost and Found”)

21. San Marino (Jessika ft. Jenifer Brening - “Who We Are”)

22. Sweden (Benjamin Ingrosso - “Dance You Off”)

23. Austria (Cesár Sampson - “Nobody but you”)

24. Latvia (Laura Rizzotto - “Funny girl”)

25. Azerbaijan (AISEL - “X my heart”)

26. Israel (Netta - “Toy”)

27. Norway (Alexander Rybak  - “That’s how you write a song”)

28. Montenegro (Vanja Radovanovic - “Inje”)

29. Armenia (Sevak Khanagyan - “Qami”)

30. Poland (Gromee ft. Lukas Meijer - “Light me up”)

31. Greece (Yianna Terzi - “Oniro mou”)

32. Georgia (Iriao - “For you”)

33. Belgium (Sennek - “A matter of time”)

34. Italy (Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro - “Non mi avete fatto niente”)

35. Romania (The Humans - “Goodbye”)

36. Ireland (Ryan O'Shaughnessy - “Together”)

37. Croatia (Franka - “Crazy”)

38. Belarus (ALEKSEEV - “Forever”)

39. Russia (Julia Samoylova - “I Won’t Break”)

40. Spain (Amaia & Alfred - “Tu canción”)

41. Iceland (Ari Ólafsson - “Our choice”)

42. Australia (Jessica Mauboy - “We got love”)

43. Czech Republic (Mikolas Jozef - “Lie to me”)

HALL OF BORIS BUBBLES EUROVISION FAVES (1972-2018) 1972: the Netherlands (Sandra & Andres - “Als het om de liefde gaat”) 1973: United Kingdom (Cliff Richard - “Power to all our friends”) 1974: Sweden (ABBA - “Waterloo”) (ed: totally by default btw. Shit year.) 1975: Germany (Joy Fleming - “Ein Lied kann Eine Brücke Sein” )  1976: Luxembourg (Jürgen Marcus - “Chansons pour ceux qui s’aiment”) (😂) 1977: Belgium (Dream Express - “A million in 1-2-3″) (ed.: top five ESC year) 1978: Israel (Izhar Cohen & Alfabeta - “A Ba Ni Bi”) 1979: Germany (Dschinghis Khan - “Dschinghis Khan”) 1980: Luxembourg (Sofie & Magaly - “Papa Pingouïn”) 1981: Belgium - (Emly Starr - “Samson”) 1982: Germany - (Nicole - “Ein Bißchen Frieden”) 1983: Israel (Ofra Haza - “Hi”) 1984: Ireland (Linda Martin - “Terminal 3″) 1985: Turkey (MFÖ - “Didai, Didai, Dai”) 1986: Belgium (Sandra Kim - ”J’aime la vie”) (même si c’est une folie!) 1987: Belgium (Liliane St. Pierre - “Soldiers of Love”) (ed.: top Five esc entry) 1988: Switzerland (Céline Dion - “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi”) 1989: Denmark ( Birthe Kjær -  "Vi maler byen rød") 1990: Yugoslavia/Croatia (Tajci - “Hajde, da ludujemo) 1991: Sweden (Carola -  “ Fångad av en stormvind”) (ed.: top five ESC entry) 1992: Denmark (Lotte Nilsson & Kenny Lübcke - “Allting som ingen ser”) 1993: the Netherlands (Ruth Jacott - “Vrede”) 1994: Germany (MeKaDo  - “Wir geben ‘ne Party”) 1995: Cyprus (Alexandros Panayi - “Sti fotia”) 1996:  Croatia (Maja Blagdan - “Sveta ljubav”) 1997: Poland (Anne-Marie Jopek - “Ale jestem”) (ed.: Top five ESC year) 1998: the Netherlands (Edsilia Rombley - “Hemel en aarde”) (I think???? lol 😬) 1999: Croatia (Doris Dragovic - “MARIJA MAGDALENAAAAAAA”) 2000: Latvia (Brainstorm - “My Star”) (ed.: top five ESC entry) 2001: France (Natasha St. Pier - “Je n’ai que mon âme”) (but also, nobody) 2002: Spain (Rosa - “Yooropz leebin a selebrayshun”) (ed.: this trashfest <3) 2003: Germany (Lou - “Let’s get happy”) (and let’s be GAY!) 2004: Albania (Anjeza Shahini - “Image of you”) 2005: Romania (Luminita Anghel and Sistem - “Let me try”) (Ed.: top five year) 2006: Iceland (Silvia Night - “Congratulations”) (ed.: 2006 SF > 2006 GF 😬)   2007: Georgia (Sopho - “Visionary Dream”) (ed.: i have about 9 absofaves from this year though lol) 2008: Iceland (Euroband - “This is my life) 2009: Iceland (Yohanna - “Is it true?”) (ed.: top five ESC entry) 2010: Albania (Juliana Pasha - “It’s all about you”) 2011: Germany (Lena - “Taken by a stranger) (ed.: top 5 entry, bottom 5 year >_<) 2012: Sweden (Loreen - “Euphoria”) (ed.: as with ABBA Loreen wins my ranking by default because this year is mostly rubbish.) 2013: Greece (Koza Mostra - “Alcohol is free”) (ed.: personal fave ESC year :)) 2014: Slovenia (Tinkara Kovac ft. Lea Sirk - “Round and round) (ed.: top five ESC year) 2015: Latvia (Aminata - “Love Injected”)  2016: Armenia (Iveta Mukuchyan - “LoveWave) 2017: Belgium (Blanche - “City Lights”) 2018: Lithuania (Ieva Zasimauskaite - “When we’re old”) (ooooohhhhhhhh)

[leahazel]

Day 5 - “Family” - Bel & Jack

Christabel “Bel” of Hise and Jacqueline “Jack” of Wellin, for 7kppweek day 5 “Family” (indeterminate post-canon timeline, not a multi-MC A/U, PG-ish, ~1800 words)

Notes: Bel’s dad Gabriel and Jack’s dad Leopold are brothers in this continuity, but have not been in contact since before Jack was born. Jack is about five years younger than Christabel.

Emmett had told her that Wellin was a lot like Arland, and she could see what he meant by it, but she didn’t really agree. The two countries were subtly different in all sorts of interesting ways, from the food to the street music to even the weather. Of course she knew about the weather in advance, but that somehow didn’t keep her from being surprised every morning as she woke up to the dawn chill.

The people in the cities they passed through had a standoffishness to them that she couldn’t imagine any of her Arlish neighbors would consider good manners. They were more extravagant, also, and she did not like that. More and more, Bel was rather glad that her father had left Wellin as a youth. Rather, as she liked to think of it, that her mother, the notorious pirate Captain Kendra Blackthorn, had rescued him from a lifetime of dreary stuffiness.

The day’s ride, then, had pleasantly surprised her. The three of them had set out as soon as it was light, despite Anna’s yawns and protestations. At first the roads were empty because of the early hour, but as the day wore on they ran into more and more locals, and all of them were unfailingly kind and friendly. Not even in the stiff, slightly superior politeness that she had come to associate with the Wellish, but earnestly welcoming.

Maybe today would turn out right, after all. Bel was still more than a little apprehensive, even though this trip had been her idea to begin with. She’d insisted on it, in fact. And no, it was not only because their younger child was too small to bear the traveling and had to be left back at the Lilypond with his gran and his nannies. She’d said that she wanted to know where he came from, and she knew her father would never reach out of his own volition. If there were family ties to be mended, it was up to her to make the first move.

“Bel!”

She shook off her distracted thought and focused on her husband.

He smiled brightly at her, and she saw that he’d pulled his horse to the side of the road to chat with a man leading a pack-mule by a rope. They seemed to be chatting comfortably, so Bel didn’t speed her riding overmuch. She had Anna on the saddle before her, and she didn’t like to jostle her too much. She would catch up to them soon enough.

“This man gave me directions to Holt castle,” said Emmett when her horse had reached comfortable speaking distance. “Did you know, we’ve been riding through Holt for hours, now.”

“Have we?” said Bel. “I hope that means we’re close.”

“G’day, milady,” said the man. “Must be two hours’ brisk ride that way,” he said, gesturing, “no more.”

Bel looked from Emmett on his horse to little Anna cradled against her chest and made a face.

“I’d best ride ahead to announce us,” said Emmett, “so they’ll know to expect a lady and a child.”

Bel nodded. “I’ll keep on at a slower pace, with Anna and Geoff. Now, I won’t be riding alone, you see, so there’s nothing to be worried about.”

Emmett looked like he was about to argue, but changed his mind. “We’re hardly likely to come to harm, here of all places, surely.”

The strange man nodded and smiled. “Nowhere in the kingdoms is safer than Holt,” he said. “You’ll see when you meet the Countess. She’d never let us down.”

**

“You said your wife and daughter will be joining us?” asked Jack dubiously.

The strange man nodded, which set his golden curls bouncing. “They should be right along, they were riding right behind me. They only had to go more slowly because our daughter is quite young, still.”

He looked too young to have a wife and daughter, but maybe that was just the way his face was, and he hadn’t grown out of it. But no, he didn’t look any older than Jack herself, younger maybe. Of course, many would say that she was long past due to get married herself, but things were different when one was a young and eligible heiress. Still, he seemed pleasant and downright charming, so if he’d fixed on getting married it wasn’t hard to believe he’d find a willing bride. 

But that was more introspection than Jack could tolerate for one day. 

“Do you want to see the dogs?” she asked, abandoning all efforts at decorum. 

His face broke into a radiant smile. “I would love to. Purebred Wellish dogs are supposed to be the best in the world.” 

“Oh, they are,” said Jack confidently, though she’d never been outside Wellin’s borders in her life, “and Holt’s are the best in Wellin, too.” 

With a new litter of puppies to break the ice, Emmett opened up easily and told her all about his travels over the seven kingdoms. Jack envied him more than a little, even if he did have to go home to Arland at the end of every journey. She was convinced that if there was a place more terrible than Wellin’s royal court, Arland had to be it. At least here in Holt, everyone loved her just as she was. Things were proceeding nicely when one of her footmen appeared to announce that there was a woman and child seeking entrance to the castle. 

“That would be Bel and Anna, now,” said Emmett, nodding sagely. 

Jack was overbearingly curious to see them, so much so that she was willing to leave off playing with the puppies any longer. She wondered what she would be like, the wife of this unusual Arlish Earl who didn’t act like any nobleman she’d ever known. Except, maybe, her father. 

Nothing could have prepared her for the reality. 

“The Countess will see you now,” the footman announced. 

Into her great hall entered possibly the tallest woman she’d ever seen. She was dark-skinned, and in the low candlelight of the hall her hair had a russet sheen to it. She was dressed in riding leathers, not even a split skirt, and she carried a toddler on one hip. The child had a mess of curly hair and her thumb stuck in her mouth. She must have been sleepy, but she was looking around the room curiously. Jack instantly knew that she would like her. 

The Countess of Lalahi passed the child on her hip over to her husband and dipped a quick, neat curtsy in her general direction. 

“Well, then,” she said, “now that the niceties are dispensed with, let’s have a look at you, cousin.” 

She couldn’t imagine two less likely cousins, even taking into account that they both apparently favored their mothers. Christabel was tall and broad-shouldered. Up close, her hair proved to be thick, curly and a dark wine-red color, and her eyes were a brilliant shade of green. Jack herself was short, rather round of figure, and had yellow hair and blue eyes. She realized, much to her amusement, that she looked more closely related to Earl Emmett than to his wife. For all she knew, she was; she’d never studied her mother’s family tree too closely. 

“So,” said Jack, to cover up her awkwardness. “You must be the kidnapper’s daughter.” 

It was a terribly crass and inappropriate thing to say, but Christabel only broke into deep laughter. 

“I see the story of my father’s fabled kidnapping is still making the rounds, even all these years later,” she said. “I must tell my parents. They’ll both be delighted. Well, mama will be delighted. Papa finds the whole matter rather embarrassing.” 

“Your parents are still alive,” said Jack, not bothering to phrase it as a question. 

Christabel nodded, her smile dimming. “They still live on Hise, although my mother doesn’t captain a boat anymore.” 

“Do you have any sibling?” asked Jack impulsively. 

She shook her head. “Just me and my parents. What about you?” 

Jack smiled, but she couldn’t seem to put any real cheer into it. “Just me, for years now.” 

The Earl and his bride exchanged a worried look. 

“But let’s not be so gloomy,” said Jack quickly. “Who’s this little puppy?” She bent down to look at the girl leaning against her father’s legs. 

The little girl very gravely offered her a hand to shake, which Jack of course took with all due courtesy. 

“This is Annarose,” said Emmett. “Anna, say hello.” 

Annarose mumbled something out of the corner of her mouth, and clung closer still to her father’s legs. 

“She’s shy,” said Christabel apologetically. 

“Nothing of it,” said Jack, pasting on a grin. “What was I thinking? You must be tired and hungry after all that riding. Dinner isn’t for another hour, I think. You’ll have some time to rest.” She paused and took a breath. “You are staying, aren’t you? Oh, please stay!” 

They exchanged another look and Christabel laughed. 

“We can hardly refuse such a generous invitation,” said Emmett, breaking into a grin. 

“Wonderful!” said Jack, clapping her hands together. “Oh, Maria will be around in a moment to show you to the guest rooms. Maria’s the housekeeper, you know. She’s my right hand, I’d be lost without her. Your man will be with the animals in the stables, so the stablehands will see him taken care of with dinner and a place to stay and so on. If they’re ever done admiring your horses, that is, although I must agree that they look like very fine beasts. I don’t know half as much about horses as I do about dogs, though.” 

She kept up her end of the conversation easily all the way to where Maria was waiting for them, with Emmett pitching in now and then. Maria gladly accepted a sleepy-looking Annarose from her mother, cooing at her adoringly. She left all three guests in her capable hands and went round back to the other staircase, which led directly to her own room. She washed up for dinner without anyone having to remind her, and even took the trouble to run a comb through her windblown hair. It would be the liveliest dinner Holt castle will have seen since the last time her mother’s elder brother had brought his whole brood over. And much nicer, because she only got on with the very relations, on that side of the family. 

**

“What did you think?” asked Emmett, after they’d laid Anna down for a much needed nap, and were resting together in the plush window-seat. 

“She seems nice enough,” said Bel. “Energetic, and certainly a chatterbox, but she’s not much like any of the Wellish nobles I’ve ever met. Not much like papa, either, come to think of it.” 

“I like her,” said Emmett decisively, “and I think Gabriel would like her, too.” 

“Oh, he would,” agreed Bel, “if he could get her to slow down long enough to have a proper conversation.” 

“You’ll have to tell her the whole story of your parents’ meeting,” said Emmett. “The long version.” 

Bel nodded. “I think she’ll like it. She seems so lonely. Now, tell me about the dogs.” 

Emmett laughed.