#i do not care about historical accuracy

[brother-emperors]

Have you seen the show Medici?

I have! I dislike it and complain about it endlessly because the narrative drama sucks, and it commits a worse crime of being visually boring, it's almost offensive to me how bland it is lmao. the costuming is dogshit too, and I don't mean that in an 'this is historically inaccurate' (it is) but in a 'this is some real party city bullshit.' for a show about one of the most effective visual propaganda builders of the era, it sure doesn't have any aesthetic or thematic literacy!

that said

I've fully watched season one three times now (brunelleschi the love of my liiiiiiiife, and the plague stuff was almost good. close enough to good that I specifically re watch those episodes when I'm thinking about historical plagues) and season two uhhhh like eight or nine times for matteo martari's portrayal of francesco de' pazzi alone.

in a way, it's just bad enough that it cycles back to being interesting because I can see a very clear outline of the show I wish I was watching, and every time I go back to it, I end up writing another 50 pages of a medici family comic script out of sheer frustration. which is. a kind of compliment. sometimes bad shows are just bad, but i medici is a bad show that could've been good.

season 3 committed an unforgivable sin so that season is dead to me.

[mummer]

>on gamethrone twitter

>ask them if their ideal hotd costuming is medieval or shein

>they dont understand

>pull out illustrated diagram explaining what is medieval and what is shein

>they laugh and say “it’s a good costume idea sir”

>read tweet

>its shein

[solitaire-sol]

(Slightly Late) Snippet

Thanks to @groundzero-v for the tag! This is a bit from my previously-mentioned Regency AU, though I'm still waffling over it because I'm not as familiar with the Regency period as I am with the Victorian. Anyway: The young Earl of Welspryng Grange attends a house party at the country estate of the Most Hon. Marquess Black, intent on a proper marriage to Lady Regina, the Marquess' daughter. Lord James Potter is confident that things will go according to plan-- but did not account for Lady Regina's elder brother, the notorious Lord Sirius Black.

His first instinct, of course, was to reach for James-- James, already James, even if only in Sirius' mind. It would have been all too easy to put out a hand and halt the other's flight, to wrap his fingers around the finely-muscled arm beneath that merino sleeve or twist his fingers into that snowy cravat in the same way that they could so easily tangle in those glossy black curls, forever on the verge of being flyaway. It would have been easy, a simple act of seduction that Sirius had performed to great success many times before.

And yet something had stilled him, leaving Sirius to watch in uncharacteristic inaction as James muttered a half-audible goodnight and beat a hasty retreat, the tails of his coat disappearing around the edge of the drawing-room door. Annoyance, and an odd, nebulous feeling of regret, welled up in Sirius, who berated himself for his inexplicable hesitation and consoled himself with a swallow of his father's finest cognac. The sweet burn of the spirit was a match for the frustrated desire that still had his senses alight, so it hadn't been a lack of interest that had held Sirius back; some subconscious concern, then, about a lack of interest on the part of James?

No, Sirius considered himself an excellent judge of whether or not someone might welcome his attentions. Sirius doubted very much that James had ever considered another man with prurient interest, but he was equally certain that he had not misread the way that James had glanced at him at dinner, the wit that had matched Sirius' rather blatant innuendo with a much more discreet yet certainly playful response.

'And clever, to boot,' Sirius thought, holding his almost-empty glass to the fire and watching the flames play through shifting hues of brown and amber and gold that brought to mind the color of the young Earl's eyes. Not merely moneyed, then, nor only handsome; his reputation, from what little Sirius knew of it, was spotless, thus Sirius had assumed that Lord Potter would be as dull as the lack of scandal implied. He was beginning to reconsider that assumption, the periodic gleam that flashed out from those hazel eyes indicating much more than the well-brought-up, easily-collared dullard that Sirius had guessed his parents would obtain for his sister.

"What a waste," Sirius murmured, and drained his glass. James Potter deserved so much more than Regina, with her petty jealousies and her unfulfilled ambitions… and perhaps Sirius would be able to provide it, at least for a little while. If Fate, and James, proved amenable.

The beginnings of an optimistic reverie were disturbed as the drawing-room door opened, and Sirius perked up momentarily before he saw that it was only Regina, disappointment leaving a bitter taste in his mouth before his indifferent smile was back in place. "Regina," Sirius greeted her. "Aren't you up late, dear sister. Roaming the corridors when we have a gentleman guest-- Isn't that a little risqué for your reputation?"

Regina ignored Sirius' jibe, her long skirts rustling as she strode up to Sirius. Regina's posture was perfect, a stark contrast to Sirius' easy lean against the mantelpiece, but her doll-like face was set in a distinctly unladylike way, her eyes stormy.

"Stay away from him," Regina ordered, and her authoritative tone was enough to make Sirius want to laugh, even as her resemblance to their mother had never shown more clearly.

"And by 'him,' you mean… ?" Sirius prompted, swallowing the laugh that would undoubtedly have escalated the situation. His restraint mattered little, as Regina would not be deterred.

"I saw him leaving," Regina said, and Sirius' urge to laugh dissipated almost instantly, one eyebrow lifting as Regina continued, "Lord Potter. He seemed--" Regina paused for a moment, as if she wasn't quite sure how to describe it, before she forged ahead.

"I know how you are, Sirius," Regina said instead, and a spark of irritation flared up in Sirius before he forced it away. Precocious little Regina, who could be just as sanctimonious as the Marchioness herself. "I know your… predilections." She said the word as if it were a curse, and Sirius reflected with bitter amusement that it was probably as close as Regina could come to acknowledging her brother's 'predilections.'

"Lord Potter is a most eligible prospect," Regina went on, "and a fortuitous one, given how you'll undoubtedly ruin our family out of nothing more than spite once you're Marquess. I won't have you ruin this, not after everything I've had to do to get this far."

Regina spoke about the promise of an engagement as if it were nothing more than a business affair, which was fair enough; certainly, Sirius knew that was how his parents viewed it, as the most pragmatic match his sister was likely to find. The Potters were noble, wealthy, and distant relations, to boot-- An Earl was not a Marquess, but everything else made it close enough. Even so, there was something slightly more emphatic about Regina's demand than was strictly called for, and Sirius' eyes narrowed as the flickering light glinted off the silver comb in Regina's hair. The ornament was unremarkable enough, perfectly suited for a young woman of her age and rank, but the apple blossom engraved upon its curved surface seemed significant, and its arc of matched topaz stones was reminiscent of firelight through fine cognac.

That was it, Sirius realized. Regina was, as ever, a dutiful daughter, but she was also ensuring her own future. As an unmarried woman, she would forever be reliant on Sirius' uncertain goodwill, but Lord Potter represented freedom from that reliance, an escape from her parents' house and the chance to be the mistress of her own, an identity beyond "Lord Black's unfortunate sister." Of course Regina would cling to her newfound suitor with all of the strength in her dainty hands.

Sirius briefly considered the matter, which, after all, would affect him very little. It would even make things easier on him if Regina were married by the time their father finally ceded his title, since Sirius would not have to provide for her. When he'd made the idle decision to return, Sirius had never intended to stay: What would it cost him to give Regina this, to bow to her demand and leave James Potter be?

Sirius considered it, and then he considered James, with those hazel eyes and that brilliant smile, something secretive at the corners of that bewitching mouth which seemed suited to more than simply smiling. Sirius prided himself on never letting lust cloud his better judgment, but there was more to his attraction to James than something so commonplace— something familiar. James Potter intrigued him.

"My apologies, dear sister," Sirius said at last, moving to refill his glass. "But I cannot grant your request. As you know, ruining things is a special talent of mine."

[dcviline]

my lukewarm take is that I hate the insistence on "period accuracy" in a high fantasy series, like a 1:1 ratio is impossible because these are different worlds with different histories so it doesn't make *sense* to force accuracy to a period that does not actually exist within that world, AND it's boring as hell to me so I will pick the high fantasy elements every time bc why NOT be imaginative when this is literally fiction??

[puttingwingsonwords]

I was looking up the Dutch history of cycling for fanfiction (Helward) purposes and I learned that bicycles for day to day use only really gained popularity from the 1890s/1900s and before that they were more popular in England?! This is so sad. Van Helsing may not even have known how to ride a bike. There goes my ‘Seward is amazed at Dutch people cycling through snow’ scene. Fortunately or unfortunately this wikipedia article only exists in Dutch so everyone else can remain blissfully ignorant.

[isthenapoleoncute]

Your true opinion on the movie? If you have already seen it ofc

? Are you referring to the new nature documentary? What are you talking about? I certainly will not be answering this question out of character in my tags.

[ladycatofwinterfell]

A maester’s disappointment

Last year I wrote a short drabble where Westerosi Cat got reading glasses. A few days ago I had an idea for a continuation of it, so here’s that! Poor Luwin has to deal with his lord and lady. Again.

Lord Stark had said that the letter was on the desk and that Luwin could go get it so that he could make a copy. He made copies on every letter that came to Winterfell, that was part of his duty. So he went to the lord’s solar, entered despite that it was empty. Immediately he saw the letter on the otherwise empty desk, went over to retrieve it.

As he came closer he noticed there was another thing on the desk. And first he could feel the corners of his lips turning upwards as he noticed the little reading contraption he had put together for Lady Stark. He was very happy with his work, even more so by that she had finally began using them. In the beginning she had been so against them.

His smile was very quickly exchanged for a frown when he noticed that they were broken. The delicate frames he had bent together were malformed and the glass lenses had been shattered. What had happened to his wonderful little invention? What had she done with it? It was no little thing, they were completely broken.

When he took the letter he also took the frames. He would have to mend them. He would never tell her so, but there was a disappointment in knowing how little care she must have treated them with. He had studied and read about things tried in the Citadel, put it together to help Lady Stark with her struggles. And there it was, broken and left behind. It hurt a bit to admit the sting of sadness.

He would began working on mending them as soon as he had time. Make new lenses and reshape the frames. He knew it was wrong but he also couldn’t help the slight bitterness towards Lady Stark for her recklessness. She hadn’t asked for it, had seemed quite annoyed by the measures he had taken after Lord Stark had brought it up with him. But that did not make it necessary to not treat it with care.

All through the day his mind was occupied with the broken tool, but it was not until when it was time for supper he had a chance to ask Lady Stark about it. Hullen was seated with them and the children at their table that evening.

“Despite our continued efforts we have trouble breeding the fine mare Lady Catelyn’s horse gave us some years back” he heard Hullen say.

Though he didn’t catch what Lord Stark said in response to it.

It seemed unnecessary to interrupt them, but Lady Catelyn noticed him before he could go to sit.

“Good evening, Maester Luwin” she called.

If she had spoken to him he might as well speak to them about what had been haunting him all day.

“Good evening, my lady” he said, walking over to them. “My lord, Hullen.”

The two men nodded towards him.

“My lady, I do not mean to be intrusive but might I ask what happened to your reading tool?”

Immediately there was a tiredness in Lady Stark’s expression that had not been there before, and her response came in the form of a sigh.

“Ask my lord husband.”

As she said so Lord Stark gave her a stern glance. She didn’t react, merely calmly waited for his answer.

The fondness that had blossomed between the young lord and lady during their years together was charming. Luwin was in most ways happy with that there was such a strong bond between them. Love, even. Having watched them over the course of their marriage had warmed him many times. But then there was also the various issues they caused with their wants.

Of course he never hesitated about giving Lady Stark salves for her strange rashes that appeared in various places on her body. Didn’t look twice when Lord Stark came limping into a room, muttering something about having managed to trip in the stairs, again. It was remarkable how delicate Lady Stark’s skin had become in the past few years. And how Lord Stark had lost all control of his limbs and managed so strain his muscles in various accidents no one ever witnessed. But Luwin was always quiet about it.

“Lady Catelyn put it down on the desk” Lord Stark began.

He was not looking at his wife, nor at Luwin. Instead his gaze was fixed on something at the end of the hall.

“And I didn’t notice it so I put my hand down on it and broke it. It wasn’t my intention, of course, and the both of you have my sincerest apologies.”

That was not the entire story, he felt it in his bones. But he had no wish to know more, nor was he in need of it.

As if Lady Stark heard his thoughts grabbed her lord husband’s arm and made him lift his hand, making his palm visible. He had a few small cuts, not deep, but still apparent. Or perhaps she was still afraid of that he would think she had been the one to break it.

“It happened last evening, I did not want to disturb you then. But apparently you found it before I could tell you” Lady Stark said, letting go of his arm. “I am so very sorry for it, I know how hard you worked on putting it together for me.”

It was she who would have recurring headaches trying to read until he had mended it for her, but also he appreciated the apology.

“You need not apologise, my lady, I just wanted to know what happened” Luwin said. “I thought perhaps I could adjust something about it to prevent further accidents.”

“There is little you can do against Lord Stark’s weight” Lady Stark snorted.

Her husband said nothing, merely shook his head and then continued his conversation with Hullen. He didn’t seem to think much about it, continued speaking of the horses and stables. But Lady Stark didn’t join in.

“Thank you for wanting to repair it” she continued. “It has been of much help to me.”

“Of course, what else was I to do?”

“Bless you, maester” she smiled. “I swear by the old gods and the new I will be more careful this time. And I will not leave it where Lord Eddard can crush it.”

Of course she wasn’t a child, but then she seemed so young. Like her own children when they made promises.

It was hard to tell, but Luwin believed Lord Stark slapped her leg with the back of his hand beneath the table.

“That seems like a good plan” he told her, pretending not to see.

“Well, I do not wish to keep you from your meal any longer. Good evening, Luwin.”

“Good evening, my lady.”

~*~

All through the day she had noticed Ned’s eyes on her, the way he seemed to linger whenever he touched her. He hadn’t said a thing, made it obvious, but she knew. If there was anything she had learned during her years in Winterfell it was her lord’s moods.

“Are you not ready to retire for the night?” he asked, his voice soft.

“I would rather have this finished today” she responded, not looking up at him.

He paced through the room a few times, she tried not to be distracted by it. He stopped in front of the window, looked out at the darkness. There was little chance he saw more than his own reflection.

“You seem quite tired” he said without turning to her.

“Do I?”

She wasn’t particularly tired. Rickon had been sleeping so well lately, all through the night even. Soon he could sleep in the nursery since he no longer required to be fed during the night.

Her husband’s restlessness was somewhat amusing.

“How strange” she continued. “I do not feel tired.”

“That is well.”

Still he held onto his manners. She would not leave his chair behind the desk before he acted upon what he wanted.

She looked at him over the edge of her reading tool. Once she had been able to get over how uncomfortable she felt while wearing it she had to admit she was quite happy with it. It was so much better than what had been before, it was impossible to deny. Not perfect, but an improvement. And for whatever reason Ned seemed to be very fond of it. That she didn’t understand in the least, she looked stupid when she wore it.

“I am not tired either” he informed her, catching her eyes through the reflection in the window.

“Good, good.”

She resumed her reading, trying to hold back a smile. Only listened to Ned’s steps as he came to stand next to her, leaning against the desk.

“What is on your mind, my love?” she asked, taking off the reading tool and placing it in front of her on the desk.

Ned didn’t answer, just looked at her. His eyes were so very expressive of one knew him. And those soft, a little foggy eyes. How weak they made her. Perhaps she should have been ashamed of it, but it was very rarely reason that dominated her mind when he looked at her like that.

She stood up and had thought to follow him to her chamber, but instead his lips were on hers before she was upright.

With a firm grip on her hips he lifted her up to sit on the desk. She snaked one arm around his neck, pulled him closer to her. She wanted nothing but his heat and to feel him against her.

Though as she did so he placed a hand on the desk next to her to steady himself, and the next moment she heard a strange sound and he broke away from her with a grunt.

It took her a moment to understand that there was blood on the hand he looked down at was blood. And her heart sunk in her chest when she looked down to see her delicate little reading tool completely broken.

“No!” she exclaimed.

She took it up, began wiping the little rests of blood off on her skirt. The frames were bent and the lenses shattered. He had crushed it.

“Are you alright?”

Only then had she realised that he was probably in pain.

“Yes, it’s just light wounds” he answered after having studied his palm closer “I would ask you to look for leavings of glass, but that seems rather pointless now.”

“You should let Luwin look. Oh he will kill me.”

He was so proud of what he had made and now it was broken. If only she had insisted on going to a bed instead, then it would never have happened.

“It’s late, we’ll speak with him on the morrow” Ned sighed.

He took a step closer to her again and buried his face in her shoulder. How quickly the air in the room had changed.

[smiletimeisrunningout]

ooc: just checking in to say I'm alive, since I usually never stay offline an entire day, but I've been dealing with physical pain (not an unusual thing, as you know from the rules I'm chronically ill - and disabled) and it took away my ability to write and focus because specifically it's neck pain turned into headache

I'm hoping tomorrow it will be finally over and I'll be able to do more! Also in the meanwhile I am watching the rookie, since @timeguardians introduced me to Chen and I found out that 'learns from listening, can't learn from books + if you are constantly active it's better' is an actual type of learning disability that I accidentally gave Emma, with the exception of when she's incredibly motivated and interested, but I did say she also has an attention deficit even if it's not adhd itself, so it's all coming in together and i love it because I actually accidentally gave her real things, and the only 'accuracy' I care about when writing is when it comes to the way brains work so yay for that!

[nurserard]

i think this is what gerard was wearing under their nurse uniform

[zhalar]

apropos to nothing here's a formless list of hopes and dreams and almost specific wishes for s2 lesbian pirates that i've been thinking and holding inside my brain for something of an embarrassing amount of time:

i'm sorta assuming that they'd HAVE to be mary read and anne bonny? Aka two of them. btw i dont care about historical accuracy

saying this as a twentysomething. i don't want them to be in their 20s/early 30s thanks <3

kinda hoping for them to team up with either stede or blackbeard / maybe one for each of them / maybe they’re old buddies/exes/whatever of blackbeard and then they're gonna come for stede's neck bc they still care for this goofus of a dread pirate and his well-being. And it's like, inconvenient for them to have blackbeard In This State. Or whatever, i'm not a strong plotter. Lesbianpirate godmothers kinda deal

desperately dreaming of a casually trans lesbian. Like a trans actress and then its just never underlined that much further in universe or the dialogue of the show. Please pleaseeee more trans people in roles that are not just *the trans character* 

i don’t want them to be [strums a lute] conventionally attractiiiiiiiiive. I want my lesbian pirates. GRITTYYYYYYYYY

they need to be a little incompetent. PLEASE. OR A LOT. It could mirror ed and stede's relationship in that way

one of them should be a particularly inept sweetheart/dumbass butch to match stede's inept sweetheart/dumbass feminine gay man. 🤝 and they should become Besties.

actually i want them both to be butch so fucking bad. Grrgrggrg biting through the bars of the cage i’m stuck in, I WANT BUTCH LESBIAN MIDDLE-AGED PIRATES….. WHO ARE DATING !!

as much fun as cameos are. What If They Weren't BigNameHollywoodActors. Thoughts ? idk maybe thats sorta the whole Deal with cameos, but sometimes i just get the heebies cuz every one-off character seemingly needs to be so ... recognizable so that people will care about them? does this make sense. (make no mistake and dont get it twisted tho if leslie jones wants to rehash her role as jackie in s2 i will take her in with OPEN ARMS!!!!)

actually i reealllllllly need them to pick up lucius and become his fairy gaymothers. Blease.

i’m ALSO very invested in the idea of married-but living separately / married but separated / ??? silly romcom drama (nothing actually serious…) for them. Like they've both got their own ships that they're captains of but then they famously get together often enough and drop their crews for shore leave to have some together time or just visit each others boats in a manner of ‘oh i see you’ve redecorated. interesting choices’ ‘get off my ship’ ‘I OWN HALF OF THIS VESSEL???’ or something like that. im spit-balling

like y'know. A fun are they married? divorced?? sorta state in their OWN queer pirate romcom, who also will NOT be saving gentlebeard's marriage lmao, women constantly being more emotionally mature or intelligent than men is sort of a boring trope…. and i don’t want that for them…….

[nicnacsnonsense]

What I really need is a way to mute the notifications on just one specific leg of reblog chains on my post. I don’t want to mute the whole post, I just would like to be excluded from that one conversation in particular.

[soddenbeast]

can you infodump about leofric and baine i think tumblr needs to know about them.

HEHSHEHHHWEEHEHS BLUSHING AND KICKING AND GIGGLING AND TWIRLING MY HAIR okay. Well if you insist

The short answer is 2 princes who are #boybestfriends and they are both severely psychologically ill and will probably literally be the deaths of each other. They are in love

(Baine on the left and leofric on the right)

The longer version is basically Leofric and Baine are childhood best friends who for reasons they don’t really understand stopped talking after Baine’s father (the late king, lord caldewelle) mysteriously died when they were both 10. Leofric’s father (lord woodrow) wanted power and had his other son , Leofrics older brother Cedric kill the king so he could take his place. Baines mother suspected this but mistakenly thinking lord woodrow had been the one to kill him could never prove it. She didn’t suspect Cedric because he was 17. A child. He just wanted to make his father happy. ANYWAY

Baine gets to become king when he is 18 and Lord Woodrow devises another plan. Leofric is to regain Baine’s trust and eventually kill him. But leo isnt doing this for his father he’s doing it because HE wants to be king more than anything else. At least thats what he thinks until him and Baine actually reunite. Its at Baines coronation that Leofric approaches him for the first time in 8 years and instantly knows he is not going to be able to do it but he buries that feeling very deep and tries to ignore it for the sake of his rise to power.

Baine is a horribly depressed man and never wanted to be king in the first place so he is not taking any of this well and has never been a functional person since his father died. There is also the weight of the fact that the Late King was revered and loved by the public and Baine has made no attempts to give himself a good reputation. Everyone has high expectations and already feels like they are being let down so when he has a panic attack and gets too drunk at his party and renounces his position for another 2 years the public likes him a little bit less.

Which is kind of where leo comes in and tells him that he can help solve all of these problems because he’s very socially adept and its a lot easier to rule when people actually like you. And They become friends again and slowly Leofric finds himself constantly thinking about Baine and how much he enjoys his company and not because he wants anything from him but just genuinely enjoys just being around him and he looks forward to it every day But he’s not in love obviously he doesnt feel like that about people. He’s just pretending to get Baine to feel like he can trust him OBVIOUSLY. (Thats what he tells himself.) they do everything together Including kill a man but that is. A can of worms for another day

That is most of the first part there is a 2nd part because SURPRISE They have a breakup and then reunite again 6 years later after Baine is king and Leofric becomes his guard dog basically. Also there are more characters like Baine’s fiance (😱) Ysabel and his new bff Rosalind but that’s separate and I already typed a lot so. Thx for indulging me and if you read all of this we are inlove. Thanks for witnessing my guys they are my entire world

Shameless plug for the playlist i made for them It has 4 likes 😎not to flex. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4C3whvOGieMW1Sy7Euvqo5?si=yxhby4hYTfmrenT25Nn3mA ok. Yeah

[chimaerakitten]

Thinking about possible Castlevania fic like

[googles use of cannon in Europe in the 15th century]

[googles origins of little red riding hood folklore]

[googles handguns in the 15th century]

[watches a YouTube video on 15th century women’s undergarments]

[googles maleus maleficarum publication date]

[watches the entire extra history series on vlad the impaler]

[accidentally spends half an hour on Wikipedia learning about the guy that the Belmont Stakes horse race was named after]

[googles “tomatoes”]

[fireandspiceland]

Here's the thing: I really want to make an elaborate shipping chart for Hetalia, but I haven't watched it in so many years that all I would be basing my ships on is aesthetic, vague recollection of the source material, and fanon. Heeeelp

not sure how I can help :0 but just do it! Have fun! don't let anyone stop you, just base the ships on vibes and aesthetic if that's what you want to do <3 also it could be fun to just come up with the ships and then check out how they would fall into canon or a historical context if you want to do that!

[fleurmatisse]

nothing ruins a good idea like realizing how much research you would have to do

[the-casbah-way]

i already hate the “octavius is an emperor” thing with all my being but when people explicitly write him to be emperor augustus (which i already do not like) and try to act like he was a good person ???? like having octavius talk about how he’s trying his best to be a good emperor for his people and blah blah blah girl fucking EMPEROR AUGUSTUS ?????? MR PROSCRIPTIONS ????? A ROMAN EMPEROR ?????? come on man