#judith regulus

[sakihime02]

Judith doodle with her parents

Lil doodle of her with her parents (─‿‿─)♡

[kibo-ichiro]

Have a fluffy headcanon because we all need it

Judith, like her father, has gift giving as her love language. So one day, she makes some matching bracelets for her and her parents. Each necklace has two red beads to represent Callisto and Judy’s eyes, and a turquoise bead for Penelope. They also have little charms on them: a golden dragon, a rose, the sun, moon, and a little star.

Callisto is overjoyed at the gift, immediately having preservation spells put on the bracelets. Everyone he meets later that day has to deal with Callisto showing off the bracelet and gushing about Judith more than usual:

“But just look at what Judith made for me and Penelope, isn’t it beautiful?“

“Yes, Your Majesty. You’ve shown us three times already today.”

“Well, now you get to see it again, my daughter’s creativity deserves to be shown off—“

Penelope is also very happy for the gift, all the servants noting how often she’ll get distracted from paperwork or a book just to look at the bracelet. A soft smile lighting up her face as she gently rubs at a charm between her fingers. (She also finds Callisto’s enthusiasm hilarious, but does have to reign him in at times. Even though when she sees her husband smiling so genuinely, she can’t help but give him a quick kiss that quickly gets out of hand because Callisto can’t help himself.)

Every time Judith gets another sibling, she adds a bead to match their eye color and another star charm. She makes them bracelets as well when they get a bit older.

[ship-ovnik]

I believe, that Penelope/Siyeon being Korean would pay great attention to Judith education and implement respective values: you need to study hard, this is crucial to your future, etc.

So imagine that Judith being a very active child and spoiled by her father sometimes acts out.

*Penelope is giving a lecture №10201017 about importance of education*

Judith: I am sick of this! I will just marry rich!

Penelope *is triggered*: I can’t believe my daughter said this!

Judith: Why can’t you? That’s exactly what you did!

Penelope: …

Callisto *who came to ask them to dine already and is in an adjoining room*: *snickers*

Penelope: *is frantically looking for an excuse and a reasoning for Judith to continue studying*

Penelope: Well yeah, but only because I was pregnant with you!

Judith: WHA-

Callisto: “Only”?! What do you mean “only”?

[saneijeijei]

Academy of Sword and Magiс

[1\?]

Penelope and Callisto's relationship begins six months before the young woman's debut. Eckhart is in love with the Crown Prince and believes that her feelings are mutual. They meet secretly, knowing that neither the duke nor the emperor will support their relationship due to political tension inside the capital. They do not show their feelings and what they know in public, for fear of being revealed.

But after Yvonne returns, everything changes. Callisto rejects Penelope and laughs if she talks about their relationship, saying that she allegedly made them up. Heartbroken Penelope barely remembers how the debut is going, how the terrible thing happens - the poisoning of Yvonne.

The whole family blames her for this, not wanting to listen to any excuses and evidence. Left completely alone under a house ban in her room, the young woman did not know what to do when an angry Callisto came to her, wanting to avenge his new lover.

Penelope, miraculously manages to survive this meeting and escape.

Thanks to the low-ranking magic she learned, after the events of the hunting competitions, she was able to leave the capital and go to the most remote part of the empire, where she wanted to settle down and start living again, hoping that the duchy, like the Crown Prince, would not search for her anymore. They enjoying happy life with the real daughter of the Eckhart family.

But she didn't know at all how she could make money here. The jewelry and the torn dress that she was wearing, she sold for good money on the first day. But money tended to run out, and it was a bad idea to think about work when they were completely gone. Climbing into her small travel bag, Penelope found a fragment of a Mirror.

"What a useless garbage," she snorted and wanted to throw it into the swamp, as the shard began to shine brightly in her hands, showing her and the fact that she put the shard of the mirror back in the bag and went somewhere. "What the hell?"

Thinking about it, she decided not to throw it away and watch. Maybe the thing wasn't as useless as she thought it was. In the evening of the same day, after a hearty snack and going into the room she rented in a tavern, she took out a fragment and tried to make it show at least something other than a reflection again. But nothing worked. Giving up, she muttered: "Maybe I was dreaming.."

The shard shone again. Penelope looked there and saw herself creating something out of boards and fabric. Finally, she understood how it worked and figured out how to make money.

"Wizards? You mean the charlatans?" the owner of the tavern was perplexed with the guest's question. "If you need useless freeloaders, then they live on the outskirts of the city, towards Aunt Dor's farm. One of them also has such a strange sign.. With a cat? Or something similar to it."

Thanking for the information, Penelope went to the local wizard. The middle-aged man was immensely pleased with her until he realized that she was rather not his client, but just a random passerby who was unlikely to give money.

"I need a room. For divination, I see the future of people and can help them find out the truth." Penelope explained.

"A fortune teller? I hardly believe it, but if you pay rent, I will be glad to consider you a fortune teller" the man happily rubbed his hands, hoping for a promising income in his pocket from another "charlatan".

What was his surprise when the number of customers in a small fortune-teller's room became more and more every month. At first, the young woman did not charge her clients who were residents of a small town. Satisfied and especially impressionable, they told their visit to Penelope to their neighbors, and those to other neighbors from the neighboring village, spreading the story further and further.

In addition to ordinary citizens, aristocrats began to visit it, although not of the upper class, but still. From earls to viscounts. Fearing that she might be recognized, Penelope decided to furnish the room with an entourage and wear a suit that hides her eyes and hair. In it, she looked like a mystical fortune teller whose gaze is hidden from the visitor.

The fee for services grew, Penelope paid the wizard money for rent and assistance in servicing clients. A simple room has turned into a real mystical corner with incense and magical objects, one view showing that a real member of the magical world works here.

But in addition to the man, a nanny settled in the house, who looked after little Judith, who required a lot of attention and time, which Penelope did not have because of constant work and a desire to feed and provide a comfortable future.

Until one day, a strange old man comes to her for a foresighted session, asking her to tell about him and his past. Of course, she had similar clients who, due to illness, forgot where they lived or something important that they needed to remember and she did not charge them, letting them go with a pure soul to their loved ones.

But this old man was definitely not that kind of person. His past was filled with horror and death. A shard of a mirror reflecting fragments of the past into a glass ball chilled the blood in her veins. The old man, with a certain weariness and sadness in his eyes, watched his past.

"Let the Mirror show what will happen when I leave the city," he asked. "How do you know--?.." asked Penelope, frightened. "I know a lot of things, child. And I know that very soon the knight's guard will arrive here and take you to the capital. Aren't you, as one of the last representatives of the ancient magicians, afraid to be on your knees again in court for something you didn't do?" "Wh-what?.." "Ask the Mirror to show you if you think I'm lying, child. My name is Uwe, I am an elder from a small town where ancient magicians and ordinary magicians who were expelled from their lands live. I've heard a lot about your abilities and I see that you can use a fragment of an ancient magical artifact - the Mirror of Truth. This is amazing and truly an innate talent that not everyone can possess. I've come to help you. There aren't many like you and me left, but there is a place where you and your daughter will be safe. I can offer my protection and help so that you can live in peace without hiding behind all this masquerade. But we don't have much time and we need to decide right now."

Penelope looked at the flashing Mirror of Truth and clenched her hands into a fist nodded to the man. She needed to escape anyway if the imperial knights were already heading here. There's no reason for her to stay in this city. And Judith, too.

Seven years later, the empire makes a truce with the ancient magicians after a fierce struggle against Leila. In order to consolidate the alliance, the emperor and the elders sign a trade agreement on the purchase and sale, as well as participation in the cutting of precious stones for magical weapons. The Empire also creates conditions for magicians so that they can receive education and not be infringed on their rights.

In order to strengthen the established relations, an academy is being built on the territory of the empire, where both people and wizards will study in the same building in order to create a new generation that will rely on each other. Duke Eckhart's (Derrick) adopted daughter, 7-year-old Nora, and other children from aristocratic families become one of the elementary school students. Nora was a reserved but very kind child who was bullied despite the authority of her family.

The girl was taken from a shelter sponsored by the Eckhart family. Nora, who had lost her parents and was left completely alone, appreciated the duchy for sheltering her and giving her the opportunity to get an education that her own father could not have dreamed of. She was a timid and kind girl who knew that if she rebuffed her abusers, she could be worse off because of it, and not them at all. She kept silent about it and endured, pretending that she was not upset at all by the words of her peers.

Fortunately, by the beginning of the year, her roommate did not come because of family problems, so the first months of study the whole room was in her harness and no one could tell classmates how she cried, remembering all the hurtful things that other children did to her.

On one of the everyday school days, the girls called her behind the building to talk about her being too smart during math lessons. But as soon as the main offender managed to open her mouth, dirty water poured on top of her, which was used to wash the floor in the classroom. Offended girls screamed promising to take revenge on prankster until she saw who did it.

"You shouted too loudly, it prevented me from calmly preparing for the lesson," said a golden-haired girl looking out of the window with a bucket in her hands. "Oh, I'm sorry, Judith!..We're leaving!" classmates immediately ran away with a bully, apparently not wanting to get involved with a stranger.

Nora wanted to thank the savior, but Judith quickly lost interest and went back to class closing the window without saying anything. Eckhart spent the rest of the day in peace and quiet. Tired of the amount of knowledge she had gained, Nora went into her room and realized with horror that the same girl was sitting on the next bed.

"Hi, I'm Judith and I'm your roommate."

[kuroneko1815]

How to be the favorite uncle as told by Reynold Eckhart

Reynold stared at his new niece with a frown, he found her resemblance to the bast… uh… the emperor disconcerting but she was still adorable away from that. He turned to Derrick and smugly declared, “I’m going to be her favorite uncle!”

Derrick merely rolled his eyes. “You go do that.” He said as he turned his attention back to the baby in their father’s arms. The Imperial bastard was staring at them hard.

Father was still sobbing, upset about her resemblance to her father and the lack of features that she had inherited from Penelope who was asleep within her room, napping after an evening spent feeding the babe. The Emperor faired better than the Empress in this case it seemed. Penelope had refused to use a wet nurse for the little princess and the Emperor insisted on being awake as long as his wife and newborn daughter was awake.

“Hello, Princess. You and I are going to have so much fun!” He said happily.

-

-

Step one in Reynold’s plan was to spoil his niece with presents. She was too young yet for some of the things he planned. Like causing mischief within the palace and getting back at the emperor for stealing away his sister. Reynold decided that he was going to get the funds immediately.

"Father, I need..." He began.

"No!" Father said immediately.

"But..."

"Reynold..." Father trailed off too. "You should know that I'm most likely going to say no to whatever harebrained scheme you have."

"But you don't know what I'm even going to ask."

"It's still a no."

"It's for Judith." He said.

Father immediately straightened and reached for his cheque book. "What do you need?"

"I want some money to buy her presents."

Father handed him a blank and signed cheque within a moment.

-

-

Penelope hadn't looked pleased when he arrived with ten carriages filled with presents for a baby who was only two days old. Especially when he told her there were at least twenty more set to arrive soon. She sighed at the wasteful extravagance of it all especially the amount of clothes he'd gotten her since she would outgrow them all within a few weeks, well before she even managed to put any of them on.

He ignored her and focused on the baby in his arms, making faces and snuggling up to her.

-

-

Step two was quality time.

Reynold spent as much time as he could with Judith, often fighting against his sister and brother-in-law for more time when they came upon him trying to sneak the baby out for some play when she was due to be put down for a nap.

Reynold often also found himself getting kicked out of the imperial palace grounds for sneaking into the nursery to play with her and 'causing mischief' and being a bad influence on his rapidly growing adorable niece.

Though he was allowed to read books to her and was often invited to tea parties with her dollies and little adventures around the palace grounds and within the Duchy.

-

-

Step three was to be the adventurous fun uncle.

Read step two.

But to enumerate, they would go around the forest and look for cute little critters for Judith's ever-growing menagerie of pets. Did it get out of hand at times? Definitely not. Unless you ask Penelope, the Emperor, Father, and Derrick.

Speaking of Derrick, his brother was the level-headed calm uncle who always brought them down from their high of playing and enjoyment.

-

-

Step four was to be supportive.

This meant that Reynold was always there. Through every scraped knee, every derisive word sent Judith's way for her wings or gender especially in regards to her status as the heir. He was always there, ready to throw a punch or to give her a listening ear, a comforting word, a hug, anything she needed.

And it wasn't just for her, but for her siblings as well.

There were many, many, more things that Reynold had done to become the favorite uncle, things that eventually translated into becoming a good father.

Just wanted to write something nice about Reynold and how he became the uncle the kids were closest too. I feel like he had the most free time and the personality type that allowed him to become reckless and immature enough to play with them.

[viroman]

Readers: Oh, horror, how could she choose Callisto? He's a tyrant and a monster! All people are afraid of him!

Cedric: I'm so tired, you should know. The Emperor is dumping a shitload of work on me!

Reynold: Why the hell are you serving him? Quit your job and serve Penelope.

The Baroness: It’s unlikely that anything will change.

Penelope: Are you kidding me, brother? I'm not ready to listen to Callisto whine every evening that his servants are not faithful and competent enough.

Judith: The Servant Emperor always does this!

The Duke: If you want to rule alone, I will support you, daughter.

Callisto: I HAVEN'T GONE ANYWHERE YET

[eloise175]

The Twin Terrors

Two out of my five headcanon calliope kids, along with some of their traits and background! And some crumbs on the other siblings as well if you squint. (Special thanks to @kuroneko1815 who heard me out on my rant about them lol)

Callisto was ecstatic when he saw that the twins’ hair color was the same as Penelope’s; he insisted that the eye color complimented their pretty hair color.

Just like their mother, the siblings have a love for expensive things, especially rubies and emeralds, (blame their father, Callisto covered them in emerald jewelry since they were literal babies).

Growing up, Dante will start to resemble his father more and more, while Eden will take after Penelope with looks.

The twins wear ‘coordinated’ earrings. Dante’s earring has a star, that he wears on his left ear, while Eden has a moon earring on her right ear.

The gold earrings were actually Callisto’s and Penelope’s, but when the twins were born, the married couple immediately knew the earrings would suit the children better. It was a toss on who’d get the star, and who the moon, but in the end with Judy’s and Kayden’s help, they settled for the current arrangement.

Turns out the choice suits the twins nicely since Dante is more outgoing, therefore ‘as bright as a star,’ while Eden can be more secluded, which alludes to the different phases of the moon.

They also have ‘complementary’ moles of sorts. The position of the moles actually defined the placement of the earrings, Dante has a mole under his left eye, and Eden has one underneath her right eye.

Dante is the only one out of the two that has always had dimples, however growing up, only the dimple on the left side remained. The dimples come from Callisto and his mother (whom I decided to call Eleanor), whom had dimples on both sides, while Callisto has only one on his left side.

Dante is the oldest of the two, and takes every chance he gets to rub it in Eden’s face, which consequentially gets him whacked on the head.

They show their love by beating each other up, it’s just how they are.

Chaotic middle children.

Walking potty mouths. The ‘no cussing rule’ only worked on Judith and the baby of the family, Rigel. Kayden can and will curse, however he chooses not to, he has more ‘fancy ways’ of insulting people, but Dante and Eden are the foul-mouthed duo of the family. Sometimes Callisto’s crude language pales in comparison to the twins’ appalling choice of words. The only time they don’t curse at all is in front of Penelope, mom is a scary being that should not be angered in any way.

Stick together like glue, where one goes, the other follows.

They will get angry if someone assumes they like the same things, aka the dumb stereotypes that always follow twins.

Once at a party hosted by a noble, someone tried to serve a meal that had a big amount of peppers in it to Dante just because Eden likes peppers; Dante ended up grabbing that servant by the collar of his uniform and threatening him, because he has a strong dislike for raw peppers after he got sick as a child after eating some. The only thing that stopped the servant from getting sucked punched was Judith’s interception of the whole thing.

People refer to them as ‘The Terrors’ because personality wise, they’re basically copy and paste of Callisto’s more brutal tendencies. (Reynold was the one that started referring to them as that, however he means it in a playful and teasing manner, he loves the two gremlins to death).

Literally the karma of shitty people, because despite all of this, the twins only go after the bad and questionable ones.

The two of them aren’t mean, in fact they’re very nice, kind and playful once you get to know them. A good example of the people present on Eden and Dante’s hit list are the ones exactly like Gloria Kellen and her fetch dogs, aka the bullies.

The twins are the equivalent of ‘the hot cheeto girls’ when it comes to defending someone from bullies.

Out of the two, Dante is the more volatile one. He’s the one that picks fights the most out of the five Regulus siblings. The altercations are usually put to rest by Kayden, and when his older brother isn’t there to stop him, Judy will try to placate Dante.

Dante is very irritable when it comes to people he doesn’t like, and won’t hesitate to call someone out on their bs.

He gravitates more towards swordsmanship, and has a collection of all kinds of swords, which are his pride and joy. Some of them he forged himself overtime with the help of his father; you can find any type of sword you can think of in that collection, from normal ones to magical and very powerful ones, to ancient sword relics.

Dante combines magic and swordsmanship, and has this one special attack of ‘flying swords,’ it helps that some of his swords are somewhat sentient thanks to the magic he imbedded into them with Penelope’s help.

Oftentimes he can be found training with Kayden and Callisto, who teaches them everything he knows.

On the other hand, Eden is the more ‘docile’ of the two. People usually would rather deal with Eden than with Dante because they deem her more well-mannered, when in reality they should watch out when it comes to her.

Eden is actually more of a ‘behind the scenes’ kind of girl. Cross her and she’ll dig up any and every information on you in under an hour. Give her 20-40 minutes and she’ll have your entire life’s events at hand.

She’s the blackmail girly, and has her own special ways of making people talk when she needs/wants something, ways that actually don’t include any sort of harm, at least not physical.

Eden is in fact, a telepath, who also makes use of telekinesis. I’m talking about literally eradicating trees and yeeting them at someone if she’s testy enough, all of that without breaking a sweat. She could be sipping tea while controlling random objects to do all the work for her.

All of the Regulus kids have an inkling for music, and each has their own designated instrument. Judith plays the piano; Kayden has his cello; for his brash nature, no one would expect Dante of all people to play the violin, but he does, and he’s pretty much a prodigy when it comes to that; Eden has her beloved harp and lyre; Rigel plays the flute, and later on, he also picks up on how to play the guitar.

Speaking of talents and hobbies, Eden can be found very often in the kitchens trying out some of her recipes. The kitchen staff are some of her favorite people.

The Head Chef is always the first who tries her dishes, (yes he’s the test subject), this man has went through food poisoning because of little Eden’s very dubious deserts, yet he’s still the first who offers to try out her weird concoctions. He’s pleased to see her improvement as she grows, the Head Chef is basically an adoptive uncle at this point.

Judith and Callisto are the ones who get the finished, improved and actually edible result to try out firsthand. They have no idea Eden gave the Head Chef food poisoning a few times, and are giddy with the fact that they are the first to try her dishes, ignorance is bliss after all and Eden couldn’t agree more, she doesn’t have the heart to tell them the truth.

Penelope knows of this and has tried quite a few times to coerce the Head Chef out of his ‘test subject’ occupation, however he insisted on it, and Penelope settled on designating a special doctor for the poor man. However, she does find amusing Callisto’s and Judith’s giddiness whenever they boast about being the first to get to try Eden’s food.

[penelope-regulus]

Headcanon #2

After the hunting competition, Callisto desperately wanted to see Penelope every single day, talk to her, and just gaze at her beautiful face for long hour without end, so he secretly had the empire's best painters come to the palace and paint portraits of her, which he kept everywhere, being careful to order his servants to hide them every time Penelope visited his palace, and having them placed in a secret room in his treasury when she moved in as the empress after her studies were completed. He also kept things like the gloves he wore any time he held Penelope's hand, the piece of cloth Penelope ripped off of her dress when his arm was injured, the arrow that would have killed him if not for the amulet Penelope gave him at the hunting competition because he realized that she actually cared whether he died at that moment, a collection of crystal balls that can replay every moment he shares with her, no matter how trivial, which he has the imperial magicians make by photocopying his memories, down to the heads of all the people he killed for messing with Penelope as trophies and the dead skin of his lips that came off a few days after his first kiss with her.

After Judith grew up a little, whenever Penelope would visit the Eckhart duchy to see her father and second brother without Judy, Callisto would take her to the hidden room in the treasury and show his memories of Penelope and tell the significance of each of the objects, making her jealous that she couldn't live the moments he did with Penelope. Upon Penelope's return, Judith would take Penelope to her room, making sure her father can't come anywhere near them for hours and tell Penelope to shower her with more love than she's ever done for Callisto, consequently making him the jealous one.

Safe to say, Judith has tried to kiss Penelope on more than one occasion in her child days and Callisto has received a lot of scoldings, ear and hair pulling, and nights alone for teaching their Judy bad things.

She also has a secret collection of things that can remind her of Penelope, inspired by Callisto and known to only the two of them, although nothing is as particularly crazy as dead skin cells. This collection includes a mountain full of memories, Penelope's used perfumes, make up, accessories, pens, and other belongings that she thought she threw out (Judith and Callisto fight over these), spoons that she's eaten from (Callisto gets the forks), and even the dress Penelope was wearing while giving birth to her.

Penelope returns early on one day after her visit to the duchy and catches the two of them sharing one of those super cute father daughter moments where they treat each other like love rivals and Penelope isn't even surprised, but has them get rid of all the items. Judith confides in her uncle, Reynold, and the maids that were supposed to throw the things out transport them to Reynold's secret sea-side cottage (which I think makes sense for him to have), and Callisto does the same with Cedric (Reynold easily complies because his heart always gets the best of him and Cedric is threatened to). They do get to keep some of the things of their collection with them, though, after hours of begging and imploring Penelope to please let them.

ALSO!! Reynold attempts doing the same with Emily after hearing of Judy and Calli's collection from Penelope later on, but is caught while trying to add the very first item, and ultimately fails.

And I should also mention Callisto got the idea to start this collection from Cedric!

When Callisto used to ramble on and on about his times with Penelope to Cedric whilst he was working, Cedric once got annoyed and went "With how obsessed you are, I'm surprised you don't have magicians preserve every breath she exhales and the water she washes her dirty hands with!" At that moment Callisto jumps up from his chair, kicks the table he's sitting in front of, sending it flying, and darts out of the room at the speed of 100km/s to the imperial magicians and tries doing so right away. Unfortunately for him, they're not able to preserve her breath for real and he can't keep the water she cleans herself with because at the time she was still living with the Eckharts and trying to go back to her world, blissfully ignorant to everything happening at the palace. Callisto begins to fidget with his lips (and this is a few days after the first kiss) and a piece of skin comes off. His collection began with this, and poor Cedric, traumatized, never made sarcastic remarks within Callisto's hearing range ever again.

[artistic-nobody]

VADD Headcanon of Mine

Judith: Acting very cute around her parents

Callisto: gushes over her

Penelope (grins): Judy, you look just like your daddy!

Judith (becomes irritated): I know. I hate it.

[lillybelle238]

Pregnancy Shenanigans

Penelope slept a lot when she was deeper into her pregnancy like you could not wake her up unless it was time to eat or bathe.

I imagine she had quite a death grip on Callisto whenever they slept at night and he had to pry himself away to get up for work.

But no matter what he did he would not escape her for long. Sometimes if she felt clingy she would waddle to his office and sit in his lap without a word and stay there.

Penelope ate a lot more food than before thanks to her pregnancy cravings. She had had a better relationship with food even after giving birth.

When the doctor recommended going on walks every day to build muscles for labour, Callisto made sure she went on a walk three times a day after every meal.

She hated it.

I imagine that later in her 2nd trimester is when the shenanigans started.

Penelope and Callisto didn't know what to expect when it came to their future child. Given that they both descendants of ancient wizards and the golden dragon respectively.

So it didn't surprise them that much when their child was suddenly using magic while still in the womb.

It was mostly harmless things like levitating small items in whatever room Penelope was in nothing else.

But there was one incident where an assassin tried to assassinate Penelope in the night when Callisto had to work late. The guards were alerted to the intruder right away but the assassin held her hostage in an attempt to escape.

In all of the commotion no one noticed Penelope navel glowing gold as the baby reacted to their mother's fear and levitate a vase to smash it into the assassin's head making him release Penelope from surprise. He was executed by the guards present.

After that they moved the Empress to a another room for the rest of her pregnancy. Callisto became paranoid after the incident.

Luckily the rest of her pregnancy went smoothly.

[bluebutterflyrose]

Chapter 4 of The Life of Emiline Eckhart is Posted!!!

[sakihime02]

A little doodle to get out of my artblock

[bivirtualtrash]

Penelope: Callisto, Judith, I need you two to swear-

Callisto: Fuck!

Judith: Heck!

Penelope: ...

Callisto: ...

Judith: ...

Penelope: First of all, language. Second, swear as in promise.

Judith and Callisto: Oh.

[ship-ovnik]

Her Highness, the rising sun of the empire

who stole her father’s cloak for the portrait

[saneijeijei]

Cedric's son: She hit me! Judith: Nah, there was no such thing. Cedric's son: Yes, just now, you punched me in the face! Judith: Really? This is because a huge fat mosquito sat on it, which wanted to drink all your blood. Where are the words of gratitude for the saved life? Cedric's son: starts crying

Cedric watching this: It reminds me of someone. Callisto: ?

[kuroneko1815]

Imperial Domesticity: Mistletoe Kisses

Siyeon staved off the holiday loneliness by watching movies to drown out the sounds of her family’s parties. She grew enthralled with the thought of a kiss under the mistletoe. Years later, as Penelope, she finally has someone to share those kisses with.

It started off years ago, on their very first winter together. The ground was frozen and far too cold to do excavations so Penelope spent that winter and every winter since, in the palace with Callisto. Something that thrilled him. Three months where Penelope was there when he woke, her magenta hair strewn across his chest, face, arms, pillows, everything.

Three months where Penelope took every meal with him, appeared on his arm in functions and danced every song during the balls and within their room. It was blissful heaven for the young emperor. And then there were the strolls along the garden paths.

It was innocuous and insignificant at first, Penelope walking arm in arm with Callisto along the snowy paths of the winter garden when she saw something growing on the trees that she was certain wasn’t part of it and certainly something she had seen before.

“Ahh, the mistletoes.” Callisto said when he followed her gaze. “The gardeners hate it, and so did my mother.” He said.

Mistletoe. How often did she watch those western shows while she spent her winter breaks locked in her room, away from the eyes of her family and their guests for Christmas? How often did she pause and sigh and dream quietly as she watched the Christmas kiss take place under the mistletoe?

Cheekily, she stared at her fiancé and when they passed underneath, she grabbed him by the collar and pulled him in to a kiss. He deepened it after a moment or two of surprise before she pulled away and dragged him along.

But there were more trees and more kisses given along the way. And every day throughout the winter season, and the next three after that, she would kiss him. He came to expect it.

On the fifth year, when she was pregnant with their first child, the mistletoes had been removed and she stopped kissing him. It took him by surprise, she knew, when they passed by those trees and he went unkissed.

It went on for a few days, until they stumbled upon another tree with mistletoe. She pulled him into a kiss out of habit. There was something puzzled in her husband’s face as they continued to walk.

Three days later and he finally asked her.

“So, why do you kiss me under some trees and not others?” He asked.

Penelope paused and smiled. “I did wonder if you’d ever ask about that. But it’s just something from the other world. There’s a holiday in the winter where people gather together and exchange gifts.”

“Just like you’ve been giving gifts to all the servants and soldiers in the palace.” He pointed out. “And to me too.”

“Yes, but I… I never celebrated it.” She admitted. “Mother and I were too poor, and when I went to live with my father and half brothers, I wasn’t wanted around and I was the child of a scandal so I wasn’t supposed to show my face during their parties. I would drown out the sound of their celebrations by watching all of these shows from the other continents and countries and one of the things was about kissing under the mistletoe.”

“Hmm, so it was the mistletoe you sought. I know they finally eradicated the mistletoes in those older trees.” He said, thoughtfully. (She didn’t know that the Emperor put a ban on the destruction of mistletoes within the imperial residences.)

“Exactly!” She plucked a mistletoe sprig from the tree and held it up their heads and leaned in to kiss him. “See!” And then she pocketed the sprig and pulled him away.

-

-

Penelope walked through the palace halls and suddenly found herself in a hallway filled with mistletoe. She turned to her husband in surprised confusion. “What is this?” She asked simply as she laughed.

“Well, this way, you’ll have to kiss me.” Callisto said happily.

Penelope let herself be pulled into a kiss, a few actually, as they walked through the long hall. When they made it to the other side she smiled at him. “You do realize that you don’t merely kiss me do you? You have to kiss whoever you walk with, such as Cedric Porter.”

He turned green and shuddered. “I’ll take this all down immediately.”

-

-

Of course, there was one place he could get away with it.

Their bedroom’s ceiling was made in to resemble trees only mistletoes were used. The fire warmed the room, and soft, fluffy carpets were laid down around it to ensure their feet stayed warm.

Even over their bed, the canopy was filled with mistletoes. He used that to his advantage to kiss her as much as he could, wherever he could, and whenever he could within their room.

Her husband even kept it on his person to give the excuse of kissing her out in the open.

-

-

Judith grew up with mistletoe as a tradition of her family, as well as gift giving. She hadn’t known that it hadn’t been until her mother and father married that such things came to be. She knew that mistletoe kisses were supposed to be given when the snows fell and you saw them. And only, absolutely only, to the people you loved like her family.

But Judith didn’t know how it was applied.

Penelope smiled as her daughter came flying in to her room screaming “miss toe kissies!” Her nannies were all running behind her and stopped when she got to Penelope’s arms. Penelope waved them away as she laughed while her three year old daughter rained kisses on her face. And then on her father’s a few moments later.

Yes, her baby always thought that when you saw a mistletoe in winter, rather than kiss the person you were with, you would run to find your loved ones and give them kisses.

Merry Christmas everyone! This is a short one because I wrote it in under an hour and wanted to get it out for Christmas. Anyway, I firmly believe that Penelope would have brought in some traditions from the other world, mistletoe being one and gifting being another. I also believe that Callisto would misuse it to his advantage, and that little Judy will be a bit confused. So her mama, papa, grandpa, and uncles all get mistletoe kisses far away from any mistletoes. Anyway, that's it, let me know what you all think. Stay healthy and safe!