#she evidently chose her birth family over her husband

[wonder-worker]

The duke of Clarence before-named, brother to king Edward (IV), had been fully reconciled to the king by the mediation of his sisters, the duchesses of Burgundy and Exeter (Margaret of York and Anne of York), of whom, the one without the kingdom, and the other within it, entreated the duke to make peace with his brother."

-Croyland Chronicle

[sharpth1ng]

I really like your idea on em both being rich kids lol, very interesting bc to me personally Billy is actually pretty poor. idk I mean I know we don’t see Tatum’s house or Randy’s either but the fact we never see a single thing about Billy’s sounds odd to me. Vs Tatum who has her own car and Randy with his odd collection of colorful (probably expensive) shoes.

there’s also the fact he’s on his dad’s income only who, from the real brief looks we got at him and the fact he slept with the town’s most likely ‘wellknown’ prostitute if that makes any sense, feels like some sleazy, struggling lawyer type.

I know in lore or whatever (wiki page lol) his dad is described as a powerful Woodsboro lawyer but considering this is the same lore that has Billy getting someone pregnant and can’t even decide the ages of the main cast I’m looking at in-movie evidence instead.

the only thing that kinda tips it to him being richer imo is the mobile phone he drops, or more precisely his dad’s phone - but even then it’s again his dad’s and not his own one. his dad who likely would need it as a work expense, but can’t afford to buy his son one and doesn’t care to.

anyway that’s my entire crackpot theory (I have even more but I wanted to spare your ask box from this already long thing) just to say that I really like your take on him being richer too

Hey thanks! My own personal theory dump below:

I've seen a lot of takes with poorer Billy. Tbh I think based on what we see in the movie it can go either way, we just don't really have the info. Also, not to nitpick, but we do see Tatums house, that's where Sid sleeps over after Billy gets arrested and there's also a breakfast scene there in the morning.

To me, Randy is actually probably the least wealthy member of the group, he's the only one that we know has a job, and the shoe brands (mostly hush puppies) he's wearing mostly wouldn't have been super expensive.

In my opinion we don't see much of Billy's home life because we don't see much of the real Billy at all until the reveal at the end. We only see as much of Stu's as we do because the finale takes place in his house, and imo more of Billy's home life would have made him more obvious. I have to imagine his room is full of horror merch lmao.

Honestly I don't really read Hank the same way as you do though. Maureen isn't a prostitute (not that theres anything wrong with sex work), she's a housewife with an extremely wealthy husband (aside from Stu's house Sid's seems like the biggest), so I don't really feel like the affair says anything about relative wealth.

In terms of the lore, tbh I don't actually think it's totally out of character for Billy to get a random girl pregnant. I chose not to do this in Debaser because I've decided to not make Sam canon in my own work, but I could totally see him deciding he needed to "practice" with some girl before Sid. I think he probably hooked up with her at a party, had a mediocre time, and never spoke to her again because he's an asshole. Not at all joking this seems fully in character for me.

My personal hc is that Nancy was a housewife, so Hank would have been carrying the family on a single income anyways. Even if we assume that she was working before and they lost that income, then they would have only been on a lower income for a little over a year, so I don't really see that as the makings of a poor Billy.

Also, we know from scream 2 that Nancy had enough money to get major plastic surgeries (enough that she was unrecognizable to Sid) and also paid for Mickey's tuition, so that's going to be hundreds of thousands of dollars. On top of that she's not working during the events of scream 2, she's doing the fake reporter thing. Based on that Nancy Loomis is either a rich girl by birth, someone who had an extremely high paying job before, or she got a lot of money in the divorce, which would require Hank to have had a lot of money to give.

In terms of the cell phone thing- cells weren't super common for teens to have in the 90's, as far as I can tell one of the first movies that shows teens having cell phones is clueless, which came out in 1995, so it doesn't necessarily say much to me that Billy doesn't have his own in the movie.

In terms of Hank, when we see him he's wearing a nice suit, it's up to date with trends in 96', meaning he's got enough money to be staying up to date with his wardrobe and suits aren't cheap. Other wardrobe hints include Billy's white shirt being Calvin Klein, not a cheap brand for a plain white shirt. If Billy is less wealthy he's more likely to be wearing Hanes. At the very least I, a relatively poor person, am buying the cheapest white shirts I can. I get that shit in a five pack from walmart, I don't have the expendable income to spend over 50$ for a single shirt.

All of this is to say that at least for me it doesn't make a lot of sense for Billy to be poor, especially with what we know about his mom in movie 2. But thats not why I chose to make him rich.

Why Sharp chose to make Billy a rich kid:

So i've seen a number of takes where Billy is poor and Hank is extremely abusive, and that was something I wanted to avoid. In some cases this can feel to me like the poverty and physical abuse is meant to explain his behaviour and that feels a little oversimplified. I specifically chose to make Hank neglectful, judgmental and argumentative (emotionally abusive) but not physically abusive. It doesn't always take more than that to fuck someone up, and I also wanted Billy's rage to come from somewhere else, to be a little less obviously justified. His life isn't easy, but he still has privilege.

In terms of the wealth issue, Billy's character reads more as an entitled rich kid to me. He's out of touch with the emotional stakes of the things he's doing and beyond that he's got the time and energy to plan and carry out a murder spree like this.

I personally chose to write Billy as someone who doesn't experience a lot of consequences for his actions because his dad can pay them away, which he does because Billy has an effect on his professional image as a lawyer. This was particularly important for my trans Billy storyline, because the money would be necessary both to access black market hormones (would have been near impossible to get them prescribed at the time) and also because Hank would have needed to bribe the cops and the hospital to keep quiet so Billy wouldn't be outed.

Aside from that though I just think the rich boy no consequences thing plays well into how unafraid he is about what he's doing and how casually he does it. All of this is just my take though! There are lots of ways to read the movie and I made character choices about him so that they fit into the narrative I'm crafting, doesn't need to work for anyone else.

I always enjoy chatting movie theories!

[scalamore]

(Spoiler) Fates of Other Characters at the End of the Story

Just putting it out there since there have been a few incorrect spoilers floating around that I would like to correct:

>> Duke Arnbach's faction:

Queen (who became Empress consort): Killed in TL1 from a fire carriage accident; Still alive in TL2; Arnulf: Killed in TL1 for "being framed for treason" (it actually was treason); Still alive in TL2. ***note, Vol 6 doesn't go into detail about what happened to the Queen and Arnulf. Just like in TL1, they, along with Duke Arnbach, his grandfather (and the queen's father), had engaged in silent warfare against Rupert, such as sending assassins. Some point after Lari left, Arnulf tried to attack Rupert in a silent attack and was injured in the process (described to be crippled now). Of course, all this was behind the scenes, so Arnbach's faction couldn't do anything about it, and Rupert chose to not publicize the attack either. At the time when tensions were mounting, Rupert would very much rather watch and guard over Lari, as he had a bad feeling about the psycho baker hovering around her. However, he was urgently summoned back to the palace, because Louis had gotten word that Duke Arnbach and the Queen were now planning to openly attack the Capital with their army of knights. Unfortunately for Duke Arnbach's faction, they were completely no match for Rupert's own army. Of course, rebellion against the Emperor meant certain death, but Rupert allowed him, the Queen, and Arnulf to survive. In the end, Duke Arnbach pledged allegiance to Rupert, including all their political power and wealth. This was publicized by all of high society and the commoners of this faction's fall in power, and how they dared to go against Emperor Rupert. Unfortunately for him, Duke Arnbach only feigned innocence and loyalty; he tried to rebel again a few years later by trying to assassinate a pregnant Lari and was promptly executed this time for good.

Nigelle: Alive in both timelines - Went to live in some remote area near Hirel Island, not involved in politics anymore.

>> Grand Duke Ventibolt's faction

Grand Duke Ventibolt: Died in Tl1, died during the rebellion in Vol 6

Aunt Amelia: Died in Tl1, alive in TL2: Gave birth to a son, but Rupert publically denounced her and the son when Ventibolt died; they were allowed to live but will have no role in the battle for the throne in the future since they couldn’t prove the baby’s legitimacy, they had no power of their since Ventibolt didn't use his own army, but rather mercenaries that were bought off by Rupert. Ventibolt’s bloodline was now known as traitors just like House Belois.

>> House Belois

Trash dad - Died in Tl1, alive in TL2: I forgot if he's confined in the capital for life or in the south. House arrest for life though.

Lehan - Died in Tl1, alive in TL2: Will inherit House Belois once he becomes of age; tasked with rebuilding it to its former glory, as the house is known to be one of traitors who rebelled against Rupert. Lands are confiscated by the royal family, but the rest of the family and staff are allowed to live there peacefully in the south still. He's now the Captain of the Guards (the position that Louis was supposed to be in TL1). Unknown if he settled down or married, last we see of him is when Lari was giving birth and he was trying to calm down Rupert

Amanda Belois - Died in Tl1, alive in TL2: Still living comfortably in the South. Doesn't associate with her husband anymore.

>> RupeLari's group

Tory - after betraying Rupert, had died during the Rebellion of Vol 6, leaving only behind the Blue Eagle Crystal. From her conversations with Louis to not forget her, and with Rupert, it was evident that she knew she would die soon - and she did. After the battle, there was no trace of her in the armor, but just the crystal that made up her core. RupeLali left her at the St Voldegord's lake as a final resting place. Years later, she somehow materialized a [body] and reunites with Rupelali in the special side stories.

Louis - Not sure what his official position is, but he's completely replaced Lari as Rupert's close aide/right-hand man. He's always drowning in paperwork as Rupert is busy hanging out and enjoying life with Lari. Countess Lemille - Jailed in TL1. Initially the Queen's aide, but is now Lari's aide. Suffers the same fate as Louis as an overworked aide. She's introduced as an antagonist, but her heart is in the right place - she wants the current corrupt, backward Empire to take a step forward and be one that is kinder to women, and allowed women more rights. One of Lari's mentors and supporters as she aims to become Chief Justice while being an Empress, all to better support Rupert. Papa Felipe - Rupert occasionally summons him for some tasks if needed. Extras: From the special side stories: A lot of people are interested in the prince and princess from this generation's Wiletan Royal family: I forget what the Prince's name is, he's forgettable, still alive. Othelia, the princess: she's very much alive. Her only purpose is to wear Ardel's famous perfume, for Rupert to get necessarily close to her so he can get a sample of it on a tissue, and he goes back to his office to recreate it and give it to Lari as a gift. Some drama because he's framed to be unfaithful to Lari, but Lari doesn't buy it lol. (She's more upset that their daughter was upset at various things he did in general lol)

(Vol 5) Psycho Baker - Beheaded with his head displayed in the town square for the crime of poisoning, assaulting, and kidnapping with intent to harm a noblewoman. Riche/House Gorten - we find out in both timelines they were initially against Rupert and supported Archduke Ventibolt but eventually bit their own tails and swore allegiance to Rupert once they saw how completely overpowered he was. They enlisted the help of foreign mercenaries (kidnapping arc), which Rupert eventually took control of as well. That's why House Gorten got away scot-free in TL1: because they had sworn their allegiance to Emperor Rupert despite doing shady things at the start. Smart. There were also mentions of a small power struggle in the South: with House Gorten and House Vincent against House Belois. In the end, it resolved by itself. House Vincent in general doesn't like House Belois.

[feralphoenix]

a thing that i really love about hollow knight is that part of its incredibly strict Show Don’t Tell policy means it works a lot in juxtapositions. comparisons and parallels.

like, rather than Telling us what makes for a good and responsible ruler, we get to know about various different heads of state in the various nations of the crater, and we can observe how they handled international relations, public policy, etc and the consequences/effects of their choices, and draw conclusions by ourselves.

there are lots of different parent-child relationships, and sibling relationships, so that we have many examples to compare ghost and their family to.

there are also a number of higher beings around and you can compare them to each other to understand their different approaches to godhood, how they handled being the center of a culture & the responsibilities that entails (radi, unn, tpk) or the ways they sidestepped those roles (white lady, grimm). in addition to forming our opinions of these characters this also contextualizes what ghost does when they attain godhood in the godseeker endings & after the delicate flower variant, in godseeker mode.

like you can use these points of reference for a lot of different analysis topics!!! but one of the things that always Gets Me In My Emotions is the direct juxtaposition between herrah, radiance, and tpk and how differently these three characters handle the cost of fighting Existential Crisis.

the pale king’s policy is officially No Cost Too Great, but just like the hunter says in hollow’s bestiary entry, for tpk “cost” was a thing for other people to pay, and he was not willing to risk any sort of harm to his own person. his plan to deal with the infection involved sacrificing the dreamers & the hollow knight, and his plan to create a hollow knight involved birthing hundreds of thousands of children who were designed to be expendable - they were there so he could experiment on them, select a candidate, cull the failures, and then sacrifice said candidate.

the worst tpk might have experienced through all this is emotional turmoil, and it’s left ambiguous in-game whether he was actually conflicted about the child sacrifice/felt attachment to hollow or whether his personal low point throughout all this was being butthurt about his wife walking out rather than birth a second batch of vessels for the slaughter. (he must’ve been pretty darn butthurt to have lied to the kingdom that the white lady was dead.)

as soon as his plan failed and he had no other recourse, tpk fled rather than expose himself to any potential harm. he was willing to - perhaps desperate enough to - expend any number of chess pieces if it would save hallownest, but his own life and safety was NEVER on the table.

just like tpk, radiance is trying to protect herself and her people. just like tpk and herrah, she too is willing to go to any lengths necessary to get the settlers to fucking step off, give her children back, and leave her alone.

for her this entails being willing to bend her own principles - i’ve talked about this in depth before so you can find all that in my essay tag if you’re interested, but in-game evidence points to radiance having been a pacifist like the rest of her tribe pre-hallownest. and the infection is a curse that’s only sometimes fatal, but it causes extreme amounts of harm and fear and chaos to inflicted parties. and this level of harm is something she’s willing to do just to threaten/pressure tpk into backing down.

her method also causes a large amount of collateral damage (including lateral harm to other indigenous bugs!), suggesting that she either doesn’t have the emotional wherewithal to worry about who might get hurt, or just plain doesn’t care. if you squint, it’s possible to make the argument that radiance might have warned unn before her counterattack against hallownest, but even then forewarning was the only mitigation she was able and willing to provide. if this is what it takes to protect herself and her tribe, then so be it.

so, compared to tpk, who chose to actively sacrifice the lives of individuals to protect the institution of hallownest, and radiance, who doesn’t care about splash damage to bystanders as long as she can save her tribe... what i find extraordinary about herrah is that when she determined that sacrifice was necessary to protect deepnest, she took all that sacrifice upon herself.

most obviously herrah accepts the role of dreamer in hopes of ending the plague, sacrificing her life. in order to keep tpk from taking advantage of that to conquer deepnest, she also negotiates that he has to provide her with an heir, thus ensuring deepnest’s sovereignty... but this means she has to have sex with the very creature who has been trying to commit genocide against the spiders for generations. she has to let her lifelong worst enemy who she’s been fighting alone since the death of her husband impregnate her. this decision had to have come with some form of emotional distress for her, and yet herrah shoulders it and soldiers through it.

and then even through this, it’s implied in the white lady and midwife’s dialogue (+ posed in the dev notes/style guide) that tpk snatched up hornet when she was a child to raise her in the white palace. it’s unclear whether he did this to keep hornet as a hostage to make sure herrah couldn’t renege on their treaty now she’d got what she wanted out of the bargain, to ensure his offspring would be raised in the culture he created rather than in deepnest, which he clearly believed to be barbaric and uncivilized, or both.

yet instead of calling bullshit and flouncing on the deal or trying to steal hornet back, thereby exposing deepnest to the threat of both the infection And aggression from hallownest once more, herrah stuck with it. midwife says that herrah paid dearly for her involvement with this plan, but herrah valued deepnest’s survival over her own individual life, and saw it through to the end no matter how tpk’s plan caused her to suffer or hurt her dignity.

there’s an incredible amount of nobility and integrity herrah shows here. she refuses to let any harm come to her country, and insists that any and all sacrifice required of her as a leader be her sole responsibility. her courage, her political intelligence, and her strength of character as a leader are all nothing short of awe-inspiring.

at the same time, there is still a downside to herrah’s spirit of self-sacrifice. as anyone who’s ever watched steven universe can tell you, self-sacrifice is actually kind of a shitty solution to one’s problems because self-destruction hurts the people who love you.

we get glimpses of hornet’s intense emotional torment over her mother’s fate and her understanding that it’s necessary to let ghost murder herrah to change the status quo; similarly we can understand the crushing amount of personal responsibility hornet feels towards the whole crater comes from knowing the cost of her own birth, and having front row seats to her parents’ political power struggle.

we hear from herrah herself that everything she does is done for hornet, so hornet’s pain is probably the last thing herrah would have wanted, but ironically what hornet goes through in hollow knight is a direct consequence of herrah choosing to martyr herself.

anyway all of this speaks SO much for herrah and radi and tpk’s individual priorities and problem-solving strategies and also their blind spots... plus, there’s a lot about herrah’s character that goes underappreciated and this is one of those unsung aspects. fandom... fandom blease be SAD about SPIDER MAMA with me

[riddlecrux]

What is past is present: Azriel and Elain, Helion and Lady of Autumn Court

This post is going to be a long one. I will be talking about parallels between Helion - Lady of Autumn Court - Beron and Azriel - Elain - Lucien situation. How their relationships mirror each other, how the blood duel mentioned in ACOSF and ACOWAR will come to an end, but also how the first triangle was used as a plot device in ACOWAR. I believe it is not a coincidence that SJM decided to put these scenes and histories in the same book with such a short span of time passing between things happening on the pages of their story. I would like to say that this post is a pro Elriel meta, so if they are not your cup of tea please scroll past this. Many thanks to Gardening Tools, especially @silverlinedeyes !

We are going to start with the Lady of Autumn Court and the scene at the High Lord’s council. She is there with her husband, Beron and as the conversation surrounding Hybern increases in intensity, we are presented with a bit of background information about the Lady.

Lady of the Autumn Court had 2 sisters that died during Hybern's soldiers' attack. We got to see another family of three sisters, two of them dying for their sister. What's even more important is a mention of Hybern's war camps and how it's very unlikely for anyone to survive their time there.

Here Beron taunts Kallias by telling his mate that Hybern and his people probably torture and abuse women before killing them. (Please be sure to remember that because we're going to go back to this notion later in this post.)

Another big insight about Lady's life and this particular accident comes from no one else but Helion.

Few things that are very important to mention: - she had already given birth to a few of her children - Hybern directly attacked the estate they were in - her sisters let her run away because they loved her - she tried to fight and stay with them till they convinced her to run - the beasts sent by Hybern tailed her and finally cornered her in a trap

What Feyre says in this particular scene - about Helion knowing too many details holds great importance for the further quotes. We also get to know that, in fact, it was Helion who rescued the Lady - not only saved but found her. The setup, the build-up and the fact that it wasn't her "husband" that came for her are the main things I wish to bring attention to, as we are going to analyze different scenes from the same book with this knowledge.

He could have ended it differently, yet he didn't. Why? The question seems to be imprinted in Feyre's mind as she tries to connect the dots and points she was given, just like us readers. I do believe that what we are being presented with is the notion of the mating bond. Helion's rage at Lady's attack projects typical mate behavior - such as unnecessary violence against the ones who dared to hurt their mate. It also goes with the information of him finding her - how was that possible? Her husband wasn't there, it was Helion who essentially knew that something was wrong. How? Well, by applying the mating bond in this picture we can easily deduct few things: Helion probably felt her distraught through the bond, was able to locate her and save her.

Another insight given by Helion is about Lady's relationship with Beron. Not only it gives us information about her young age (cue to Rhysand's mother and how her young age was also brought up as something very disturbing and not in favour of some mating bonds), but also we get to know that her marriage was arranged. Just like the reader, Feyre is left with these very personal insights and detailed descriptions - so she presses Helion more, to speak, to see if her suspicions are correct.

Another person jumps into the conversation and it is Mor who hands the information of a possible romance between Lady and Helion. We learn that both of them met at an equinox ball before she was proposed with an arranged marriage with Beron. Feyre's curiosity is evident in the way she perks up at Mor's words. Helion on the other hand counter-attacks and provides us with the political background of the story. The Lady was basically left without a choice when it came to her love life.

Helion saved Beron's wife during the war. And Beron didn't know and still doesn't have an idea that it was Helion who saved the Lady.

Feyre tries to fish for more information - and Helion seems to be very reluctant to answer her question about his relationship with the Lady. It makes us think that, in fact, their relationship was somehow forbidden, being kept in secret. Moreover, what's even more interesting is the fact that we suddenly have a shift of focus on another person - Azriel. We are deliberately made aware of the fact that Azriel is listening to this important conversation.

We are starting to see Helion becoming slightly less humorous - Feyre can spot the difference between his usual self and the way he delivers his question. It suggests that the relationship and potential mating bond is a very touchy subject for him.

Their forbidden relationship went on for decades. They were secret lovers till Beron found about them. We see that contrast between the Lady with Helion - all brightness and smiles, Lady with Beron - withdrawn, timid, scared.

I clenched my teeth. “If you were her lover, why didn’t you stop it?” The wrong thing to say. Utterly wrong, by the dark fury that rippled across Helion’s face. “Beron is a High Lord, and she is his wife, mother of his brood. She chose to stay. Chose. And with the protocols and rules, Lady, you will find that most situations like the one you were in do not end well for those who interfere.”

Helion reacts with anger at Feyre's inquiry about his lack of participation in the case of the Lady's wellbeing. "Dark fury rippling across Helion's face" is also an interesting word choice. Again we are reminded that their romance was meant to end that way due to the notions of choice and politics.

“Beron never called you out for it?” “To publicly do so would be to admit that his possession made a fool of him. So we continue our little dance, these centuries later.” I somehow doubted that beneath that roguish charm and irreverence, Helion felt it was a dance at all.

Helion reminds us about politics that bind different Courts - in this case, we can easily see that the matter of choice in this example ends with Lady choosing duty over love. It also supplies us with an idea that if Helion would have wanted to fight for Lady he would need to participate in a blood duel. Yet, the Lady chose Beron - we don't know why Helion probably was left alone with the same question. However, by analyzing this situation I believe that Lady knew about the possibility of a blood duel happening she didn't want her potential mate to be hurt. So, in the end, she opted for a life in a loveless marriage with Beron. Furthermore, we have Rhysand and Feyre coming to the conclusion that Lucien is Helion's son - and he is the fruit of the loving relationship between Helion and the Lady.

What does this mean, though? Nothing—ultimately nothing. Other than the fact that Lucien might be Helion’s sole heir. And that … it changed nothing in this war. Especially not with Lucien on the continent, hunting that enchanted queen. A bird of flame … and a lord of fire. I wondered if they’d found each other yet.

The usage of the word "this war" is not a coincidence, as well as Rhysand's poor prediction of the future. Because as we know, right now - it changes a lot. Elain being his mate bounds him to the Night Court, so losing that relationship puts the Court at risk. Especially now, when Lucien doesn't know that Helion is his father. Another very important addition is the part about Lucien and Vassa. Feyre has prophetic tendencies and her thoughts about both Vassa and Lucien always focus on their... relationship. Not to mention that it was brought up after that whole conversation with Helion. With all these things above, I would like to move on to Elriel parallels. Starting with the Cauldron kidnapping Elain. Please bear in mind that this scene happens after the meeting with Helion, after learning about the story of Lady's and Helion's romance.

But Azriel asked softly, “What about Elain?”

The one who noticed that Elain was absent was Azriel, we can speculate whatever it was his intuition, his shadows, or perhaps some kind of feeling that made him aware of her absence. Yet, it's not a coincidence that another male character, the one who doesn't have an official mate is the only one who either felt/realized that she was taken. That's the first parallel I would love to bring to your attention - Helion was the one who found and rescued the Lady. Now, the situation is almost identical - Hybern attacks via Cauldron takes Elain to the war camps.

And what Hybern would do to Elain, might already be doing— From the shadows near the entrance to the tent, Azriel said, as if in answer to some unspoken debate, “I’m getting her back.” Nesta slid her gaze to the shadowsinger. Azriel’s hazel eyes glowed golden in the shadows. Nesta said, “Then you will die.” Azriel only repeated, rage glazing that stare, “I’m getting her back.”

Azriel reacts with rage, a silent debate raging within him. He is battling something deep inside him, which is obstructed from the reader's point of view. I wonder why? He is the one who swears to find her and rescue her. Also, worth mentioning how Feyre seems to realize the graveness of the situation - as if she can remember the conversation she had with Helion about what happened with sisters of the Lady of Autumn Court. War camps. Nobody would walk away from them alive.

We looked to Rhys, to Cassian and Nesta, to Mor—right as she appeared, breathless, between the tent flaps. Her eyes went to me, then the shadowsinger, and flared with shock and fear—

In this scene we also have Mor. Mor was present during Helion's conversation and gave input about their love and forbidden relationship. Mor that possess the power of Truth. Is it possible that Mor knew about the mating bond between Helion and the Lady? Is it possible that Mor knows about the truth of the mating bond between Lucien and Elain? Does Mor know about the potential mating bond between Azriel and Elain? There are so many questions and we don't get an answer. Mor keeps secrets, which is understandable yet it provides a whole new aspect of Mor being the one who realizes what's happening. (Not to mention that Mor is always present when Elain is with Lucien, assessing them.)

Screaming. A shadow gripped my shoulder, reminding me not to run. Ianthe would not run—would not show alarm. My mouth went dry as that scream sounded again. I couldn’t bear it—to let it go on, to see what was being done— Azriel’s shadow-hand grasped my own, tugging me closer. His rage rippled off his invisible form.

It is Azriel who reacts once again with - rage. At the thought of Elain being tortured, abused, or being killed. Feyre can't stomach the idea of what is happening to her sister in this war camp.

I could feel Jurian’s smile against my ear. “She’s in his tent. Chained with steel and a little spell from his favorite book.” Shit. Shit. Perhaps I should have gotten Helion, who could break almost any—

The mention of Helion is such a beautiful parallel. We, as readers, are amidst a rescue mission. A situation that was very similarly described few chapters before, a situation in which it was Helion in Azriel's shoes. In the past it was - Helion and Lady, here in the "future" we have - Azriel and Elain. The same circumstances - Hybern attack/Hybern powers, three sisters, and the only one is targeted, a savior that isn't husband/mate finding and rescuing the girl.

Azriel gently removed the gag from her mouth. “Are you hurt?” She shook her head, devouring the sight of him as if not quite believing it. “You came for me.” The shadowsinger only inclined his head.

I could write a whole meta about this quote because it's ridden with such enormous parallels and foreshadowing. Let's start with the simplest one, which is the word "devour". It has very strong connections to physicality, it basically means that Elain greedily took him in, he was her focal point at that moment. Also, the following addition of her not quite believing that, in fact, it is Azriel who arrived before her - she hadn't expected him to rescue her and you may be wondering why? It all beautifully goes with the idea of two mates/true mates theories - what is making me say this with so much certainty? Well, first of all, ACOWAR is full of descriptions of how a healthy mating bond works, for example, Feysand one. It's a bridge connecting two souls through which our emotions, thoughts can be perceived for the other person.

Find me, find me, find me, I tried shouting down that bond. But my mate’s wry voice didn’t answer. There was only the roaring void.

This happens at the begging of ACOWAR when Feyre tries to communicate with Rhysand through their mating bond. I find it very interesting that throughout the whole book the trope of "finding your true love, significant other" is very persistent. This brings me back to the theory that both Azriel and Helion heard their mates' cries of help and that's how they were able to rescue them and find them. In addition to that Elain's "you came for me" is striking so many questions. What does she mean? Why is she so docile and peaceful? As if she somehow had an idea that someone will come for her - did she perhaps inwardly call through the mating bond? This, again, brings us to another parallel - Beron doesn't know that it was Helion who rescued the Lady. Lucien doesn't know that it was Azriel who saved Elain - which, we really don't know if he even felt/knew that something has happened.

The hounds closed in, two breaking away—to cut to the side. To herd us. For that was a cliff at the other edge of the camp. A cliff with a very, very long drop, and unforgiving river below.

I'm bringing this up because the setting is oddly familiar with the run of Lady of Autumn's one. The isolated place, a trap etc.

Azriel’s roar echoed off the rocks as the hound slammed into him, dragging those shredding talons down his spine, his wings— The girl screamed, but Elain moved. As Azriel battled to keep them airborne, keep his grip on them, my sister sent a fierce kick into the beast’s face. Its eye. Another. Another. It bellowed, and Elain slammed her bare, muddy foot into its face again. The blow struck home. With a yelp of pain, it released its claws—and plunged into the ravine.

Parallel on parallel. We have Hybern's beasts, we have a similar setting again and fight. What is different, however, is that in Helion's case it was solely him that destroyed beasts while rescuing the Lady. Here, however, it is Elain that fights against beasts - she who had never trained, she who is a gardener is fighting against evil. She is kicking as the beasts hurt Azriel. She took the initiative and killed the beast at that moment when they previously hurt Azriel. Also, the most beautiful comparison in my opinion is the fact that after Elain knocks the beast it falls down the ravine, dying. It is somehow very symbolic that Elain kills the beast that falls into the ravine, whereas Lady of Autumn is stuck in the ravine as beasts approach her and it is the moment when Helion saves her.

The gray light of morning had broken over the world, mist clinging to our ankles as we headed into that camp, Azriel still cradling Elain to his chest. He dripped blood behind him the entire time—a trickle compared to the torrent that should be leaking out.

After that intense battle, they arrive in the safety, but Azriel still holds on Elain even if he himself is bleeding all over the place.

Rhys lunged for Azriel, taking Elain from him and gently setting my sister down. Azriel rasped, swaying on his feet, “We need Helion to get these chains off her.” Yet Elain didn’t seem to notice them as she rose up on her toes and kissed the shadowsinger’s cheek.

Another mention of Helion in that very parallel setting. He was very present during the rescue mission, which is a neat way of showering the audience with foreshadowing. If I wanted to indulge even more in the symbolism of this scene, I would point out that the chains on Elain are very symbolic as well. They could either mean the restrain of her powers, but also the chains of the "lack of freedom", "lack of choice". Being freed by both Azriel and Helion is something that I believe is very important to remember while waiting for the next book. Because even if Elain is a mirror to Lady - Elain will change the course of her story. Elain is going to choose love over duty, she will choose Azriel - which ends with them discovering that, in fact, the bond was there from the beginning. Helion getting rid of those chains is also a metaphor for what is to come. He will break Lady's chains by fighting with Beron during the blood duel. In this timeline, Azriel and Elain are symbolism of healthy love, mating bond, freedom of choice. Lucien doesn't mirror Beron, because he himself doesn't want to be with Elain since both of them don't feel comfortable with each other, they are making each other miserable. Not to mention the fact that their mating bond is... very weak and through the ACOWAR and ACOSF we see that it is different from the true mating bonds that are present in the universe. Azriel-Elain-Lucien triangle will break the past wheel of unhappiness and forced love, changing it by their own rules of free choice. As for Helion-Lady-Beron love story, if I may be so bold, the blood duel is going to happen and Beron will die - freeing Lady and Helion from him and politics that kept them away. If you are still not sure if these two situations are foreshadowing I would love to put this quote as the ending of this very long meta.

Azriel shrugged. “We—Rhys, Cass, and I—will occasionally remind each other that what we think to be our greatest weakness can sometimes be our biggest strength. And that the most unlikely person can alter the course of history.”

And as you can guess, that very unlikely person who altered the course of history in ACOWAR was Elain when she killed King of Hybern.

[sidehugsnsideblogs]

FCSU #58 Wrap It Up

Dominic, Greyson and the other survivors were working diligently to remind the public why the FCSU was being investigated in the first place. They prepared a press release detailing just some of their findings from the raid. Of the nearly 100 people on the compound there were three surnames: Culton, Brown and Prichard. The Prichard family consisted of two people: Allen Prichard Jr and his pregnant teenage bride Natalie Brown Pritchard. Two other teen girls were pregnant when taken into custody.

Other teenage girls had already given birth to one or more children. Of the adult women on the ranch, more than half had given birth as underage teens. There were 8 fathers or Priesthood Headships with an age range of 76 (Elden Brown) to 19 (Allen Prichard Jr) Eight men with almost 100 wives and children between them. 

The first of the DNA tests were starting to come back as well. It was proven that Royce Culton, age 55, had fathered children with multiple underage girls. It also came out that Royce was the father of Leroyce, Rachel’s miracle son. While the FCSU members simply chose not to believe this little detail, Rachel’s sisters were scandalized, Rachel and Royce had an affair while she was still married to his father! Looking back it made a lot of sense, but still came as a shock. At this point Rachel’s sisters felt like they barely knew her.

Once the press release was out public opinion began to swing back towards law enforcement's side. To keep momentum going Rebecca-Dawn Prichard began doing interviews about her time in the church. She went into detail about the horrors of being married to Royce Culton at thirteen and the tight leash he kept the entire community on. She spoke of her family being ripped apart and her mother being reassigned.

Her heart hurt thinking of Evangeline. She would feel so betrayed. I'm so sorry Vangie, she thought, but I can't let this continue. She thought of her niece Abby and how she'd be wed to her own cousin as soon as the children were returned and the cameras sent away. With her sisters support Becca bravely called out other members of the cult for marrying their stepdaughters and cousins. She did her best to refute the lies her own sisterwives spun. Yes, girls were married underage, no, they didn’t have a choice and yes, abuse ran rampant in the church. It had since they all lived back in Oasis Springs.

With the investigation largely wrapped up the trials could begin. A handful of men were facing criminal charges based on the Priesthood documents they found on Royce’s computer and DNA evidence. Royce Culton himself was charged with the abuse of two of his wives, who were both seventeen when they gave birth to his children. The girls’ identities were kept anonymous as they were victims but for those following the case closely it was clear the girls were Evangeline and Farrah, the last two adults in custody.

Others facing criminal charges included Allen Jr, who at nineteen was much younger than the usual FCSU husband, Caylen Brown who was in his early twenties but also married to a pregnant teen and Jonathon Culton who had married several of his own underage nieces. Elden Brown was facing charges of child abuse for overworking the construction crew and handing his daughters off to be married. With the “most dangerous men of the compound” behind bars, the mothers could petition the court to get their children back.

The DNA tests confirmed there was much more underage marriage happening but since none of the now young adult wives were willing to betray their church and testify against their husbands Greyson Caliente chose not to move forward with those cases. As he sorted through dozens of files Greyson began to feel despair. There were so many lives being crushed by this cult and he had done all he could to help but they’d likely all be sent back to their parents. All of this for nothing.

“Don’t beat yourself up over this.” Said Penny softly as she brought him an energy drink while he worked into the night. “You can’t make people leave before they’re ready. And you did some good-Allie’s out and she’s taking her kids. That’s eight lives saved plus Andrew who gets to see his family again. You done good.”

[chudleycanonficfest]

Day 30, Post 1 by @blimeypeople

Hi! This is my first time writing a fiction story in English (I'm not a native english speaker) and it's unbetaed :(  If you have time to spot something wrong or if this story doesn't make any sense, just let me know, pretty please?

Thanks for hosting this fest. You're all so awesome!

---

Title: Don’t run, please.

Author: blimey,people

Pairing: Ron/Hermione

Prompt: Parenthood

Rating: G

Hermione Granger-Weasley really thought her life was perfect, that she had achieved everything she wanted and made her heart happy: she had a husband who loved her, a job she enjoyed, saw her friends and family whenever she could (well Sunday lunches at The Burrow were an unwritten rule but she enjoyed them a lot), but then what was she doing running through the corridors of the Ministry of Magic? Hiding from her husband, that's what she was doing. She turned on the corner of one of the corridors, she was no longer running, but she was walking hurriedly heading in the direction of the main library of the Ministry, so big and wide that not only was it difficult to locate the books you needed, but also the people that were inside. The best hiding place, Hermione thought and quickened her pace when she saw him: Ron, standing in front of the large wooden doors, staring at his shoes in his scarlet Auror team uniform, which was somewhat wrinkled. Probably coming back from training, Hermione barely had time to think when she turned around running to the opposite side. They were quite far apart, so it wouldn’t be that easy for him to reach her but he was faster.

  "Hermione!" She heard him scream, but she couldn't stop, she was scared, she was afraid of having a conversation with him. She accelerated her escape as she felt his footsteps getting closer.

  "Hermione! Don't run, please! " She had heard that voice a few times. Her memories took her to a particular occasion, when she was also hiding, but from evil forces who wanted to end their lives and the life of their best friend. She couldn’t resist his voice, she had resisted it countless times while he asked her for forgiveness inside the horrendous tent. It hurt her soul, it hurt her not being able to hug him telling him how much she loved him, but her pride won. Only months later, she was able to achieve what her heart and mind most wanted: to reveal her feelings and be reciprocated. Now her heart and mind told her this was far more important, that this could perhaps destroy the relationship that with so much love, time and dedication they had built, this could possibly end one of their most cherished dreams, burst the bubble of joy and emotion that had appeared inside them almost three months ago. This could take away their most precious gift: their future child.

  So she stopped, took a deep breath, and waited for him to catch up with her. It didn't take many seconds when she felt his long fingers capture her left wrist leading her towards a deserted office.

  I should’ve flooed home, Hermione thought as she walked alongside Ron. He would have found me there in an instant though, I should’ve gone to..., she tried to complete the thought, when she was struck by doubt. Her choices were limited in terms of places where she could just go to think without being seen, without being interrupted, no questions being asked by anyone. Her childhood room in her parents' house might have been a great option, but now recently her parents had semi-retired from their jobs (occasionally they went to the office in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, at times they took turns and one of them stayed home while the other went to work), thus Hermione didn't know for sure when the house was thoroughly empty. Besides if they found her in her old room on a Friday lunch, at the time in which she should still be at the Ministry plus they were aware that, due to her almost obsession with completing every unfinished task at the end of the week, Fridays were her most complicated days at work, it would potentially lead them to ask her thousands of questions and if she chose to answer truthfully, as she had done since she met them again in Australia two months after the war, tired of hiding things from them. This time, though, she was certain they wouldn’t be as understanding as they were back then. Now the situation wasn't just about her, it involved someone more important and vulnerable, someone they hadn't met yet but they already loved.

  Her parents, Jean and Hugo, were over the moon since the day they learned about the arrival of their first grandson or granddaughter. The imminent growth of their little family filled them with infinite joy. On countless moments, mainly when Hermione and Ron would give them the news about the birth of a new child in the ever growing Weasley family, the faces of Jean and Hugo gave away what they wanted: they were dying to ask her when she and Ron would finally decide to have one of their own. Therefore they were ecstatic. The decision to adapt a room on the first floor as a playroom for their future grandson or granddaughter came easily. Well, we don’t need a library anymore, do we, Hugo?, said her mom. It took them a week to disappear the shelves loaded with books that were once part of the room. Toys, kids books, little stuffed animals, big stuffed animals, a white cot and the largest most colorful collection of clothes Hermione had ever seen overflowed the rather large space. Apparently, her mother considered it was better to have more variety than later needing a neon green footie embroidered with dinosaurs and not having it on hand. Her father, more serene and restrained, but just as enthusiastic, had bought a beautiful memoir book for the baby, where he himself would be in charge of writing down every detail of his or her first year of life. However, Hermione was sure something was wrong with her for she hadn't been able to share the same level of enthusiasm of her parents or her husband hence she just smiled everytime they mentioned the baby. Therefore, she was certain Jean and Hugo would probably agree with Ron on this issue. So now he was being proven right, they would help him convince her to "do the right thing for the baby." Except she honestly couldn’t discern what was right anymore so the confusion and fear consumed her. She loved her job, enjoyed the responsibilities that came with it, rejoiced in every new challenge she encountered no matter the outcome, she was sure of it. Her newly discovered feelings for the little human being growing inside of her were what confused and scared her at the same time.

  Ron guided her to an old and solitary chair within the rather desolated office gently helping her to sit on it. Rather than sitting beside Hermione, he stood in front of her and crouched down. He took one of her hands, placed it on top of her knee, gently stroking it.

  “Hermione, the evidence is overwhelming. If they were able to send an object specifically charmed to harm you into your office, it is because they aren’t our most common enemies. It means they are doing their homework figuring out your routines. They’ve been following you for at least a few weeks. They knew that only us usually go there so you would open the package without a second thought,” Ron couldn't control the tone of sadness, anger and despair as he spoke.

  Minutes before lunch, Hermione received a small package wrapped in a black paper with little stars, the wrapping of Hermione's new favorite bookstore in Muggle London. She frequently went there alone and sometimes Ron accompanied her. She ran to get it, unwrapping it in an instant. She didn’t even have time to see the title of the literary work, when the book came to life and suspended in the air began to hit her repeatedly, increasingly hard on the chest, arms, legs. Her wand was on the handbag she regularly took to lunch. The book kept hitting her, in one moment heading for her belly. Hermione started to scream, moving as far as she could from the object. In seconds, the auror who was stationed outside her office managed to undo the spell. It wasn’t the first threat, that's why the auror guarded her office. Whoever was behind it, had tried to harm her on previous occasions but they had never been so close to actually hurting her. The spell was very powerful, the package was able to pass the rigorous inspection of the experienced auror. A mother who genuinely loved her child would already be home, protecting him or her by being away from danger, the thought stunned her. She began to run through the corridors of the Ministry even when she heard the auror screaming for her to stop. She didn’t want to see anyone, especially Ron, who a week ago had almost begged her to stay home for a few days while they determined who was threatening her.

  “Harry and I are very close to identifying who is doing this, Hermione. We just need you to get away from danger a bit… ” Ron started, looking her straight in the eyes.

  “I don't want to quit my job, Ron, not after working so hard for many years. I'm nearly there with the house-elf protection law… "

  “I know about all the work you've done, Hermione. I would never ask you to do it, if it weren't for… "

  "The baby," Hermione completed looking down, "I understand Ron, but I honestly don't think it's necessary ..."

  "Not putting our child at risk is more than necessary, Hermione, it will only be a few months," Ron interrupted quickly.

  "Ron, I can't. So many magical creatures trust in me..."

  "They will continue to trust in you when you return," said Ron.

  "We said having a child wouldn't alter our lives, that I would continue working, you know I don’t want to be a stay at home mum." Hermione felt Ron's hand tighten on top of hers.

  "It's not that. We wouldn’t be having this conversation if the situation wasn't like this," argued Ron, "Tough I must say you were the one saying having a child wouldn't alter our lives. I think you were trying to convince yourself. For my part, I believe that many things are going to change, things we won’t be able to control."

  "Ron…"

  "I reckon you're getting scared ..." Ron continued coming closer and reaching her shoulders to hug her.

  "I'm not…" Hermione tried to interrupt and wriggle out of the hug. But he knew her better than anyone. Hermione was sure he had noticed her doubts, insecurities and fears even before her.

  "I am scared too, I'm not just talking about the threats, because I can assure you that we are going to find out who is behind everything and he’s going to pay for putting you through this," his voice was harsh and he had struggled not to shout during the last sentence. "I’m positive you're scared for him or her too," his voice had taken a delicate, sweet tone, the tone he used when they fought and he wanted her to understand he was right without making her feel too bad.

  "You are doubting yourself, asking that brilliant mind of yours a ton of questions, not finding answers. You’re wondering if you’re going to do a good job or if you will love him or her enough. The fact is, Hermione, the love you will feel towards our child will never be enough, it will be infinite", he raised one of his hands caressing her cheek, “It's not about doing a good or bad job, love. It's about doing the best we can in our own way, making mistakes and learning together, because you do realize we're in this together, right?” Ron delicately squeezed her cheek, Hermione looked up, her beautiful blue eyes pierced through her with the deepest love, he lowered his hand placing it on her still small belly, “He or she deserves the world, I assure you we will give it to him or her when the time comes. What we can do now is protect our little one, we are not going to let anything happen to him or her. Okay, we should definitely find out if it’s a boy or a girl, I'm getting tired of this”, he grinned.

  In that instant, Hermione felt within her how the little life Ron and she had created began to move and the most profound love, love she only felt for the man in front of her, completely invaded her. Ron gave no sign of feeling it, but it wasn't necessary. She placed her hand on top of Ron's, looked him straight in the eye, and nodded. He smiled at her, hugging her tightly.

  At this precise moment in her life, despite her insecurities about her ability to love and protect her unborn child, the certainty of knowing Ron never made vain promises began to fill her with strength and hope. If he firmly believed everything would be fine, it would be. If he was by her side on this adventure, there was no doubt the next few years would be different, challenging, but wonderfully incredible.

[dwellordream]

“...While on his travels Augustus would have continued to be preoccupied with the old issue of what would happen after his death. He had clearly demonstrated at the time of his departure that he could not manage without Marcus Agrippa, married at the time to Marcella, Octavia’s daughter. Agrippa now divorced her (her compensation was to be married to Iullus Antonius, the son of Antony and Fulvia), so as to be free in 21 to marry the widowed Julia. Plutarch says that this marriage came about through Octavia’s machinations and that she prevailed upon Augustus to accept the idea. It is not clear what her motives would have been.

If we are to believe Seneca we might see pure spite. He claimed that Octavia hated Livia after the death of Marcellus because the hopes of the imperial house passed now to Livia’s sons. This could well be no more than speculation, and Seneca does not even hint at any specific action by Octavia against her supposed rival. The whole story sounds typically Senecan in its denigration of dead individuals who are easy targets. Once again, we are told nothing about Livia’s reaction to the marriage. She might not have been able to object to the earlier marriage between Julia and Augustus’ nephew Marcellus, but in 21 the situation was different. Her older son, Tiberius, who was not yet married, had been passed over in favour of an outsider to the family. 

But whatever his sense of obligation to his wife, Augustus probably felt that he had little choice in the matter. Agrippa’s earlier reaction to having to take second place to Marcellus, a blood relative of Augustus, would have provided a good hint to Augustus of how his friend would have taken to playing second string to Tiberius. Agrippa was now a key figure in the governing of Rome. He was not a man to be provoked. If Livia had been entertaining hopes that this early stage of a preeminent role for either of her sons (and such a suggestion, while reasonable, is totally speculative), such hopes would have faded with the birth of two sons to Julia and Agrippa.

Gaius Caesar was born in 20 bc, and, as if to confirm the line, a second son, Lucius Caesar, arrived in 17. Augustus was delighted, and soon after Lucius’ birth signalled his ultimate intentions by adopting both boys. He thus might envisage himself as being ‘‘succeeded’’ by Agrippa, who would in turn be succeeded by either Gaius and Lucius, who were, in a sense, sons of both men. In late 16 bc Augustus set out on an extended trip to Gaul and Spain, where he established a number of veteran settlements. Livia may have accompanied him. Dio does report speculation that the emperor went away so as to be able to conduct his affair with Terentia, the wife of his close confidant Maecenas, in a place where it would not attract gossip. 

Even if the rumours were well founded, the implication need not necessarily follow that he had left Livia behind. Livia had a reputation as a femme complaisante, and Augustus may simply have wanted to get away from the prying eyes of the capital. Certainly at one stage Livia intervened with Augustus to argue for the grant of citizenship to a Gaul, and this trip provides the best context. Moreover, Seneca dates a famous incident to this trip, Livia’s plea on behalf of the accused Gaius Cornelius Cinna. It could well be that Seneca misdated the Cinna episode, but he at any rate clearly believed that Livia had been in Gaul with her husband at the relevant time.

…Agrippa lived to see the birth of two other children, his daughters Julia and Agrippina. The first (born about 19 bc) is the namesake of her mother, and, in the historical tradition, cut from the same cloth; the second was to be somewhat eclipsed in the same tradition by her own daughter and namesake, the mother of the last Julio-Claudian emperor, Nero. Agrippa thus became the natural father of four of Augustus’ grandchildren during his lifetime (a fifth would be born posthumously), and his stock rose higher with each event. He had served his princeps well, and could now take his final exit. In 13 he campaigned in the Balkans. At the end of the season he returned to Italy, where he fell ill, and in mid-March, 12 bc, he died. 

His body was brought to Rome, where it was given a magnificent burial, and the remains were deposited in the Mausoleum of Augustus, even though Agrippa had earlier booked himself another site in the Campus Martius. In the following year Octavia died. She is celebrated by the sources as a paragon of every human virtue, whose only possible failings had been the forgivable ones of excessive loyalty to an undeserving husband and excessive grief over the death of a possibly only marginally more deserving son. As noted earlier, we should be cautious about Seneca’s claim that Octavia nursed a hatred for Livia after the death of Marcellus. But there can be no doubt that her death was in a sense advantageous to Livia, for it removed one of the main contenders for the role of the premier woman in the state. Only Augustus’ daughter Julia might now lay claim to a precedence of sorts, but she in fact became an agent in furthering Livia’s ambitions, rather than an obstacle. Once her formal period of mourning was over, Julia would need another husband. Suetonius says that her father carefully considered several options, even from among the equestrians. 

Tiberius later claimed that Augustus pondered the idea of marrying her off to a political nonentity, someone noted for leading a retiring life and not involved in a political career. Among others he supposedly considered Gaius Proculeius, a close friend of the emperor and best known for the manner of his death rather than of his life: he committed suicide by what must have been a painful technique—swallowing gypsum. This drastic action was apparently not in response to the prospect of marriage to Julia but in despair over the unbearable pains in his stomach.

In 11 bc, the year of Octavia’s death, Augustus made his decision. He could hardly pass over one of Livia’s sons again. They were the only real choices, given the practical options open to him. Both were married, and Drusus’ wife was the daughter of Octavia, someone able already to produce offspring linked, at least indirectly, by blood to the princeps. Divorce in this case would not have been desirable. Augustus had already demonstrated his faith in Livia’s other son, Tiberius, by appointing him to replace Agrippa in the Balkans. He was the inevitable candidate for Julia’s next husband. In perhaps 20 or 19 Tiberius had married Agrippa’s daughter Vipsania, to whom he had long been betrothed. Their son Drusus was born in perhaps 14. In 11 Vipsania was pregnant for a second time, but Tiberius was obliged to divorce her, although he seems to have been genuinely attached to her. Reputedly when they met after the divorce he followed her with such a forlorn and tearful gaze that precautions were taken that their paths would never cross again. 

He was now free to marry Julia. This marriage marks a milestone in Tiberius’ career and in the ambitions that Livia would naturally have nursed for her son. Augustus was clearly prepared to place him in an advantageous position, and the process could be revoked only with difficulty. It is inevitable that there should be speculation among modern scholars that Livia might have played a role in arranging the marriage. Gardthausen claimed that she brought it off in the teeth of vigorous opposition. Perhaps, but the suggestion belongs totally to the realm of speculation. If Livia did play some part in winning over Augustus, she did it so skilfully and unobtrusively that she has left no traces, and the sources are silent about any specific interference on this occasion.

Nor can it be assumed that Augustus would have needed a great deal of persuading. No serious store should be placed in the claims in the sources that he held Tiberius in general contempt and was reduced to turning to him faut de mieux. Suetonius quotes passages from Augustus’ correspondence that provide concrete evidence that the emperor in fact held his adopted son in high regard. Suetonius chose the extracts to show his appreciation of Tiberius’ military and administrative skills, but his words clearly suggest a high degree of affection that seems to go beyond the merely formulaic. 

He addresses Tiberius as iucundissime, probably the equivalent in modern correspondence of ‘‘my very dear Tiberius.’’ He reveals that when he has a challenging problem or is feeling particularly annoyed at something, he yearns for his Tiberius (Tiberium meum desidero), and he notes that both he and Livia are tortured by the thought that her son might be overtaxing himself. Livia’s other son, Drusus, although arguably his brother’s match in military reputation and ability, seems to have been quite different from him in temperament. Where Tiberius was private, inhibited, uninterested in courting popularity, Drusus was affable, engaging, and well-liked, and there was a popular belief, probably naive, that he was committed to an eventual restoration of the republic. He had found a perfectly compatible wife in Antonia the Younger, a woman who commanded universal esteem and respect to the very end.

They produced two sons, both of whom would loom large on the stage of human events: Germanicus, who became the most loved man in the Roman empire and whose early death threatened to erode Livia’s popularity, and Claudius, whose physical limitations were an embarrassment to Livia and to other members of the imperial family, but who confounded them all by becoming an emperor of considerable acumen and ability. They also had a daughter, Livilla, who attained disrepute through her affair with the most loathed man in the early Roman empire, the notorious praetorian prefect Sejanus.

Drusus dominated the landscape in 9 bc. The year seemed to start auspiciously for Livia. In 13 bc the Senate had voted to consecrate the Ara Pacis, one of the great monuments of Augustus’ regime, as a memorial to his safe return from Spain and the pacification of Gaul. The dedication waited four years and finally took place in 9, on January 30, Livia’s birthday, perhaps her fiftieth. The honour was a profound one, but indirect and thus low-key, in keeping with Livia’s public persona. Her sons continued to achieve distinction on the battlefield. A decorated sword sheath of provincial workmanship has survived from this period.

It represents a frontal Livia with the nodus hairstyle, and shoulder locks carefully designed so as to flow along her shoulders above the drapery. She appears between two heads, almost certainly her sons, and the piece pictorially symbolises Livia at what must have been one of the most satisfying periods of her life. To cap her sense of well-being, Tiberius, after signal victories over the Dalmatians and Pannonians, returned to Rome to celebrate an ovation. Following the usual practice after a triumph or ovation, a dinner was given for the Senate in the Capitoline temple, and tables were set out for the people in front of private houses. 

A separate banquet was arranged for the women. Its sponsors were Livia and Julia. Private tensions may already have arisen between Tiberius and Julia, but at least at the public level they were sedulously maintaining an outward image of marital harmony, and Livia was making her own contribution towards promoting that image. Similar festivities were planned to celebrate Drusus’ victories. Presumably in his case Livia would have joined Antonia, Drusus’ wife, in preparing the banquet, as she had joined Tiberius’ wife on the earlier occasion.

While Tiberius had been engaged in operations in Pannonia, Drusus had conducted a highly acclaimed campaign in Germany. By 9 bc he had succeeded in taking Roman arms as far as the river Elbe. So awesome were his achievements that greater powers felt the need to intervene. He was visited by the apparition of a giant barbarian woman, who told him—she conveniently spoke Latin—not to push his successes further. Something was clearly amiss in the divine timing. Suetonius implies that Drusus heeded the warning, but calamity befell him anyhow. In a riding accident Drusus’ horse toppled over onto him and broke his thigh. He fell gravely ill. 

His deteriorating condition caused consternation throughout the Roman world, and it is even claimed that the enemy respected him so much that they declared a truce pending his recovery. (Similar claims were later made about his son Germanicus.) Tiberius had been campaigning in the Balkans at the time but had returned to Italy and was passing through Ticinum after the campaign when he heard that Drusus was sinking fast. Travelling the 290 km in a day and a night, a rate that Pliny thought impressive enough to record, he rushed to be with his brother. He reached him just before he died in September, 9 bc. Drusus was universally liked, and his death at the age of twenty-nine could not seriously be seen as benefitting anyone.

Nevertheless, it still managed to attract gossip and rumours. The death of a young prince of the imperial house would usually drag in the name of Livia as the prime suspect. In this instance such a scenario would have been totally implausible, and Augustus became the target of the innuendo instead. Tacitus reports that the tragedy evoked the same jaundiced reactions as would that of Germanicus, three decades later in the reign of Tiberius, that sons with ‘‘democratic’’ temperaments—civilia ingenia—did not please ruling fathers (Germanicus had been adopted by Tiberius). 

Suetonius has preserved a tradition that Augustus, suspecting Drusus of republicanism, recalled him from his province and, when he declined to obey, had him poisoned. Suetonius thought the suggestion nonsensical, and he is surely correct. Augustus had shown great affection for the young man and in the Senate had named him joint heir with Gaius and Lucius. He also delivered a warm eulogy after his death. Even Tiberius’ grief was portrayed as twofaced. To illustrate Tiberius’ hatred for the members of his own family, Suetonius claims that he had earlier produced a letter in which his younger brother discussed with him the possibility of compelling Augustus to restore the republic.

But events seem to belie completely the notion of any serious fraternal strife. Tiberius’ anguish was clearly genuine. His general deportment is of special interest, because of the light that it might throw on his and Livia’s conduct later, at the funeral of Germanicus. According to Seneca, the troops were deeply distressed over the death and demanded Drusus’ body. Tiberius maintained that discipline had to be observed in grieving as well as fighting, and that the funeral was to be conducted with the dignity demanded by the Roman tradition. He repressed his own tears and was able to dampen the enthusiasm for a vulgar show of public grief.

Tiberius now set out with the body for Rome. Augustus went to Ticinum (Pavia) to meet the cortege, and because Seneca says that Livia accompanied the procession to Rome, it is probably safe to assume that she went with her husband. As she travelled, she was struck by the pyres that burned throughout  the country and the crowds that came out to escort the funeral train. The event provides one of the few glimpses of Livia’s private emotions. She was crushed by the death and sought comfort from the philosopher Areus. On his advice, she uncharacteristically opened herself up to others. She put pictures of Drusus in public and private places and encouraged her acquaintances to talk about him.

But she maintained a respectable level of grief, which elicited the admiration of Seneca. Tiberius may well have learned from his mother the appropriateness of self-restraint in the face of private anguish. It was an attitude that was later to arouse considerable resentment against both of them. During the funeral in Rome, Tiberius delivered a eulogy in the Forum and Augustus another in the Circus Maximus, where the emperor expressed the hope that Gaius and Lucius would emulate Drusus. 

The body was taken to the Campus Martius for cremation by the equestrians, and the funeral bier was surrounded by images of the Julian and the Claudian families. The ashes were deposited in Augustus’ mausoleum. The title of Germanicus was posthumously bestowed on Drusus and his descendants, and he was given the further honour of statues, an arch, and a cenotaph on the banks of the Rhine. Augustus composed the verses that appeared on his tomb and also wrote a prose account of his life. No doubt less distinguished Romans, of varied literary talent, would have written their own contributions.

The anonymous Consolatio ad Liviam represents itself as just such a composition, intended to offer comfort to Livia on this very occasion, although it was probably composed somewhat later. Livia was indeed devastated, but as some form of compensation for her terrible private loss, she now, after some thirty years in the shadows, came into greater public prominence. The final chapter of Drusus’ life seems to have opened up a new one in his mother’s.”

- Anthony A. Barrett, “In the Shadows.” in Livia: First Lady of Imperial Rome

[pricklerick]

Okay, let’s talk about Beth.

I think the fandom tends to forget how fucking young she is.

Beth got pregnant with Summer when she was seventeen. Canonically, Summer is seventeen. That means Beth can’t be more than 35 in the pilot. At the risk of sounding like an old fart: dude, she’s just a baby. 

Let’s see what we can infer from this information. 

Did you guys know that the prerequisites for veterinary school and medical school are pretty much identical? Basically, it’s four years of undergraduate biology and chemistry, with maybe some math and physics thrown in for fun.

With this in mind, ti’s likely that Beth still planned to go to medical school after she had Summer. We know that Summer is Beth’s favorite child (Morty’s Mindblowers). On top of that, there’s evidence to support that Beth had a pretty big hand in raising baby Summer, while Jerry may have had more of an influence on Morty. Remember this little exchange in Raising Gazorpazorp?

Morty: What do I do if it cries?

Beth: Then you put it down and let it cry itself out.

Jerry: Yeah, right, we tried that technique on Summer, and she's gonna end up stripping, isn't she? Yes, she is. She's gonna strip for attention because she was denied it.

Beth: Stop filling it with your own insecurity! You're gonna turn it into Morty -- uh, mm -- more  -- more of you!

This suggests that Beth kept baby Summer at hime during the day while Jerry worked. It’s easy to imagine Beth taking night classes as the local university, studying like mad to keep a competitive GPA, and justifying her indifference to Summer as “good parenting.”

Beth has Morty when she’s about twenty. This falls a little into headcnon territory, but I think that Beth was a year ahead if her peers academically and probably started college at seventeen. Based on this headcanon, I’m going to say she’s a junior in when Morty is born. 

I think the show makes it pretty obvious that Morty is a mistake. If you really want to get dark, I kind of like the idea of Jerry sabotaging Beth’s birth control in order to get her pregnant because he’s resentful fo her desire for a career in medicine. He sees it as abandonment or some shit, and he also can’t handle the ego-blow of his wife being a doctor. But that’s just a personal theory. Regardless, I think it’s clear that Beth Smith didn’t want to be saddled with another kid.

She probably didn’t want to be saddled with the first. 

Making it through medical school with a toddler is a fucking challenge. Making it through medical school with a toddler and a baby, with a husband who is nebulously supportive at best; well, Beth is a smart woman. She knows an impossibility when she sees one.

Beth is twenty years old, and her dreams have been shattered by her husband and children. I’m sure Jerry makes her feel pretty guilty about how much their family would sacrifice if she continued to pursue her goal of being a surgeon.

Four years, Beth, and the five more years of residency! And you’re talking about fellowship after that! The kids would be teenagers! And how are we going to pay the bills??

Beth settles on vet school for several reasons. First of all - and you better believe she tells Jerry this - what the hell is she going to do with a bachelor’s degree in biology? Teach high school? Even Jerry knows that’s off the table.

But Beth’s already got the prerequisites for acceptance into vet school. Unlike medicine, there’s no residency required to practice as a vet, just four years of graduate study. Some of that is clinical rotations, a much better schedule for balancing family life and academics. Beth tells herself that being a vet is the same as being a doctor; after all, humans are just primates. Besides, there are less than one tenth as many vet schools as there are med schools in the United Staes - it’s just as competitive, more competitive, vein, to become a vet than it is to become a doctor. Sure, she’ll take a pay cut, but she’ll rack up considerably less debt in the process. 

Beth convinces herself that it will all balance out in the end.

She’s a competitive student with a stellar GPA. At barely 22 years old, Beth is accepted into one of the top veterinary promos in the nations, no problem. Jerry pretends to be proud. They don’t even have to move far from Muskegon, but Jerry takes a lower paying position that allows him to take care of the kids while Beth attends class. 

Summer is five years old and startlingly independent. Already, she despises her father. Jerry tells himself that he’s always wanted a son anyway. Morty is young and impressionable, and Beth is never around. 

“It’s just you and me, buddy!”

Beth finishes school in four years. She’s 26, Summer is nine, and Morty is five. She takes a job in a clinic, and for a while, things are okay.

But when she turns 29, something inside Beth snaps. Her twenties are gone. Here she is, mindlessly writing antibiotic orders and spaying cats. Summer is a preteen, Morty is whatever he is. Jerry got a promotion at work, despite his useless civics degree? And Beth?

Beth is bored. 

She briefly entertains the idea of returning to medical school, but dismisses it instantly. Her classmates would be so much younger. They’d find out about her background as a vet and they’d laugh at her. Jerry would whine incessantly. It feels too much like starting over.

So, again, Beth settles for the next best thing.

“I’ve applied for a residency program,” she tells Jerry one evening over a glass of wine.

Three years, she promises. Three years, and then I’m done for good. Equine Surgery, she gushes to Jerry. It’s prestigious, the highest paying specialty in veterinary medicine!

“We’ll have to move!” Jerry protests. Beth justifies it by saying that the salary for horse surgeons is highest in the northeast.

It’s surgery, she tells herself. It’s what you’ve always wanted to do. Horses are big mammals, just like humans are big mammals.

They move to Washington. Jerry takes yet another pay cut. Beth is 30. Summer is 13. Morty is nine.

Washington State’s equine surgery residency is tough. Beth is challenged. She wakes int he wee hours of the morning and falls into bed, exhausted, in the wee hours of the night. 

And for the first time in years, Beth feels alive.

Rick shows up on the doorstep on Morty’s thirteenth birthday. It’s a day of dual-celebration. Morty is finally a teenager, and Beth is finally finished with school.

Beth already feels like she’s in mourning. She’s 33, and she’s at the peak of her career  (you’ll never be smarter than you are in this moment, her favorite mentor had reminded her the day before boards). She starts a job and the horse hospital next week. She’s signed a contract, already received her hefty sign-on bonus.

Then Dad shows up, and all of Beth’s accomplishments fall hollow from her lips. 

She thought he was dead, for christssake.

She introduces Rick to her family: Jerry, her loser husband (cringe, cringe, cringe); Summer, basic teenage bitch (does poorly in school because the would rather be popular than smart); Morty, the fuckup with some learning disability that Beth had never bothered to pay attention to (the real reason that I never lived up to the potential you saw in me, Dad).

It’s enough to drive any woman to drink.

I don’t think I’m too far off the mark here. Beth is so tetchy and self-conscious about her job because she’s relatively new at it - remember the “we’re losing him!” scene in the pilot? She’s incredibly resentful fo Jerry, for all of the reasons. Summer is her favorite child because Beth spent more time with Summer when she was a baby, and she is independent and self motivated - traits that Beth values. She regards Morty with vague disdain, to the point that she hardly remembers his existence, because she was absent for the majority of his childhood. Beth view Morty as “Jerry’s child,” and Summer as hers.

(Quick headcanon that Beth thinks of Morty as looking like Jerry, which just adds to her aversion, when actually, he looks a lot like young Rick. Beth has no way of knowing this, though, because there are no photos of kid Rick Sanchez).

I don’t mean for this post to sound sympathetic toward Jerry, because I’m really not. He’s a hot mess, too. I just wanted to flesh out Beth a little bit, and maybe justify Rick’s choice to clone her. Beth is young; she still has a whole life to live, and she never got the chance to be the woman she wanted to be, or the mom that her kids deserved. 

Rick chose to give her the opportunity to succeed at both.

[fashionredalert]

So I have this super weird headcannon going through my head that wont leave me in peace so if i have to suffer so does everyone else.

Kyo’s mother and Yuki’s mother were best friends when they were young. 

Yuki’s mother is a woman who always got what she wanted when she wanted it. She would go to great lengths to achieve any goal set out before her. She’s cold, sharp and often times cruel.

Growing up she’s always had such a strong hold over Kyo’s mother, who was her only friend since childhood. Yuki’s mother dictated almost every decision Kyo’s mother made. Yuki’s mother is the one who decides even down to what style of clothes and hair style Kyo’s mother could wear.

Kyo’s mother is quiet, naïve and soft spoken. She hardly if ever stands up for herself and when Yuki’s mother makes a decision for her, well she doesn’t argue because she looks up to Yuki’s mother, who always got what she wanted in the end, so surly following her directions, her commands would be the right thing to do.

when Yuki’s mother marries her husband and gives birth to the snake and is praised and given a taste of everything she’s ever wanted, her sights immediately turn onto Kyo’s mother.

Almost immediately Yuki’s mother has visions, dreams of what their lives would be like. With her vice grip on Kyo’s mother, she envisions a future with her, of getting everything she’s ever wanted and leading Kyo’s mother along with her. She views Kyo’s mother as foolish and naïve, someone that needs to be led along and shown the way. Yuki’s mother’s way and no one else’s.

She’s so driven by these fantasies of high living, of being loved and adored and respected that she pushes for Kyo’s mother to marry Kyo’s father. That way they’d both be of the same family, the same last name and the same wealth and regal living.

She had already had a zodiac for a first born, so her status was already elevated and she wanted to be the one to pull all the strings, to have power to get what she wants the most so she pushes and pushes Kyo’s mother, who is soft spoken, kind and easily spoken over to marry Kyo’s father.

Yuki’s mother is the one who calls the shots for the wedding, who chooses the colors and what type of dishes they would use. She choses the flowers and the dictates what the decorations would be. She picks out what style of kimono Kyo’s mother will wear for the ceremony and even decides and picks out what Uchikake Kyo’s mother would wear for the reception.

When they both fall pregnant around the same time, the second time for Yuki’s mother and the first for Kyo’s mother, that dream was so close Yuki’s mother could almost taste it.

She gives birth to the rat and is smug and arrogant and on top of the world and the first person she tells is Kyo’s mother.

“You’ll be fine,” she tells Kyo’s mother, waving off the other woman’s anxiety, “It’s easy, after all I should know, I’ve already done it twice.”

She’s at the top, basically sitting upon a throne, already moved into the nicest  part of the Sohma grounds.

“All you have to do,” Yuki’s mother says into the phone, waving impatiently at the wet nurse over to the squalling baby when she arrives with an impatient frown to hurry up and feed Yuki, “is give birth to the ox. The ox is–”

“Second to god, I know.” Kyo’s mother says softly.

“Don’t interrupt.” Yuki’s mother scolds, “and stop sounding so scared, it’ll be fine. The ox is second so when you give birth to it, you’ll be second only to me. everyone else will be at our feet.”

“Please,” Kyo’s mother says, quiet and wary, “Please don’t call my baby an ‘it’.”

When Kyo’s mother gives birth, it’s not the ox at all. It’s the cat and it’s screams permeate the grounds, a loud wailing thing that drowns out Kyo’s mother’s panicked cries when she had suddenly gone into labor that evening. the birth itself was rough and tedious and nothing like Yuki’s mother had described.

Yuki’s mother hears the news, and only goes to see her before Kyo’s mother is moved into the furthest part of the complex.

Yuki’s mother sneers at the bundle at Kyo’s mother’s side as the woman in question lays on her side, her back facing Yuki’s mother, pale and racked with sobs.

“You idiot,” Yuki’s mother says, “You gave birth to the worst one.”

“I’m sorry,” Kyo’s mother sobs, “I’m sorry.”

“You should be.” Yuki’s mother coldly tells her, “We had a plan, and here you go ruining it. It’s all your fault.”

She moves to step towards the bundle, cautiously. “You’ve ruined everything.” she says.

 She could get any closer to gaze at the abomination, Kyo’s mother scrabbles up to grab it.

“Dont look!” She wails, eyes wild and face contorted in wild panic, “Dont look at him!”

Yuki’s mother’s face goes blank, her eyes and face and emotions shutting down as Kyo’s mother curls into herself, unable to hold it close.

“I cannot be seen with you.” Yuki’s mother says, her dreams and wants shattered by her friend’s weakness. “Do not speak to me again. Do not send for me, to not call for me, forget that we were ever friends. This is all your fault, had you just given birth to the right one–”

“I tried!” Kyo’s mother wails, “I swear to you I tried!”

“Evidently not.” Yuki’s mother says, “You wont even let me see it. You’re already ashamed of it.”

Kyo’s mother falls silent, her face a pitiful thing.

“Don’t call my baby an it.” Kyo’s mother says, her voice barely even a whisper.

“I was wrong,” Yuki’s mother says with a sneer, “You’re not as ashamed as you should be if you’re still trying to defend it. Until you redeem yourself and give birth to a better one, our friendship ends here.”

With that she swiftly turns and walks away.

YEARS LATER when her prized son ends up DATING the very abomination that took her only friend from her she sits in her room, overlooking the perfectly manicured garden. She has everything she could have ever wanted, or would have, had it not been for that demon her friend had spat out and left behind to infect Yuki’s mother’s household.

Her phone never rings and no one ever sends for her. Not even now. 

[an-ambivalent]

The Devil’s Smile

WARNING:  This post contains yandere themes and mentions of other toxic behaviours that can be triggering and uncomfortable to read. So, read at your own risk. This work is purely fiction. I do not condone this behaviour irl.

Fandom: Mystic Messenger 

Pairing: Female reader-insert     |  Word Count: 3K

Status: One-shot, requested, Royal AU. 

King Jihyun was known to be a wise, empathetic, and caring leader. He may not be the most powerful, but he certainly had the potential to be an excellent leader. The future was bright for him until he was engaged to Princess Rika from a neighbouring kingdom. She had not only deceived him about her royal status, but had also duped the actual princess who was meant to be his fiancee. Before they were even wedded, she had stripped Jihyun’s dignity  away from him and his humanity. She left him completely  blind  in his left eye, manipulated him mentally and inflicted psychological abuse that may never heal. She also ended some of the most essential treaties that were beneficial to his Kingdom. To say that she left him as a broken shell was an understatement. 

To compensate for Rika’s crimes since she was an inhabitant of your kingdom, and you were the original princess that Jihyun was supposed to marry, your father gave you no choice but to become Jihyun’s wife. It was an uncomfortable atmosphere and unpleasant. Before you were married, you were never even given the chance to meet Jihyun who you were supposed to spend the rest of your life with. Outside of your family, his, and some other important people close to Jihyun and your father who were both Kings, no one even knew this marriage took place. 

You were basically handed to him for something that Rika did. You had become a secret wife, and the country you became the Queen of, did not know of your existence, much less that their King was married. In their eyes, he was a bachelor that they had the chance to pawn. And people of your birth Kingdom suddenly had their Princess disappear. They were given no explanation and your own father did not instigate a search for you even as a facade. 

The start of your marriage with Jihyun was a cold one. Fortunately, no one demeaned or abused you. However, no one talked to you either. You were isolated. On your wedding night, your husband had not even shared the bed with you. He never tried to visit you, share any meals with you, or ask how you may have been coping. The maids that were assigned to you did their work precisely and professionally; however, they never made eye contact with you or initiated anything humorous. They spoke the minimum they needed to speak to do their jobs and that was it. The worst of all, no one addressed you as the Queen. This made it evident that they did not recognise you as their queen. In their eyes, you could be another Rika who was only going to harm their King. So to prevent you from reaching her greed level, they made sure to let you know of your place: despite your marriage, you were seen as the Princess of your Kingdom, not recognised as the Queen of theirs. 

It was a lonely life, but you did your best to not let it get to you. You told yourself that you were privileged and happier than many because there was nothing expected of you. Everything was provided for you, you did not need to talk to anyone or do anything for anyone. The serenity of just your own company was preferred over the draining life you lived back home where your parents always expected too much for you. You now had all the time in the world to: read the books you wanted to read but were not allowed to because they were not academics and paint to your heart’s content and write poetry related to your paintings. You always had to do this secretly because if your parents had found out about it, there would have been severe consequences. Now, you did not have to hide it because no one cared enough about what you did to tell you off for it. 

Jihyun’s interest in you started on the fateful day when he was going to approach you for the first time because he needed to discuss official business. You were in the garden that was within the Queen’s palace. This garden had been cultivated and cared for over many generations for the Kingdom’s Queens. You were sitting underneath the shade of the humongous tree, and the painting you had done of the lake and the lotuses in that lake in front of you, you were trying to write a poem for it. There were bits of paint smeared on your face and fingers from the colours you had used. When he visited you, Jihyun was led to the Queen’s garden where he saw this sight of you. From the one eye that he could see out of, you were enchantingly beautiful. You looked at peace and completely indulged in the art you were creating. But at the same time, there was an aura of melancholy around you. It seemed like whatever you were creating, it was going to be a reflection of that. 

You appeared to be so secluded, alone, just you and your art lost in your own world -- the sight of it reminded him of his mother. He recalled how she spent almost her entire time in this garden with him because when she had been married to his father, he did not have an ounce of love to spare for her. So she used to spend most of her time here in order to keep herself out of his sight. Jihyun had promised himself that would never be the case for him. But gazing at you in that moment, he realised that the very things he hated about his parents' relationship, were mirrored in his own marriage. 

Jihyun approached you and you were too focused on your work to notice him. So, he used this as a chance to look over your shoulder at what you had painted. The gentle strokes of the water paint, and the softness in your artwork mesmerised him. Without his knowledge, he found himself getting closer to you, and leaning over your sitting form to get a closer look. When his knee brushed against your back, you were snapped out of your thoughts and your shoulders tensed in nervousness. The touch was too sudden, and since you always had to keep your love for art a secret, there was that sudden fear that it was your parents who had caught you and were now going to punish you. 

You whipped around alarmingly, and hid your art pad behind your back. There was panic in your eyes, and your voice was oddly high pitched. 

“It’s not what you saw, I swear--” You exclaimed. Then, you stopped and your eyes widened when you saw Jihyun peering down at you. Your fear stayed. However, the reason behind it was now different. 

“Y-Your Majesty,” You stammered, and instantly stood up, before you bowed to greet him. 

The look of fear when you were caught, and then flicker of confusion of seeing him instead of whoever you expected, and then fear reappearing in your eyes when you had recognised him for who he was, caused a strange tightness in Jihyun’s chest. When he initially chose to keep his distance from you, it was not because he wanted you to be scared of him. 

Jihyun let out a nervous laugh. 

“Please raise yourself, Queen. It is not a good look for the Queen to bow before her King just for a greeting.” 

His words caused a shiver to run down your spine. What he said was odd because for the time you had been married, this was the first time he was ever speaking with you and already, he wanted to brush aside the formality that could have covered your discomfort. Furthermore, his words had implied a relationship between you two when outside of the legal documents binding you, there was none, which made this feel even more strange. 

Nonetheless, you did what you were told and stood up to your full height. 

“I didn't mean to disrupt you. I wasn’t aware you were fond of artistic endeavours.” He noted lightly. 

You gave him a strained smile and clutched your art pad tighter behind your back. “Um, it’s just a useless hobby, nothing to be concerned with, I promise. Was there anything I can assist you with?” 

Jihyun frowned at your obvious choice to shut down the conversation he was trying to initiate. It was hurtful and even more so, disappointing that you deemed it an “useless hobby.” But for now, he decided to not push it and discuss the subject he was required to discuss. 

The contents of it was embarrassing and it caused his cheeks to redden a bit. This caused you to raise an eyebrow, as he began to speak about it. 

“You see…” 

                                                        ********

You weren’t sure what to think of the sudden changes in your life. The start of it had begun when Jihyun had discussed the “official business” with you. Then, it developed from the abrupt shift in his personality. 

He went from barely acknowledging your existence, and never making any effort on his part to do the minimum that a husband should do for a marriage to work, to suddenly shoving himself in almost all aspects of your life. Before, you ate your meals at the convenience of your own schedule for that day. Now, you were required to have three meals at a specific time because he had decided that you two should start eating together. It went a step further when he decided you two should be spending more time together too. He had your butler redo your plans for the day to accommodate it to his needs without consulting you. You may have decided that you wanted to spend two hours of your evening at the library. But when it came down to it on that day, your butler would inform you that you could not do that because you were expected to meet his majesty for the boat ride he had ordered to be scheduled. 

Each time you were forced into spending time with Jihyun without your own choice, he coerced you into conversations. He attempted to get you to participate willingly by bringing up your passion for art and his own love for art. However, your art was such a personal and secret subject for you due to the fear of it being discovered during your upbringing, it was the last thing you wanted to talk about. Jihyun was not supposed to even find out about it. The only reason you started to paint and create out in the open here without much caution was because of the comfort you found in the certainty that no one cared about what you did. It had always been your secret escape, and it was supposed to stay that way. Had you known that the discovery of it would lead to such an immediate invasion of your privacy, and your entire life changing, you would have never pursued creating your art out in the open. 

You found it even more uncomfortable when during one of your “times” together, he would start to talk about the toxicity of his parents' relationships, how he did not want to be like his father, and about what Rika did to him. He talked about how after such traumatising experiences, he realised that his mother was the only one who ever truly loved him, and the fact that you reminded him of his mother. He mentioned how your love for art resembled hers, and the fact that you had been spending your time in the garden like she did. 

Jihyun promised you that you would not have to do that anymore because from now on, he would love you and not neglect you the way his father neglected his mother. Hearing such promises left you flabbergasted. This was because even though your relationship with your own parents was not the healthiest, you had enough common sense to know that love did not happen out of some fickle promises. Love took time, dedication, hard work, and both parties needed to contribute to it equally. 

You felt bad for Jihyun and everything he went through, you truly did. However, the way he talked about things always left a sour taste in your mouth. He continuously ranted about the lack of responsibility in your kingdom which led to what Rika did to him. He did not understand that her actions were her own choice. Then, he would begin to talk about his mother again, how she was the only one who loved him, and constantly implied that you were like her. This made you feel like he was pressuring you to feel guilty for Rika’s actions as your own, and return his efforts of affection and love him unconditionally like his mother may have loved him. 

It was unrealistic because he was the one who refused to acknowledge your existence and suddenly wanted to play the happy family. Due to his lack of care in the first two years of your marriage, whatever he was trying to coax you into now, was not working. You felt no affection for him. 

You decided you would bring it up during dinner, which was going to be your next shared meal and time together. 

The dinner was set in the small dining room in the Queen’s palace. Like always, there were many different types of dishes set for you two to eat. Sitting from across you, Jihyun was smiling at you as you settled in your chair and brought it closer to the table. 

“You look beautiful tonight,” he greeted. You gave him a strained smile in response and said nothing. You focused your attention onto your food and picked up your utensils. You wanted to start eating and avoid unnecessary conversation that would just make Jihyun more unbearable to you. 

As you started to eat, Jihyun stayed still, and his turquoise eyes were fixated on you. 

“I was thinking that since we never got the opportunity to go on a getaway after our wedding, we could plan one now,” he spoke. While doing so, he watched you with calculating eyes and closely observed your every move: from the way you froze to how your eyebrows knitted together. 

Your stomach churned, and whatever food you had eaten so far, you felt like vomiting it back out. However, supposedly, you decided that now was a better time than any to let him know how you truly felt. 

“Uh, may I provide an opinion?” You enquired awkwardly. 

Jihyun smiled slightly. “Of course.”

“Thanks…. I, I-I was married to you and I promised that whatever royal obligations came with that, I will fulfill them. So, in regards to the official business you spoke to me about, I-I will help you conceive an heir.” 

Jihyun’s eyes widened. He opened his mouth to respond, but you shook your head to indicate that you were not finished speaking. Now, you just had to say the hard part. The anxiety that came with having to say it, made your mouth feel dry. You were suddenly very aware of the heaviness of your own tongue, and this worsened how you were feeling. More than ever, you wanted to reach out and gulp down the entire glass of wine that was next to you. However, you refrained yourself from doing so, and willed yourself to continue with what you wanted to say. 

“B-But I don’t want to go on any honeymoon or anything, now, of all times. You didn’t care at the start, and I don’t like the way you’re suddenly pretending to care now because you don’t want to turn out like your father. That is your issue, please don’t involve me with it. I don’t like how you have started to suddenly shove yourself in my life now and change everything without even speaking to me about it. I appreciate the effort you have put in so far, I really do, but after everything that’s already been done, you can’t expect me to think that you genuinely care for me so unexpectedly. You also can’t expect me to suddenly love you just because you’ve decided now that you’re going to be better and do what you should have done from the start.” 

Your mouth-full explanation had caused an unanticipated silence to engulf the dinner atmosphere. Your heart was beating too loudly in your ears and was hammering too forcefully against your chest. You gulped and carefully watched Jihyun for his reaction. 

His usual calm expression was evident on his face; however, there was something different about it. His usual calm expression was almost serene. But this one, in this one, there seemed to be something eerie and dark supporting it. 

Jihyun took a sip from his wine and once he was done, he settled the glass back onto the table next to his food. Then, he gave you a smile that was a little too wide. 

“I understand.” He said simply. 

You weren’t completely convinced, so you continued to observe him for a few seconds. When he said nothing else, and started to eat his dinner, you shrugged. Finally, after getting the ordeal done and over with, you reached for your own wine glass and brought it to your lips to quench the much needed sensation of thirst. As you took the first few sips of it, you could not help but notice that it tasted oddly sweet. 

After drinking a good amount of it until your mouth did not feel dry as a desert, you settled your glass back onto the table. You returned to your food and took a few bites. While chewing on some of the salad, you glanced at Jihyun to observe him again. You were surprised to notice that he was watching you with an intense gaze, and his smile was still a bit too suspiciously sweet. 

You parted your lips to speak, but before any words were spoken, black spots invaded your vision. You found yourself becoming dizzy and quickly losing consciousness. Your eyes rolled at the back of your head, and just before you could fall on the floor, your butler caught you. 

In your last few moments as you lost consciousness, all you saw was Jihyun smiling at you, and saying, “I understand. I understand that I can’t expect you to be a good wife to me, so I will need to teach you instead.” 

[quazartranslates]

Welcome to the Nightmare Game - CH98

**This is an edited machine translation. For more information, please [click here]**

[<<< Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

-----

Chapter 98: Castle Cry (XXV)

The rooftop garden was filled with ruins, and the traces of the explosion and fire were everywhere. Qi Leren took a deep breath of the smokey and damp air, then walked to the treasure chest left by the crazy lady's death, hesitated, and called Dr. Lu back: "Come and open the box!"

Dr. Lu came running, panting. He tripped and almost fell on the bumpy ground along the way. Fortunately, Su He gave him a hand.

"Do you really want me to open it for you?" Dr. Lu asked earnestly, his eyes shining and his face irrepressible.

"I'm sure," Qi Leren also said seriously. This was the time to trust the European emperor, not to be cheap.

"Er... Su He, is there any law or metaphysics in opening the box?" Dr. Lu asked.

"Generally speaking, most treasure chests contain strange disposable goods, a few have skill cards, and there are also pure card slots or attributes. Some people even encounter random tasks. There’s almost no rules they follow. In fact, skill cards may not be good, but some props will have magical effects at critical moments. If you’re lucky enough, you may open them and find legendary resurrection items," Su He smiled and said.

Qi Leren's heart hitched. He forced himself not to look at Su He. He didn't know whether Su He suddenly mentioned the resurrection items intentionally or unintentionally. He could only pretend to be natural enough…

It should be a coincidence... Su He mentioned a similar resurrection skill card a long time ago. Now, it was just to explain the relationship between the box and luck. He was just feeling guilty!

"Then I’ll open it. If I open a binding skill card, you won’t get your share," Dr. Lu reminded Qi Leren.

Qi Leren tried to calm down: "Open it."

Dr. Lu put his finger on the lock, and the golden box opened.

Dr. Lu glanced at the skill card and said, "This should be good, here."

[Demon Etiquette (Unbound Skill Card): For each use, one demon crystal must be used. If the demon crystals in your inventory are insufficient, the skill cannot be used. During the equipment of this skill, the player will gain the appearance of a demon, in accordance with the type of consumed demon crystal, but no demon talents will be obtained. The skill lasts for 3 hours and the cooling time is 24 hours.]

This is…

Qi Leren looked at the skill card in his hand. His intuition told him that this skill card was unusual, but he couldn't tell what was unusual. He looked at Su He for help: "This card... should be useful?"

Su He took a look at the skill card and said a little unexpectedly: "A very good skill. If there are tasks involving demons in the future, maybe you can pretend to be one of them, but you need demon crystals to do it..."

Su He didn't continue, but gave Qi Leren a meaningful look, and the latter immediately understood what he wanted to say: Right now he should stay away from the demon crystals, otherwise the seed of slaughter in him would soon get out of control.

"It seems I’m lucky, hey," Dr. Lu said triumphantly.

Su He looked at him with a smile and nodded appreciatively.

"Let’s go back and get dinner." Qi Leren reached out and tried to clap Dr. Lu's shoulder. When he lifted his arm, however, this arm that he had rolled on to avoid the crazy lady was in terrible pain, having been severely bruised.

When Dr. Lu saw it, he quickly sought to treat him: "Don't worry about the skill cooling time now. I’ll treat you first. Although it’s not perfect, it’s better than nothing."

The “Doctor’s Orders” skill was quite reliable. Qi Leren's bruises on his forehead, the cuts on his arms, and bruises all over his body quickly faded and scabbed over, but it could only reach this level. If he was now suffering from fatal injuries, this skill would be powerless, and would only serve to make him die more slowly at most.

The wounds healed and the pain eased. Qi Leren waved his arm happily and thanked him. Seeing that Su He was still studying the ashes left by the crazy lady after her death, he asked curiously, "Is there anything wrong?"

"There’s nothing wrong, just a little strange. After Dr. Lu burned the Devil's sacrifice before, the crazy lady didn’t weaken, but became stronger..." After thinking, Su He said, "It probably caused her madness. At first, her body was hard and it was difficult to hurt her. After burning the sacrifice, her defense and speed dropped sharply. Reusing the ashes left by Luo Xueyi should further stimulate her strength. The attack power and attack means were stronger. This state couldn't last long.”

Qi Leren scratched his head. Although he’d tried his best to avoid it just now, a few strands of hair were burnt by the fiery rain, giving off an odd smell: "Unfortunately, I didn't find Xiao Hong's half-body, otherwise we could have used it... Why did you pull my arm?"

Dr. Lu turned his eyes and pulled his arm to the side: "You can’t see well, get more vitamin A to enhance your night vision."

Looking in the direction of Dr. Lu's finger, behind the bush illuminated by a flashlight, Xiao Hong's half-body was impressively hanging on a big tree, which was very eye-catching.

Qi Leren was silent.

"It's too dark, and it was extremely tense. It's normal not to notice it," Su He calmly comforted Qi Leren.

Qi Leren continued to remain silent.

The three people burned the remaining half of Xiao Hong's body, and then left the rooftop garden. The time left was running out, so they had to leave the castle quickly to finish the task.

When they went downstairs, Qi Leren asked, "What’s the completion of our task now?"

“91%,” Su He said.

"Wow, we can get the lucky draw opportunity! More than 90% let’s us randomly draw once! I like it!" Dr. Lu got excited.

"There's still 9%. Where’s the difference?" Qi Leren recalled the plot of the task and felt that they shouldn’t be missing too much.

Dr. Lu hesitated: "Well, now the story has been mostly explored. A long time ago Sarah fell in love with Johann who was not of noble birth, and Johann married Sarah for some purpose — maybe emotion or  interest. Sarah found out that her maid Adeline was having an affair with Johann. She secretly killed Adeline and pretended that she had eaten food she was deathly allergic to. No one discovered it was a murder except Mrs. Sarah's family doctor Flajser. The time frame of the above things is unclear, but they’re generally true. After that, Mrs. Sarah and Mr. Johann came to China for business and built and lived in this castle. In order to avenge Adeline, Dr. Flajser also came to China from Germany. In order to prevent Mrs. Sarah's genetic disease from being passed on to the next generation, Mr. Johann had been using the method provided by Dr. Flajser to prevent contraception. He instructed his maid Nina to put mercury powder in Mrs. Sarah's diet. Later, when Nina found out about this. Nina was worried that she was poisoning Mrs. Sarah, so she reduced the dose without authorization. Later, Mrs. Sarah became pregnant. Nina heard the conversation between Dr. Flajser and Mr. Johann, and found that they were going to continue to feed her mercury powder so that Mrs. Sarah would give birth to a deformed fetus and allow it to be killed. Nina was afraid of Mrs Sarah's genetic disease and caused an accident. Mrs. Sarah fell down the stairs and miscarried. After the miscarriage, Mrs. Sarah's mental state deteriorated sharply - this may have been Dr Flajser's doing - and she began to suspect that everything was caused by the dead Adeline's demons, and the relationship between husband and wife began to break down. Then the Devil bewitched her in the mirror and taught her how to perform the sacrifice. Mrs. Sarah, who loved her husband deeply, sacrificed to the Devil to save his love. However, the sacrifice made her mental illness more and more serious. Until finally, she sacrificed Nina and went completely crazy. Mrs. Sarah, under the control of the Devil, personally killed everyone and set fire to the castle, and the story ended."

"It sounds like we haven't missed any important clues." Qi Leren thought that the clues they had were very complete, yet there was still 9% missing.

Su He analyzed the two in an orderly way: "This degree of completion means that we have completed the main story, and the conclusion of the puzzle is correct, but some clues and evidence are missing. If we must study it deeply, there are three dark lines that we have not excavated. One is about Nina. Her behavior seems reasonable, but it seems strange when you look deeper into it. In order to avoid the genetic disease that would come from Mrs. Sarah giving birth, she chose to force her to miscarry. Didn't this cause Mrs. Sarah to go crazy? Her original words are also very interesting, 'I feel like I must have been persuaded by the Devil', so we don't know if she was influenced by the Devil like the crazy lady. Nina's attitude, which was seen in the phantom when she created the last Devil sacrifice, was also very subtle. She sympathized with the crazy lady and implied guilt, but vaguely, she was also jealous, which was not the emotions that a clever maid should have. At another point, Nina said that since she confessed to Mr. Johann that she had reduced the dosage of mercury powder, this matter was handed over to other maids, and she was also locked up, but after Mrs. Sarah miscarried, went mad, and was locked up in the basement, Nina was still responsible for delivering her food... What did she do to make Johann trust her again?"

Su He stroked the decoration on his walking stick, slowly dissecting the plot, and the details that were excavated by him made others feel uneasy. Qi Leren suddenly thought of a possibility. Nina had pushed the crazy lady down the stairs and caused her to miscarry. Was this really for her? Was it true that this wouldn’t kill two people? Was Nina's original intention really to help the crazy lady? What exactly did she want to do?

"The second one is Luo Xueyi. She suddenly appeared on the stairs with the hanging portrait, and died with half of Xiao Hong's body after setting on fire. She’s even more complicated than Nan Lu, and her behavior is full of metaphors and mysteries. During the period from her disappearance to her self-immolation, we likely missed a lot of her story, which led to a decline in the degree of completion. Finally, there is Dr. Flajser. Don't forget, there’s no evidence about Dr. Flajser. It's all based on subjective speculation. We must have missed some evidence that can testify against Dr. Flajser, such as the mercury powder or some hallucinogens left by him somewhere in this castle, and even more letters between him and Mr. Johann."

Qi Leren thought deeply. The clues about the first two would be hard to find, but there should still be hope of finding Dr. Flajser's things. Where could they find them? It should’ve been John's study on the second floor, but he, Dr. Lu and Nan Lu searched the study before. There should be no more clues. Could they find them now? This was the outer world after the fire. Even if there were clues, they probably…

"Go away, you still want to make a 100% clearance? Don't waste your time, just finish the task quickly." Dr. Lu grabbed Qi Leren who was still thinking and walked him down the stairs.

"Wait a minute. The keys, give me the keys for the second floor!" Qi Leren suddenly remembered something and grabbed Dr. Lu's shoulder. "No, I don't need the key. Come with me!"

"Ah? What are you doing?" Dr. Lu, who was at a loss, was pulled by Qi Leren and ran to the second floor on the broken floor.

With the memory of the layout of rooms in the castle, Qi Leren quickly found the room he was looking for. At this moment, all he could think about was what Nina had said when they went to see her for the last time: She sneaked over to the Master’s study to give him a surprise… Then she saw that the Master was looking sorrowfully at Adeline’s picture. I thought she would rush in and scream bloody murder at her husband, just like before, but she didn't.

The door opened.

In the old and dilapidated study, facing the door was the sofa where Nan Lu once sat, and a picture hanging on the wall behind the sofa. The room was not badly burned, and Johann, the handsome man in the portrait, was still faintly visible.

Qi Leren strode in. This was the only place that could have been seen by the crazy lady standing at the door.

He carefully took off the picture frame and turned it over. Sure enough, there was a photo behind the frame.

Qi Leren's heartbeat suddenly quickened. He vaguely realized that he should have found an important clue. He took a deep breath and took this photo down, turning it over to the front.

There was only one person in the photo, who looked like a young girl dressed as a maid, smiling at the camera.

"Is that Adeline?" Dr. Lu as he looked at the photo.

Qi Leren suddenly understood.

"She has another name." Qi Leren closed his eyes and recalled that girl who solemnly went to the altar of the Devil of Fraud in the cold underground palace.

"Her name is Isabel, an... excellent witch."

Adeline, the smiling maid in the photo, overlapped with Isabel, the winner of the Witchcraft Sacrifice.

This was a story about love, deception, jealousy, and madness. Everyone in the story was lost in their own desires and sins. Whether it was Johann who was fascinated by her, Sarah who was jealous of her, Nina who was incited by her, or Flajser who avenged her, she played with them like marionettes.

In just the blink of an eye, Isabel, the witch who served the Devil of Fraud, had become a witch who was good at playing with people's hearts.

-----

Editor’s Notes: How’s that for a twist? Next chapter we’re onto the next arc! And yes, a certain someone will be showing up again soon ;)

-----

[<<< Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

[inky-duchess]

Court Archetypes: The Pretender

There are always those who want the throne. They carve it, they need the power it gives... or else somebody behind them wants them to do it. Pretenders add a threat to any throne as well as interesting subplots for your WIP.

The Successful

These were all pretenders in their times but they won their throne and kept it for a number of years.

Stephen I of England: Henry I had one son and a daughter. His son died in a shipwreck, leaving his daughter, Matilda or Maud to take the throne on his death. During this period, England's empire straddled the Channel. Matilda was in France when her father died and pregnant as well. In her absence, her cousin Stephen seized the throne. So ensued a bloody war for the throne which Matilda was winning at one point, entering her coronation but was chased away by Londoners. Matilda gave up the war on the terms that her son Henry would become King when Stephen died, which he did.

Richard III: I like Richard. He suffered from scoliosis, remained loyal to his brother and had a fairytale-like elopement with his wife. In 1483, Richard's brother died leaving a twelve year old heir. Richard had agreed to act as Regent but after putting off the prince's coronation for months, arresting the boys maternal uncle and half brother, executing his dead brother's best friend and imprisoning his brother in the tower with him, Richard seized the throne. There is murkiness about whether Richard had the boys killed. The boys did vanish but whether it was Richard or another power, we can never know for certain. Personally, I think Richard was acting in protection for the realm which would have been endanger from civil unrest, the commons resented the Queen's family and there were other pretenders. Richard was a tested battle commander and the strongest hope to keep the country stable. I think he had good intentions if he went the wrong way about it.

Edward IV: Edward was the son of another pretender, Richard of York. When Richard of York died at the hands of Margaret of Anjou along with his young son Edmund, Edward took up the mantle of kingship and ousted the House of Lancaster from the throne, installing the House of York.

The Exiles

Some royals were thrown out of their homeland by either a coup or another pretender. Sometimes they're the hero, other times they are not.

Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie): I have mixed feelings about this man. He doesn't deserve the grand legend attached to him nor the kindness history gilds him with. He was a drunken fool who led thousands to their death like his shithead father. But his claim is just. The only reason barring him from his throne is his religion. His story should have been a fairytale, the prince riding to reclaim his family throne. But he died a poor beggar, drinking and lamenting past glories.

Charles II: Charles II was exiled from England along with his mother and younger siblings after the monarchy was overthrown. Charles was technically a pretender while Oliver "Dickbreath" Cromwell ruled England. He shot his shot when Cromwell died and restored the monarchy.

Henry VII: Henry had no chance at throne. Born of a legitimized bastard line and a Welsh line, Henry was not the first person people thought of when considering heirs to the throne. During the mess of the Wars of the Roses, he got closer and closer to the throne which meant he was a threat to the Yorkist line. He escaped to Brittany and then to France, where he waited for his chance. His mother helped orchestrate his two invasions of England, his second being successful at Bosworth Field.

The False

Some Pretenders are not pretenders at all. Some Pretenders are charlatans or mad men or perhaps greedy fools. Some are even almost successful

Perkin Warbeck (Richard Plantagenet/ Richard IV?): Perkin Warbeck, the son of a Tournai boatman, invaded England in 1495 under the guise of Prince Richard Plantagenet, Prince no. 2 in the Tower. He went to Scotland to garner support, winning a wife from the Scottish King. He rode south toward London, the country divided in opinion over his legitimacy. Was he the lost Prince of York? Real or not, Warbeck was defeated. Henry VII chose to be merciful offering Warbeck a place a court which he accepted. But the plots kept swirling about the mysterious pretender. In order to secure an alliance with Spain, Henry was finally forced to kill the pretender. Was he really Prince Richard? Some historians say no, some say yes. As for me, I am open to the theory that he is but I rather liked to think that if Prince Richard did survive the Tower, that he found safety somewhere far away and forgot all about crowns and thrones. Of course, that's just wishful thinking....

Anna Andersen (Anastasia Romanov): In 1918, the Russian Tsar, Tsarina, Tsarevitch and four Grand Duchesses were executed by rebels. Once that terrible murder happened, rumours began to spread that one daughter had escaped when they were burying the bodies, helped away by a young scared soldier. The rumours allowed pretenders to come forward pretending to be the youngest daughter, Anastasia. The remaining Russian royals met with several promising ones but they all cons. In Germany in the 1920s, a young woman began claiming to be the Grand Duchess. A few members of the royal family met her and believed her along with her childhood friend, Gleb Botkin. There was some evidence, her signature was the same, she knew somethings about the Grand Duchess's childhood and had similar birth marks. By the time DNA testing came about, Anderson was dead. They tested her remains and it was clear that she was a pretender. I don't like Andersen but I think that she did believe in the lie, she was emotionally disturbed person with a history of mental illness.

Yemelyan Pugachev (Peter III of Russia): Pugachev was a Cossack who led a rebellion against Catherine the Great. He convinced a great number of Russian serfs that he was the dickweed Peter III, who had died months after his wife Catherine kicked him off the throne. She may or may not have known about the assassination plot against his life. Catherine's armies obliterated the rebellion and Pugachev was beheaded, drawn and quartered.

The Puppet

Some Pretenders are just innocents who troublemakers gather about in order to gain power. The puppet pretender is always a sympathetic figure in literature.

Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick: Edward was a simple-minded child whose great misfortune it was to be born into the House of York. The son of the Duke of Clarence, the brother to two of England's kings, he was named heir to the throne by his uncle Richard III when his own son died. Edward was imprisoned in the Tower when Henry VII came to power. But though Edward was likely incapable of ruling, Yorkist rebels kept rebelling in his name. In 1499, he was executed at the behest of the Anglo-Spanish treaty. He was a harmless man killed for a throne he likely didn't even realise was his by right. It is probably the one of the only events of history that I hate.

Lambert Simnel: Lambert Simnel was a pretender to the throne during the reign of Henry VII. He was a schoolboy who was placed at the head of a Yorkist rebellion for the resemblance between he and the Princes in the Tower. He was put forward as the Earl of Warwick, who people believed had escaped the Tower. When the rebellion was quashed, Henry VII was merciful and had the boy placed in the kitchens as a spit boy. Years later, he went on to become a royal falconer. Nothing else is known about his life.

Lady Jane Grey, Queen of England: Jane Grey was named Queen by her predecessor and cousin Edward VI. This was mainly due to her being Protestant as Edward VI was a Reformer. Jane had not wanted to be Queen, claiming that it was her Catholic cousin's throne not hers. In the name of faith, she was pressed to proclaim herself queen, in which the heralds had to explain who she was and how she could be queen. People had trouble with the claim for a few reasons: the succession had never included her only the king's two sisters, her mother who she drew her claim through was still alive meaning her mother was ahead of her by rights and nobody knew who she was. Jane's ascension had been a grand plot hatched by the Dukes of Suffolk and Northumberland. Northumberland wed Jane to his own son only months before. But Jane was no shrinking violet. In her nine days, she told her husband that he would never be king only a duke, she wrote her declarations signing herself as queen and ordered Northumberland to head her armies in place of her father. When Mary I ousted her from the throne, Jane was glad to give up the throne but not her Protestant faith. After failed rebellions to put Jane back in power, Mary I had no choice but to have her executed.

[snusbandxknifewife]

Jurdanweek2020 Day 2 pregnancy/labor

Hey y’all so this is based on the story of my birth, because I’ll be damned if my mother didn’t play the part of Jude Duarte while my father acted as Cardan. In this fic, Jude is so sure that their daughter won’t be born on her due date, that she drags Cardan to the mortal world. Things go downhill quickly.

“Cardan shut the fuck up, we are fine!”

Cardan Greenbriar had tried for hours to convince his very stubborn—very pregnant—wife that maybe a trip to the mortal world this close to her due date wasn’t the wisest idea. Naturally, she stomped her foot and crossed her arms over her swollen belly and that was that, off to the mortal world they went.

“Jude, my love, will you at least let me carry your purse?” He would keep trying to help her until she finally snapped and killed him.

Jude wasn’t happy about having to carry a purse now, but she was unable to lean down to strap a knife to her thigh and her breasts had grown too large for her to force a dagger between them without risking injury, so a handbag was her only option to carry her weaponry. Cardan, wisely, had long since decided that questioning his wife’s ability to even wield a knife in her current state wasn’t the smartest move.

She huffed and shoved the bag square into the center of his chest before turning on her heel and waddling her way down the baby aisle of the local Target.

She had no mortal maternity clothing, so she’d settled for wearing a simple dress of flowing silk, held closed by a belt just under her breast and giving way to the large belly that she always kept one protective hand on. Cardan walked closely behind her, his mortal sneakers squeaking against the linoleum floor as he tried not to remind himself that this was very stupid.

Jude Duarte Greenbriar, his wife and the High Queen of Elfhame, had given new meaning to the term stubborn today. As the entire palace tittered with excitement over it being the baby’s due date—she would forever curse herself for sharing that information from her human OBGYN—she’d lost her cool. A strongly worded letter had been sent to every one in her family and any courtier or guard close enough to the royal chambers could hear her screaming at her husband about how “THE BABY WILL NOT BE COMING TODAY SO EVERYBODY CAN JUST LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!”

Then she’d decided that they needed something called a “pacifier,” whatever that was, and next thing he knew they were walking into Target.

Jude had wanted to go alone, but Cardan had been wise enough to insist that Fand and the Bomb accompany them. She’d finally given in, but only once they’d promised to stay out of sight the entire time.

He was, naturally, fucking panicking. Today was their daughter’s due date, and now that Jude had gone and told everyone off, all their family and friends would be preparing for the upcoming Christmas festivities, set for two weeks in the future. They had no way to get in contact with anyone if the worst were to happen.

Jude picked out a set of pink pacifiers with different zoo animals drawn on them. Evidently unsatisfied, she then set about grabbing every baby blanket and stuffed toy she could possibly reach. Cardan was bemused, but chose to hold everything she handed him, rather than fight her.

“Do we need diapers?” She asked, both hands under her belly as she looked over her shoulder.

“Our baby will be fae,” he reminded her. “No need to worry about all that.”

He couldn’t help his snort of laughter as she looked heavenward and thanked the gods.

Then she was back on her quest, looking for something or another that they suddenly, desperately needed for the baby, despite her not even knowing it had existed a few minutes ago. When her eyes catch on a baby pink stuffed lion on the top shelf, she got up on her tippy toes and reached for it, her fingers just barely brushing against its little feet.

Cardan, seeing his wife struggling and being comically taller than her, reached over and plucked the little toy with ease, not noticing how Jude froze when he did.

Her face twisted in anger and disgust and she stomped her foot once more. He, thinking he had somehow offended her by helping her out, was halfway through apologizing before she loudly announced that she thought she’d just peed herself and he needed to go get her new panties while she went to the bathroom.

She left in a flurry of silk skirts and wild hair, headed for the woman’s restroom and leaving her poor husband behind with an armful of baby products and a rogue thought about how uncomfortable it must be for mortals to have to do things like go to the bathroom.

After so long with his Jude, he had come to love all her mortal quirks. Her rounded ears were his favorite part of her body and her dulled senses made it all the easier to surprise her. But he still found himself occasionally wishing that she wasn’t a mortal, now solely because he saw all the discomfort it brought her. Pregnancy had kept her sick and cranky for nine full months. He’d never known a fae mother to have such terrible morning sickness, and he had no idea how mortal women did anything while pregnant, given how often they had to pee.

“I’ll get her the panties.” He about jumped out of his skin when the Bomb popped up behind him, like she’d been lurking just one aisle over and had heard everything.

By this point in the pregnancy, he’d long since learned when he just needed to shut up and go with the flow, so he went about purchasing all the new baby products with a few leaves glamoured to look like mortal money. When he looked up, Target bags hanging from his fingers and handbag firmly situated on his shoulder, his wife was waiting by the exit with her arms crossed.

“The Bomb promised to stay away,” she explained with a scowl. “Why’d she bring me panties?”

“She promised to stay out of sight,” he countered as lovingly as he could in an effort to calm her. “I’d say, as long as she didn’t come in the stall with you, she kept her promise.”

He transferred all the bags to one hand so he could grab hers. Jude, scowl still plastered across her face, took his hand and led him out of the Target.

“I want donuts.” She switched her direction mid-step and started stalking down the sidewalk towards the little donut shop in the same plaza as the Target.

Cardan sat across from her at a two-person table in the donut shop for close to an hour, just watching as she angrily ate three glazed donuts. He’d left their shopping bags outside for Fand to grab and have sent back to Elfhame.

It was as he watched Jude eat her third donut that he began to sense something was amiss. Every so often, his darling little demon of a wife would get inexplicably angrier, her brow furrowing and her nostrils flaring and her teeth grinding down. Then, after a minute or so, she’d go back to her calmer level of pissed off.

As Jude announced that she wanted to go buy something called “pads” for after the baby’s birth, Cardan started paying more attention. He grabbed her handbag and kept his other hand firmly on the small of her back, feeling how she’d tense up for a few minutes and then go back to normal.

Holding Jude’s brand new supply of extra absorbent pads, and the few extra things she’d spent an hour dragging him around the store for, Cardan fully began to panic. Jude’s episodes were getting longer and closer together.

He’d done enough reading to know she was having contractions, and he’d done enough reading to know that when you have contractions two minutes apart, you aren’t getting on a ragwort steed and making it back to Elfhame.

When Jude went to the bathroom again, Cardan was ready for the Bomb.

“She’s in labor,” they announced simultaneously.

“Send word to her sisters and have the healers ready for when we return.” Cardan let out a sigh. “I think we’re having this baby in the mortal world.”

“I’ll call Vivienne.” Just like that, the Bomb was gone.

Cardan could fall to his knees and weep with relief at the reminder that Vivienne lived close. She was only a few minute’s drive away, she would know the way to the hospital, she’d be able to help him get Jude in the damn car.

By the time Jude was out of the bathroom, Vivi had broken a minimum of seven laws to get to them and she was waiting outside the front door, heavy parka pulled up over her pointed ears and dark sunglasses blocking her cat eyes.

“What’s all this?” Jude looked ready to murder Cardan, and he didn’t doubt she could do it even with him having all her knives. “Cardan, I wanted to be alone!”

“Jude, you’re in labor,” he announced, doing his best to keep his voice calm. Internally he was losing it, but he didn’t think that letting her see that would help the situation.

“No I’m no—“ she breaks off with a growl, her face contorting in anger right on time with the counting in Cardan’s head. From his reading and the stories he’d heard, he expected tears or screaming when her contractions got this bad, not to have her hide her pain behind a wall of pure fury.

He opened the car door and threw their shopping bags in, offering a hand to his wife and desperately trying to coerce her into the car. “Darling please, we need to get to the hospital. I don’t know how to deliver a child, and I don’t plan on finding out today.”

“They’re just Braxton-Hicks,” she tries again, almost whining. “I’m not having the baby today!”

“Baby says otherwise,” Vivi calls out from the front seat as Jude once again tenses. “Now get in the damn car, it’s a fifteen minute ride to the hospital.”

“We can’t go to the hospital!” Jude digs in her heels and looks to Cardan with wide eyes, suddenly coming to terms with the fact that they were in the mortal world. “Cardan, our baby has pointed ears and a tail!”

They’d been going to regular OBGYN appointments and seeing ultrasounds of the baby so they’d have an idea of what animal characteristic their child would present, glamouring the doctor after every visit. They knew that their little girl had a tail like her daddy. That would be a fucking problem if the hospital noticed.

“You focus on the hard part and leave the glamouring to me, darling,” he said with a kiss to her forehead.

Vivi had to threaten to knock her out and drag her into the backseat before she finally gave up and climbed in, grumbling the whole time.

“Cardan, start timing.” Vivi threw an old wristwatch over her shoulder and he caught it mid-air, marking the time and then staring at his wife as his sister-in-law did her very best to break the sound barrier with a beat-up SUV.

By the time they made it to the hospital, Jude was silent, save for her episodes of heavy breathing. A minute and a half apart now.

They pulled up to the women’s center and Cardan picked his wife up like she weighed no more than a feather. Vivi sped off, promising to go pick up Heather and return with food and a baby bag, since they were going to be in for the long haul.

Cardan made it to the maternity ward check in and was suddenly faced with the fact that he had literally no idea what to do here. Back in Elfhame, Jude would’ve had the baby in the comfort of their private rooms, with healers waiting on her hand and foot. The sterile smell and white walls of this mortal hospital made him infinitely more nervous than the comfort of their home would’ve.

“Hello sir,” the receptionist lady started, eyeing how he held his wife and how she didn’t seem at all panicked, and deciding that she has another father who had no clue what’s going on. Her tone was somewhere between soothing and mocking, like she’d dealt with this sort of thing all day. “If you’d like to fill out these forms—“

“My wife’s contractions are a minute and a half apart,” he cut her off, his fear somehow taking a backseat and his voice coming out with all the authority of a High King.

The receptionist’s eyes went wide. “I’m sorry, what?”

He maneuvered Jude so he could throw the watch down on the desk. Then he counted down from five and, right on time, Jude tensed with a contraction.

Then it was a flurry of movement, the receptionist throwing the papers to the side and calling for a wheelchair as Cardan stood dumbfounded. A nurse took Jude from his arms and settled her in a wheelchair before running through a set of double doors, leaving him to chase after her.

They ended up in what looked like a little sitting room with a table in the center. Then, as he watched, the nurse hit a few buttons in the wall and the whole room transformed. The two chairs pulled away from the table and the table unfolded into a bed, lowering down enough for Jude to climb up.

His wife was far past claiming that the baby wouldn’t be coming today. She’d gone somewhere within herself, both hands on her belly and focus written in every line on her face.

He helped the nurse undress her and tied her into a hospital gown while they strapped her into a bazillion different monitors. Soon, her heartbeat filled the room and he was watching all the screens, utterly terrified by his confusion.

“Can you give a urine sample?” A small nurse with a sickeningly fake grin asked, holding up a little plastic cup.

“Not with my baby’s head in the way,” Jude grunted in response, her teeth grinding down and one of her hands reaching for her husband’s. “Can you get the doctor?”

“I’m sure it’s not that bad, sweetie, let’s see how far along you are.” Cardan’s brow twitched at the offhanded way she spoke to his wife and he found himself gripping her hand harder to keep her from swinging for the nurse as the woman bent under the blanket, pulling Jude’s knees apart.

She was down there for a few seconds before popping back up, that smile even bigger as she said, “you’re at about nine centimeters. Don’t you worry at all, I’ll go get the doctor!”

Cardan, unaccustomed to speaking to many mortals, would’ve never thought twice about her words, if it weren’t for the way Jude snorted at the nurse all but sprinted out of the room.

“She’s lying,” Jude observed, sounding callous.

“My love?” He turned to her, new fear sprouting in his stomach.

“The nurse is lying about how dilated I am.” She nodded after where the woman had run out. “They have you start pushing at ten. She checked me and then said I was a nine and ran. That’s what they tell you when you’re at a ten and the doctor isn’t here.”

That comment leaves his mouth tasting like ash and she must see something amusing in the way his face changes, because she gives a little laugh.

For the next ten minutes or so, nobody came in except for one nurse who tried to force Jude again to give a urine sample, only getting blood and one pissed off couple for her efforts.

Jude turned onto her left side and Cardan sat on the bed by her hip, fingers carding through her hair and opposite hand rubbing her back to help her through a contraction.

They were like this when the door slammed open and a man, wearing a suit that most definitely wasn’t even close to sterile scrubs, ran in.

“I’ll be right back!” His hair was wild and his jacket half off as he held out both hands, almost like he was telling them both to wait. Just that quickly, he was gone again.

“What in the hell—“ Jude broke off with a groan and her heart rate spiked. Cardan may not know a lot, but he wasn’t that stupid, he knew this baby was coming soon.

A minute or so later, the door crashed open again and the doctor skidded into the room sideways, his scrubs pulled up to his elbows and a nurse tying on his cap as he finished adjusting one of his gloves.

“Let’s have a baby!”

Cardan watched in fascination as the man picked up what looked like a magic wand with a bulb on the end. He held it high above his head and pressed a button, causing the bulb to flash and all the lights to come out of the ceiling and angle towards the wand. The doctor then ordered the nurses to get Jude on her back and aimed the lights between her legs.

“Jude, did you see that?” Cardan asked, his jaw on the floor as he battled between awe at mortal technology and amusement at how his wife was now lit up like a stage. “The lights followed him!”

“I’m a little busy!” Jude hissed back and Cardan suddenly remembered that, oh yeah, his wife was literally in labor, and he should probably be paying attention to that instead of the lights.

“Shit, sorry!” He gripped her hand once more and kissed her forehead.

The whole room was alive with movement as the doctor got Jude in the right position and she began to push. One nurse was watching the monitors, keeping an eye on both mom and baby. Another was trying to force Jude to take some oral medication called Tylenol, because she had nothing to ease her pain, and Jude was batting her away. A third nurse held an oxygen mask to Jude’s face and kept one of her legs back.

Cardan held his wife’s hand and kept his other hand on her knee. He tuned into her, watching how a preternatural calm took over. The only thing giving away her pain was how she was nearly breaking his hand with every contraction.

He knew that a lot of woman were in labor for a long time, and that some pushed for hours, so this all seemed to be moving quite quickly. He kept his eyes on her face, on how focused she was on their baby. She still wasn’t crying, wasn’t screaming in pain. She just looked angry with every push, like she was using her fury to keep her cool in the situation.

Then something changed, just a little. She’d been pushing too hard, hadn’t stopped long enough to recover. For just one moment, Cardan saw fear flit across her face.

“I can’t breathe!” Cardan’s heart leapt as his wife cried out and he frantically ran through his options, trying to find something, anything to do to help her.

Then the nurse with the oxygen mask made a mistake.

“I just don’t think you’re trying very hard,” she snapped at Jude. It was the same woman who’d lied about how dilated Jude was.

Pure, unadulterated rage grew from the very pit of his stomach, but he didn’t get the chance to unleash it. Instead, he watched his wife’s eyes go murderous, her face go as blank as it did every time she held a knife to someone’s throat.

She stopped pushing and sat up, raising one finger to point at the nurse’s forehead like a witch laying a curse.

“GET THE FUCK OUT!”

It was the loudest he’d ever heard her scream, and her shout was a low bark instead of a shrill order. She was a general ordering a court marshall, the High Queen ordering an execution, not a woman going through the pain of childbirth.

The nurse fell back in shock, turning to him like she expected him to counteract his wife’s wishes.

“Get the fuck out!” He waved a hand to the door and made a face at the very idea that he’d even think of going against his wife’s word when she was busy birthing his daughter. How fucking dare this woman?

The nurse, now completely flabbergasted, turned to the doctor, who had only looked up when he heard the screaming. He took one look at Jude’s face and told the nurse to get the fuck out.

Jude grabbed the oxygen mask from the nurse as she left and held it to her own face, turning back to the ordeal of childbirth with twice the ferocity of before. It wasn’t a minute afterwards that the crying of their child filled the room.

Cardan threw himself full-force into glamouring away their daughter’s ears and her tail, a short little tail of fluffy black fur, sticking out like a sore thumb the way a kitten’s tail always does. The nurse and doctor didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary as they laid the little girl on Jude’s chest and asked Cardan to cut the cord.

She had a shock of midnight black hair just like her father and she certainly shared her mother’s temper as she angrily cried her little heart out, her face turning red.

Jude didn’t relax as they took her away to clean and measure her. She stayed focused on the rest of the birth, nodding her head to Cardan to tell him to keep an eye on their daughter.

It wasn’t until the little girl was weighed and cleaned and wrapped in a blanket that Jude keyed into the fact that it was over, their baby was here. She took the child in her arms again and wept, holding her as close as she could.

Cardan reaches a finger out, running it over the tiny pointed ear that only he and Jude could see. In response, the baby flexed her little hand and showed that she had the claws of a housecat.

His heart swelled with an emotion he couldn’t really describe as he took in the sight of his wife and daughter, his two girls.

The next two hours consisted of Vivi and Heather showing up, the Bomb in tow with a carriage to take them home since there was absolutely no way Jude was getting on a ragwort horse in her state. Vivi couldn’t believe that the baby was already there, just a half hour after she’d dropped Jude off. Cardan had to glamour their way out of the hospital after stealing the baby from the nursery, removing a little pink bow from her forehead that they’d affixed with toothpaste.

“Who the fuck puts toothpaste on a baby?” He raised an eyebrow at Jude from across the carriage, holding their daughter during the ride back so Jude could lay down.

It was a mess getting her out, especially so soon after birth. He’d had the Bomb ensure that healers were waiting in their chambers to help her in ways that the mortal doctors couldn’t, so he knew that it was best to move them both as soon as possible, but it still hurt him to see how drained she was.

“I can’t believe they put toothpaste on our baby,” he continued, looking down to where his daughter was watching him intently with big black eyes. He knew then and there, as he looked to her, that he was in trouble. He’d never recover from how much he loved this little girl.

“What in the world are we going to name her?” His whisper filled the carriage and Jude blinked back tears once again. Just seeing him with their little girl did things to her heart that she didn’t even know could be possible.

“Well,” she started, doing her best not to move too much, “why did your parents name you Cardan?”

“I don’t pretend to know why my parents did anything,” he snorted. “Why were you named Jude?”

She smiled up at the carriage ceiling. “I was named after a song that my mother enjoyed. Hey Jude. It was by a band called The Beatles.”

“You’ll have to show me the song sometime.”

She laid her hands on her belly, which still looked pregnant, and studied how her husband’s long fingers curved over their bundled up daughter.

“How about Lucille?”

He made a questioning noise, obviously having gotten lost in their baby’s eyes.

“Lucille,” she tried again. “The band who wrote the song I’m named for had another song, Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds. We could name her Lucille and only ever call her Lucy. It would make it all the harder to guess her truename.”

“Do you ever stop scheming, my darling nemesis?” He smiled as he turned the name over in his head. He liked the idea of naming their little girl after a song, especially a mortal one. He wanted her to be proud of her roots.

“Not when it comes to protecting my family,” she promised, her voice suddenly grave.

Cardan just smiled again and looked up at his wife, at his whole world.

“Lucille Greenbriar,” he tried the name out. “Little Lucy.”

Jude’s face softened once more and she reached out to take the baby, tucking the child close to her chest as they sailed over Elfhame.

“I like it,” he announced.

~~~~~~~~~~~

For those of you keeping track at home, here’s a list of things that:

My mother actually did during labor/my birth that Jude Duarte 100% would’ve done:

•Refused to believe I would be born on my due date. Was so adamant that she called every family member and told them to leave her the fuck alone/stop fucking asking about the baby/there was no way the baby would be born on her due date so shut up

•Confused her water breaking for peeing on herself

•Had to be threatened with physical violence before she’d go to the hospital

•Had to remind a nurse that she couldn’t actually pee with a bABY’S HEAD IN THE WAY DIPSHIT

•Called a nurse out for lying

•Pointed at the nurse who told her she “wasn’t trying that hard” and screamed to GET THE FUCK OUT

•Took no medication because she was a fucking boss, held her on oxygen mask after she fired the nurse. Didn’t cry or yell, just got angry

•Had her baby 30 minutes after showing up to the hospital. On the baby’s due date

My father literally did during my mom’s labor/my birth that Cardan Greenbriar 100% would have done:

•Stood by and let his wife call all the family yelling, even though it was two weeks from Christmas and he knew they’d have no way to get in contact if the baby came (everyone was 15 hours away and it was pre cellphone)

•Started timing his wife’s contractions and then dragged her into the car when they were 2 minutes apart after a huge fight

•Slam dunked on the receptionist when they checked in

•Was in awe of the hospital technology

•Literlly, I’m not kidding, when the doc did the whole “lights pointing at the wand” thing and aimed all the room lights at his wife’s crotch he actually yelled “Honey look! You’re a star!”

•Backed his wife tHE FUCK UP when she fired a nurse (the doctor also literally told the nurse to get tf out that really happened. He also really 100% did slide into the room with scrubs half on)

•Asked a nurse why the fuck she put toothpaste on his baby

•Named his baby after a song

My parents’ best friends did that Vivienne would’ve done:

•Brought the baby bag because the dipshits forgot it

•Went “what the fuck do you mean the baby is already here it’s been half an hour”

•(not in the story but) Offer the pregnant lady fried chicken and then never make it iT’S BEEN 21 YEARS SIR WHERE IS HER CHICKEN

•Help no-longer-pregnant lady sneak out cuz she didn’t wanna be there anymore

~~~~~~~~~

Tag list: @cardan-greenbriar-tcp @hizqueen4life @slightlyrebelliouswriter23 @thewickedkings @aelin-queen-of-terrasen @cheekycheekycheeks lol just tell me if you wanna be added

[prettylittlethings25]

MY FAVOURITE CHARACTERS FROM NETFLIX SHOWS

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

1.    Monica Geller (Friends)

Monica is a chef who likes things to be clean; and is competitive, obsessive and compulsive in nature. She was always dedicated to her friends. She never turned away a friend in need; like when Rachel ran away from her wedding, she allowed her to stay at her house even though Rachel was not in touch with her for many years after high school. She always cooked for her friends. Whenever it was Thanksgiving or someone’s birthday, she was the one who organized a get-together and fed all of them. Her parents always favoured her brother Ross, so she always competed against him to gain their affection. Monica always supported her husband Chandler and believed in him, even when he quit his job and started an internship. She was shattered when she found out that they cannot have a baby but was still strong and later adopted twins. The character is portrayed by Courtney Cox.

 2.    Klaus Mikaelson (The Originals)

Klaus is an original hybrid, i.e., he is one of the oldest vampires in the world who is also a werewolf. He is an overly complex character. He has a thousand enemies from all around the world. Though some people might think of him as ruthless or heartless, he has a good side despite all his sins. He took care of people who were dear to him. The protection of his family was always his first priority. He was an excellent father, brother, and friend. Despite daggering his siblings at a regular basis, he protected and saved them from all harm. His closest ally was his brother Elijah, who never let go of him. He adored Hayley, his daughter’s mother and his friend, and always made her feel like family. But most of all, he was an extraordinary father to his daughter Hope. Hope was the only reason Klaus redeemed himself. He loved Hope so much that in the end, he sacrificed his life to save Hope. The character is portrayed by Joseph Morgan.

 3.    Nairobi (Money Heist)

Nairobi was an expert in minting and forgery. She was one of the robbers who participated in the heist of the Royal Mint of Spain. Her task was to ensure that the money that was being printed by the hostages are of the highest quality. Later, she briefly took charge of the robbery and declared the beginning of “Matriarchy”. She was the most disciplined of the robbers. Her real name was Agata Jiménez. During her teenage years, she started counterfeiting due to lack of money. She got pregnant at that time and gave birth to a boy, who she named Axel. He was taken away from her at the age of 3 by the child services when they found out Agata is a drug dealer. The Professor and the robbers decided to select codenames after cities, because the rules were of no real names. Agata chose to be called Nairobi. The character is portrayed by Alba Flores.

 4.    Richard Hunter (The Bold Type)

Richard is a handsome in-house attorney for Steinem Publishing, the company that publishes Scarlet Magazine. He is a tall man with short brown hair. He is very dedicated to his job and avoids doing anything hazardous to jeopardize it. He has a clandestine affair with Sutton Brady, a stylist. He loves her very much, and even made certain adjustments to stay together with her. Later, he and Sutton got married. Their 15 years age difference did not affect their relationship until Sutton revealed that she never wants to have kids because she loves her career and does not want anything that can affect it. This is where their marriage hit a roadblock as Richard wanted to have kids and he could not wait longer for Sutton to maybe change her mind. Though he was a passionate lover, his decision of being a father was much more important to him. The character is portrayed by Samuel Page.

 5.    Joey Del Marco (Grand Army)

Joey is one of the most popular students at her school. Among her close friends is Tim, Joey’s best friend Anna’s brother, with whom she has a flirtatious relationship. She was strong, confident, and independent until one incident turned her life upside down. One night, she went to the movies with Tim, George, and Luke and decided to get drunk. In a cab, Joey sat on George’s lap and started flirting with him and Luke to make Tim jealous. Little did she know what was supposed to be fun, would turn out to be her worst nightmare. She was raped by the boys she thought were her best friends, while Tim just sat in stunned silence. Later when she was tried to press charges, they were denied due to lack of evidence. Joey looked for Tim’s support but did not get any. She changed her school and joined a dancing class hoping she would get over this trauma. The character is portrayed by Odessa A’zion.

 6.    Berlin (Money Heist)

Berlin was the Professor’s half-brother, and one of the robbers. He oversaw the heist of the Royal Mint of Spain. He was the perfect blend of both charming and arrogant. His real name was Andrés. He was diagnosed with Helmer's Myopathy and had little time to live, so he desired to enjoy everything in the moment intensely. He had eccentric ways of commanding and punishing the hostages as well as the robbers, but those psychopathic tendencies were a facade to maintain his leadership. His character development forces everyone to despise him at the beginning and then sympathize after his ultimate sacrifice in the end to protect others. The character is portrayed by Pedro Alonso.  

 7.    Beth Harmon (The Queen’s Gambit)

Beth is an orphan girl who has a passion for chess. She discovered her aptitude for chess while living in an orphanage, where she met Mr. Shaibel, the orphanage’s custodian who taught her chess. The pills that were given to the children at the orphanage helped Beth to hallucinate the game on a level that most of us will never experience in our lives. When she was adopted by a couple and could not avail the pills, her susceptibility to substance addiction fuelled her chess proficiency. She was the only woman chess player of her time and expressed irritation with being solely renowned because of her gender. So, she proved herself to be the greatest chess player in the world. The character is portrayed by Anya Taylor-Joy.

 8.    Chuck Bass (Gossip Girl)

Chuck is notorious for his flamboyant and impeccable sense of style and charisma. Though he was selfish, manipulative, and sleazy sometimes, he was loyal to his friends and other close acquaintances. He was abandoned by his mother and was raised by a cold-hearted father whose approval he longed for. His love interest is Blair, with who he has a typical hate to love chemistry. The time where he voted for Blair 150 times so that she could be the prom queen, even though they were not together at that time, is probably the most selfless thing he had done in his life. He is an epitome of character development. The character is portrayed by Ed Westwick.

[more-quiverfull-sims]

So Many Fun Updates!!!

Author’s Note: Ingrid’s family is really growing, and both her and Stetson have now both aged into later adulthood. Ingrid’s parents are elders now, too. I will have to choose an heir soon. So far, I’m tending towards either Hope or Evangeline. Both of them have shown a lot of personality from the start. 

On another note, I’d love to hear predictions on how many kids Ingrid + Stetson will ultimately have. I’m thinking it’ll probably be sixteen or seventeen, maybe even more if they have twins again.

I also wanted to note re: Brenna that she and her husband dislike the fundamentalist lifestyle (due to not living up to their parents’ standards) and will be fundie-lite at most. They’ve moved to an apartment in the city and are using birth control until Brenna is at least 21. They’ll still have a big family, but will likely send their children to Christian private school, and Brenna will be able to work part-time as a piano teacher.

Read on for an extra nutty blog post...my favorite part is Ingrid’s insistence on flexing on her sisters by adding a modesty turtleneck to an already insane bridesmaid dress. Ingrid’s mother, Katlyn, has become a little less strict with her youngest kids as she’s burned out over time...but Ingrid isn’t about to relax her own standards.

Hello everyone! My, how nice it is to be checking out the blog again!! I love sharing our adventures with you!!

Here I am at the very end of my pregnancy with Patience Grace!

My sweet Mama got to visit me and help me take care of the little ones, and talk about how I was coping with my pregnancy!! 

Later that day, I delivered our TENTH child, Patience Grace Gorman!

I had a great opportunity to speak with little Evangeline May about having a happy heart about a new baby! Our children love being part of a large family, but babies are born sinners and must be TRAINED to show a happy heart at all times! Little Evangeline is still working on this, and I am being sure to keep her on the right path!

Helen aged up into toddlerhood JUST before I delivered Patience Grace. I love putting pink bows in my girls’ hair, and they love it, too! I’ve also strived to begin instilling modesty in my girls at an EARLY age so that they learn not to make their bodies a temptation from the time they are small! Notice my girls are always in dresses and with their knees covered! It is such a blessing to learn how to shield our brothers from temptation!

I also recently celebrated my thirty-fifth birthday. I can’t believe that Stetson and I have been married for more than fifteen PERFECT years and serving the Lord all the while. We are among the rare few that are participating in his perfect design for humanity...which was evidenced by the fact that days after this photo was taken, I found out that I was pregnant with baby #11, a PRECIOUS boy named Landyn Mason!!!

On another happy note, my sweet sister Brenna recently became engaged and then married! She became engaged to nineteen-year-old Alejandro Delgado at the age of seventeen! Alejandro is a commercial fisherman who is also a violinist on the side! Brenna loves the violin, too, and they met at a concert for homeschool graduates last year! Brenna didn’t know he was interested in her until he asked our Daddy for his permission to court her six months ago. They fell in love quickly, and I was so thrilled for her!

Brenna’s sweet wedding day! It was a very beautiful ceremony! Brenna had just turned eighteen a few days before! It was held on my parents’ property. My Daddy presided as preacher and married them. I was surprised Daddy allowed an outdoor wedding at first, but in the end we all liked the idea of Brenna getting married on our parents’ homestead! Their love has been so fruitful and led to so much!

Aren’t they a nice couple?! I am SO pleased that Brenna settled down and got married at an appropriate age. She always had such SPIRIT as a child and loved school, which I often had to remind her was not lady-like. Her academic energies were ONLY necessary so that she could learn to be a teacher for her children, as I explained! Luckily Alejandro seems okay with being married to a woman who likes to speak up sometimes! But Mama and I will be helping Brenna remain a submissive helpmeet!

We got a nice photo of all my sisters here! Aren’t our dresses GORGEOUS!? Mama helped pick them out, and I chose to layer mine out of modesty! I didn’t want anybody gazing upon the arms that belong to my husband!

After the wedding, Alejandro moved with Brenna to an apartment in San Myshuno. They’ve been married almost seven months now! Praying that they will be graced with a blessing soon! 

Our family also had a wonderful time celebrating Harvestfest recently. I slaved away ALL day making dinner for everyone!! It is such a blessing to serve my family!! I keep my babies so well-nourished and rested. It is such a joy and truly the calling of my life.

Look at all of us gathered around the table that some sweet folks at church donated to us! Daddy’s gotten a lot older, and recently Thaddeus has taken over the helm for preaching. The congregation is growing every day!

This is me after another successful homebirth with baby Landyn. I did tear quite a bit during the birth and had to be hospitalized afterward. I may soon follow the way of my heroine, Michelle Duggar, and go to the hospital for any subsequent births! I realized, after speaking with Stetson, that the Lord has blessed me and that I need not strive to please him by giving birth at home. Stetson told me that this is what the Lord has planned for me, and I submitted right away! That is what wives must do, without question, all the time!

My sweet girls have been SO great about helping me with my littles recently. I’m so glad that Hope and Katlynn are learning to be good, obedient helpmeets so that they can serve their husbands one day!! I could NOT do things without them and have officially started buddy teams as the two oldest girls become old enough to manage them!

Can you believe how busy our family has been recently?! I can’t believe how quickly time is flying!!! My oldest babies are already 15, 13, and almost 12 (Ezekiel, Josiah, and Hope)! Soon we will be planning THEIR courtships and making way for THEIR babies. It’s hard to believe how time flies...

Finally, we are so excited to announce that the LORD has blessed us AGAIN!! We are so beyond fortunate to be expecting our precious baby #12 in the spring!! The Lord has SEEN our service and SEEN the hearts we have for him. We ALWAYS seek to serve him even when the world is against us. We are stopped much more often now and asked about our large family, with some even exclaiming and asking why we would want so many children!! This is evidence of the backward way of the world and the way so many women have fallen out of their natural roles as wives and mothers. I am SO glad I have taken the path of righteousness and that I am showing MY sweet daughters the way. 

We haven’t found out the gender of baby #12, which will mark a first for us! So far we have six boys and five girls...what do you think the next baby will be?!?

Gorman Children (so far):

1. Ezekiel Luther

2. Josiah Thomas

3. Hope Geraldine

4. Isaiah Stetson

5. Katlynn Marie

6. John Brice

7. Evangeline May

8. Camden Duggarson

9. Helen Praise

10. Patience Grace

11. Landyn Mason

12. Baby Gorman