#tis i! tragic daughter one of three!

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[vessel-full-of-stories]

Y'all, I have been in a whirlwind trying to formulate all my thoughts on this subject into something even mildly coherent. Here it is!

This is my perspective of Eddie and his relationship with physical affection. (A response to my analysis of Buck not being as tactile as the fandom thinks.)

First things first: I excluded Eddie's canon romantic relationships, Christopher, and most patients on calls (you'll see). There's just too much to dissect between those individually, let alone all together.

Okay! Let's go!

Let's start with Eddie's family. Compared to Buck, Eddie has several members of his family who are openly affectionate with him. His Tia Pepa and Abuela in particular. You can tell his comfort level with them at just a glance, how he welcomes their touches and easily shows them affection in return.

The issue comes from his parents. Especially his father.

It's an issue that doesn't even begin a road to recovery until the end of season 5. Compared to the bright, freely given attention he gives his new family, Eddie has a distinctly different reaction to physical contact from his dad.

Distinct from the multiple hugs he gets from Bobby, a developing father figure in his life.

Which says a lot, seeing as all three of these hugs occured within the first year of Eddie's arrival at the 118. (All in Season 2).

It cements that touch and physical affection aren't just important to Eddie, but a major love language for him.

This doesn't mean Eddie is outright affectionate with everyone, or even overly affectionate with the people he loves. It just means that small contacts can be a way for him to express himself. And it's not limited to his team.

Eddie can extend this love language to complete strangers if he relates to them enough. For instance, the marine they met on a Christmas call.

This soldier, fresh from war, saves a fellow passenger on his ride home after the bus crashes. Literally seconds before, Eddie demonstrated the proper way to assess a patient using a flashlight. Yet, Eddie grabs the soldier's shoulder and assesses him by eye.

Why? Because the man already demonstrated his functionality while assisting the team with their patient. The firm grip on his shoulder is to ground him as Eddie asks for his condition.

Learning he's desperate to get to his daughter's recital, the 118 decide to take care of it. On the way there, he focuses on changing out of bloody clothes. However, there's limited space in the firetruck. Eddie inserts himself several times to help (not really). He tugs at his button-down to straighten (?) it, holds his boot as the soldier ties it. Small things that don't make a huge difference but show support for the stranger and his cause. (Adorable.)

Another instance is with Lena Bosko.

The first time they meet, Lena is injured but not entirely inhibited. She walks freely without issue. The reason Eddie is lined against her left is to physically block her injured side from the busy rush of the hospital. So no one bumps her.

As coworkers, they confide in each other and discuss how they work through issues. Lena identifies their shared emotional ties with physicality and suggests fighting as an outlet. Through this, Eddie takes it further and falls into a dark spiral of physical aggression and emotional suppression.

His reflection on street fighting helps him identify when others are struggling with similar issues later. He speaks from experience, and it does help them in the end.

His growth is also reflected after he relapses into physical destruction. And it, again, reveals his love language.

He didn't trust himself to show love. Street fighting revealed how his language could represent the opposite, and he felt it again at the loss of his entire military team.

Buck is the one to put Chris to bed. Eddie keeps his distance, curls himself away, and never reaches out. But he wants comfort. He rocks himself gently, making self-soothing gestures as he rubs his fingers over his skin.

Tragically, as previously discussed, Buck doesn't offer that comfort because Eddie doesn't explicitly indicate that he needs it.

And Buck is such an important person to him.

He will move himself to the front of a crowd just to hug him first. Even if Buck struggles with physical affection, Eddie could identify when Buck truly needed it to get his point across. A point not just about Buck's place in his son's world, but in his.

Eddie rarely initiates direct physical contact anymore and that may be due to Buck's lack of touch from anyone. He's careful, because it could be assumed that Buck doesn't typically want a lot of affection. So, how would Eddie, someone who shows love through touch, approach this?

Hen was shown dragging training dummies along the floors of the firehouse. She's strong. Still, Eddie decided to stay with her under the guise of pulling Buck from under the firetruck when he could have easily went to help lift the monstrosity off of him. But that would mean pulling his hand out of Buck's when it was already holding his so tightly.

Buck knows how to put on a harness by season 4, yet Eddie is there, assisting.

Eddie reaches out - maybe multiple times - to Buck after he's been shot.

And who could miss that small press of his hand to Buck's back while Eddie fights to keep his composure after a call triggers him?

These may seem as more of a comfort for Eddie than Buck, because they are. Eddie finds comfort in being near Buck. Near people he trusts. It's no wonder he started to freak when his hands were restrained after being dosed.

And I know we all laughed at Hen essentially calling out the lack of personal space him and Buck share. But it's important to remember that, yes, he does this with Buck, but he also saw no issue in doing it with Hen. Because he trusts Hen. And it is a show of love that he thought nothing of it to be in the same space. Even if she needed her bubble, which he had no issue in supplying. 😂

TL:DR : While Buck struggles with his perceived inability to show physical affection, it is very much a love language for Eddie. That core difference is shown in how they interact with each other, and the people around them.

[marrondrawsalot]

Blame @anxious-twisted-vampire but we are doing a corpse party au, AND BITCH DO NOT SPILL THE TEA TO THEM I WILL SPILL IT WHEN I SAY SO

BUT NOT WITH THE CURRENT GANG BUT MY BIRD GIRL AND HER OLD CREW PLUS CROWLEY + THREE EXTRAS

Here’s the plot:

In the past, there’s a tragedy that claimed 9 lives. 8 were students, one is the headmage/Crowley. However, two people are missing who were tied to the event. A grown adult and his son.

In this au, darling and her friends died tragically. And Crowley, unable to bare loneliness and his grief his daughter died a terrible gruesome take. Taken his own life to join her in the afterlife. But, this tragedy came for a price. Because Darling never crossed over. She is searching for her heart. As autopsy revealed her heart was craved out of her chest. Darling wishes to find it, as she became cold and bitter and callous. She is vile and cruel, without a heart, she is like a doll. Her friends? They have joined her in spirit, in help of finding her heart along with Crowley. However, they cannot find it because their memories are decayed and blurry. In this wake, the culprit and his son now stuck in a loop without a choice. No aging, no dying, just an endless cycle of life and death on repeat for them. As the culprit is forced to walk the halls to find the heart, but he cannot remember it. His son is also in search of it too, but he is very weak and slow from the years of looking. He carried a jewelry box, saying he keeps his family close. His mother necklace, his sister bracelet, and his father pocket watch. He said it’ll bring them closer. As he wishes to finally see them again. But he doubts it.

There is, however, someone hiding the heart. As the spirits angrily ravage the new souls who fallen into their graves. But be cautious, they are sly, mischievous, and cruel monsters. Who have one goal. To find the heart. Your current mission is that, to end the madness that continues. Or…. You just might end up as them.

AND I HAVE A LOT OF SHIT ON MY PLATE SO AM I REALLY GONNA MAKE 9 WARNING ART POSTS OF THE ANGRY SPIRITS??? YEAH I WAS WORKING ON DARLING’S BUT IMMA GO FROM HEARTSLABYUL TO RAMSHACKLE

AND HERE IS THE BULLSHIT: I NEVER TRY TO DO HORROR ART/GORE BUT BODY HORROR IS A KINDA IF WE COUNT BELDAM DARLING DESIGN, SO IM GONMA TRY THAT STYLE OUT

WITH LIVING AND AFTERMATH BODY DESIGNS

@adrianasunderworld @mangacupcake @writing-heiress @the-weirdos-mind @skboba-stars @nproduction626 @rose-tea-and-strawberries @anxious-twisted-vampire @yukii0nna @achy-boo @abyssthing198 @zexal-club

[pompomqt]

Journey to the West Chapter 29

So, no Sun Wukong?

I miss that Funky Little Monkey Man already :(

In this chapter of Journey to the West with @journeythroughjourneytothewest we continue to see how the pilgrimage is fairing with Sun Wukong absent. So let's get into it shall we?

So we begin this chapter where we left off last time, with Sandy and Pigsy battling it out with the Yellow Robe Demon. Unfortunately Sandy and Pigsy are no match for this demon, but fortunately they have the help of all the deities who are on ' Tang Monk Protection Duty' helping them out, so they are able to fight the demon to a standstill.

Meanwhile said Tang Monk is having a good cry and wondering what his to disciples are doing and if they are going to be able to rescue him soon. Before to long however a young woman walks in and asks him why he's here. At first Tripitaka is rather worried the woman plans to eat him, but luckily the girl isn't a demon like the last girl he talked to. Instead it turns out she's a kidnapped princess from a nearby kingdom, who was brought here and forced to be the demon's wife. In exchange for this information, Tripitaka tells the girl his own tragic backstory, about how he is on a mission to get scriptures from the west, but was kidnapped by this demon to be eaten.

Fortunately the girl is willing to talk her husband into letting him go free in exchange for Tripitaka delivering a letter to her family when he passes through her old kingdom on his journey. Tripitaka of course agrees to this deal, so the girl writes a letter and then unties Tripitaka and gives it to him. That done, the girl tells him to leave out the back door so that he doesn't run into all the little demon minions who would probably just kill him on the spot. So while Tripitaka leaves out the back and then proceeds to hide in a bush, the Princess goes out front to talk her husband into letting the three of them go.

In order to convince her demon husband to let the monks go, she tells him a story about how when she was young she made a vow that if she found a good husband she would feed the monks. And how she had a dream just now where a deity demanded that she fulfill that vow. And when she woke up with a start she saw the monk tied to the pillar, she realized this must be how she is meant to fulfill her vow. So will he pretty please let them all go for her sake?

Thankfully the Demon is willing to agree to this, he can eat any old human whenever he wants to, so it's not that big of a deal to let these ones go. He then tells Sandy and Pigsy to take their master and scram and that he'll spare them this time for his wife's sake but warns them not to trespass on his property ever again. Sand and Pigsy are more then happy to heed the demon's words, so they out the back to look for Tripitaka and find him in a bush. Then the party wisely high tails it out of there.

A while later they finally make it to the Princess's kingdom. While there Tripitaka asks for an audience with the throne in order to get his travel papers certified. When the King hears that there is an illustrious monk from the great Tang Kingdom he is more then happy to meet with him. After Tripitaka tells him his story and shows him his papers, the King stamps them with his approval. With that taken care of, Tripitaka also says he has a family letter for the king, from his third daughter who was kidnapped by the Yellow Robe Demon.

The King is happy to finally know what happened to his daughter, pity he couldn't have learned that before he put all those ladies in waiting and eunuchs to death though. Before now he sort of just assumed she'd left on her own and gotten lost or something, not that she was kidnapped. Anyways the court reads the letter, and by the end of it the king is crying. Unfortunately none of his men are willing to go on a suicide mission to try and rescue her from the demon. Eventually one of them thinks to ask if Tripitaka can do it, after all he made it all the way here safely, so surely he has some method for subduing demons?

So the King asks if Tripitaka is capable of fighting the monster and saving the princess. And even says he's willing to become bond brothers with Tripitaka if he succeeds. Tripitaka admits that while he's a good monk, he doesn't really know how to fight monsters. And when the King asks how he got all the way here then, Tripitaka tells him he has two disciples two help him on his difficult journey.

The King asks why he didn't bring his two disciples in with him, and Tripitaka says it's because they are so frighteningly ugly that he didn't want to bring them in without permission in case it offended or frightened them. The King isn't to worried, because he's probably under the impression that they are just talking about normal human ugliness. And even when Tripitaka describes what they look like, the king still feels well equipped to handle them with that description in hand, and insists that Tripitaka summon them in. So Sand and Pigsy come in and give the king a single bow, which is pretty rude of them to act that way towards a king, but the king is so frightened of them he even falls off his couch lol. So much for the warning from Tripitaka.

Tripitaka is of course mortified by all this and prostates himself before the king and apologizes, saying he knew something like this would happen. The King is pretty understanding though, after all Tripitaka did warn him, so soon enough they are all able to move past this. After the King recovers from his fright he asks Sandy and Pigsy which one of them knows how to subdue monsters. Pigsy of course takes the opportunity to brag about how great he is and even shows off his thirty six transformation magic and rake. This thoroughly convinces the king that Pigsy is well equipped to handle the yellow robed demon!

So the king offers Pigsy some wine and says they will throw a banquet when Pigsy returns with the demon defeated and the princess in hand. Pigsy is at least polite enough to offer Tripitaka some wine first, but Tripitaka doesn't drink so he lets Pigsy and Sandy have it all. With that Pigsy uses his cloud soaring to be on his way.

After Pigsy leaves, Sandy clues Tripitaka in on the fact that when they fought the demon before they were only able to battle him to a draw with both of them together, so he fears Pigsy alone won't be able to win. Hearing this, Tripitaka gives Sandy permission to go after Pigsy and assist him. So with that Sandy also cloud soars away. Seeing this the King becomes alarmed and begs Tripitaka to not also go flying away, and Tripitaka assures him he couldn't even if he wanted to. Tripitaka is more then happy to stay behind on this adventure and just chat with the king for a while.

Meanwhile Sandy catches up with Pigsy and tells him that Tripitaka told him to assist him and Pigsy is more then happy to accept his help. Together the two of them break down the demon's front door. The little minion demons of course go and report this to their boss that the two ugly monks are back. The Demon is surprised and wonders what they are doing here since he already released their master. A minion demon suggests that maybe they forgot something? The Big Boss Demon points out that you don't break down someones door just because you left something at their house. So the demon gets dressed in his armor and goes out to asks them why they are here.

Pigsy meanwhile shouts that they are here because they abducted a princess and forced her to be his wife (similar to how Pigsy got his own wife....) Anyways Pigsy tells him to tie himself up and surrender. The Demon of course doesn't do that, and instead goes on the offensive and the battle begins. However the battle is going even worse then last time, after all the deities that were helping them previously are currently staying in the kingdom with Tripitaka, so it's just the two of them this time, and Pigsy is rapidly losing stamina.

So Pigsy passes the buck to Sandy and bails. So with Pigsy now fleeing like a coward, Sandy is of course immediately overwhelmed and captured by the demon.

Current Sun Wukong Stats: Names/Titles: Monkey, The Stone Monkey, The Handsome Monkey King, Sun Wukong (Monkey awakened to the void), Bimawen (Banhorseplague), The Great Sage Equal To Heaven and Pilgrim Sun. Immortality: 5 + 94,000 years. Weapon: The Compliant Golden Hooped Rod Abilities: 72 Transformations, Cloud-Somersault, Ability to transform his individual hairs, super strength, Ability to Summon Wind, Water restriction charm, and the ability to change into a huge war form, ability to duplicate his staff, ability to immobilize others, the ability to put others to sleep, and the Fiery eyes and Diamond Pupils, intimidating horses, churning large bodies of water, sleeplessness, seizing the wind, enhanced smell, discerning good and evil within a thousand miles, Spirit Summoning, lock picking, and object transformation. Demon Kill Count: 5+ Unknown Number of Minions Human Kill Count: 1006 God's Defeated: 19 + Unknown number Defeats: 3 Crime List: Robbery, Murder, Mass Murder, Arson, Theft, Coercion, Threatening a Government Official, Resisting Arrest, Assault, Forgery, Employee Theft, False Imprisonment, Impersonating a Government Official, Treason, attempted murder, failure to control or report a dangerous fire, desecrating a corpse, breaking and entering, trespassing, violating Tree Law and looting corpses. Cry Count: 4 Mountains Trapped Under: 1

Current Tang Sanzang stats: Names/Titles: River Float, Xuanzang, Tang Sanzang, Tripitaka Abilities: Curing Blindness, making branches point a certain direction (allegedly), reciting sutras, pretty privilege, memorization and Heart Sutra. Cry Count: 16 Tight Fillet Spell Uses: 27 Paralyzed by fear: 5 Bandit Problems: 2 Kidnapped by demons: 3 Falling Off Horses: 6

Current Bai Long Ma Stats: Names/Titles: Bai Long Ma (White Dragon Horse), Prince of the Western Ocean, and third prince jade dragon of the dragon king Aorun Abilities: Transforming into a human, a water snake, and a horse, eating a horse in one bite, and flight. Crime List: Arson, and Grave Disobedience. Contributions to the plot: 1

Current Zhu Wuneng Stats: Names/Titles: The Marshal of the Heavenly Reeds, Zhu Wuneng (Pig who is aware of ability), Zhu Ganglie, Pigsy, Idiot and Eight Rules. Weapon: Rake Abilities: 36 Transformations, parting water, fighting underwater, cloud soaring and size enhancement Demon Kill Count/Kill steals: 1 Failed Flirtation/romances Attempts: 3 Cry Count: 1 Crime List: Sexual Harassment, Murder, Kidnapping and arson.

Current Sha Wujing Stats: Names/Titles: The Curtain-Raising General, Sha Wujing (Sand Aware of Purity), Sandy and Sha Monk Weapon: Monster Taming Staff Abilities: Fighting underwater and Cloud soaring. Kidnapped by Demons: 1 Crime List: Breaking a Crystal Cup, murder, and desecration of a human corpse.

[nixtape-foryou]

✿ SHOP WARATAHS

Waratahs are an excellent choice when you are wanting to symbolize a wish for health and longevity. This flower is also referenced in a number of Australian aboriginal dreaming stories and is used to symbolize both the positive and tragic sides of love.

Bouquets = Series | Stems = Oneshots | Seeds = Drabbles | In Shipment = Ongoing

BOUQUETS

Breathe, and Live by blossom-hwa (14.9k) || Single Parents AU || You and Chan learn, together, to care for the little boys you love.

A Love That Lasts by staywritten ☆ (18.2k) || Single Parent AU, Neighbors to Lovers || You’ve spent the last two years, helping your very handsome next door neighbor raise his adorable daughter. The two of you fell into a routine before you knew it. And now you had this little family. You couldn’t help but fall for him

Mamihlapinatapai by sunnyville36 (25.0k) || Royalty AU -  Servant/Prince AU || Mamihlapinatapai - (noun, Yagán origin) a silent acknowledgement and understanding between two people, who are both wishing or thinking the same thing (and are both unwilling to initiate)

STEMS

Wounded Hearts by scxrlettwxtches (2.3k) || Historical AU || When Chan saw caught you sneaking back into battle after he had specifically told you not to, he was less than pleased. Why couldn’t you just understand that he wanted nothing more than for you to be safe? 

My House by formidxble ★ (13.0k) || Mature, Workplace AU || Fixing ties is a part of your job, so why is your boss acting like it isn’t?

Three Steps Back by formidxble (5.8k) || Workplace AU || The 2 times bang chan tried to confess and the 1 time he almost did.

The Chance of Love by maatryoshkaa ☆ (13.8k) || High School AU || The one where you’re determined to find one flaw about your seemingly picture-perfect class president, and he’s determined to make sure you pass the class—no matter how hard you’re trying to fail.

Enemies-to-lovers! by taelme ☆ (21.0k) || Workplace AU || Enemies to lovers slow burn with Bang Chan where you don't like each other but there's undeniable chemistry

Between the Lines by straylightdream (12.5k) || Lightly Mature, Arranged Marriage AU || After being used a nothing more then a pawn to gain the upper hand on Chan. They’re left in a strained marriage and only one way out.

Ease by fizzydrink698 ★ (2.5k) || Historical Fantasy AU || "He didn’t take long to melt under your gentle attentions, letting out a small sigh as you massaged his scalp, fingers occasionally sliding down to his temples to slowly ease away the tension built up there."

Drown by neo-shitty (3.0k) || High School AU, Hurt/Comfort | In which the music wasn’t enough to drown out the thoughts inside his head anymore

The First First Date by jl-micasea-fics (5.0k) || Mature || A dinner date, a single dad, an almost certainly taboo relationship. A brazen, explicit proposition whispered amongst oblivious teachers and occupied parents. Honestly? You never stood a chance of resisting.

Continuation of Introduction presented by Kinktober - Day 29 (3.0k) || Single Dad x Teacher

Wolfsbane by healinghyunjin ☆ (16.7k) || Mature, Historical AU, Arranged Marriage to Lovers || You took a deep breath before lifting your head, staring right at Chan. “I can be your collateral – as your wife.”

The Diamond Support by fantastic-bby (8.2k) || Streamer AU, Strangers to Lovers || When Chan gets extremely drunk during a college party, he ends up playing a game of League of Legends with a girl he doesn’t know. He wakes up the next morning hungover and with almost no recollection of what happened the night before. He only realises that there’s a new summoner name in his friends’ list while he’s doing a stream and he’s determined to find out who ‘The Diamond Support’ is

Burn by fizzydrink698 (4.9k) || Royalty AU || Just once, you’d like to see Chan get his hands dirty. To fight an opponent he hasn’t already chained and locked away. You picture it for a moment, wrapping these chains around his neck, pinning him to that throne and watching the first flickers of fear alight in his eyes.

Bad Habit by hwan-g (4.8k) || NSFW | Friends(?) to Lovers || Chris has never asked or needed anyone’s help—except yours.

IN SHIPMENT

The Warmth in Brightness by braemjeorn || Regency Era AU, Strangers to Lovers || Commodore Bang is coping after his loss, in the best way he is capable. Son Mari could barely recall that she was merely employed help—he can do better for his boys, and she will insist upon it.

[zahri-melitor]

Newish Comics:

The Flash #7: The Linear Men? The Linear Men??? Si Spurrier, what is cooking in your brain and can you keep giving me a direct line to it? (I mean bringing the Linear Men in a series that also gave us Gold Beetle makes perfect sense because Rip would be so into her but wow. It looks like they've barely been used since Flashpoint too). Also it's fascinating watching the re-establishment of Max and Bart's relationship.

Barry seems to finally have risen out of his ennui a bit, only to notice Something Is Wrong With Linda and then immediately suspect (wrongly) it's Hartley. Still pretty sure Linda's main issue is PPD but it being imposed by an external source is certainly something.

Green Arrow #10: this is another issue that mostly exists for people to hug each other, while Williamson goes 'remember that these people had relationships?' Sean Izaakse's art is just so good in terms of drawing the memory backgrounds so well I can pick out the specific issues and storylines he used as references (Batman + Arsenal shoutout!)

Also, remember when Amanda Waller didn't put bombs in people's heads, she just very occasionally put explosive collars or wristbands on the most dangerous and/or irritating Suicide Squad members? (Like Captain Boomerang?) Because I do. I remember Suicide Squad 1987.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold #11: part of this is me just being contrary, I know, but I am extremely not convinced we are going to see Maps as an active Robin in a main title, given Kerschl is a Gotham Academy creator anyway, and she's currently getting appearances as Meridian over in Birds of Prey. Gotham Academy continuity is only about 1/4 linked to main book continuity. (Someone is going to try and point out 'they appeared in Robin War' or something but it was an active and new title then, and honestly, nobody writing most Bat titles cares about them. It's its own sub universe. Also this story has Bruce dating Isla MacPherson, something I guarantee will not be followed up anywhere else)

Also imagine being called Karl Kerschl and coming to DC to write? How much time does this poor man spend saying "no, not Kesel".

The Artemis story remains amazing and I am fully supportive of it retconning whatever character crimes it is currently trying to excuse as weird.

Also how did we get so unlucky as to have both a Bat Lash AND a Sgt Rock story in this issue?

Amazons Attack #6: and this tied things off nicely! Honestly for an event that didn't need to happen, Josie Campbell did well with it, featured a whole host of Wonder Woman characters that Tom King's barely interacting with, and added to some relationships between characters that needed additional work.

Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #5: I am sure this is a far more meaningful issue if you care deeply about Green Lantern lore. Also DELIGHTED that the JSA team up in this series actually happens on page rather than in the final splash like in Wesley Dodds: The Sandman. (Wesley Dodds is still the best of the three minis to me, but I'm happy here that we're going to get JSA backup).

The Warlord #45: Previously on Lost World of the Warlord (I said I would) Travis set out to find out what had happened to his daughter Jennifer. He goes back to the village of dwarfs and gets his old sword back (since he chucked Hellfire into a lake), and ends up fighting some Cyclops' that took several of the dwarves to eat. Tragically nothing particularly fun happens here (though a skeleton IS tied to a cross, the bondage isn't involving any characters I care about AND it's just a warning threat)

Also something weird went on with the lettering this issue where what I think were script directions ended up as text boxes for all the scene transitions. If it was a stylistic choice on Grell's part it's a particularly odd one.

[uldahstreetrat]

Top 5 Relationships (romantic, familial, canon, HC, whatever!)

Top 5 Minions

There's two for you! :D

FINAL FANTASY XIV TOP 5 ASKS!

I did minions over here!

Anais Bell and Gaius Baelsar please dont ask my husband about how often I talk about these two cause it is SIGNIFICANTLY more than I post about them and I already post about them a LOT. I love a sad pathetic dilf, they have a history, she's such a mom - the vibes are just there in a way that is so ideal to me specifically and I cant get enough

Thancred and Minfilia/Ryne tragic sibling relationships fuck me up Im constantly writing them already myself and getting to ShB and seeing the sort of "my sister died and Im looking after her kid" vibe Thancred and Ryne had going and how Ryne's relationship to Minfilia also REALLY felt to me like the kid who's mom died giving birth/when she was young and she only grew up hearing about her from everyone else I just-- damn that's some good dynamics

Q'ihnn Tia and G'raha Tia this was a joke initially, it was a "hey wouldnt it be funny if they were ex boyfriends" when I was running the raids and then I got to ShB and got hit over the head with THAT and well now they're getting married aha they're just really sweet and they deserve the happiness of being together

Zana and Alphinaud Leveilleur these two stupid teenagers are in love and they're adorable. I would die for them. I'd kill for them without hesitation. he immediately had a crush on her and she immediately threatened to kill him and then their character arcs just lined up in a way where they're inseparable now and I love em a lot, they're real cuties. also they're like a mini Q'ihnn and G'raha too which I always think is funny to have like father like daughter shit with Q'ihnn and Zana lmao

Kerrich Drachman and Ophianne Vilauclaire I actually hadn't thought about these two much until recently but the dynamic is deeply compelling to me now - Kerrich and his adoptive kids as a whole vibe was always only ever something I really thought about with Estinien and Q'ihnn, with all three of them being dragoons, but Ophianne is the kid MOST like him and also the one he just... kinda ignored. didn't worry about. he wasn't training her and she could handle herself, he didn't feel like he needed to worry about it, but now she's grown and she just... doesn't want anything to do with him. she never did, she never wanted a father figure even as a kid, but she certainly doesnt want one now. and Kerrich is my canon's 1.0 WoL so his entire dynamic with Bahamut is, well, complicated... and Ophianne is a summoner. in fact she's more closely tied to the actual dragon that was Bahamut than the primal. the symbolism alone in that in their relationship is driving me insane and im really gonna hammer into it going forward as much as I get the chance

also received this ask from @jdtrashman, so thanks to you both!

[seirclys]

OG! Penelope Eckhart Headcanons: A Life Before the Eckharts

Part 6!

This one was uh... it took a while. While some may remember Shrike's version of Penelope's parents, who are perhaps the best parents she could ask for... the reality, I think, will be much darker.

Studies, like Bywaters et al. (2022), which is a critical review of research papers in the period between 2016-2021 that compiles evidence and analyzes them together, show that food insecurity, low income, unemployment, and other factors in relation to poverty lead to a higher chance of childhood neglect.[1]

Given that from canon, we know that Penelope's father is dead or at least presumed so— "Her widowed mother was a poor traveling merchant"[2]— it's reasonable to assume that he's just not in the picture.

From Part 4, if you recall, Penelope is a World Catalyst where her world is expressed as a romance-genre dating simulator. I'll definitely elaborate on this in another part, but suffice to say, Penelope's life is pretty much written to be tragic no matter what.

Thus, isn't it fitting to give her a just-as-horrible childhood before the Eckharts?

It would certainly explain why she was so desperate for love, despite the seemingly-obvious idea that she misses the love of her biological family.

The Father— Aleksander

Aleksander is a Greek name meaning "defender of the people", with this particular variant can be traced to Central and Eastern Europe.

Aleksander is from the Northern territories of the Eorka Empire, near the borderlands with treacherous, eternal winter. He moved from the North to warmer lands when he became of age.

He had three siblings, but his older sister died shortly after marriage. On the other hand, his younger brother died in childhood from sickness and a particularly harsh winter.

His father disappeared one day while hunting for prey in the forests, and his mother was beaten to death for stealing from a noble household.

Aleksander has classic, deep magenta curls (think old Hollywood). The color is so dark that it looks black.

His hair is left somewhat lengthy, reaching his mid-back and tied back with a ribbon.

In addition, his eyes match his hair but have an orange glow to them instead.

He has a slender physique, not necessarily muscular or very strong.

Aleksander is extremely religious.

He has a pleasant smile and a gentle disposition, but that doesn't mean he's weak or useless.

He knows how to wield a small dagger, but that's it.

Aleksander was a doting father and loving husband, content with a simple life with his family.

Originally, he left the church he was a part of to follow his wife, but left and returned to his religion and the North when he found out that Penelope had mana.

His religion actively pursues wizards and those of Ancient Wizard blood, and his daughter is no exception.

It's unclear what happened on the day he found out. All his wife knows is that when she returned from her daily trip to the marketplace to sell her wares, her husband was gone, with blood on the bed.

Penelope was holding her neck, terrified.

In the aftermath, he became obsessed with tracking down wizards to "atone" for not having killed Penelope, torn between the guilt of attempted silicide and also the regret of not having snuffed out an Arcani's life.

He feels similarly torn with Nilar, reasoning that since he can never be a descendant of those filthy traitors who served Laila(the Ancient Wizards), then Penelope's magic must have come from his ex-wife.

Aleksander's fate is unknown, but evidently kept out of the capital and surrounding territories, staying in the outskirts. Penelope never met him again.

Edit: ok I didn't mention his third sibling but his mother had the baby when he was away studying to be a priest. It's not clear what happened to the child, but it died before he could meet his sibling.

In truth, Aleksander HAS Ancient Wizard heritage, ironically — his sibling was killed because flowers started blooming around the infant in the middle of winter. Like, summer flowers in the crib, growing out of the mattress.

His mother, terrified, suffocated the infant. Truly, like mother, like son.

The Mother— Nilar

Nilar is a female name of Burmese origin meaning "Sapphire", with the origin having NOTHING to do with my characterization of Penelope's mom. I left the choice up to @eloise175 in a blind-box situation.

If it had any bearing, it would be that Nilar was born in a foreign land but is Eorkan by blood. Her parents just settled down in a foreign land for a bit to ride out the pregnancy.

She was part of a merchant ship crew that docked frequently in the port city of Tratan. By extension, it's near Soleil Island, which is Laila's hideout.

She has abandonment issues due to her parents' mysterious disappearance when she was young. While traveling, she met Aleksander and fell deeply in love.

Nilar is an accomplished Arcani(One who uses mana and is of Ancient Wizard descent). However, her love for Aleksander blinded her, causing her to seal her own powers so he wouldn't turn on her.

Nilar's mother's powers were primarily water-based, which is why they were seafaring. Her powers are Earth-based.

Nilar's hair is naturally a bright pale turquoise-green with darker roots, ending around her mid-thighs. The ends of her hair shift according to her mana. It'll turn from a burnt-sienna color to a pale blonde when uses her powers.

As a civilian, her hair is kept in a low bun.

Nilar's eyes are bright green, near-glowing in their saturated hues. She passed them onto her daughter, though Penelope's eyes tend to stray more turquoise.

She has a soft expression as her default, but her face is naturally stern, which is where Penelope's default "villainess expression" stems from.

In addition, she has a strong physique, from her years as a mercenary in addition to being a merchant. She didn't just settle in Eorka but traveled all over the world before meeting Aleksander.

Had she never settled down with Aleksander, she might've been hired as an Imperial mage, or even an Archmage to fight for the Empire.

Nilar's love blinds her to the red flags surrounding her husband.

After she had Penelope, she became more frail as a result(Giving birth to a World Catalyst, especially one so connected to the world, takes a toll).

When she found out that Aleksander left with her daughter injured, Nilar kind of shut down. She tried to take care of Penelope but found herself spiralling into self-doubt, especially since her daughter looks just like her missing husband with the hair and smile.

As Penelope grew older, Nilar worsened in health, especially since she could no longer easily support two people and pay for expensive medication. She didn't unseal her mana, deluding herself that Aleksander would come back. Poverty made things worse, and the neglect and abuse began to worsen.

Nilar would always cry and apologize to Penelope but it became so frequent that Penelope began to doubt her. Her health and mental state deteriorated to the point where her own mana was lashing out against her, worsening her condition.

Eventually, she died of sickness, a mere three months away from Penelope's 10th birthday.

Life as a Street Orphan

Penelope wandered for many months between villages and towns, hitching rides on merchant carts in exchange for some labor.

She would take refuge in abandoned houses, sheds, and as she got to larger settlements, brothels.

The ladies there cooed over her magenta hair and sparkling eyes, giving her at least a warm bath and clean(if a bit shabby) clothing.

When she got to the capital, Penelope, again, stayed in some of the brothels. She acted as a messenger girl and was groomed to be one of the upcoming new flowers(essentially, she would've started working at the brothel when she was fifteen).

However, an incident with an unruly customer who tried to touch her made her lash out and stab the customer to death with a sharp hairpin.

She fled the brothel, living on the streets as she continued to wander further and further away. She lived in a dilapidated shed amongst the rest of the shacks. It was barely standing with one wall completely broken down.

During the rainy season, Penelope dragged herself back only to find a woman collapsed in her shed, clearly dead.

At this point, she was too weak and hunger-starved to drag the body out, so she stayed inside with the body.

Eventually, this was how Duke Eckhart found her.

[th3-0bjectivist]

Dear listeners, gather ‘round the campfire and let me regale you with the hopeful and then tragic tale of Poe. One of the primary reasons I started posting music to my Tumblr page was to cast a spotlight on quality tunes and musical artists you probably didn’t know existed or have long forgotten about. In the instance of Anne Decatur Danielewski, this was a very talented woman who had everything going for her (writing prowess, poetic whit, nice voice, an overall melodic style of her own, a sharp intelligence, and most importantly a genuine passion for her craft) who was shitcanned and alienated by the music industry, and subsequently disappeared before she became a household name. A Princeton educated student, this daughter-of-a-Polish-film-director decided to cut out her own successful path, formulating a band in the 90’s and quickly cutting a tentative deal with Atlantic records around 1995. For just over five years, she managed to lay down hot single after hot single, including this one, Hey Pretty from her 2000 album Haunted. As her presence was starting to be felt by Top-100 charts, she also began touring and opening for big acts like Depeche Mode. But as fate would have it, her career in the industry became cut short when she got screwed by record label flimflammery. Time Warner, parent company to Atlantic, merged with AOL in the early 2000’s causing her production house to suddenly server business ties which included a future three-record deal. This was right after her second album had sold over a quarter million units, so this lady was red hot at the time, but it gets worse. The master files for all her recordings were traded around which led to a multi-year legal battle to retain her own intellectual property. She received no further promotion of any kind from her distribution overlords, and her overall production was put on a skidding and momentum-killing permanent halt. She emerged later under the pseudonym “Jane” (to avoid more legal problems), popped up in the credits for film scores and made the occasional stage appearance. But this was a mega-talented woman that deserved so much more evolution, TLC, and fame than she ultimately got thanks to clueless dipshits in pin-striped suits. Smash play and enjoy, and I would really recommend everyone investigate her short discography, especially if this post is the first time you’ve heard of her.

Ms. Danielewski, artists like yourself are the fallen heroes that would have been legendary had you continued making music freely, and not have been fucked with by big business A-holes. Artists like you are the reason I do what I do on my page. Thanks for the great tunes! Image source: https://www.songkick.com/artists/120364-poe

[variousqueerthings]

I Am Human!

Asylum of the Daleks... first episode of season 7

and how did it hold up you ask?

.......................... well

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 3/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored): 4/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 4/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 3/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 2/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 6/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 5/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 5/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 3/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 5/10

FULL RATING: 40/100 (if I can count….)

WELL. WE ENDED SEASON SIX ON A LOW AND WE'RE STARTING SEASON SEVEN ON A LOW

OBJECTIFICATION: Hey guess what Amy's job is now? she's a model, because why not. and that means that when they all get kidnapped she's conveniently dressed like a model for the whole episode

But guess what there's another woman in this episode, known as Souffle Girl for a lot of it (sigh) or "Oswin." and she drives a lot of the plot as well -- now what would a woman who's crashed on a planet and is (as far as the audience knows when she's introduced) hiding from the Daleks be wearing? why, a casually sexy short red dress of course

wonderful way to introduce someone who'll possibly be important later on in the story, maybe even a companion in the future or something, seems like a very character-based choice in this scifi narrative...

there's also a third woman in this, who broke out of a Dalek prison camp (why would the Daleks have that?) and has a tragic backstory about her daughter still being there, but has actually been infected with Dalek nanoprobes and is a Dalek sleeper agent in disguise and she is introduced... in sexy heels and a sort of leather gear look (I will never technically hate a bit of leather fetish gear, but M*ffat is so utterly swagless and heterosexual, and it's very obvious by the way this woman is designed and poorly written -- when you're breaking out of a prison camp and you're on the run and your priorities are getting a decent pair of sexy heels for your outfit)

PLOT-POINT: AMY! IS SAD YOU SEE! BECAUSE SHE CANNOT GIVE RORY CHILDREN (not "have children for herself" but Give Rory Children)! AND SO SHE PRETENDED NOT TO LOVE RORY ANYMORE IN BETWEEN SEASONS! FOR FUCKN! REASONS I GUESS! (no I know the reasons, the reasons were "we need to inject some Drama into these two because two people in a relationship isn't interesting enough" and "I don't know how to write a woman")

(jeez fucking adopt)

(this a few episodes after we had quite a sweet episode about the importance of accepting your non-biological kid....)

Amy is also a model now, as mentioned, because idk. we don't know what Amy likes or is passionate in or good at, because this hasn't been important, and will continue not to be important, because why would Amy's interests and abilities be important in a show about her character's life

now the other character, Oswin, does have some emotional stuff going on, it's kind of the linchpin of the story, and it's genuinely the best part of the episode in my opinion, but man. the "I'm now no good in this relationship and will never talk with you about things while we're married, because I cannot bear children" just overshadows everything

COMPLEXITY: so the Daleks need the Doctor to do something for them, and therefore kidnap him and the Ponds in order to do it. they kidnap them really easily, kind of undermines M*ffat's whole previous narrative about needing to breed some super-assassin or whatever in order to kill the Doctor, the Daleks could have done it in a heartbeat, but I guess things only matter insofar as this particular plot wants to get something done. who cares what happened before (no matter how stupid that previous plotline also was, it's kind of M*ffat's whole thesis for why River Song is so interesting and impressive)

ANYWAY they get kidnapped and the Daleks ask the Doctor to help them with something they can't do I guess? - disrupting a forcefield so they can destroy a planet that houses insane Daleks...

this is... getting stupider. I can accept Daleks so consumed by hatred that other Daleks can't manage them.... sort of... and I can accept that they've put them on a planet because they want to preserve Pure Hatred.... sort of..... but now they're just like "anyway, we'll destroy it now, and we need your help to do it, and you'll do it because these Daleks are so much worse than other Daleks, take our words on it"

so they go on the planet, and there's that woman at the centre and that mystery I find genuinely quite compelling -- how did she survive down there for so long?

the rest is just aesthetics to try and make those other Daleks more impressive, and Amy/Rory drama, and it's all needlessly convoluted for something quite simple that maybe also doesn't... quite work when you're looking past the curtain

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: for something meant to do a lot, it does so little. the only really meaningful thing is that there's this person called Oswin and she's dead, but in the last scene she looks straight at the camera! what does it mean?! (watch and find out and it'll all come together at last, now where have I said that before -- ah yes, after every flipping M*ffat episode this era)

also Amy slaps Rory... twice... this is something that M*ffat loves to do that makes me immediately wince, and hearkens back to the numerous "jokes" that Rory is afraid of Amy and that she hits him...

AMY CANNOT HAVE CHILDREN! FOR RORY! AND HE'S ALWAYS WANTED CHILDREN! (has he?)

COMPANIONS MATTER: I mean are Amy and Rory still really companions? they feel so out of place in this episode, they might as well not be there at all

I guess Oswin is technically a form of future companion and she's important, but she's not a companion yet (or is she) (or is she another mystery in an enigma in a strange set of circumstances that are all about the Doctor.... KEEP WATCHING TO FIND OU- *M*ffat stabs me in the back*)

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: not so muuuch, except for the part where I guess he's the only one who could possibly perform a relatively simple task (I mean, minus there being curaaaazy Daleks about, but still), and OH THERE'S THIS FUCKING ADDED BIT OF WEIRD (and I hope never to be repeated) LORE THAT THE DALEKS CALL THE DOCTOR "THE PREDATOR"

someone needs to do a stupid edit with eleven's baby fave on a predator's body running after some screaming Daleks

also there's this shot of an explosion that the Doctor causes (killing a bunch of Daleks Interrupted) and Amy is fainting because she's being infected by nanoprobes, so the Doctor is walking dramatically from the explosion with her attractively limp body in his arms

AH I ALSO FORGOT, there's this bit where the Daleks are like well the reason we keep the truly fucked up Daleks around is because we find their hatred so beautiful, and the Doctor answers something to the effect of how just when he thought he couldn't be more disgusted with them, they find a way to outdo themselves

and the Dalek says that the Doctor would make a great Dalek, because he hates so much, and it's like. on the surface this reflects the s1 episode with Nine. except that episode is a whole build-up, a whole Arc, a bunch of things that culminate in a beautiful scene. it's not just thrown out there to make the Doctor edgier and otherwise not important

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: I know there's a bunch of Dalek designs in this one that are loyal to Classic designs of Daleks from various episodes/arcs, but also it's giving me surface/in service of all kinds of new shit that M*ffat wants to add to Dalek lore (that if I'm remembering correctly doesn't really matter in the long run)

eh, call me pedantic, but if you're rewriting a bunch of lore and inserting old designs in favour of that new lore, it better be good and this... does not impress

“SEXINESS”: there's some dumb shit that I think immediately makes Oswin the potential future companion (who is dead, but maybe not hmm) into another M*ffat quip machine rather than a character

Oswin: Is there a word for total screaming genius that sounds modest and a tiny bit sexy The Doctor: Doctor, they call me The Doctor Oswin: I see what you did there

all of these lines spoken in the rapid speed of when you're rehearsing lines and need to get used to them, or the way that a bunch of directors mistakenly thought made things wittier during a certain point in time, but just made you feel like they were rushing through something that they knew sounded stupid

Oswin also gets this bit where she's trying to help Rory hide by giving him directions over a mic and she mentions her first kiss was some guy, and then she says: Actually her name was Nina. I was going through a phase. Just flirting to keep you cheerful

we'll leave it at that

INTERNAL WORLD: I'm not a fan of the Dalek Asylum as concept, in case you couldn't tell. I think there's numerous conceptual pitfalls and that it's totally irrelevant anyway, because it gets blown up at the end

it's also just kind of boring on the inside after all that build-up. what do Gone Girl Daleks do inside the super scary prison they're in? nothing much. just vibin'. actually scratch that, that's great, I wish they'd been chilling more

POLITICS: in the absence of anything overtly/deliberately political, we ask several things: is Oswin just going to be a mashup of Amy and River Song? Why women are written Like That? does it make sense that there are Mad Daleks, rather than just idealism schism as is how these things have been portrayed before? and if so, why is Madness something M*ffat is interested in and how does he tend to portray it? has M*ffat ever written more than one draft? (that's not political

FULL RATING: 40/100 (if I can count….)

lookat that, it's higher than The Husbands Of River Song (I damn with faint praise)

okay good stuff... genuinely the final conflict with Oswin, I like it, I do

the bad stuff: listen let's not linger on the incredibly sexist writing of Amy Pond any longer (until next episode, we'll see), let's not question why M*ffat writes the dynamic between Amy/Rory differently to most every other writer during his run, let's not question such silly concepts as Dalek internal politics, let's just ask why -- with so much flash and grandstanding -- are so many M*ffat episodes in this era so boring?

*deep breath* and so we begin s7

with mostly nothing

[momokodaisy]

Like yeah, I know John had a wife, but sex still played no role in his films, just pure love. So it was disappointing for the first episode of ‘The Continental’ to have three sex scenes — one happening off to the side in the most lifeless 1970s New Year’s Party I’ve ever seen (people looked more shuffling than dancing), then young Winston has one mostly kept offscreen, so I though ‘okay, that’s a little better’, but then they have two detectives outright naked, showing their backsides and doing the act onscreen for a solid minute, and I was like WHY. This is the ‘John Wick’ franchise. You’re appealing to the wrong people here, we really don’t need to see that. It literally had nothing to do with the plot. And my non-asexual friend hated it too, so I know it’s not just an ace thought in this case. The opening fight was pretty good though.

So I have not seen any part of the Continental TV show, nor will I ever watch it, so I can't give my 100% Verified Critic TM opinions, and thus I will be going off your testimony, Anon. And uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeah. It sounds exactly as bad as I expected it to be.

First, just for context for others who maybe haven't seen the films - sex is not at all a thing in JW quadriology. There are no sex scenes, John has no love interests, I don't even think there's an instance where a character catcalls or makes a reference to getting laid. The most sexually charged scene, arguably, is a quick shot of Ares touching John's butt during a patdown. Even the scene where a woman removes all her clothes is written and shot intentionally un-sexually charged as possible and is instead far more sad and tragic. So yeah, throwing sex scenes and sexually-charged nudity into a """""John Wick"""" tv series is. fuckin stupid.

The real problem here, though, isn't that the creators are making unnecessary sex scenes, that's a symptom of a bigger issue. The issue is that the show is not at all interested in what made the John Wick movies work. The John Wick movies are pure action camp, they are over-the-top depictions of guys fighting each other in brutal and violent ways, just done artistically. Rule of Cool is law, and that makes for some of the most stunningly gorgeous visual cinema to date. The JW films can be summarized as "pretty man in suit do murder" and as long as it looks good, that's all that it needs to be. Sure, Kolstad and Stahelski added some crazy worldbuilding that gets more and more ridiculous as the movies go, but again, this is just an excuse for Keanu Reeves to get in a black suit and pretend to shoot a fuckton of stunt guys. None of this needs to make sense. The world John lives in does not need to be logical or realistic, it just needs to service the next action scene. Because, let's face it, this is a classic Greek tragedy unfolding before our eyes, John nor anyone else is gonna have a character arc, there aren't subplots that need to be tied up by the end. We're just here for the spectacle. And that's ok.

However, we live in a disgusting timeline where studios feel the need to a make cinematic universe out of everything, so instead of just fuckin…. giving Kolstad or Stahelski or literally anyone the money and resources to make more projects, they try to come up with shit from an IP. And all Lionsgate really has going for it right now is The Hunger Games and John Wick, so they want something with JW franchise names we know. Hence, a backstory about Winston and the Continental, which literally?? no one asked for?? ever????? If anyone actually cares about Winston's original rise to power, or what John did to hide Sofia's daughter, or what exactly happened in the three-men-in-a-bar-with-a-pencil story, we fanfic writers have already gotten to work on that, I don't need a panel of executives doing that for me. And a part of the appeal of the John Wick underworld is that it's there, it exists, it's just how the world works, and we do not question it. The moment we start asking questions about how it works proves that we've lost the point, which is YO BRO JOHN'S SWORDFIGHTING THE IRON CHEF GUY WITH KATANA IN A GLASS ROOM THIS IS SO SICK

So. yeah. doesn't surprise me at all the sex scenes felt out of place and don't work for a John Wick spin off. Nothing about this premise works as a John Wick spin off. Put shit in, get shit out.

[pilferingapples]

Hey Pilf, I know there have been conversations about how the French all collectively went through a Scottish/Celtic phase but do you have any resources to prove that? Or can you at least list some of the people you usually reference when you mention this phase? (for example, there was a French writer who changed their name to a Scottish one for Aesthetic reasons but I can't remember their name and Google is useless for me here)

Sure! The writer you're probably thinking of is Auguste Maquet aka "Augustus MacKeat". He's little-known, but not little-read, being a collaborative partner in a lot of Alex Dumas'* works! If you've read The Count of Monte Cristo or The Three Musketeers, you've read some of his work! Stendahl's de l'Amour, in 1822, praised the Irish for their brave and loving (and, especially , not English ) spirit-- an influential essay on the popular perception at the time! Petrus Borel's novel Madame Putiphar also starts in Ireland, and the heroes are Irish--albeit one of them is the daughter of an English lord (who is, of course, a horrible person--both English AND aristocracyXD)

I know the Revue de Paris published multiple articles about Ireland in particular through the 1830s**, more or less swooning over the tragic heroic spirit of Ireland. The rest...gad, forgive me, this is one of those things where, having been asked for examples, I've gone blank. I know I've seen the Scotland/Ireland refs elsewhere; @sainteverge, @thiswaitingheart, any of my fellow Romanticism Nerds of Tumblr, any other suggestions?

As for Why, there are a lot of factors?

Politically, it was easy for French writers to sympathize with Scotland and Ireland really hating the English; the original French Republic had actually tried to link up with Irish rebels against England (it went Badly). And figures like Daniel O'Connell ("the liberator") were hugely popular.

There was also an idea that French and Irish people were somehow especially related? To quote Louis Blanc (a republican, and so relevant on the political side):

The Irish betray so many qualities similar to those we ourselves possess—for example, the same ardor, the same excitable temperament—that it might be said they belong to the same race. It is, however, a historical fact that the Irish and French come from the same Celtic stock, and such a fact explains those similar trails of character I have remarked. I am an advocate of Irish independence. You can say from me, and I give you full permission to say, L'lrlande doit s’apparteinir. Ireland ought to be self ruled. She has every right to bo so, if the will of the people can be interpreted as in favor of the project. And from what I know, you Irish are not content with English rule in your couutry. You want your native rule; hence by the laws of justice you are entitled to it, and should have it....But my opinion on the affair is this: The greatest hope of Ireland lies in a war between France and England. ...There is a possibility of it; but as regards the probability of it I cannot say. In such a case France and Ireland would unite their forces, and the two people serried together, what power on earth could withstand them?

And in the same article, no less a Romanticist than Victor Hugo says:

...Ireland is near us if we look to the ties of mutual sympathy which have existed between both. Thus it can be seen that in general, though England, as I said, comes between us, she cannot break the moral chain that binds the Irish race and the French together. The case, however, would be still better if Ireland’s geographical position could be changed to this side of England and send England about her business to the other side, just where your country now lies. In that new position Ireland would be not alone morally and sympathetically near us—she would be our next-door neighbor also geographically.... in the last century your Irish brigade fought and bled for us, and we essayed to give you aid to wrest your independence from England. ...the system which is prevalent over in Ireland I understand to be that by which 800 or 900 persons own the entire soil. That system means this there are in Ireland 800 or 900 lords and somewhat over 5,000,000 slaves (esclaves). A miserably small fraction tyrannize— the rest, i.e., the vast majority, are the automatons that move at the beck of the fraction. That land system is, I have no hesitation in affirming, a glaringly unjust and absurd one. It is unjust, inasmuch as it pampers and enriches the minority of a people at the expense of the majority, and is, consequently, an outrage upon justice.

This article is from later than what we're generally talking about, but the attitudes toward Ireland are basically the same: The Irish Hate the English Too! They're Just Like Us!

Back in the land of art, the writing of Sir Walter Scott had a huge effect on French Romanticism, and he's been described as "the man who invented Scotland" (in the way we might joke about Hugo inventing France, that is, someone who helped define the concept , especially to people outside the country) .

There was also a woman called Lady Morgan, an Irish woman, who was consciously building up a very Romantic legend of Ireland in France as early as 1806.

So overall, while Ireland and Scotland may not have been mentioned as much as Poland or Greece in Romantic writing and politics, they were definitely a part of the ongoing political/literary discussion!

Anyway, I hope this admittedly rather sparse answer is of some interest!

*there's a tendency to describe Dumas as "stealing" from other authors he worked with, because he was the one whose name went on the covers, but from what I've read--including correspondence with Maquet!-- these really were collaborations, and not at all an uncommon way to write novels at the time,or plays. But getting into that more would be a whole other essay, let alone a tumblr post ><

**if you've got J Stor access, DO check out French romanticism and the Ireland myth, by R. Bolster, to see some a description of some of these articles! They are really Something XD

[cranberrybogmummy]

Crumpy McDumpy the III origin story

How Crumpy Mcdumpy got his name.

Back in the mid nineteen sixties, in Lake Remorse, a small city on the shores of a namesake body of water, Lake Remorse in the United States.  There was a minor sorcerer whose original name is lost. He had a day job (math teacher) and had his magic as well, kept pretty busy, didn’t have much time for his family, he became the first Crumpy Mcdumpy.  How? Well, it starts with a death. His long-suffering, neglected wife, Mildred, was crossing a busy street and maybe she wasn’t looking both ways, maybe the drivers of the cars were reckless, or some say she just ran into traffic on purpose. It was tragic, but she died; they never caught the driver of the hit and run. This man and his three children, two boys and a little girl, mourned their wife and mother. Now this is where the story would end most of the time.

However, this minor sorcerer did not take the idea that his wife was dead as the end.  He knew a spell to summon the most tricksy god of all, Loki. I don’t know the particulars but I know the Eddas lied and Loki was never tied down by entrails, tortured by venom, or maybe it was something that happened in the future.

Anyhow some of the components of the spell were mistletoe and lingonberry jam.

So Loki was summoned. In this world of many gods, and pantheons, Loki hadn’t been alone when they were summoned, they showed up with grape leaves twined in their red hair and a wineskin in their hand.

“Whhaaa?” Loki blinked.

“Are you drunk?” Asked the Sorcerer.

“I was hanging out with my friend Dionysus,” Loki said. “So… yes.”

“No matter! I summoned you, I need you to let me enter your daughter Hel’s domain and get someone back,” said the sorcerer querulously.

Loki was drunkenly waving to a small child who had showed up in the doorway.

“Oh, you’re still talking,” they said.

“Not now, sweetie, Daddy’s busy,” said the sorcerer closing the door. “Should I repeat myself?”

“No, I got it, underworld, get someone back, right,” Loki repeated. “But what’s it in for me?”

“For you?” The sorcerer asked. “Well you get me and every first born son of my line as your--- you aren’t paying attention are you?”

Loki had started eating the lingonberry jam with their fingers. “Yes, right… if you manage to persuade the person to come back, you win and If you don’t I will punish you and every first born son of your line… or something.”

Loki waved jam-coated fingers, said words in a secret god tongue, and a passage opened to the underworld.

“Thank you,” the sorcerer said, rolling his eyes.

So they walked down to the world of the dead, it was dark and there was only a small orange light provided by Loki, who was hiccuping and swilling wine, down into the underworld.

“How do you know they're even here?” Loki asked. “They could be in some heaven or I dunno… some other gods’ underworld.”

“No, Mildred’s family was faithful to your gods since… well I dunno they all came from Norway in the 1870s…” said the sorcerer.

Hel, half rotted, half goth, sat on her throne and in her domain was dim light like pre-dawn. The spirits of the dead lounged and slouched around, resting from their earthly toils in the half light.

“Father,” Hel croaked in an alto monotone. “You’re drunk… why are you here?”

“Hi kiddo!” Loki hallo’d. “I brought a mortal will-worker! He wants to take someone back to the land of living, ya know bring them back to life.”

Hel sighed. “I suppose you get something out of this?”

“Yep,” Loki gave a roguish wink.

Hel said: “Then mortal, cast among the recently dead for your loved one, and see if you can win them back.”

The sorcerer called out: “Mildred, my darling wife, please come back with me.”

From the gloom stepped his wife, in the same house dress she was wearing when she was stuck by the car. She smiled faintly.

“My love!” she called. “You came for me, you braved the underworld because you love me?”

“Of course,” he said. “Also the dishes are piling up, we have no clean clothes, we’ve been living on ham sandwiches, the floors are dirty, the bathtub has a ring around it, the youngest keeps blowing her nose on everything…”

He continued to list all the chores and domestic duties that needed doing since her untimely demise: Mildred’s smile vanished, her left eye twitched, her expression, unnoticed by her husband, was hardening into a scowl.

“… and that’s why you need to come back with me, sweetie, back to the land of the living to take care of us,” the sorcerer concluded.

“No,” said Mildred.

“What?!” the Sorcerer exclaimed.

“No, do it yourself, I’m dead.” Mildred said. She flipped him off with both fingers and walked backwards into the milling crowd of spirits.

“Welp, that tears it,” Loki grinned.

Now they were back in the sorcerer’s house.

“That was rude and ungrateful,” the sorcerer sniffed.

“… yep, now you and your first sons are cursed,” Loki said.

“... wait, we are?” The sorcerer said.

“Yes by me, Loki. I henceforth… proclaim that you and every first male child of your line shall bear the name… the name… mmmm—” Loki hiccuped and grinned “— CRUMPY MCDUMPY!”

“WAA?” The sorcerer now called Crumpy McDumpy exclaimed.

“Yes, henceforth you can’t change it; it is your true name and every being that sees you and your sons will call you this, and see you as Crumpy McDumpies.” Loki belched happily. “I’m in a good mood so you got off lightly, and don’t worry: every generation will get the chance to change it… by doing stuff for me—  so tata for now!”

And Loki vanished, heading back to party with Dionysus.

So that is how the first Crumpy McDumpy gained his family name and curse.

Part 2:

[justafairytailofinnocence]

Colonel Brandon x young reader x Severus Snape⚔👧🦇

Dancing willows ✨

Synopsis: Colonel Brandon arrives at the Dashwood's when he stumbles upon a young woman who he falls in love with. At a party the young woman meets a mysterious man which peaks her fascination.

Au: this takes place around the regency era and Snape doesn’t go to Hogwarts but still has his past.

Warnings: none

A/n: Snape isn’t in this chapter but will be in the next one.

The sun shined through the woods past the house of the Dashwood’s, horses could be heard trotting and women were heard chattering. Through the midst of the thick trees and soil mud stood a man, his features were far older, his eyes laid coldly, and his expression was not one of warmth. He travelled along the dirt road to visit the Dashwood’s hopefully to give him some piece of mind after the tragic death of his old beloved Eliza. The man was referred to as Colonel Brandon, he had been in the war for some time. “Least it’s a nice day” he thought “If it were to rain, it would be certainly tragic”.

The colonel had finally arrived at the door of the Dashwood’s, he knocked only to be greeted by Mrs Dashwood. Mrs Dashwood had three daughters: Elinor Dashwood being the eldest, Marianne Dashwood being the second youngest and Margaret Dashwood the youngest sibling. The Colonel had been a friend of Sr John who welcomed the Dash woods when they first moved into this house.

The colonel could hear something emanating through the house, a tune coming from what sounded like a piano. He decided to follow the sound out of curiosity however something else caught his eye, out the window, a girl could be seen sitting in a tree with a book. He edged forward to the window to inspect the girl sitting up on the tree. The leaves blew lightly in the wind, her dress laid still on the branch of the tree and her hair followed with the movement of the wind. The Colonel had never seen anything like her, the girl was certainly younger than he and her features were quite stunning. The girl wore a white dress that reached her ankles and her eyes laid softly as she turned the page. She wore ribbons in her hair that never seemed neatly tied and her lips curved into a nicely oval shape.

The Colonel was stunned, he was entranced with this mysterious female that sat so perfectly in the branches. It was like seeing a ghost from his past, he placed his rugged hand onto the window. The girl on the tree closed her book, she placed her legs over the branch and hoped down. “Mr Brandon are you going to join us for tea” Mrs Dashwood implied “You must’ve had such a long Journey”. The colonel stammered as Mrs Dashwood broke his trance “Indeed, thank you for your kind hospitality”. He was quite fascinated by the girl in the tree to say the least, perhaps she was related to the Dashwood’s.

The Colonel followed through to join Mrs Dashwood and her daughters for some tea “It must’ve been such a long Journey, how was the travel” Elinor asked. “It was quite long; I did however see quite beautiful sceneries” the colonel reminisced of his travels.

Marianne was not interested in talking with the Colonel, she thought of him as being far too cold and old for her liking. Marianne had an interest in another man whom she admired; John Willoughby, he was far more charming and shared the same interests that Marianne had.

Elinor had talked with the Colonel for quite some time, the passing hour of the clock had struck noon. “My, the time had flown already it seems” Elinor spoke softly. The Colonel had smiled and thanked the Dashwood’s for the kind hospitality, his eyes loomed over towards the younger sibling. “Pardon me, I don’t believe we’ve met” the colonel smiled kindly at Marianne. The younger woman caught the colonels affection, he deemed her as beautiful and yet Marianne paid no mind to the man. “I believe I have other matters to attend to” Marianne stood up from the table and walked past the Colonel coldly.

Elinor was quite surprised her sister acted so coldly in this manner; she would normally greet guests warmly. “Don’t worry I believe it’s getting late for me, thank you for your kind hospitality, Mrs Dashwood” the colonel politely bowed. He exited the room, he wandered down the hall to come to a sudden holt. “The window” he thought “That young woman who was sitting upon the tree, I wonder who she is”. He pondered for a moment, perhaps if by chance he could walk by the tree, he could introduce himself to the young woman.

The colonel decided to wander by the tree to hopefully gain the chance to introduce himself to the young woman. He exited through the main front door and walked over to the big tree, it was quite old, the bark seemed to have rotted away from the rain. Beneath the big roots of the tree, he placed his hand along the branch to which his eyes had fallen upon a book. The colonel picked it up out of curiosity, the book was small and light. A single ribbon was placed within the pages as a book mark, he realized that this book was the exact one the girl was reading.

“What are you doing with my book” a females voice spoke out from behind the colonel. He turned around only to find a girl standing by the trees roots “Pardon, my apologies, I didn’t mean to steal your book”. The Colonel had the chance to take a closer look at the young woman “Stunning” he thought “absolutely stunning”. He was entranced with the girl’s appearance, her youth reminded him of a time he had spent with his old beloved.

The colonel has never revealed to anyone about his past, the torment that lingered of his Eliza never escaped his mind. He cherished every memory of her, the young woman he once fell in love with now dead, penniless, and loveless. Time had passed since then; healing wasn’t easy and of course it did take time but sometimes fragments of his memories would resurface every now and again.

“Who are you, did Elinor send for you to retrieve me” the mysterious girl questioned “no I’m afraid not, are you related to the Dashwood’s”. The colonel wondered why he had never heard of this girl; he knew of the three daughters but not of the fourth. “I’m their cousin, mother and father are away on a business trip, I’m only here for the time being” the girl explained, this would explain why the colonel had never seen her before.

“I’m not sure if Mrs Dashwood has formally introduced me, I am Colonel Brandon” he bowed politely toward the young woman. The young woman curtsied back and replied “I’m y/n l/n” unlike most young women, y/n was adventurous and admirable for her imagination. Colonel Brandon held out his arm “perhaps I shall show you around, come would you mind walking with me”.

Y/n smiled, of course she had never met anyone quite polite as the colonel, although he didn’t seem interesting compared to Marianne’s suitor Willoughby. “Your quite brave climbing a tree by yourself, not many women have the adventurous spirit” the colonel complimented. Y/n never saw herself to be one for danger, the idea of going into such a state would be quite harsh to say the least. “Perhaps we should formally know each other more” the colonel was about to speak further when “Y/n” Mrs Dashwood called out.

“Y/n, come inside” Mrs Dashwood was standing by the door, she was worried y/n had run off again. Y/n quickly scrambled “Apologies Colonel” the young woman was rushing toward the house. Mrs Dashwood smiled at y/n as she entered the house “Don’t worry Mrs Dashwood, y/n’s safe”. The colonel tried to reassure Mrs Dashwood from afar, before he followed along, he heard a footstep. He turned to see who it may be but to no avail was anyone in sight, the colonel turned to enter the house.

Y/n headed up toward her room to which she bumped into her cousin Marianne “Pardon me”. Y/n was curious to see if her cousin had met the colonel “Have you seen that man Marianne”. Marianne assumed y/n was talking about the colonel who just introduced himself while they were having tea. “Yes unfortunately, he isn’t as charming and he’s quite old for my liking” Marianne spoke softly “He’s quite odd isn’t he”. Y/n had to agree, yes, he was old but then she saw something charming about him.

She had no intention of trying to say he was a bad person but rather Marianne thought he wasn’t the most interesting man she had ever met. “Y/n are you coming to the party, many suitors may be there and who knows you may end up meeting someone of your favor” Marianne asked.

“Perhaps, I’m still quite young to think about that kind of stuff, I would rather read and see to more adventures” y/n laughed, she had never exactly dreamed of herself being tied down instead she dreamed of travelling around the world.

The colonel to y/n was quite old and yet honorable in his ways, perhaps y/n could get used to him.

Who knows perhaps a party might be a way to meet someone interesting, at least to y/n.

[lassieposting]

I love the fan pack!

I was wondering what head canons you have for each of the Raze siblings?

Okay so, firstly these are shared with @thats-so-craven

The Family In General

Skug's maternal family are incredibly wealthy old money aristocrats. His great-grandfather was the younger son of an Anglo-Norman Duke, who came over with the Norman invasion and was given A Lot of land in what is now County Dublin. He and his siblings all grew up on the ancestral family estate. As prominent nobility, it's impossible to avoid mortals, so they - like a lot of wealthy sorcerer families hiding in plain sight - officially use a false name for the entire household. Skug's family uses the surname Sionnach (Fox).

Ónora - 29th April 1360

She's an Elemental with an inactive ambidexterity gene - she has no second discipline herself, but she can pass ambidexterity on to her children.

She's straight.

Deceased.

Ónora Is Not Quinlan:

She's one of four children - she has two brothers, Alacrity & Thane, and one sister, Estrilda. The other three have a different mother; Ónora is the daughter of her father's second wife. Ónora only becomes heiress to her father's lands and wealth when her brothers are killed in the early years of the war.

She's the absolute biggest Daddy's girl. He cannot say no to her.

She grows up with Corrival! Their family estates neighbour each other's, so they're playmates as children and stay close as they grow up. The oldest five children, especially Carver and Skulduggery, remember Corrival visiting often when they were small as a sort of uncle figure, but over the years Abrogate's jealousy drove a wedge between them and eventually he - Abrogate - put a stop to the friendship. He puts a stop to pretty much all her friendships, really.

Unlike Lardo's Quinlan, Ónora is not some swashbuckling adventurer. She's a noblewoman in 14th century Ireland. She's unusually well educated for her day, and she's quite remarkable in that she's a woman in a position of political power, but she's not a warrior, was never taught to fight, and very much behaves as is proper for a lady of her station to behave in that time period.

Her father establishes diplomatic ties between the reclusive sorcerer Communities in rural Ireland and the outcast/misfit mages living in mortal towns like Dublin. Ónora follows him into that line of work, serving as an ambassador of sorts, but as a woman she has to work a lot harder and do a lot more to be taken seriously as a competent politician. She helps write several important and influential treaties, including one which legalises the practice of necromancy in Ireland and negotiates religious freedoms for followers of obscure magical faiths. She meets Tenebrae during this period, basically doing the same job Solomon Wreath does in the 2000s.

She helps fund the initial Sanctuary effort, and she's later asked to serve as an Elder after one of the Council is killed. This is where she meets Abrogate, who's a sort of. Witcher-type at the time - an itinerant monster hunter for hire.

She has. Kind of a tragic life, really. She marries Abrogate during a period where the English are invading and taking land from Irish nobles, and she badly needs a husband because women are allowed to own land in their own right under Irish law but not under the law of the invaders, so she's facing losing her home. She likes him a lot, and thinks she could love him, but they marry far too quickly and she doesn't really know him that well when they become man and wife. At first, they live quite happily together. But when Carver is born, she has a very traumatic birth experience and suffers from pretty crippling PPD, which goes on to be the case in pretty much every pregnancy she has. Once Abrogate realises that having kids doesn't give him meaning in life, and neither does being married, their relationship very quickly goes downhill as he spirals into madness and violence and she spirals into depression and self-medication. She's a neglectful, kind of toxic mother, but she's very much the product of her circumstances and her suffering, which most of her children realise to varying extents.

Carver - 18th May 1573

He's primarily an Elemental. I haven't chosen his secondary discipline yet.

He's straight.

Alive

Childhood:

"Tadhg Sionnach" - Tadhg means "poet" in Irish; he's named after an ancestor of his mother's.

Heavily parentified from a very young age, he feels responsible for his siblings' care, safety, attitude and behaviour. He can be a bit nitpicky and overbearing, but he means well.

He's his mother's Emotional Support Eldest Son, which messes him up good. Their relationship is rife with covert emotional incest - she's not getting her emotional needs met by Abrogate (love, support, protection etc), so she turns to Carver and dumps those expectations on him instead. He's expected to defend her against his increasingly unstable, aggressive father, be there for her no matter how distant and uncaring she gets, never criticise her, and stay Mama's baby boy forever.

Quiet, people-pleasing, mature-for-his-age nerdy bookworm. Huge advocate of not rocking the boat.

500 Year War:

Officer in the Sanctuary's army - he buys a commission not long after his Surge.

Very by-the-book in his approach to military tactics; he's all about honour, fair-play and chivalry. He's born a bit late to be a knight, but he would've made a good one.

Will probably never forgive himself for leaving early-teens Skug to shoulder the brunt of the abuse to save his own skin

Maintains a relationship with his parents out of obligation for a lot longer than he's comfortable with

Corrival has him posted abroad for a lot of the conflict, which gives him space to actually develop a personality

Post-War:

Honorably discharged from the Sanctuary's forces after the war

Currently teaches History at the University of Roarhaven, the first educational establishment specifically for sorcerers. His courses are about magical history specifically, mostly the 500 Year War.

Has calmed down considerably and prefers to live at a slower pace. He's realised the world isn't going to end because he's five minutes late to a lecture.

Still a bookworm. Gets very enthusiastic about his subject. Generally well-liked by his students.

Used to offer correspondence courses for sorcerers before he was approached to teach on-campus.

2020+ has not been fun for him. He's only just figured out how to work the interactive whiteboard they installed like ten years ago. Zoom makes him want to kermit.

Very polite, very proper, a bit old-fashioned. Little old ladies love him.

Alt!Serpine is in his class. Carver hates him.

Skulduggery - 31 December 1578

Elemental/Necromancer

He's inherited a very watered-down form of Abrogate's Compelling Voice ability, which is why he used to be so good at inspiring his soldiers and why China says that you can't help but like him and want to fight alongside him. He has no idea he has this ability - he thinks he's just charismatic.

He's bi.

Alive...ish.

Childhood:

"Ruadhán Sionnach" - "Ruadhán" means "auburn-haired" or "red-haired". Carver named him, and he took it very seriously, so he got a nicer name than most of his siblings. His given name is basically "Little Red Fox".

He's. Arguably more challenging as a kid than he is as an adult. He's a) highkey love-starved and desperate for attention, b) an unmedicated ADHD nightmare child and c) unable to please his parents no matter what he does, so he's the most prone to acting out, breaking rules and just. Doing his own thing.

Designated family scapegoat from birth; Abrogate has doubts about Skug's paternity, and hardcore resents him for it

Like adult Skug, he's sweet at heart. He tolerates a lot of shit from his siblings without complaint, and he's the one who'll take responsibility for something he didn't do so a younger sib doesn't get caned. He lets Confelicity bully him into letting her dress him up for a lot longer than he's happy about.

500 Year War:

By the time he dies, he's a decorated General

Court-martialled so many times for doing stupid reckless shit oh my god. But the stupid reckless shit tends to work out for him and save lives, so he's never dishonorably discharged. Or shot. Much to Guild's dismay.

He's given his commission as a reward for leading the Forlorn Hope at the battle of Black Rock.

Unusually for an officer at this time, Skug enlists as a regular soldier (with Ghastly and Hopeless), and works his way up through the ranks rather than just buying an officer's commission. He leads from the front, doesn't ask his men to do anything he's not willing to do himself, and treats them like equals rather than inferiors. They're fiercely loyal as a result.

Talented, ruthless tactician & strategist.

Adores his wife. Adored by his wife. He does not know what the fuck he did to deserve her but he is so glad he did it.

Confelicity - 27 February 1582

She's a Sensitive primary, I haven't decided her secondary yet.

She's straight

Deceased

Childhood:

"Banbhán Sionnach" - "Banbhán" is a word for a small pig. ~3yo Skug gets to name her, and, as you can probably tell, he's not very happy about his new sister. Confelicity is a colicky, shrieking baby, and he doesn't like the noise, so she's named for the scream of a piglet.

Highkey spoiled, bratty and demanding. She's very much the Little Princess.

Her tantrums are colossal when she doesn't get her own way. The nursery maids are terrified of her, so they just give her whatever she wants.

She's basically Skug's first bully. Carver is quite a bit older, so when it's just the three of them, she'll scream and stomp her foot and throw things unless he lets her dress him up in pretty gowns and put ribbons in his curls, so they can have a ladies' tea together like Mother does in the parlour. Carver will sometimes intervene on his behalf, but the nursemaids expect him to put up with it to stave off a tantrum.

She's? Fiercely intelligent, and especially good with numbers. Managing household finances is part of her education as a lady, and she excels at math.

She's a daddy's girl - right up until she isn't. She's Abrogate's favourite while she's obeying his every order and parroting his commands at her brothers, but that goes right out of the window when she realises that he's intending to marry her off to someone she's never met in the name of personal social advancement. She elopes as a teenager with the first person who proposes to her, and that's the end of that special relationship.

500 Year War:

Adult Confelicity is a socialite and philanthropist with a string of ex-husbands as long as her arm, each of whom has more money, a better title or more land than the one before. Some of them died and some of them she divorced, so she's got kind of a scandalous reputation as a possible black widow.

Frenemies with China after Skug introduces them after China first leaves the cult. They're pretty catty to each other whenever they're not being catty about other people together, but as soon as ganging up on Skug is an option they're the dearest of companions.

She's put that math expertise to use and become incredibly wealthy; she talks her husbands into investing in this project or that company, and it usually pays off for her. She's a money launderer extraordinaire.

She has a few kids, all daughters. She's...not a great mother. Like, she loves her children, in her own way, and she's a lot better to them than her parents were to her, but she's dealt with her upbringing by becoming cold and distant and emotionally closed off, so she's not the most maternal. Her love is mostly in the form of making sure her daughters get all the opportunities she never did, and that they never need anyone for anything.

Controversially refuses to take sides in the war, and is very public about it. She funnels funds into both sides, keeping herself and her family safe by steadfastly remaining neutral. This pretty much napalms her relationships with most of her siblings, who are firmly Team Sanctuary.

This backfires on her badly in the end. She's discovered using her connections, blackmail she's gained from her lovers and money she's embezzled from the projects she funds to run an operation smuggling the families of high-ranking Sanctuary officials out of occupied territory, so nobody else ends up like Skugwife and Skugbab. Ultimately, she's executed by Mevolent's forces, and subsequently given a bravery honour by the Sanctuary.

Francis - 12 June 1584

He's an Elemental primary, secondary undecided.

He's bi but. Very conflicted about it, thanks to Abrogate

Deceased

Childhood:

His given name is a girl's name. I haven't decided which girl's name, but it's like. Painfully feminine. Think like, Annabelle, Evangeline, Rosalind level girly. Confelicity named him, and she very much wanted a sister, so she was super salty when he was born male. She decides that she's having a sister, whether he likes it or not.

He's sweeter, gentler and more sensitive than Skug and Carver, and Abrogate wastes no time in getting on his back about it. Francis doesn't like fencing lessons. Francis cries if he falls off his pony. Francis hides when his parents fight. He hears every variation of "why can't you be a real man", and he's constantly being compared to his brothers in a negative light. This, obviously, is not good for his emotional growth.

500 Year War:

He didn't ever really want to be a soldier? Adult Francis is a rake; his main interests as an adult are gambling, whoring and drinking. But at this point, he has two brothers in the military and he's under a lot of pressure not to let the side down, so he buys a commission because he feels like he has to.

He's? Kind of a mess, honestly. Skug and Corrival are constantly hauling his ass out of the fire - paying off his gambling debts, talking him out of duels, dragging him out of drinking dens when he's so wasted he can't see straight.

He has a complicated relationship with his brothers - he simultaneously aches to be just like them and make them proud and be praised by them, and resents them for setting a standard he doesn't think he'll ever be able to meet. He's always very sorry for his bad behaviour, but he never manages to stop.

Essentially he's a lost kid who doesn't have the skills he needs to deal with his childhood trauma. He's also funny and theatrical and overly generous. He just can't quite get past his destructive coping mechanisms.

He does okay until Skug dies. And then he's left alone with nobody to wrangle him or intimidate people he's on the wrong side of into backing down. He's killed in a duel in the early 1700s.

Petulance - 14 October 1588

She's an Energy Thrower, secondary undecided. She's very much about anger and explosions and fucking shit up, though.

Bi

Deceased - but she lasts longer than most

Childhood:

"Peaches Sionnach" - she's named by baby Francis, and he just? Really loves peaches at the time.

She's Skug's favourite sibling by far, and she idolises him. She's six when he runs away, and she's the only one he leaves a note for.

Very much a 17th century tomboy. She's far too impatient to enjoy needlepoint or taking a turn about the gardens - she always wants to be riding or climbing or running through mud. Her mother absolutely despairs of her, and Confelicity very much sees her as the complete opposite of the sister she always wanted.

She doesn't do anything slowly. She's quick to anger, but quick to forgive. Quick to decide a new hobby is her entire life now, and quick to lose interest in that hobby. Quick to snap when she's in a temper, but quick to apologise once she's calmed down. She's just kind of? A tempest of a person, really.

She runs away from home when she's in her early teens, rides to Dublin alone, and just sort of. Shows up at Skug's barracks announcing that she'll be moving in, he doesn't get a say, she's not going home. She knows he's incapable of saying no to her. They make it work though - like him, she's not afraid to pitch in and get her hands dirty, so she makes herself useful and earns her keep fetching and carrying for the soldiers, helping clean firearms, running messages around.

500 Year War:

She's never officially a soldier, but her magic is combat-based and she's involved in several defensive battles, when Mevolent's forces attack a Sanctuary encampment.

For all that her name is kind of. Edgelordy and gothic, she's actually sort of aggressively positive. Highly practical. She doesn't waste her time with what ifs or could've beens; this is the world she's got, the life she's living, and she'll figure out a way to make the best of it. She's stubborn and bullheaded to a fault, and she is Not going to end up like Francis.

She's a fucking nightmare when Skug meets Wifey. She's that sister who's like, cringily obvious about your crush, smirking and making pointed comments about how maybe you should walk her home, Skulduggery and how you two look perfectly adorable together. She likes Wifey a lot, and she's determined to push them together.

Post-War:

She finally gets married either during or after World War I - technically, sorcerers aren't supposed to get involved in mortal affairs, but she thinks that's bullshit in the case of such massive events, so she signs up as a mechanic with the British Army while all the men are fighting. Her husband is a mortal fighter pilot, and they have a son together.

She's killed in the Blitz of World War II when her son is three, just a year after her husband's plane is shot down in a dogfight.

Uther - 30 November 1595

Disciplines undecided.

He's straight.

Alive.

Childhood:

He's born the year Skug runs away, which is quite a shock to Ónora, and she clings to Uther as a result.

He's in the unfortunate position of being the oldest child still living at home. Carver is stationed abroad, so even letters from him are few and far between. Skug has run away and not spoken to anyone in the family since. Confelicity got married and cut her parents off. Petulance runs away when Uther is fairly young, and Ónora is left with none of her eldest children to serve as her emotional support animal.

Yeah, Uther is the Emotional Support Child v2.0.

His role in the family is the same as Carver's was years ago. Listen to, validate and protect his mother, to his own detriment. Raise his siblings and keep them in line so their behaviour doesn't fray her nerves. Listen to her rants about how badly her older children are treating her. He's all she has, her perfect son, what would she ever do without him?

Like Carver, he takes this duty seriously. Unlike Carver, he likes it. He feels mature and important and loved, and he's incredibly enmeshed with his mother.

To the twins, Apricity and baby Respair, he's sort of. He does love them. He wants them to be happy and safe. But he sees them as his responsibility to raise and discipline, so he tends to be a bit overbearing and controlling and critical. He likes to flex his authority over them.

When Ónora is killed, Uther takes it hardest. He'd already learned to hate his older siblings through years of listening to his mother vent about them abandoning her, but having to go live with Skug really compounds it. He blames Skug for not being there - if the Family Scapegoat had never left home, Abrogate would've had someone to beat up on, and his mother would still be alive. He hates that he's gone from being treated like a miniature adult to being treated like a preteen boy, and that his authority over his siblings is revoked. He hates how Skug grieves, and that Skug doesn't remember their mother with the same adoration that he does, and that this brother who didn't even stay around to meet him as a baby now gets to run his life. They clash hard, and Uther hates Skug from the get-go.

As soon as he's old enough, he leaves home and cuts the rest of the family off. He never meets Skugbab, or any of his other siblings' children.

500 Year War:

I haven't thought too much yet about what he does during the war.

He's a draft-dodger though; there's a phase after Skug and the other generals are killed where the Sanctuary is desperate enough to conscript, and Uther is having none of that. He wants nothing to do with being in the firing line.

Now:

He's a math teacher. In Handbook canon, the kiddie school still exists, but it's not Bargain Bin Hogwarts. It's a regular school, teaching ordinary subjects, with a magical twist. So like, history class includes both mortal and magical history. Basic sigils are offered as an optional language alongside beginner's French, German and Spanish. That kind of thing.

Bayard - 22 August 1597

Honestly I haven't focused much on Bayard yet. His magic is something in the Ergokinesis family - not a traditional Energy Thrower, but something related.

He's straight.

Deceased.

What I Have So Far:

Honestly I haven't focused much on Bayard yet. His magic is something in the Ergokinesis family - not a traditional Energy Thrower, but something related. Maybe a Juggernaut - someone who stores kinetic energy and, rather than throwing it, channels it through an object. In Bayard's case, this would be his beloved warhammer, a two-handed weapon the size of a short adult - even before adding bonus magic damage, if he hits you with that thing, you will feel it.

He's the older twin, and he's very protective of Sophrosyne.

He's? Not easily flustered. Not much really bothers him. He's rarely found a problem he can't solve by hitting it really, really hard.

It's pretty easy to assume Bayard is stupid and honestly, compared to the likes of Sophrosyne and Skug, he'd agree that he is. He's a simple man, he enjoys a simple life, and he's never been one for academics or overthinking things. But he's got A Lot of common sense.

Sophrosyne - 22 August 1597

She's an incredibly powerful multi-branch Sensitive. She doesn't just have very vivid premonitions, she actively has to tune out everyone's thoughts. She hates it.

She's a lesbian.

Deceased.

Life:

She's the younger twin.

Probably the most intellectual sibling. In addition to English and Irish, she speaks Latin, Greek, Spanish and Italian. She styled herself after Sappho, her favourite poet, at the age of...somewhere between 11-13. She plays the harp, the lyre and the harpsichord, creates beautiful embroidery, and writes professionally.

She publishes several books of poetry (under a pseudonym, because she's female in an era when that would affect her readership). A decent chunk of her poetry is somewhat melancholic and tends to focus on like, the fleeting nature of life and dreams and longing. The rest of it is...really, really gay. Meeting China around the time she hits puberty is. Something of a formative experience.

Unfortunately for her, her magic is more of a disability than a gift. She begins having visions from about the age of four, and from that point, she spends the rest of her life in delicate health. The visions she has are vivid, all-consuming and deeply distressing to a gentle soul, and because her magic is so powerful, she's like a dinner bell for malicious entities looking to possess a body, so she has to fight off attempts to take her over. She's often indisposed/bedridden, becomes exhausted easily, frequently faints after a vision and experiences chronic pain left over from previous psychic battles.

When she's feeling well, she likes to get involved with a local charity hospital for mortal peasants.

This is ultimately her downfall. When Mevolent weaponises liquefactive necrosis, mortals start presenting at the hospital with unexplainable plague symptoms. And like, this is only a few hundred years after the Black Death. Sorcerers of Sophrosyne's generation would absolutely have been told stories by their parents, who lived through it. She knows what plague can do to mortals. As a sorcerer, she's supposed to be immune to mortal illnesses, so she volunteers to take care of the infected patients to protect the doctors. But it's not a mortal illness, and when she contracts it, there's still no cure. She dies young.

Apricity - 27 March 1599

She's an Arborkinetic - her magic is all about plants. She talks to her plants, she makes them grow, she can use them defensively if she has to, and she has a few plant-based adaptive abilities.

She also inherited a subconscious ability from Abrogate - hers is...what you might call luck. While she believes life is good and things will work out for the best, they tend to do so - she gently nudges the world in the direction she wants it to go, without even realising she's doing it. But that can backfire.

She's straight.

Deceased.

Childhood:

"Dolly Sionnach" - technically the twins both get to name her, but they're 1, and they also refuse to compromise, so Uther (3) takes over. She's named after a toy baby doll, because that's what he thinks she looks like.

She's basically Wifey's mini-me. She's about seven when she's orphaned and taken to live with Skug, and a few years older when Skug marries Wifey. Once she's got that stability, she thrives. Wifey is very maternal and very much wants to be a mother figure to these poor traumatised children, and Apricity is a child who badly wants a loving mother.

She's a bit eccentric, as a child. Wifey has a lovingly-tended garden, and Apricity will sit out there for hours talking to the rose bushes. She's highly imaginative and prefers playing alone to playing with other children.

Wifey instills a deep love of crafty pursuits in her. They cook together, bake together, repurpose old gowns together, make quilts together, all that sort of thing.

500 Year War:

She has zero interest in ever getting involved in the war in any capacity. Like, absolutely nothing about Apricity is combat-worthy at all, she's a super gentle soul.

She marries, and dedicates herself to growing and selling flowers. She gets lucky; the tulip boom happens while she's still a young adult, and it makes her a very wealthy woman.

She really wants children, but she has a hard time conceiving any. Like most of her siblings, she got the same magical ambidexterity gene combination as Skug, which affects fertility. It's upsetting for her, of course, but she mostly stays upbeat about it - she's young, and she has a very, very long life to become a mother.

But then Wifey and Skugbab are killed, and the brother who raised her is butchered for sport and burned on a spike. She loses a huge chunk of her family in one go, and she sinks into a deep depression which. Pretty much brings her entire life down around her ears. She's not happy-go-lucky anymore. She's not optimistic and she doesn't feel like everything will work out for the best. So. Her luck basically turns on her. Because she thinks everything is going to go to shit, that's the way she nudges the world, and then when bad things happen, they just make her feel worse.

She dies in childbirth in the 1700s.

Respair - 3 July 1602

He's an Elemental.

He inherited a watered-down form of invulnerability from Abrogate. It's a bit harder to injure him, he heals injuries faster, and he can tolerate more pain than most people. He believes this is his second discipline, some form of Vitakinesis - "We're all a bit magically ambidextrous in this family." This is really useful as a soldier. It's less useful in...other situations.

He's heteroflexible.

Alive. Technically.

Childhood:

"Báb Sionnach" - "Báb" means baby. His given name is literally "baby". He's named by three-year-old Apricity, and she is VERY!!! EXCITED!!! ABOUT THE NEW BABY!!!

He barely remembers his real parents. He knows that Skug is biologically his brother, and Wifey his sister-in-law, but they're the only parental figures he's ever known.

Because he was so young when his mother was killed, and he wasn't raised with her dysfunction and Abrogate's abuse, Respair escapes pretty much all the psychological trauma inflicted on his older siblings. He's a healthy, happy, normal kid.

He always aspires to be like Skug, from a very young age. He's an athletic, sporty boy, so he enjoys learning to fight and fence and playing soldiers with the neighbourhood boys.

He grows up into a very good-natured, cheerful, gentlemanly young man. He tends to take things on the chin and just sort of. Make it up as he goes along. He's a lot like Carver personality-wise, but he's more independent and less anxious, a lot more secure in himself.

500 Year War:

He signs up with the Sanctuary as soon as Skug lets him. It's not exactly what he expected - he doesn't get put in Skug's unit, and he's not immediately amazing at all things military - but he does enjoy it and he's generally a promising young soldier.

When Skug and Wifey are captured, the Sanctuary hesitates in its official response, so the people who love them - Carver if he's in the country, Ghastly, Hopeless, Bayard, Respair - mount an unofficial rescue mission. They don't know that Wifey and Skugbab are already dead.

They make it all the way into Serpine's castle, but they trip an alarm sigil and they're forced to flee without Skug. As they're trying to make their escape, Respair falls behind trying to get an opportunity for a killing shot against Serpine, and he's captured.

Serpine is busy with Skug, the object of his obsession, and he doesn't know who Respair is or that they're related. He's just a random young soldier. So he's thrown into the dungeon for now.

Officially, he's Missing Presumed Dead, and Carver never forgives himself for getting their baby brother killed.

Now:

Pretty much everyone thinks Respair is dead - including Serpine, who - when he remembered Respair existed after Skug was burned - found his cell empty, and was told that in the meantime, the boy had died of his injuries and the body had been disposed of.

He's not.

Valkyrie has even seen him. She just didn't realise at the time.

"They were in a warehouse of some sort...Dead people, in various stages of dissection, hung from the walls on hooks and large iron nails. They looked at her as she passed, but made no sound." - Valkyrie, Mortal Coil

"No one will know you never left. I can hide you among the corpses here. You'll never be found. I'll tell the Dullahan, and I'll even tell the banshee if she comes to investigate, that I waved goodbye and watched you leave. Who knows what could have happened to you after that?" - Nye, Mortal Coil

[mariedemedicis]

hmmm…making my own post because I don’t completely agree with the opinions expressed in this one and mainly talking to myself

disclaimer: I’m not saying that the interpretations in that post are wrong, we’re all talking about a hypothetical alternative situation so like all of this is purely speculative & subjective

for me, personally, the appeal of alysanne as maegor’s daughter (despite the fact that this rumor about grrm having an earlier draft of the family tree in which she was, has in fact, alas been debunked) is twofold, firstly, it gives her a (small) degree of agency in comparison and secondly, it ties in really sexily with grrm’s themes of children, admittedly mainly sons, who are not like their fathers

-sam (most beloved) who is nothing like randyll which is exactly what makes him so wonderful (and of course also what makes randyll so horrible to him)

-daeron the good who is the son of aegon the unworthy but nothing like him

-daeron the drunken who refuses his responsibilities including losing track of his younger brother as the son of stern, dutiful maekar

-tywin and tytos

-quellon & balon

(thank you to Em for those last two examples since my brain stopped working)

so yeah I think good queen alysanne being the daughter of maegor the cruel is fascinating in terms of legacies and reputations (and it can be really complicated if aly has fond memories of her father while not being able to really speak about those with anyone)

also I’ve always thought grrm’s comparison of aly to eleanor of aquitaine was a huge stretch given canon aly is just the youngest daughter of a former king and doesn’t even come before jaehaerys in the succession whereas eleanor was duchess of the hugely wealthy aquitaine in her own right

but if aly is maegor’s daughter and was invested as princess of dragonstone in her own right, it works a lot better

I wouldn’t imagine this version of aly and jaehaerys eloping, rather to tie up loose ends and shore up jaehaerys’ control of the throne, alyssa betroths the pair of them (which is another eleanor parallel. i think grrm wants jaehaerys to only be henry rather than louis but i think he kind of has to be both together.)

I think aly being the daughter of alys harroway would be the most interesting (the timeline doesn’t quite work for it while keeping aly’s birthdate but eh, I’ll just move up the date of maegor’s marriage to alys harroway by three years - the marriage to alys here can be precipitated by the fact that she’s pregnant), both because if ceryse is her mother I don’t know how realistic it is that maegor would marry again so soon because there’s a chance the next kid would be a boy but also because if alys is pregnant, maegor’s going to be motivated to make sure his kid is legitimate and having already married a second wife, the gate is already open to maegor marrying additional wives

and secondly, there’s something so deliciously ironic about visenya presiding over her son’s marriage to a second wife who he’s marrying for if not love, definitely lust and slighting his first wife when visenya was that slighted first wife in generation past (which yea she did so in canon too but this time she gets a granddaughter out of it)

of course in maegor & visenya’s eyes, aly is legitimate but to the faith, she isn’t

alys harroway is alysanne’s mom in the sense of having given birth to her but when maegor and alys harroway are forced to go into exile, he’s forced to leave little alysanne behind (aenys’ decree but alyssa’s idea) so aly is formatively raised by ceryse hightower minus the valyrian/dragony things where she’s instructed by her grandmother visenya

I would let vaella live in this one too, which I think can still happen, since she’s born after aly so aly’s parentage doesn’t have to affect her being born, this version of vaella is a bit different than in my vaella centric one, significantly her relationships with aly & jaehaerys are different

I do want to write this fic someday but I am tragically a very slow writer and have a million projects so !someday!