#widowhoods

[canisalbus]

i've returned for 2 seconds to tell you that they're not leaving my head. (sort of unrelated but i've been thinking as well. what if vasco died before machete ? what would go down)

.

[wonder-worker]

Thinking about Elizabeth Woodville as a gothic heroine is making me go insane. She entered the story by overturning existing social structures, provoking both ire and fascination. She married into a dynasty doomed to eat itself alive. She was repeatedly associated with the supernatural, both in terms of love and death. Her life was shaped entirely by uncanny repetitions - two marriages, two widowhoods, two depositions, two flights to sanctuary, two ultimate reclamations, all paralleling and ricocheting off each other. Her plight after 1483 exposed the true rot at the heart of the monarchy - the trappings of royalty pulled away to reveal nothing, a never-ending cycle of betrayal and war, the price of power being the (literal) blood of children. She lived past the end of her family name, she lived past the end of her myth. She ended her life in a deeply anomalous position, half-in and half-out of royal society. She was both a haunting tragedy and the ultimate survivor who was finally free.

[iristial]

[lovethisfatcryptid]

I'm sitting on the patio working this morning. Answering messages and socializing. It's so warm and beautiful today I just couldn't stay inside. Listening to the chickens, feeling the sunshine on my skin, the breeze tussling my hair. Endless amounts of weed to smoke. The country life is just what my broken heart needs.

[mxtxfanatic]

Book of the Week: Reborn After Widowhood

Author: Xiao Jia Ren (笑佳人)

Genre: rebirth, ancient setting, josei

Rating: T

My Synopsis: When Hua Yang, the widow of a general, is suddenly reborn after a serious illness, she discovers that she has a second chance with her husband, Chen Jingzong, who she only reluctantly missed. After the series of tragedies from her first life that left her riddled with regret and guilt, can Hua Yang successfully use her this rebirth to keep her husband and his family alive and well this time around? Featuring: a courting ritual that would make Shen Qingqiu proud 🤣

My Review: This story is very lovely. I like Hua Yang's humbleness (she acknowledges a lot that she is not learned in a lot of subjects but simply has the fortune of knowing the future) in contrast to other stories where the main character might be posited as Skilled in All Things™️ on top of benefiting from knowing the future. I also love her relationship with her husband, Chen Jingzong, where they're both kinda snippy assholes to each other but also genuinely care (and are also very horny for each other). As the story goes on, you also get little snippets of the relationships to and between the other members of the Chen family, which leads a greater understanding that the young couple are actually not unique in the family lol. I don't want to say that this is purely fluffy as there is a lot of drama, but there's not a lot of tension with it so it doesn't feel stressful to read. All in all, a gentle read about two obstinate assholes letting their mutual lust guide them into maybe being better people to each other rather than pissing each other off all the time.

Some content warnings for typical misogynistic abuse of women, (attempted) incest, and underage marriages, but there isn’t a horrific age gap (especially if you count the rebirth age). Also, although the translation is very clunky, it’s consistently clunky which means that you get used to it easily.

Translation: complete

[pegasusdrawnchariots]

anyone else losing sleep over the fact that Cyrano spoke abt willingly sacrificing the chance of ever being happy someday, as long as he knew it would ensure the happiness of someone he loves, to both Roxane & Christian separately — & then had it ripped from him anyway before he was able to make that sacrifice, without ensuring a thing? yeah me neither

[bored-boring-and-tired]

tao and darcy texting at 2am

[broadway-and-books-love]

I’m gonna say something controversial, but maybe Bridgerton wouldn’t have felt the need to rush Penelope and Colin’s season to screen if the show had a cable release schedule.

The show said they pushed Polin to season 3 because they felt audiences were getting impatient to see their love story resolved, which may be true, but they wouldn’t be so antsy after only two seasons if there weren’t two years between each of them. Yes, season 2 had to wait on COVID, and season 3 had to wait on the writer’s/actor’s strike, but they’ve said that season 4 will come out 2026 at best without any exterior obstacles, and they’ve just now convened the writer’s room (after season 3’s full release). I don’t watch many Netflix shows, but seeing as this is how they operate with TV, I don’t know how many people are going to continue sticking around for what will be an 8-season show (if they’re allowed to finish) with two years between everything when they’re already expressing discontent over the fact they have to wait so long, and often forget characters’ names and arcs but are unwilling to rewatch the entire show every time just to remember what happened one season ago. Audiences are finally reaching the point where they’re unsatisfied with 8 episodes every two years (often, in many show’s cases, with half an hour or less per episode), and with shows like Bridgerton losing production quality and poorly handling the source material (see: keeping Penelope and Colin’s core conflict over her being Lady Whistledown, but removing the context around it and providing a weaker argument, or having Francesca fall for Michael/a while being married to John, inadvertently playing into biphobic stereotypes and harming both characters’ love for John and their grief over his eventual death/guilty feelings for falling in love once he’s gone).

While there are things I love that the show changed (making the Bridgerton men much more appealing love interests, adding Queen Charlotte and her miniseries, creating a relevant but not central storyline regarding race equality in alternate England, LGBTQ+ rep, and, more recently, giving Lady Danbury more backstory), the main storyline has started suffering, especially in season 3. I’m not saying 22-episode shows with yearly releases don’t also decline over time, but they also aren’t expected to garner a massive following immediately upon release or face cancellation - or, if they are widely popular, to string fans along for far longer than necessary to retain subscribers for less, subpar content.

[bestangelofall]

since you seem to be really familiar with/a big fan of all three characters, what are your thoughts on Bucky/Jason and Nat/Jason as crossover ships?

(Sorry, this got super long).

Thanks anon! I love those three, and I've thought about them a lot (and now I'll be thinking even more about them :3)

Ok, so, for comics!Nat and Bucky, I wouldn't pair them with anyone else. The level of ✨soulmatism✨ between Nat and Bucky in the comics is just over the fucking roof and I can't see those two with anyone else. The story they have together is very precious to me.

(As a side note, I love the idea of a friendship between Jason and Nat and Bucky.)

Ok, now the rest of the post involves MCU Bucky and Natasha.

For MCU Nat and Bucky, I like a lot of ships. I mean, MCU Buckynat wasn't even my first ship for either of them (I'm very much into Clintasha, and though I've never been in the depths of the Stucky fandom, I do have eyes and also like that ship. I also think that Nat/Steve can be interesting, and even Nat/Bruce, though I don't exactly like how it was handled in the movies).

I think there's potential for both crossover ships. Because all of these characters know what's to be “on the side of the angels” and “on the other side” as well, and they are also used to making difficult decisions that others aren't willing to make (especially Jason and Natasha). In addition, these three all have committed crimes and sometimes terrible acts while having three different levels of agency:

Bucky was brainwashed and mind-controlled for decades. He's done things he had no control whatsoever over. He was made into a weapon and had no choice in it.

Natasha was brainwashed, but not mind-controlled (at least if we go by Yelena telling Nat in Black Widow (2021) that what she went through was different from the mind-control potion thing the Red Room was dosing the widows with). She was made into a weapon, had no choice in it—until she did, and she chose to stop being used.

Jason did the stuff he did without having been brainwashed or under mind-control (while I do think Talia had some influence over his choices post-resurrection, I think he wouldn't have ended up in a much different path without her). He made himself into a weapon.

I also love how all three of them are not “good victims”. Bucky and Natasha are more interested in redeeming themselves than Jason (he doesn't see himself as needing to, and good for him), but none of them are into the “turning the other face” bullshit. They go after their abusers and fuck them up! Good for them! (except Jason isn’t allowed to do that lol because fuck DC, but the spirit is there!)

And obviously, there are the Bucky/Jason parallels in that they were dead/believed to be dead and came back “changed” and the people who knew them before “don't recognize them anymore” and that's a source of angst for both of them! (And also the meta-parallels between them, having been brought back in the same year in the comics, among other things). They would get each other IF they could talk to each other (and getting there would be a hassle lol but great angst).

Those similarities and differences make good shipping material, I think. Plus there are so many options for putting Jason and Nat or Jason and Bucky as initial allies or enemies and then building up their relationship from that. I love it!

For example:

I love the idea of Bucky or Natasha being hired by Talia to be one of Jason’s teachers in Lost Days.

Jason getting caught by Hydra and meeting Bucky there (the whump and angst potential for them both!!!!)

Problems faced in the MCU storyline leading Bucky or Nat to Gotham and more or less the only vigilante who’s actually willing to work with them is Red Hood.

Somehow Red Hood gets tangled into Red Room or Hydra business.

Post-Thanos Snap™ and either Bucky (who hasn’t been deleted, of course) or Nat sometimes help in Gotham because the vigilante:rogue ratio of people snapped there was unbalanced and Batman’s having some difficulty so he can’t be picky about who’s going to help and they meet Jason there OOOOR Jason is the one that ends up with the Avengers (but not exactly affiliated) because he’s looking for someone who will accept his help (I have some ideas for this AU, and Bruce’s soooooo toxic in this AU that for Jason to work in Gotham is impossible, JL also wouldn’t accept his help, so he ends up looking for other heroes/vigilantes).

Now, I'll admit that I've given more thought to NatJay than BuckyJay simply because she’s my favorite, and consequently I also know more about her than Bucky, and I've thought more about her. I actually have the beginnings of a NatJay fic drafted.

I like the parallels between Natasha and Jason regarding their “found family”. Both “families” are toxic as hell, where the “parents” did horrible shit (yeah, Melina and Alexey are arguably worse in general, but the stuff Bruce does to his children (and, yeah, to Jason in particular) is also so so damaging. But both groups of characters also have the “there was love there, it didn’t change anything” vibe that I just love lol.)

I also like the inversion of roles they have regarding their siblings: Jason’s the younger one (considering Dick only, yes, but that’s the only sibling relationship I’m interested in for Jason… (and maybe Damian, but that’s depending on the AU)) and Natasha’s the older one. Makes for interesting interactions between/with the supporting cast (ahem Yelena and Dick lol).

They would be terrifying together. They have the potential to make each other better, but also to make each other worse! (Also applicable to BuckyJay).

Anyway, sorry for the wall of text, but the tl;dr is that I like both BuckyJay and NatJay (and them as an OT3 too!)

[awholelotofladybug]

Before she and Nathalie finally realized their feelings for each other, Emilie spent most of her story in my Stammering Adrien AU being a widow. There is nothing wrong with being a widow, but different people react differently to certain situations and titles. So this begs the question, how would Emilie, an emotional woman who loved her husband dearly, feel about being labeled "a widow?" Would she not be bothered by it since it's just a word? Would it bother her a little bit since the word itself is synonymous with loss and grief? Or would she be devastated to be called "a widow" because not only does it remind her of what she's lost, but it's now how others define her?

[normalbrothers]

knight: heterosexual marriage is a prison

knight's solution (?): gay incest (?)

[feyres-divorce-lawyer]

anti feysand not in a loathe them both as individuals who happen to be together kinda way but in a i wish it to crash and burn via mariticide kinda way, you get?

[wonder-worker]

"The newly widowed Elizabeth (Woodville) was exceptionally vulnerable. Several of the trustees responsible for her jointure refused to hand over the manors that were meant to sustain her in her widowhood. Moreover, her brother-in-law, Edward Grey, had seized estates that her son Thomas should have inherited from his paternal grandfather, while her mother-in-law’s new young husband, Sir John Bourchier, had prevailed on Lady Ferrers to settle her principal properties on them jointly for life, ensuring that Thomas would have to wait far longer for this inheritance too. Rivers and Scales were pardoned in July 1461 and swiftly moved into the Yorkist establishment, which perhaps explains the success of the chancery suits Elizabeth launched to regain her jointure. Her son’s inheritance proved harder to recover. By 1463, Rivers was often in (Edward IV's) company and on his council, but Elizabeth needed someone with much stronger influence over the King. She turned to a distant kinsman, William, Lord Hastings, the King’s chamberlain. Hastings drove a very hard bargain for his aid but it was probably amid these negotiations that the King’s desire for Elizabeth was kindled."

-J.L. Laynesmith, "Elizabeth Woodville: the Knight's Widow", Later Plantagenet and Wars of the Roses Consorts: Power, Influence, and Dynasty

[aresgodofwar23]

[lovethisfatcryptid]

I feel like me today. Grief feels a little less all consuming at the moment and I'm grateful 💜

[i-write-shakespeare-not-disney]

Me: I can't believe it's about to be a year

Mom: since what? 😧

Me: since bakugo died.

Mom: 😑😑😑😑😑😑