#`░ ▏DIALOGUE ✱ › richard ⅋ henry.

[lauguries]

⠀⠀pneumonia .  chronic  hypothermia .  one  more  night  in  that  warehouse  and  richard  would  have  been  a  frozen  husk  of  a  man .  dead  eyes  stuck  on  the  view  of  the  roof  hole ,  snowflakes  sprinkling  his  𝒊𝒄𝒚  corpse .  he  shivers  at  the  thought ,  teeth  chattering  in  his  mouth  uncontrollably .  turning  his  head  in  the  hospital  bed ,  richard  searches  for  henry  —  his  hero and  revoker  of  his  pride  —  but  in  his  friend's  place  is  a  book  lying  in  wait .  there  isn't  enough  energy  in  him  to  call  out ,  so  he  waits like the book ,  sliding  further  under  the  scratchy  covers .  𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒅 .  𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒅 .  𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒅 .  richard  begins  to  doze  when  a  nurse  enters  his  room ,  followed  by  a  studious  sentinel .  greek-like  in  stoicism . ἰσχυρός .  strong .

⠀⠀he  watches  as  henry  finds  his  seat ,  barely  noticing  the  new  bag  of  fluids  attached  to  his  IV ,  with  antibiotics  to  follow .  it  burns  like  winter  beneath  the  skin ,  but  the  medicine  soothes  the  wheeze  in  his  chest .  ❛  t-thanks ,  ❜  he  chatters ,  grateful  when  the  nurse  goes  quiet ,  briefly  checking  his  vitals  before  leaving  with  a  hurried  apology .   ❛  in  t-the  business  of  scaring  nurses ?  ❜  richard  dares  to  joke .  he  doesn't  think  about  how  weak  he  sounds ,  the  𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠  of  his  voice .  shifting ,  he  unknowingly  tugs  on  tubing  with  a  brief  grimace .  he  nestles  further  into  the  pillow ,  unconsciously  nosing  the  fabric  for  some  semblance  of  comfort .  ❛  what  are  you  reading ?  ❜  richard  murmurs .  heavy  eyelids  droop  further  with  every  𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒑 ,  𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒑  of  fluids .

 for @lauguries :  henry  &  richard

pale  as  bone . a  man  ,  nearing  his  death . henry  had  never  seen  richard  ,  nor  anyone  ,  in  such  a  state . it  had  always  been  clear  to  henry  that  what  richard  portrayed  himself  as  was  not  the  truth . and  to  finally  see  that  now  ,  him  delicate  ,  broken  ,  horrendously  ill  as  he  laid  in  bed . . . he  can  see  clearly  now  the  lost  boy  beneath  all  the  bravado  &  charm. so  pitifully  human. and  ,  in  a  way  ,  it  stirred  unease  within  henry . a  glimpse  of  mortality  ,  a  fickle  thing . the  thought  ,  it  lingered  longer  than  he  liked . . . but  he  could  not  abandon  richard .  he  could  not  let  him  suffer  the  consequences  of  his  mortality . he  needed  him  alive .

 he  watched  the  clock  upon  the  wall  ,  eyes  narrowing  as  he  realises  the  time . he  had  been  so  unaware  of  the  time  ,  having  had  his  nose  in  the  current  book  he  was  reading . he  jolts  up  from  his  seat  &  practically  rushes  out  of  the  room  ,  frantically  searching  for  a  nurse . ❝  three  hours  late ,  ❞  he  stated,  voice  venomous . henry  was  a  calm,  collected  ,  monotonous  man . it  was  out  of  character  of  him  to  snap . ❝  the  hospital  is  not  busy  at  all ,  and  stil l,  you  fail  to  stick  to  schedule. your  patient  is  worse  for  wear  and  he  would  improve  if  his  medicine  came  on  time . ❞

   the  nurse  comes  rushing  into  richard’s  room  ,  flustered  as  she  comes  to  the  sleeping  man’s  side .  ❝   sorry ,  mr  papen . time  for  your  medicine ,  ❞  she  spoke  softly  as  she  tried  to  rouse  richard  from  his  sleep. henry  comes  back  in  only  a  moment  after  ,  calm  &  collected  as  he  sat  himself  back . made  of  stone  ,  stoic  like  a  greek  sculpture .

[babyrubysoho]

Guess who just spent a month making Japanese subtitles for the entire DT Richard II play, because I am simply that determined to force two specific friends to watch it and fangirl with me and talk to me about my fic XD

I started out using the classic professional Japanese translation of the original play (by Fukuda Tsuneari), which is written in period-accurate Japanese. When I showed one of my friends the subs she said "period Japanese is too hard!"

(This is a page of Henry's speech to Northumberland and York just before capturing Richard at Flint Castle... Yeah, holy wall of text!)

So now I've cobbled together a modern Japanese version using a mixture of adapted lines from the original translation, bits from The Hollow Crown (which is the only Japanese-subtitled version of Richard II one can buy, though that version leaves out half the lines and is much more forgiving on the subtitler cos they all speak so bloody slowly and with...I'm gonna say minimal energy😂), and a soupcon of super-abbreviations of dialogue that is waaaay too long in Japanese to fit on the screen.

Some of the jokes of course don't land in translation, which is too bad cos this particular production really leans into the gag potential of the play; e.g. puns like rain/reign😁

(Classic usurper humour XD)

Next step is to show it to my most patient friend and have her check it for errors and places where over-long lines can be made more succinct in a natural way. I won't lie, this project is fun as feck!

(The subs look giant cos my friend has poor eyesight🤣)

[agoodflyting]

A lot of Thoughts about Enver Gortash and the text of Richard III

Ok so William Shakespeare's character of Richard of Gloucester is very much the archetype for the Tyrant in western literature and I just have SO MANY THOUGHTS about the way Enver Gortash wears that particular crown... (Not to mention how the fangirl in me just loves some of Richard's dialogue and could easily see it coming out of Gortash's mouth, and I'm trying so hard NOT to write a whole ass fic just so I can get Gortash to say, "I am not made of stone.")

WHO IS RICHARD III?

In real life, he was the last Plantagenet king of England, and a controversial figure, but I'm just talking about how he's depicted as a character in William Shakespeare's play Richard III (and to a lesser degree in Henry VI) . In Shakespeare's plays he is written as the quintessential scheming, backstabbing, duplicitous tyrant who will stop at nothing to gain and keep power. He concocts a massive plan in which he will manipulate the whole of the English aristocracy into crowning him king, by creating a situation in which they will be so desperate and angry at an imagined enemy that they will beg him to assume power over them. Sound familiar?

"Since I cannot prove a lover (...) I am determined to prove a villain." They have different backgrounds, but with both Richard of Gloucester and Enver Gortash there's a driving current of otherness compared to the ranks of the nobility that they're manipulating. Gortash is from a working class family but clawed his way up to join the ranks of the well-bred elite through cunning and ingenuity (and lots of crime). Richard was born into a noble family, but is physically disabled and is often mocked or insulted for it. In context, Richard uses the phrase 'since I cannot prove a lover' less as a complaint about his love life and more as a general example of how he has doesn't fit in with his peers. Basically, "You don't accept me? I'll make that everyone's problem."

"How sweet a thing it is to wear a crown..." Both of them survived trauma and violence, which was directed at them by people against whom they were powerless at the time. Gortash was sold to Raphael as a child and spent years as a target of every kind of abuse his master deigned to throw at him. Richard saw his father and brother brutally tortured, then murdered by the queen of their country, while he could do nothing to stop it. In both cases they internalized at a young age that violence = power = safety.

"Was ever woman in this humour won? (...) I, that kill'd her husband and his father, to take her in her heart's extremest hate (...) and yet to win her, all the world to nothing!" Both Richard and Gortash are platinum-tier smooth-talkers, who are skilled at getting other people to act the way they want through use of charming words. Richard shoots his shot with Anne despite the fact that she knows full well he murdered her last husband and she literally spent the first half of the scene wishing death on him. But by the end of the scene he's convinced her to marry him. Gortash, similarly, can talk the player character around to siding with him against the Elder Brain in spite of having just spent the first 2 act of the games trying to unravel his evil plots. Why? Because they're both just. that. smooth. They both have a way of manipulating others with a smile and good cheer - they sound so reasonable, even when you KNOW you shouldn't listen to them.

"Why strew'st thou sugar on that bottled spider, whose deadly web ensnareth thee about? Fool, fool! thou whet'st a knife to kill thyself." Both of them have are underestimated partly because of their ability to be charming, and partly because of their status as outsiders. Gortash because of his working class background, and Richard because of his disabilities. In both cases, there are people who find them repulsive but generally toothless (Queen Elizabeth and Ulder Ravengard respectively) who live to regret it. In both cases there are also people who ring the alarm bell that this creep is up to no good, but who aren't heeded soon enough.

"And thou unfit for any place but hell." "Yes, one place else, if you will hear me name it." "Some dungeon." "Your bed-chamber." They both have a little bit of that freak in them and seem to get off on trying to fuck people who want them dead. See: Richard with Anne. Durgetash in general.

"I'll be at charges for a looking-glass, and entertain some score or two of tailors." Gortash and Richard are both exceptionally well-dressed, to the point of vanity. Gortash is described as handsome in the game, but even fans who dig him can admit that he has a very unconventional style of attractiveness. His teeth are discolored, his skin is blotchy, he's pushing late middle age, and he's got the sort of flat features that other fans have pointed out are typical of boxers and other people who've gotten punched in the face a lot. Similarly, Richard is described as hunchbacked and with features so deformed that 'dogs bark at (him) as (he) passes by'. Yet, despite not being conventionally pretty, both of them seem to spend a lot of money on their clothes. ... this is getting long, so I'm going to end this here. Might do a part 2 later if the brainrot is still upon me.

[erikiara80]

The mean green

I was thinking about the parallel between the Are you real? in 2x07 and 4x09

And these screenshots in one of kaypeace21's posts. The dialogue in the elevator, when Erica says that she will drink the green goo, because you can survive for a while without food, but not without water, raises the question of how Will was able to survive for a week in the UD. But we only realize that in S4, when we see that there is no water in the lake. Imo, not a random location, for many reasons.

All this green is connected to gates/Mind Flayer/One. Then there's Kali's nickname, K, a street name for ketamine. Another one, that was used in the late 60s, was mean green. Even the name of the man Kali wants to kill, Ray Carroll, can be associated with drugs (Alice as a slang for LSD) Same for Kali's power. Making people see or not see what she chooses, reminds of what drugs and mind control do.

"LSD mind control experiments" (Powell in 1x03) "...elaborate experimentations in perusal of mind control" (1x08 newspaper). And Richard Brenner was head of the Narcotic Enforcement Division from 1954-1971, so from the year Henry vanished in Dimension X to the year Will and El were born.

In the article that El reads in the cabin, the line about Brenner's experiments is slightly different, more specific about what they did.

"extensive... into physiology... perception." So, they used drugs to alter people's perception of reality.

There's a lot of green in K's scenes. Even her mask is green.

Kali, "K" (ketamine) and the green toy (mean green) in Terry's memory, one of the many hints that we can't trust what we see (more about that scene here)

Just like we can't trust what we see in Nina. They show both the green toy and the Magic 8 Ball a few times, the massacre happens on September 8, Kali's name is in the crossword in 4x01, and Henry mentions her and Terry, so that memory is probably not what really happened.

Henry asks El to join him. In 3x03, before she looks for Heather in the void, we see more green liquid and Join Us.

Like the green Join Us on the bulletin board behind Will

In 3x06, we see this green bottle, after the conversation about the keys and the gate.

Speaking of keys, there's a big green key at Melvald's, because Will and El are the keys, and getting to Mike is the key, too.

At the end of S3, connection between the lab and "chemical leaks"

EDIT: In @threemanoperation 's post about the mentions of caves and holes, I noticed something:

in this shot, we see Will and El while Hopper mentions being stuck in one place, in a cave, imo a hint that, because of experiments/ drugs/mind control, they're all stuck in a time loop. Interestingly, Lucas' shirt is green. Maybe just a coincidence. Maybe not.

In 2x01, Bob points to a green Halloween bucket. On Halloween, Will almost gets possessed by the Mind Flayer. It's also interesting that Bob's very first line is that he's not a big fan of orange. Orange is associated with Hopper, because of Agent Orange, but orange barrels, cubes, haze are also street names for LSD. I'll make a post about that, too.

The song that plays when El arrives at Terry's house is Green green grass of home. An interesting choice for a mother-daughter reunion. The song is about a man who returns home, to his mama and papa. "It's good to touch the green green grass of home", but then the man wakes up and realizes that it was just a dream (Becky says that Terry is stuck in a dream). He's actually in prison, his parents are dead and he's about to be executed. So, touching the green grass and dreaming that you're home= being drugged and believing/seeing things that are not real?

And you know what? I'm starting to think that even the color of Joyce's car could be a hint. There's a green car in Terry's suspicious memory... It's all connected. They've all been manipulated.

Also, this green soap in Nancy's vision of Henry and Brenner.

And there are probably other things I didn't notice.

@chirpsythismorning

[goobtopia]

could u do the couch scene with oliver and farleigh except its reader and farleigh? and just kind of expand on that scene please🤭

(i wanted to be oliver SO bad in that scene it’s not even funny)

fuck, chuck, or marry — part one

part two.

i trieeed not making it exactly like the movie i hope u like it :)

!! 18+ MINORS DO NOT INTERACT !!

saltburn!au: reader has taken oliver quick's place, infiltrating the catton family, but they're much better at blending in. farleigh, being the smartest one of them all remains unconvinced.

warnings: swearing, sexual dialogue, allusions to sex, mentions of sex, no actual smut, reader is just as crazy as ollie don’t get it twisted

[requests are open]

☆ masterlist ☆

-

You're leaning against Felix's shoulder, both legs thrown over one of Farleigh's who was spreading his own. You watched the odd woman from earlier's train wreck of a husband perform Apple Bottom Jeans with increasingly less enthusiasm as he seems to gain it, whipping his coat and throwing it haphazardly in the room.

"Alright fuck this I'm gonna go get a drink.” Felix proclaims tapping Venetia on her arm, willing her to join him over at the bar cart leaving you and Farleigh alone.

He leans over to you, pressing his arm against yours letting you feel the roughness of his freshly pressed dress shirt against you. "Fuck, chuck, or marry?" He starts in that unassuming tone, you don't look at him just yet. "Richard the III, Henry the VIl, or Henry the VIII?" His eyes bore holes into the side of your face, "You know I think I'd fuck Richard the IlI." He expressed to which you hummed, as if this was the most engaging conversation of the night.

"He's so insecure, so, you know he'd put in the work, right?" You turned to him, doe eyed as he giggles to himself. "You could just fuck me." He's not laughing anymore, but there's a wicked grin etched across your face. "But you've been a tattle tale, telling Felix about me and Venetia." You accused, looking over your nose at him. You'd been more than enemies and less than friends upon your introduction, you might ve even given Farleigh that show underneath his window on purpose.

"It's not like I knew he'd be mad." He whispered, a faint smile coming back onto his face. You draped an elbow across the couch to rest your head on, letting the other roam above Farleigh's knee. "You knew." You opposed him, giving him a slight squeeze so he answered immediately "Yeah, I knew." He admitted, his face evidently eager so you removed your hand from his slacks and laid it on his chest in a seemingly innocent way to everyone else.

"Farleigh if you ever needed my help why haven't you just asked?" You can see him become suspicious immediately, readying his defenses as needed. "What do you mean?" His brows twitch downward in expectation.

"Well, because if anyone knows how you feel it's me, when things at home are... delicate." You reach over and twirl the end of a piece of his hair in between your fingers with your free hand. "You get scared, feel lonely." You trail a finger down a button from his collar, watching as it descends.

"And it must be humiliating to have to go to them every time you need something." You dropped the secret you'd been harboring after overhearing him and Felix outside earlier.

You sighed, reaching down to the next button slowly wearing him down. "and I know you hate me." He cuts you off, "I-I don't hate you." He rolls his eyes, yet still sounds sincere enough to convince you he's being genuine. His hand snakes around your waist unnoticed by anyone else in the room.

You smile, knowing you have him where you want him just enough, "But instead of outing me, I could’ve helped you. I have ways of getting things done and l'd be happy to lend a hand." You barely correct yourself, Farleigh holds eyes contact whispering softly to you, "When I want something from you, you'll know."

[yubnubforhire]

I’ve seen a lot of people decry criticism of the rwrb movie as simply either homophobic or anti-cringe, with the statement ‘let queer people have our cringe rom-coms’ a common defense. This idea is flawed for many reasons, not least of which being that this movie is like… barely queer. Sure it’s about a queer couple, but that’s about where it stops.

First off there’s the blatant bi erasure, with no discussion of Nora’s sexuality, no June/Nora/Pez, the word bisexual only being used once or twice in the whole movie, etc. Second off is the complete lack of queer education or community: where is Alex learning about the gay lib movement and feeling like he understands something new, deep within himself? Where is Henry talking about his role amongst the erased queer figures of the past? Where are the crowds supporting both of them, in the US and the UK? (the scene at buckingham where you don’t even see the crowd felt so cheap) Where was Amy’s role as queer elder and protector? Where was Luna, and Alex’s realization as to why he looked up to him so much and why his betrayal hurt so bad? Where was Alex realizing he and Liam had actually ‘had a thing’ when they were younger, and reconnecting with him as someone who can fully be himself? Where was all the support when they got outed? Where the fuck was Catherine? Where were Bea and Catherine fighting for them during the confrontation at buckingham? Movie!firstprince feel so isolated and without community, which is just SO not the world CMQ created in the book.

More broadly, the movie just felt so shallow. I completely understand the need for adaptation and translation to a new medium, but so many of the things they changed either lower the stakes or remove them entirely. Bea is a non-character, with no depth or backstory. Nora only exists to tell Alex to fuck Henry. Pez gets all of one line in the entire movie. June does not exist, which should completely change things because Alex does not act like the only/eldest child of the POTUS. We never really see the emails and a lot of them are adapted to onscreen dialogue, so what exactly was leaked? Why are they called the Waterloo letters? No one watching the movie alone will know. Who leaked them? I figure the movie implies it was Miguel, but then why have Richards be a character at all? CMQ was making a point with the Richards/Luna story, and the movie having a new side character as the “villain” is just… so disappointing. We don’t see any of the scenes of Henry acknowledging how fucked up the monarchy is (other than a few throwaway jokes), the comparison to the Empire, any of the Bea storyline, or him trying to avoid military service and renounce his royal inheritance, so the one line towards the end when movie!Henry has an outburst about the monarchy being antiquated is just completely unearned and comes out of nowhere.

They kept the line where Oscar tells Alex that ‘sometimes you just have to jump and hope it’s not a cliff’ but it’s now completely devoid of the context— that line is about Oscar telling Alex he doesn’t regret getting together with Ellen, no matter how it ended. It doesn’t work the same if Oscar and Ellen are still happily married! (Justice for Leo also tbh)

In the confrontation at Buckingham, the king (don’t get me started on the things they changed to avoid comparisons to queen liz) still suggests to Henry that they should claim the leaks are deepfakes and deny it, but Alex already gave the live televised speech in the movie timeline! It’s out already! The entire scene with the king honestly just does not work if Alex has already made the speech. Also side note, there’s absolutely no way in turbohell that Alex would make that speech without talking to Henry first.

There’s so much more I could talk about, from more script shenanigans to the Pip of it all, but this is honestly already way too long. All I want to say now is that it’s obviously everyone’s prerogative to like a movie or not, and nothing anyone else says should change the way you personally feel about a piece of art. That does not mean, however, that any criticism of said art is incorrect or unwarranted. You can like something and still acknowledge its flaws. And no, cringiness is not this movie’s main flaw.

[smeagol-on-my-deagol]

PART 6

reading 'the secret history' by donna tartt for the first time, here are my thoughts after reading through chapter 6:

[CONTAINS SPOILERS] obviously

— snow killing flowers : winter killing bunny

— + charles and camilla bringing in tulips into their house before they could die and also being the most (outwardly, and so far) affected by bunny's murder

— judy poovey, i love you, you are nuts but also so so normal

— richard, once again, giving us unimportant foot descriptions

— i think henry may be trying to set charles up to be the most likely suspect out of all of them,, i don't think he actually expects for any of them to get caught, but i think there's a reason why he wants charles to be the most involved starting from when cloke broke in to bunny's room

— average queer friend group

— bunny's family, especially his nieces and nephews makes my stomach turn :((

— i feel like the first half of the book is meant to make you kind of see why they would kill bunny, and the second half is meant to make you understand that he was still a human being, a son, a brother, an uncle, and a friend, despite his flaws

— like was it ever that serious

— "if it was up to me they'd put you in jail" over some parking tickets, girl you don't even knowwww

— i think julian is slowly starting to understand just what exactly they've done,, which he most definitely put ideas in their heads, but at this point i don't think he meant for it to end up like this

— i can't believe i've never heard anybody mention the racism before, because oh my god

— as things in the book become actually serious, it feels like the dialogue of the central characters and richard's inner voice becomes sillier

— as opposed to in the beginning of the book, when things weren't that serious, but everything was written as if it was dire

— the dirt under his nails "he was grabbing at anything he could get ahold of" is sickening i cannot stop thinking about it

[kiwiana-writes]

banner by the inimitable @sparklepocalypse

WITH SO MUCH OF MY HEART (THAT NONE IS LEFT TO PROTEST) by @kiwiana-writes

Fandom: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor Characters: Alex Claremont-Diaz, Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Rafael Luna, June Claremont-Diaz, Nora Holleran, Percy "Pez" Okonjo, Beatrice Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, David the Beagle (Red White & Royal Blue), Zahra Bankston, Liam (Red White & Royal Blue), Catherine Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Actors, Enemies to Lovers, Idiots in Love, Bisexual Disaster Alex Claremont-Diaz, Canon Dialogue, like an embarrassing amount of it actually but whatever, and I am including Much Ado dialogue in that as well as RWRB, Much Ado About Nothing, Much Ado About Nothing References, Inspired by Shakespeare, References to Shakespeare, in which the author nerds out about Shakespeare and queerness and also drops a James Bond deep cut, Slow Burn, not the relationship so much but the writing definitely, once they actually get together it’s kind of a relationship speedrun if we’re being honest, but we take a while to work up to the rating sorry, let Rafael Luna be the queer mentor Alex deserves, Epistolary, so much epistolary nonsense scattered throughout, Smut, Grief/Mourning, not at the same time lol, Blow Jobs, Hand Jobs, First Time Blow Jobs, First Time Bottoming, Semi-Public Sex, Homophobia, Racism, Communication Failure, Panic Attacks, Canon-Typical Angat, Angst With a Happy Ending, POV Alternating Summary: Alex is a former child star struggling to make the transition into being seen as a serious actor. He jumps at an opportunity to perform on stage in the UK, seeing it as a way to break free from the typecasting and show what he can really do. But he wasn’t prepared to star alongside someone he hates. // Henry is a recent theatre graduate who accepts an amazing role in a queer reimagining of Much Ado About Nothing. And then it turns out his co-star is none other than the man he’s been hopelessly pining after for years—even though Henry made a terrible first impression when they met. // It’s… well, it’s practically Shakespearean.

Complete fic

Act I: I, II, III Act II: I, II, III Act III: I, II, III, IV, V Act IV: I, II Act V: I, II, III, IV

***

Part Two: The star to every wandering bark

Fandom: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor Characters: Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Alex Claremont-Diaz, June Claremont-Diaz, Ellen Claremont, Oscar Diaz (Red White & Royal Blue), Leo (Red White & Royal Blue), Liam (Red White & Royal Blue), Catherine Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Actors, 5 Things, 5 Times, 5+1 Things, Fluff, tagging too extensively will spoil part 1 of this series, but trust that it's fluff and joy all the way down, spoilery summary is in the notes!, Implied/Referenced Sex, POV Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor Summary: A 5+1 coda-ish thing set through the back half of the With so much of my heart (that none is left to protest) epilogue!

***

Part Three: Thus may poor fools believe false teachers

Fandom: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Oscar Diaz & Rafael Luna Characters: Rafael Luna, Oscar Diaz, Jeffrey Richards, Alex Claremont-Diaz (mentioned) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Actors, Homophobia, Bittersweet ending, but part one of the series makes it all better, POV Rafael Luna Summary: Rafael's POV of the Dad's Way cancellation; a prequel to With so much of my heart (that none is left to protest)

***

Part Four: Nature's infinite book of secrecy

Fandom: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Oscar Diaz & Rafael Luna, Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor & Rafael Luna Characters: Rafael Luna, Oscar Diaz, Alex Claremont-Diaz, Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Ellen Claremont, Leo, Oliver Westbrook Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Actors, 5 Things, 5 Times, 5+1 Things, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Bets & Wagers, POV Rafael Luna, and then as a bonus, POV Oscar Diaz Summary: Five times Rafael tried to figure out when Henry might propose and one time Oscar did something with that information; a sequel to With so much of my heart (that none is left to protest)

***

Part Five: Make heaven drowsy with the harmony

Fandom: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Zahra Bankston/Shaan Srivastava Characters: Shaan Srivastava, Zahra Bankston, Beatrice Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Catherine Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Entertainment Industry, Talent Agent Zahra Bankston, Private Secretary Shaan Srivastava, Countess Catherine Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Crush at First Sight, Arthur Fox Feels, Mildly Tipsy Sex, Long-Distance Relationship, Fandom Trumps Hate, Fandom Trumps Hate 2024, POV Shaan Srivastava Summary: Zahra and Shaan's story before and alongside With so much of my heart (that none is left to protest)

[mariacallous]

Partial list of the books that Helene Hanff ordered from Marks & Co. and mentioned in 84, Charing Cross Road (alphabetical order):

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice, (1813)

Arkwright, Francis trans. Memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon

Belloc, Hillaire. Essays.

Catullus – Loeb Classics

Chaucer, Geoffrey The Canterbury Tales translated by Hill, published by Longmans 1934)

Delafield, E. M., Diary of a Provincial Lady

Dobson, Austen ed. The Sir Roger De Coverley Papers

Donne, John Sermons

Elizabethan Poetry

Grahame, Kenneth, The Wind in the Willows

Greek New Testament

Grolier Bible

Hazlitt, William. Selected Essays Of William Hazlitt 1778 To 1830, Nonesuch Press edition.

Horace – Loeb Classics

Hunt, Leigh. Essays.

Johnson, Samuel, On Shakespeare, 1908, Intro by Walter Raleigh

Jonson, Ben. Timber

Lamb, Charles. Essays of Elia, (1823).

Landor, Walter Savage. Vol II of The Works and Life of Walter Savage Landor (1876) – Imaginary Conversations

Latin Anglican New Testament

Latin Vulgate Bible / Latin Vulgate New Testament

Latin Vulgate Dictionary

Leonard, R. M. ed. The Book-Lover's Anthology, (1911)

Newman, John Henry. Discourses on the Scope and Nature of University Education. Addressed to the Catholics of Dublin – "The Idea of a University" (1852 and 1858)

Pepys, Samuel. Pepys Diary – 4 Volume Braybrook ed. (1926, revised ed.)

Plato's Four Socratic Dialogues, 1903

Quiller-Couch, Arthur, The Oxford Book Of English Verse

Quiller-Couch, Arthur, The Pilgrim's Way

Quiller-Couch, Arthur, Oxford Book of English Prose

Sappho – Loeb Classics

St. John, Christopher Ed. Ellen Terry and Bernard Shaw : A Correspondence / The Shaw – Terry Letters : A Romantic Correspondence

Sterne, Laurence, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, (1759)

Stevenson, Robert Louis. Virginibus Puerisque

de Tocqueville, Alexis Journey to America (1831–1832)

Wyatt, Thomas. Poems of Thomas Wyatt

Walton, Izaak and Charles Cotton. The Compleat Angler. (John Major's 2nd ed., 1824)

Walton, Izaak. The Lives of – John Donne – Sir Henry Wotton – Richard Hooker – George Herbert & Robert Sanderson

Woolf, Virginia, The Common Reader, 1932.

[jamesfrain]

🎬📽️🎞️Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light | Episode One Analysis

Part I [First minutes, and Wolsey references]

The new series premiered yesterday (10 Nov), and I am keen to analyze the first episode titled 'Wreckage.'

── .✦First and foremost, I want to clarify that my analysis is based on the novel, "The Mirror and The Light" At times, I may reference historical events as well. ── .✦Secondly, this analysis is grounded in my personal perspective; yours may differ, and I welcome a respectful discussion in the comments. ── .✦Lastly, please be advised that this analysis will contain spoilers.

At the end of the first series, Anne was executed, and the final scene showed Cromwell being greeted by Henry, who appeared pleased with the outcome of the recent events. We now revisit Anne's final moments from a new perspective. At the same time she is being executed, Henry is marrying Jane Seymour. Cromwell is away ensuring that everything proceeds as planned. This may be the first significant change in the adaptation for the new series. In the book "Bring Up the Bodies," Cromwell has a series of interactions following Anne's execution and was with the king prior to the wedding ceremony.

However, in this version, he returns home to prepare for attending the newlywed couple. (I must admit, I missed the interactions that occurred after Anne's death. The burial scene, coupled with the dialogues featuring Suffolk, Norfolk, and Kingston, plays a crucial role in highlighting Gregory's character development at that moment.)

On his way home, he has an interesting interaction with Rafe, which I noticed had a different tone than what the book conveys. In this scene, Cromwell appears emotional, or perhaps remorseful. When Rafe asks if he has any message for the king, Cromwell responds, "No message. Back to your new master," with tired eyes that suggest he is possibly worn out.

In the book, the tone is a bit different. After indicating he has no message for the king, Rafe mentions his wife, saying, "Helen will be glad to know the lady is beyond her misfortunes now." Cromwell is taken aback by this statement and replies, "She does not pity her, does she?" Rafe answers, "She thinks that Anne was a protector of the gospel, and that cause is, as you know, dear to my wife’s heart." This exchange leads to a sharper tone, as Cromwell responds, "Oh, well, yes. But I can protect it better." Here, Cromwell seems to be justifying his actions toward Anne with a hint of passive-aggressiveness.

"Anne was not pitiful," Cromwell insists. "Have you not told Helen how she threatened me with beheading? And she was planning, as we now know, to cut short the life of the king himself."

To be fair, I believe the script tries to condense all of this into Cromwell's line:

"When negotiation and compromise fail, then your only course is to destroy your enemy. Before they wake in the morning, Rafe, have the axe in your hand."

Whoever had the idea of bringing Wolsey back as a ghost has my respect. To me, he serves as Cromwell's own conscience—a figure who fully understands him. The reference to the coat is brilliant. In the series, Wolsey states, "When I was alive, my people wore orange tawny. The king might not want to be reminded."

In fact, in the book Cromwell has owned this coat since the days of Wolsey. When he searches for it, Richard Cromwell remarks, "You put that coat away when the Cardinal came down. You had no heart for it."

Wolsey appears once more in this episode, consistently acting as Cromwell’s conscience. He reminds Cromwell of his actions to avenge his deceased Cardinal. I believe Cromwell tries to justify his wrongdoings by relieving his mind in these reflections. In the book, Call-Me brings up the topic:

"People have been talking about the Cardinal. They say, look at what Cromwell has wrought in two years against Wolsey's enemies. Thomas More is dead. Anne, the queen, is dead. They look at those who slighted him during his lifetime—Brereton, Norris—though Norris was not the worst..." Cromwell responds, "If I wanted revenge on Wolsey’s enemies, I would have to strike down half the nation."

The idea that Wolsey introduces in the series—that Henry could also suffer from Cromwell's vengeance is intriguing and suggests further development. I speculate that perhaps Cromwell's eventual downfall may relate to a sense of vengeance toward Henry. The lack of Cromwell’s presence and his constant support of the king could be interpreted as a form of revenge against Henry in the years following 1540. (I can elaborate on this if needed, but it's just a speculation.)

Wolsey says: 'You've wreaked a terrible vegeance on my enemies in these days, my friend. Thomas More and the queen, her brother... Brereton, Norris.'

'Of course, some might ask who was the greatest of Wolsey's enemies? Some might ask when chance serves, what revenge will Cromwell take on his sovereign?'

"When he says, 'Such thoughts might reach the king, and that would be the end of it,' it serves, in my point of view, as a warning of the dangers he will face when he lets his guard down and speaks too much."

TO BE CONTINUED...

[twistedtummies2]

Requiem of the Rose King

I'm taking a brief break from kinky things, because I just want to briefly spotlight an anime I only just recently discovered and binged through. It's a fairly new series, having only completed it's run I think two years ago; I'm sort of surprised I didn't know about it sooner.

The series is entitled "Requiem of the Rose King." It is a reimagining of Shakespeare's "War of the Roses" saga, with the first season being inspired by the three-part play of "Henry VI" (with just the tiniest amount of "Richard II" thrown in), and the second season being based on the climactic finish of the saga, and one of my personal favorite plays in the Shakespeare canon, "Richard III." While these plays are of course dramas inspired by historical events, Shakespeare already takes liberties with history, and this anime even more so; therefore, I won't be considering historical detail at all. This will be solely looked at from the perspective of fiction and with relation to Shakespeare's work.

"Requiem" focuses primarily on Richard III; instead of his historical and Shakespearean scoliosis, Richard's infamous "deformity" is instead reimagined to him being an intersex male. This is only the first of many, MANY things that are reimagined from Shakespeare's stories. While the series is done with modern lingo for the most part, it not only contains multiple quotes and paraphrases from the Bard throughout, but also includes some original dialogue written in iambic pentameter, much as Shakespeare would have written it. So while a lot of things in here - from the language to the issues involved - are exceptionally modern day, the DNA of its classical theatre roots can still be easily found.

While the series carries over the basic plotline and most fundamental character relationships from the plays, what really changes are the motivations behind the characters and events, and the details of how things go down. For example: in "Richard III," the Duke of Buckingham is Richard's second-in-command, who eventually turns against Richard, and is depicted as being just as scheming and devious as Richard himself, if not even more so. All this is still true in "Requiem," but now there's the added wrinkle of the pair forming a romantic relationship, and it's their feelings for each other that ultimately lead to their conflict.

Richard, himself, is a highly complicated figure; it's hard to say what he is. I wouldn't say he's a misunderstood hero, nor would I say he's an anti-hero. I would like to say he's a sympathetic villain protagonist, but considering his enemies are often just as bad as he is, if not arguably worse, even that feels somewhat inaccurate. He still does many of the despicable things Richard does in the plays: he has his own brother murdered, personally slays Henry VI, captures and imprisons his nephews in the Tower of London, manipulates Lady Anne, and more. Even things he's NOT actually responsible for he either indirectly causes, or willingly takes the blame for reasons all his own. However, once you know the reasons why he does these things, and who the people he hurts really are, it becomes difficult to categorize him into any particular alignment. This ambiguity extends to the way his story ends, which I won't give away here, but seems fittingly uncertain for a character who is steeped in uncertainty throughout the show: from his personal identity to his goals to his purposes, Richard constantly questions himself and others, and every time he thinks he has an answer and can find order, something new comes along to thrust his life into further and further chaos.

Ultimately, "Requiem of the Rose King" is a tragic story: though thoroughly modern in its approach, it has a lot of the motifs and ideas present not only in Shakespeare's "War of the Roses" saga, but in the Bard's work in general. It's a unique tribute to arguably the greatest English playwright of all time (certainly the most famous), while also being an intriguing story in its own right. It probably won't be for everyone, given some of the themes involved and its loose treatment of both history AND the classical source materials, but if you have an open enough mind, I think you'll find a lot to enjoy here. I certainly did. Also, for anybody wondering if there are any characters worth "kink-ifying" in here...honestly, I still haven't made up my mind there. Time and tastes will tell. XD Oh, and in case you're all wondering, I chose to watch the English Dub of this series, for various reasons, and I can vouch for it and say it's an extremely good one. If, however, you prefer subs all the time, anytime, I imagine they won't be difficult to track down. :P

[myheartalivewrites]

20 questions for fic writers

Hey @cha-melodius thanks for tagging me in this!

How many works do you have on ao3?

23

What's your total ao3 word count?

329,905

What fandoms do you write for?

RWRB and A Marvellous Light (The Last Binding trilogy). I've been thinking about writing for We Could be So Good by Cat Sebastian since I read it last week. I loved it so much I binge read 3 other books by the same author straight after, and then turned right back to WCBSG. Book rec for everyone who's not read it!

Top five fics by kudos:

Deep Blue

Just Like That.

Oxford Days

In His Wildest Dreams

A tie for fifth! Have One (On Me) and Tumbled Down and Tangled Up

Do you respond to comments?

Yes! Unless they're a bit dodge lol

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

This is the question that reminds me I've done this game before hehe. I'm only interested in happy endings so this is hard to choose, but Don't Wanna Be A Fool For You is quite angsty and ends just as they're getting over the angst, so I have to go with that.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I always write happy endings, BUT, if I must choose, I'm gonna go with a non-RWRB fic here. in your room, like a temple is an epilogue of sorts to A Marvellous Light, and it makes me SO HAPPY to have written this settled future for Robin and Edwin.

Do you get hate on fics?

Not usually, though I did get a couple of annoying comments on my first threesome fic from people who thought their own vision of monogamy for Alex and Henry was something they had to come and tell me about 🙄

Do you write smut?

hahahahhaaaaaaaa yes

Craziest crossover:

Never done one

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No! Someone did ask me about translating Deep Blue but I don't think they've followed through with it. I'd love it though

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No

All time favorite ship?

Alex and Henry

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Oooh, I don't have any WIPs on ao3 to feel guilty about. What sits on my hard drive is between me and my atheist god (also me)

What are your writing strengths?

Yikes, ok! Here are things I like about my writing: I like the way I write smut that's super emotional AND super hot, and all the different ways I've come up to make smut scenes different from each other (because writing them can sometimes feel repetitive from my perspective). I like the way I play with rhythm in sentences and build tension in scenes. I like the way I build emotional and sexual tension in a piece overall. Please no one drop into the notes to tell me they disagree 😂

What are your writing weaknesses?

I CANNOT come up with external obstacles! Whenever I'm trying to plot something out and I'm trying to come up with BIG PLOT REASONS to keep people apart, my brain just freezes. I love internal obstacles, the emotional reasons why people choose to do the things they do, but as for external things to move the plot along (think Jeffrey Richard leaking emails, Queen Mary telling Henry how to live his life) I'm just... ultimately uninterested in them. Which is fine if it's a choice, and I love a lot of writing just like that, but I wish my brain could at least TRY.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

Like it.

First fandom you wrote in?

RWRB

Favorite fic you've written?

Haha good one. Changes all the time. Current fave: Paper Chains, I think (a personal stab to my heart how much it's underrated). I tried something new for me with the structure, and I think the emotional punches hit so hard, I'm so proud of it. Or maybe the new one for RBB, called Foxden Park. Coming soon!

No pressure tags (and sorry if you've already done this and I've missed it!): @thesleepyskipper @firenati0n @welcometololaland @inexplicablymine @sparklepocalypse

@onetwistedmiracle @tintagel-or-cockleshells @historicallysam @cultofsappho @14carrotghoul

@suseagull04 @magicandarchery @itsmaybitheway @porcelainmortal @anincompletelist and anyone who fancies joining in! 😘

[willothewispwisteriadawn]

Bunny Take: Why He’s the Most Unpopular

Honestly Bunny Corcoran is an example of “the crimes were fake, my annoyance was real” or jerks are worse than villains. Bunny is the least liked character among fans despite kind of overall doing the least wrong.

Readers are more detached from the concept of murder so being a murderer can be a cerebral character trait in fiction. But there’s a better understanding and closeness to someone attacking your race/identity/gender/religion that makes you less tolerant of fictional characters who do that.

I know this is perhaps a flawed look at this because, in context, the book is really complex. We do also see Bunny committing petty theft, extorting his friends for money, hiding a murder, and basically driving people to stress-induced illness. We can empathize with the rest of the class over that. But there’s also that Richard’s narration might be too nice on Henry/Camilla/Charles/Francis and too hard on Bunny (Richard brings this up himself). Richard wants to make Bunny’s murder more justified and his friends seem less psycho.

It’s tricky, but I do find it interesting how much more Bunny’s dialogue bothers readers than Henry killing 2 people then a dog then attempting to kill another person. And I do think it’s got to do with how we can feel personally insulted and annoyed through a text better than we can connect with the implications of murder.

[hellframe]

The Secret History & Greek letter Ψ

I’m sure, many readers noticed that Julian, despite his outspoken prejudice against psychology, described the seduction of Dionysiac ritual in terms of psychoanalysis, like this:

Even more funny is that Julian’s method of teaching is probably based on psychological theory from the late 60s. I mean, the Pygmalion effect.

Source of image: steemit.com

According to Richard, Julian:

Meanwhile, Julian’s students represent the psychic structure of personality:

Henry is the Superego, the all-controlling perfectionistic intellect;

Bunny is the Id, the suppressed unconscious;

Francis is Libido, the sexual energy;

the twins are Anima and Animus, the masculine and feminine sides of human Self.

Richard must be the Ego, a poor neutral, influenced by everyone else.

Julian Morrow in this scheme plays the role of religious thinking in the human mind (the idea of god). In the novel it comes how it was interpreted by Søren Kierkegaard: religion serves as a mediator in Self’s relation to the Other. But also, the god here is an idea of absolute Other, which helps to shape human identity as opposed to something that is not human at all — consider how Henry identified Julian as a deity.

So, Julian and his students together construct an integral psychological model of personality. A personality in crisis, as one could assume.

[Psychology is relevant, because we have a foreshadowing for it: during the year Richard was working part-time for professor of psychology Dr Roland, assisting in his 'vague research'. And there was a dialogue with Richard (chpt. 1), when Julian said that ‘psychology is only another word for what the ancients called fate.’ He also told Richard that he always knew what his students were going to do, like an omniscient god.]

[rollercoasterwords]

oookay. finished the secret history let’s go

so the book itself was split into two separate books, book I and book II. for clarity’s sake, im gonna further split it into 4 parts, part 1, 2, 3 and 4. 

so first quick summary 4 bg information (no spoilers, as promised!!)

so basically a group of sexually repressed 20-something gays push the first homophobe they see off a cliff

OR

we’re told of Bunny’s murder in the first 2 pages, separating the book from other crime novels in that most of it was less a whodunnit and more of a whydunnit. in part 1, we’re introduced to richard papen, the narrator, who applied to a college, Hampden, miles away from his home state bc the colours on the brochure were pretty. he falls in with a group of students who are studying ancient greek; henry, bunny, francis, and camilla and charles (twins). So for a while, things look awesome. richard’s at a good college, with a large and tight-knit group of friends. What could go wrong?

this part transitions into two after richard and bunny find out about something terrible the rest of the group did in the past.

in part 2, bunny starts to become hostile to his friends after learning of it, while richard is able to wrap his head around it quite quickly. It escalates to the point where bunny becomes a potential threat, in that he might spill the beans to someone else. here, henry begins to plan bunny’s murder, and the rest of group just sort of goes along with it. parts 1 and 2 were pleasant, and paced really quickly. i was hooked the entire time. part 3 gets a bit dull, but it picks up again after Bunny’s funeral and hits the ground running.

book one ends right before bunny dies, and book two starts right after.

part 3 opens into a police investigation for bunny, who is believed to be missing until they find his body. in this part, tensions within the group begin to escalate. most of p. 3 is spent at bunny’s family’s house, who have invited many people bunny knew to stay with them during the funeral proceedings.

part 4, i believe begins after bunny’s body is found. here everyone’s like REALLY on edge. I will say most of it was just richard and francis running around frantically together while charles slowly goes insane with paranoia that henry’s trying to kill him as well. yk what, some of charles’ dialogue in this part is unsettlingly reminiscent of a panicked letter written by bunny that was found only after his death. In the book, there was only one passage of it shown, but that was enough. reading it, one could practically hear the panic, the desperation in bunny’s voice, one later mirrored in charles. vv psychologically thrillery. Im having hannibal flashbacks actually

and ohhh my god the ending. It was the climax to end all climaxes rae. ill never get over it. It was bittersweet ig, like all the best endings are. 

one thing i noticed is that throughout the book, there are these like future reflections littered through. like ‘thinking back on it now, i wish i had. . .’  or ‘funny, that was the last time i ever saw him’, which have the story a sort of They Both Die at the End quality. yk, like a tragedy waiting to happen. I think i remember you doing something like that once, rae, in atydsp. I believe it was right in one of the summer 1977 chapters but i could be wrong. I think something like that really makes a story gut-wrenching, especially with the whole looming impermanence that the reader is all too aware of. the very last lines in the epilogue read, ‘I suppose at one time in my life I might have had any number of stories, but now there is no other. This is the only story I will ever be able to tell.’ see? whenever one of these bad boys is thrown in there, the scene changes from just a regular scene to something golden and significant. I think i once saw a post that read, ‘in movies time travellers are always scared of drastically changing their future by doing something small, but no one in the present ever things they can drastically change their future by doing something small’. thats what that reminds me of.

in the epilogue, richard refers to himself as a bystander, and he’s not wrong. he’s the narrator, of course, but in the end, the story’s not really about him. it’s about henry and bunny. I kind of get now, those lines at the end of the epilogue. Bunny’s death, and the events that subsequently followed, are so much more important than richard himself will ever be. 

TSH is famous for that one line henry has, when charles asks him how he could possibly justify cold blooded murder, and henry says, ‘I prefer to think of it … as a redistribution of matter.’ but the line that got to me the most personally was an unassuming one, camilla in the epilogue about her twin brother charles: ‘actually, charles and i dont really talk anymore. It’s broken my Nana’s heart.’ not that she and charles should ever be in the same room together ever (very fucked up things happened), but it’s just the impermanence of relationships. how two people who may be at one point inseparable just drift apart. it’s not any one big fight or falling out that snaps the thread of their connection, but that thread just wearing out and growing thinner and thinner until eventually nothing is left anymore. thats what gets to me.

andd also one thing that kept happening was that i’d accidentally (or on purpose) flip a few pages ahead and reading something really fucking deranged or unexpected and just be like ‘huh???? what??? how?????’ and i’d go back and read up to that point until it made sense. i’d love love LOVE to give examples but i’m not allowed spoilers :(( the book is just the right amount of deranged though it rlly tickles ur brain in just the right spots without being overly ick

I think someone said that it was a francis/richard/charles/camilla/henry love pentagon but its most like a love diamond. grab a pen and paper folks, it gets complicated. imagine charles at the top, francis on the left, richard at the bottom, and camilla on the right, with a line extending from camilla to henry. there thats tsh.

all in all 8/10!! if it’s on your reading list like you said it was, definitely move it to the top.

one day i WILL read tsh i promise!! unfortunately it cannot go to the top atm bc im working thru the books i already own 😔 love this review tho i honestly didn’t really know what the book was about & this actually sounds really good…

[rosesforyourproses]

I think I have finally understood what Camilla meant when she said she loves Henry and rejected Richard’s offer of marriage. I don’t think it has anything to do with romantic love but more or so about appreciation. Camilla will always appreciate Henry and everything he did for her if I look back at all the events that transpired in the book Camilla— very conveniently I might add— always isn’t in some way directly related or involved in the cases, especially during the murder that happened during the bacchanal where she just so happens to be sitting at a river with no blood whatsoever in her clothing.

The thing is that she’ll always remember him fondly, who loved her unconditionally, even if Camilla never romantically loved him, she appreciated him and was grateful. But one cannot say the same with the rest of them: Charles, Francis, and Richard. They loved Henry (minus Charles though) but like Camilla said to Richard, “it’s not enough”. If Camilla ever decided to say yes, it wouldn’t have worked out between them, she loves Henry and can’t say a bad thing about him but it’s a different thing with Richard, and why is that very important exactly? Well, if the person I love is quite fond of the person who practically made me a wreck, I wouldn’t be so delighted either.

It also seems she feels guilty about opening herself up to others now that she feels greatly indebted to Henry, she feels guilty about loving someone else and being with someone after everything that Henry did for her. I wouldn’t be surprised if Camilla loved Richard back but in all honesty it seems that Camilla is the one who “lacks empathy” compared to Richard or Henry. She always does things for her own gain (a trait mentioned by Francis as well, and I couldn’t blame him for thinking that way, I think that Camilla’s lack of presence in the book also symbolizes her role in their friendship and the transgression of all the events, she barely gets any scenes and dialogue because she barely involves herself in the first place even though technically she is, everyone in the group is suffering from the aftermath of ALL of their actions but she barely gets a share of the burden which I think is very powerful when remembering how Charles got “most of the share of the burden than he’s supposed to” and that’s because Camilla wasn’t willing to shoulder her responsibilities of being associated with them. Don’t forget about Henry rarely every using her as a chess piece either.)

Camilla is aware how convenient everything is are at her end and how everyone else in the group was depressed, addicted, and with severe social anxiety while she (although has suffered much because of Charles) is eating and sleeping peacefully (it greatly annoyed me how she and Henry were casually eating good food and drinking wine in one of the finest hotel in Vermont and both Richard and Francis was up all night and driving all day to find Charles). I guess rejecting Richard is a way of punishing herself for her selfishness. By the end of the book, Charles was claimed to be “happy” while Camilla isn’t. I also find it ironic how Camilla got shoved with the responsibility of taking care of their grandma while Charles simply left.