#Lucretia inspired

[sofancydancy]

*slams fist on table* more body hair and more light--

[corridor-bard-art]

What do you think? I'm thinking of making posters of this and selling them in multiple designs once I figure out the details.

[barry-j-blupjeans]

It would have been easy to miss her if Barry hadn't been keeping an eye out. She wore a dark cloak with a silver clasp and had her hood drawn up over her head. The crowded streets of Neverwinter— Neverwinter, why was he in Neverwinter again?— pushed them past each other but for a moment, they caught eyes. He got the shortest glimpse of her face, aged, and stressed, and focused— and then recognition. Surprise.

He knew her. No, he didn't.

Fuck, wait, yes he did.

So Barry did something he had recently discovered he was very good at doing: He ran. The crowd helped him along, pushing him forward as he stumbled over his own two feet. He kept his head low, trying to get cover from the people around him. He crossed the street, and then went left, and crossed the street again, trying to drown himself into the crowd. He kept going until he was reasonably sure that he had lost her and then ducked into an alleyway.

Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Barry twisted his bag, fumbling for his inhaler. Good fuckin' Gods. This day and gone from bad to worse. He took a hit of it (and someone in his head told him to stop saying that he "took a hit" of his medication) and leaned against the alley wall, trying to breathe deeply again.

He dug through his bag, finding the little gold coin he kept with him. He was… gods, Barry wished he knew what was happening anymore. But he couldn't— he couldn't lose focus. He was looking for someone. He was supposed to be looking for someone, but, well, this attempt had hit a dead end. And, for the first time (?), Barry had come across the person who was looking for him.

He pressed a little notch on the coin, flipping back through old recorded messages until he found the right one. The coin buzzed a little, like a staticky radio line, but crackled to life with a message in Barry's own voice. One he didn't remember leaving, but he knew the words by heart by now. They were important.

"— and— and another thing— there's this… Geez, I don't wanna call it an issue, but it's kinda an issue. There's a— there's a woman looking for you. Not the one we wanna find. On purpose, I mean. God, I hate this. It's making her sound like some sorta villain and she's no— well…"

The coin sighed.

"Her name is Lucretia." There was a shuffling noise in the background of the recording, as if someone was adjusting papers. "She's— she's part of the family you don't remember. But it's— I can't stress enough how much of a no-go talking to her is. Like, even more than the others, so, so much more. In fact, if you ever see her just— I don't know, just fuckin' run, I guess. That's— Gods."

The coin was silent for a moment. Barry took another puff of his inhaler.

"There's nothing good that you can get by talking to her right now," the coin continued. "And if you talk to her, she might— I mean, I don't think she'd do anything to you besides talk, but that's— that's enough sometimes, y'know? She's… she's the reason we're in this mess. Why we can't remember ###—" Barry winced at the static. "I don't— I can't physically explain what she did, but don't— don't talk to her. If you see her, just run. Just go."

The coin went on to describe some of Lucretia's features— her eyes, the white hair, her age ("—because she wouldn't fucking listen to me about Wonderland and #### ###### ##—"). Barry thought back to the glance he had caught of the woman he passed by and just barely managed to swallow his fear about it. He hit the notch on the coin again, shutting it off. Sometimes, it would delve into static for a while, especially when talking about Lucreita. He put the coin back in his bag, along with his inhaler.

He peeked back into the streets and then pulled back into the alley. He could still slightly see from his space between the buildings, but hopefully, she couldn't see him.

Lucretia had lowered her hood, and was looking around. The crowd had thinned some, just enough for her to stand in place without being pushed around. But her eyes never found his hiding spot and, after a moment, an orc woman jogged up to her. Barry could barely hear them over the hustle and bustle of Neverwinter, but he caught wind of,

"— just started running! What gives?"

"I thought I saw…" Lucretia scanned the area once more. Barry scooted back a bit to hide himself, holding his breath. "No, it was nothing. It's— I'm a just little on edge today, I suppose."

It was obvious the orc woman didn't believe her, but she must have known Lucretia enough to not question it. Or at least, not to publicly question it.

"You're gonna be late for your meeting," the orc woman said after a moment's pause.

Lucretia turned and while Barry couldn't hear the curse word, it startled a laugh from the orc woman. They retreated back the way they had come. Barry sighed, relaxing a little.

Okay. Okay, time to regroup. Refocus. Once he felt it was safe, he stepped back into the street again, carefully retracing his steps to regain his bearings. From here, he'd go to Farnfoss. There was an enchanted forest that supposedly protected some powerful magic items— it was a better lead than nothing.

As long as he made it there alive, at least.

[emotionalwarmth]

I came across this picture on Facebook a while back and my mind went "oh lord Vincent Lucretia Miniroth" Alucard and Sephiroth have so much in common tho tbh And let them be happy

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

So fun fact My Last Duchess (Robert Browning) is one my favourite poems and I am currently reading The Marriage Portrait (Maggie O’Farrel) and quickly falling in love with it and one of my favourite songs is Portrait of a Dead Girl (The Last Dinner Party) and I don’t think you understand how I can never recommend enough times that if you love one of these things individually you should check out the others and if you don’t know any of them you should introduce yourself to them because *screams*

(Btw for added context The Marriage Portrait and My Last Duchess are both inspired by the same historical figures Duke Alfonso II d’Este (fifth Duke of Ferrara) and Duchess Lucretia do Cosimo d’Este (née de’ Medici). Lucretia was much younger than him and died at 16, within the first year of their marriage. Her official cause of death was putrid fever but it has been popular theorised that Alfonso poisoned her. My Last Duchess describes the painting that Alfonso had commissioned of her, known as her marriage portrait. I included Portrait of a Dead Girl in this because the themes are very similar and it makes me think of her when I listen to it. ALSO: I’m not classing this as spoilers for the book because it is real history and the book tells you what happens to Lucretia all the way through the beginning including in the epigraph, but if anyone thinks I should tag this as spoilers let me know and I’ll add it)

[theadventurezoneoftruth]

the IPRE playing Civ 6

This post started as a teehee joke, but then it became. Well. Far too long.

Anyway, it started with this simple idea: to ME Barry Bluejeans loves the Sid Meier's Civilization series. Do I feel this way because he's a long-time blorbo and I'VE been really into Civ lately? perhaps.

Anyway. He brought a copy of Civ 6 with him onto the Starblaster. He managed to achieve all victory types for all leaders by the end of the stolen century.

On what would have been his 100th birthday (if they were tracking ages normally), he got all of the crew to play a 7 player hotseat multiplayer game with him.

For those unfamiliar with Civ: it's a strategy game where you play as a fictionalized version of real life historical figures, seeking to create an empire which can survive throughout the ages. Each leader and country have certain bonus attributes, which can influence your playstyle.

Barry - Eleanor of Aquataine / England: This is a really weak civ for multiplayer, since her leader bonus only really works against the AI. But I think he purposefully chose that to try and give himself a disadvantage, since he has so much more experience. Plus it gives him Court of Love.

Lup - Hammurabi / Babylon: I think she'd like the really chaotic and off-beat playstyle of Babylon, which allows you to unlock some things crazy early if you focus in on the right tasks.

Taako - Qin Shi Huang (Mandate of Heaven) / China: I think he'd approach Civ as mainly a city building game / teehee wonders go brrr. Along with the bonus's to wonder production, the Great Wall would allow him to play more defensively.

Lucretia - Seondeok / Korea: A leader which allows her to rush a science victory, which feels thematically appropriate for the future creator of a fake moon. Requires a lot of thoughtful planning.

Davenport - Harald Hardrada (Konge) / Norway: powerful naval-focused civ goes brrr. considered giving him Portugal for a more peaceful approach, but tbh I think it'd be funny if Davenport was really cutthroat at the game.

Magnus - Tomyris / Scythia: I had to think on this one for a while, because at first I was tempted to try and pick something thematic for Magnus - a Diplomacy civ for his rustic hospitality, a civ which focuses on builders for his carpentry, etc etc. But ultimately, I think if you give Magnus Burnsides a game like Civ 6, he's mainly just going to want to have some fun making an army and attacking people.

Merle - Theodora / Byzantium: I think Barry told Merle to pick this one because she's one of the strongest civilizations in the game + she has a focus on faith and culture. Merle proceeds to get a Great Prophet, found the religion of Pan, and then mess up at the game in every single way possible.

[davlucies]

taako rescuing lucretia frfom the depression nexus because otherwise there's no way he and lup can pull off this prank 🌶

[papergardener]

Pivoting from obsessing over TAZ Balance to Warriors is how I remember how much I love powerful women with deep, deep tragedies that they caused by trying to do the right thing for everyone else and should get their happy ending, even if they feel they don’t deserve it.

[queenslayerbee]

I should NOT be this surprised that (re)watching The Sopranos is giving me extra brainworms regarding "Underground Elysium"... ofc Tony Soprano IS one natural influence of Lucretia (how could he not be? he's the blueprint), but as I develop Constanza, Lucretia's mother, and I see Livia Soprano on the show being... the kind of mother that she is... damn, yeah. this should've been more obvious to me xDD

[anistarrose]

one of the most endearing (and slightly emotional) things about TAZ Balance to me is how it sets up this color symbolism, primarily around red and blue, that completely breaks down and ceases to mean anything once you get to know the characters' real backstories — but how this breakdown is actually completely warranted, because all the color symbolism is just completely made up bullshit in-universe. like. Lucretia just made that up for dramatics. all of it.

because, come on. she's a storyteller at heart, and a visual artist too. you can't convince me she chose blue for the Bureau for any reason other than to juxtapose with the Red Robes — to tell a story she thought would motivate the Bureau; a story with themes, and symbolism, and a color key. the total breakdown of her symbolic binary between good and evil, between blue and red — the way it all turns out to be meaningless, as far as indicating alignment or even identity — actually circles around, to come back and mean everything.

and that meaning is about the way Lucretia aligns herself with blue, despite the old red robe that she definitely still has tucked away somewhere, among her most treasured and guarded possessions. it's about the way Lucretia had the power to — and felt that she had no choice but to — reassign the very color the story associated with Barry, from the iconic blue to the terror-inspiring red. it's about the way Barry felt he had no choice but to play along and let her.

because Balance isn't a story about good and evil, especially not beneath the surface. and in a way that I think is part intentional, part beautifully unintentional on Griffin's part, the use of red and blue show this — they show that Balance is really a story about stories.

[sofancydancy]

Okay, so the poll reached about 70% on this one and I jumped on it because I'm ADHD...Seriously, thank you for those who voted!! Going for a Lucretia type of martyr! I am obsessed with the stomach currently because the original painting is so fleshy! Also: from far away this looks like a spicy novel cover

Gale approves

[princess-ibri]

Tangled Unbraided

For ages I've wanted to find a way to use the old fractured fairytale idea of "Rapunzel Unbraided" Disney was going to do in the early 2000s, and decided to just go ahead and show what I've got. So here's some sketches of how the main characters would appear in this hypothetical Tangled spin off movie:

The original synopsis for Unbraided ran as thus:

“An evil witch named Lucretia despised fairy tale happy endings and plotted to change all that. Meanwhile in modern day San Francisco, Claire and Vince are two vastly opposite teenagers who cannot stand one another. Claire is a short haired, fashion obsessed teen who was concerned with her looks. Vince is a stocky and crude pizza delivery boy on hard times. The two of them get on each other's nerves which gets the attention of Lucretia in the fairy tale realm. Lucretia takes Rapunzel and her prince Beau and transforms them into a squirrel and dog, respectively, while Claire and Vince find themselves filling their roles. Claire and Vince eventually team up with Rapunzel and Beau to defeat Lucretia and return to their respective places in time. “

---

And I'd want to follow the basic plot of that, though with changes with what we have from the actual Tangled movie. But basically two teens from 2007 San Francisco (why not make it a 'period' piece with all this Y2K nostalgia going on that makes no sense to me, a Y2K kid x) get reverse Enchanted and find themselves in the Everrealm. Searching for a way home, mentored by a talking squirrel and dog that claim to be famous fairytale characters also trying to regain their human forms.

The reason the witch tries to recreate the Rapunzel story with two people who are unlikely to give it a happy ending is that she's trying to make a spell to warp reality and bring about another golden flower (so that we can have the one that eventually shows up in Sofia the First) and so gain immortality for herself.

My ideas for the growth journeys each character goes on in this hypothetical movie is of course that Claire and Vince both learn to be more comfortable with themselves/find their real potential, as well as learn that its ok to trust others emotionally, both in a platonic sense with Eugene and Rapunzel mentoring them, and romantically with eachother as they get closer.

Rapunzel and Eugene would have this be an opportunity for them both to work through the concerns they both have about being parents. Sure they both have better parental relationships now, but both grew up with either abusive or absent parents (and then hyper protective ones in Rapunzel's case with Frederick) and though they both want kids they're afraid they might still mess it up. So, getting to help these two teens find themselves and their way home gives them a sense of the type of parents they'll be, and that they'll be ok in the end.

(They also all eventually find out Claire is their many times descendent and thats why she looks like Rapunzel so much, and why the spell called her into Rapunzel's place)

For the Witch I decided to change her name from Lucretia as I already had a character with that name for the Bluebeard story. I still wanted her to have some actual connection to the og Rapunzel fairytale, and a way to know about the Sundrop flower, and while I know we already had Cass as Gothel's kid, per my DisneyVerse she did have more then one over those many many years 😅😬

We already had a benevolent version of another Gothel daughter with my rewrite of Ginny, so I decided this time we'd get to focus on a malevolent one, so our villain for this story is Azalea.

(I based her looks on one of the tree nymphs from Gothel's backstory in OUAT, old Gothel/witch concept art and her name was inspired by Alice from OUAT being Gothel's daughter, just with a sharper sounding plant name x)

Also here's some original concept art of the Rapunzel Unbraided story treatment!

(Some of these might technically be from the Rapunzel treatment but I feel they fit the story anyway)

Also some video! A rough animatic overview of the whole story

And a more polished small clip of Claire and Squirrel Rapunzel

But yeah that's my rough little idea of how I'd incorporate the Rapunzel Unbraided concept/characters into the Disneyverse :)

[leveloneandup]

📸: womenswayphilly

https://womensway.org/news-events/womens-way-46th-annual-celebration/

LUCRETIA MOTT HONOREES: TOBIN HEATH AND CHRISTEN PRESS

2X WORLD CUP WINNERS, PAY EQUITY TRAILBLAZERS, CO-FOUNDERS OF RE-INC

*While their soccer season commitments prevent in-person attendance, we are excited to hear from them in an exclusive virtual acceptance speech to learn more about their inspiring lives and work.

Tobin Heath is a 2x World Cup Champion for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer team, an equal pay pioneer, and the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of RE—INC. She is a 4x Olympian, with two gold medals and a bronze medal. She is known as one of the most skillful and entertaining players in the game. Throughout her club career, Heath has played for PSG, the Portland Thorns, Manchester United, and Arsenal. Tobin brings her vision, leadership, and creativity as a Co-CEO of RE—INC, a values-led brand that exists to reimagine the way women are seen and experienced in sports. This summer, RE—INC launched a media division with a critically acclaimed show: The RE—CAP Show World Cup Edition, hosted by Tobin.

Christen Press is a 2x World Cup Champion for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer team, an equal pay pioneer, and the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of RE—INC. She is one of the top 10 goalscorers ever on the USWNT and holds the scoring record at Stanford. Christen currently plays for Angel City FC. Christen led the USWNT’s historic achievement of Equal Pay and served as the leader of the USWNT Player’s Associate for 2 years. For four years, Christen has been the CEO, and now Co-CEO of RE—INC, a values-led brand that exists to reimagine the way women are seen and experienced in sports. She is a 2-year Board Member of Grassroots Soccer, a non-profit organization that uses the power of soccer to provide mentors, information, and health services to at-risk youth in Africa.

[dual-polarity]

Courtship

.

🥀Music inspiration:

Placebo - Running Up That Hill

Sisters of Mercy- Lucretia My Reflection

HIM - Join Me (Razorblade Mix)

[saintsenara]

hi!! for a black family inspired ship ask, i'd love to hear what you think of lucretia/ignatius prewett and dorea/charlus potter

and to keep the silly vibes of the game, alphard/voldemort, walburga/abraxas malfoy, pollux/augusta longbottom, arcturus/horace slughorn

thank you very much for the ask, anon! and for providing me with some ships which require me to do some research!

lucretia black/ignatius prewett dorea black/charlus potter

while i understand the impulse to turn these unions between the blacks and two families who will - in the latter half of the twentieth century, at least - become the biggest blood-traitors going into sexy tales of forbidden love, i suspect that both of these were actually pretty unscandalous matches.

it's very striking in canon that even characters like the weasleys who stridently disavow the more unpleasant bits of blood- and magic-supremacy are susceptible to prejudices against those who aren't pureblood. muriel prewett's disdain for kendra dumbledore connects to her being muggleborn [and she also refers to hermione as "the muggleborn" when she first meets her - it's more polite than "the mudblood", obviously, but it's not great...]. molly weasley is instinctively uncomfortable with many non-magical things [medical treatments, modes of travel] - to an extent that means we have to assume that she doesn't venture into the muggle world without arthur. ron finds harry and hermione's lack of knowledge about the wizarding world vaguely amusing. the whole family - like most of the series' good guys - treat muggles in a way which is paternalistic at best [fudge's condescension towards the muggle prime minister - a man who, in 1996, was working to broker a peace deal in a decades-long sectarian conflict in his own country, and who might have been able to offer some helpful tips in that regard - is a case in point].

all of which is to say, the prewetts and the potters - no matter their more liberal political views - were not still pureblood in the 1930s and 1940s by accident. i'm sure that both dorea and lucretia's marriages were regarded as perfectly sensible ones, to men who came from families which were a little bit odd, but who were otherwise entirely tolerable choices.

[not least because we know the potters weren't poor, even before they earned all that sleakeazy's money, and i think we can also assume the prewetts were also well-off - muriel's entire vibe is giving aunt march sitting on her enormous pot of money while her relatives wait for her to die, and i quite like the idea of molly having gone down a lot in terms of financial security by marrying arthur.]

the other pairings, though...

alphard black/lord voldemort

yeah, i'll back this.

alphard being unmarried, while both his siblings are, is very much giving "confirmed bachelor".

and one of the rules of being a confirmed bachelor in a society with slightly... victorian morals is that you keep your mouth shut about who you meet while cruising in knockturn alley's more sinister establishments.

especially when he's a man who'd kill you if he thought you were yapping about his extracurricular activities...

walburga black/abraxas malfoy

listen, you just know walburga was a bonafide baddie in her day. i bet all the boys were lining up to enter a semi-arranged marriage couched in stifling gender conventions with her.

abraxas fumbled her, i fear, by spending more time on his hair than she did on hers. she wanted to feel the uptown girl fantasy - and he was not making the effort.

pollux black/augusta longbottom

flopping, i fear. despite being an extremely mid-tier specimen, pollux considered himself the sort of man who could attract the sort of woman who'd want to start a tradwife tiktok account and let him control her financially.

augusta, in contrast, was of the opinion that a man who wanted fresh bread baked for him every morning could do that himself.

arcturus black/horace slughorn

canon. i won't explain why.

[kottkrig]

To Embrace The Shadow: Clairvoyance

Brother Lafayette has always been a timid man, and he lost more than just his mentor's protection when both she and her magic was destroyed. But even if he cannot see what's in front of him, there are some things that can only be found in total darkness.

World of Warcraft | Original Characters

Light Angst | Found Family (CW for some ableism)

-----------------------------

Brother Lafayette was deeply affected by the severance. The second when his link with his mentor and the others was gone, so was everything in his sight. He had been without eyes for years, taken from him as a ghoul when his will wasn’t his own, but he was never blind for long. When his mind found clarity after the trauma of necromancy, he met Mother Lucretia.

His sight was rebuilt with her enchantment, and she inspired him to follow her into the Forgotten Shadow. But when she vanished, so did her magic.

A week passed by. Lafayette hated how people started coddling him. He was a timid man who preferred to be a fly on the wall, and now he stumbled and bumbled around the village like a klutz. His shuffling was guided by only a cane and the memories of his home, of which he refused to leave, or he’d surely trip and roll down the road through Deathknell. Out there, he was a target for vultures. He had taken his phantom eyes for granted, and the thought that he might be forced to adapt this time was frightening. Mother Lucretia letting someone like him into the cult, where your main pursuit was power, was baffling to other Dark Clerics. It even baffled himself at times. He knew that the most uppish of clergymen scoffed at him, and it only made him want to retreat to the shadow of his mentor. If he was so dependent on hiding behind her all this time, what chance did he stand when she was gone?

People asked if he needed help, insisting that they could reach things for him, that he didn’t have to embarrass himself. Most of them didn’t mean ill, and those who did were already condescending before, but Lafayette eventually just told people to leave him alone.

Although he was the runt, he knew enough to tap into the Shadow, and it meant that the magic that he was reliant on could be attempted by himself. Together with Brother Cletus, they searched the archives for the spell, and they tried to recast it, but not even their combined powers was enough to succeed. Multiple painful attempts, all ending in disappointment. The humiliation of failure held Lafayette down like a pillory, and he couldn’t stomach submitting to the Dark Clerics for their help before he might cause permanent damage. In fact, he feared that they would continue to patronize him. Without his sight, he couldn’t escape into any of his books, and he could barely perform his duties at the chapel. The other clergymen probably thought him a burden, and he was so sick of being treated like a defect that he could scream.

However, he eventually learned that their pity might not be necessary. When he sulked among the cult archives, the constant blackness he faced was beginning to shift. Ever so faintly, if he turned to certain directions, he could see pulses of indigo lights. These shadowed heartbeats were familiar to him, as the spell of sight was construed from the Void itself. Unexpectedly for someone who couldn’t even enter shadowform yet, the spell’s full potential gave him the ability to look into the abyss in a blink. The cult was never far away from the powers they followed.

Lafayette’s efforts might not have been entirely fruitless. Connecting with the Shadow on his own showed him glimpses of the Void beneath it, and it renewed his hope. Though it was still mostly black, the path forward was no longer dishearteningly obscure.

When Brother Cletus suggested a visit to the site of the matron’s fall, Lafayette immediately supported the idea. The Whispering Forest was teeming with dark magic and sometimes saw expeditions from the cult. The site had been cleared some time ago, and despite his current hindrance, the trio would not be taking a massive risk passing through the forest. He insisted they seize the opportunity. Even if they wouldn’t find anything, he wanted to take part in following Mother Lucretia’s trail after hiding so long. She would have wanted him to challenge his fears.

No Dark Clerics objected to their expedition. They arrived at the Whispering Forest just past dusk, when darkness had begun to cover the glen. Zala led the way forward as their ranger and the only person accustomed to the wilds. Lafayette followed her, Cletus behind him with a lantern, and when the middle heard her checking on them, he thought she sounded nervous. He could only imagine how she felt returning to this place. Sensing his brave Sister’s fears, he began to question his own decision to join at that point.

The elf nocked an arrow on her bow when Lafayette yelped, and Cletus almost dropped the lantern bumping into him. Neither of them could tell why he stopped; they couldn’t see what he was seeing . The forest began to take shape in front of him, but it wasn’t as the others knew it. The trees, their branches and crowns, every rock and bush in front of him started appearing, devoid of any color except for purple. The objects in his vision had a hazy sway to them, as if he was observing them behind a veil; as if from a different plane.

Lafayette didn’t have enough words to soothe the others’ confusion. They sounded skeptical of his sudden shift, but he urged them to trust him. Newfound vigor had him swapping his cane for Cletus’s lantern and shuffling onwards through the hidden Shadow.

Although the sight was intimidating, Lafayette pressed on, as he saw nothing that would deter him. No beasts, no people, no creatures from the Void. Zala and Cletus let him usher them, and seemed just a bit envious of his supernatural sight, but they accepted that he was their guide here. They would simply have to adapt to his pace. He led them to the lake, Tyr’s Fall , where the Shadow Mother made her last stand. Manifested energies slithered in the air like serpents, but he felt nothing from them. They belonged here, and didn’t need his attention.

He searched the deserted beach. He tried to sense something that was different, of any trace of the event; there were footsteps in the sand that were refilling with water, and the grass nearby had been scorched, but they didn’t interest him. The others followed his direction, but were disappointed that they found nothing but memories of a haunted past. Zala accused him of being deluded by visions, and Cletus whined about getting sand in his shoes. Lafayette tried to ignore them while his hope still remained.

Then he saw it. He was the only one who could see it. Up high, perched on a branch in one of the nearby trees, was a single raven.