#William Laurence

[centuryfall]

Temeraire and Laurence, from Naomi Novik's Temeraire book series! I've only read the first three books, so no spoilers please!!!

[skelettflickan]

Here they are!! Temeraire characters as My Little Ponies. Thank you to @elexuscal for planting the idea in my brain, and to everyone else on the discord enabling me and brainstorming with me.

Cutie mark explanations under the cut:

Tharkay: a map, both symbolizing his adventuring spirit and skills as a guide, always finding the right way.

Laurence: I toyed with the idea of giving him a compass, both for his moral compass and career in the navy. Went with waves and clouds, a nod to both his life at sea and in the air.

Roland: I wanted something to represent her skills as a military leader and strategist, and the only thing I came up with was a shield and sword, haha. Emily hasn't gotten her cutie mark yet!

Granby: we know he likes to draw, and the heart symbolizes his passion and strong feelings.

Little: he shares Granby's passion for art, so I gave him a paintbrush. The rainbow paint and sparkles are mostly because it's pretty (and gay).

Harcourt: a shooting star, representing her rising to the occasion and being self-assured and believing in herself, despite what others think of her.

Berkley: he's a calm, reliable person. Always there for his friends. He's a rock. But mountains felt like a better motif than a rock.

[weepingmusicmilkshake]

I feel really stupid because I didn't realize Temeraire was named after a ship until I read League of Dragons in english.

Why? In my copy of His Majesty's Dragon, the translator notes say that "Temeraire" is a word game about boats, so I supposed through nine books that "temeraire" was a joke between seamen like naming your cat "soul eater" or something.

Until I read the line where the Temeraire ship said hi to the Temeraire dragon and I was like: wait a minute—

HOWEVER. Have this Laurence doodle , this time with his scars, because he was not laurencing without them

The Laurence of unimaginable terrors (Temeraire just told him he did something politics-related)

[crownomancer]

“Where you go, you leave half the world overturned behind you. You are more dangerous than Bonaparte in your own way, you and that beast of yours.”

-

Shoutout to @cozy-fish-crow for reminding me of this amazing quote.

But it’s done! A little messy, a few mistakes, but it’s done and I’m happy.

[hismajestysaerialcorps-temeraire]

Not that hard to decide

[emily-e-draws]

His Majesty’s Dragon the comfort book ever.. yes I have five hundred books on my tbr yes I am instead reading Temeraire again

[fedyastars-art]

omg guess who finished a wip I’ve had since this June last year…… yuh it was me

delivering some tharkay, laurence and granby HOORAY!!

[chiropteracupola]

you can turn anyone into little creechures :)

[kingoftheu]

William Laurence truly has one of the funniest character arcs of all time. He does a complete 360 over the course of the series. Totally turned around yet somehow exactly where he started. He completely changed his worldview while being absolutely steadfast about it. He undergoes impressive character development while his character does not change at all. He is so damn stubborn about his preconceived notions of honor that he is willing to abandon his preconceived notions of dragons, gender, and race. He transcends the regency society he lives in not by breaking the confines of rigid values but by expanding those confines to include everyone.

[argetcross]

Temeraire, Tharkay, and Laurence in the Alps

[goddamnshinyrock]

a spy and a traitor (war heroes) share a drink and a laugh

[pappadu]

gotta stop myself from binge-reading all the temeraire books somehow

[crownomancer]

“His hair had slipped out of his short queue, and now fell into his eyes as he looked over. He impatiently pushed it out of the way as he turned back, leaving streaks of blood upon his forehead and the sun-bleached hair; this, with his broad shoulders and his severe look, gave him an unconsciously savage appearance as he surveyed his prize, very unlike his usual thoughtful expression.”

-

I was thinking about this scene.

[hismajestysaerialcorps-temeraire]

I like to imagine Jane Roland and Lady Allendale at tea for the first time, like:

Admiral Roland: Thank you for your hospitality.

Lady Allendale: of course my dearest, it is always a pleasure to host a guest of such distiction, who is yet so near and dear to our own hearts. I trust our dear Emily is well?

Jane: About that, just to be clear, I know you and Laurence would rather have hot pokers shoved up your arses than talk of matters of the flesh above the table, but Emily is not Laurence’s, that is to say our beloved William’s-…his by-blow. His bastard. Her father was an aviator.

Lady Allendale: 😨

Jane: We are fucking though. Not Emily’s father. No I haven’t seen hair not hide of him in ages. No, Laurence and I, that is, your son and I, we are…-lovers? Yes. Something quite like that anyway.

Lady Allendale, visibly sweating: 🫠

Jane: you need not worry, old girl, he already discussed the matter of respectability, that is to say, marriage. I turned him down, immediately, as I am his superior officer.

Lady Allendale, about to collapse into a chair: 😵‍💫

Jane: if we can ever get him returned here, I should be happy to offer you something surely of a more devoted bond…if your estate can support two heavyweight dragons. Perhaps more. They need one cow and a few sacks of grain each for three days, so prepare to provision.

Lady Allendale, at the thought Jane once again settling with a flock of dragons: 🫣

Jane: och, it’s like dear Will is one of those bond street virgins and we must haggle over him like a yearling calf. Although, let me tell you, I would feed any number of the admiralty to a dragon if I could have dear Will back, but the dragons wouldn’t deign to eat anything so foul and riddled with fat and corruption. Sometimes, I wish he’d have let me plan the whole rotten affair so he may have avoided getting caught. Truly, he has no mind for the stink of subterfuge and subtlety. I suppose it no longer matters and that ship has sailed.

Lady Allendale, foaming at the mouth, being held upright by the strength of her corset and the grace of the lord almighty: 😭

Jane: Anywho, Emily is not Will’s bastard. She is mine. Shall we ring for tea?

———

Eventually Lord Allendale overhears of any of a general number of remarks and collapses in a heart attack.

[emily-e-draws]

bedtime stories (a mathematics textbook)

[chiropteracupola]

Things will be different in the new year...