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athoshq · 2 years

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EVENT 01: FOUNDERS DAY PART 2

As the smoke from the fire began to billow up into the sky and almost obscured the moon that rested high in the sky, the three packmasters gathered in the middle of the square and called to attention the rest of the citizens of Athos. While a majority of them could be found surrounding them, there were still some that were out of place – no doubt busy coupling, or at least that’s what the Fenrir packmaster believed – and as eyes rested upon them, Makani Parata took a step forward to address the crowd. “We want to thank everyone that took the time to participate in today’s Founder’s Day, but most importantly, we’d like to thank the wolves of Sabre for their hard work today. Without them, we wouldn’t have the food, the drink, or the music to really make this a day of celebration, and without them, we would also have to worry about all of the pups running between our legs and tripping us up,” he said, earning a few chuckles from the audience – though he was sure people also enjoyed the fact that the pups were otherwise preoccupied as it meant that they didn’t have to be nearly as discreet about things. “We’d also like to thank, of course, every single one of you. Without your hard work and your dedication to making Athos the community it is today, who knows where we might be? Because of you all, we are self-sustaining and we are well on our way to becoming a sought after location for wolves wanting to start a new life.”

Looking over to the other packmasters, including Cassius Scala who gave him a nod, Makani turned to face the crowd once more. “But I’m sure you all aren’t keen on listening to me give thanks. You want to know who won our competitions!” A chorus of cheers echoed then, and the Fenrir packmaster could only smile and chuckle. “Fear not, we have the results. Our winners for the hunting competitions, both in the solo field and in the group competition, all hail from Fenrir and have honored me and their pack well – Sethan Woods managed to bring in the biggest game, no doubt thanks to his hawk of his, and the group consisting of Yric, Silas Rivera and Aurelio Radulfr tackled a massive bull moose and won. Not only have these wolves honored me, but hopefully their efforts will show that you cannot count Omegas out – they are just as capable, if not more so, than others.”

Looking into the eyes of the members of his pack, especially both Sethan and Aurelio, he gave nods in their direction. “The fishing competition was won by Barrett Henderson, a Sabre wolf that has often soothed us with his melodic voice, and his fellow packmates, Fengfan Wu, Nix Staves and Henry Lowell, won the group competition. Their catches were impressive in both quantity and quality, and I’m sure the cooks will be grateful for the influx of fish to serve to us all. But it seems Sabre wolves certainly did well for themselves, this year, as they also managed to win the trapping competitions! Elsyon Velard won by single-handedly trapping his prey, while Udele Acker and his group managed to lure their prey into a trap. Because of the result of their efforts, and the result of the efforts of you all, I’m sure whatever meat that we used today will be more than replen-”

“FIRE!”

The crowd immediately looked over in the direction of the builder’s workshop to see it up in flames, fire licking at the roof of the building and a plume of smoke rising into the dark sky. Faces of worry crossed everyone’s features, especially the Venois wolves who all wondered what items were in the workshop that would be destroyed, when Cassius Scala lept from his spot and ran for the building. “Cassius, no!” Makani called out to the younger wolf, hoping to stop him from being a hero, and he had started to go after him when someone called out once more.

“THERE’S ANOTHER ONE?!”

Eyes turned to look further behind the Builder’s Workshop to see that the storage that housed their carriages was also up in flames. It was hard to tell which fire started first, as both were pretty heavily consumed in flames. “Quick, everyone, grab a bucket and some water. Fill up the empty barrels if you have to… We have to take care of the fires!” There was no moment to lose, and the crowd of people began to frantically go in search of something to be able to help contain the fires. Some wolves had shifted and were trying to dig so that they could kick dirt into the base of the fire, others were grabbing whatever containers they could get their hands on – buckets, cooking pots, empty barrels that once housed mead or wine – and others went to check on their pups.

“Cassius?!” Makani called out, trying to peer through the flames and the smoke to see if he could see the Alpha coming back out… but he couldn’t.

And by the time that the flames subsided, leaving the carriage storage in ashes – and their wagons completely unusable and beyond repair – and the builder’s workshop completely charred and almost irreparable… Cassius was no where to be found. At least until Makani searched through the wreckage of the builder’s workshop, noting that a few items that the builders had been working on had been saved – thrown out of the windows or the door to protect from the flames, items like a bassinet, the head of a bedframe, a couple of chairs – before he stumbled upon the charred and burnt corpse of the Venois packmaster.

With eyes closed, Makani breathed in slowly and whispered a prayer to Mother Wolf before he reached forward to close Cassius’ eyes. Lifting him in his arms, he walked out of the builder’s workshop to find the packs in disarray, arguing with everyone. Blame began to rest upon Fenrir for setting fire to the builder’s workshop because of their disdain for the way that Venois viewed the genders as equals and Fenrir wolves shot the blame back and told them that it was because of them that they wouldn’t be able to do any trading for weeks – all the while Sabre wolves tried to play the mediator.

“We have more important things to worry about than who started the fire!” Makani finally called out, Cassius’ body still in his arms. “We have lost an important member of our community, your packmaster,” he said, looking over at some of the Venois wolves that were arguing, “and he deserves the respect of everyone here.” There were still some murmuring, some people wondering if Makani was just trying to shift the focus because Fenrir was to blame, but for the most part began to agree and nod.

“We have a funeral pyre to start.”

#ahqevent #ahqadmin

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noveratus · 2 years

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The Quarry: Review/Rewrite

Spoilers for the game!!!

Just finished watching a playthrough of the Quarry and I gotta say, I kinda really like this game. It's not the type of game that takes itself too serious and can be quite scary in certain parts, but in the case of the Quarry what really makes or breaks the game are the characters. They are all your normal stereotypes characters you find in horror games/movies but with an added level of complexity to them, which makes them very interesting. You understand them, why they do what they do even if you disagree and you really wanna keep them alive. I think this game does this a lot better than Until Dawn, and while it doesn't have a narrative and plot as strong as that game, the whole point of these medias is to try to keep the characters alive, and you definitely want to do that here way more. I remember playing until dawn specifically so I could kill the three characters I disliked and that was it. Here I don't really dislike anyone- well, with one exception: Ryan.

It's kind of interesting how Ryan is kind of set up to be the main protagonist here, but is the least interesting character of them all. I will talk more about him later though.

To me, the biggest weakness in this story comes from the narrative/plot. It starts out strong with the kids being stuck in the summer camp with werewolves, but then it gets a little too confusing and weird by trying to put too much at once. You didn't really need the Hatchet family to be bigger than Chris, his children and Travis. You didn't need to add the family and the convoluted thread points regarding the land. I also feel bad that the main point regarding this is Silas and yet you only get to learn about him in the last 30 minutes of the game. The ending was also really bad, I know they wanted the banter between the two hosts to be endearing, but it was just annoying. I would have preferred just a picture of the newspaper instead.

All and all fun game. Not amazing, but I think it did a good job with whatcit tried to do. 7/10

The Rewrite

Now that the review is over, we can het to the rewrite. Just a heads up, I have not seen all the endings so far, only the main, true ending. This will be a rewrite of that.

The only thing I would change with Laura and Max is that, in this version, they get to the camp a lot sooner. Travis does not run into them. Laura has a brief encounter with the hag before they find the area where Chris is being kept. From there, game goes as normal with Travis eventually running into them, drugging Laura and shooting Max

We start off the same, last day of summer, the instructors are getting ready to leave, but Jacob wants one last night with Emma so he sabotages the car.

They sit around the fire, but before they start playing truth or dare, they ask Ryan to tell them a scary story and so starts. Around 50 years ago, a woman moved into Hackett's Quarry with her circus and her son, a child born half human half wolf. The locals believed that the woman was a witch and so they burned her alive with her troop, but in doing so permitted the boy to run free. Legend said that he was still alive and looking for the remaining members of the family that burned them down to kill them. No one believes him until he reveals that should know, because his family is one of them.

See, in this version, Ryan's parents are rich and are the ones who actually own the camp. He has come there every year and Chris is practically an uncle to him as well as a father figure since his father died in a car accident a long time ago- or so he was told. People laugh it off and truth or dare starts.

Game continues as normal with Nick getting bitten by one of the werewolves. The werewolves here are closer to your normal media, big fluffy men wolves. Like wolves, these wolves hunt in packs with the leaders being the strongest ones. The other wolves must obey the leader wolf and this wolf is the only one with some understanding of what he is doing. The only way for you to become the alpha is by defeating the current alpha in human form.

The pack starts hunting down the human, but interestingly enough they don't seem too interested in killing them. Just biting. Here is the part where your characters can get bitten. Since the wolves aren't out there to murder you yet, the game is a lot more forgiving.

As the wolves stalk the kids, they also seem to be looking for something- or someone-

This is also around the time that Travis, Laura and Max arrive at camp. Laura is there to kill Chris, the wolf who infected Max and who the Alpha of the werewolves is looking to force him join his pack. He isn't aware of Max yet, but if they run into him they will force him to join as well.

Travis runs into Jacob and Emma and arms them to go hunting for Silas, revealing them about how the curse started. Not only was Ryan's story true, but the White Wolf returns to camp every five years or so and occasionally infects more people. One year, he returned two early and infected a child that was here at the time, the son of Chris, Caleb. Instead of becoming a mindless beast, however, the curse affected Caleb differently (possibly due to his age, he was the same age Silas was when his mother died.) Caleb was not only able to control his transformation, but also control the wolves in his lineage to do his every bidding. Caleb then went on to infect his sister and his father and then more people before he made a whole pack for himself. Caleb managed to escape with his sister, but not with his father, so now he does his best to keep Silas safe so the curse doesn't end while looking for Chris and Travis so that their family may be completed once more.

Meanwhile, Laura tells Ryan, Dylan, Nick Abigail and Keitlin a very different story of how she had been kept prisoner in the police station with Max for the past two months.

Now we have two groups: one trying to hunt down Silas and one looking for Chris with Caleb's wolves tracking down both of them. Travis group is attacked constantly while things are quiet with Laura's group up until they find Chris. This was all Caleb's plan, however as he instead frees Chris and forces him to join his pack. He threatens to do the same to the humans, but Laura is unwilling to go do down without a fight, and so Laura shoots some of the wolves including his sister. Now, Caleb, may or may not be able to speak, but I do think it would be cool if he did.

I would be interested in creating a parallel between Silas and Caleb since they are the only two wolves capable of controlling their transformations, both had terrible things happen to them while children and both value family. The difference is that Silas was a quiet boy who never wanted to hurt people, he just did it when he felt threatened and then was misunderstood for being a dangerous animal. Meanwhile, Caleb comes from a not so great household where all he ever wanted was to get power and upon getting this power he made it his life goal to use it to create a family: even by force.

This is the part in the game where mercy gets thrown out of the window. Any characters infected by the curse are forced to join Caleb as he pretty much takes control over the player- including Nick who was still human up until this point. Any characters will get brutal deaths from now on if you mess up. All the wolves try to devour the humans, getting Laura bitten in the process and the group ends up splitting up with Keitlin and Dylan on one side, Laura and Ryan on the other and Abigail by herself. And so the hunt begins.

Dylan's group find themselves in the junkyard where they are forced to fight some of the wolves, including Chris. Laura and Ryan are followed by the main pack led by Caleb and a single wolf goes after abigail, Nick. Depending on who is turned the distribution may change. It is also heavily implied the hikers are the other wolves, now enslaved by Caleb. I will say his Original group was composed of 12 werewolves, himself, his sister and 10 more. After she dies, that numbed goes down to 11, then as he recruits his father and Nick, 13. The more people were bitten, the more difficult the game becomes. If no one is infected, each group has 3 wolves on them. The scary things about these monsters isn't so much their individual abilities, but how they swarm you and attack in groups. They are surprisingly intelligent hunters (no blood logic here) and will almost always attack in groups.

Dylan and Keitlin manage to kill their wolves, including Chris himself, curing Max in the process. Abigail traps Nick where Chris was being held without harming him and then both groups leave to the lodge, having survived their encounters.

Now Laura and Travis' group reunite and I think it would be cool for the witch to have been playing tricks in Travis' groups so you play through these illusions. Maybe there is even a chance you shoot each other. When you meet, the illusion fades and you quickly find yourselves following a wolf track bigger than the ones before. This is where Silas is, in his old cage, possibly cuddling an old skeleton. In front of him, a group of six werewolves awaits them led by Caleb. Travis ans Caleb look at each other, Travis tries pleading with him to let him end this, but Caleb refuses. He won't let his new family go. He tries to force Laura to join with their connection, but she is able to resist for now and so the fight breaks out. This is by far the longest fight in the game and the hardest. You jump from character to character trying to keep them alive. You can choose to kill the wolves here or spare them, but the latter is considerably harder. Eventually, Travis allows Caleb to bite him to make him think he has won, only for Laura to be standing there with the shotgun ready. She shoots Caleb's brains off, ending the fight and all the werewolves are released.

All but one.

Silas appeared to be unbothered by the fight, just silently whimpering on his spot. Here you get to make one last choice: let him live or put him out of his misery. If you let him live, he will keep infecting people, if not, he is reunited with his mother and they are both allowed to move on.

The game ends with the characters saying goodbye, but not for long, after all the police will want to hear from them. Yeah, it was a tough night, but they survived it and, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

#the quarry #gaming #review #fanart #werewolves #dont mind the mispell in the picture #im tired

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tazmuir · 5 years

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Hello! I loved Gideon the Ninth so much!! and would like to draw fan art, would you mind sharing any helpful summaries of what each character looks like? or must us fans hunt through the book for every offhand line of description? (not that I'm not planning on rereading it anyway)

I have let myself drift back onto Tumblr after two weeks, am deeply affrighted and excited at the idea that anyone has drawn my kids (I had an AMA on Reddit and as said there, my editor every so often hollered into my inbox about amazing shit people were doing, but I was too busy complaining back to him that my face had gone numb and that I no longer slept, but instead the darkness of the grave claimed me for four to five hours each night). Thank you so much to anyone who has already done this. Many people on my team have yelled and yelled.

Back early on in the piece I made a document for him about what characters looked like in terms of basic ideas/outlines for copyediting, covers and sense purposes, and I’ve dug out that document and slapped it up here for general delectation. As a note: I imagine specific things when it comes to my characters (I am a Kiwi: I write Kiwis In Space as a default) but as I have nothing but joy in my heart for how anyone would want to draw these characters, feel free to glance over this, then toss it out the window. It would bring tears of beauty to my eyes if anyone was like “Yes, but when I was reading I imagined Naberius Tern as a huge monitor lizard,” because absolutely yes, Naberius Tern was just a huge monitor lizard, godspeed.

I had only described below the specific cavalier-necromancer pairs, so that’s what you’ll find below, sorry if anyone wanted Teacher.

SECOND HOUSE

The only ones who seemed even vaguely compos mentis were the Second House: as it turned out, they had been the ones to call Teacher to the access hatch, and now they sat ramrod-straight and resplendent in their Second-styled Cohort uniforms, all scarlet and white. They both affected the same tightly-braided hairstyle and the same amount of extremely gilt braid, and also the same serious-business expression, and they could be told apart by one having a rapier and one quite a lot of pips at her collar.

Captain Judith Deuteros and Lieutenant Marta Dyas are alike in posture, bearing and extremely crisp military uniform (think a cross between US Navy whites and the Regency navy). Unlike every single other necromancer on the cast, Judith never wears necromancer robes, but is dressed in the exact same way as Marta. Judith is somewhat less completely scrawny than other necromancers on the cast, though she should be less built than Marta is; Judith is imposing, solemn-faced and reflective, Marta is more keen-eyed and restless. I imagined both as Tongan.

THIRD HOUSE

[Coronabeth] was tall and regal, with some radiant, butterfly quality – her shirt was haphazardly tucked into her trousers, which were haphazardly tucked into her boots, but she was all topaz and shine and lustre. All necromancers affected robes in the same way cavaliers affected swords, but she hadn’t tucked her arms into hers, and it was a gauzy, gold-shot, transparent thing floating out around her like wings. There were about five rings on each hand and her earrings would’ve put chandeliers to shame, but she had an air of wild and innocent overdecoration, of having put on the prettiest things in her jewellery box and then forgetting to take them off. Her buttery hair was stuck to her forehead with sweat, and she kept tangling a curl of it in one finger and artlessly letting it go.

The second twin was like someone had taken the first to pieces and put her back again without any genius. She wore a robe of the same cloth and colour, but wore it like a very beautiful shroud on a mummy. The cavalier had lots of hair, an aquiline face, and a self-satisfied little jacket.

Coronabeth is massive, taller even than Palamedes, larger-than-life – statuesque, very bright gold hair, golden/bright skin, violet eyes. Ianthe is the same height but gangly and washed out. Skin colour defined heavily in Corona’s case as golden/olive-hued brown/tanned; Ianthe similar, but less radiant/more pallid whatever the case. Both have long hair: Corona’s should be big and bouncy, Ianthe’s flat/sleek.Naberius is shorter than both, brown-haired (brown can be light, medium or dark, it’s not defined) and blue-brown hazel eyes. Also has lots of hair, cut short, but sense of pompadour/waves. I imagined all three as Pakeha/white.FOURTH HOUSEBoth Isaac and Jeannemary are around fourteen and have pretty much the same body shape still: Jeannemary is semi-muscular and has lots of corners, Isaac is skinnier. Both are natural brunettes, though Isaac has bleached hair (orange, fauxhawk) and Jeannemary is described as having curly hair. Both have multiple ear piercings and eyeliner and the visual is somewhat Glassons storecard punk. Both have dark brown eyes. Jeannemary has a somewhat dusty, fierce, monochromatic appearance (brown hair, brown skin), and I imagine her as Māori. Isaac I imagined as NZ Chinese.FIFTH HOUSEMagnus Quinn is a man in his middling to late thirties, with short, curly hair: he is a frank-faced, nice-looking guy of medium build with a face inclined to wholesome smiles. His outfits should be absolutely exceptionally well-tailored and not very flashy. Imagined him as Samoan. His wife Abigail is perpetually neat, wears round spectacles and has long, glossy dark brown hair – she is the least described of a cast not very specifically described. Much like Magnus, she should always be beautifully and tastefully dressed, though in her case she would affect trousers as well as a robe. Imagined her as Pakeha/white.

SIXTH HOUSECrouching in front of the hatch was a rangy, underfed young man: he was wrapped in a grey cloak and the light glinted on the spectacles slipping down his nose. Standing next to him holding a big wedge of broken sculpture and the flashlight was a tall, equally grey-wrappered figure with a scabbard outlined at her hip. She had hair of an indeterminate darkness, cut blunt at her chin.Up close, he was gaunt and ordinary-looking, except for the eyes. His spectacles were set with lenses so thick they could make spaceflight grade, and through these his eyes were a perfectly lambent grey: unflecked, unmurked, even and clear. He had the eyes of a very beautiful person, and the head of someone with resting bitch face.

Palamedes is seriously underfed with a bony, thin face and glasses: medium brown hair cut short and with no particular thought for aesthetics, dresses just in greys, eyes particularly lovely clear grey. Camilla has very dark cold-brown hair – chin-length, straight and with a fringe – dark eyes. She’s compact and has lots of lean muscle, and I imagine her of being Middle Eastern extraction, though due to Sixth House parameters both will be fairly mixed. They’re actually second cousins, so there ought to be a faint resemblance.

SEVENTH HOUSE[Dulcinea] was a slender young thing whose mouth was a brilliant red with blood: her dress was a frivolous concoction of seafoam green frills, and the blood on it seemed more somber against such a backdrop. Her skin seemed transparent – horribly transparent, with the veins at her hands and the sides of her temples a visible cluster of mauve branches and stems. Her eyes fluttered open: they were huge and blue, with velvety brown lashes.

Dulcinea is a girlish woman who looks extremely fragile and sickly, like a neurasthenic Victorian maiden. Eyes should be extremely blue. Hair is light brown in long curls; skin is pale. Pretty in a frivolous, invalid way. Gives the impression of being slight. Outfits should be gauzy and nightgownish. Imagined her as Pakeha/white.

The man who’d put the sword to her neck was uncomfortably buff. He had upsetting biceps. He looked like a collection of lemons in a sack. He didn’t look healthy; he was a dour, bulky young person, whose skin had something of the strange, translucent tinge that the girl’s had. He was waxen-looking in the sunlight […] He was dressed richly, but with clothes that looked as though they’d seen practical wear: a long cape of greyish-green, and a belted kilt and boots. There was a long, shining length of etched chain rolled up and over his arm, and a big one-handed sword hung at his hip.

Protesilaus is massive, buff, and also sort of sickly and indistinct-looking in his colouring – he is described as being made up mainly of muddy, ashen browns. Think Greek warrior, but with no vibrant colouring. Biggest on cast, even bigger than Colum Ash. Imagined him as mixed Pasifika.

EIGHTH HOUSEIt was a pair who were both boys – well – a boy and a man; one was a wan, knife-faced kid dressed in antiseptic whites and useless chainmail you could cut with a fork, it was so delicate. [Silas] was draped in it even down to a kilt, which was strange: necromancers didn’t normally wear that kind of armour, and he was definitely the necromancer. He had necromancer build. […] He gave the impression of being absolutely no fun at all. He was prim and ascetic-looking, and his companion – who was older, a fair bit older than Gideon herself – had the air of the perpetually disgruntled. He was rather more robust, nuggety, and dressed in chippy bleached leathers that looked as though they’d seen genuine use. One finger on his left hand was just a gross-looking stump, which she admired.

Silas is in his teens, has shoulder-length white hair in a braid and dark eyes. He has extremely pale skin, and coupled with the white robes and silver chainmail (all of which somewhat swamp him – he’s sort of slender and purse-mouthed) gives the impression of being arrestingly white all over. Pointy chin, oval face, disapproving expression, a little insubstantial. Colum, his older, larger nephew is much taller, broader and in his early thirties. He has medium brown hair in a short back’n’sides crop, dark eyes, and appears jaundiced in skin tone – he’s very weatherbeaten and tan-skinned, scarred, and though he’s dressed in the same colours he tends to contrast heavily with them and his leather armour is also beaten-up. He looks tatty and ill-used, expression is apathetic or forbidding; Silas always looks perfectly clean, crisp and white. Facially there should be a similarity. They’re both Pakeha, with Silas being significantly the palest person on-cast.

NINTH HOUSEThe light fell on [Harrow’s] painted grey face and black-daubed chin, and her short-cropped, dead-crow-coloured hair. […] She had such a peculiarly pointed little face, high-browed and tippy everywhere, and a slanted and vicious mouth.

Harrow is a scrawny teenage girl with black hair cut short (as befits someone in a monastery) and truly black eyes: she never appears except in black and white skull facepaint. She has a pointed, rather triangular face, not very long, a triangular heart rather than a triangular diamond or oval. She wears black robes and long-sleeved, long-trousered clothes – all black – with no skin showing: the main decoration on this is bones. She wears a corset of rib bones and could have any other bone decoration, which has been written of in the book as bone bangles and multiple bone stud piercings in the ears. She’s more femme-androgynous than outright butch; in Book 1 she’s a bit birdlike and free of specific masc or femme gender markers in terms of outfit or build. I imagined her as being mixed Māori.Gideon is true butch: tall of height – at least, taller than Harrow – extremely, shreddedly fit with the muscular arms of a swordswoman or boxer. She should have a strong-jawed, boyishly pretty face with a big douchebag grin. Cropped hair same as Harrow, except that hers as an oblate is more of an in-your-face mop (could be partly-shaved except that implies more care than Gideon possesses) and is intensely, vividly red. I envision her as mixed Māori, darker-skinned than Harrow. She also wears skull facepaint, though hers tends to be much less careful and baroque than Harrow’s. She often affects a pair of black aviator sunglasses. She wears the same black cloak as Harrow, without any decoration, and a plain black shirt and trousers underneath. Her eyes are an extremely vivid amber with more of a yellow/golden tint than a russet one.

#wild spoiler nobody cared about: camilla and palamedes are second cousins #am I allowed to go look at the art now or will I fall about and die of joy #gideon the ninth #appearances etc #I have not come back to the Internet because my inbox was full and I was afraid. Thank you everyone who has read my book.#Naberius Tern is a monitor lizard in a wig. I'm not good at this #reply #otonin

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chessdaze · 4 years

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Three Wishes Institute: New Locations part 2

I realized I forgot a few locations in my last post about new locations, so I decided to write out the rest here! Under Read more for Length

Crystal Woods:

The crystal woods is a beautiful place, so much so that beautiful seems like a lacking term. The area is full of crystalized trees and nature, yet it’s all entirely organic and the animals who live in the woods have adapted to the environment, eating crystalized foot or grass like it is nothing. Some animals even have crystals growing off of them - it’s an entirely strange and beautiful phenomenon that modern science is still trying to explain.

The woods might be out of the way from a lot of places (the closest city being around two hours away), but it’s not a tourist trap or even a place people visit often. There are people who come to research, people who come to buy land, but they’re all eventually turned away by the residence. The people here are almost all dwarves or descendants of dwarves, and take pride in the land they stand on. There is also a mine, like in the old stories about dwarves serving a princess, and a lot of the residence work there on a normal basis.

It’s a hub of history and tradition, and thanks to modern technology some people have gotten together to properly document all about their land and it’s history - they don’t mind it they simply didn’t want outsiders to do it, not trusting them to really understand or take everything they talk about seriously.

They do however allow new people to move in if they intend to work in the mine or on the fields to pick and sell crystalized crops (this is their major trade item with other cities / countries, and how the town has reminded in good shape for so long). Though it’s rumored that there is an...extensive interview process.

Emil and Otto are from here, and are one of the bigger families within the small town. Not just from the fact that have a lot of younger siblings, but the fact they have a lot of extended family as well. Most of which, are still pure blooded dwarves, while the twins themselves and most of their siblings are only a quarter dwarf, only having pointed ears to show for it.

Thieves Den:

The thieves den is located in a canyon, where ‘houses’ are carved into the side of the canyon wall. If it wasn’t filled with the worst people imaginable, It could be a popular tourist or vacation spot. Sadly, that is not the case. The people who live here are the worst of the worst, stealing from anyone or anything - sometimes even eachother, which starts brawls that could last all night. While they all sort of agree to follow one ‘king’ or ‘queen’ of thieves, there is no honor here, at the end of the day it’s every thief for themselves.

Still, the way they have crafted the homes in the canyon walls is both beautiful and functional. Magic and minor electricity keeps the place let up and functioning with the basics, rooms are filled with gold and other treasures gather Instead of doors there’s normally walls of beads and jewels, or expensive looking fabrics and tapestry that close off areas.

No one from the land of hot sands goes near the Thieves Den, lest they rob you blind and not even leave you with the clothes on your back. Some people from the slums seek refuge here if they have been kicked out for their ‘bad behavior’ and have no where else to go. Sometimes criminals are thrown in here by the guards of the surrounding cities as punishment for their crimes - either those criminals end up joining the den, or they aren’t heard from again.

There are two people who have connections to the den that are correctly At three wishes. One of them is unaware of the other, but the other is all too familiar with the former and occasionally tries to offer advice that only a thief could...

Sand Dune Slums:

A place that is exactly how it is described - a slum area within the Land of Hot Sands. It’s technically in the shadow of the major city (Modern Agrabah, cause idk what else they would call it honestly), so another name for the location is Agrabah’s shadow. People here are sometimes former criminals that can’t get a paying job in the city thanks to their previous record, or just people who had tried to make it big in the city and gave up at some point, or simply those who can’t afford to live in the extravagant city. Their homes are built out of layers of tarp, wood, and stone blocks - and they have to build within a certain area or else the guards from the city get mad at them, saying they’re ‘ruining the scenery’ since the city is a popular tourist spot. This is why the slums are contained to the back side / shadows of the outer city walls.

There’s a bit of a barter system in place of money, as no one really has a decent amount, ad any they’re going to spend would be spent in the city getting better quality things if that could afford it. However there’s still thugs and lowlifes here who try to steal from others without bartering at all - they only get stopped half of the time - the guards tend to turn a blind eye towards crimes that happen in the slums, focusing more on if any of the population of the slums makes trouble within the city, or throwing people out too the slums.

But, overall, the people here are pretty kind and try to welcome everyone with open arms. There’s lots of community events to keep people’s spirits up and they try to share what they get with anyone they can afford to.

Ozan is originally from here, but after stealing one too many things, he was thrown out of both the city and the slums. Left where no where else to go (other than the thieves den, but they wanted to avoid that place at all costs aswell), they wandered until they found a mirror to transport them somewhere else for them to live - which is how he came to steal items from Three Wishes Institute, and later be accepted into the headmaster’s family.

Underland:

(a big thanks to my friend Freya @twstriddle who let me use this idea that they had come up with and make a few tweaks to).

Underland is the organized crime capital of Twisted Wonderland. It is not a place you ever want to be caught in if you don’t know the unspoken rules of the place. Crime happens 24/7 here, you can barely take a look around without catching at least 3 crimes going on around you.

Having mostly been a dumping ground for the Country of Roses in the distant past, the city itself isn’t too modernized but instead has a more steam based system. This is someone’s Steampunk paradise on the surface; clock towers, exposed machinery with running gears all day and night, Crazy new inventions being made - and thrown out - every single day. Steampunk fashion is also popular and the most sold (legal) items in the city.

Among the crime families, there is one that practically rules over them all, the Pillars. They practically have a monopoly over most of what comes in and out of the city. They maintain a decent, working relationship with the other families, but they are also the most targeted because of their status. (and funfact the leaders of the Pillars are two husbands. I would say I don’t make the rules, but I very much do in this scenario).

Some say that there has been an uproar in Underland ever since someone stole items from the Pillars and disappeared without a trace.

Chronos Gate:

A stretch of land between the Country of Roses and Underland, which is a famous tourist destination. The land has been touched with time magic, now pretty much forbidden over all of Twisted Wonderland, and while efforts were made in the past to try and correct this area’s disrupted time, no success came of it and soon people founded it as a tourist destination instead.

Different areas of the land have different time zones and seasons, as time does not match up over all of the land. One step you’ll be in summer at noon, the next it might be a dark and cold winter night. The biggest attraction is at what is considered the ‘center’ of the land, time is completely stopped. A special walkway had to be made so that people wouldn’t get trapped here as they traveled through.

Each time one enters a different time, it’s considered walking through a ‘gate’ of time, hence the name of the location.

There are also research facilities set up in multiple areas of the land, studying the time magic and how to dispel it. There are people who live here aswell, but they tend to stick to the outer edges of the land - the ‘beginning’ and ‘end’ gates, the ones closest to Underland and the Country of Roses. These are the two gates that are the most accurate as far as time goes, even if they are a few hours ahead or behind the mentioned areas.

Someone in Three Wishes is very familiar how the Gates work.

Rosa Castletown:

A mysterious castle-town that only few have heard of, and even fewer been to. Apparently it used to be an entire country, but has been dwindled down to just the castle and the surrounding city - all enclosed within large stone walls.

Silas Rosamund is from here and often praises the castle town for persevering through the times, but also has slight criticism for the town as they have not all decided to keep up with the latest technology or trends. A lot of senior citizens move to the castle town because of this, wanting a nice and simple place to retire and relax. They have the basics at least, so at the very least they aren’t entirely in the stone age.

The castle town is said to be rolled by a beautiful and powerful queen, who only shows herself on special nights of the year. International holidays being a few but also a few holidays specific to the town, such as the rose viewing festival - as the castle town, if known by anyone, is known for their roses - they even have vines of roses encasing the walls of the town.

Silas actually lived in the castle as a servant, and tended to the Queen personally, so he’s one of the only ones who has ever seen her face up close.

#three wishes institute #twst fanschool #twst #twisted wonderland fanschool #twisted wonderland #fictional locations #twst ocs #[i mean technically?? my ocs are mentioned]

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hopevalley · 3 years

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its super bizarre - i feel there has been next to no progress with this love triangle for almost three years. like we still don't know much about these men, why she should go with one or the other and they write them in a very strange fashion. but even elizabeth herself - there has been no talk between her and her friends about how she is processing her grief over her dead husband, when and if she wants to move on, there's alot of assumption and not alot of back up. weird.

I think you sent three messages but I’ll reply to each one separately because I’m lazy and it seems simpler. :P

I agree that the biggest issue with the love triangle is almost in two parts.

We don’t really feel like we know these men let alone why she would like them, but also

The writing is clumsy sometimes and it throws everything off.

Related to #1 you could also say, “Why should either of these men like Elizabeth beyond her good looks?” Like sure, her being good with kids is an admirable trait (from Nathan’s POV, anyway), but it’s not exactly romance-worthy on its own.

I wish there was a little more meaty discussion about “moving on” and the processing of grief. Here are some examples of grief that were addressed in the show:

Cat loved her husband but they’d been having a lot of troubles due to his gambling addiction, and the debt Joe left with her left Cat to care more about how her children felt about him than how she felt. I can’t help but feel that there was a little resentment there.

Florence straight up was still in love with Paul. Like he still left her love notes toward the end of his life and everything. As late as S5 she was still not ready to move past him.

Molly loved Patrick but was trying to live in the present by focusing on Rosaleen (so maybe struggled to process that loss). We never really saw her get over it.

Mary loved her husband and emotionally wasn’t ready to move on from him but felt she needed to take advantage of someone expressing an interest in her because she had a son to worry about and no way to provide for him long-term. We see her fall for Dewitt over time but it’s pretty clear to me that had she been financially sound, she would have never bothered with him from the start (because she wasn’t ready to move on).

Abigail seemed to be grieving for Peter way more than her husband Noah, so it’s possible they weren’t the uh...most in love anymore by the time he died, but they barely knew each other when they got married so there’s that. There are a few episodes that show her processing her grief, particularly for her son. She had nothing left of her family, so the difficulty for her was in leaving the house they had shared to get on with her life, and, much like Mary, not having the luxury of taking her sweet time to decide what to do.

When Dottie’s husband died and Bill expressed his condolences, she said, “Please. We both know my husband was no saint.” I never forgot that line. It’s hard to get a read on her relationship to Silas, but I got a “convenience” vibe from them. (In fact, at one point I thought she was going to hook up with Henry...lol.)

We also got a “moving on” theme with Bill and Nora for quite some time, where we saw that both characters grieved the loss of their son Martin differently (and in fact, were incompatible in this way as their methods of grieving only ended up hurting each other). Nora was very open with her grief; Bill was very closed about it. Even after a couple of years Nora couldn’t seem to finish processing her grief and felt she was alone in her hurt. I think Dottie was a catalyst for Nora being able to move on; she told her that she was not alone and many women in Hope Valley understood the hurt she was feeling very well. She then made a conscious effort to get on with her life and stop wallowing in her grief.

We also saw Clara struggle a little with the memory of Peter, but it was just a glimpse, and I think serves to show the audience that moving on doesn’t necessarily mean forgetting, and it certainly doesn’t mean the love you felt disappears.

I know they had a whole episode dedicated to people grieving Jack, but it didn’t really have the time to get into the heart of it for everyone. We saw bits and pieces of the characters dealing with it. Rosemary was close (childhood!) friends with Jack. Bill was his mentor/viewed Jack as a son and he’s already lost one son. Abigail probably also saw Jack a bit like a son/family member. They all sort of...grieved for Jack and we caught glimpses of that, but never the full resolution. Has everyone processed that grief except for Elizabeth? We have no way of knowing.

I really just want Elizabeth to have a frank discussion with some of her friends. I don’t even care which friend. She could talk to Rosemary, Lee, Bill, Clara, Florence, Molly. Heck, she could write to Abigail and let it be narrated like her journal entries. Sometimes those were a bit heavy-handed but at least we weren’t left to just Assume Everything (which is a disaster in HeartieLand).

What kind of conversation would I want? Just something open and honest. Raw. The girls had that discussion about feeling “cheated” in S5 and that was one of the best lines this show has ever seen. I want Elizabeth to have that conversation with someone. I almost don’t care who it is, but it might be nice if it was someone a bit unexpected (so...not Rosemary or Clara). My vote would be for Bill because I want to see him have a bigger role with Elizabeth and Jack, but also because Jack meant a good deal to him, too, and he might be able to offer an interesting perspective, but Lee or Florence would be incredible, too, and the conversation being so belated would feel more natural (these aren’t people she confides in about deep emotional things, but she bottled it up until it just exploded).

Plus I feel like those three characters wouldn’t push her the way Clara and Rosemary pushed Elizabeth in the past. Was it #badwriting? Yeah. But they were really pushy about Elizabeth needing to fall in love again/put herself out there. I think Bill, Lee, or Florence would encourage her more from the perspective she needs encouragement from, in my opinion: sometimes moving on takes a long time, sometimes a person needs to process their grief without pressure from other people.

(Plus, I’m kind of tired of seeing Rosemary just fill Abigail’s shoes as the only friend Elizabeth apparently has. I want to see other characters Elizabeth can lean on, too.)

#anonymously asked #answered mail

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bushelofmuses · 3 years

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Evil Queen, Maleficent, and Mother Gothel for Ameridan?

Disney Villain Headcanon Prompts

EVIL QUEEN - What would your muse give up if it meant they could take revenge on their worst enemy?

Depending on the verse, he's in a similar boat to Mythal and Solas, with Silas being his biggest enemy outside of himself and self-sabotage. While he agrees with what Solas did in the begining to lock him and the others up, he doesn't agree with what he's up to now. His idea of revenge where Solas is concerned is stopping him from getting everyone killed.

Solas was out cold for eons. Ameridan had been up and about for a few centuries before he disappeared again. He'd made friends with people from all over and grew to respect them. He's met the elves, knew what they were like before the Fall and after and everything they've been through since. I'd imagine he's in a similar mindset to Mythal in that while the elves are nothing like what they used to be and have so much wrong about history, but they've fought tooth and nail to survive and at least try to keep their idea of the old ways alive. If Solas tries to tear the Veil back down, everything their people worked for and all of the progress the other races have made will be for nothing. He doesn't want that to be lost; Ameridan would rather magic fade away than destroy progress, even if that progress isn't perfect. Revenge would be simply stopping him.

Outside of Solas, it would be to tear Deceit and Fear apart and do so slowly. They contributed to his corruption and eventual fall. Being locked away in the Fade by Solas was the best thing for him since it separated him from them and their influence. No one is immune to the influence of demons; you'll cave in eventually.

He'd want the two of them to suffer for the predicament they led him towards. He takes full blame for his actions but he knows he wouldn't have reached his cruel conclusions without their presence.

Ameridan would give up his freedom if it meant finding their asses and giving them a piece of his mind.

MALEFICENT - What is the cruelest thing your muse has ever done? What is the cruelest thing they’re capable of?

He owned slaves and used them for blood sacrifices to make himself stronger. Ameridan looked at what became of his people later on and how they were treated horribly by humans and their enslavement, witnessed and experienced the horrors the lower class did. That and being locked up for a few eons opened his eyes a bit.

He regrets it and knows he was wrong now, but he owns up to it. Sort of??? He can't exactly tell anyone who and what he is or explain himself. Ameridan can't ask his former slaves and victims to forgive him, wouldn't if he could as he knows damn well he wouldn't deserve it for the horrors he inflicted on them.

His atonement is just trying to do better.

So he's still fully capable of it and would do so again if he doesn't keep his temper and desire to fulfill his goals in check. He doesn't want to be what Dirthamen was again. It would be too easy to fall into old habits again and use blood magic with others paying the price for him.

MOTHER GOTHEL - Would your muse want to live forever? Why or why not?

He kind of already is. Honestly, he's exhausted, but he wouldn't give up and let himself die or purposefully throw himself into a hopeless fight he couldn't win until he's made sure Solas was stopped. If he can't stop him, he'll stick around to try and make things right again if he can.

He really wants to just kick the bucket so he can finally rest and see Telana and his friends again. He's beyond lonely.

#hcs #ameridan #ameridan hcs #ask reply #meme reply #distantwcrlds #outofink #slavery cw

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twdmusicboxmystery · 4 years

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TWB 1x09/1x10: A Template for the Daryl/Carol Spinoff and a Bethyl Reunion

So, what did everyone think of TWB finale? I really enjoyed it. As I’ve been teasing, I had a HUGE lightbulb moment about this series and what it points to symbolically. I know many in the fandom are asking what the point of this series is if we don’t see Rick. Well, I think I know. As I’ve said in Asks, I think plot-wise, we may still see Rick (or even Beth) in S2. The characters aren’t actually inside the CRM yet, but at least Hope and Silas are going there, so there will be more opportunity for them to run into Rick or Beth next season.

***As always, spoilers abound below for TWB 1x09 and 1x10. Don’t read until you’ve watched!***

So, what was my big lightbulb moment? Here it is:

Symbolically, this is foreshadowing what will happen with the Daryl/Carol spinoff, Rick, and how Daryl and Beth will reunite. The good news is, I’m more convinced than ever that she’s close. You’ll see why as we go along. The bad news is, we really probably won’t get a Bethyl reunion until the spinoff, which will come after S11. That’s a ways off. I was just praying we’d see her either in the flagship series or in TWB or FTWD before then, and then the news broke that she’ll be in the bonus episodes in flashbacks. I know that doesn’t prove she’s alive, but it was still kind of an answer to a prayer for me. Okay, so here goes.

This will be long, as I have a LOT of things to talk about here. Let’s establish names, first of all, as I’ll be referencing all these people. Iris and Hope’s dad is Leo. The woman with him (the same female scientist we’ve seen in the codas) is Lyla Belshaw. Felix’s boyfriend’s name is Will.

So, we finally met Will in ep 9. We see him in flashbacks. We see when he and Felix first met (which incidentally was when he first met Huck; that’s important). Then there’s a bedroom scene where they’ve obviously been in a relationship for a time. We see Felix talking to Will about how he really wants to go with Leo, but Leo has asked him to stay behind with Iris and Hope. Then we see Felix find out Will was going with Leo instead (which kinda crushed him) and then we see them all say goodbye.

This is a funny thing to say, but it was the bedroom scene that made it all click for me. Lol. It was because of the sleeve Felix wears on one arm. My fellow theorists tell me that they talked about this earlier in the season, but I either completely missed it, or it went in one ear and out the other. Hey, I’m human, too. ;D

It reminded me of the plaid sleeve on Daryl’s coat when they went to Oceanside in 7x15 to take their guns. Remember that?

At first, I thought he was missing the sleeve of his jacket. But then someone told me it was actually just that a different sleeve was sewn onto the jacket. As though someone had put it together piecemeal. Well, same thing, only this was black rather than plaid. Now, we’ve seen parallels between Felix and Daryl before, especially in the beginning. He talked about how he had a not-so-happy family background and specifically how his dad (like Daryl’s) was just not cool. He’s also like Daryl in that he’s kind of the badass protector of the group, right? So when I first noticed the sleeve, I went, “Okay, another Daryl parallel. Hmm.”

Then Will had an interesting line. As they got up, he said, “I’ll make pancakes if you made dinner later.” I went, “pancakes!”

Cue first lightbulb moment. (Reminder: pancakes/Bisquik is a Beth/resurrection symbol.) Felix = Daryl; Will = Beth. That’s what these symbols are pointing to. And it actually makes perfect sense in a way I hadn’t really thought of before. Think about it: at the beginning of this series, we had Felix who was once in a romantic relationship with Will, but the two of them are separated. Felix hasn’t talked to, seen, or heard from Will in a long time, right? So, it’s a separation thing. You could even argue (and I think I did back in ep 1) that Felix keeping and wearing Will’s coat lines up with Daryl having Beth’s knife. At the end of ep 10, Felix runs into Will and they have a huge reunion. I’ll come back to that in more detail in a minute.

So here’s the thing: the more I thought about this, the more lightbulb moments I had. What do we know about Felix’s backstory, especially where Leo (Iris and Hope’s dad) is concerned? We know Felix and Leo became friends, Leo kind of adopted him, and Felix became part of the family, right? Well, that’s pretty much exactly what happened with Rick and Daryl. If Felix = Daryl and Will = Beth, Leo = Rick. Think about that. Leo left to join the CRM/helicopter group. Felix was left behind to protect his children. The biggest difference in TWD is that Rick didn’t go voluntarily, where Leo did. But other than that, same situation. Rick was taken into the CRM, and Daryl is now raising and protecting his children.

My next lightbulb moment came later in the episode. Felix gets hurt. He can’t walk very well. Huck says she has to leave him behind. Everyone is upset and saying goodbye and Felix hugs Huck and tells her he loves her. And of course this isn’t romantic love because, well, he’s gay. And THAT’S when it hit me.

From a Daryl standpoint, who is a woman Daryl loves, but not romantically? Carol. Gals, if Felix is Daryl and Will is Beth and Leo is Rick, then Huck is Carol. And think about it: if you set Iris and Hope and the boys aside for a minute, this entire story line is about the Daryl character (Felix) and the Carol character (Huck) taking off together to look for Leo. (Otherwise known as the Rick character.)

Boom. This entire thing is a foreshadow and parallel/proxy of the Carol/Daryl spinoff storyline. I guess you could say that my official theory now is that it’s new of Rick that will pull Daryl and Carol away from the community. They’ll go to find him. That’s why they’ll leave together after S11. But what happens here for Felix? On his journey to find Leo, he runs into Will, his love interest, who represents Beth.

So, Daryl will leave to find Rick, and somewhere along the way, he’ll finally find Beth and they’ll have their reunion.

Couple of thoughts/details here, just for clarification:

1) I’m not sure Huck’s exact arc here will be Carol’s. She’s a member of the CRM, which Carol is clearly not. And she really betrays Felix with all this. In the finale, the two of them get into full-on hand-to-hand combat, which I REALLY don’t see being the case with Daryl and Carol. But we also know Carol has betrayed TF in various ways over the years (Karen/David, letting Negan out of his cell, Connie) so it may be more about the type of character than about the exact arc.

2) I’m not sure how the kids fit in. Even though we’ve always thought Iris and Hope might be proxies to Beth and Maggie (and I still think that’s true) overall, I think they MORE represent Judith and RJ. Only because of Leo = Rick and they’re his kids. Now, obviously Iris and Hope are much older than Rick’s kids, and Judith and RJ aren’t going to take off to find Rick. So I don’t know if they’ll figure into this or not. It’s hard to say because in this show, Leo’s kids are with Felix. So will it be a matter of Judith and RJ being taken, or will he leave them behind? I honestly don’t know.

What I said above about Felix meeting Huck and Will at the same time? It just struck me as yet another parallel. Even though Daryl knew Carol before Beth (because S1), S2 was only days after s1. So really, he met them around the same time. And while he became besties with Carol, the romance lies with Beth. Same with Felix. Besties with Huck. In love with Will. Just saying.

Oh, and something @frangipanilove reminded me of: Tom Sawyer Theory. There have been tons of Mark Twain/Widow Douglas/Tom Sawyer references around Carol. Now this character’s name is Huck, and it’s a nickname that comes from Huckleberry Finn because she was found on a raft.

Okay, moving on. Um…let’s talk Percy for a minute.

Remember that I said last week he was a major Beth proxy, because he seems to have staggered off, wounded, and everyone assumes he’s dead, but there was no body.

In this episode, Elton finds him and guess what? He’s been shot. So in keeping with the Beth parallel (no body, staggered away, presumed dead) he was also shot, not stabbed. Not in the head, of course, but in the chest/shoulder. But it was important for Elton to find that because it made him realize Silas didn’t do it. Silas didn’t have a gun.

Another thing I found interesting is that Elton was sure Percy would die. His hallucination of Percy kept saying, “you know I’m going to die, right? I’m not going to survive.” And things like that. But low and behold, Percy actually lives. So, yet another way to round out the Beth parallel. Got shot. Staggered away. No one correctly understood what actually happened there. But he runs into someone who helps him and saves him. And, he lives.

So then Elton and Percy find Silas. And this was super cool from a TD standpoint as well. Silas accidentally starts a fire. The smoke from it, while less, looks EXACTLY like the smoke from the moonshine shack in Still. (Ah foreshadows.) Elton sees the smoke and follows it, hoping to find Silas, which he does.

And here’s where, again, it gets interesting. They have a small but sweet reunion. Elton runs up and hugs Silas really tight and says that he found him and also that he brought Silas’s bag and that he found his walkman and headphones in the road.

It was the way he said that that caught my attention. He found them in the road. Last week, we totally compared the headphones to the music box, but I didn’t think about the fact that he dropped them in the middle of the road. I didn’t think to compare them to Daryl finding the green jasper in the middle of the road. But Elton found Silas’s MUSICAL DEVICE in the middle of the road and brought it back to him. Also, Rock in the Road story/theory. And @wdway pointed out Daryl’s line to Beth in Alone: “Go up the road a ways; I’ll meet you there.”

So, think about this. We have this rock-in-the-road reference, and a reunion between Elton and Silas. In the same episode, we see Felix, out on the road, walking through the woods, stumble onto his romantic partner, who he hasn’t seen in a LONG time. They hug, have a reunion, both are crying, and Will cries out, “I thought you were dead.”

Let’s talk about Leo, Iris and Hope’s dad. In terms of the plot, I actually have a lot of questions, but I suppose that’s the point. In ep 10, we have lots of scenes of Iris and Hope’s dad. The woman from the codas, Lyla is in them, too. She and Leo are in a romantic relationship. But it’s obvious that she’s a plant by the CRM and that she’s feeding them information. I wasn’t sure if these scenes were meant to be present day, or flashbacks. I THINK they’re present day. So, he’s actually fine and not really in any danger.

We were right in thinking that Hope is the asset. In this episode, they say they just want her for her smarts, to help her father in his research. To some extent, it’s like she’s Eugene for this show (except for real, lol). Her dad says of her at one point, “maybe she’ll save the world.” Which feels like a foreshadowing. So maybe she really will find the cure or something. We’re also wondering if there’s something more they aren’t telling us. Like some sort of immunity thing. But they haven’t said anything like that in this episode.

The other reason I’m not sure about what Hope’s role will be is that she is obviously a proxy for Beth on her own. (In one flashback, everyone is eating dinner together and she says, “I made the carrots.” So yeah, self-proclaimed Beth proxy.) Carrot Theory Here.

So maybe she’ll find the cure and save the world. Or maybe all these characters will die at the end and she’s just functioning as a Beth proxy. Beth isn’t the super-smart Eugene type that will save the world in that way, but I do think the fact that Hope is the “asset” and the CRM wants her is probably a proxy for Beth in some way. Just not sure how it will play out.

So, back to the dad. In these Leo scenes, it’s obvious that he’s suspicious about things having to do with the CRM. He says that he recognizes they do good things, but he’s suspicious about the military. He says that Will’s scouting mission should have been back days ago. (Yes, Felix’s Will.) But he’s not. And Lyla just passes it off as “lots of things can happen that might have delayed him.”

So, I wasn’t sure if Will’s group, which we only see for a few seconds at the end, is part of the CRM and has just been delayed in returning, or if they’re purposely not returning because they know what the CRM did to the people at the university and have become a rebel group. My first impression was that they were rebels, hanging out in the forest, but they honestly don’t tell us much, here.

Well, that was because, the first time through, I missed the coda at the end of episode 9. You guys gotta see this shot! What happens is basically that we see Will running. He trips and falls by this walker, stares at it a moment, and then jumps up to run again. We see CRM soldiers running after him. So, that confirms that he’s now a rebel. Hiding from and rebelling against the CRM because he saw what they did at the University.

And the only reason that even matters is that we’ve conjectured that Beth might be leading a rebel group against the CRM. This is a confirmation of that theory (because Will = Beth).

But look at this shot:

It’s a blond walker who’s literally rising from her grave. If that’s not confirmation that Will = Beth, I don’t know what is.

Oh, let’s go back to Silas for a minute. I said last week that he might be headed toward Beth, right? Yeah, I still think he might be. So, after Elton, Percy, and Silas reunite, Silas is happy to know that he didn’t kill Tony or hurt Percy. Huck did. But he and Elton want to go find the girls and tell them about Huck. Before they can, the CRM soldiers arrive. They probably followed Silas’s smoke, and also at one point Percy talked to Huck, very briefly on the walkie on an open channel.

So, the CRM knows they’re around and is looking for them. They try to sneak away, and come to a chain-lined fence with a locked gate. They unlock it to go through, but Percy is still bleeding a lot from his GSW. He tells them to leave him behind because he’s slowing them down and the dripping blood will be a trail right to them.

Silas makes a choice to save his friends. He pushes them through the gate and turns himself into the CRM, even cutting his hand to account for the dripping blood. He locks it so they can’t come back in and says, “go save Iris.” The CRM does take him into custody and Elton and Percy get away. So again, if Rick and Beth are inside the organization somewhere, he really could run into them.

What this really reminded me of was Sasha and Rosita. Major parallel there. Which, sadly, makes me wonder if Silas will die next season. A proxy, just as Sasha was. I thought it was interesting that Silas cut his hand across the palm. It’s a Christic wound and he sacrificed himself for his friends. But he’s also inside the CRM now, which means he could potentially run into Rick or Beth next season.

I wrote down other, smaller symbols. Things we always talk about like dialogue and background symbols. There’s a part where Elton kills some walkers and a bright red leaf flies across the screen. One of our red objects, I think. And that’s while he’s saving Percy, who should have died, but lived. Percy calls Elton Corduroy at one point, which is a bear reference.

Oh! Here’s an interesting one, though it’s not directly related to Beth. At one point, when Felix gets hurt, he and the ladies (Hope, Iris, Huck) go to a particular building. I believe it used to be a retirement home, though it honestly doesn’t look medical at all. More like a manor house. Like Hilltop, only in major disrepair. When they go in, Iris says, “This place feels haunted.” And Hope says, “the whole world is haunted.”

That’s a shockingly exact echo of Tyreese saying that to Carol in 4x14. He said, “the whole world is haunted now.” It’s so lovely and sad, it was always one of my favorite lines. So, I sat and thought about what the parallel is supposed to be.

I think it may be about the truth coming out. Because the biggest thing about 4x14 was Lizzie and Mica’s deaths, but nothing happened in this episode to really mirror that. No one died. But Carol also told Ty the truth about her and how she’d killed Karen. And remember that Huck is the Carol character. Here, they all find out who Huck really is and what she’s doing. It’s like, deceptions fall away and the truth is revealed. So yeah, not really a TD thing, but I thought that was super interesting.

One other thing: at one point, Hope and Huck run into walkers on the road and have to fight them. Hope has Felix’s gun, but she drops it. They’re standing on a bridge (Bridge Theory) but it’s not a huge bridge or an overpass. It’s one of those little wooden bridges over a pathetic little stream. Like, literally four feet down and they could jump off the bridge without being hurt, right? Well, when Hope dropped the gun (because she’s fighting a walker) and it slid down off the bridge and into the stream.

Visually, it reminded me a lot of when Beth kicked the gun down the elevator shaft in Coda. So I watched closely to see if they would retrieve it. They didn’t. Huck even said something like “well, the pistol is gone, so let’s just keep going.” And I had to laugh at that. Not realistic at all. The pistol isn’t gone. It’s right there. They just had to jump down and get it. No way the little bit of water would have been enough to carry a metal gun away. So yeah, I feel like that was a purposeful parallel to Beth at Grady.

That’s most of the big stuff. My overall theory, following the template TWB is laying out for us is this: Daryl and Carol will take off together after S11, either because they have word of Rick or something to do with the kids. Just as Will is inside the CRM with Leo, Beth is inside the CRM with Rick. Somewhere on that journey, Daryl will run into Beth on the road. What happens next season in TWB will give us a better idea of what will happen where Rick is concerned in the story. But this is definitely a foreshadow of the spinoff and how Daryl and Beth will reunite.

And now, with word of Emily being in the bonus episodes, even if they’re just flashbacks, it makes me think we’ll see her in the second season of TWB. The flashbacks are priming the audience for her true return. I literally wrote the above to @wdway and @frangipanilove on Friday morning. Friday afternoon, news of Emily being in the bonus episodes broke. For me, it was just everything falling perfectly into place.

Thoughts?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

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ambrosiaicecreem · 4 years

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93 fun OC asks because why not (PT 1/2)

i’m splitting this up cus its a LOT, but it’s gonna be all 93 LMAO. courtesy of @lazysunjade. this one’s for YOU!

BASICS:

1. What is their gender?

Cis Male

2. What is their sexuality?

Bisexual

3. What is the meaning behind their name? Do they have any nicknames?

Silas means “the youngest”.. which is ironic really since he’s the oldest. He doesn’t really have many nicknames. He’s either just referred to by his first name or last name.

4. Do they have any siblings? How many? Are they older or younger? Which sibling are they the closest with?

Silas only has one sibling: Marcus. Silas is older than Marcus by about 4 years, but despite the age difference they are incredibly close with each other. Marcus is Silas’ best friend, without a doubt about it.

5. What’s their relationship with their parents like? What about other relatives?

Silas was incredibly close with both of his parents while they were both still alive. His only other known relatives were his maternal grandparents, and he also had a positive relationship with them before they died. He had no other living known relatives.

6. What would they give their life for?

His family. No hesitation. Whether its for his brother or his kids, if he had to make the decision to sacrifice himself for their safety, he would do it.

7. Are they in a romantic relationship? With who? How did they meet?

Silas is/was(?) in a relationship with Miss Camellia Pineda. It’s a bit complicated at this point in time but you can reread how they met here!

8. What do they believe will happen to them after they die? Does this belief scare them?

Part of him still believes in the old Greek myths of departing to the Underworld. But another part of him believes that nothing will really happen, considering he already had his second chance to experience something out of death and all as a vampire. It’s unsettling to him, to say the least.

9. What is their favorite color? Favorite animal?

He really likes deep shades of red. His favorite animal has always been the Black-Winged Kite, a small bird of prey that’s native to Greece.

10. What are some of their talents/skills?

Silas is a master of the arts. Throughout his whole existence, he’s studied multiple art forms, but the one’s he’s perfected are painting and sculpture. Besides that, he’s very proficient with hand-to-hand combat, specifically Pankration which is the Greek form of martial arts. He has an almost perfect memory, which comes from his special talent of being able to project his memories.

11. If they could make a mark on history, what would they like it to be?

He honestly really wouldn’t want to change much, but maybe he’d like to be credited for a certain famous sculpture that he made that doesn’t have a “known artist”.

12. How old are they? When is their birthday?

Silas is 2,346 years old and his birthday is March 20th.

13. What do they do for fun?

Silas likes to create art, whether its painting or sculpting something. He also really likes to read history books. He was asleep for a good portion of it, so he likes to read up on what he missed.

14. What is their favorite food? How often do they get to eat it?

Silas is honestly really simple when it comes to human food. He likes freshly made loaves of bread. He doesn’t eat it often, simply because of how specific he likes it. Its more of a special treat whenever he’s in the mood to make it himself.

15. What was something their parents taught them?

Silas learned how to tie simple sailors knots from his father at a young age, meanwhile he learned how to bake bread from his mother.

16. Are they religious?

In a way, he is still. He does believe in the Greek pantheon to an extent. With his rebirth as a vampire, he isn’t 100% sure anymore, but he tries not to think too hard on it at times. When it comes to practicing his religion, he makes offerings to the gods with every new season that comes.

17. Where were they born?

Athens, Greece

18. What languages can they speak? Where did they learn these languages?

Silas can fluently speak Greek, English, Spanish, and Italian. He learned Greek from his human life. When he woke up from his hibernation, he learned English, Spanish, and Italian over a span of 100 years from traveling and attending university.

19. What is their occupation?

Technically, he has none. He doesn’t necessarily need to work, but he does take freelance art jobs from the city whenever they’d like something from him.

20. Do they have any titles? How did they earn them?

No titles.. yet.

PERSONALITY:

21. What is their favorite thing about their personality?

He likes how patient he can be. His patience has been a gift, really, in moments of high stress and it really could have drastically changed things if he didn’t have it.

22. What is their least favorite thing about their personality?

He’s got the good ol “Montolvo Hot-Head” trait. It takes a lot to get him genuinely angry, but when he gets mad.. he gets MAD. He’s almost blind to it and reacts entirely all on emotions, as seen when he punishes all three of his kids for something only one of them did.

23. Do they get lonely easily?

I’d say he does. Especially with how attached he’s gotten to Camellia in such a short amount of time.

24. Do you know their MBTI type?

I think Silas would be ISFJ: the Defender. Protective, warm, and caring.

25. What is their biggest flaw? & 26. Are they aware of their flaws?

He’s too forgiving, almost to the point of being a total pushover. He’s taken a lot of shit, specifically just from his ex-wife Serafina, but he still gave her the courtesy of explaining herself to their kids instead of just telling them himself. In hindsight, he shouldn’t be giving so many chances to people who’ve only proven to continuously fuck him over. He is WELL AWARE of his flaws, and he’s taken responsibility for them.

27. What is their biggest strength? & 28. Are they aware of their strengths?

His sense of loyalty. Whether its to his family or someone who he’d consider as family, if he’s needed, he’ll be there. He’s aware of it, but he tries to humble himself and doesn’t really focus his attention on it that much. He’d much rather focus on improving his flaws.

29. How would they describe their own personality?

“Loyal, Protective... and boring.”

30. When frightened, will they resort to “fight” or “flight”?

It’s sorta a case by case thing, but he’s more flight than fight simply because of how strict vampire rules are in New Brando.

31. Does this character ever put somebody else’s needs before their own? Who do they do this for? How often do they do this?

uh, ALWAYS. He ALWAYS does this. He’s always putting other people before himself. He does it ESPECIALLY with his family and Camellia now.

32. What is their self esteem like?

He’s got a pretty average level self esteem. He doesn’t necessarily consider himself all that good-looking or interesting. He’s only recently gotten a confidence boost ever since he started dating Camellia.

33. What is their biggest fear? How would they react to having to face it?

His biggest fear is losing his kids. If he even loses ONE of them, he won’t be able to handle it. His guilt would consume him, and honestly, he’d probably just lose himself in order to be with them again.

34. How easily do they trust others with their secrets? With their lives?

Silas doesn’t really trust others with his secrets all that much. I mean look how long it took just for him to reveal the truth about the divorce. He’s the same way with his life. He only trusts a select few with that as well.

35. What is the easiest way to annoy them?

Just by being overly obnoxious and in his personal space.

36. What is their sense of humor like? Give an example of a joke they would find humorous.

“Dad, did you get a haircut?” “No, I got them all cut!” He’s a dad. Dad humor is in his blood at this point.

37. How easy is it for them to say “I love you”? Do they say it without meaning it?

Silas will only say “I love you” to someone that ISN’T his family if he GENUINELY means it. If he doesn’t feel it from the instant spark, then odds are he’s not going to ever really come to say it.

38. What do others admire most about their personality?

He wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s extremely open to others and caring and protective.

39. What does their happily ever after look like?

Well I can’t just spoil that. It’s gonna be the ending!

40. Who do they trust most? Is that trust mutual?

Marcus, Angelina, and Camellia. That trust is all mutual.

PHYSICAL PROFILE:

41. What does their laugh sound like? Do they snort when they laugh? How often do they laugh?

Silas has this kind of hearty laugh. Its very warm and inviting. He’s been laughing a lot more lately with Camellia being a sort of light in his life.

42 & 43. What is their favorite & least favorite thing about their physical appearance?

He likes his hair. He thinks its the most interesting thing about himself, physically. He doesn’t really have a least favorite thing about his appearance? He just considers himself to be really average for the most part.

44. Do they have any scars? If so, what are the stories behind those scars?

He does not have any real noticeable scars.

45. How would they describe their own appearance?

“Tall, a bit on the skinnier side, and boring clothes.”

46. How easily can they express emotions? How easily can they hide emotions?

He tends to wear his emotions on his face really easily. He knows how to hide them though, but he chooses not to.

#sims 4 #ts4 #aic: the montolvos extras #silas montolvo #answered asks

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smolbeandrabbles · 4 years

Text

Houston, We Got A Problem - Modern!Payne x Reader (Slow West)

@mandy23b @wltz-bby @happyskywhale #MendoTagSquad

Author’s Note: Right. Basically. I was inspired to do this due to pic I saw. And then I had to find a song and a plot that could make this modern and it all kinda worked out-! About 3 or so months after I originally went “this thing will get written-!” (And then I started in in April and didn’t finish it until August!)

Anyway - I think if I have a checklist of things I can weave in here I got nearly all of them..! 😉😉😉

Disclaimer: AU, obviously / I think he’s as close to in-character as I could have got him but also understand he’s a little OOC (but had to for the context, I guess!) / Slow West & all associated characters not mine / my usual disclaimers-!

Premise: Offered a once in a lifetime opportunity in Houston, Texas - Payne is torn up about leaving you in Colorado. You know it’s a dream he’s been chasing, but you aren’t about to let him leave without reminding him what he has to return to...

Words: 4722

Warnings: AU / Swearing / Drinking / Sexual Connotations / Slight OOC-ness, maybe? He’s a little softer I think than he aught to be but I’ll let you all decide this for yourself-!

________

This is my kinda town, this is my kinda place I wouldn't mind hangin' 'round For more than just a couple days I got a twelfth floor room with a killer view of the empty Astrodome A tab at the bar downstairs, but all I can think about is home

You should've seen 19th Street, you should've seen the midnight rodeo The way them saloon doors swing, when they line dance to "Copperhead Road" Something ‘bout the air down here, that'll make you feel the way all them cowboys do I wish I was an outlaw, But all I can think about is you I got new boots covered in red dirt A "Don't Mess With Texas" T-shirt And a Lonestar postcard postmarked with missin' you It's got the biggest sky you've ever seen, the coldest beer you'd ever drink But I still feel like I landed on the moon 'Cause it ain't got you Houston, we got a problem

---

Undisclosed Location, Colorado

You could see the truck before you could hear it; stirring up clouds of dust from the dirt roads leading down to the ranch. You were standing out on the front porch, not eager to get caught up in the hot mid-afternoon Colorado sunshine. You were watching Payne, Silas and Marimacho down in the corral with the horses; but that dust made your eyes raise to the horizon. You weren’t due any visitors, and everyone meant to be working here was already in situ. You knew that ad hoc visits sometimes happened; but usually they would call ahead. Cell reception wasn’t great out here, but the landlines worked just fine.

For now the guys were taking a well-earned cigarette break, keeping their sharp eyes on the horse they were training. When the truck was more visible; sun glancing off the paintwork and the hum of the engine filled the quiet air, Payne hopped up to straddle the fence for a closer look. There were no logos to indicate what it might be for, and he was sure that you would have told him if anyone was expected, or had called. He took a drag of his cigarette and squinted at it suspiciously as it continued to wind its way towards the house - you were already outside and could deal with it for now, but he had to admit he was curious. Silas and María joined him on the fencing; equally suspicious. “What’s up there?” Payne raised an eyebrow “Hope it’s good whatever it is...” He watched you point him out. “Guess they’re looking for you, Payne.” “Ah shit, well, I’ll report back..! You two got this one, right?” Maria scoffed “Course we do-!” “If we don’t you’re not doing your job well.” Payne shoved Silas at that, who laughed, and jumpped down, putting out his cigarette he wandered over to you.

You stepped out to the front of the porch to greet them. Both men whose clothes and build said they were probably also in this profession. So they weren’t lost. Trainers or buyers? That was the question. “Good afternoon, m’am-!” They both sidled up to the porch, tipping their hats - ah-! The old-fashioned kind. “Afternoon gentleman. What can we help you with?” “We’re looking for a man by the name of Payne? Heard he’s the best in the business and that this is his ranch.” That irked you just a little, this was your ranch and your parents before you. And it had collectively become “yours” over time. True he had the reputation, and he’d built it into what it was... but it was not Payne’s. He used to work for your father; Payne had a gift for breaking and training horses, and had put this place on the map beyond your father’s wildest dreams. You weren’t about to argue that point now, instead you gave a small smile and pointed back to where they’d just driven from. “The man you’re looking for is out there working, gentleman...” Although he was watching you, the other two now at his side, and as soon as you indicated to him, Payne cleared the fence and began wandering over. “Oh-! Thank you m’am!” They both turned, not giving you the opportunity to ask what this was about. But you knew Payne; he wouldn’t have them speak without you in the know.

By the time he reached the truck, the men had already started towards him; “Gentlemen-!” “Ah! You must be Payne!” “Correct,” He nodded to you, “I see you’ve already met my partner in crime, Ms.Y/N.” You mouthed him a ‘thank you’ - at least he always made sure you were recognised. Payne gave you a wink, before turning back to them; “What can we help you with?” “We hear you are the man to come to - for Horse Whispering, or for breaking horses.” Payne folded him arms across his chest and tipped his head, “That’s kind of you to say, suppose the proof can only be in the success - you need horses breaking, or otherwise?” “Yes. We have the horses, but we wanted someone with your expertise for this particular job.” Payne nodded; “Whereabouts are you from?” “Houston, Texas.” Both of you suddenly froze in place. That was Midnight Rodeo territory. There was a lot that could be done in Texas to do with horses. Payne wasn’t beyond being a full-on cowboy at times, if the need called for it. He swallowed hard, “Well, then maybe we should take this inside... that’s... quite a way to come for just me.” They looked to each other, then back to him with massive grins, “Well, Payne, you ain’t just anyone - you’re the best of the best. And hopefully we can have a good discussion. We haven’t looked at anyone else; you’re the man we wanna hire.” Your eyebrows shot up at that - this wasn’t an opportunity your man would want to miss, you knew that. Payne turned back to his friends to whistle that he’d be a while, and then ushered the men inside - this was likely to be a long discussion; but an exciting prospect at that.

***

By the time they left the sun was low in the sky, and Silas and Marimacho had already packed up ready for the morning – leaving the horses out to graze. You were both sitting on the front porch watching them and discussing the offer, his head in your lap. “It’s a good job, it’s a big job. But you’re gonna be here alone.” You smiled, he was right – it would be unprecedented for Payne to get something good going on in Texas, especially with such draws at the Midnight Rodeo, and to bolster his reputation and his name; yes, you’ve heard of him – now here’s the proof that what they say is true. You certainly weren’t about to let him pass that up, even if it would mean being here alone for a few weeks. You knew he wouldn’t want to go alone; he’d need the whole team – after all Payne always said it was a team effort. You ran your hand through his tangle of curls; “Baby, don’t worry about me, you should do this thing. It’s gonna be real good for you.” He sighed, folding his arms; “I dunno, Y/N… I just…” “You can leave me alone, I’ll be fine.” His eyes met yours and doubt was written all over his face. Payne had a point it wasn’t usual for you to be apart, and you’d suggest going with him but you’d be needed to hold the fort here – and he’d only trust you to do that. “Well, yeah, I’ll miss you. Of course I will, but…” You bent your body over his, “you need this, and you want it. And I won’t let you say no because of me.” and kissed him gently. “But there’s so many other factors-!” Payne looked back to the horses again – “I mean, you by yourself out here? What if you need help-!? I mean, do I leave someone with you here or-!?” “Shhhh…” You rubbed his shoulder affectionately, “Stop thinking so much and make a gut decision.” He scoffed, “If I even knew what that was.” You shook your head and kissed his cheek gently, shifting him off your lap; “Well – maybe it’d be better for you to have an inner dialogue…” He sat back on his hands as you stood, brushing yourself down, “I’m gonna make dinner-!” Payne replaced his hat and raised an eyebrow, reaching out to take your hand “What would you do, if they wanted you?” “I mean I doubt they ever would, I’m hardly the same calibre,” His fingertips danced over your skin, causing you to smile more, “but I would go. If it’s what I wanted.” “And you wouldn’t feel guilty?” You sighed, “I hope you don’t think I would guilt you about it anyway.” You bent to kiss him again, “No. I wouldn’t.” You swept back to the front door, “And don’t you dare try to guilt trip yourself out of it!” He laughed, “I still gotta decide if I wanna go-!” But you knew, deep down, his decision was already made. Dinner was eaten in relative silence, mostly because you felt every time you opened your mouth he might think a little too much on staying for you – you hated to think that a man who wasn’t really one to be tied to any one place, would skip out on Texas for you. Payne had never been homebody and he’d left you here before – you supposed it was the longevity of it. And perhaps how far away he would be. He helped you clear the table before leaving you with a kiss on the cheek and heading outside again. You sighed gently, watching him go. You were worried; how could you not be? But his fretting over this was for nothing; after all it wouldn’t be forever, Payne would still return to you. And if he needed you to make that decision for him, then you certainly would. You gave him another hour or so alone whilst you set out everything that needed to be done the following day, and chalked up everyone’s schedule. After which you got the house in order for the evening, and, thinking that he’d now had enough time to think, joined Payne back on the porch. You couldn’t help but roll your eyes; he was lying back again, one arm behind his head, smoking a cigar. The glass and bottle next to him filled with a suspicious looking green liquid that you knew he shouldn’t be trusted with. ‘If it’s bad enough for Absinthe, I guess it really IS bad.’ You strolled over, shaking your head slowly; “Boy. Don’t make me decide for you!” He was silent for a moment, blowing smoke into the late evening air; “Wish you could.” You leant against the porch frame, one hand on your hip; “I’ll help you get ready…” Your eyes flicked to him; “I’ve been alone before. I mean I love ya, but I think I can survive.” He shot you a look, “I just don’t think sitting out here with absinthe is really gonna help you think with any clarity!” You grinned, “I have a solution, though.” He sat up again, taking another drag, “Oh yeah?” You gave him a smirk, “Yeah… But you’re gonna have to promise me you’re going to go.” “I could just as easily go back on it.” His head tipped, daring you to do something about that proposal. “Well,” You sauntered around him, dragging your fingertips across his shoulders, “if you don’t want me…” He let out a soft groan, “You know I’ll do it.” “You shouldn’t do it because I think you should either…” You paused, picking up the glass and finishing it for him. Regretting it about 5 seconds later and shuddering; you’d nearly always hated the taste – especially neat. “You should do it because it’s all you’ve ever talked about. Because you dream about it. All I’m trying to encourage you to do is chase your dreams.” Payne tipped his head back, blue eyes searching yours; “You’re still gonna be here right?” “You think I’d leave you? I think you’re much more likely to find someone new in Texas.” He growled, “Are you fucking kidding me-!?” “Just checking!” Though the grin on your face was teasing. He stubbed out the cigar and rolled over onto his front, eyes narrowed; “Is that what you think of me?” You took a step back, with a smirk; “Why don’t you prove to me you won’t?” Payne jumped to his feet and pretty soon had you backed against the front door, hands in your hair and lips on yours; “How dare you suggest such a thing-!?” You simply smiled; “I just wanted to check there was someone to wait for, and tell me all about what happened when he lived his dream…” He shook his head, bringing your lips to his again, before moving his hands to the hem of your shirt; “Well – Let me just prove to you, that there’s something worth waiting for.” ***

Houston, Texas

Payne hated to admit how much this was hurting him. He was living it here in Houston, this was the ‘I made it!’ dream.

He’d been here almost a month now, and the entire crew has flown down with him. He was supposed to be having the time of his life, and he was having the time of his life. These were some of the most gorgeous horses he’d ever been given the opportunity to work with and break. And watching them go from fairly wild to seeing them get calmer, and some of them eventually in the rodeos themselves or out working, was breath-taking, and everyone was impressed. Especially the gentlemen who had hired him. He was getting a lot of exposure; his whole crew were. This felt a lot more like play than work, and Payne didn’t think he’d ever seen them all so happy.

But all he could think about was home; all he could think about was you. Even when he was run off his feet, you were still in the back of his head. He called you every day, and if you didn’t pick up then he’d leave a message - but no matter if he got through to you or not, Payne always ended with “I miss you.” Because he did - and he and you had travelled before, it wasn’t like you weren’t used to this but it felt bigger, it felt longer... it was longer. And there wasn’t a real end in sight. But Payne knew he wanted to go home; even realising his dream wouldn’t stop that feeling - he was a Colorado boy, and the ranch and you would always be home.

Payne knew what was coming, from the way everyone was so delighted at his team’s progress, he knew that they would offer him a job. It was always in the air but never said; it was going to be asked as soon as he was on the brink of leaving, Payne knew. It would be him, and he would say no ‘not without the crew’ then it would be all of them asked, and he would still say ‘no, not without her’, and then they would say it would be fine to move everyone’s families too. But you’d refuse; it was a ranch handed down through generations - back to when the West was first being settled. When outlaws and bounty hunters ruled the land. You weren’t leaving - you’d probably rather leave him than you would that house. And Payne had spent way too long crushing on you, then wooing you, and now being with you to let that happen.

This might be his dream but he was comfortable with you. And all Payne had ever wanted was to be comfortable.

Tonight was another night at the midnight rodeo, but for the first time since he’d arrived here Payne was skipping out. His phone had vibrated a couple of times when he knew it was due to start but they’d left him alone since then. Instead he was sitting at the desk in his hotel room, looking out over the city. There was a glass of whiskey sitting next to him (absinthe wouldn’t have tasted the same away from home either and it wasn’t exactly a wide spread sold alcohol), yet Payne was a little too absorbed in what he was doing to pay real attention to that either. Calling you was all well and good, but Payne didn’t have a fantastically verbal love language. He didn’t think of things to say in the moment that could express his feelings to you adequately; but he could write it. He could ponder what words sounded right, he could change them all around and make sure that it all flowed. Everything that he somehow couldn’t say out loud, Payne was at least glad that you could read it. It might only have been a postcard, not a real love letter, but it would have to do for now. He could still say everything that he wanted to; and Payne would still end those letters in the same way as he did his calls:

‘I miss you.’

You knew what it was as soon as you opened the mailbox, and dropped everything else inside before sitting up on the paddock fence, yours and his horse grazing in the field behind you, you sat and read. You inhaled - knowing that he would have sprayed it with his cologne, in the same way when on occasion you wrote to him you would cover your notes in perfume - and for a second it felt like he was here, with his arms around you.

At first you were smiling; he was such a sweetheart in the way that he wrote. You knew Payne wasn’t good with words, romantic words, but this was always where he told you he loved you. Letters happened even when he was home, you’d find them all over the house and they would always make you beam; you kept them in a little box and sometimes you’d sit and read them back. It always amazed you how what he wrote may have been different the longer you were together but, what he said stayed the same. He still loved you the same, and you loved him just as much. So soon enough, as you continued to read his postcard, you weren’t just smiling, your heart began to ache and tears threatened to spill. You sniffed and rubbed your eyes, not allowing any to fall, as you did so his horse nudged against your arm and you patted his muzzle with a half-laugh-half-upset exhale; “I know... I know... I miss him too.”

Payne knew the question was coming. You were going to ask it eventually. You knew he had to work but sometimes too long was too long. And you knew what this meant to him, and that you’d persuaded him to chase it across the country, but you missed him. There was no end date: it wasn’t like he’d be back at the end of the month; the truth was he didn’t know when it would be over. “When are you coming home?” He didn’t want to tell you he didn’t know, but he didn’t. Payne could hear it in your voice though, that you couldn’t take much more uncertainty. And neither could he; it wasn’t about wanting to go home anymore, but needing to. “Baby, I... you know what they’re going to say, they’re gonna wanna keep me on.” “Well they can’t have you.” Your answer was curt. He chuckled “Feisty. I wasn’t gonna leave, I know where my place is.” Your voice was amused though, “Damn right-!” “As you know good work is never done when horses go in and out all the time. I guess the specific group I’ve been working with are nearly fully trained. So, I’ll be home soon. I promise you that, I’m comin’ home-!” “Don’t make me hold you to that-!” He grinned “Ha-! Oh, I won’t-!”

It was a harder conversation than he’d expected. But Payne wasn’t one for giving up, nor negotiating when he wanted something. He very much had a ‘my way or the highway’ attitude, and he wasn’t about to be forced into staying when his work was over. The money he was offered was good – brilliant even – he couldn’t deny that. Yet, Payne knew where home was, and it wasn’t here – even with how much he was loving his time here. He kept firm, and made sure they knew he wasn’t about to be pushed around. The one thing Payne worried about was his reputation; after all he didn’t want this relationship to turn sour. Once he’d left they could use anything to turn the rumour mill: ‘aw, the boy couldn’t hack it.’ That just wasn’t true. But Payne didn’t really trust anyone outside his friends and you; and was always that little bit suspicious. You’d always called it out as an odd trait; especially as he seemed pretty open and friendly towards most people. ‘How else am I supposed to get business and get paid, Y/N!?’ ‘AHHH! So it is for your own ends!?’ Yeah, you probably had it right, but he wasn’t admitting that. Though there was always a reason he kept a decent revolver around. What he did promise was that he could come back periodically for a few days, maybe a few weeks, and continue to work for them. But Payne wouldn’t be contracted here, and he explained as such – he’d built up his, and the ranches, name in Colorado and there he would stay. He had a lot waiting back home – and this would never be home. Even if he could miraculously get you to agree to move. Not that he gave them much of a choice, but they saw the logic in his decision and accepted his offer. He’d really have to talk it out with you first; but Payne was sure you’d not mind too much. Weren’t you always calling him a drifter anyway? The ranch was just a home base. That suggestive way you’d look at him, voice sultry to match your blink and say; “If the sex wasn’t so good you probably wouldn’t even stay, huh, babe?” Payne shook away that thought with a deep exhale, you weren’t the only thing he was missing right now. By the time he got back to his crew from the final meeting and tidy up, they were all already packed away. Everyone had the same notion, they were ready to go, ready to get back to families of their own. Still, Payne knew how much they had loved it here; and far be it from him to hold any of them back. “Before we do all get on a flight tomorrow morning back home, I do wanna say to you how proud I am of how hard you’ve worked. We’ve always been like a little gang of outlaws, and hell if we haven’t shown these Texas rangers a thing or two!” There were plenty of laughs and cheers at that, and Payne grinned, “But, I’m going to give you the choice, and no hard feelings. You can stay if you wanna stay, if you think this is better for you…” He turned to take in his surroundings, “I’m not gonna stop ya.” There was silence amongst them for a minute, and as Payne’s eyes settled back on them he had a horrible feeling they were all about to walk away. Skelly was the first one to scoff; “Payne, ya gotta be kiddin’ man! We ain’t leavin’!” Silas joined in immediately; “Hell yeah, you’re a good man and a good boss and we’re sticking with you the whole way! Fuck these guys, it’s all or nothing with us-! Hell, you’re the one that damn near had us make a pact.” Payne chuckled at that; “Yeah, we were kids back then Silas.” “Well, it still means a lot to us!” Marimacho folded her arms with a smile; “You stick by us and our families. If we ever need anything you and Y/N are there, and if there’s ever something troubling us you’re lenient and understanding. Side note too, but your gal is awesome… We’d miss her too much! No-one gets left behind Payne, you’ve always been about that.” “Here, here!” Kid and Gull followed suit on the other three. He blinked a couple of times, humbled – glad that they wouldn’t turn their backs on something good. Still, he smirked, Payne could count on their loyalty – they were a motley crew for sure, but all great friends. He was glad they’d still take some stupid lines said as teenagers so seriously. He nodded, looking at each of them in turn; “You’re right. No-one gets left behind.” His smirk turned back to a small smile; “So, lets get back to the ones who are waiting for us.” *** He had called you the evening before to say he was leaving. You thought it seemed very sudden, but you supposed Payne would rather make sure, and head home than promise you something and find out he couldn’t keep it. He’d also let you know they were getting on the plane, and now you knew he was on his way back you couldn’t have been more excited. So, as soon as you heard his truck, you couldn’t help grinning. It was an all too familiar sound; and not just to you. Seemingly every horse in the stables knew too; his and yours racing to the top end of the paddock, and the dogs were also in chorus. You chuckled to yourself; “Daddy’s home.” Washing and wiping your hands quickly on a towel from where you’d been working, you ran to the door as you heard his truck pull up. By the time you’d opened it and run onto the porch, he’d already leapt from the vehicle and was walking over. Payne stood at the bottom step, presenting himself, grinning at he looked up at you; “Honey, I’m home!” You shook your head at him but, too overcome with joy to care about him being cheesy, you leapt off the porch and into his arms. “God, I missed you so much… I missed you so, so much!!” You cried blissfully as he held you tight to his chest. Payne understood that notion all too well; he’d spend the entire flight thinking about how he couldn’t wait to hold and kiss you again. And now here he was, and you were in his embrace; “I know…” He kissed your hair, before you shifted to capture his lips, arms tangling around his neck. It was a hard kiss, and long, very nearly taking both your breaths away. You smiled, stealing another, “You’ll have to tell me everything.” “Didn’t I already?” He smirked, not letting you leave his lips – oh, you knew exactly how the rest of this day was gonna go. “Uhm, I think I said when you came back, you had to tell me all about how you lived your dreams!” “Ahhh… You won’t even give me 2 seconds to say hello to my lady?” “I think you made your intentions for your lady perfectly clear…” You grazed your lips to his once again, “I may say she has done the same.” You tipped your head, with a raised eyebrow, “Mayhaps she has, but who are you gonna listen to first – the kids are whining.” You didn’t need to point that out, he could already hear that the animals were glad he was back. He pulled you in closer, voice lowering, “The kids can hush, mom and dad are talking…” smirking whilst kissing you again, “How well can they have been looked after, if they’re cryin’ for me?” “Of excitement, actually. They just missed you as much me!” “Uh huh, how about my coat, you look after that?” You laughed, “No-one is wearing a coat like that in this weather.” He made a face, “Okay, ‘cept you. Crazy man.” “Ha!” This time it was Payne laughing hard, and his hands ran down your body. You smirked running your hands from behind his neck across his broad shoulders to study his shirt, before chuckling. Emblazoned on the front were six photographs of form fitting jeans, with the caption ‘A Cowboys Best Assets’. The shirt itself hugged close to his chest and left your partner easy on the eye; not that he wasn’t already, of course. “Well, damn. That shirt’s not wrong… I like it.” Besides he was wearing a pair of those jeans himself right now. “Oh really? Thought you might.” “Mhm…” You tangled your fingers in it, and pulled him into yet another kiss. “But I’d like it and your best assets on the floor of our bedroom right now.” You removed his hat from his head and placed it on your own, with a wink. He didn’t need telling twice, hoisting you from the floor as you wound your legs around his waist; “Oh, yes m’am.” Payne took the porch steps quickly, and didn’t stop until he had you tangled in bedsheets.

---

is this from a Tumblr post? I feel like it is... Might need to find it out there and credit back

Thank you for reading my lovelies! 😘😘😘 You know I love this enough to continue it, right? 😉

#Payne #Payne x Reader #Slow West #Ben Mendelsohn #Modern!AU #Modern!Payne #this is a little cuter than I normally write him #but I still like it #I need to write /him/ more too.#2020 should be the year of the more /neglected/ Mendos #cuz honestly they deserve it as much as the popular bois #Elera #Same relationship different context #I would like to confirm with April 2020 me that 2020 is INDEED the year of neglected less popular Mendos #and sitting here on August 1st I've pretty much written every boi something now! There can't be many now i haven't written a single word for #I sit here on 5th of September and concur with my above written tag. It's STILL Fraser I haven't written for though!#Hell. 1st of August me hadn't even seen Henry yet and he's made it!#173

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thehollowprince · 4 years

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Plec really can't hold a plot. I remember when she had Grams mention that "Nature has a plan" as if Nature itself was gonna deal with the vampires but that went nowhere lol. And just... vampires themselves. They're this affront to nature but still exist. Also, roll my eyes whenever witches are referred to as servants of nature because it's more like "black witches are servants of the nearest yt, but white witches have freedom"

Julie Ppec couldn't write a cohesive and comprehensive plot if you paid her.

I know that sounds mean, but it's the truth.

And it's not list her. Pretty much everyone involved in the direction of the show sucked at telling a story that made sense based on the foundations that they themselves laid out. Not just Plec, but Narducci and Williamson and Dries and MacKenzie. All of those big wigs who decided which characters would die and which villains would show up and which plot twists would determine the future path of their shows, they all sucked!

First thing that pops into my head (because I'm fresh off of finally watching the last two seasons) was the whole "when a vampire becomes human again, their compulsion wears off". That was very clearly thrown in there at the last second to complicate an already convoluted plotline just for the sake of th Drama™. Where was this reverse compulsion when Elena or Tyler or Katherine became human again after being a vampire? We had an entire season of human Katherine running around and none of them remembered the things she compelled them to do or say? And what about Alaric in season six? Wouldn't him reverting to human have erased the compulsion he placed on Elena to remove her feelings for Damon? Did we really have to sit through a whole season of Elena "falling in love" again when the compulsion should have just gone away?

And speaking of Alaric becoming human again, let's talk about that bullshit with the anti-magic barrier. A vampire crossing that threshold reverts back to their state before their transition. Does Plec really expect us all to believe that a giant piece of wood being shoved through a person's heart is easier to treat than a girl who drowned for a minute. One of these things was easier to fix than the other, and it wasn't the one they chose for the show.

And don't get me started on the whole "Nature has a plan" bullshit. Maybe that was just something that Grams believed in, but they kept repeating it over and over, about how Nature knew what it was doing or that witches were Nature's servants, until, as you pointed out, those witches were white. There were practically no serious consequences to Esther or her family for "violating nature's laws", aside from the fact that vervain burned them and they couldn't go out into the sun for a few days, until once again their mother found a witchy workaround for that, too. But Bonnie, uses magic for personal reasons once, and suddenly everyone turns against her.

It's not a season of The Vampire Diaries unless Bonnie Bennett suffers!

And, of course, that brings us to the whole, Nature vs. Spirits thing. We're told that its Nature that keeps the balance, but then we see that it's actually the Spirits of the dead witches trapped on the Other Side who make up all the rules that they selectively follow depending on the witch in question.

This is just something that happens over and over, with the narrative constantly contradicting itself because they wrote themselves into (what they perceived as) a corner and they backtracked and retconned fo get out of it. The biggest one I can think of was the whole "vampires can't be witches" spiel that they repeated over and over, only to completely overturn it and introduce the Heretics, who are able to be both through a set of circumstances that naturally no one heard about before now. Or the whole thing with Kol and Rebekah and Finn possessing witches and having their power, despite their spirits being that of vampires, as evident of their later resurrections.

It's like they couldn't make up their mind about what they wanted to do, and the story suffered for it (at least for me) because their glaring contradictions were constantly being thrown in my face.

The biggest whoopsie was the Mikaelsons (or really any big bad) themselves.

Elijah, and then Klaus and then the mysteriously named "Originals" were mentioned in season two (way too early, IMO) and they went on to have not only a huge impact on the Mystic Falls Gang, but have such a monumental history too them (could have been better, if we're being honest. Taking creatures from the books that were alive since the Stone Age and reducing them to merely a thousand years old was a huge disservice to the source material). But back to my original (ba dum tsh) point, in that when we first hear of Klaus, his name is whispered with absolute terror. The mysterious first among vampires, the vampire that the great Katherine Pierce herself was a afraid of, and he turned out to be a British twink with daddy issues that literally everyone else knew about. How the Salvatores managed to travel the world with their various pitstops in Mystic Falls (conveniently the very home of the Mikaelsons) and not here about them is stupefying. I mean, they were both in New Orleans only twenty years after Mikael drove Klaus and his siblings out of town, and yet they've never heard of them? They didn't run into Marcel at all? They both knew vampires way older than them (Lexi and Sage) and the Originals were never mentioned? Hell, Sage was an Original groupie and the subject of Finn never came up?

It was like that over and over. The Originals are all mysterious and no one's heads of them, except for this entire city that was founded by them, and these various groups of people and minions that work for them. Then it happens again with Silas. No one's heard of this uber powerful psychic immortal until suddenly everyone's afraid of him because he's pure evil and will bring about the end of the world. Wash, rinse, repeat with the Heretics, then the Sirens, then the Devil himself (conveniently a black man), then the Hollow.

It was ridiculous.

Their own narrative was constantly destroyed and rebuilt to make-up for their constant need to one-up what they did before with no consequence of the groundwork they already laid out. That's like trying to build a skyscraper atop a foundation meant for a log cabin.

I don't even want to think of how bad it is for Legacies.

#ask and ye shall recieve #russianspacegeckosexparty #anti julie plec #anti kevin willamson #anti michael narducci #anti caroline dries #anti carina mackenzie #anti the originals #anti the vampire diaries #these shows had such potential #but the people at the top constantly went out of their way to destroy and undermine it #so sad

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lgbtqiahistoricalromance · 5 years

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LGBTQIA+ Historical Romance Novels with Ghosts, Ghouls, and Gothic themes 2019 - Updated October 17

A list of titles that either came out after the last update in 2018 or were published this year. Many series!

Gentleman Wolf by Joanna Chambers

- An elegant werewolf in Edinburgh…

1788. When Lindsay Somerville, the most elegant werewolf in Paris, learns that the man who held him in abject captivity for decades is on his way to France, intent on recapturing him, he knows he must leave the Continent for his own safety. Lindsay cannot take the risk of being recaptured—he may have been free for a century but he can still feel the ghost of his old chains under his fine clothes.

… on a mission…

While he’s in Edinburgh, Lindsay has been tasked with acquiring the “Naismith Papers”, the writings of a long-dead witchfinder. It should be a straightforward mission—all Lindsay has to do is charm an elderly book collector, Hector Cruikshank. But Cruikshank may not be all he seems, and there are others who want the papers.

… meets his match

As if that were not enough, while tracking down the Naismith Papers, Lindsay meets stubborn architect Drew Nicol. Although the attraction between them is intense, Nicol seems frustratingly determined to resist Lindsay’s advances. Somehow though, Lindsay can’t seem to accept Nicol’s rejection. Is he just moonstruck, or is Nicol bonded to him in ways he doesn’t yet understand?

Note: this is the first book of a duology – the story continues and will complete in the second book, Master Wolf.

A Hidden Beauty by Jamie Craig

- Student of letters, Micah Yardley wants one thing: to meet the poet Jefferson Dering. After hearing his idol speak at Harvard, Micah travels to Jefferson’s home in nearby Wroxham, entertaining visions of discussing poetry over dinner and drinks. What he experiences exceeds anything he ever anticipated. Jefferson finds Micah mesmerizing and passionate, everything he has ever wanted. But after getting caught in a compromising position with another young man a decade earlier, he exiled himself from Boston and from affairs of the heart. Jefferson represses his longing for Micah, but his tumultuous emotions cannot be contained. Micah denies the truth of his desire for Jefferson. Jefferson refuses to act on his passion for Micah. But all it takes is a single kiss in Wroxham's haunted church to change the course of their lives ... and ignite the flame that could fulfill a generations-old promise.

Deosil by Jordan L Hawk (Whyborne & Griffin series finale!!!!)

- Whyborne, Griffin, and their friends have faced down cultists, monsters, and sorcerers. But their greatest challenge is now upon them. On the return voyage from Balefire Manor, Whyborne receives the worst news possible: Widdershins has fallen before the onslaught of the Fideles and their servants. There’s still time to stop the return of the Masters, but that window grows shorter by the hour. Together with Christine and Iskander, Whyborne and Griffin must reach Widdershins to face the ultimate test—and decide the fate of the world, once and for all.

The Ingenious Mechanical Devices series by Kara Jorgensson (bisexual, pansexual, asexual, persons with disabilities, and POC characters in this series!!!)

Book One = The Earl of Brass

- Eilian Sorrell is no stranger to cheating death, but when a dirigible accident costs him his arm, he fears his days of adventuring are over. As the eldest son of the Earl of Dorset, Lord Sorrell knows he will face a bleak future among London's aristocracy unless he can escape. On a quest to return to his old life, Lord Sorrell commissions a prosthetic arm, but the craftsman isn’t quite what he expected.

Fenice Brothers Prosthetics is in trouble. Hadley’s brother is dead, and she is forced to pick up the pieces and finish what he started. When clients begin turning her away, she fears she will fail until she crosses paths with the enigmatic Lord Sorrell. In exchange for a new arm, he offers her a chance at adventure in the deserts of Palestine.

Beneath the Negev’s sand lies something far more precious than potsherds or bones. A long lost crystal city has been found that could change Eilian and Hadley’s world forever, but they aren’t the only ones who know its secrets. Will they make it out alive or will they, too, be buried beneath the desert sands?

Shinigami by Xia Lake

- A coming-of-age love story between an orphan and the heir of the richest family in the Land of Yamato. The human world meets the yōkai in a power struggle for the fate of Fujiwara no Hirotsugu. While he battles to find his own path, Hirotsugu finds solace in a boy who will become his secret friend, then his salvation, and then as they become adults together, the love of his life.

The Sea May Burn by Rose Lerner (Part of the St. Lemeston universe, a f/f retelling of Jane Eyre!!!) COMING SOON!

- Goldengrove’s towers and twisted chimneys rose at the very edge of the peaceful Weald, a stone’s throw from the poisonous marshes and merciless waters of Rye Bay. Young Mary Palethorp had been running wild there, ever since her mother grew too ill to leave her room.

I was the perfect choice to give Mary a good English education: thoroughly respectable and far too plain to tempt her lonely father, Sir Kit, to indiscretion.

I knew better than to trust my new employer with the truth about my past. But knowing better couldn’t stop me from yearning for impossible things: to be Mary’s mother, Sir Kit’s companion, Goldengrove’s mistress.

All that belonged to poor Lady Palethorp. Most of all, I burned to finally catch a glimpse of her.

Surely she could tell me who cut the strings on the guitar I found in the music room, why all the doors in the house were locked after dark, and whose footsteps I heard in the night…

Lost in Time series by AL Lester

Book One = Lost in Time

- Lew Rogers's life is pleasantly boring until his friend Mira messes with magic she doesn't understand. While searching for her, he's pulled back in time to 1919 by a catastrophic magical accident. As he tries to navigate a strange time and find his friend in the smoky music clubs of Soho, the last thing he needs is Detective Alec Carter suspecting him of murder. London in 1919 is cold, wet, and tired from four years of war. Alec is back in the Metropolitan Police after slogging out his army service on the Western Front. Falling for a suspect in a gruesome murder case is not on his agenda, however attractive he finds the other man. Both men are floundering and out of their depth, struggling to come to terms with feelings they didn't ask for and didn't expect. Both have secrets that could get them arrested or killed. In the middle of a murder investigation that involves wild magic, mysterious creatures, and illegal sexual desire, who is safe to trust?

We Met in Dreams by Rowan McAllister

- In Victorian London, during a prolonged and pernicious fog, fantasy and reality are about to collide—at least in one man’s troubled mind. A childhood fever left Arthur Middleton, Viscount Campden, seeing and hearing things no one else does, afraid of the world outside, and unable to function as a true peer of the realm. To protect him from himself—and to protect others from him—he spends his days heavily medicated and locked in his rooms, and his nights in darkness and solitude, tormented by visions, until a stranger appears. This apparition is different. Fox says he’s a thief and not an entirely good sort of man, yet he returns night after night to ease Arthur’s loneliness without asking for anything in return. Fox might be the key that sets Arthur free, or he might deliver the final blow to Arthur’s tenuous grasp on sanity. Either way, real or imaginary, Arthur needs him too much to care. Fox is only one of the many secrets and specters haunting Campden House, and Arthur will have to face them all in order to live the life of his dreams.

The Clearwater Mysteries by Jackson Marsh

- Book One = Deviant Desires

The Victorian East End lives in fear of the Ripper and his mission to kill rent boys. Silas Hawkins, nineteen and forging a life on the streets could well be the next victim, but when he meets Archer, his life changes forever. Young, attractive and rich, Archer is The Viscount Clearwater, a philanthropist, adventurer and homosexual. When Archer suspects the Ripper is killing to lure him to a confrontation, he risks his reputation and his life to stop the madman's murders. Every man must play his part, including Silas. A mashup of mystery, romance and adventure, Deviant Desire is set in an imaginary London of 1888. The first in an on-going series, it takes the theme of loyalty and friendship in a world where homosexuality is a crime. Secrets must be kept, lovers must be protected, and for Archer and Silas, it marks the start of their biggest adventure - love.

Highland Haunting: A Townsend Halloween Story (The Townsends) by Lily Maxton

- For the past few months, Ian Cameron and Robert Townsend have been settling into their new life together, but when a series of odd events occur at Llynmore Castle, Ian begins to suspect that he's being haunted. The question is, is the spirit malevolent or benevolent? Does it want to harm him or warn him of something to come? As Halloween draws closer, the ghost becomes stronger. Ian and Robert will have to trust each other and trust themselves to find the answers they need before it's too late. *Highland Haunting is 16,000 words and features the main characters from A Scot's Surrender

The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall by Sebastian Nothwell (f/f!!!)

- Heatherhurst Hall

Cumberland, England

1892

American heiress Kit Morgan is heartbroken at the wedding of her dearest school-friend. At her lowest moment, she is rescued from her agonies by the mysterious and alluring Alexandra Cranbrook, sister of a visiting English baronet. Alexandra is beautiful, charming, and effortlessly beguiling. Kit cannot help but fall in love with her.

When Sir Vivian Cranbrook proposes marriage, it seems natural for Kit to accept—if only to live with the woman she desperately loves.

But the Cranbrook’s ancestral home of Heatherhurst Hall is not all it seems. The attic is forbidden. Strange scratching noises echo from within the walls. Wraiths stalk the corridors by night. And worst of all, Alexandra’s love has turned to scorn.

Still, Kit is determined to earn her happily-ever-after and save the Cranbrooks from the horrors of Heatherhurst Hall.

If only she could know Alexandra loved her in return.

~The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall is a Gothic romance rife with horror and heartache, wherein an American heiress makes an ill-advised marriage to bring herself closer the woman who’s stolen her heart.

Read by Candelight series by Gillian St. Kevern (7 book so far, with m/m and f/f love stories!!!)

- Book One = The Secretary and the Ghost: A Gothic Paranormal Romance

Pip Leighton is in a fix. His sister’s marriage hinges on him staving off the family’s impending financial ruin by taking the job of secretary to Lord Cross, a reclusive man with a temper befitting his name. Developing a passion for his employer was not on the cards. Neither was getting caught up in the deep mystery surrounding Foxwood Court and its resident ghost, but Pip has never been one to shirk a duty. As Pip delves deeper into the past, he discovers that his only hope for a future with Cross may depend on a man long dead—a man with a curious resemblance to himself.

The Gentleman Attraction: a short victorian mm paranormal romance by Connor Peterson

Emerson Mallory never mixes business and pleasure. His eyes might wander but he certainly wouldn’t risk his professional reputation over a tryst. Not even for a silver-haired scoundrel who clearly knows his way around a bedroom and makes his heart race with just one look.

When a flirtatious train ride turns into a weekend in close quarters, Bennet Clarke doesn’t agree that it would be best to leave their attraction at the door. He gave up worrying about human sensibilities the night he became a vampire centuries ago, and right now he wants more than one taste of Emerson’s charm and unnerving ability to see past his cavalier masks.

Their host has a few secrets of their own and a madcap plan that requires Emerson to enlist Bennet’s help. When the inevitable happens, Emerson begins to think that maybe Bennet’s way of looking at things isn’t so bad. Bennet, however, is faced with a dilemma. Keep up the ruse, or confess that Emerson has no idea who he’s gotten involved with.

Amidst the flurry of activity surrounding their host, the two men will have to keep their affair secret, plan a successful party, and decide if forever is too much to ask.

Spellbound: A Paranormal Historical Romance (Magic in Manhattan Book 1) by Allie Therin

- To save Manhattan, they’ll have to save each other first… 1925 New York Arthur Kenzie’s life’s work is protecting the world from the supernatural relics that could destroy it. When an amulet with the power to control the tides is shipped to New York, he must intercept it before it can be used to devastating effects. This time, in order to succeed, he needs a powerful psychometric…and the only one available has sworn off his abilities altogether. Rory Brodigan’s gift comes with great risk. To protect himself, he’s become a recluse, redirecting his magic to find counterfeit antiques. But with the city’s fate hanging in the balance, he can’t force himself to say no. Being with Arthur is dangerous, but Rory’s ever-growing attraction to him begins to make him brave. And as Arthur coaxes him out of seclusion, a magical and emotional bond begins to form. One that proves impossible to break—even when Arthur sacrifices himself to keep Rory safe and Rory must risk everything to save him.

Hayden Thorne is reissuing many of her LGBT romances this year, with some of the most original content in the genre. Many are YA options, but very enjoyable for adults!

Extensive 2018 Halloween List

Since links have been failing in Tumblr, here is the URL for Halloween 2018: https://lgbtqiahistoricalromance.tumblr.com/post/188457088709/lgbtqiahistoricalromance

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cienie-isengardu · 5 years

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Why do you think Jango Fett hired Dred Priest and Isabet Reau, even tho they were suspected death watch sympathizers? I cant imagine the Commandos they trained would be happy to be serving under jedi...

Before I will talk about Priest and Reau, I think is worth to point that no Mandalorian training commandos was overly fond of Jedi or Republic. Not all commandos / ARC liked to work with Jedi, some were disappointed by their force-sensitive commanders, but I doubt Dred and Isabet personal hate/dislike, even if passed down to their trainees, would make soldiers disobey the orders coming from Jedi. Frankly, commandos get along & work the best with their own brothers, but that is just the way they were raised. Personal feelings will not get in the way, they are too professional for that.

As for the major ask, here we go:

The Imperial Commando: 501’st raised this topic in one of talk between Ordo and Mij Gilamar:

“What was Jango doing recruiting them? He had more reason to hate the Death Watch than anybody.”

“Priest and Reau weren’t exactly card-carrying members. Jango thought they were all talk. He only cared about results.”

But I think the matter was more complicated than that.

Jango Fett hired one hundred people - the best soldiers, tacticians, sappers, communicators, survival experts - to train future Republic Commandos, but managed to get only 75 Mandalorians. Due to Jango Fett: Open Season comics, we know that many friends / associates / allies of Jango were interrogated - and most likely killed afterwards, like Silas - by Dooku during his “research” about Fett’s past, so the limited number of people to choose from influenced the decision to some degree.

We know little about Isabet, but Dred was considered as a good (albeit idiot) soldier, so he met the requirements.

Then again, even with limited choices, Fett still didn’t want to hire Kal Skirata and he did so only because Walon Vau insisted. But Vau hated Death Watch above everything else, and I don’t think he would agree to work for Fett and/or get along with Priest and Reau, if they were true Death Watch sympathizers back then.

“How do you lie to a Jedi Master?” Laseema asked. “Without him sensing it, that is?”

“I didn’t,” said Vau. “I said I’d tell him if I found Kal doing anything to help the enemy. The minute that this little shabuire opens a comlink to any former Death Watch personnel, I shall gladly turn him in.”

Skirata paused for a moment, then managed to laugh. “Do I know any?”

“No, but they’re the only group I’d really call my enemy. So I didn’t lie, and I was genuinely emotional enough for him to believe what his Force senses told him he wanted to believe.” [Order 66]

In this short passage, Vau says that Kal Skirata does not know any former members of Death Watch, so during the conflict between DW and True Mandalorians, Reau and Priest weren’t part of enemy group. So, if Jango knew them (otherwise, how he could judge if their skills are good enough to train future commandos?), they most likely were his former allies / subordinates or some freelancers whom he met over the years, right?

Between Order 66 and 501’st, the biggest hater of Dred and Isabet is Mij Gilamar and I think his hate is only partially fueled by their Death Watch-like ideology. He is the one to say “`They had the makings of the Death Watch in them, those two. Him and that perverted secret fight club, her and that let’s-conquer-the-galaxy-again osik”. Alongside him, Ordo and Skirata were the most vocal about those two Mandalorians. Interesting, Walon Vau - for whom Death Watch is trigger to extreme hatred - did not despite them openly, at least until he saw DW badge on their armors. Then, he was all okay with killing them.

Here is the thing: was Dred and Isabet truly Death Watch sympathizers back on Kamino, or did their ideological thinking was just additional reason why Mij hated them both? Because we know he “loathed them with passion” and being “marooned indefinitely on Kamino with folks you hated on sight and nowhere to escape them” for sure did not help the situation.

Frankly, Mij and Dred is not the first duo that fought and hated each other guts. Walon Vau, when introduced, also was seen as the psycho, cruel, bad Mandalorian; an image fueled by Skirata’s, Ordo’s and Atin’s POV yet with passing time, perception of his character has changed. So, can we be sure that Dred and Isabet were so awful? Especially since Vau and Fett could tolerate their sentiments, even if that sounded a lot like Death Watch’s ideology?

This leads me to two conclusion.

The Priest and Reau’s ideology was not really unique only to Death Watch. They wanted A) Mandalore to be great empire again, B) Mandalorian people to serve their own interest rather than fighting for foreign governments and strangers. Most likely many other Mandalorians were bitter about their past and current situation. If we take Legends and New Canon into account, this kind of sentiment actually makes sense. Death Watch may take that into extreme, but even people like Skirata - or his just-adjusting to Mandalorian life daughter - from time to time were thinking that Mandalorians shouldn’t fight for aruetii (foreigners) and doing their dirty jobs.

“I’m not arguing,” Gilamar said. “Just making it clear that if I run into Dred and he starts on that bring-back-the-good-old-days garbage, I’ll gut him. And his crazy girlfriend.”

“No reason to run into him,” Ordo said. “Unless you’re in Keldabe.”

“Don’t you think it’s time we started fighting for our own interests?” Ruu took the mug out of her father’s hand and peered into it as if checking up on him. “I’m not saying this guy’s right, but being at every aruetii’s beck and call and doing the dying for them doesn’t sound smart to me. Look at this world. It’s dirt-poor. That’s not much to show for the lives we’ve spent on shoring up other governments.”

“Good point,” Vau said. “You’re definitely a Skirata.”

That was an odd thing for Vau to say, seeing as no Mando cared much about biological parentage. It was a culture of adoption and blurred lines between offspring and in-laws.

He just means she says the same things as Kal'buir. That’s all.

If Skirata can talk/think how Mandalorians shouldn’t kill each other for foreigners’ money, like in True Colors:

Mandalorians ended up killing one another for all kinds of reasons, personal and incidental. It still didn’t make it right. The covert ops troopers sent after Sull, now these strangers-the thought of nek dogs came back to him, dog set on dog for sport, or just a killing machine to do the master’s bidding. Skirata felt it was time Mando'ade stopped being everyone’s nek.

then maybe the idea of “coming back to roots” and creating one mighty army is not so controversial? I mean, Jaster Mereel saw Mandalorians as just well-paid mercenaries, yet by leading (at least three) military units of well trained warriors he had better bargaining position to pick up missions, clients and how much money should be paid than a lone mandalorian freelancer could have. I think that last decade or so before the Clone Wars was time in which “national movements” happened in various mandalorian groups.

We may only wonder how much Priest and Reau’s ideology changed over the years, when they all were stuck on Kamino training little kids to fight for Republic/Jedi Order that no Mandalorian was overly fond of.

There is also the little passage in Bounty Hunter Code, in which Jango commented that the Death Watch manifesto does not sound like Tor Vizsla (that Fett considered just a thug), the original leader of the group. But is something that Priest or Reau could said.

Jango could not be aware of how deep they felt about the whole “great mandalorian empire”, but either, like 501’st said, he thought they were all talk or knew, but did not care.

What brings me to the second point. Jango changed a lot between Jaster Mereel’s death and agreeing to be DNA donor for Great Army of Republic. Especially after Galidraan. He agreed to work for Dooku, because the man promised to destroy Jedi Order. And as much as Jango hated Death Watch, ultimately he hated Jedi even more. So, he could be as well aware that Priest and Reau were at heart Death Watch sympathizers, but did not care. He needed the best soldiers to train an army to eliminate Jedi - the ultimately enemy of all Mandalorians - once and for good.

“Now do you see? Do you?“ Vau hissed the sibilant like escaping steam. Mird cowered on the floor, whining softly. “I’m sick to death of your sentimental twaddle about Jango betraying us by letting Kamino use his genes. He did it to stop the Jedi. He did it to create an army strong enough to bring them down. You drone on about the injustice of unelected elites, my little working-class hero-well, now they’re gone. Yes, it cost our boys’ lives, but the Jedi are gone, gone, gone. And they won’t be killing Mandalorians again, not for a long time. Maybe never.”

And here comes my, most likely, unpopular opinion: I don’t think Fett cared much for the ideology. He hated Vizsla and DW, because they killed his family and mentor. He lead True Mandalorians because he cared for Jaster Mereel and tried his best to carry on his legacy. But in the end, somehow, in some ironic way, Jango adapted Tor Vizsla’s ruthless determination to achieve his goal. If to destroy Jedi Order he needed to sacrifice milions of his own clones and deal with two Death Watch sympathizers, so be it.

#star wars #jango fett #dred priest #isabet reau #death watch #walon vau #mij gilamar #kal skirata #republic commando #my replies #sorry for the rant i don't have many occassion to talk about DW #thank you for ask!#in short i doubt jango cared about their ideology #he wanted job be done #and by job i mean destruction of jedi order

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motherstone · 5 years

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Emily's start of Cynicism...

Okay, er, I just gotta point this one out. One of my biggest complaints about Emily is when as the series progresses, she seems to be lacking a reaction to... Well, anything. Always serious, and self-assured in her actions. Perhaps, a bit too much which caused her to lose the Voice in book 7, because she prioritized her negative feelings instead of properly paying attention to the very obvious trap (which Trellis already told her at hand!!). It is also the book where she showed this strong emotion after a long while. This is in no way an attack on the characters, but some introspection on the people who contributed to her issues:

Karen:

You could say that her cynicism started when her father died. And never really got over it, even 2 (then 4) years later.

Emily may seem a bit too harsh here, but she's a kid, she's trying to show she's hurting but Karen, as well-intentioned parent she is, is also hurting. But instead of communicating about it a bit more properly, Emily sets aside her feelings and prioritizes her mother's.

She supresses herself for the sake of her family. Emily has to step up to support her mother emotionally despite being emotionally compromised herself. It's a distressing situation, because as much as relieving to have that sort of reassurance, a child shouldn't have to do that. She has a good heart, but she doesn't have the emotional maturity to handle her mother's problems as well.

Navin... Honestly, I don't know what to think of Navin. He's probably the most emotionally well-adjusted of all of them, despite losing a father himself. But that doesn't mean Navin isn't affected either (book 5. Sorry, photos are limited here).

Leon and Silas:

It's already very obvious at the dialogue in this scene that Silas is not a good person. It's very likely he chose Emily because she is very much like him and is aware that she's in a situation where she can't afford to refuse, even if she wanted to. He doesn't even instruct her to help the Resistance or defeat the Elves, in fact, he gives no mention about the war at all despite being part of the Resistance; he wants her to attain power in his stead, and made sure to use a carrot and stick method (probably planned by the Voice). The carrot being the power to travel through time, and the stick being losing her family.

Leon is a disciplined soldier who does want to help Alledia... But is not a very good mentor, when it comes to being emotionally supportive to Emily. I guess you can say this is a case of poor communication and Leon having a hasty presumption that Emily is here to help. He is, admittedly, the one who burdened Emily further by redirecting her focus from solving her own issues (albeit very unintentionally, but it still happened) into a grander scale: winning the war. Which is appalling to see Leon trust a prophecy so much that he doesn't seem to mind that he'd use a child to win it for the Resistance. That sort of responsibility, is heavy, and needs immense emotional strength (which Emily isn't because she's not okay!)

Miskit and Cogsley:

They didn't do anything. Not really. Although Miskit is way too incompetent, it's not like he burdens Emily with anything and actively tries to help her. Same with Cogsley except he is competent. No, it's the thing that happens to them is what contributed to it.

Emily has been blaming herself for her failures since book 1, but book 3 adds fuel to this fire even further when they got abducted. It was a failure that was the result of her lack of action (which is not her fault :(, but she thinks it is) and unlike when her mother is poisoned, she can't do anything to resolve it.

Even though it is obvious they're coming back (this is a kid series despite its themes), Emily doesn't know that. She's helpless in this situation. Unlike back then where she has thw hope to cure her mother, Emily can't do anything to get them back. She gets a heavy, bitter dose of an actual failure this time. Arguably, this is where she got more serious and more determined to push herself.

Max:

This is probably the heaviest dose of it. Emily's failure in stopping Max is probably what sealed her in. Because unlike the others, this was the result of her own actions. She was actively helping Max. She allowed herself be played like the cheap kazoo she is (as much as I'd love to defend her... But, seriously gurl isn't it obvious?? That guy has been waving several red flags since you've seen him!!). It has the stakes of countless innocent people, and despite having doubts about Max, ended up being too late. It drove home on how irreversible and devastating the effects of one's actions are, and the despair and self-loathing to lump with it. It also doesn't help that Max mocks her for it, using her family as hostages, and makes sure to rub it in her face. Here, I think, is the main start of her ruthless mentality.

One of the many things the villains have in common, is that mentality. The sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good. Or rather, be downright determined at all costs. Which Emily is. She stopped hesitating, which is good, but it also kept her from contemplating whether her actions are the right ones or not. Which leads her turning against Trellis in book 7.

The Voice:

Do I really have to say it? My thumbs hurt.

Either way, it's honestly unsurprising that she is bound to fall in Firelight, but atrociously stupid that all of that deep-rooted issues of self-hatred and self-blame be easily resolved with what? A pep talk with her future son?

Anyways, I hope you at least understood what I was trying to say because ngl, I am straight up rambling. Toodles!

#motherstone meta #emily hayes #karen hayes #navin hayes #leon redbeard #silas charnon #the voice #max griffin

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scvereignty · 5 years

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introduction i.

A D E L A I D E W I N D S O R ( p r i n c e s s o f e n g l a n d )

bespoke houndstooth blazers, watching your mare come second place, exposed lace garters, sipping from a bottle of warm champagne, grey skies, french erotica, a wet slip dress with nothing underneath, white roses, reciting passages by heart at parties, mascara-stained sheets, sitting by open windows despite the cold, black velvet, heavy books by pretentious authors, jewels at the breakfast table, the dirty hem of a long dress, hidden gardens, purple hickeys on pale thigh, smoking in secret, sleeping naked, perfect tennis whites & an immaculate backhand, bows in tangled hair, audrey hepburn films & grace kelly sensibility, placing their hand over your neck mid-kiss and squeezing hard, oversized sunglasses paired with red eyes and dark circles, never wearing the same coat twice, the weight of history, the shot that puts down a lame horse, perfect posture, lingerie and silk in the library, sucking whip cream off of strawberries, making love in the stable, watching the sunrise from the garden in an evening gown.

age: twenty-one

nicknames: di, rosie, little princess

sexuality: heterosexual ( publicly ) / bisexual ( private, exploring )

gender: cisgender female

title: her royal highness

( + ) elegant, graceful, intelligent, clever, intuitive, adaptable, creative, impulsive, sensual, motivated, self-confident, hard-working, mature, modest, reliable, outspoken ( - ) pretentious, aloof, melancholy, judgemental, private, elusive, deceptive, guarded, secretive, unforgiving, sensitive, affected, mistrusting, self-destructive, changeable, indecipherable

UNDER THE CUT : HISTORY, TRIVIA, & CONNECTIONS !

A BRIEF HISTORY ;

the youngest windsor & only princess of england!

i’m currently keeping her actual childhood/family background undecided until i get the chance to plot with her brother(s), but as per the connection description: the siblings were initially v close while their parents were rather absent

notably, adelaide & her brother james had an extremely special relationship. as the eldest and youngest of the brood, from the time adelaide was born, james’s affection for her was almost paternal in many ways — and she loved him to pieces.

literally, like, there are shots of james walking adelaide hand-in-hand into her primary school, and even as they got older, she considered him her best friend and biggest protector. this is highkey inspired by my own grandmother & how she describes her relationship w her own late brother uwu

a charming, odd child, who was labelled as an old soul very early in life. very well mannered and mature, but prone to somewhat unusual flights of fancy

a lowkey trouble maker -- or rather, incredible adept at being subtle. with at least one wild elder brother, it was both easy to learn from their mistakes and appear innocent in comparison

as adelaide got older, that old soul developed some of the troubles they’re ought to. she craved art, passion, love, justice, intense emotion, experience. she engaged in these behaviours moderately and with subtlety, particularly in comparison to silas. she was/is less about wild partying and more about deep experiences, and as such there have rarely been any stories about the little princess and drinking/inappropriate behaviour

she had always had a changeable nature and was susceptible to bouts of depression, but the death of james hit her in a way she has yet to recover from. while the whole family was devastated, no one took it harder than adelaide, who to this day calls him the love of her life

for the two years since his murder, adelaide has been in a poor mental and emotional place. unable to fully move on despite the time that has passed, she has both retreated further into herself and sought out unhealthy methods of coping ( ie. the usual -- alcohol, travel, and occasionally drugs )

hence she’s chosen to come to genovia, a decision that surprised even her parents. remaining in london has kept her in the throes of mourning, so she hopes to let go of some of her grief by arriving somewhere new and attempting self care

reputation & aesthetics tend to be very immaculate and proper, so it’s often a surprise to those that find out the young princess has that darker, troubled, sensual side to her - that she can drink gin straight without wincing, or has bruises and hickeys beneath her silk blouse

has never had any desire to rule/never considered it an option, but instead focuses her life on the betterment of people but domestic to the uk and worldwide through charity & philanthropy

TRIVIA ;

the nickname for her in the uk is “the english rose,” or several variants (“the little rose,” etc) due to her fair complexion & nature. her reputation is very princess diana-esque: a modern, classy woman who devotes her time to philanthropy & charity

considered a fashion icon!

an extremely accomplished horse rider, considered one of the best competitors in britain despite not actively competing in years. she’s down showmanship, jumping, dressage, & eventing. yes, she is the horse girl

despite her tiny height, form, and general fairylike facial features, this girl can drink a surprising amount of people under the table. is this a sign of a Problem? CERTAINLY

if you think you are the most beautiful and/or incredible thing to walk this earth, she thinks you are incredibly stupid. she’ll name 14 pieces of art right NOW that are more interesting than ur looks

makes a habit of calling out those that are arrogant/rude

she started smoking when she was fourteen. her parents still don’t know.

camilla macaulay, grace kelly, and princess diana are probably her biggest inspos

very accomplished liar - she has an incredible poker face

she wears a locket james gave her every day. he had it specially made with an inscription (either a quote from a little princess or the secret garden, i haven’t decided), but since then she’s had the other side inlaid with a photo of him :c

her favourite disney movie is alice in wonderland, which is also one of her favourite novels

PLOTS & CONNECTIONS ;

the best friend: self explanatory! very open to how their friendship came about and when, but someone who knows adelaide intimately, and one of the few that can still read her even when she’s putting on her otherwise immaculate facade

the no-good: someone that would have been her corrupter, perhaps, or thought to be -- until they realized she was not the delicate thing one would seem. could be friends with benefits, drinking buddies, someone who encourages self-destructive behaviours, or any combination of this.

the counsel: young as she is, adelaide knows herself intimately, and as such knows a great deal about women in general -- this muse is coming to her for advice on how to court mignonette (or another lady)!

the lionheart: a dear friend, and someone similar to adelaide insomuch as her old soul, maturity, devotion to philanthropy, etc. someone to either decry or poke fun at the triviality of so much around them

the skinny love: it’s been the wrong time since childhood. but it’s always been the right time to hold terrible affection for each other. how heartbreaking, to keep on watching but never kissing.

the charged: inspired by this gif set. the true terrible influence, unhealthy relationship, disaster in a glass bottle. they infuriate each other, say the worst things that can be said. then they let it out in bed -- or almost go. getting closer every time

the antagonist: preferably a princess or someone of noble enough birth that they could have attended the same academy in their teen years. alternatively, could just be a pair that runs into each other frequently at those fancy aristocratic events. ( x ) is someone that leans into that queen B(itch) trope, or otherwise is confident to the point of arrogance/is unphased by potentially offending others by saying what they want, when they want. adelaide, blank-faced over her glass, calls this person out for their behaviour. as such, an intense dislike starts to brood between the two

the affair: we talking sex, we talking scandal, we talking familial outrage. we can talk more about specific circumstances, but i am very solid on the aesthetic of That Scene in atonement: aka green dress, up against the library walls during a dinner party, walked in on at the perfectly terrible moment. my initial thought was that these two met for the first time when the windsor’s were hosting a dinner/ball/celebration or something in honour of this royal/important family, and adelaide and ( x ) had incredible chemistry -- or at least sexual attraction. it only takes a few hours and several glasses of champagne for them to end up in the library in an entirely compromising position before someone walks in on them and snitches to the family. the whole evening is absolutely ruined, both sets of parents in disarray, and while the press never hear why the night was the fiasco, there are now rumours of tension between the two families/nations. alternatively, this could have been started some time long ago and wasn’t 100% a one-off

the young love: adelaide’s longest relationship, which began sometime in late high school or early college and lasted several years. preferably someone of royal blood, because this was in many ways - especially aesthetically - the Perfect Relationship. not only was adelaide wildly in love with them, but their relationship was public, and the press considered it an incredible feat that a prince and princess would naturally begin dating. this kind of aesthetic, ja feel? everyone that knew them felt they would get married, including adelaide. but for whatever reasons you like, this little prince broke up with her, and subsequently broke her heart & dashed her dreams. prior to james’s death, this was the greatest pain she ever endured. still do this day if she references “my ex,” or compares a man to someone, it’s this guy. despite whatever time has passed between break-up and now, adelaide still treats him with some disdain -- she’s both still hurt, and still harbouring lingering affection for him.

the exploration: the first woman that made adelaide question her sexuality !! i’m open as to what this is, how it happened etc; whether anything physical occurred or they were merely flirtatious and physically close; if it was one-sided or reciprocated, etc.

#genoviaintro #phew ok we done #allp.a

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