#character ;; jane parker {the magpie}

[sweetbitterbitten]

continued from here

threecardtrick

she exists in a future not yet written. he pales at her words for how flagrantly arrogant they were. (perhaps, too, about how it makes what he will do all too real. his past with the queen is complicated... but he does not say these things to jane. but she knows.) jane is a woman with nothing to lose, who cares little for her existence. god the pride of nobles; she’d rather spit in anne’s face while she could even if it meant risking everything they were working towards. his hand shoots out, encircling her neck, and squeezing hard. thomas has worked too hard to get to where he was and to see his justice foiled. “if you will not behave for yourself, then do it for me,” he hisses at her, before his lips crush hard against hers.

he expects her to be biddable. pursuant to his wishes. but she is no wildflower sure to bend. she is stiff as unbroken leather and snaps with similar violence. palms at once pressed and yet raked to claw the cuff of his lapels. a hard push and equal pull - passion built like a battering ram. she is all assault (from teeth to tongue) and her returning husk is a havest scythe: “i will not bow or scrape before her BONES any longer. let us put her in the  g r o u n d  and be done with it!”

[sweetbitterbitten]

jane parker harbored no guilt over her indiscretions, inelegant though such may be.  an aberration and outlier in all assembly. would the world wished her some other way, it would not have wrought her as she was. and whatever embellishments were obtained were soundly within her jurisdiction to make. she thumbs the rim of her glass contemplatively, a rough but warm chuckle pooling in place of wine sipped. “spymasters can’t have their rats caught. too wary of squeaking. i should like a pair of fangs to turn on an attacker, if i am approached in some dark alley...doing your business.”

they’ve taken to spending some portion of the evening in each other’s presence. this night sees them set up, twin chairs, turned toward fireside - introspective, intimate in shared silence. the quiet comes to a close with her next comment, sprung as if from cinder blocks: “i’d like for you to teach me the small blade. if you are agreeable to it.” - Jane Parker from sweetbitterbitten

sin could become a habit. until it hardly felt wrong. almost. it would be difficult to think about the fact he was sharing a bed with the wife of the queen’s brother. considering how entangled he and anne are. they had risen together. but they would not fall together. in their quiet intimacy, he does expect so violent a question from her, and it can’t help but bring a rare smile to his lips. “depends on what you’re intending to do with such skills,” he teased lightly. he can only imagine that she’d be eager to stab her sister in law or her husband.

[respectingromance]

So you’d like to try romance

If you’re interested in reading romance or would just like to know a bit more about the genre by reading books instead of going off of whatever nonsense you’ve heard about it, here’s a list grouped by arbitrary categories that I made up as I went.

“I have a shelf of chick lit, but I just don’t know where to start with those books.”

Congrats! If you read “chick lit,” then you’ve probably already read romance because the generally agreed upon definition of a romance novel is a story that 1. centers on a love story and 2. has an emotionally satisfying ending. Lots of chick lit fits those two rules. It’s all just marketing.

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie

Roomies by Christina Lauren

The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

Pretty much anything with a colorful illustrated cover featuring two people: Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston; Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert; No Judgments by Meg Cabot; etc.

“I have a shelf of historical fiction and historical romance is such a natural fit for me it’s really a wonder that I haven’t read any of it yet.”

Three Weeks with Lady X by Eloisa James

Diary of an Accidental Wallflower by Jennifer McQuiston

A Lady by Midnight by Tessa Dare

One Night in London by Caroline Linden

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley

“Listen, if I’m going to read romance, I want to read the classics.”

I’m listing the classics that I like because it’s my list. 

Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas (2006)

Gentle Rogue by Johanna Lindsey (1990)

Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn (2002)

Mackenzie’s Mountain by Linda Howard (1989)

Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale (1992)

Ransom by Julie Garwood (1999)

It Had to Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1994)

Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase (1995)

Sea Swept by Nora Roberts (1998), Vision in White by Nora Roberts (2009), anything you want by Nora Roberts, including Naked in Death by J.D. Robb (who is Nora Roberts) (1995)

“You’re giving me too much REALITY. Where’s the fantasy?!”

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh

The Magpie Lord by K.J. Charles

Dark Lover by J.R. Ward

No Rest for the Wicked by Kresley Cole

“No, no, no, that’s all too far-fetched for me. I want to read about things that could really happen.”

Hard Hitter by Sarina Bowen

Something About You by Julie James

Act Like It by Lucy Parker

“No! I’ve spent years hearing about all the weird stuff in romance novels! Give me your wildest shenanigans or give me nothing!”

Warrior’s Woman and Keeper of the Heart by Johanna Lindsey (Actually, just read any old-school Lindsey.)

The Red Hot Cajun by Sandra Hill

I listed Dark Lover by J.R. Ward above. Keep reading the Black Dagger Brotherhood series if you want to go from the shallow end to the deep end and beyond.

Iron Cowboy by Diana Palmer -- or just read this review on Smart Bitches Trashy Books.

Pregnesia by Carla Cassidy -- or just read this review on Smart Bitches Trashy Books.

“Okay, now I’m really pissed off because I knew romance had a ‘diversity problem’ and you didn’t include enough writers of color or diverse characters or people who aren’t straight for me.”

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Wrong to Need You by Alisha Rai

A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole

Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins

A Bollywood Affair by Sonali Dev

Rafe: A Buff Male Nanny by Rebekah Weatherspoon

A Seditious Affair by K.J. Charles

Trade Me by Courtney Milan

The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian

“I’m a dedicated romance reader, you didn’t include my favorite author or favorite book, and now I’m annoyed.”

Slightly Dangerous by Mary Balogh

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean

A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig

Irresistible Forces by Brenda Jackson

Waking Up with the Duke by Lorraine Heath

Lucky in Love by Jill Shalvis

Beard Science by Penny Reid

Ravishing the Heiress by Sherry Thomas

The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran

Virgin River by Robyn Carr

Motorcycle Man by Kristen Ashley

Long Shot by Kennedy Ryan

Look, just imagine I included your favorite here, okay?

“Wait, I know of some pretty big novelists who aren’t on this list. Why aren’t you recommending them?”

Nicholas Sparks is a jerk about the romance genre, even though romance readers are the reason he’s rich. Screw him.

Same for Diana Gabaldon.

Danielle Steele doesn’t write romance novels.

Everyone knows about Jane Austen.

Georgette Heyer was an anti-Semitic trash person.

That about covers it. Happy reading!

[stony-ao3-feed]

song of the magpie

Read it on AO3

by starshipjuno

When Peter wakes up in an abandoned hospital to a world that has completely fallen apart, even worse than his life before, he has no idea what to do or where to go.

But then, a ragtag group of really messed up people with superpowers like him adopt him. And he finds himself inexplicably connected to a sharp-witted man with an alcohol problem and heart of stone.

He makes it his mission to soften said heart in this rock-hard new world.

(A Walking Dead AU heavily featuring IronDad and Spiderson, and eventually, SuperFamily with a side of Stony)

Words: 2134, Chapters: 1/50, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of Walking Dead AU

Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Spider-Man - All Media Types

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: Gen, M/M

Characters: Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Thor, Loki, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Clint Barton, Laura Barton, Bruce Banner, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Scott Lang, Cassie Lang, May Parker (Spider-Man), James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Carol Danvers, Nathaniel Pietro Barton, Lila Barton, Cooper Barton, Stephen Strange, T'Challa (Marvel), Shuri (Marvel), Okoye (Marvel), Jane Foster (Marvel), Darcy Lewis

Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes & Peter Parker, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Clint Barton/Laura Barton, Wanda Maximoff/Vision

Additional Tags: Hurt Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Parent Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Hurt Peter Parker, Peter Parker Whump, Peter Parker is a Mess, Protective Steve Rogers, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Past Child Abuse, Childhood Trauma, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Everyone Is Gay, well a good portion of them are gay, Zombie Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Apocalypse, steve and tony will get together eventually, it will just a take a long time, long fic, Main Fic, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Avengers Family, Domestic Avengers, Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Domestic Fluff, Blood and Gore, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

Read it on AO3

[insanityclause]

When coronavirus closed the theaters on March 12, there were still 16 shows left to open in the Broadway season. Audiences will get to see some of them later, others probably not — but what of the more than 20 plays, musicals and miscellaneous offerings that had already faced the press? It seemed unfair not to celebrate them, so on Friday, just after it was announced that the Tony Awards will not go on as usual this year, we sat down (in cyberspace) to devise a Tonys of our own. Naturally, we made our own rules.

BEN BRANTLEY Well, Jesse, even in a season that’s 16 plays short, there’s still a fat if imbalanced roster of intriguing shows. Have we ever before had such a preponderance of jukebox musicals that might qualify for Best Musical? The good news is that some enterprising minds managed to inventively retool the genre you once described as the “cockroach” of Broadway.

JESSE GREEN The cockroach has evolved! “Jagged Little Pill,” “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” “Girl From the North Country,” “Moulin Rouge!” and — since we’re playing by our own rules here — even “American Utopia,” the David Byrne show that was deemed ineligible for the real Tonys, are all jukeboxes, all worthy and all eligible for ours. Maybe not quite all worthy.

BRANTLEY Perhaps it’s appropriate then that the last show to open on Broadway was the most unorthodox of the “jukebox” shows. I use quotation marks here because that label seems too confining for “Girl From the North Country,” the Irish playwright and director Conor McPherson’s work that uses the songs of Bob Dylan to imagine life during the Great Depression in Duluth, Minn. The more I think about “Girl,” the more innovative and haunting it seems to me.

GREEN For me it took some time, and the show’s move from the Public Theater to Broadway, to appreciate how McPherson was deploying the music in this musical. The songs do not function the way songs normally do; they never address the situation at hand, and sometimes even contradict it. Yet in that gap, poetry grew.

BRANTLEY For me, “Girl” deals with the ineffable and unsayable through song in a way that makes it the most religious, or at least spiritual, show on Broadway. I have found this aspect of the show stays with me, as an oddly comforting reminder of the hunger for communion in this time of isolation. But moving on to matters closer to profane than sacred, what about another mold-breaker in a very different sense: “Moulin Rouge!,” based on the Baz Luhrmann movie about la vie bohème in gaslight-era Paris.

GREEN Here was a case where the gap between the story, such as it is, and the musical materials — found pop from Offenbach to Rihanna — did not produce poetry. For me it produced a headache.

BRANTLEY Ah, I had a swell time at “Moulin Rouge,” and I thought the far-reaching songbook became a kind of commentary on how such songs form the wallpaper of our minds. And then there was “Tina,” which was more business-as-usual bio-musical fare, although illuminated by a radiant, cliché-transcending performance by Adrienne Warren as Turner.

GREEN The creators of musicals really offered a sampler of ways to respond to the jukebox problem. “Jagged Little Pill,” built on the Alanis Morissette catalog, made the smart choice of abjuring biography and instead attaching her songs to a new plot (by Diablo Cody) that grew out of the same concerns and vocabulary. Or perhaps I should say “new plots,” because it is not shy with them. There are at least eight story lines.

BRANTLEY To be honest, this was the show that gave me a headache, because it was so insistently earnest in its topicality and, even when it was trying to be funny, humorless. So, of the new musicals (and we haven’t touched on “The Lightning Thief,” your personal favorite) what would you give the premature Tony to?

GREEN The one that wouldn’t be eligible: “American Utopia.” Joy and sadness bound to each other through David Byrne’s music and Annie-B Parson’s movement: What else do you want from a musical, even if it’s just a concert?

BRANTLEY I loved “American Utopia.” I think, though, I’d have to go with “Girl From the North Country,” but I wouldn’t have predicted that after seeing it in London two years ago. I find more in it every time I revisit it.

GREEN Despite all the Best Musical possibilities this truncated season, only one, “The Lightning Thief,” had a new score. Yet most of the offerings sounded new anyway, the result of terrific arrangements and orchestrations. I’m thinking especially of Justin Levine’s magpie-on-Ecstasy song collages for “Moulin Rouge!,” Tom Kitt’s theatricalization of post-grunge pop for “Jagged Little Pill” and Simon Hale’s excavation of the deeply layered Americana in Dylan’s catalog for “Girl.”

BRANTLEY Here, I’d have to say it’s a tie between “Girl” and “Moulin Rouge!,” each a remarkable accomplishment in a very different way. As for best revival, the undisputed winner is Ivo van Hove’s divisive revival of “West Side Story,” but that’s because it is, remarkably, the only musical revival so far.

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GREEN I liked “West Side Story” better than you did, Ben, perhaps because I wasn’t reviewing it. I lapped up the new things it wanted to show me (while also hunting for the old things it wanted to hide from me) and didn’t worry about the elements that laid an egg. (“Gee, Officer Krupke.”) Its evocation of innocence and hopelessness felt more like real life now than I’ve experienced in previous revivals.

BRANTLEY I concede the point intellectually. But the acid test for me with theater — and musicals in particular — is how much it makes you feel. And to borrow a lyric from “A Chorus Line,” for the most part “I felt nothing.”

GREEN I admit it was odd that there were no obvious breakout performances in “West Side Story” — which brings us to our first lightning round. Who wins our Tonys for leading actor and actress in a musical?

BRANTLEY Best Actress: Adrienne Warren, for “Tina” (though Karen Olivo in “Moulin Rouge!” is pretty fab, too). Best Actor: Jay O. Sanders in, perversely, a non-singing role in “Girl From the North Country.” You?

GREEN Same. I think we are having a socially distanced mindmeld. Will that also be the case with the nine new plays and four revivals that opened before March 12? With one exception, the revivals were not as thrilling as the full slate promised to be.

BRANTLEY For me, the winner is Jamie Lloyd’s spartan, merciless revival of Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal,” which brought harsh clarity to the work’s emotional ambiguity.

GREEN And ambiguity to the play’s harsh formality — its semi-backward construction. It was certainly the best “Betrayal” I’ve seen, yet I hold out some love for the revival of “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” which in retrospect turned out to be a farewell to Terrence McNally, its author, who died last week. I felt that Michael Shannon and Audra McDonald did it, and him, justice.

BRANTLEY It was certainly a reminder of his shrewdness and compassion. I was perhaps a little too conscious of the Acting, with a capital A. But it was a welcome addition to the season. For Best Play, we have a far more varied field, no? I suspect we’ll agree on the winner here, the season’s great iconoclast.

GREEN Yes, “Slave Play,” by Jeremy O. Harris, wins on sheer disruptive energy, even before considering its intelligence as playwriting, its knockout production (directed by Robert O’Hara) and its fearsome challenge to renegotiate race in America.

BRANTLEY But for all its shock value, what made it a wonderful play — as opposed to just a bracing exploration of dangerous ground — was its heart. By the end, you felt so completely the pain of its characters, all trying to navigate the perhaps insuperable hurdles of interracial relationships.

GREEN I think “The Inheritance” wanted to be that kind of play, too: a story of intimate relationships yet also a gay manifesto with the multipart heft of “Angels in America.” It got the heft, anyway; “Slave Play” ran 120 minutes; “The Inheritance,” 385.

BRANTLEY “The Inheritance” certainly gets points for ambition — and for the fluidity of Stephen Daldry’s production. And might I put in a word for the prickly comic abrasiveness of Tracy Letts’s “Linda Vista,” a lacerating anatomy of toxic masculinity disguised as brooding charm?

GREEN I liked what “Linda Vista” wanted to do but found it flabby. Perhaps straitened times demand slender plays. Certainly, the other new drama I greatly admired was whippetlike: Adam Rapp’s “The Sound Inside,” an existential mystery wrapped in a literary one, or vice versa. Among other things, it allowed Mary-Louise Parker, as a Yale writing instructor, to deliver a Tony-worthy performance. And now that “How I Learned to Drive,” the other play in which she was set to star this season, has been postponed, she doesn’t have to compete against herself. Is she our winner?

BRANTLEY I am going to declare a tie between her and Laura Linney, who gave a very subtle, and emotionally transparent, performance as the title character of “My Name Is Lucy Barton,” adapted by Rona Munro from Elizabeth Strout’s novel.

GREEN I buy that. But let’s not forget Joaquina Kalukango in “Slave Play,” Eileen Atkins in “The Height of the Storm,” Zawe Ashton in “Betrayal” and Jane Alexander in “Grand Horizons.” It was a very strong semi-season for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

BRANTLEY And for Best Actor?

GREEN The real Tonys decreed that Paul Alexander Nolan was eligible for his “supporting” role in “Slave Play,” but in my Tonys he’s a strong candidate for “leading.” Still, I’ll go with Tom Hiddleston, in “Betrayal.” Or at least he wins in my newly invented category of Best Use of the Lack of a Tissue. His facial leakage was Vesuvian.

BRANTLEY He was superb — and a reminder of the cathartic value of the tears of others in theater. Of course, there’s so much to cry about now in terms of opportunities lost this season. But I’m not writing an elegy for, or even a definitive summary of, this season yet. It will be fascinating to see how it reincarnates itself, won’t it?

[banana-with-a-bow-tie]

I was tagged by @aliceaviatrix. Felicitations, my dear neighbor.

RULES ARE EASY: TAG 9 PEOPLE YOU WANT TO GET KNOW BETTER

Relationship status: single

Last song I listened to: I have no idea.  I was jamming to the Megamind soundtrack when I watched the movie the other day.

Last book read/like to: The Zodiac by Stan Lee

Favorite color: green

Top 3 shows: (Only three?!) Avatar the Last Airbender, Scorpion, Doctor Who

Top 3 characters:(Uggghhh!!) Hiccup Haddock, Zuko, Peter Parker

Top 3 ships: kataang, Hiccstrid, Peter Parker + Mary Jane Watson (I don’t think they have a ship name.)

I tag @elven-flower @thisbibliomaniac @agent1132 @rustierarabbit @traveling-magpie @mohawk-yeshua @my--darling--dear @aquamiriam

[sweetbitterbitten]

He has to practically drag her out of the room before the fight escalated any further than it did, telling Her Majesty (still elevated... for now), that he would deal with her sister in law and ensure that no such incident occurred again. He's dragged her into his office so that they are alone. His grip on her arm cuts off her circulation. Anger shows in his expression but fear for her safety shows in his eyes. "We are so close, Jane. You can't act like this."

she wrests her arm from his grasp, a sea serpent struck, tail flashing forward and shunting off again in quick succession. expression cruelly curled. she is no master's pup, but a bitch with wicked bite. the dredge of her words is an earthly creature, dug down into the dirt. "what care i for some dead woman ?" the ground upon which stands any threat is but a G R A V E.

[sweetbitterbitten]

[ SMIRK ] ( to jane rochford )

[ SMIRK ] : while interacting with my muse, your muse can’t resist a smirk.

they are not the kind to be kind. though perhaps he is more practiced at it than she. sweetness was never supped or sipped at her table. or if it was, so long since it was served, no memory now could maintain it. it stands to reason then, the roads to lady rochford’s dismal and dreary heart were not the highways of knights or courtly gallants - but the side alleys frequented by blacker spies and sundries. what rose or sonnet could sing as sweetly to her soul as a meanspirited swipe? a spiteful bite born and bared to those she could not stand? when he fails to pant or posture as the queen prods him...or a well placed witty snip clips those over-preened wings why...her lips slanted, canted cry: pride, pride, pride....

[sweetbitterbitten]

chin touch (for jane rochford)

CHIN: Beauty/attractiveness

the touch is too much like the first use his tongue had made of her christian name. a pat. a bone. tossed at the last moment. a leash. come, pretty puppy...let me plump you up with praise and pet your silken ears. such things keep pesky animals in their place and she is as incensed over its use as she was on the prior occasion it was offered. eyes narrowed, she dusts aside the complimenting appendage; jaw set, nostrils flared - before turning and stalking away. there were less strained means of showing her his admiration than affording her an unbelievable  L I E  .

[sweetbitterbitten]

Your body told me in a dream it’s never been afraid of anything. ( to jane parker )

the thin strip of torn meat mid-chew turns wooden in her mouth, sawdust and sand scrounged round the back molars, scratched along unguarded gums, held as dry clod at the center of her tongue before being patiently doused and drowned to a semblence of swallow on the shallow tide of bitter wine. “it is used to a certain type of violence, i suppose. a product of its everyday environs. and apparently outrageously forthcoming in dreams.”

[sweetbitterbitten]

❛ You invited me here because you think of me, as often as I think of you. ❜ ( to jane parker )

the answer sinks like a catspaw to thin stockings. there is a flare of something like fire in her throat, not rough or destructive, but soft as flowering flame; a wild orchid of ocher. she politely coughs it back, genteelly, mask held in place with wobbly hand. “is it a lawyer’s calling to imagine a woman’s mind or have you added further tricks to your resume?”

[sweetbitterbitten]

❝ How about I push you in the canal and we see if you know how to swim? ❞ ( for jane parker )

“About as well as any dead body adrift in the Thames, I imagine.”

[sweetbitterbitten]

“You belong to me.” (to lady rochford)

These words he speaks in the space above her shoulder, from behind and to the right, as though he were some spirit or witching familiar - perched within whispering distance; set to summon a storm if so be it. A soft scoff trades air with his emphatic claim, her hands held in a controlled curl against her abdomen. The snort tilts her forward with a haughty arch to her throat, the upward thrust of nose and chin as her lips quirk wryly in return. “Do you think me one of your creatures, Master Cromwell?” 

[sweetbitterbitten]

🗑️ ( for whoever )

[to the beastmaster, from the magpie] you can pretend i’m her. i’ve a blindfold that will serve nicely.[to minister, from malice] it would be so unerringly easy to ruin you. i think you’d make a very fine mess. but then the game would be done, and i’m so enjoying playing.

[sweetbitterbitten]

👀 + jane parker / thomas

[sweetbitterbitten]

To Jane Rochford, the magpie, he gifted a gold necklace embedded with gems; small gleaming rubies.

fingertips trace, tremble over precious stones. the reflection of her face within, tightlipped, nearly bloodless. brows furrowed, voice hushed, harrowed and vaguely accusatory despite the fragile hope hidden in her asking. “mean you to murder me? she’ll have my throat before she stands to see me wear these.” bright shiny flames of ardor, absolute in scandal, outright in atrocity.