#claire and fergus

[flyinghome-againstthewind]

Beside the Seaside: Ch 18

“That’s the last of it,” Gillian sighed and heaved the box onto the desk within her new residence. Claire set her own box down more gently on a stack near the door while Jamie, who had done most of the heavy lifting that day, clapped Fergus on the back and complimented him on a job well done.

“Suppose you’ll want a tour of the campus, while ye’re here,” Gillian added with a sly wink in Claire’s direction. Something twisted in Claire’s stomach, desperate and hopeful and terrified.

“A tour!” Faith cheered and slipped her hand into Gillian’s, and Claire caught the way Gillian tried not to startle. Ever since that day Gillian had taken the children for the afternoon, she and Faith had had something of an odd dynamic — odd, for Gillian at least, who never quite knew what to do with children — not unrequited so much as unbalanced perhaps. A baby duckling imprinting on a reluctant badger. Claire fought to hide her smile as she glanced surreptitiously at Jamie.

“A tour would be lovely.”

[read the rest on ao3]

[take-it-on-the-run]

[sassenach77yle]

|| COUNTDOWN || SEASON 6 EPISODE 03 || TEMPERANCE ||

#83daysofoutlander☆

I'm so sorry, Fergus.

When I met you and milord,

I found a world

beyond a bro thel

and vowed never to return

to such a place.

That my son might find himself

in such a life...

You can't thinkthat Jamie or I ,that-that we would allow such a thing to happen.

No, you will not, milady,

but you will not live forever,

nor will milord nor I.

But the child

will be a dwarf forever,

and that's my fault.

I wasn't there

to protect my wife...

His condition has nothing to do with what happened.

You have to believe me, Fergus.

It wasn't your fault.

[outlander-online]

Throwback to this video of Sam Heughan, Romann Berrux and Caitriona Balfe on the set of Outlander season 2

🎥: Our site archives / Caitriona Balfe

[blink182times]

I’m not emotional I’m not emotional

[cajon-desastre]

@AngusAngels

[ananke-xiii]

Rowena and the thick, bloody umbilical cord between choices and faults.

In a previous post of mine I’ve explored a little bit how Mary and Kelly represent a sort of “missed opportunity” for, respectively, Sam and Jack.

At the beginning of s13 Sam resents the fact that he hasn’t been proactive in seeking to create a relationship with his mother and now that she’s (presumably) gone he doesn’t want to deal with that reality. He had wasted his second chance. Jack, on the other hand, never even had a first opportunity to begin with but, unlike Sam, has experienced a sense of unity with his mother so extreme that one of the first things that he tells Sam is that he was his mother(!!!).

S13 reinforces the Mother-Son symbolism because, after Jack’s birth, a rift is opened in space (apparently not in time?): Kelly stays (dead, rip girl I love you) on one side of it while Mary crosses it and finds herself in Apocalypse World. To make things even more clear, this is no random parallel universe: this is the alternate reality where Mary didn’t deal with Azazel. So mothers and their choices/faults are a central theme in this season. Or, well, more or less.

To complete the mothers’ trimurti or, better, tridevi we’re missing the final mother, the destroyer who is, of course, Rowena. It’s therefore quite apt that Rowena reaches her highest potential this season and even confronts Death. What motivates her in an interesting blend of (missing)love and (lacking)power. Lucifer is as part of her story as Kelly’s and Mary’s. Unlike these two, though, she doesn’t have a son who resurrects her, nor a turned-benefactor cosmic being who offers her resurrection as a gift to her son. Rowena has to resurrect herself. Not once but twice. She is, perhaps, the loneliest character in the whole series.

This is actually quite ironic because, if we look back on previous seasons, her “choice” to kill Oskar, her putative son, was what triggered the whole chain of events (the freeing of Amara first and Lucifer second) that directly link Rowena with Mary and Kelly.

It’s only natural, then, that s13 Rowena keeps representing the reversal of the Mary and Sam/ Kelly and Jack relationships because there is no son who’s looking for her, rather she is the mother who’s looking for her (dead) child. Like Sam, she also needs someone who can access another dimension to bring Crowley back but, unlike him, she’s not successful. Now, ngl, this pisses me off to no end, like of course I can understand the real reasons why Crowley couldn’t be brought back, still I kinda hate how it was narratively framed.

When, in "Funeralia", Rowena says that life is unfair she is right but not in the general, pessimistic sense of the phrase: she's right because in-universe some deaths are more important than others and people get back on board depending on whether or not they're still a role to play for them. Rowena's faith in magic is actually justified because magic is the only thing that can help her. And the tragic thing is that it's also what damns her in the process because it's the only form of power she can have access to. There are no angels or cosmic entities looking out for her. She's just... alone.

So, perhaps, it's not that I necessarily hate how her failure to bring Crowley back is described, I just see it as further proof that Rowena is the best example to show how in Supernatural the game is rigged from the beginning and we didn’t even need an interfering and pervy God to realize it. That's all we've been seeing it since S1. All those infinite, booooring talks about being good/evil or doing good/bad actually mean nothing because, at the end of the day, in this show what really matters is how useful you can be, to whom and why (and this is way less booooring, you learn a lot of interesting things about these characters if you go down this road, it's grim but it's more rewarding).

S13 is also when the final connection between Rowena and the Winchesters, Sam to be more precise, is established which is indicative of the fact that she will inevitably die. Before S13 her story was her own, after “Funeralia” it cannot be extricated from Sam’s. To some degree, it’s quite similar to what happened with Crowley and Dean. What’s more, just like Crowley’s powers and shrewdness are what really carry the plot from s6 to s12, magic and spells (and therefore Rowena’s role in the story) will be the key for many plot points from s13 to s15. But there is a big difference.

Both Crowley and Rowena’s sacrifices are described as heroic but, let’s be honest, only Rowena’s was. Crowley’s demise was a clean-up after his own mess at best. It also proved to be unnecessary. Rowena and that awful MBOL’s egg thingy would have managed to confine Lucifer, like, they actually did it. It was Crowley who perverted the spell for reasons that I personally find OOC. I would’ve liked the Crowley vs Lucifer power struggle but not the way it was done in s12 because it felt very nonsensical to me. As in: I can see you need a reason to keep Lucifer around and this is what you’ve come up with but it’s still quite illogical.

At its hidden and secret core S13 is the season of the “let’s reframe the sons’ stories and blame it on the mothers”. Just like Kelly is blamed for Castiel’s ideal vision of Jack and Mary’s "choice" is established as the most important point in the whole show, Rowena-as-Mother must face the same fate: it was her fault if Crowley, Fergus!, ended the way he ended. It’s a naaaaaaaaaaaaaah for me.

This is what we’re told in “Funeralia”:

Rowena: Oh, but it is. Death has something I want. Sam: What’s that? Rowena: My son. After you told me he was gone, how he died, I had an unexpected reaction. We had our differences, but it’s my fault he went down the path he did. I left him. Dean: We’re talking about Crowley-- demon, King of Hell? Rowena: We’re talking about Fergus-- a man abandoned and loveless, tricked by a demon, died in a gutter. He deserved better from the world. From me.

Now, just to be clear: yes, Rowena had the responsibility to do better; yes, she was the absolute worst; yes, she played no small role in her son’s story. However, I personally don’t like all these negative associations between “worlds” and “mothers” as if every fucking thing in the universe is dependent solely on them. How did we end up here? It’s almost as if absent fathers are, like, not THAT bad after all (and the show, as far as I'm concerned, ultimately approves of and absolves absent fathers). So I’m very suspicious of the way motherhood is portrayed specifically in s13 and Rowena’s attempt at redemption well demonstrates that there is reason to be so.

This dialogue in “Funeralia” confirms my gut feeling:

Sam: You know, what happened with Crowley? That wasn’t your fault. Rowena: He never had a chance. Dean: He made his choices, just like we all do. Look, every one of us has done something that we have to live with, that were trying to make up for. Every one of us. Sam: Even without all that extra juice, you’re still the deadliest witch around [Sam's flattering Rowena. He's gonna ask for her help in 3,2,1...]. Rowena: Flatterer. Sam: Yeah, well, we, um... we may need your help [Here we go!]. To save our family. To… hell, to save the world. Dean: You wanna be redeemed? This would be a pretty big step. Rowena: And do you think I still can be? Dean: Yeah, I do.

I mean, not to be rude, but who the fuck cares if Dean Winchester thinks that Rowena can be redeemed? Like, how is Rowena’s redemption (which is strictly connected to her being a bad mother and not, among other things, a zero-regret murderer, which she also happens to be, for instance) connected to saving the Winchester’s family? Don’t get me wrong, I understand that this is SPN and that Sam and Dean’s problems are Apocalypse-level problems (lol, they really did that, when I say that their story is like a cosmogony maybe I’m not that wrong) but, as I’ve said, I cannot help but notice the similarities between Rowena’s arc this season with Mary’s and Jack’s, i.e. you can be redeemed if you either do something useful for the Winchesters or... realize that it's not your "fault" that your sons suffered terribily because "choosing" to deal with Azazel was actually the right choice... for the world. How come fathers saving the world are framed as heroic while mothers actively creating worlds by making hard choices that benefit the greater good need redemption?

So to sum up: while fathers invade S13’s main storyline as solvers, restorers and fixers, mothers are the bones of the story, they carry its weight and its sins but get little if nothing in return: Kelly stays dead, Mary ends up helping out a world that absolves her of her Original Sin but that’s nevertheless a mess (you can never win lol) and Rowena can’t get her son back (but she can save Sam and Dean's family the world!). Looks good, right? Hurray mommy!

[woundlingus]

I know you’re not saying my man Crowley who has kissed two men just on camera alone says fag attends orgies and had an unrequited crush on Dean Winchester is not canonically queer when you put him up against Claire Novak who made eyes at a pretty girl once and wilted about it— not that this is her fault because the writers were shocking at trying to make women’s sexuality not center men so they instead chose to do nothing— but hydrogen bomb vs coughing baby amirite?

[simply-ellas-stuff]

It has always felt wierd to me that Marsali would insult Clarie knowing that Claire was basically Fergus' mother.

Like regardless of Jamie "leaving" Laoghaire for Claire, Claire still took in and raised Fergus before she left and obviously she left an impression because Fergus still treats her like his mother. So Marsali blatantly insulting her and being mean for no reason has always confused me

Like, be nice to your mother in law, dude?

[flyinghome-againstthewind]

Beside the Seaside: Ch 17

Jamie rolled to his side, his breath heavy as his eyes slid shut. His hand roamed across Claire’s belly and settled on the velvety skin at her hip, tracing patterns there with his fingertips. Claire hummed softly. Even coming down from the high of their joining, he still couldn’t get enough of her. As if she’d had the same thought, his wife rolled toward him and slid one arm around his waist. With new territory of her body exposed, his hand traveled the path of her spine, up to her neck and then down to her backside. She was a gift, every time; a living, breathing, burning work of art that he couldn’t believe he was allowed to touch.

She placed several gentle, unhurried kisses along his bare chest and shoulder, and a soft groan escaped him.

“Tha gaol agam ort, mo ghràidh.” The declaration slipped out, unguarded and honest — and safe in the knowledge that she wouldn’t grasp the meaning.

[read the rest on ao3]

[theawkwardterrier]

Wednesday 100: Pets and Pleasing

"I'd've expected Jamie to be the sort to want a dog instead," Roger comments as the children greet the newest addition, including screeched mews and a "Where’re the Adso’s tricks?" from Germain.

Fergus nods. "There was always one running about Lallybroch, and I know it was so when Milord was a boy." He shrugs. "Perhaps it was only that the cat appeared and a dog did not."

As they watch, Jamie leans and whispers to Claire. She laughs, petting the cat, still smiling.

"Or perhaps," says Roger, the realization shared, "for him, it's no' what he wants that’s truly important."

[sassenach77yle]

LASSES IN BLOOM 🌷 #OLSPRINGCHALLENGE

Day 8: International women's day 🌸

Today we celebrate the strength, beauty and independence of women, but let us remember that every day should be a celebration of their determination, passion and talent.

[underthewingsofthblackeagle]

The Countdown to Happiness - Day 14

Picture: Panorama Helsinki / Finland - Dom und Parlamentsplatz (by   tap5a)

From November 24th on, I will post one chapter of

“We only do this for Fergus!”

[From @outlanderpromptexchange - Prompt 3: Fake Relationship AU: Jamie Fraser wants to formally adopt his foster son Fergus, but his application will probably not be approved… unless he is married and/or in a committed relationship. Enter one Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp (Randall?) to this story]

every day until it’s “Happy End”. Yes, you might not believe it but there is a Happy End coming around New Year’s Eve / New Year :) I hope you enjoy reading this little story (again).

[thedisdainfullysilentvisitor]

What if Outlander's final finale ends up being William, Ian, Brianna, Fergus and Faith all hanging out at a rebuilt Fraser's Ridge with their respective grandchildren after Jamie and Claire passed titanic-style

Although if Jamie and Claire only die in the last scene that's good too.

[blink182times]

FERSALI REUNION FERSALI REUNION

[coralsillustrations]

Finished this wee wip i had while wiping tears after the last episode…now I NEED to make some Brianna Fraser in the future fanarts