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forgottenarias · 2 months ago

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because i'm apparently absolutely insane... additional thoughts on this I'm excited to type on a KEYBOARD XD

after affects of léna, dom, & generally being a stafford so like i'd sort of mentioned above, and v unsurprisingly to anyone, both aria's parents + generally just being a stafford had an affect on how aria expresses love, affection, emotions, etc! kate i know we've talked about dom, having had a lot of his own trauma, not necessarily being a warm + fuzzy sort of father and how much of his focus was on raising eilia as his heir-- meaning aria didn't get much from him, really, and (whether this is just what she's focused on or the truth, idr think it ultimately matters?) pretty much all she remembers is him trying to impart that idea of duty and also hiding a part of who she is re: her magic. I think i've started to realize that aria really has very little positive memories of her father? (def part of that might be coping mechanism but yeah!) also want to point out that i def don't think dom was a BAD father, he was doing the best he could considering his history + becoming the ruler of astaira + having no familial support + having to raise three daughters on his own! also this is like... totaly crazy kate HC but i sort of imagined that the great love story of that generation was sorcha + bran, right? they're from two ancient families and have this wonderful, loving relationship and four daughters while dom's relationship w/ his wife started out w/ a bunch of drama with his brother! and i def don't think there was any animosity or anything between them & obvs the situations a v different since Bran WASN"T the king, but i could see where comparisons could be made, ya know?? anyway that was a random tangent! haha! so i also kind of have been mulling around the idea that's Dom's parenting style also maybe came by him honestly? since we've alrady sort of thrown around the idea that the stafford fam has sort of operated in this more... i guess i'll maybe call it pragmatic style of parenting?... for generations + add on top of that his own father & brother were doing all their wild things.

i swear i'm trying to come to a point haha! basically, what did dom impart on all his daughters? the sense of duty. the idea of being the family that has the responsibility for all of the astairan people! so it definitely makes sense that for all of her life, one of the main ways that aria expressed her love for her friends + fam was through acts of service. (also as i was typing i had a rogue HC thought that maybe one of the times aria got real honest to god positive, emotionally charged responses from her dad were when she gave him gifts? like maybe she's always had a knack at finding that PERFECT thing and he very outwardly showed his appreciation for that? idek... rando thoughts haha!) anyway, onto léna! again i am sure i've rambled about how i think aria spent most of her 'parent time' with her mother until her death-- which is part of why she takes being in that 'queen' role for eilia so seriously!-- and i DO think lena shaped her the most between the two parents. like with dom, i think a lot of being focused on acts of service came from her mother-- bc i do think lena was a well known and respected woman in stafford & beyond as the queen!? (even with the rocky start!) i sort of imagined lena was the sort of queen who would roll up her sleeves and DO things-- not simply just give donations and be a patron to organizations. and aria definitely tries to emulate that (or DID since roderick won't let her out of the castle #rude) now that she has taken over her mother's role. so again-- like with dom-- this idea of serving the people as a duty PLUS seeing the positivity from it would def influence aria to continue to implement the idea of acts or service in her own personal life! random musing on gift giving? what even are my headers for each of these sections!? -face palm- apologies in advance i feel like this is going to go off the rails but apparently i'm deep into lore/world building/character devo at the moment and cannot be stopped!!! anyway, like i mentioned in my FIRST ramblings, i DO think gift giving is v important to aria with her family/friends + she definitely prides herself on how good she is at it! so then it kinda surprised me that when i was mulling this whole thing over i didn't think that she'd really be using her gift giving super power re: arthur! but the more i think about it... i think she might asp? (i feel like this is mostly HC for like... if they ever actually got to be together and weren't hiding their feelings from roderick, haha, though i guess some could apply now?) anyway i think if she's giving arthur gifts, they'd probably be things she herself made?? (okay now imagining she def gives him that handkerchief she was embroidering to try and get his attention asp XD) i'm not honestly sure what exactly she WOULD be making but i could see that being something her specifically doing for him! (and any kids she might have some day-- whoever their father is! idek where this came from but the idea she makes her kids clothing when they're v young and does things like embroiders little things on their clothing as they get older as a sign of affection? maybe she even does that for arthur asp? i feel like this idea came out of smth i read in some book but for the life of me i cannot remember what! -cue me digging through my bookshelf this week-) this really has v little to do with most of what i've been rambling but i've been getting these random instagram videos about fingerloop braiding (which i feel like is just v fancy friendship bracelets but shhhh ;D ) and the videos are using this medieval patterns and 1) i def wanna try it!; 2) i need a friend who also wants to do weird historical crafts w/ me so we can do the more complex ones! ; 3) it TOTALLY seems like something that would be popular in astaira, especially in circumstances of two houses uniting in marriage bc they can be done in multiple colors! if you're interested here is the website about it and i'll try to share the insta video on my feed!

... i feel like i had more i was going to be ramble abt but i apparently hit a wall (aka its that time of night when i turn into a pumpkin!) so knowing me i'll probably reblog myself again later haha

ooc || love language

I had a note written in my drafts for Aria that said ‘her love language is?’ which I assume relates back to some comment or something from once upon a time that I can no longer remember, but while I was driving around today I was *maybe* listening to some of my Aria inspo music and this all was rattling around…

I’m breaking this into two parts starting with Aria’s love language towards others! (Also until quite recently she really never had an ~romantic attachments so I might do a third bit about things with Arthur, we’ll see! But all of this is mostly going to reflect on her friends/family relationships)

It’s probably not surprising that arias go to is always gifts— she definitely takes a LOT of pride in finding very specific things that she knows people will appreciate and definitely pre Roderick would search all that markets and artisans in stafford for the perfect presents! (Specifically imagining that she’d spend a lot of time looking for books for eilia on whatever subject she was focused on at the time! Or music she thought aoife would enjoy playing or might not have heard before!) I do imagine this was reserved for the closest people in her life— only those people she felt fully confidant she completely understood and understood her.

Sort of looping in with that idea, Aria was def very into acts of service… which also is probably obvious considering the mentality of the stafford family, haha! Since there was that whole idea of being duty bound to serving astaira was engrained, I think that sort of morphed into the idea of her philanthropic efforts were also how she shows her affection for the people of astaira… if that makes sense?

I’m gonna tag @forgotteneilionora about this because I know we’ve discussed that the stafford family wasn’t necessarily as warm and fuzzy as, say, the Malconaire family, and sort of on that same line of thought, I didn’t figure there was much physical affection there either… which leads into the ides that Aria definitely did not show much attention through physical touch. I don’t think she was out there dodging hugging her friends or her sisters, but that was definitely never her first thought of how to show affection. I think it was probably more of a form of comfort in her mind. Buuuuuut…. I think that is/will change a bit thanks to Arthur??!!

I’ve realized that Aria set (maybe without even realizing it) boundaries about how she interacts with Arthur— which has been morphing for sure since they first met— and I think as she started realizing there MIGHT be confusing feelings happening was when there were things like her making a point to never say his name! And definitely one of those things was NO physical contact— not that there would’ve been much but if he did something like… I dunno, offered to help her out of a carriage or something, she’d definitely REFUSE because that’s a line she cannot, will not cross even in the most innocent of circumstances! (Though Arthur definitely blew right over that line during the riots so that’ll be its own thing!) I DO think if/when she and Arthur ever talk about their ~feelings, that idea of physical touch as a love language might become a more important thing for her than it was in the past? And my thought is that will probably come more from the concern that there are so many things that are going to be working AGAINST them being together that again, even the more innocent of circumstances of physical contact that she would’ve before avoided are now a comfort— like they’re there, together, and at least for that moment in time no one has managed to rip them apart yet!

Also just for Arthur, words of affirmation will make an appearance because…. He needs it. I think Aria has already realized he needs it. We all know want boy needs someone to tell him he’s not the worse and that he’s doing okay BESIDES Marian! Also realizing that she almost accidentally started having ‘quality time’ with Arthur in the form of all their walk and talks… (but don’t tell her that because that was just PART OF THE PLAN!) Also this is just a random HC I’ve had about the pair for awhile that asp Aria ends up reading TO Arthur— probably some astairan story or something she’s annoyed he has read himself — but that something they’d do together from time to time!

Weirdly, I don’t see her giving him gifts? Well, I definitely think she MIGHT at some point— and that thing would have some insanely important meaning behind it- but I don’t see her going out and searching out the perfect thing like she’d done for others? (Her justification would also be he already has WAYYY TOO MUCH so he definitely doesn’t need any gifts haha!)

Basically, which makes total sense given the differences in relationships, her love languages with Arthur is completely different than with her family and friends!

Being on the receiving end of affection is, probably not a surprise, not something Aria is very good at? Realizing she’s basically a minimalist, I don’t think she ever wants gifts? Not that she doesn’t appreciate them, but I think most of the things she has in her life have very important significance to her— especially now since Roderick has taken most of it away, haha! Quality time, I think, it probably what she values most— spending time with her sisters, all the time she spent with aoife where they could just BE and not have to worry about standing on principle or anything like that— those are the moments she values most. SO on that same note with Arthur… all that time they’ve spent together talking actually meant a lot to her (when it turned to something real and not just her trying to ignore him while he was trying to get her attention!). Probably meant more than she realized honestly???

Additionally words of affirmation are important to her! I don’t think she got much from her father, and probably some from her mother before she died… I would guess she did/does get it from Eilia and probably always has?? Honestly where would she be without her big sister? (Even more of an emotional/mental wreck than she already is!)

#about #lore #ooc #house stafford #eilia stafford #siobhan stafford #domhnall stafford #lena stafford #arthur varmont

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zrtranscripts · 8 years ago

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Radio Abel, Season Four

Part 3 of 6

ZOE CRICK: And we've still heard nothing from Baz and Domhnall?

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Not a peep.

ZOE CRICK: Damn it!

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Mmhmm. Uh, but don't worry, citizens. We have been picking up some other broadcasts, and there's one me and Zoe think you might enjoy.

ZOE CRICK: Seems disloyal, though, doesn't it? To Baz and Domhnall?

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Well, it's not like they knew we were listening. And you like Eloise. You said she sounded like a kindred spirit.

ZOE CRICK: Eloise is pretty cool.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: And Hugh's great, too. Now, you're going to love them, listeners, we promise. They're travelling around the country -

ZOE CRICK: No spoilers.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Oh, okay. Well, stay tuned, and you'll find out all about Eloise and Hugh, right after this.

[static]

ELOISE: Is that better?

HUGH: There's still some interference, Eloise!

ELOISE: Well, then, stop and let me down, Hugh.

HUGH: I can't quite at the moment, my love.

ELOISE: Stop the van, you [?]. I'll drag the aerial right off the roof.

HUGH: You know I can deny you nothing, but that zom we saw, it phoned a friend! Now there's two fast ones got our scent, and they're gaining! I can't slow down!

ELOISE: If you go any faster, I'll fall off!

HUGH: I've opened the window. Can you do a Dukes of Hazzard?

ELOISE: Are you having a laugh? I'm 53!

HUGH: Now would be a good time! [ELOISE climbs in through window] Handled like a ballerina.

ELOISE: Next time, we check the bloody bushes before I climb up there. I found the problem. It was a zombie foot wedged into the aerial mount. Look! How'd a foot get onto our roof?

HUGH: Uh... maybe you should throw it out the window. With the contamination and the blood and all.

ELOISE: Oh Hugh, you're a big wuss, aren't you? Wait! That light's on. Are we transmitting? Did you hit transmit?

HUGH: Uh, I was trying to change the air conditioning.

ELOISE: Turn it off. Turn it off!

ELOISE: Hello!

HUGH: Hello.

ELOISE: I'm Eloise, and this is Hugh.

HUGH: Hello.

ELOISE: Yes, Hugh. Thank you. And thank you, the listener, for tuning in to our first show. We are travellers voyaging through the wild isles of zombie Britain in our faithful Volkswagen camper van.

HUGH: It's a Type 2.

ELOISE: Thank you, Hugh.

HUGH: With everyone dead, I thought we'd get a [?], but they're no good in the winter. And quite frankly, they're a bit slow for eluding the undead.

ELOISE: Yes, Hugh. But we were going to introduce the show.

HUGH: Oh yeah. Now, I used to be a postman, see, and I've still got my keys. So I can get into every postbox in Britain.

ELOISE: And I'm a telecomms engineer. So we've lashed a transmitter on the roof, and I've rigged up some relay stations along the road. We thought we'd do a show, to pass the time, and as a public service, you see, and we thought, "What did we used to like?"

HUGH: It was that show on Radio Stafford with that lady who answered your personal problems, Lucy Lockjaw.

ELOISE: Lucy Lockhart. Our idea is, we'll be your travelling agony aunt and uncle, bringing you wisdom from the road, and advice from the heart. So if you've got a problem, write a letter to Hugh and Eloise, and just pop it in the postbox. Everywhere we visit, we'll check all the boxes, and if your letter's there, we'll try to help! We're waiting to hear from you. And in the meantime, here's some music to keep you going. [audio clicks]

That went well, didn't it? I thought that went well.

HUGH: You didn't press it right. It's still going.

ELOISE: Oh, shit!

ELOISE: Well, a lot has happened since we last did a show. We've been coming up from the lake district, a lovely place to settle! Apart from all the zoms.

HUGH: All that moisture's hell on the axles.

ELOISE: If we were going to settle, we wouldn't do it in a camper van, now, would we? That would kind of defeat the porpoise.

HUGH: You mean purpose.

ELOISE: That's what I said.

HUGH: No. You said porpoise, like a dolphin.

ELOISE: Why would I want to defeat a dolphin?

HUGH: I don't know. You were the one who said it.

ELOISE: You always do this! You know fine well what I mean, but you pick up on a slip of the tongue and try to make me sound stupid. Any reasonable person would just take it as I meant!

HUGH: It's my Royal Mail training. When you read an address, see, you can't just guess what you think the customer meant. You have to deliver it exactly what it says on the letter!

ELOISE: Exactly where it says on the letter.

HUGH: It says it on the front.

ELOISE: There you go again. You are a pedant, Hugh Caulfield.

HUGH: Well, they never gave me a bike.

ELOISE: You're just making fun of me now.

HUGH: I might be, my love. But just remember, you're the one I voyage with every day through this cruel world.

ELOISE: Yeah, and I know where you sleep. Where did I put that zombie foot?

ELOISE: Good afternoon. I'm driving today because Hugh is busy opening your mail.

HUGH: Where'd we put them scissors?

ELOISE: They're in one of those boxes back there. Now, as you remember, we're here to answer your questions, like the agony aunt and uncle you've been deprived of since the zombie apocalypse. The idea is, if you've got a problem, whether it be about relationships, or careers, or health, or just everyday zombie matters, you write it down in your best handwriting and pop it in the postbox, addressed to Hugh and Eloise. And when we come to your town, we'll pick it up and offer you some confidential advice. Just listen in on this frequency.

HUGH: It won't be confidential, will it? If it's on the radio.

ELOISE: Well, it'll be anonymous, then.

HUGH: Yeah, but if we read a letter by Jane from Carlisle, it's going to be obvious who it is, right? I mean, there aren't many people left in Carlisle. Even less called Jane.

ELOISE: We'll use a fake name, won't we?

HUGH: Then how will they know it's their question?

ELOISE: Strike me down! They'll know because they'll hear it, won't they? They'll recognize the words, Hugh.

HUGH: Oh yeah.

ELOISE: So, have we got any first questions today?

HUGH: I'm soryr, Eloise. It's just the usual bills and charity stuff. There's this one package someone is returning to a website called Happy Tools.

ELOISE: Might be something you can use for the van.

[packaging tears]

HUGH: Oh. Oh, um....

ELOISE: What is it? Oh! My goodness!

HUGH: It might keep you happy, dear.

ELOISE: I... well, uh, well, maybe we could keep it.

HUGH: Oh, hang on. It's been used.

ELOISE: Ugh! Oh, throw it out the window. Throw it out the window!

ELOISE: People like you are why kids don't read!

[gunshots, glass shatters]

HUGH: Bugger. There goes another one. It's not the repair I hate, it's picking the little bits of glass out of my vegetables.

ELOISE: Well, she was a cranky lady.

HUGH: Nobody likes being called a fascist, dear. Not even a fascist bookseller.

ELOISE: Oh, really! What did she think we were, zombies driving about in a purple camper van? The hungry dead come to get their decaying hands on the latest Inspector Wexford?

HUGH: Well, possibly she's had previous experience with bloodthirsty raiders.

ELOISE: Bloodthirsty raiders come to pillage the largest secondhand book selection in Dumfries and Galloway? Oh, talk sense, Hugh.

HUGH: Bloodthirsty readers, then.

ELOISE: I'll bloodthirst you in a minute.

HUGH: Maybe save the pillow talk until we're off the air, my love.

ELOISE: Oh, I forgot about you and your vampire thing. [clears throat] This is an announcement for anybody requiring our services in the vicinity of Wigtown. I'm sorry to say we are unable to access the postbox because some nutter is on the roof of a bookshop, blazing away with a dangerous firearm. Yeah, that means you, lady! Get over yourself!

HUGH: We'll be around again, one day.

ELOISE: That's right, folks. You hang in there with your romantic dilemma or your baby turning gray. We'll be around again and we promise to respond to your letter in what, two years or so?

HUGH: Providing the van doesn't break down.

ELOISE: So um, just hang in there.

HUGH: Once again, I'm denied a chance to pick up the final Dick Francis.

ELOISE: Dick Francis? You only read him because you thought it gave you an edge at the bookies.

HUGH: You know what's coming up? Alloway, birthplace of Robert Burns, the Ploughman Poet, known the world over. I picked up a leaflet at the last place. It says, "His national pride, fierce egalitarianism, and quick wit have become synonymous with the Scottish national character." You can see the cottage where he was born and everything! Do you want to go?

ELOISE: Nah. You?

HUGH: Nah. Place'll be heaving with tourists.

ELOISE: [laughs] That's one good thing about the collapse of civilization.

HUGH: No tourists?

ELOISE: No poets.

HUGH: There's bound to be some bastard in one of them fortress towns knocking out free verse.

ELOISE: Doing readings to people who know it's either that, or be torn to bits by the undead outside.

HUGH: Hang on, here's a postbox. [parks van, opens door]

ELOISE: Any luck?

HUGH: No. Must have been empty when the plague hit. [starts van]

ELOISE: I really thought we'd get letters.

HUGH: We will, love. Give it time. It's only been a few weeks.

ELOISE: Deep down, I kind of knew we wouldn't.

HUGH: I know something to cheer you up! We're approaching Prestwick.

ELOISE: No!

HUGH: 100%! Prestwick Airport, the only piece of British soil upon which Elvis ever walked. And I am to know that there are no flights scheduled this afternoon, so if you're very good, I'll knock down the gate and take you on a tour of the runway.

ELOISE: Hugh Caulfield, you are the greatest man who ever walked this earth! Except Elvis, maybe.

HUGH: I'll take that.

ELOISE: If you've been listening to us for a while now, perhaps you've thought, "Yeah! I should get on the road like Hugh and Eloise and live the life of a free spirit!" But if you're thinking of leaving your nice, safe, gated community, hold your horses. It's not all picnics at sunrise and the fresh smell of pine after the rain. There's certain practical considerations.

HUGH: Any sign of them?

ELOISE: No, you're fine! Get on with it! In a camper van, your water supply is precious, and you need to preserve it. Okay, there's reservoirs and little streams, and of course, it pisses down every second day, but you try washing your smalls in an icy river come February, and frankly, a girl gets fed up of doing her big gypsy skirts in a basin the size of a grapefruit.

So every now and then, we make a special trip, and that's how we come to be parked outside the Chery Launderette. It's supposed to be the Cheery Launderette, but one of the E's has dropped off. Also, there's a lot of bloodstains in there.

Now, your average launderette don't work too well these days, what with there being no electricity. But we've got a little generator, and Hugh does some magic that only he can, so we get a couple of loads in. Well, to be honest, I could rig the same thing up easy, but who wants to spend their golden years doing electrics in launderettes? I swear - wait. Hugh! Get your ass in here!

HUGH: We're nearly at the spin cycle!

ELOISE: Sixteen shamblers incoming! Get in here!

HUGH: Oops.

ELOISE: Where's all my leggings?

HUGH: In the dryer.

ELOISE: Oh! And so, for a good half hour now, we'll be leading zoms into the suburbs until we can go back for our clothes and the genny. This is the harsh reality of life on the road.

HUGH: But it makes you smell so fresh.

ELOISE: Ah, zip it.

HUGH: Eloise, it's a very special day.

ELOISE: No, we didn't!

HUGH: I've got the letter right here.

ELOISE: No! Read it out. No, give it to me! No. Read it out. I'll drive. [starts van]

HUGH: "Dear Eloise –" Looks like this one's just for you. "Dear Eloise, it's Jasmina here. I heard you say that you are a telecomms engineer. I would like to learn that stuff so that I can help with the reconstruction of society, but how can I learn it now all the colleges have closed? Yours sincerely, Jasmina."

ELOISE: Good for you, Jasmina! We all need to find our place, and the more engineers we have, the quicker we'll get back on our feet. Before the zoms, you'd have been working on fiber and switches, setting up redundant networks and so on. But we're in a back to basics situation here. The old cables are still around, but there ain't the power to drive them, so radio makes more sense.

You don't say what age you are, but don't begin by trying to set up your own Rofflenet node. If you get stuck into the books to early, you'll maybe get bored. So go break into a toy shop or a craft shop and look for their electronics kits. Or the museum gift shop! Often, they've got a build your own radio. Follow the instructions, and try and understand how the circuit works. You can listen to our program on something you built yourself!

HUGH: Nice.

ELOISE: After that, you'll want your local library and a shop like Maplin or Radio Shack. Get a soldering iron and a suitcase worth of components. Build up the difficulty until you've done a transmitter, and then give us a call, all right?

HUGH: There's more on the back. "P.S. I am thinking of getting into Elvis, too. Can you recommend any records?"

ELOISE: Wait a minute. Let me see that. Do you think I'm daft, Hugh Caulfield? This is your handwriting.

HUGH: Uh...

ELOISE: Did you write this letter yourself?

HUGH: You wanted one so badly. I was just helping the process along.

ELOISE: You're a bloody twit. But I do love you.

ELOISE: Where are we?

HUGH: Inverkip.

ELOISE: Where's that?

HUGH: Under the ocean, it looks like.

ELOISE: I did suggest we take the other road instead up to the loch.

HUGH: Yeah, because up the hills, it didn't rain.

ELOISE: No need to take that tone.

HUGH: I wish we could find a good pub completely protected from zombie attack, so on a day like this, we could sit near the fire and get trollied.

ELOISE: A man of your ingenuity should be able to set up a pub inside a castle.

HUGH: All the good castles are taken.

ELOISE: You know that's the marina over there.

HUGH: What gave it away? All the boats?

ELOISE: You, Mister Crabby Esq., are missing the point. The owners of all these boats are most likely dead. We could have our pick. There's no reason we have to stay on land. You could load the bugger up with canned soup and lager and do what generations of weekend fisherman have done before you – sail out into the unknown waters and get wrecked. Of course, you would take that literally.

HUGH: Even in my cups, I'd be a responsible pilot.

ELOISE: Come on, let's check them.

HUGH: I think I saw a zombie on that one.

ELOISE: Really? You sure?

HUGH: Definitely. We'd better go before it smells us.

ELOISE: You just don't want to go out in the rain.

HUGH: Nothing to do with that, Eloise, nothing at all.

ELOISE: Hello. We're in some godawful bed and breakfast on the outskirts of Glasgow. I've moved the whole broadcast rig inside so we can bring you our program today, which is #2 in our occasional series: Why life on the road after the zombie apocalypse is not like the great music festivals of your youth.

HUGH: I got a bit of flu.

ELOISE: As you can perhaps hear, my handsome co-presenter is a little under the weather, as I came to realize when he nearly drove us into a hedge yesterday.

HUGH: It wasn't a hedge! It was barely a bush!

ELOISE: Camper vans are not optimized for illness. I could have made a bed for him in the back, if I'd been willing to ditch three weeks of food or 800 miles worth of petrol. [HUGH sneezes] Thank you, Hugh. Under these circumstances, a small hotel or a B&B is a good choice. They often had vacant rooms when all went to hell, so you can find somewhere clean to sleep without scraping up infected remains. And crucially, they often have private parking with a gate that locks.

HUGH: The pay-per-view's rubbish these days.

ELOISE: The what?

HUGH: The breakfast. It's the breakfast.

ELOISE: Of course, it's always on our mind that one of us might get seriously ill. All the big settlements have doctors, but they don't all welcome new faces, particularly new faces who have any symptoms that might look even a little like the gray plague. You're as likely to get shot as to get an appointment, and good luck persuading them to send the doctor out.

HUGH: [?]

ELOISE: I have no idea what he is saying. My point is, you have to be your own GP and pharmacist now. My old doc always prescribed antibiotics and never anything else. So early on, we started raiding pharmacies for antibiotics. We took a small supply and left the rest.

As we travel around, we still look, but lately they've always been looted. So we save the antibiotics for the times it's really bad. We're not there yet, but these drugs have a shelf life. And as far as I know, nobody's making any more of them. [HUGH sneezes]

So the message is, eat as well as you can, give your body all the rest it needs, and if you approach a settlement, do not look like a zombie on the turn.

HUGH: [?]

ELOISE: Move over, you. We might as well treat this like a holiday.

HUGH: Eloise. Eloise!

ELOISE: What?

HUGH: We got one!

ELOISE: No!

HUGH: Look!

ELOISE: This better not be another one of your fake letters to make me feel better.

HUGH: I swear! Look! "Hugh and Eloise." It was on the top, totally fresh. No stamp or nothing.

ELOISE: And really nice handwriting, look at that! Fountain pen or something. Female hand.

HUGH: Well, open it.

ELOISE: I don't know.

HUGH: What?

ELOISE: I kind of want to savor it for a minute.

HUGH: It might be urgent.

ELOISE: Hugh, we've been broadcasting for three months about our agony aunt program without getting a single inquiry. How urgent could it be?

HUGH: So are you ready yet?

ELOISE: Where did we put the letter opener?

HUGH: Use your fingers, for God's sake.

ELOISE: We might want to save this one. Frame it or something.

HUGH: Open the damn envelope.

[paper tears and rustles]

ELOISE: Do you want to read it?

HUGH: No, no, you read it.

ELOISE: [clears throat] "Dear Hugh and Eloise..."

HUGH: Well, come on!

ELOISE: "Thank you for your show. Since I found it, I listen all the time. Sometimes life can be very grim, and I get a vicarious thrill from listening to your adventures up and down the country. Please keep going and broadcasting. Yours, Louise."

HUGH: Wow, that's nice. Lovely.

ELOISE: Yeah, but... but...

HUGH: What?

ELOISE: She didn't have a problem.

ZOE CRICK: "Dear Eloise and Hugh: I'm a tightly-wound control freak who'd prefer it if all human interaction was carefully scripted, not just my radio segments. I think jokes get funnier every time you tell them, and washing up my tea mugs is for other people.

Sometimes I nod off while Jack and Eugene are acting out scenes from Thelma and Louise for us, using all the voices. And then I like to pretend I haven't, even though I've been snorning incredibly loudly. Can you help me to be a better partner to my lovely cohost?"

PHIL CHEESEMAN: "Dear Eloise and Hugh: I think I'm so funny, I laugh at my own jokes, even when no one else is laughing. Sometimes I start laughing four hours later because I've just remembered my joke again. Sometimes I do this when my best friend is trying to tell me a very serious story about his mother.

I'm so anal that I rewash anything anything else has already washed up. Also, I've alphabetized all the novelty mugs. I've recently been pretending I'm extremely well-read, but actually I just found a stash of CliffsNotes at the back of the pantry, and I don't think anyone else has realized. Can you tell me how to be a better human being?"

HUGH: Well, this is all very picture-skew.

ELOISE: You know what that is? It's the Harry Potter viaduct!

HUGH: Eh?

ELOISE: The viaduct from the films.

HUGH: What, that bridge?

ELOISE: When it's got all those arches, you call it a viaduct.

HUGH: Why did he have a bridge?

ELOISE: Who?

HUGH: Harry Potter.

ELOISE: He didn't have a bridge.

HUGH: So they named it after him?

ELOISE: It's Victorian, you wazzock! How could they name it after Harry Potter?

HUGH: I thought maybe they changed it when the film came out. For the tourists, you know.

ELOISE: They call it the Harry Potter viaduct because his train goes along it in the films!

HUGH: Oh, I got you now. When they go to his castle?

ELOISE: Who's castle? Voldemort's?

HUGH: Harry Potter's castle.

ELOISE: He doesn't have a castle.

HUGH: He does! Where all the kids go and have the big dinner.

ELOISE: That's a school! Hogwarts Academy of Magic and Witchcraft.

HUGH: That explains why they're all wearing ties.

ELOISE: We watched all the films on the telly.

HUGH: That might be one of the times when you watched them and I caught up on my snoozing.

ELOISE: Unlike those gripping times when we watched the Three Stooges.

HUGH: All right, then. Let's go to his castle while we're in the area. You got the map. Where is it? What?

HUGH: This is from Alan. "Dear Hugh and Eloise, thank you for your program. We have built a little community up here on the banks of the Ness. On the whole, we get on fine, but we do have personal disputes from time to time over issues which might seem trivial to an outsider, that take on great importance with living in such close quarters. I am sure you know all about this." No, Alan. I can honestly say that despite living full-time in a camper van, Eloise and myself never disagree.

ELOISE: You bloody liar.

HUGH: Yes, dear. Alan says, "Lately, it has become something of a big deal to decide whether Inverness is in the northeast or the northwest." Well, Alan, we've got the map here, and we will tell you exactly where you live.

ELOISE: I'm looking at it right now. I can state quite definitely that you live in the northeast. I hope that helped.

HUGH: There you are, Alan. One of our easier – wait. Northeast? You must be looking at it sideways.

ELOISE: It's on the east coast! It can hardly be on the east coast and in the northwest, now, could it?

HUGH: That's not how you work it out. You find the center point of the country and draw a line due north. Then if it's on the left, it's northwest, and if it's on the right, it's northeast. Where would you say the center of the country is?

ELOISE: I don't know! Huddersfield.

HUGH: It's about 200 miles west of Huddersfield, so it's in the northwest.

ELOISE: By that same argument, the whole of Scotland's in the northwest.

HUGH: Well, it is.

ELOISE: When you're up here, you use the center of Scotland!

HUGH: Okay. Where's that?

ELOISE: Fort William. Inverness is clearly northeast of that.

HUGH: Fort William's on the west coast, so how can that be the center of Scotland?

ELOISE: You're not allowing for the Western Isles.

HUGH: Yeah, and if you include Shetland, Inverness is at the center. Don't listen to her, Alan. You're in the northwest.

ELOISE: Northeast!

HUGH: Northwest.

ELOISE: Northeast!

HUGH: Read one out.

ELOISE: Just drive.

HUGH: This lot's been after us for half an hour. I'm bored. Read one out.

ELOISE: Hugh, will you concentrate on saving our lives?

HUGH: Not unless you read a letter.

ELOISE: No! Now shut up.

HUGH: The pressure. It's getting on my nerves, it's making me slow down. If only there was something to distract me.

ELOISE: Hugh, I swear I'll do that thing to you that you don't like.

HUGH: Just read a letter, Eloise.

ELOISE: Right. Right! "Dear Hugh and Eloise." Speed up! "Dear Hugh and Eloise, I like someone and I think we could become a couple. Frankly, neither of us has many options these days, but when we get together, there's no spark. Can you suggest a way I can spice things up and see if she's at all interested? Thank you, Mandy."

HUGH: You're the relationship expert, my love.

ELOISE: Oh, no. You wanted to hear the letter. Let's hear your romantic solution.

HUGH: Well, Mandy, it's actually very simple. [ELOISE scoffs] Some of the big settlements have runners – people that go out on missions and gather supplies. Ask your prospective mate to come out with you on a zombie run. You may find that the sheer peril of roaming undead and the looming prospect of a hideous death will bring your hearts together in a way that simple words cannot.

ELOISE: And Mandy, if that load of crap don't happen, make sure that you can run faster than this other girl. After all, it's great to be single!

ELOISE: You know what you're going to find.

HUGH: I prefer to think positive.

ELOISE: It's going to be the same as the last twelve.

HUGH: My dear, you are a beautiful woman, a charming companion, and a considerate lover, as well as no mean driver when you put your mind to it. But right now, you are throwing off my karma something awful.

ELOISE: You just have to accept that it's a good idea and somebody had it before you. Somebody who lives closer with a bigger van.

HUGH: All that means is there's a stockpile somewhere.

ELOISE: Yeah, with armed guards.

HUGH: Armed, they may be. Sober, they may not be.

ELOISE: You think a raid by a middle-aged agony aunt and her painfully obsessive husband might succeed where others have failed?

HUGH: I was thinking stealth.

ELOISE: That's it ahead. Which one's this?

HUGH: Glen Spey. Not so well-known, see, but slap-bang in the middle of the heartland.

ELOISE: The gates are off the hinges.

HUGH: Think positive.

ELOISE: That's the warehouse. The doors are open. It's empty. Cleaned out, just like the others.

HUGH: Buggeration. I'm going to check the office. There might be a special bottle or two in a drawer.

ELOISE: No, you ain't. There's something moving up there, and it's gray!

HUGH: [sighs] Where's the next one?

ELOISE: Aberlour. You get three more tries. Got that? Then we're off. Choose wisely.

HUGH: I suppose.

ELOISE: You don't even like whiskey!

HUGH: I just fancied a bottle or two. For visitors, like.

ELOISE: Visitors? Well, make sure I know when they're coming so I can freshen up the parlor!

HUGH: We've got a letter here from Angus, and he says, "Dear Hugh and Eloise, I used to eat too many convenience foods. Then I cleaned up my act and started cooking, with a consequent improvement in my health. Then civilization collapsed, and I was right back to eating from tins again. How do you make sure you get the right nutrition, especially as you are travellers of no fixed abode?"

ELOISE: What a good question. Well, there's two ways to look at that. One way is that we travel to make sure we get a varied selection of natural produce from up and down the country, and to minimize our impact on the environment.

HUGH: Yeah, that's a good way of looking at it, but it isn't true.

ELOISE: Well, it's sort of true. If we just stayed in one place, we'd probably exhaust local stocks and leave none for the next people.

HUGH: She likes them Ritz crackers. We got four boxes in the back. Not the little boxes, either. The ones they bring on the forklift.

ELOISE: Thank you, Hugh. We do cook every day on a camping stove. A lot of soups and stew and stuff, from vegetables in the fields and peoples' gardens. There was a slight plan to grow our own on the roof, but we had to give up on that before I installed the aerial.

HUGH: I took a corner too tight and we lost every last radish.

ELOISE: Hugh has been trying to grow things inside the van.

HUGH: I'm giving up on that until we can get proper hydroponics.

ELOISE: I suppose our best advice, Angus, is to become a gardener. Try a few different crops to test the soil, and build a wall around your beds to keep the zombies off.

HUGH: Zombies don't eat vegetables.

ELOISE: No, but they do eat gardeners.

HUGH: Uh, thanks for your question, Angus. Stay safe out there.

ELOISE: Hugh, don't look now, but I think we're being followed!

HUGH: What?

ELOISE: I said don't look!

HUGH: Is it zombies? We haven't got much in the tank.

ELOISE: No.

HUGH: Who is it?

ELOISE: It's the paparazzi.

HUGH: Oh. [laughs] Not again, eh?

ELOISE: I think it's the show that's the problem. Now our listenership is in the hundreds of thousands, people are thirsty for the intimate details of our glamorous life.

HUGH: Well, it's true. Every move around these rugged isles is a glittering cavalcade of drama and high fashion.

ELOISE: I'm glad I'm wearing a little Chanel number today with my matching handbag and all.

HUGH: I'm wearing Cinzano.

ELOISE: [laughs] That's a drink, you pillock.

HUGH: No, no. During my brief spell as a visiting scholar in Florence, I had something of a personal tailor who later became globally renowned. Humberto Cinzano made me many original designs.

ELOISE: I never heard of him.

HUGH: Yeah, he died.

ELOISE: Was that before or after you addressed the United Nations?

HUGH: Around the same time. What were you doing then?

ELOISE: Well, I think it's safe reveal to you now that I am a sleeper agent for the KGB.

HUGH: Your English accent's quite good.

ELOISE: [imitates Russian accent] Der Mister Caulfield, at last I have you in my grasp! My submarine is parked in the Scottish [?], or whatever it is called, and I must insist you accompany me to motherland, where I will both interrogate you and make mad passionate love to screw with your head!

HUGH: You think we could uh, [laughs] pull over for a bit? Maybe turn off the mic?

ELOISE: What about the paparazzi?

HUGH: They can take all the pictures they like.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Jack and Eugene need to listen to that.

ZOE CRICK: Yeah, they really do.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: That'll show them.

ZOE CRICK: Exactly. Indulging in a bit of harmless, non-sexual roleplay is totally normal.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Completely! There's nothing odd about spending two hours pretending to be Dastardly and Muttley.

ZOE CRICK: Especially when you're as good at the laugh as I am. [imitates Muttley’s laugh]

PHIL CHEESEMAN: And I bet lots of people pretend to be Q and M for extended periods of time. Days, even.

ZOE CRICK: Yeah. We should definitely make Jack and Eugene listen to it.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: [gasps] Hugh and Eloise are an old married couple, though. Wouldn't that kind of be proving Jack and Eugene's point about us?

ZOE CRICK: Only if we tell them Hugh and Eloise are married.

#zombies run #zrs4 #s4 radio #s4 radio part 3 #zr transcript

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forgotteneilionora · 10 months ago

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OOC | Astairan Wedding Traditions

ok so this is inspired by [ this ] post and these tags:

#ooo.... is handfasting a tradition in astairan weddings?#bc i could see#valentina malconaire objecting to this!#and then astairans not considering the eithne/cassimir union#as valid since it didn't happen#also its just a pretty tradition i love!

i loooove this!!!! both for the tradition and for the ~general vibes for astaira andddd for the plot point it could play!!!!! and i thought we might take this opportunity to talk about weddings in general -- i was literally reading up on traditional irish wedding vows just last night bc we were talking about domhnall's wedding etc!

i can also 100% see @forgottenvalentina specifically objecting to a tradition the astairans hold dear on ~roderick grounds or vice versa specificially w the hope itd invalidate the wedding too smdh so this verrrrrry much fits!

also the wedding vows:

[ “Ye are Blood of my Blood, and Bone of my Bone. I give ye my Body, that we Two might be One. I give ye my Spirit, `til our Life shall be Done. You cannot possess me for I belong to myself. But while we both wish it, I give you that which is mine to give You cannot command me, for I am a free person. But I shall serve you in those ways you require and the honeycomb will taste sweeter coming from my hand." ] “I vow you the first cut of my meat, the first sip of my wine, from this day it shall only your name I cry out in the night and into your eyes that I smile each morning; I shall be a shield for your back as you are for mine, never shall a grievous word be spoken about us, for our marriage is sacred between us and no stranger shall hear my grievance. Above and beyond this, I will cherish and honor you through this life and into the next." “I, (name), in the name of the spirit of God that resides within us all, by the life that courses within my blood and the love that resides within my heart, take thee (name) to my hand, my heart, and my spirit, to be my chosen one. To desire thee and be desired by thee, to possess thee, and be possessed by thee, without sin or shame, for naught can exist in the purity of my love for thee. I promise to love thee wholly and completely without restraint, in sickness and in health, in plenty and in poverty, in life and beyond, where we shall meet, remember, and love again. I shall not seek to change thee in any way. I shall respect thee, thy beliefs, thy people, and thy ways as I respect myself. By the power that Christ brought from heaven, mayst thou love me. As the sun follows its course, mayst thou follow me. As light to the eye, as bread to the hungry, as joy to the heart, May thy presence be with me, Oh one that I love, `til death comes to part us asunder. “We swear by peace and love to stand, Heart to heart and hand to hand. Mark, O Spirit, and hear us now, Confirming this our Sacred Vow.” “You are the star of each night, You are the brightness of every morning, You are the story of each guest, You are the report of every land. No evil shall befall you, on hill nor bank, In field or valley, on mountain or in glen. Neither above, nor below, neither in sea, Nor on shore, in skies above, Nor in the depths. You are the kernel of my heart, You are the face of my sun, You are the harp of my music, You are the crown of my company.” “Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Walk beside me and just be my friend.” “May the gentle breeze bear witness to this ritual, and carry its message to all lands. May the sun warm their hearts, and its ever burning fire fuel their desire for each other. May the water provide for them from its bounty, and comfort their souls with their sounds. May the land lend its strength and reveal its mysteries."

and like literally swearing by the breeze and the sun and water and land like????? if that aint so astairan!!!!!! there's def tons of other stuff but yeah

also apparently irish brides traditionally wore blue, back in the day, that were long and flowy w intricate embroidery, celtic knots, and a big sash or belt! often including a hooded cloak in weather!

she also traditionally has a handkerchief embroidered w like a motto or the couple's initials or an emblem or smth of significance to them, and then that's used as the bonnet for the firstborn child at their christening, and handed down to them to potentially use at their own wedding etc generation after generation

also the handfasting probs means that 'tying the knot' is an expression in astaira (that would baffle the varmonts too btw!) which is fun <3

[ Ever heard the phrase “your goose is cooked”? ] Traditionally, the night before the wedding, a goose would be cooked in the bride’s house for the groom’s wedding meal. When the meal was fully prepared, it would be seen as bad luck for life to back out of the wedding. So, the phrase, “your goose is cooked” pretty much means there’s no backing out now!

there's this thing w the child of progue that might be done w statues of the guardians?

[ This is a funny Irish wedding tradition. The child of Prague is a statue popularly known to ward off bad weather, which can rue the day. The figure is placed in different ways but performs the same function. ] Some parents leave their children in their hallway the night before a wedding. Others abandon their children outside, while some put the child out under a bush. In addition, people tend to behead the statue before placing it at the selected spot. The rationale is that the figures are not of the best quality. Their head usually fell off by themselves when left out overnight; hence, it was better off already beheaded. Some people even reattach it afterward.

guests have bells to ring ward off evil spirits and discord! they set to ringing them as the couple walks down the aisle and bells are sometimes included in the bride's bouquet

Weddings were civil, not religious, affairs. While some involved a vow of lifelong fidelity, that wasn’t universal. The ancient Celts recognized several types of marriage. And they also had very liberal divorce laws. They knew not all marriages would last, and they planned for it. In ancient Celtic traditions, one could opt for a one-year trial marriage. If all went well, they could take more permanent vows. If it didn’t work out, they each went their way, free to try again. Men and women enjoyed equal rights in the 1100s. Irish brides owned their property; if the marriage ended, they took it with them. They would also take a portion of any wealth the couple acquired together.

so yeah obv there's lots more these were just some things that jumped out at me after a cursory review that felt astairan for one reason or another <3

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forgotteneilionora · 10 months ago

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OOC | Stafford Swords & Heirs

ok so from [ this ] post's replies, and a bit of a follow up to [ this ], [ this ], and [ this ] post (amongst others!), as well...

forgottenarias @forgottenrian @thelongforgottenrealm whoops not me just washing dishes and having crazy thoughts— might Rian be the one who alerts Roderick to the fact he doesn’t have ‘correct’ heir sword? Or since we’ve kinda shifted the idea that the concept of being an heir isn’t necessarily as important to astaira as it is Roderick, does that even factor in anymore? I mean maybe he just wants ALLLL THE SWORDS and I guess maybe even Rian might be after them since he is an actual stafforrd TBC And those swords probably asp would have been going to him if domhall hadn’t dominated those trials hahaha 😆 forgottenrian @forgottenarias KATE!!!!! YOU GENIUS!!!!! i hadn't even thought abt the swords klsadjfkljsdf ommmggggg rian would 1000000% know those swords!!! he's never touched them but he's read everything about them and seen plenty of art and probs went over and had a boromir vs aragorn moment of gazing longing at the display of long lost family sword and awkward encounter w the person who is saying they have more rights to it etc etc etc when he challenged eilia for the throne!TBC @forgottenarias ok so idk if you saw but i was thinking the ~heir does maybe have more of a geopolitical role despite the trials in order to entice foreign alliances etc!! but also roderick is kinda baffled by the whole kingsmoot thing (rian's whole thing makes muchhh more sense to him!) and is basically like 'this is the royal house!' and it has symbolic swords so he wants them!! and rian 1000000% wants them!!!!! those are his and garbhan's by rights!!!! laskdjfkjs TBC @forgottenarias so yeah long story short im thinking that we can def keep the sword thing if we want to! and i love love love this idea!!!!!! also realizing that rian may have much more mixed feelings abt the bastardization of his cousins than i was originally thinking alksjdfkljdsf he deffff has lots of hang ups abt rights being stripped from those to whom they belong ++ it reflects poorly on his house in his mind so he hates it on those levels BUT also it puts him TBC that much closer to realizing his ~own just deserts (in his mind)! forgottenarias @forgottenrian yes!! I love all of this (especially Roderick just wanting all the swords 😅😅😅) but I didn’t even connect— it would probs be even more important for the heir to have some sort of ~thing~ with being an important figure in the ruling family’s geopolitical endeavors even w/ still having to compete for the throne asp!! Since Rian knows everything about Astaira (so he thinks!) he might also be like “well and then the mythical lost third sword…” for Roderick to be like WAIT WHAT? 😅 @forgottenrian but ALSO his conflict!! It makes sense! He’s got a lot to grapple with… so does he tell Roderick? Does he keep the secret for his family? (even though Aria will continue to hate him bc destruction of culture and lands she apparently will forgive a bit but NOT abandoning family!) forgottenrian @forgottenarias ngl...im realizing that rian has probs been taught to believe that the mythical lost sword is probs ~for him (idk if he believes its real or not but certainly that its at least symbolically his or wahtever yknow)...hmmmm...yknow maybe he ~doesn't tell? bc he's like THATS MINE!!!!! basically alksdjfkljdsf but i do think he resents roderick toting even the ~known ones around, big time bc that's ALSO ~his or at least garbhan's!!! lakjsdfkjdf yknow imma TBC do a post on the swords bc im realizing that, w the kingsmoot, that needs a lil reworking but, if the staffords were the og king(s) and established the thing, it might still work, as-is???? like maybe it was a king arthur kinda figure who united the various ~lordships (maybe the lords of astaira used to all be petty kings in their own right?) and then his two brothers were the next ones but the final one was like 'lets establish a vote' basically and yeah!!! maybe TBC the og king even established the crown in order to ~fight the gods~ back in the day or smth?????? we need to talk this out lkasdjfakljdsf

forgottenarias @forgottenrian YASS! Always ready to talk it out about LFR lore! 😅 I def think they’re something important and even if not entirely to the CROWN at least to the Stafford fam… and since they’ve ruled for so long it’s sort of one in the same at this point?!

ok so on the second post, here's words from our fearless leader, herself <3

thelongforgottenrealm I love all of this!!!...I’m also digging the idea that succession here isn’t done traditionally!! I do feel like maybe the firstborn of the king/queen is always treated as the future heir (and often is) but they still have to go through these trials and sometimes have other nobles who submit their names, too, so it isn’t always a given

sdfasdf ok so i think that's all the bg stuff i need <3 mostly i just wanted to pop this here to get us chatting, but i have some ideas i did wanna sort of throw out here!

HEIR IDEAS

perhaps on those occasions on which the ruler is also the person whose technically the ~lord of any given lands, the heir is largely in charge of running the lordly aspects w oversight from the ruler as a sort of training for bigger things type deal? (in our case here, i lowkey feel like rian's dad would've been the evenstar, since he was the firstborn son of stafford, but he gave it up to run away in his hissy fit abt his lil bro being king, so it fell to domhnall to do that ~too, and thus eilia and then aria, in turn, effectively took charge of the staffords lands, when they were old enough? but bc of the below, maybe siobhan did that after aria? or aria was doing it the whole time? your call kate <3)

when the consort is unable (pregnancy, illness, death, etc) the heir also often acts as ambassador to that nation/does all the many political duties of the consort

while generally anyone may insert their name into the lists for the ~kingsmoot, the heir is the only person ~required to do so, and indeed the kingsmoot must wait till the heir is old enough/able to do so w astaira being ruled by the elders/witan/council till that time

lbr the heir to the king does have some advantages over everyone else!!! they've been raised in this position, they're known to the ppl (tho that could be just as easily a detraction if they're not suited ig!! aksldjfkljdsf), they have all kinds of training etc, they have the backing of astaira's closest ally via the queen dowager

SWORD IDEAS

i def think rian's dad wanted to find the lost stafford sword in order to burst in on domhnall w it and thus proclaim himself rightful king!!!

since -- if we go w the idea of it having belonged to the og king of all astaira (who united it etc) -- its maybe seen as more than just a ~stafford sword but as a kingsword a la excalibur like that's king arthur's sword but its not a sword of the house of pendragon so much as its the rightful king's sword, based on their character not their bloodline etc, but at the same time it is def a pendragon sword too like thats who made it who wielded it etc...

and thus rian has been raised to believe that the lost sword is basically ~about him~ out there specifically to prove himself the rightful ruler etc as both stafford and the best dude for the job(tm)

RANDOM IDEA

ive always talked abt this but i just realized...idk if i ever ratified it above mere ~headcanon~ -- one of the things the ruler gives up is the right to marry by choice

they can only marry by the consent of the ppl (which is kinda what eilia is basing her protest on re: roderick and keeping him from forcing the matter bc the whole point of marrying her is to ~not tick off astaira!) w a kind of queensmoot situation (tho probs no trial just a general -- should this country/person be our closest ally/parent to the most likely ~future ruler! kinda thing) ++ might tie into eilia/aria/siobhan's parents' marital situation, as well?? (maybe he loved someone else but wed for duty or smth?)

ok i wanna hear ALLLLLL of your thoughts!!!!! <33333333

#aria stafford #siobhan stafford #rian stafford #garbhan stafford #domhnall stafford #about #ooc #lore

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forgotteneilionora · 1 year ago

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a mock up to represent a potential coat of arms kate and i had discussed for eilia/house stafford/astaira's coat of arms, pending lizzy's approval.

i did a lil debate abt to make the stars or or argent, but i went w argent bc the varmonts had or in theirs and i felt like it's a cool contrast. anyway, kate does this look at all how you were picturing? as with the others, this isn't how i pictured it but its the closest i could get w the site. i also feel like, the mullet being the mark of the third son (or, for astaira, child), this could also call into play some interesting potential 'foreshadowing' re: their ancestors etc and now the three daughters as we'd discussed etc

Argent (white or silver): Peace and sincerity

Azure (Blue): Truth and loyalty

Estoile/Mullet/Star: Celestial goodness; nobility; divine quality from above; mark of third son (find more in-verse symbolism here)

#about #aria stafford #siobhan stafford #lore #rian stafford #garbhan stafford #domhnall stafford

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forgotteneilionora · 1 year ago

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ok so this is the only stafford parents chain i ~know of, so i included the above, but also domhnall!!!! its canon and roderick HATES it!!!! roderick: 'can we rename this guy already???' everyone: 'he's...he's dead??? it might be a bit late for that????'

omg!!! their mom having also been able to see the guardians!!! help im softttttt also!! im 100% down w her having been either astairan ~or a foreign princess!!!! idk if @thelongforgottenrealm has any notions re: that? but either way figuring that out might be the first step in figuring out more abt her, i feel like?

also fun fact i learned today that the word for blue and the word for illustrious in irish is apparently the same, and our ruling family's main color is blue!!! me: its all coming together!

stafford parents

i can't remember anymore if we have a thread going about this?

bu just because i came across it... i'm throwing out Dónal or Domhnall as options for their father's name. It means "ruler of the world' which we know the Astarians wouldn't have taken much stock in but imagine how annoyed Roderick would be if he found that out?

#ooc #about #aria stafford #siobhan stafford #domhnall stafford #lore #lena stafford

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forgottenarias · 7 months ago

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ooc || stafford history

okay so the upcoming ramblings came out of this comment thread:

forgotteneilionora@forgottenarias i feel like they probs ~did!! and i think eilia def sympathized bc i think she had the same thing going re: their mom and, again, not jealousy, just this 'i don't get to see her as often bc of my duties as heiress' etc and so they were never to have as close of a bond as eilia (and frankly i imagine lena, too!) wished they had (and omg ikr! im excited for the shiv layer!!) and ommmgggg rian's dad!!! he was def right to be concerned, as it turns out!!!! also yknow what @thelongforgottenrealm we talk abt rian's dad sm...i thought id suggest some names? (no particular order... Ailbe (world/light/white rock), Faolan (little wolf), Áedán (little fire), Tiarnan (lord), Conláed (constant fire), Bréanainn (king/prince), Tairdelbach (instigator), Ruarcc (red hero/champion), Ciar (black), Niall (either passion/fury or hero), Ardghal (high valor), Ruaidrí (red king), Cathaoir (battle man) side note, stumbled on some stuff while looking for irish names! this which feels like a malconaire name: Darach (of oak) and Eoghan (owen/meaning born from a yew tree/yew born!); also lorcan means 'little fierce one' and i feel like that really fits them! also garbhan apparently means "little rough one" -- imagine naming one kid that and the ~other "king" lakjsdfkljdsf do you think there was any favoritism going on in that household??? lakjsdfkljsdf also Éamonn is apparently the irish for edmund so i think i just unlocked rosie's nickname for edmund ;D

forgottenarias@forgotteneilionora @thelongforgottenrealm I’m voting for Bréanainn because I love the idea the Stafford grandfather named his kids “ruler and king” which makes me think maybe grandpappy Stafford had more Rians dad vibez OR things could’ve be v different if Dom had ended up w/ sons instead of daughters!!

forgottenarias@forgotteneilionora @thelongforgottenrealm okay not be now going down a whole rabbit hole about grandpa Stafford and was he maybe trying to abolish the kingsmoot and make the Staffords the only ruling family? Let me mull this and write something crazy up later when I’m not supposed to be working

starting this all off, for my own ease I'm going to give a couple people nicknames so half this isn't just descriptions of familial relationships for people that don't have official names yet ;) Rian's Dad = RD RD & Domhnall's Father/currrent living Stafford's grandfather = Grandfather And I'll probably refer to Domhnall as Dom because I'm a bit lazy :) So my nonsense I started cooking up! i feel like we'd maybe thrown around the idea that the king BEFORE Dom was king, the ruler was not a Stafford-- maybe a Lorcan if I remember correctly?-- but my thought is possibly that maybe Domhnall & RD's WAS actually king and possibly not that great and maybe was trying to take down the kingsmoot? (side note this all literally came out of everyone in the stafford line naming the male children versions of "king" or "ruler" or something haha!)

so some of this is my own personal HC re: the staffords but the family has been in the ruler position more often than many of the other major families in astaira and, even if they aren't the ruling family, their members are still important parts of the royal council and, over time, it DID lead to some feelings that the Staffords might be the family the gods intended to rule astaira-- they had been blessed by the goddess, herself, had they not? also the idea that Rian & Eilia & Aria are very studious people isn't necessarily a quirk but something that the Stafford family has ALWAYS been known for-- their knowledge of many topics then helping them in their positions of leadership and politicking!

I also sort of imagine some people possibly were sort of over this kingsmoot at this point? its time consuming, it forces people away from their lives for potentially a long time, and just like... imagine if you had a string of rulers who met unfortunate ends very early in their reigns? hypothetically bc we haven't written an entire history of Astaira (yet ;) ) but I'm sure by the third time one is sitting through the trials in the past 10-15 years, they're just OVER it. also that the kingsmoot is potentially very unique to astaira, it might just be seen as something odd and weird and potentially weakening the power of Astaira's ruler in the eyes of other foreign leaders

So by the time Grandfather was crowned king of Astaira, that thought had been implanted in his mind (possibly by his own father, is this was sort of a 'we need to play the long game!' scenario) and it may have been Grandfather who started ramping up the plan to possibly come to fruition when RD took over as king post Grandfather's death.

so it seems like RD may have been into this OR that whole 'familial duty' thing is genetic and he was just buying everything his dad was selling. Dom, on the other hand, obviously went a different route. I feel like there are two things that happened w/ him:

Grandfather was always enacting this plan ONLY with RD in mind and, therefore, didn't really include Dom in the indoctrination of the Staffords being the one true rulers of Astaira (someone sounds an awful lot like RODERICK)

Dom WAS apart of this whole plan but ended up changing his tune, obvi, at some point

All that being said, I think that while RD was learning to be the heir w/ his dad, Dom was potentially a ward with another lord in Astaira-- and maybe it was there that he changed his tune, should he have been initially part of the plot!

Def not saying this is canon of course by my initial thought was that he was a ward at Lorcan considering Commander Lorcan was a trusted advisor to his father (and potentially to Dom?!) So while Grandfather and RD were off plotting or w/e, Dom was learning from the Lorcans and possibly out amongst the ~common~ people more (and meeting Aine!) and sort of becoming more a Prince of the People than his brother (or even his father before him!) had been. also depending on how old RD & Dom were when their dad died, he might have spent some time just sort of out exploring Astaira and the various counties and learning about the people all over and he was just solidly a presence in the kingdom

at the same time, Grandfather and RD have been sort of sowing the idea of abolishing the kingsmoot amongst those lords who they thought might be in favor of this-- probably by offering them positions within the council or something-- and the plan was being formulated that the LAST kingsmoot would put RD on the throne & secure the Staffords as rulers in perpetuity. also potentially he was working w/ outside leaders to support the Staffords as well in this claim-- and maybe that's where Léna's family came in? i also had this weird thought that perhaps Grandfather's wife was from the OG Varmont nation?! I don't think it would affect THAT much but maybe some promises were made to lords in the OG Varmont nation that left some bad blood when everything was thwarted eventually.

Anywho, Grandfather finally dies and the trials take place. Dom was potentially at first only partaking in them out of duty (imagining he was fully planning to sort of give up his ties to the ruling family & go off to marry Aine!) but then ended up having a good deal of support sort of accidentally because of all the time he'd spent out amongst the people in Astaira so when RD (maybe? I confess I got distracted and didn't go looking for that discussion @forgottenrian !) kind of lost it at the trials, people immediately pivoted to Dom. i didn't really consider if the plot to instill the staffords as permanent rulers came out before or after Dom won the crown (i def think it may have depended on if Dom had known his father's plan!) but he was very concern either way with winning back the trust of the Astairan people for his family. also re: lena-- we know RD was in love with her (i don't think we'd ever discussed if that was reciprocated on her end, but i'm kinda guessing no?) but there was maybe a bit of a scandal if this foreign princess & her family were going to backstab Astaira asp like Dom's brother kinda tried to do and Dom was like "no, and we're not going to shame this poor woman for what my family did so i'm marrying her!) or smthing along those lines. If we wanted to be REAL dramatic, maybe RD ran off and tried to marry Lena anyway and Dom had to ride out and put a stop to it-- just drama for drama's sake at this point ;)

anyway, just a bunch of strange ramblings from my brain that was marinated while I was making soup today! XD and as always... never married to anything at all in here!

also just like thinking that if this whole plot had succeeded, things might've been VERY different for the universe everyone is in?! like who's to say the stafford fam didn't end up trying to be conquerers like Roderick!!!

#ooc #domhnall stafford #Lena Stafford #eilia stafford #About #lore #history #house stafford

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forgottenarias · 8 months ago

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some more aria ramblings no one asked for :)

sparked by discussions about Domhnall & Léna Stafford & me being stuck in traffic going to pick up stuff for work today (hah!) Also realizing this is probably going to bring up a bunch of random questions about both parents so sorry in advance. ALREADY running into a question I have for @thelongforgottenrealm & @forgotteneilionora-- I have on our timeline that Léna died when Eilia was 4, Aria was 2, and right after Siobhan was born... would anyone be opposed if we maybe had her death a bit later? Possibly when the girls were around 11, 9, and 7?? Also if there was a reason we decided this and I totally forgot... its not REALLY a bit deal XD

soooo with that question in mind,a lot of the things regarding Léna are going to be hypothetical since it wouldn't REALLY work and, again, not married to any of it! [alternatively thinking that if it ISN'T her mother, maybe we could wedge a maternal grandmother/aunt/something in there instead??] also some of this is probably repeats of things i've said before!

Léna, much like Sorcha, was more devoted to the religious aspects of the gods & guardians than her husband, due mostly to her family having Seers in their ancestry.

Léna made multiple pilgrimages to Kil-Kennar to meet with the seer there who acted as a spiritual advisor and friend to the Queen. When she was old enough, Aria would accompany her on these visits.

It was Léna, of course, who finally realized that Aria's childish ramblings about creatures no one else could see were not from her imagination but, in fact, her being able to see the Guardians that protected their home.

Domhnall's reaction to Aria's powers was that they should keep in hidden for her safety but, additionally, for political reasons. While much of the known world followed some version of their ways, there were powerful factions that did not (-waves at Roderick-), so Domhnall felt it would be best to keep quiet that there was a Seer to close to the crown.

Léna ultimately understood his reason but she did not agree with it and focused on trying to help Aria understand and not fear the Guardians.

Léna hoped to take Aria to Kil-Kennar to be advised by the Seer Aine, but Domhnall forbid it, too worried word of his daughter's powers would be spread.

Léna died not long after Aria's powers were discovered but not before making it clear to her daughter that the protection of the Guardians was essential to protecting Astaira

Domhnall's concerns about his daughter's powers being discovered only seemed to grow after Léna's death, leading to Aria being seen less often in large, public gatherings.

Aria (whether knowingly or not) took cues from this which is why she was often considered the more reserved of the sisters.

Deep down, part of her resents her father in some ways. On one hand she realizes he wanted to protect her, however another part of her felt like he viewed her powers as something bad-- which she couldn't help! She didn't ask to be a Seer, afterall.

Aria always felt closer to her mother, even after her death. She had always hoped to one day travel to her mother's home country to see where she grew up

Léna passed along her love of books & reading to Aria. During her reign as queen, she had a hand in expanding the castle's library.

#eilia stafford #siobhan stafford #domhnall stafford #léna stafford #house stafford

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forgotteneilionora · 10 months ago

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ok so i expect ill post follow-up(s) in terms of their personal interplay which i think is integral to both!! but here im just aiming to sort of hammer out some details abt their parents bc that's def gonna inform, id imagine, both our ladies psyches, etc!! and, strangely, the first thing imma talk abt is...the geopolitical role of astairan queenship! and yes i swear this does have a lot to do w everything laksjdflkjsdf

(also, pls note that, while in astaira im sure there have been many kings consort and queens regnant, in addition to the reverse, just to keep things less confusing imma use king/he/him for the ruler and queen/she/her for the consort bc, it seems, even in astaira that's the much more common arrangement given the general reaction when eilia came to the throne)

ok, so since astairan rulership is determined by the ppl, id anticipate that the role of the consort relies much more heavily on the political aspect of things than on the political/familial mix that traditional queenship does, as, strictly speaking, the ruler doesn't ~need to have even a single child if he does want it! so the queen is out there doing charity and rallying support for causes/her house if she's astairan, or effectively acting as ambassador both for and to the nation from which she hails re: astaira, if she is a foreign bride, etc.

now, an ~astairan queen knows all abt how astairan politics work, but you've gotta figure this is wild and weird and confusing for an outsider whose grown up never before exposed to a stystem of governance like this one! its also a great question of, liek...what's in it for her nation, right? AND what's in it for the king? (presuming its a political match) in most marriage alliances, after all, the general idea is that the next ruler will then be of both bloodlines, but w astaira electing rulers, well, that promise is right out the window, so why a marriage? and i think i have an answer that will also solve a problem that's been bugging me in eilia's backstory! and its pr simple! im thinking that maybe the children of the late king have the right, and possibly even the obligation, to ~run for king~ basically. this also explains why eilia had a ruling council for awhile instead of a kingsmoot occurring as soon as the old king died -- they were literally waiting for her and aria and siobhan to get old enough to enter the trials, if they wanted to.

so, imagine ur a foreign power and you're thinking that allying w astaira could be a pr good gig, but how do you really cement that alliance in a lasting way? is it better to give up on that and just move on to allying w another nation instead so you're guaranteed lasting benefits? i imagine this was an issue astaira was running into early on when they're culture started to expand, and i was thinking that they were maybe asp like, well, maybe to sweeten that deal and help encourage foreign alliances, astaira developed this format of being like 'hey!!!! you def could get a lasting benefit out of this, if you raise your princess well and ensure she raises ~her kids well that could go super great for you!!!!!' basically. ofc, im sure there has def been some corruption/attempted corruption there w foreign powers tryna influence elections etc but yeah!! point is, that might be a thing, maybe? and as a result, maybe there is then in turn that usual pressure to make babies w your newly minted political queen etc!!

so yeah basically im thinking that, if we go w this, it was maybe a ~reform that was added to the way astairans do things during a peace treaty w some nation or another that was sealed w a marriage alliance w the bride's father hoping to someday be grandpa to the next king of astaira etc etc etc

so!! enter mama stafford...who we need to name v much!! hahahah im thinking maybe smth from either old french, (since eilionora appears to be a hybrid of eileen [irish] + alienor [old french]), or persian/english (bc those are the two languages in which the name aria appears)?

some old french names?

aalis

alix

cateline

isabeau

persian:

afsaneh

ameretat

leila/leyla

shahrazad

zahra

english

aldith

aldreda

jocosa

or anything at all you like!! these're just some random suggestions hahaha

SO!! all of this leads me to this...

im kind of obsessed frankly w the idea that their parents' marriage was a union of duty bc that frankly ties really well into the themes and frankly psyches of these two imo? tho they observe it in different ways i feel like both of them are so highkey motivated by duty! i do feel like their parents worked well together etc and i can say for sure that eilia, at least, felt v loved, but she has always, her whole life, been chasing this unachievable ideal!!!!!

and also i was gonna say a loooot more here but this is getting hella long so imma end it here and add more later <33333 aslkdjfskldjfjkdsf

just some nonsense about aria i rambled about to get it out of my brain, i guess?

idk what this is but once again i went off on a tangent abt aria thanks to some influence from arthur ;) [honestly why can't i deep dive on all my characters like this rn]

Thinking about Aria pre conquering and her previous attachments-- I'd contemplated if she had some sort of tragic backstory, like there was a knight she'd sort of formed a bit of an attachment to leading up the invasion and he was killed in battle or smth along those lines, but I think her whole sense of being was SO wrapped up in being-- i'm not going to say Eilia's right hand necessarily bc i don't think she was doing tons of like... talking about policy or military issues or anything, but an important part of her life as the queen of Astaira. it sort of lead me to realize I don't think she's really had much in terms of romantic notions/courting/etc in her past? Part of that I think was just who she was-- pretty quiet and reserved and probably hiding somewhere w/ Aoife at social gatherings whenever possible! I remember Kate and I joked asp about the two of them having sort of useless husbands who just did their own thing while the women ran the country-- I don't think having a USELESS husband was her plan but she def sort of imagined a union/partnership (weirdly I don't think romance was playing into this vision of the future for her, despite the fact I think she's very much a closeted romantic!) husband who was intelligent, scholarly, and had his part in the running of Astaira-- so while she never imagined her sister would try to set up a political marriage for her, she def always assumed if/when that happened it would be something that made sense for Astaira. It was all very practical and sort of in line with that idea that Staffords are servants of Astaira. So she'd probably end up with the one who wasn't the worse and, if not at some point feeling SOME sort of romantic affection for him, at least they could be friends of sorts and share common interests have have children who, of course, would then be tasked with helping the crown and continuing the cycle on and on.

which i'm now realizing, sort of like his fear that no one will care for/love/be loyal/etc to him for just forHIM, Aria just never allowed herself to think that would be possible but, again, in a practical way?! like obviously everything goes back to what is best for astaira & helping her sister & carrying on the work of the stafford family, etc. (also i don't know if eilia realized that was sort of her worldview? i think its not anything she'd openly discuss with her sister honestly...)

BUT NOW there's this GUY who is almost in every way the antithesis of who she imagined herself ever being drawn towards-- like, if this were a bad early 2000's teen movie, she'd be the head of the debate team and he'd be the captain of (insert sport here) and WHY would they EVER even talk to each other?! haha! but then obvi she's seeing this different side of him that she expected to be there-- plus clearly SHE'S having some sort of affect on him and his thought process thanks to all their walks and talk/arguments ;) I think that's not something she's ever HAD before outside of her friendships (and while there is some sort of version of friendship there clearly its something else, what with the whole conquering/captor/flirt thing that's happening) and she just... likes how this is progressing? i think at first it was a "oh great-- more fuel for my fire of trying to worm my way into the good graces of the new regime and sow discontent from within!" but now she's making this real human connection and its scary and its annoying and its making her have all of these thoughts and see things as not black & white and she HATES that but also she is invested entirely now? and she may not have even realized it atp?!

all that being said there are still these little doubts that flair up-- which i think is sometimes part of the reason she reacts so angrily/aggressively at times (bc as we've discussed emotions are hard! don't think abou them in a healthy way!) I DO think every time she allows herself to think about "what is this connection, where is it going, what does it mean?" part of her is like "you're over complicating this-- there's probably some version of you in every castle/town/whatever this guy stops at w/ his deranged dad and you are NOT special and this is NOT different!" and i think some of that may be reinforced post Amira's Terrifying Tea Party when she figures out smth was happening w/ Eithne and she's like "oh okay, so that's his country lady he probably walks around w/ having some version of the same conversation!" (honestly the pair of them both having versions of 'oh, i thought this was something, guess its not..' is...so perfect) and she's like 'im obviously the lady entertainment when he's stuck in the castle!'

But then there are those moments where is DOES seem different and its enough to keep her coming back and trying to figure it out! i think hes right sometimes abt how she feels-- there were def moments where she's like "i want to hurt him, he deserves this, he could have stood up to his father and stopped this if he cared!" but i do think those have subded bc she realizes, again, this is not black and white and he actually has things he has to consider that SHE would consider, too! --namely his family!

plus, adding to that, there's everything I said about her realizing the manipulation is working-- i think she's confused if its working bc of ACTUAL feelings/emotions or if its working because he's kinda dumb and is just easily lead-- deep down she KNOWS its option one, hence why she feels the guilt about potentially doing something that would hurt him! and then adding in a rather, i think, fundamental shift in their views towards themselves/each other with his SHOCKINGLY DEEP AND INTROSPECTIVE confession about his views on his possible fate! i think beyond the whole "holy crap!" of the moment, it resonated w/ her in an unexpected way bc she's grappling with who she going to be in the world now that her whole purpose (helping Eilia as she rules Astaira!) has been taken away and while I think she's desperately trying to fill that void w/ her mission to save the guardians (also can we talk about the amount of pressure she is putting on HERSELF with this? oof), in the event there isn't a catastrophic event caused by the fall of the guardians, she doesn't know what her future is? is she stuck in this castle the rest of her life? does roderick finally off her when he's fed up with astaira being a problem? its not necessarily the same as arthur w/ his sole purpose in life to be emperor for his fate/his family's fate, but i think she sees some sort of connection there as well.

but now here we are and i realized that she's processing these emotions (poorly) on top of the 'you're a bastard, surprise!' announcement + amira's tea party so she's probably just... mad at arthur for reasons that aren't his fault + maybe has been ignoring him for awhile now? bc emotions & she doesn't want to hurt him & his father hurt her & did i mention... the emotions?

also if anyone made it this far WHY and I"M SORRY.

#ooc #about #aria stafford #siobhan stafford #domhnall stafford #lena stafford

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