#get to know aurora

[spacetimeaccordionfolder]

I might have gone a bit over the top about this.

text from here. I used 1.11.8-11 as references. panel 1 here is kind of a redraw of panel 6 of 1.11.11.

@comicaurora

[pencilofawesomeness]

So, I've been reading a lot of Ghost King AUs recently and... my hand slipped.

[malthedreamer]

If nobody got me I know The Mechanisms got me

[hailsatanacab]

“To whom,” Alfred rasps, pausing to clear his throat and establish his sense of decorum, “May I ask, to whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?”

The creature stops, blinks its owlish eyes at him, and lets out a bark of laughter.

“Forgive me,” it says, still chuckling lightly, raising a hand to rub at the back of his neck. Alfred is suddenly struck by the feeling that this creature is not as timeless, nor as old or as wizened, as it wished to present itself. “I am making a terrible first impression. My name is Phantom, current High King of the Infinite Realms.”

Contractual Obligations by me!!!

I couldn't get the image of Ghost King Danny out of my head, so here he is!! Acrylic on canvas, and I'm so happy with it - he came out a lot better than I thought he would 😅

[coatl-cuddles]

New Eden friend :)

[the-mountain-flower]

Hey, hey. Erin Ruunaser in a time loop >:)

[bewyldered]

we fw sky cotl here right

[notbecauseofvictories]

There is an underrated pleasure in opening the Chicago Tribune---known for being a deeply conservative paper even before the Alden hedge fund got in there with a machete---and reading articles about both the Chicago and suburban protests. Obviously there are much bigger things to talk about in almost every respect, but I do feel a certain puckish glee in knowing that the editorial board can grind its teeth to dust but can't refuse to talk about it.

[spacetimeaccordionfolder]

"The soul is subject to the mind and my mind is my strongest weapon" and yeah we knew that the soul could be shaped by the mind slowly already thanks to exposition in arc 1 chapter 8 and that seemed feasible - makes sense that the mind can shape the soul- but then today's page! Erin reshaped his soul! And yeah we knew that from arc 2 chapter 2 but! Not just malformed, unusually high capacity soul channels that needed some shaping and sealing so he didn't have headaches always but like. He opened his own soul. He moved the channels. WHAT?? okay yeah I can see why he's "my mind can do anything I can handle all this" guy his mind literally reshaped his soul. "No one has mapped the Storm of Magic because I haven't tried yet" guy made his own miniature maelstorm as a teen no wonder he was so confident he could navigate the Storm.

I'm having a low ache everywhere, high pain in a few areas, pain day and Erin is feeling even more relatable than usual. He can feel his channels opening, so he'll be able to properly channel and not have chronic headaches or however his malformed soul links affected him- he's been there for months and is so close. So close to a solution and is told to wait. Of course he immediately overstretches his abilities and injures himself again. His smile in panel 7 feels like that of someone finally able to do something they haven't done in a long time, he's marveling in what he can do, of pushing through whatever pain or difficulty is there and being- and then there's the consequences of that.

I just. He.

okay I don't have a good ending to this post Erin's just neat

[bucketsandraincoats]

dainix and alinua are besties. to me

[kuukorppi]

SWSSRORA TRENCHES ARE SO DEEP

(credit: @/aethersghoul video on twitter)

[irenespring]

Thoughts on Bertha Russell (Many Thoughts)

I am So curious about Bertha Russell's backstory. We have little snippets:

Her father was a potato farmer.

She has lots of mommy issues. (George mentions her mother said she was the only child "worthy of her dreams" to which Bertha angrily responds that her mother's dreams were worthless because she died with nothing which is A Lot)

She has sibling issues. (George offers to invite her sister to a thing and she refuses)

She and George met when they were both poor, they made the fortune together.

She had a distinct learning curve when they first got to New York. She bought The Wrong House and made The Wrong Friends and had to learn and relearn things over a period of years. (I am especially interested about this time, because she would know Nothing, being the ultimate outsider, but she is a tactical genius and viciously ambitious...I want to see young!Bertha in the early stages of the struggle before she knows how to dress/talk/act).

I hope we will learn more about her because more than any of the other characters she wants things. Things that are nebulous, but she doesn't seem to realize are nebulous, because she has clear goals but they don't satisfy her so she has to make another goal. Loving husband doing well? Not enough. They have enough money to hear the call of the guillotine? It's not enough, they need status. They have status? Not enough, they need to beat Lina Astor. Now they've beaten Lina Astor, but I don't think anyone thinks that's going to be enough. George points out multiple times that he is content where he is and content to let their children marry for love to people of what Bertha considers middling station. She's the sole driving force for continued social climbing. And it doesn't matter how high they get, she wants to go higher, she wants to go "all the way" but there isn't an all the way unless I guess you're Empress of the World. But then the moon starts looking awfully conquerable.

She claims she's doing it for their children, but both children have said her suggestions aren't what they want. And it is heavily implied she just sold her only daughter to the Duke so he would attend an opera performance. She wants Gladys to marry the Duke so that she will be grandmother to English nobility. It's for her. So she is willing to use her children, her alleged motivation, as pawns. They aren't her real motivation after all, even if she may think they are. I do think she loves her children and George. I also think that she thinks she's helping Gladys, but I also think there's a limit to that love because it exists beside the yawning void of hunger within her psyche. George outright asks her if his love for her is enough to make her happy early in s1, because her love is enough for him. She says it's "almost enough" and that's significant and enough for him, which is telling, when usually any answer other than "yes of course" would be taken by a love interest as a searing betrayal. Anyway, the point is, her kids/her family are, at least, not her entire motivation and might not factor into her motivation at all, if she is fully honest with herself.

So, the hunger. The call to Rise. The rage that has her hyperventilating in bed alone after her failed party instead of crying in her husband's arms like most television characters would do. The instinct to look upon a room of people and think you will all bow to me you sniveling mortals. Why is it there? Like...why is she Like This? I think some of it has to come from what we can learn just from George's comment about impossibly ambitious, ruthless, low empathy Bertha being the only one "worthy of her mother's dreams." Which means her mother had dreams that were very important to her and that she never achieved. Her mother also guarded said dreams and judged her children harshly, we know Bertha has at least one sister, who is apparently judged not worthy in the eyes of her own mother. We know Bertha does not like talking about this and tries to dismiss it. Was there pressure on Bertha to be worthy? When could that have started and how did it manifest? Circling back to my interest in young!Bertha in NY, if the social rejection was bad in s1, it was probably worse then, and constant social failures would have made her angrier and more determined to both to become the queen of New York society and to see it burn. This is all stuff I want to learn more about in season 3.

HERE IS WHERE I PRETTY MUCH JUST DO PREDICTIONS (WHICH MAY BE TINFOIL, IDK):

Because I think we will finally get to see Bertha Russell: Season Villain. Every season needs a villain, and Bertha has pretty much vanquished all of them. The first couple seasons the overarching villain has been New York Society with its inequalities and pointless social cruelty, if that holds, Bertha is now the head of that system, having beaten Lina Astor and set herself up as the queen. Additionally, side opponents (not really villains) like Agnes also aren't in a position to make major problems for the protagonists because the Van Rhijn household is now the Forte household and cinnamon roll Ada is now in charge. Unless Agnes attempts to usurp her sister in a subplot (which I don't think will happen except for maybe one episode of hijinx) she's not in a powerful spot. The Society character is indisputably Bertha. And Bertha has been up to some serious villain shit. If she did agree to marry Gladys to the Duke, she's now against All the Protagonists---a sure sign of villain status. She's even against her husband, who swore to back Gladys in her choice of love match, and Gladys doesn't like the Duke. If Gladys wants out, Larry will almost certainly help her. And Saint Marian will help Larry either for love reasons or moral reasons, and hopefully Peggy has better things to do but she will probably get dragged into it somehow and if Marian's involved Ada's also involved and you see where this is going.

Also, show pacing wise, Bertha is due for a loss. I love her and I want her to win everything and be declared Empress of Earth and Moon but realistically that isn't going to happen. In a show where villains lose, it checks out. Gladys isn't going to marry the Duke, and if she does, everyone is going to regret it. One reason I think we will learn more about Bertha and her history is because if she loses she's going to Lose It. Dramatic monologue style. When she had a party and no one came she swore eternal vengeance and spent the night Angry Breathing and presumably fantasizing about the Red Wedding. She doesn't handle losing well. A big public loss after achieving every status symbol she could think of would probably break her mind, and she'll probably tell whoever she's talking to (probably George) enough backstory info that we the audience can fill in stuff. This is also where I would guess she and George would reconcile where he would see she is the person he loves and has not transformed into an automaton, she's just Messed Up, which he always knew and loved so he is Back In.

IN CONCLUSION:

This is who Marina was writing about. She is a primadonna girl, and all she ever wanted was the world. She cannot help that she needs it all, in this case the primadonna life: both the rise and the fall. She also knows exactly what she wants and who she wants to be. This is why she walks and talks like a machine. Unfortunately, she is becoming a self-fulfilled prophecy.

Oh, oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh.

[wytchisle]

Everyone else in The Gilded Age fandom is verklempt over the possibility of a Russell divorce. (Or a Aurora Fane divorce in some cases?)

Meanwhile me and Mamie Fish will be thriving no matter what happens or doesn't happen because we're just here for the drama.

(I get it though - I'm verklempt over a divorce in another fandom. And I honestly doubt Bertha/George will get divorced because the stakes are never that high. Have heart! Plus I'll root for them to stay together because I don't want any of you to be children of divorce❤️)

[dailyfalst]

This Falst is from 1-11-24!

[belle--ofthebrawl]

Oooh, for the thing - holding them close by the hips, with either Swiss/Aeon or Cirrus/Aurora plsssss

Double whammy >:3c

“Act natural.” Aeon whispers, whirling her into his arms. The welcoming gala for the next Papa was in full ceremonial swing, which meant no one had a chance to get naked yet. She couldn't wait to slip out of the short and poofy little number she’d picked out. Aeon's blush told her it would happen sooner rather than later. “Watchers at two and five o clock.”

“Who?” She breathes, next to his skin and smiles at the goosebumps that prickle up. He's so easy.

“Swiss. And Cirrus. Lookin’ like a couple of predators.” He leads her in some half-assed waltz, keeps stepping on her toes. What clumsy, easy prey they must seem to the older ghouls.

“Okay.” She says nonchalantly. “Are we leading them on a chase? Causin’ trouble?” They turn and she spots them. Closer together now, eyes narrow. Calculating. She smiles and blows a little air kiss. It isn't returned. Her heart skips a beat.

“Are we in trouble?” She asks with a little giggle as the crowd closes around them, and the hunters vanish. “I didn't do anything. What did you do?”

“Nothing!” Aeon says nervously. His ears twitch, his obvious tell. Aurora pokes her tongue out between her lips at him and he scrunches his face as she tries to lick him.

“Tell me!” She sings breathlessly.

“Rory!” He pleads.

“Kiss me.” She demands, and he does without protest. Her little Bug was always so good at following orders, from the time they met each other fighting for food scraps in the pit. Now here, the source of Lucifer’s power on earth and he still runs to her for help getting out of hot water.

“Smoked Swiss' weed and stole one of Cir’s bras.” He mutters when they part. “I heard her coming and panicked so I hid in your room. That's why she's mad at you.”

“Aeon!” She gasps, scandalized. Still grinning wickedly when he finally looks at her again. “Nasty little thief.”

Coincidentally, her first words to him when he tried to steal a particularly meaty behemoth thigh away from her. They’d tussled until she realized he was hard and then she rode him in the blood of the dead beast. No truer friendship had there been since.

“Do you think you’ll learn your lesson this time?” She coos, turning again. She can't see the hunters anywhere. Could be a good thing. Could be a bad thing.

“Yes.” He says instantly.

“Too fast, liar.” She teases. “Ooh, do you think she'll spank us?”

She doesn't care that she's being framed. Hell knew she deserved some kind of comeuppance for her own mischief, although she was far better at concealing her tracks than Aeon.

“We’ll start with a spanking.” Comes a cold voice. "Then proceed as we see fit from there." Firm hands slide around her waist, gripping tight and wrinkling the materials of her gown. Aeon goes pale as Swiss copies Cirrus, pinching and tickling the lithe quintessence ghoul before gripping his hips just as firmly.

“Maybe we'll let you hold hands through your punishment.” Swiss adds thoughtfully. They're tugged away from each other in one stunning quick motion, ending up in their predator's arms in a showy display of strength. “I think that'd be so cute.”

“Busted!” Aurora sings cheerfully, already thrumming to her core at the way Cirrus is touching her. She doesn't need to look to know Aeon's stiffy is poking up through his dress pants; a little fear always did it for him.

“How are you so happy about all this?” Aeon hisses as they're easily hefted up over strong shoulders. Swiss even gives Aeon a pre-emptive, light-hearted smack. Cirrus is tickling the back of her thighs.

“Because silly,” she snickers as they're taken away to their fate. “You aren't the only one who steals weed. And who do you think told Swiss in exchange for less spanks?”

“Rory!” Aeon wails.

“That's what you get for trying to frame me!” She sings. “I’ll take us both down babe.”

“I think I'll have her warm my strap.” Cirrus says to no one in particular. “Since she wants to be so mouthy.”

“We're doing whatever we want tonight, Mama.” Swiss purrs. “Eventually these troublemakers will learn their lesson.”

“Probably not.” Is Aurora's cheeky reply.

[abirddogmoment]

Rory pointed a grouse so good this morning, it was so awesome to see the conviction in her point and her steadiness until I moved closer to her and sent her to flush it !!!!!!!