#letters to a mistress

[fictionadventurer]

I know I just said that we shouldn't categorize people in history, but when it comes to the presidential podcast, I do find myself sorting presidents into "good" and "garbage" piles based on how they treated their wife.

Good

Ulysses S. Grant gets top marks here. I'm not crazy about his wife, but he was, and they're cute together. She was sunny and upbeat enough to boost him through a lot of years of struggle, and he was devoted to both her and the children.

Theodore Roosevelt was a loving husband to both his wives and a ridiculously devoted father to all his children.

James Garfield starts out in the garbage pile because he married her without love and had an affair, but the way they both overcame that to fall deeply in love is a pretty beautiful redemption.

Woodrow Wilson seems to have had a pretty good relationship with his wife. I know less about them so this is a tentative classification, but she was willing to basically help run the country after his stroke, so it suggests there was something good there.

Garbage

Warren Harding reigns in the garbage can. Multiple unrepentant affairs with long-term mistresses.

FDR was already on pretty shaky ground in my mind, but once I learned he had an affair with Eleanor's secretary, and then Eleanor stayed with him through polio, and then at his death he was with this same secretary while Eleanor was away, he lost a lot of points.

Middle Ground

Lincoln and his wife had a pretty rocky relationship, but from what I can tell they tried to make it work and were planning on taking steps to improve things before his death.

Chester Arthur's wife hated that he was constantly away on political business, which gives him a lot of bad husband points, but also she did want that high-class, high-status lifestyle, and from what I can tell he did love her and had a lot of regrets after she died.

[fideidefenswhore]

Anne's ability to hold the king off for seven years is part of her legend. The brilliance of her strategy was to cast herself in the role of the courtly lady, requiring Henry to play to perfect knight. Henry was nothing if not dogged in the pursuit of all the roles in which he cast himself—philosopher-king, warrior, even husband—and 'this persona of courtly lover...was fully formed in Henry and had been signaling...for an answering adept to come and lift its latch. In Anne, he had her: she was the mistress of Petrarchan contraries [...] the perfect [player] for the king's tender interest.'

Renaissance Prince: Elizabeth, Lisa Hilton

[dolphin1812]

I love this chapter so much! Humor-wise, it’s perfect: Courfeyrac is trash-talking a cannon and Hugo pretends he’s going to make Enjolras interested in a woman before revealing that the woman is “Patria” (i.e. France). It’s wonderful. It never fails to make me laugh.

I love that Courfeyrac introduces the cannon as “an usher” would. He’s bringing back a theatrical element to the barricade, but for comedic purposes; his announcements do highlight the danger of the cannon, but they also lighten the mood for the people at the barricades and for us as readers! 

Unfortunately, the barricade is low on supplies, underscoring their real disadvantage. They seem more organized and unified than the Guard, but they have fewer resources (whether materially or in terms of people). They’re fighting well, but they’re hungry and can’t keep resisting if they run out of cartridges.

[maud-heroine]

Hilary wrote just once to Pat after he went away… one of his old delightful letters, full of beautiful little pencil sketches of the houses he was going to design. Just at the last he wrote:

— L.M. Montgomery, Mistress Pat (1935)

[mariedemedicis]

Ladies of House Baratheon:

Aelinor*, elder daughter of Ronnal

*This is the older of the two unnamed daughters of Ronnal Baratheon. We don’t know her name so I’ve given her the name Aelinor. We also don't know her age relative to her cousin Jocelyn so I've made a guess that she's a few years older.

[tigresslanzhu]

Faux Fur Pom-Poms

Artica: I bought this last week! I feel so fresh and new in it.

Meena: And you look so cute in it. I could never wear something like that, though. My trunk would get in the way and those fuzzy things would make me sneeze.

Artica: 🥰

Mike: Nice goin’, Jumbo! You would think you’d know better with you being the victim of her crap!

Buster: Artica, snap out of it!

[roxy206]

RuPaul’s Drag Race video

Sasha: And all these protests about protesting the drag story time

Mistress: Yeah

Sasha: Cuz at Mary’s what it’s like all ages, kids come & everything?

Mistress: Yeah. I have like at my home bar we have it all the time. It is family friendly & of course we have restrictions in place where like they can’t come to the Saturday night shows where it gets a little rowdier. I think they just have crazy like thoughts on what drag is. I don’t know. It — it’s very scary at times

Sasha: The state of the world that we live in, it’s so wild that now they want to outlaw drag & they now feel entitled to hurt you. It’s such a hard place to be, because you really want to be yourself & you really wanna celebrate who you are, but sometimes you have to be forced to be like quiet for pure safety

Loosey: I’ve done a couple & I will say the thing that you have to deal with is that there’s always a lot of community backlash. The whole thing is, “We don’t want our kids exposed to this because drag queens are gonna be like a bad influence on them.” But then you have people protesting at drag queen story hours & being extremely violent, but someone dressed as a princess telling a story about a mermaid is offensive to them

People in the LGBT+ community are constantly being targeted with hate to divert from bigger issues. What they want everyone to focus on is, “There’s drag queens reading to our kids.”

Anetra: It kind of feels like we’re getting somewhere, but at the same time it’s like, we still shouldn’t be having like problems about drag queens reading a story to kids

Luxx: Exactorini

I think that queer people just going out into the world and showing resilience and just saying, “We can’t be fucked with the way y’all think we can,” it’s like that’s going to be the driving force for change. Not me in my politician era

Sasha: The conservatives always think that we’re trying to push our agenda on them when they’re the ones pushing their agendas on us

Anetra: Definitely

Sasha: They’re like, “Oh you’re grooming our children to be gay” when that’s your technique!

Loosey: Like it’s so, so hypocritical. How many times have you seen someone ask a toddler, “Do you have a girlfriend?”

Mistress: Okay

Luxx: Or it’s like they’ll have their kids wearing “Ladies’ Man” tshirts

Salina: I remember my mom gave me a wallet when I was like twelve and in it had pictures of Hillary Duff & she was like, “Isn’t she so pretty? That’s your girlfriend, right?” And I’m like, right. Girl, no. Where’s Zac Efron, okay? Boots

Anetra: People don’t realize what they’re doing to their own children by doing that. They’re like putting them in a box already

[bforbetterthanyou]

So I was just working on an AU where Anne becomes Henry’s mistress so of course I was thinking about this and I’ve wondered this for a while now like…what was Henry’s thought process when he made that offer? Because, like, surely by that point he would’ve been aware that Catherine had gone through menopause and, like, he needed an heir. And if Anne was only his mistress then any children they might have would be illegitimate. I mean, did he have some notion that he could make their children legitimate? But if that’s the case, why wouldn’t he just make FitzRoy legitimate?

Ya know, the more I think about it, the more I think we actually don’t talk enough about that. I feel like we’ve all just sort of been like “well yeah he asked her to be his mistress because he’s Henry VIII 🤷‍♀️” as if making this offer was a totally logical, rational decision that he thought about for a long time before he did it. But I can imagine (and indeed it might be more likely) that making her that offer was, like, a totally desperate spur of the moment thing before he came to his senses and was like “oh wait no I don’t need a mistress I need a wife”

[h-i-raeth]

Born to be the head cook in a minor noble's household in a medieval-lite fantasy setting, forced to live in a world with phone calls and paperwork instead.

[gotta-bail-my-quails]

PLEASE remember that we can't just focus on the biggest position. Your senators and representatives can make or break a president's four years by blocking bills in the Houses (and even overturning presidential vetos). One of the things my government teacher taught us is that you SHOULD VOTE IN LOCAL AND STATE ELECTIONS.

You might feel that your vote won't make a difference in the national election, but change starts small.

A THIRD OF SENATE SEATS AND ALL HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE SEATS ARE UP FOR ELECTION THIS NOVEMBER. VOTE FOR THOSE AT THE VERY FUCKING LEAST.

Some of yall needed to hear this

Credits to @/mattxiv on Instagram

[fayewoodss]

👀starry night? ✨

DING DING DING CORRECT

BIG SLOPPY SMOOCHES ANON

[j-august]

Lord John Hervey to Stephen Fox, in Lord Hervey and his Friends, 1726-1738, ed. The Earl of Ilchester

[sirencozycove]

TAGS DIRECTORY

*ೃ༄ dream places˚◞♡ -> Places that bring me comfort in any way

*ೃ༄ stuffies & decor˚◞♡ -> What the title says, general stuffies or other stuff to decorate

*ೃ༄ arts & crafts˚◞♡ -> Art tag

*ೃ༄ note book˚◞♡ -> General rambling tag

*ೃ༄ caregivers˚◞♡ -> what the title says, most are f/o's.

*ೃ༄ kin: mistress of marionettes˚◞♡ -> Otherkin tag for Haruka

*ೃ༄ kin: fuschia heiress˚◞♡ -> Otherkin tag for Feferi

*ೃ༄ kin: mother of the cosmo's˚◞♡ -> Otherkin tag for Rosalina

*ೃ༄ kin: THE MOTHER˚◞♡ -> Otherkin tag for Mother

*ೃ༄ letters˚◞♡ -> Answered asks

[roxy206]

Wigloose: The Rusical

drag is a fight; drag is a protest; drag only reveals who you really are

[team-of-rivals]

you’re extremely right

I'm probably extremely right and extremely wrong

[yandere-writer-momo]

Yandere Short Stories: Too Late For Remorse

(Prequel)

Yandere Ex Husband x Countess Fem Reader

TW: time regression, cheating (mentioned), yandere, delusional behavior, etc.

“No!” (Your name) shot up from her bed, body covered in a cold sheen of sweat. Her lungs were on fire while her breathing was labored. Her hands fumbled at her neck as her heart pounded in her chest harder than a hammer against wood. She was alive… but how? She had been poisoned by her husband’s mistress…

(Your name) clambered from her silken sheets. The young lady nearly tripped on the fabric from her haste, but she had to scramble to the mirror… she had to make sure.

(Your name) gasped at her reflection in shock. She was twenty again… no longer was she the sullen, neglected thirty year old wife of Duke Blackburn. She was once again the young Countess (Last name)! She had the means to start over again.

(Your name) sunk to her knees as she smiled at her ceiling. A few tears fell down her cheeks as she sucked in a shaky breath. She wouldn’t waste this second chance, no. She’d get her engagement annulled and live a peaceful life this time… no matter who she had to eliminate. (Your name) would pay her fiancé and his mistress back ten fold for their betrayal.

.

.

.

(Your name) cut up her breakfast with the smallest of smiles on her lips. A week had passed since her time regression and her personality has done a complete one eighty.

No longer was Countess (your name) naive and meek, she was a brighter existence with a determination to learn more knowledge. A change that startled the people around her… especially her father.

Her father, the count, seemed quite curious on the sudden change in his only daughter. (Your name) had always been a young woman interested in romance and fairytales, yet that girl was no longer sat in front of him… she was a stranger now.

“My dear, are you not interested in any sweets?” Count (last name) softly asked his daughter who hadn’t touched any of the desserts presented before her. “These have always been your favorite…”

“I’m sorry, I’m just not interested in sweets anymore.” (Your name) gave her father a soft smile. It wasn’t a lie, she lost her love of sweets in her past life when her husband had made constant comments on her body over the years.

Count (last name) frowned before he sighed. “You also haven’t sent Trishan any letters recently… is everything okay between you two?”

Ah yes… Trishan was his name. (Your name) had called him Duke Blackburn for so long that she had forgotten his name…

“I don’t think he liked me that much is all, father.” (Your name) replied softly. “Plus he’s been awfully close to Lady Serpico’s daughter, Lady Gia.”

Count (last name)’s expression quickly darkened at the mention of Lady Serpico. That nightmare of a woman had damaged the reputation of his wife many years ago before they had gotten married… could she have sent her daughter to try to do the same to his darling (your name)? Was this why she had been acting so strange? Had Duke Blackburn made his daughter feel inferior to a snake?

“I will look into it, my dear daughter.” Her father rose from the table to pat his daughter’s head in an affectionate manner. “I love you so much dear… don’t you ever forget that.”

Of course (your name) hadn’t forgotten that, that’s why she used her father’s love to her advantage. Perhaps he could free her from this fate if he annulled the engagement once he found out about the affair?

(Your name) calmly slipped her tea as a ghost of a smile crawled on her lips. She’s moved her first chest piece, she wondered if her dear fiancé would enjoy the shame?

.

.

.

Trishan shoved all the papers off his desk, his hands clutched at his chest while he struggled to breathe. Where was his fiancée? His darling fiancée?

Trishan’s blue eyes scanned the papers in hopes to spot a letter from her, the ones she used to always send him during this time.

He’s returned to the past before he was blinded by greed… before his long affair with Gia Sherpico… before (your name)’s murder. He could make it all right now since he had the chance to be the husband his beautiful, loyal wife deserved!

Trishan frowned when he hadn’t found any new letters. Was (your name) in good health? She was always such a frail woman… perhaps he should go visit her? Yes! She’d probably be so happy, she always had such a beautiful smile.

Trishan began to gather up all of the papers with a smile on his face. He had already ended things with lady Gia the moment he returned to the past, that snakelike woman wouldn’t pull the rug under him this time! He would not let her sweet lies fill his head and turn him against his darling wife. His innocent wife who had done nothing but love him…

Trishan couldn’t bear to find (your name)’s cold body again… he couldn’t live with himself if she died again. If her lips were blue and she laid in a pile of her own blood like some grotesque halo. No, he would protect her this time!

Trishan sighed dreamily at the thought of this second chance. He’d visit her this weekend with her favorite flowers, baby’s breath! They do mean every lasting love, after all!

A shame Trishan failed to realize was that a large bundle of baby’s breath smelled like feet…

.

.

.

“I’m sorry, but my daughter doesn’t wish to see you.” Trishan felt his blood run cold when he was denied entry into the Count’s home. (Your name) didn’t want to see him? This had to be some sort of sick joke! Yes… that was it.

“Very funny, Count (last name).” Trishan waved off the count as he tried to enter the estate anyways. His large bouquet of baby’s breath caused Count (Last name) even more ire.“(Your name) will be thrilled I’m here-“

“My daughter doesn’t deserve a man who can’t keep it in his pants and someone who’s gift her a bouquet that smells like feet.” The count shoved Duke Blackburn back a few steps, the baby’s breath now laid in a puddle of petals at his feet. “Good day to you!”

Trishan could only stand there in shock, his hands clutched at his chest while his breathing was ragged. It wasn’t supposed to be like this… they were supposed to start over. They were meant to be.

Trishan tried to gather up the flowers in haste but they were already too trampled to fix… he’d have to get her a new bouquet. Perhaps a better scented one at that?

Trishan glanced up at the door, hopeful that this was all a big misunderstanding. (Your name) could never hate him… her father must be keeping her away from him.