#palace staff

[elf-kid2]

Alright, I know there are bigger things to think about, but LOOK AT THIS!

This is the first time we've EVER seen Stella wearing anything less than a full ballgown. Also, note the fact that she and her brother are both still wearing their crowns, even while doing an at-home spa-day thing.

Now, regarding the staff-- Three of these people worked for Stolas & Stella.

The forth imp present is from Andrealphus's staff.

They've all had their uniforms updated to suite Andrealphus's recent rise to power. And they're all looking VERY STRESSED, right now!

We've talked before about how Stolas's treatment of his staff... could be better.

We've also talked about how Stolas most likely did his best to moderate Stella's temper-- either through appeasement, or through making himself her main target, or both-- mostly for the sake of protecting Octavia.

But now, the ENTIRE HOUSEHOLD has to deal with Stella and Andrealphus encouraging and escalating each other's problematic tendancies, without Stolas there to act as a buffer.

Seriously, the way the Butler's eyes are darting around, the look on his face-- I'm not sure we've EVER seen him this stressed before! Even when his Boss was having a very loud emotional crisis and hiding in the FRIDGE, he wasn't this stressed out!

Done with the melodramatic royal bullshit making a mess, but not that legit scared for his life kinda stressed!

Now let's remember, these people have had a front-row seat for everything going on with their employers-- Stolas & Stella's trashfire marriage. Stella's extremely open disdain for her (now-EX) husband. Stolas's affair, and how it escalated from a monthly booty-call, to the current situation...

Also. I want to mention the fact that Stolas's ongoing attempts to reach Octavia throughout the month are the only proof she has that he's still alive, after having been banished & left with only the clothes on his back.

Again. The nobility only know that Stolas is still alive because Stella won't stop gossiping about his hilarious attempts to call & talk to his daughter.

I'm hoping that we get to see some stuff from the perspective of the Imp Staff at the Palace. If not in canon, then in fanfic. Because they know ALL the gossip, and I'm very curious about what the situation looks like-- what BLITZ looks like-- from their point of view.

[houseofbrat]

https://www.tumblr.com/houseofbrat/773934348538970112/when-she-wasnt-resting-in-windsor-the-princess

So which do you think is the deal?

The children are one week with K and another week with W? And the week she isn’t with them she goes to her parents house? Or she prefers to spend her week with the children at Berkshire and W spend his at Windsor? Even though I find it kinda odd, since K is very much about routines and apparently hates changes when is about her children’s routines, I can’t believe they are taking turns, specially during school (that would have work during holidays but now? But who knows) and W’s schedule has been more busy the last weeks, even the trip to Monaco, so that week wasn’t his week with them (so they were with Carole and that’s why mom went shopping) or he only sees them on weekends.

I mean, I think that if he is spending one week with them can be a new agreement, specially because of his comment about the beard (it seemed that he didn’t see them much or just on weekends), now it seems he has more time with them (or what he is making people to believe). But if that’s the case, he still looks VERY bad, if he was spending 1 week with the children he would look happier (even when he smiles, he looks empty and forced), less stressed, but he now looks even worse (specially today) or does he really loves K that much that he can’t function without her despite having his children one week with him?? Or it’s hard for him taking care of them, too much work for him?

No one really knows for sure. The press knows more, but they're not saying things outright. When The Sun posted those first two paragraphs and then a whole lot of already established info, I knew they're looking for a way to spill the beans without having KP breathe more directly down their necks, while KP still has enough sway to even do things like that. (KP won't be able to influence negative articles into the Phantom Zone for much longer.)

I never thought about Kate--or William--spending time at Kensington Palace solo without the kids until Kate went shopping in London last week.

The thing is that all of the palace staff--cooks, housekeepers, etc.--probably have a specific idea of what W&K's arrangement is right now, but they're not spilling the beans directly. I would suspect some of the royal rota has an idea of what's going on, but perhaps not enough details to justify a full article.

The kids are probably staying at home in Adelaide Cottage, and if not there, then George & Charlotte are able to board at the school. Louis is still too young to board there. Except I don't know if that would be happening when one set of grandparents is 45 minutes away, and nanny Maria is reportedly still working for Will & Kate. I expect that we're going to get more details as the weeks go on, probably starting in March.

I suspect that Kate probably spent a lot of time with her parents a year ago after she got out of the hospital. She was seen with Carole in early March. I suspect they didn't start splitting time with the kids until after the kids got out of school last July because that seems to correlate with William starting to grow a beard.

[ahsoka-in-a-hood]

Coming up with ways for Jango to have way too many sons in aus is kinda fun tbh. I know the most common thing is just for him to have a big family and that's fine but ideally could be way weirder. Maybe all the sperm at the sperm bank got swapped with Jango's and there's a nationwide epidemic of mini Jangos. Maybe someone discovered a compound full of a hundred of boys in the desert in idk Nevada or somewhere and only the first ten or whatever even have birth certificates and they're all 'homeschooled' (badly) and it gets a lot of press and everyone has a lot of questions, such as "what the fuck?" and also perhaps "how?". Maybe there was an actual secret cloning project not unlike canon but it's in a modern au.

[hanakihan]

listen I’ve been plagued by idea of Apothecary Diaries AU and Rook is MaoMao you need to see my vision—

[sulkybender]

Idea if I could draw: Zuko-style wanted poster for Izumi, and she's just a kid and her glasses are askew and she's holding frogs

[thepastisalreadywritten]

[discordiansamba]

If this hasn't been asked already: Suki Zuko twin AU for the headcanon thing? :)

your wish is my command!

when they were young, right after zuko learned he was a firebender and suki started having nightmares about zuko being taken away, they'd fall asleep holding each others hands. it worked to keep suki's nightmares at bay. they don't do it anymore... except every once in a blue moon.

he might rise with the sun, but this zuko has a consistent sleep schedule and takes pretty good care of himself overall. the power that strong familial and community bonds has. he's still extremely reckless, however.

becoming a prince means having to spend hours studying all things fire nation- from its history to its economy to its culture. it means countless etiquette lessons. it means having to wear clothes he's not used to, and being expected to speak politely. it's a lot.

so iroh will not begrudge him when he and suki sneak back to kyoshi island to participate in the island's festival days. they both put kyoshi island blue back on and let themselves just be kyoshi islanders again.

suki in the fire nation palace. what will she do. wind up on the palace's training grounds asking for sparring matches a lot. woe betide you if you underestimate the prince's non-bending twin sister.

[sokka-with-his-hair-down]

ahhhHHH newlywed zukka. oh my GOD they would be so obnoxious. can u even IMAGINE

[taw-k]

What's the most "HE WOULD NOT DO/SAY THAT" Loki take you have?

[pcktknife]

if I'm being honest palace/theme park/beach were all bogus options to me I wouldn't really want any of them all to myself

[antidotefortheawkward-art]

Sun Wukong's assorted lingpai (mandate tokens)

[ID: 1) An illustration of the two sides of a mostly rectangular lingpai made of wood. One side reads "令" and the other reads "弼马温", both written in seal script. The bottom of the lingpai is adorned by horses facing outwards, clouds by their feet.

2) An illustration of the two sides of a stone lingpai shaped mostly like a rectangle, but flared at the top and bottom. One side reads "令" and the other reads "美猴王", both written in seal script. The top of the lingpai is adorned with a dragon-pearl surrounded by flames and clouds. The bottom is adorned with mountains, the sea, and coral. The borders of both the top and bottom are decorated with clouds and flowers. The top is swirled in a way that resembles a lingzhi or a ruyi.

3) An illustration of the two sides of a red jade lingpai, shaped mostly like a rectangle but with a curved top. One side reads "令" and the other reads "齐天大圣", both written in seal script. The top of the lingpai is adorned by a ruyi with a flower and mountain at its center. Below the ruyi is a lotus flower, which sits on top of the forehead of a Yazi carving. Clouds extend out from either side of Yazi and below him are flowers. The two sides of the lingpai have the carvings of cloud pillars wrapped in a stylized waterfall. At the bottom are clouds which could also be the foam from the waterfall. Lotuses float atop this foam/these clouds. At the center of the bottom is a mountain with a ruyi at its foot. This ruyi also has a flower within it.

4) The lineart for the three lingpai, with accompanying commentary. The one labeled "BiMaWen" reads "carved and burned wood," "simple, only horses and clouds," and "ornamental, basically no power." The one labeled "Beautiful Monkey King" reads "carved from a chunk of Sun Wukong's stone egg," "customized from Ao family royal lingpai template," and "mostly sea, cloud, and dragon pearl imagery." The one labeled "Great Sage Equaling Heaven" reads "carved from red jade," "fully custom, in style of an emperor's lingpai but HuaGuo," and "flowers, waterfalls, mountains, ruyi, Yazi, and clouds imagery." At the side are simple doodles of the three lingpai. The first is light brown with a yellow cord, captioned "simple cord, no tassel." The second is grey with a red cord and tassel, captioned "silk cord and tassel." The third is red with a red cord and tassel, captioned "braided cord," "jade and gold accented." End ID]

[sharper-than-a-serpents-tooth]

I want a fic where Athy and Jennette grow up in the Ruby Palace together but I want them to witness all the drinking and the orgies and the murder of the concubines and servants and see how that shapes their relationship

[houseofbrat]

The Sun in summer 2022:

The Cambridges' new pad Adelaide Cottage needs no extra taxpayer-funded security or costly refurb. It's understood the family will have no live-in staff, with any aides commuting to Windsor instead. And sources say they dream of a "modest" home with a garden so the children can play outside together. One insider told The Sun: “They were adamant they didn’t want anything too showy or anything that needed renovating or extra security so as not to be a burden on the taxpayer." The property was modernised back in 2015.

The Daily Mail in June 2022:

Prince William and Kate Middleton will move their family into a four-bedroomed home on the Windsor estate this summer. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, are reportedly set to uproot their family from Kensington, west London, to Adelaide Cottage in Berkshire in order to be closer to the Queen. Re-erected in 1831, the Cambridge’s new Grade II-listed retreat is just a short walk from St George’s Chapel and Windsor Castle, and sits proudly on the 655-acre royal estate in Berkshire.

Victoria Ward for The Telegraph on 14 August 2022:

But in the coming two or three weeks, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will do the opposite, swapping their grand Kensington Palace home for a relatively modest four-bedroomed cottage on the Windsor estate, a move that will see them navigate life without a live-in nanny for their first time in their children’s lives. [...] Although Ms Borrallo will be kept on full time, she will live elsewhere, as will the handful of other support staff that have long “lived-in” with the family at Kensington Palace, thought to include a housekeeper and a chef.

The Sun on 03 September 2022:

“They had to have moved in this weekend, because the children have to start at their new school next week. “The renovation is no-frills, by royal standards — and is certainly in stark contrast to the £2.4million work Harry and Meghan had done on Frogmore Cottage. It will have been a builder’s finish.” Kate and William spent around a year searching for a home in Windsor so the children could go to school together. They settled on Adelaide Cottage, as first revealed by The Sun, because they believed it needed no major renovations. They decided to go with existing furniture and fittings but had a fresh coat of paint to make it feel like home for the children.

LESS THAN TWO YEARS LATER...

The Mirror on 15 April 2024:

Prince William and Kate Middleton are reportedly hatching surprise plans to transform a secret home into something of a sanctuary as part of the Princess's recovery process. The Royal couple is said to be contemplating renovations and extensions to a little-known redbrick annexe adjacent to their Adelaide Cottage residence in Windsor. The family, who relocated to the Berkshire estate towards the end of summer 2022, currently divide their time between the four-bedroom cottage and their cherished Anmer Hall retreat on the Sandringham Estate. While Adelaide Cottage offers an ideal location due to its closeness to Lambrook School where Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis attend, insiders suggest the family are considering plans to expand a currently vacant annexe to assist in the princess' recuperation. However, this decision is not without its challenges, as sources indicate that the Prince of Wales is "conscious of public scrutiny" regarding Royal expenditure and is taking a cautious approach to personally funding the costs. "They [William and Kate] absolutely adore Adelaide Cottage, but it just about fits the entire family, whereas Anmer Hall is much larger with extensive grounds," the source revealed to OK!. "Adelaide Cottage is being used as a term time property while the children are at school nearby and Anmer Hall is for long weekends and holidays." Insiders have spilled the beans on plans to revamp a run-down redbrick annexe at Adelaide Cottage, aiming to turn it into a perfect retreat for the Wales family and their aides. While the project is on pause as the Princess of Wales focuses on her recovery, the plans are reportedly simmering away in the background, ready to spring into action when the time is ripe. "Nobody knows that there is quite a spacious red-brick annexe building that's not being used next door to Adelaide Cottage," an insider said. "It's currently inhabitable and needs extensive renovation works if it were to be used. Discussions have been ongoing for a while about using the property as part of the overall cottage grounds, but it's just about finding the right time to kick the project off." The need for space is more than a luxury; sources say it's vital for Kate's path to wellness, providing her with a serene environment to manage her treatment's demands. Anmer Hall is the top pick at the moment, thanks to its generous size and seclusion. Mindful of past backlash over public funding, the Wales clan is considering footing the bill for the Adelaide Cottage annexe's refurbishments themselves. "William is very conscious of the public scrutiny over the Royal Family's spending habits, so he is looking at the best way to cover any renovation costs," a source revealed. "It's a project that's very much been put on the back burner for now due to the family's unfortunate position, but it will be looked at again when the time is right." Adelaide Cottage, tucked away in the Crown Estate's private 655-acre Royal park, was originally constructed in 1831 as a sanctuary for the wife of King William IV, Queen Adelaide. The cottage underwent significant refurbishments in 2015 and boasts some seriously opulent decor. It's said that the master bedroom's ceiling is adorned with gilded dolphins and rope ornamentation, according to various reports.

Well, well, well...

Adelaide Cottage "just about fits the entire family."

"Just about" but not quite, apparently.

Is four bedrooms no longer enough? It was perfectly fine two years ago when they selected it as it "needed no major renovations."

But Kate needs this annex renovation completed for her "path to wellness"? I've never heard of a person undergoing "preventative chemotherapy" needing extensive renovations to their personal real estate to improve their health, particularly when they already have above average living space.

There is a time limit to "preventative chemotherapy." She shouldn't need to be doing "preventative chemotherapy" forever. If she's just doing "preventative chemotherapy," then she should be able to recover within a few weeks after she completes "preventative chemotherapy." (Unless she's really not doing "preventative chemotherapy" to begin with...)

But, hey, if she needs more "space" at home for non-"luxury" reasons, then The Mirror is supporting my previous statement that Kate "is going to be more reclusive for the next year or two."

[musclesandhammering]

I like the idea of pre-canon Loki being an icon to asgardian minority groups.

Like, the queer community in Asgard? Love him to death. Particularly the trans community. They look up to them so hard.

Little asgardian girls hero-worshipping loki in her female form, because not only is she a female warrior who reminds them of a Valkyrie, but she’s also a sorcerer and a princess.

Asgardians who don’t fit the traditional asgardian standard of beauty being obsessed with Loki cause he looks nothing like his family or the people around him but he’s still confident and hot as hell.

Asgardian witches (independent magic users) after centuries of persecution suddenly feeling so seen and represented because there’s a witch in the royal family (Frigga doesn’t count, she works for the government).

Asgardian commoners feeling slightly less invisible because the younger prince is kind to them and spends more time mingling in the smaller villages than the rest of the royal family who hang out in the palace.

Non-Asgardians who have been wary of Asgard because of their suffocating military presence for eons, feeling just a tiny bit more at ease because the second prince likes sneaking off-world and exploring other realms and meeting other people all the time.

After the truth about his heritage comes out sometime post-TDW, non-Asgardians living in Asgard (like Hogun for example) feel oddly comforted by the fact that a member of a persecuted race is part of the ruling family.

[akumanoken]

sorry no thought head empty fuck you fuji

[katrani]

Ukogi!!! That's the attendant's name, of course.

This sequence is some more lore to finish settling us in, but Ukogi adds a level of energy to this one that is sorely needed after the tension of the rest of the episode so far. Love "oh! that story that put me to sleep" "Lady are you asleep??!!!!!" it's such a basic bit but it still makes me laugh. As does the "this is war!!!!!!" accompanied with getting all up in her space.

I cut out some stuff about what each land is supposed to have as its focus, but from East and going clockwise it's flowers, fruits, rice, and water. I don't think that really comes into play but noting it just in case.

But if everyone takes pride, just why is Asebi so unprepared? Not even under prepared, straight up not at all. Even if she was a last-minute replacement (since she's a second daughter, though Shiratama throws a lot of that thinking for a loop), surely there was travel time where Ukogi could have filled her in about this?

I think/hope this is the last big lore dump of the episode? It's gonna depend on if the Prince's brother got introduced here or in ep 2.

But I do worry I'm getting close to the photo limit so! I'll do the rest of the episode some other day, thank you everyone for joining me here!