#percy and marguerite my otp

[starshipstories]

*pleading with the void* I'll pay you $5 to talk about The Scarlet Pimpernel with me 😭🙏

[dodger-chan]

The Marquise de Merteuil for the question game. I love that book so much!

One of my favorite characters in all of literature. She is the absolute worst human being and I adore her for it.

I don't actually ship her romantically with anyone. Not in Dangerous Liaisons, or in any crossovers. She doesn't love people that way. Sometimes she'll have a lover like Valmont for whom she feels a vague friendly affection, but a romance would make her unhappy.

My non-romantic otp for her is actually an ot3 and it is a crossover at that. Merteuil and the Blakeneys (Percy and Marguerite) sometime after the first Scarlet Pimpernel novel, when their marriage is on solid footing. Merteuil doesn't mind her old peers being guillotined for entertainment, but she does get so bored and getting them out of Paris is something to do. Marguerite and Percy are clever enough to amuse her, and understand each other enough not to let her come between them (except in bed - it may not be romantic but it is a sexual ot3).

I don't know that enough people have opinions about Merteuil for me to have an unpopular one. Maybe that I don't think she's the worst villain in her story?

I wish canon hadn't given her visible scarring from (probable) syphilis right at the end of the book. It's too much like a moral lesson that sex is morally wrong, rather than that treating people poorly is morally wrong and the social structures that we live within create their own dangers.

My absolutely factual headcanon is that she steals enough of her husband's family's jewels to set herself up nicely in Amsterdam. She gets involved in espionage which gives her an outlet for her cleverness and she's never bored again.

[sesamestreep]

Percy/Marguerite, "thundercloud"

“Thunderclouds on the horizon,” Marguerite says mildly, from her perch in the window seat. She doesn’t know why she says it—Percy can see for himself—she just cannot sit in silence any longer. Their latest escape was narrower than either of them liked, but her husband was not usually one to sulk and his taciturn mood this evening has her worried.

Percy hums in response, more acknowledgement than actual interest, for which she does not blame him. He is reclined on the bed, amusing himself by pulling the gold chain of his necklace taut and making the monocle that dangles from it spin wildly.

Marguerite sighs as she abandons her post by the window in favor of sitting next to him on the bed. “I suppose we shall be forced to spend another night in the most ramshackle inn in France before we can sail home,” she says, gesturing to their dingy surroundings.

Percy looks around as though he’s never seen their room before. “Is it really so bad, my dear?” He asks, some of his normal playfulness returning. “On my life, I never noticed! Your presence has the unfortunate tendency of making even the most insufferable of circumstances enjoyable.”

“Perhaps it is not that bad,” she replies, struggling not to blush or roll her eyes. “We could be stuck at the Fisherman’s Rest instead.”

That makes Percy laugh, at least, and she leans in to kiss him before anything else can trouble their minds.

[luckysheikah]

okay but Percy and Marguerite are so cute they are my OTP now

[aporeticelenchus]

howdy, would you feel up for tearing into either Citizen Chauvelin or Percy Blakeney for the character meme?

Why I like them

Percy’s so much fun! He’s clever, he’s sneaky, he’s full of feelings and sincerity that he tries to stuff under his couch so no one can see them, he loves his friends and his wife so much, and he’s just generally a ridiculous human being and I love him.

Why I don’t

Hey. Hey Percy. Learn to use your words. For communicating, specifically, not for lying. Even before taking. up the Official Secret Identity lifestyle that boy had a lot of trust issue.

Favorite episode (scene if movie) / Favorite season/movie / Favoriteline

I’ve still only read the first book – I picked up the second one awhile back and then…forgot about it until...right now. Favorite scene…it’s been long enough since my last reread that the scenes are a bit blurred together.

I can give you a favorite adaptation without hesitation though, which is the 1934 Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon movie. It’s one of my favorite movies!

Favorite outfit

All of Percy’s outfits are good; that is his THING.

Special mention:

OTP

Percy and Marguerite are a genuine OTP, ride or die, I love them a lot.

Brotp

Percy’s whole gang is fun, but I especially enjoy Percy and Armand. Especially especially if they team up with Marguerite.

Head Canon / Unpopular opinion

I don’t really know what the popular opinions are? Ok, here’s one against some adaptations I suppose: being the center of attention makes Percy uncomfortable. That’s not to say he doesn’t also get some enjoyment out of it, and he’s fully a drama queen, but he also has imposter syndrome coming out the ears and a lot of secrets to hide. People being focused on him can be useful, but it triggers his Danger Senses.

A wish / An oh-god-please-don’t-ever-happen

I mean, I’ve read the book, I know what happens…I hope Percy and Marguerite actually manage to stay together and madly in love without dying horribly? I don’t think this is a Three Musketeers situation where everything becomes horrible and tragic in the less famous sequels…….

5 words to best describe them

That Demned Elusive Pimpernel, what!

My nickname for them

He already has like two canon nicknames, I think he’s good.

[margridarnauds]

6, 12, 23, and 45 please!

Thank you!

6. List your OTP from each fandom you’ve been involved in.

So, I have no idea what we’re talking about as far as levels of involvement, but here are the ones I read fanfic RELIGIOUSLY for back in the day. So, behold my shame. 

Cats (oh, my sweet, innocent 12 year old self) - Mistoffelees/Victoria. 

Phantom of the Opera - Raoul/Christine/Erik, tbh. I started off E/C, then shifted to R/C when I realized E was a trashfire, then went to R/C/E when I realized that I loved garbage after all. 

Van Helsing - Anna/Dracula. Which is impressive given I’ve never. Actually. Watched it. Sue me. 

Carmilla - Carmilla/Laura.

The Pirate Queen - Graínne/Donal, one of the first fics I ever wrote. (And then never published.) Yes, he is a garbage fire in the musical, but in my very specific rewrite of it, he wasn’t. Though these days, I kind of lean towards Tiernan/Donal or Tiernan/Gráinne/Donal. Garbage pirate OT3 is garbage. 

Dracula - The Countess (from Makt Myrkanna)/Lucy Westenra. The first explicit femslash I ever wrote, and it might very well never see the light of day because I do not forever want to be known as The One With The Blood And The Lesbians. Though, who knows? It might cleanse me of Printing Press. 

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (Yes. Really.): Twilight/Princess Luna. I keep telling myself that my AO3 profile’s eventually going to be nothing but period dramas, my (1) Terra Nova fic, and…a My Little Pony fic, along with various Barbie Movie fics. For old time’s sake. 

Terra Nova - Wash/Mira, due to @janetcarter‘s influence. 

The Flash - Barrison. Specifically, Eobard/Barry. In many ways, it was my prep for 1789 with the whole “I murdered your parent” thing.  

The Avengers - Loki/Tony Stark.  

Les Miserables - Valjean/Javert 

The Golden Compass - Mrs. Coulter/Lord Asriel 

Arthuriana - Galahad/Mordred

Star Wars - Reylo or Finnlo. I don’t particularly have a preference, just let Kylo screw one of his various archnemeses straight to the side of the Light.

Star Wars: Rebels - Kallus/Zeb. Oh. Another enemies to lovers ship. Who would have guessed? 

1789 - Peyrol/Ronan (Was there any doubt? If there was, I need to write more.) 

Revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre - Madame Roland/Marie-Anne. In progress, but A Ship for me. Mainly because I’m a contrarian little shit who writes things when people tell me I can’t and then gets attached to the result.

Brennus, Enemy of Rome - Ahmet/Nissia. Which…I still need to. Write. My fanfic for that one. So that fanfic for it exists.  

Lord of the Rings - Boromir/Aragorn

Friedrich: Mythos und Tragödie - Countess Orzelska/Wilhelmine and Fritz/Katte. Pretty much equally, though Orzelskine (?) Wilhelska (?) is starting to edge out Fratte. 

La Legende du Roi Arthur - Leia/Guinevere in the French and Morgane/Guin in the Takarazuka. 

Irish Mythology - Bres/Sreng. I will defend this one to the death and I will do it with citations and footnotes. 

Scarecrow of Romney Marsh - General Pugh/Dr Syn. Yet another one I. Need to write the fic for. 

Star Trek: …….. 

………You know, my favorite thing about Star Trek is that, regardless of shipping preferences, we can all find something to enjoy. Kor/Kirk. While I can’t speak for DS9 Quark/Brunt, my current favorite from Discovery has to be Michael/Tilly, which might very well be the single most wholesome thing I’ve shipped in a very long time. 

Ace Attorney: Phoenix/Edgeworth. 

12. Who is your current OT3?

Chauvelin/Percy/Marguerite from The Scarlet Pimpernel. I do not accept constructive criticism on this one. Because Percy/Marguerite are sickeningly sweet on their own, Marguerite/Chauvelin has That Sexual Tension in Where’s the Girl and The Riddle, and Percy/Chauvelin fulfill all my requirements as far as enemies to lovers ships are concerned.

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

I’ve talked a lot about Forgiveness being one of the very few things I’ve written that I’ve ever liked and the ONE thing that I feel…gets my idea of how L/R WORK together and probably shows off my style best, along with Fowl Play (WHICH HAS FANART NOW. WHICH I’M STILL NOT OVER BECAUSE MY BABY HAS FANART.) So, instead, I’m going to shift to Pour la Peine, which…is my messy, messy child in many regards, not the least because it’s so much longer + still isn’t finished. 

(Warning for various and assorted personal, squishy feelings, as well as cancer mentions)

When I first got the prompt from @fallenidol-453, it was January of 2018. Two months before, I’d received the news that my uncle had Stage Four Esophageal Cancer and my mother had moved from our house to his house to care for him, leaving me without her help for the first time in my life, which I deliberately kept as low-key about on here as I could be, given that, to be honest, dealing with the endless “I’m so sorry to hear that”s gets very exhausting after awhile and I was a college student with a schedule to keep. And he and I had a very…contentious relationship, despite the two of us being alike in many ways. Possibly because we were alike in many ways. And, by May of that year, he was dead. And I would learn shortly afterwards that my paternal grandfather had died in January, but no one on my father’s side had bothered to tell me. I spent a lot of time trying to deal with the stress of that time, juggling that with my schoolwork and my fanfic, which I tried to work on from the time I received the prompt onwards. (Tbh, I’d had the opening scene in my mind for awhile before, but I hadn’t had a larger plot + ending until the prompt.)

At first, I thought that I would publish it like I’d later publish Forgiveness, in one straight chapter, but as time went on and on and there became less and less of a shot of having it done any time soon, I ended up just publishing the first chapter and deciding to update it from there. And that chapter got a lot of ribbing from friends. “Her brother is dead” really came off as a very melodramatic first line, but I also decided, very early on, that I didn’t care about what the objective quality of it was; all I cared about was creating a snapshot of a time in my life, just like when I go through the stuff that I made when I was twelve and I laugh about the various and assorted OCs and questionable phrases but love them all the same because they’re my twelve year old self’s. And, where I was at that point in my life, writing Solène mourning a family member who she had a difficult relationship with while I mourned a family member who I had a difficult relationship with, it was the only line that felt right to me.  

There’s a lot of things with this one that I’m still not sure about. There’s a plot twist that I’ve tried to be quiet about for all this time (that I’ve probably been really terrible about keeping, tbh) and that is either going to be the Jumping the Shark moment or the defining moment of it, and I’m obviously not sure how that’s going to be received though I want to believe I’ve foreshadowed it enough to not make it too much of a swerve, I’m not sure how I feel about the ending, there’s a lot there that’s murky and probably more reflective of my writing a year ago than not, and I’m not sure about how I’ve handled the character dynamics given what we’ve got in canon or the dynamic I’ve put them into, or whether the choices they’ll make reflect THEM or what I WANTED them to do. Hell, with a few things, I’m not sure how I’m even going to GET to the ending. 

But, I’m really proud of how much I’ve had the chance to work with Solène and Olympe, I’m really happy with a lot of the work I put into sequences like the two chapters long March to Versailles, which involved looking into a LOT of personal accounts as well as secondary sources analyzing it, and I liked trying to flesh out Solène’s world. But, more importantly, of everything I’ve written, it and Le Cri are probably the most directly personal to me, and even though a part of me still says Her brother is dead is a hell of a melodramatic opening line, it fulfilled its purpose. And, tbh, sometimes that’s all a fic needs. 

45. What is your all time favourite fanfic? 

This is so hard for me, because there are so many fics that have left a huge impression on me throughout the various fandoms I’ve been in. In 1789 alone, I was thinking of at least two different fics at a given point, which is both fantastic and minorly stressful given how small this fandom is (one of which, incidentally, was Little Dove Heart, since that really gave me a huge push as far as Laz and his backstory and his characterization and his relationship to Artois, even if I tend to keep the latter more in the background). And there have been so many fics I’ve read that I’ll remember and go back to periodically, and that really helped me as far as looking at how character voices could be developed and how description would work and how to work a time period and a setting into a story. 

Overall though, I think I’m going to have to give it to Vae Victis, which is a work by @sineala‘s. I’ve never been quiet about my undying love for the Gauls and for Brennus in particular. Brennus is one of my historical favs, and I felt like this fic did a really, really fantastic job of bringing that much-neglected period of time to life and developing the characters on their own, without me having any background in the source material. With fanfic, especially with a more active fandom, there’s kind of an expectation that everyone knows the characters involved, so to be able to work in a different time and to get the reader fully invested in the characters and their relationship in their own right is a really fantastic accomplishment, and to be able to show the Gauls and Brennus (in what little time he gets, because my boi’s not the focus and I accept that) as three dimensional figures rather than a rampaging horde is always much appreciated. And it has a WORKS CITED page at the end, AKA the eternal key to my heart. 

[malkaleh]

Three Ships: Elizabeth/Will/James, Aleesha/James/Matt (so @bibliothekara will know this one) and Percy/Marguerite/Andrew/Suzanne. 

First Ship: I was looking and the earliest fic I can find posted is one I posted on my LJ in 2004 and it is a Rolande/Delaney from the Kushiel series angst fic of angst - I imagine I wrote a lot of fic (probably even a lot of ship fic) in my head prior to this (and maybe even posted it to a forum or ff.net somewhere but I went on a ff.net deleting spree at some point so I don’t have it) but I wrote a lot of angsty gen/hurt comfort in my early life tbh. My first big ship was actually probably something (sadly) to do with Harry Potter. I think my first actual OTPs were Faramir/Eowyn and Arthur/Gwen/Lancelot which…tracks. 

Last Song: Locking Up The Sun (Poets of the Fall)

Last Film: The last movie I saw in the cinema was I’m pretty sure the Miss Fisher Movie which was Not Good. It was entertaining but it was Not Good At All. I usually just did a LOTR/Star Wars/MCU movie thing because I have a December birthday and going to the fancy dine in theatre is a nice birthday treat but yes. 

Currently Reading: Still reading Six Of Crows because the crows are my favourite part of Shadow & Bone - I’m about 218 pages in but I put it down and haven’t picked it up for a while - I’m enjoying it but I think I like the TV show better. 

Currently Watching: Right now my background noise (this is always pretty true tbh) is a historical documentary. I do plan to watch the rest of the following though - Shadow & Bone S1, Babysitters Club S2 and The Wheel of Time S1. But then there’s a Whole List (I do also have the Doctor Who New Years special to watch but I actually don’t want Jodie’s run as 13 to end so I haven’t watched it)

Currently Consuming: Having a glass of water but considering tea. 

[walkingshcdow-a]

8, 12, 23?

Pretend Munday | Accepting!

8. what is each of your muses otps? notps?

I feel called out af. OK. I’ll be honest because you catch more flies with the truth than with- ANYWAY.

Erik 

We’ll get Erik out of the way FIRST because he is probably my most controversial and high-interest muse for people where shipping is concerned. I don’t ship Erik much, or rather, I don’t ship him with other RPers much because his OTPs are:

Pharoga (Erik/Nadir)

Erik/Luciana

That’s it. My Erik is Kay-based and I saw these two relationships in the Kay novel as having the possibility to bloom into love. I write Nadir, so very often, I will write Erik and Nadir in a relationship with one another. I loved the idea of Pharoga when I read Leroux in 2005; when I read Kay shortly after, it was cemented in my brain that Nadir and Erik were in love. I can cite plenty of canonical evidence from the book, but  even if I’m not citing evidence, this is THAT SHIP for me. The one that I will ship no matter what. Susan Kay could show up at my door RIGHT NOW and tell me “No, Erik and Nadir were two straight men who did not have romantic feelings for each other” and I would just link her to my AO3 page and tell her this was the new canon. Gaston Leroux could show up from the grave and tell me that Pharoga was never a thing and should never be a thing and I’d cross his ass back over to the spirit realm and go about my day, shipping Pharoga. Erik/Luciana is my dark horse, guilty-pleasure ship. I’ve written it (with great success!) with @thefavoritedaughter. It requires a lot of character growth, but it is worth it. I think people tend to forget that Erik and Luciana were children when they knew each other and hold Luciana to the standards they would hold an adult woman. They were kids. Teenagers. I work with teenagers. Let me tell you something: they are irrational critters. Emotional, developing... I just wish these two had gotten a fairer shot and that the Phandom didn’t out-and-out hate Luciana for responding in the realistic and immature fashion she did when seeing Erik’s face for the first time.

I don’t have any other romantic ships for Erik that I’m particularly interested in. I’ve done Erik/Meg in the past, but I don’t think I will again because the more I’ve thought on it, the version of Meg that Erik would be compatible with could not be Christine’s best friend and that undermines a female friendship to make a problematic ship work and that’s.... gross. I don’t want to get into it again. Likewise, I don’t have any OCs I ship Erik with. I’m not looking to ship him with OCs or other canon characters (within PotO or outside of it) because I’ve had people literally make muses to try to ship with my Erik and I’m just so done. I’ve been playing him since 2005-ish. I am Tired.

Of course, those aren’t even my NOTPs. My NOTPs  are:

Erik/Christine

Erik/Raoul

I’ll start with Erik/Christine. For starts, you read that right. I did say “NOTP”. As in I don’t ship them, have never shipped them, and will never ship them. I think they have a fascinating dynamic, but it is not a relationship between equals. It is not a respectful, healthy, loving relationship. It does not have the potential to be, due to Erik’s abusive, manipulative, and violent actions against Christine. People who believe she was the only one who “saw” or “understood” Erik are ignoring the very meaningful relationships he had - in Kay, anyways - with Giovanni, Nadir Khan, and Charles Garnier. (Look at that! Erik has healthy parent/child, best friendship/possible romance, and definite best buddy work partnerships in Kay canon!) He was seen - at least in Kay - and loved for what and who he was. But even in looking at non-Kay versions, even if Christine is the first soul to show him compassion, much less understanding, it doesn’t erase his behavior; it doesn’t justify his behavior. And compassion and romantic love are not the same things. So, while Erik and Christine have an intense and fascinating dynamic, I do not find it romantic, I do not wish to write it. I don’t even want to read it. I generally pretend the counterpoint in Kay didn’t happen. “Hey, remember when Susan Kay stayed in her lane and left off right before Leroux’s novel began?”  (Ok, actually, I acknowledge the counterpoint when I’m talking OOC; my IC representation of Erik does not stick to his canon emotions or all of his canon actions. I tend to defer to Leroux or Webber, depending on what’s at hand.)

I also don’t ship Erik/Raoul and I didn’t think I had to tell people it was a NOTP until like... a week ago when one of my friends reminded me people genuinely ship it. 

Okay. That’s Erik done. Next up, we’ll talk Nadir Khan. OTPs include:

Erik/Nadir

Nadir/Rookheeya

I explained Pharoga. Rookheeya is Nadir’s deceased wife in canon. I love her. I also would be so willing to OT3 Erik/Nadir/Rookheeya, except where Nadir is with both of them and Erik and Rookheeya have a respectful friendship that does not include romance or sex. Idk. That’s just an idea. 

NOTPs include

Nadir/Darius

This is my only (current) hard “no”. And that’s because my NPC Darius is Nadir’s illegitimate half-brother. I also refuse to ship Nadir with @exitiumparit‘s Christine BECAUSE THAT IS HIS DAUGHTER. IDK how I feel about other Christines on this matter - I’ve never really thought about it. I just wanted to tag Haley in a post where I complain about E/C (see previous). Now I’m trying to imagine what I’d do if a Christine approached me and I feel lost. Why did I do this? 

Meg Giry

OTPs

None, but I think Meg/Christine is super cute and I NEED IT. 

NOTPs

None, but I’m not about to do Erik/Meg any time soon

Sorelli

OTPs

Sorelli/Philippe (even though I know they can’t be endgame)

I also want to shout-out at @fantomexnoir for that one time we planned Erik/Sorelli and it was bad ass. 

NOTPs

None

More general NOTP thoughts on all my muses - I don’t ship with minors (I don’t write with minors, but I also don’t ship adult muses with underage muses), I don’t ship incest. 

Mor general OTP thoughts on all of my muses - all of my muses are queer, most of them could be persuaded to be in a polyship. I love shipping, but I don’t live for it. 

12. what is something everyone should know about your muses before interacting?

I’m Kay-based is a good starting point. 

Read each of my muses’ notes pages - at the bottom of their bios, there’ll be a link that says “notes” - for more specific things. 

This blog is smut-free, but there are still a lot of really adult themes, so let me know if you need something tagged or avoided in RP. 

23. which muses’ fandom do you like the best?

All my muses over here are PotO... sooooo probably my Frankenstein fandom. XD

Seriously though, I just love the classic lit fandom (or, rather, the loose archipelago of classic lit and classic lit inspired bloggers) that I’ve befriended. Whether it’s my Salt Squad, Frankenfriends, the Percy to my Marguerite, or the numerous amazing OC friends I’ve made.... Thank you for welcoming me and my small army into your hearts.

[margueritestjust-a]

26, 27, 36-38

Mun-Directed Questions | Not Accepting!

26. What’s a ship you really like rping?

Are you trolling me or have you seriously not noticed my devotion to Marguerite/Percy? I love them so much, I’ll write as both of them if and when I need to. But I particularly love writing Marguerite/Percy with @sinkxme​ because her Percy is SO WELL DEVELOPED and we play off each other well. I’ve known Walden for…. Three years? Four? Forgive me, there’s a reason I’m not a mathematician. But we’ve known each other and have been writing together for several years and we have an amazing OOC friendship and partnership and our characters have the chemistry that I think God Or Something Like It intended Percy and Marguerite to have in the book. Like, I genuinely believe we should invent a time machine, go back to the late Victorian/early Edwardian period and publish our own version of “The Scarlet Pimpernel” before Orczy gets the chance. Like, our characters match wits better and match temperaments better, and have stronger, more compelling reasons for their actions without excusing their bad behavior (Here’s lookin’ at you, Margot.) We just have a really good time and do a really good job and it’s such a great feeling.

Right now, Marguerite/Percy is the only ship I RP here. Would I be interested in others? Possibly, but I’m in No Rush.

27. What’s a ship you would never rp? For what reason?

Um? Marguerite/Armand? I honestly don’t know. I didn’t even think that was a viable ship of any sort until a scholarly article talked about Marguerite misplacing her love for Percy onto Armand and like now I have this Irrational Fear that an Armand RPer will show up and that will be their OTP. 

It’s totally irrational. Like. Walden and I are the entire fandom. Doesn’t stop the nightmares.

36. Do you ever read rp threads you aren’t involved in? What type of thread does it usually have to be to interest you?

I do! Honestly, I don’t know what criteria the thread needs to have, other than a character or - better yet - characters that I am emotionally invested in, whether because I love their canons or I love their muns. 

I don’t usually follow a whole thread through, though. Mostly because I work full time and am reading threads at 1 AM on my phone. But I do like to check up on my partners, especially when I’m out of commission, make sure they’re still doing well and having fun writing.

37. If you do read threads you aren’t in, do you usually let the other authors know, or keep it under your hat?

Sometimes I tell them - but not always. In fact, normally I don’t say anything unless they start telling me about a thread that I’ve read. Oops?

38. Has a roleplayer ever changed your view on a character? If so, how? Good or bad? For better or for worse?

I have been blanking on this question for days and to tell the truth - most of my partners who play canon characters have changed my views of their characters. Usually for the better... I actually can’t think of a negative change in opinion... probably a testament to my RP partners’ skills. 

[avaantares]

I was tagged by @zjtimekeeper. I think I actually may have done this one before...? But oh, well, I guess I’ll do it again. :)

Rules: Tag 9 people you want to get to know better

Relationship status: Hey, my Doberman is adorable! She has her own blog.

Lipstick or chapstick: I prefer the term “lip balm.” Never leave home without one! Though I can rock a 1940s candy apple red lip when necessary.

Last Movie I Watched: Horatio Hornblower: The Duel, because Ioan Gruffudd was in it and I’m apparently working through his entire filmography right now.

Last song you listened to: I don’t know. Whatever snippet the Pop Remix channel played during the two minutes I was in the car? It wasn’t a song I knew.

Top 3 shows: Remember WENN is my all-time fave. It’s smart, funny, has wonderfully three-dimensional characters, and is dripping with 1940s flair. Second and third place... Er, I’m not sure I can narrow it down to two others. Jeeves and Wooster is another great period comedy. I’m also really into Doctor Who and Torchwood, though I’m very selective about which seasons/episodes, and I’m the first to admit their flaws. And I love stylish procedurals (White Collar, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries). Give me a gorgeously-dressed detective or sassy criminal genius any day.

I actually watch very little television, and for many years didn’t even have television at home, which is why my favorite shows are all from the ‘90s or available from on-demand services like Netflix. But I am going to reiterate @zjtimekeeper‘s recommendation for The Last Tycoon, because Matt Bomer + 1930s = probably-illegal levels of gorgeousness. I can’t call it a favorite after only one episode, but I’d love to see more of it produced!

Top 3 characters: I’m sorry, there seemed to be a typo in that question. Here are my top five characters:

Simon Templar (The Saint series by Leslie Charteris)

Peter Blood (Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini)

Sir Percy Blakeney (The Scarlet Pimpernel series by Baroness Orczy)

Lucrezia Noin (Gundam W)

Ianto Jones (Torchwood)

Top 3 ships: I’m not much of a shipper, and I don’t tend to ship any pairings that aren’t canon. I do support a lot of canon relationships (Percy & Marguerite, Simon & Pat, etc.) without discussing or producing fan works for them, but I don’t know if that counts as “shipping” for the purposes of this questionnaire.

But here are the handful of ships I’ve actually written fanfic for (though I won’t tell you in what decade some of those fics were written, because I have some dignity. Okay, not much, but still):

Betty Roberts/Victor Comstock (Remember WENN) - Baby’s first OTP. Aww, I was adorable. (Shut up, I was only 16 when I wrote that fic.)

Lucrezia Noin/Zechs Merquise (Gundam W) - The series is mediocre at best, but I will go down with this ship like Dido. There’s something about these two walking cliches that I just love. Maybe it’s the hair.

Ianto Jones/Jack Harkness (Torchwood) - I admire Ianto Jones, and this relationship is important to Ianto; therefore I recognize and uphold the relationship for Ianto’s sake even though Jack is kind of a jerk sometimes (especially in the first half of the series) and probably doesn’t deserve him (at least until he cleans up his act in Series 2), but it would hurt Ianto’s feelings if I actually came out and said that, so I’ll put it in strikethrough here so he won’t see it when he reads this later. Because Ianto is totally still alive and trolling the internet for Torchwood references in case he needs to Retcon anyone for knowing too much about Cardiff’s worst-kept secret organization. *cough* Sorry, that got away from me a bit...

I don’t want to re-spam anyone I tagged on the last one, so, uh... tagging @trashmel, @iant0jones, @primeval-goddess, and anyone else who wants to do this. (That’s not nine, but a bunch of my crew have already been tagged!)

[itspileofgoodthings]

30, 34, 35, 36 :) for bookish asks.

30: Who’s your favorite author?

Ugh it’s so hard to narrow it down to one! So here are my four favorite. Jane Austen, P.G. Wodehouse, Elizabeth Goudge, G.K. Chesterton. If I had to choose one, it would be Jane. 

34: List five OTPs

I’m going to go strictly literary here. David and Sally (Eliot Family Trilogy), Jane and Rochester (Jane Eyre), Percy and Marguerite (Scarlet Pimpernel), Anne and Gilbert (Anne of Green Gables), Jo and Laurie (Little Women).

35: Name a book you consider to be terribly underrated

Pilgrim’s Inn by Elizabeth Goudge. As beautiful and important and necessary as it is charming and funny and lovable and readable. I love all of her books but there is something so special about this one and it is just SO GOOD. Everyone should read it at christmas time. 

36: Name a book you consider to be terribly overrated

I know i have so many opinions about this but I can’t remember. K this is purely subjective and I’m sure objectively I’m wrong, but Moby Dick. I couldn’t read it. 

Thank you for playing!!

[margueritestjust-a]

1) What makes you the most emotional about your muse? 2) What made you decide to write this muse? 3) If you could change one event in your muse’s life (in their main or canon verse), what would you change? 4) If you could tell your muse one thing, what would you tell them?

Munday Meme | Accepting!

1) What makes you the most emotional about your muse?

Honestly? I am a Wreck over her relationship with her husband, Percy. They just... love each other so much?? God, I don’t know the last time I picked up a book and went “OTP” after the first interaction. Like, even the other books I’ve been reading that I have OTPs for took me a little bit to get to the “be still my heart” phase. It’s surreal. 

I also get really emotion about how much she and her brother, Armand, love each other. I am a sucker for healthy, supportive sibling relationships.

2) What made you decide to write this muse?

I was talking to @sinkxme the other night and I said something like: I love characters for what they are, but I write characters for what they could be. I feel like Orczy does a great injustice to Marguerite - there is so much untapped potential in her character! She’s meant to be “the cleverest woman in Europe” and then, we don’t get to see it often. And when we do, it’s almost like... implied badassery? I feel like the whole novel is written that way. We don’t get to see Marguerite or Percy’s most epic moments of heroism. I’d really like to explore that. I also think that the way she handled the misunderstanding between the Blakeneys could have been done in a way that was fairer to both characters... Orczy essentially says “Percy loved Marguerite but Marguerite didn’t totally love him BUT SHE RELIED ON HIS LOVE FOR HER TO CLEAR UP MISUNDERSTANDINGS” and. I’m sorry. That makes no sense? And is contrary to how the characters interact with one another? I honestly feel like Marguerite didn’t entrust Percy with her secrets, not because she was relying on him to fill in the gaps, but because she was overcome with emotion and couldn’t handle communicating them to him. I also believe she loved/loves him as much as he did/does her. Their relationship makes no sense otherwise. The 1982 film does some work to repair this, but... not saying I can do better but...

I can do better. I will.

I love the book. I recommend it, especially to my classic lit peeps out there. But I will fight the Baroness Orczy in the pit over her characterization of Marguerite St. Just. 

You can argue that Orczy is setting Marguerite up as an unreliable narrator - maybe even an unlikable narrator - but her characterization of Marguerite is so inconsistent  and frustrating to me. I want to show that you can have an unreliable narrator or a character who makes bad choices, but that you can still like them. Especially with a female character because all too often, the unreliable narrator or flawed hero is a man and a woman is faulted for the same things by audiences. And that’s unacceptable to my mind. 

3) If you could change one event in your muse’s life (in their main or canon verse), what would you change?

MARGUERITE SHOULD HAVE STAYED FOR THE GARDEN SCENE. OR AT LEAST SEEN PERCY UTTERLY REPENTANT AND DEBASED FOR LOVE OF HER. JFC WHY DID SHE HAVE TO GO INSIDE??? 

OR MAYBE SHE SHOULD HAVE TOLD PERCY THE TRUTH AT THE OUTSET. 

It wouldn’t “ruin” the novel. We’d just have a different novel about a husband and wife spy duo. Like, bruh. This is a huge improvement in my eyes.

4) If you could tell your muse one thing, what would you tell them?

SWALLOW YOUR PRIDE AND TALK THINGS OUT WITH YOUR HUSBAND. HE CAN’T READ YOUR MIND.