#post 7KPP week ask meme

[faejilly]

Tangential Tuesday

Or something like that.

Inspired by @alexanderlightweight's "Writing Wednesday" and my magpie brain being even more dysfunctional than usual of late, I am opening up my askbox for requests! With the usual caveat that whatever I come up with may bear very little resemblance to whatever you thought you had in mind ;)

I am accepting:

Writing Prompts! (You may cruise my #prompt requests tag for ideas if you'd like, just be sure to tell me which meme if applicable.) If you're a relatively recent follower/lurker my writing tag is #jilly writes and my ao3 is here.

Omegaverse Prompts for @knotinmyname's Anti-AI event June 12-16

Lore/worldbuilding questions/headcanons

Podfic requests (Fic under 2.5k words only please, as I am too rusty to figure out multiple chapters at this point.) My fic or anyone else's is fair game; if the author doesn't have a blanket permission statement I'll ask them discreetly before I record anything, and if I can't get permission I'll let you know.

Primary Fandoms:

Shadowhunters (TV): I tend to write Malec, and I probably won't write either Alec or Magnus with someone else, but I enjoy the entire extended cast so feel free to go wild.

BioWare: Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Jade Empire

I have however written the occasional meta & fic or podficced everything from Heyer Regency Novels to Stranger Things to Firefly/Serenity to Ladyhawke to Code Realize to Choice of Romance to SDV to 7kpp... so if you've got an idea for something else, feel free to ask! Especially if you've ever seen my reblog it. If I can't come up with anything I'll let you know.

And I'll try and make a slightly more coherent post next week, but if I wait for that I'll never start :D

[wellindad]

15 for Evadne!

 15. Friends - childhood.

Okay, so a little backstory here: Evadne’s whole build came into being because I was high on my “start with 75 Manipulation, steamroll the summit” approach to 7KPP, but I also wanted skills/knowledge that would be relevant to pursuing Lyon? So obviously she needed to have Street Smarts, given the week one secret scene with our boy and Falon. And since the Street Smarts text during CC specifies that “[y]ou spent time on the streets learning to survive with your wits” it’s spiraled into a whole thing where Eva was part of a Dickensian street gang during her youth.

Because this was during one of the Lowest Points for the Updegraves, okay, they were struggling financially (per the norm) but none of Papa’s schemes were panning out and Mama had even stopped responding to letters from the debt collectors, rather than trying to sweet talk them with promises of being paid off soon like she normally did. And there were six (out of the eventual nine) children to think of including Eva, and she couldn’t exactly go out and get a job, she was only ten and the industrial revolution has yet to hit the Seven Kingdoms and besides her parents would’ve objected since we’re nobility, Evadne, that means something, you know so. When she saw a boy pocket a pie at Market Day, it was a lightbulb moment of “this is how I’m gonna make sure we can Eat until Mama and Papa Get Their Shit Together.”

The gang was really more of a gang in name only, like, it wasn’t a huge operation. And kids came and went over the years, Evadne included, since she stole on and off from the time she was ten to when she turned fifteen and things had kind of stabilized at home, but there were two kids she did become pretty close to in that time. There was Ilari, the boy she initially saw stealing, who was pretty alarmed/mistrustful when she followed him but eventually warmed up to her when he realized she wasn’t going to turn him in. His family had also fallen on hard times, though that was because his dad had just died (as opposed to being Horrible At Business Deals unlike some fathers), so he related to Eva’s need to do something to help her family until things got better. After a few years, Ilari and his family moved to the Revairan capitol to live with his uncle, who’d recently been employed as a servant within the royal household and thus could support his sister and her children. By the time Evadne made it to court several years later, however, Ilari had enlisted within the military, so she hasn’t really seen her friend since.

Ilari and Evadne both learned the finer arts of pickpocketing from Laudine, an older girl at twelve who’d been an orphan for most of her life. She mainly enjoyed the company the other kids provided, and chose to ignore the fact that they had families to go home to at the end of the day. Eventually, she managed to save enough money to start an apprenticeship within the local seamstress’s guild; Evadne insisted on commissioning Laudine to make her wedding gown, when it came time for her to marry the Baron.

For what it’s worth, Evadne and her friends mainly stole food, apart from a few exceptions when things were Real Bad and she swiped something of real value and could trade it in at the pawn shop (the pawnbroker, having been disgraced during the Coup decades back, could be trusted for her discretion). She did keep a record of everything she stole, however, and once she married the Baron she was able to anonymously pay the merchants (or their successors) back in full. Plus interest, since that 75 Intelligence has to come into play somewhere, right?

[teaandinanity]

quilleth replied to your post: I clearly need to hunt up more tutorials on...

I am having a dark Kermit meme moment with my tablet. My brain is like “use the tablet” when logically i know that would mean this picture will definitely not be done on time

Well, I mean... 7KPP week STARTS now... but you have 24 hours before the first day is over... >.>

(I am an evil enabler and The Actual Worst person to ask for art advice by which I mean I’ll be sitting next to Dark Kermit going, ‘what he said, yeah, that sounds good!’)

[leahazel]

First lines meme!

Writing meme via @faejilly​! It’s been a million years since I worked on anything but BFS. Most of the non-BFS I’m working on now is for exchanges, and therefore top secret.

Rules: Post the (title) and “first line” of all the files in your WIP  folder. Let people send you an ask with the # that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it!

1. (The Veiled Lady of Hise)

She knew Hamin would be waiting for her when she disembarked, and that knowledge alone was enough to make the last day of her voyage more interminably long than the three weeks that preceded it. 

2. (Liquid Courage)

When the smoke had cleared, Verity went up to the battlements to draw. 

3. (The Shepherdess in Green)

On the night of the masquerade ball, Verity was wearing her great, frothy green confection of a dress, and leaning most reluctantly on her husband's arm. 

4. (The Island at the Center of the Lake)

Traveling in a carriage with all the windows shuttered was unpleasant enough, stifling and hot, with no air to breathe, and the jolt and jostle of every pebble in the road shuddering through the axle and right through her bones. 

5. (The Kingfisher Seal)

Dion was baffled to be pulled away from his fencing practice by a grim-faced footman, and even more baffled when the man insisted that there was no time for him to wash or change.

6. (Happy Circumstances)

Other than the lavish ballrooms and extensive gardens, one of the new palace's most attractive features was its many guest bedrooms. 

7. (Yesterday Morning Seems So Long Ago)

Alek had been charged with getting her out of the city immediately, and he took his duties to heart.

8. (Swan Mother)

"She will be around in short order," he had been told, and nothing more, until eventually a passing footman took pity on him and escorted him to an arbor within sight of the palace stables.

9. (Cloudburst)

On the day after their return to Starfall City, Verity climbed the tallest tower in the Old Palace.

10. (Clean Little Secret)

Falling in love with Breden Reaper was a study in disappointment.

11. (Loose Ends)

"I don't know why I'm always in Windhelm during Frostfall," declared Corinne as she strode into the New Gnisis Cornerclub, "but I am.”

12. (Snowfall, chapter 6)

When they'd ended the previous evening and turned in, Allegra had promised Clarmont she would return to the subject of, as she had termed it, the last summer of her childhood.

13. (Cameo)

Whatever trick it was that gave time on Vail Isle its curiously elastic qualify, Allegra found, was as fully in play as ever, as she was nearing the end of her sixth week on the island.

14. (untitled 7KPP/Killjoys crossover)

From the very first there were rumors about the Wellin princess.

15. (A Dance in Seven Steps)

In the first: they met for tea.

16. (Persephone's Handmaiden)

No one expected kuria Hekate to appear at the fourth Harrowing.

17. (Living in the Red)

Allegra was dressing for dinner when Otto came into the room, sitting at her vanity with a brush in one hand and a mouth full of hair pins.

18. (The Lighthouse)

The lighthouse at Wend Harbor was almost two hundred years old when it ceased to be used for its original function, at least a decade before Verity's arrival in Revaire.

19. (Bad Influence)

Ophaesia's capital of Pytensia was a city of riches, luxury, and countless diversions.

20. (”BFS [redacted] scene”, chapter 70-something)

One night, in early Morning Star, Corinne woke in the dead of night to find her bedroom dark as pitch, and a ghost hovering over her bed.

21. (”BFS - Barenziah”, chapter 70-something)

"By the way," said Corinne conversationally, as she reached into the wardrobe to pull out a pair of boots, "when Aicantar was leading me through Calcelmo's lab, I saw a strange magenta gem in a little box.”

22. (other ”BFS [redacted] scene”, chapter Lord-only-knows)

When Thongvor had announced that he was riding to Windhelm, Thonar decided to invite himself along.

...

...

I’m... almost sure that’s all of them. Well. I do have a few multi-chapter works that are officially abandoned and thus not in the WIP folder(s). I included none of those. But there are quite a few stories here that aren’t likely ever to be finished.

I have a problem, yes, but it’s actually under much better control than it used to be.

Except for the fact that between starting this post and finishing it, I started another WIP.

[ellebeebee]

Hey there, so 15, 22, 23 and 24 for 7KPP meme

Under the cut for length~

15. Friends - ChildhoodSabine: Her childhood friendships with other noble children were pretty tenuous, what with her parents’ stations in life going up and down constantly. Occasionally she could rope some village children into playing with her, but they found her to be a bossy little thing. And they tended to be scared off when they learned she was from that huge old castle up the valley. Her closest friendship was with Victoire, a foundling girl that just sort of wandered into this brood of siblings and got adopted in as another sister. Victoire is a few years older than Sabine, and as things changed she became her lady’s servant. She’s extremely reserved (contrasting with Sabine who is not) and I’m actually planning on writing a thing about her soon.

Huan: Huan is so rigid and focused on her martial skills, that kids her age either found her boring or made fun of her. She mostly spent time with her grandmother. But I like to think she’s friends with Jiya? Huan is actually an extremely talented musician, but she can’t really play by sheet music. She is very good at improvisation, so I think Jiya took up the task of attempting to record these beautiful, momentary songs Huan creates to preserve them.

22. Marriage - Revaire - Baron Namaire. So, Sabine married Namaire at seventeen. It was way too young, and she was not really prepared for a life in court. She thought she was, since it had been so easy to charm, you know, farmboys and the blacksmith’s son. Her greatest fault was that she became extremely pretty early on, and thought she could get away with a lot because of it. She was kind of silly, really. And it wasn’t just all silliness, but also she used her face as a weapon? It was the best way to get creditors to give them another month, the best way to get the best price from the last of their sheep.

But underneath her vanity she was determined to be better and to make more of herself, and I think that’s what Namaire saw. They were never in love, but they loved each other in a way. He prepared her for the kind of life she’d have without him there, and she reminded him that not all the problems in the world can be solved with cold logic. I think the best thing he did for her was to let her not be the responsible one. She was free to have parties and be, you know 18-21 years old, without the pressure of a near dozen family members depending on her for their livelihood.

23. Marriage - FutureSabine: She’s looking forward to a life with Zarad. She’s already seen as pretty frivolous and shallow in Revaire, she might as well continue on in that fashion in Corval. She’s the air-headed match to his ridiculous, flirtatious facade. They’ll be that couple that no one takes seriously– to their own detriment, of course. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t trepidatious about the intrigues of the inner court, but she’s never been one to back down from a challenge (even if she fails miserably the first time). And she knows that supporting Zarad will make her happy, no matter how difficult it may get. She also looks forward to taking the trade economy by storm in Corval.

Huan: Huan is definitely, absolutely, completely not looking for marriage at the Summit. She plans on going back to Jiyel to continue her training, as she is far from done. However, if I get around to writing it, she has a surprise in store of her. Hint: it rhymes with Myon.

24. Children - FutureSabine: I already established in my Future post for 7kpp week that there is at least the first child, a boy, and a second one, a daughter. She’s also pregnant in that, so another daughter, I think. There would probably be more, as I think Sabine would love the idea of having a huge family like she grew up in. Maybe seven, lol.

Huan: I have no idea.

Also, my thing for 7 & 8 from @eviemeli has turned into a thing. I’m writing an actual fic, and since I forgot to do WiP Wednesday yesterday, here’s a little bit for now:

-

It began small.

A courtier grumbled casually at the Emperor’s table over imperial taxes, and the courtier’s favorite servant spent three days violently ill. A visiting dignitary found themself mysteriously and increasingly weakened over weeks, finally bedridden, until the Empress generously sent them her own favored apothecary who miraculously cured their illness. A snide grand princess made a remark towards the Emperor’s wife, and at a garden party found herself so overcome with admiration and need for a mere guard, that she quite made a fool of herself. The aftermath of artworks of fine slippered feet sticking akimbo from shrubbery were quite amusing.

Dhorée had not protested to these requests the Empress made of her these past three years. After all, it was merely the nature of her profession. An “apothecary” serving in the Corvali court could hardly claim a weak stomach. No more than a kite could be without wings.

-

Thanks for the asks~~

[faejilly]

Tangential Prompt Requests!

Inspired by @alexanderlightweight's "Writing Wednesday" I am opening up my askbox for requests! With the usual caveat that whatever I come up with may bear very little resemblance to whatever you thought you had in mind.

(Or, as I have previously put it when making things: the voices in my head are smarter than I am, and they do NOT tell me what they're doing, so we all get whatever we get and can be surprised together!)

Feel free to ask about any of my published fic, or request new ones. You may cruise my #prompt requests tag for ideas if you'd like, just be sure to tell me which meme if applicable. If you're a relatively recent follower/lurker my writing tag is #jilly writes and my ao3 is here.

I am accepting:

Writing Prompts!

Questions regarding: lore, worldbuilding, headcanons, OC's etc. (I do have a specific SH meta tag, #my sh rambling, but for all the rest it's just kind of... somewhere? 🍀)

Fanmix/Podfic requests (LMK if you need more clarification on that one.)

Primary Fandoms:

Shadowhunters: I tend to write Malec, and I probably won't write either Alec or Magnus with someone else, but I enjoy the entire extended (TV) cast so feel free to go wild.

BioWare: Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Jade Empire

Secondary Fandoms are too numerous to list and include an eclectic range of books/TV shows/movies/video games. Feel free to ask about anything, especially if you've seen me flail about it here or post something on ao3/spotify. I will enjoy the question, even if don't have an opinion, promise!

If you'd like some suggestions about stuff I'm currently working on?

Highlights From The Unending WIP List of Doom™️

#apples vs oranges (not on AO3 yet) A Malec a/b/o story with Nephilim!wings and weird lore and fantasy politics. (Yeah, I will eventually manage a better blurb for that.)

d.c. al coda: DA2 epilogue(s) (Adelaide Hawke/Sebastian Vael)

they have hung my heart with a sunset reasonably canon compliant Shadowhunters epilogue with Inquisitor Alec Lightwood & High Warlock of Alicante Magnus Bane in Alicante

Floralegia: Weaver Shepard from Mass Effect (original trilogy, f!shenko, earthborn, war hero, paragon, nerd, etc.)

clizzy!AU a very much not canon compliant Shadowhunters epilogue where-in they are all still in NYC and also eventually I will get Clary & Izzy to make out. Hopefully.

Anything 7KPP!

mer!Alec

Sagacious Zu/Spirit Monk (#Icy Yaling) from Jade Empire

I have discovered, these last few weeks, that I am kind of terrible at doing one-shot scenes anymore, even though I used to write them all the time. So I may write several fills and make sure I know how they go together before I start posting. If you're ever curious whether I got your prompt, or what the status is, feel free to ask and I'll check. ❤️

[wellindad]

7, 9, 10, 25!

7. Parents - Corval - mother. 

Really, the way I see the Lady Parastu is pretty faithful to what information exists about the Courtier’s Mom in the game—with the exception that she has two daughters, who attend the same Summit and will eventually require a Canon Overhaul, which is trademark for my girls at this point, let’s face it. So Roshni and Naz’s mom is the very model of a Cunning Corvali Courtier, and has been friends with the Empress since before she even was Empress. And despite the fact that most of Parastu’s life has been decided by “the whims of the Empress”, like her marriage and her children, I think the friendship between the two women is genuine? Like, there’s a consensus that regardless of however many secrets they’re keeping from each other—spoiler: A Lot, It’s Corval—they’re never gonna outright betray each other. So maybe Parastu’s a little more faithful than the Empress is, and the power dynamic is a little skewed, but they’ve known each other for over thirty years. If the relationship didn’t work, they wouldn’t have remained friends this long.

(The Empress calls her “Stu”, which is great. What is also great is the time another lady new to the inner circle tried to call her Stu as well, cue that lady leaving the Imperial City in disgrace within the month.)

The El-Amin girls absolutely adore their mother, which is only heightened by the fact their dad died when Shahnaz was ten/Roshanara was five, and he was never a huge part of their lives up to that point anyway, since they spent most of their time in the inner court. Parastu, in turn, loves her daughters, and put a lot of effort into getting them to break the Corvali stereotype of Not Trusting Your Family Members. A lot of effort, considering the girls were brats to each other for most of their childhoods. So they’re a remarkably close-knit family unit for the inner court, which was a deciding factor for sending both sisters to the Summit to represent Corval, and while Rosh and Naz are good good Moral/Noble/Compassionate girls, there is very little they wouldn’t do for their mom. Nor she for them.

9. Parents - Hise - Blackthorn.

I love Blackthorn so much, okay, I’m an absolute sucker for fictional video game families and the Hisean MC’s personal plot is my favourite of the bunch. Since we don’t get a lot of information on Blackthorn beyond her Current Situation I haven’t deviated too drastically from the text, I don’t think. But so Sadja’s mother, specifically, is Captain Lujayn Blackthorn. Lujayn is Hisean herself, born and bred, and both of her parents were pirates, though their approach to piracy was definitely more bloodthirsty/immoral than their daughter’s (and by extension granddaughter’s). She mostly spent her childhood alternating between her parents’ ships, since both Rachim Stormdancer and Araceli the Sea Wraith refused to give up their captaincies after their marriage. Tragedy struck when Lujayn was about thirteen, as both of her parents died within months of each other: I haven’t specifically decided what caused her dad’s death, but I do know he died first, and then her mom basically ramped up the “terror of the seas” angle in her grief until she was killed in battle.

So that left an impression on Lu, which. Is an understatement, absolutely, but it’s the main reason why she only kills as a last resort, since maybe her parents would have lived longer if they hadn’t approached everything with blades drawn, maybe murder isn’t always the answer, what a Novel Concept. It was also an unconscious influence on her marriage, since even before she met Ozias she’d think about how it would be nice, wouldn’t it, to have someone to come back home to. Whereas if she married a fellow pirate, a fellow captain, then there wouldn’t be anything anchoring her to land.

I’m still fleshing out Lujayn’s backstory, particularly how she survived her teenaged years, and of course The Kidnapping Of Wellindad, but what doesn’t need fleshing out is that Sadja loves her mother so damn much. The current timeline I’m working with is that Lujayn vanished four years ago, so that’s been four years of Sadja struggling with depression and trying to come to terms with her grief, only to come to the Summit and learn her mother lives, Blackthorn Lives, and she would do anything to get Lujayn back. Which is honestly the most canon-compliant aspect of Sadja, how much she loves her mom.

(Daughters Loving The Shit Out Of Their Moms is another theme for me, clearly, but as a daughter who loves the shit out of her own mom, I stand by it.)

10. Parents - Hise - Wellindad.

hey that’s me

My love for Blackthorn is matched only by my love for Wellindad, frankly—again, the Hisean MC’s whole situation? So good. Sadja’s dad/Lujayn’s husband is none other than Ozias Tendaji. Who started out pretty canon compliant, much like his wife, before I had the thought “what if Ozias was a former delegate?” And then Aly mentioned in an ask that he was a younger son who wouldn’t have inherited anything in Wellin, which I then interpreted as “what if Ozias’s family is Important In Wellin, he just had a lot of siblings?”

So now Ozias is the youngest son and the fourth born child of the former Duke of Chanly, Josiah Tendaji, and his wife, the Dowager Duchess Sabine Wiegand. His eldest brother Gideon is the current Duke of Chanly, after their dad died twelve years ago, and his middlest brother Erez is Count of Barzin (which is located within the duchy of Chanly, making Gideon his direct liege lord, if I remember my Crusader Kings II mechanics currectly). One of his sisters, Liora, married a Marquis, and they have a pleasant, childless marriage; the other, Ismene, married a Count, but died unexpectedly nearly twenty years ago, leaving her heartbroken husband to raise their daughter alone.

Since he was their third son, Josiah and Sabine didn’t quite know what to do with Ozias politically until they realized the Seven Year Summit might be a good fit for their soft spoken boy, so he was a member of the Wellish delegation four summits prior to the one his daughter is currently attending. To his disappointment, Ozias didn’t make a match, romantic or otherwise, but he did participate in the negotiations, so overall it was a good experience. So he returned home to Wellin, only to be kidnapped by an upstart pirate a few weeks later.

(He insisted on bringing his dogs with him.)

If Sadja inherited the call of the wind from her mother, she absolutely inherited her enormous heart from her father, since all Ozias wants to do his love his family the best he can. Even after almost thirty years he’s yet to find a True Place in Hise beyond being “Blackthorn’s Husband” but honestly, he wouldn’t want to have any other role? And he can’t imagine going back to Wellin, since this is where he made his life with Lujayn, this is where they raised their daughter, and honestly, I love Wellindad so fucking much, there is a reason he is my url, okay, and it’s because I love him.

And Sadja loves him, too, yes I know this is basically the answer to all of these questions “my girls love their parents, thanks for asking” but it’s the truth

25. Ancestors

OKAY, so you did clarify you wanted to hear about House Tendaji, and I did already cover the Current Family Situation when I was talking about Ozias, and honestly? I haven’t fleshed out much about the family beyond that, like. They’ve been in Wellin since before the fall of the Revairan Empire, although they haven’t been nobility that long. And they weren’t always known as the Tendajis, either—it’s sort of like the Plantagenets, where that’s what we refer to them as now, but it wasn’t until the house was in its death throes that anyone ever used the surname? House Tendaji is thriving, though, they’re doing good in the present day.

Anyway, I do know that they’re called the Tendajis now because Tendaji was the name of the ancestor who first ascended to the Wellish nobility, which (without a more detailed timeline) was definitely after the Revairan Empire fell/before Katiya came up with the Summit. And I’ll honestly probably hold off on figuring out an Exact Instant for Tendaji to have gained his title until after Kingmaker comes out so that’ll be about five more years lmao whoops but an idea I am toying with is that perhaps he was rewarded after fighting against the Revairans, since I recently discovered the Countess-specific text during Jarrod’s date where she talks about how Wellin and Revaire have always had a terse relationship.

And…that’s about all I have for ancestors, whoops, sorry your family tree is full of placeholders, Sadja and Matilda.

[leahazel]

Post-7KPP Week Ask Meme

Since I did one last time.

1. Siblings - Arland - Constance. 2. Siblings - Arland - Crown Prince. 3. Siblings - Jiyel - free for all. 4. Siblings - Revaire - any/all. 5. Siblings - other - A/U. 6. Parents - Arland. 7. Parents - Corval - mother. 8. Parents - Corval - father. 9. Parents - Hise - Blackthorn. 10. Parents - Hise - Wellindad. 11. Parents - Jiyel. 12. Parents - Revaire. 13. Parents - Wellin - father. 14. Parents - Wellin - mother. 15. Friends - childhood. 16. Friends - current. 17. Love - past. 18. Love - current. 19. Rivalry - past. 20. Rivalry - current. 21. Rivalry - future. 22. Marriage - Revaire - Baron Namaire. 23. Marriage - future. 24. Children - future. 25. Ancestors. 26. Descendants.

[leahazel]

number 2 for the post 7kpp week ask meme? uvu

2. Siblings - Arland - Crown Prince.

So, August of Arland.

The Queen of Arland, whom I have not yet named (but probably will, eventually) had three children. She would have liked to have given her husband more sons, one presumes, but one was all she got. Constance and Felicity are four years apart, Felicity and August are seven. That is to say, Constance was eighteen when she left to make her marriage, and now August is fourteen, the same age that Felicity had been then.

They are not terribly close. Their ages and genders prevent that, among other factors. To be honest, even if they'd been raised closely together as siblings, they don't have much in common. August was a very serious and studious little boy. Felicity, as a child, was always on the verge of running wild. She didn't steady down until after Constance left, and by then her concerns were that of an adolescent, and August was still a small child. Still, in another family she might have teased him or helped him with his homework, and he might have embarrassed her in front of her friends, or gone to her when he ad nightmares.

They were both cheated. She wouldn't have let something like that happen to her kids, if she had them. August gets less of a choice in the matter. By the point of the Summit he's fourteen, and given his parents' positions on duty and tradition and so on, he's almost a working adult. He still gets lessons, of course, but a lot of what he does is "on the job training", so to speak. Not the fun kind, either. A lot of sitting quietly and listening to his elders while they discuss boring affairs of state.

Ordinarily they would be looking into introducing him to a girl is own age from one of the more vaunted families, given that he needs a proper Arlish bride, and sooner is better than later. And, well, whatever else you might say about them, they honestly wish for their children to have the best life they possibly can -- under the constraint of duty, of course. So they would have chosen for him a betrothed so that they could gradually get to know each other, instead of marrying as strangers. But Felicity went and made the choices that she made, instead of forging an alliance like a good little Princess. Now there's a very real chance that he will find himself at the Summit, just like his sisters before him.

But then, all that depends on whether the current summit manages to avert all-out war. Which will not be easy, and which is also a burden that's fallen mostly on Felicity. Not that she would have it any other way. So through the machinations of fate (and by fate I mean the plot, the game, and me), it seems August is more beholden to his sister than anyone ever expected him to be.

How he handles it is a more complicated question. He's not nearly as gregarious as Felicity, or as careful and calculating as Constance. And he doesn't have a natural head for politics, which they both do. On the one hand, he would need a wife that would be able to bridge that gap for him. On the other hand, anyone savvy enough to serve that role would be a most dangerous bride. August is very intelligent, but relatively guileless. It's not in his nature to be underhanded. Everyone had better hope that his father leads a long, long life.

[teaandinanity]

4, 7, 17, 19. :)

Eeee thank you! (Under a cut because I am The Least Concise.)

(For the Post-7KPP Week Ask Meme)

4. Siblings - Revaire - any/all

Calanthia adores every single one of her siblings, although she doesn’t exactly UNDERSTAND most of them. In order from next-oldest to youngest, her younger sibs are Portia, Abigail, Emmaline and Gregory (twins), Briony, and Ianthe.

Portia is officially The Pretty One, but she’s also painfully shy, kind of a shut-in, and abjectly terrified of the idea of marriage (Calanthia’s own marriage was partly because they were literally not able to afford food, but also partly because her parents were making increasingly-serious noises about taking Portia to court to make a ‘good match’). Abigail frowns a lot, has disapproved of mud and dirt since she was about three, and loves music with a bone-deep joy (she cannot carry a tune in a bucket, but she’s very good at playing the piano when it’s actually in tune).Emmaline is Calanthia’s favorite because she is a ball of sunshine and sweetness and she takes after Big Sis Anthy in having entirely too much determination; she was always going to grow up to cause other people headaches and Calanthia adores her. Gregory is the heir, the only boy, and the only one their parents listen to with any frequency; Calanthia started getting him to present petitions from the child-collective when he was six. Briony tries very hard to garden and is emotionally invested in the sheep (Calanthia, who has never had any pretensions to being outdoorsy, is bewildered but encouraging). Ianthe was an oops and is MUCH younger than the others, so they all co-parent (this is probably a good thing, because their parents are disasters).

In my first draft for her family, Calanthia also had an older sister, Gweneth, who is now Schrodinger’s Sibling; I’m not sure what’s going on with her or if she’s still alive (but Calanthia definitely learned at least half of the ‘point at a different target’ trick she pulls on Jarrod the first day of the Summit by trying to keep parental aggro off her most emotionally delicate sister).

7. Parents - Corval - mother

Nisha’s mother taught her how to dance, how to dress well, and how to smile at someone you would really like to half-drown in custard (while plotting to ENTIRELY drown them in shame). Nisha thinks her mother hung the moon and she will not fight you if you disagree (that would be TACKY), but you will probably find inexplicable frogs in your belongings for the next month and people will giggle behind their hands as you pass for much longer than that. Not that Blain experienced exactly that. Nope. Wasn’t her, no one can prove it.

19. Rivalry - past

Calanthia had a ‘rivalry’ in much the same sense as she does with Avalie in-game - kind of a ‘worthy opponent’ situation - with the Dowager Marchioness who lived nearish to her father’s estate. They didn’t get to the ‘friendly sniping and conversational traps’ stage until Calanthia was fifteen and stepped up her game, though - before that, it was definitely weighted more towards ‘mentor’ than ‘rival’. Aleni bores easily and wanted someone to engage in witty repartee with who wouldn’t just stare blankly when she made a historical allusion, and most of the neighborhood was... well, let’s just say having a good memory for history has not been a popular pastime in Revaire for the last few years.

Demetria had like. All of Wellin. Also, at home, there were a lot of boys who tried to push her around when she was still a sprog. They got smacked in the shins with sticks for their trouble. (The cleverer ones caught on pretty fast that she was the Count’s daughter and that dropping them in the dirt was much kinder than, say, telling her father and getting THEIR fathers turned off.)

Nisha had Blain. (Poor Nisha.)

Thank you so much! :D (17 is coming up in the next set!)