#she Actually cares about her marriage

[quillkiller]

does reg never reconcile with sirius in your bellareg au

nope! :/

it’s canon compliant but with canon divergence (the divergence being that bella was always promised to sirius and was never meant to marry rodolphus!!) so sirius still ends up in azkaban efter the death of jily, but bella makes regulus a believer so he never goes to the cave :~) they become very sexy top ranking death eaters <3

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Council of lovefools.

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[watchfuldeer]

last night i went to a really fun and informal fundraiser evening with jesse and lucy at westminster school, where they were interviewing each other. i got to ask a question which i’ve mused upon for some time about tom, shiv and greg. enjoy! full transcript under cut

Transcript

me: so i’m gonna have to look at what i wrote down.

jesse: that’s alright, you’re highly in credit since you know more about the show than us. more about john berryman.

(laughter)

lucy: tell us what we’ve done wrong so far!

me: god, no. i wouldn’t! so my question, this is a character based question, and one thing that probably got a bit subsumed in the fourth season just because everything was happening. but i’d like to know more about tom and shiv, and also greg. because my read on the situation between the three of them is that greg is a source of marital strife (laughter) that shiv never noticed, and what would it have taken for shiv to notice the depth of greg’s presence in their marriage.

jesse: uh huh.

me: and tom’s attachment to him.

jesse: uh huh. sometimes you get little bits in life or you see something and you’re like, i wish we were making the show, because i suddenly do want to hear shiv say ‘greg you’re a source of marital strife’.

(laughter)

jesse: that’s like, when you’re like, that’s gonna be in, we’re not gonna cut that.

lucy: absolutely.

jesse: (doing greg voice) wh-wh-what?!

(laughter)

lucy: yeah. well we enjoyed that, didn’t we. we had a scene in america decides, which was the only scene between shiv and greg.

jesse: oh yeah.

lucy: the election episode in the final season where she takes him into a little room and threatens him.

me: ah, but it’s jealousy over lukas, over the greg and lukas thing, and it’s like, have you forgotten your husband, who is also very attached to this limpet?

lucy: yeah. i would also say that there are marriages in which a third party is not an unuseful thing, as well. not in a forgiving way about infidelity, but i would say that there are things that tom can express with and at and on greg (laughter) as it were, to greg, that are useful because he’s both a - you know the great, the interesting thing about tom is that he’s both a courtier and a bully. he’s that rare combination of someone who you totally believe as being almost like (mimes bowing and doffing cap) ‘oh yes sorry thank you yes ma’am’ and also like, ‘i’m gonna kill you’ and that juxtaposition is what makes him so interesting.

but in his marriage to shiv he has no real way, until quite late i guess in the final season, where we explore it, to hold power over her and to use that part of himself. so he’s accepted the acquiescing, he’s accepted the role of courtier in that marriage, and greg is quite a useful place where he gets to express all of that, the bully in him so that maybe it doesn’t have to come out in the marriage. which might be bad, because perhaps it should do and then the marriage would’ve ended much earlier, yknow, when shiv would just be like ‘i’m not dealing with you challenging me in any way’. so it’s not until that balcony scene i think where he really challengers her much at all. possibly the beach scene, where he sort of says that he’s considered leaving her, and how that would feel. but with aggressive challenge? it’s all directed at greg, and greg is allowed to be the place where all those feelings go.

me: but the affection - there’s also affection between them.

jesse: YEAH. and i think that’s the other thing maybe you’re alluding to is like, she… i think, some things you know you’re putting in the show because you talk about them and other things just naturally occur, and audiences and people tell you what the show is and what you put in there and you didn’t even realise, but i think we were aware of this - she’s oblivious. her obliviousness is a big part of her wealth and her upbringing and… so there’s something homoerotic going on between greg and tom.

me: i mean it’s not for me to say.

(laughter)

jesse: and does she… i think there’s two ways of reading that, either she’s oblivious, and that’s intriguing and possible. the other is that she sort of - there’s a scene in, you know that one, in the sun valley media conference in argestes, where we wrote a bit where shiv shows up unexpected and tom’s sort of flirting with someone, and it never really landed that much. i think we were like, oh this really gonna, shiv’s gonna spark up when she sees him flirting with someone. and it’s one of those things where you were like, you know what? i don’t think she gives a hoot, really, does she.

(laughter)

jesse: it’s like, she hasn’t got that, that’s not in her belly, that fear of loss.

lucy: no.

jesse: so i think that goes, that probably goes for a same-sex relationship or flirtation as much as it does for with a woman.

lucy: i think that’s true.

jesse: like she really… even if he was like - and this is not the way that tom would be like - ‘i think i’d like to sleep with greg’, i think she’d be like (mimes looking at watch) ‘when?’.

(laughter)

jesse: (as shiv) ‘not when i’m in the city, that’s weird, tom’.

(laughter)

jesse: i don’t think she’d have any fundamental objection to that.

lucy: that’s true. i think jealousy is quite a low status emotion.

jesse: yes.

lucy: and i think that she would struggle to feel it.

(jesse laughs)

lucy: even if it was present in some way, she would never be able to access it because it would put her too much at a disadvantage. so i think yeah exactly that, it would be like, ‘oh i guess you’re going to fuck that boring woman now are you, tom’ or do that, like… she has to be here (mimes one hand above another hand) so jealousy can’t really be accessed by her. so she might be irritated by greg, but in the way you would be by a mosquito.

me: to her detriment.

lucy: to her detriment, sure, ultimately yeah.

[teabutmakeitazure]

ain't no way this random aunty (neighbour) started lecturing me to marry a guy of the same nationality as me because not doing so is "wrong"

[mimikyufriend]

I finally started reading the honey witch and like sorry but the prose is already annoying me

[general-du-vallon]

I was thinking about Porthos again last night. He's such a good adaptation imo, he's big and strong and is sort of 'the stupid one' but mostly by reputation. His intelligence is just quiet and background. I like that in the dreaded s3 athos finally just says oitloud 'he's the smart one actually you should notice that now'.

This version of Porthos has lots of agency, he uses people's impressions and misimpressipns of him, it's him who choses to keep quieter about it. I find H Charles acting choices excellent. You can kinda see Porthos choices, and confidence and competence, and when he loses confidence or is frustrated by the fact that he has to work so hard to be seen as more or equal to the others, in the line delivery and way he acts in situations.

I'm thinking of all the complexity he packs into "i know who and what I am" and his demand that he is French, or the early s3 scenes with Sylvie where he just follows his orders and is visibly fed up with evrything, or the bit with the judge when he's being tried for murder where he has a split second beat before he says 'enjoying Paris at night' early on where he's maybe calculating that the judge isn't going to listen to a word he says sand there's no pint biting back.

And we also see his intelligence in his fighting. When he fights, how he fights, when he backs up the others. When he fights the red guard he's showing off his skill, when he fights with musketeers he's careful and shows off his strength, with his 'real' fights he's strategic but confident and uses what's to hand. I'm simplifieing and making things fit but he does fight differently in the different situations.

He's just such a great character and there's so many layers and things to think about and tturn over. There's Dumas OG Porthos who Dumas clearly loved to bits, and while I think the show as a whole failed in lots of ways at adapting satire to Serious Business they seemed to have a lot of love for the material too, and there's H Charles acting choices, all these people loving the character.

[wonder-worker]

"The newly widowed Elizabeth (Woodville) was exceptionally vulnerable. Several of the trustees responsible for her jointure refused to hand over the manors that were meant to sustain her in her widowhood. Moreover, her brother-in-law, Edward Grey, had seized estates that her son Thomas should have inherited from his paternal grandfather, while her mother-in-law’s new young husband, Sir John Bourchier, had prevailed on Lady Ferrers to settle her principal properties on them jointly for life, ensuring that Thomas would have to wait far longer for this inheritance too. Rivers and Scales were pardoned in July 1461 and swiftly moved into the Yorkist establishment, which perhaps explains the success of the chancery suits Elizabeth launched to regain her jointure. Her son’s inheritance proved harder to recover. By 1463, Rivers was often in (Edward IV's) company and on his council, but Elizabeth needed someone with much stronger influence over the King. She turned to a distant kinsman, William, Lord Hastings, the King’s chamberlain. Hastings drove a very hard bargain for his aid but it was probably amid these negotiations that the King’s desire for Elizabeth was kindled."

-J.L. Laynesmith, "Elizabeth Woodville: the Knight's Widow", Later Plantagenet and Wars of the Roses Consorts: Power, Influence, and Dynasty

[qualityrain]

dude theres something abt firefly wedding. marry ur hired killer so u dont die and the love interest is a crazy yandere but also theyre trying to make it work???? before sakoto confesses that shes been playing along and cannot marry shinpei he was like lets talk because youve been off lately is it because of me i dont want to do something that makes you sad because im bad at reading peoples and my own feelings. like even before this its like sakoto going excessive violence is bad! and the whole would shinpei treat anybody that accepts him the same way he says hes in love with sakoto. that perhaps his love for her is not different from loving a child or an animal. what is love anyway (baby dont hurt me- )

[cosmic-walkers]

after seeing that amazing edit...I can't ever stop thinking about Wriothesely and the complexities of his character. From his prior loyalty to Thomas to his eventual loss of devotion to him, whether it be out of fear, lust for power, or both - but his unquestionable loyalty to Stephen at the very end of things. One thing I appreciate is that, in the show , Risley tried many times to help Thomas, trying to get him to make a move against his enemies (Norfolk), trying to warn him of potential threats. There were even instances where we knew Risley was probably talking to Stephen, and he still attempted to steer Thomas in the right direction but just realized he was too stubborn. Then Risley betrayed Thomas and Gregory, which negated all his good qualities unfortunately.

I don't think what Risley did to Thomas at the end of the day was right, by any means, but what I do think is that he is such a nuanced, and complicated character. and i love characters like him.

It would've been so much easier if he hated Thomas and the Cromwells, if he was planning to betray them from the very beginning but that isn't the reality. He loved them, he saw them as his own family, he enjoyed being around them and being in their presence. His heart absolutely ached for what happened to Thomas, despite being the most instrumental person in his master's downfall. It was Risley's confession - that i don't believe was actually in the show - that really pushed Thomas to be executed.

And then there is the other hand, where even in the books there is a power play between Thomas and Stephen when it comes to Risley. They both want him, they both want to use him for their own ambition, they both want to show him off to the other just to say' I have him and you don't.' One of Thomas's main reasons in the books for having Risley close, was to spite Stephen.

And then you have these instances where, as much as Risley loves the Cromwells, he questions his place in their lives. Richard and Rafe outwardly talk down on him, Richard calls him an idiot, Rafe never liked him to begin with. He mentions how Thomas laughed at him when he suggested something and you can tell he questions if this family really accepts him, or not. Or if he is just another example of a man of 'noble' birth that Thomas parades around to show that he can.

So many complexities in Risley - even down to his attire. I was never sure if it was cheetah or jaguar or leopard clothing but the point is, those are both ambush and solidarity predators. They don't fit well in groups, especially the males; they will fight and kill, and they will ambush. I always saw Risley as a person who tried to fit in with the Cromwells but realized at the end, he never had a place, so his next logical step was simply an ambush.

Another animal, at least I find him comparable to is the snake that Thomas many times references in the books. Not just the snake, but the poison that eventually catches up to Thomas. Thomas spoke about how he was bitten by a snake in Italy, but it didn't kill him, but he never knew if it was poisonous or not. However, after that, he would consistently get ill, and it was implied that the poison was killing him slowly he just didn't know when. There was something about Risley being there, like the poison festering from the snake wound, slowly undoing the Cromwell house hold, slowly sinking his fangs into the stability and that family that let him in, and then eventually, destroying them.

[rozugold]

I’m a big fan of the stories of Persephone where she actually loves Hades and being queen of the underworld n all that BUT I’m also really liking the idea of an aggressively aro Kore being wild and free and doing everything she can to avoid being swallowed up by the ground…

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

finished helluva boss and now i have Thoughts

[wishesofeternity]

"Antiochos’ and Stratonike’s activities in the eastern part of the [Seleukid] empire are largely shrouded in mystery, but, as Engels has argued, Antiochos was far from idle since he embarked on a large building programme and was active in securing the frontier. There is some evidence to suggest that his new bride accompanied him for much of this period. We can perhaps identify Stratonike’s presence with her new husband in the Upper Satrapies through the gold coinage minted in Susa and Baktria in c . 287. The two gold coin sets are of the same type, the obverse features the laureate head of Apollo facing right and the reverse features Artemis in an elephant biga facing left with the legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΕΛΕΥΚΟΥ in exergue.

Figure 1: Coin of Seleukos I from Baktria Depicting Apollo on the Obverse and Artemis with Elephant Biga on the Reverse (Houghton and Lorber 2002, SC I no. 163).

Figure 2: Coin of Seleukos I from Baktria Depicting Apollo on the Obverse and Artemis with Elephant Biga on the Reverse (Houghton and Lorber 2002, SC I no. 257).

The reverse image of Artemis in the elephant biga is within the same design type as a large range of other coinage issued by Seleukos I celebrating the success of his elephants and thus his eastern campaigns. The appearance of Artemis is however unique to these coin types. This suggests the emphasis on the close links between the twin gods, Artemis and Apollo, depicted on the obverse and reverse of this coinage . Since there appears to be as a close link between Apollo and Antiochos as there is between Zeus and Seleukos, the presence of Artemis could be seen as a symbol for Stratonike. This would create a series of parallels: Seleukos/Zeus, Antiochos/Apollo, and Stratonike/Artemis. The first two reflect what we see for these two kings at the list of priests of Seleukid kings in Seleukeia in Pieria . Additionally, it may be notable that the sister-wife ideology [...] appears to be evident later in the reign of Antiochos.

As all of the Apollo/Artemis cointypes were produced on high value gold coinage, this suggests that it was issued in order to commemorate a significant event. While the type was similar to other Seleukid coinage, the shift from Athena to Artemis was clearly discernible and unique. The arrival of the new joint-King and Queen in the region to take up residence would have been a suitable moment for the issuing of the new coin type. This advertisement of their new rule certainly falls in line with Seleukos’ wedding speech which confirmed their new roles."

-David Engels & Kyle Erickson, "Apama and Stratonike – Marriage and Legitimacy", "Seleukid Royal Women" (edited by Edited by Altay Coşkun and Alex McAuley). The pictures of the coins are screenshots from the book.

[ame-to-ame]

Oh on last rb's note my friend actually read love bullet per my recommendation hehe and she likes it and it makes me so so happy hehe

[aria0fgold]

My headcanons for the named trio in The Cursing of Chateau Castle series:

Josephandre is a big bear. It just fits for him I think! He gets he/him pronouns, and as a way to make him a liiiil more relatable for Mira, he'd have two craft types (Rock type being his main one and paper craft for the other). Battle style wise, I think it fits him to be more of a self-sustaining tank. He buffs defense, heals, and puts up shields. For his weapon, he'd use his fists like Isabeau. He'll be the second fastest in the trio.

Lady Irene-Janine-Kanine looks like an elegant noblewoman on the outside but she has vibes similar to Euphrasie! She gets she/her pronouns. Her craft type is Paper. Battle style wise, she's more on the offensive side, a main dps kind of thing. Most of her skills focus on buffing attack and speed, she'd have an item that helps regen her hp a lil bit and her chosen weapon is an umbrella. The tip is a sharp blade so it's used like a spear that has a hidden sword in its handle. Open it, and it becomes a shield! That'd be one of her skills too, although it's only applicable to her. She's the fastest one of the trio.

Pierre-Jacques-Erneste looks like a nobleman and carries himself as such! He gets he/they pronouns. Their craft type is Scissors. Battle style wise, he's more of a debuffer, skills focusing on weakening the enemies, slowing them down, poisoning them. Their weapon is a sword dagger, though he doesn't seem to be able to handle it well, how clumsy! But he Is a nobleman so it makes sense! Oh but... why doesn't he have a title? They're the slowest one of the trio, how strange, he seemed to be faster than Lady Irene-Janine-Karine that one time though.

[softshuji]

Any men out there wanna pretend to be my bf to get my parents off my case about marriage? I am so so serious right now.

[dol-dee]

Thinking about how Dee and Avery could have a slightly unhealthy Morticia/Gomez style dynamic if Avery was able to get out of her own ass. Relaxes a bit and actually sees Dee as a person