#the irrepressible heiress

[theirrepressibleheiress]

Do you think you can leave apology notes on the Slow Boat?

Dear exploded Crew Member of the Last of the First Sorry you died because of my foolish decision-making. Hazard pay will be delivered upon your return to the land of the living. This was an exceptional, one-off event and there's absolutely no chance it'll happen again. No I will not put less explosives in the zub. Yes I will do better at keeping them in the boat and in an unexploded state next time. Yours sincerely The Heiress

P.S. On the bright side, think of how much time we saved getting back to London!

[kehlana-wolhamonao3]

For your asks - Before the Beginning (for the Heiress if possible 🫣)

Papa was dead.

Mary wondered idly if that fact would somehow finally register in her head if she repeated it to herself often enough.

So far it hadn’t, despite her witnessing the whole ghastly scene in person just a few hours previously. In fact, the image of Papa standing up and violently vomiting blood all over the table kept repeating itself in front of her eyes, followed swiftly by the image of him on the floor, gasping in pain and assuring them all of his love for them as they were assuring him he was going to be alright.

Turned out, they were wrong, because Papa died before Dr Clarkson even had a chance to arrive, despite being called immediately and jumping straight into the ambulance.

Papa was dead and none of them knew what to do.

Of course, it meant that the house and practically everything else, save for some of their personal possessions belonged to Matthew now.

Matthew, who was God knew where in Europe, busy fighting a war. Matthew, who had not visited them or sent a word ever since he had left that ghastly garden party a year and a half ago.

Well, thought Mary bleakly, at least he would have to come home now, even if he still didn’t want to talk to her.

She wished she could be happy about that.

***

It stunned Mary all anew when she realised she had to be in charge for the time being.

Nobody else was going to be.

Mama was lost in her grief. She had not left her room since Papa’s body was taken away. Granny, indomitable, irrepressible Granny, could barely speak and looked so fragile it truly frightened Mary. She looked up to her for guidance, but it was painfully obvious that none was coming, at least not yet, not in those first nightmarish days of grief. Sybil needed support more than Mary and Edith was useless, of course. Isobel was dying to be useful however she could, but considering the delicacy of the situation, she hesitated to assume any responsibility which could be perceived as taking charge of the house.

Which left Mary as the person who dealt with the funeral arrangements, the servants, Murray, Jarvis and the death notifications. Carson admired her for being so composed, Edith accused her of being a heartless monster. She wondered how many people agreed with Edith’s interpretation of her actions.

Sometimes she wondered if Edith wasn’t right.

It took her two days to realise that probably nobody notified Matthew yet.

When she asked Isobel for his contact details, she was met with proper compassion for the first time and it had nearly proved her undoing.

“I can handle it, if you prefer, Mary,” said Isobel gently. “You’re shouldering everything else.”

Mary straightened, desperately fighting to stay numb, because under the protective cover of it she could feel a dark abyss, just waiting to devour her and spit her broken. She could not afford to be broken, not now, not when everybody else was.

“Thank you,” she said thickly. “But it should come from one of us.”

Soon she was sitting over the blank page of a telegram. It had to be a telegram; there was no time for a letter to be delivered if Matthew was to have any chance of coming in time for the funeral. The format of a telegram was restrictive, didn’t leave any space for feelings or apologies and maybe it was a good thing; nobody could judge what she felt for the recipient by reading a telegram.

She wondered what Matthew would feel when he received it. Shock, for sure – weren’t they all shocked? Sorrow, probably, for Papa; they were close with each other, whatever happened between Matthew and her. The weight of responsibility he had never wanted in the first place. Compassion for them all, she had no doubts, he was too kind to react otherwise.

She wondered if seeing her after all this time would bring him pain or if he had long forgotten that he had ever felt anything for her.

In the end, the text was simple:

PAPA IS DEAD STOP YOU’RE THE EARL NOW STOP FUNERAL PLANNED MARCH 15 STOP LET US KNOW IF YOU CAN GET LEAVE STOP IF NOT LET US KNOW HOW YOU WISH TO PROCEED WITH EVERYTHING STOP MARY

Now all that was left was to wait for Matthew to come back and not let herself fall apart.

[sephiroths-stuff]

I'm starting the progress on a webcomic about a dramatic coming of age story of a young woman (she's about 25) who has to earn a crown with the help of her equally irresponsible patron god who she chose on a whim not realizing he was inches away from being demoted for trying to seduce too many mortals.

Her best friends are a paranoid alchemist with a passion for poison and dual wielding, a slightly irrepressible and horny aromantic bird girl with the power to warp the fabric of reality, a man who hunts down the wandering souls of the damned using his magic sword for a secret society, and his twin sister who juggles knives and can manipulate fire, and, of course her consort, a mysterious and attractive guy who just showed up one day who is honor bound to serve her sexually but that's all anyone knows.

Together, this ragtag bunch must prove to a whole kingdom that's seen nothing but the young crown princess's irresponsible teenage ways that she's a worthy heiress to the throne. All the while hiding that she's getting help from a god who keeps trying to hit on her friends.

I'm super excited about this. My cast of characters is very diverse and includes NB people, african and asian coded charas, and multiple queer characters, and I look forward to showing the concept art. If I can't make it into a webcomic like I plan to, I do plan to novelize it and release it on Wattpad with A LOT of concept art.

I don't have a nailed down name for the story but the fantasy land it is in is called averia so any info about it is tagged averia so if you want updates, follow the tag! I also just made an account for the story, @averiadrabbles which won't tag for some reason

[aisakalegacy]

Generation 3 - Chapter 3: Mother Hydra

Note: This chapter was ambitious, too ambitious for me, and I would never have finished it if it was not for @ehllear​‘s help. Thank you so much for encouraging me and nurturing my creative process.

As Calvin was tending to his affairs, Yates was carrying on with his diatribe before an audience that was more and more scattered, and the others, who were just finishing dessert, begun to migrate towards the ballroom were Jillian entertained them by playing the piano while singing with her beautiful low voice.

When her song ended, a man came to see her. His name was Miles Solis.

“I’m about to head home, Mrs. Goode. Would you mind accompanying me to the door? I would like to talk to you about something.

Jillian rose and came with him.

“I wanted to congratulate you on your appointment as a heiress, and also on your beautiful singing vice.  I am a music-lover myself, and I greatly enjoyed your performance.” 

“You are indubitably talented, it is a pity such a limited audience gets to see this!

- That is very kind of you, but I do not deserve so many praises.

- You are too modest, Mrs. Goode. Did you ever think of singing in a play?

- I am not very familiar with the theater world.

- I’m the sponsor of the town’s theater, and they are currently auditioning singers for an opera. Ruddigore, have you heard of it?

- I fear that not, Mr. Solis.

- We’re looking for a contralto who could sing the part of the female lead’s aunt, Dame Hannah. I’d be glad if you accepted to play that part.”

“A role in a play? Really? But I have no experience! I’ve never been on a stage, and I’ve never sung in front of a real audience... If course I’m delighted, but... are you sure?

- Of course! With a voice such as yours, the play is guaranteed to be a success!”

“Well? Can I count on you?

- Yes! Yes, you can!

- Well, then, it’s settled. I’m expecting you on Monday at the theater!”

Lily had stayed in the dining room, and she was listening with half an ear to the debate which had been livening up the room for two hours, while distractedly fiddling with a little clay statuette she had carved in the morning. The truth is that her thoughts were focused on something else then the vain discussions that were held around her. As the minutes swept by, a irrepressible need to leave the table was growing inside her. She finally rose without anyone noticing and she went into the garden, on the river bank.

Calvin, Holland and McConnell were just ending their own discussion. As Holland was about to exit the room via the service corridor, he couldn’t help but notice a weird statuette on the fireplace. The sight of such an object would have inspired a shudder of horror to anyone: carved into the clay, the shape of it seemed alive and greasy and looked like the disgusting child of an insect and a reptile.

“You have peculiar decorating tastes, Mr. Dipperson.

- Oh, that’s my daughter’s new hobby. Don’t ask, she’s a special kid.”

Holland waited for Calvin to look away to grab the statuette and slip it into his vest’s pocket, before he slept out into the service corridor. Through the window, he sighted Lily’s silhouette. The girl was standing there, facing the river. Holland walked through the hall and went into the garden, determined to join her.

Once in the garden, he could see she hadn’t moved. She stood still, silent, as if she was communing with the swamp. Holland ran towards her with a beating heart. He was finally about to accomplish the real reason why he had come to this house.

 Holland stopped behind her and took the statuette he had stolen from his pocket.

"Only a few muses can inspire a talent such as yours.”

Lily remained silent, as if she was waiting for him to continue. She was presenting her back to him and he couldn’t see her face, but he knew she had heard.

"During my travels throughout the world, I’ve seen many strange things occur. Are you familiar with ancient myths?”

Holland had sparked her interest. Lily turned to him.

“You’re not here to tell me old tales.

- I’m not. But I think some of these tales might ignite your enthusiasm.”

“Let’s have a walk, if you please.”

As he started to walk, Lily came to his side, listening.

“A long time ago, when the human race was still young and when men were mere beasts, when the surface remained wild, civilization dwelt undersea. That is were the Deep Ones lived. Built on the ocean bed, their cities were magnificent and glorious. You see, the Deep Ones were far more evolved than men, for they were of divine birth. Their Mother was Hydra, and their Father was Dogon - both of them were ancient beings, older than the Earth itself. They had breed an entire specie, nobler than any of the apes that crawled on the surface, a specie of immortal beings. This was the most splendorous era of Earth history, and powerful deities that we call the Great Old Ones walked amongst their cattles of men, who they reared for their souls. They have since fallen into a deathlike sleep, but one day, or so they say, they will return.”

Their path had taken them by Lily’s family crypt. The sun was very low, and the moon was slowly raising behind the hills.

“This was an interesting tale, Mr. Holland, though I don’t understand why you told it. But here we are. The vault of my ancestors.”

“Your legacy is far more ancient than you think.”

He turned to her and said abruptly:

“Can’t you feel that you are special? Did you ever feel like you were destined to more than what your family can offer you? Have you ever felt your spirit enhancing when you’re under the moon? Don’t you feel a special connection with the swamp? With the river?”

Lily stood silent, thinking. Bur her silence said more than any words. She felt all of that, but had never found anyone she could share these feelings with.

“Come with me.”

They retraced their steps, and Holland walked right into the river. The water was waist-deep.

“Follow me.”

Lily hesitated for a few seconds before she joined him in the cold, swampy water.

“Look over here.”

Holland was looking to the swamp. From where they stood, the swamp seemed endless.

“The Deep Ones are not a legend. In the depths of this swamp stand the Sunken City of Vh'ajheth, grave of sleeping Mother Hydra, until she find a new material garment.”

“Are you a Deep One yourself?

- Me? No, I don’t have this honor. I’m a humble worshiper, I’m only here to prepare the arrival of the Great Old Ones.

- I don’t understand why you’re telling me all of this.

- Don’t you see, Miss Dipperson? You’re the incarnation of Mother Hydra. I’m here to awaken you.”

[avonromance]

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[queerasfact]

People had never seen “eyes like Henrietta’s,” “purple eyes with tangled lashes.” In the absence of color photographs, their arresting hue would be lost to history were it not for her lovers’ attempts to capture them in language. The actor and producer John Houseman, Orson Welles’s collaborator and the winner of an Academy Award, called them “violet-blue.” “Brilliantly blue,” offered the novelist David Garnett. But it was not just their color. “She looks the memory of her eyes into you,” a poet explained. They were “fascinating” with her “coquettish” lashes — “the eyes of a too- wise little girl.” Henrietta’s hair was jet, her face oval, her skin cream-white, and one companion declared she “should preach, her voice is so divine.” The painter Dora Carrington called her a “Giotto Madonna.”

— Irrepressible: The Jazz-Age Life of Henrietta Bingham, Emily Bingham

Learn more about this bisexual purple-eyed jazz-age heiress in our podcast!

[theirrepressibleheiress]

I read your timeline and the Heiress seems SO cool. If things had been different, if they had been the one to die, what would that look like do you think? Would their brother have taken the Nem questline or handled it differently? (from @neathbound-fiends <3 )

Hi! Sorry I took so long to answer, and tysm for the question! It's something I've loosely rotated a bit for ages but never had the chance to put the answer down anywhere.

I think in almost every world where the Heiress died instead, their brother doesn't come down to the Neath. He mourns them, of course! He mourns them closely, and deeply, and often. He spends long nights at a gravestone with no body beneath and the wrong name carved in, telling stories from his work, both the big and exciting ones and little pieces of officer gossip just as he would have before.

But actually going after them, giving up everything to chase a faint lead to the Neath? There's maybe a part of him that wishes he could, but he's too bound by duty to his family and to his country. A promising young officer, and the family's only remaining son, abandoning his post for long lost London? He couldn't do that, he couldn't throw it all away for only a chance at vengeance.

If he did, though, either because the Heiress died before he signs up or because he has some external reason to be in the Neath anyway? I don't think he'd care about vengeance, but about answers. He'd be much less violent, much less of the Heiress's single-minded focus, but would probably make the same choice in the end. There would be far more points where he would consider giving up, and he might, at least for a time. After all, he's not just down there to solve a murder, he has other duties to attend to.

[theirrepressibleheiress]

Wishing I had the energy and thoughts to post more about OCs and just generally ramble and write about them.

And like, the things distracting me are cool and interesting and often gay and sometimes are other writing but I want to ramble about the Heiress and just generally engage w Flumblr more.

Maybe I'll dig up an ask game or try and find a chance to write some Heiress stuff, idk.

(I think there might also be a bit of the "everyone else on here is so cool and has way more fleshed out OCs" intimidation which like? Yeah ofc y'all've been here longer than me I just need to remember there's not a "you must have this much to say to participate" line)

[theirrepressibleheiress]

A rough timeline of the Irrepressible Heiress's bullshit

This is very late, maybe a bit more unwieldy than is ideal, and has spoilers for Ambition: Nemesis towards the end! However, here it is at last so there's info about the Heiress out in the world.

The Heiress was born to a minor aristocratic family, and grows up as more or less an average grammar or private school aristocratic surface kid.

They don’t really try or engage too much, are all around unremarkable, but have a few friends, but are very close to their older brother, in a kind of “loose admiration, see each other occasionally and always enjoy catching up” way

The Heiress’s brother was a Prefect and generally kind of the golden child when they were both at school - as the younger sibling going through a lot of the same teachers that expectation definitely weighed on the Heiress - their brother told them not to worry, pointed out their own strengths, etc. Everyone else was definitely much more “why aren’t you as good as your brother”, though not always overtly.

Once their brother leaves school, the Heiress ends up putting him a bit on a pedestal and seeing him much more rarely.

During the Heiress’s last year of schooling, word reaches the surface that their brother died on a business trip to the Neath.

The newly-in-line-to-the-inheritance Heiress does not take this well - they don’t quite stop completely but it’s definitely something everyone around them notices.

The instant the notion of foul play reaches them, they blow all their savings, social capital, everything, to get to the Neath

They fully just jump on the first ship towards Italy - by the time they reach the Cumaean Canal they’re broke.

This gives them what is by all accounts a terrible idea - they make the last leg of the journey by picking fights with zailors until they are detained and (after insisting on being tried in the Neath) brought to New Newgate

After their escape, they spends a bit getting in with criminals, doing petty crime, chasing up little leads, just kind of blindly fucking around, as well as doing a bunch of assorted detective work and not really thinking about the contradictions in those last two.

To be honest they don’t really think a lot about their plans or how they got here - they threw everything away for this and are now desperately trying to justify it and navigate the mess they’ve landed in

This is also around when they start questioning their gender and realising a small part of why the expectation to be their brother always stung.

Around this time, they meet the Violant-Scrawling Apologist (@violant-apologia's character), and fall into an ill-fated relationship

Eventually, this coalesces into getting a university position and curiosity about the Neath’s deeper mysteries and weirdness going on, especially as those tie into the fate of their brother.

As they follow more leads and get further through Nemesis, they become more single-minded, more pro-Revolutionary and very fervently Liberationist.

This, combined with the Apologist doing Seeking and shifting towards White on the Chessboard, is not exactly a recipe for a long-lasting marriage.

Right before divorce, the Heiress ends up heading to the Avid Horizon during the Missing Month part of Nemesis, and sees the Apologist’s ship wrecked on the ice. The Apologist is alive - he’s just turned back from SMEN - but it’s around this point the Heiress realises how far apart the two of them have drifted.

When the Heiress returns to London after all that, the Apologist files divorce proceedings. The process isn’t overtly hostile - there’s no fight over property or similar, but political barbs are exchanged and the two of them realise just how opposed they’ve become.

Soon after, the Heiress fights through the rest of Nemesis, culminating in the resurrection of their brother. Whether deliberate malice on Cups’ part, or just some freak occurrence of the process, he has most of his memories but is left persistently unable to accept that his rescuer is the person he used to call brother.

From there, the Heiress helps get him on his feet in terms of lodgings and explanations about the Neath, but the pair’s interactions are rocky - sometimes they have almost that once-lost closeness, sometimes one will make a reference the other misses. Sometimes, he will pause at the word brother, as though trying to work out if it’s addressed to him.

[theirrepressibleheiress]

HMM some mean questions--let's go for 10, 25 & 30 for the heiress?? >:3

(Quick note/disclaimer/thing for anyone not in the loop, the Violant-Seeking Apologist is @violant-apologia's character. He was married to the Heiress. It ended messily.)

10: What lie do they most frequently remember telling? Does it haunt them?

Gods what are big lies the Heiress has told? I don't think "I Do" was a lie in the moment, even if it turned out to definitely be one. That probably still counts though, and certainly it's the thing they think of the most as a Major Lie they told to someone that they trusted and cared about. Because yeah, in the moment, at the altar, the Heiress thought they meant it. They thought they were being genuine, that they'd stick with the Apologist through thick and thin, in sickness and in health, no matter what. Smash cut to them immediately getting a new lead on their brother's murderer and dropping everything to chase it, and through it all not caring and hardly noticing that the Apologist is going through Some Shit and is Seeking the Name. I don't think they even realised that they were breaking their word at the time - they were just doing what they always did. 25: What are their thoughts on marriage?

Don't get married to someone while you're both going through different life-consuming journeys that will leave you changed and with deeply incompatible beliefs that lead to a messy divorce and a future of perpetual minor slights and veiled animosity.

Fundamentally, I think their marriage to the Apologist undercut a lot of the Heiress's prior sense of marriage as an institution. Sure, it's an excuse for a party, but it's hard for them to put any weight on it. (However, a part of them suggests, how their marriage went was mostly their fault. It's foolish how much they generalise that experience out.)

30: Who do they most regret meeting?

Surprisingly, given how much of the rest of this has been marriage angst, it's not the Violant-Seeking Apologist. Despite how their marriage ended, the ruins of that bridge are slowly being surveyed for a potential new one (or at least an infrequent ferry service), and the period of both of their lives where they ended up divorcing would have been a turbulent mess regardless of the pair's relationship status. Instead, it's probably the Last Constable? Not just because she's dead now, but because it led to the Heiress being entangled in an "I can fix it" situation with the Constabulary at large. It's becoming increasingly clear that they can't fix the mess of systemic issues with it, their time would be better spent elsewhere, and at times they might be doing more harm that good, but they're too locked in and too bluntly stubborn to easily step back.

[theirrepressibleheiress]

40 and J for the Heiress?

40) How sensitive are they to their own flaws?

They are definitely aware of them in retrospect - the Heiress does not like who they were when younger, and is still very critical of those elements they've inherited from growing up aristocratic.

More broadly, though, I think the Heiress is only really aware of these things after they've happened - a lot of their changes in beliefs are actively catalysed by external events and then they catch themself fucking things up they're now aware of. (For example, leaning increasingly Liberationist during Nemesis for specifically anti-Master/anti-Bazaar reasons, which then leads into a slow sequence of "wait massive inherited money from war and factories is Bad, actually"). Very rarely do they think they should or could be better in some way until they actively fuck up. This is definitely a slow process - they aren't massively self-aware or willing to admit fault and I'm currently writing something which involves considering how the Heiress is sometimes really hypocritical because of that.

J) Did you have to manipulate or exclude canon factors to allow them to create their character?

Not really that I can think of, or at least not consciously - it's entirely possible I've overlooked something in their backstory that trips over canon in some way. What I have definitely done is shifted the timeline of some events around compared to how they happened when playing - the Heiress's wedding and divorce comes to mind bc that was originally born out of "first person I know to get PosI and ask gets the Heiress's hand in marriage."

[theirrepressibleheiress]

Hi Tumblr

I have like half an idea at best of general etiquette and what I'm doing! I'm Fern (she/they/fae/it) and I got convinced to make this account mostly to find more excuses to talk about Fallen London, though there's a chance other non-FL stuff will sneak in.

I've drifted in and out of FL but I've been playing since (checks notes) 2016 holy shit! I first got into the universe from Sunless Sea being available for free for a weekend and fell deeply in love with it from there - I've played FL, a lot of Sea and Skies both, and a fair bit of Mask of the Rose.

I had an alt who went NORTH, a few years ago. (Which is kind of a wild thing to say, now that I think about it. I really have been playing this game for forever huh.)

Please ask me about the Heiress or just anything at all FL-related - I got talked into making this account mostly so I'd have more of an excuse to do that.

Really I should stop overthinking this, post it, get food, and then go find some cool art and/or writing to reblog later.

A brief overview of The Irrepressible Heiress (they/them)

Did Ambition: Nemesis, made several Choices in its doing, regrets only a handful of them.

Is a Paramount Presence, as of a few months ago!

Known Revolutionary, complete with Takes:tm: about the Liberation of Night, among other things.

Is someone I've been slowly figuring out as they've gone from just being "me, but in game" to an actual character in their own right.

Profile is here: https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/The%20Irrepressible%20Heiress (Ambition spoiler-free)

[theirrepressibleheiress]

6, 7, 10!

6: Do they consider Laws flexible or immutable?

The Heiress is pretty ardently pro-Liberation so in a grand, cosmic, sense, flexible. On a smaller, more down-to-earth scale, they've seen how fast the Neath can change - if that means the best solution requires creative interpretation of law or social codes then so be it. This... can often cause issues.

7: What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?

Interacting with their risen brother often opens up a mess of memories and parallels from back on the surface. It's definitely less frequent than it was, as the Heiress is coming to accept that the relationship between then and their brother cannot be what it was (for one, they're the older of the two of them, now). Sometimes, though, they'll just see him sitting in a chair reading, and remember when they were young and he seemed like the smartest person in the world going through his schoolbooks and telling them weird facts and "facts" with older brother confidence.

10: What lie do they most frequently remember telling? Does it haunt them?

I answered this previously with the biggest thing that turned out to be a lie here. The most frequently remembered lie that they intended as a lie... It was probably telling their parents that they'd be back, and that they were just going to spend some time away to recover from their grief. (Really, that's two lies, but the where is less important.) Even then, even before they knew about the permanence of going to the Neath, I don't think they planned to come back. (Or, more accurately, I don't think their plan had a "what happens once I get vengeance" section.) Now, after all they've found down here, I don't think they'd return to the surface and their family, even if they could. There's still the occasional "I wonder what my parents think happened to me" - they've even considered sending a message back, but have no idea where to even start. How do you even start to explain "Hey when I went missing several years ago I went to the Neath, now I've trans'ed my gender, got married, radicalised, divorced, and reincarnated my brother."?

[theirrepressibleheiress]

I should really post a proper summary/timeline/thing for the Irrepressible Heiress huh

Really I should have done it ages ago but alas I am busy and juggling several different things. Hopefully, fingers crossed, no guarantees I will get enough done today that I can do it once I'm free.

Finally, the world will have more details of all the wild things @violant-apologia and I realised about the Heiress and Apologist's marriage in retrospect.