#the manager of the royal beth

[the-dye-stained-socialite]

a little manager plush for my dear friend @thedeafprophet !!!

still need to do some cleanup here and there, but i'm too excited to not post this!!

base pattern is from cholyKnight's etsy!

[j-a-m-e-s-s-i-l-v-e-r]

dear Fallen London fandom.

1. please, please stop erasing a canonically Chinese character by saying that the King with a Hundred Hearts is 100% Enkidu

2. for y'all who complain that May doesn't look middle eastern enough in Mask of the Rose cuz something something NO BEARD and BRIGHT EYES and SMOOTH HAIR and that he simply must be Black cuz in fact you don't care where Mesopotamia or any other foreign land is...... behold:

indigenous Assyrians whose hair is even straighter than his indigenous Chaldeans, no mandatory beards Kourosh Sadeghi - Iran Farhad Mosaffa - Iran Alexander Uloom - Iraq Omar Borkan Al Gala - Iraq Madiha Knyvany - Syria Enas Taleb - Iraq and some Insta dude

and anyway how dare his authors decide how to design their own character? unthinkable! /s

[thedeafprophet]

There's an aspect to Jamie's feelings about The Manager that like.

The fact that he would never return their feelings is part of what makes Jamie interested in him to begin. Like there's a safety in knowing that it could only ever be one sided.

[thegreatyin]

honestly the scoundrel probably protects their own dreams with a vengeance because if anyone ever tried the same tactic on them (gossip rags dedicated specifically to revealing their subconscious dreams) they'd be done for

[esteemed-excellency]

I have to share my old headcanon about the Manager too, now that @that-giorgione posted his cryptid design. I always interpreted this card as a person wearing a big tricorn hat with a cape and a bauta mask

The hat gives him a distinct 18th century look so when the game mentioned the red and gold colour scheme and the brass buttons this is what I had in mind:

[bizarrebazaar13]

being the manager must be fucking insane

be the ruler of Uruk

fall in love with a man made of clay

make a bargain with space bats to save his life and also doom your entire city. but. priorities.

space bats carve out your lover’s heart and replace it with a diamond. he turns into an island where everything is alive and screaming.

he also gains the power to dream other clay men into existence which is pretty cool. but doesn’t make up for the fact that this whole situation is painful and fucked up.

also your uncle is a weird little guy who makes a cider that grants immortality

you might be immortal too? unclear whether this is from the cider or not.

you are attracted to people’s dreams and can follow them literally anywhere in the neath. people think you have an abnormal amount fingers. these two things are related.

your lover sends you passive-aggressive presents for the next one thousand plus years like “you motherfucker. look what you could have had if you didn’t fuck this up so bad. fuck you.”

the space bats come up with a card game called the marvellous where you can win your heart’s desire! obviously you’re in. despite the fact that you have a side gig actively working to destroy the space bats.

all the clay men your lover creates have his face which leads to at least one unfortunately mistaken identity

the way you talk about your lover sounds like you two are dating married and bitterly divorced all at the same time

you build a hotel where you collect people whose dreams drive them insane. fun!

your heart’s desire is to become a living city like your lover. you haven’t won the marvellous yet and at some point your lover makes you promise to stop trying.

some rando shows up in London one day like “hey you know what. let’s play that card game.” you do not hesitate to send them off to ask your lover to release you from that promise.

apparently someone took his heart (a diamond) right out of his chest and now some urchin kids have it. if he gets it back, you can play cards.

he gets it back! let the gambling commence. also you own the mind of one of the guys in the card game. don’t think too hard about that.

[an-impossible-theorem]

please no, not the bloody wallpaper flashbacks

[grimm-the-tiger]

Be gay, do financial crimes you have to pay back with the nightmares of your indentured servants.

[retroactivebakeries]

[zeebreezin]

My favorite detail about that last piece is that you can see the actual colours of Shaw’s outfit underneath some of the lighting layersss

[anomalouscorvid]

...well now i know i forgot to turn a specific setting off

[the-dye-stained-socialite]

May's Strip Game Part Nine: the Finale!

[It is too much to bear.]

Coerced into turning.

Behind you is... a second Manager? He winks at you. Something is off about him. His coat, which this one is wearing, is fastened the wrong direction. Shouldn’t his cane be in his other hand?

When he steps down the aisle, his cane makes the correct, expected sound. It is perfectly in time with what you are seeing. His pace is leisurely slow as he walks. Your pulse does not slow to meet it. 

As the Manager approaches the Merry Gentleman, you watch the carpet buckle and fray behind him. The Gentleman smirks at his counterpart. The Manager does not frown. As they get closer towards each other, your head begins to swim. Your mind rebels at the sight of them. Despite proximity, you cannot comprehend the details. There is a feeling, as though you have stood up too quickly, as though you’ve had a nasty startle, as though the world is spinning without you. You are granted permission to look away. You focus instead on the mirrors. In them, the Merry Gentleman begins to look like the reflection, and the Manager the one casting it.

You begin to hear them speak.

“I must pay off the bills. I cannot keep the Court and the Kings away forever.”

“We cannot lose ourself to apathy. Certainly there’s better ways to solve this mess than with such aggressive tactics.”

“I don’t see the issue, frankly.” This one’s tone is chipper. “They’ll all be dead soon enough, washed away by-”

“They are alive right now. If we want for any long plan, there must be people left to survive.”

You are caught in the middle of something larger. There is a story here you are not privy to. You doubt there are many who are privy to it anymore.

“The years will pass in an instant.”

“For us.” This one cries as he speaks. “We will not keep people here, beholden to their nightmares. We have the rare benefit of insight.”

There is a long pause, then a sigh. “Fine, I concede to that. Though we cannot help everyone.” This one cries as well. “We cannot weep for every heart that passes through here.”

“I will concede there.”

“Then we have a mess of my own making to clean.”

“At least it will pay well.”

This one chuckles, though there is bitterness to it.

You watch the reflections grow larger, and larger, and then the mirror duplicate, triplicate, multiply over and over and ripple, like a wave that threatens to pull you under and drown you in its current. Then they shatter, all at once. When you open your eyes again, there are no glass shards. As if the mirrors shattered inwards, and not outwards.

Before you stands a single man. The Merry Manager, reaching a six fingered hand towards you. “I believe you’ll need time to recover after tonight. I’ll escort you to your suite.”

Can you trust him? He is the one who put you into your worst nightmare. You find yourself with tears streaking your cheeks. Tears which are his doing. You have seen two sides of him. One who causes horrors with little care, for he is lost in the big picture, for reasons you are too small, and far too young to know. Yet, there is the one who wept that he needed to go to such means, to justify the ends. The one who wished for this to be a safe haven, to take care of people. Now, here those two are, united, and focused on you. Can you trust him?

{<<<Part One} {<Part 8} {Epilogue>}

You have completed this story! You have gained 1x Memory of Discordance. Look for an epilogue soon!

[wileys-russo]

leah, training, “can i sleep on you please?” or something like that

just one more II l.williamson

"oh no leah come on do we have to!" you groaned as your fiancé clicked into netflix and loaded up yet another season of the crown.

"yes! babe, this is educational and entertaining." the blonde patted your knee with a grin as you groaned even louder and slumped down deeper into the sofa.

"leah i hate to break it to you but as an australian i have zero interest in the royal family, or their arguments over tea trades and affairs!" you scoffed, you respected that the blonde had an illustrious interest in it however that respect lessened when she tried forcing it onto you.

the pair of you had been together for years now and somehow you'd managed to scrape by mostly unscathed, growing very able to block out her ramblings with hums and nods which seemed to appease her.

but then beth just had to go and get her into the crown, interrupting the calm and steady flow of your home routine and especially your once sacred movie nights.

no more would you be curled up together, sharing commentary and laughter and an occasional kiss, arguing over who got the last handful of popcorn, half of the bowl littering the ground where you'd been tossing it at each other trying to catch it in your mouths.

no now you had to try and stay awake through the gruelingly boring slow burned torture that was this show and leahs obsession with it, fighting to keep your eyes open and having to put up with leahs 'tests' that you were paying attention.

you'd tried to leave her to it, going to watch a movie or a show of your own in the bedroom but the moodiness and sulking and the pouts and the dramatic sighs that would echo out for hours from the living room just weren't worth it.

"okay baby, its eleven and we have to be up for the morning session at six, we can't be late again!" you decided for the pair of you, reaching for the remote and quirking an eyebrow when leah quickly snatched it back.

"leah-" "just one more! you can go to bed, but i have to finish this season." "lee there's three more episodes in the season! you may as well come to bed with me now, and watch them tomorrow afternoon when we get back." you tried to bargain but it was no use with the stubborn blonde who firmly shook her head, remote still held tightly to her chest.

"fine! you're a grown woman, you can make your own choices. one more leah, don't be stupid." you warned sternly as your fiance hummed with a firm nod. "just one more pretty girl, i promise."

"goodnight, your highness!" you mocked, pressing your lips to hers a few times as she squeezed your hips, nipping at your bottom lip for the teasing comment.

only as you woke suddenly around four in the morning needing to use the bathroom, you realised maybe you should have fought a little harder to get leah to come to bed with you, the defenders side still empty.

"for fuck sakes." you grumbled tiredly, wiping the sleep from the corner of your eye and swinging out of bed, stomping off to the living room where sure enough the blonde was hanging half off the sofa with her mouth wide open.

she choked on air and hit the floor with a thump as you smacked her in the face with a cushion, gasping as she sat up and found you to be glaring down at her.

"why the hell would you do that jesus christ woman are you trying to put me into cardiac arrest!?" leah clutched her chest and exhaled shakily. "leah it is four in the fucking morning, get your ass into bed right now!" you growled pointing behind you as the taller girl got to her feet, trudging off still grumbling under her breath.

"i swear to god leah you better get up when that alarm goes off tomorrow, if you refuse i'll leave you here and go by myself." you warned seriously getting into bed beside her and smacking away her hands which tried to draw your body into hers.

"seriously?" "seriously, goodnight williamson." "you know a few more months and you'll be a williamson." "well i haven't said i do yet." "hey!"

~

"nope!" your hand banged down on the table with a loud smack causing the blonde across from you to shoot upwards where her head had once been resting on the cafeteria table.

"i warned you leah." you took a bite of toast as the girl whined and buried her face in her hands. "long night then eh?" beth teased as she joined the pair of you, steph, lia and laura not far behind.

"this is your fault!" you poked at the girls chest accusingly who scoffed. "me? what did i do!" she frowned as once again your hand smacked down against the table causing leah to jolt and sit upright again.

"got her into that awful show that she stayed up until four in the morning watching. its taken over our house, our date nights, our dinner conversations, you're a menace!" you huffed, stabbing at your eggs and shoving them into your mouth.

"what show?" "the crown! she's addicted!"

"oo what season are you up to? i really liked-" steph started excitedly, falling short at the dirty glare you sent her in response. "stephanie you're supposed to be on my side!" you scowled making the older girl grin, reaching over to shove your head to the side.

"nah, where's the fun in that?" "traitor to your own country." "aw does it make you mad?" the brunette cooed pinching your cheek as you swatted her hand away, everyone finishing up their food as leah fought to stay awake, munching away on her toast.

"baby please, let me just take a little nap, i'll say i need physio or something." your fiance grumbled as you all filed out of the cafeteria heading for the change rooms, the air ablaze with chatter.

"nope, not a chance. i already warned them!" you shook your head firmly with a slight smile at the way your fiance threw her head back with a groan, moping after you into the change rooms where everyone was already swapping over their trainers to cleats.

"come on, can i sleep on you please? just five minutes." the blonde slumped over into you, grabbing onto your shirt and pressing her face into your neck.

"i love you. you're so pretty. and i'm so tired!" leah whined as you unhooked her fingers from the material of your training top. "well you should have listened to your pretty fiance when she told you to come to bed." you pouted mockingly, kissing her cheek and bending down to lace up your boots.

~

"oi watch it kyra!" leah yelped, ducking the ball which was booted at her head where she'd been leaning against the goal post in between drills. "sorry leah!" the brunette grinned showing she was anything but, alessia grabbing her in a headlock as you snickered.

"what did you do?" steph appeared beside you with a knowing look at the amused smile on your face, having seen it many many times in the years she'd known you and played beside you for country and club.

"me? nothing!" you gasped with mock offence, steph humming and staring you down as your grin widened. "i might have slipped kyra a little money to make sure leah stays...sharp, today." you admitted with a sly smile, steph shaking her head though it wasn't with disbelief.

"oh she's going to kill you, pest." "well she can't do that if she's asleep now, can she stephanie?"

"kyra i swear to god if you kick that ball at me one more time i'm going to shove it down your throat!"

[thedeafprophet]

@neathyingenue well The Manager probably has experience dealing with his own hair 😌, so it probably started from that XD

Stealing nightmares from properly groomed heada! This is a place of *refuge* after all, one must provide the needed care products :-)

[aimzicr]

Everyone loves going to the Royal Beth.

Fruits of the Zee update: nightmares are at a dangerous level but I continue to walk into the zee.

At this rate, Leece is going to sail back to London, set one foot on the dock, and then start screaming.

[bizarrebazaar13]

every time I interact with the manager in any form in any game I go “okay I’m gonna be normal about him” and then he says literally anything and I’m climbing the walls in lizard fashion