#the two princes joan

[cloudcover23]

Posting the first (and only) two panels of a webcomic I wanted to make of The Two Princes. This is from Season 2. I’m abandoning this project - turns out drawing is hard and not my passion, but I like how these turned out. It’s been forever since I even looked at these and I just wanted to put them SOMEWHERE before clearing space in my computer.

[ceaselesswwatch3r]

ive only known joan for a minute or two but if anything happened to her i would kill everyone in this room and then myself

[robylovi]

Character: *has good fighting skills and a covered face*

Me: is this like a “Gotcha! bet YOU 👆 didn’t think it was a GIRL, you buffoon, hehe pranked. 😜 ” thing

[shippin-it-faster-than-fedex]

ok im just going to cry now

While Rupert and Amir’s love literally saved two countries and destroyed the CEOs of homophobia and hating your wife, I feel like Sir Joan and Lady Cecily’s romance (or future romance bc it WILL happen) is powerful in a different sense? I mean here you have this girl, who has fought her entire life to prove her worth, first to her father, then to her queen, then to the elites. She’s always fighting adversaries and policies... Joan falling in love with someone so ready to love her and love being with her is Joan allowing herself to be soft and vulnerable with someone... to drop the formalities and show her true self knowing her traits won’t be exposed for weaknesses to discredit her abilities. And Lady Cecily grew up with the expectation she will Marry A Man and Sit Pretty and Have Children. After the curse is broken she realizes she can be anything... and who helps her realize that? Joan! Joan who told her to fight and be proud because of it. Joan taught her that she had worth, that she was more than what she could give others, and she had control of her destiny. It only makes sense that Cecily pursues the woman that taught her that, because Joan saw more in Cecily than the world ever did. Rupert and Amir’s relationship is about balance, but Joan and Cecily is about growth.

[whencyclopedia]

The Hundred Years' War was fought intermittently between England and France from 1337 to 1453 CE and the conflict had many consequences, both immediate and long-lasting. Besides the obvious death and destruction that many of the battles visited upon soldiers and civilians alike, the war made England virtually bankrupt and left the victorious French Crown in total control of all of France except Calais. Kings would come and go but for many of them, one significant measure of the success of their reign was their performance in the Hundred Years' War. Divisions were created within the nobilities of both countries which had repercussions for who became the next ruling monarch. Trade was badly affected and peasants were incessantly taxed, which caused several major rebellions, but there were more positive developments such as the creation of more competent and regularised tax offices and the trend towards more professional diplomacy in international relations. The war also produced enduring and iconic national heroes, notably Henry V of England (r. 1413-1422 CE) and Joan of Arc (1412-1431 CE) in France. Finally, such a long conflict against a clearly identifiable enemy resulted in both participants forging a much greater sense of nationhood. Even today, a rivalry still continues between these two neighbouring countries, now, fortunately, largely expressed within the confines of international sporting events. Another consequence of the military successes was the revival of medieval chivalry, especially by Edward III who, along with his son Edward the Black Prince (1330-1376 CE), founded the exclusive chivalric Order of the Garter c. 1348 CE which still survives today. Saint George, the patron of the order, was now firmly established as a national saint of a confident country finally on equal military terms with the French. By the end of the war, England became wholly separated from the affairs of the Continent and was already moving towards a more 'English' cultural identity where the English language was spoken at court and used in official documents, and where customs and the view of the world were now firmly part of an island outlook. France, meanwhile, was richer and more powerful than ever before and ready to expand its interests on the Continent, notably in Italy. Finally, the war created enduring national heroes who continue to be celebrated today in popular culture. In England, Henry V became a legend in his own lifetime after his stunning victory at the 1415 CE Battle of Agincourt against enormous odds and, thanks to writers such as William Shakespeare (1564-1616 CE), his star has risen only ever higher as Henry V continues to be performed, filmed, and quoted. In France, Joan of Arc became the great figure of the conflict as her heavenly visions inspired her to lift the siege of Orleans in 1429 CE, turning the tide of the war. Joan was burnt at the stake as a witch but, made a saint in 1920 CE, she still today symbolises defiance against the odds and French patriotism. Both countries, then, have created a mythology of the Hundred Years' War, a now long-past time where the enemy was clear, the heroes were virtuous and the victories golden.

[laurelwen]

Nigel's Book Details: Spread Two

Using the order in which each spread is presented in the scene where Alex finally reads through Nigel's book, this is the second spread.

Text

The text included at the top left of the page is illegible, sadly. However, the handwriting seen here leads me to believe that it is Nigel's own notes, rather than an excerpt cut or photocopied from another book. This becomes apparent when compared to a sample of his handwriting taken from one of his notebooks, as below.

Map

The left side of the page features a map larger than the page itself and thus folded over. This map clearly shows the Levant, presumably at the time of the Crusades since that is the focus of Nigel's mythology. The color of the paper and the style of the map suggest that this item was pulled out of a fairly old book. There are probably thousands of maps drawn of this area in this time period, and there is sadly no way to identify this specific map or where it came from.

Just to give an overview of what this map is presenting, here are a few other maps of the area in this time period. The fourth map included below is from my post regarding the Battle of Forbie.

The Knights: Brass Rubbings of Tomb Effigies

The right side of the page centers on one large, very clear image. These three figures are very clearly knights wearing armor and carrying weapons and shields. I recognized the imagery and was able to track down a great deal of information regarding this item.

These are reproductions (rubbings) of monumental brass, "a type of engraved sepulchral memorial once found through Western Europe, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood. Made of hard latten or sheet brass, let into the pavement, and thus forming no obstruction in the space required for the services of the church, they speedily came into general use, and continued to be a favourite style of sepulchral memorial for three centuries." There are possibly around 4000 of these effigies remaining in English churches in the present day. The practice of recording brasses through a process of rubbing originates from the Victorian Gothic Revival.

Knight 1: Sir Roger de Trumpington, d. 1289

He is in the cross-legged position found on the earliest brasses and in three-dimensional recumbent statues. This may allude to a knight's participation in a crusade, since the Knights Templar were often represented in effigies with their legs crossed in honor of the cross. Others believe the position means the person was a benefactor of the church. In 1270, he accompanied Prince Edward, Henry III's heir, on the seventh Crusade to free the Holy Land. eight years later the prince, now King Edward I, drew up a list of 38 knights to take part in a tournament at Windsor Park; one participant was Sir Roger de Trumpington. Sir Roger thus used the tilting helmet seen on his brass---indeed, the helmet has a staple on top to hold his crest or a lady's kerchief. He is the only known Crusader to be represented in a brass in England.

Knight 2: Sir Robert de Setvans(or Septvans), d. 1306

From a brass in St Mary's Church, Chartham, Kent. Sir Robert was custodian of Rochester Castle during the reign of Edward I and fought during the wars against the Scots. He died in 1306.  In chain mail armour. His surcoat, ailettes and shield charged with winnowing fans, his armorial device. His name means seven fans. Father of Joan de Cobham.

Knight 3: Sir John Daubernon, d. 1277

The earliest brass now extant is that of 1277 at Stoke d’Abernon. The figure of Sir John Daubernon shows the armour which had been worn for the last three centuries. He is in chain mail with coif de mailles, hawberk and chausses complete, but the junctions of these are not distinct. Single-pointed prickspurs are buckled round the ankles. The only sign of the coming change to plate armour are the genowilléres, which protect the knees and are adorned with a fine pattern. They were probably at first made of leather, but later were of plate. Over the mail is a linen surcoat, drawn tight round the waist by a cord. Suspended upon his left shoulder is his shield, small and heater-shaped, charged with his arms: azure, a chevron or. The ground of the shield is in actual enamel—an almost unique feature. The cross-handled sword is attached to a broad belt and hangs in front of the body. This is the only brass which shows the lance. His feet rest on a lion, which is said to signify that he fell in battle. His legs are not crossed, unlike the other knights of the Surcoat Period.

The indents in the marble surrounding his brass form the letters of his inscription, now lost since all the brass letters sunk into the indents are missing. It reads as follows: SIR: JOHAN: DAUBERNOUN: CHIVALER: GIST: ICY: DEU: DE: SA: ALME: EYT: MERCY. (Sir John D'Aubernoun, knight, lies here. God have mercy on his soul.") A Roger D'Aubernoun came over from Normandy to England with William the Conqueror in 1066. His name probably derived from the river Aube in Picardy and Burgundy. Gilbert D'Aubernoun, Sir John's father, died in 1236 when his son was still a minor. Sir John became sheriff for the shires (counties) of Surrey and Sussex in 1264 and again in 1266. In 1253, he gained the rights to Albury Manor, as well as judicial authority in his village of Stoke D'Aubernoun. He died before 1278, the year his son, John, received his father's lands.

The Crossed Legs

From an abstract for a journal article regarding this topic:

Since the sixteenth century, both scholarly and popular readings of tomb monuments have assigned a series of interpretations to medieval effigies with crossed legs. These have included the beliefs that the effigies dated from before the Norman Conquest; that they commemorated crusaders, or those who had taken crusading vows; and that they commemorated Knights Templar. The ‘crusader’ theory has proved particularly tenacious, and, although largely discredited by scholars, continues to flourish in folk wisdom.

It would seem that recent scholarship has debunked this connection, but due to the paywall gatekeeping bullshit of Academia, I haven't been able to find the exact scholarship in question. Since the idea remains persistent, we can assume that Nigel thought of the knights depicted as being connected to the Templars and therefore worthy of inclusion in his bible. To go one step further into speculation, perhaps he even had personal reasons for including these three, such as common ancestry.

Further Reading:

Brasses, by J.S.M. Ward, 1912 (public domain book on archive.org)

Antiquarian Attitudes: Crossed Legs, Crusaders and the Evolution of an Idea (paywalled journal article)

Brass Rubbings at the V&A Museum website

Brass Rubbings: Catalogue of Rubbings of Brasses and Incised Slabs. Victoria & Albert Museum. by Muriel Clayton (1969-02-01), featuring Sir Roger and Sir Robert on the cover. It is my suspicion that the prop makers pulled their images from this book:

[Nigel's Book Details: Spread One] [Like Minds Masterpost]

[docgold13]

Heroes & Villains The DC Animated Universe - Paper Cut-Out Portraits and Profiles

DeeDee

With the Joker apparently dead, Harleen Quinzelle was finally free of the Clown Prince of Crime’s enthralling influence.  She retired from her role as a super villain and carved out a life for herself a life as a civilian.

Some forty years later, the reformed villain found herself caring for a pair of twin granddaughters named Delia and Deirdre Dennis.  These two sisters were quite the handful. Although ‘Grandma Harley’ did her best to steer them in the right it was not to be as the sisters had inherited from their grandmother her hunger for action and mayhem as well as the propensity to fall under the sway of smooth-talking scoundrels done up like clowns.  

In their early teens, Delia and Deirdre fell in with the gang of hooligans known as The Jokerz.  Both sisters were highly accomplished gymnasts and hand-to-hand fighters and they took on the joint alias of ‘DeeDee.’  At first they joined a gang led by an angry cad named Bonk, but it was not long before the gang was taken over by a mysterious man who by all rights appeared to be a resurrected Joker.

The Joker sent the gang to steel various components that would eventually enable him to take control of an orbital weapons platform that could fire destructive particle beams down unto earth.  The gang remained largely in the dark of the leader’s ultimately plan and, in that he had viciously murdered Bonk, none were brave enough to question the matter.   

Batman was ultimately able to thwart this plan and stop The Joker.  DeeDee and the rest of the Jokerz gang were apprehended.  In that Delia and Deirdre were both minors, the sisters were released into their grandmother’s care.

Both Delia and Deirdre were voiced by actress Melissa Joan Hart and appeared in the animated feature, Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker.

[gavalaa]

Sketches of all my redone designs for my Phantom Thieves from my AU, Icarus! Lots of info down below on the cut, so if you want to know more about the details and inspiration, feel free to keep reading!

This includes Akechi’s design for his Princely/Robin Hood attire, BEFORE his Icarus attire you might have seen from my other posts! Check out the Icarus AU tag for more info! Icarus has a main focus on Akechi and his relationship to the thieves, but the AU is actually an entire rewrite with new designs, 3rd semester and epilogue/strikers/tactica stories, hence Zenkichi and Sophia’s inclusion.

Read below for individual info:

I decided to include more motifs towards their persona’s and general vibes; and also just my own personal touches haha.

AKIRA - Not much has changed, I really like his design overall. I raised his boots to be like Arsene’s and changed his neck area.

MORGANA - I hate the OG pill shaped head, his new design is based heavily on the shape of Palico’s from Monster Hunter. Added a little more nod to Zorro/His persona motifs and also just made him cuter! Little hamburger headed cat.

RYUJI - I made him a little bulkier and gave some more weight to his outfit overall. I gave him heavier boots and a slightly buffer build to relate back more to his sporty style.

ANN - honestly was never too big on her latex outfit, I wanted to call back to a personal favorite female lead; Christine Daae, and used one of the versions of her Don Juan costume as inspiration. I remember seeing Phantom live and in many stage versions of her character, the Don Juan scene was a pure moment of female control, and she was truly working the Phantom and controlling every movement on the stage. Her presence is commanding, and I thought it was a very fitting tribute to Ann’s character as feminine strength. (I’m absolutely not referring to the movie iteration of Daae btw.)

YUSUKE - I referred to some historical art and legend of Goemon to add more elements of design to his outfit. When I color them, I want to add some really strong pops of color to his clothing to really drive the aesthetics and artistry home.

MAKOTO - Another totally redid outfit, I opted to give her a design which relates back to Popess Joan, and also Anat. I gave her a clawed hand on her right side and an uncovered hand on her left as both a nod to Anat’s hand raised in iconography of her from art history, but also to show the duality of Anat’s title as both a goddess of war, and of love. It also relates to the mythology of Joan and her nature as both a leader and a martyr. I changed her mask to a Venetian Commedia mask as well.

FUTABA - ok. I’ll be honest. I never liked her skin-tight outfit, it just doesn’t match her personality at all. Also, the high tech Egyptian feel never really sold me. I totally understand the tomb thing, but I truthfully think a dungeon/palace which was more like… tech/nerd themed would have been much more “futaba” the inspiration for this new outfit relates back to her persona, the Necromomicon, as well as her nerdy personality, and her affiliation as Alibaba (Ali Baba.) I wanted to go more lovecraftian, long sleeves and patterning designed to look more like lovecraftian tendrils, and big baggy pants and her classic shoes to match. The patterning on her undershirt will resemble a rib cage, both as a reference to her deathly “tomb” iconography, but also to Lovecraftian and Necronomicon lore. I think she matches the description of a nerdy, techie DND dungeon master more than the initial outfit, so that’s the route I took personally.

HARU - relating back to some fashions from 17th c France, where Milady’s story (the three musketeers) takes place, I kept her design relatively similar. I just gave her a little more iconography relating to the three musketeers and that general timeframe.

AKECHI - in his pre-Icarus outfit, I’ve given him a princely sort of outfit befitting of his two faced nature, and edited it to relate to Robin Hood a little more. I tried to keep it sleek and just generally very concealing and layered.

SUMIRE - i gave her some iconography relating back to one of her personas, who is an inference to Freya. I also included some more nods to classic Cinderella, with fantasy gown elements. Overall, relatively similar.

ZENKICHI - again, relatively similar, I really like his outfit. I just opened up the face some to show more personality and spiced up the outfit generally to keep it matching. honestly, les mis/Valjean was a hard one, but I also think his character could be heavily related back to Edmond Dante (Monte Cristo.) so I gave some nods to that as well.

SOPHIA - I turned her into a FINGIE!!!! I made her whole dress as a nod to her persona/to pandora’s tiles around her/the pillars. I wanted to make her small and almost unnatural since she’s an AI, and I thought having a little guy on the team would add some more variation.

[tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors]

If laoft characters hadn't already had names, what names would you have chosen?

ooooooh okay so ironically. they did almost, technically, kind of, have different names

in my VERY first notes reference for laoft, literally written in my phone the day after CLBG aired and i desperately wanted to make a really cool role for what i thought was the series newly introduced antagonist, was a list of characters "true names"

basically, i was going to take the idea of being careful with your true name to the maximal extreme, to the point that your "true name" in wickhills wasnt even your legal name, but a completely secret name that only you and your parents knew. Logan, Patton, Virgil, Roman were all going to be "outer names" and these new names i wrote would be the true ones.

and also that these names got little add ons as you aged and met certain milestones, developed certain traits. i dont know if any of you have read eragon (and i dont reccommend you do) but it had a similar system

so Patton was going to be born "Adal" (righteous, sincere, noble), and then sometime in toddlerhood gain become "Adalwin" (Win meaning friend. He gained Eulalos (which i later reused the feminine form for Eulalia the parakeet!) when he got his gift, and "Clement" (Gentle) when he befriended Logan.

Roman was born "Wynne" (friend), which became "Hartwin" as a toddler ("hart" meaning brave, or a male deer). around the time he started hunting fae he gained the second name "Kemp" (warrior) and after the deal gained "Alcaeus" meaning "strength"

Logan i never settled on, but the top contenders were "Mattan" (gift), "Epiphanes" (appearing) and "Irenaeus" (peaceful). i also played around with the idea of matching twinny names for Logan and Thomas. Samson and Jericho (sun and moon), Florus and Thales (flower and blossom), Artemidoros and Apollodoros (gifts of the moon and sun, respectively).

And you've actually already seen what Virgil's was going to be, or at least part of it. "Brennus" the name of Virgil's character in the Fair Folk and Fortresses universe, was my pick for his first name, and the full thing was going to be "Brennus Aelfric Sitheach"

Brennus can mean king/prince or raven, Aelfric means elf-king, and Sitheach means fairy-like. i also had this idea i thought was clever that the reason the curse worked so well was because it changed his true name from "Aelfric" to "Aelfstan" (Elf Stone) ie froze him to stone

like i said this was literally my very first laoft document, so none of this really survived once i started worldbuilding in earnest, mostly because as you can see it would have been really just wildly impractical.

its so old that it still has the name of Thomas's IRL friends as classmates (joan valerie talyn etc) from before i decided i wanted to use cartoon therapy characters instead and save the fictionalized real friends for thomas to meet in college AND from when i was still assuming it was going to be moxiety and logince.

changing the two separate romantic plots in The Darkest Part Of The Forest to one poly love "triangle" was the point where i really started to diverge from "making a one-to-one DPOTF au" to making something that was more personal to me. im not even entirely sure if i'd call this particular document LAOFT LoreTM but its definitely a step in the process i think is kinda neat!

[fancyfeathers]

Society of Protection (Yandere Bungo Bungou Stray Dogs x reader x original characters) (normalized yandere au)

Chapter Twenty Two, The Genius That Leads

(A/N- I read Romeo and Juliet before writing this and now I love the idea of William being called the prince of cats like Tybalt because of their similarities and that being the story much of his character is based on)

Prologue and oc intro

Chapter one

Chapter two

Chapter three

Chapter four

Chapter five

Chapter six

Chapter seven, part one

Chapter seven, part two

Chapter eight

Chapter nine

Chapter ten

Chapter eleven

Chapter twelve

Chapter thirteen

Chapter fourteen

Chapter fifteen

Chapter sixteen

Chapter seventeen

Chapter eighteen

Chapter nineteen

Chapter twenty

Chapter twenty, part two

Chapter twenty one

“Deal.” The moment you said that a smile came across his face. You glanced back at the book you were asked to retrieve, before he could say something you grabbed it from the table. You looked back over at him, keeping the book curled up in your arm. “Not a word.”

“Only if you keep your end of the deal, doll,” Ayatsuji replied as he shoved his hands in his pockets. “You’ll have a hard time hiding that book at the party, what do you plan on doing?”

“I will be leaving early, I have my own matters to tend to.” You took out your phone, ready to call your driver to pick you up. “The Society is not the only affair that keeps me busy. There is something I need to get to the bottom of, a mystery if you will.”

“How interesting, but you are not a detective, are you?” He hums, tapping his gloved finger against his cheek. His eyes are fixed on you, scanning over your form, trying to find any sign of what you are thinking.

“Perhaps, it is a family profession after all.” You picked up the skirt of your dress and began making your way towards the door. You spared him a glance as you pushed open the door to the hallway. “Now I suppose I’ll see you soon enough and hopefully we will be on the same side of the playing field. Goodbye, have a lovely evening, detective.”

“We will see…”

You stepped out into the long hallway, slowly making your way to the garage where your driver would be picking you up. You looked down at your phone, dialing up your driver’s number. The ringing mixed with the echoing of your heeled shoes as they clicked against the floor. You were a far enough distance away from the auction hall that you knew Ayatsuji was not following you, but something still felt off. You felt yourself grow more tense as you walked along the hall, as if someone was watching you. The mixture of clicking and ringing did not help calm your nerves, only blocking out another one of your senses…

Click…

Ring…

Click…

Ring…

Click…

Ring…

Click…

Ring-

You heard the line get cut at the sound of your phone getting a call. You pulled your phone away to see who was calling you, you looked down to see the contact name as none other than William Shakespeare. You hit the bright green button on the screen without hesitation, answering the call as you held it up to your ear.

“William, I have the book-“

“(Name), I need you to come to room two-three-six, the plan has changed.” You heard William’s voice speak to you, but he was not worried, not bothered, if anything he was… happy? “Things may be turning in our favor after all.”

Did he find Miss Jane already? Thoughts ran through your mind as you made your way down through the floors of the hotel. The clicking of your heels rang through the halls, everything was silent except the clicking of those heels. Soon enough you came to the door, knocking once and the door was answered not even a moment later. It was answered not a moment later by a familiar face, just not one you were expecting.

“Joan?”

Before you stood the maid who was one of the first people you met at the Society’s headquarters, only she was dressed in an outfit suited for business, a black suit and a blue plaid tie. Her long blond hair was down, not up in her usual bun that also let her blue eyes be on display. She smiled back at you, a soft sigh escaping her lips as she stepped aside to allow you to come in. “It seems we have quite a bit to explain to you.”

“What do you mean- Oh!” You cut yourself off as you entered the room, turning your head to see sitting at the table of the luxury room the familiar face of William who summoned you along with-

“I apologize for setting you up, (Name).” Those words escaped those lips, soft and gentle as always. You saw sitting at the table with William, the form of Miss Jane. She was not dressed how you expected, she herself wore a black vest over a white button up, a long blue skirt, it was simple but elegant. She rested her head against her hand, a smile coming across her face. “The truth is, I never turned myself into Fitzgerald, I would never dream of it.”

You heard the sound of the person you once thought to be a maid closing the door behind you as she approached the table. William looked over at you with a smile, before a laugh escaped from his lips. “Honestly it surprised me as well, but Jane, Wells, and Leroux fooled us all.”

“Wells?” You turned to look at the woman who opened the door for you, was that Joan’s real name? Who was she really?

“Ah yes, let me properly introduce you,” Jane said, reaching out a hand over to the woman standing beside you. “This is an old friend of mine from my work in England when I was looking for capable individuals to join the Society. May I introduce to you H.G. Wells, she has been the one keeping our Society safe from the shadows this whole time along with the one who has been brewing up those  updates  on where I was for Emma and the others that led to this elaborate planning for this ball that fit into the plan I devised with Wells and Leroux.”

“But Gaston is missing, I found his blood in the room along with-“

“Not missing, he is exactly where he needs to be in this plan.” Wells cut in, coming to sit down on the couch not too far from the table, swinging her arms over the back of the couch and crossing her legs. “Leroux was kidnapped by a well-known European criminal known as Nikolai Gogol. Due to Gaston’s time working with the European Union when tracking down Fyodor Dostoevsky, he found evidence that the two had connections to one another.”

“So this all has to do with Fyodor, doesn’t it?” You asked, glancing around the room at everyone.

“Exactly, Gaston had informed me of what happened when he was asked by the Port Mafia to look into the disappearance of one of their executives who had Fyodor in their custody. We immediately knew Fyodor was planning something.” Jane nodded to your question and answered as it all was obvious. “We knew that the Port Mafia would be wanting any information they could in Fyodor after so even before all this we had all of Gaston’s observations from his work in European Union on Fyodor printed into a book and set up to be sold at an auction, that’s the same book you are holding now. We planned on dangling a carrot for the Port Mafia to desire and for Fyodor to destroy.”

You glanced down at the book you held, this was all a ploy. 

“I apologize for you having to be a pawn in all of this, but you played your role wonderfully.” Jane complemented with a smile, a giggle escaping her voice. “Now Gaston has Fyodor under constant surveillance and that  rat  has no idea, he will practically reveal everything to us and that bastard has no eyes on us because he is so focused on the Armed Detective Agency and the Port Mafia.”

“I see, I have just a few questions…” You found yourself sitting down at the table along with the others, you felt yourself crew at your lower lip in thought. “How did you fake yourself leaving at the mansion all those months ago and how did you know that Nikolai would be here?”

“Ah, well the first answer is with Ms. Wells and her ability. She was disgusted as the driver who brought the two of us there. That envelope I gave her with the instruction to  open when the time was right  was all she needed to know what to do.” You glanced over at the woman on the couch, she was disgusted as a maid for all these months, what was stopping her from being disguised as a driver? “You see Wells’ ability is called Time Machine and allows her to manipulate time itself. So inside the envelope told her the exact time to activate her ability, when you got inside the car. She activated her ability on me, giving me 3300 seconds to go back in time myself and slip away from Fitzgerald, who was also used as a pawn in all of this. After that I returned to Europe for a few months, working with some old friends of mine in the Order of the Clocktower, but I am afraid that is trivial at the current moment.”

“I did not expect for you to be this much of a mastermind, Miss Jane.” You heard William chuckle as he crossed his legs with a closed-eyed smile. “But I suppose I should have expected that from the leader of the Society of Protection.”

“Well, I do pride myself on my understanding of the human mind, so manipulating it with both my plans and my ability is all too easy, no offense my dear (Name).” Jane apologized with a smile which you nodded to.

“None was taken, Miss Jane. After all, I have quite a lot to still learn.” You giggled along with her smile, which was true you did have so much to learn compared to the actual geniuses that hid within the Society. “But what of my second question?”

“Ah, about Nikolai, well that is thanks to your visit to Mr. Tonan with Leroux and Dr. Stevenson such a long time ago. Do you remember his assistant and the strange behavior he had?” You nodded at Jane’s question which caused her to hum. “I did not believe him at first, just a strange assistant and nothing more, at least that is what I thought at first. As you know Gaston is a composer at the Paris Opera House, a theater, he has experience with actors and the art of such so it is easy for him to tell when one is acting. He told me that he forced the attitude of a sane man to have a perfect accent, but not to one who works with actors from that part of the world every day, so detecting a fake accent was child’s play for him.”

“So Mr. Tonan’s assistant is Nikolai in disguise?” You asked, most. to yourself as you pondered the question and then it clicked. “Wait, Mr. Tonan and his assistant were invited to the ball, so Nikolai was among the guests.”

“Just as planned, they fell into our trap like rats.” Wells smiles as she speaks, running her hand through her hair. “And now we will trap them all like rats, all of them running in a maze they don’t even know.”

[cloudcover23]

Some Jecily art. I have a big time crush on Joan’s VA

[book--brackets]

Summaries under the cut

The Wolves Chronicles by Joan Aiken

Wicked wolves and a grim governess threaten Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia when Bonnie's parents leave Willoughby Chase for a sea voyage. Left in the care of the cruel Miss Slighcarp, the girls can hardly believe what is happening to their once happy home. The servants are dismissed, the furniture is sold, and Bonnie and Sylvia are sent to a prison-like orphan school. It seems as if the endless hours of drudgery will never cease.

With the help of Simon the gooseboy and his flock, they escape. But how will they ever get Willoughby Chase free from the clutches of the evil Miss Slighcarp?

Leven Thumps by Obert Skye

Fourteen-year-old Leven Thumps (a.k.a. "Lev") lives a wretched life in Burnt Culvert, Oklahoma. But his life is about to change and his destiny be fulfilled as he learns about a secret gateway that bridges two worlds -- the real world and Foo, a place created at the beginning of time in the folds of the mind that makes it possible for mankind to dream and hope, aspire and imagine. But Foo is in chaos, and three transplants from that dreamworld have been sent to retrieve Lev, who alone has the power to save Foo.

Enter Clover, a wisecracking, foot-high sidekick; Winter, a girl with a special power of her own; and Geth, the rightful heir to Foo. Their mission: to convince Lev that he has the power to save Foo. Can this unique band of travelers help Lev overcome his doubt? Will Lev find the gateway in time? Or will Sabine and his dark shadows find the gateway first and destroy mankind?

Greenglass House by Kate Milford

It’s wintertime at Greenglass House. The creaky smuggler’s inn is always quiet during this season, and twelve-year-old Milo, the innkeepers’ adopted son, plans to spend his holidays relaxing. But on the first icy night of vacation, out of nowhere, the guest bell rings. Then rings again. And again. Soon Milo’s home is bursting with odd, secretive guests, each one bearing a strange story that is somehow connected to the rambling old house. As objects go missing and tempers flare, Milo and Meddy, the cook’s daughter, must decipher clues and untangle the web of deepening mysteries to discover the truth about Greenglass House—and themselves.

Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl

This book is filled with revolting rhymes. (Be warned: It's no ordinary Once upon a time).

There's poor Cindy whose heart was torn to shreds, because her Prince, he chops off heads!

Snow White's dwarfs although awfully nice, are guilty of one shocking vice . . .

And what becomes of Goldilocks, that nasty thieving little louse, when she goes sneaking around the three bear's house . . .

Loser by Jerry Spinelli

Just like other kids, Zinkoff rides his bike, hopes for snow days, and wants to be like his dad when he grows up. But Zinkoff also raises his hand with all the wrong answers, trips over his own feet, and falls down with laughter over a word like "Jabip."

Other kids have their own word to describe him, but Zinkoff is too busy to hear it. He doesn't know he's not like everyone else. And one winter night, Zinkoff's differences show that any name can someday become "hero."

Ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

And if I should die before I awake,

I pray the popular attend my wake.

Charlotte Usher feels practically invisible at school, and then one day she really is invisible. Even worse: she's dead. And all because she choked on a gummy bear. But being dead doesn't stop Charlotte from wanting to be popular; it just makes her more creative about achieving her goal.

What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge

Twelve-year-old Katy is constantly making and quickly breaking resolutions about how she will change her ways and treat others, especially her five younger brothers and sisters, with more respect and compassion. When Katy meets her Cousin Helen, an invalid, Katy is awed by her kindness, prettiness, and generosity. Katy is determined to become more like Helen, a resolution that lasts only a few hours. Soon, however, Katy gets a chance to become more like cousin Helen than she ever wished as she finds herself confined to her bedroom for four years as a result of an accident.

Merlin by T. A. Barron

A raging sea tosses a boy upon the shores of ancient Wales. Left for dead, he has no memory, no name, and no home. But it is his determination to find out who he is - to learn the truth about his mysterious powers - that leads him to a strange and enchanted land. And it is there he discovers that the fate of this land and his personal quest are strangely entwined.

He is destined to become the greatest wizard of all time--known to all as Merlin.

Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm

Meet Babymouse--the spunky mouse beloved by young readers for more than a decade! Babymouse wants an invite to the hottest slumber party in town. But will she forget all about her plans with her best friend? This groundbreaking young graphic novel, full of humor and fun, is the first in the bestselling series that’s sold more than three million copies!

It's the same thing every day for Babymouse. Where is the glamour? The excitement? The fame?!? Nothing ever changes, until…Babymouse hears about Felicia Furrypaws's exclusive slumber party. Will Babymouse get invited? Will her best friend, Wilson, forgive her if she misses their monster movie marathon? Find out in Babymouse #1: Queen of the World!

Austin Family Chronicles by Madeleine L'Engle

Vicky Austin and her siblings must adjust to the presence of a new member of the household-Maggy Hamilton, who is orphaned when her father is killed in a plane crash. Maggy is at first petulant and spoiled, but gradually opens her heart to the Austins to become one of the family.

[mariacallous]

Griffin Dunne has just written a book. He had been meaning to do so for ages. It was one of the items on his bucket list: learn a musical instrument, master Spanish and write his damn memoir. “One down, two to go,” he says, beaming in via video link from his home in upstate New York. The actor and film-maker turns 69 this weekend. He reckons that still leaves him time for the music and Spanish.

Dunne imagined his memoir as a family portrait in the style of David Sedaris’s Me Talk Pretty One Day. He pictured something light on its toes, witty and poignant, a weave of essays and anecdotes. But then the book changed direction, as though it had a will of its own. It went where it wanted and needed to go. He says: “On some level, I knew there was this big subject ahead. And so, as I’m writing the book, I’m thinking: oh, OK, I know where this is going now.” The story leads to the scene of a 40-year-old crime. It revisits the death of Dunne’s younger sister, Dominique, and the grisly murder trial that followed.

I tell Dunne I really like the book, which sounds crass in the circumstances, but is true. While The Friday Afternoon Club is about the death of a loved one, it’s full of light, life and colour. It’s a startling tale of precarious American privilege, spotlighting a family that is blessed and cursed.

Dunne casts himself as the Hollywood prince at its centre, surrounded by famous faces, clamouring to be noticed. He tells how Sean Connery rescued him from the family swimming pool, how Billy Wilder critiqued his childhood pranks and how he roomed with Carrie Fisher before she went off to make Star Wars (“This movie is going to be a fucking disaster,” she said). Dunne was raised among storytellers (his dad and uncle were authors; Joan Didion was his aunt) and he writes with a loose, easy swagger. His memoir is tart, buoyant and playful right up to the moment it’s not.

In the early 1980s, when he was in his 20s, Dunne was hitting his stride as an actor. He had secured his breakout role in 1981’s An American Werewolf in London, playing the undead grad student Jack Goodman, doomed to haunt the adult cinemas of Soho. His 22-year-old sister was also faring well, having co-starred in 1982’s Poltergeist. But, on 30 October 1982, Dominique was strangled by her ex-boyfriend, John Sweeney, and died in hospital five days later. The trial, says Dunne, was outrageous, a farce. Implicitly, it seemed to put the Dunnes in the dock, framing the bereaved family members as frivolous dandies. Sweeney was convicted of manslaughter, but acquitted of murder. He served just three and a half years in prison.

Four decades on, Dunne’s account of events burns with rage. He is furious with the judge who intervened to block crucial evidence. He is furious with the killer’s employers (the Los Angeles restaurant Ma Maison), who stepped in to pay his legal fees. He is furious with Dominique’s then co-star, David Packer, who remained inside the house while Dominique was being attacked outside. “All the old anger got re-stoked,” he says. “I tapped right back into my vengeful side.”

During the trial, Dunne was approached by a mobster who offered to have Sweeney killed. He discussed the idea with his brother, Alex. “At that time, we would have been diagnosed as crazy people,” he says. “I told my brother that we had an opportunity to have the killer dealt with in the county jail. We decided not to kill him, but to mess him up, to have his hands smashed, like we were ordering pizza and choosing different toppings from the menu. And that was just the beginning of our madness; it carried right through. Even writing it down, I thought: I’ve got to let this go, because you can’t live in hate.”

In the end, they did nothing. Dominique’s killer changed his name after being released from prison and is likely still alive today. “I will neither forgive nor forget,” Dunne says. “But I’m not going to let that be the A-story of my sister’s life.”

Dominique was a victim, but that doesn’t make her life tragic. What is clear from the book is that people adored her. She comes across as whip-smart and droll, grounded and private. “She was a serious, substantial person,” he says. “Serious about her acting, her animals, her family. And, actually, rather intimidating, even though she was the youngest of the family.”

Dominique cared for their mother, Ellen, who had multiple sclerosis. She also cared for their father, Dominick, who was bisexual and closeted and yet confided in her. “So she was somebody we were all a bit in awe of. She was always wise beyond her years.”

She sounds like the family’s moral compass. “Yeah,” he says. “But also a bit bossy. She always knew what she wanted. My brother and I were a little fearful of her. It was like she’d been born already built.”

Dunne, by contrast, was a work in progress. In his memoir, he says that his first word was “taxi” and that he was always in a hurry – always running before he could walk. He was expelled from school for smoking pot. He was “coked to the gills” on the night Dominique was attacked. He was bumptious and entitled. His sister’s death changed him, he says, because how on earth could it not?

“For one thing, I never thought about domestic violence, the abuse of women. I grew up in Los Angeles and when I was in high school, pre-Roman Polanski, it was incredibly common for 13- or 14-year-old girls to be dating guys in their 30s. They’d go to these decadent parties in the hills and then come back and tell us all about it. And that was the culture; it felt exciting. I was unaware of what it meant. But then you have my sister, a 22-year-old girl, who finds herself in a domestic violence relationship with someone who’s twice her weight. So everything looked different to me afterwards.”

Perhaps it affected his career as well. In the mid-1980s, Dunne was on the threshold of stardom. He combined the charm and grace of a leading man with the prickly intelligence of a great character actor. The door kept swinging open, but he seemed to keep shutting it. He turned down The Fly and Sex, Lies, and Videotape in favour of making Who’s That Girl, with Madonna, and a reviled comedy, Me and Him, in which he played a yuppie architect who quarrels with his talking penis.

Dunne’s agent accused him of making “self-destructive choices”. He had always craved fame, only to find that it spooked him. “Too much attention at that time was a little fearsome for me,” he says. “I found it very stressful.” He hesitates. “And also my father,” he adds. “That had a lot to do with it, too.”

Dominick is the third main player in The Friday Afternoon Club, a high-flying producer who came to earth with a crash. He would eventually find his voice as a writer. He became Vanity Fair’s star reporter, first covering the Sweeney case, then the OJ Simpson and Claus von Bülow trials. But the in-between years were hard and humiliating. He suffered a reversal of fortune that took the whole family aback.

“I saw my father fail,” Dunne says. “I watched real failure in action in real time. He was a man who had a big house and a beautiful car and a great job and entertained the most famous actors and directors in the world. And everything was taken away from him, partly through his own actions, but nonetheless. People came out of the woodwork, kicked him when he was down.

“They were like: ‘I always hated you, I always knew you were closeted, you’ll never work again, pack your bags.’ And the effect it had on me, just entering the business as he was being destroyed in that business …” He draws a breath. “Well, it had a lot to do with the choices I made.”

In hindsight, the 1985 black comedy After Hours was his fork in the road. It’s also the picture with which he is most identified. Dunne developed the film as a co-producer and convinced Martin Scorsese to direct. He also took the lead role of repressed Paul Hackett, who embarks on a long, dark night of the soul through the streets of Lower Manhattan.

On set, Scorsese made one big stipulation. He ordered Dunne not to have sex for the duration of the shoot. I am gobsmacked by this, but the actor was unfazed. “It made perfect sense to me,” he says. “I knew what he meant. The character had to be boiling over with this unfulfilled anxiety. You had to see …” He pauses. “Not to be crude, but you had to see the semen build up to where it’s practically coming out of his eyes.”

One Saturday night, though, Dunne cracked and broke the rule. The next day of filming, Scorsese spotted the change and went berserk. “You’ve fucked up the whole picture,” he shouted. “I don’t think I can finish it now.”

Dunne says that he was probably being directed here, too. “Because now I’m afraid. I’m terrified. And it turns out that a certain level of fear is the same as not having sex. So [Scorsese’s] second piece of direction is telling me that I’ve ruined his movie. That’s excellent direction. It brought all the old anxiety back.”

It should have been a tough prospect, sitting down to write his book. Emotionally, because it meant revisiting the worst time of his life. Practically, because the Dunne family had already set the bar high. They are all dead now: his dad in 2009; his journalist-screenwriter uncle, John Gregory Dunne, in 2003; Joan Didion in 2021. But their reputations are daunting. It must have felt as though he were writing in the shadow of Mount Rushmore.

Dunne says it wasn’t that way at all. He had always assumed that writing a book would be a lonely endeavour. In fact, it felt warm, intimate and weirdly convivial. “I didn’t feel daunted, trying to write and being related to all these prominent figures. Quite the opposite. I felt their presence. When I described them, it was like I was seeing them again, living with them again. It was like I was back meeting Joan for the first time. It was as though I was spending time with her and John, my father and my sister,” he says. “They were alive to me. When I finished the book, that was the sad part. It felt like I missed them all over again.”

[isadomna]

Berenguela and Blanche of Castile

Daughters of Alfonso VIII of Castile and Eleanor of England, Berenguela maintained strong connections with her sister Blanche, Queen of France. Their letters are in Latin. Latin was still, at the beginning of the 13th century, the language of writing, while French and Castilian became the languages ​​commonly spoken, even at court. Berenguela and Blanche were well-educated, competent and forceful like their formidable grandmother Eleanor of Aquitaine.

The two sisters will also lead a parallel existence, each exerting, in their own country, a comparable influence. Much like her younger sister Blanche in France, Berenguela presents an interesting case of co-rulership with her son in Castile. Furthermore, both have ties with warfare and played determinant roles in the success of military campaigns as well as access to – and maintenance of – the throne.

Berenguela and Blanche directed a great deal of their personal energy into assuring that all of their children were appropriately married. It was Blanche who suggested sending Joan of Ponthieu as a bride for her nephew Fernando after his first wife's death. Berenguela and Blanche became the mothers of fighting saints King Fernando III and King Louis IX.

In the Archives Nationales de France are nine letters written to King Louis VIII and his wife Blanche of Castile, during Louis’s brief reign from 1223 to 1226. These letters informed Louis VIII that Alfonso VIII of Castile had intended his throne to pass to a son of Louis and Blanche, if his own son Enrique died without heirs. Louis VIII should therefore immediately send his son to Castile, where his correspondents—the scions of several major Castilian noble houses—would take up arms to set him on the throne and overthrow the “foreigner” (alienus) who was in power. The most prominent of these Castilian magnates were Rodrigo Díaz de Cameros and Gonzalo Pérez de Molina. This conspiracy was an explicit attempt to dispose of the current Castilian monarchy and replace it with a new configuration of rulers. It was therefore a far more serious threat than either Rodrigo Díaz’s or Gonzalo Pérez’s earlier revolts had been. And it was aimed squarely at the legitimacy of the reigning monarchs.

The letters’ most perplexing feature is the suggestion that Blanche’s claim to the Castilian throne superseded Berenguela’s. Some historians have even taken this as evidence that Blanche was the elder sister, though that claim is patently false. Yet the plot to overthrow Fernando III was first of all an attempt to unseat Berenguela. It was through her that Fernando III claimed hereditary right and legitimate descent from Alfonso VIII. To say that Alfonso VIII had excluded Berenguela from the succession, and to describe Fernando as a “foreigner,” was to reject the Castilian identity that Berenguela had tried to reclaim during her ten years as a solitary queen in her father’s court, and that she had negotiated with varying success during her regency and the subsequent wars. It was to define her not as the daughter and sister of the latest kings of Castile, but as the cast-off wife of the king of León.

To be sure, Blanche and her sons were at least as French as Berenguela and Fernando III were Leonese. But the rebels were apparently willing to overlook this quibble; their appeal was directed as much to Louis VIII as to his queen. Besides, the threat of union with France was diminished by the fact that Blanche and Louis VIII had no fewer than five living sons at the time that they ruled France. The rebels never insisted that the son sent to them should be Louis VIII’s firstborn, and a younger brother’s accession in Castile considerably reduced the risk of union between the crowns. All five French princes were underage, but so much the better; the minorities of Alfonso VIII and Enrique I had proved how much power nobles could gain in a regency. Louis VIII was sufficiently intrigued by the rebels’ offer to have asked them for proof of their promised support. His wife, however, was likely to be less sympathetic. A combination of Blanche’s unwillingness to contribute to her older sister’s overthrow and Fernando III’s military successes after 1224 probably quashed the plot.

Sources:

JANNA BIANCHINI,THE QUEEN'S HAND: POWER AND AUTHORITY IN THE REIGN OF BERENGUELA OF CASTILE

Regine Pernoud, La Reine Blanche

[whencyclopedia]

Battle of Crécy

The Battle of Crécy on 26 August 1346 CE saw an English army defeat a much larger French force in the first great battle of the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453 CE). Edward III of England (r. 1327-1377 CE) and his son Edward the Black Prince (1330-1376 CE) led their professional army to victory thanks to a good choice of terrain, troop discipline in the heat of battle, use of the devastating weapon the longbow, and the general incompetence of the French leadership under King Philip VI of France (r. 1328-1350 CE). Crécy would be followed up by an even more impressive victory at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 CE as England got off to a flier in a conflict that would rumble on for 116 years.

Back on the medieval battlefield, in July 1347 CE, an English army captured Calais after a long siege. Meanwhile, David II of Scotland (r. 1329-1371 CE) and an ally of Philip VI, had invaded England in October 1346 CE. Durham was the target, but an English army defeated the Scots at the Battle of Neville's Cross on 17 October 1346 CE). King David was captured and Edward III now seemed unstoppable. A decade later, another great victory would come against the French at the Battle of Poitiers in September 1356 CE. This success was even more significant than Crécy because the king of France was captured.

After a period of peace from 1360 CE, the Hundred Years' War carried on as Charles V of France, aka Charles the Wise (r. 1364-1380 CE) proved much more capable than his predecessors and began to claw back the English territorial gains. By 1375 CE, the only lands left in France belonging to the English Crown were Calais and a thin slice of Gascony. During the reign of Richard II of England (r. 1377-1399 CE) there was largely peace between the two nations, but under Henry V of England (r. 1413-1422 CE), the wars flared up again and witnessed the great English victory at the Battle of Agincourt in October 1415 CE. Henry was so successful that he was even nominated as the heir to the French king Charles VI of France (r. 1380-1422 CE). Henry V died before he could take up that position, and the arrival of Joan of Arc (1412-1431 CE) in 1429 CE saw the beginning of a dramatic rise in French fortunes as King Charles VII of France (r. 1422-1461 CE) took the initiative. The weak rule of Henry VI of England (r. 1422-61 & 1470-71 CE) saw a final English defeat as they lost all French territories except Calais at the wars' end in 1453 CE.

Continue reading...

[mercurygray]

Merc,

Could we get a glimpse of Kurt interacting with the MotA characters? Thanks! 🥺

We are shocked to report that as he is in all things, Kurt is being an ass.

If anyone had any ideas about what Captain Warren's boyfriend looked like, Kurt Havermeyer wasn't it.

They were stood down for the weekend, and Harding had been liberal with 48 hour passes, the whole base practically packing themselves off to points south. London felt like a stretch, but Cambridge was handier and the beer cheaper anyway, so they'd shined their shoes and polished their wings, and those among them with an inclination to misbehave made sure all the right tools were in all the right pockets.

"And how 'bout you, Captain?" Douglass had asked with a grin, as the train swayed and screamed out of the station, the flyboys packed into the cars and the corridors, hats cocked just so. "Any hot dates waiting for ya?"

"Meeting up with my boyfriend, actually." Joan had offered, cagily as they came, and glances were exchanged. The Ice Queen - a boyfriend? And just what did he look like? It wasn't like she'd been quick to make friends, the intelligence officer, fresh from OCS and a press tour that would have made a princess proud. That's what she was, wasn't it? A princess?

Well, a princess needed a prince, and here he was - blond and blue-eyed, he proverbial golden boy sunning himself under his own artfully crushed cap, fresh from fighter command and as cocky as they came. When they turned up at the same pub, him proud as a peacock, it came out that he'd shaken down Joan about meeting her freinds, that he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"What is she, ashamed of us?" Bubbles asked Crosby, as Joan almost hid. But after a while, Crosby wasn't inclined to agree - it wasn't them Joan was ashamed of. It was him.

He was loud, Captain Havermeyer, loud and full of his own self importance, rattling on about his plane and his wing like they were only ones fighting the war. Rich, too - he'd been all too clear about that, buying a few rounds for the room like money was nothing. Not a single kind word for the crew, or the plotters - and nothing but noise for the bomber boys. All while Joan sank back quietly into her seat, her own beer untouched, and the men from Thorpe Abbotts fumed and tried to stay on thier best behavior, and not be the yokels from Nebraska he assumed them to be.

They tried to offer common ground - about the beer, and the weather, and the state of the army, and everyone was getting along fine until Kurt, laughing, made some pass about promotions for pretty faces and how they'd let anyone in if she had a good ass - just like Joan, right?

The next moment happened so fast that later on that evening several people were almost sure they'd imagined it - Major Cleven's fist, shooting out to connect with Captain Havermeyer's eye, Havermeyer staggering back with the force of the blow, and Joan's face, stunned behind the two of them shouting in horror, not for Kurt, but for Gale.

"Apologize to the lady." It was a command, not a suggestion, Cleven's voice a half-note lower than his usual gravel.

Kurt surged forward from the floor, quickly held back by the remaining pilots, straining at his coat, his collar. "Who the fuck do you think you are?"

"An officer and a gentleman," Cleven said, serious as a open grave. "Neither of which seem to apply to you."

Kurt snarled, trying to shrug back into his coat, but no one was letting him go just yet. "Joanie, we're leaving."

"No, you're leaving, buddy," Bucky said with a stare that could have spit bullets. "She's staying right here."

He took a step forward, blocking her in, and the others closed ranks around Joan, now very much part of the crowd and staggered a little by her inclusion in a group that until ten minutes ago she'd had never quite been sure she'd had a single friend in. Every man there looked ready to fight, and a couple of the women, too, and Kurt had the good sense, finally, to see that if he tried to start something else here he'd defintely lose.

"We're finished, Joan Warren!" His face was starting to redden and there was split flying when he spoke. "You hear me?"

"Good," some joker (Douglass?) roared from the back, "She can do better."

He sneered at the lot of them and made a quick exit for the door, and the minute he was gone the whole group burst into laughter, with slapped backs for Cleven and beers for everyone and appreciative pats, too, for Joan. "What an asshole." "We can find someone better." "-clean as a whistle and BAM, right in the kisser." "Fuckin' fighters, man. No sense of the team."

Joan made her way to Cleven's elbow, leaning once more against the bar with his cola. "That was…very gallant, of you, Major."

"No one ought to speak like that about a woman he claims to love," Gale said quietly, gently flexing his fingers and rubbing his hand. "You're very good at your job, Captain. Anyone who says otherwise doesn't know what he's talking about." He met her eye and gave her one of his rare small smiles, and she nodded, accepting the compliment as it had come.