#this is about Arthur and Bella and the making of faroe but the way I worded it makes it sound like Arthur and John had unprotected sex

[grayscale-sparks]

I got hit with inspiration after @flying-fangirls made this post and compared Noel to Ophelia

Okay! Buckle up because this post is going to be extremely targeted towards One Person and that person is Me (maybe two if Cherry is into this)

tw for suicide (by drowning) and death including that of a child. Spoilers for all of Hamlet, Malevolent, and The Man in the Mirror

also this is under a cut so yall can ignore me easy <3

Okay!

Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a young girl who has lost everything. When she was young, she lost her mother, although the source material never says to what. During the play, Ophelia loses her father, her love, and her mind. Ophelia is one of the strongest symbols for lack of agency in literature, and has long since inspired many works of art and pieces of media. Including Malevolent.

Malevolent is well known for its lack of women, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t exist prior to the show. Our most obvious examples would be the Lester women. Just like Ophelia, they are plagued from the very beginning with lack of agency. Bella Saltzman, just like her Shakespearean counterpart, lost her mother very young, and lost her infatuation with Arthur just as Ophelia did with Hamlet. Arthur and Hamlet also narratively mirror each other with goals and pride so strong that it destroys everything and everyone he comes across. Bella also loses her father to Arthur, just as Ophelia did. While Arthur did not kill Daniel, it stands to reason that metaphorically he did. He took Bella and their child away from Daniel, leaving him in the dark away from his family. Daniel and Polonius are morally dubious characters, but you can argue that past their manipulation they did care about their daughters.

Now comes in the symbol of drowning. Drowning and water itself is a strong recurring symbol in Malevolent the same way it is in Hamlet. Just like Ophelia, Faroe drowns due to Arthur’s inaction. But the same case can be made for Bella. Bella dies giving birth to Faroe, but the theme of drowning is still present. On the most literal level, the “waters of the womb” is what killed her. However, there is the more metaphorical “drowning” as a symbol for being buried under burden. Faroe herself was a burden that Bella did not want to carry, especially for a man she didn’t love. She was, to make the symbol clear, drowning in responsibility.

now, as the original post describes, there is the matter of Charlie Dowd. While Charlie isn’t as clear of a parallel to the symbol of Ophelia, he is still plagued with lack of agency his entire life. The most notable example was when the King in Yellow took Charlie to the Dreamlands. The King, like the men in Ophelia and Bella’s lives, is a symbol for the one that strips Charlie of his agency and humanity. The King’s manipulation is more literal than that of Hamlet and Arthur, but it is very much present for the entirety of Charlie’s life. In The Man in the Mirror, Charlie has been in the Dreamlands for two years before he attempts to end his life. Charlie attempts to so by drowning himself in a bathtub. Although the attempt is unsuccessful, the intent is still there. The King drove Charlie to madness by taking away everyone he loves and his sense of control. Another example is in canon, Part 40 The Order, where Yellow manipulates Noel. To Noel, he is once again in the Dreamlands. Yellow has shown he can manipulate people into killing themselves in gruesome ways, but he makes Noel jump and fall. We are so transfixed on Ophelia’s drowning that we forget that she fell from the branch into the water. The balcony in the Order represents that branch. Again, this attempt at suicide is not successful, but they are clear parallels to Ophelia’s death.

Ophelia is a recurring theme many stories, and it is especially prevalent in Malevolent in the form of Bella, Faroe, and Charlie. She represents everything that was taken away, and the hopelessness that all three characters felt their entire lives.

…thank you for reading

[arthur-lesters-right-arm]

[In the prison pits]

John: You've been awfully quiet

Arthur: really shouldn't have had unprotected sex that one time

John: what

Arthur: you heard me

[capesch-arts]

After some thinking, I want LA KiY Faroe to be a journalist instead of a detective. And not because she wouldn't cut it as a detective, it's more so she wants to raise awareness on the state of women in the time set she's in.

This is mostly because I've been thinking about Arthur and Faroe's life together before they split, and Arthur encourages her to be someone independent and free from any societal prison (like what Arthur did to Bella), and that carried on over to Faroe in a way where she wants to support women as a whole hehe.

(Also I wanted to explore this same sentiment with Addie. How does she fare with her situation as a woman but in a completely different way than Faroe?)

I do want to say that Faroe would be very focused on writing about injustices or abuse towards women. Giving them a chance to speak out on what happened to them, to make other women speak up.

End game she might have a radio show where she shares anonymous stories from women about things they went through hrmmm.

[fancygremlin]

A breakdown of Arthur’s breakdown.

Part 26 is stuck in my head, so I am going to talk about it.

Arthur’s breakdown of course starts off with the reveal that Larson sacrificed his daughter for power and money.

However, what really reinforces Arthur’s self-loathing are Yellow’s words;

Yellow has no qualms in throwing cruel accusations at Arthur. His intentions were clear and simple: to hurt him in the most devastating ways and where it hurts the most. However, Yellow does all that in a voice that Arthur recognises as John’s.

Ultimately, Arthur is forced to hear the voice of his only friend confirming all his worst fears and convictions. That’s what gets to him: his best friend seeing him as Arthur truly sees himself (irredeemable, rotten, a poor excuse of a human who should have died a long time ago. Someone who is trapping John, and who is forcing John to stay and put up with him).

Arthur is ao distraught that he is almost catatonic as he is carried to the mines. He is unresponsive to Yellow's insults, he has no strength to bite back to Larson's taunts. He just lets himself be dragged by Uncle.

When John finally, miraculously comes back, Arthur is quick to latch onto him. His attempts at interacting with John are however awkward and clumsy. I think that this inability to reconnect with John is because he still cannot distinguish John’s words from Yellow.

After all, if Yellow is John without his memories and without their shared experiences… doesn’t that just mean that deep down Yellow’s opinions reflect John’s in some way? Does John really think of Arthur as a self-centred person, a selfish man, a careless and cruel monster who hides behind fake acts of kindness?

To put these doubts to rest, Arthur decides to project onto John his issues. If he can prove that John is not like Yellow, he can prove to himself that he is not like Larson.

He therefore wastes no time in praising how John has improved… by cruelly comparing him to Yellow and demonising everything about Yellow… which is not right. The things he shows reluctance over were still part of who John was, those were still parts that John had to build upon to become who he is currently.

Ultimately, Arthur is involuntarily preventing John from further forming his own identity by explicitly telling him what he should and shouldn’t do, what he should and shouldn’t be. He is suddenly removing the safety and freedom that he granted John this far to figure his own identity out and is instead setting up arbitrary expectations and rules.

He is just doing to John what he did to Yellow.

These strong attempts in differentiating John and Yellow held a lot more weight, when we consider that he was projecting his own problems onto his friend. That's why he is so explosive and irritated whenever John doesn't agree with him.

He was just trying to grapple for any excuse, any proof that there is something concrete that he can use to define what makes a person good or bad. Because otherwise, there really is no difference between himself and Larson and he cannot bear to see himself in that light. He can’t accept that despite everything he did and tried to improve, deep down he’s still a cruel, heartless monster who killed his own child and went on to live.

When John didn’t give him what he wanted (instead going as far as agreeing with Yellow at one point), Arthur grew more and more anxious and restless. So, the only thing that he had left was to carve out and purge the rotten parts of himself. In any way he could.

Only then will he be a good person. Only then will the scales even. Only then he will stop seeing himself as a murderer and a poor excuse of a human.

He resolves that the only option for him is to kill the parts of himself that he doesn’t want. He decides to kill himself Uncle and make Larson pay.

Clearly these suicidal tendencies have been accompanying with him for a long time, as shown in his emotional reactions when his parents died, when Bella died and when Faroe died. His regret is also shown when he confesses he felt extreme guilt in enjoying the life he managed to build back for himself in Arkham as he was working as a PI with Parker.

Arthur just truly cannot forgive himself and his self-loathing runs so deep it’s almost a part of himself he cannot leave behind.

I like how the doubt Arthur feelings of inaptitude, guilt and self-loathing still linger even after being comforted by John at the end of Season 3:

He is unable to truly move on from his mistakes, he still feels the need to find a piece of irrefutable evidence proving he is a good person and that he can be forgiven. He needs his worries and anxieties to be put to rest.

John's forgiveness isn't enough to move on. Daniel's forgiveness was just enough to convince him he might be a good person who is truly trying to do good.

However, in Part 36, we can see that Arthur has not abandoned his self-loathing, as he still sees no wrong in wanting to kill himself killing Uncle. After Oscar reveals what happened at the orphanage he grew up in, Arthur and John have this exchange:

Arthur is tragically forever stuck waiting for Faroe's forgiveness, which he can never really obtain. She’s dead and there is nothing he can do to get her back…

[unfortunate-copyrights]

i just wanted to make a piece about Arthur being a shity husband in a way that like super dehumanizes Bella and shoves her entirely into the role of only being Faroe's mother despite never even meeting her own daughter. also his whole thing of being absent for both their deaths but only feeling guilt about it for Faroe because she was and is his guiding light

[im-salad-man]

I LOVE MALEVOLENT SM BUT WHY ARE ALL THE WOMEN DEAD OR PLOT PROPS (spoilers up to ep 49 under cut)

I know Harlan Guthrie voices everybody, but like. Where are the women. I know it’s not fair to expect him to put his voice through a filter and heavily edit hours of footage but like, he doesn’t have to do that for us. He can voice a woman who just has his voice, as he’s occasionally done. Idk what he’s said about this, I guess I should do my research to see what his reasoning is. It doesn’t make me dislike malevolent, it just leaves me with some longing for what could have been.

The thing is, there ARE women in the story, but the way I see it, they are mostly either monster or plot device characters. (“Monster” meaning nonhuman, not evil characters). They often are either nonhuman or have very little agency. And the truth is, there’s nothing wrong with a character like that inherently.

Yorick didn’t have agency for a while, and he’s nonhuman, and he’s a very charming addition to the story. But we also have male characters like Oscar and Noel, and the friar (briefly), Daniel, and of course John and Arthur. Many aspects of their personality are just to build realism and humanity, and not solely to move the plot forward, and they have agency, their choices matter. This even applies to Larson, the Butcher, Percival, minor characters and antagonists. The amount of female characters which exist purely to die or be dead just kind of annoys me. Anna stanczyk is not really a character yet (though she may become more significant), and her potential death is held over Arthur’s head as a consequence for his actions. Emily MacFarland is dead before the story starts, and she is a plot device with no written personality that I picked up on (which, again, would be fine if it weren’t so common). Lily (the nurse) exists only as a symbol to bring John into his humanity, which is important, but Lily is not a “real” character. Amanda Cummings is leverage for Arthur’s guilt, being indirectly responsible for her death, and she has no personality I remember hearing about, and again, she is dead before we meet her, and that is the most important thing about her. Same for Kellin’s sister. The old woman who stole the baby, the cultist ghost (?) woman that Arthur killed, the witch, Marie’s sister (host of Mr scratch), Mr scratch herself/alexander the owl, the mother of darkness, Alia, are all nonhuman/monster. These are all cool characters, but they’re not women in the way that humans are women. It just leaves me emptyyy like where are they. They can sound a little different, it’s ok, like you can just make a female character. (Disclaimer, I know there are male characters who died pre-canon, and male plot devices. This is just to say, most of the female characters are pre-canon dead, and most of the pre-canon dead characters are female.)

This leaves Faroe, Bella, and Marie. Marie has depth and charm and exists as her own real person. She is powerless but not for lack of effort or free will. She tells Arthur he’s a good person, and her words carry weight. She had to accept Arthur’s help before she could be helped. I love her I love her so much. Bella being revealed to not love Arthur was important in her personality and her agency as well. Framing her not purely as a victim and source of guilt for Arthur, but as someone trying to improve her circumstances when society is not built for her to be independent, this makes her a real character, even if she’s dead before the story starts. And FAROE. Faroe was so close to being purely a plot device, and then our boy decided to pull maybe my favorite writing choice of the entire series: making it canon, not just faith/hypothetical, that Faroe believes with conviction that her father deserves to live, even though he is responsible for her death. This, especially contrasted with the other boy who chose to slaughter the entire village that killed the stranger who tried to save him from drowning, gives free will and agency not only to a female character, but to a child. It makes a clear statement that children, while young, are people in the same way anyone else is. They have the capacity for immense acts of forgiveness and brutality, which makes Faroe’s CHOICE to forgive significant. While I do want more live female characters, I think it’d obviously be a poor writing choice to bring Faroe back, and I don’t expect this to happen. I just want more live, vibrant female characters. We know that Guthrie can do it, because he has, I just want MORE of it, and I wish they could be ALIVE to interact with Arthur. If anyone has read this far and I’ve made a misstep lmk, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[ghostnotoast]

GET HIS ASS SCRATCH

Okay so I can't be the only one who cries at this scene because of Bella dying alone and in pain (I cry about her a lot actually)

And then Arthur proceeding to say that his plans on leaving Bella with a child (in the 1920s KNOWING the she'd probably have to turn to the father she hates for help) isn't the thing that brought him shame. It wasn't even leaving her to die scared and alone and in pain that brought him shame- it was leaving Faroe alone for an hour. He says 'even my own self loathing knows it was wrong' but that doesn't mean Bella deserved to go through any of that alone?? In the 1920s??? ARTHURRR 😭😭 GIRLLL

Now, think about Arthur's death in part 43, I think his death parallels Bella's with him being uh pregnant???? Can we even call it that?? 😭 Anyway in a way, we could sort of see that as punishment for his past actions and his refusal fully acknowledge how he treated Bella was screwed up (even during the relationship, but Arthur doesn't realise this until Daniel points it out to him)

The difference is Arthur had John, but John didn't give up on him like he did with Bella all those years ago

And of course John didn't give up on him. That dude LOVES Arthur but it also makes me think of when Arthur tells him that he loved Bella but it still felt wrong, and John responds by saying didn't understand- and I think all comes together in part 43 and *gets shot*

BELLA COME HERE I'LL DEFEND YOU

- also side note: The illusions to childbirth in this season have been interesting, I hope we get more Bella content 🙏 mwah I love you Bella

[miracletyrant]

Arthur Lester and living for someone else: an essay I dreamt up while I had the flu

First, some clarification: when I say living for someone else, I mean taking them into consideration in your life. It is not about catering unhealthily to them, or enslaving yourself to their whims. living for someone else is the difference between feeling love for someone and acting on it. It's about treating love as an action.

In episode 31, we learn a lot about Arthur's past. While Bella was giving birth, he said to James, "I can't live for someone else!" and he wasn't wrong. He loves Faroe, even if he didn't love Bella, but he didn't truly live for her. Don't get me wrong; he wasn't a neglectful father. He was kind to her and tried to spend time with her. Ultimately, he made few sacrifices for her, but not none.

Once she was gone and Parker had helped him restore his will to live, he found contentment. And this is the most important part; he wasn't unhappy living for himself, having no one worry about where he was or what he was doing, and having no one depend on him. He was fine.

But he wasn't thriving. Guilt and loss aside, he was living the life he would've, had he never gotten Bella pregnant. And yet, despite everything, despite knowing that he prefers a life lived just for himself, Arthur still said that the time he spent with Faroe--for Faroe, so to speak--was the happiest of his life. He didn't allocate much time to that selfless joy, the joy of telling fairy tales to his little girl, of dedicating time to her, but he was happier with her than he would've been without her. Happier carving out a piece of himself and giving it to her, sharing it with her, hollowing out a space in his world for her to be safe and loved in.

But he did cave to himself. He didn't dedicate as much to her as a father should, because he didn't want to live for someone else.

Cut to episode 20. This is a different Arthur than the man who fathered Faroe. This Arthur has lost absolutely everything, except John.

Arthur has made up his mind. He knows he can't beat the King in Yellow, but he also refuses to let him have John. He knows that John doesn't want to return to the King, and he knows John doesn't want to die. But John has no real agency over his fate, as he is trapped within Arthur. John can't fight back, and he can't run away. The only way he can be protected from those terrible fates is if Arthur puts himself aside entirely and thinks only of John.

So he does. He faces the King, knowing that he might die, knowing that he might fail, but completely unwilling to make a call that would doom John. And the King sees that. That's why, during the confrontation, he says to Arthur, "You despise me... and yet you love him."

That line. That beautiful, poignant line, spoken so contemplatively by the bloodthirsty god of madness. He seeks to understand Arthur, to manipulate him, to find his true intention, and that is what he finds. "You love him" means "You act singularly out of love for John, with his best interest at the core of your every decision."

He knows, because of this, that he has lost. So he chooses to take out his anger on Arthur instead.

It would've been easier for Arthur to give up while his bones were being broken. He was helpless to stop the torment, but he knew he had the knife. He could've killed himself once he realized that he was going to be subject to eternal torture, and it would've made sense. But he didn't. In fact, he begged John not to return to the King even while screaming in agony, even knowing that if John left, the pain would end. Because John's fate mattered more to him than his own. So long as he endured, John would live.

It wasn't until he realized that John was leaving, sacrificing everything for him, that he decided to kill himself. If John was doomed regardless, then this way, at least he would be free from the King. And if Arthur's motivation was at all unclear--perhaps he was sacrificing himself because of all the people the King would hurt once fully restored--he clarifies it later, in season 3.

"I died for you. For a fucking voice in my head, that stole my eyesight. I fucking died for that. Do you have any idea how insane that sounds?"

It does sound insane. But he doesn't even mention the even crazier thing he did; being willing to live for the voice in his head. To live through unfathomable agony and terror of the King's torture, just to protect John. Dying for him was his last resort, because he shares a body with him. Dying for John could only save him from something worse than death.

This means that in order to love John, Arthur has to live for him in every way possible. He has to care for himself in order to care for John. He has to do things he doesn't want to do--like maybe one day sit through a film he can't see--to care for John. Every single experience--good and bad--that he has brings John life and humanity, and every good thing he does shows John how beautiful the world can be. His patience and forgiveness helps John to grow his own sense of compassion.

The core beauty of their relationship lies within this, at least for me. Arthur Lester, a man unable to live for anyone but himself, is put in a position where everything he does has a potent effect on a lost fragment of an eldritch being. And despite what that being is, despite the bloodlust and violence of his entire existence, he slowly becomes someone so full of love and compassion that he can hardly stand to ignore a person in need. Even before growing close with Arthur, he knew compassion from his new desire to grow. He wanted Arthur to spare the wraith in season 1, because he wanted to know that monsters can be saved and redeemed. And he kept growing from there. John shed his first ever tears for an innocent animal. He looked through Arthur's cruel words in season 3 and understood that they were fueled by self-hatred, and he stuck by him and refused to let him drown in his darkest moments. He was willing to risk everything for strangers victimized by a terrible monster. He begged Arthur not to take the stone from Mr. Scratch, because in doing so, someone innocent would have to pay the price.

Of course he isn't perfect (ahem, that whole thing with Oscar), but he has been loved enough to be transformed completely. He has been loved enough to return that love, not only to Arthur, but to people he doesn't know. Because Arthur lived for him.

[women-of-malevolent]

I genuinely don’t mean this from a place of malice, and do think the podcast both has a history of handling its women characters poorly and would like if it were better in that aspect. But I don’t understand the specific criticism of the work having a running theme of “male characters uncritically sacrificing their daughters.” (Key word uncritically.)

The titular Bella episode directly forces Arthur to confront the idea that him and Larson are similar, that the callousness they showed to their loved ones is intentionally paralleled. I don’t think it’s something the story is unaware of, and I’d hesitate to argue that Arthur (or Daniel, later) is presented as being in the definitive right. (In this regard.)

I don’t think you have to love the prevalence of the concept in the narrative, but I do think some of your critique feels like you’re taking the worst interpretation you could from the story and arguing that because the characters themselves don’t actively stop the plot to condemn it (and honestly, they do sometimes) it means the actions are presented as wholly value neutral. Some of your analysis feels like you’re starting from a conclusion and working your way back.

I want to reiterate: I really enjoy most of your critiques, and it’s refreshing to have someone in the fandom both document female presence in the podcast and speak candidly about its flaws. I’d honestly love to know if/why you disagree, either with regards to intentionality or necessity of inclusion.

Hello! Thanks for writing in!

I'm not sure which post you're referencing where I said the daughter-sacrifice theme was uncritically portrayed? Because I don't think it is. The story portrays daughter-sacrifice as varying shades of terrible, graded according to intent. These less-than-ideal men keep hurting the women they should have protected.

My problem with the daughter-sacrifice theme is the same as my problem the rest of the show: it's exclusively about men. Daughters aren't people, they're glass sculptures for men to carry for 18 years, and what those men do with that piece of glass in that time tells you about the character of that man.

Who are Addison, Faroe, Emily, Samantha, Murdered Daughter Of A Senator, fuck even Sarah, if you take away the men who hurt them? Looking at just the text of Malevolent, none of the liveplay games lore or headcanons etc, there's little to nothing to these girls.

You're not invited to spend time inhabiting any woman's life like you are with Arthur (or John, to a significantly lesser extent). You can, and I do, but it feels like reading against the text because their lives are boring, horrible, difficult to parse, and they usually end in childbirth or femicide. It's fucking miserable!

The men are trapped in the same bleak, violent story, and a lot of them die graphically and onscreen, but most of them also get some combo of moments of triumph, personalities, voices, independence, quirks that narratively make that violence go down smoother. (Also smoother because there are so many fun and fascinating male characters)

Also, honestly, I don't enjoy how the theme is explored. It feels shallow and lame to me. I personally, as a listener, don't feel like this specific story has ~earned~ (in my personal, idiosyncratic, things-I-like-in-fiction, subjective assessment) exploring the horror of femicide when 1) there are zero normal, living female characters (Marie is very close, but no cigar); 2) all it seems to really say is basically… murder is bad (sometimes) (usually?) (sometimes, at least), and it's extra bad when men kill their dependent women?

Standard disclaimer that it ain't over 'til it's over, what we got is not great so far but it ain't over

Thank you again and I'd be so happy to continue this conversation if you want!

[tumb1rprincess]

Oh jeez, this nightmare went from weird to scary really fast. My stomach dropped when Kellin started describing Bella’s plaque.

“I’m not scared, I’m pissed off.” lol such an Arthur thing to say.

Oh no, Arthur’s starting to doubt John, he suspects he’s hiding something. And knowing him, he’s just going to ignore this feeling until he decides to act on it at the worst possible time.

Something something about how Faroe drowned, so anytime an entity wants to get Arthur to crack, they make it so he starts drowning and it scares him to death every time

We pretty much knew Arthur was suicidal after Faroe died, but hearing him explicitly say it felt like a punch to the gut. And he mentions his parents too and if him enjoying being untethered meant he was happy Faroe died, oh man, this is getting heavy and Arthur crying always makes me cry. And I know emotions like that are so complicated. Like, feeling any happiness after losing someone can make you feel guilty, you feel like it’s a betrayal to them and you should keep feeling sad and you think you don’t even deserve to be happy. The line “Did that mean, in some small way, I appreciated the death of my child?” is going to be playing on loop in my head for a while though. That line hit really, really hard.

Larson starts quoting the Robert Frost poem and I immediately go “Shut up.” It feels wrong hearing him say it.

Oh my god, oh my god, Arthur was at a fucking tavern and getting drunk and feeling like he wasn’t good enough for Bella or to be a dad and he was one step away from leaving and during that whole time, Bella was dying. Oh god, he wasn’t even there and Faroe was alone. Jesus Christ

Larson, if you ever say you and Arthur are the same again, I will kick you in the teeth. Go to hell

Oh god, the duck pond, Arthur saying those were the happiest times of his life, my heart, aaaaaagh.

You’re telling me that on top of Collins hunting them down, now they have Scratch to worry about? Jesus, things just got a whole lot worse.

I’ll See You In My Dreams playing at the end instead of the usual radio static? Cherry on top of this whole freaking rollercoaster of an episode. Jeez

[babygirlismpersonified]

So... Uhm.... Malevolent Pirate Au Fic. 🫶

Link, but it's also below the cut if you don't want to go to Ao3.

Arthur finished the last of his drink, setting the tankard down and pushing it towards the barkeep. He sat at the bar just waiting. Waiting for what? He didn't know. But he was waiting, drunk and depressed.

The pub Arthur sat in was shoreside, in a seedy part of the city. He knows that pirates of frequent this port, but he can't find it in himself to care for his own safety.

He's lost so much. His freedom, his wife, his daughter, his life. He'd be happy to lose everything else if it meant he finally got to rest.

Arthur Lester rested his head on the bar, sliding one of his last few coins he had reserved for this particular binge to the barkeep, gladly taking another drink to nurse until he got it in him to make his way up to the rented room he had been staying in for the past week or so.

He was running out of money, there was no way around it. He had no mind to compose since the death of his child, so his cash flow had stopped. He had sold the house, he had sold just about everything that had belonged to his Bella and his sweet Faroe.

He nursed his drink calmly as he heard the sounds of what was, without a doubt, another pirate crew making their way into this city. Grimey pub. He didn't even pay mind as a couple of the crew made their way up to the bar near him. A man that was almost certainly the captain of the crew that had trickled in sat in the stool right next to his own.

Arthur minded his business as the man ordered his own drink, and didn't even flinch as he felt the man's eyes lock onto his slouching form.

Arthur took another sip of his drink, it wasn't very good. His face is scrunched up a little bit at the unpleasant flavor until he felt a warm hand fall upon his shoulder.

"You look like you're a little worse for wear, my friend. You ever tried a blood and sand?" Arthur looked up at the well kept man with some disbelief. Getting a better look at him, Arthur realised that the man was Chinese. Not rare, exactly, but still uncommon in this area. The strange man had an armored breast plate, made of leather and metal in a scaled pattern. Arthur watched him with disbelief as the strange man ordered a drink for Arthur, paying for it himself.

"Honestly, sir, you look like you need it." The drink is set in front of him by the barkeep, and Arthur takes it in visually before he ever touches the glass. The name felt apt, the way the red and almost golden mix layered on top of one another and mixed into each other was nearly beautiful. Arthur gingerly took the drink in his hand, and tilted it up to this strange man in toast before taking a ginger sip.

It was sweet compared to the harsh swill he had been drinking before, a small smile twitching at the corners of his lips as he set it back down onto the bar.

The stranger smiles at him, seemingly happy about his reaction to the drink.

"I really should've introduced myself," he said, a lopsided smile starting to pull his lips.

"My name is Captain Yang. But of course you can just call me Parker, my good sir."

"Namesss.. Arthur. Arthur Lester," Arthur's voice was slurred from the drinks he had throughout the day, and Parker's eyebrows knitted into slight concern before he put back on the friendly smile he had beforehand.

"Nice to meet you, Arthur. You look a little aimless, if you'll forgive me for saying." The captain let his hand slip from Arthur's shoulder to settle in between his shoulder blades, rubbing small circles at that point on his back.

Arthur tensed up. Logically he knew that it was better to not get involved with pirates, but it's not like he had much left to lose at this point anyway. Arthur swallows nervously and relaxes ever so slightly.

"Wh" -He clears his throat, it suddenly tight with nerves. "What makes... you say that?" Arthur tried to make eye contact, his sudden nerves keeping him from looking anywhere above the man's shoulders. He knew the man was studying him, he could see the shifts in Parker's face in his peripheral.

"Let's just say I've got experience with lost souls. Do you want a direction?" Arthur looks up at Parker's face again, confused.

"Huh?" Eloquent.

Parker smiles, doing his best to be comforting.

"A direction. Or rather, a place. A job, even."

Arthur's eyebrows nearly shoot off his face in surprise. A job? On a pirate ship? He didn't even know how to sail, let alone swing a sword past the very over-formal fencing lessons he had been in during his few years at university.

"Listen, Arthur." Parker leans a little closer, the comforting circled on Arthur's back disappearing in favour of him resting his arm across his shoulders.

"Don't tell anyone, but I'm soft-hearted. And I can tell you need something in your life. There's no use in me letting you rot at some pub, y'know?" His smile gets a bit warmer. "And you look like someone I can trust as part of my crew. You'll be paid accordingly, of course, but I'd like if you took the chance."

Arthur was thinking it over. Oh God, he was actually considering it. Maybe being a pirate wouldn't be all that bad, honestly. Not like he cared much for his own safety, so the danger wasn't a turn off for him, and he didn't exactly have anything waiting for him here.

Say he did agree, that he became part of a pirate crew, and sailed the Ocean blue with Parker and his crew. He'd have purpose, people to lean on, potentially people that cared for him.

And if he didn't... Well, just as Parker said, he'd probably just drink himself to death and end up rotting in a ditch somewhere.

Arthur nodded nervously. His voice still wobbly, but sure.

"Alright. I don't have anything keeping me here anyway. We can sell anything unnecessary of mine so I don't take up too much space." Parker's eyes light up, and he pulls Arthur in for a tight half-hug.

"Fantastic! I can tell you'll be great help. Me and my crew will be done getting supplies in a few days, and we'll be casting off again by Monday. Where can I get you on Sunday? We can take care of everything then." Parker was beaming, excited. It was hard to believe that such a cheerful man was a criminal, let alone one that likely had blood soaking his reputation.

"I'm staying here, actually. Upstairs room." Parkers eyes briefly flicked to the ceiling before going back to looking at Arthur.

"Fantastic. I can tell you're.... I mean this kindly, but you're pretty drunk. Do you want me to walk you up to your room? We can talk more about your future employment there. I'd just have to tell my crew, then we can go on up."

Arthur nods, taking the cocktail that Parker had bought him and taking a final large sip before flagging down the barkeep to say he was turning in for the night. He turned back to face Parker, allowing himself to be guided into a standing position, doing his best not to sway in too alarming a manner.

Once he was sure Arthur was steady, Parker darted to someone that Arthur assumed was a member of his crew, leaning close to tell then where he'd be over the din of the pub. Arthur could see the other man speaking back, and whatever it was was enough to make the Captain roll his eyes and lightly shove the shoulder of the man before walking off.

Parker slides an arm around Arthur's back, supporting him easily.

"Lead the way, Mr. Lester."

[a-mossy-amethyst]

Hi! I saw your post about needing writing prompts. Maybe one of Faroe and Arthur going to the park and Faroe making flower crowns for the both of them? Or something similar :-]

Family fluff!! We love to see it <3 I swapped it to Arthur making the flower crowns, hope that's alright

The park is rich with life, children playing and parents watching and chatting with each other. Arthur wasn't good at all the small talk, dreading the question of where his wife was. He'd rather spend time with Faroe.

The two of them walk along a wide path lined with the occaisional bench. The grass surrounding is a vibrant green and littered with white and yellow flowers, a collage of nature. Trees sprinkled around the park outstretch their branches, drinking in the afternoon sun. Leaves shake with the wind, alive with the breeze. It's a sunny day, the sky a clear blue and the summer sun blinding.

It'd been a struggle to convince Faroe to wait after lunch, the noon heat to strong for her to run around in.

Arthur crouches down, whispering in a conspiratorial voice, “Look at all those flowers, Faroe!”

Faroe giggles. “I wan',” she says, still struggling with saying ‘t’. She tugs Arthur's hand towards the field, so small within his own.

“Do you want to look at them?” he asks, knowing full well they'll be going home with a handful of handpicked flowers. They have a cup of water on the dining room table full of small flowers Faroe collects. It’s endearing, but convincing her to let him throw out flowers that have wilted is a lesson in patience and comforting tears.

She nods eagerly, slipping her hand out of his and running off the path into the soft grass. Arthur watches her inspect each flower, overwhelmed by the amount. He follows at a leisurely pace.

Faroe sits down, falling into the grass with her legs sticking out. She grabs fistfuls of grass, waiting for her father's approval on the flower patch she chose. He joins her, folding his knees underneath him. He wraps an arm around her shoulders and leans in to get a proper look at the flowers.

It's a patch of daisies with dandelions scattered about, sticking out from the grass.

“They're very pretty,” he observes, hooking a daisy between his fingers and tilting the flowerhead to face them better.

Approval obtained, Faroe begins picking the bigger flowers. She grabs them in fistfuls, the grass blades surrounding victims of her picking. Arthur plucks a long daisy and tucks it behind her ear, pushing her thick hair out of the way for it to stick out.

Faroe's eyes go wide, and she reaches for the flower. Arthur gently pulls her hand away. “Leave it,” he says, “it suits you.”

She frowns, and he chuckles. “I'll lift you up in front of the mirror at home so you can see it.”

That seems to satisfy her. She returns to collecting flowers.

Arthur brushes his hand through Faroe’s hair, gently avoiding tugging on knots. He tries his best to brush them out in the mornings, but anything save of completely soaking her hair makes it difficult. Faroe inherited Bella's hair, thick waves that got frizzy in the humid air unless she put enough product to tame it.

Her hair, his eyes. Blue and clear, a piercing gaze even from a child.

Faroe stuffs a handful of flowers into his hand. “Crown,” she demands.

“What's the magic word?”

Her cheeks puff up. “Crown, p’ease.”

Arthur grins, biting down his laugh. “Of course, darling.”

Tess taught him how to make flowers crowns. She made them a few times when taking Faroe to the park, and she absolutely loved them. Arthur is grateful she took the time to teach him– the struggle is worth seeing Faroe light up.

He takes the pile of small flowers from her and lays them out in front of him. He grabs two daisies and a dandelion, noting with gratitude Faroe had been careful enough to keep the stems on the longer side. He lines them up and begins braiding, twisting the flowers together with clumsy hands.

Faroe watches him at first, leaning in and poking at the flowers braided into place. He explains the process to her in a soft voice until she gets bored and returns to playing with the grass.

The sun bears down on them, coming in waves. It isn't as bad as it was earlier, but Arthur can still feel sweat collecting at the back of his neck. He quickens his pace on finishing the crown, tucking the ends into the beginning braid.

“All done! Look, Faroe, do you like it?” Arthur says, presenting the crown to her in open palms.

Faroe smiles and claps her hands, her lips curling in and revealing a row of tiny teeth. He slips the flower crown onto her head gently. She raises her hands to her head and pats at the crown.

“Careful,” Arthur warns her, worried about the crown’s fragility. He's gotten better over the past few attempts, but he's no expert.

Faroe complies, lowering her hands. She learned her lesson after she had messed with it too much the first time and it had fallen apart. The tears had left Arthur with a bleeding heart. And a headache.

Arthur looks around and spots an empty oak tree nearby. “Let's go to the shade, okay?”

Faroe looks up at him with wide eyes. He stands and picks her up, collecting the extra flowers with one hand and holding her in the other, careful to not let the crown fall. She wraps her arms around his neck, leaning into his chest.

Arthur dreads the day she'll be too big to be carried.

He strides over to the tree, setting her down at its base where the shade is best. He settles beside her, leaning his head back against the trunk.

“Baba,” Faroe says, patting his thigh.

Arthur looks down. “Yes, darling?”

“Crown.”

He smiles. “You already have one. See?” he asks, pointing to the flowers settled neatly on her head.

She shakes her head, frowning. “Crown,” she repeats, pointing at Arthur.

He blinks. “Me?”

She nods.

“I don't need a crown, that's for you.”

This does not satisfy her, and her lips start trembling. “Crown!”

“Wh– okay, okay, a crown for me, too,” Arthur assures, holding up the remaining flowers. He huffs. “You're quite the negotiator, aren't you?”

Faroe responds with a beaming grin, knowing she's won. Her eyes turn into little cresents, nearly closed. It's the most endearing sight.

He sighs, heart melting. “Well, you're adorable, so I’ll let it slide.”

He begins to twist the flowers into a second crown, but quickly finds he doesn't have enough. “Faroe, darling, won't you fetch me more flowers?”

Faroe looks up from her massacred grass patch. Arthur decidedly ignores the pulled out blades of grass strewn all over her legs and pats her back encouragingly. “C’mon, there’s a patch over there,” he says, pointing at a collection of dandelions a few feet away, just outside of the tree’s shadow. Faroe stands up and hobbles over to them, picking the flowers and inspecting them to make sure they suit her liking. Arthur twists a few strands while he waits.

She returns with another handful, dumping them into his lap.

“Very good, Faroe! These are perfect,” he praises, patting her shoulder instead of her head to avoid damaging her flower crown.

Faroe squeals and begins tapping his arm. “Crown! Crown!” She babbles.

“Yes,” Arthur laughs, “I'm working on it. Sit down beside me, you can watch.” He picks her up and sets her down beside him, tucked into his side.

Restless, she continues tapping his arm and outer thigh while he finishes working.

“There we go!” Arthur announces. This crown is much more yellow than Faroes, only the first few flowers from the original patch daisies. The rest are large dandelions, a warm bloom of liquid gold.

Faroe cheers. She grabs the crown and tries to place it on Arthur's head. He ducks down so she can reach better, adjusting it to sit steady.

“Thank you, my lady,” he says in a posh British accent.

Faroe giggles, patting his cheek. Arthur grabs her hand, giving a kiss to the back it.

It's a beautiful day, the sun shining, the sky clear, butterflies fluttering about. Arthur sits with Faroe and enjoys the summer from the shade of an oak tree, wearing matching flower crowns.

A few boys will laugh at his accessory and a mother with her two children will compliment it and coo over Faroe. Arthur barely registers them in his memory, the moment focused fully on his daughter.

[juyuu]

John & Faroe Parallels

so, I gotta get this out of my system, lets hope I can make it coherent!

Basically I noticed that John and Faroe are similar in a lot of ways when it comes to their roles in Arthur's life.

Both kinda turned Arthur's life upside down simply by existing. Faroe because she was born, leading Daniel to pressure Arthur and Bella to get married even though they didn't have romantic feelings for each other. John because his book was sent to Arthur and Parker's address, which caused pretty much all of malevolent's plot.

Both took a dear friend from Arthur. Bella died in childbirth and John murdered Parker. The circumstances are very different of course, Faroe cannot be blamed for Bella's death, its not like she had control over being born, while John intentionally killed Parker and pinned it on Arthur. But the outcome was the same.

Both suffer from Arthur's neglect. Faroe was left alone in the hospital for a full hour after being born and later drowned because Arthur was distracted. In season 4 John starts to struggle with his memory, he is slipping away. And when in ep 38 they argue after john tried to kill Oscar, Arthur says this:

Another similarity is their connection to art through Arthur. In one episode we hear that Arthur tried teaching Faroe to play the piano and he wrote at least two pieces for her. In the dreamlands Arthur recites poetry to John and they connect over it. John later uses that poetry to bring Arthur back from the brink in season 3, similar to the way Faroe's Song always seems to ground Arthur.

Additionally a couple of interactions between Arthur and John remind me of the way a parent might interact with their child. The scene with Lilly in the dreamlands for example: to me it was reminiscent of a parent teaching their child that sometimes pets die and that's just how the world works. Or the whole debacle with Oscar where Arthur realizes that John is simply jealous. Or the things he teaches John about the work of Private Investigators.

All in all I kinda feel like his relationship with John can be interpreted as a chance for Arthur to redeem himself as a parent. He fucked up with Faroe but now he's responsible for another being that's just learning to be a person. Maybe he will do better this time around and maybe this will help lift some of that guilt

[snakeunderyourboot]

Unfortunately, when I was writing my faroeverse fic I completely forgot about Addison. I wrote that the town was called Addison and Faroe met Larson and everything was the same as in canon. I only recently realized it. My mistake haunts me but I can't go back and change it because like.......how would the town called now??? Is it still Addison??? Is it Wallace Town???? Andrewson????? And also in my head there already was dynamic between Larson and Faroe.

In my head when I was writing it, Larson and Faroe still had some kind of rivarly, in the sense that Larson kind of saw Addison in Faroe??? So his whole thing is how weirdly caring and at the same time dismissive he is about everything Faroe does. He still threatens Faroe and tors off her ear, but he frames this as an educational moment. Kind of like: "look what you made me too, look at your own mess, we can't have that"

And it's really pissing off Faroe, not only because this weird ass man sees her as his dead daughter - kind of like Daniel saw her as Bella, how others view her as the adoptive daughter of a high-position man, which means she has to act and behave in specific ways. But also because Larson killed Addison for the same eldritch powers that killed Arthur, the difference is that Larson did it on purpose while with Arthur, it was an accident and partially Faroe's fault (in my version of Faroeverse, Faore stumbles onto the King in Yellow cult, tries to stop them alone, makes a mistake which lets cultists know where she lives and they come and kill Arthur(they didn't manage to kill Faroe, because the neighbors called the police).

And I still think it could be an interesting dynamic. Larson is so sure that what he did was right, but he kind of wants an acknowledgment of it, he wants Faroe to agree with him because that is what he wants from Addison.

But, Addison, I am so sorry babygirl. I promise, if I write the next faroeverse fic, I will make you canon

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

CHILDHOOD FRIEND JOHN IS SUCH AN INTERESTING AU!!!

you gave me ammunition, and I'm gonna use it on you

First thing that comes to my mind - the idiots met when they were Children.

We know how adult Arthur goes about authority, imagine what newly-orphaned angry and depressed teenager Arthur was like. I bet he was so so so much worse about having a demanding voice in his head. Acting out just because he could and needed to, And because he has to rival this voice in his head.

This AU makes John go through such an interesting arc from being someone who has to take care of child, while being unprepared and irresponsible himself (does this remind you of anyone. Does It?) to being cared for right back. This single thought makes me go insane.

It would also be very interesting for the entire Arthur and Saltzmans' story? Cause one of the reasons John doesn't want Arthur close to people is that he knows they have a target on their backs, and he doesn't like them or Arthur getting hurt. However Arthur's romance with Bella happened, it was very likely against John's entire... everything. I think he was fighting tooth and nail to keep it from evolving any further.

Also, Daniel! Who is the (1) authority figure Arthur recognises. That would absolutely drive John mad xD

(btw I'm not trying to be mean to John, it's just this is the only feasible way I can see him reacting to this, and I view it as a... big longterm fight the boys had. not John trying to be mean, or denying Arthur other connections, he was just overly cautions and in a situation where Arthur utterly ignored his wishes and denied agency, so he was..understandably upset about this.

which leads me to my personal conclusion, that in this au, John would have taken Arthur's position in that bar. aka, I think John would have gone for trying to jump ship over the whole marriage disaster. And then Arthur did the most stupid and mature thing he has ever done, and came back to the hospital to get Faroe handed to him. (then the idiots get injected with high dose of paternal love and it's all fine now)

this is just a personal variation tho, I had a wonderful time reading your vision and I adore what you've shared in that oneshot. thank you for the gift of childhood john friend. I'm gonna be microwave-spinning him for a while.

YES!! YES YES YES!!! (for some (unfortunately minimal) context childhood friend john is the au from this fic, tl;dr arthur picks up john as a kid/young teen and they go through basically the whole show together pre-america/bella/faroe)

oh god yes they made each other SO miserable for the first like, several years of their partnership lmao. i sort of gesture at this vaguely in the fic but like, they were both so scared and lost and angry all the time with no ability to regulate those feelings and just so happened to have an unwilling participant to take all of them out on who literally couldn't get away. it was Not Fun For Anyone. arthur hated having to listen to him, john had zero patience for his Moods™, neither of them had a single thing outside the other to escape to, it was a real problem. relatedly the whole "soul learning to walk" thing kinda gets real funny in this 'verse bc arthur is. also still very young. it gets real "wait why are YOU ordering me around i'm OLDER" "NO you are NOT I'M OLDER" slapfight lmao.

but! yknow! they still both can't survive without cooperating so they kinda had no choice but to figure their shit out regardless.

...actually re: their childhood together, one thing i have been thinking about is that like. i did say the events of the show were gonna be edited pretty heavily to fit the timeline, and one part of it is i don't think the dreamlands or yellow were ever a thing? BUT. what i was thinking MIGHT be fun, is if they learn early on what john is/comes from, and he goes through a period of wanting to go back to being the king (but ultimately changes his mind before actually getting presented with the chance.) and also it takes a while for them to get to The Events that lead to him getting named john, i think. so i think for a while there arthur was calling him yellow. (then post-their equiv. of the s2 finale he goes back to just "friend" for a bit, due to lack of better options, until they pick "john" up)

oh yeah the fucking... Everything with bella was something john was very against and tried to stop and got steamrolled over about, it was all very fucked up. bc like, i think atp he and arthur are on better terms, but arthur was also so isolated and insanely desperate for human connection that it made him. very irrational. john could probably also tell that he didn't actually love bella, and maybe that bella wasn't all that crazy about him either, and whatever they were getting from each other was not a foundation for anything serious or long-lasting, so was trying to pull him away on that grounds, too. like, on top of the paranoia, he was also like "you don't even want this, i think you're half just using it to hurt yourself for not measuring up to some social standard and that's not fair to you OR her." but. again. arthur was not doing a very good job of Listening.

i actually think there's like, a solid 50/50 chance, dependent mostly on how character arcs play out, that john is the one advocating for jumping ship vs. him being the one to go "no you made your choices, i gave you every chance to stop, now we're going to have to take responsibility for the consequences." either way that convo goes... probably better than the one with james in canon. just bc they know each other well enough to know what will actually get through without just sending them on a guilt/doom spiral. more "regardless of how we feel, we can't just run away from this" and much less "wtf is wrong with you, you're fundamentally broken and unlovable for not feeling the way you're Supposed To." yknow.

...and yeah, then they actually pick up faroe for the first time and all of that goes instantly out the window. cancel everything else no more personal crises no time for that we have discovered the one (1) thing that actually matters in our life.

[miscreantahead]

Doing the dishes, daydreaming about my little version of malevolent bellaverse that I've been making up in my own head because I got that Bella fixation. I was thinking about how it's never sat right with me that Bella made the same mistake as Arthur with Faroe but with some other fixation because while I like the idea of her being as fallible I prefer it to be in her own ways and I feel that that particular fatal mistake was unique to Arthur's character and I'd hate to just schlep it onto Bella in an alternative universe and so as I asked the question "so what is Bella's grave mistake, the deep regret that has shaped her life since?" and the answer I got back from myself was "she killed her husband in cold blood because he accidentally killed their daughter" which kind of hit like a slap in the face but I absolutely do not hate it.