#dr claire randall

[sassenach77yle]

May 1, 1771 May Union Camp

I glanced sideways, careful not to move in case he was still asleep. He wasn’t. He was lying quite still, though, utterly relaxed, save for his right hand. He had this raised, and appeared to be examining it closely, turning it to and fro and slowly curling and uncurling his fingers—as well as he could. The fourth finger had a fused joint, and was permanently stiff; the middle finger was slightly twisted, a deep white scar spiraling round the middle joint. His hand was callused and battered by work, and the tiny stigma of a nail-wound still showed, pale-pink, in the middle of his palm. The skin of his hand was deeply bronzed and weathered, freckled with sun-blots and scattered with bleached gold hairs. I thought it remarkably beautiful.

“Happy Birthday,” I said, softly. “Taking stock?”

He let the hand fall on his chest, and turned his head to look at me, smiling.Aye, something of the sort. Though I suppose I’ve a few hours left. I was born at half-six; I willna have lived a full half-century until suppertime.” I laughed and rolled onto my side, kicking the blanket off. The air was still delightfully cool, but it wouldn’t last long. “Do you expect to disintegrate much further before supper?” I asked, teasing. “Oh, I dinna suppose anything is likely to fall off by then,” he said, consideringly. “As to the workings . . . aye, well . . .” He arched his back, stretching, and sank back with a gratified groan as my hand settled on him. “It all seems to be in perfect working order,” I assured him. I gave a brief, experimental tug, making him yelp slightly. “Not loose at all.” “Good,” he said, folding his hand firmly over mine to prevent further unauthorized experiments. “How did ye ken what I was doing? Taking stock, as ye say?” I let him keep hold of the hand, but shifted to set my chin in the center of his chest, where a small depression seemed made for the purpose. “I always do that, when I have a birthday—though I generally do it the night before. More looking back, I think, reflecting a bit on the year that’s just gone. But I do check things over; I think perhaps everyone does. Just to see if you’re the same person as the day before.” “I’m reasonably certain that I am,” he assured me. “Ye dinna see any marked changes, do ye?” I lifted my chin from its resting place and looked him over carefully. It was in fact rather hard to look at him objectively; I was both so used to his features and so fond of them that I tended to notice tiny, dear things about him—the freckle on his earlobe, the lower incisor pushing eagerly forward, just slightly out of line with its fellows—and to respond to the slightest change of his expression—but not really to look at him as an integrated whole. He bore my examination tranquilly, eyelids half-lowered against the growing light. His hair had come loose while he slept and feathered over his shoulders, its ruddy waves framing a face strongly marked by both humor and passion—but which possessed a paradoxical and most remarkable capacity for stillness.

“No,” I said at last, and set my chin down again with a contented sigh. “It’s still you.”

[...]

Jamie’s free hand rested on my back, his thumb idly stroking the edge of my shoulder blade. With his usual capacity for mental discipline, he appeared to have dismissed the uncertainty of the military prospects completely from his mind, and was thinking of something else entirely. “Do ye ever think—” he began, and then broke off. “Think what?” I bent and kissed his chest, arching my back to encourage him to rub it, which he did. “Well . . . I’m no so sure I can explain, but it’s struck me that now I have lived longer than my father did—which is not something I expected to happen,” he added, with faint wryness. “It’s only . . . well, it seems odd, is all. I only wondered, did ye ever think of that, yourself—having lost your mother young, I mean?” “Yes.” My face was buried in his chest, my voice muffled in the folds of his shirt. “I used to—when I was younger. Like going on a journey without a map.” His hand on my back paused for a moment. “Aye, that’s it.” He sounded a little surprised. “I kent more or less what it would be like to be a man of thirty, or of forty—but now what?” His chest moved briefly, with a small noise that might have been a mixture of amusement and puzzlement.

“You invent yourself,” I said softly, to the shadows inside the hair that had fallen over my face. “You look at other women—or men; you try on their lives for size. You take what you can use, and you look inside yourself for what you can’t find elsewhere. And always . . . always . . . you wonder if you’re doing it right.”

His hand was warm and heavy on my back. He felt the tears that ran unexpectedly from the corners of my eyes to dampen his shirt, and his other hand came up to touch my head and smooth my hair. “Aye, that’s it,” he said again, very softly. The camp was beginning to stir outside, with clangings and thumps, and the hoarse sound of sleep-rough voices. Overhead, the grasshopper began to chirp, the sound like someone scratching a nail on a copper pot.

“This is a morning my father never saw,” Jamie said, still so softly that I heard it as much through the walls of his chest, as with my ears.

“The world and each day in it is a gift, mo chridhe—no matter what tomorrow may be.”

I sighed deeply and turned my head, to rest my cheek against his chest. He reached over gently and wiped my nose with a fold of his shirt. “And as for taking stock,” he added practically, “I’ve all my teeth, none of my parts are missing, and my cock still stands up by itself in the morning. It could be worse.”

Cap 58 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU ~the fiery cross

#outlander #outlanderedit #the frasers #outlander starz #jamie fraser #outlander series #outlander fanart #samheughan #jamie&claire #jamie and claire #claire fraser #dr claire randall #claire beauchamp #caitrionabalfe #outlander books #outlander season 5 #outlander 5x07

[em-dash-press]

Character Types for Your Next Story

Great ideas for characters will come and go, but there are always concrete character types that you can count on to carry a plot.

Check out the most common types to see if they're what you need to make your next story come to life.

The Protagonist

This is your main character. They're the central focus of the story, the person who resolves the main conflict, or the individual who grows with or from the story's theme.

You can also have multiple protagonists! 3rd-person POV stories/books often have at least two main characters because switching between their points of view furthers the plot, adds tension, or develops their world for the reader.

Examples: Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit; Claire Randall in Outlander

The Antagonist

This is your main character's opposition. They'll be the force against which your protagonist clashes to experience the conflict that results in their growth. Sometimes the antagonist functions as an obstacle for the protagonist to overcome. Other times, they're a lesson the main character needs to learn by the end of the story.

You can create multiple antagonists for one protagonist or multipel antagonist for a cast of protagonists. It depends on the story you have in mind and what POV you'll be using.

Examples: The White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Pennywise in It

The Central (Major) Characters

Central characters are what you would call the individual protagonists who make up your cast of characters. They all grow throughout your plot and are essential to the backbone of your story.

Examples: the seven demigods in the Prophecy of Seven in The Heroes of Olympus series; the multigenerational protagonists in Homegoing

The Secondary (Minor) Characters

Secondary characters are often called sidekicks or companions. They're part of your protagonist's life and is along for the ride with them. Although your plot might not be the same without them (if they're a love interest, family member, or another person close to your protagonist), they primary exist to develop the protagonist.

Examples: Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes series; Cinna in The Hunger Games series

The Static Characters

Writers need static characters to essentially remain the same for plot purposes. These characters are typically unaffected by what's happening in the protagonist's life because they're one or two steps removed from it.

Alternatively, your static character can also be antagonist. They're actively involved in your protagonist's life, but they don't undergo any inner changes that result in character growth.

Examples: Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter series (she remains unchanged because she has to be a constant source of conflict); Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (he remains unchanged because he represents morality and reason to Scout)

The Dynamic Characters

Dynamic characters change throughout a story. They're most often the protagonist or one of the main cast of characters because they are actively involved in the plot.

These could be your protagonist, antagonist, or any other character that undergoes some time of fundamental change.

Examples: Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol; Celaena Sardothien in Throne of Glass

The Flat Characters

Flat characters experience no change throughout a story. They may arrive at the end with a different opinion or goal, but they're almost identical to who they were at the beginning of the story.

Don't assume flat characters are boring or unnecessary! They always represent something for the protagonist or the reader. They can also be the antagonist!

Examples: Marmee in Little Women (she's a role model for her daughters and remains their true north throughout the book); Suzy Nakamura in American Born Chinese (she helps Wei-Chen face his complicated feelings about feeling like an outcast for his race by being vocal about hers, but that remains her sole purpose in the plot.)

The Round Characters

When someone talks about a round character, they don't mean the character's physical appearance. Instead, this phrase refers to a protagonist or antagonist's internal depth.

Round characters have complex personalities. They may contradict themselves sometimes or the people they love the most. These characters typically have full backstories and embody the phrase, "they contain multitudes."

Examples: Amy Dunne in Gone Girl; Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice

The Stock Characters

Stock characters are flat characters that resemble a stereotype easily recognized by readers. They're your geek teenager with oversized glasses or the best friend who is only there to be the punchline.

Sometimes these characters are written so well that readers don't mind the stereotype. It depends on their relationship with other characters in your story and if they only embody the stereotype up front. Successful stock characters eventually reveal the depth of their hearts or undergo developments that push beyond the limits of their stereotype.

Examples: Rapunzel (the damsel in distress); Alaska Young in Looking for Alaska (the manic pixie dream girl)

The Anti-Hero

Readers love anti-heroes because they're protagonists who start off as the worst version of themselves and grow into the best they can be. There are always external and internal obstacles for them to overcome, which may or may not clash.

They can also start off as versions of themselves that are inherently good, then become more like an antagonist but for the right reasons. Readers may still cheer them on and hope they revert to their previous good ways or read your story to watch your anti-hero follow their worst instincts until the world crumbles around them.

Examples: Dexter Morgan in the Dexter series; Patrick Bateman in American Psycho

The Foil

Typically, the foil in any story is someone who's opposite of the protagonist. They encourage the main character to grow throughout the plot by holding reverse opinions, world views, or values.

Examples: God and Satan in Paradise Lost; Lennie and George in Of Mice and Men

The Symbolic Character

Characters can be great by themselves, but many times they will represent something the author is trying to talk about through their work. A symbolic character is the representation of an aspect of society, an idea, or theme.

Examples: the raven in The Raven (symbolizes the narrator's grief and the presence of death in general); Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia series (symbolizes God/Jesus)

The Deuteragonist

Deuteragonists are also called the secondary characters. They're the closest characters to the protagonist throughout their journey. They give the story more depth, either through their close relationship with the protagonist or by working against them as or alongside the antagonist.

Examples: Edward Cullen in the Twilight series; Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio

The Tertiary

You'll rarely see a tertiary character more than a few times in a story. They're background characters that most often create minor conflict on the protagonist's journey with their primary conflict. Tertiary characters add depth to a story's world, but aren't essential to the plot.

However, tertiary characters are important! Without them, there would be no nosy server at your protagonist's favorite coffee shop or supportive librarian at your main character's library.

Examples: Parvati and Padma Patil in Harry Potter; Madame Stahl in Anna Karenina

The Love Interest

Ah, the love interest. They are the secondary integral part of any romantic plot line and may challenge the protagonist to grow through introducing new experiences or points of view.

Examples: Peeta Mellark in The Hunger Games series; Will Traynor in Me Before You

The Confidante

Characters who are confidants are literary devices that help the protagonist reveal their secrets, state of mind, intentions, flaws, and feelings while all of those things are actively changing throughout a story. They can also represent real-life relationships by maintaining a healthy friendship or a manipulative friend.

Examples: Horatio in Hamlet; Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings series

---

Many of these character types merge to create stories with more depth. Defining your existing or future characters with these terms could help you figure out their role in the plot and how to make your story stronger by flexing the purposes of each type.

#writing #writeblr #writing characters #character types #writing tips #writing advice #writers of tumblr #creative writing #writing community #writing help #writers #writing inspiration

[multiversal-madness]

Professor Layton Au - Pandora's Call

((I have made an intro post for this au before but it's been a while and things have changed so here we go))

The Pandora's Call Au follows the idea of pairing the games (+ the movie and crossover) and merging them together, combining the stories and mysteries while changing some other story details to fill the gaps left behind.

The namesake of this Au (and the first combination to be created), Pandora's Call is the combination of Pandora's Box and Spectre's Call.

It follows the Professor and his new assistant Emmy as they investigate the Elysian box. They follow its trail to the ghost town Folsense where they must uncover the secrets behind the spectres — two large and formless entities that fight in the streets — the Spirit — a figure commanding the animals of the town into harassing visitors — and the Golden Kingdom — a castle rumoured to be buried beneath Folsense originating from the Azran.

The Black Ravens are instead the Raven's Guild located in Dropstone and while they do participate in the market, they're more so 'adventurers' that oversee most of the travel to the ghost town.

Arianna isn't sick, Tony doesn't dress up as Seamus and Evan Barde doesn't die, they live in Dropstone together peacefully.

Instead of the manatee like creature she is in canon, Loosha is instead a Quetzalcoatlus that flew out of the Golden Kingdom when she was small enough for Luke to hold.

And Luke Triton is instead Lord Luke Herzen, the grandson of Duke Anton Herzen, raised by his grandfather in Folsense with his only contact with the world outside Folsense being when he uses the animals of Folsense to scare away outsiders.

The other game pairings in this Au are as follows:

Eternal Diva + Curious Village — Eternal Village

St Mystere exists on the island of Ambrosia, the looming tower is mixed with Descole's castle and the Whistler and Reinhold families are combined. Flora and Melina are sisters and Melina's consciousness is put into a robot after she dies.

Miracle Mask + PLvsAA — Mysterious Mask

Labyrinthia is its own world accessible through the Akbadain ruins which is where Randall ended up when he fell, the magic is real (but bound to that one area) and the one behind the Masked Gentleman is the Storyteller (Descole isn't in this one due to Dahlia related injuries).

Lost Future + Azran Legacy — Lost Legacy

Mostly follows the plot of Azran Legacy, but Bill Hawks has disappeared in a time machine related incident and someone claiming to be Luke from the future joins them on their journey. Targent makes it to each location first so they have to use a rudimentary time machine that can only go back a few days to let them collect the eggs first. Also Clive is Luke's half brother, though he has to wear a purple wig to cover his blonde hair.

I do have some extra details for what happens outside the main 'games' as well, though this post is getting long so I'll put them under the cut for anyone who's interested (sorry it's also pretty long):

Clark and Brenda have been dead for around 10 years by the time Pandora's Call starts (though Brenda isn't quite gone), though Clark's death was confirmed while Brenda went missing on her own accord and was presumed dead

Losing Clark and then Brenda in short succession then only a few years later losing Claire left Hershel in a very bad place, he withdrew more so than before and became more reckless in the cases he'd pursue

After being beaten up by the government, Lucille and Roland were worried about him only having them and his mentor Dr Schrader to support him so Lucille called the Ledore household and asked if they would be willing to check in on Hershel, which they agreed and Henry went to go check on him

It was rocky at first, but Henry reaching out really helped Hershel and the two became friends again, Angela joining them too, though with Monte d'Or they couldn't be there all the time

During Hershel's 'reckless era' Henry would often be the one to come over and make sure he's eating enough and looking after his injuries (both from the government incident and injuries he gets while being reckless)

He has two major injuries around this time, one from before the Government beat down and one that ended his 'reckless era' and made him realise he couldn't keep doing this

The first happened the day Claire died. A young boy ran into the burning building next door to the lab to look for his parents and Hershel ran after him, burning his hands in the process of saving the kid

The second was when he was in a particularly bad place mentally, when he decided to look into the case of Claire's death a second time. He got further with his investigation, but then he was jumped and beat up worse than the first time, severely damaging one of his legs in the process and needing it to be amputated from the knee down (When it heals enough he gets a prosthetic, but he also carries a foldable cane and crutches in case he needs them)

On a brighter note, his reckless era did bring about one good change and that was running into his old 'friend' Paul who had also gotten involved in some shady dealings. After escaping the people Hershel was investigating/Paul was getting even with, they ended up reconnecting (things were a bit more complicated than that but this post is already too long-)

This Au's Hershel is a lot tidier than his canon counterpart, he also tends to collect odd souvenirs from his travels (traits he's picked up from Clark and Brenda, *gestures to 'guy who's nothing but the people he's lost' post*)

He's also a bit quicker to go against law enforcement when they're interfering with his investigations (nothing extreme of course, but he's definitely hidden evidence he hasn't had a chance to observe properly before an inspector could take it away)

And that's all I'll share for now. I have a lot planned for this Au and eventually I want to write a few fics for it too (a multichapter fic for each 'game' and a few oneshots too, though it is a very ambitious project) so we'll see what happens.

#Pandora’s Call Au #Professor Layton #Professor Layton Au #I won't tag all of the characters mentioned but I'll tag those who play a big part in the Pandora's Call part of the Au or in the- #Other details below the cut #Luke Triton #Hershel Layton #Emmy Altava #Anton Herzen #Loosha #Henry Ledore #ask to tag

[letters2fiction]

Welcome to Letters2fiction!

The concept here is to send in a question or a letter request, and you’ll get a response from your fictional character of choice, from the list below. Please stick to the list I’ve made, but of course, you can ask if there’s some other characters I write for, I don’t always remember all the shows, movies or books I’ve consumed over the years and I’m sure I’m missing a lot 😅

Status: New Characters added - Thursday March 21st, 2024

TV SERIES

A Discovery of Witches:

Matthew Clairmont

Baldwin Montclair

Gallowglass de Clermont

Marcus Whitmore

Philippe de Clermont

Jack Blackfriars

Sarah Bishop

Emily Mather

Diana Bishop

Ysabeau de Clermont

Miriam Shepard

Phoebe Taylor

Gerbert D’Aurillac

Peter Knox

Father Andrew Hubbard

Benjamin Fuchs

Satu Järvinen

Meridiana

Law and Order:

Rafael Barba

Sonny Carisi

Joe Velasco

Mike Duarte

Terry Bruno

Peter Stone

Hasim Khaldun

Nick Amaro NEW!

Mike Dodds

Grace Muncy

Kat Tamin

Toni Churlish

Amanda Rollins

Olivia Benson

Rita Calhoun

Casey Novak

Melinda Warner

George Huang

Sam Maroun

Nolan Price

Jamie Whelan

Bobby Reyes

Jet Slootmaekers

Ayanna Bell

Jack McCoy

Elliot Stabler

One Chicago:

Jay Halstead (Could also be Will if you want)

Antonio Dawson

Adam Ruzek

Greg "Mouse" Gerwitz

Dante Torres

Vanessa Rojas

Kevin Atwater

Sean Roman

Matt Casey

Kelly Severide

Joe Cruz

Sylvie Brett

Blake Gallo

Christopher Hermann

"Mouch"

Otis

Violet Mikami

Evan Hawkins

Mayans MC:

Angel Reyes

Miguel

Bishop

Coco

Nestor

911 verse:

Athena Grant

Bobby Nash

Henrietta "Hen" Wilson

Evan "Buck" Buckley

Eddie Diaz

Howie "Chimney" Han

Ravi Panikkar

T.K. Strand

Owen Strand

Carlos Reyes

Marjan Marwani

Paul Strickland

Tommy Vega

Judson "Judd" Ryder

Grace Ryder

Nancy Gillian

Mateo Chavez

The Rookie:

Lucy Chen

Tim Bradford

Celina Juarez

Aaron Thorsen

Nyla Harper

Angela Lopez

Wesley Evers

BBC Sherlock:

Greg Lestrade

Mycroft Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

Moriarty

Molly

Bridgerton:

Anthony Bridgerton

Benedict Bridgerton

Simon Basset

Daphne Bridgerton

Eloise Bridgerton

Kate Sharma

Edwina Sharma

Marina Thompson/Crane

Outlander:

Jamie Fraser

Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser

Frank Randall

Black Jack Randall

Brianna Fraser

Roger MacKenzie

Fergus Fraser

Marsali Fraser

Jenny Fraser Murray

Ian Murray Sr.

Ian Fraser Murray

Murtagh Mackenzie

Call The Midwife:

Shelagh Turner / Sister Bernadette

Dr. Patrick Turner

Nurse Trixie Franklin

Nurse Phyllis Crane

Lucille Anderson

Nurse Barbara Gilbert

Chummy

Sister Hilda

Miss Higgins

PC Peter Noakes

Reverend Tom Hereward NEW!

Narcos:

Horacio Carrillo

Peaky Blinders:

Tommy Shelby

Downton Abbey:

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham

Lady Mary Crawley

Lady Edith Crawley

Lady Sybil Crawley

Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham

Isobel Crawley

Matthew Crawley

Lady Rose MacClare

Lady Rosamund Painswick

Henry Talbot

Tom Branson

Mr. Charles Carson

Mrs. Hughes / Elsie May Carson

John Bates

Anna Bates

Daisy Mason

Thomas Barrow

Joseph Molesley

Land Girl:

Connie Carter

Reverend Henry Jameson (Gwilym Lee's version)

Midsomer Murder:

DCI Tom Barnaby

Joyce Barnaby

Dr. George Bullard

DCI John Barnaby

Sarah Barnaby

DS Ben Jones

DS Jamie Winter

Sgt. Gavin Troy

Fleur Perkins

WPC Gail Stephens

Kate Wilding

DS Charlie Nelson

Sergeant Dan Scott

NEW! Once Upon A Time

Regina / The Evil Queen

Mary Margaret Blanchard / Snow White

David Nolan / Prince Charming

Emma Swan

Killian Jones / Captain Hook

Mr. Gold / Rumplestiltskin

Neal Cassidy / Baelfire

Peter Pan

Sheriff Graham Humbert / The Huntsman

Jefferson / The Mad Hatter

Belle

Robin of Locksley / Robin Hood

Will Scarlet

Zelena / Wicked Witch

Alice (Once in Wonderland)

Cyrus (Once in Wonderland)

Jafar (Once in Wonderland)

Gideon

Tiger Lily

Naveen

Tiana

Granny

Ariel

Prince Eric

Aladdin

Jasmine

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Hercules

Megara

Tinker Bell

Merida

Red Riding Hood

Mulan

Aurora / Sleeping Beauty

Prince Phillip

Cinderella

Prince Thomas

NEW! The Vampire Diaries / The Originals

Stefan Salvatore

Damon Salvatore

Caroline Forbes

Elena Gilbert

Bonnie Bennett

Enzo St. John

Niklaus Mikaelson

Elijah Mikaelson

Kol Mikaelson

Rebekah Mikaelson

Freya Mikaelson

Finn Mikaelson

Mikael

Esther

Marcel Gerard

Davina Claire

MOVIES

The Pirates of the Caribbean:

Captain Jack Sparrow

Barbossa

Will Turner

Elizabeth Swann

James Norrington

Kingsman:

Merlin

Harry Hart

Eggsy Unwin

James Spencer / Lancelot

Alastair / Percival

Roxy Morton / Lancelot

Maximillian Morton / The Shepherd

Orlando Oxford

Jack Daniels / Whiskey

Gin

BOOKS

Dreamland Billionaire series - Lauren Asher:

Declan

Callahan

Rowan

Iris

Alana

Zahra

Dirty Air series - Lauren Asher:

Noah

Liam

Jax

Santiago

Maya

Sophie

Elena

Chloe

Ladies in Stem - Ali Hazelwood books:

Olive

Adam

Bee

Levi

Elsie

Jack

Mara

Liam

Sadie

Erik

Hannah

Ian

Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros:

Xaden Riorson

Dain Aetos

Jack Barlowe

Rhiannan Matthias

Violet Sorrengail

Mira Sorrengail

Lillith Sorrengail

Bodhi Durran

Liam Mairi

#a discovery of witches #law and order svu #law and order #law and order oc #chicago pd #chicago fire #mayans mc #911 abc #911 lone star #the rookie #bbc sherlock #sherlock #bridgerton #outlander #call the midwife #narcos #downton abbey #peaky blinders #land girls #midsomer murders #once upon a time #the vampire diaries #the originals #the pirates of the caribbean #kingsman #dreamland billionaires #dirty air series #love hypothesis #love theoretically #loathe to love you

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe star in Outlander (Image: Daily Record)

TV show like Outlander are guilty of exploiting Scotland's cultural heritage, according to a leading academic. The time-travelling drama follows the exploits of Highland warrior Jamie Fraser, played by Sam Heughan, and English nurse Claire Randall, portrayed by Caitriona Balfe.

It is widely credited with triggering a tourism boom in Scotland dubbed the 'Outlander effect'. The show, as well as the novels by Diana Gabaldon, has built up a huge cult following across the world, especially in the USA.

But Dr Stephen Collins, of the University of West of Scotland, reckons it and other productions such as James Bond movie Skyfall, are guilty of misrepresenting Scottish history and culture. And he also questioned where the money being made from TV and film was going, suggesting more should go to protecting the heritage they take advantage of.

It comes with the UK set to ratify the 2003 UNESCO convention on the protection of intangible cultural heritage. The likes of kilts, Hogmanay and peat cutting are among the Scottish traditions likely to be included.

Dr Collins welcomed the move but said legal safeguards were needed to protect the country's culture heritage from TV and film depictions, according to reports in The Scotsman. He said Scotland was often used as a backdrop but without correct attribution or financial support for the communities who created the traditions.

He said: "There are two important issues that we hope the implementation of the 2003 Convention will address: firstly, preservation and the handing down of intangible cultural heritage from one generation to the next. This issue is particularly acute in areas of Scotland where languages such as Gaelic are disappearing, meaning that the heritage could disappear with them.

James Bond returned to his childhood home in Glencoe for the film Skyfall, but the depiction of Scotland was criticised (Image: Skyfall)

"Secondly, exploitation, where intangible cultural heritage is used as the backdrop to films and TV shows without attribution or any money flowing back to the communities to support safeguarding activities. Without a framework for regulation, the worst-case scenario here is that the intangible heritage is used in such a way that allows for misrepresentation or misinterpretation because currently there is no way to challenge that use."

Countries like Ghana and Nigeria offer protection to intangible cultural heritage in copyright laws. This means fees are paid to the state or communities impacted.

Dr Collins wants to see that replicated here, adding: "If an HBO comes and makes an Outlander and there is money raised on that because it is a multi-million pound venture, where does that money flow back to? Does any of that money come back to the originating community who are the knowledge bearers of the things we are seeing on screen that could then support local education, and local preservation?

"Does the local community in any way have a right to say ‘no’, this is misrepresenting us. This is not our history, not our story?"

👉Scotland needs a legal framework to protect its living cultural heritage. The purposes of the 2003 UNESCO Convention on the protection of intangible cultural heritage are:

(a) to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage;

(b) to ensure respect for the intangible cultural heritage of the communities, groups and individuals concerned;

(c) to raise awareness at the local, national and international levels of the importance of the intangible cultural.

@violetvibesmusic You’re very welcome! 💙

[101flavoursofweird]

The parallels between the Gressenheller/Stansbury Gang…

Teenage Hershel arrived in Stansbury as an outsider, and joined Randall’s friendship group. Hershel was the more reserved, bookish of the pair of them, while Randall had a habit of going off on wild adventures. But Hershel also becomes friends with Angela (the only girl of the group, who a lot of her friends— Randall, Dalston— apparently have romantic feelings for). Hershel promises Angela that he will always look out for Randall. 

Unfortunately, Hershel is forced to break that promise when he isn’t able to save Randall from falling at Akbadain. In the wake of Randall’s “death”, Angela is so devastated that she partly blames Hershel. Hershel, just as devastated, leaves Stansbury and goes to London to study archaeology in Randall’s place.

Imagine an eighteen-year-old Hershel starting university— alone, guilt-ridden and grieving. He’s so lonely but scared of make friends at the same time. (What if they get hurt— because of him? What if they end up hating him?)

Hershel buries himself in his studies. (He has to uphold Randall’s legacy!) When he’s not working himself to the bone, Hershel leaves his lectures and goes out exploring for days at time. (Would anyone miss him, anyway?) 

Despite Hershel’s determination to keep to himself, he gets paired up for a project with a guy in Dr. Schrader’s class— the bookish Clark Triton. Clark is hellbent on getting their project done to impress Dr. Schrader but his partner keeps avoiding him. Clark tracks Hershel down during one of his expeditions and gradually, they begin to work together. Eventually, they even become friends. They become so close that Clark invites Hershel to live with him in their second university year.

Somewhere along the line, Clark starts going out with Brenda, and she also becomes Hershel’s friend. Brenda and Hershel have a lot in common— both being intelligent and fond of travelling. Brenda even had a habit of picking up interesting items for her personal ‘collection’ like Hershel does.

Hershel is shocked when Brenda bakes him a cake for his twentieth birthday, and she and Clark celebrate with him.

But still, Hershel keeps wandering off at random times. He’s shocked by how much Clark and Brenda worry over him. 

Eventually, Hershel meets Brenda’s housemate, Claire. I know it’s not confirmed they know each other in canon but I don’t care Claire (like Angela before her) is very popular with a lot of admirers. 

However, Claire reminds Hershel more of Randall, with Claire, with her red hair and her passion for her work.

She and Hershel become sweethearts, of course, and Clark and Brenda are thrilled for them.

For a while, Hershel feels like he’s truly happy again. He has friends who care about him. He has a wonderful girlfriend. They’re all so hopeful for the future—

But then, the institute explosion happens.

It’s not Hershel’s fault— Brenda and Clark would never blame him— but Hershel blames himself anyway. He shuts himself away, so focussed on uncovering the cause of Claire’s death, that he keeps ignoring the Tritons’ concerned calls. They’ve got their three-year-old son to look after— he doesn’t want to involve them in this…

The Tritons are horrified when they hear Hershel has been beaten into a coma. (They just lost Claire and they came so close to losing Hershel too!) They‘re at his bedside when Hershel wakes up in hospital, but Hershel is more withdrawn than ever. He won’t tell them a thing about his investigation, fearing he will put them at risk.

Finally, the Tritons say farewell to Hershel and move out to the country— though, the promise to keep in contact. They write to Hershel. Hershel writes back, a few times, but over the years, he loses contact with them…

Maybe it’s for the best. Surely they must despise him now, just as much as Angela and Henry. 

Seven years after Claire’s death— a letter arrives at Hershel’s university office, signed by Clark. His old friend needs help.

Despite all that has happened, Hershel drops everything and rushes to Misthallery. 

He’ll do the same for Angela, one year later. 

#professor layton #Hershel Layton #randall ascot #clark triton #angela ledore #brenda Triton #claire foley #gressenheller gang #(The most underrated friendship group in the series) #Stansbury gang #Character analysis

[lesmond-sycamore]

was thinking about @multiversal-madness's post and decided to doodle one of my "what if Layton didn't become an archeology professor" occupations (if you could even use that word for this)

I'm gonna transcribe my terrible handwriting and add a little more onto it so you can comprehend what's going on

after Claire's death, realizes that there's nothing left for him in London (essentially saying that since he hadn't actually started working as a professor yet, there wasn't really anyone/thing (except MAYBE Dr. Schrader but that's a stretch) keeping him tied to London)

decides to travel the world and never stays in one spot for long (just long enough to do whatever he needs to in the area and then leaves as soon as it's done)

still solves puzzles and still interested in archeology, but doesn't put his name to any of the discoveries (either lets someone else in the area claim it or just sends an anonymous tip to Dr. Schrader)

refuses to get close to other people, as he believes his presence is what caused the losses in his life in the 1st place (pretty self-explanatory for this one, but as the 2nd image suggests, he is very touch starved)

2nd image is just the ending bit of Curious Village, albeit very different bc of the fact that Layton would most likely end up in St. Mystere a lot earlier than in canon and Flora might be a little more attached to him because of it

also some bonus stuff just thinking abt the concept (ignore how this straight-up defies canon bc I just want to do this for fun w/o actually making it an au)

Layton doesn't really talk, as talking leads to learning about others, so he only says a couple sentences every once in a while

Layton adopts Flora to be more of an apprentice, as she kinda refuses to leave his side after rescuing her

Layton eventually does get to Misthallery, but it's very damaged and mostly abandoned by that point bc of Descole so that's a thing.

he does meet Luke again, but Luke is even MORE standoff-ish than he already is in Last Specter. however, he does think Layton is very cool and mysterious bc of his lack of explanations when he's figuring stuff out

I can't decide on whether or not I want him to figure out randall's alive at any point bc it would probably heavily influence his decision to not get close to anybody and I don't want to think too hard about something like this that's just for fun. if I had to choose, though, I would be more likely to say Layton discovers he's alive AFTER Monte D'or was already flooded with sand bc of the angst (tm)

#professor layton #my art #my doodles #just a neet little concept ig

[sithsjedi]

TITLE: Statistical Character Personality Quiz

take the linked quiz from the perspective of your character, then select 5-10 results from the complete matches list that you feel resonate with your character the most.

ACQUIRED FROM: @dcmur3

TAGGING: @vendettavalor ( Aurelia ), @mvndrvke ( Seril ), @divinehr ( Priscilla ), @techniiciian ( Matt ), @mayxthexforce ( Rajeev ), @therapardalis ( Thera ), @wornkindness ( Amelia ), @forcelost ( Corvus ), and you.

( Redemptionverse ) YAN DOOKU:

Dr. Strange ( Marvel Cinematic Universe ): 88%

Vito Corleone ( The Godfather ): 84%

Professor X ( X-Men ): 84%

Mr. Darcy ( Pride and Prejudice ): 82%

Dr. Hannibal Lecter ( Hannibal ): 81%

Josiah Bartlet ( The West Wing ): 80%

Albus Dumbledore ( Harry Potter ): 79%

Legolas ( Lord of the Rings ): 79%

George Washington ( Hamilton ): 78%

Atticus Finch ( To Kill a Mockingbird ): 78%

SHI’AL VALORUM:

Alice Cullen ( Twilight ): 95%

Jasmine ( Aladdin ): 92%

Rose DeWitt Bukater ( Titanic ): 91%

Daenerys Targaryen ( Game of Thrones ): 87%

Angelica Schuyler ( Hamilton ): 86%

Elizabeth Swann ( Pirates of the Caribbean ): 85%

Claire Randall ( Outlander ): 85%

Amy March ( Little Women ): 83%

Cosette ( Les Misérables ): 80%

Elizabeth Bennett ( Pride and Prejudice ): 77%

#okay yeah both of these are pretty on brand 😭 #— ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ dash games #࿐ ࿔*: &. — muse development #࿐ ࿔*: &. — dash game #─➢ analysis ✧;─ ⠀ yan dooku #─➢ analysis ✧;─ ⠀ shi’al valorum

[crazyplrpsexyman]

Losers round pt.1

@clairefoley @billhawks @randall-bratscot @carolinehawks @floorareinhold @barton-of-the-yard @dralainstahngun @greggslover @henry-led0re @akihirohinoceooflevel5

#crazy pl rp sexyman tournament #losers round

[brian-in-finance]

Gif: @clairelizfraser

S03E03 All Debts Paid • 24 September 2017 Official Script

Outlander Rewatch 2023 Countdown To Season 7

Favourite Word

So ye’ve seen the new governor, then? Is it what the neep-heids are blathering about, is he the Devil ye know? — Murtagh

Different scene… he’s off camera for neep-heids

Favourite Line

That amount of time doesn’t exist. — Claire

Gif: @sundayruby

Favourite Image

Frank goes to the phone to make a call. Joe, who has taken the liberty of mixing TWO MARTINIS, notices the tension and distracts Claire.

Calling Doctor Randall. — Joe (handing her a drink)

Dr. Joe’s salvation elixir. - Joe

Claire, grateful for his intervention, lets it all wash off her as she takes the cold glass.

Is this your prescription for everything? — Claire

Nothing a cold martini won’t cure. — Joe

You’re going to be a horrible doctor. — Claire

Photo: Starz

Remember… I think perhaps the greatest burden lies in caring for those we cannot help. Not in having no one for whom to care. That is emptiness. But no great burden. — Jamie Fraser

32nd of 75 • Thursday, 4 May 2023

#Tait rhymes with hat #Good times #Outlander #Rewatch 2023 #Countdown To Season 7 #32nd of 75 #S03E03 All Debts Paid #Aired 24 September 2017 #Rewatched 4 May 2023

[sassenach77yle]

“You thought you were dying when we brought you up here, didn’t you?” I asked. My voice sounded more bewildered than accusing. It took him a moment to answer, though he didn’t look hesitant. It was more as though he was looking for the proper words. “Well, I didna ken for sure, no,” he said slowly. “Though I did feel verra ill.” His eyes closed, slowly, as though he were too tired to keep them open. “I still do,” he added, in a detached sort of voice.

“Ye needna worry, though—I’ve made my choice.”

“What on earth do you mean by that?” I groped beneath the covers, and found his wrist. He was warm; hot again, in fact, and with a pulse that was too fast, too shallow. Still, it was so different from the deathly chill I had felt in him the night before that my first reaction was relief. He took a couple of deep breaths, then turned his head and opened his eyes to look at me. “I mean I could have died last night.” He could, certainly—and yet that wasn’t what he meant. He made it sound like a conscious— “What do you mean you’ve made your choice? You’ve decided not to die, after all?” I tried to speak lightly, but it wasn’t working very well. I remembered all too well that odd sense of timeless stillness that had surrounded us. “It was verra strange,” he said. “And yet it wasna strange at all.” He sounded faintly surprised.

“I think,” I said carefully, keeping a thumb on his pulse, “you’d better tell me just what happened.” He actually smiled at that, though the smile was more in his eyes than his lips. Those were dry, and painfully cracked in the corners. I touched his lips with a finger, wanting to go and fetch some soothing ointment for him, some water, some tea—but I put aside the impulse, steeling myself to stay and hear. “I dinna really know, Sassenach—or rather, I do, but I canna think quite how to say it.” He still looked tired, but his eyes stayed open. They lingered on my face, a vivid blue in the morning light, with an expression almost of curiosity, as though he hadn’t seen me before.

“You are so beautiful,” he said, softly. “So verra beautiful, mo chridhe.”

My hands were covered with fading blue blotches and overlooked smears of buffalo blood, I could feel my hair clinging in unwashed tangles to my neck, and I could smell everything from the stale-urine odor of dye to the reek of fear-sweat on my body. And yet whatever he saw lit his face as though he were looking at the full moon on a summer night, pure and lovely. His eyes stayed fixed on my face as he talked, absorbed, moving slightly as they seemed to trace my features. “I felt verra badly indeed when Arch and Roger Mac brought me up,” he said. “Terribly sick, and my leg and my head both throbbing with each heartbeat, so much that I began to dread the next. And so I would listen to the spaces between. Ye wouldna think it,” he said, sounded vaguely surprised, “but there is a great deal of time between the beats of a heart.” He had, he said, begun to hope, in those spaces, that the next beat would not come. And slowly, he realized that his heart was indeed slowing—and that the pain was growing remote, something separate from himself. His skin had grown colder, the fever fading from both body and mind, leaving the latter oddly clear. “And this is where I canna really say, Sassenach.” He pulled his wrist from my grip in the intensity of his story, and curled his fingers over mine. “But I . . . saw.” “Saw what?” And yet I already knew that he couldn’t tell me. Like any doctor, I had seen sick people make up their minds to die—and I knew that look they sometimes had; eyes wide-fixed on something in the distance. He hesitated, struggling to find words. I thought of something, and jumped in to try to help. “There was an elderly woman,” I said. “She died in the hospital where I was on staff—all her grown children with her, it was very peaceful.” I looked down, my own eyes fixed on his fingers, still red and slightly swollen, interlaced with my own stained and bloody digits. “She died—she was dead, I could see her pulse had stopped, she wasn’t breathing. All her children were by her bedside, weeping. And then, quite suddenly, her eyes opened. She wasn’t looking at any of them, but she was seeing something. And she said, quite clearly, ‘Oooh!’ Just like that—thrilled, like a little girl who’s just seen something wonderful. And then she closed her eyes again.” I looked up at him, blinking back tears. “Was it—like that?” He nodded, speechless, and his hand tightened on mine. “Something like,” he said, very softly. He had felt oddly suspended, in a place he could by no means describe, feeling completely at peace—and seeing very clearly. “It was as if there was a—it wasna a door, exactly, but a passageway of some kind—before me. And I could go through it, if I wanted. And I did want to,” he said, giving me a sideways glance and a shy smile. He had known what lay behind him, too, and realized that for that moment, he could choose. Go forward—or turn back. “And that’s when you asked me to touch you?” “I knew ye were the only thing that could bring me back,” he said simply. “I didna have the strength, myself.” There was a huge lump in my throat; I couldn’t speak, but squeezed his hand very tight. “Why?” I asked at last. “Why did you . . . choose to stay?” My throat was still tight, and my voice was hoarse. He heard it, and his hand tightened on mine; a ghost of his usual firm grip, and yet with the memory of strength within it. “Because ye need me,” he said, very softly. “Not because you love me?” He looked up then, with a shadow of a smile.

“Sassenach . . . I love ye now, and I will love ye always. Whether I am dead—or you—whether we are together or apart. You know it is true,” he said quietly, and touched my face. “I know it of you, and ye know it of me as well.”

He bent his head then, the bright hair swinging down across his cheek. “I didna mean only you, Sassenach. I have work still to do. I thought—for a bit—that perhaps it wasna so; that ye all might manage, with Roger Mac and auld Arch, Joseph and the Beardsleys. But there is war coming, and—for my sins—” he grimaced slightly, “I am a chief.” He shook his head slightly, in resignation. “God has made me what I am. He has given me the duty—and I must do it, whatever the cost.”

“The cost,” I echoed uneasily, hearing something harsher than resignation in his voice. He looked at me, then glanced, almost off-handed, toward the foot of the bed. “My leg’s no much worse,” he said, matter-of-factly, “but it’s no better. I think ye’ll have to take it off.”

The fiery cross

#outlander #outlanderedit #the frasers #outlander starz #jamie fraser #outlander series #outlander fanart #samheughan #jamie&claire #jamie and claire #dr claire randall #claire beauchamp #claire fraser #caitrionabalfe #outlander season 5 #outlander books #outlander book #outlander 5x09

[renee-writer]

The Diary Part 2

A/N This continues @ladymeraud and I's previous work, The Diary. It is a one shot in the same universe. Enjoy.

AO3

Dr. Frank Randall loathes Scotland. It is where his ex girlfriend lives with her husband. Both are successful, damn their eyes! She runs a small hospital and he a quite successful wine and whisky company. Yet, he finds himself entering the University of Glasgow. He knows universities, having a Professorship at Harvard though without tenure. This nags at him as he enters the lecture he was searching for, book in hand.

 

A Dr. A. Reed was teaching. He isn’t sure if he is searching for a man or woman, as the book has no author’s photo. He just knows he needs to speak to this A. Reed. He has some questions. So thinking, he slips into the back row.

 

She is an older woman, he discovers. She wears jeans, a large tie-dyed t-shirt, and doc martin boots. Her long grey hair is in a ponytail.

 

“Okay everyone. This is the last class before yule and Hogmanay. You have your folders for next year when we will start the study of South America and Africa. Now would Master William and Mistress Amber please come up to the lectern.” The two walk up. Frank notes that William has red hair like his nemesis, Jamie, his Claire’s husband. His eyes narrow as Dr. A Reed continues, “Master William and Mistress Amber have the highest GPA this quarter. I am proud of them and all of you, as you all have A’s. Well done, the lot of you!” The class applauds itself and it’s star students. Frank just rolls his eyes. On the lectern, she hands William and Amber bags of things they will enjoy.

 

Everyone stands to leave. William says to his professor, “You are coming to Lallybroch for Hogmanay, aren’t you. My brother will be very disappointed if you don’t . He and Claire are looking forward to you being there.”

 

“You may tell them that I will be there and to ring me if I need to bring anything.” He nods and walks away as Frank approaches. “Hello, I saw you enter my class but I don’t think I know you.”

 

“Professor Frank Randall, of Harvard.” Arrogance drips from every word. Dr. Reed forces herself not to roll her eyes.

 

“Dr. A. Reed. How may I help you Mr. Randall?” No master honorific for him.

 

He holds up her book. “You write about the atrocities that you say the British committed against the Scots. Do you really believe this?” He refrains from showing his disgust by spitting on the floor  “What prove have you?”

 

“Mr. Randall, a relative of a certain lieutenant, I presume?” She raises her eyebrows and he nods, curtly, “Follow me. I will show you several diaries that prove it.”

 

She opens a door in the back and leads him down a small hall and into her office. It is bright and cheery. The walls are lined with bookcases. Several contain binders. Off her desk, to the side of it, is a white box. It is hermetically sealed, with twelve books in it.

 

“That one,” she catches his glance of it, “I can’t open. The books inside are over three hundred years old. Their contents, however, are in these binders. She pulls a few down and offers him a seat across from her. “You said you needed prove, Mr. Randall and here it is.” She opens the first page. It is a photocopy of the front of a diary, showing it belonged to Jonathan Wolverton Randall, aka, Black Jack, of his Majesty’s  Light Dragoons. “In his own words.” She turns a few pages and finds what she is looking for. Without preamble, she starts reading.

 

“The woman slapped me! She is English but married to a Barbaric Scot. I will have fun with her. I have Jamie in my hands. I was going to hang him but I think I will have some fun with him first, then hang what is left of him. That witch of a wife has taken my prize. I will find him!” She closes it. “It goes on and on. I have copies of Jamie and Claire ‘s diaries, from the same time period, that authentic what is in this one. I do my research Mr. Randall. Oh, several of the men working under him found that they enjoyed his brand of governance. I have their writings as well.”

 

“May I have copies of these? I have some questions about my family that I believe they will answer.” He is quite a bit humbler now.

 

She nods. “I will make you some copies.”

 

He left Glasgow with the copies in his bag. Entering his hotel, he orders dinner and some gin. It will be a long night.

 

Reading them through, he discovers that he is a relative of Black Jack’s and that Jamie Fraser lived in France and was only in Scotland by chance. He knows, as he boards his plane back to Harvard, that he will need to look into the history of the English and Scot’s in a different way.

#my writing #outlander fanfic #ladymeraud and i's latest #the diary part 2 #one shot #jamie and claire #cannon divergence #outlander fandom #modern au

[scapegrace74-blog]

What Should I Write Next?

Thank you to everyone for your very kind words on the conclusion of Don’t Let Me Fall.  Since I managed to wrap that story up before the holidays, and since we’re due for the first big snowstorm of the season that will keep me indoors all weekend, I’m trying to decide what to write next.

I am not promising to write the most popular choice, but I am interested to know how readers feel about the following contenders:

Dal Riada (working title) - a WIP that is a retelling of Outlander with Claire falling from the 1860s back to the proto-Gaelic kingdom of Dalriada in 806, where Seumas (Jamie) is the nephew of the king.  It also tells the story behind the Woman of Balnain folktale that Claire hears sung in Outlander.  Omniscient POV.  I’ve written 6 chapters (about 19,000 words) and done a ton of historical research, but I need to revisit the plot and do a significant re-write of what’s there.  This is the story I most want to write, but it will take a looong time to do it justice.  Likely completion: Summer 2023.

Laredo (working title) - a WIP set in the American southwest in the 1980s.  Jamie is a vaquero (Spanish-American cowboy) on his family’s ranch in southern Texas when Dr. Claire Beauchamp’s car breaks down in his one-saloon town.  He’s a fugitive from the law, she’s running away from financial and personal ruin, and they come to each other’s aid.  Claire POV.  This is the story closest to completion.  I’ve got 13 chapters (about 37,000 words) written, and there’s just one major plot hole to fill and a lot of polishing before it’s done.  Likely completion: January/February 2023.

West End Girl - a WIP set in mid-1980s London during the height of the cocaine/heroin epidemic.  Claire is a wealthy Mayfair society girl who witnesses something she shouldn’t.  Jamie is the leader of a Docklands street gang called the Clan who protects Claire from Black Jack Randall, her boyfriend’s cousin. It’s a lot darker than my usual stuff.  Omniscient POV.  This one is about half-written (12,000 words) but still needs some plotting and some rework as well.  Likely completion: March 2023.

The Man from Black Water - another wacky fic idea that came to me not long ago.  A cross-over between Outlander and the 1980s movie The Man from Snowy River, retold in 1880s Scotland rather than 1880s Australia.  The plot would be almost identical to the movie (for those that have seen it) and I can practically recite that movie from memory, so this is a quick hit of feel-good fic.  Likely completion: January/February 2023.

#my writing #outlander #fanfiction #straw poll

[malicious-compliance-esq]

Also, I meant to say this in response to your headcanons but got carried away by other things. I absolutely agree that Tavington is looking forward to the horny swordfight. I got started on a meta about the perverse courtship between Tavington and Martin that that scene illustrates particularly well, but as I drew closer to the end it got quite depressing, and I think I've abandoned it. But, yes!

I've only seen the first season of Outlander, but I did watch the final fight between Jamie Fraser and JBR, and it made me feel kind of . . . jealous . . . on Tavington's behalf!

Why didn't he get to die on top of Martin, who was also half dead? It was what he deserved, and it's homophobic of the filmmakers to not give it to him.

We’re back with a new Ask from @lyledebeast who has been busy having Correct Opinions about the Battle of Culloden sequence in Outlander S3E1 and its connections to the Colonel Tavington / Benjamin Martin final confrontation in The Patriot...

I couldn’t agree more with this assessment, honestly! From what I understand, the showrunners gave Tobias Menzies and Sam Heughan loose guidance to draw on the final sequence from The Patriot and the sex scene from Cold Mountain in equal measure. They definitely delivered on that and then some. We don’t initially see as much of the fight sequence itself in the books, so I loved the artistic direction the show went in with developing the stuff that later shows up in all of Jamie Fraser’s wild horny dreams about Black Jack Randall. Which he’s still having 20+ years after killing the guy in canon, much to his spouse Claire’s bewilderment. He even goes so far as to ramble about the weird BJR sex dreams to his sister Jenny, who seems to understand a bit better why this is still happening.

Unfortunately Black Jack making absolutely garbage choices at the end of Season 1 (after a promising grand gesture of saving Jamie from the gallows after he got arrested for treason charges that Randall had nothing to do with) sealed his fate when things could have easily gone another way. Most of my fics change the specific events of S1E15-16 and the corresponding content from the Outlander novel enough to make other trajectories possible for the two of them. This is plausibly canonical if one considers the potential consequences of Roger MacKenzie Wakefield’s visit to Fort William in 1739 in Written in My Own Heart’s Blood but I won’t get into the weeds about that here.

TL;DR: Black Jack deserved everything he got at Culloden in canon, but between him and Jamie BJR was the only one who found any peace from the outcome of that confrontation. Jamie wound up imprisoned for years on end and tortured all the more by his memories of Black Jack. Awful—and thus an exquisitely poignant commentary on how violence is a cycle that brings everyone to ruin.

BJR and Jamie could’ve had it so much better, so I’ve been going HAM exploring other timelines for the two of them. This includes reading between the lines of the show and books a lot to explore the clear implications that Randall himself has been abused by the Duke of Sandringham for years. Another depressing meta topic that I’ve written about before, and certainly a valuable context for why he winds up so broken and so unable to disentangle violence and affection with other men.

This is an interesting angle to explore re: Tavington and Martin. I often see the relationship between Black Jack and Jamie as a sort of photo negative of the Will/Ben dynamic. Indeed, one can look at Randall and Tavington as negative images of one another in a more general sense:

The worst things Randall does are focused entirely on one guy; he has zero interest in expanding these beyond Jamie and in fact actively eschews opportunities to attack other Highlanders beyond the punch-clock minimum of doing his job, which he also hates. This is fairly clear in the books, but even more so in the show. That Culloden sequence literally shows him shooing people away from his horse with the flat of his cavalry saber in the middle of an all-out bloodbath. He’s only there to go willingly to his death by fighting Jamie because he thinks he truly is irredeemable and can’t bear to face the even scarier prospect of dealing with his feelings for the other person he’s now entangled with.

On a broader scale Randall makes no secret of his distaste for killing and anything to do with it, is visibly shaken by violence against other people in his regiment, and goes on a lengthy ramble in a deleted scene from S1E8—I’m totally with you on deleted scenes “counting” by the way—about how he doesn’t give a damn about the war or the Crown. He basically says he just wants to stop being miserable and lonely in a freezing cold place and go back home to Sussex and take a proper hot bath. We find out later exactly why Randall has been serving all this time and like Tavy’s backstory, it’s a heartbreaker. But when it comes to that one guy who is the focus of all the worst parts of Black Jack’s twisted psyche…boy does he ever go deep, literally and figuratively. Even then, it's complicated—nothing is ever quick or simple with Randall.

Then we’ve got Tavington, who gleefully burns a church full of townspeople who did nothing except let someone exist and breathe. But he makes it eminently clear that this isn’t remotely personal, simply the cost of doing business for a cause he truly believes in. Not so much the Crown itself, but honor and the fight against hypocrisy. His eye-rolling takedown of chattel enslavement of Black people is one of many reasons I love Tavy. I also wonder if he burned that church not so much because it had people inside it but specifically because it was a church. We certainly spend enough time discussing religious trauma in the BJR fandom—check his “what kind of world” soliloquy in S2E12—that it’s easy to see why Tavington would have a grudge against organized Christianity and especially the Puritanical American version.

There's also Tavington's horny fixation with Martin and how he leans into every opportunity to form a trauma bond with him. But rather than pushing the envelope too far and raping him when dude is still way to repressed to admit he’s bi and that Dougal MacKenzie’s assessment of what was actually happening in Jamie’s head during that savage flogging at Fort William was entirely correct, Will kills two of Ben’s kids right in front of him. Brutal and yet weirdly humane in sort of an inverse way.  The “butcher” moniker really tracks here—quick, surgical, painless and purely physical rather than a whole mix of things physically that are almost secondary to the psychological angle. Tavington kills plenty of people, but seems to have no interest in making any of them suffer. He actually cares about the broader purpose behind his job even if he only started doing it initially because of his own family’s misfortunes.

I see overlap between Tavy and BJR here in the area of wanting to become the primary source of comfort for a person they’ve hurt. Very different pathways to causing that pain, but similar desires underneath—right down to the horny death wish. “Kill me before the war is over” is Tavington’s equivalent with Martin of Randall saying “kill me, my heart’s desire” to Jamie.

I absolutely think they deserved a more explicitly randy final fight with Will landing on top of Ben to protect him from being wounded in any further fighting the way Black Jack does with Jamie in the Outlander show and books. The TV show version of that sequence made this quite explicit. If you watched all of S3E1 then you saw BJR reach out for Jamie as he collapsed, at once a final expression of his own feelings and an intentional transfer of protection.

The theme of a person giving someone the protection of their body shows up constantly in Outlander and has been the subject of many keysmashing blorbo breakdowns I’ve had on Discord these past few months. Note that in Outlander Jamie even leaves a highly symbolic object on the battlefield with Black Jack—the meaning of this will become clear once you watch the later episodes in Season 2, but it really drives the message home that the deeper feelings between BJR and Jamie were anything but one-sided.

And then of course there’s the poignant symbolism of dying in the arms of the person who understood someone best, and who connected with them the most emotionally even if that connection was terribly fraught. Tavington and Martin exemplify this every bit as much as Randall and Fraser do, in my opinion. The chemistry between them is palpable from the very first, and even with the homoeroticism of their dynamic set at a lower volume visually in the specific choices the production crew made for the final sequence in The Patriot that energy is definitely there.

I love your turn of phrase here also in describing the relationship between Will and Ben as a “perverse courtship”—very accurate, and certainly convergent with the dynamics we see between Black Jack and Jamie in the Outlander canon. There’s little ambiguity that for Randall this was one of only a couple of times he’d ever been in love, and the same for Fraser. And in both universes as in so many great tragedies throughout the ages, we see the terrible consequences of war through the lens of doomed love.

As Claire Beauchamp points out in Outlander “there’s always another fucking war” waiting to destroy lives the same way all over again. So I love the possibilities transformative work offers for envisioning a world where moderately to severely traumatized Evil Redcoats can find some healing of their own.  You can’t avoid Martin and Fraser being completely shattered after killing their adversaries unless you rework the canon with Tavington and Randall making just enough different choices to invite other futures. And goodness, is that ever a real pleasure for us writers!

#ask dr. compliance #lyledebeast #small fandoms #the patriot #william tavington #jason isaacs #outlander starz #black jack randall #tobias menzies #fanfic #ao3 #character analysis #villain discourse #evil redcoat pipeline #delightful #yes good

[muchadomuses]

starter for @formulated-lie

Kill with kindness. Kill with kindness. Kill with kindness.

An absurd mantra to be repeating to herself, a doctor, but Claire Randall did so nonetheless. The words were recited less in reference to a patient and more so to do with her impending social interaction. It was a simple conversation. One that should be fairly straightforward.

Doctors, even surgeons such as herself, took rounds in the clinic. Honestly, Claire had never batted an eyelash at the prospect of doing her time in the crowded clinic---which never seemed to empty out even after the hours she worked it. Interacting with people was something she truly missed with being a surgeon. Not quite the conversationalist when knocked out on her table...

But---she had a meeting with her lawyer tomorrow and not a single person would switch clinic hours with her. Especially when the other doctors realized who was scheduled to be next in time for clinic duty.

"Dr. House," she greeted, entering the notoriously----notorious---man's office. Kill with kindness. "How are you today? Any interesting cases?" Truth be told, there was only so much she could fake before the conversation would turn south. The egotistical...sardonic...son of a b---you could say his reputation proceeded him.

#formulated-lie #ch. claire

[jaclaire1743]

Claire Elizabeth Randall Fraser

Actress: Caitrona Balfe

Basics:

Marital status: (re) Married 💍

Age: 62

Birthday: October the 20th, 1918 in London, England, UK

Zodiac sign: Libra ♎️

Sex: Female

Height: 5'6

Occupation: Physician

Nationality: English 🇬🇧

Religion: Catholic

________________________________

Family:

Father: Henry

Beauchamp (✝️)

Mother: Julia Moriston (✝️)

Uncle: Quentin Lambert (✝️)

Immediate family:

(1st) Husband:

Frank Randall (✝️)

(2nd) Husband: Jamie Fraser

(3) Husband: Lord John Grey (invalid)

Children:

(1st) Daughter: Faith Fraser (✝️)

(2) Daughter: Brianna MacKenzie

Son-in-law: Roger MacKenzie

(adoptive) Son: Fergus Fraser

(step) Daughter-in-law: Marsali MacKimmie Fraser

(step) Son: William Ransom

Extended:

Mother-in-law: Ellen Fraser (✝️)

Father-in-law: Brian Fraser (✝️)

Brother-in-law: William Fraser (✝️)

Brother-in-law: Robert Fraser (✝️)

Sister-in-law: Jenny Murray

Brother-in-law: Ian Murray (sr)

Niece: Maggie Murray

Nephew: Jamie Murray

Nephew: Ian Fraser Murray (jr)

Grandson: Jeremiah “Jemmy”

Fraser MacKenzie

Granddaughter: Amanda “Mandy” MacKenzie

Granddaughter: Félicité Fraser

Grandson: Germain Fraser

Grandson: Henrik-Christen

Granddaughter: Joan Fraser

________________________________

Clan:

* Beauchamp (maiden name)

* Randall (first marriage name)

* Fraser (second marriage name)

* Grey (third marriage name)

________________________________

Aliases:

* Claire Beauchamp

* Claire Randall

* Sassenach (Gaelic)

* "mo nighean donn" (Gaelic)

* Sorcha (Gaelic)

* Madonna

* La Dame Blanche

* White Witch

* Dr. Randall

* Lady Jane

* Mrs. Malcolm

* White Raven

* "the Healer"

* the conjure-woman

________________________________

Titles:

* Lady Broch Tuarach (1743 - 1746)

* Lady John Grey (April-June 1778)

* Lady of the House of Fraser’s Ridge

________________________________

Appearance / personality

Claire has light curly brown hair, amber-gold eyes and her skin is fair.

How would you describe Claire's personality?

* Maternal

* Independent

* Pragmatic

* Stubborn

* Feisty

* Determined

* Well educated

* Composed (especially in stressful situations)

#brianna fraser mackenzie #character sheet #sophie skelton #caitriona balfe #sam heughan #claire fraser #jamie fraser #outlander