#even though he's only really in the book for dowry related reasons i feel like they would have a special bond

[prncesselene]

Prompt: Anthony being a great father to Hyacinth. Literally any scenario will do I just really want some daddy Anthony.

thank you for sending this in! i’m always eager to spread the anthony bridgerton DILF agenda ♥️ 

(ao3)

Anthony first heard a wail.

It was a shrill, tinny sound — not exactly one he’d never heard before, but certainly the kind that raised alarm in the middle of a bright, sunny day in the country. The sort of day that made painters rush out with their canvases and smattered the hands of poets with ink. It was such a beautiful day, in fact, that most of his siblings had all filtered out to enjoy it. He had chosen to sit back and watch them as they enjoyed the sun.

At the age of twenty five, Anthony had settled into as peaceful an existence as was possible for a man like him — as head of the family, its finances, and everyone’s general wellbeing, it wasn’t necessarily easy, but he was managing. Colin was set to start university soon, Benedict had recently finished, and Daphne wasn’t set to debut until the following season. The lull in activity gave Anthony enough momentary peace that it finally felt as though he could take one long, deep breath.

And in truth, he was enjoying the country and the time spent with his family. Atypical as it may have been, he would always be grateful for the special bond they all shared with each other. Things were certainly never dull when they were all together.

Case in point: the wailing coming from a six-year old Hyacinth Bridgerton.

Anthony sat up the moment he heard it, his eyes narrowing to locate the source of the sound. Gregory was only eight, and just as incorrigible as the rest of the boys had been at his age. Him and Hyacinth got on just as often as they fought — which meant, at any given moment, either of them might have been the one crying.

Violet let out a resigned sigh, looking up at the scenery ahead of them. “Anthony, would you…?”

Anthony grimaced, rising from his seat and stalking across the field. Hyacinth’s sobs had only grown louder in the few moments it took for him to walk over, Gregory’s eyes wide and filled with fear as he approached.

“I— I promise I didn’t—”

“He PUSHED me!” Hyacinth shouted through her tears as she held onto her knee, her face red and splotchy with the effort. “He MEANT to!”

“I didn’t!”

“He DID!”

“Both of you, settle. Down. Now,” Anthony said, putting on his most authoritative voice. This still came awkwardly to him — the discipline and strong words, especially when they were both so young. But it was just another part of the role he’d been given, the one he’d never quite asked for but had to bear all the same. He leaned down to meet her eyes. “Are you hurt, Hyacinth?”

She was still sobbing loudly — a sound that tugged viciously at his heart, even if his youngest sister did have a flair for the dramatic — as she opened up her palms to reveal a particularly bloody knee.

Anthony winced, hissing as he inspected it closely. Gregory began to cry at the sight of it. “I promise I didn’t mean to… I didn’t see the rocks, and—”

The wound was not disastrous, but bad enough that Anthony could confirm Hyacinth’s tears were not, in fact, exaggerated. Anthony sighed. Discipline would have to come later. “Go to mother, Gregory,” he said. “Now. I will deal with you later.”

Gregory did as told, walking back towards their mother with his head hung low as Anthony picked Hyacinth up. Her arms came around his neck while her legs swung around his chest. She wasn’t very tiny anymore, all long arms and pointy elbows — she was going to be tall, he could already tell — but he was able to lift her with ease. As they walked, her arms tightened around him as she continued to cry into his shoulder.

“Shhh,” he tried to console her, the walk from the field to the nursery inside feeling longer than it had ever been before. “You’re okay. It’ll be alright.”

Once they were inside, Anthony didn’t bother to locate the nursemaid — Hyacinth was clearly in distress, and that seemed like a waste of time when he was perfectly able. He sat her down on one of the dressers and grabbed a washcloth.

“Does it hurt badly?” he asked, his voice low as he tried to soothe her. This was a trick he’d learned with Eloise, who’d always gotten into more trouble than it seemed a young girl should have been able to. If he spoke softly enough, nearly in a whisper, it was often enough to get them to relax.

Hyacinth sniffed, using her hands to wipe at her face. She had stopped crying, but her cheeks — and Anthony’s shoulder — remained damp. “Mmmmhmm.”

Anthony dabbed at her knee with the washcloth, clearing away most of the blood while Hyacinth slowly caught her breath. The scrape was still fairly bad, but it would likely heal by the following day.

“Here we go,” Anthony said, taking the ointment from the nursery cabinet and dabbing it around the skin of Hyacinth’s knee. Once that was done, he took the bandage and wrapped it twice — enough to cover it fully without limiting her mobility. “Does that feel better?”

Hyacinth nodded, her frown deepening. “I hate Gregory. He’s mean and rude and I hate him.”

Anthony smiled, reaching up to wipe away some of the last errant tears on her cheeks. “No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do.”

“No,” Anthony stood up, putting his hands on his waist. “You don’t. He made a mistake — for which he will apologize to you and see consequences — and then you will go back to loving each other and being the best of siblings. That is the way things are, and the way they will always be. That’s what family is. Alright?”

Hyacinth rolled her eyes, unconvinced, and Anthony was immediately provided with a glimpse into what the future held in store for him when it came to the youngest Bridgerton. He would have to really enjoy the relative calm while he had it.

He whisked her off of the table unexpectedly, careful not to hurt her knee, eliciting a girlish squeal. “Did you just roll your eyes at me? That is quite undignified, Miss Hyacinth. Even for a young lady of six.”

“No, I didn’t!”

“Oh, I believe you did,” he tsked, smiling. Reaching under her chin, Anthony tickled her until she was giggling, her hands reaching out in a futile attempt to stop him between fits of laughter. “Aaaah! — Anthony — please!”

Anthony found himself laughing along as Hyacinth tried to retaliate, sticking her hands under his arms and neck. Despite her mighty attempts, the girl was still only six, and thus Anthony found himself the indisputable winner of the battle as their laughter slowly settled into small giggles, stopping only once it was clear that any unhappiness was well and truly behind her.

Once she’d caught her breath, Hyacinth leaned into Anthony, her head tucked into his shoulder the way she’d often done as a baby. Emotion clogged in Anthony’s throat at that realization — he could hardly believe she was already six. He supposed he would always see her as the cooing infant she’d once been. 

Her arrival had been the first moment of happiness Anthony had felt after losing his father, overshadowed only by the realization that she would never know him. That, in turn, inspired a fervent desire to try and fill the gap, however clumsily.

“Are you feeling better now?” he murmured, smiling when she nodded and tightened her grip on him again, her eyes slowly closing. All the excitement seemed to have sapped her of her energy.

Anthony took a quick turn about the room, drifting towards the window and watching his family outside as he carried her. As difficult as it was — dealing with his siblings, worrying relentlessly over their wellbeing, lending an ear for listening or a shoulder for crying whenever they needed it — it was satisfying, too. Especially in moments like this.

He would have to find her nursemaid now, and then have a few choice words with Gregory about being careful with his younger sister, and then after that he would likely have to go and deal with some other issue that arose, whether it was with his mother, or his sisters, or his brothers.

It seemed to never end, the laundry list of problems with which he was presented — everyone looked to him for guidance, and Anthony didn’t have anywhere else to look to anymore. He would have to find the answers within himself, the way he’d been doing for seven years now.

He would never be their father — that much went without saying — but that didn’t mean he couldn’t try to fill the hole he’d left behind for them.

When he turned back towards Hyacinth, she was asleep, her breaths even. Anthony smiled to himself, grateful to see her calm and peaceful for once, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead before lowering her onto the bed and closing the curtains.

He could only hope he was doing a good enough job of it all.

#bridgerton #bridgerton fanfiction #bridgerton family #anthony bridgerton #hyacinth bridgerton #:') got all in my feels with this one #especially after reading its in his kiss #i just love hyacinth #even though he's only really in the book for dowry related reasons i feel like they would have a special bond

[phoenixyfriend]

The IzuTobi Prequel

Prequel to this post, which I’ve taken to calling the “Red Eyes = Spouse Material” AU.

WARNING: contains a reference to worries/fears of sexual coercion.

Like, okay, they did not know that Tobirama had red eyes at first. They weren't close enough on the river for Izuna to see, since he didn't have Sharingan yet, while Tajima and Madara were looking at their respective opponents, not Tobirama.

Then, once they were in their early teens, and Izuna already had his Sharingan, they met on the battlefield for the first time, and Izuna saw Tobirama's eyes. Sure, Tobirama wouldn't meet his gaze, but Izuna could still see him.

And Izuna, as is only natural, went to Madara to ask 'hey uhhhhhhhhh one of our enemies is actually Amaterasu-blessed, what do.'

And Madara's just like '!!!!!' because hey actually this is great news everybody knows that the first step upon meeting an unmarried stranger with red eyes is to figure out who the best person to court them is, they can get a marriage alliance out of this to end the bloodshed and child death! Even the Elders can't argue against having a clan marriage to an Amaterasu-blessed indivi--

They object.

Well, Tajima objects.

Madara and Izuna bring the issue to him, both pretty excited about doing the whole "arranged engagement in the early teens, actual marriage at twenty or so" thing as a way to stop killing kids but Nope! For a variety of reasons, most of which boil down on Tajima's side to "the Senju have killed three of my children, I have no interest in taking in one of their own," the plan is shot down.

Madara and Izuna are naturally devastated but keep an eye out for like. A chance. To slip the info to Tobirama or Hashirama so they're at least aware of the possibility for when Tajima dies, in case Butsuma is more open to it?

I can't decide if they actually manage to set up a Secret Meeting prior to their dads' deaths, but I'm leaning towards 'no.'

(In this plot, Izuna is still wary of the Senju, but much more open to the idea of peace on account of Auspicious Omens Are Here.)

Anyway, Tajima dies first, I think, and Madara's first act as Clan Head is to send Hashirama a request by hawk for a private meeting. Hashirama is still only heir, not Clan Head, but Butsuma is ill (infected wound, I think), so Hashirama has the option of accepting this.

They meet, and Madara explains that he can sway most of the clan into an alliance--not just an armistice, but an actual alliance, possibly even establish that village they talked about as kids--if they can marry Tobirama into the Uchiha.

"Does it have to be Tobirama?" Hashirama asks, because he's not the best brother, but he's good enough to know that Tobirama hates the idea of getting married.

"Yes," Madara says, and then explains that it's all in the eyes, that this is a deeply spiritual thing to the clan and while some of the more militant elders may object, most of the clan will take the red eyes as a sign that this is intended to happen.

And Hashirama is quiet, and then asks if a marriage would require Tobirama to sire any children.

"We're not going to try to steal a kekkei genkai."

"That's not it."

"...wait, does he prefer men? We can--we can make that happen. If it's... hell, in that case it might work better, he could marry me or Izuna, direct connection to the main house, skip the issue of heirs and--"

"No, that's not... not it. But it makes me feel better to know that. I'll have to run it past him."

Tobirama is VERY ace and Hashirama had strict plans to respect that so he's trying to feel out if consummation would be required, or if a kiss for the wedding and then cohabitation would be enough.

Internal logic is "I want peace but not at the expense of handing my brother over for coerced marital rape where he thinks he can't say no without restarting the war."

He manages to get the agreement that the Uchiha weren't looking to pressure Tobirama into any sex-related things, though Madara still thinks it's a matter of Bloodline Protection and that Hashirama is worried about, like, someone trying to steal surplus semen or something.

Hashirama goes home and outlines it to Tobirama, who is very ??? about the whole thing but willing to at least consider it after Hashirama explains the basic requirements and how he confirmed that sexual relations aren't necessary. Hashirama floats it past Butsuma as a Theoretical Exercise, and is shot down.

So, Hashirama sends Madara a letter to the effect of "Our esteemed Clan Head says no, but we'll keep it in mind [insert veiled implication that Butsuma's dying anyway here]."

Madara and Hashirama have always kinda held back against each other, but now Tobirama and Izuna are also holding back the teensiest bit, just enough that nobody can be sure (and tell Butsuma or and Elder about it).

Well, Touka notices, but her first resort is "ask Tobirama to his face" and second resort is "bother Hashirama about it" so she gets the rundown on how Madara and Izuna are angling to get a political marriage with Tobirama since his eyes are Apparently a spiritual matter to the Uchiha as a whole.

Obviously, Butsuma dies, and Hashirama then immediately sends Madara a letter like "HEY so I'm Clan Head now, here's a nice inn located in neutral territory, bring your brother and an advisor, I'll do the same, let's hammer out a contract ASAP."

So it's Hashirama, Tobirama, and Touka on one side, Madara, Izuna, and Hikaku on the other.

Tobirama explains that he refuses to engage in sexual relations with anyone he marries (internally he's thinking that he might eventually take interest if he gets comfortable enough, but overall the entire concept is a little disgusting to him, and he doesn't want anyone to think they can convince him to do it, so he takes a hardline stance during the marriage contract negotiation process), but is open to his marriage partner engaging in an extramarital affair for a period of time in order to secure an heir.

"I promise we're not trying to steal your--" "Madara. Look at me. I do not like sex, and have never had any intention to engage in the activity with anyone, Uchiha or Senju or any clan at all. I had no plans for marriage, ever. The only reason I am opening myself to this one is because I value the opportunity for peace." "...oh."

So, you know, that's out in the open now, but it actually makes it easier to negotiate because they now know why he's uncomfortable with the idea of marriage, so other things (like the cohabitation and dowry and whatnot) can be discussed without people getting resentful about the other party not trusting them with genetic material. Hashirama and Madara get really excited about the whole village idea again, in part because Hashirama wants his brother to be able to visit Really Easily.

At one point they ask Tobirama who he wants to marry, if there's anyone he's interested in? Male or female? What ages is he comfortable with? Main line would be most politically expedient, but--

And he's just like "I know Izuna best, as my rival, and I've taken note of enough recently to know he's not a terrible person, at least as far as any shinobi can be 'good.' If Izuna is open to it, then I would like to discuss what cohabitation would look like between us. Should our expectations of daily life line up well enough, then I imagine that would be optimal."

Izuna's torn, because Amaterasu-blessed, but also he'd kind of been hoping for a Real Marriage with Affection and Children. Touka loudly suggests they take a recess and let Tobirama and Izuna talk in private for a bit.

Izuna manages to get across his personal worries, and Tobirama laughs and says that he actually loves children and was planning to take on plenty of students. "If you don't like the option of the extramarital affair for a child, we could always adopt. As for affection... I've been told I cling like an eel in my sleep, if that suggests anything."

"So if I grew enough feelings that I wanted, like... a good morning kiss or something..." "Quite frankly, my feelings on kissing in general are pretty neutral. It's a little strange, but I could engage with it, once a rapport is built. Heavy petting is distasteful, however, and anything past that..."

And Izuna listens to all that like "Oh. Okay, I will be able to Acquire Cuddles."

Then they discuss the whole 'what do we anticipate out of cohabitation' thing, like pets and cleanliness standards and what spare rooms are for and what goes on in the basement and allergies. It matches up... not perfectly, really, but close enough that they can make it work. They shake hands like the nerds they are and call their families back in and say they've decided it'll work so let's get that paperwork drawn up and start planning a wedding.

Aaaaaaaaaaand then Zetsu kills Izuna and convinces Madara that it was Tobirama's fault so he loses the plot (or, well, finds the canon plot, really).

I'm happy to imagine Tobirama and Izuna on a couch in their house, Izuna halfway asleep and leaning his head on Tobirama's shoulder, while Tobirama's got on a pair of glasses and is reading a book.

Just. Really domestic.

Cutesy.

IDK I feel like they just end up as pleasant roommates who don't necessarily ignore each other, but are well aware of the fact that they entered into this arrangement with non-romance expectations, and they're both okay with that.

They take dinner together, talk shop, try to engage with each other's hobbies, go to events as each other's default plus-one...

It’s Nice

#IzuTobi #Uchiha Izuna #Senju Tobirama #Izuna Uchiha #Tobirama Senju #Uchiha Madara #Senju Hashirama #Senju Touka #Naruto #Naruto Oldies #Founders Era #Phoenix Posts

[thebluelemontree]

Ever since the 1st book Sansa was faced with the true/fake knight dichotomy: the KG beat her and her Knight of Flowers wasn't that honorable either (his mare trick). For some people that is one of the reasons why Harry is a good partner for her - he's honest and dislikes false courtesy (much like Sandor). But I fail to see how being honest about your dishonor makes you the TRUE KNIGHT. To me he's just as fake as all the others unlike Sandor who didn't give any vows to break. What's your opinion?

I guess we’re talking about a “good partner” in theory because I really don’t think the signs look all that great for Harry living much longer.  If he shows up at the tourney joust on a red stallion, stick a fork in him.  He’s done.  Besides that, should we honestly expect a marriage option arranged by Littlefinger to turn out good for Sansa?  When has any of his arrangements for her worked out in her favor?

Just so we’re being fair and this isn’t just about rooting for my OTP above other options, Sandor is also bluntly honest about some of the horrible things he has done too.  Not taking vows is him making a protest statement against the institution, but he can sometimes use it to deflect attention from his own bad acts onto the hypocrisy of knights instead.  It’s Sandor’s moments of choosing to be protective and helpful that make us see his potential for true knighthood.  Not his cynical stance on the subject.  He’s full of shit too sometimes.  But as I’ve said before, we have very good reason to believe that Sandor is continuing his trajectory toward true knighthood at his death scene and on the QI serving under a former knight.   

Not being a liar is good, but it’s a pretty low bar to pass.  No one deserves a medal for this.  Harry needs to show us way more than that if I were to believe he could actually be a “good partner.”  I wouldn’t say he dislikes false courtesy.  He’s thoroughly of the Vale and the conservative culture is all about appearances, pedigree, adherence to tradition and chivalric culture, which includes courtesy.  He’s just plain rude is all.  It’s not on principle against courtesy.  He dislikes low born bastards who have the audacity to consider themselves worthy to seek the next Lord of the Eyrie for a marriage prospect.  And he resents that circumstances have forced him to interact with Littlefinger’s bastard in particular.  Obviously he doesn’t mind consorting with low born girls and may fancy himself in love with them at times, but there’s no indication he plans on marrying one of them.  He’s a Hardyng, a minor landed knight house, that through dumb luck finds himself Robert’s heir.  He wants a good marriage to a highborn and trueborn to shore up his pedigree.  That’s why his shield is quartered with the Waynwood and Arryn sigils too.  To emphasize his more prestigious relations.  If he knew she was Sansa Stark he’d be treating her very differently, which was Sansa’s realization about her Loras fantasy.  No Tyrell would ever love a bastard girl, no matter what.  It always comes down to her claim, not her.  

I don’t hate Harry and I don’t think he is the worst person ever, just as Loras isn’t a terrible person for cheating at a tournament.  We’ve seen what truly terrible looks like.  You can’t really get on Loras for cheating at a stupid joust and think that highly about Harry “earning” his knighthood in a tournament rigged for him to win.  TWOW tourney is probably just as rigged.  If Harry doesn’t realize the win was handed to him and that he’s being wooed for influence by Yohn and LF because he’s the next high lord, then he’s monumentally stupid.  Accepting the knighthood when you know you didn’t actually do anything to earn it is just as false and shitty as what Loras did.   

Hey, at least you can say Loras knew how to be faithful to his partner even after Renly died.  I don’t think Harry would be abusive to Sansa, but he’s going to litter the Vale and probably the North too with his bastards and used and discarded women.  It wasn’t “different with Saffron.”  After Harry dumps Cissy for gaining pregnancy weight, Lady Anya arranged for her to be married off to one of her household guards.  How did Cissy feel about that?  Probably not good, but the dishonorable behavior got tidied up for Harry, didn’t it?  Saffron is going to be left pregnant and dishonored too, after all of the words of love he probably gave her.  If you look at the entire Alayne sample chapter there’s a running theme of used, dishonored, and discarded women beginning, middle and end.

Mya Stone arrives in Robert’s bedchamber with hay in her hair and a “scowl” on her face.  Sansa knows Mychel Redfort is around.  Poor Mya loved Mychel, thought he loved her, and had dreams of marrying him.  She’s broken hearted and still longing to be with him, but the tumble in the hay makes her feel worse, not closer to him.  She’s left with nothing but shattered dreams, a soiled reputation, and reminded that tumbles in the hay are all a bastard girl is good for.  

Alayne sharply corrects Robert when he insists he can keep Alayne as his mistress if he can’t marry her.  He’s still a little boy and only partially understands what he’s saying, but she’s giving him good parenting here.  Just because he’s Lord of the Eyrie doesn’t mean he can treat women any type of way, even low born bastards.  He’s not entitled to Alayne just because he wants her or has feelings for her.     

Myranda Royce is slut shamed by her own father because her late husband died of an apparent heart attack while having sex with her, some of which she has internalized.  I don’t think it was the dowry that Lady Waynwood found that unsuitable, because even cadet Royces are an ancient house that also have Stark blood.  There’s more than dowry to think about.  Lady Anya isn’t going to make the mistake of betrothing Harry to a girl he would find unpleasant (dowry or not) and sour a relationship with her future high lord.  IMO, Harry might have rejected the match between them as well because she’s a heavier girl when you consider his intense fatphobia.  Myranda is also not a traditional Vale lady either.  She’s very forward, highly intelligent, sexy, funny, and self-confident as well as competent at running a household.  She would be a joy of a wife for many a man and she’s rejected for the most shallow and judgemental reasons.  It’s hurtful because she knows her own worth.

Then we end on learning about Harry’s character, Cissy’s fate, and what will probably happen to Saffron too.  God forbid Sansa have his child and put on a few pounds.  That doesn’t scream “good partner” to me.  So even if he keeps his mistresses and bastards out of sight, he can still be shallow AF about a woman’s looks, which inevitably change over time.  He already doesn’t think she’s that attractive anyway.  Also if he finds out she’s really Sansa Stark and he suddenly starts treating her much better, that doesn’t say anything good either.  This match is theoretically all good for Harry, but I fail to see how it works out that great for Sansa.                     

The chapter can’t be structured this way for nothing.  George is giving us much to contemplate on about the treatment of women in relationships.  How the stakes are so much higher for them in giving their hearts, bodies, hopes, and dreams to a guy that would be careless with them.  Most of it happens before she even talks to Harry and gets to know him better.  And Sansa is being faced with putting her trust and hope to go home on him and having to give up her body, her dreams, and allow him power over her in return for that gamble.  If that doesn’t happen, she’s stuck in a loveless, faithless marriage in Eyrie, which she hates.  As of right now, it’s the only option that she knows of.  It also shows Sansa isn’t just thinking of what marrying Harry means for her, but she can also place herself in the shoes of other women and the bastard children.  Society will not be kind to them, while men have their fun and make promises they can’t/won’t keep.  

While George might be playing with some aspects of the Loras/Sandor dichotomy in Harry, Harry himself is a poor imitation of either.  Loras could be faithful and his deep, abiding love for Renly is one for the ages.  Sandor cares nothing for her claim and it was never her appearance that drew her to him.  In fact, her highborn status is a frustrating problem that kept him from being closer to her.  Harry is somewhat more like Robert Baratheon without the martial talent, easily attracted to the next shiny new thing.  So there might be some playing with the Robert/Lyanna dynamic thrown in as well, because there’s no reason to suggest that however charmed he might be by Alayne now that the feeling will last.     

The being said, it would be interesting to see if Harry ends up doing something true knight-ish before he goes down.  (I’m 90% sure he is going down.)  If it is the case that Harry has a bit of hero in him, it’s still a tragedy of wasted youth and potential, arrogant and douchey though it may be.  I wouldn’t be shocked if Sansa mourned Harry a bit, because that’s just who she is.  Maybe that kind of ending to his story will allow us to think of Harry a little more fondly rather than see the reality of what marriage to Sansa would be like a few years in.  We didn’t think that highly of Waymar Royce at first, but when it mattered most, the guy went down with real courage.  I’m sad about Loras’s potential fate in Dance, cheating at a tourney be damned.  All these guys have their arrogance and failings, but they could also rise to the occasion too.                                           

#sansa stark #harrold hardyng #harry the heir #loras tyrell #sandor clegane #twow spec #misogyny in asoiaf #Anonymous #sansa stark meta

[anghraine]

I will never get over the "i don't believe in love at first sight / but godamn" gifset for jyn/cassian, it's perfect. also, your tags on the partisan jyn rec have me imagining a persuasion au, this time with cassian as anne and jyn as wentworth (draven as lady russell, I guess??) I love Persuasion AUs and that fic is so good :)

Heeeh, I love it!

I hadn’t really thought of the details of an alternate AU, beyond thinking that captaincy and gender aside, Wentworth (careless, impulsive, generous, spirited) is the most like Jyn, and Anne (obedient, withdrawn, intense, faithful) the most like Cassian. But I think it could work. 

(Completely scattered thoughts on the ‘how,’ but I definitely think it would be fun and interesting!)

Draven is definitely the obvious Lady Russell candidate (he could even be ambiguously positive in the way Ly R is, which would be an interesting take on him). Mon Mothma would be very interesting, too—I think she’s more of a Lady Russell-type personality (which would leave Draven as Sir Walter, omfg). And I think it would allow for some exploration of what’s the most interesting part of Persuasion for me.

The thing is, Persuasion never really answers the question of whether Anne was morally wrong or right to break off her relationship with Wentworth under Lady Russell’s influence. It feels wrong. It turned out badly. But morality is not determined by consequences alone, and here, there’s a complex system of obligations and risks at play. Anne felt an obligation to listen to Lady Russell’s advice—not to obey unthinkingly, but to strongly factor it into her decision-making process, given her own youth, Lady Russell’s role as her surrogate mother, and her deep respect for her. 

And Lady Russell was right in believing there were real risks to Anne marrying Wentworth so young, risks to any children they might have, etc. His ‘I don’t need to save anything, I’ve always been lucky, I’ll always be lucky’ shtick did him zero favours—Mr Price probably thought so, too, and the fact that Wentworth’s luck did hold is … well, lucky. “I’m going to go fight Napoleon and make a bunch of money, everything’s going to be fine” is not a compelling argument! 

On top of that, the winning point in Lady Russell’s argument—the thing that finally swayed Anne—was that the marriage would be bad for Wentworth. A young, delicate wife with no dowry and a collection of snobbish, expensive, totally douchey relatives would be a genuine disadvantage to a young sailor with no connections and no money. And that is also, in fact, perfectly reasonable.

So it’s not simply a snobbish woman dissuading a weak-willed girl who then develops a stronger sense of self through suffering and maturity. Snobbery absolutely played a part in Lady Russell’s motives—all of this would have been much less pressing if Wentworth were someone more like Colonel Fitzwilliam, who would double as a Worthy Alliance and bring powerful, wealthy relations into the picture. Anne may very well have been less swayed by Lady Russell’s arguments if she hadn’t faced uniform opposition from her family, hadn’t been so young and uncertain. But nevertheless, those arguments were largely reasonable, and in the end, Anne’s view is that she wishes she hadn’t taken Lady Russell’s advice, that she would never give the same advice, but that morally she was right to take it. 

I mean, there’s a lot going on there, ethically, and the book doesn’t offer clear conclusions. (UNCLEAR ETHICAL DILEMMAS

ANYWAY, MULTIPLE PARAGRAPHS LATER, that’s not something I often see confronted, even in full-on adaptations. (Particularly, one might say. >_>) And I think it would be interesting to play with it—something where Draven/Mothma/whomever have entirely valid reasons (but also dodgy ones) for their interference, and where Cassian has a real obligation to consider their opinions, and where the killing blow (as it were) would be that he is bad for Jyn (only too easy to believe he’d find convincing!). 

It’s even … like. I can definitely see Draven being profoundly unenthusiastic about his 23-y-o prodigy spy suddenly getting entangled with a 19-y-o Partisan who is also the daughter of an Imperial collaborator. But I think it’s very possible that the likes of Mothma and Draven would probably not care that much about the flings of teens and 20-somethings. The kind of concerted, intense effort leveled against Anne in Persuasion might need something more.

But Cassian, despite his sidelines in assassination and field command, is primarily a recruiter. So. Suppose that his ostensible mission is rebuilding ties with the Partisans and working out some mutual support arrangement. But in reality, the judgment of Intelligence is that the Partisans are doomed by their extreme insularity, drastic collateral damage, unclear objectives, and attraction of Imperial attention. Coordination with the Partisans is an acceptable start, but the actual goal is to draw as many of Saw’s highly-skilled fighters into the Alliance as possible before the whole organization self-destructs or gets obliterated, but without turning Saw actively against them. 

Of course, it’s not a secret that the Alliance is generally out to peel off as many recruits as they can get, and ofc the Rebel agent is going to be trying to draw people into the Rebellion. But what they don’t know is that this is why Cassian is there. 

Okay, anyway, this is what 23-y-o Cassian is up to. It’s a task of extraordinary trust, and he’s on guard against almost everything. But falling madly in love with Saw’s foster daughter was not one of those things. And it’d be one thing if he was just pining (it would be awful, but—), but no, this ferocious, shining supersoldier is (for some reason) also in love with him. 

On top of that, they’re both very much older than their ages, but in some ways younger—they were never able to be kids, to have silly crushes, anything like that. So they’re dorky and overwhelmed and unrealistic, just swept off their feet. They hold hands and talk about … running off together? But they can’t stop fighting the Empire. Cassian would never make a Partisan, but Jyn could join the Rebellion. And then they could be together!!!

(I suspect that at heart, Jyn wants out; large-scale collateral damage is not her gig.)

Anyway, Cassian would get a very sharp reality check, because the point was to draw away as many useful soldiers as he could without completely antagonizing Saw, and wow is “seducing away his best soldier and, oh yeah, DAUGHTER” not included in that description. Of course, he’s horrified because It’s Not Like That, but also … well. Yeah. 

And while Jyn is brashly sure that of course she’ll succeed at whatever she does, she always has, he’s increasingly doubtful that she’d be at all happy in the Rebellion. The Partisans are her family, the only life she knows; she doesn’t know anyone else in the Rebellion at all, she’d chafe under the command structure, she’d lose everything, and have nothing to counterbalance it all but one tormented spy. 

They’re not going to demand that a talented soldier not join the Rebellion, of course, or involve themselves in the obvious affair. But they don’t have to; once persuaded, Cassian does the dirty work himself. He persuades Jyn to stay with the Partisans after all, breaks things off, and leaves, having carefully arranged for a good number of Partisans to defect to the Rebellion over the next several months. Jyn, naturally, feels furious and betrayed (all the more after some of her friends leave). 

And that’s where it starts, lol. Now I’m thinking—like, taking ‘little sister’ and running with it, Sophy would be Baze and Admiral Croft would be Chirrut (AMAZE). While I don’t see Cassian getting winded by a long walk à la Anne, he could be hiding an injury or something that Jyn notices (and hates that she notices, and hates more that nobody else does). 

I don’t know at all who would play the Louisa Musgrove role (it’s not my favourite element of the plot tbh, but kind of necessary). And I don’t know how the scene with Wentworth helping Anne with her nephews would play out but it needs to happen, it’s my favourite. And of course the gender politics wouldn’t really work. (Though Wentworth/Jyn coming to their senses via competence kink would, lol.) And we’d need some terribad teammates or something to serve the role of the Elliots.

(Draven would really be the best bet, if not already taken as the Lady Russell. That really works best as someone that Cassian is actually close to, though, which is… like, nobody. And honestly, Lady Russell is the only person Anne is close to, but—OMG, KAY. IF KAY IS LADY RUSSELL … JESUS. HAHAHA WOW. That’d even work with Kay and Jyn being super chilly at each other, and Cassian could overhear Jyn talking ~idly~ with some of the rest of the team about a mission that went hilariously-in-retrospect wrong thanks to Rebel!Mary Musgrove this shitty commander. They’d have much rather had Andor, since SpecOps do serve under Intelligence now and then, but couldn’t get him. The rumour was that [x] talked him out of it. And Jyn’s like, huh, he’s very easily persuaded, isn’t he? And they’re … not really? That damn droid and direct commands are pretty much the only thing that stops him.)

((For bonus awful: during their brief honeymoon phase, the idea had been that Jyn would join up with SpecOps and once he made captain, they could build a joint Intel/SpecOps team.))

Oh, and Benwick is a former Partisan who was in love with a civilian in Jedha who died before they could settle down. I think the Harvilles joined the Rebellion (probably Cassian’s not!recruits, in fact). Also, there definitely needs to be a way of working in the ‘even when hope is gone’ speech (though as above, the gender politics don’t work at all). 

Ha, even the ‘I should not have known her’ slam could work? I mean, it’s absurd to talk about Cassian as ~faded~, but he is definitely prematurely aged, and Jyn could easily make a snide remark about hardly recognizing him. 

I can’t see Jyn writing anything so melodramatic as Wentworth’s letter, but it’d be sort of hilarious if she types up her vision into a datapad and then is trying to figure out a way to casually leave it lying around, but not so casually that Cassian doesn’t notice. (As if, but Emotions.)

#ishipallthings #respuestas #plotbunnies! #/ #// #/// #//// #star wars #persuasion #otp: welcome home #it'd be really involved if you want to match persuasion at all closely (which i would) #(i'm still trying to think of something for the musgrove children bc i'd really want that #only it couldn't be actual children #but something cassian could reasonably be responsible for and handles well which is in fact someone else's job #and jyn running interference is the first point where things warm up again) #(honestly it could probably be wiring a ship or repairing droids or something—something relatively urgent) #(heh it honestly works best if he's actually not the ranking member and has to answer to. like. a major? that's the mary) #(he's technically on leave. aka sent along to make sure the major doesn't fuck anything up) #(bonus if the shitty major is actually really good at something and genuinely respects cassian #he's just an awful commander and a frequent asshole #and lazy af #when it comes to anything outside his own specializations #though he enjoys the partisan raids to a disturbing extent and is all THIS is what we should be doing!!! #i think he (the major) has some little troll of an astromech that he cares about but is unintentionally awful to #or... whatever kind of droid would be appropriate- but cassian has to keep restoring data etc and the droid is a /pain/) #(jyn comes in just to see it zap him and she's like... seriously? the fuck is this little monster) #(there we go. musgroves!) #inverted persuasion au #jyn erso #cassian andor