#past Darcy/Wickham

[lothiriel84]

Not Handsome Enough to Tempt Me

To say that Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy was in a foul mood the night of the Meryton assembly might have been the understatement of the century.

A Pride and Prejudice ficlet. Bisexual!Darcy, implied bisexual!Wickham and biromantic!Elizabeth.

Author’s note: This is my attempt to adapt the "Two kinsey 5s making it work" Tumblr post about Beatrice and Benedick for the Pride and Prejudice fandom. Proceed with care.

.

To say that Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy was in a foul mood the night of the Meryton assembly might have been the understatement of the century. Not only was he still reeling from everything that had transpired at Ramsgate – his own feelings of betrayal over George’s deplorable conduct only making it more apparent how badly he had failed his beloved sister – but he was also forced to bear the painful sight of his particular friend exchanging smiles with one that was widely regarded as the handsomest girl in the room. He could have cursed his own ill luck when Charles took it into his mind to prompt him to dance with Miss Bennet’s sister; after all, he didn’t even need to look at her to know she couldn’t possibly be handsome enough to tempt him.

If only he had known how wrong such an assessment would turn out to be, he might have at least considered holding his tongue; as it was, he thought no more of it, until fate decided to throw him and Miss Elizabeth together once more.

. 

No sooner had the entire party quitted Netherfield that Mr Darcy was able to breathe freely once more. It was bad enough having to vie for Charles’ affections, such as they were, with a country nobody of uncertain feelings and a completely embarrassing family to boast; his sanity had been sorely taxed by the necessity of being constantly on his guard, lest a chance meeting risked stirring the tangle of conflicting emotions he had been striving to suppress with regards to a most unwelcome addition to Meryton’s society. As for Miss Elizabeth Bennet, he hardly knew himself anymore, but as he could scarcely credit his family to approve such a connection, he had therefore resolved to think of her fine eyes and pert conversation no more.

As it happened, fate entertained completely different ideas on the subject, as he would soon find out.

.

He was, without a doubt, the most foolish and despicable man on earth. Elizabeth had been entirely in the right in rejecting his farce of a proposal, and he could blame no one but himself on that count. With sudden clarity, he knew he could never marry, not after this. In all his eight and twenty years, not once had he looked upon a woman with anything but a sense of discomfort, and the disdain of one used to being subjected to the most artful schemes by the ladies in his society; Elizabeth was his one exception, and he had been inconsiderate enough to destroy her regard forever with his pride and his unpardonable conduct.

His previous resolve to seek out an eligible bride to bear him an heir for his estate had dissolved under the same rain he had ridden into after paying his ill-conceived addresses to the one woman he could ever see as the companion of his future life. And if he could not hope to restore himself in her regard, the very least he owed both to her and to himself was to disclose his full motives for his past conduct, and beg for her forgiveness.

After that, he would sequester himself to Pemberley, and devote his full attention to the happiness of his sister. She was now to be his heir, and her future children after her.

. 

There had been a moment, before that fateful letter came, when he had been convinced that, should he pay his addresses again, they would not be so ill received as they had been on a previous occasion. Unfortunately, he was never to find out, as Miss Elizabeth and the Gardiners were now on their way back to Hertfordshire, and he knew he would never see her again. Oh, he planned to find the scoundrel, and give him a piece of his mind before forcing him to do the honourable thing and marry the girl; as much as the thought of securing Wickham’s marriage to a girl of fifteen turned his stomach, he saw no other alternative, and it would at least make it more difficult for George to continue ruining the reputation of unmarried young ladies.

He felt sure that, had he been more careful in concealing his preference for Miss Elizabeth, neither she nor her family would have found themselves in their current predicament. In George Wickham’s eyes, targeting the youngest Miss Bennet had been nothing but retribution for Darcy’s past conduct in his regard, in the same way persuading innocent, sweet Georgiana into an elopement had been.

That the same youthful indiscretion should come back to haunt him for the whole of his natural life, he was now bitterly sure of. Not that he deserved any less, he was convinced, and wouldn’t so much mind the misery he had brought upon himself, if only he could spare those he loved the same fate.

. 

To his credit, Charles Bingley had listened to his friend’s detailed confession of his past misdeeds with an equanimity Darcy had not previously suspected the younger man to possess; even his momentary discomfort at being informed of the full extent of Darcy’s previous regard for him was quickly dismissed, and it was fair to say their longstanding friendship withstood such a trial with an ease and grace that could scarcely fail to surprise – and delight – both parties.

As his mind drifted towards the mutual bitterness of his and George’s parting, both after his father’s death and more recently in London, he congratulated himself on his good fortune in finding such a friend, and assured Bingley of his most heartfelt approval of his intentions to renew his suit of Miss Jane Bennet.

As for Elizabeth Bennet, he wished her every happiness, and prayed to God that she would one day find a husband who might endeavour to deserve her. He knew he did not, and he would regret this unfortunate circumstance for the rest of his life.

. 

In his determination to do everything within his power to ensure his friend’s happiness, Mr Darcy forgot to consider whether his own feelings were under good enough regulation to face the day with the composure required of a gentleman standing up with the bridegroom. He knew that Elizabeth would be in attendance, of course, and that it was entirely possible that she would stand up with her sister; as for the Wickhams, he had dared to hope they would not brave the journey from Newcastle, as news had reached him that Mrs Wickham was expecting. And while he bore no ill will whatsoever to Charles for his happiness in entering the married state, having to bear witness to George parading Lydia around as if she were a prize mare proved to be too much for his already frazzled nerves.

He was halfway towards working himself into a state, hidden away as he was in a prettish kind of little wilderness to the side of Longbourn, when someone approached him, and shortly after a small, ungloved hand came to rest on his forearm.

“I am exceedingly pained to see you suffer thus, Sir,” Elizabeth murmured, sympathetically. “If only there was some small way for me to offer you comfort, you have but to name it.”

Darcy barked out a humourless laugh at that, and subsequently found himself unable to hold back the tears that had been threatening to escape since the morning. “You are too kind, Madam. My pain is of my own doing, as you are entirely aware, and so I must suffer it.”

He didn’t realise she was offering him her handkerchief until he felt it pressed into his own hand. “Mr Darcy, I have thought long enough on the contents of the letter you have been kind enough to give me, and I find I cannot be silent any longer. You expressed your feelings of shame and guilt for forming such a peculiar sort of attachment as society could be never prevailed upon to acknowledge, let alone accept – and yet I cannot find fault in you for simply loving your friends. I know how painful it is to have your particular friend removed from your society upon their marrying, and while Charlotte and I have never discussed our previous attachment, I can assure you it was most grievous for me to see her loyalties, if not her affections, transferred to her husband.”

“I – am not entirely sure we are speaking of the same sort of attachment, Miss Elizabeth. And while I must once again beg your forgiveness for my role in separating my friend from your sister, I knew from the start there could never be anything beyond friendship between myself and a respectable man such as Charles is.”

“I cannot possibly relate the minute details of my previous acquaintance with the former Miss Lucas, Sir, but you must at least trust me with the use of my own understanding and heart. And I wasn’t speaking of my new brother only, as you well know.”

He swallowed and faced away from her, as he surreptitiously made use of the proffered handkerchief. “I am exceedingly sorry that my mere presence in Hertfordshire spurred George to choose your family as the target of his nefarious designs. As I believe I mentioned in my letter, he has every right to consider himself ill-used on at least one count, but even after his shocking attempt to revenge himself upon me through Georgiana, I wouldn’t have thought so low of him as to think him capable of imposing upon a girl so entirely unconnected to myself.”

“Not so entirely unconnected, if my aunt and uncle are to be believed,” she smiled, the warmth in her eyes so palpable he felt his heart leap in his chest. “Which reminds me, I am still to thank you for your invaluable service in rescuing my sister, and securing the continued respectability of my family. It’s not a match I would have wished for any of my sisters, but as Lydia assures me she is far from disappointed in her choice of a husband, my only regret is that it should have come at such a personal cost for yourself.”

A most bittersweet smile coloured his features, and he promptly shook his head. “I have made my choice when I rejected George’s affections, all those years ago. And while I won’t go so far as to claim I do not regret the circumstances of our parting, his subsequent conduct has long destroyed the better part of my regard for him. Securing your sister’s future was the least I could do, when I was the indirect cause of the ruination of all her prospects.”

“You are too generous, Sir,” Elizabeth claimed, her hand impulsively covering his own. “As for myself, I can but heartily pray that your good deeds are rewarded in kind, and that you find the happiness you deserve.”

“I can assure you, Madam, I have as much happiness as I shall ever deserve,” he forced himself to speak around the tightness in his throat, as he sternly reminded himself that she would never be his, no matter how desperately he wished it.

“Mr Darcy, that will not do at all,” she cried, throwing her hands up in frustration. “I know I can scarcely hope for a renewal of your addresses, but is it so wrong of me to wish for all misunderstandings between us to cease once and for all?”

His head spun, and he wondered just how much wine he had had at the wedding breakfast. “Scarcely hope? Elizabeth, you must know – surely you will understand – after everything I disclosed to you in my letter, my honour as a gentleman prevents me from even suggesting a union between a respectable young woman such as yourself, and a – a reprobate, such as myself.”

“How dare you speak ill of the man I love most dearly?” she exclaimed with the force of her conviction, and in a moment of boldness took hold of both of his hands. “I do not care who you loved in the past, so long as you promise to be true in your affections from this day on.”

“Elizabeth,” he whispered her name like a prayer, and all but fell to his knees in front of her. “Is this possible?”

“It is indeed, Fitzwilliam,” she laughed, and when her lips touched his, he was left to wonder whether it was in fact possible to die of happiness.

#Pride and Prejudice #Mr Darcy #Elizabeth Bennet #George Wickham #Charles Bingley #Elizabeth/Darcy #past Darcy/Wickham #one-sided Darcy/Bingley #implied past Elizabeth/Charlotte #bisexual character #biromantic character #period-typical homophobia #internalised homophobia #endgame het pairing #I wrote a thing #Pride (In the Name of Love) [collection]

[nerdylibertarian928]

Elizabeth after reading Darcy's letter

#once she gets past her desire to hate darcy she realizes what a dumbass shes been #pride and prejudice #p&p #elizabeth bennet #fitzwilliam darcy #george wickham #georgiana darcy

[anghraine]

It's obvious that I'm adamantly opposed to the idea that Darcy does not deserve Elizabeth's good opinion/love, doesn't deserve his happy ending with her, is generally inferior to her, whatever.

I will say, however, that there is someone who has a good opinion of him that he does very little to earn. I think you could make a much better argument in that case that he doesn't really deserve it. And yet it's so endearing:

[Mrs Bennet:] “Mrs Long told me last night that he [Darcy] sat close to her for half an hour without once opening his lips.” “Are you quite sure, ma’am? Is not there a little mistake?” said Jane. “I certainly saw Mr Darcy speaking to her.” “Ay, because she asked him at last how he liked Netherfield, and he could not help answering her; but she said he seemed very angry at being spoke to.” “Miss Bingley told me,” said Jane, “that he never speaks much unless among his intimate acquaintance. With them he is remarkably agreeable.”

-

Jane's reaction to Wickham's story:

“Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion. My dearest Lizzy, do but consider in what a disgraceful light it places Mr Darcy, to be treating his father’s favourite in such a manner,—one whom his father had promised to provide for. It is impossible. No man of common humanity, no man who had any value for his character, could be capable of it."

Jane passing on Bingley's account:

"I am sorry to say that by his account, as well as his sister’s, Mr Wickham is by no means a respectable young man. I am afraid he has been very imprudent, and has deserved to lose Mr Darcy’s regard."

Jane after Wickham's story becomes common "knowledge":

Miss Bennet was the only creature who could suppose there might be any extenuating circumstances in the case unknown to the society of Hertfordshire: her mild and steady candour always pleaded for allowances, and urged the possibility of mistakes; but by everybody else Mr Darcy was condemned as the worst of men.

Jane after Elizabeth tells her about the Hunsford proposal:

She [Jane] was sorry that Mr Darcy should have delivered his sentiments in a manner so little suited to recommend them; but still more was she grieved for the unhappiness which her sister’s refusal must have given him.

Jane is so sad about how sad Darcy must be!

“His being so sure of succeeding was wrong,” said she [Jane], “and certainly ought not to have appeared; but consider how much it must increase his disappointment.”

Jane's response to hearing the truth about Wickham:

What a stroke was this for poor Jane, who would willingly have gone through the world without believing that so much wickedness existed in the whole race of mankind as was here collected in one individual! Nor was Darcy’s vindication, though grateful to her feelings, capable of consoling her for such discovery.

Jane still vicariously suffering for Darcy:

“Wickham so very bad! It is almost past belief. And poor Mr Darcy! dear Lizzy, only consider what he must have suffered. Such a disappointment! and with the knowledge of your ill opinion too! and having to relate such a thing of his sister! It is really too distressing, I am sure you must feel it so.”

Jane even points out that Darcy's general behavior and demeanor never struck her as all that bad:

[Elizabeth]: “There certainly was some great mismanagement in the education of those two young men. One has got all the goodness, and the other all the appearance of it.” [Jane]: “I never thought Mr Darcy so deficient in the appearance of it as you used to do.”

Elizabeth keeps so much of her relationship with Darcy hidden through the later novel that Jane doesn't have reason to say much about him, but after their engagement, Elizabeth worries about her family's response:

she anticipated what would be felt in the family when her situation became known: she was aware that no one liked him but Jane

When Elizabeth tells Jane about the engagement, Jane is shocked and baffled. Elizabeth assures her of her change in feeling, and adds:

"But are you pleased, Jane? Shall you like to have such a brother?” “Very, very much."

Jane continues to be worried that Elizabeth doesn't really love Darcy and wants details that she eventually does receive.

“Now I am quite happy,” said she, “for you will be as happy as myself. I always had a value for him. Were it for nothing but his love of you, I must always have esteemed him; but now, as Bingley’s friend and your husband, there can be only Bingley and yourself more dear to me."

Yes: Darcy is more dear to Jane than her father, mother, other three sisters, friends, and four uncles and aunts.

As for Darcy, he certainly likes and respects her. He describes her in the letter as amiable, cheerful, engaging, and explicitly excludes her from his criticisms of the Bennets. Back at Netherfield, he's noted as ignoring Miss Bingley to be polite towards Jane, and after his own engagement, he points out Elizabeth's care for Jane as early proof of her own goodness. Jane is one of only three characters he refers to by their first name alone by the end of the book (the others are Elizabeth and Georgiana).

So it's not that he doesn't appreciate her in his own way. I actually think the quiet rapport between them is really cute even though Jane is the person who suffers the most for Darcy's mistakes. But damn, Jane.

#jane and darcy brotp is so important to me because jane is... like that #anghraine babbles #long post #austen blogging #austen fanwank #fitzwilliam darcy #jane bennet #elizabeth bennet #jane austen #pride and prejudice

[swordsandarms]

When I think of how Lyanna is seemingly (mis)understood in spite of contradicting clues in the story, I think of how it happens with Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice) and a similar typecasting as the one dimensional "spunky, bold" kind of girl.

Elizabeth has her flaws, but that is not being a stubborn girl screeching about love in spite of her family's precarious financial future - hence her own, too. Elizabeth pragmatically turns away from her infatuation with Wickham before it turns into more after one warning from her aunt that they would both be in ruin, and she considers accepting an offer from Colonel Fitzwilliam whom she doesn't love, but they have a comfortable dynamic that she thinks of as enough. On the other hand, she also rejects the man who would inherit Longbourn, Mr Collins - a marriage that could have saved her family - and even her eventual love interest, Mr Darcy - awfully wealthy. Which gains her the cliche characterisation.

But Elizabeth's problem is she is wary of marrying a man she cannot even respect - not necessarily love. It has impacted her since childhood due to the unfit marriage in character and intellect between her own parents, and she can understand the need to marry for financial stability, as long as she can have a reasonable mutually positive dynamic with her partner, but to not even hold respect for someone she'd be tied to for life is the ultimate misery to dive into.

Likewise, Lyanna doesn't even corner her brother about not being madly in love with the man they chose for her. She challenges his character, calmly and rationally - her argument is very much that love cannot make up for unequal character. She also brings up Mya Stone not because she is a hypocrite against bastards, but because she has come prepared with facts for argument - which is exactly as what Ned remembers it, a true fact which corners him in his side of the argument. He doesn't challenge Robert's deficiencies. He's the "naive" one saying love/a woman will change him. He's the oldest but not the mature one - he's the silly romantic blinded by a man's charisma and charm for most of his life. (In Lyanna's eyes, he would also be a man who proclaimed to bring an innocent KOLT to the Mad King himself for the sake of glory - fact which must also sink his character).

Because Jane Austen isn't George Martin and in a different genre, Elizabeth Bennet gets to marry a man who is rich, AND handsome, AND the love of her life - all ONLY after he gains her higher regard in his character and virtues. (Darcy himself isn't some cliche of a man changed by love as naive Ned would have life work. He has the spine to admit Elizabeth is right, and he initially wants to let her know that upon re-meeting her, and that all that is not what he thinks a man should be - what he wants to be - accountability, something so crucial, yet something that Robert Baratheon would only - and that barely - prove only on his death bed).

But Lyanna's unknown POV past Harrenhal completely erases the clues of Robert's lowly character being unveiled to her in person. She is portrayed as stuck in the "naive"/"hypocritical" role of the girl who once before Harrenhal has told her brother she for the time being had bad feelings about this man for a start (those having turned out to be good instincts long term, and at the least informed short term, mind you).

KOLT is not about Robert, and not even about Rhaegar, though I would say his actions bear more interest fandom wide. But it is about Lyanna. And while within that perspective it might also be about what Rhaegar's actions mean to HER POV, the fact that Robert is also there, that he would have at this point in time her attention as the man chosen for her, the few mentions of what she must be seeing while to the reader they're ignored or dismissed - simply because we're narratively PAST that, and the next thing we know of Lyanna is that she's PAST HIM.

But Robert is there, and Lyanna is thrown in his company. Howland doesn't care - Lyanna is the hero in this defining episode of his life. HE's just the Storm Lord who is getting drunk and shouting about giving the KOLT to the mad King himself. But somewhere Lyanna is watching. The debauched lifestyle. The man who puts his own pride and potential for glory ahead of an innocent's wellbeing. The man who would soon be "just rolling in for a fight" in a war that defined a continent because life to him is a party and a game.

But women cannot be individuals with a dignity of their own. If they have any consciousness they better be fighting the patriarchy in the trenches or they are spunky selfish girls wanting shallow things instead of sacrificing for the family's wealth and status. There's no in between.

#asoiaf #lyanna stark #elizabeth bennet #rhaegar targaryen #anti robert baratheon

[shmaptainwrites]

wait i lied do childhood besties to enemies to lovers PLS

betsie ngl it took me a minute to figure out a good plot for this concept that i could do justice with the length i'm going for so now that i have something i really hope you like it! also atp it isn’t a mini blurb it’s a full on ficlet cause i just kept writing LMAO

Pairings: Fitzwilliam Darcy x GN!Reader

Warnings: Wickham mention (yes that's a valid warning bc he sucks), minor height descriptions (again i'm sorry)

Lost Years

Your least favourite time of year was always the time you visited Pemberley with your siblings. It had been that way for a while now, you probably could have pinpointed the date if you tried hard enough.

But just as every year before it was unavoidable.

It used to be an occasion of good fun. Two of your closest friends lived on the estate and you would savour every chance you got to spend with them both, but as you grew older and responsibilities set in, so did the disputes. Your close friendship had become fragmented along with your heart.

The first few days you tried to make sure you were always with at least one of your siblings, or maybe even Miss Georgiana Darcy which would create a buffer for the tension between you and her older brother.

As the estate was so large, it was always possible that by mere coincidence, one may end up in a room alone with another individual.

That quickly became the case for you, as you walked in the library, perusing the selection of books curated by the late Mr. Darcy and his son.

You went to reach for a book on a shelf you could not reach and before you could even thinking of a further attempt to grab it, someone reached from behind you and brought the book.

When you turned around and saw it was the younger Mr. Darcy you couldn't help the sharp remark that slipped past your lips.

"I could have gotten it myself. There was no need for that."

"And I suppose you would have climbed the shelves to accomplish that," he snapped right back.

"I find myself in a different mood than before. You may keep the book, Mr. Darcy," you said curtly and began to walk away.

"Am I to assume that nothing that comes from my hand will be accepted?" he asked.

You turned around.

"Miss, I have delt with your contempt of me in as amiable of a manner as I thought I was capable, but this has crossed a boundary."

"I have crossed a boundary?" you blinked, pointing to yourself. "I believe maybe you should have thought of that when you refused to give Wickham his portion entitled to him of your father's estate!"

Mr. Darcy stared at you blankly for a moment before his expression hardened.

"If Wickham is where your loyalties lie then perhaps contempt on both sides is justified."

"I disagree," you shook your head. "When he told me I could not believe what I was hearing. That you of all people could be so cold and unloving towards a friend. If you could do something like that to Wickham what was stopping you from doing it to me?"

"And what exactly did he tell you?" Mr. Darcy asked and you didn't hesitate to recount Wickham's version of the events.

You could see what almost looked like shock on Mr. Darcy's face as he saw in what light he was being painted, but he allowed you to finish before saying anything.

"I don't suppose you have anything to say for youself," you crossed your arms over your chest.

"That isn't what happened," he said simply.

"T-That isn't what happened? Really Mr. Darcy is that all you can-,"

"I swear it to you," he said. "Ask Mr. Bingley, if you must, but that is not what happened after my father's death."

You loosened your stance, letting your arms fall to your side.

"If not, then what did happen?"

Mr. Darcy took a breath before beginning to explain to you the events following his father's death. He was able to say in great detail what had occured, lining up his story with the timeline of events that had occured in his own life and Wickham's. Even things you had witnessed to your friend's character. Suddenly everything came crashing back down to reality.

When he finished speaking you had to excuse yourself in order to sit down on one of the couches behind you.

"Years," you whispered. "I went on for years believing this."

"You were listening to a friend you thought you could trust," Mr. Darcy even went as far as defending your actions towards him, when all this time he had been innocent of what he was accused. "I understand that this is a lot of information to take in, but may I ask you something?"

"Yes, I suppose," you nodded your head.

"Why didn't you ever ask me about this?"

Of everything he could have asked you, it had to be that. You closed your eyes and swallowed thickly.

"Mr. Darcy I-I'm not sure it would be appropriate to say."

"I have delt with many things much more difficult than this," he assured you. "Please...answer the question."

You chuckled softly to youself,

"We were young, Fitz," you looked over to him and you could see his face soften at the childhood nickname you called him. It was so easy how one word could transport you back in time, maybe a time where things were simpler. "I-," you shook your head and held it in your hands, massaging your temples. The words had become caught in your throat. "I-I-I loved you and if I spoke to you and it was true? It was easier to believe him and spare myself the hurt of hearing it from you directly."

You couldn't sit next to him, quickly standing and moving towards a window instead.

"The thought of finding out someone for which you feel so deeply, might be capable to do something of such an unkindly nature was too much for me to bear I-I'm so sorry."

"You loved me," he whispered softly. "Past tense."

"If I didn't love you, would I care this much about your treatment of Wickham?" you looked back at him, tears glistening in your eyes.

Mr. Darcy stood from his seat and slowly made his way towards you, gingerly reaching for your hand before finally clasping it in his own and bringing it to his lips, pressing a gentle kiss to its back.

"I have lost money; I have lost trust; I have lost many things because of Wickham," he murmured, your hand still close enough to his lips your could feel them move as he spoke. He lifted his other hand to gently caress your cheek. "But I will never forgive him for making me lose the years I could have spent with you."

"Fitz, I'm so sorry," you apologized as the tears finally spilled from your eyes, "I'm sorry."

You repeated your apologies many times, but they became muffled as he pulled you into him for a tight embrace.

You wrapped your hands tightly around his neck and buried your nose in his shoulder.

When your apologies quieted, he gently moved away, just barely half an arm's length.

"There is no need to apologize, my dear," his countenance calm, at peace. "We will simply have to make up for lost time."

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

@iceman-kazansky

#mimi’s mini blurbs #fitzwilliam darcy #mr darcy #pride and prejudice #pride and prejudice fanfic #pride and prejudice fanfiction #p&p #p&p 1995 #p&p 2005 #pride and prejudice 1995 #bbc pride and prejudice #pride and predjudice 2005 #fitzwilliam darcy x reader #mr darcy x reader #mr darcy fanfiction #fitzwilliam darcy fanfiction #jane austen #jane austen fanfiction

[starsreminisce]

In ACOTAR, SJM tends to start their journeys where they don’t fit in, have the second location be where they do, and then as the relationship progresses, so does their location.

So, that makes me wonder, how does that look for Elain and Lucien?

We are told that Elain is struggling to fit in at Velaris considering Night Court black sucks the life out of her. She gets up at dawn when most of the court falls asleep. Winter takes a toll on her gardening, and the worst of her depression occurred at the House of Wind. She is uncomfortable in Illyrian leathers, and the cruelty of Hewn City bothers her.

We are also told that Lucien bounces between three locations for the past two years: Velaris, the Mortal Lands, and Spring. There is also that big confrontation where Lucien tells Feyre that he has no home to go to. We see that his relationship with Tamlin has deteriorated to where Lucien visits out of pity then duty. He can’t stand living in Velaris where he feels indebted to Rhys, and in ACOSF, he shows annoyance while being with Vassa and Jurian.

So it does fall under the same pattern SJM has, where both of them are making the most of their living situation but they aren’t thriving.

I personally believe that SJM would follow the same pattern of Pride and Prejudice with two more locations: a court where they will feel at home and somewhere new in the Middle for Elain to show command over her powers.

Since this is Elain’s story, it’ll start in Velaris. She’ll travel to the Day Court to be surprised to see Lucien there for something unrelated before she travels back to Velaris as Meryton where Darcy and Elizabeth first had their bad first impressions, Spring Court as Rosings Park where she spends more time with Lucien as Elizabeth did with Darcy to confront their behavior shown in Meryton (Velaris) and show how wrong their current impressions are. The Middle as London where foreshadowing of her powers is revealed as Elizabeth’s attention turned towards Lydia and finally Autumn Court as Pemberly where she finds out more about Lucien’s history as Elizabeth did with Darcy. They will return to Velaris with the revelation that she has accepted or will accept the bond, much like the surprise of Darcy proposing Elizabeth before they move to Day Court or, perhaps something more aligned to their style, they do end up traveling the world together since they’ve come to realize that home is also a person, not just a place before settling at Day Court.

I am still unconvinced that they will defeat Koschei in their book considering how big of a presence he has been towards the sisters, especially through Papa Archeron, but I do think Elain and Lucien find a way to inflict or find information on how to effectively kill him.

With that, I’ve also considered that they will after Autumn (since Darcy did travel around to find Wickham and Lydia) and then the next book deals with the aftermath of killing him and whatever revelations have been shown after that.

In ACOTAR, we see Feyre struggle while living with her family, followed by her relocation to the Spring Court, which she considers her home upon her return to her family. At UTM, her relationship with Tamlin deepens, as does her connection with Rhys. Additionally, we witness her undergoing trials that ultimately lead to her transformation into a fae.

In ACOMAF, Feyre begins her journey feeling discontent in the Spring Court, only to find a sense of belonging in the Night Court, which gradually becomes her true home. Her relationship with Rhys blossoms as they travel to various locations, including Prison Island, the weaver cottage, her family home, the Summer Court, Hewn City, the Illyrian Mountains, and Hybern. In ACOWAR, while there aren't many new locations introduced, the Dawn Court becomes significant as Feyre is revealed to be a High Lady. However, the House of Wind holds importance for Nesta, and the Autumn Court holds significance for Lucien. Though Feyre and Lucien briefly visit the Winter Court, it feels more like an extension of their experiences in the Autumn Court.

In ACOSF, Nesta starts off unhappy in Velaris before returning to the House of Wind. Some readers have criticized the focus on the Night Court, but I believe this is intentional to emphasize Nesta's connection to it. The progression of Nessian's relationship occurs in various parts of the Night Court, including Moonstone Castle, Hewn City, Prison Island, the Illyrian Steppes, and Ramiel. Another significant development takes place in the Middle, particularly at the Bog of Oorid, where Nesta taps into the power of the mask, foreshadowing her abilities related to Death.

To delve deeper into Elucien's storyline, Meryton serves as the backdrop where Darcy and Elizabeth initially form their impressions and subsequent actions towards each other. While there's no need to reestablish Elain and Lucien's current impressions, their shared experience at a ball, where they danced together, holds significance. Ideally, this event would coincide with Nesta's and Cassian's ceremony, offering readers a glimpse of Elain and Lucien dancing together. Similar to Darcy's reluctance to dance and Elizabeth's initial disdain for him, Darcy still asks Elizabeth to dance, and she finds herself drawn to accept.

Observing Elain's growing openness to reintegration into society, it's plausible that Helion, being close allies with Rhysand, might extend an invitation for her to visit as his guest, especially considering their apparent closeness during Starfall. Additionally, as the Day Court serves as a hub for gathering information from other courts, Lucien could find himself there for various reasons, providing an opportunity for him and Elain to meet and converse without scrutiny.

Rosings Park serves as a pivotal location where Elizabeth sees Darcy in a different light. Similarly, I believe that Elain's frequent allusions to Spring will serve as a catalyst for her character development. Placing Elain and Lucien in a scenario where their main goal is to revitalize the Spring Court, rather than focusing on their bond, offers an interesting dynamic. Much like Elizabeth and Darcy's confrontation at Rosings Park, this setting could facilitate a pivotal moment of confrontation and realization for Elain and Lucien.

London acts as an intermediary point, analogous to the shift in focus towards Lydia's behavior in the book and BBC adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice." The Middle, where Feyre and Nesta foreshadowed their powers, seems fitting for Elain, especially considering her powers remain largely concealed. Given their time together, it's plausible that Lucien is linked to Elain's powers, akin to Rhys's connection to Feyre and Cassian's to Nesta.

Pemberly being associated with the Autumn Court resonates with me, as it offers a platform for Elain to experience a change of heart regarding Lucien. Here, we gleaned more about Lucien's past as he and Feyre traversed through. Lucien candidly shared his feelings of being unneeded and unwanted, even viewed as a threat by his brothers to the High Lord's seat. Despite this, he made genuine efforts to forge connections with the lesser fae in his home court, reflecting his compassionate nature.

This setting presents an opportunity for Elain to recognize Lucien's sincerity and true character. It could serve as a pivotal moment where she realizes that Lucien is distinct from other fae, much like how she stands apart from her sisters. The existence of the mating bond between them signifies a shared understanding of their respective struggles.

Similar to Elizabeth's evolving feelings towards Darcy as he proves her initial impressions wrong, Elain's perception of Lucien could undergo a transformation during their time in the Autumn Court. It would be a poignant revelation for Elain, emphasizing the depth of their connection and mutual understanding.

The conclusion of Pride and Prejudice portrays Darcy acting on Elizabeth's behalf and pledging himself to secrecy, hoping he has addressed enough of her concerns while refraining from daring to hope she might change her mind. It isn't until Darcy learns that Elizabeth has not definitively rejected the idea of accepting a proposal from him that he seeks her out. With one word, she can either silence him forever or accept his renewed marriage proposal.

Translating this resolution to Elain and Lucien's story remains somewhat unclear to me, as I'm unsure of how SJM intends to segue to the next book. However, I'm not particularly invested in decoding that aspect.

In essence, Elizabeth's perception of Darcy undergoes a significant transformation, while Darcy's true character is gradually revealed each time Elizabeth revisits a version of home to him.

If Feyre's story illustrates her journey to discovering where she truly belongs, and Nesta's story demonstrates her acceptance of her rightful place, then perhaps Elain's story will emphasize that if she doesn't feel she belongs, she has the agency to leave and search for where she does belong.

Ultimately, the message may be that home is not just a place but also a person—home is found with one's mate.

#elucien #pro elucien #elain x lucien #elucien theory #pride and prejudice elucien #long post is long

[bethanydelleman]

We need to talk about the Compromise Trope

Tl;DR It makes zero flipping sense because men always face a smaller social cost than women. You cannot force a powerful man to do anything, much less get married for life to someone he hates. And you wouldn’t actually want this trope to be true, because even if a man is forced to marry, he can just abandon or mistreat his wife. (This is a really long post)

Discussion of sexual assault and spousal abuse.

For those who don’t know, this is an extremely common trope in Jane Austen Fan Fiction/Regency romance. I don’t know where it originated, though there are two types of situations in Jane Austen’s works which are close. The basic premise is this: a man and woman are caught alone in a dark room/kissing (with full consent on both sides or not)/just hugging sometimes and a whole bunch of people scream and they are forced to get married.

Often both sides are unhappy with this marriage but it must happen, so they deal with it. This is the most common form of “Forced Marriage Situation” in the JAFF that I have read and heard about.

The two situations that come close are Lydia and Wickham’s elopement and then behaviour that has engaged honour in Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion. With Lydia and Wickham, that wasn’t an innocent kiss in a library, they were living together and most likely having sex for a few days/weeks before Darcy got the whole situation figured out. However, Darcy did not try to force a marriage first, he actually tries to get Lydia away. What we can assume from this is that Darcy recognizes that marriage to a dishonorable man is worse than the blow to Lydia’s (and her family’s) reputation or life’s happiness.

Situations where honour is engaged but no actual touching has happened (as far as we know), are Jane/Bingley, Marianne/Willoughby, and Louisa/Wentworth. In each of these situations, a man and a woman act in such a way that people begin to assume that they are engaged. Word is spread abroad, and the men all absent themselves from the situation in the hopes that rumours will die down. Lastly we have Henry Crawford/Maria Bertram, who do touch in the context of a play and who are acting very flirtatiously even though Maria is engaged. Henry also pointedly quits the scene. Two of these men (or their friends) are trying to exit an engagement situation fairly, two of them are just ghosting because they don’t care.

But here is the problem with the trope: while a man may be honour-bound to propose if he’s been raising expectations, no one can force him. Mrs. Bennet and Mrs. Jennings both complain to the world that Jane and Marianne have been ill-used, but nothing comes of it! Bingley comes back eventually, but not because he’s “compromised” Jane and feels bad about it. Willoughby gets married to Miss Grey anyways and he doesn’t suffer that much socially (Sir John forgives him before the novel ends). Also, Willoughby seduced and impregnated Eliza Williams, which is way past “compromise”, and while it’s not clear how widely known this is, he is not shunned socially for that indiscretion either.

This is the whole problem with the trope: powerful men can survive far greater social disgrace than women!!! This is probably partially because women are expected to be virgins and men are not, but also because of the imbalance in marriage prospects. I imagine that a woman with £30,000 pounds could weather a scandal far better than someone like Eliza Williams. Men like Henry Crawford and Darcy would be basically bulletproof, or at least that is how they are portrayed.

Oscar Wilde spends a lot of time on this imbalance of consequences (especially in A Woman of No Importance) and his conclusion is that men can basically get away with anything while women, and sometimes their children, bear the full brunt of social cost. We still see this today! It’s the woman who most often bears the consequences for getting pregnant as a teen, for example, and the largest blow to their future prospects.

In the only “compromise” I’ve read in a contemporary novel, Molly in Wives & Daughters (written in 1866) is caught giving Mr. Preston a letter and meeting with him clandestinely. What happens is nothing like the JAFF compromise trope. Molly’s reputation is trashed, but Mr. Preston is certainly not forced to marry her, people just talk about how they will probably marry. Molly is the one who bears almost the entire social cost, Mr. Preston isn’t even that worried about it until his employer gets involved. He is only a steward and could be held accountable by a higher up, people like Darcy and Crawford have no one who could do the same thing.

Another thing I see now which is just wild is Caroline trying to sneak in Darcy’s room at night. I don’t know how that is supposed to make a “compromise” since there are no witnesses, but also, that is incredibly dumb. A man as powerful as Darcy could have full on sex with a woman and deny it and probably face almost no backlash. Especially since Caroline would have no proof. I mean she can’t get a DNA test in this era and once she admits she’s had sex it could have been with a footman.

And you say, but Darcy is honourable? Sure, but this woman threw herself at him without consent! I am sure he wouldn’t have sex with Caroline without marrying her, but if she started kissing him and then people demanded they marry? It would be perfectly moral for him to throw her under the bus. And then Caroline’s reputation is destroyed and she gains nothing.

The fact is, if “compromise” was a real thing, it would be gamed. Humans will take any loophole and widen it until you can drive a truck through it. All of the nobility would be married by women throwing themselves at them, here, I wrote a farce about it.

If anything, the “compromise” trope is a fantasy where men are actually held accountable for violating women. Which seems like it would be nice, but considering that some women, especially Caroline, weaponize “compromise”, you start to border on some disturbing territory. Like the idea that women who accuse famous people of rape are just doing it for attention/wealth. And that is not great! That is something we also still struggle with today.

The only way “compromise” works as it is presented is if someone more powerful than the man involved forces him to marry. So for example, a father threatens to cut off his son’s allowance or disinherit him, like Mrs. Smith in Sense & Sensibility. However, even married a man isn’t “trapped”, he can just leave his wife behind and fuck off to Italy. Which is literally the plot of All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare, in which the king forces a man to marry. This happens in Jane Austen too! Wickham just goes to London and Bath to enjoy himself and leaves Lydia with her family. Or if you’d like real world examples: Percy Shelley and Lord Byron. Also Jane Eyre now that I think about it...

But that’s not even the worst that could happen! In Mrs. Hubback’s The Younger Sister, (a completion of the novel fragment The Watsons by Jane Austen) which was written in 1850, we have this chilling exchange about a man forced to marry:

"Ah, I am glad I have brought you to your senses, at last; now consider, if we could do as Emma advises, and persuade this Mr. Musgrove to marry, as he ought, there would be an end of all trouble in the affair."

"To you, perhaps, but not to Miss Margaret; I dare say her amiable husband would beat her every day."

This situation was a bit different, they were suing for breach of contract because Mr. Musgrove proposed to Margaret and then pretended he hadn’t. Two women overheard the proposal and would have been able to testify in court against Mr. Musgrove. This was a real thing and could either result in restitution payments or marriage. However, you couldn’t sue for breach of contract over a kiss or a “compromise”, you needed proof of engagement. The real cases I have seen involved publicly known engagements, or letters and tokens of affection (think Lucy Steele in Sense & Sensibility) So again, not “compromise.”

The point though is that a man being forced to marry a woman could abuse her without much repercussion. In JAFF/Historical romance it always works out, but in real life I can see someone being pretty resentful that they were forced to get married and taking it out on the other party.

Also, the entire concept of a man trapped in an engagement and unable to get out because of their reputation/honour is kind of laughable because that’s why breach of contract laws exist! And women, who were technically “allowed” to back out, faced pressure to marry:

“But after a certain time—after the world suspects that two people are engaged to each other, it is scarcely possible for the woman to recede: when they come within a certain distance, they are pressed to unite, by the irresistible force of external circumstances. A woman is too often reduced to this dilemma: either she must marry a man she does not love, or she must be blamed by the world—either she must sacrifice a portion of her reputation, or the whole of her happiness.” (Belinda Ch 18, Maria Edgeworth)

So again, the social burden is carried by women

(Brief note about Edward Ferrars, he is trying to honour his promise to Lucy Steele and is “trapped” in an engagement, but he made that proposal of his own free will. His family would clearly have supported him in a breach of promise suit so he could marry Miss Morton. Lucy only has a hold on Edward because he’s too honourable to jilt her.)

Lastly, duels. I know almost nothing about duels but they just sound profoundly stupid to me. The only duel we see in Jane Austen is between Colonel Brandon and Willoughby, they are both unwounded and go home quietly. I don’t know what duels are supposed to solve, if Colonel Brandon had killed Willoughby he probably would have gone to jail/been hung (I don’t know if he’s rich enough to get away with it). So if he wins, Eliza is screwed, if he loses, Eliza is screwed, there is really no good outcome.

Mrs. Bennet wants Mr. Bennet to fight Wickham, but to what end? If Mr. Bennet killed Wickham, then Lydia isn’t un-ruined? So what is the point? I guess maybe the man agrees to marry your daughter rather than face death? It just seems like pointless drama to me. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a duel with a good outcome, illuminate me in the comments/reblogs if you have.

Here is what I imagine is a more realistic scene of “compromise”: A man and woman are making out, some people burst into the library! Social pressure mounts for the couple to marry, but the guy isn’t interested. He goes to Italy for fun, leaving the girl to bear the full brunt of slut shaming and reputation damage.

Five years later, the man returns and is invited back into society. The girl is unmarried and unmarriageable, perhaps banished by her family to some cottage. Or she stuck it out and hoped people would forgive a youthful lapse of propriety, was she rich and pretty enough to get over the stigma? One can only hope.

Now specifically in Pride & Prejudice variations:

There are some cases where Darcy doesn’t like Elizabeth and is mad that he has to marry her. I just don’t think those would happen. After all, he encourages Bingley to leave Jane while there is still wiggle room, I think he’d just leave and hope for the best. He might even pay a breach of contract fine, after all, if he marries a woman he hates or distrusts, that’s the rest of his life and the reputation of Pemberley forever. Paying a fine and waiting for people to forget would hardly hurt him. And he probably wouldn’t think it was morally wrong if he suspected that Elizabeth did it on purpose to try and trap him.

There are other situations where Darcy is happy to marry Elizabeth but she hates him. These may also not result in marriage because Elizabeth is pretty big on not marrying people she does not love for social gain. I mean especially a man who just sexually assaulted her! If she thinks as poorly of him as she does canonically at Hunsford, I can’t see her saying yes. After all, now not only is Darcy someone she dislikes, he just proved he isn’t trustworthy or capable of self control.

Also, there are way too many variations where despite hating Darcy, Elizabeth is totally into the kiss. Which is so weird to me! If someone I hated kissed me they would be slapped! I doubt people are going to be screaming for Elizabeth to marry someone who assaulted her, they’d probably be angry at Darcy.

Lastly, Caroline Bingley. She is trying to compromise Darcy but sometimes ends up in a compromise marriage herself. Now she is actually rich and has a very caring brother. I cannot see her doing something like actually marrying Wickham or Mr. Collins. She could probably survive the reputation damage because of her large fortune or live on her dowry. After all, Darcy has told her Wickham can’t be trusted. It would be dangerous for her to agree to marry him.

Basically, I think any compromise situation in Pride & Prejudice is out of character. If one really wants Darcy and Elizabeth married pre-understanding and reformation arc, I would suggest placing Elizabeth in reduced financial circumstances, like Mr. Bennet dying. Otherwise, you need to significantly change the characters of both Elizabeth and Darcy.

#wives and daughters #elizabeth gaskell #The Younger Sister #mrs. hubback #oscar wilde #compromise trope #historical romance #jane austen fan fiction #JAFF #pride and prejudice variations #pride and prejudice #jane austen #long post #and kind of rambling #I hope I made my point #a woman of no importance

[aaal-iz-well]

GUYS I NEED YOUR HELP!!!

so there's this part of my fic that I just cannot decide on, and it would be lovely if you'd be kind enough to share your thoughts on both pieces. PLEASE!!🙏🙏

Thank you, so I'm confused about which play to play in the fic, and here are pieces from both of them.

Beauty and the Beast. (I was not planning on this, but I got a suggestion and I cant stop thinking about it!

“We’re playing Beauty and the Beast,” he continued, “and you would’ve made an excellent Belle; dead somebody, vaguely tragic past, fell in love with a prince and inherited a castle.” He ended with a finger brushing hair behind my ear.

Ouch.

I swatted his hand away, narrowed my eyes. “Let me guess. You're the Beast.”

“It sounds bad when you put it like that. I prefer to think of myself as a fallen misunderstood prince turned Beast by a cruel temptress to bring out his heart of gold.” His voice got dreamier by the word.

“Of course you do,” I muttered.

 “Great.” He clapped his hands. “Now that we’re on the same page on how I should be projected, we can come up with some great costume designs.”

Wait a minute. “We?”

“Yes.” He gestured between us. Duh. “You and me, we? Not as romantic as you’d like, but still.”

It took a monumental amount of will power, honed through years of ignoring insults, to focus on the problem at hand. “But I’m doing stage design, not the costumes.” I held up a finger. “Hold up a minute, there must’ve been a mistake, I’ll talk to the director.

And then there's this:

“So,” Jameson said with a grin, chin delicately poised over his knuckles, “shall we begin? I have other work to do, after all.”

“Of course, when do you not?” I sighed, like someone whose access had been revoked. There were more than a dozen people working on the stages, no one would notice if I slipped out, instead I was stuck being the personal curator of Jameson’s stupid beast costume.

“Hey, getting into character takes a lot of time.” He knocked my shoulder, and something in me snapped.

“Yes, Jameson, I got it,” I groaned. “It takes a lot of effort to huff and brood and roam around acting all stupid beasty.” My hands clenched halfway in front of me, giving up when realising there was no use of undue displays of anger. “Try getting stuck with something you don’t know the first thing about.” 

His chair, teetering at the very edge of a head smashing fall, loudly slid back into place. There was nothing different about him per se, but when he spoke, his voice was not the silky, careless, you-had-to-lean-in-to-hear thingy I was used to. “You're saying that I don’t have to work or do anything, because, what,” he chuckled humourlessly. “I’m already all that?”

“I didn’t say that,” I said weakly, reeling my shoulders in.

His lip curled, but his voice was hurt. “You know, you might as well have. It’s apparent enough without you having to work for it.”

Then,

Pride and Prejudice.

“We’re playing Pride and Prejudice this year,” he continued, “and you would have made an excellent Elizabeth; small town girl, big dreamer, madly and irrevocably in love with a charmingly tight-lipped rich man. It’s very-” he hovered an appraising hand over me “-you.”

You're not tight lipped, are you, I thought.

I swatted his hand away, narrowed my eyes. “Let me guess. You're Wickham.”

He hit a fist against his chest. “Oh, how the lady wounds me,” he moaned. Suddenly, he straightened, and I realised just how tall he was when he wasn’t leaning or slouching or whatever. He crossed his legs and curtsied, then took my hand and brought it to his lips. “Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberly, Derbyshire,” he pronounced, words thick with a -rather impressive- posh accent.

I blinked, hand still in his, before remembering to snatch it away.

His serious face morphed into a smirk. He nudged me. “I had you for a moment, didn’t I?”

I managed a flat look. “Not even close. It’s just a sad lonely rich man.”

“It sounds bad when you put it like that. I prefer to think of myself as a misunderstood soul, lost in the complexities of high society, bogged down by the tremendous weight of position and responsibility, freed, in a sense, by love for an intelligent young woman.”

“Of course you do,” I muttered.

He clapped his hands. “Great. Now that we’re on the same page about the light I should be portrayed in, we can come up with some great costume designs.”

And its pretty much the same, bickering and what not.

So what did you guys think? Detailed and constructive criticism is VERY VERY welcome. Thank you!

#the inheritance games #jameson hawthorne #avery grambs #ao3 #averyjameson #tig fanfic #fanfic writing #reader's opinions #help please!!! #HYIALG #archive of our own #fanfiction

[elizabeth-freaking-bennet]

Lizzie Bennet has a routine. Every morning she wakes up early, gets ready for the day, eats the same everything bagel with cream cheese and drives her car to a free parking lot almost three miles away from the store. She loved walking to work but Longbourne was too far to walk to and from the store everyday, so Lizzie had to make a compromise.

This morning, she happened to catch Mr. Darcy pulling into the office at the same time she was arriving to the store.

“Good morning, Elizabeth,” he greeted with a small nod. Lizzie waved before pulling out her keys to unlock the front door. She must have looked very flushed and wild because he followed the greeting with, “did you walk here?”

“Yes, I did. I love to walk.” She shrugged, leaning on the now open door.

“Do you not have a car?”

“I do, I park it at the free parking lot off of Cedar.”

“That’s nearly three miles away,” Mr. Darcy shook his head in astonishment, having crossed the street, no longer wishing to shout at Lizzie from his office.

Lizzie shrugged again, “it’s mostly flat from here to there. I’d walk from Longbourn but it’s 7 miles uphill.”

Mr. Darcy furrowed his brows, leaning over her against the front door. “You are such a peculiar person, Elizabeth. I have never met a woman like you.”

“I could say the same exact thing about you, Mr. Darcy.” She grit her teeth, backing away from the door and allowing him to catch it with the arm he was using to lean against it.

“No, Elizabeth,” he moved in closer to her, “it’s not a bad thing. I like that you go out of your way to walk to work.” The two stared at each other for a moment before Mr. Darcy opened his mouth again to speak.

“Elizabeth, I have struggled in vain but I cannot take it any longer. These past months have been…torture.” Lizzie straightens her back, her mouth agape as Mr. Darcy continues. “I’ve fought against my better judgment, with our circumstances and your family…but all those things I have put aside because I…Elizabeth, I want you. Please allow me the honor of taking you on a date.”

“What?” Lizzie is silent for a moment as she backs away from him. “No, Mr. Darcy. Why on earth would I date you?”

He blinks slowly, straightening his own back. “I don’t understand…”

“You just insulted me and my family!”

“I didn’t mean—

“You separated my sister and your best friend!”

“I thought she didn’t like him!”

“She’s shy!”

“Bingley is shy too but I could see he was more attached to her than—

“My sister hardly shows her true feelings to me!” Lizzie panted, the two of them facing each other as if they were about to fight. In a way, they were.

Mr. Darcy gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat as he took a moment to regain his control. “Forgive me, Elizabeth.” He whispered with a shaky voice, “but, it was suggested—

Lizzie cut him off, “what was?”

“It was made perfectly clear that marrying Bingley would have been beneficial for Jane!”

“Did my sister give that impression?” The two drew nearer to each other, once more, Lizzie seething and Mr. Darcy desperately trying to explain himself.

“No! But it was…it was your mother, your younger sisters, and even your father, on occasion!” Lizzie backs into the glass window, as if he burned her with his words. “I…Elizabeth, forgive me…you and Jane have nothing to do with this…” Mr. Darcy reaches out to touch her but she slaps his hand away.

“And what about George Wickham?” He straightens up, narrowing his gaze on her. “What excuse do you have for your behavior towards George?”

Mr. Darcy leans in, “you take an eager interest in that gentleman’s,” he almost spits the word, “affairs, Elizabeth.”

“He told me of his affairs,” Lizzie mocks, “with you! How you treated him so awfully.”

Mr. Darcy’s voice is low, dripping with sarcasm, “oh yes, his affairs were unfortunate, indeed. I was awful to him.”

“You ruined his chances at love and his career yet you’re mocking him?”

“What concern is our business to you, Elizabeth?”

“George is my ex-boyfriend!” She spits outs. Mr. Darcy pulls back once more, retreating to the edge of the sidewalk.

“I see…this is your opinion of me, Elizabeth.” He takes a shaky breath and narrows his eyes on her, “maybe those offenses would have been overlooked had your pride not been hurt by my admission of the problems in our relationship!”

“I can’t believe you, Mr. Darcy. I can’t believe you’d ever think I’d want to date you!” Lizzie stands tall, walking towards him with her hands on her hips, “from the moment I met you, your arrogance, your conceit, your selfishness towards the feelings of others made me realize you are the last man in the world I could ever be with!”

Mr. Darcy recoils, nearly falling into the street, as if she had slapped him. “Forgive me then,” he swallows roughly, his blue eyes trailing over her flushed face, “for taking up so much of your time.” They stare at each other for a long moment before Mr. Darcy turns and walks silently back across the street, letting the front door of his office slam behind him.

#little excerpt from my fanfic #you never forget your first (until you meet your last) #incorrect pride and prejudice quotes #pride and prejudice #the lizzie bennet diaries #fitzwilliam darcy #pride and prejudice series #lizzie bennet #pride and prejudice 2005 #pride and prejudice 1995 #elizabeth bennet #pride and prejudice (2005)

[sunshinechay]

If we keep with the Pride and Prejudice parallels, this episode really cemented for that Put is the closest thing we’re going to get to Mr Wickham. I’m not here to say he’s as awful as Wickham or an irredeemable a-hole or anything like that. Ultimately, Put is a much more sympathetic character…at least so far and I’m hoping it stays that way as I really don’t think the show needs that kind of angsts and drama when it has enough already.

What I mean by this is that, in the original Pride and Prejudice, Darcy and Wickham served partly as parallels and partly as foils. They are both men with similar backgrounds that come from respectable families (Wickham’s family wasn’t gentry but it is still made obvious that Mr Wickham senior was a good man who worked well and honourably, much like Mr Darcy senior). However, they went on wildly different paths due to their very different personalities.

Darcy is awkward and quiet but underneath that is a man who treats his people well, is honourable about all things and above all, learns from what Lizzie has to tell him. While Wickham is charming and friendly, he is ultimately a man who is completely out for himself with very little regard for anyone who might be hurt or suffer in the pursuit of him getting what he wants.

Most importantly, both feed into the narrative that being prejudice for or against someone can be very bad. Again, Wickham is presented as charming and friendly, someone Lizzie gets on well with almost immediately, while Darcy is almost the exact opposite. He and Lizze butt heads almost immediately due to their differences in lived experience and world view. Wickham’s charm hide his insidious nature, while Darcy’s awkwardness hinders his ability to relate to other people and often renders him as that guy at a party that others tolerate because he is rich and they don’t want to be on the outs with the rich guy.

How does all this connect to Step by Step…well, Jeng and Put basically are these two archetypes. Jeng is that awkward guy that people tolerate because he’s rich (the son of the company president, the one you don’t want to piss off if you want to have success) who is ultimately a good person, who wants to continue learning how to be a better person while Put is the charming and friendly guy that everyone loves but isn’t all that he appears to be.

To reiterate, I’m not saying Put is a bad person, or a bad character. He is a much better person than Wickham, that much has already been shown. He genuinely cares about Pat, but ultimately he is not going to win the battle for Pat’s heart, because while he loves Pat and wants to be with him, he doesn’t want to be with Pat at the same time. He wants Pat, but he wants the idealized version of Pat that he spend the years since their breakup pining over. But that isn’t the Pat that exists today. I find it very interesting that much of flashbacks we’ve seen of their relationship, have been on Put’s end. They’ve been obviously rose tinted from the beginning and present a version of Put to the audience that looks like he is just a guy who loves Pat and wants to get back with him and who is sorry for what he has done in the past to cause their break up (you know, the part where he ghosted Pat).

One only needs to look at his initial interacts with Pat after Pat comes back to Thailand and they meet again. He is so focused on Pat and their past that he can’t seem to see that he is making Pat uncomfortable. Or at least, if he does notice, he doesn’t care. He shows up at Pat’s apartment, possibly drunk and proceeds to ask questions that are definitely not his business (asking who Pat got a ride home with and seems upset that Pat would accept a ride from another man). He ignores Pat’s feelings at almost every possible turn until Pat has to almost yell at him to stop because it’s making him uncomfortable and he’s trying to do his job…and then once again asks him on a date.

This episode just kind of made it all worse. Even if we didn’t have the scene with Jeng to parallel, his reaction to Pat making him dinner is lacklustre to say the least. He almost completely ignores Pat for most of the evening, too concerned with his job (I’m not saying his being concerned about his job is a bad thing, it’s not). I get the feeling that his being so concerned with his job was a major issue in their relationship in past. One that Pat never had the confidence to bring up, and probably still doesn’t. Pat seems like he has just accepted that this comes with a relationship with Put. He is always going to have to put his job before Pat.

The longer time goes on, the less likeable he becomes. He clearly cares for Pat and isn’t a bad person, but it’s becoming more and more obvious that he also clearly hasn’t thought about all of the ways their relationship likely wasn’t working before. Pat’s first impression of him before ended up not working out for him. His first impression this time seems to be working out even worse. Has Put changed? Yes. Has he changed for the better? I’m not so sure about that.

This is all made even more interesting when I think about it in the context of the broader message the show is trying to make about the BL industry as a whole. So often, actors have to act a certain way in public. They have to be a nice, more charismatic, open and personable version of themselves. They have to hide their flaws and only showcase the good things about them. Any time Put is shown to be around people who are not in his private life, Put acts exactly like that. He is more friendly, more open, more charming, more everything. In private, it is not like he isn’t still those things, but he has also been shown to be selfish, manipulative, smug and even uncaring (or at the very least, unobservate about the feelings of others, especially Pat). None of these traits make him a bad person, not even all of them together. But they do make for a person who is very different from the way he acts on a stage, so to speak. It also speaks to his emotionally immaturity. Self admittedly Put broke up with Pat because he needed to come to terms with a lot of things about who he was as it related to job and how some part of him are incompatible with his chosen profession. The part I don’t think he spent nearly as much on, is the emotional maturity required order to have the kind of relationship that Pat wanted to have with him.

One of this shows central thesis’s seems to be (to me at least) that the way a person presents themselves in public is not the full story, especially for a BL actor (I mean, most of them are straight guys who are being paid to pretend to be with their screen partner, both on and off screen in some cases). In Pride and Prejudice, besides Darcy, Wickham is the most obvious example of this. His first impression is fantastic and his initial relationship with Lizzie one of ease and that of two people of a similar mind getting to know each other, even if Lizzie never truly considers him a suitor. As the novel goes on, this impression gets worse and worse until it is ruined beyond repair, when Wickham convinces Lydia to run away with him. The same looks like it’s happening with Put. While his initial impression to the audience isn’t a great one, through the tiny POVs we get from him, we see that he is not a bad person. He is sad and heart broken and utterly aware that he has no one but himself to blame for feeling that way. He is overall, a sympathetic character that the audience can root for, as any good second lead love interest should be. As time as gone on, we are seeing more and more of the unflattering character traits that he has. We are seeing more and more the reasons why him and Pat wouldn’t have worked in the long run, even if they hadn’t broken up before.

In fairness to Put though, the show clearly doesn’t want anyone to be overly invested in his relationship with Pat, since it tells us from the get go (the pilot trailer) that this show is, at it’s core, the love story of Pat and Jeng. One can only hope they don’t have Put completely crash and burn and become utterly irredeemable like Wickham is by the end of Pride and Prejudice. If they did that, I definitely feel like it would be a disservice to both the character and the message the show is trying to send.

#step by step #step by step the series #put sbs #put step by step #pat sbs #pat step by step #putpat #i want to reintegrate again that i don’t hate put’s character #quite the opposite #the character himself is interest #especially as it relates to the message the show is trying to send about the bl industry #it’s just his relationship with pat #it’s not a good one #plus the panda parallels are getting to me #put is wickham #or at least the closest we’ll get to a version of him #i can’t get it out of my head #this post isn’t meant to attack him or anyone who likes him #just to be clear #this is just something that i noticed #and i can’t unnotice it #this is a long post #and i’m not sure if really makes sense #this post is once again brought to you by the version of me that exists at 3am #what do you guys think? #cap watches step by step #cap speaks

[rusakkowrites]

For On the bank of the green river, long ago 2, 4, 5, and 9 please <3

How fun, a chance to talk about my Darcy/Wickham fic!

2. What scene did you first put down?

I dug up the notebook that I scribbled my first notes in, and it looks like I proceeded pretty much in order. Some of the banter between Wickham and Darcy as they lounge on the riverbank is already there in that very first draft. The second, sadder half of the fic was initially just jotted down as a couple of bullet points – the happy summer scene was my main focus at first.

4. What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

“Thinking is a foolish endeavour, when one has more pleasant ways to occupy oneself.” I feel like that sums up something important about Wickham's approach to life.

5. What part was hardest to write?

Probably this paragraph:

Darcy had applied himself to the pursuit of academic honours. Wickham, with equal determination, had pursued gambling, drink and general dissolution. Wickham had accused Darcy of turning into a bore; Darcy had not deigned to conceal his disapproval of Wickham’s imprudent and increasingly immoral habits. They had argued, made up, argued again – and inevitably, the chasm between them had widened. By the next summer, they had been all but strangers to each other.

I wanted to sum up the breaking down of their relationship fairly briefly, without getting bogged down in too many details. I remember rewriting this a few times to make it flow right while also conveying all the necessary information.

9. Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

No, this was a pretty straightforward one. I had a pretty firm idea of what I wanted to say right from the start, though some details took a bit of fine-tuning.

Looking at my drafts, I did find this bit that never made it into the final version:

In hindsight, Darcy could see much that he had not perceived then – yet he could not blame his past self for his blindness. George Wickham had been his childhood companion, his dearest friend, his first lover. He had thought that they understood each other completely.

And still, almost as soon as they had arrived at Cambridge, they had begun to grow in different directions. Darcy had taken his studies seriously, his father’s admonishments about the weight of his future duties spurring him on.

Many of the ideas in this snippet do appear in the actual fic, but they're worded quite differently. This was part of the rewriting that I mentioned in the answer to question 5.

Thanks for the ask! <3

#ask games #wurzelbertzwerg

[awesomeausten1]

While on the hunt for Pride and Prejudice related tik toks, I came across this one and audibly laughed. The format is really simple and somewhat elementary- a short clip from Ratatouille is pasted on top of a very scenic lake background. The water and geese are reminiscent of the elegance of Austen’s novels’ settings, while the chef is obviously out of place and seems a world apart from Elizabeth’s. I think part of what makes this tik tok funny is its mashed-up nature. The featured chef goes through a range of emotions as he reads a piece of paper, and the text of the tik tok indicates that he is supposed to be embodying Elizabeth Bennet when she reads Darcy’s letter.

The chef’s initial reaction displays contempt and disgust, and he takes little interest in what he is reading. Then, as he continues, the screen zooms in on him, and his brow furrows. This moment does a great job of reflecting the emotional journey Elizabeth endures when she reads Darcy’s letter- at first she doesn’t take it very seriously, but as he begins to unfold the truth about Mr. Wickham and makes clear the misimpressions that Elizabeth has, she realizes the letter’s immense importance. The chef’s expression then turns to a mix of incredulousness and anger, and then his eyes widen in massive surprise. The final moment shows the chef disappear out of the screen, with his bouncing chef hat being the last thing we see. The biggest thing that stuck out to me about this tik tok was that it really gets across the way that Elizabeth was impacted by the letter: ‘“I have courted prepossession and ignorance, and driven reason away, where either were concerned. Till this moment I never knew myself’”(259). With such a simple and silly clip, much of this emotional turmoil was somehow demonstrated. This moment also reminds me of when Elizabeth visits Pemberley, and as she looks out on the landscape from the house, she is able to see everything in a different light, similarly to the way the letter opened her eyes to an entirely new perspective.

[anghraine]

One of my favorite things about fanfic is that, except in the most names-pasted-on-yay cases, it’s intrinsically both creative and interpretive. The creative element is obvious, but a lot of fanfic debate overlooks the extent to which fic (especially, but not only, AU fic) requires you to form and reveal assumptions about the canon, particularly the canon characters.

Fics that follow from a single change (however minimal or dramatic the results of that change) particularly interest me in this way, because they’re so predicated on the author’s opinion of what a character might or might not do in different circumstances.

For instance, I’m writing a f/f Darcy/Elizabeth fic with lesbian Darcy. It’s quite difficult for me to see 27-y-o unmarried Catherine Darcy hanging out with Bingley (for gender/propriety reasons) or his sisters (for personality reasons). That’s based on how I read canon Darcy and his dynamics with the Bingleys. The result is that Catherine is not in the Netherfield party at all and Elizabeth has no opinion of her before Wickham’s story. Does she still believe it without her prejudice against Darcy in play? Does she see any of the red flags? How much of her canon attraction to Wickham and its effect on her judgment is about Wickham and how much of it is about Darcy?

I concluded that the attraction is real though exaggerated by her Darcy issues in canon, and that Elizabeth would provisionally accept the essential story though she does notice more of the inconsistencies, and thinks he’s exaggerating and over-dramatizing himself on some points. But I think you could legitimately write a scenario where Elizabeth doubts Wickham much more than this without her prejudice against Darcy in the picture. Or you could write one where Elizabeth’s attraction to Wickham is such that she doesn’t notice the inconsistencies at all, just like in canon. Whatever approach you take, though, requires you to make assumptions about Elizabeth based on your interpretation of her in canon.

It’s not like original fiction doesn’t have its own appeals and attractions, some of them related to this and some very different. I read and write original fiction too! But (as both writer and reader) fanfic has at least the potential to hit the storytelling and lit-crit parts of my brain simultaneously in a way that nothing else quite does, and I do love it for that.

#anghraine babbles #fanfiction #austen blogging #fic talk #fic talk: love pride and delicacy #genderbending #/ #// #/// #//// #///// #a #b #c #d #e #elizabeth bennet #fitzwilliam darcy #catherine darcy

[starsreminisce]

Realized I never posted why I think Elucien's first real conversation would match Darcy's first proposal to Elizabeth.

I believe Elain has reached a point where she's at a crossroads. Despite her attempts at boldness, she's encountered resistance, even from the same individual. Her efforts often go unnoticed or unappreciated.

Azriel's rejection, along with the influence of her two mated sisters, plays a significant role. She witnesses the contentment of her more love-avoidant sisters in their mated relationships. The societal expectation weighs on her to accept her bond, driven by the instincts that come with being mated.

I believe Elain also realizes the political significance of her bond. Like Nesta and Feyre, there might come a moment of poor judgment where she succumbs to societal expectations, influenced by her upbringing and the values instilled in her by Mama Archeron.

I think she’s going try to accept it as opposed to break it. The problem is that her mate is Lucien hahaha

Darcy's initial proposal is characterized by arrogance, assuming that Elizabeth will say yes out of societal expectations. Darcy has no reason to anticipate rejection. Similarly, there's a possibility that Elain, like Darcy, might react with arrogance and assume that Lucien will instantly be happy when she accepts their bond because they are mates.

However, Darcy is caught off guard when Elizabeth declines his proposal, desiring more than mere societal conformity. I believe that Lucien might experience a similar moment, as he, like Elizabeth, doesn't truly know Elain.

Lucien was willing to marry Jesminda with or without the bond, mirroring Elizabeth's disregard for societal pressures concerning a 'perfect' union, especially given his lineage as Beron's son. He was even prepared to leave his court to marry her, regardless of the bond.

While this might be a departure from the expected, it could serve as an interesting twist for Elain, challenging her preconceptions about mating bonds and her mate.

Lucien follows his own path, guided by what feels right to him rather than conforming to expectations.

It's important to acknowledge how much Lucien genuinely wants to connect with Elain, yet he respects her choice when she doesn't provide the opportunity. His upbringing, marked by his parents' loveless marriage, may influence his approach.

The beauty of Darcy's first proposal lies in its ability to prompt both Darcy and Elizabeth to acknowledge their shortcomings and work on them. Elizabeth comes to realize that she had hastily judged Darcy, particularly when she hears those close to him speaking positively about him. Darcy, on the other hand, must set aside his pride and make amends for his past mistakes, including his role in separating Bingley and Jane, and facing the consequences of not exposing Wickham when he should have.

Similarly, I believe that Elain and Lucien could have a transformative argument where they finally express their feelings openly, much like Darcy and Elizabeth's pivotal moment.

#elain x lucien #elucien #pro elucien #elucien headcanon #pride and prejudice

[the-lincyclopedia]

“Exile” by Taylor Swift as a Dizzie song. Like, come on.

I can see you standing, honey, with his arms around your body, laughing but the joke’s not funny at all

Darcy watching the Wickham videos

And it took you five whole minutes to pack us up and leave me with it, holding all this love out here in the hall

Lizzie leaving Pemberley right as Darcy is trying to ask her out

I think I’ve seen this film before, and I didn’t like the ending

Darcy watching episode 60

I can see you staring, honey, like he’s just your understudy, like you’d get your knuckles bloody for me

Lizzie watching Darcy react to Wickham

Second, third, and hundredth chances

Both Lizzie and Darcy have to give each other a lot of chances, you know?

You didn’t even hear me out

That’s both of them during episode 60, isn’t it?

You never gave a warning sign (I gave so many signs)

Darcy is surprised that Lizzie rejects him, but like . . . her dislike was there, had he known how to look for it.

I know it’s a breakup song, but I feel like the existence of the videos lets us mess with the chronology. Because of the videos, the “other guy” doesn’t have to be a new boyfriend but rather can be a guy from the past whose videos are being watched in the present (i.e., Wickham). Anyway, the “I think I’ve seen this film before” line just got me. It’s so very Dizzie!

#a lin original #lbd #lizzie bennet diaries #lizzie bennet #william darcy #dizzie

[onevolon]

my love for you is infinite - part10

Santiago Garcia x afab!reader(Darcy)

note: pride and prejudice (2005) but with triple frontier boys because why not lol

word count: 815

warnings: that scene...

you can also read it on ao3.

part9 - part11 - masterlist

Santiago walks across the park - anywhere, he hardly cares. He is in a turmoil of misery and fury.

It starts to rain. Santiago hurries into the summer house and sits down, heavily, on a bench.

A person approaches, across the park.

It's Darcy. Santiago stiffens.

She's hurrying towards him. Sodden and breathless, she is far too agitated to notice Santiago’s upset face.

“Mr. Santiago, I have struggled in vain but I can bear it no longer... The past months have been a torment...”

She pauses, unable to speak. Santiago stares at her in astonishment.

“I came to Rosings with the single object of seeing you...l had to see you”

“Me?”

“I’ve fought against my better judgement, my family's expectation…”

A pause.

“The inferiority of your birth… my circumstance… all those things...but I'm willing to put them aside… and ask you to end my agony...”

“I don't understa-”

“I love you. Most ardently.”

Santiago stares at her.

“Please do me the honour of accepting my hand.”

A silence. Santiago struggles with the most painful confusion of feeling. Finally, he recovers.

“I appreciate the struggle you have been through, and I am very sorry to have caused you pain. Believe me, it was unconsciously done.

A silence. He gets to his feet.

“Is this your reply?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Are you laughing at me?”

“No!”

“Are you rejecting me?”

“I’m sure that the feelings which, as you've told me, have hindered your regard, will help you in overcoming it.”

A terrible silence, as this sinks in. Neither of them can move. At last, Darcy speaks. She is very pale.

“Might I ask why, with so little endeavor at civility, I am thus repulsed?”

“I might as well enquire why, with so evident a design of insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me against your better judgement. If I was uncivil, that was some excuse – “

“Believe me, I didn't mean”

“But I have other reasons, you know I have!”

“What reasons?”

“Do you think that anything might tempt me to accept the man who has ruined, perhaps forever, the happiness of a most beloved brother?”

Silence. Darcy looks as if he's been struck across the face.

“Do you deny it, Miss Darcy? That you've separated a young couple who loved each other, exposing your friend to the censure of the world for caprice, and my sister to its derision for disappointed hopes, and involving them both in misery of the acutest kind?”

“I do not deny it.”

Santiago blurts out “How could you do it?”

“Because I believed your brother indifferent to him.”

“Indifferent?”

“I watched them most carefully, and realized his attachment was much deeper than your brother’s.”

“That's because he's shy!”

“Bingley too is modest, and was persuaded that he didn't feel strongly for him.”

“Because you suggested it!”

“I did it for his own good.”

“My brother hardly shows his true feelings to me! I suppose you suspect that his fortune had same bearing on the matter?”

“No! I wouldn't do your brother the dishonor. Though it was suggested…”

“What was?”

“It was made perfectly clear that... an advantageous marriage…”

“Did Francisco give that impression?”

“No!”

An awkward pause.

Darcy continues “There was, however, I have to admit... the matter of your family.”

“Our want of connection? Mr. Bingley didn't vex himself about that!”

“No, it was more than that.”

“How, ma’am?”

“It pains me to say this, but it was the lack of propriety shown by your mother, your three younger siblings - even, on occasion, your father. Forgive me.”

Santiago blushes. He has hit home. Darcy paces up and down.

“You and your brother - I must exclude from this...”

Darcy stops. She is in turmoil. Santiago glares at her, ablaze.

“And what about Mr. Wickham?”

“Mr. Wickham?”

“What excuse can you give for your behaviour to him?”

“You take an eager interest in that gentleman's concerns!”

“He told me of his misfortunes.”

“Oh yes, his misfortunes have been very great indeed!”

“You have ruined his chances, and yet treat him with sarcasm?”

“So, this is your opinion of me! Thank you for explaining so fully. Perhaps these offences might have been overlooked, if your pride had not been hurt – “

“My pride?”

“- by my honesty in admitting scruples about our relationship. Could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your circumstances?”

“And those are the words of a lady? From the first moment I met you, your arrogance and conceit, your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, made me realize that you were the last person in the world I could ever be prevailed upon to marry.”

Darcy recoils, as if slapped. A terrible silence.

“Forgive me, sir, for taking up so much of your time.”

She leaves, abruptly.

Santiago watches him stride away, through the rain. What has he done?

#santiago garcia #santiago garcia x you #santiago garcia x reader #frankie morales #ben miller #will miller #tom davis #triple frontier #triple frontier fanfic #oscar isaac characters #oscar isaac fic #onevolon fic #oscar isaac #oscar isaac fanfiction #oscar isaac hernandez estrada