#rebecca jessel imagine

[destage-arch]

CAST ( IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE )   ,     PAHRIAHS IN THE ROLE OF PETER QUINT   ,     DESTAGE IN THE ROLE OF REBECCA JESSEL.     THE SCENE OPENS TO BLY MANOR IN THE EVENING, PURPLES AND BLUE SHADES WHILE THE REST OF THE HOUSE SLEEPS.  ( @pahriahs​ )

guilt  lies  heavy  and  unanchored  in  her  stomach ,   the  kind  that  holds  no  beginning ,   or  solid  root ,   but  lingers  still .    she  is  sure  only  that  she  has  committed  some  offence ,  that  there  is  fault  in  her  bones  and  he  has  found  it ,   found  her  wanting .   there’s  an  aching  deep  in  temples ,   a  tiredness  that  has  set  into  her ,   but  she  knows  better  than  to  approach  it ,   better  than  to  admit  a  weakness  that  can  be  used  to  warp  her  bones .   she  never  imagined  love  to  be  a  fragile  thing ,    perhaps  now  she  knows  better .           ❛   what do you want me to say?   ❜

#WRITING PAHRIAHS FOR YOU FELT SO RIGHT HAHAHA. #this is so toxic. i hate this for her. #( ... ) PAHRIAHS — PETER QUINT. #( ... ) WR. — REBECCA JESSEL.

[myriadimagines]

Dating Rebecca Jessel would include? Thank you Sam! <3 I have the biggest crush on her

DATING REBECCA:

Before Rebecca was hired, you were Flora and Miles’ unofficial au pair

You helped take care of the kids whilst Henry looked for someone to hire 

When you heard that Rebecca was going to be joining you lot at Bly Manor, you were excited to meet her

You immediately developed a crush on her upon see how beautiful she was

And seeing her interact with Flora and Miles for the first time proved to you that she was going to be great with the kids

Even though you knew Rebecca got on top of things pretty quickly, you still helped her out, showing her the ropes and touring Bly Manor 

Exploring the grounds together, and her being charmed by both the place and you

You admire her for how well she adjusts and how well she fits in with you, Owen, Jamie and Hannah

Rebecca adores you from the start, and she’s also grateful to have you as a friend in her new surroundings

Always sitting together during dinner time, and everyone noticing how flustered you get around one another

“Ms. Jessel, do you have a crush on y/n?” “Flora!” 

The two of you try to stay professional, but it’s hard when everyone at Bly Manor is trying to play matchmaker for the two of you

Hannah, Owen, and even Jamie all think you and Rebecca would make an adorable couple

Whenever one of you is alone with them, they always make a point of talking about the other in an attempt to get one of you to confess your feelings

You and Rebecca finally confess your feelings to day when you’re out in the gardens with Flora and Miles

You were all having a picnic, and Flora and Miles were chasing each other around the grass, giving you and Rebecca some privacy to talk

The both of you are so unbelievably happy to know that you feel the same for one another, although it was clear to everyone else that you were in love

The two of you still try to keep a professional relationship, especially in front of the kids, but little bits of affection will slip through the cracks

Hand holding, little kisses on each other’s cheeks, shy smiles at one another

Hannah, Owen and Jamie are of course thrilled to see the two of you are finally dating

“About time, I’ll say.” “Thanks, Jamie.”

You and Rebecca spend any moment you can together

She’s usually busy during the day with the kids, although you’re more than happy to help her out whenever she needs it

You have experience with them, after all, but it’s also an excuse to be able to just spend more time with her

She’s usually the small spoon when you cuddle at night, and she loves resting her head on your chest while the two of you talk

Playing with or braiding her hair, and she loves to play with your hair too

Making tea for one another in the morning, and you both know exactly how the other takes their tea

Rebecca is such a good listener, and whenever something’s bothering you, you always feel better just talking things out with her

And whenever she smiles at you, you’re just filled with so much love, and everything feels okay

“I’m glad I came here. I’m glad I got to meet you.” “I’m glad you came too, Becca.” 

tag list: @musicallisto / @igotissuesmister

#the haunting imagine #thobm imagine #rebecca jessel imagine #the haunting #the haunting headcanon #thobm #thobm headcanon #rebecca jessel #rebecca jessel headcanon #imagine #imagines #reader insert #headcanon #headcanons #imaginesbymk

[iseultdeservedbetter]

“She wanted to die, but she also wanted to live in New York.”

Rebecca Jessel x Madame Bovary

(A/N): Hello there, lovelies!

Me procrastinating thesis with ‘character studies’ based on the books I have to read for it? Absolutely.

This is shit, but like... I had to get it out of my head and add onto the content, as somebody said... I’ll now just disappear again, because this is shit and me fucking around.

WARNINGS: Mention of Death, Mention of Self-Destructive Tendencies, Peter (yeah he is a fucking warning, I needed at least a warning for that entrance on ‘Tainted Love’).

Rebecca does remember that her father gave her ‘Madame Bovary’ to show her the effects of what ambition does to a woman.

Except it isn’t ambition that makes ‘Madame Bovary’ destroy herself.

It is the soft and blue power of dreams.

And Rebecca isn’t a dreamer.

If she wants something, she’ll get it.

And for a long time, she doesn’t think at that woman that wasn’t ever satisfied by the world around herself.

Till she finds herself in that position.

Men touch her like she belongs to them, exactly like the expensive pens on their pristine desk.

And nobody seems to understand the talent of Rebecca Jessel.

She knows she has it.

But each day her conviction crumbles a bit closer to the edge.

And reality hits her.

She eventually surrenders to the idea of being a dreamer, exactly like Emma.

But she vows not to fall in love.

And then Peter sweeps in her life.

She tries to stop her dreams of a future with him.

Longing is something that she has always found herself repulsed.

Wants and needs are a thing.

But longing evoke some kind of vulnerability that she isn’t sure that she could deal with.

Because longing is a matter of dreams.

But she wraps herself in dreams, deaf at the warnings of others.

As readers of ‘Madame Bovary’ are slowly brought to the understanding that for Emma there won’t be no future, the people around Rebecca Jessel can see that there’ll be no future for her, who is covered by a thin layer of broken promises and disillusion, which are the weights that brings her bod to sink down that night, in the lake.

And she understands that it wasn’t ambition that brought Emma onto that road.

Because it isn’t ambition that brought her down that lake.

It isn’t even her dreams.

And neither her faithful heart.

But that sweet taste of arsenic that is inside her veins.

#(yeah I did quote 'Madame Bovary' in the title) #(yeah this is how I release stress) #Rebecca Jessel #Rebecca Jessel Imagine #Rebecca Jessel Fic #The Haunting of Bly Manor #The Haunting Of Bly Manor Fic #(and now I am off onto angst writing and writing christmassy stuff)

[napoleon-usher]

Jamie + being the one to find her loved ones’ bodies

#thobmedit #the haunting of bly manor #thobm jamie #rebecca jessel #owen sharma #hannah grose #dani clayton #dont yell at me this was requested #can you imagine how much each of these fucked her up? #thobm #thehauntingsource #riah.gif #*1k #*2k

[novelconcepts]

i think always about the scene where dani and flora were about to escape the manor before viola showed up, and flora asks where are they going dani said “i don’t know” or something. do you think that if they succeed to leave the house dani would’ve tried to reach jamie? after all they in theory had a date in the pub, so in theory dani knew the little flat above the pub…

It's complete luck, Dani will think later. True idiot luck, nothing more--maybe the first lucky thing to happen in the last hour. Absolutely, they shouldn’t find the village at all. Absolutely, they shouldn’t have managed it: a grown woman with no car, no idea where she’s going, and an eight year old girl sobbing against her shoulder as she runs. They should wind up lost in the dark, staggering desperately in a circle, maybe turning right back up where they started. 

Utter luck, that the adrenaline holds out, that the darkness doesn’t swallow them whole, that she finds herself stumbling through the door of a ramshackle little pub with Flora. Shouldn’t happen. Some tiny part of her wonders if this isn’t the magic of Bly, extending far beyond the reach of that house. Some tiny part of her thinks, If it can reach this far, what’s stopping them from doing the same?

“Hey,” the old man behind the bar snaps. “You can’t bring her in here!”

“Please.” Her head is pounding. Her throat is raw. Screaming hoarsely into a gag will do that to a person. “Please, I’m looking for--for Jamie...”

She trails off, realization striking: she doesn’t even know Jamie’s last name. A woman she somehow feels she’s known forever, a woman she is painfully certain she is already growing to love in ways Eddie couldn’t have pulled out of her with an infinite lifetime, and she doesn’t know her last name. It would be hysterically funny, if she could remember what laughter tasted like. 

More good luck, sweeping in like a thunderstorm: the old man is nodding, though he still looks uneasy at the sight of Flora’s puffy red eyes. At the sight, too, of Dani’s rubbed-raw mouth. They must look awful, a pair of ghosts in their own right, crashing into the easy calm of his night. 

“She know you’re comin’?” he asks gruffly, and Dani shakes her head. “But she knows you.”

He’s looking at Flora, and Dani wonders if the small-town awareness Owen has spoken of with such irritation extends to the Wingrave children. Probably. Probably everyone in town knows the miserable story of two orphans left to cope in that big old haunted house. 

“She knows,” Dani says, when it becomes clear Flora is incapable of her usual boisterous chatter. “Please. Can you call her?”

He makes a face, his hand straying to the black plastic handset behind his head. “Fine, but if you’re lyin’, it’s only fair I warn you she's got a temper--”

Dani lowers Flora onto a stool, leans her weight against the bar, presses a hand to her head. This is insane, she tells the spooling pressure in her chest where air does not seem willing to flow. This is insane, to think there are ghosts pulling at the Wingrave children’s strings, pulling at Miles even now.

Miles. She left him. She left Miles, Rebecca Jessel’s warm voice still ringing in her ears. It’s too late. Too late. Too--

“Dani?” Jamie’s voice, just behind her. She can’t bring herself to lift her head and look. It’d be so much sweeter to remember her last image of Jamie instead, the last glimpse of normalcy drunk greedily in with no knowledge of what would come next. There will be other nights. Promise. Jamie’s hands curled around her own. Jamie’s kiss pressed to her lips with uncharacteristic euphoria. Jamie had giggled, and Dani had felt ten feet tall, the luckiest woman in the world, the richest--

“Flora.” Jamie is bending, a hand pressed to Flora’s face, smoothing back the sweaty mess of her hair. “What’s going on? Where’s Miles? What are you--”

Flora makes a hitching sound, and Dani imagines trying to explain it--not to Jamie, who believes her so readily even when there’s no reason, but to Henry. Henry Wingrave, trusting her with his brother’s children. Henry Wingrave, who she’ll have to face and say, Sir, I did my best, but you never warned me about the ghosts--

“C’mon.” Jamie’s uttered that word once before, an incontrovertible command. Last night, taking Dani’s hand in the kitchen, leading her out to take in flowers and stories. She doesn’t quite do it the same way now--her hand brushes the small of Dani’s back instead of her fingers, urging her gently along--but Dani can hear that same calm charge in her voice. It’s as though Jamie understands something has broken, and has chosen stability in answer to the too-big horror strangling Dani’s ability to explain. 

She lets herself be propelled through the pub, through a door at the back, up a flight of stairs. Somewhere at the back of her mind, she’s loosely aware that it shouldn’t be this way--that she should have visited Jamie’s flat for the first time on Jamie’s schedule, in Jamie’s truck, with Jamie grinning at her over a beer. But, then, what about tonight has gone to plan? What about tonight has been right?

“Sit,” Jamie says, urging her visitors toward a lumpy couch at the center of the small room. She looks calm, though Dani suspects it’s the kind of calm that might at any moment crack open. “Talk.”

An invitation, more than a demand. Dani buries her head in her hands.

“It’s crazy. It’s crazy.”

“You ran here in the dark,” Jamie says. “You ran here in the dark with Flora. Wouldn’t have done that if it wasn’t bad.”

Shouldn’t have done it at all. Should have called Jamie--run through the house in search of Hannah--done any number of things that wasn’t a flat sprint over unfamiliar ground into town. Should have kept her head. 

“Miles,” she says, and almost shatters right there. Her head is a land mine, pulsing warning. Her chest aches. Jamie is kneeling on the floor, she realizes, her hands busy at Flora’s face, her hands, searching for sign of damage. Dani inhales. “She’s--she’s okay. Rebecca made sure of it.”

Jamie looks up sharply. “What?”

Dani knows what she looks like, what she must sound like: a rumpled, ragged mess spouting dead women’s names like she has any right to them. Still, Jamie isn’t staring at her like she’s crazy. She’s watching with guarded eyes, her hands--satisfied that Flora is, physically, unharmed--moving to Dani. 

“What about Rebecca?”

“She let us go.” Jamie’s thumb is pressing very gently to her jaw, tilting her head to give the lamplight room to spill over her skin. She hears a breath catch, hears Jamie make a tiny, wounded sound at the sight of the skin rubbed red around Dani’s mouth. “She told me to take her and run.”

And I shouldn’t have. I’ve never listened to ghosts before. Why start now?

“Rebecca,” Jamie repeats. Her hand slips behind Dani’s head, gently inspecting; she finds the knot soon enough, Dani’s telltale gasp of pain pulling something taut behind her eyes. “Fuck, Dani, what--”

“Peter.” Flora’s voice is very small, a shock of unexpected color amidst Jamie’s usual palette. “Peter said we were helping.”

The calm in Jamie does not just break at those words; it erupts, her entire body revolutionized by her sudden rage. She’s got a temper, the old man had said, and Dani’s seen notes of it--at the rose bushes, hoisting a shotgun in the dark--but never quite like this. She stands abruptly straight, her shoulders pulling back, her expression livid. 

“What,” she says, “do you mean, helping?”

It spills out in a chaotic rush--Flora, mostly, explaining through hiccups. Dani supplements where she can, as if she understands any of it. As if she hasn’t, in some part of her throbbing brain, wondered all this time if the evening wasn’t a hallucination born of her concussion. 

“He hit you,” Jamie says. Not a question. “Tied you up. In the attic. And he took Miles.”

Those are, Dani thinks wearily, the bullet points. “He said they were trapped. That the house would wear them away. Rebecca wouldn’t...”

“'Course not,” Jamie says hotly. “’Course she wouldn’t. Fucking Quint.”

Dani blinks up at her. Her vision is gray around the edges, she realizes. Can’t be a good sign. She shivers. “You believe us?”

A little of the rage melts out of Jamie at this--her eyes softening just a bit, her fingers uncurling from a fist. She almost smiles. “You two? Best people I fuckin’ know, why wouldn’t I believe you?”

“Because it’s crazy,” Dani says hollowly. “It’s crazy, but--” But that little boy had stood wrong, with Peter pulling his strings. That sweet, lovely little boy had gone hard around the mouth, had gone steely at the shoulders, had held himself like a man three times his age and thirty times more capable of cruelty. 

“I believe you,” Jamie says simply. She gives Dani’s shoulder a squeeze, Flora’s hair a gentle ruffle. “I believe you.”

The flat is quiet after that, for a while. Wrung out, Flora is dozing against the arm of the couch before she seems to know it. Jamie gestures for Dani to stand, the pair of them gently shifting Flora until she is resting comfortably on a throw pillow. She breathes like she’s still preparing a scream, like she is still ready to charge back into that house after her brother, even as Jamie drapes a blanket over her small frame. 

She leads Dani to the bathroom, then, sets her down on the toilet seat. Her hands are steady as ever, gentle as she administers a warm cloth to Dani’s scraped skin--cleaning around her mouth, around wrists that have been chafed nearly bloody--and a bundle of ice to the back of Dani’s head. Dani chases a handful of aspirin with cool water and tries to look as though the whole world isn’t swimming away from her. 

“It’s bad,” she says. “It’s so bad, Jamie. I couldn’t do anything.”

Jamie makes a soft sound of acknowledgment. Dani’s wrist is upturned in her hand, her fingers skimming lightly across rope burn. Dani barely feels it. 

“What if--” She doesn’t want to give it voice. Doesn’t want to admit it’s even possible. Isn’t there something to be said for the power of belief, unpredictability shaped by human faith? “What if he really is gone for good? How do I explain that? How do I live with that?”

Jamie raises her eyes. “Not gonna have to find out.”

Dani frowns. “What do you mean?”

“I mean.” She turns, drops the wet cloth in the sink, clicks the cap back onto the bottle of pills. “Didn’t let Quint get away with this shite in life. Don’t think for a fuckin’ moment I’d let him do it now.”

Dani shakes her head. “It’s too late--Rebecca said--”

“Love Rebecca.” Her voice is strangled when she says this, as though Jamie is speaking through the entire last year of grief at once. “Loved Rebecca, sister I never had. But she didn’t know everything. Christ, even just getting wound up with him--she makes mistakes, too.”

“But--”

“Dani.” Jamie takes her face between steady hands. Even just this easy proximity, the sweep of her breath not far from Dani’s own, settles something Dani thinks has been screaming most of her life. “I promise. Whatever we have to do--whatever it takes--we’ll fix this.”

“We’ll fix a ghost,” Dani says flatly. Jamie smiles, leaning in until her forehead knocks lightly against Dani’s own. 

“We’ll fix Miles. Kid’s been through too much already. I’ll be damned before I let Quint have him.”

It’s just as insane a thing to say as the rest of the night. Jamie doesn’t know--can’t know--how to make this right. Jamie is just one woman, though maybe the best person Dani’s ever been fortunate enough to find. Jamie can’t turn back time. 

Still. She almost forgets that, watching her make phone calls--to Owen, and to the house, where it rings and rings and Hannah never picks up. She almost forgets that Jamie is not a superhero, as she presses the ice pack to Dani’s head with one hand and says into the receiver, “Quint, yeah. Dunno how. Does it matter?”

She almost forgets that they are not superheroes when Owen knocks on the door. That they are only an au pair, a gardener, a cook, and a little girl. That they are no match for whatever the house has become over the years. She almost forgets. 

Because the set of Owen’s mouth is uncompromising for the first time since she’s met him. Because Flora, refreshed from her nap and no longer tilting toward tears, is grim in the seat beside him. Because, thigh warm against her own in the backseat, Jamie is holding her hand like it’s never crossed her mind to let go. 

They are not superheroes. They are not prepared for the ghosts of Bly Manor. They don’t know where Hannah is, how Rebecca is holding on, what Quint will do in Miles’ body. They don’t know anything at all. 

But they are going back. Because some stories need changing. Because some tragedies cannot be simply accepted. Because Peter Quint deserves to be put in his place, and Miles Wingrave deserves a life of freedom, and whatever’s gone wrong at the great, good place--their home--can be set right. Dani can feel that, way down beneath the headache and the fear. It can be, even if she doesn’t yet know how.

You, she thinks, looking from Owen at the wheel, Flora seatbelted carefully in, Jamie running a thumb over her knuckles. Me, she thinks, watching her own battered face in the rearview mirror. Us, she thinks, remembering the dinner table earlier that night, Hannah’s smile, the music of their mingled laughter. 

This can be fixed. Somehow. It must be.

“Right,” she says in a voice much stronger than she expects as they pull up the long drive. “Step one: find Miles.”

#fanfiction #ficlet #the haunting of bly manor #the haunting of bly manor spoilers #dani clayton #dani x jamie #I suspect this was a question more than a prompt but I've gotten it prompted a number of times #and...thought why not

[starring-movies]

The Haunting of Bly Manor: Episode Analysis

*SPOILERS*

Episode 3 - The Two Faces, Part One

Episode 3 begins by starting to help us to fill in the backstory of who Peter Quint and Rebecca Jessel were. The episode starts one year ago and we’re first introduced to Peter as he stares at his reflection in the window of an expensive men’s clothing shop, Kensington Tailors, where he is picking up a shirt for his boss, Henry Wingrave. From this very first shot of Peter, it’s immediately established that he’s ambitious (as he’s imagining himself in Henry’s position, wearing suits from the expensive shop that Henry gets his clothes from), but also that he’s narcissistic.

The song ‘Tainted Love’ by Soft Cell plays during this scene. The lyrics that we here are:

“Sometimes I feel I’ve got to,

Run away I’ve got to,

Get away,

From the pain you drive into the heart of me,

The love we share,

Seems to go nowhere,

And I’ve lost my light,

For I toss and turn I can’t sleep at night,

Once I ran to you (I ran),

Now, I’ll run from you,

This tainted love you’ve given,

I give you all a boy could give you,

Take my tears and that’s not nearly all,

Tainted love”

The lyrics of the song that we hear foreshadows Peter and Rebecca’s sad and toxic relationship that will come. “Tainted love” is definitely an appropriate phrase to describe Peter and Rebecca’s relationship. Where Rebecca once “ran to [Peter]”, she now wants to “run from [him]” after he betrayed her trust - Peter drowned Rebecca and so now she can’t escape and just like the singer of the song she is suffering from “the pain you drive into the heart of me”.

When we’re first introduced to Rebecca we see her looking at her reflection in a compact mirror, as she waits in Henry’s waiting room to have her interview for the au pair job. Through this first shot of Rebecca we can see that her beauty is important to her and that she wants to make a good impression. This makes Peter’s killing of her even more tragic as she holds her beauty as important to her, so he did not only take her life from her but also her body.

While driving up to the manor, as the car drives down the drive, in the foreground of the shot we see a white rose with thorns on it. This rose alludes to Peter and Rebecca’s relationship, just as the song ‘Tainted Love’ did. On the outside their love looks like it will be beautiful and pure, but it will also cause pain. In a similar vein, the rose also portrays Peter as a character - beautiful on the outside but someone who will hurt you if you get too close.

On her arrival at Bly Manor, Rebecca tells Flora and Miles that she’s not “practically perfect” like their “very own Mary Poppins”, but rather that she is “perfectly splendid”. From this we learn that the reason why Flora was describing everything as being “perfectly splendid” in Episode 1 (and subsequently), is because of this first meeting with Rebecca.

Flora’s use of the phrase shows us how much she loved Rebecca and how much of an impact Rebecca had on her as a new mother figure of sorts. This is one of the things that makes Rebecca’s death so sad, because Flora had such a bond with her new motherly figure and she was the unfortunate one who first found Rebecca dead in the lake - so by using the phrase that Rebecca used, Flora is able to keep a bit of her with her all the time.

A small detail to notice; is that the lighter that Peter uses and lets Miles play with, is the lighter that Luke, also played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen, uses in The Haunting of Hill House.

After bringing the flowers for Flora/Rebecca, Peter explains to Miles that you have to find out which ‘key’ (thing to please a person) is the right fit, in order to open the door to them. This is not only the explanation for why Miles said that he was trying to find Father Stack’s ‘key’ in episode 2, but it is also a reference to the theme of keys in The Haunting of Hill House.

In Hill House the members of the family were trying to look for the right key to open the door to The Red Room, but it is later revealed that the individual themself is the key to the door, and that the room puts on different ‘faces’ to placate its current inhabitant. In the same way as The Red Room, Peter employs different tactics (flowers for Rebecca; alcohol, flattery and money for Henry Wingrave) in order to win favour from them and he consumes Rebecca just like how The Red Room was slowly consuming whoever was inhabiting it.

While Owen, Hannah, Jamie, Dani and the children are staying up in case Peter returns, Dani and Jamie have a conversation about possession and love. Jamie begins the conversation by again ‘testing the water’ with Dani, as she asks her if she wished that she was curled up with Owen instead of Hannah. In Episode 2 Jamie questioned Owen to find out if he was interested in Dani (which he wasn’t); and now Jamie is similarly trying to find out if Dani has any interest in Owen. Jamie presumably does this because if she finds out that Dani is interested in Owen, then she thinks that she will have no chance of pursuing her and might as well give up before she even tries.

The conversation moves on to “love and possession” and Dani tells Jamie “I don’t think that should be possible. I mean, they’re opposites really, love and ownership”. This one little thing that Dani says to Jamie foreshadows the fate of their relationship. When Dani and Jamie leave Bly Manor to go and live in Vermont and start a proper relationship together, they both started the relationship knowing that they were never a possession belonging to the other. Since The Lady of the Lake took some possession of Dani, her and Jamie always knew that they were on borrowed time and whether they wanted to admit it or not, that they’d have to let each other go at some point.

In Episode 9 when Jamie goes back to Bly and finds Dani’s body in the lake, she even invites Dani into her and begs for her to “take me with you”. However, Older Jamie says that “Dani wouldn’t, Dani would never”, because Dani knows the difference between love and possession and she could never allow Jamie to invite her in because that’s not love.

This also strikes a stark contrast between Dani and Peter’s love. Dani’s love with JAmie was a real and pure love, as she wouldn’t allow Jamie to be possessed by her. However Peter’s love with Rebecca was a possessive love, as he abused the trust that Rebecca gave him and drowned her body so that she would also become a ghost and be with him.

Hannah then wakes up and says that the children really ought to be in bed, and when Miles wakes up he says that he “had a bad dream” where he “hurt” Hannah. This “bad dream” isn’t a dream but it’s Miles vaguely remembering Peter pushing Hannah down the well, when Peter was in possession over Miles’ body. This tells us that the owner of the body does have some partial recollection of what the possessor was doing with their body.

When Dani goes to bed, the severed hand that she sees on her bed after spotting Eddie’s glasses on her bedside table is not just any hand, but it’s Eddie’s (we can see it’s his hand from the watch and blood we see on his hand in Episode 4). Eddie’s severed hand is also an indication that Dani’s feelings towards Jamie are getting stronger, because as her feelings for Jamie get stronger, so does her guilt over Eddie’s death and coming to terms with her sexuality.

When Dani comes downstairs the next morning, we get a shot of her watching over Jamie as realises that stayed on the sofa in the manor for the night. If we view Dani’s hand on Jamie’s shoulder (at the very end of Episode 9) as Dani watching over Jamie in some sort of way, then this moment is another sweet (but sad) foreshadowing of the quiet and caring watchfulness that Dani will give Jamie for the rest of her life.

Back in the past timeline, Flora gifts Rebecca the doll that she said she would make for her. Rebecca had previously told Flora that “I like all the colours” and so Flora said that she’d make her a doll with “all the colours”. When giving Rebecca the doll, Flora tells Rebecca that “Miles says that if you mix all the colours in the world together, you get black”. It may be a stretch, but as the dolls have a very intertwined relationship with the people they are made for, this might be a forewarning of Rebecca’s own fate.

Before coming to Bly, Rebecca had everything going for her and her future was incredibly bright, just as Hannah says in Episode 4, “she was brilliant, she was beautiful”. However, after meeting Peter Quint, her future becomes dark after he ruins any chance at a good future that she once had after he drowns her. So, in the same way as “you get black” from mixing all the vibrant colours in the world, Rebecca’s future also becomes black when she once had such a bright future.

Retuning to the present, Miles and Flora gather everyone to come and watch their ‘story time’, which Owen tells Dani is “like therapy for them” and to make sure Flora (and presumably Miles also) has “processed whatever she’s been chewing on”. Miles tells the story of a puppet named Poppet, who we can assume from the story itself and Miles’ costume/makeup, is a pseudonym for Miles himself.

In the story, Miles tells his audience how Poppet’s creator, Claude (who we can assume is Peter), got angry at the puppet for forgetting who his maker was and forgetting that he had strings. This could be Miles processing Peter’s controlling nature as the ‘puppet master’ over Miles, who “pulled on their strings” (takes control of Miles’ body) whenever he pleases, which “hurt[s]” him.

Finally, the episode ends with Owen and Jamie going home after Owen’s neighbour, Mr McQueeny, rings to tell him that his mother has died. Dani walks Jamie to her car and tells her that she’s “so glad you stayed”, a small compliment as a way for her to ease-in to try to tell Jamie how she feels about her. But Dani telling Jamie that she’s “so glad” is only an insignificant drop in the ocean of the emotions that she’s feeling.

Finding that her words aren’t a sufficient enough way for her to articulate her feelings, without a word Dani tentatively reaches out to hold Jamie’s hand, breaking the physical barrier between them which has not yet been broken - and more than likely a barrier that Dani hasn’t ventured to cross with anyone since Eddie’s, never mind doing so for the first time of her acting on her sexuality. With only a simple touch and a heartfelt look, Dani is able to convey more of her feelings than she ever would have if she’d tried to use words to explain how she felt.

After Jamie leaves, Dani sees Eddie’s spectre once again. Except for perhaps the severed hand, which isn’t quite the same as the spectre, the spectre of Eddie that we see in this scene is the most aggressive vision of Dani’s Eddie-related-guilt that we’ve seen.

Firstly, Eddie’s spectre is standing right in front of Dani, confronting her directly, whereas previously Dani had only seen him in the reflections of mirrors or windows - usually she can try to reduce seeing the spectre by covering up mirror, but now he’s apppearing right in front of her, unavoidable and inescapable.

Secondly, the spectre is violently pulled back towards the manor, again this is the first time that we’ve ever seen Eddie’s spectre move - when we see his image in any reflections, he is always standing still.

Thirdly, Dani actually gives out a loud scream at seeing Eddie spectre. She often does give a shocked gasp or a small yelp when she sees him but she has never screamed like this, so we can see that she is even more shocked than usual by his appearance.

The aggressiveness of Eddie’s spectre, the difference in the way that he appears to Dani and the fact that he appears after she has just taken a leap and outwardly showed her romantic interest in Jamie - which is likely to be the first time that she’s ever acted on her sexuality, except for when she broke off her engagement which didn’t end well - confirms to us that his appearances have been related to the guilt over his death and the shame that she feels about her sexuality, which she believes is what led to his death.

You can read my previous The Haunting of Bly Manor posts here:-

Episode 1 - The Great Good Place

Episode 2 - The Pupil

Episode 4 - The Way It Came

Episode 5 - The Altar of the Dead

Episode 6 - The Jolly Corner

——————————————————————————

#the haunting of Bly manor #mike flanagan #victoria pedretti #oliver jackson cohen #amelia eve #t’nia miller #rahul kohli #carla gugino #tahirah sharif #henry Thomas #kate siegal #the haunting of hill house #dani x Jamie #film #good tv #lgbtq #w|w #tv recommendations #tv reviews #horror #cinematography #dani clayton #thobm #thohh #thobm spoilers #thobmedit #gothic romance #you #peter x rebecca #owen x hannah

[westershiresauce]

Headcanon: Deus Ex Scuba Gear

Note: Spoilers for Bly Manor. 

So, here is my Bly Manor/Supergirl crossover crackfic headcanon where Kara is Dani and her ex Mike gets killed by a truck when he walks into traffic after Kara comes out to him and breaks off their relationship.

“Mike, I think I’m gay,” the blonde whispers, too ashamed to speak any louder. The man next to her tenses slightly before a look of relief washes over him.

“Oh thank God,” he says, and smiles at a confused Kara.

“What? You’re okay with this?” Mike shrugs and shoots the woman his frustratingly disarming grin. 

“I mean, am I glad I’m being dumped? No. Am I relieved that the reason is you aren’t into guys? Kind of.” Kara wrinkles her brows in confusion and he continues. 

“I mean, I know I’m hot.” Mike grins again and winks at the blonde who purses her lips at his peacocking, “I thought maybe you were just frigid or something.”

“Mike!” Kara looks around to make sure no one is listening. Mike laughs and she shoots him a glare. 

“Hey, you’re the one that decided to break my heart at the corner of a major intersection.” 

He winks at her and she advances on the man, trying to shut him up. He skips away from her, ignoring the fact that he is now in the crosswalk of the intersection. 

“Mike! Stop fooling around!” the blonde pleads but the man ignores her. 

“Hey, were you checking out chicks while we were together?” He waggles his eyebrows and Kara balls her fists at her sides. She refuses to take the bait. The man just laughs at her silence. “Dude, you totally did. What’s your type?” 

He goes quiet suddenly and his face lights up. Kara shakes her head. It is seldom a good thing when the man gets a light bulb moment. 

“Hey Kara,” his face gets lecherous and Kara readies herself for some horrifying comment, “Would you let me watch?” 

Kara’s face blooms red with embarrassment and anger. She steps closer to jab her finger against the man’s face and get her point across. However, Mike anticipates this and he takes another step back, grin still in place even as a truck barrels into his body. Kara stares in shock, midstep and with her finger still in the air as Mike is flung at least twenty feet down the street. The smell of burning rubber as the truck attempts to stop and the blaring sound of a horn being pressed much too late fill her senses. 

Kara: “No, Mike, not gay as in happy. Good lord, dude!”

Kara is at the hospital when Mike is pronounced dead. Rhea never really liked her so she leaves for her apartment, still shaken but confused about how she feels about what happened. On the one hand she feels responsible for what happened, but on the other hand, she almost feels relieved. Until, that is, she goes to wash her hands in the bathroom and sees Mike standing behind her. She screams and when she turns around, he is gone. It isn’t until a few days later that she hears someone walking around her apartment that she realizes what happened. She grabs her trusty bat and walks out, expecting some coke addict rifling through her bookshelves but instead sees Mike, pawing at her bookcase. He grunts in frustration when his hand goes through a book but cheers when he manages to knock one onto the floor. Kara drops the bat in shock and Mike turns around, grins wide and puts a hand up in a peace sign, just like when he was alive.

Mike: “I’m still here, bro!”

Turns out Mike is tethered to Kara and it is a horrible, cruel curse. He is both the best and worst wingman and Kara is still not convinced he doesn’t try to peek when she is getting dressed or showering but he also helps her learn to be more confident. All his shameless arrogance makes him a great cheerleader, at least once they talk about some ground rules.

1. No creeping on Kara in the bathroom or when she is changing. Mike scoffs at this and mutters about being able to creep on hotter ladies. 

2. No unsolicited advice or comments about women that Kara is not interested in pursuing a relationship with. This is added after a week of Mike making comments about women that had Kara blushing constantly, even at work.

3. No watching when Kara has a lady over. She wasn’t sure where Mike disappeared off to when she did manage to have a date come back to her place but he would always leave after shooting Kara another peace sign and telling her to “do the circle thing I showed you.”

It all hits the fan when Rhea gets wind of Kara dating women and she packs up and leaves. She does not want to deal with that fallout and she would rather get a fresh start somewhere else. Where is that where else? London, Bly Manor, American au pair, you know the rest.

Kara: “Yeah, I’m gonna take a one way and gtfo of here.”

Who are our players at Bly?

Our cook Owen Sharma is good old Jack Spheer because sometimes these things write themselves. And who is our beloved Hannah Grose? Why, Lucy Lane. Because she was too good and I always want to see more of her. Plus she can be a stern little spitfire with the kids and ghosties (The kids refer to her to as Major). She takes her fine self and daydreams about the moment that charming Jack came over to get the job as a cook, not dead, just as a useless hetero (is that a thing? It is now...) that can’t fathom for some reason that Jack is totally in love with her.

As for Rebecca Jessel and Peter Quint? Kelly Olsen (the only character with any brain cells half the time) and Andrea Rojas, our muy caliente Scotsman. Is that racist? No, but her horrendous accent might be a crime. This version has none of the controlling assholeroy of Peter and no secretly killing Rebecca. Just good old bad luck in a horror series. Andrea gets drunk and tries to dive into the lake to find the chest of loot she is convinced is down there so her and Kelly can run away to America. 

Andrea: “This is a file on all the reasons you should run away from this haunted ass creepy mansion and come with me to America. Also, there is a map I drew of the lake with an X where the loot most definitely is.”

Kelly: “This is just a picture of you in lingerie and a sheet of paper you colored blue with a big red X in the middle.” 

Kelly dies trying to save her when Andrea starts to get hypothermia and they both drown in the freezing lake. Because why bury your gays when you can drown them? Amiright? Who finds their bodies the next day? This leads to the following section: Next slide, please!

Who is standing in for Miles and Flora Wingrave? Why, Ruby and a tiny Nia, of course. Nia is a sweet baby angel and I want to meet her as a little sister, totally doted on by her big sister, Ruby. Nia sees Andrea and Kelly arguing like lesbians (so much hand waving and crying and angry whispering) on the far end of the lake while their blue popsicle bodies float around. Ruby and Lucy drag little Nia away from the scene.

Nia: “My giant scarf is perfectly splendid! Also, I am baby.” 

Things get really spicy when Kara shows up, ghost!Mike and all. He complains about not being able to haunt the “hot chick from apartment 314” any more, but he perks up at the thought of “British broads.” Kara had hoped he was tethered to National City or something, but it appears he is linked to her. Mike is ecstatic when he finds out Bly is full of ghosts. He is always off somewhere exploring the mansion and only pops in to tell Kara snippets of Bly’s history and its many inhabitants. 

Meanwhile, we get to the real star of this indulgent charade. Lena as the wonderfully fit Irish (let her have the accent!) gardener, Jaime. She is convinced Kara is a corn-fed straighty from America until Kara throws herself at her in the greenhouse because flowers turn on lesbians (see Imagine You and Me and Georgia O'Keeffe’s many works. This is sapphic lore, kids.) She opens up about Mike and Lena smooches her so she doesn’t have to listen to the hot blonde’s delusions. 

Lena: “What do you mean it is too bright? What book? This is a watering can for my gardening activities. So is my fashionable, appropriately sized hat.”

Kara: *OMG she is so hot and cool, what do I do?* “Hey, do you guys do the circle thing in the UK?” 

Meanwhile, things are getting interesting with Mike and the ghosts: Kelly and Andrea, newly minted Bly ghosts, explain that they are stuck on the grounds. Mike, who believes in having the freedom of “you do you,” vows to break the curse. He strikes a heroic pose that makes Andrea roll her eyes but Kelly agrees they need to find out more about the origins of the Bly Manor curse. 

Flashback episode in a horrid b/w tone because I want to show this is old, okay. It’s not like we could figure it out by the clothes. Or the set dressing. Or the fact that the one of the characters died of “the lung.”

Anyway, we have our sisters, Viola and the other one. Their names don’t really matter because they are going to be the brunette one and the blonde one, played by the queen of period series: Katie McGrath.   

Anger-y brunette Katie, getting her smacking hand ready. 

And blonde, sad (but also evil? plot twist!) Katie, lusting after her brother in law. 

And they fight over none other than Daddy Cullen, Maxwell Lorde, because look at that hair, look at all those buttons, look at that big hand! Who could resist? 

The child is baby Lena being twirled by Anger-y Katie pre-“the lung” because let’s just have this turn into a black hole that destroys itself. 

Baby Lena: “Swing me, mummy. Swing me with your good lungs!”

Anger-y Smack-You-Every-Time Katie: “I swung too close to the sky and now this is happening to me.”

So while Kara and Lena are christening all sorts of places at Bly (yes, even the master wing because, of course, the master wing), Mike, Andrea, and Kelly are incepting themselves into all sorts of memories and whatnot. Cue that montage!

404 ERROR. MONTAGE NOT FOUND. 

Whoops, looks like we blew our budget on that black and white filter. Sorry about that.

Once the ghost trio realizes the chest in the lake doesn’t in fact hold some dragon’s hoard of gold, but the key to ending this madness, Mike pops in on Lena and Kara to bring them up to speed. Kara screams at him about the third rule while Lena tries to accept the fact that her girlfriend (yes, they are girlfriends by now, keep up) has a ghost for a best friend. 

Kara makes Mike look away while her and Lena get dressed and after quite a bit of exposition, they decide to pull the chest up from the lake. Lucy and Jack have been off playing hide the croissant or whatever the straights do during their leisure time, but they quickly hop on the “break the Bly manor curse” train.  

There is a fun B (C?) plot where Ruby and Nia steal Jack’s car and drive into town. No one in town cares because they are rich and all the adults at Bly are busy romancing each other and assume the girls are being odd rich kids playing somewhere in the manor. 

The adults are planning how to get down to the chest without suffering Andrea and Kelly’s fate, when they find some scuba gear the kids bought on their last trip to town. It is wholly impractical but the adults shrug and accept the plot hole so they can hurry this along. 

They draw straws and Kara has to dive down and tie some chains around the sunken chest. Lena jumps in front of limited edition Scuba Gear Kara to stop her but the American has to America so she dives into the freezing lake after a swoon inducing “I’ll be right back” kiss. Like, gifable on tumblr, twitter, and whatever new platform there is a hundred years from now.  

Scuba Gear Kara: “Guys, I can’t see anything through this helmet. Guys?“

After a few tense moments where Anger-y Olden Time™ Katie tries to stop Kara, Mike, Andrea, and Kelly step in and use their ghost powers to keep her away from Kara. Jack uses his car to pull up the haunted chest and they pry it open with a crowbar and plenty of moxie. The screams of slap happy Katie of the past ring out around the heroes as the curse is broken. The ghosts cheer, everyone laughs nervously (they know the end is never the end in a horror story) and Kara shivers from the cold until she is next to the fire, dry and cuddled up with Lena.

As her final act of revenge, Anger-y Katie gives Kara the Lung(!) but thanks to the power of Science, our spunky American pulls through after properly completing the full course of treatment and antibiotics. This includes Lena taking sexy care of her girlfriend. *wink*

***** westershiresauce is not a medical professional and their thoughts regarding the health benefits/healing powers of a sexy nurse!Lena are not verified. Don’t take srsly. ***** 

Cut to, one more garden and I can retire, Lena, sitting next to an immaculate shrub, waiting for her wife Kara to bring out the tea and biscuits. 

THE END!

Lena: “I swear to all that is holy, if that tea is shite, I am leaving her. It’s been like thirty years!”  

#supercorp #supergirl #bly manor netflix #the haunting of bly manor #headcanon #crack #headcanon crack #kara x lena #kara danvers #lena luthor #katie mcgrath #tw: drowning #facetious #best casting #Nia is baby #crack retelling #handwaving #no hate appreciate #peak comdey #comedy #omg humor #Picture it Bly Manor AU #kind of fix it #happy endings #westershiresauce #westershiresaucewrites

[ghostbustermelanieking]

tma as “the haunting of bly manor”: self-indulgent au ramblings

this started as me really loving thobm’s ending (both in general and as a representation of what i want out of tragic gay love stories in horror) and thinking “wow it’d be cool if tma ended like that,” and ended up here because i started analyzing the parallels and where other characters fit in and couldn’t stop thinking about it. indulge me on this one please

(putting this under a cut in case anyone is watching the haunting of bly manor and doesn’t want to be spoiled. i don’t think you necessarily need to have seen thobm to understand this but it probably helps.)

· okay as pieces of horror that deal a lot in tragedy and death and love and themes of being trapped and fighting against things and reliving moments in time and losing yourself to outside forces, i think thobm works really well as a template for a tma au

· to start off: martin is the storyteller. of course martin is the storyteller

·“statement of martin k. blackwood regarding… a ghost story” more on this later

· the magnus institute stands in for bly, and it’s pretty much the same except it’s in the middle of fuck-all nowhere, and is much less staffed, and half the staff just like. lives there out of necessity

· it isn’t just a temple to the eye though; it’s mostly that, but it’s also kind of like a sinkhole for all the powers. the land it’s on is a mess and divided up between the powers like a mini fearpocalypse

· consider: tim and sasha as owen and hannah come and suffer with me

· ok aside from the inherent tragedy of their stories being in parallel, consider: tim would make those awful puns and sasha would absolutely pretend to hate it

· ok but also consider: sasha dies and no one notices, not even her. she’s taken by not-sasha the lady in the lake and she dies and no one notices it, but everyone wonders where sasha’s always going, why she always seems to be so out of it.

· imagine sasha fading into the background not realizing that shes dead... tim not understanding why she's pulling away or constantly disappearing, why she acts so strangely when he suggests they run away... sasha reliving moments with tim, unable to understand why she keeps coming back to the moment where she pushed him out of the way when something was in the institute, not realizing it’s the last time she saw him alive

· “tell him i love him…” oh my god

· not sasha is the lady in the lake. just because.

· jonah elias magnus is a little bit the lady in the lake a little bit peter quint he’s got the backstory of this being his house and being there for fuck-all-ever, and he’s using all these people as cogs in the machine, trying to get them to lose themselves to the eye or anything else there, using their lives and wellbeing to benefit himself (especially jon more on that later)

· (it should be noted there’s a very good fic with a huge manor and ghosts and romantic stuff and jonah possessing people called antigonish that makes way more sense than this but anyways)

· basira and daisy are a little bit quint and rebecca jessel. not entirely; their backstory is different and so is their dynamic, and daisy doesn’t possess basira to kill her and trap her there forever or anything like that. but she does go over to the hunt and ask basira to come with her. the difference is, basira wants to

· georgie is henry wingrave. minus the spousal infidelity and secret daughter, but in that she refuses to come to the institute. she’s brushed enough with it (with the end) that she doesn’t want to come anywhere near it, or anyone involved. she’s henry wingrave who separates herself from everyone for her own preservation but also loses jon and melanie in the process… who calls all the time because she misses them and wants to either apologize or beg them to leave but can never get up the courage to say anything… who comes back to get them out and dies briefly and has her encounter with the end… who talks to sasha when she reveals she’s dead and says, “tell him i love him…” who helps melanie leave in the end…. jesus christ

· melanie and jon are both dani yes i will elaborate

· melanie is dani in that she’s the last to come, and she thinks it’s going to be a new start even though it’s anything but. (she’s running, although not from a ghostly fiancé, but from the slaughter and the war ghosts and the humiliation she faced on the internet.) she comes to give a statement and ends up never leaving, and the slaughter only tightens its hold on her. georgie disapproves. melanie wants to leave when she figures out she’s trapped but she doesn’t know how

· jon is dani in that he is the second to last to come, and also the linchpin to ending all of it. but he’s also a little bit the kids, in that he’s being manipulated and taken over by the eye and in a lot of danger but he has no idea. he’s still the archivist he still takes statements and elias (who’s a lot less present here but still has some sway over everything) is manipulating the hell out of him ala quint to miles and flora

· the covering mirrors motif pops up here somehow mirrors looking glass eye all of that

· jon still takes statements, and statements are a version of dream-hopping. where they can relive their statements and their fondest memories and all of that, but jon is unwilling voyeur to all of it

· tim and martin are the ones who don’t stay at the institute overnight. jon and melanie and sasha and basira do. gradually tim and martin start to leave less and less

· it ends in a big confrontation i’m not sure how. lake + eye imagery, the power well trying to pull everyone in. sasha accepts she’s dead. georgie comes for her loved ones. jon gives himself over to the eye to save everyone, so they can all leave

· here is where storyteller martin comes in because imagine that ending of dani and jamie in a jm context. holy fucking shit

· jon and martin who leave the institute and go to scotland on borrowed time, knowing jon will inevitably lose the rest of him to the eye someday, but wanting to spend whatever time they have left together. the safehouse period but it lasts for years pls imagine. all of that. oh my god

· jon eventually going back to the institute to protect martin and martin following him and getting there too late… that entire scene by the lake… holy shit holy shit

· storyteller martin who won’t talk about it for years before finally giving the statement (possibly at georgie and melanie’s wedding just because, possibly not like that at all). who gives the statement futilely hoping it’s the key to seeing jon again because that’s always worked before. storyteller martin who is still looking for jon years later, who fills the sinks and tubs and sleeps with the door cracked open. storyteller martin who sleeps unknowingly with jon’s hand on his shoulder

· this is messy and unformed but i’ve been screaming about it for weeks oh my god someone draw this for me

· i don’t expect actual tma to end anything like this but i’d die if it did

#tma au #tma #the magnus archives #thobm tma

[angieschiffahoi]

congrats on finishing? lol. personally still on depressionville over them. rebecca? deserved to live and be a lawyer(?). hannah? deserved to lived. in france with owen helping with a batter place and rolling her eyes at the name. dani? i cant even. dani and jamie lol i can't even. peter deserves to go somewhere worse than hell. so yea, what're ur thoughts?

I am broken. I honestly haven’t stopped thinking about it all since I finished it last night. 

“Dani would never”. HOW DARE YOU.  I didn’t even have nightmares with ghosts! I was just really, really sad. I feel like, in the end, this was a happy ending. Just not for everyone, and that’s the strenght of the Haunting series. Not everyone can live happily ever after, but they contribute to the other’s happily ever after. No death is cheap or played for shock, even though they are shocking and are revealed through twists. The journey to one’s death is the character’s and, even if it does serve the plot and functions a self-sacrificing catalyst to set the happy endings of the other characters in motion, it never serves just to further the story of a single other character and it’s never just for shock value. Death, even when violent, sudden, unburied, is always respectful and somewhat “sacred”. 

At first I thought it was weaker than Hill House, because I felt the Crains’ dynamic was compelling and kind of made the narrative (in the first five episodes, it litterally did). Then I realized that while this started as a “strangers happen to live together in a haunted house” it soon turned into a found family story and it was beautiful.

I still think The Bent Neck Lady twist, even though predictable, was executed in such a beautiful way, and that episode remains the most emotional, tied with Two Storms, which remains my favorite of the series. But DAMN. The Altar of the Dead was so, so good! I knew Hannah was going to be my favorite from the moment she showed up and I had a feeling there was something wrong with her (the fact that she could dream up new clothes was clever, because I was checking those from the start to see if she was a ghost), but how it all tied with the beginning of the story? Wow.

I’m not sure I liked the twist at the end, using completely different actors, but I did love Carla slipping into a bit of cockney while she’s talking to Bride!Flora, as if to try and test if she was going to remember. The kids deserved that ending, honestly, and it’s coherent with what we’ve seen on Hill House (those kids left their demons in the mansion and so they were haunted forever, these kids were able to destroy them and live happily ever after), but I kind of wished they’d remember something. 

Rebecca Jessel coming through in the end was beautiful How she understood Peter was asking too much of the children. How she was willing to live through drowning again for Flora. I wish she had bonded more with Dani, over their love for the children. Also the scene by the lake, with Rebecca’s body, her ghost, Flora and Hannah watching had me sobbing. As for Peter, I hope he’s still in that memory with his mom. He was probably abused as a child and that is terrible, but he killed two people out of selfishness and was willing to kill three more, to have his happily ever after. He was controlling, abusive and manipulative and I wished the show had tried to make him a bit more relatable, to show us his anguish better (Oliver did an amazing job, though), so that by the end I would be torn between him getting peace or justice. But they didn’t and he should burn. 

Anyway, I could talk about this all day. Overall, I loved it. In a world where it came before Hill House, I feel like I would’ve loved it more (even though I’m not sure I would’ve loved Dani as much, hadn’t she played Nell Crain in HH). The ghosts weren’t as scary, and I missed some of that suspance (even though I am glad I will be able to maybe sleep this time); they explained a little bit too much, while HH left some things to the viewer to figure out, and some of the twists were very predictable; the nods to HH were placed well, but I wish they stopped referencing it after the first two or three episodes - it seems to live in reference to the success of its precedessor in a way (also in the way they use the soundtrack); the ending was bittersweet (like HH’s) but borderline cheesy, which kind of killed the vibe a bit (I love romance, especially wlw romance, but it has to be subtle, and the “it’s not a ghost story, it’s a love story” felt a bit too... yeah, cheesy. But that’s just my preference). 

Small structure-complaints under the cut:

I only have two complaints:

- I feel like they wasted an entire episode on Viola, Perdita & Arthur, because all those explanations could’ve easily been shown in another way and the scenes spoke for themselves. Later I started to think the narration had been necessary, because when Dani became the lady in the lake, older Jamie would start reciting “and then she slept, she woke, she walked, she forgot, she faded away”. But there was no parallel and so, I feel, like that story could’ve been told without voiceovers, leaving something to the imagination, and in flashbacks during the finale, making it a two part. I felt a bit cheated into binging the last two episodes, because of that same cliffhanger. I actually wanted to give it more time and watch it today. I also did NOT like the B&W. It was probably shot in color and then colored in post and the coloring was terrible. It felt like a pre-made filter in Premiere. I think the could’ve easily used the HH flashback coloring, which is colorful, warm, bright and eerie. I loved Kate as Theo, but in this one she did nothing for me. Viola felt like a caricature and, in the end, I never ‘felt’ for her.  

- I didn’t completely feel the epicness of Jamie & Dani. While I feel they were a beautiful, beautiful couple and very refreshing to see on TV, I didn’t actually feel them love each other until Jamie dove into the lake. But maybe that’s just me. I was so focused on all the storylines, I might’ve missed something about them. In some ways, they developed Hannah & Owen more, even though we never saw them together (and maybe that’s why Owen caring for Hannah’s body and how she disappeard so suddenly without even finishing ‘the rest is just...’ hit worse than the second part of the finale). 

There’s also I couple of things I didn’t understand (why did Viola never hurt Dominic & Charlotte? They must’ve walked at night! And they were sleeping in the bed she went to! How did Henry’s doppleganger work? Why was he haunted so vividly by himself? This ‘ghost’ felt a lot like Eddie’s - born of guilt - but at least there was a dead person in the Dani/Edmund haunting dynamic; was he haunted by evil!Henry because Dominic wished it so before he died?; also, why is no one freaking out about the inevitable incest of Peter/Rebecca in the kids bodies?! I love you Becks, but yikes!). 

I need to rewatch both Hill House and Bly Manor. I wish I had done a PhD in cinema, just so I could do a dissertation on these two, honestly. 

#haunting of bly manor #the haunting of bly manor #hobm spoilers #hohh spoilers #long post #angie rants #anon #anon ask

[a-batter-place]

Haunting of Bly Manor - Character Zodiac Signs

Aries - Owen Sharma

Owen is cheerful, silly, and unafraid to wear his heart on his sleeve. He works hard to make the people around him happy in whatever way he can, whether through his puns, cooking, or genuine kindness. He is unapologetically honest when he has to be, and thrives around other people.

Taurus - Edmund O’Mara

Edmund is loyal, sweet, and values security. When he chooses somebody, he’s choosing them for life, and nothing is more important to him than his family. He’ll be there for the people he loves, but when he’s struggling, he wants to be alone, and can be stubborn when faced with things he doesn’t want to hear.

Gemini - Henry Wingrave

Henry is a man with good intentions, but feels torn by the darkness in his mind. He knows what he wants and needs for his future, but has a tendency to self-sabotage himself before he can get there. He can be impulsive without considering the consequences, but ultimately will be there for you when it matters most. 

Cancer - Flora Wingrave

Flora wants so badly for everybody to be happy all the time, and will do whatever it takes to fulfill the wants and needs of the people around her. She is emotional, loving, and likes to slip away into her own little world. She rarely lashes out, but when she does, she has a good reason. 

Leo - Viola Willoughby

Viola is a force to be reckoned with. She enjoys the finer things in life, and is stubborn enough to distort reality into the one she desires. People are drawn to her for reasons that they can’t put into words, and she knows it, and often uses it to her advantage. 

Virgo - Hannah Grose

Hannah is the epitome of put-together on the outside, but inside she struggles with processing her emotions. She knows how she feels deep down, but due to her hatred of conflict, she lives in a state of denial. She isn’t afraid to rip into others though, telling them what she really thinks even if it’s harsh, but ultimately only says what others need to hear. 

Libra - Charlotte Wingrave

Charlotte is a woman who feels a deep gratitude for life, and wants to share her love with as many people as she can. She is ruled completely by her heart, even when it hurts. She will sacrifice her own wants and needs to meet others’ expectations, but manages to keep a smile on her face. She wants to do what’s right, even if it’s not right for her.

Scorpio - Peter Quint

Peter is passionate, mysterious, and is a firm believer in the ends justifying the means. He takes great pleasure in getting reactions out of people, but everything he does is a disguise. Deep down, he wants to break free of the circumstances he was born into, even if it means that people get hurt along the way. He likes to be in control and hates being trapped, but often finds himself stuck due to his secretive nature and callous demeanor.

Sagittarius - Danielle Clayton

Dani is haunted by the traumas of her past, but she channels it forward into adventure and creativity. She isn’t afraid to leave everything behind for a better, happier future, and she doesn’t doesn’t take shit from anybody. She is witty, protective of herself and others, and jumps into action even when it’s scary.

Capricorn - Jamie

Jamie can be closed off, and is hesitant to accept change, but will let you in if you prove yourself worthy. She is simultaneously careful but indulgent, gentle but firm, and optimistic but realistic. While she may initially come off as a bit standoffish, a simple conversation with her will show that she is simply quiet and thoughtful, only sharing her perspective if she feels it’s relevant. 

Aquarius - Miles Wingrave

Miles, while young, has already proven to the adults in his life that he’s intelligent beyond his years. He finds creative solutions to complicated problems, and isn’t afraid to hurt people who pose a threat to his loved ones. He is unpredictable, but filled with potential.

Pisces - Rebecca Jessel

Rebecca is a young woman filled with aspirations, and has always imagined a meaningful life for herself. She sees who people are at their core, rather than how they try to present themselves, and accepts their faults without question. She is deeply in touch with her emotions, and forgives a bit too easily.

#haunting of bly manor #bly manor #the haunting netflix #astrology #zodiac signs #keep in mind I'm no expert... this is just for fun!!! #which character are you? #and do you agree? #i tried to do this with no spoilers but I put it under a read more just in case

[vonlipvig]

[bly manor spoilers]

OK EPISODE 7 HOOOLY SHIT

oh my god, i'm still reeling from that. peter quint, you motherfucker, how could you? he lied to rebecca, he possessed her, and he killed her, just so they could be together. what a FUCK.

and then peter's plan is to possess the kids, tuck each of them away in a nice memory, and use them to escape, i'm guessing. and it did work for him, he took miles.........miles, baby, oh my god.

but then miss jessel and flora fucking faked it, because of course miss jessel can't let that happen to flora. but oh my god, now the lady of the lake has dani?! did she kill her?!

also, we do get confirmation on hannah......she did die. she died, but she kept going. imagining. that's why she could "dream-hop" herself, because she was dead. and now she admitted it, and her memory-owen was gone.......FUCK THIS ;___;.

i'm gonna say i did feel things when peter was talking to his mother (what exactly happened there? abuse, definitely), and when he was telling miles he was gonna be with two people that loved him, and that would make him the richest man in the world. that is some nice depth to a character that is still a major douche. good motive, still murder.

wow.......holy shit, guys.

#IDK WHATS GONNA HAPPEN BUT I'LL PROBS WATCH THE LAST TWO TOMORROW AAAA #bly manor spoilers

[myriadimagines]

Preference: The Haunting

— finding out you have a crush on them

Characters: Dani Clayton, Hannah Grose, Jamie, Peter Quint, Rebecca Jessel 

Warnings: —

Requester: @imaginesbymk

Request: “Hi Sam!!! could you do a Bly Manor preference with Dani, Jamie, Hannah, Rebecca and Peter on how they react finding out you have a crush on them? Hope this is ok, thank u:]]”

A/N: hope u like it mk!! :’)

— DANI CLAYTON

You confessed your feelings to Dani on impulse. You always felt so comfortable in her presence, and while the two of you were talking one night, you suddenly found yourself blurting out your feelings for her. Dani was surprised, her eyes going wide, before a huge smile lit up her face. She absolutely adores you, so thinks your crush on her is so wholesome and endearing. She’s reach out to grab your hands, giving them a squeeze to reassure you she felt the same way. 

— HANNAH GROSE

Hannah realises you have feelings for her when Jamie teases her about how obvious it is. She’ll point out how you have such a soft spot for Hannah, and the more Hannah thinks about it, she’ll realise that Jamie’s right. She’s almost surprised she didn’t notice earlier. She won’t be able to stop smiling about it whenever she thinks about it, and she’d be extra excited to see and spend time with you whenever she can.

— JAMIE

Jamie manages to figure out your crush on her, even if you think you’re being subtle. She’s pretty observant, and knows that you try to spend more time with her than anyone else on the grounds. She wouldn’t confront you about it, figuring you’ll tell her in your own time. She’d be flattered, thinking that all your little advances towards her are pretty cute. She’d flirt with you every now and then, teasing you in her own way, because she loves seeing you smile. 

— PETER QUINT

Peter gets pretty cocky when he finds out you have a crush on him. It doesn’t take much for him to piece it all together, seeing how nervous and flustered you get around him, and he loves doing things just to get you even more flustered. He’d be charming towards you, doing romantic gestures to impress you, giving you flowers or kissing your hand whenever he’s nearby. It would probably get eye rolls from all the others at Bly, but he doesn’t care.

— REBECCA JESSEL

Miles and Flora had told Rebecca about your crush on her during one of their lessons. It was so plain for everyone in the manor to see, but Rebecca thought they might be playing some sort of game with her. But when she realises they’re being serious, a soft smile would appear on her face, and she’d be so incredibly happy to hear about your feelings towards her. She’d excuse herself from the lesson just to go find you and let you know that she has a crush on you, too. 

tag list: @5aftermidnight​​​ / @musicallisto​​​ / @igotissuesmister​​

#the haunting imagine #thobm imagine #dani clayton imagine #hannah grose imagine #jamie imagine #peter quint imagine #rebecca jessel imagine #the haunting #the haunting preference #thobm #thobm preference #dani clayton #hannah grose #jamie #peter quint #rebecca jessel #imagine #imagines #reader insert #preference #preferences

[aion-rsa]

How The Haunting of Bly Manor Adapts The Turn of the Screw and Other Henry James Works

https://ift.tt/3loTz7C

The following contains spoilers for every episode of The Haunting of Bly Manor.

Henry James (probably known as Hank Jim to his friends) is one of the most prominent and prolific writers of his era. Originally appreciated for his novels like The Portrait of a Lady and The Ambassadors, James is now best-known for his 1898 work The Turn of the Screw, an eerie, ambiguous ghost story novella that would become one of the most enduring Gothic horror texts ever.

The Turn of the Screw has been adapted dozens of times into films, operas, ballets, and more. And James’s classic story forms the basis for Netflix’s Haunting of Hill House follow up The Haunting of Bly Manor. Just as Hill House uses Shirley Jackson’s horror story as a jumping off point, so too does Bly Manor liberally borrow from The Turn of the Screw. But that’s not where the Henry James party ends for this series. The Haunting of Bly Manor puts several other Henry James stories to good use as well.

The Turn of the Screw, and short stories “The Jolly Corner”, and “The Romance of Certain Old Clothes” all play crucial roles in building the spooky tale that showrunner Mike Flanagan is out to tell this time around. And here is a helpful breakdown of what each James story brings to the proceedings.

The Turn of the Screw

Given that this is the Hill House/Bly Manor franchise, perhaps it’s helpful to use housing terminology to discuss The Turn of the Screw’s contributions to the series. The Turn of the Screw makes up the foundation of The Haunting of Bly Manor. Hell, it might just make up the walls and roof as well for as the show takes just about every base level detail from James’s seminal work.

The Turn of the Screw opens up as a frame story. A group of Victorian-era aristocrats has gathered together to share ghost stories with one another Mary Shelley-style. One guest has a story that is sure to blow everyone else away and begins to tell it to the enraptured audience. Bly Manor borrows this frame story technique but replaces the unnamed aristocrat with Carla Gugino’s character (who is later revealed to be Jamie) sharing a story at a wedding.

Read more

TV

The Haunting of Bly Manor Review (Spoiler-Free)

By Nick Harley

Once both the novella and the show’s narrators launch into their stories, we can see that there are plenty of similarities. The Turn of the Screw deals with an unnamed Governess (a fancy British word for a live-in schoolteacher at a mansion) who gets a job teaching two children at an English countryside manor following the deaths of their parents. Though the Governess (a.k.a. Victoria Pedretti’s Dani) doesn’t get a name in the novella, all the other names are the same. The children are Miles (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) and Flora (Amelie Bea Smith) and their caretaker is Mrs. Grose (T’Nia Miller). And then when the spooky stuff hits the fan it’s revealed that the kids’ previous governess was named Miss Jessel (Rebecca Jessel in the show, played by Tahirah Sharif) and she had a close relationship with another one of the estate’s employees, Peter Quint (Oliver Jackson-Cohen). In terms of characters, the only major additions for the show are Amelia Eve as the gardener Jamie and Rahul Kohli as chef Owen. 

As the story progresses, it’s clear that The Haunting of Bly Manor intends to stick closer to The Turn of the Screw than The Haunting of Hill House did with its namesake. There is something clearly off with Miles and Flora and it likely has to do with the dead Peter Quint and Miss Jessel. The Governess repeatedly sees the shade of Peter Quint on the grounds of the manor just like Dani does in the show. Miles acts out at his boarding school and is sent home early. Flora one night even gets out of bed and wanders out to the lake on the property where the Governess is convinced she is communing with the ghost of Miss Jessel.

Beginning around episode 6, The Haunting of Bly Manor begins to deviate from The Turn of the Screw’s plot and eventually concludes with a wildly different ending. That’s partly because The Turn of the Screw doesn’t have much of an ending (what is it with Gothic writers and their penchant for having people randomly drop dead) but also because the show is drawing from two other Henry James sources.

The Jolly Corner

Episode 6 of The Haunting of Bly Manor is called “The Jolly Corner” for a reason. This is the hour in which we catch up fully with Henry Wingrave (Henry Thomas), the current owner and executor of Bly Manor, who is wracked with guilt over an affair he had with his brother’s wife before their deaths. 

That guilt eventually takes on a metaphysical component as Henry is quite literally haunted by the worst version of himself. The evil version of Henry continually taunts the “normal” one each night, reminding him of all his mistakes and misdeeds. Whether this is a hallucination or some kind of evil shade is left deliberately vague. But the arrival of the second Henry is preceded by the last words Henry’s brother ever spoke to him: “I pity you because you have to live with him. You have to live with yourself.”

Ouch. 

��The Jolly Corner” borrows its name from a Henry James short story, which features a similar doppelganger phenomenon but in a vastly different context. The story follows Spencer Brydon, a man who returns to his childhood New York home on the “jolly corner” after decades spent abroad. 

Spencer gets to work renovating his childhood home and comes to find that he has a real knack for it. He’s so good at it in fact that he begins to wonder what his life would have been like if he had stayed in the U.S. and dedicated his career to the construction business. This thought quickly turns into delusion as he imagines that he is being haunted by the version of himself who truly did stay behind in the U.S. and put his talents to good use. Spencer finally confronts the ghost of himself and in the true Henry James-style promptly dies…or does he?

The Romance of Certain Old Clothes

While “The Jolly Corner” makes up an exceedingly small portion of The Haunting of Bly Manor, the final Henry James contribution, “The Romance of Certain Old Clothes” is of enormous significance to the show’s plot. Going back to our housing metaphor, if The Turn of the Screw is the foundation of Bly Manor, then “The Romance of Certain Old Clothes” is nothing less than the people inside the home. The plot of this short story is crucial to understanding the context of what’s really happening at Bly Manor.

First, an abbreviated summary of the short story. “The Romance of Certain Old Clothes” is set in 18th century Massachusetts. It follows two daughters in the aristocratic Wingrave family: Viola and Perdita. Both Viola and Perdita fall in love with rich suitor Mr. Arthur Lloyd and Arthur eventually chooses to marry Perdita. Despite promises not to get jealous…Viola gets pretty jealous. The sisters’ relationship becomes strained and only worsens when Perdita falls ill.

As Perdita slowly dies, she makes Arthur promise to hide away her beloved gown in a chest so that her daughter can have it once she comes of age. Arthur does so and Perdita dies. The Lloyd and Wingrave estate then begins to crumble due to Arthur’s mismanagement. Viola urges Arthur to open the chest either for herself or to sell off its contents. When Arthur refuses, Viola takes matters into her own hands and heads up to open the chest herself. Arthur later heads up to find Viola on her knees and dead, with wounds visible from ghostly hands.

If all of this sounds familiar, that’s because it is almost the exact plot of The Haunting of Bly Manor episode 8. The only major change at the outset is the switching of the roles of Viola and Perdita. In the show it is Perdita who is killed by a ghostly Viola. Then Mike Flanagan and the series take the story a step further and imagines what would happen after Perdita’s death.

Viola “lives” on as a ghost inside the chest. It’s not until Arthur disposes of the chest in the lake on the grounds that Viola is eventually freed. But even then hers is a sad afterlife. She resides under the water by day before coming out at night and prowling the grounds in search of…well, she’s never quite sure what. Over time, whatever was left of Viola’s appearance and personality begins to fade. She becomes the faceless Lady in the Lake and her stubbornness creates a “gravity” at Bly Manor so all who die there stay on as ghosts. 

It’s the Lady in the Lake who kills Peter Quint, seemingly only for the crime of him being out and about at night in her house. And just like that The Haunting of Bly Manor ties one of Henry James’s more obscure ghost stories into his most famous one in The Turn of the Screw. 

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Many properties have tried their hand at The Turn of the Screw, but none of them until now have thought to tie in the ghost from “Certain Old Clothes” as the gravity of it all. Not a bad day’s work for The Haunting franchise. 

The Haunting of Bly Manor is streaming now on Netflix.

The post How The Haunting of Bly Manor Adapts The Turn of the Screw and Other Henry James Works appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3lrFG8Q

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[novelconcepts]

hey! i love your work - i've been reading every single one of your fics on ao3 since the blessed day i found you here <3 I know it might seem a bit out of character but what do you think jealousy would look like for Dani and Jamie?

It’s not jealousy, exactly. Jealousy is an ugly word, prompted by the belief that your person is, in fact, drifting--or that you are, in fact, not all there to hold their focus.

Which, admittedly, Dani isn’t. All there. Not all the time. But she still wouldn’t call this jealousy. Jealousy was Eddie’s arm tightening around her shoulders at the movie theater. Jealousy was her mother’s eyes darkening whenever a woman was too polite to her father as he ordered drinks. Jealousy was whatever kept Peter Quint locked to the Bly grounds, his fists tight around Rebecca Jessel’s desire to be better, even in death. 

Jealousy is ugly. This is not jealousy. This is...

Casual amusement. 

“So,” Jamie is saying, leaning against the counter and pointing to a brochure. “These are the most popular options for a wedding arrangement. You said you don’t want roses?”

“Tacky,” the bride says, her nose wrinkled. She’s probably in her early twenties, Dani gauges, and seems tailor-made for big, sprawling events like a wedding. Even the way she walks is orderly, her heels clacking, her body following a straight line from flower to counter and back as she speaks. 

The bride isn’t really the person Dani has been watching, all things considered. The bride knows exactly where she is, what she wants, how she’d like them to fall in line for her special day. 

It’s the other one. The maid of honor, who appears by all indication--jawline, hair color, similar smile--to be the bride’s sister. Maybe twenty-five, maybe a little older. Pretty, as these things go, though not exactly Dani’s type. 

Dani doesn’t seem to be her type, either, from the way her eyes drag up Jamie’s frame and linger around her lips. 

If Jamie has noticed any of this--the way this woman is quite literally attempting to phase through the counter to where Jamie is standing--she’s doing a remarkable job of not showing it. Her eyes sweep from bride to book and back again as she keeps up a steady stream of conversation primarily intended to keep the customer talking. Jamie’s method of finding exactly what a person is looking for is very similar to her method of living with Dani: coax them into talking about themselves, about their day, about what they like and don’t like, and piece the rest quietly together. 

She’s so busy listening, she seems to miss altogether the way the maid of honor reaches across the counter and drifts a hand close to Jamie’s. “What would you pick, for your big day?”

Jamie smiles, and though her gaze does not cut to Dani, there’s something about the way she leans back and bumps Dani’s ankle with the heel of one boot that says it all. “Haven’t really thought about it, if I’m honest. Not really the white-wedding type.”

“What type are you?” the woman asks hopefully. Dani swallows a snort. Jamie only smiles. 

“Quiet, I think. Private.”

The woman chews this over, letting her fingers sneak closer to Jamie’s hand. Jamie, politely, retrieves her own fingers before contact can be made, her attention sliding seamlessly back to the task at hand.

“So. You’re thinking how many smaller arrangements, for the tables?”

Dani is not watching the maid of honor out of true jealousy, so much as curious interest. The world is changing around them a little more every year, celebrities beginning to come out as politicians bat around the legality of love they don’t understand, and things are...improving. Cautiously, she suspects things will continue to improve, that there might one day be a time where she’ll be able to take Jamie’s hand in a public restaurant. Kiss Jamie in a movie theater. Love Jamie in some way resembling acceptable for the eyes of strangers. 

Even then, even in a world where no one cares, she can't imagine the bravado of this woman. The sheer strength of will it takes for a strange woman to meet Jamie as she steps around the counter to show them out, her hand sliding up Jamie’s arm in a fashion not remotely professional. Her voice is soft as she leans in toward Jamie’s ear, her smile predatory. 

Dani watches with curious interest, and if there is something small--a ghost of anger, a ghost of sudden sharp heat in her stomach like a fist tightening--it is nothing. It is irrelevant. Jamie is her own person, is completely welcome to whatever interactions come her way. Jamie, she reminds that part of her which sometimes feels nothing like her at all, loves her. 

Loves you, that little part murmurs, but can’t have you. Not all of you. Not the way this woman gets her husband, forever, with a ring, and a party, and a white dress--

Jamie is stepping away from the woman, a slow roll back to match the tense smile on her lips. The woman’s face is darkening, something unpleasant in her gaze when it swings to find Dani. Jamie raises a hand, waves goodbye, allows them to round the corner before she flips the sign and latches the door.

“Unbelievable,” she mutters. “Did you see that?”

“The part where she was eating you alive for an hour, or the part where she tried to mount you right at the door?” Dani says dryly. That little kicking drumbeat in her chest is still pounding away, the squeezing fist rapping out a message she can’t ignore. Even if it were legal. Even if they all understood. Even then, you wouldn’t be able to do it. 

“Don’t think her sister didn’t notice, either,” Jamie says, rumpling her hair with one hand. “Think she’ll have some explaining to do this evening--hey, you all right?”

“Sure,” Dani says, too brightly. Can’t have all of you, and doesn’t she deserve better? Doesn't she deserve someone who is always steady, always the same from dawn to dusk, who never looks into a mirror and sees--

“Dani.” Jamie’s hands are on her shoulders, Jamie’s face much closer than she realized. She starts, nearly stumbles, relieved when Jamie’s grip tightens just enough to keep her upright. “You look like you’ve seen a--”

“Just...” Dani shakes her head. How to put this? How to explain it? “Just...something about that didn’t...sit right, I guess.”

“No,” Jamie agrees, “I’d think not. Handsy, wasn’t she? But I hope you don’t think--hope I’ve never given you cause to worry--’cuz, Dani, honest to God, I’ve never--”

She looks so nervous, it’s almost like the years have rolled back to a sunny day in this very shop, to a single moonflower and Jamie’s hopeful smile. All at once, that grip of fear in her gut loosens, Dani’s breath returning to her in a long sweep. 

“Jamie. Breathe.” 

“No, I only--I know how it probably looked, but she was trying to give me her number, and I--”

“Told her she’d have to get in line?” Dani teases. Jamie looks about ready to swallow her own tongue. 

“Told her I'd never met someone half as in love as me, and she should be lucky to find the same someday.”

“Oh my god, Jamie, she’s never going to come back.” She’s laughing, unable to stop herself. Jamie, not looking even the least bit ashamed, tucks her hands into her pockets and shrugs. 

“I didn’t like the way you were looking at her, is all.”

“What, like I was going to escort her out in a fury and blame it on my low-key possession?” 

“No.” Jamie is not smiling. There is an earnest quality to her face, even as she reaches up and touches Dani’s cheek. “Like she was making you sad. Haven’t seen you like that since we left England. Dani, honestly, you know I’d never want...anything but this. Ever.”

It isn’t a question. It is maybe the truest thing Jamie has ever said, and it pulls at Dani’s heart harder for that. 

“I trust you,” she says quietly. “It wasn’t that. Wasn’t even her. Just...it’s enough? Even knowing we don’t know...even knowing there could only be--”

“It’s enough,” Jamie says, cupping her face in both hands, pressing her forehead to Dani’s with enough force to make them both laugh a little. “It’s always enough.”

She kisses Dani once, twice, and Dani lets herself linger in the moment. Lets herself forget about windows and strangers and tempting hands striving to coax Jamie off the path. None of it matters. None of it matters if Jamie is truly happy here, if Jamie is truly home here. 

“I’m only saying,” she says when Jamie breaks, glances back over her shoulder, begins guiding Dani backwards toward the supply room. “You have options, for when I’m too old or too boring. What was she, the seventh one to try to slip you a phone number?”

Jamie groans. “What is it about me? Do I have emotionally available stamped on my forehead? This never used to happen in England.”

“You scowl much less now,” Dani points out, breathless when Jamie sweeps an arm around her waist and dips her toward the couch. “And you wear all those suspenders--”

“Could tell them,” Jamie teases, following her down. “Could greet each and every woman at the door with, ‘Welcome to The Leafling, purveyors of fine floral arrangements, my name is Jamie and this perfect specimen is the love of my--’”

She’s kissing Dani, all jokes forgotten, and Dani finds herself dreaming--not for the first time--of wild possibilities. Of a sunset wedding, of friends gathered close, of Jamie kissing her just like this in front of anyone who matters even a little bit. Of what it would be like, to look at Jamie and know how real they are, even in the moments Dani doesn’t feel real at all. 

Doesn’t take a wedding for that, she thinks, as Jamie’s lips trail down flushed skin. Doesn’t take anything except for her...and me...and...

There’s a ring she’s been looking at. A simple thing, gold, heart-hands-crown. No one would know. No one would need to know. All that matters is...all that matters is...

She can’t have all of you, that horrible awareness of time mutters. Dani closes her eyes, grips tighter to Jamie as she vanishes into the kiss. 

She gets everything that counts, she decides here and now. She gets it until there’s nothing left to give. 

#fanfiction #ficlet #the haunting of bly manor #the haunting of bly manor spoilers #dani x jamie #damie #little bit this prompt little bit one of jess' #I'm having a great time thanks for sending these in guys