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forgottenroisin · 12 days

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The metallic-sharp scent of lye stung the air. A noxious fume, it spread in acrid disharmony, as unappealing a note as any Rose had ever known. It bit her hands, too, even beneath her gloves, and she knew not to touch her face -- too much exposure could blind folk -- and she was careful in how she breathed as she did not wish to bear the tell-tale sore throat, sneezing, or running nose, little less the severe lung inflammation some bore, that came with breathing in too much of the toxin.

Of all the unpleasant tasks Rose had undertaken at her stepmother's behest, this was by far the worst, yet it had to be done. And Valentina had saved her sister's life. It was a little mantra she repeated to herself over and again, each time she plunged her hands into the pungent, stinging vat. She saved Brigit, she saved Brigit, she saved Brigit. It was the rhythm by which she washed the clothes, scraping them again, again, again against the board to its flow.

Rose donned very different clothing for this project even than she did for her other servile functions, and still more so than for those she wore to entertain the princes or to step out to balls and functions at court. Today, her hair was bound up atop her head in a scarf. She wore long gloves up to her elbows, splotted with a bizarre assortment of colors from the thousand dyes she'd used over time. Her dress, similarly, sported an array of mismatched colors, and was an ancient, threadbare thing -- picked especially because she did not care what became of it. It was the sort of rainment few would relish being caught in, and still less one who was so very focused upon her fashionable appearance, and frankly quite vain, as was Roisin Malconaire.

Finishing with the shirt she'd just been scrubbing, Rose stood, ready to plunge it into the barrel of pure water beside her, so the lye could not eat it, when -- in standing -- her eyes caught another pair. Gasping astonishment, Rose darted backward a pace or three, heart pounding wildly in her chest. For a moment, she stood with her surprise, Cassimir's lye-soaked shirt, clutched to her chest, when she felt it drop away from her surprised fingertips, puddling at her feet.

It was Sebastian. Sebastian Varmont. An imperial prince of the realm. Twelve countries. And she looked like a street urchin and -- gods alive! -- he saw the vat! And, and he'd seen her washing! And--

Her gut seemed to drop, her whole chest caving against this realization. She stepped back again, Cassimir's shirt forgotten. A feeling of illness curled through her, rising from her chest, which felt suddenly too tight, towards her head. She could feel a flush unfurling from her bosom to her brow. Her mortification was complete.

Sebastian was speaking but she hardly heard him at first. All she could think was that it was all out. It was all known. There was no way to hide her family's shame, now, and tears bit at her eyes at the thought. She'd failed them all. Failed her sisters, failed her parents' sacred memory. In a way, she'd even failed Valentina and Cassimir and Sonya. She'd failed the people of the village. She'd failed all who looked to them to lead the way. Who now could have faith or pride, now, in people who behaved in such a way? With this shame falling upon them all? Was conquest not enough? Was this, too, to blemish the name of Malconaire--

But he was still speaking and she shook her head, intent upon hearing him. She had to do it! Had to answer the charges, somehow! Maybe it wasn't too late, maybe she could still pull this back, maybe some dignity could still be salvaged--

"Before...Before Midnight," she whispered, processing his words. Her eyes widened. Had he just--He had! He had! Gods, she could have kissed him!

"Yes!" She hadn't meant to cry that with such enthusiasm. This was ordinary, she reminded herself. She cleared her throat. Focused on keeping her choice even. "Yes," she repeated. "When...when we were children," she shrugged. "We didn't, but we didn't have so much to give, then, you know? It's only as rewarding as the effort you put into it, you see."

Quickly, she pealed off the gloves, dropped them to the ground before her. Let the lye eat Cassimir's shirt! His mother would find a way to get him another one, no doubt, or else Rose would simply make it. That didn't matter, now. This was more important.

"Before Midnight has so much...hope to it, don't you think?" And, she thought, it was a far more apt excuse than -- she prayed -- he would ever know. "No matter your circumstances, you can always...rise above and be your best self. It's an important lesson to keep in mind, I think. Not that--" she paused, she'd been about to wildly claim that the House of Malconaire knew nothing of reduced circumstances, but such a statement, she realized would be far more damning than saying nothing of it at all. "Not that any of us would forget such a beautiful moral."

She laughed, then, self-conscious. "I know it must seem a rather dull pastime to a prince of the blood, but...we ladies cannot ride out and seek adventure as you may. We are country folk, as well, and must invent amusement however we may." She laughed, half mocking herself as she spoke. "Who knows, perhaps if you were ever to try it, you might even enjoy it. Does such playacting hold any charm for you?"

She cleared her throat. "But, come, I've had my share of fun for the time being. I'll--I'll leave that for the servants to clean," she said, waving her hand towards the lye and the barrel of water and the clothes on the line. She meant, of course, that she, herself, would come back later and see to it. "Let me change into something else quickly and then would--would you care for a walk?"

Rose knew the rest of her sisters were also about their tasks, and she wished to prevent him from seeing them, too, at work. Of course, she'd claim that they were all simply taking part, if he did, but better that he not witness each of them at it.

"It's such a lovely day, it'd be a shame to spend it cooped up indoors," where Eithne and Aoife were working. "Or even to...bother the horses at pasture." Where Brigit was. "I think walking is just right, don't you?"

This Isn't What it Looks Like | Rose & Sebastian

"If you wish to see Lady Aoife," Valentina said, rather distractedly, "She's taking a walk in the gardens."

It was clear that whatever plot Valentina hoped to put into motion, it was only his brothers that were to be a part of it and Sebastian was more than willing to escape it to spend a quiet walk with Aoife outdoors.

He supposed no one had found Rose in time to tell her that the Varmont princes had arrived, for there, outside the house, was Roisin Malconaire -- although not as Sebastian had ever seen her before. She was bent over a basket of freshly washed clothes, carefully pinning each piece to the line. He'd accidentally stumbled across her washing clothes.

He was about to turn to leave, before she could spot him, when she stood up and her eyes immediate met his own. For a moment, Sebastian found himself at a loss for words.

"I --- um," A beat. If it hadn't been for the book of Astairan fairytales that Aria had suggested he read, he never would have thought of anything to say at all.

"Aoife told me that you used sometimes would put on plays to amuse yourselves. I must say, I'm impressed. I never would have had the patience to take it so seriously. I suppose you have won the lead in Before Midnight?"

Before Midnight was the dramatization of an Astarian fairytale that centered around a young cinder girl who had been orphaned and was at the mercy of her step-family. She was once granted an evening away from her troubles by the goddess Phaedra to attend a royal ball, but with the warning that she must return home before the stroke of midnight.

He supposed it was a bit on the nose to suggest this particular play, but it had been the first thing he'd thought of. Never mind that he knew that the girls hadn't play acted since they were children; never mind that this was likely a bit more method than even the most dedicated of them had ever been.

And never mind that it was a bit ridiculous that this was the first thing his mind would have gone to to explain her behavior. Still, he'd rather make himself look a fool than to embarrass her. He'd already forced Aoife to expose her secret: he would not do that to the rest of them.

#this isn't what it looks like #this isnt what it looks like #rose: PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!!!!!!!#comment #sebastian varmont

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forgottenroisin · 12 days

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Rose laughed softly, a tinkling sound, and rubbed the back of her neck as the truth of his statement settled in. She remembered all too well her horror as Varmont troops seized Brigit, intent on ripping her away from them all, no matter how hard the sisters struggled. She recalled all too well the fear and desperation of the moment -- and the wildly unexpected turn when Valentina, cool as anything despite her earlier panic, emerged to set her stepdaughter free. How strange fate was.

Glad of the distraction as Edmund turned to Valentina's scheming, Rose's grin returned in a grateful flash. "Oh, never," laughed she, tone turning teasing as she added: "Perhaps you haven't heard, but Sonya is of royal stock, my friend. What could be a more serious scheme?" Rose smirked, fully aware of just how often Edmund had to endure Valentina's long and lingering lectures on this very topic, and she giggled. "But, if the emperor doesn't take the bait, you'll do in a pinch, never fear: you haven't entirely lost your chances at becoming Valentina's good son, yet. I know such a deprivation would prove hourly devestating. How do you imagine you would bear it, should the chance, one way or another, pass you by?"

Rose laughed, again, as he spoke of dangling Arthur before Valentina like a carrot. "I have never seen such a range of expressions as he exhibits when my stepmother begins her pitch!" It seemed to Rose that Arthur went from irritation to outrage and then proceeded to traverse each of the stages of grief in the span of a moment when Valentina opened her mouth to begin speaking to him of Sonya's royal blood. "One would think the blow would soften over time...but, truly, it never seems to." Edmund's own reactions were far more subtle.

"What?! Truly!?" gasped Rose. She had laughed to herself over the prospect of Sonya and Roderick for some time, never imagining it could ever come to anything anywhere save in Valentina's fevered brain. "I knew he was pursuing the Quee--" she bit her lip, giving him an apologetic look, unsure how to refer to Eilionora, now, and simply skipped it. "But I imagined that pursuit was merely political in nature. Please pardon me: I mean no offense, I am merely trying to understand, but...Does he not have enough heirs? Or is he planning to give a nation to each of you?" She was not jesting: it was a genuine question. "In which case, I suppose he will need more children -- he has so very many countries under his sway, I suppose...But I did think he meant to keep the empire...whole?"

She sighed, frowning now into the flames. What had been the purpose in this savage conquest, in the killing of her father and so many others, if all it came to was to give Astaira to one of his children at his death? Could they not have simply become a naturalized Astairan citizen and then applied to rule, the old fashioned way? So many innocent lives...

Hearing Edmund's jest, she shook her head quickly, as if to clear it of her darker thoughts, she smiled. "Nor should you! In truth, I do not think I should like her anywhere near the throne: she's horrid enough as Lady Dowager Malconaire! No one should like her with any more power than she already has, I can assure you. And, on a personal level, she's not the most pleasant extended family member I can imagine."

As he said his family dynamic was complicated enough, Rose shook her head, eyes widening slightly. "I...I can't imagine. My own is more complex than I should like, most days, and it is a far more...average arrangement."

Rosie's expression brightened as he agreed to the scheme. "Idiotic? Your Imperial Highness," she sniffed, eyes laughing. "If you wish to gain favor here in Malconaire, you should know that I prefer the term adventuresome...perhaps even," she added, grinning. "Mischievous, from time to time...such as the occasion upon which we met."

Rose, utterly unaware that the person unwittingly standing in the way of her prank on Cassimir was an imperial prince, had roped him into the scheme -- only after telling him off for placing his horse directly in her plot's path. Fortunately for her, he had proved just as adventuresome...perhaps even mischievous, as she, and had gone along with it.

"I shall take my chances, then," she laughed. "We Astairan heretics believe in guardians who shield us from such things. Stay close to me, my prince, and the empire's future will remain as safe as my head upon my shoulders." Grinning with the jest, she stood, extending her hand to him. "Have you ever been into the town? It's so lovely in the rain, Edmund! I think that you shall fall in love with it on sight."

On My Way Home | Roisin & Edmund

The day was crisp and Rose would swear she could smell autumn, if asked. I t seemed to cling to the air, packed earth and moss and mushrooms and decaying leaves, a warm-cool kind of musk that belonged only to the golden-bright glamor of falling leaves. Rose could find something to love in the changing of any season, but this was perhaps her favorite season of all. As summer gave way to fall, there was a kind of new innocence to the earth, she always imagined.

Oh, most saw spring as the time of rebirth, but autumn had its special magic, particularly on rainy days. There was something in the sharp crack of lightning and the low rumble of thunder rolling across skies caressed by crimson leaves that felt fresh and bright in a way no other season could quite capture. Yes, spring was a return, but autumn was a rebirth, utterly new and wild and untamed.

Today threanted to be just that kind of day -- all sky-splitting storms, but there was a thrill to that which enchanted Rose, merely making her wish to relish it and, in some wild part of her heart, to be out in it. As a result, she busied herself with plucking summer's final offerings: the wildflowers that volunteered in the meadows of the Malconaire estate. Rough winds rolled them away, sweeping a world of petals across the meadow and, in her way, Rose smiled to watch them whirl away, a feral dance amongst the high-growing grasses.

Laughing, Rose tucked the bouquet against her chest, pulling her cloak tenderly around them in the hopes that they would not be stripped of all their petals before she reached the shelter of the house, and darted for it. Her skirts and cape swirled all around her and Rose found herself laughing once again, half running, half leaping. Rain was pelting from the skies now in large, heavy drops as she hurled herself in the door, surprising a nearby chicken who squawked and flapped her wings most indignantly.

"Well, what did you expect?" she said merrily to the fowl. "I think I blew in just as much as I ran, and I can't fly any more than you can."

Smirking, she popped the bundle of flowers into a vase, already half filled with water, and turned towards the window to watch the storm...in time see a reflection in it. Gasping and whirling around, she seized the vase, ready to smash it, only to come face to face with Edmund.

"Oh! It's you!" Quickly, she deposited the pottery back on the shelf and laughing, shook her head. "I thought you were a thief. I was about to attack you with that. Terribly formidable of me, I know," laughed Rose, arching her brows, and realizing he had probably seen her address the chicken. She smirked, shrugged. "Never a dull moment, is there? I can't imagine you've received such a reception in any other household, today, have you? I do so love to make an impression."

#on my way home #comment #edmund varmont

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forgottenroisin · 12 days

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ok in this case, i don't think rosie ~does know abt percy's feelings for aria, bc i feel like -- while cillian def teases him -- its mostly private bc i imagine its smth cillian feels is in confidence between the two of them, and he, himself, knows how painful loving ur social superior can get and doesn't want poor percy to go through that, esp bc percy is much less likely to approach aria than cillian, and also he's even more likely to keep mum abt it around rosie than others bc rosie in particular is 100% the type of person to interfere (bc she wants them to be happy! but just bc one person is into another doesn't mean its mutual and yeahhhh) and it only gets really bad when ppl -- aka ur crush -- finds out, in cillian's experience lkajsdfkljsd so yeah!! basically i don't think she knows!

also, we established she doesn't know abt aoife, either, so yeah!! this is probs yet another reason she set up brigit/percy bc as far as ~she knew, there weren't other ppl interested in either of them and she thought itd make them both happier to be together!! asdkfljsdkjfds me: 'rosie, it doesn't always work that way' rosie: '...sounds fake'

IT JUST STRESSES HIM OUT MORE lakjsdfkljsdlfj the PEPE SILVIA, I-- LDKASJFKDSLJF but also yes percy is hands down the most organized person in on this whole scheme!!!! unless the wider rebellion knows? but even so, his only rival so far would be ciara and she's def got her own thing going alksjdflkjsdf

BUT ANYWAY!! point is!! i def think he's best qualified to do this and YES there are DEFFFF inconsistencies and cillian probs makes it worsE too bc he reviews this list percy made and then tries to remember it on the fly while in disguise and misremembers and thus creates yet ANOTHER variant percy has to keep track of alksdjflksdjfjksdf me: 'cillian, how aren't you caught, daily?' cillian: 'charm, ingenuity, and the fact that i speak in such a tongue-and-cheek way its blatantly obv im laughing at the whole thing the whole time so no one's taking it too srsly unless ur too gullible to notice, in which case ur already buying it' me: '...ok...' ANYWAYYY!!

BUT BACK TO ROSIE!!! she might not be the wisest person, but she's pr empathetic, really, so she probs does notice that he's getting more stressed as they're talking sometimes and she's just quietly like 'this is why being organized is never worth it' and then tries to distract him from the distraction she was just giving him HAHAHAHA and this is the story of how she drug him out into the forest for a nice day of pleasant exploring and then he basically spent the whole time tryna hide clues abt the resistance being there from her -- only ~sort of kidding on that one, lbr ;DDDDD rosie, at the end of the day like 'maybe he just LIKES being stressed out sometimes -- nothing relaxing/distracting is working!' laksdjfklsdjkflsjkdfjk

dkslfjaklsdf this is def smth they butt heads on!! rosie is pr loyal and won't be convinced that her friends are evil, and he won't be convinced the ppl that conquered their nation and killed their loved ones are good alskdjflkjsdfjk but they ~can at least def agree that roderick is the WORST!!!!!! on a lot of counts!!!!! omg tho percy, brigit, and cillian tryna start an intervention lkajsdfakljsdkjfjksdaf rosie: 'what a fun party this is! even if you ~are saying unpleasant things abt my friends from time to time! if we don't talk quite sm abt the varmonts next time, we should all get together like this more often!' cillian: 'its not a party! its an intervention!...but also, yes, we should'

ooc | Percy & Rosie

Percy loves Rosie lots!!! He enjoys her adventurous spirit, her charm, her sense of humor!! all a+++ but tbh he def worries a LOT about her!!!! Friends with Cassandra??? And Edmund????? NOOOOOOO Also, ngl I think he knows that Rosie would jump at the chance to be part of the resistance and Percy is here to make sure that never happens!! He's v protective of the Malconaire girls, but especially Rosie and Aoife tbh and he's not going to let anything bad happen to them!!

#ooc #percy reaves #cillian frost

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forgottenroisin · 12 days

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NAME METAS

ok so i looked up the girls name meanings the other day before work, and then i had a bunch of pricing so basically i just ruminated on it all day!! lskdjfkalsdjf

ok so this is basically my thesis:

forgottenroisin rosie, any time someone brings this up: our parents named us each smth that evokes love! bc, when you dissect what our names each really mean, they all boil down to smth beautiful: hope, faith, life, and wonder! ;D

EITHNE: kernel/grain, little fire = HOPE

forgotteneithne: #eithne's name meaning grain#is so on point bc i think even when she WASN'T the person cooking for the whole house#she very much wanted to norish and care for everyone#i love this sm <3

ok so!! eithne!! when you think about it -- what is a kernel? it's a seed. its life, but potential life. w hat is grain? its food. its nourishment. eithne is, thus, in her person potential that nourishes, provides, sustains! she isn't just the next lady of malconaire, she ~is malconaire, and she's everything it needs!!! a kernel is a whole map of life, its everything that is required to grow and to flourish: all it needs is the soil of malconaire, and a little rain.

and little fire? what is that? brilliance, brightness, a light to see by, but smth to galvanize as well, smth to guide, to keep you warm! to comfort but also to inspire! but not enough to harm: this isn't some destructive force, its heat and passion without fury or cruelty!

brought together, what concept does these two ideas jointly embody? hope! and if that doesn't fit our eithne!! just as kate was saying!! she literally puts food in their bellies, looking out for those around her, keeping them strong, helping them move forward when they're too tired to keep fighting! providing warmth and nourishment!! our girl embodies hope <33333

BRIGIT: exulted one = FAITH

ok so how much do i looooove the irony that, to valentina and cassimir, brigit is the most despised of the siblings...and yet she's the exulted one!!!!! lksdjfalksjdf ok so, like, this one is working on a couple levels for our girl! first, she's of noble birth, second, she's a seer. but both of those also play into this pull/push irony she's got going on: she's a conquered noble. she's a hunted seer. the very things that seek to tear her down are what set her apart. plus, there's the whole angle that she's honored by the guardians with the sight, itself!

ok, so what is exultation, when you break it down? its honor, right, but its belief, also! its this unwavering belief in smth higher, brighter, better, and we already know what brigit is at heart: she's a rebel! another irony instrinsic to her naming, bc rebels don't tend to receive exultation, yet its this v indomitable spirit that is her crowning glory: she won't be turned away. she'll fight on! and its ~that unyielding spirit that is exultant and to be exulted in her!

she's faith. something to believe in, but something too that believes. she doesn't blink. she looks hardship in the face and she charges forward for the good of others. there's also the seeress angle: both literal, religious faith, but also solidity and complete certainty that things can and will be better if you've just got enough faith in it to fight for what you believe in!

AOIFE: beauty, to breathe/to live = LIFE

forgottenaoife: #i think aoife probably is like... my name's meaning doesn't really reflect me that much#but honestly like the idea that its just to breathe and to live#which is really all she wants to do#is perfect <3 margueritedemarigny: you know rosie out here preaching abt the simple yet sublime beauty of life itself as embodied by aoife <3333333

lskdafjklsdfj so i already showed my hand here w the above but that's just the crux of it! in a lot of ways, aoife is the most beautiful of the sisters: pure and good and kind. she doesn't draw attention to herself, she lets her actions speak for her. she breathes. she lives, blooming like a winter rose beneath a bed of ice: stronger than the others bc she doesn't demand attention. she simply is and, in this way, is perhaps most genuine. most beautiful.

but aoife is also the most caged. most controlled. she's trapped by her quietude -- valentina taking advantage of her kindess -- but she's freed by it as well -- in turn taking advantge of valentina's blindness. bc of these qualities, aoife is able to do what none of her sisters can do, while remaining perhaps the most clear-sighted of them all.

as kate said, all aoife really wants is to live and to breathe. but she doesn't believe in her own beauty, or in the beauty of that simple, pure wish. i already summed it up in rosie's quote, but i'll leave you with a simple question: what could be more beautiful than to simply be? to live, to breathe? and who, then, more beautiful than one whose only wish is for the purity of those things?

ROISIN: little rose, little famous kind = WONDER

ok so we all know rosie gets lost in the wonder of life, right, but how do we get there from roses and fame? don't worry, i got you, and the answer is simple: nature! lksadjflksdjfjk all of astaira, but perhaps house malconaire most of all, has a reverence -- a wonder -- for the natural world. roses are perhaps the most famous of all blossoms. in fact, the word rose -- when you look into it -- doesn't actually mean red or even that particular flower we call such: it means, more or less, famous one, and thus the flower was dubbed. the famed beauty of nature, literally blooming with meaning. rosie's name isn't just floral, its growing, blooming, and inviting of awe. quite wonderful, right? ;D

no, but now that we've discussed the rose, lets talk about the famous kind, without the rose! rosie's wants are pr soaring. rosie wants love and joy and excitement. she wants romance and adventure and escape. but she also wants an idyll -- she loves to explore, to question, to consider: she's a malconaire, she can't help but be a little down to earth, but she's also imaginative and even a little irrational. she wants the big, bombastic things -- she even soemtimes thinks itd be grand to be a princess! literal fame! tbh idk that she'd enjoy the actuality of that, but the idea seems nice, esp bc -- and here is where i relate fame to reputation -- it'd allow her to finally stick it to her stepmother! fame is leaping and vaunting and GRAND in scale, and so are rosie's dreams!

bringing these concepts together -- high-vaunting ideas with extraordinary beauty, what are you left with but the theme of wonder? rosie's greatest virtue, and biggest downfall, yet the thing that best characterizes the way she looks at the world and experiences life! to dream big, to appreciate the breathtaking world around you for all that it is and all that it can be, what is that but wonder?

CONCLUSION

in conclusion -- idk if their parents intended these meanings, but if you ask rosie they def did!!!! this is 100% her belief <33333 ngl i do think its partially a way to feel close to them too now that they're gone -- 'they knew us so intimately from birth they named us this way knowing this would happen and knowing what will happen in future so in a way they're still w us' almost kinda thing <3

OOC | Malconaire Names

ok so now that we've got the parents named, i went on a lil [ name meaning ] spree and looked up all our kids! and i love how these all like...fit but in an unexpected way!!

Macdara -- son of oak

Sorcha -- radiant/bright, lady/princess/noblewoman, clear/bright/famous

Eithne — kernel, grain/little fire

Brigit — exulted one

Aoife — beauty/to breathe, to live

Roisin — little rose/little famous type/kind

while im at it...imma hit up the ~vasilieva!malconaires, too!

Valentina -- strong/vigorous/healthy/fertile

Cassimir -- DESTROYER OF WORLDS lkdfjksdaljfjld...anyyyywayyyy (literally it means 'to destroy peace/the world')

Sonya -- little wisdom/little lover of knowledge

i was gonna do a lil chatting/meta abt how this fits rosie but im too laskdjflksdjfkdsf about cassimir's name!!!! valentina whatre you doing alksjdfkljsdf i know she dreamed of having a son her whole life so there's no way she didn't know what his name meant and alksdjflkjsdkfjlsdf ngl i always assumed he was named for some famous king they're like ~vaguely related to or smth like that, but still like alkjsdflkjdsjkfjkdsf OMGGGGGG OBLITERATOR OF PEACE -- its legit like naming ur kid 'ruiner' like someone put this innocent newborn she'd carried for nine months in her arms and she was like 'THIS is the only name for him' laksdjfkljdsjfjkdsf kernal/grain/little fire that's basically like naming ur kid 'hope' like....

HOPE x RUINER = NOTP for her w/ valentina truly be like 'yknow the kid in this pairing whose parents really messed them up???? EITHNE' kaljsdfkljdjslfjkdsf SCREAM

rosie's meta's gonna have to wait...god, i really shoulda put this on @forgottenvalentina -- i didn't knowwwwww until it was too late alksjdfklsdjf

#so emo abt our girls!!!!! <3333333 #ooc #about #eithne malconaire #brigit malconaire #aoife malconaire

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forgottenroisin · 12 days

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OOC | Astaira vs Varmont

ok, so we've seen the astairans at a varmont party, now get ready for...

so i just got home from seeing p&p (2006) in the theater and!!!!!! wonderful!!!!!!! but you know that meryton town ball scene where you first meet darcy and bingley and caroline, where they're all standing stiff and formal and faintly disapproving/intimidating (and lowkey wishing that could be them lbr esp in darcy's case ;D) and the locals are bouncing around laughing and clapping and happy and having THE best time...varmonts at a true astairan celebration in my mind alksdjflkjdfkjldsjkf had to share

#ooc #about #it was all i could think about akljsdfkljsdf #i had to share

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forgottenroisin · 12 days

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OOC | Malconaire Names

ok so now that we've got the parents named, i went on a lil [ name meaning ] spree and looked up all our kids! and i love how these all like...fit but in an unexpected way!!

Macdara -- son of oak

Sorcha -- radiant/bright, lady/princess/noblewoman, clear/bright/famous

Eithne — kernel, grain/little fire

Brigit — exulted one

Aoife — beauty/to breathe, to live

Roisin — little rose/little famous type/kind

while im at it...imma hit up the ~vasilieva!malconaires, too!

Valentina -- strong/vigorous/healthy/fertile

Cassimir -- DESTROYER OF WORLDS lkdfjksdaljfjld...anyyyywayyyy (literally it means 'to destroy peace/the world')

Sonya -- little wisdom/little lover of knowledge

HOPE x RUINER = NOTP for her w/ valentina truly be like 'yknow the kid in this pairing whose parents really messed them up???? EITHNE' kaljsdfkljdjslfjkdsf SCREAM

rosie's meta's gonna have to wait...god, i really shoulda put this on @forgottenvalentina -- i didn't knowwwwww until it was too late alksjdfklsdjf

#IM LOSING MY MIND OVER #cassimir malconaire #skdljfakjsldfjkldsf what was #valentina malconaire #THINKING w that one #bc i refuse to believe she didn't know laksdjflkjsdklfjjdsfjsdf #IM LOSING MY MIND #anyway #about #ooc #macdara malconaire #sorcha malconaire #eithne malconaire #brigit malconaire #aoife malconaire #sonya malconaire

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forgottenroisin · 12 days

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#image #about #ok but a half overgrown ruin/folly somewhere too #maybe forming a lil grotto where the girls used to play #lost amongst the woods #still a secret(ish) sacred meeting spot when they need to get away™️ maybe?#and these statues all around the property #rosie named them each asp #and they all have their personalities #and she lowkey used to think they were the actual guardians of malconaire #and would bring them lil gifts #esp bc as a lil kid w a big imagination she used to sometimes fancy herself a seer #she hero-worshipped seers and lowkey ~wanted to be one too heehee #just wanted to have this on her site bc of reasons #i learned sm abt her dskljfaskdljfkjsdf didnt know any of this asdfljkkdjfjkdf

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forgottenroisin · 12 days

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#our girlssssss #about #cassandra varmont #bAbiESSSSSSS #image #esp w all the roses <3 #you know she def includes rose petals in her letters heLP #rosie: its my signature

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forgottenroisin · 27 days

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also!! sort of riffing off [ this ] thread, and considering how we were saying that house malconaire and house lorcan always meant to marry, do we think that a malcoanire-lorcan seer ~really is~ needed to ~for some future procphecy thing~ which may or may not involve the stafford sword/its treasure map and/or the coming of the gods and/or godfrey's whole misguding stealing the thunder of the gods ploy, and that @forgottenbrigit might actually be the fulfillment of that prophecy, if so? given that seers are rquired etc and it seems a lot of this was foretold?

the mysteriously missing sword of malconaire

just going ahead and putting those comments in their own post (and secretly hoping someone who is better than naming swords than me will think up a good name for lord m's sword!) (and i also just like alliteration ;)

phabblebabbles @forgottenarthur @forgottenbrigit ope sorry now i'm off on another tangent because thinking 1) did lord m have an ancestral sword and 2) did he take it to battle and 3) DOES CASSIMIR HAVE IT NOW or 4) did cillian hide it somewhere after the battle of malconaire?!

lizzydobbs @phabblebabbles @forgottenarthur omg!!! you know lord m has an ancestral sword that he took to battle and died with and honestly I can see it going either way??? ooohh maybe cassimir has it (or thinks he does) but cillian has since taken it from him and cassimir won't notice that it is missing until he goes to use it and it's not there

forgottenarthur @lizzydobbs @phabblebabbles THE ANCESTRAL MALCONAIRE BLADE STOPPP IM SOBBING (i looove swords you guys i love them 'an elegant weapon, for a more civilized age,' as obi-wan says etc <3) but also!! im honestly thinking now that cillian probs ~did take lord m's sword when he died and he probs (secretly) presented it to eithne as the one true heiress of malconaire and IM CREY picturing that ngl but yeah whether cassimir discovered it afterwards? idk?

forgottenarthur @lizzydobbs 'or thinks he does!!!' oooooh omg maybe cillian also had a forgery made by the local blacksmith (im sure he'd be friends w that person and perhaps they kept the secret or whatever? and/or cillian told the smith that the forgery was for eithne to remember her dad by if he didn't trust the smith to keep the secret hahaha) for cassimir and valentina to 'find' on the battlefield bc im sure the sword is an important symbol of the possessor's right to rule etc

so for SURE cillian found that sword considering he was w/ lord m when he died! i love that he wanted to give it to eithne <3 guessing when they all got back to malconaire valentina was like -yoink!- that's a sword for the heir, my precious son, as you can see by this very legitimate and not at all fake signature on this document!

BUT ALSO love the idea that cillian has since -yoinked!- that sword right back and has it hidden somewhere! (i'm sure aoife would try to hide it under the floor boards if she could!) i cant imagine cassimir drags it out much? (i'm sure he has his own swords he prefers-- plus it was with the man he had a complex relationship when said man died?!)

#ooc #brigit malconaire #godfrey calainon #this ones pr wild tho #no pressure if you're just not feeling it its your character!!!!!#it just occurred to me so i thought id mention it

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forgottenroisin · 1 month

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ok so replies:

phabblebabbles 17h There will NEVER BE ENOUGH MALCONAIRE OOC POSTS!!! 💕💕💕💕💕💕 giadesstrin Ok if lile doesn’t end up being her first name it’s def a middle name at least 🥹😩 phabblebabbles @giadesstrin Or that's just what Lord M called her bc she liked lilies so much BRB i'm making myself emotional as;fkdsih giadesstrin @phabblebabbles THATS WGAT LORD M CALKED HER OMGGGGG IM SO EMOOOOO 😩😩😩😩 hc accepteddddd Also that fits so nicely w their youngest being roisin little rose like…flowers Idk making myself emo forgottenaoife @giadesstrin GAH OMG yesss... they named her after flowers ALSO MAKING MYSELF EMO ITS COOL. forgottenbrigit @forgotteneithne @forgottenroisin just now seeing these after my post but .... oh my god lile as the name that her husband called her bYE!!!!!!! forgottenaoife @forgottenbrigit @forgottenroisin maybe her name was something like "Lillianna" or "Lillian" and Lord M just called her "Lile" forgottenbrigit @forgottenaoife @forgottenroisin ooohh I like that idea! I like Lillianna especially <3 margueritedemarigny @forgotteneithne @forgottenbrigit ok so loving ALL of this and more later but my initial thoughts are 1) lady m's name was sorcha and, as kate suggested, lord m nicknamed her lile for her love of lilies? 2) dying in 37 and lord m remarrying in 39 is perf 3) maybe lord m's name was macdara bc then he's lord m again and again but he went by bran except to valentina who called him macdara 4) maybe the deal w seizing kil-kennar was to keep away the reinforcements

ok so there's all the stuff we said in the replies <3

also imma divvy this disccussion up a bit and do the analytical brain work first t so! alsoooooo this got insanely long and much of it is just me hopping into roderick's brain and tryna figure out twelve conquests in 31 years (damn, man! chill! roderick: no) anyway!! as a result, ive divvied this up into chapters, so feel free to read anything that grabs your interest...and ignore everything else hahahahah

TIMELINE

year -7 -- birth of bartholomew

year -6

year -5

year -4

year -3

year -2

year -1

year 1 -- birth of valentina

year 2 -- birth of roderick

year 3

year 4 -- birth of marian

year 5

year 6 -- birth of amira

year 7

year 8

year 9

year 10

year 11

year 12

year 13 -- birth of godfrey

year 14

year 15 -- birth of alaric

year 16

year 17

year 18 -- birth of cassimir, ronan, tristan, roderick weds for the first time

year 19 -- death of king varmont, roderick becomes king and begins his world conquest (asp after this becoming emperor when he conquers his first nation)

year 20

year 21 -- birth of eoin, likely the year roderick wed amira and therefore also likely the year of the conquest of kolchis

year 22 -- births of sonya, cillian, likely the year roderick wed marian

year 23 -- birth of eithne

year 24 -- birth of guinevere, arthur, ciara, eilionora, death of bart's wife

year 25 -- birth of brigit, sebastian

year 26 -- birth of saoirse, aria

year 27 -- birth of aoife, edmund

year 28 -- birth of cassandra, siobhan, death of the late queen of astaira

year 29 -- birth of roisin

year 30

year 31

year 32

year 33

year 34

year 35

year 36

year 37 -- death of lady m

year 38 -- death of the late king of astaira, eilia becomes queen

year 39 -- lord m weds valentina and offers aid to the riverbend

year 40

year 41

year 42 -- eilia comes of age

year 43

year 44

year 45

year 46 -- saoirse officially leaves malconaire for lorcan

year 47

year 48 -- battle of m, death of lord m, surrender of astaira to roderick

year 49

year 50 -- the present

VARMONT TIMELINE LOGIC

ok so!! since we were wondering abt roderick's war timeline, i went ahead and added his known data in here too! so we know from roderick's bio that he was 17 when he married his first wife. the other wives i figured out by backdating info from marian's bio. so, it says that over a year had passed between marian's marriage and the announcement of the pregnancy that led to guin's birth, and it further says that roderick married marian only about a year after amira (amira hated that, let me tell you!! laksjdfkljdsf) didn't realize how youuuuung she and godfrey were when that went down lkasjdfkljsdf sheesh roderick!! asdflkjdjf gonna have to rework their backgrounds given all that (maybe godfrey and amira were separated asp by their gm so he went on developing his whole thing there while rebuildingunder roderick or smth and it took her awhile to find him or smth idk) hahaha anyyyywayyyy lkasjdfkjsdf

i also had it in my head that the final conquest of kolchis took place right before roderick married amira so that would've been year 20 or 21...in which case, kolchis was only the first or possibly second nation he ever conquered! milestones, my man! alksjdfkljdsf ANYWAY!! (if it was the first, that also may mean that roderick and alaric's stepmom was kolchean/their half-siblings were half-kolchean iirc but anyway!! that's really neither here nor there tbqh). also if it was the first, since that was lowkey kinda sorta provoked, ppl may not have been thinking that roderick would try to conquer anything else atp. actually! actually it probs ~was the second place, marian's was possibly the third (if it ~wasn't the og country, the first conquest, or kolchis, or somewhere else altogether?), since he was already known as a conqueror when he married marian, so yeah, nm his half-sibs were NOT half-kolchean hahaha

MALCONAIRE READABILITY TIMELINE STUFF

i also went ahead and added in both the unfilled years, so we could get a sense of time passing, and the the stafford dates to give us a fuller sense of geopolitical environs etc. i also bolded specifically malconaire stuff for ease of use hopefully <3

TWELVE CONQUESTS MUSING

also, we know that he's conquered twelve countries (including astaira but likely NOT including the og varmont place since obv he didn't conquer there he just inherited), and he came to the throne 31 years ago, so he's been conquering at an absolutely INSANE rate of about 2.58 years per country!!!!!!! DAMNNNNNN dlfkajksdfkldsjf i love it, so does he lakjsdfkljdf tbf, im sure some nations have taken significantly longer and some shorter etc etc but woof! he is blazing a TRAIL, man!

ANYWAY no rest for the wicked he is DEF the type to get bored a hot second in after conquest and move onnn ('batholomew, man, you got this, get this nation running ill see you when its time for you to secure the next one,' etc) which is why i think his fingers are itching sm here in astaira, usually he sets up his conquering gov and moves on to conquer smth else, but he has to take more time w astaira and be more cautious bc its so huge and so radically culturally different etc etc but anyyyywayyyy!

i swear that diatribe was relavant ~bc im guessing astaira was one of the places that took longer to conquer.

KIL-KENNAR

i also mentioned in the replies, im now thinking that taking kil-kennar was probs a move to keep eilia's armies from rejoining e/o after she sent a large force across the sea to help a flagging ally, so im thinking now that the initial conquest of kil-kennar was probs closer towards the beginning of the war than i was initially thinking. it probs wasn't the v beginning bc it would've taken them some time to scramble and turn around and then set sail and voyage etc etc, but yeah since its a mountain fortress etc it would be a good spot to do that and command passages for miles around etc and effectively divide astairan opposition and allow roderick to pick them off etc!

...which is yet another reason an internal revolt was BAAAAAADDDDDD news for varmont troops hahaha if it went south they were gonna get MASSACRED w the fortress flung open to the astairans they've been tryna repell outside the gates, and then even roderick himself was gonna get SLAMMED by the astairan troops coming together

BUT ANYWAYYYY arthur still managed to pull it off for them oops hahhaha (and if ur thinking -- oh wow ig roderick had faith in his kid, then! no! it wasn't that at all! it was a test of arthur! and it was faith in himself bc arthur when he succeeds is just an extension of roderick! but when he loses he's his own man and a blight upon roderick's rep as his embarrassing son! and roderick will lowkey resent him, either way! lakjsdfklsdjf)

EILIA & LORD M

ANYWAY im thinking that eilia, for one, didn't wait - right from the moment she came to the throne in her own right (she was probs saying this even before that time but idk if she was listened to on that -- her bio makes it sound like probs not?) was like THIS VARMONT DUDE IS BAD NEWS LETS GET AHEAD OF THIS and im wondering if he was a part of eilia's regency council, esp given that the late queen and lady m had been besties, bc it appears -- given his marriage to val took place 3 years (abt as long as it takes roderick to conquer a country lkadsjfklsdj) before eilia came of age (and was probs in negotiates abt it at the v least six months in advance of that, probs more like a year+) -- he also had his eye squarely on roderick, since we know that's what motivated his marriage to her in the first place

EILIA BEFORE RODERICK

ok so i ~do think that eilia def reigned for awhile in her own right pre!roderick, and its only six years between her coming of age and the surrender of astaira, since it sounds like she got a lot done in those years from her bio, so im guessing the war took only abt roderick's average length of conquering time (roderick ~had been building up to this for like thirty years AND the bulk of astairan troops were elsewhere when he arrived tbf)

ASTAIRAN TROOPS FROM ACROSS THE WATER

also, side note, do we think some of those troops who had been across the sea are still hanging around somewhere, either forming a lil resistance of their own or tryna meet up w the resistance near the captiol, or just out there minding their own damn business? i can def tell you, either way, cillian would be all abt hooking up w them, anyway, even if its only a small ragtag band, now, post-kil-kennar!

THE RIVERBEND/VASILIEVA!NATION CONQUEST

so, kate, to answer your question abt when roderick seized the riverbend country, we know he was waiting for the right moment w astaira and tryna knock out ALLLL their borders first so they were already surrounded by the time the conquest happened (tho i do think they border the sea on at LEAST one side so there's that too)

HOWEVER, i do know we said that this happened AFTER valentina and lord m married bc that was the thing that broke their trust and ultimately ended the goodwill between lord m and cassimir, as well

SO im thinking that maybe, given all this, we know roderick must've seized the riverbend/vasilieva country between year 39-48 when lord m died. i think its safe to say it happened at least two years before 48, since im thinking the astairan war probs lasted at least a couple years. we know the situation came to a head re: cassimir and inheritance in 48, but it could've been brewing for quite awhile, esp bc im sure it took valentina at least a lil while to completely turn cassimir against lord m, even if the final blow really ~was lord m's (refusing to name him heir before the battle, etc)

but yeah im 100% up for discussion on this one! like i said, i do know roderick was circling astaira for quite some time so it could've happened any time -- might've been the last nation before astaira, might've been been a few conquests earlier, but yeah id say year 40 (i think there mustve been at ~least a year w some goodwill, all the malconaires and vasilievas -- except maybe brigit ;D -- trying, etc) to 45 at the latest bc i feel like the astairan war probs started c. 46 at the latest? it just doesn't feel like itd capitulate super fast, but maybe im wrong on that? idk! what do you guys think?

NAMING THE LORD & LADY THOUGHTS

omg adooooring all these name options!! ok so i think i mentioned this but i like the idea of lille being the nickname lord m gave her! omg liliana or sorcha as her name tho -- which one sounds better? liliana lorcan or sorcha lorcan? i feel like they both have such a nice ring honestly kasldjfaklsdjfl liliana malconaire or sorcha malconaire hmm im leaning towards sorcha, i think? but i love them both!

for lord m, macdara's meaning PLUS the alliteration w malconaire is really doing it for me, but what if bran was his nickname, kinda like pug was winston churchill's, like, maybe he had a voice that kinda croaked, or he reallllly loved corn or he had raven-dark hair or he just really loved the birds and always had a pet one or smth -- whatever the reason, perhaps that was his nickname? bc we love dramatic irony in this house always heehee <3

LORD & LADY M'S MEET-CUTE!

fsdlajffdj omg i love the idea that they were meant to get together and then didnt for whatever reason...until they met and fell in love!!! imagine if they wrote love letters to each other when they were engaged before they met and then like...maybe met at masquerade and didn't realize it was their ex-fiancee and hijinks!!

but anyway! im pr sure we said....somewhere that they did in fact meet at court, since general lorcan was an advisor to the king and thus lady m had grown up between court and lorcan, and and even ended up befriending the late queen, and lord m being a young lord at the time no doubt he had to go to court to speak to the king about smth/present himself after he became lord/whatever and yeah!! there she is!! <3333

OOC | Lord & Lady Malconaire

so this post might be pointless, and not to have yet another malconaire family thread running, but i was responding to aoife's comment <3 and i realized there's a lot i don't know about the girls' parents and i'd love to hash that out w you guys, if lizzy doesn't already know? @thelongforgottenrealm

ok so first id love to establish first names for our love birds? [ this site ] might help w that ;D next, id like to discuss a lil their timeline as well as the broader timeline re: valentina and her kids coming onto the scene etc, bc, for example, the thing tht actually spurred this comment was me realizing i have no idea if rosie remembers her mom at all!

speaking of, rosie's bio says she doesn't remember much abt when they were wealthy, so we know that she was still pr small when valentina arrived on the scene, and from that im guessing their mama died pr early into in her life but im not sure how long lord m was a widower -- was it decades? years? months? esp since the remarriage we now know was politically motivated it really could've been any timeframe at all since it wasnt him moving on, etc

but anway! yeah basically just a few basics would be great <3

so yeah to get us started imma start w what we know (using the first event as year 1 since im not sure what the years supposed to be plus lbr roderick's probs did smth stupidly dramatic like re-starting the calendar w year 1, day 1 being his coronation day etc smdh so who even knows whats going on)

year 1 -- birth of valentina (as a result of this being the first known malconaire event, this whole calendar is a timetable of valentina's ages when everything went down which is pr interesting for me as her rper heehee)

year 18 -- birth of cassimir

year 22 -- births of sonya, cillian

year 23 -- birth of eithne/presumably lord and lady m were married by this time, if not before?

year 25 -- birth of brigit

year 26 -- birth of saoirse

year 27 -- birth of aoife

year 29 -- birth of roisin/last known year in which lady m was def alive

year 48 -- surrender of astaira to roderick/battle of m may or may not have already taken place but obv would've been before the formal capitulation -- im guessing it was the same year tho since the v next battle led to the surrender, but anyway likely this is the year in which lord m died, and certainly he was dead by this time

year 50 -- the present

so some notes!! i believe @forgottencassimir said...somewhere haha that cassimir was probs abt ~teenage when valentina married lord m, so that puts the marriage likely between years 31-37, and we know that rosie hardly remembers their wealth at its full height, as well as the fact that valentina was the direct cause of its loss, so she was probs 6-8 when that happened, so that puts their marriage between years 35-37ish, most likely (also never fully appreciated the age gap between rosie and cassimir till i started really thinkin abt this alksdjfaklsdfj), so we're safe to say, i think, that lady m was def dead by year 37 also, i don't want to assume anything, but i do think we're pr safe to say that the battle of m took place in the year 48 and, therefore, that lord m died in year 48

this means that the smallest amount of time lord m spent without the woman he loved was 11 years SOB, and it ALSO means that at the smallest range valentina and he were married that long, and that its been at LEAST 13 years since the marriage of lord m and valentina and thus their kids have been siblings all that time/she's been their stepmom that long etc, but possibly for even longer!

are there any major events whose timetable we know that im forgetting? i feel like there are hahah but im drawing a blank

anyway, this is all quite rambly, and quite possibly lizzy already has all this info for us and i just never thought to ask before now hahaha but yeah!! i was wondering <3

#i swear ive been writing this for five years ldksajflkjdfj #ooc #about #roderick varmont #arthur varmont #edmund varmont #eithne malconaire #brigit malconaire #aoife malconaire #godfrey calainon #amira varmont #sonya malconaire #eilionora stafford #have i tagged everyone? laskdjfkldjf idek #valentina malconaire #cassimir malconaire #cillian frost #timeline

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forgottenroisin · 1 month

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#SOB #image #rosie misses her mama <33333

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forgottenroisin · 1 month

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OOC | Lord & Lady Malconaire

but anway! yeah basically just a few basics would be great <3

year 18 -- birth of cassimir

year 22 -- births of sonya, cillian

year 23 -- birth of eithne/presumably lord and lady m were married by this time, if not before?

year 25 -- birth of brigit

year 26 -- birth of saoirse

year 27 -- birth of aoife

year 29 -- birth of roisin/last known year in which lady m was def alive

year 50 -- the present

are there any major events whose timetable we know that im forgetting? i feel like there are hahah but im drawing a blank

anyway, this is all quite rambly, and quite possibly lizzy already has all this info for us and i just never thought to ask before now hahaha but yeah!! i was wondering <3

#ooc #about #valentina malconaire #cassimir malconaire #sonya malconaire #eithne malconaire #brigit malconaire #aoife malconaire

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forgottenroisin · 1 month

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Laughing as she plopped her brushes in the little jars of water she kept for them, she got to her feet, noting with a small laugh the spots and spalshes of color brightening her hands and knees where she'd been perhaps a touch careless in her painting, of her own person. She smiled cheerfully enough, and when she spoke, her tone was the same laughing one she so often employed, but she felt a tinge of sadness as she showed her sister her hands with a wide grin and said "No matter, the lye will clean them right up," as she had washing to do in the morning. "You'll never know I've been painting at all tonight."

Glancing about herself in the dark and hearing the truth of Brigit's words, she giggled a touch, arching her brows at her sister. "Sometimes my profound spatial awareness amazes even me! Alert as I am," she added, smirking. "I can't feign a particular wish to sleep just now. Besides, I can't pretend I should be overly put out to fall asleep on Valentina, if it weren't for the burden it'd place on everyone else. But you must be exhausted! I'll be sure to 'accidentally' awaken Cassimir early in the morning when I gather his clothes for wash, I assure you. Let him see how it feels to be kept from sleep."

Rosie stabbed the cloth harder than entirely necessary. "Likely seeking out a suitably dark wedding trip location," said she, bitterly. "He does so hate any other color but black, after all, I'm half surprised he's ever awake in the daylight. Only midnight dresses for Eithne from here on out, no doubt. She seems rather set upon pleasing her future husband after all."

That only Cassimir was pleased by this arrangement was not lost on Rosie, but the pleasing notion that Valentina should find herself in conflict with her son had lost a great deal of its shine given the horrible cost to Eithne.

"Perhaps we should fake her death. She'd be much happier living out her days in a spare, half-ruinous cottage in the woods than as Cassimir's blushing bride, I have no doubt, and she could easily evade detection there. I think Valentina and her brood are about as likely to investigate 'their own woods' as to suddenly decide they ought to be giving alms to the needy."

Another angry stab of the fabric. This time she poked her own thumb and, with an irritable hiss, stuck it in her mouth before she could bleed on the fabric. She could heal her finger. She couldn't readily get more cloth.

"If she had to marry for position, why couldn't she have married Arthur? At least then she could have ousted Valentina and Cassimir, then, and we could all see to Malconaire in peace."

This was, of course, not terribly realistic either from the vantage that Arthur might ever be able to take a penniless bride without permission while still maintaining his position, nor from the angle that -- even if he pulled off all of that -- there was no way he could then so upset the rule of law as to dispact Cassimir and leave Eithne ruling lady of Malconaire, which was how the situation was turing out in Rosie's head. Of course, if she stopped and thought about this, she knew it too, but she was not in a particularly rational frame of mind, just at that moment.

Sighing, Rosie put the dress aside at Brigit's words. "All right," she said, softly. I t saddened her, because some part of her felt guilty not putting the same level of effort in Brigit's clothing as Aoife and Eithne's, as the embroidery was no small amount of effort, but she could not deny the truth of this, and having just stabbed herself in the finger, she was feeling a touch more inclined to listen. "But you'll tell me if you do want something, someday? Perhaps our tree over your heart, or something of that type?" With the news of the upcoming nuptials, Rosie was feeling particularly patriotic, wishing to uphold the old Malconaire ways over the invading Vasilieva ones.

There was a sudden shift in Brigit as she spoke of Cillian and -- Rosie having always wished to see them together -- she couldn't help but note it. When -- following a significant puase -- Brigit claimed it was due to a race, Rosie carefully kept her face to her work. "Did you cheat?" she teased. "Sometimes tripping him is very rewarding."

Sighing, she turned over the garment in her hands, looking for the next spot to touch up. Her voice, when she spoke was off-handed. She didn't like what she feared, and she secrely hoped opposition to the idea, when voiced, would. be violent. "Do you...do you think anything is seriously amiss?" If it were, Rosie had a mind to fix it, somehow, an action which -- no doubt -- would create more mischief than good, but her intentions in these matters were always good.

She put the fabric down in her lap suddenly, looking up at her sister. "Brigit, in truth, I'm worried about him. I know...I know," she shook her head. "What he went through in...with...Papa..." Rosie never spoke of the battle, and she glanced down even as she referenced it so obliquely before hastening on. "He'll never be the same. None of us will be. But...there's something off. I don't know what, exactly. I'd hoped at first that it would...wear off, but its been two years, Brigit. It's not usual for him to want to spend so much time alone, off in the woods. Ought we be concerned that he might...do himself some..." she licked her lips, shook her head. "Some harm?"

Whispers at Midnight | Brigit & Rosie

Brigit vividly remembered the day their step-mother had decided that the girls should move from their rooms into the attics. Their father was barely in the grave when she came to this decision: she was sure that they would be more comfortable in that part of the house where they would all be together and, futhermore, it freed up the rest of the family rooms to be converted into lavish guest apartments if any of the princes or princesses needed to stay the night after a visit.

The attics were the only dreary place in the entire castle (which was why, Brigit was sure, it had been selected for them). It had once housed spiders and cobwebs and not much else, but now it was a far cry from the depressing place it once had been.

If Valentina had ever seen the difference they had made, she was likely to find another place for them, but Brigit knew that not much would inspire their stepmother to make the long trek up the steep and winding staircase nor make the final climb up an old ladder to reach it to ever find out.

They'd enlisted Cillian's help to repair the old floor boards and to clean out the fireplace so that it could be used again. He also helped them divide up the space so each girl had a small room of their own, in addition to the main room where they all spent most of their time. The girls had decorated the place with books, flowers, drawings, and old tapestries they found packed away in a trunk.

And home had felt like home again.

It was the one place in the house that could be counted on to always have light and laughter and peace. At the end of their days, the Malconaire girls came together here and for the last few hours before they each fell into an exhausted sleep, it felt like the old days.

Tonight, however, Brigit had stayed out in the stables later than usual. Cassimir had returned late in the evening after supper and Brigit tended to his horse (who he had ridden too hard and too fast on his return journey). When she finally made it upstairs, the fire was burning low and the place was quiet.

Brigit noticed that Eithne had left out some bread and fruit for her supper. She grabbed an apple for herself and left the bread by the hearth.

Still too energized to go to sleep, Brigit began a restless pacing back and forth across the floor when she noticed a low light under her youngest sister's door. "Rosie?" She knocked softly, "Rosie, are you still awake?"

#i had no idea that rosie thinks #cillian frost #might be suicidal!!!!! but apparently she does!!!!! lasdjkfkldsjfjkf BIG YIKES #whispers at midnight #brigit malconaire

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forgottenroisin · 1 month

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forgotteneithne -- @giadesstrin AHHH they DO need a family motto!!! Guardian jumped out of your suggestions to me! I’ll think on it when I’m not brain dead. 💀

giadesstrin--@forgotteneithne oh man big moooood honestly 😂😂😂 Ok so I’m three cosmos in atp so I’m either incomprehensible or ascendant but my notion was basically that given the multi sword situation [of house stafford] I feel like it’s be pr easy to present the leftover sword as if it were the kingly one so roderick probs ~thinks he has the most important one, but every astairan can take one lion at it and know it’s not the right stafford sword probs — there was smth more to this no lie but idr at present ngl dhkhfdgjjfg tbc

giadesstrin--@forgotteneithne @forgottenbrigit some more malconaire motto inspo: https://pin.it/7gDwkgSuq

@forgottenarias right!! I do quite like the idea of Astairans collectively pulling the wool over his eyes! I do think the cat’ll probs be out of the bag when someone perhaps @forgottencassimir claps eyes on it and then roderick will be FURIOUS but I imagine Eilia and Aria always knew that’d happen eventually? I will def do a post abt that sometime bc i ofc got way carried away but it ft stuff like Eilia going barefoot to be crowned vs roderick pulling a Napoleon and snatching the crown away tbc

Looking at these now…out of the ones I suggested (I’d love to hear other ideas tho!!) I’m also leaning towards ‘guardian’ for the sword…it hits so many malconaire beats

forgotteneithne--@giadesstrin I was honestly going to say Guardian too!!! I agree– it def seems to really encapsulate how the Malconaires feel about their roles in Astaira/their home/their family!

giadesstrin--@forgotteneithne and even abt their faith too!

Which also makes me think — from the ones so far — keep troth could be a good motto — a summation of the (to quote Leto Atreides) ‘there is no faith we break’ theme…I also need to break out that motto link @forgotteneithne @forgottenbrigit https://www.heraldryandcrests.com/pages/mottos Heraldic Family Mottoes - A Historically Recorded Family Motto List - Names Starting with A ARMSANDBADGES.COM @forgotteneithne @forgottenbrigit ohhhhh I forgot one motto!!! ‘As above so below’ in this case idk if they have a concept of heaven in the sky or not (in a lit of Irish myth it was a mystical island in the sea 🤷‍♀️) but that’s how trees are — roots mirroring branches — and it could effectively be a reference to 1) we are as we seem even beneath the surface kinda thing 2) the skies are above and the staffords are the sky and they rule via service and the malconaires seek to do that too so yeah…It could work for our world even if it doesn’t have the ‘we follow the rules of heaven’ connotation like it does on earth 😂😂😂 And/or a sort of ‘what you give is what you get’/golden rule kind of mentality

forgotteneithne--@giadesstrin love all of this!! i def think that “As above so below” works super well for them– also just the idea in even like a social hierarchy the the “top” should never be better off than the “lower” since that’s how the malconaires really see their roles (and NOT how valentina sees it hahahah)

giadesstrin--@forgotteneithne omg yasssssssssss also @forgottencassimir we GON have to figure out one for vasilieva—ideally directly contradicting this 😂😏🔥🤦‍♀️💀

forgotteneithne--@giadesstrin Eithne: we’re keeping my motto– that’s another condition!

giadesstrin--@forgotteneithne Valentina: ‘how dare you reject a noble motto like death to the lower classes!’ Jk jk aghkhdfhhf

lizzydobbs--@forgotteneithne @forgottenroisin okay but I LOVE the idea that the Staffords have three swords (it is cannon that siobhan has one of the w/ her!); Guardian is a beautiful name for the Malconaire family sword – as is as above so below to be their motto!!!! Also the Stafford’s third sword being somewhere ready to give Eilia her own king arthur moment!!!! I like the idea that it might be in a tree (or a lake or a stone or wherever) and perhaps it is even protected by

giadesstrin--@lizzydobbs oooooh in a lake!!!!! 👀👀👀

lizzydobbs--@forgotteneithne @forgottenroisin a guardian who would never turn it over to anyone who isn’t the rightful ruler (so roderick literally could never) …. also i’m so sorry but yeah cassimir would be out here to let everyone know that the sword roderick has isn’t what he thinks it is

giadesstrin--@lizzydobbs omg and protected by a guardian!!!!! 🥺🥹 afhjhgg cassimir out here ratting and no one surprised 😂💀😭

phabblebabbles--@lizzydobbs @giadesstrin omg omg omg I love thisss!!! Roderick gets a distinct “heck no!” From the guardians! …isn’t there a lake near Lorcan? ARE THE SWANS PROTECTING THE SWORD???

dlskfjaklsjdf ok so tumblr's being dumb and won't let me indent bc there're too many characters apparently or smth idek so i made the letters small but nyway there's what we've talked abt since!!

ok so [ as above, so below ] pintrest like 'i got you' on this one, lads laksdjfkljdf

OFFICIAL MOTTO: as above, so below

FAMILY SWORD: guardian

note: included some of the stuff abt the stafford family swords bc cassimir is involved and the lorcans and/or the malconaire tree might be annnd ive got a nutty idea

but, to sort of combine lizzy and kate's ideas, bc id not considered the tree being on malconaire land and i love that!! we'd discussed a secret passage between lorcan and malconaire before...what if the tree is partially hollow and its the entrance to the secret path to lorcan, which opens out at the lake and that is, ofc, where the sword is hidden? omg so their sigils are actually also treasure maps, as well ig in that case hahaha anyway idk alksdjfkldsf and idk if that particular tunnel is still known to the world or what or if anyone knows that tree actually does exist and there're probs conflicting rumors in the legend abt whether the sword is in a lake or a tree as a result bc you access the spot where you can find the sword via the tree etc etc etc but yeah!!

the mysteriously missing sword of malconaire

#about #ooc #valentina malconaire #eithne malconaire #sonya malconaire #cassimir malconaire #brigit malconaire #aoife malconaire #roderick varmont #eilionora stafford #aria stafford #siobhan stafford #cillian frost

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forgottenroisin · 1 month

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cassimir & roisin: "so i found this waterfall"

Flashback: The Days Following the Battle of Malconaire

Cassimir stood silently before the grave of Lord Malconaire.

Once, he would have wept bitterly at the loss. Once, he would have felt it almost as deeply as any boy who had lost his father. But no longer. He looked at the grave of his dead step-father and found that he only felt anger and resentment.

Cassimir had not been able to ignore the silent judgement he endured at the hands of the servants and villagers alike. He knew what they all saw when they looked at him: in their eyes he was little less than a craven boy who had turned his tail and hid behind his mothers skirts when war came knocking at his door.

"I am not a coward!" He cried the words aloud, but the grave remained silent.

And now, no one wished to see him as their lord.

"You turned them all against me," He whispered bitterly, his voice lost amongst the howl of the wind. Once, Cassimir had truly believed that Lord Malconaire loved Cassimir as though he was his own son ...

But none of that had been real, had it?

"Mother was right, wasn't she? You never cared about me," He spat. "And you never cared about my mother. You never cared about any of us."

Flashback: The Days Following Lord Malconaire's marriage to Valentina Vasilieva

"So, I found this waterfall!"

Cassimir had been taken aback by his youngest step-sister: both her energy and enthusiasm had not been what he had expected from a lord's daughter. But then, all of his new stepsisters had surprised him, in some way. He certainly hadn't expected them to treat him as kindly as they had (except for Brigit, who had been distrustful from the start) and it made him wonder what it was they were after. Nor had he expected for all of Lord Malconaire's daughters to have -- in varying degrees -- an adventurous spirit. He didn't think his mother would approve of them running off all over Malconaire, unchaperoned, to do as they pleased. He supposed that that must be what happens when ladies grow up without a mother.

"Hmm, did you?" He wasn't especially interested in this, but his mother had told him that he must be on his best behavior towards his new step-sisters. He knew the importance she had placed upon him making a good impression upon his new father.

"Yes! ... or rather, I discovered an, apparently, already discovered waterfall, but it was quite new to me. One day soon, all of us should have a picnic there and then you and Sonya may discover it as well. Do you like picnics, Cassimir?"

"I -- "

Before Cassimir had a chance to respond, Roisin clasped her hands together and exclaimed, "Oh! But I have not told you the best part of it. On either side of the bank, white lilies bloom! They were my mother's favorite flowers, but none grew here at Malconarie. At least they didn't until she came and father had the gardener attempt to rectify the situation, but try as he might, they never did last more than a season. That is, not until she died -- and now there are white lilies spread all across Malconaire. Eithne says that they are a sign that she is still looking out for us."

"You have a new mother to look out for you now," Cassimir reminded her, a touch more sternly than he had meant. It had been clear even within their first few days there, that Lady Malconaire still had a hold upon this place. His mother had been quick to point this out to him, when they were in private.

No matter, Valentina had said, Soon the past will all be forgotten.

"Oh," That was all Roisin managed to say, as though she hadn't considered that Valentina would be her mother now. The sooner she learned that, Cassimir thought, the better.

Flashback: The Days Following the Battle of Malconaire

The skies were dark and rain had begun to fall upon the grave of Lord Malconaire, but Cassimir did not move. He hadn't noticed it until now, but something had been growing in the fresh earth upon his grave.

A white lily.

It grew, resilient, as though it meant to mock him. The second spring his mother had been mistress here, she secretly had the soil where the lilies grew salted and did so each year until there were no more lilies left. One by one she had slowly removed the signs that Lord Malconaire had ever had another wife. And now that he was dead, Cassimir was certain that there would be none left at all.

And who could blame her for it? She'd lived under the memory of her ghost since she had arrived here and now, she could finally be free. They both would.

Malconaire was his, he reminded himself as he grabbed the budding lily by the roots and pulled it free; crushing the petals in his hand, And there would be no more lilies in Malconaire.

#ELIZABETH!!!!! THE HOLD THIS HAS ON ME #IM SO EMO OMG #NO MORE LILIES IN MALCONAIRE LKSJDFJSLDK #IM SPEECHLESS #also not me like 'rosie was trying soooo hard in the beginning' like this was such a gesture from her it was the loveliest thing she could #think to share and that cassimir both does and doesnt recognize that is so nuanced i love it!!!!#anyway this is so beautifully written and im lkajsdfkljsdfjk #did NOT expect to be in my feels abt #cassimir malconaire #today -- BUT HERE WE ARE!!#drabble #ask #S O B #valentina malconaire #YOU TURNED THEM ALL AGAINST ME #ALKSDJFKLJSDFKJFJ #and ironically it was his mom who did that ultimately IM SPINNING

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