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slow-burn-sally · 5 months

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20 questions for fic writers

Thank you @totallysilvergirl for tagging me <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

171

2. What’s your total A03 word count?

2,559,305

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I live for the days when anyone asks me this question, because listing things I love is just so great. I don't actively write for all of these any longer, but I would go back to all of them if anyone threw me like, half a prompt.

BBC Sherlock

Good Omens

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

The Terror

Our Flag Means Death

What We Do In The Shadows

The Adventures of Tintin

The Hobbit

BBC and CBS Ghosts

Pacific Rim

Father Ted

Lord of The Rings

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Death In Paradise

Dalgliesh

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

1. Crowley's Game - Good Omens (Ineffable Husbands)

2. Return To Sender - Good Omens (Ineffable Husbands)

3. Silk All Around You - Our Flag Means Death (Ed/Stede)

4. Oh Good Lord - Good Omens (Ineffable Husbands)

5. Out Of Suffering Into Love - Good Omens (ineffable Husbands)

hmm. Guess GO fandom is where I've cashed in the biggest, kudos-wise *Raises a glass to Good Omens Fandom*

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to respond to as many as I can, and I want to respond to all of them, but ADHD and work and life keep me from doing it right away, and then ADHD and being off work and life make me forget. I will sometimes loop back around to read a new comment, then see that I never replied to another, far older comment, then go about replying to several, two years after they were left. I hope people don't mind. I promise everyone who's ever left me a positive comment, that I eat them all up like chocolate bonbons and count myself blessed for each and every one.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably that Childercelles fic where Henry dies in the end. I think maybe 10 people read it. If you're in JSAMN fandom, and you ship Childercelles, and you want a link, PM me, but I can't remember the name of the fic for the life of me. It was pretty angsty. Outside of that, I hate angsty endings. Everyone eats ice cream and cuddles at the end of my fics.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Gonna echo the wonderful @totallysilvergirl and say that I don't do unhappy endings. That Childercelles fic was the only one I think I ever wrote with an unhappy ending, and even that was more of a melancholy ending. Everything else is Häagen-Dazs and rainbows.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've gotten a few harsh criticisms, and a few snarky comments, but never actual hate.

9. Do you write smut?

I sure do! I've written a whole lot of smut, and I really love it. Regardless, it can be challenging sometimes. I have to be in the right place, and have the right focus to write smut, and lately, it's been feeling more labor intensive. I've been taking a step back from the explicit stuff lately, and playing around in M rather than E, and less sexual waters for a change. Sometimes a gal needs a break. I'll always happily write it for others, but don't feel inspired to write it for myself right now.

10. Do you write crossovers?

I really see my Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell/BBC Sherlock crossover as my first and only crossover. It involves main characters from both fandoms meeting one another, and John and Sherlock live in a world where England's history is the same as the history in JS&MN. It's been a very fun experience, but I'm really writing it for @keirgreeneyes 's birthday, because we share a lot of stuff between those two fandoms, not because I love crossovers. I don't feel drawn to them at all usually.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope. Someone came to me a couple of years ago, saying they were being bullied over accusations that they were plagiarizing my good omens fic. They even showed me the fic people talked about, and after scanning it for a bit, I didn't see anything that looked like plagiarism. I posted on tumblr saying I'd rather people plagiarize me than cause one moment of suffering due to bullying, and left it at that. I was really just jazzed to have people *want* to plagiarize me, honestly. It was flattering.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! In Korean I think.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, and I'm not sure I could. I also don't like cooking with other people or showering with other people. I just like having the reins on writing and cooking and showering fronts I guess.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Oh god please don't make me choose. My children, my precious children. After careful consideration though, I'm gonna have to go with Crozier/Jopson - Jopzier from The Terror. I mean. Come on. It's me.

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I wrote many chapters of a really fun, but really complex and pain in the ass multi-chapter mystery fic for the rarest of rare pairs, Jack Mooney/Florence Cassell from Death In Paradise. So yeah, I would love to finish it, but I don't have the spoons, and it will have a readership of roughly four people.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I write good dialogue. I write good smut. I can make up stories at the drop of a hat, and then put them down very quickly, in large amounts of words. I'm a long distance runner when it comes to fic. I like my sense of humor in fics, and I'm always so happy when someone leaves me a comment telling me they laughed really hard at something I wrote. Ditto incoherent babbling about my fics making them horny. Those comments are so good.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Eh, my weakness is I'm just not an amazing writer? I do it because I love it, and it brings me so much joy, and people reading my fics brings me so much joy, and that's pretty much it. Also, I use a lot of run on sentences, and I have like six tropey things my characters always do, and I can't break out of it.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I didn't understand this one. I would love to write dialogues in other languages if I spoke them fluently. Outside of speaking a bunch of Spanish, I'm not fluent in anything but English.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

eeeeeeeeee @keirgreeneyes @totallysilvergirl my first ever fanfiction was BBC Johnlock! I tried writing a fic, probably back in 2013 or something, and gave up after a handful of paragraphs. I just lacked the confidence. Then, it wasn't until 2019 when I went nuts for Good Omens and wrote a bunch of fic that I wanted to go back and write that one, first, Johnlock fic. And I did it! It's Homecoming. BBC Sherlock is my first fanfiction fandom, and my introduction to fanfiction.

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

Oh wow. That's a tough one. I really loved my one Father Ted fic, A Sweet, Hot, Sticky Romp, because I loved emulating the comedy style of the show and thought I did a good job.

I loved Out Of Time, my Jopzier time travel wackadoo fic for The Terror.

I guess I'll stop at two. I've written 171. I should get at least two favorites.

I tag @fol-de-lol @ilthit @yeswevegotavideo @keirgreeneyes @holycatsandrabbits

#the terror #good omens #jsamn #ofmd #fic writer asks #this was fun ya'll

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samayla · 1 year

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Oh Christmas Tree!

Summary: Stephen attempts to introduce a fashionable Christmas tradition to the residents of Lost Hope. It goes badly.

Written for @fol-de-lol 's JSMN Advent Calendar prompts: Decorating the Tree and Naughty and/or Nice.

AO3

This one gets a bit dark toward the end. Um. It's his fault ↑↑↑ But Stephen would make the best of it, so… Please be safe when bringing plants into your homes this holiday season - https://www.petmd.com/dog/seasonal/evr_multi_dangerous_winter_holiday_plants

The Gentleman narrowed his eyes and cocked his head first one way, then the other. He closed one eye and took a step backward to better survey the scene before him. "I am not at all certain what it is you hope to accomplish in this endeavor, Stephen," he said at last. "That tree is quite dead."

Stephen, currently struggling under the weight of the evergreen, could only grunt in acknowledgement.

The Gentleman nudged at the sack of decorations with a toe. “It… will not be able to accept your offerings,” he said carefully, clearly fearing to upset Stephen after he’d gone to so much work. Then he narrowed his eyes again. "You say the most powerful Englishmen do this every year?"

"For the past several years, sir, yes," Stephen answered breathlessly, easing the base of the tree trunk into the large pot he'd had the Gentleman conjure for the purpose. "Queen Charlotte introduced the idea of a whole tree at court, and —"

"Yes, yes. And you say the common folk are quite enchanted? If it is enchantment you wish for, there are other ways, you know. We might simply cast spells upon them and force them to do as you wish."

Stephen smiled to himself. "That is not the point, sir. You will simply have to trust me. Wait and see."

"Well," the Gentleman declared, "of course I can do that, my dear Stephen! You have never steered me wrong. I shall leave you to it."

Stephen laughed a little to himself as he caught the Gentleman casting sudden, sly looks over his shoulder as he departed, as if he thought the tree were only pretending at being ordinary, and it would give up the ruse and become fantastical if it believed no one was looking.

Stephen thought it a splendid tree. For all his shortcuts and makings-do, he imagined the fairy Christmas tree must be every bit as splendid as the grandest tree to grace the halls at Windsor. The ribbons were all outlandish colors. Not a red or a blue or a pink to be found. Instead, they were such colors as nostalgia, homesickness, whimsy, and delight. The candles, too, burned with a multitude of colored flames, and some, when they tired of glowing one color, would switch without warning to another color entirely. Some only burned in the corner of one’s eye, but when given one’s full attention, became shy and went out. There were no oranges or almonds in Lost Hope, but there was a great profusion of golden berries in a garden beyond the ballroom, and Stephen picked several handfuls to scatter about the limbs. The Christmas tree was no match in size for the great, gnarled tree that grew right out of the center of the ballroom floor, and yet, with all its vibrant colors and flickering brightness, it seemed to reign over the space with ease.

Stephen startled at a hand on his shoulder. It belonged to the Gentleman, who was regarding the tree intently. He seemed to be impressed in spite of himself. “I must say, Stephen,” he murmured without taking his eyes off the glimmering evergreen boughs, “it does seem to cut through the gloom like a knife. And, oh!” He straightened and fixed Stephen with a sly look. “I see it now — the lingering greenery upon the dead tree, the bright lights and little gifts and poison fruits to entice one closer… But, my dear Stephen, it is rather an obvious trap. I daresay it may suffice for catching Englishmen, but I can teach you better. We fairies are devious creatures, and it takes a most devious trap to ensnare one of our kind.”

“It is no trap, sir,” protested Stephen in alarm. “I did not know the berries were poison. I simply thought them a pretty bit of decoration. The whole tree is only meant to be pretty.”

“Oh.” The Gentleman waved away his objection. “Well, of course it is that! But why should it be so? What is the purpose, if not to ensnare the unwary? The tree no longer cares about such things as beauty.”

“But we do, sir,” Stephen explained. “And your subjects—“

“Ah!” His face lit up as comprehension dawned. “I had forgotten! Oh, Stephen — how foolish I am for doubting you! Of course your spell does nothing for the likes of us, with all our combined power! I will summon my household at once, that you might test it out on the lowly and common creatures!”

And before Stephen could protest, the ballroom was full of the usual crowd of revelers, as well as harassed-looking fairy servants in drab dress, and a handful of hollow-eyed humans in tattered clothes. Some of them still had dirty dishes or brooms in their hands. There was a long moment of heavy silence that spanned the range from polite confusion to outright alarm, and then one of the human thralls gasped and dropped the broom she was holding. She stepped forward with an expression of wonder on her filthy face, and the Gentleman backed away as if burned.

“H-her face! Oh, Stephen!” He waved impatiently at another human, a young man with hair that might once have been golden but was now greasy and caked with dirt. “You there — come closer! Look at Stephen’s tree.”

The young man obliged, and after a moment, his face, too, transformed. The Gentleman clapped in delight as his face went from tense and wary to soft and almost beautiful in its unguardedness. The flickering fairy lights cast odd shadows across his features, one moment highlighting the strength of his jaw, the next, a curious glimmer in one eye.

The fairy servants came next, wary but curious as to what could be delighting their master so. They eyed the towering tree skeptically, but then one found a little corn husk doll Stephen had tucked into its branches, and let out a chiming laugh. More and more fairies came then, all eager for a share of this new wonder, and Stephen and the Gentleman were forced backward, away from the tree, to make way for them all.

In the early hours of the morning, as the last of the revelers faded away down dim corridors, Stephen stood with the Gentleman before the Christmas tree, staring down at the base of it in dismay. Amid fallen ribbons and droplets of candle wax, two fairies and the human girl lay upon the floor. They might have been only sleeping, but for the bluish tinge at their fingertips and the utter stillness in which they lay. The lips of all three were stained gold.

“I hope you will accept my apology, my dearest Stephen,” said the Gentleman.

“Sir?”

“It was devious enough, after all. I should know by now not to doubt your cleverness. I apologize for it and promise to do better in future.”

“But, sir,” Stephen protested. “It is I who should be apologizing to you! I had not meant to cause… this… when I suggested putting up a Christmas tree.”

“Oh,” declared the Gentleman with a laugh. “I still say it is an utterly foolish tradition, Stephen, and as it turns out, quite gruesome, but I find I enjoy its effects immensely!”

#jsmn advent calendar #JSAMN #the gentleman with the thistledown hair #stephen black #jonathan strange and mr norrell #christmas fic

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merrymorningofmay · 1 year

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it occurred to me that as i lay a sick lifeless blob my fic i passionately desire to see done at last that has not been writing itself. preposterous and aggravating

#this is a comedic post but also the fic is for jsamn and jsamn makes my inner monologue like this #mari rambles

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owl-by-night · 2 years

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📓

Thank you for the ask :) I’ve run out of fics with extensive notes so here is a two for the price of one ‘ways I’ve tried to mend the ending of JS&MN’.

The first one involves Merlin trying to stop De Lancey from dying at Waterloo. He creates a spell to try and look for a way to save him but instead creates a spell that shows him team peninsular forwards and backwards in time, fighting in multiple different conflicts but always coming to a point where William either dies or nearly dies attempting to save Merlin’s life.

Ungentlemanly Warfare fits in here, and so does the WWI fic that I don’t like thinking about because in that universe William and Arthur never discuss their feelings and Arthur never admits it to himself until after William is dead. There were also some scribbled notes about Afghanistan where Merlin is a journalist sent over to report on the war and goes out on patrol. They encounter an IED and William is badly injured protecting him. In that universe modern medicine saves his life. Somehow, what he sees gives Jonathan an idea for a spell to save him, but I got lost on the details of what that would be and it lingers unwritten in my notes.

The second fic was one I thought of more recently and for obvious reasons - what is Arabella and Jonathan did have a child instead of just talking about it? How does that change the plot? For a start, Arabella isn’t going to get drawn away into faerie on false pretences. If someone comes to the house in the middle of the night she’s saying absolutely not, the baby has just got to sleep, it’s Jonathan’s turn to get up next and whatever it is can be dealt with in the morning. If Emma needs to see her she’ll go, of course, but will be travelling in her own carriage with the baby, Jonathan and a nursemaid in tow.

And Jonathan? Well he’s going to welcome the chance to be the doting father he never had (probably going to go too far sometimes but Bell will be sensible about it and remind him that the baby is still too young for rocking horses and whatever else Jonathan wants to buy). He’s absolutely going to write that review of Norrell’s book and finish his own studies. Definitely. When the baby has finished teething. Or has learnt to walk and isn’t toddling around holding his hands for hours at a time. Or busy playing with his books and pretending to read them by turning pages.

He knows it can’t have been Bell out walking in the night. They were both awake for most of it because the infant Strange has colic.

With him out of the way it leaves Segundus to be the hero I think, or for Emma to save herself. I didn’t work that part out entirely. I just wanted Jonathan Strange to get his chance to prove he could be the sort of father he wanted to be and live the life he planned.

#jsamn #fic #fic I’m not writing

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chiropteracupola · 4 months

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I would love to hear about sharpe and strange for the WIP ask!

the sharpe and jsamn crossover! the structure of this is planned to be a few interactions between members of the extended world of each story over the course of a single night -- Sharpe and Strange, Harris and the library, and Hagman and Childermass. (I've also been thinking that Jane and Lascelles would be likely to come across each other, since they're both moving in the same circles at the time this fic is set, but I'm not confident enough at writing either of them to feel really secure about adding that section.)

This was the house of the magician that had been so celebrated in the Peninsula, the one who had made a havoc of Sharpe’s existence with the way he turned the roads and the rivers and the earth itself all around below the soldiers’ feet. It was a fine enough thing for a strategist like my lord of Wellington to say “let the country be reshaped to suit me,” but the idea of it had always put Sharpe out of sorts.

...some of them are having a better time than others.

#em writes stuff #em is posting about sharpe #jonathan strange and mr norrell #one really doesn't get the idea that sharpe would have taken kindly to all of the rejiggering of the landscape that strange gets up to!#he does like efficiency but even so it is not at all a Right thing to do!

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palavapeite · 5 months

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ooh! 1, 2, 14, 20 and 22 for the love your fandom meme please! what a lovely idea! <3333333

list 3 positive things about your current fandom(s)

One - everyone I actually talk to directly is really nice and sane, two - there are so many corners i have not explored yet and so much fic and art to enjoy that for someone like me who's been in a lot of small and quiet fandoms, it's a really lovely place to be, three - i have learned cool new things and facts about stuff I didn't know much about before!

2. a headcanon you weren't sure about at first but have come to like!

...I can't think of a single headcanon right now. I swear, I've been through all the characters and ships and whatevers. I am coming up blank. I'm so sorry. I generally have no strong feelings either way about headcanons? They're just... headcanons. Even my own are not set in stone, and if I see one that doesn't instantly jive with me, i just forget about it again.

14. the ship that always makes you smile

Jack/Izzy. Also, Gatcombe/Tantony from JSAMN, but for different reasons.

20. your very first fandom!

I think it would have been Star Wars, back when I was in primary school, when I was about 8 or so? It was before we even had a family PC at home, or internet, but I watched the original trilogy obsessively and I read any EU novel I could get my hands on (that my mum would get me), and I collected magazine and newspaper clippings and drew about 5000 pieces of fanart of Leia and Han. I really only had my sister to obsess with, but for me it counts. :P

Sailor Moon would be a close second. We got proper obsessed with that too.

22. the fandom friend you've known the longest

@greaseonmymouth it's been about 18 years or so!! <3

Thank you!!! <333

#ask memes

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jsamnvalentinerarepairs · 1 year

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JSAMN Rarepair Fest 2023!

It’s becoming tradition, so brace yourselves!

This year we’re starting the Rarepair Fest off a bit later because of... reasons! But because of this there will be a new aspect to the exchange: a MAXIMUM WORDCOUNT for authors!

For artists it will not be Big Bang-style “illustrate a fic fill”, but more like an art exchange where you interpret your given prompt in any way you wish.

Everyone in the exchange will receive either a fic or a piece of art based on one of their prompts.

The guidelines:

Please do not ask for these pairings. These are the 5 most popular and dominating pairings in the “Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell & Related Fandoms” tag on AO3 from the last 3 years. We love these pairings, but this is a chance to tread new ground and to make rarepair fans very happy indeed! You can use these as background pairings, but please not the main focus of the fic.

BANNED PAIRINGS: John Childermass/John Segundus John Childermass/Henry Lascelles Tom Levy/John Segundus Gilbert Norrell/Jonathan Strange Arabella Strange/Jonathan Strange

Any other pairings or ratings allowed! If you’d prefer gen-fic focused on a particular under-loved character then that’s great too! For single-character prompts, please also avoid any characters mentioned in the pairings above. If you’re struggling for inspiration, the Learned Society has kindly provided a crowd-sourced list of possibilities which you can peruse here.

Any ratings allowed

Maximum fic length of 2000 words.

Art fills must be a finished piece on unlined paper/digital, no sketches.

Age limit of 18+ due to explicit submissions

You will be allocated an exchange participant based on your pairing preference selection (more below!)

All fics and art will be uploaded to the AO3 collection, although you are very much encouraged to also post fills to tumblr/social media account of your choice

To participate you must:

Have an AO3 account (for artists, too, so we can keep all the final products together in this collection!)

Be over the age of 18

Love the underappreciated characters of the Clarkeverse!

Work well on a deadline!

To sign up, please send an email to speakingskies [at] gmail.com specifying in the body of the email:

Your AO3 account name

A list of up to three pairings or characters wish to receive a fic about or art of (please stick to three maximum for admin reasons!)

A brief (200 words max) prompt for each pairing, one that can be conceivably covered in a 1k fic or single piece of art

Any triggers, squicks or NOTPs?

Are you signing up as a writer or an artist? (Or if you are multi-talented, if you will make up your mind based on the prompt you receive)

Are you up for being a pinch hitter if someone drops out?

The deadline for signing up is 14th January 2023. After this a Google Form of submitted pairings will be sent out to you. You will rate your favourites and will be allocated a recipient based on your selections – if two people rate the same pairing as their favourite, the first person to have completed the form will be given that as their prompt, and the second person will receive their second choice.

You will be sent your pairing and full prompt before 21st January 2023.

The submission deadline for entries is 12th February 2023, and submissions will be revealed on the 14th.

You will upload your submission to the JSAMN Valentine’s Rarepair Fest AO3 collection, and gift it to your recipient.

The works will remain anonymous for a week after the reveal. After that, the authors will be unveiled.

Reminders will be sent a week before the deadline, so please do contact me using an email that you check regularly, or set up forwarding or alerts for that email. Please note that these are all hard deadlines. If you need to drop out for any reason, please let me know at the earliest opportunity.

If you have any questions please do DM me or email on speakingskies [at] gmail.com

#jonathan strange and mr norrell #jsamn #jsmn #js&mn #The Ladies of Grace Adieu #LoGA #Susanna Clarke #announcements #2023

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edward-little · 2 months

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Chapters: 2/2 Fandom: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: John Childermass/John Segundus, mr. honeyfoot & john childermass Characters: Mr Honeyfoot (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell), John Childermass, John Segundus Additional Tags: Past Character Death, Time Travel, Magic, Grief/Mourning, Implied Relationships, Bargaining, lots implied and all of it sad, brief faerie shenanigans, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Bittersweet Ending Summary:

A thud came from the upstairs floor of Starecross. Honeyfoot put down his book and ascended the staircase towards a room otherwise left untouched.

#johnsquared #john segundus #john childermass #jsamn #jsamn fic #did i ever post this. anyway here it is #now with 2 chapters!!!!

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samayla · 7 months

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Yesterday, I found a notecard with some notes from An Utterly Impractical Magician on it.

I have no memory of writing this, but it gave me such feels I have to share:

After his dealing with Miss Wintertowne and the Gentleman, Norrell comes back home, and Jane is up, waiting for him with tea in the library. He'd left in such a distracted, worried state, that she'd thought he could use it after... after. He thanks her, and she pours him a cup. The sight of her slim, scarred fingers on the cup as she hands it to him sparks a thought, like a dropped candle igniting a wildfire... He recalls Miss Wintertowne's finger, taken as a token of the Gentleman's claim over her. His eyes fly to Jane's face, to her grey eye with all its color stolen away. He becomes quite agitated as he demands to know the particulars of Jane's ordeal in the library at Gateshead. Had there been anyone there? Had she agreed to anything? etc, etc... He suddenly fears jane had inadvertently put herself in thrall to the fairy, who has ever since been enacting feats of magic on her behalf.

This is doubly powerful because a) it feeds into Norrell's fear of fairies and his protective instincts when it comes to Jane, and b) it speaks to his persistent dismissal of Jane as a real magician. Both make me want to cry, but for completely different reasons.

#eyre/strange fusion #jsamn #my fic #only a few of you will get this #but i have to tell someone #i found the card and it hit hard

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merrymorningofmay · 10 months

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me working: :l

me remembering i managed to gratuitously namedrop kyiv in my jsamn fic: >:)

#it probably woulda been called more like. kyjow? back in the day but i'm keeping it simple #mari rambles

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owl-by-night · 2 years

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📚📖

Thank you for the ask :) In return you get ‘William de Lancey is a faerie’!

This was my attempt at a fixit fic for the ending of JS&MN because I really wanted them to get out of the darkness somehow and I also wanted my favourite William not to be killed at Waterloo. So how do we untangle it? What can break a faerie curse, except another bargain with a different kind of faerie?

Bits of this got written so have some snippets. We begin with Jonathan with his nose in a book, attempting to discover a way home:

Extract from the account of the Winter Court of the Raven King, translated by J Strange, magician.

And so it was that the King made his prophecy and closed the doors unto England until such time as magic be needed there again. Yet still the King was troubled and did not sleep easily, even though his musicians played soft music and the maids of his chambers scattered sweet herbs upon the ground.

The King, troubled again by wakefulness, called his council to him and said, 'I have sent my prophecy into the world of men, and with it my Book and the son of my son, who shall beget the Reader and who shall speak the words of my truth when I have acknowledged him, but still I am beset by dreams. I believe that the time of my return shall be when England is in peril, such that the North shall also be in peril. I dream of armed men and my prophecy torn asunder."

Jonathan put down his pen and rubbed his eyes. The light from the candle was fitful, and though there were neither days nor nights in the darkness, he felt that he had been awake too long. The book before him was thick and dusty with ages, but he had hoped that within its pages he might find something, anything, that would show him a route home.

“If only the language were not so tiresomely archaic,” he said to the empty library. Norrell had long since retreated to his own quarters. “I have said armed men but it could equally be Celts with swords, if that word even means Celt. It might be Scot, or any other tribe for all I know. Any northern man but we were not at war with the North.”

The fire crackled, but did not answer. Jonathan sighed, and felt the sharp ache of longing for hearth and home and wife.

“Another page before bed, then,” he said and picked up his pen once more.

There was among the court a fair one, much in favour with the King, who came to him and said, “my Lord, my sleep is troubled also, for I see flames and battle as you do.” The King smiled upon him and said, “peace, for I have made it such that a warrior will stand between my prophecy and the flames.”

Yet though he was embraced by the King, the bright one would not be silent...

Jonathan stared at the word ‘embraced’ and wondered if he had the correct translation. It seemed a little... informal for courtly proceedings. Perhaps it meant something rather different. He drew a line beneath it, meaning to return and revise it when he had more context. There were many such notations and amendments to his text, either for accuracy or the accommodate Norrell’s sensibilities.

“I have some gift of foresight and I have seen your warrior, but where I have seen him I have also seen flames and a gate bordered green with ivy. There shall your words be lost. Let me go there and be as a latch upon the gate. As I have been beloved of one lord, I shall be beloved of another.”

Jonathan paused over the word beloved. Could he, perhaps, argue that it was merely chivalric metaphor? It did rather call to mind the vices of the Greeks, such as he had gone searching for in his school books. To be beloved. A very different kind of heartache.

His eyes drifted over the words again. Flames and a gate bordered green with ivy. It brought, with a shiver, the memory of Waterloo. The strands of ivy in his fingers and the formless, desperate magic. The men struggling at the gate. Could it... he scanned rapidly down the page.

“You are born of faerie and cannot pass in the world of men too long. As I bear affection for you, do not tarry there.”

“Then let me seeming die when my work is done. Then I shall return to you.”

A faerie there, at Waterloo. An impossibility, surely. Jonathan’s thoughts rebelled against him and returned, again, to the gate. The scent of ivy in his nose and De Lancey dead upon the ground. His bright hair caked in mud.

Jonathan sat still. Surely he must be dreaming this. It was wishful thinking, or wild fantasy. The bright one, his own handwriting had set down not ten minutes ago. Was there nothing else to distinguish this man, if man he was? ‘Beloved of a lord’, well, Jonathan thought, that certainly explained something about Lord Wellington. He skimmed the text in search of something, anything to convince him that he was doing more than chasing at Marsh lights.

He skimmed back over his previous notes and looked for evidence of this bright favourite of the King’s. He found mention of a ‘flame haired’ attendant who ‘delighted the King with his feats and dancing’. De Lancey had certainly danced well. He had also, on one memorable occasion, picked up assorted items from the table after supper and juggled them, although Jonathan doubted whether these would be considered feats worthy of entertaining a King. For a King such as Uskglass however, who enjoyed imprisoning magicians away from their wives and majors, perhaps even that might count.

“His sense of humour,” Jonathan said bitterly to the empty room, “leaves something to be desired.”

Jonathan being Jonathan he decides to test his theory by summoning the faerie who may or may not have been masquerading as William during the battle of Waterloo:

Jonathan’s first attempts at summoning a faerie had not been altogether successful, but he felt that his later attempts with Norrell might have refined the technique. The flame sprang to life and Jonathan extinguished the taper with a breath. The room was empty.

“Well this is good sport, Merlin,” said a voice behind him.

Jonathan spun round, heart beating hard. Sitting cross legged on the desk was William De Lancey, or some approximation of him. The same face, although a little paler and thinner, with his cheekbones sharp beneath his skin. Not dissimilar to his appearance when Jonathan had last seen him, dead upon the battlefield. His hair, though, was a much more vibrant shade, like a leaf in autumn or the sun coming low and fiery between the trees. His eyes, too, burnt with a strange light of their own. He was dressed in breeches but his feet were bare and his shirt open to the waist. Jonathan wondered whether his lordship had been treated to this sight back in the peninsula and the absurdity of the thought steadied him against the prickle of fear. The creature was neither human nor safe. He was not an old friend to be greeted without reservation.

The faerie watched him knowingly and smiled. The smile was not as kind as it had been.

“An unexpected reunion,” he said.

“Who are you?” Jonathan asked.

“Hmm...” The faerie picked up a quill from the desk and pressed it to his mouth as if in thought. The gesture was familiar. “I suppose you might call me William.”

“That is not your name.”

“No, but I rather liked it.”

“Was it your name before: did I know you?”

William leaned forward, bringing his face close to Jonathan’s. His lips were red and his teeth were sharp. “This is not how the game is played, my friend. A deal must be struck.”

Jonathan felt his heart skip a beat. He had had enough of bargains.

…..

“Do you have anything to drink?”

Jonathan remembered enough to know that drink was subject to as many rules as any bargain with faeries. “Can I offer it without any obligation on either side?”

“Clever, Merlin, you are learning.”

“I have a bottle of brandy.”

“And I’ve apples, if you’ve a taste for them. You may eat them safely, in exchange.”

The fruit, which came from nowhere, was shining red and had crisp white flesh. The taste was unlike any apple in England - sweeter and sharper than any that could grow there. William sliced it with a wicked little knife. Jonathan found two clean glasses and poured. They settled by the fire, or at least Jonathan settled into a comfortable chair and the being calling himself William settled in a crouch before the flames. He looked like a cat, ready to spring into flight, though he drank in the careless manner of Jonathan’s old friend.

In the end they agree on a bargain allowing William to kidnap the Duke of Wellington for a ball and in exchange tried to free Jonathan from the curse by working with Stephen.

“This King of yours...” said Wellington, peering at him across the ballroom, “seems rather familiar but I’m sure I’d remember meeting such a peculiar fellow.”

“Did you ever visit Sir Walter Pole?” Jonathan asked. “He was for some time employed as Sir Walter’s butler.”

“Really?” Wellington raised his eyebrows a little. “Well, it is hardly the strangest thing I’ve seen tonight, eh Merlin?” This was his only comment, which Jonathan thought was an indication that he was dealing rather well with the peculiar nature of the entertainment. To be invited to a ball in a strange land, where the guests wore dresses of shadows or starlight or insect wings, the food was like no other and the dances certainly never graced the ballrooms of the ton.... Really Wellington was coping very well.

It ends with a snippet of society scandal:

London society is delighted to note the return of the enigmatic Mr S— from ‘the other side of the rain’. His reappearance seems to have been just as unusual as his disappearance, coinciding as it did with several eminent magical scholars complaining that their books had been re-written and the kidnapping of the Duke of W- for a fortnight by apparently magical means.

When asked to comment on his absence and the reappearance of Mr S-, his Grace was heard to say that he had attended a ball in the court of a king of faerie and met there an old friend who was very dear to him. When pressed he added that he had seen a dance performed for three partners which he thought quite unsuitable for the ton but gave no information on the part of Mr S-.

Mr S- has retreated to his estate in the countryside and, we understand, intends to remain there with his wife for some time. We hope for his swift return to London so that we might learn more.

#long post #fic #jsamn #fic I am not writing

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