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griffinsmith · 2 years

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fiddled around with my old jackerita au a little! mostly just updated Mr Hound's involvement in the au. not sure if this really interests anyone but here it is and i also needed to write the words somewhere before i forgot lmao

Ok hi I havent written any notes for this au in over a year. Incredible how neurodivergency can allow you to experience things with vigor for a second time

So just to clarify this is for my jackerita au where jackall and margherita escape newgate together and eventually get together, its more fleshed out in these two posts here. This is not related to the jackall & hound au, and the only similarity it shares with that au is the design of mr hound that I use in it – I’m using the same redesigned hound design that you can find under this tag. Hopefully that makes enough sense. also this is all completely head canon and me being silly

Im mostly leaving the au the same, just tweaking some of the backstory of Jackall creating Hound, why he decided to kidnap the queen and use her crown’s jewels to become Hound permanently, and adding a little bit of stuff after he gets his ass thrown into jail. Im also slightly changing Jackall’s relationship to Hound in this au ok with that being said lets go

I previously mentioned that before stealing the queen, Jackall worked as the mechanical engineer for Barkingham, being specifically interested in defending the castle from outsiders, and that he proposed to the queen’s council that tapping into moon magic would allow them to transform guards into stronger versions of themselves. Jackall’s proposal got rejected, and this part is remaining the same

For the new lore, I am replacing Jackall not having the potion entirely ready when he presented his idea to the council. Instead, Jackall is done with the thing, but he hasn’t gotten a chance to try it out yet. He asks for support from the Queen’s council so he can have someone to try it out on. Because the Marleybonian society knows little to nothing about moon magic, and trying something unheard of like this is extremely frowned upon, Jackall did not get his proposal accepted.

Also for more details on that potion - Jackall engineered the potion to flip one’s magical alignment, meaning those who performed storm spells would instead be proficient in myth, and so forth. Additionally, one would have access to higher level spells than one would normally have. The potion, while focusing mostly on battling benefits, was also supposed to heighten one’s ability to physically fight and make one slightly less interested in morals and rules in order to achieve this (emphasis on * slightly *). Or at least Jackall thought as much - he did not spend as much time perfecting this ability as he did working on the other aspects of the potion. He just hoped that once he got funding, he’d be able to work any kinks out of it, but he suspected everything would be fine.

Jackall, after getting screamed at by the council, returns home saddened. He wanted to do something to defend the queen, perhaps even revolutionize how battles are fought in Marleybone! Who wouldn’t want to tap into stronger powers in duels? If he just had some funding, someone to try it out on, he could fully tap into moon magic and science and fully utilize his groundbreaking concoction that would allow users to keep a transformation in and out of fights, something no one had ever done before in the Marleybonian corner of the spiral.

After moping around for a few days, Jackall decided he no longer would wait for the council to come to their senses, and decided he would try out the potion on himself. Then, from there he could figure out how to perfect any minor flaws, and once it was finished, present it to the council again. He was sure future history books would hold him as a hero if he could get that potion to in front of the council. Surely if they saw the positive effects it could bring, they’d give him their support.

And so, at midnight one night, he took a swig of the potion, eager to see what it would do to him. Immediately after ingesting it, he noticed a wave of euphoria rushing through him, deciding that this was the part of the potion lessening his hold on morals a bit. He noted this as a success.

Upon attempting a spell, he was ecstatic to see that his magic had changed from Ice to Fire. After messing around a second or two with spellcasting, he was equally ecstatic to see he could perform higher level fire spells, outranking the normal ice spells he could usually perform. This was also noted as a success.

The potion seemed to work perfectly – his magic had changed appropriately, now a different school and stronger, and he felt more like he could win both duels and normal fights. He wrote the potion up as a great success, and would make sure to visit the Queen’s Council again in the morning to show off what it could do.

And then came a sharp pang of pain in Jackall’s chest that quickly spread through his entire body. As Jackall writhed and convulsed around on the floor for a bit, the true colors of the potion’s “losing your morals and rules” aspect shown through, and after a minute of painful transformation, Dr Jackall became Mr Hound.

What Jackall had hoped to achieve with his concoction was something that would temporarily allow the user to mostly forget about the consequences of hurting someone, while still understanding not to go absolutely hog wild and really hurt people in duels and physical fights. What Jackall ended up achieving was creating an uncaring and self-indulgent alter ego for whomever was foolish enough to drink it. Not to mention, said alter ego now had powerful spells and enough adrenaline in their system to take out an entire clock tower’s worth of thugs. Jackall had accidentally created a monster, but he wouldn’t find that out yet – Hound was still in charge for a few hours.

The potion was also not supposed to change appearances, but for Jackall, the potion turned his gray fur blue, and said fur and hair became rougher, pointier even. Hound, a being concerned only with himself, decided to wreck the shit out of the clothes he had just spawned into and gleefully ran amok along the streets of Marylebone wearing only a tattered overcoat and pants.

The potion’s effects only lasted for a few hours (which is already longer than the 30 minutes or so that Jackall intended it to last for – good work Jackall really knew what you were doing with this potion), but that was more than enough time for Hound to terrorize a few guards at Barkingham and some poor random citizens just trying to get somewhere.

When the potion did wear off, Jackall was dazed but … he was also a little thrilled. A normal person would probably be horrified that they just werewolf transformed into some horrible version of themselves that they had no control over, but Jackall felt refreshed. He’s spent so long stuck under the thumb of Barkingham, not getting to do what he wants – why not indulge every now and then and play into his vices? And so he continues, with Jackall downing a few swigs of the potion every few days and allowing himself to become Hound to do whatever he wants.

Quick note here – while I’ve taken some inspiration from both the Jek/yll Hy/de musical from the 90’s and the original book from the late 19th century, im going to be stepping away from how they portray Hyde slowly becoming like . actually violent and . killing people . so that this au makes a bit more sense for Jackall’s backstory in canon where he genuinely wants to become hound forever. We’ll save that darker side to hound for the other au.

Jackall spends about a month transforming into Hound on and off before deciding he’s tired of being himself, and he wants to permanently become Hound. So far, Hound hasn’t done anything really bad yet (Hound steals from people and attacks people in and out of battles but he hasn’t *really* hurt anyone yet. It’s fine it’s fine) so Jackall thinks it would be fine if he was Hound 100% of the time. A great plan.

In this state of excitement, and also wanting to stick it the Queen’s Council who denied him funding on the project, Jackall decides he’s going to get the jewels off of the Queen’s crown by kidnapping her and further use those jewels to perfect his alchemical solution and become Hound forever. He'll be able to indulge in whatever he wants and no one will be able to stop him - It’s the perfect plan. Jackall still works in Barkingham and sees the staff literally every day and they’re wondering why he’s been acting a little weird lately and yet he still thinks it’s the perfect plan.

And from there, the au remains mostly the same. Jackall breaks into Barkingham the same way I wrote that he did a year ago, and gets sent to Newgate and escapes with margherita and they become the owners of the shopping district jewel shop, all the same as before. However, there are a couple of minor added details.

Jackall stops taking swigs of his potion once he’s in jail. He can’t drink it anymore since its not on him, and he can’t make it anymore there. At first, he misses the freedom that Hound gave him, but as time goes on, he realizes how unsustainable and dangerous that behavior and Hound was, and he no longer misses being Hound. He finally realizes he had created a monster, and he resolves to never again transform into him.

Hound, on the other hand, did not get this memo. Hound frequently appears in Jackall’s nightmares, starting to show up in them about a week into Jackall’s jail stay. Jackall brushes the visits off, but they slowly become more and more vivid, with Hound seemingly threatening taking him over involuntarily. Hound clearly misses the freedom - the embodiment of Jackall's selfish and evil traits does not want to be caged any longer, and this terrifies Jackall. Jackall fears for what could happen if he does manage to take over again - Since Hound has had his urges repressed for so long, surely he would do something really bad if he gets his way again.

The nightmares cease for a bit when Jackall and Margarita break out of Newgate and adjust to their new lives in Wizard city. Jackall never once mentions the nightmares to Margherita, and hopes they’ve stopped for good. But like clockwork, once Jackall’s gotten accustomed to everything, Hound begins frequenting his dreams again, just as strong as before. So far, Jackall’s been able to rouse himself from his nightmares when they start to get dire, but there have been a few instances where he swears he sees Hound’s shadow on the wall when he awakens, even if only for a second.

Alongside with the fear of getting found out for the ex-convict he is, Jackall now has to worry for his alter ego growing stronger and gaining control permanently. It’s not like hiding from the cops is already stressful enough - no, now he has to worry that he’ll involuntarily become an impulsive and careless version of himself who could easily draw attention to his hiding spot on top of all that.

Ok that’s it bada bing bada boom I hope that was cohesive enough thank you for reading if you did!!!! Jackall you idiot you wanted to be hound forever and once you came to your senses you dont anymore. make up your mind boy

#'ill make this short' i said to myself before writing over 1700 words #jackerita au #dr jackall #margherita vizzini #mr hound #it is extremely obvious to me that i am creating all this backstory for a character who shows up in one optional sidequest thats less than #than 40 minutes long. the situation is not lost on me hleppp #w101 #sawyer writes words #sawyer rambles

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griffinsmith · 2 years

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another jackerita au post ?? but from margherita's perspective this time ... i have been ignoring her for too long margherita babey im sorry

its been like a year and a half since I came up with this stupid au and ive never once made a written post that’s mostly about margherita’s role in the jackerita au. That is criminal and im fixing that now sorry girlboss. Also she deserves a bigger role in the plot in general so !!! heres whatever this is

For just some backstory on her: Margherita has literally 4 lines of dialogue so there is not much to go off of for her help me. She says she is a master of the opera nova school of Valencia so Ive always headcanoned that she, just like she says, works at said opera nova school. She has quite the set of pipes and is an incredible opera singer, along with being an expert duelist. Margherita is quite proficient in the art of the sword (again, just like how she says in the battle with her) and when she’s not teaching her students how to sing, she’s teaching them how to duel

One of Margherita’s cheats states that she’s studied in Crab Alley, so I’m going to take that and run with it. Margherita not only studied there, but she also spent some time traveling the spiral before settling in Crab Alley as her place to study music (essentially she took a gap year). This traveling happened right after she finished her primary schooling (with crab alley being where she spent the majority of her secondary schooling) and while she toured the spiral, she visited Marleybone, and guess who she ran into there.

Margherita and Jackall first ran into each other in their late teens/very early twenties (think 19 or 20. Wow just like my age fr), bumping into each other in the Ironworks. Jackall was looking for some scrap metal for an automaton he was creating, as he was just starting his secondary schooling to become a mechanical engineer, and Margherita was just plain lost while trying to sightsee. The two got along swimmingly, bonding over their aspirations that others had frowned upon: Jackall was hoping to land a job at Barkingham Palace as their head of defense, and Margherita wanted to become the most famous opera singer Valencia had ever known. Once their conversation had ended, they promised to keep in touch after some time spent together.

And keep in touch they did, writing letters often, and Jackall frequently making his way across the spiral to see Margherita’s opera performances and Margherita visiting him in Marleybone every so often. Both were extremely supportive of each other’s achievements in their careers.

About ten years pass between the two of them meeting and the events of Barkingham Palace. Margherita has a well-established teaching spot in the Opera Nova school of Valencia, loved by her students and fellow faculty members, and can duel the pants off of anyone she fights. She enjoys reveling in her stories of her time at Opera Nova to Jackall when they visit each other.

Jackall, on the other hand, has gone from just as enthusiastic as she over his job to being bummed out. His passion for inventing mechanical creations to better defend the palace seems to have been dampened by his fellow Barkingham staff members who prefer traditional guards to the palace rather than his automatons. For as long as Margherita can remember, Jackall has always been enamored with the concept of bettering oneself and the things around oneself, and it appears as though he hasn’t gotten to dip his toes into this concept in a while. The spark she once saw in his eyes diminishes a little bit more every time she visits him.

Margherita doesn’t quite get losing your passion for something. Until the Opera Nova school starts rearranging its budget. Teachers stop getting pay raises, student size shrinks, facilities aren’t updated. When Margherita and her fellow teachers try to get those in charge to do something, they respond that they’re already doing all they can to keep the school above water. Margherita is heartbroken that the students she’s loved teaching and watching grow into real opera performers begin to lose their love for their study, and can’t help but feel like she herself is losing her love for it, too.

Margherita relays all this information to Jackall during one of her visits to Marleybone. During this visit, for once, it seems like their demeanors have switched. Margherita cannot remember the last time she’s seen Jackall this energized, full of life. It’s like he’s 5 years younger, the look in his eyes gives away that he’s bounding with a new passion for everything. Margherita cannot quite place why.

That is, until he tells her that he’s come up with something incredible. He describes to her a new concoction he’s made for himself – one that makes him stronger and pumps the adrenaline through his system like nothing else. He’s finally reignited his passion for life again, he tells her, but he adds that he cannot keep his creation’s effects going for very long. But even still, he’s able to do things he never could do without it.

Jackall is purposefully very vague with his descriptions of what his potion does. He sells the creation off as something that energizes and makes you stronger, like what the potion was supposed to do, but he never once mentions that the damn thing makes him turn into a more selfish aggressive version of himself - That’s tucked quietly under the rug. As I mentioned in this post, Jackall is so tired of working at Barkingham and not getting to do what he wants that he’s willing to permanently turn himself into a more grotesque version of himself if it means that he can get what he wants (nevermind that this would mean that he would be hound forever and would never go back to being anything more than an unshowered impulsive violent mirror version of himself. Jackall come on why didn’t you think this through). The point is, Margherita never learned about Hound before the heist.

Margherita is happy that Jackall found something that excites him, but she wonders why he’s telling her this. Why does he want to turn into a different version of himself full time? She likes him how he is. But she does soon get her answer.

Jackall proposes to her that she and he go on a heist together: Steal the Queen’s jewels. It’ll be a grand adventure for them, some bonding! Margherita can use her superior dueling skills to best the dreary guards at the palace while Jackall takes the jewels to perfect his alchemical solution and become his ‘best self’ forevermore.

Margherita’s not super on board with the idea (stealing the queen’s jewels? When did jackall get that idea?). She’s participated in her own fair share of duels in back alleys, and she’s even stolen some gold before when she was in a pinch, but both of those experiences were far in the past. She’s a respected faculty member for one of the most famous schools in Valencia, she cannot just go galivanting around and get her face slapped onto a wanted poster.

Or so she thinks at first. After turning Jackall’s proposal down, she thinks that’ll be the end of that. Until Jackall lets slip that he’d let her keep the jewels after perfecting his chemical solution. The jewels that adorn the Queen’s crown would fetch quite a pretty penny on the black markets of Valencia, wouldn’t they? And that money could be used as a charitable donation to Margherita’s beloved Opera Nova school, Jackall adds. As soon as the heist is complete and Jackall’s become his better self, he promises he’ll let Margherita take the stolen gems and do whatever she wants with them.

The proposition now seems much more interesting to Margherita. Using the hefty sum the stolen stones would get her, Margherita could breathe new life into the school she loves so much. The crumbling fixtures in classrooms could be restored, higher paychecks would be written for teachers, and new students would practically flood the gates to get in! And hey, why not go on a heist adventure with her closest friend? She trusts him a whole lot, and she knows he trusts her back. After a quick moment of reconsideration, Margherita accepts Jackall’s plan. She’s in.

Also quick note on the whole ‘jackall calling margherita his “Lieutenant” thing’: there’s not really much to say here other than Margherita was certainly jackall’s right hand (wo)man throughout the barkingham heist since she did a lot of the string pulling with him to make it happen. Jackall calls her his lieutenant because it sounds more official than just calling her his ‘person who’s got his back’.

For two weeks, the two work together to concoct a plan to break into the palace (Margherita extends her stay in Marleybone and plans to return back to Valencia as soon as the jewels are hers). As someone who works in the palace, Jackall is able to bring any news of new developments to Margherita for them to brainstorm a way to steal the queen away while everyone in the palace is distracted. Jackall offers they use a noxious gas spewing golem he’d never gotten to use as a palace defense mechanism to render the palace’s guards defenseless, and when Margherita hears from him that an opera singer will be performing at the palace soon, she suggests they bribe said performer into allowing them to sneak in with her crew.

The plan falls into place quite nicely, with Margherita and Jackall working to secure some additional goons to help them with the heist. Margherita works on getting Catrin Cheshire bribed (from one opera singer to another) and Jackall hires Poole and Utterson as back up for the airship’s defenses. Everything looks like itll be going according to plan.

Until it doesn’t. Jackall and Margherita hadn’t accounted for Bones and Watson patrolling the scene, and a wrench gets thrown in their plans when the Young Wizard shows up. Margherita stays positioned on the rooftop the entire night as Jackall carries out the queen kidnapping, and nervously sharpens her swords as more and more cops pour into the palace. Then, when Jackalls finally loaded the Queen into the airship, the young wizard arrives and Margherita faces off with them. Filled with determination and knowing Jackall will defend her if anything goes awry, she battles her heart out.

And as we all know, the young wizard defeats her. This was already unexpected for Margherita, but the most unexpected part was Jackall turning against her. As she catches her breath after the fight, she hears him ascending the ladder to the airship, * without her *, and yelling at her that she’s disappointed him and that he sarcastically hopes she enjoys Newgate. Margherita barely has time to process what just happened when the Barkingham guard arrives on the rooftop and places her in handcuffs, but she has enough time to tell the Young Wizard to go after Jackall.

During the journey from the palace to Newgate, Margherita is seething enough to the point where if you put sand in her mouth and gave it a second, it would have turned into glass. Her life as she knew it would never be the same, and she’d never be able to go back to teaching at the Opera Nova – they would not approve of a wanted criminal who assisted in a queen kidnapping teaching students. Sure, she was mad at getting caught, but she was mostly enraged at up and abandoning her. It.. hurt. This heist was supposed to be something they were doing together, and for her to leave her in the dust the second she loses one duel … it’s not sitting well with her. The decade of friendship and mutual trust the two had for each other is shattered instantly with this moment. Margherita never wants to see Jackall again.

So imagine Margherita’s surprise when Jackall gets tossed into a jail cell right next to hers. Upon seeing her, Jackall quickly blubbers out an excuse and a half assed apology. Margherita decides to ignore this and grabs Jackall’s neck through the jail bars and strangles him until the guards pull them off each other. Jackall earns a well-deserved black-eye during this skirmish and it does not leave for two weeks.

After few months into their life sentences, Jackall does give Margherita an actual apology and tells her how sorry he truly is, how he should never have let something as stupid as his chemicals get in the way of their friendship, how he doesn’t quite know what got ahold of him. He says he was so focused on achieving his best self that he let everything else fall to the wayside. He asks her if she’d be willing to break out of Newgate together, and she begrudgingly accepts, giving him a second chance. It'll take a while before she can fully trust him again, but she's willing to give it a shot, and Jackall is extremely grateful for this. Secretly, she's glad to have her friend back.

From here the au is basically the same as before from Margherita’s side. The two break out of jail, live in the shopping district, and stuff goes on from there. The only change is that Jackall is still struggling with nightmares of Hound threatening to take over, but he does not tell this to Margherita. She still thinks the potion he made gave him boosted stats and power, and nothing else. Even in Jackall’s genuine apology to her, he did not let slip that the adrenaline from becoming his alter ego clouded his best judgement and hopes that she’ll never find out about Hound, especially not in their new lives in Wizard city.

We’ll see how well that works out . anyway that’s it that’s way too many words oh my god

#margherita and jackall are essentially friends to enemies to friends to lovers . love wins #if you read this tysm i know its a big amount of words but every note i get on my writing posts warms my heart i appreciate it a ton #sawyer writes words #margherita vizzini #dr jackall #jackerita au #sawyer rambles

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