ELEVEN MOONS ECLIPSED - Plot Reveal - a Tourney

 In StrixAlluka's Eleven Moons duology, her Aritsar AU, you may recall that Book I, Eleven Moons Aligned, ended with Oba Mace's funeral and the reveal of Moon Mask as Montparnasse, who reveals himself to be another raybearer, accompanied by Musichetta, Hay Lin, a little Gavroche, and a Mewish lordling by name of Devin Trunswick.

Ever since that cliffhanger, we wondered how Eleven Moons Eclipsed would transcur and if there would be a civil war - rest assured, the late Oba's/High King's council decided that there would be a tourney between the members of the Sun Prince's (Enjolras') and the Moon Prince's ('Parnasse's) councils. And yes, Musichetta and Gavroche will partake in the council on 'Parnasse's side...

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Here are the members of each council:

On Enjolras' side:

Oloye/Crown Prince Enjolras; son of the oba and High Lady Ambassador Cvetka, heir to the throne, raybearer

High Lord Archdean Combeferre - Djbanti, death by poisoning / hallow of eidetic/photographic memory

High Lord General Courfeyrac - Nontes, death by battery / hallow of optimism inducement and happiness inducement

High Lord Laureate Grantaire - Sparti (cabin boy), death by bleeding / hallow of slowing down and taking away entropy (which works like the Stand Crazy Diamond)

High Priestess Cosette Valjean - Biraslov (half-Nontish half-Biraslov isoken), death by gluttony / hallow of glowing in the dark, a different colour based upon her mood

High Lady of Castles Éponine Thénardier - Swana (one-quarter-Nontish one-quarter-Blessid half-Swanian isoken), death by burning / hallow of lie detection

High Lord Judge Marius Pontmercy-Ghàilenor - Mewe (half-Nontish half-Mewish isoken), death by drowning / hallow of giving/taking away hallows

High Lord Ambassador Feuilly - Quetzala (realmless -ie stateless- orphan isoken dreamcatcher maker, origins unknown), death by suffocation / hallow of speaking and understanding every human language

High Lord Magus Jo-Lee Lin - Moreyao (born in Songland, Redemptor adopted by the Lins), death by contagion, hallow of healing illnesses and injuries and transferring them to himself

High Lord Treasurer Lesgle "Bossuet" - Nyamba, death by organ failure / hallow of giving good luck at the cost of suffering bad luck himself (he does so by shaking hands or having a kiss blown his way, alluding to the lyrics of "Chim Chim Cheree")

High Lord of Husbandry Bahorel - Dhyrma, death by mauling / hallow of unstoppable righteous anger-trance (think Cú Chulainn or the Incredible Hulk)

High Lady of Harvests Jehanne Prouvaire - Blessid Valley (half-Nontish half-Blessid isoken; trans girl), death by hexes, hallow of making plants grow by petting them and singing to them (her power is even seen to affect fungi, but half as much as plants).

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On 'Parnasse's side (all of these take the same drug that Aidana takes, kuso-kuso, and they have been trained in secret in a chamber underneath Enoba Palace):

Moon Prince/Oloye Montparnasse - son of the late oba and of High Lady Archdean Klytemnestra, spare to the throne, raybearer

High Lord Laureate Devin of Trunswick (Mountain Cat Mask) - Mewe - Hallow of controlling fire (excellent breeding) - death by burning

High Lady Judge Tahlia (Frog Mask) - Biraslov - Hallow of superhuman intelligence / calculating (exceptional intelligence) - death by contagion

High Lady Ambassador Ana Garcés (Gila Monster Mask) - Quetzala - Hallow of venomous bite - death by poisoning (exceeding connections)

High Lord General Karmo (Thunderbird Mask) - Nyamba - Hallow of controlling lightning (exacerbating strength / and Hallow powers) - death by organ failure

High Lady Magus Hay Lin - Moreyao - Hallow of controlling air - death by suffocation

High Lord of Husbandry Gavroche Thénardier - Swana - Hallow of climbing up walls - death by battery

High Lady of Harvests Fleur Delacour - Nontes - Hallow of breathing underwater - death by drowning

High Lady Archdean Musichetta - Sparti - Hallow of compelling music - death by hexes

High Lord/Lady of Castles  - Dhyrma - - Hallow of - death by -

High Lady/Lord Treasurer - Djbanti - Hallow of - death by -

High Priest/ess - - Blessid Valley - Hallow of - death by

UPDATE ON TV TROPES (Female autism depiction)!

Today I visited the TV Tropes page on Hollywood Autism (stereotypes / fictional depictions) and I was PLEASANTLY SURPRISED on its mention of the recent trend of female and hyperactive autistic characters who are just like Yours Truly - Luna Lovegood, Entrapta, Zoey from KPDH et al. It also highlights that this depiction / stereotype is pushed by algorithms on social media (although, IMHO, it was Rowling's creation of Luna that broke the mold of Always Male autism depictions and created the new paradigm):

There are some concerns that the 'new' depiction of autism as mostly white, young women with a hyperactive, unstable personality and marketable interests (such as fashion, cosmetics, and media consumption), pushed by algorithms on social media platforms, is just as destructive as other existing stereotypes, given that it continues the pattern of erasing the lives and experiences of a wide range of people in favour of focusing on a tiny facet of a much larger phenomenon.

And for some individuals, many of these symptoms and qualities are truth in television.

TSQ-IV: THE ATLAS OF CLASSIC TALES

CLAUDIA BORDIN

In the kingdom where we are now, there is a very clever princess. One day, when she was terribly bored, she made up her mind to marry, but she wanted a husband who could give a good answer to any question and wasn't boring. On the third day of receiving prospective husbands, a boy made his way boldly up to the palace. His eyes sparkled and he had handsome long hair, but his clothes were those of a peasant.
Can ... get ... inside the palace?
... works at the palace and knows of a back door that leads to the royal chamber.
When the lights went out in the palace, ... led ... to the back door which had been left ajar. They climbed the broad staircase, at the top of which they met the housekeeper ... who led them to the princess' chamber. ... over the bed, lifted a corner of the bedsheet and saw dark hair on the pillow. ... (add continuation soon) 


(Cut out the palace at the bottom left corner)

THE TRUTH ABOUT LORD VERISOPHT

 --this post I had planned to do for AGES but always something came in between--.

In El semen de los ahorcados, it is very clear that the plot is a massive multiplayer crossover to rival the works of Kim Newman, whose concept of the Xeniades Club (a secret society of supervillains, who in El semen are all more or less queer) the fic author, StrixAlluka (now StrixLuluka), borrowed. Next to Count Jean de Satigny, his rival/kismesis/frenemy Lord Henry Wotton is one of the most relevant characters in the Seedverse. The reason he wants Enjolras as his "servant" so badly? He lost his own catamite/protégé, Lord (Frederick) Verisopht (borrowed from Dickens, just like Mme. Defarge). 

After a tennis match, sipping some Bellinis prepared by Montparnasse (Bellinis that fortunately aren't poisoned), Enjolras arrives and Lord Henry confides in his French kismesis that the blond stripling is a diamond in the rough - exactly what he needs to replace his late lover, Lord Verisopht, a young and slender lordling in his twenties who was found dead and covered in cherry blossoms in a public park, with a serene smile on his face. The coroner's report revealed no trace of weapons or poisons... at this point Enjolras whispers "Avada Kedavra," and both Muggle nobles are intrigued... Enj says that this was merely an intrusive thought.

In an omake, it was revealed how Lord Verisopht died. He was a homeschooled Squib whom Lord Henry took under his wing when his granny / guardian died, but he still had knowledge of the wizarding world (think Neville Longbottom but Squib and more unfortunate). The older noble introduced him to high society and together they led a life of self-indulgence in ballrooms and casinos. His debut was in a Shakespeare-themed masked ball where Lord Henry was dressed as Oberon and young Verisopht as Titania, in green fairy costumes with glow-in-the-dark details and flapping wings. Here they met Count Jean de Satigny, dressed as Mercutio, who made a critique of their costumes. The lordling was very naive and believed everything his mentor said.

Ultimately some Knights of Walpurgis (actually hitmen employed by a mysterious employer) "set a trap for Lord Henry and Count Jean de Satigny in order to obtain an ancient relic." (This was all a lie). It was Lord Henry who set a trap for the lordling, and killed him because he had grown tired of his "boy toy" - which reveals that he had some knowledge of the wizarding world. Henry gave the order to the masked hitman to Avada Kedavra Lord Verisopht, whose last expression was to look at his mentor and collapse backwards swaddled in that green light, barely unable to make out his mentor's face in the dark but suddenly understanding who had given the order. His peaceful smile when his lifeless form was discovered among butterflies and dragonflies, covered in cherry blossom, seems to say "so be it..."

UNA DE MIS CUENTAS TIENE LOS DÍAS CONTADOS

 O Literary Rambles, o Evenkia, o mi cuenta de Facebook va a dejar de existir, en el peor de los casos, dentro de poco.

En el mejor de los casos, sólo me van a quitar los posts/las imágenes que ofenden a los derechos de autor.

Quien avisa no es traidora...

THE UMPTEENTH BLANK POST

 

YEAR OF GREAT MEDLARS: THE LOCKET

In El semen de los ahorcados, to be more precise its play-within-the-fic The Year of Great Medlars, the young and queer tragic hero, Dauphin Francis (played by Courfeyrac), wears a golden, heart-shaped locket for half of the play. The real locket is at the British Museum, and he wears a really realistic replica:

The locket, of solid gold inlaid with pearl and rubies (the original; what we see on stage is only a replica), and what happens to it, are central to the play: it highlights both his fear of commitment and the vagaries of fortune.

On both sides, the locket has the word toujours, "forever," in inlaid ruby letters. The obverse (front) side has the Tudor Rose and the Granada (pomegranate) of the Catholic Royals growing on entwining bushes, while the reverse side has the initials H (for Henry VIII) and K (for Katherine of Aragón) tied together with a Gordian knot - the symbols of the Dauphin's future in-laws; he is betrothed to the future Bloody Mary.

The teenage crown prince of France is supposed to wear the locket for at least one month, and then cut a lock of his dark hair and place it inside the locket, which will be shipped to England as confirmation of the betrothal... Francis and Mary were already betrothed as infants in the cradle, but he is afraid of commitment and he has discovered that he prefers men to women (sexually). So he refuses to place the lock of his hair inside, but wears the locket at court, to keep up appearances. Then, suddenly, the betrothal is annulled (due to Mary's parents' divorce and her being declared a bastard, unfit to marry a crown prince), and the empty locket is shipped back to England... The conversation that comes after is what it all hinges upon:

FRANCIS (Courfeyrac): I can't believe I've got such good luck! That bloody Mary is now declared a bastard, unfit to tie the knot with me! Toujours my arse (pardon my French)!

SEBASTIAN (Combeferre): Really? How come, Your Grace?

FRANCIS: Her Papa just divorced and remarried that court lady, what's her name, Anne Boleyn; and her mother now lives as a nun in a convent. So Mary is a bastard now, they're expecting a male heir instead...

SEBASTIAN: You're not wearing the locket... 

FRANCIS: As soon as I heard the news, I had it shipped back to England. Empty, without a lock of my hair inside. You see, she was totally unfit... No matter how many languages she speaks, or how well she plays the harpsichord, or if she has been educated by Lluís Vives himself; I don't care at all! That portrait of her I saw was pretty scary, with that flaming red hair and those piercing eyes... but now I've thought of something that you must listen to.

SEBASTIAN: I'm all ears. What have you thought of, Your Grace?

FRANCIS: Until right now, I was completely carefree. I had endless freedom and no one, no king or courtiers, to hold me back. But being completely carefree just meant that there was no one to care FOR, and no one who cares FOR YOU. All I've found myself wanting to do... was to be by your side, to tell you about all of it... Every detail, every curiosity... I want to share all of it with my favourite person. So I found myself coming back to you more and more often. I am no longer afraid of commitment, for I have found someone I can commit to, finally... 

SEBASTIAN: And that means?

FRANCIS: It was very unlike me. For the first time in forever, I want to stay in one place. Have someone to come home to, someone who can quench my thirst. Not only for drink, but also that thirst for something I have always been missing.

SEBASTIAN: For love?

FRANCIS: Love? Maybe, even if love between two men is forbidden and star-crossed. We'll disguise it as friendship between a prince and his secretary/squire/cupbearer. The court and the army will only see two good friends... You could use my help more than ever; and I am happy to oblige you!

SEBASTIAN: Why?

FRANCIS: You manage your responsibilities, and I contribute mine. We get along splendidly. We're two halves of a whole, you're the ice to my fire, the part of me that I have always missed... So much talking has put a tickle in my throat, couldn't you pour me a cordial on the rocks?

SEBASTIAN: Now I am the one who is happy to oblige you! (He leaves and then returns with a carafe of cordial on ice and two glasses, which he pours to the dauphin and to himself. Francis drains his glass at one gulp, while Sebastian only sips). You should not drink so quickly, Your Grace; you will catch a cold.

FRANCIS: But my throat was on fire! I'll remember it for the next time. By the way... What do you put in that cordial that makes it taste so good?

SEBASTIAN: Ice from the Alps... and it's infused with cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and elder flowers. And a huge dash of sugar! But what counts the most is the secret ingredient: it's made above all with love. I always think of you and of how much you will enjoy both the coolness and the taste, as I make all my cordials.

FRANCIS: And now I am thirsty for something more... can you embrace this poor sinner and kiss his lips, until his thirst is quenched?

SEBASTIAN: I am once more happy to oblige. (Both hide behind a pillar, embrace, and kiss passionately).