Crack Pairing Offspring

January 4th, 2015: Downloads added! See the end of the post.

40+ pictures ahead. Consider yourself warned.

Most Welcome

"As good luck would have it."

November 9th

Long before she eloped, Anne had resolved to be a better mother than her own, a suffering creature who had only been saved by widowhood. The bare minimum of her hopes was that her children would never think their lives would be better without her. She wanted to contribute to their happiness and well-being. A good mother would do that. A good mother would bring something to her children's lives that no other person ever could. These had always been her hopes for her children with George. In the waning days of her last, unexpected pregnancy, Anne had worried that giving up the child would be the moment in her life when she lost all claim to the title of good mother. What good came from a mother surrendering her own baby?

More good than she had ever imagined.

A Simple Choice

"They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly, but, bear-like, I must fight the course."

October 23rd

Nerissa glared at the ledgers, threatening them with general doom if they didn't give her happier numbers. A sweep of summer illness had dented their profits in August. Now, the neighborhood was hiding from a rumored action by the Ducal Guards. Brothels were not illegal in Verona, but there were plenty of traps in the relevant laws. Everyone at the Palamon brothel had agreed it was best to wait out the witch hunt. Nobody would starve on Nerissa's watch, but some fresh income wouldn't have hurt.

We Scarce Thought Us Blest

"And all the clouds that loured upon our house in the deep bosom of the ocean buried."

September 30th

Cornwall never expected the nursery to become a sanctuary.

I Would Adventure: Part Two

Content Warning: Click here for warnings (possible spoilers)

"What fates impose, that men must needs abide."

September 2nd

The night had been unbearably quiet.

I Would Adventure: Part One

"All days are nights to see till I see thee."

September 1st

Georgiana felt a sense of relief as she stepped outside. No-one in the world had a more comfortable hiding spot than her mother, surely. The warm, comfortable rooms belied the stony exterior. The Fae couple who would adopt the baby had sent a hard-working staff to look after the ladies. The foreign servants occasionally ruffled Lady Constance's feathers, but everyone was grateful for them.

Swear Not by the Moon: Part Two

August 19th

"Such is my love, to thee I so belong, that for thy right myself will bear all wrong."

"What in the world?"

Flowers. Everywhere, flowers. Surely, some poor garden somewhere had been denuded for this as the flowers were fresh. It was absolutely lovely, but she couldn't understand it. Paulina noticed a touch of soil in the heavy floral scent. Lady Montague and Lady Bianca kept a very tidy house. If either of them knew their furnishings had been covered with uprooted flowers, they would be very angry. And who would ever think of such a silly thing? Beatrice was meant to be the only one at home, and while she was prone to an odd display on occasion, this...

This was not Beatrice at all.

Swear Not by the Moon: Part One

August 12th
   

"O God, that man should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains!"

"Merc," Romeo said, "you're coming out with us. Get up."

No Less

"Herein lives wisdom, beauty and increase."

July 28th

As Fitzwilliam's eyes flickered open, he wondered what time it was. It used to be that the windows would give him a fair clue. He had always liked the abundance of morning sunlight his room received. However, the moment Juliette confessed she didn't care for it, another set of drapes went up to block out the sunrise. Sunlight was unimportant. He could make do without sunlight.

The Traffic of Our Stage

"Exit, pursued by a bear."

July 5th

The experience of months of rehearsals and a premiere performance seemed all for naught. The cast and crew of Who is The Gatekeeper? were in upheaval. The costumers were so far backed up that the stagehands had been called in to fix buttons and hems and hair. Finding things not been carefully reset after last night, Ann was re-organizing the sets and props herself. The few stagehands left to her mostly stood around her, insisting they had not made this mess. Morgaine was ambassador to the various provinces of this kingdom of insanity. As she ran to and fro, she shouted out warnings and reminders to anyone who had ears.

After learning a lesson last night, when she barely finished being dressed before the curtain went up, Belle Norman had arrived very early. She was among the first to be ready tonight. However, this had created a problem of a different sort: Belle had more time than she knew what to do with and no-one to spend it with.

Glorious to This Night

"The sight of lovers feedeth those in love."

June 25th

"Who is my special boy? Who is my special boy?" 

"Gran-mo!" Little Frederick waved his arms and grinned. "Gran-mo!"

Ophelia cuddled her grandson and patted his back. Frederick's small vocabulary had never yet stopped him from talking. Much like his father had, he chattered on happily, often answering any question with the name of the person asking it. The main exception was her husband, whom Frederick had decided was also 'Gran-mo'. "Almost, my precious." Just as she considered her stepson as her own, she loved Frederick as much as she would her daughters' children.

A Stranger in the World

"Thou know’st the first time that we smell the air we wawl and cry."

June 15th

Sitting in the Governors' Chamber for the first time gave Mercutio all the feelings he had expected: anticipation, satisfaction, nausea. Of course, his nausea was nothing to the gut-emptying plague his uncle was currently enjoying. Mercutio felt no remorse. If Antonio didn't drink to the point of hallucinating most nights, slipping in a soured batch wouldn't have been so easy. If he had spent less time reveling in his newly found majesty, Antonio would have had the time to decide on a loyal proxy rather than be forced by sheer necessity to send Mercutio in his place to today's session.

I Desire Some Confidence With You: Part Two

"Upon thy side against myself I'll fight."

May 24th

For someone who felt he had done right, Fitzwilliam felt exceptionally low. His mind had been made up the minute he saw the tall, fire-headed man poking out of the sea of brown bodices and colored gowns. Juliette tried to slow and calm him on the way over, and it had worked to a certain degree. After the initial outburst, he had reduced his ire to no greater than the general din of the tent field outside. No violence had erupted from him as he thought it might. Tybalt was dressed-down and warned off, sparing any bloody threats that would roll off that scarred face like water off a duck. He took the lashing with a suspicious calm. That might have warranted Fitzwilliam's consideration if Georgiana's reaction had not dominated his thoughts. Since the time he ignored her insistence that Tybalt had done no wrong, Fitzwilliam had not had a word from his sister.

I Desire Some Confidence With You: Part One

"So is my love still telling what is told."

May 22nd

Juliette was enjoying a great sense of relief. Today, it felt like the sun was truly shining on her and her family again. The last few weeks had been trying, certainly the worst of her married life. Lady Anne's pregnancy had turned the house on its head. Fitzwilliam and Georgiana were both still reeling, despite what they insisted when asked. An ill-timed visit from Lady Catherine had nearly cost them the entire secret. Lady Anne was now set up in a house on the western coast with her mother, but her shadow was guiding her children's behavior.

Juliette herself wasn't suffering from it - she had no complaints against her husband wanting to be within arm's reach at all hours. Her sister-in-law would never complain about her own treatment, but Juliette would have if Georgiana's lot was her own. Today was the first day that Juliette had seen Fitzwilliam relaxed with Georgiana out of his sight away from home. Very much enjoying it, she decided to try to keep the mood light and pleasant. "Will you explain the tournament to me, dearest? I think I've picked up the rules of the regular matches by now, but I've never been here."

One Too Much

"The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together."

April 27th

Georgiana let her fingers fall to rest so she could heard the patter of the rain. The rain was the reason she was indoors, pretending to be a musician. Aunt Maria had named her captain of their archery team for the duration of her confinement. Georgiana knew it was family favoritism, but she had tried to take the position as seriously as possible. In daylight, she organized practices and coached up the younger ladies. At night, she worked on the sketches for the painted scenes she would give to Juliette for her birthday. When it rained, she squeezed in music lessons with her mother.

No Without-Book Prologue

"They have their exits and their entrances."

March 29th

Albion Manor was rarely a dull place. Lord Albion himself was always running to and fro to satisfy his responsibilities to the purse of the realm. His lady wife was never without a project, whether it was illustrating a book of poetry or rearranging the furniture in search of perfect chromatic harmony. Adrian's idle hours had been eaten up by his baby son, Frederick, who was the darling of the family. Adrian's wife, Ann, made it seem like she had thirty-six hours in day - she doted on Frederick, competed in archery, and was part of the three-headed monster that was the Theatrical Society of Verona, alongside the Albion daughters, Cherry and Morgaine.

Women Grow By Men

"Giddy Fortune's furious fickle wheel."

March 6th

Kent felt sick. At the moment it happened, he had been thinking of Cornwall. It had never been right to want his sister's unwanted husband. Yet, he had sat down to breakfast yearning to be wrong. He wanted Cornwall's thimbleful of emotions back in his possession, to displace all his misery with love. He wanted to push his sister, his lifelong protector, out of her place with her husband. Those had been his thoughts as Regan rose from the breakfast table and collapsed.

Not the Flower of Courtesy

Content Warning: Click here for warnings (possible spoilers)

**NSFW**

"There is no vice so simple but assumes some mark of virtue on his outward parts."

February 23rd

Pan was determined not to be bored. Business was slow tonight, surely because of the weather. Snow and ice made sneaking out for a screw too much for most people. He understood. He had never liked to be outside in the snow himself. If he ever decided to uproot again, he was going someplace warm. He hadn't had much choice last time.

Younger Than She

"For what is wedlock forced but a hell?"

February 19th

As the sun set on her eldest's birthday, Goneril had retreated into her study. Children's birthdays were even worse than her own for reminding her of her age. Miranda was twenty-two, which meant Goneril was forty-four. She would be married twenty-five years come May. Twenty-five years was more than half of her life; in turn, that meant she had spent more of her life married to Albany than not. For all of that, she hadn't even the consolation of a married heiress; Miranda was as stubborn and childish at twenty-two as she had been at sixteen.

That, unlike age, was something Goneril could change.