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Apr. 4th, 2017 07:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
babydracoI'm still totally going to brainstorm this Reign fic, just *mostly* not in public Tumblr posts. I can't not make long, complicated notes, because I am faced with quite a lot of worldbuilding and research. And I *am* going to research this, for once I don't want anyone to have complaints (and the fic will include copious links and references and explanations of where I chose to diverge).
Anyway
"But who knows what she spoke to the darkness, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all her life seemed shrinking, and the walls of her bower closing in about her
Since I want to do this from a largely female pov, I can either start with Francoise On the Day The King Leaves for Scotland (I'm not rewriting the entire French Court plot arc) OR Isobel (James) Alone in the Castle with Knox. But maybe both at once.
So yeah, John Knox. For reasons of historical accuracy, will not be genderswapped. I cannot believe this sentence now exists, but there you go.
So in this 'verse, he is dealing with a *devoutly Catholic* man as king, or a Protestant *woman* as Regent, neither option would be ideal for him. However, the boy is too clever and dangerous, while the girl appears silly and easily manipulated. And she *is* eager to prove her usefulness to the Protestant cause.
Or that's what a man with zero respect for women would assume, looking at how she presents herself and not bothering to wonder if any part of that is an act honed over a lifetime of being underestimated.
Spoilers: A lot of it is.
And at first, she's grateful to have him around, because she's anxious about doing a good job as Regent. They don't know when, or if, the king is ever coming back and she's trying to make sure Knox will help her retain power. And having a dad type figure around is nice too,she wanted to be able to trust him and look up to him. But suspicion begins to sneak in as she realizes 1)he's a misogynist, 2)she is being Out Slytherined, and 3) he is trying to push her into betraying her brother. He led her to believe Malcolm was dead, he admitted to tricking the king of England into executing M!Lola for treason...this friendship is creepy and toxic.
But in spite of previous jokes, there'd be no affair or sexual contact. Because I actually think he's one of those conservative religious guys who really does practice what he preaches (if I'm wrong about that, I'll change this). He'll do other terrible things under the belief that the end justifies the means, but he won't do something sexually immoral. Now, he hasn't taken a vow of celibacy, and he's not bothered because he wants to be respectful of women, but because he thinks all women are either weak and stupid, or inherently lacking in a moral compass. Sex is a necessary evil, but having a libido is a moral failing because blah blah Eve blah blah sins of the flesh whatever, eyeroll. So while a normal person might caution him against being interested in this girl because he's married, she's too young for him and she looks to him for advice and approval, he'd *also* be disgusted at himself for appreciating her physical attributes at all. In the thought process where sex, by itself, is sinning, when the goal is to avoid doing it at all, there's no real understanding of consent or responsibility.
After a post on "modesty culture" on the ex fundy forum StuffFundiesLike, this guy commented that he wished the young women at his church would dress more modestly because they were "causing him to stumble". And the responses were obviously quite critical. I remember asking him if he understood how creepy that sounded because if the women aren't interested, what sin was he implying he might commit? But later I realized, after having implied he was a potential sexual predator, all he might have meant was that they were causing him to notice they were attractive. Maybe turning him on a little, which he regards as a terrible thing because he can't just let himself channel that energy into something more productive.
But of course, it's their fault and their responsibility to do something about it. Even though there's literally nothing they can do to change *his* thought patterns.
So anyway. She's a widow (of a separate,fictional Earl of Moray possibly). So in the context of a Madonna/Whore complex she occupies a weird no man's land. She's a sexually active woman who got there via the respectable route of marriage but is no longer constrained by said marriage. She's sexually unpredictable, and the only man she answers to is the king. Who quite frankly thinks who she sleeps with is none of his business as long as they're not associated with the English Court.
So our villain decides it must be her fault that this is happening. She's torturing him on purpose (but like many beautiful young women, is unaware how much she's been featuring in his fantasies). So later, when he's denouncing both of them, he harps on what a wicked filthy Jezebel the king's sister is and his details are suspiciously specific.
But we're definitely dealing with a theme here of having trusted and looked up to someone who you realize is creeping on you. Also, he wants to destroy your family but it's the first thing which echoes a lot of people's experiences.
Anyway
"But who knows what she spoke to the darkness, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all her life seemed shrinking, and the walls of her bower closing in about her
Since I want to do this from a largely female pov, I can either start with Francoise On the Day The King Leaves for Scotland (I'm not rewriting the entire French Court plot arc) OR Isobel (James) Alone in the Castle with Knox. But maybe both at once.
So yeah, John Knox. For reasons of historical accuracy, will not be genderswapped. I cannot believe this sentence now exists, but there you go.
So in this 'verse, he is dealing with a *devoutly Catholic* man as king, or a Protestant *woman* as Regent, neither option would be ideal for him. However, the boy is too clever and dangerous, while the girl appears silly and easily manipulated. And she *is* eager to prove her usefulness to the Protestant cause.
Or that's what a man with zero respect for women would assume, looking at how she presents herself and not bothering to wonder if any part of that is an act honed over a lifetime of being underestimated.
Spoilers: A lot of it is.
And at first, she's grateful to have him around, because she's anxious about doing a good job as Regent. They don't know when, or if, the king is ever coming back and she's trying to make sure Knox will help her retain power. And having a dad type figure around is nice too,she wanted to be able to trust him and look up to him. But suspicion begins to sneak in as she realizes 1)he's a misogynist, 2)she is being Out Slytherined, and 3) he is trying to push her into betraying her brother. He led her to believe Malcolm was dead, he admitted to tricking the king of England into executing M!Lola for treason...this friendship is creepy and toxic.
But in spite of previous jokes, there'd be no affair or sexual contact. Because I actually think he's one of those conservative religious guys who really does practice what he preaches (if I'm wrong about that, I'll change this). He'll do other terrible things under the belief that the end justifies the means, but he won't do something sexually immoral. Now, he hasn't taken a vow of celibacy, and he's not bothered because he wants to be respectful of women, but because he thinks all women are either weak and stupid, or inherently lacking in a moral compass. Sex is a necessary evil, but having a libido is a moral failing because blah blah Eve blah blah sins of the flesh whatever, eyeroll. So while a normal person might caution him against being interested in this girl because he's married, she's too young for him and she looks to him for advice and approval, he'd *also* be disgusted at himself for appreciating her physical attributes at all. In the thought process where sex, by itself, is sinning, when the goal is to avoid doing it at all, there's no real understanding of consent or responsibility.
After a post on "modesty culture" on the ex fundy forum StuffFundiesLike, this guy commented that he wished the young women at his church would dress more modestly because they were "causing him to stumble". And the responses were obviously quite critical. I remember asking him if he understood how creepy that sounded because if the women aren't interested, what sin was he implying he might commit? But later I realized, after having implied he was a potential sexual predator, all he might have meant was that they were causing him to notice they were attractive. Maybe turning him on a little, which he regards as a terrible thing because he can't just let himself channel that energy into something more productive.
But of course, it's their fault and their responsibility to do something about it. Even though there's literally nothing they can do to change *his* thought patterns.
So anyway. She's a widow (of a separate,fictional Earl of Moray possibly). So in the context of a Madonna/Whore complex she occupies a weird no man's land. She's a sexually active woman who got there via the respectable route of marriage but is no longer constrained by said marriage. She's sexually unpredictable, and the only man she answers to is the king. Who quite frankly thinks who she sleeps with is none of his business as long as they're not associated with the English Court.
So our villain decides it must be her fault that this is happening. She's torturing him on purpose (but like many beautiful young women, is unaware how much she's been featuring in his fantasies). So later, when he's denouncing both of them, he harps on what a wicked filthy Jezebel the king's sister is and his details are suspiciously specific.
But we're definitely dealing with a theme here of having trusted and looked up to someone who you realize is creeping on you. Also, he wants to destroy your family but it's the first thing which echoes a lot of people's experiences.
