Three Weeks for Dreamwidth ficlets

[regshoe]

During the recent 3weeks4dreamwidth festivities, muccamukk posted a series of tarot card-based fanwork prompts, and I wrote a few little stories for these prompts. Here they now are on AO3—two Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell ficlets and one for Flight of the Heron. :) Although JSMN is no longer really one of my main fandoms, it's nice to return there occasionally—and the dramatic, fantasy-ish tarot card images were especially well suited to it!

True Thomas (519 words) by regshoe
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Thomas of Dundale
Additional Tags: Backstory
Summary:

Thomas of Dundale reflects on his return to the new Kingdom of Northern England.

That Cup of Cold Water (674 words) by regshoe
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Flight of the Heron - D. K. Broster
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ewen Cameron/Keith Windham
Characters: Ewen Cameron, Keith Windham
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary:

Returned to his home and with Keith by his side, Ewen visits Loch na h-Iolaire.

The World Sheds Its Sorrow (622 words) by regshoe
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Stephen Black
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Lost-Hope (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell)
Summary:

Lost-hope changes; but it's not always easy.

Comments

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Oh, excellent, more tarot fic! I look forward to reading them soon!

"That Cup of Cold Water"--is that the ace of cups? :D

[regshoe]

:D I hope you enjoy them!

And it is indeed—it was a lovely picture which reminded me of all the significant cup/draught of water/loch imagery in FotH, the perfect opportunity. :)

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Whenever I watch or read something I really like, my brain instinctively chooses a representative card for the characters, and the first time I read TFOTH, the card that most reminded me of Keith was the ace of cups, but reversed! XD And Ewen was totally a knight of wands!

[regshoe]

Aww, how neat! The prompt for the ace of cups described its meaning as including 'joy', 'consummated union' and 'a great love that even if unrequited or thwarted still bestows the creative and transformative power, heights, and knowledge that otherwise would remain unknown'—that last one sounds especially like Keith in canon to me, although I decided to do something with the happier parts of the description here.

Now, the knight of wands—that makes me think of what Ewen and Jonathan Strange would make of each other if they ever met, because of course Jonathan is the Knight of Wands according to Childermass XD

[theseatheseatheopensea]

'a great love that even if unrequited or thwarted still bestows the creative and transformative power, heights, and knowledge that otherwise would remain unknown'

Ohh, I absolutely love that description of the card, and it *does* sound a lot like Keith! <3 The ace of cups is such a good card for him--it's a card full of feelings, but in Keith's case those are blocked and unexpressed (so, reversed!), and it takes an unexpected meeting with a knight of wands (basically, a super charismatic and brave and loyal and passionate person) to unlock/get in touch with those feelings and form a bond with another person, at last! *sighs* And one could say that something similar happens with Strange and Norrell, right? (No, I haven't thought about this at all, why do you ask? XD)

My favourite description of the ace of cups is "the house of the true heart", which becomes more obvious in the Marseille deck (the one Childermass has), because the cup looks like a super fancy house--it's like the "my cup overflows" vibe drawn into a card! And it fits very well with post-canon fix-it vibes! <3

Oh, and to make more parallels with JS&MN, the ace of cups is also a card related to "the language of birds"--that is, divination, or magic, or miracles, or mysteries, or unexplained marvels... that's *very* interesting, right?

[luzula]

'a great love that even if unrequited or thwarted still bestows the creative and transformative power, heights, and knowledge that otherwise would remain unknown'

Oh, how lovely! And describes what I was trying to do in Steadfast Unto Death well, I think.

[regshoe]

it's a card full of feelings, but in Keith's case those are blocked and unexpressed (so, reversed!), and it takes an unexpected meeting with a knight of wands (basically, a super charismatic and brave and loyal and passionate person) to unlock/get in touch with those feelings and form a bond with another person, at last! *sighs*

Aww, I love that description! Especially the idea of blocked/reversed feelings being brought out by a meeting with the Knight of Wands, because of course that's just what happens with Keith and Ewen. As for Strange and Norrell, heh, that's a parallel I wouldn't have expected to draw, but when you put it like that... XD

Ooh, I like the Marseilles deck design! Hmm, the water of the loch on one card design and the house of Ardroy on the other?

the ace of cups is also a card related to "the language of birds"--that is, divination, or magic, or miracles, or mysteries, or unexplained marvels... that's *very* interesting, right?

That is very interesting indeed! And of course the idea that magic is 'the language of birds' fits in perfectly with Flight of the Heron. :)

[regshoe]

Aww, yes, it does fit that story very well! <3

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Hmm, the water of the loch on one card design and the house of Ardroy on the other?

There's also the design in the Spanish deck, which looks a bit like vines forming/cradling a heart--I really like this one, it's very fitting too! <3

[regshoe]

Aww, I like that one too! And vines, trees, hidden hearts—all very Keith. :)