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@marcasmacmanus
WIP Oil on canvas painting of Lord Ambroys Belrose.
Ambroys belongs to the outstanding talented @kwillow
Finished version: https://www.tumblr.com/marcasmacmanus/718133372314075136/oil-on-canvas-painting-of-lord-ambroys-belrose?source=share
The people-pleaser is unpleased when the people aren't pleased. Maybe 7/10 uncomfortable, not because you're making him worry about his future, but because you're implying you aren't impressed by his outfits and that is so much scarier.
The way he'd reply to this depends on whoever was asking, so I stitched together both modes for this. In the open, he would just give the "aaw what are you jealous? ♥" response. He's trained himself to avoid emotional meltdowns in public. His household has to put up with those instead! That first part, where he flips back and forth between egomania and insecurity via babbled rapid-fire questions, is is much, much closer to his unguarded feelings than what outsiders see.
Some part of him genuinely believes he does everything for his beloved but ever-demanding public. Dressing up to brighten their drab lives, saying "yes" to every dance as he's asked for at the latest gala, adding another fib to his fleet of little white lies that keep everything nice and copacetic, etcetera. Ambroys congratulates himself on his saintly selflessness, even if 1) no one even asked, 2) he always slips out of doing any unpleasant or difficult or unglamorous favors or 3) the real benefactor is himself.
Ambroys feels that he deserves praise for caring so much about other people, but he's got it backwards--he only "cares so much" because he wants praise. He doesn't grasp the difference between doing things for others versus doing things because of others. "Desperately seeking attention," as you say, is the actual reason why he does anything beyond eat and sleep, even if he doesn't realize it. Ambroys is a flower that thrives in the (spot)light and wilts when left alone in the dark.
Relax your grip, lady. No one's taking that thing away from you. (No one else wants it.)
If Jocosa were asked this question by someone in-universe (9/10 uncomfortable, especially here in her younger years) she would give the answer of "being in the family way again would not be medically advisable." That is truth-adjacent, but not the whole truth. As she says, questions surrounding her fertility followed her for years, through side-eyes from her peers; glances of pity by her staff; through exhortations and excoriations from her husband and father and mother.
Jocosa wasn't deluded--she knew why her strange, singular spawn was considered unacceptable. Years prior, even she'd have agreed that she was duty-bound to produce progeny. That was the girl that married a contemptible man at the behest of her father for the good of the bloodline. Despite pressure from those same men to submit herself to more pregnancies, for the first time, Jocosa refused their demands.
She'd never have dreamed of such rebellion in her youth. But coming into womanhood--or, perhaps, the nights enduring the humiliation of the marital bed, the years spent sick and suffering through futile pregnancies and miscarriages and stillbirths, and the months caring for the infant the family doctor told her would die (would be better off dead)--changed her. She developed resentment, spite, a thirst for power of her own and, most surprisingly, a deep affection for her wretched little whelp. Though her body had recoiled at the thing growing inside it and vomited him up prematurely, he still clung to life and to her, loyally obeying her desperate, whispered orders to stay alive just one day more. He had stayed by her side when none of her other offspring could and none of her family cared to, and she'd stay by his.
Death hadn't claimed him, and her family didn't claim him. Her son--her family's legacy--was therefore hers to shape, and hers alone.
Relax your grip, lady. No one's taking that thing away from you. (No one else wants it.)
If Jocosa were asked this question by someone in-universe (9/10 uncomfortable, especially here in her younger years) she would give the answer of "being in the family way again would not be medically advisable." That is truth-adjacent, but not the whole truth. As she says, questions surrounding her fertility followed her for years, through side-eyes from her peers; glances of pity by her staff; through exhortations and excoriations from her husband and father and mother.
Jocosa wasn't deluded--she knew why her strange, singular spawn was considered unacceptable. Years prior, even she'd have agreed that she was duty-bound to produce progeny. That was the girl that married a contemptible man at the behest of her father for the good of the bloodline. Despite pressure from those same men to submit herself to more pregnancies, for the first time, Jocosa refused their demands.
She'd never have dreamed of such rebellion in her youth. But coming into womanhood--or, perhaps, the nights enduring the humiliation of the marital bed, the years spent sick and suffering through futile pregnancies and miscarriages and stillbirths, and the months caring for the infant the family doctor told her would die (would be better off dead)--changed her. She developed resentment, spite, a thirst for power of her own and, most surprisingly, a deep affection for her wretched little whelp. Though her body had recoiled at the thing growing inside it and vomited him up prematurely, he still clung to life and to her, loyally obeying her desperate, whispered orders to stay alive just one day more. He had stayed by her side when none of her other offspring could and none of her family cared to, and she'd stay by his.
Death hadn't claimed him, and her family didn't claim him. Her son--her family's legacy--was therefore hers to shape, and hers alone.
In which Theo says "I'm not naive," then proceeds to be deeply naive.
This'd maybe rank as 6/10 uncomfortable. Theo has little to lose by helping Hyden, and Hyden has little to gain by alienating Theo. He has no reasons to believe Hyden is lying to him about his intentions (no reasons he's paying attention to, anyway).
Whether Hyden cares is another matter. Theo is aware that Hyden is not exactly the sentimental type. That's fine, Theo knows he is unusually emotional compared to most and being more sensible than that isn't a bad thing. After all, his mother was a pragmatic person, not given to flights of fancy or great shows of emotion. Despite that, she and Theo were kindred spirits, and she cared for his troubles like her own. He and Hyden have much in common as well. Maybe it isn't impossible that Hyden could care, too...
In which Theo says "I'm not naive," then proceeds to be deeply naive.
This'd maybe rank as 6/10 uncomfortable. Theo has little to lose by helping Hyden, and Hyden has little to gain by alienating Theo. He has no reasons to believe Hyden is lying to him about his intentions (no reasons he's paying attention to, anyway).
Whether Hyden cares is another matter. Theo is aware that Hyden is not exactly the sentimental type. That's fine, Theo knows he is unusually emotional compared to most and being more sensible than that isn't a bad thing. After all, his mother was a pragmatic person, not given to flights of fancy or great shows of emotion. Despite that, she and Theo were kindred spirits, and she cared for his troubles like her own. He and Hyden have much in common as well. Maybe it isn't impossible that Hyden could care, too...
Lurking about in a sinister manner
Animals That Go Into Space
The possibility that Leonard procreated with his affair partners is something that Theo wouldn't have considered -- he often forgets that having children out of wedlock is something that people can do.
Mentally confronting the horrors of infidelity, illegitimate children, commoner relatives, the unfairness that his father might've produced a higher quantity and maybe even quality of descendants than his far more deserving mother AND the concept his father having sex all at once would make Theo at least 8/10 uncomfortable and give him something new to have cold sweats about.
He'd have very different feelings about this depending on when in his timeline he's asked - so here's a few Ambroyses across the years.
4/10 uncomfortable as a callow young brat for whom "consequences" are things he's heard of but never seen, 10/10 after he's been slapped with multiple comeuppances, and 7/10 when he finally (sort of) knows better but doesn't enjoy being reminded of a time when he didn't.
Being prodded about his relationship with Hyden like this would make Theo uncomfortable (maybe 6/10), but not for the intended reason. Now, Theo would never talk about his idol in such a belittling way to Hyden's face, or in most circumstances, but Theo is a prideful fellow and feeling like he's being demeaned brings out the competitive cutthroat in him.
The apparent leverage Hyden has over Theo is that he's promised Theo that he'll be able to help bring his mother back once he has full command of his magic; Theo's end of the bargain there is helping with Hyden's research and cooperating with the Rising Dawn. However, making Hyden tea, helping him with his buttons and generally acting like a weird little nursemaid were all things Theo started doing spontaneously, long before Hyden ever knew about Theo's necromantic ambitions.
Theo was happy to offer his hospitality out of sympathy, a peculiar kind of chivalry and a desperate need to feel needed. While Theo's more domestic behaviors might look like servility, there is no obligation on Theo's end and he expects nothing in return except gratitude.
So, as to the second part of the question:
Yes. Can't have a savior complex about a person who doesn't need saving!
Frankly, even though Theo admires Hyden as this grand conquering figure, if he met his (anti-)hero at the height of his power, he'd instinctively dislike the guy. Theo is a defensive, paranoid, insecure person who explodes with anger when he's made to feel inferior - his mother had to manage his compulsion to butt heads with anyone exerting power over him when they met with social superiors. But in the present, out of place and time, Hyden is vulnerable, Hyden is weak, Hyden needs his help, and so Theo lets his guard down around him.
Despite Theo's insistence that he's the one in control, Hyden IS totally manipulating him, but he's leading Theo with a rope that Theo offered to him, and Theo wouldn't have given him that rope if Hyden had appeared strong enough to yank it.
Turns out this whole "having a jester who sings jaunty little songs about you" thing isn't all it's cracked up to be... Drawn response to this piece by Visanima of their character Thorn interacting with Hyden!
I am allowing Theo to be vaguer than usual in his monologue here, but I think you get the idea.
10/10 uncomfortable if someone with any ability to hold him responsible asked this, and I would hope that he'd lie to them more cleverly than he tells the truth.
Commission for @chocodile đŸ”¥đŸ”¥đŸ”¥
Absolutely infatuated with his design and pose and energy!! It was so fun working on him!
Needle Felting Commissions
I saw you Theo recipe post and wondered what Theo would look like with his mothers tail?
Instead of just the tail, I wound up just drawing him with the whole ermine package. Plus some bonus doodles.
Despite really wishing he'd been born as an ermine-person instead of a rat-person, he would not look as elegant as he thinks he would look.
@skekdris asked Hyden whether he can still sense magic. Yes, and it's a weird, frustrating, melancholy experience. Somewhere between a phantom limb and those videos where astronauts back on earth try to set pens down in thin air and then look confused when they fall to the ground. A wizard's personal magical field feels and behaves like an extension of the body. Even for wizards who aren't all flowery and psuedosexual about magic like Hyden is, losing the ability to manipulate it would feel "wrong", like the rules of their reality have suddenly changed.
…Not that there's really much literature on the topic. Hyden's situation seems to be quite unique. Perhaps there was more information about such wizardly ailments before the fall of the Old Kingdoms, back when forehead catalyst stones weren't so unheard of.
When Ambroys is talking about sharing his wonderfulness with "all of you," he mostly means the people of the City of the Sun, but also all mortal-kind, which I suppose does include you. No need to thank him, you're so welcome.
This is a question he could answer VERY differently depending on where in his timeline of fuck-ups he's at. At his present-day multi-century age, some past mistakes don't seem so bad anymore, whether it be because he's in a good place now even if some bad choices led him there, or because everyone who would hold his behavior against him is long dead, or because he's lied about his backstory so often he's successfully replaced his own memories with fabulous confabulations.
Still, there are a few choices that he winces over. Relationships he wishes had closure. Battles he wishes he'd won. He'd sleep more easily if his life was one hundred percent the good-defeats-evil fairy-tale he preaches, but as it is, he knows that no matter how charmed his life is now, he is extremely capable of fucking it all up. That lingering dread makes him, oh, let's say 6-7/10 uncomfortable.
