winter ball
main ballroom
adelaide with @rellinquish
it had been a russian idea that every happy family was alike, but every unhappy family was unhappy in its own way -- tolstoy, the opening lines of anna karenina. the same held true to dysfunction: for all without it, they were the same; for those mired by it, it was unique unto itself.
for example: it couldn’t be said how many young women had seen their cousin’s best friend exit their other cousin’s room looking disshevelled, but at least one had. and she stood in genovia’s grand ballroom, wearing vintage chanel once garnished with a feather headdress on christy turlington, holding her gin like a cross.
“the bar at the back has nolet’s reserve,” it’s what adelaide says in place of greeting to arthur, who she sidles up next to. “but not the front. don’t waste your time.”
or, the four who never broke her heart (and one who did) with @dsappointments, @aglyndwr, @brcknboy, & @goldenbov.
❝ things would have been terribly strange and unbalanced without her. she was the queen who finished out the suit of dark jacks, dark king, and joker. ❞
— they were her boys, all of them. disjointed as they alll were, an amalgamation of imperious delinquency and broad shoulders, she fit in with them flawlessly, somehow miraculously. despite their raucous, boyish nature and her own sylphishness, she had ingratiated herself in the clan from a young age, as if she had never given a second thought to a separation that might have been borne due to gender. they had been raised originally to treat the youngest and only girl of the brood with caution, with echoes of careful with adelaide carried through the lawn when the boys started roughhousing, but it had quickly become clear she would have no part of isolation from their play. like a vase with a glass-sharp shard hidden on the inside, she was not the breakable creature their mothers and nannies imagined her to be. the boys were the first to learn this. when she was six, she had campaigned and lobbied to join their wrestling tournament until they had relented away from the governess’s ears, unwilling to be reprimanded. she had been too slight to make an impact for much of the game, but it was to everyone’s great surprise when she climbed onto silas’s back in the midst of a group brawl and refused to let go. a casualty of war, she had only been knocked off only when a sharp elbow had flown incidentally into her dainty face, and the whole group band had paused while james pulled everyone apart in distress to find her little form among the madness.
-- she emerged with a bloody nose, and grinned through the snot, triumphant. she would later spit a tooth - which had not been noticeably loose beforehand - into her father’s hand before bedtime. no tears escaped her that evening. it was from then that be careful with adelaide slowly morphed from a warning to the windsor-glyndwr boys to a mirthful, cautionary suggestion they threw at peers and potential suitors that attempted to hang around her. careful around adelaide, rhys would smirk, watching a new acquaintance eye her from a distance as the rest swallowed their amusement. she’s got teeth.
as she grew older and was splinted into the shape of a woman and a princess, forced to abandon participation in play-fighting and wrestling, still she chose to watch on with them rather than stand with the adults. easy as it would have been for her to mingle with the parents and associates who so adored her, instead she would drag a dirty lawn chair to the sidelines of their rugby game, plastic legs right up against the line, close enough to be knocked over or covered with mud simply by proximity. she never cared. there she would sit, wearing arthur’s discarded tweed blazer and smoking a pilfered cigar, calling out the score to their match and at times purposefully mishandling the numbers for the amusement of hearing them all yell back at her. singular a creature as she was, she longed totally to be surrounded by them, and could be possessed by few others that were not this wriggling, grass-stained knot of boyish brothers and cousins.
in turn, there was something quietly fierce about her love for them all, a protective nature that could have only been fostered from years of being purposefully known and looked after. each boy was unique to themselves, no two selves alike despite similar features, and she carried a candle for every one -- passing through their individual rooms in her heart each night as if to dust and keep them pristine.
she was their’s. and they were hers, each and every one --
RHYS, whom she had clung to in youth more than then all the rest. despite three of her brothers being closer age-mates, adelaide was struck with the conviction that as the youngest of their respective clans, they were meant to be together. it was a conviction of a terrifying zeal, so much so that on an occasion in which their mothers attempted to separate her from him in the middle of a garden party, they were promptly bit, milk-coloured baby teeth leaving imprints in their flesh. perhaps the act of defiance had ingratiated her to him, for he had laughed and let her sit on his knee during the luncheon, not so much as blinking when she had spilled jam on his sleeve. as they had grown older, it came to pass that they would accompany one another to events and important affairs; they became an established pair, standing straight-backed at the side of the room and whispering quips and half-snide observatory comments back and forth. when trauma and tragedy held their respective hands over rhys and adelaide’s throats, it came to pass that they would begin to separate. but the young often know things the grown are blind to -- a soul-similarity, a needing to be together -- and it should be said that when grief laid its body over them, they buckled in the same places. distanced they were, but never different.
ARTHUR, golden arthur, with whom it could be said she shared the greatest understanding. the elder to his brother, it had not been arthur that adelaide had gravitated towards in kinship in her youth, but mutual interest would dictate their repeated proximity in later years. it was with him that she was most predisposed to loss, both on the polo field and in her carefully crafted facade. unlike with her eldest brother, who saw only golden potential in little adelaide, arthur had long held the keen-eyed ability to decipher her where she stood. it was a skill she shared when looking at him, and though neither were of a disposition prone to rows, it was between them that the most disagreements arose. with the others, one could pretend everything was legible and unaltered, but this uncanny connection meant lies had no domain here. and yet she remained in a perpetual state of gratitude towards him, her lovely arthur, who stood by her as a flickering gold-warm light in the sky -- the other half her matching set.
ELIJAH, who sprawled with her in disarray on oxford’s lawn, two disassembled music triangles interlocking together at various angles. the most delicate of the brood, there was something about them that implied a kind of twinship, despite the difference of hair colour and shape of face -- one flaxen and soft, the other dark and sharp. when they rested on each other on a lawn bench discussing poetry and vanini’s intellectual liberatism, elijah leaned back on adelaide’s twiggy thigh for support as she groomed the shoulder of his blazer for line. one could have imagined, with ease, they had been borne on the same day and had never before endured separation. no more than a year apart, perhaps it was the closeness in age that dictated as much from them, but likely it was something greater. delicate as the two were, they should not have been underestimated, for they were undoubtedly the shrikes of the family -- slight and small birds that, while appearing harmless, would spear what was necessary on a thorn if it meant feeding the other.
SILAS, most dissimilar to her of all, she spent the most time analyzing him. with his wild disposition and buoyant spirit unencumbered by the weight of all the strange and wonderful things that held her. adelaide had spent whole evenings scrutinizing his face, looking to trace the lines of his profile the way a fortune teller does marks a palm in at attempt to identify with her brother. that she could not always understand him bothered adelaide, and sent her into fits of self-reflection or focused observation as she attempted to make sense of it. perhaps because he was the next-eldest after james, he had always seemed his foil; so when their oldest brother demanded the world treat adelaide with gloves, silas had been the first to discard them. this had both angered and amazed her in equal measures. and yet still, she found herself often thinking of the day she had returned home from boarding school, only to be caught by silas smoking a clove cigarette by the garden shed. she had immediately begun to plead for him not to tell, extinguishing the incriminating thing and tears springing to her eyes. instead of answering he had merely reached into his back pocket, produced a package of sterlings and lit up next to her, offering a replacement for the one she had crushed under heel. they had smoked in silence. that was, adelaide had often felt, who they were -- disparate at the bone, but the quiet last stand in each other’s corner.
& of course, there was JAMES. he was, to her, the king of them all -- a paragon of virtue among men. if he had ever done wrong, she did not see it, and whether that was symptomatic of their love, or a carefully contrived act from a brother who would not see his image tarnished in her eyes, it could not be said. he eclipsed all others that stood before him from the time she was born, as much a father and hero as a brother figure, and in his early death, he would ruin everyone else for her for the remainder of her life. in her heart he was sainted, and those that reproached this holy image would find themselves at odds with her indefinitely. he had been her first heartbreak. and then there had been another, unrelated one. but there were four other men, each with a hand on her heart, pressing on it tenderly until it learned how to beat again.
— THEY WERE HER BOYS, all of them. she had belonged to them all her life, in ways that she could never to anyone else. and that was how it would remain: adelaide and her brood of grand, raucuous, noble princes.
A D E L A I D E W I N D S O R
( p r i n c e s s o f e n g l a n d )
bespoke houndstooth blazers, watching your mare come second place, exposed lace garters, sipping from a bottle of warm champagne, grey skies, french erotica, a wet slip dress with nothing underneath, white roses, reciting passages by heart at parties, mascara-stained sheets, sitting by open windows despite the cold, black velvet, heavy books by pretentious authors, jewels at the breakfast table, the dirty hem of a long dress, hidden gardens, purple hickeys on pale thigh, smoking in secret, sleeping naked, perfect tennis whites & an immaculate backhand, bows in tangled hair, audrey hepburn films & grace kelly sensibility, placing their hand over your neck mid-kiss and squeezing hard, oversized sunglasses paired with red eyes and dark circles, never wearing the same coat twice, the weight of history, the shot that puts down a lame horse, perfect posture, lingerie and silk in the library, sucking whip cream off of strawberries, making love in the stable, watching the sunrise from the garden in an evening gown.
i’m currently keeping her actual childhood/family background undecided until i get the chance to plot with her brother(s), but as per the connection description: the siblings were initially v close while their parents were rather absent
notably, adelaide & her brother james had an extremely special relationship. as the eldest and youngest of the brood, from the time adelaide was born, james’s affection for her was almost paternal in many ways — and she loved him to pieces.
literally, like, there are shots of james walking adelaide hand-in-hand into her primary school, and even as they got older, she considered him her best friend and biggest protector. this is highkey inspired by my own grandmother & how she describes her relationship w her own late brother uwu
a charming, odd child, who was labelled as an old soul very early in life. very well mannered and mature, but prone to somewhat unusual flights of fancy
a lowkey trouble maker -- or rather, incredible adept at being subtle. with at least one wild elder brother, it was both easy to learn from their mistakes and appear innocent in comparison
as adelaide got older, that old soul developed some of the troubles they’re ought to. she craved art, passion, love, justice, intense emotion, experience. she engaged in these behaviours moderately and with subtlety, particularly in comparison to silas. she was/is less about wild partying and more about deep experiences, and as such there have rarely been any stories about the little princess and drinking/inappropriate behaviour
she had always had a changeable nature and was susceptible to bouts of depression, but the death of james hit her in a way she has yet to recover from. while the whole family was devastated, no one took it harder than adelaide, who to this day calls him the love of her life
for the two years since his murder, adelaide has been in a poor mental and emotional place. unable to fully move on despite the time that has passed, she has both retreated further into herself and sought out unhealthy methods of coping ( ie. the usual -- alcohol, travel, and occasionally drugs )
hence she’s chosen to come to genovia, a decision that surprised even her parents. remaining in london has kept her in the throes of mourning, so she hopes to let go of some of her grief by arriving somewhere new and attempting self care
reputation & aesthetics tend to be very immaculate and proper, so it’s often a surprise to those that find out the young princess has that darker, troubled, sensual side to her - that she can drink gin straight without wincing, or has bruises and hickeys beneath her silk blouse
has never had any desire to rule/never considered it an option, but instead focuses her life on the betterment of people but domestic to the uk and worldwide through charity & philanthropy
TRIVIA ;
the nickname for her in the uk is “the english rose,” or several variants (“the little rose,” etc) due to her fair complexion & nature. her reputation is very princess diana-esque: a modern, classy woman who devotes her time to philanthropy & charity
considered a fashion icon!
an extremely accomplished horse rider, considered one of the best competitors in britain despite not actively competing in years. she’s down showmanship, jumping, dressage, & eventing. yes, she is the horse girl
despite her tiny height, form, and general fairylike facial features, this girl can drink a surprising amount of people under the table. is this a sign of a Problem? CERTAINLY
if you think you are the most beautiful and/or incredible thing to walk this earth, she thinks you are incredibly stupid. she’ll name 14 pieces of art right NOW that are more interesting than ur looks
makes a habit of calling out those that are arrogant/rude
she started smoking when she was fourteen. her parents still don’t know.
camilla macaulay, grace kelly, and princess diana are probably her biggest inspos
very accomplished liar - she has an incredible poker face
she wears a locket james gave her every day. he had it specially made with an inscription (either a quote from a little princess or the secret garden, i haven’t decided), but since then she’s had the other side inlaid with a photo of him :c
her favourite disney movie is alice in wonderland, which is also one of her favourite novels
PLOTS & CONNECTIONS ;
the best friend: self explanatory! very open to how their friendship came about and when, but someone who knows adelaide intimately, and one of the few that can still read her even when she’s putting on her otherwise immaculate facade
the no-good: someone that would have been her corrupter, perhaps, or thought to be -- until they realized she was not the delicate thing one would seem. could be friends with benefits, drinking buddies, someone who encourages self-destructive behaviours, or any combination of this.
the counsel: young as she is, adelaide knows herself intimately, and as such knows a great deal about women in general -- this muse is coming to her for advice on how to court mignonette (or another lady)!
the lionheart: a dear friend, and someone similar to adelaide insomuch as her old soul, maturity, devotion to philanthropy, etc. someone to either decry or poke fun at the triviality of so much around them
the skinny love: it’s been the wrong time since childhood. but it’s always been the right time to hold terrible affection for each other. how heartbreaking, to keep on watching but never kissing.
the charged: inspired by this gif set. the true terrible influence, unhealthy relationship, disaster in a glass bottle. they infuriate each other, say the worst things that can be said. then they let it out in bed -- or almost go. getting closer every time
the antagonist: preferably a princess or someone of noble enough birth that they could have attended the same academy in their teen years. alternatively, could just be a pair that runs into each other frequently at those fancy aristocratic events. ( x ) is someone that leans into that queen B(itch) trope, or otherwise is confident to the point of arrogance/is unphased by potentially offending others by saying what they want, when they want. adelaide, blank-faced over her glass, calls this person out for their behaviour. as such, an intense dislike starts to brood between the two
the affair: we talking sex, we talking scandal, we talking familial outrage. we can talk more about specific circumstances, but i am very solid on the aesthetic of That Scene in atonement: aka green dress, up against the library walls during a dinner party, walked in on at the perfectly terrible moment. my initial thought was that these two met for the first time when the windsor’s were hosting a dinner/ball/celebration or something in honour of this royal/important family, and adelaide and ( x ) had incredible chemistry -- or at least sexual attraction. it only takes a few hours and several glasses of champagne for them to end up in the library in an entirely compromising position before someone walks in on them and snitches to the family. the whole evening is absolutely ruined, both sets of parents in disarray, and while the press never hear why the night was the fiasco, there are now rumours of tension between the two families/nations. alternatively, this could have been started some time long ago and wasn’t 100% a one-off
the young love: adelaide’s longest relationship, which began sometime in late high school or early college and lasted several years. preferably someone of royal blood, because this was in many ways - especially aesthetically - the Perfect Relationship. not only was adelaide wildly in love with them, but their relationship was public, and the press considered it an incredible feat that a prince and princess would naturally begin dating. this kind of aesthetic, ja feel? everyone that knew them felt they would get married, including adelaide. but for whatever reasons you like, this little prince broke up with her, and subsequently broke her heart & dashed her dreams. prior to james’s death, this was the greatest pain she ever endured. still do this day if she references “my ex,” or compares a man to someone, it’s this guy. despite whatever time has passed between break-up and now, adelaide still treats him with some disdain -- she’s both still hurt, and still harbouring lingering affection for him.
the exploration: the first woman that made adelaide question her sexuality !! i’m open as to what this is, how it happened etc; whether anything physical occurred or they were merely flirtatious and physically close; if it was one-sided or reciprocated, etc.
private. washroom on the grounds of genovia’s palace.
adelaide with @oliviabrgen
there were experiences that, although universally dreaded, could not be avoided by any individual regardless of their geographical location or social standing in life -- namely, running into your ex’s sister in a washroom. adelaide had only intended to reapply lipstick in the ornately rimmed mirror, but attention diverts from her makeup as she catches the reflection of a blonde girl.
“olivia.” she intones by way of greeting. “it’s been some time.”
