#demelzanetwork

[runningwithshewolves]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Title: Who’s Gonna Hold You Down (When You Shake?)

Word Count: 1,490 || 1,490

Fandom: Poldark

Pairing(s): Demelza Carne x Ross Poldark; Elizabeth Chynoweth x Francis Poldark; past Elizabeth Chynoweth x Ross Poldark

Chapter: 1/??

Chapter Title: Oh, the World can Collapse

Summary: Captain Ross Poldark leaves Cornwall for the western front in the summer of 1915. Over the course of the war, his father dies and his betrothed Elizabeth, believing him to be dead, marries his cousin Francis. He throws himself into military life to cope, even volunteering to lead an offensive against the German lines. His unit is hit by a major explosive, knocking him unconscious. When he wakes up he finds himself being tended to by a kind nurse named Demelza

BASED OFF THIS POST BY princessofpoldark

Preview:

Ross stares at the words on the letter, fighting back the tears that sting his gaze; that causes a film to cover his eyes and blur his vision. He doesn't need to see the words that are written, however, for he's been staring at the letter for nearly five minutes straight, imprinting the words to memory in an attempt to decipher the hidden meaning - surely there must be a hidden meaning.

He blinks once, twice, letting the tears fall onto paper and smudge the ink. He wipes his face on the back of his hand, taking away the wetness of his eyes as he reads again:

My darling Ross,

They tell me there is no point in writing this letter; that the war has claimed so many good men, and that, because we have not heard from you in so long, it has claimed you too… but I know in my heart that is not true. I know that you live, Ross, and I know that it is my duty to tell you of the recent events that have befallen Nampara and Trenwith.

Firstly, I shall offer you the worse news. Your father has passed away. I was by his side, so I can say with one-hundred-percent certainty that he did not suffer. I doubt that will ease your feelings, but know that it is true. He has been buried alongside your mother as he has always wished for. I truly am sorry that I need to pass this information on over letter, rather than face to face as I wished.

[runningwithshewolves]

Hey guys, I’m a bit in a writing slump so in order to get me back in the saddle, could you maybe send me some requests and I’ll write something for it?

it probably won’t be long or much good but i need to get into the swing of writing again so... yeah... thanks? 

[runningwithshewolves]

i feel like people who are cursing Ross for gambling Demelza’s necklace don’t really understand him?? like he’s not a perfect character and his pride gets in the way of a lot of things. 

he couldn’t stop Jim going to prison and he blames himself for that. now Jim is dead and it’s his fault because he didn’t do more to stop this young man from his fate. and what’s worse is he’s to go to a ball and be surrounded by the very people who put Jim there. 

he didn’t want to go. he only went to make Demelza happy and people seem to forget that. he didn’t want to go - he saw how much it meant to Demelza and made himself go, but the bitterness was already there. 

Ross is a gambling man. before he went to war, he risked everything he had gambling and drinking and probably whoring (just like Francis is now) and that’s the kind of person he is. 

the thing is Demelza makes him happy, but Demelza was never going to change him. down at his core, Ross is good, sure, but he’s a gambler and a risk taker.

since Jim died, he hadn’t stopped drinking. not once. and his goal whilst gambling was to prove that the man he was playing was cheating (i can’t remember his name, i want to say Simpson but i feel that’s Downton Abbey). he didn’t care what he lost in the process. 

he was bitter. sure he wanted to make Demelza happy by buying her a new dress and this gorgeous trinket, but things had changed since he ordered it. he hated the very idea of being dressed up and painted, and so when Demelza put her necklace down, he didn’t care about it. 

i’m pretty certain that he didn’t want to turn his wife into one of these people he despises. 

and not to mention, i doubt Demelza cared in the end. she volunteered it. he didn’t rip it from her neck - he was willing to gamble Wheal Leisure and she stopped him. if she hadn’t, he wouldn’t have cared about her necklace. 

Demelza wanted to stop him from gambling away his mine. she had no idea that Ross knew he was cheating - had no idea what Ross was doing, she wanted to stop him from doing what Francis had done to Elizabeth and Verity and Geoffrey.

Ross was at his lowest point when he was gambling away his money/his father’s watch/Demelza’s necklace. and i hate to tell you, but when you’re at that lowest point, you don’t give a toss what happens to others. it’s selfish, yes, but you just don’t care. 

and the thing is, Demelza understands that. dresses and trinkets don’t make her happy - it’s the thought behind them. she will always have the memory that Ross bought her a necklace that cost 100. 

and wow, this got really long omg 

[dakorra]

get to to know me meme

[2/5] fav. female characters → demelza poldark nee carne [poldark]                                                                           I see no scullery maid mama

[runningwithshewolves]

written for the prompt “ross' thoughts before/during the monologue where he tells demelza he loves her” for roeweasley​

on Ao3

Why do you think I married you?

It's a simple enough question; he wants to know what Demelza thinks. He wants to know what Demelza thinks about why she wears a band on her finger now - how she came to be Mistress Poldark of Nampara, instead of plain Demelza Carne who's father used to beat her.

He wants to know what she thinks. It's simple enough.

Even if he knows it's not simple enough.

I don't rightly know.

He grins. Good. She's just as clueless as he is. The truth is he has no idea why he married her either. Well, there's an inkling… something that nags at the back of his mind that seems to shout reasons at him. But they just don't seem right.

She stares at him. She looks for an answer.

Ross sighs and turns to her, he knows that he has no way of putting her off. She's like that damn mutt of hers. When she has a scent, she will track it until she finds it, or will tire and exhaust and nearly kill herself trying.

To satisfy an appetite - it was true enough. There was a desire in his body that it seemed only she could fill at late. The first time they were together, it was impulse, a stupid decision on both parties. One that then changed both their lives.

But it was still something that only Demelza herself could fulfil. Even Margaret, a woman paid to please him and knew how to do it, couldn't make him burn the same way Demelza could.

To save myself from being alone. Elizabeth was married to Francis and he thought he would never stumble upon another opportunity to have a wife. Oh, sure, plenty of women threw themselves at him… Ruth Teague was just one of those few, who thought she would be happy being his wife.

But he knew she wouldn't and the last thing he needed - wanted - was to be stuck with a woman who resented him for not giving her the life she thought she would receive.

Because it was the right thing to do.

And God doesn't that make him seem noble? He had stolen her virtue in a night of stupid - yet pleasurable - desire, and it as only right for him to marry her. It was the right thing to do. He wants to scoff at himself. How can he make his own mistake sound like a noble quest?

He goes about stealing beaten girls from their father's hands, only to rear them from his own pocket, turning them into the brave women they are, before bedding and wedding them. No wonder the county cannot stop talking about them. Him, really.

He should be strung up.

I had few expectations. At best you would be a distraction; a bandage to ease a wound. He's hurt her now. He can see it in the way her lips tighten, how her eyes clench as they fight back tears. He reaches out and presses his hand over her own, which are clasped in her lap.

It was true though - he had no honest belief that their marriage would come of anything. He had no honest belief that it would become what it has become.

It still shocks him, that warm, tight feeling in his chest that he gets when he wakes up and sees her curled against his side.

But I was mistaken. You've redeemed me. I am your humble servant. Everything shifts in that moment and he can't help himself from the smile that pulls at his lips. Demelza seems to mirror it.

There's something more he needs to say, however, and can feel it bubbling beneath the surface - can feel it brewing and stirring and burning a hole in his heart.

He never thought he would speak the words to anyone ever after Elizabeth. He never dreamt. When he pictured himself married, it was out of duty - how his and Demelza's marriage started, he supposes.

But now there's more and he wants to watch the shock and happiness etch its way onto Demelza's face as he announces it. He wants to make her happy and serve her. He did not joke when he said he was her humble servant - she could ask anything of him, and he would give it all, gladly.

Just to see the smile spread across her face.

And I love you.

[runningwithshewolves]

Poldark House Casting     ⌊ Demelza Poldark ≈ Gryffindor

We’ll have the days we break and we’ll have the scars to prove it. We’ll have the bonds we make and we’ll have the heart not to lose it.

Demelza paused and looked down, more than ever like a cat now which had found its foothold insecure. She gave a squeak as the tree began to grow... She crawled out laughing. Her hands were scraped and her knees bleeding, the calf of one leg was interlaced with scratches but otherwise she had come to no harm.

[runningwithshewolves]

Come to Me in a Dream

so this is a sneak peek to the Romelza longfic that i’m thinking of writing to see if anyone would read it. it’s going to be Romelza (obvs) with side/unrequited/past Elizabeth/Ross. it will be a modern/college au too. so yeah, let me know if you’d read this as a longfic with how they got to this point and what happens after it. :) 

Demelza looks up when the chime fills the silence and the doors slide open. The smile that had appeared on her lips after reading the text from her friend slowly falls away when she sees who's standing in the elevator.  She purses her lips and tightens her hold on her books as she steps inside the lift beside him. 'I don't even get an "hello"?' Ross' voice filters in through her ears, and she tries not to shiver at the huskiness in his tone. She purses her lips as she hits the button for level "16" with a bit more force than needed, before her hands tighten around her books once more. 'Hello, Mr. Poldark, sir.' She keeps her gaze forward on the doors, even when she hears Ross give a chuckle and from the corner of her eyes, she even sees him shake his head. She bites her tongue, stopping any comments short as she focuses on the rising numbers at the top of the elevator.  '"Mr. Poldark, sir"? That does have a nice ring to it,' he drawls and she feels him move closer to her, stepping up behind her, 'but I didn't hear that moan leave your lips a few nights ago.'  Demelza's jaw clenches and she shakes her head, keeping her gaze forward even though she feels the heat of his gaze on the back of her neck - even as she feels the warmth of his body pressed against her back.  'From what I remember of the morning afterward, you have no right to wonder what I moaned and why.' She finally lets her gaze flicker over to him, watching with a crooked smirk as the satisfied look slips off his face. Good. 'Maybe if you hadn't treated me like an instant mistake then you could have asked me to moan anything you wanted me to.'  When she's finished speaking, her gaze moves back to the front, watching as the numbers rise from 14 to 15 and then finally stop at 16. The doors ding open and she squeezes out past them as soon as they're open wide enough for her slim frame to slip through. She hears Ross follow her and she curses that they stay on the same level in Nampara building. His hand encloses around her elbow and tugs her, making the grasp on her books loosen until they fall free and clatter to the ground. She dives down after them, hurrying to pick them up and check them for damage, when Ross reaches for the same book as she does.  Their fingers meet and Demelza jerks her hand away, turning her attention back to the other two instead. She rises to her feet, her eyes tracking Ross' movements as he does the same thing. He holds the book out to her and she takes it.  'I didn't think of you as a mistake.' He whispers softly, but it sounds like shouting in her ears. 'You didn't think of me as a perfect idea either.'

[demelzanetwork]

So, it’s been a total of five episodes and we can’t be the only ones whose lives have been ruined by the adorable Demelza Poldark and we love her so much that we thought there need to be a place for us to talk (or scream/cry/laugh) about her and so Demelza Network was born.

RULES

Must be following sioned & nives (we do check)

Reblog this post, likes only count as bookmarks!

Complete this form 

Track the tag #demelzanetwork for updates/info

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

A friendly blogger 

Multifandom blogs are allowed as long as you post some Demelza/Poldark

A clean not cluttered blog theme with an easy to use and logically tagging system

Being willing to defend and protect (and ramble) about Demelza

No bashing of other characters or ships. Discussions and constructive comments are allowed but don’t join just to bash other characters and ships this will result in your removal from the network

IF YOU’RE ACCEPTED

Members will be chosen around the 14th of April

There will be a post announcing and welcoming all members

You will receive a message from one of us welcoming you and lying down the ground rules

You will get a spot on the network page

Our eternal love and friendship :) 

ONCE YOU’RE IN

Please send us 230x230 icon and perhaps a short description about yourself

A link to the page on your blog will also be recommended but not compulsory

Follow both the owners (and other members if you want to). Failure to do so will result in removal from the network (sorry!)

Track the tag #demelzanetwork

This will be the first round of application but depending on popularity and how well it does there may also be following rounds. Even if when it is closed you may still apply and be considered if there will be other rounds (or even as a one off entry), so even if this has closed, you can still apply. We hope lots of you decide to enter because then more places will be up for grabs.

Thank you!

~ Nives and Sioned (greene-martin & dakorra)