Can I just say that I am absolutely IN LOVE 💜 with your IF and I can’t wait for the next chapter!!! I know you’re swarmed with asks at the moment, but if you ever feel like answering a fluff-y prompt, what never fails to cheer up the ROs when they’re sad?
Ahh, thank you! 🥺🥺👉🏻👈🏻🤎 Nothing motivates me more than knowing you guys are enjoying my story! Since you made my day with your message, I will reply to your ask immediately 💋
I'll answer this in before MC | after MC, but for William I felt very inspired to write a lil snippet 👀👀
Isobel: She's not sad 😤 Ever. Refuses to indulge in the emotion. Tries instead to distract herself either with a book, by playing piano, or by endeavouring to learn something new. Coincidentally, those are all things she enjoys, so it does cheer her up. | Just being around MC and spending time with them is enough. It reminds her that she's no longer alone, and she has someone who cares. MC allowing her to be upset without judgement. Maybe curling up on the sofa to read a book with MC 👉🏻👈🏻
Max: Going out and doing something. Just getting away and distracting themselves from whatever is bringing them down. Being around people in a social, cheerful place with lots of liveliness. Dancing. | MC attempting to cheer them up in any way, whether by cuddles and kisses, or by dragging them by the arm to go somewhere exciting, or just MC being cheerful and excited. That's all it takes.
Clara: Helping people. Doing something good for someone else. Knowing that she's been able to make a difference for someone that needs it. Being around her brother. Being around children. | Seeing MC with her brother 🥺 Being around family. MC showing her love and support, and just being there for her.
Richard: Physical exercise (yes, he's one of those people, smh, can't relate). Having a good practice session with his sword (maybe MC can help him with that, hm? 👀🔥). Being around his mates. The ocean. | MC taking care of him in any sort of way, like making him something to eat, making him tea, telling him to sit down and relax while they take care of everything, giving him a massage or undressing him (platonically or not lol). It would be hard for him to accept it, but it would make him melt inside, and make him so happy.
William:
William slumps down in the chair, dragging a tired hand over his face, before leaving it there to cover his eyes, shielding the outside world from his view, if only just for a minute. His body is weighed down by worries and responsibilities, and his muscles ache from a long day of tiresome labour just to put food on the table. Every day the same – the work never ends. It’s just a never-ending cycle of getting up, doing to the work, going to bed, then repeating it all the next day. Sometimes it can be hard to conjure some semblance of hope in the face of all the struggles. To find some light in all the darkness that threatens to suffocate him.
And lately the worries have been piling up. Taxes going up, weather ruining crops, sheep going missing. A heavy weight settles on his chest as the grief and despair that’s built up over decades threatens to bubble up to the surface. He fights it off, as he always does, worried that if he lets even a drop of emotion out, the entire dam will break, and he’ll burst at the seams. His throat burns with the effort and he swallows against the ache.
A light humming fills the air, breaking through the darkness of his mind, and he lifts his hand, eyes opening to see the small form of Gracie floating into the room, eyes half-closed and arms stretched out to the sides as she grins from ear to ear.
“Look at me, papa!” She says, spinning around on her tiptoes as fast as she can. “I can fly!”
His lips quirk up in a fond smile, the pressure on his chest lessening, as the seed a different emotion blooms in his chest. A softer one. A lighter one. It chases out the anguish, leaving instead a soft, warm glow that grows by the minute.
He chuckles as some of the energy returns to his form. “That’s not flying, songbird. This is flying.”
He surges forward to grab her, lifting her high in the air as he whirls her around. Her squeals of delight fill the room as she throws her head back to stare up at the spinning roof, giggling wildly.
“What are you doing?”
William pauses, shifting Grace in his arms as he peers down at Frederick’s shy face hovering in the doorway.
“Freddie, come join us,” Gracie implores gleefully. “We’re flying.”
And there it is, William thinks to himself as he glances between the sparkling brown eyes and wildly excited face of his daughter, to the bashful, yet curious smile now blooming on Frederick’s face. There is his light in the darkness. The two suns that never fail to cheer him up. The reason he gets up every single day to face the struggles. It’s them.
I’m so excited to meet William and be an amazing step mom for his kids <333
I'm so excited too, anon! Honestly, William and the kids deserve happiness more than anyone in my totally unbiased opinion, so I can't wait for MC to swoop in like sunshine on a rainy day and change their lives for the better 🥺👉🏻👈🏻🥰
omg YES to skill levels - I love picking to be terrible at stuff, it's hilarious. My MC will be the worst artist, it'll be like:
William: what a nice... flower you've drawn there
MC: it's a elephant 🥺😥
William: *sweats*
bonus points - the kids can absolutely always tell what MCs going for 😌
Yes!! I really want to include the option to be absolutely shit at things 😂 I think it makes for equally fun reactions from the ROs and others.
Lmao! I love this scenario! Poor William, he would die inside 😂🥺 I deffo think Gracie would always be on board with MC's drawings, while everyone else is like ??? how can she tell??
Imagining an MC that takes the time to draw with Gracie and Frederick makes me soft, ngl 🥺🥺🤎 And William would be shot through the heart, but in the best way 🥺
Youre crazy busy, and so far my favorite content creator out there! I'd love to wait for your work and consider it an absolute pleasure to see any posts and daydreams they inspire.
I'm a big softy for Max and William. I was wondering if it's possible to nickname Williams kids. I get soft thinking about calling Grace or Frederick nicknames like, mouse, or rabbit, dove, or endearment and doting attention on them. How would they or William react? (It may be TMI but I can't have children.) So I live vicariously through reading about pregnancy and adoption.
For Max, I love the idea of accepting him completely. I feel like he is very modern and before his time with his personality and would love to experiment with him and show him the world. How would he react to an MC who loved to draw him or do little things like leave him tea or brandy while he worked. Sketched him. Smiled whenever he walks into a room. I can't wait to be magnets and attached at the hip with him.
I'm really glad you're liking Max and William, though! I'm especially soft for the two of them. We actually did chat about creating nicknames for the ROs on discord, but I don't think I got a lot of response to that, beyond being able to call Richard Dick 😂 As for giving the kids nicknames, I don't see why not! That would be really cute.
William would absolutely melt at that, so soft about it. He already calls the kids nicknames all the time, especially Grace (Frederick gets easily embarrassed, bless him). But I'm so sorry to hear that, anon! Especially if that's something you really wanted 🤎 I'm glad you're able to live vicariously through fiction though. That's really what it's for, isn't it ✨
Max definitely needs someone who readily embraces him and accepts him for who he is. They certainly would have thrived better in a more modern setting that was less stiff and conservative. Honestly, any kindness MC shows them just makes them melt, heart bursting with affection and gratitude 🥺 MC smiles when they walk in? Shot through the heart with love 👌🏻😭 He would love to be sketched, but I've said before that it's probably best to do it while he doesn't know though. They're easily distracted 😂
Thank you so much for the lovely message! ✨🤎 Sending you big hugs!
how would william deal if his kids accidentally called mc a parent title (i.e. mom) and mc takes it in stride (or maybe teasingly tells the kids that while they would like to be their other parent, they should ask their dad that)
Aww, I am weak for William and the kids, anon 🥺🤎
I assume this is in the relationship stage.
If the kids called MC their parent, William would honestly be so soft and happy, though simultaneously worried about MC's reactions. Do they mind? Does it make them uncomfortable? He doesn't want them to feel pressured at all.
If MC takes it in a stride, or seems genuinely pleased by it, he would literally be like that heart attack love meme, clutching his chest, just absolutely overcome with love and gratitude. The fact that MC loves his children and wants to be a parent to them, is more than he ever dared to hope for.
He would probably pull MC to the side though and talk to them about it, making sure that they’re actually comfortable with it and that it’s something they want. If it is, he would be more than happy for his children to call MC their parent 🥺🤎
Would also have a talk with his children about it, of course, making sure it was what they truly wanted and that they understand what it means.
Does William's children resemble (physical and/or personality) him more or their mother?
Frederick
Resembles his father more, both in appearance, and personality. He's got his father's green, hooded eyes, but his mother's brown curls. In temper, he's quiet and shy, more introverted, like his dad. Very careful and tentative.
Gracie
Resembles her mother more in both aspects. She's more outgoing and sociable, like her mother, and she's got her mother's big, round, hazel/brown eyes. Also has brown, curly hair.
Beyond that they're quite different personality-wise, though they do resemble each other quite a bit in appearance. Definitely could tell that they're siblings.
What would William do if his kids caught him, uhm, 'wrestling' with MC? 👀
Oh, lord 😂😂
His soul would literally depart his body lmao!
Jk! He would rush to separate from MC. "Uh, Gracie/Frederick, I'll be... be right with you, just..." He calls out while desperately trying to cover him and MC as his face flushes a furious red. "... just... uh... wait for me in the living room, all right?"
As the kids, hopefully, depart, his head would fall back to the pillow (assuming this happened in bed 👀) with an audible groan as he covers his face, mortified.
Would awkwardly try to have a chat with the kids about it, but Frederick would likely be equally embarrassed and be like god, let's not talk about this please trying to cut the conversation short, and Gracie, sweet and naive, probably would just listen to the first bit, accept it, shrug, and move on to forget about it, not all that bothered 😂
