ARCHETYPE: THE JOKER,

LYING IS ITSELF A KIND OF ART,

[thievurry]

DEVELOPMENT SIDEBLOG FOR THE DORSET TWINS.

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DIRECTORY,

PROLOGUE

DOSSIER

BONNIE ( STATS )

JAMIE ( STATS )

VERSES

DEVELOPMENT  /  PLAYLIST  /  PINTEREST

[graveflwers]

bg3 bonnie dorset i love you bg3 bonnie dorset. bad haircut. worse clothes. telling enemies left and right to kill themselves. or each other. or each other and then themselves. (and this works)

[thievurry]

PROLOGUE:  MARY DORSET PLAGIARIZES A BIRTH CERTIFICATE (OR TWO)

on a soggy, dreary, terribly awful september afternoon, mary dorset wrote a letter:

i've given birth to a pair of coyotes, alistair. they look just like you. the doctors asked me who their father is and i said i was the virgin mary. they've got your hair. they came out doing cartwheels. the doctors asked me who their father is and i told them it was evel knievel.

she hadn't given birth yet, of course. neither did alistiar whitacre respond, of course. he had a real family, he'd told her nine months prior. a wife and two children, an older son and younger daughter: the apples of his eye, jaime and bonny, the inheriting progeny of the whitacre lineage. he had a real family, he told her, and surely she must understand that.

mary dorset, who grew up with an empty armchair for a father, did not.

one week later, mary sat with her feet twisted furiously in the sheets of an unattended hospital bed. the mattress threatened to swallow her whole, but she was a mother now. she had her own, real family to take care of. so she elbowed it in the gut, kicked the blanket into submission, and rocked the babes swaddled in her arms.

when the nurse came in, the twins were too busy babbling to each other in secret code to notice. well, dearie. thought up some names? she asked neither kindly nor unkindly, smiling a pitying smile, of the sort that people reserve for downtrodden women who are secretly and unanimously believed to deserve their lot.

jamie and bonnie, mary dorset told her.

when the nurse asked if the names were short for anything, she said she had no idea.

[graveflwers]

the dorsets are like if robin hood sucked really bad. and also used his band of merry men to sell drugs

[thievurry]

[linament]

“i mean—it’s one banana, michael. what could it cost? ten dollars?” is painfully jamie dorset

[thievurry]

[linament]

dorset-posting:)

jamie always said, apropos of nothing, that he couldn't spend his whole entire life looking out of the same window the way that others could. bonnie always said, apropos of everything, that the world was trying to trap her into playing the role of a woman it had seen on television.

if society was the nagging parental figure, then the twins were its restless, freedom-seeking children.

[thievurry]

[linament]

the difference between bonnie and jamie is that jamie would tell someone he loves them and lie. and bonnie wouldn’t bother saying it at all—even if it's true

[thievurry]

[linament]

obviously jamie and bonnie have the same (cockney) accents. but jamie's is much thicker than bonnie's—and one of them is lying

[thievurry]

[linament]

DORSET TWINS ART REFERENCE ( aka no faceclaim will ever embody them as i envision them, so i have to make my own reference )

bonnie cuts her own hair. jamie doesn't cut his at all. he's got like four different curl patterns, inherited from his mother, and they're all fighting each other. bonnie inherited her father's wavy hair texture

bonnie has much lighter hair than jamie. she's strawberry blonde, whereas his hair is a darker, more saturated ginger. they inherited their hair colours from their father

both twins have brown eyes, but bonnie's are much darker than jamie's

jamie has prominent dimples, inherited from his mother

bonnie has freckles, inherited from her father

jamie always grins and bonnie always smiles

bonnie dresses like a parrot and jamie like a magpie. bonnie dresses like a clown and jamie like a mime. etc etc

the dorsets look more like their biological father than his legitimate children, much to the whitacres' chagrin

the twins both have diastemata — teeth gaps between their front incisors, inherited from their father ( who, in his own youth, had the money to get braces and close the gaps ). it's part of the reason why bonnie smiles rather than grins. she's embarrassed by what she perceives as an indication of poverty [remember, the twins struggle with internalized classism]. bonnie gets braces in her 30s to correct her teeth. jamie never bothers

"didn't the twins grow up with money?" YES. but, growing up, mary dorset spent their trust funds on shit like expensive cars, absurd renovations to their decrepit house, and enrolling the twins in every and any arts program she could find. she wanted to raise them to be nuisances to alistair. she didn't care about their needs as much as she cared about using them to get vengeance on the man that slighted her. so no, she didn't spend money on things like health- or dental-care</3 she could have afforded braces for the two of them, but the thought didn't even occur to her tbh

bonnie loves to wear dresses, but she always wears shorts underneath them. she dresses in a lot of layers—the more the better. it doesn't matter if they clash. she'll wear whatever looks interesting to her. loves to accessorize

jamie coordinates every aspect of his outfits, but that doesn't make them any good. he usually wears suits of some sort. always looks like he's ready to ringlead a circus. probably owns more clothes than bonnie

"why do all the whitacres look unhappy in the family tree?" because the dorsets are ruining their lives xx

[thievurry]

MAIN VERSE,

ARC I.  the dorset burglar duo wreaks havoc on london's upperclass [can be replaced with any major metropolitan city], stealing their most prized possessions and turning a profit. they’ve got their fingers in a great many criminal enterprises and spend their leisure time as street performers.  AGES 23-30.

ARC II. alistair whitacre dies due to underlying health problems; the trust funds stop accruing bimonthly deposits, and the dorsets lose their pseudo legal immunity. the twins get serious about crime by establishing an extravagant travelling circus. they use the props to conceal and traffic large volumes of drugs across the country. the dorsets, once well-established thieves, become the heads of their own criminal organization—while also putting on grandiose performance shows. AGES: 30+.

ARC III. not that it matters for rp purposes, but their story ends with the twins betraying each other—jamie in order to save their half-sister from bonnie's plot to ruin her life, and bonnie in order to save the dorset criminal enterprise. jamie calls the police on bonnie, and bonnie puts out a hit on jamie xx

ALT VERSES,

low fantasy

high fantasy (including d&d/bg3)

arcane

the hunger games

[venusimleder]

Vogue Italia, February 1999.

Ph. Tim Walker

[thievurry]

bonnie dorset looked a bit like the rumpled, preternaturally big-eyed raggedy ann dolls that were popular in the 1920s. her cheeks always got impossibly pink in the cold, swallowing her freckles in a cotton candy cloud of colour. she walked around as if no one had ever taught her how to dress. she put on everything and anything that she thought looked interesting. sometimes people believed she was without a home and tossed her a dime.

NAME.  bonnie dorset.  AGE.  ranges 23–30+ ( arc dependent ).  GENDER. cis woman ( she / her ). SEXUALITY. asexual homoromantic. OCCUPATION. street performer, cat burglar ( arc i ). drug-trafficking kingpin, head of a travelling circus ( arc ii ).  EYE COLOUR. dark-brown.  HAIR COLOUR. ginger. noticeably lighter than her brother’s.  HAIR STYLE. cropped at an odd length beneath her ears and worn with bangs. wavy texture.  HEIGHT. 5'4 / 162cm.  NOTABLE FEATURES. bad haircut. freckled face. large, rarely-blinking eyes. smiles rather than grins. tooth gap.  ACCENT. cockney, weaker than jamie's.

the street-smart planner of the two. bonnie is more of a career criminal than jamie, and she aspires to professionalize and execute grand, lucrative heists. she takes her work incredibly seriously and prioritizes the criminal element of their operation over the performance-art aspect.

bonnie is somewhat more reserved than her brother, and keeps her heart out of business matters with great conviction. she is the practical architect of their operation, putting emphasis on cost-benefit analyses rather than morality.

one time, bonnie tied a blindfold over her eyes and spent the whole day like that, just wandering around. people didn’t know what on earth to make of this girl. they knew that the tricks she could perform were truly magical, and they felt they could watch her perform for hours and hours and hours. they also felt she would never make a single penny off of it. she certainly seemed crazy—but she simultaneously made them think that there was nothing wrong with being a crazy girl, and that maybe the world needed a couple more crazy girls in it.

VISUAL / ART REFERENCE.

DEVELOPMENT.

[thievurry]

jamie dorset always looked like he drove around london with his head sticking out of bus windows. windswept was the kind way of putting it, although wild was probably more accurate. he did one too many cartwheels as a child and his hair lost all sense of gravity. he was also always grinning in a way that showed off his dimples, which might have been endearing if it weren’t for the crazed look about him.

NAME. jamie dorset.  AGE. ranges 23–30+ ( arc dependent ).  GENDER. cis man ( he / him ). SEXUALITY. queer pansexual.  OCCUPATION. street performer, cat burglar ( arc i ). drug-trafficking kingpin, head of a travelling circus ( arc ii ).  EYE COLOUR. hazel-brown.  HAIR COLOUR. ginger. noticeably darker than his sister’s.  HAIR STYLE. really quite long but looks shorter than it is. sticks out and up, every which way and that. several contradicting curl patterns.  HEIGHT. 5'10 / 178cm.  NOTABLE FEATURES. wild hair. dimples. grins rather than smiles. tooth gap.  ACCENT. cockney, stronger than bonnie's.

the fast-talking diplomat of the two. jamie is more of a performer than bonnie, and he has grand aspirations of one day putting together his own show. he sees life as a game and is prone to taking outrageous risks for the sake of "the narrative".

jamie is more outgoing than his sister, and typically more compassionate. he tends to serve as the moral backbone of their operation, exhibiting some level of ethical consideration when choosing / agreeing to jobs. between the two of them, jamie is the weaker link, and bonnie often has to pick up the slack on his behalf.

usually one formulates an idea or desire and then subsequently says it out loud—but with jamie, the thoughts were so on-the-tip-of-his-tongue that he sometimes had the impression he was saying them first and thinking them after. he was a paradox to all those who met him. on one hand, he was utterly brilliant, and on the other, there was no way he could be interpreted as anything except a fool. but he was entertaining. he could do a backflip like it was a natural thing for a person to do, and he had a flair for the dramatic. and so he was accepted in a way that oddly maturing adults generally were not.

VISUAL / ART REFERENCE.

DEVELOPMENT

[thievurry]

[linament]

the dorsets are bad people, but it’s important to me that bonnie is worse than jamie.

bonnie is a hardened criminal who does whatever she needs to do to thrive (not survive. she isn’t interested in just surviving). burglary and drug-dealing are her life, and she takes her crimes seriously. she wants to excel in what she’s doing—and what she’s doing isn’t just stealing a pearl necklace here and there. she understands that at some point their luck will run out. some day they’ll be too old to cartwheel their way through life. yeah she’s as charming and whimsical as jamie; she’s a gymnast and an actor and a bard. but the performance arts are just a cover story.

on the other hand, jamie’s still the boy who thinks they’re playing pretend and having fun. he’s a performer first and a criminal second. he does bad things, but he’s so divorced from the consequences of his actions that he never needs to acknowledge his own moral failures. he’s naive. he never grew up and never thinks he’ll have to. he is performing; everything is a game to him.

it’s not a game to bonnie

[thievurry]

HIGH FANTASY VERSE,

the dorsets are travelling bards who moonlight—or daylight, depending on the opportunity—as thieves. quintessential charlatans. born to a peasant mother and noble father. fabled to be half-siblings to the heirs of the whitacre dukedom, but neither the twins nor the whitacres have ever admitted as much.

[ ARC I. ] the dorsets travel as a duo. they insert themselves into travelling parties, gain their trust, and disappear when fancy strikes them—riches in tow. they also perform at taverns or in village squares, if only to pick the pockets of enthralled audience members. there have even been rumours of twin jesters who have served a kingdom here and there, but these have never been substantiated. all that anyone knows for certain: wherever the dorsets go, missing valuables are sure to follow. AGES 16–30.

[ ARC II. ] the twins head their own band of strolling players. the troupe is renowned across the land for its variety acts, and posters advertising their upcoming shows hang on every village noticeboard. AGES 30+.

NOTE. can be written in combination with elements from the low-fantasy verse (ie: the twins are faerie changelings). in this case, the dorsets are the heirs-proper to the whitacre dukedom. upon their father’s death, jamie becomes duke and bonnie becomes duchess. jamie does not want to leave the strolling players; bonnie, however, wishes to assume power. at bonnie’s behest, jamie leaves the troupe and the twins return to the whitacre dukedom. under their rule, the lands become widely populated by fae and other mythical creatures. their castle is derisively referred to as “the unseelie court” by mortals.

BALDUR'S GATE 3 / DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. bard/rogue-thief changelings who use glamour magic to appear human. high charisma/persuasion + high dex nightmare build. bonnie romances no one and fucks over everyone. jamie romances everyone and is loyal to no one. neither one of them are doing anything without receiving something in return. chaotic neutral with very many evil tendencies 😸

bonnie is a college of whispers bard. jamie is a college of glamour bard. together they can and will infiltrate pretty much any group + destroy it from the inside

formerly performers at the circus of the last days, but they ran afoul of madam lucretious after a failed plot to incite mutiny and wrest control of the circus. (bonnie's idea. not jamie's). they do, however, manage to make off with a large portion of the circus' earnings

while on the run, the twins are yoinked by the nautiloid and fitted with tadpoles

cagey about their origins, which is to say they love to lie and are constructing an elaborate, ongoing backstory any time someone tries to get to know them. basically playing a game of improv with each other where, in conversation, each twin invents a new, random detail and the other one has to build on it + add a new detail of their own

bonnie will sacrifice pretty much anyone; jamie exercises some level of moral consideration. bonnie could be moved to betray the grove, for example, whereas jamie could not. jamie, on the other hand, agrees to surface-level alliances just for the sake of breaking them later. for the lulz

both champions of the persuasion-check "why don't you just kill yourself already" manner of conflict resolution. sorry

professional and recreational pickpockets. if something's gone missing, there's a 99% chance it's landed in the twins' inventory. addicted to selling off their companions' belongings to turn a buck!

bonnie is not helping any companion be their #bestself. please stop trying to talk to her about your problems. she is already walking away. "someone at camp wants to talk" no 😴😴😴

jamie at least has the decency to say "hey maybe don't ascend/become a dark justiciar/pursue godhood/etc". but also it's a free country lmao do what you want. not re-rolling his persuasion throws

[thievurry]

LOW-FANTASY VERSE,

charlotte and alistair wake one garishly blue day to find that their lives have taken a peculiarly devastating turn. their young children, james and bonetta, have disappeared. and worse—because what nobility could ever suffer the indignity of a burglar such as this—they have been replaced by a pair of changelings! there, in the plush beds of the whitacre children: a girl and a boy—or whatever passed for boys and girls in faerie—babbling to each other in secret code. so heated was their conversation that they hardly even paid charlotte any mind, even as the basin hit the floor with a thunderous crash. she shrieked, and cried, and shrieked some more. the twin babes, their discussion rudely interrupted, turned to look at all the commotion; at the sight of charlotte’s stricken face, they burst into raucous laughter. one of them clapped, while the other asked for an encore in language far too advanced for their fledgling years. thrice did the whitacres attempt to oust the imposters, and thrice did they return. no matter where they were left or in what deplorable state, the whitacres woke the next day to find the twins cartwheeling across the estate. on the final such attempt, bonnie returned with a finger hanging from a delicately beaded necklace, and jamie wore a hat that bore a lock of golden hair where a feather ought be, still attached to a piece of curdled skin. a threat from the land of faerie. the whitacres provided for their cuckoo nestlings from hereon out, but they never did love them—and they always did fear them.

the dorsets are changelings: fae children left in substitute for jaime and bonny whitacre on the day they were abducted by a vengeful faerie. [ a sylph of a woman who, when asked her name, would not say—but eventually claimed to be called mary, for she favoured the scent of marigolds. she fell in love with a mortal man who professed to love her in return … only to be betrayed for a human bride. this tale, of course, refers to alistair and charlotte whitacre, whose children would eventually pay the price for mary’s broken heart. ] the twins are raised by nannies on a property far removed from the whitacre estate; they go through life with one foot in the mortal realm and one in the otherworld. 

NOTE: this verse is an addition to—not a replacement of—the main story. the broadstrokes of their narrative stay the same, just with an added ✨ fantasy ✨ element.

as fae creatures, the dorsets possess a variety of abilities:

[ GLAMOUR AND CHARM. ] no one has ever been able to deny the dorsets a single thing—even and including something as pesky as the truth. if jamie says the sky is an outrageous limerick green, then so it is. if bonnie says the rain cries when it falls, the world suddenly seems very loud indeed.

[ TAMING OF BIRDS, BEASTS, AND INSECTS. ] the dorsets claim to be best friends with an elephant from the london zoo—and it’s true! 

[ INVISIBILITY. ] the twins are the most notorious burglars in all of london … allegedly ( no one has ever seen a thing that would prove it. )

[ FORESIGHT. ] odd, isn’t it, how jamie always seems to know what someone’s about to say, even before they’ve thought it? odd, isn’t it, how bonnie always knows when the police are on their way, even before they’ve been called?

[ ACCESS TO FAERIE: THE OTHERWORLD. ] one moment they’re there, the next moment they’re not! the dorsets step through a fae door in london; thirty minutes later, they’re day-drinking in the niagara falls rainforest café.