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I have had a plot bunny for Rivers of London, and for various reasons I will never write it, but I wanted to release it into the wild as it were. CN: canon-typical sexual assault a la Moon Over Soho
It started with a premise. I had been thinking up possible AUs, and one of them was "Peter Grant was raised in the Folly" and then I realized that you could actually make it work with a minimum of canon alterations. All you really have to fudge is when, exactly, Simone tried to seduce Richard Grant, and whether or not she succeeded.
So. In 1987, Thomas Nightingale goes to listen to a jazz band play. It's not something he does that often, and it is very different from the music of his youth, but modern jazz is still the closest to familiar he can get without going to the symphony. And it's a good band. But while he's there, he notices something ... odd. The lead player, a really great trumpet player named Richard "Lord" Grant, gets approached by a groupie. And she's ... very magnetic, in a focused way. It's almost like a glamour, but it's very different from the glamour of a River or any other fae he's met. Thomas doesn't think much of it; he tells her to tone it down, but she doesn't seem to understand, and he's not sure if it really is a glamour, and it's not like Thomas has a modern understanding of things like being roofied or date rape, and he's got all that socialization about gender roles and sexuality so that it doesn't occur to him that a woman can rape a man. And SOP for dealing with people glamoured by the Rivers has always been to disapprove but not do anything about it because it wears off.
So he doesn't stop the groupie from going home with Richard, and when Richard's pregnant wife Rose makes a scene, Thomas tries to comfort her afterwards with "well, it'll probably only be temporary." She doesn't find this AT ALL comforting, and while he thinks that a white man turning to a white woman when his black wife gets pregnant is tragic, it is sadly the sort of thing one might expect. Rose insists that it's not like her husband at all; Thomas internally sighs and discounts it.
Then a week later Rose Grant shows up in Russell Square and insists that he Do Something. She knows her husband has been put under some sort of spell, and she knows he's a policeman, and she knows he knows SOMETHING at least about "witches" because she saw him talk to Simone about it, and he still isn't sure it's really his case, but most glamours would have worn off by this point, so he goes and investigates. And during the investigation, three things happen: first, he offers Rose a room because she's been couch-surfing with relatives since Richard threw her out in favor of Simone and Thomas is too chivalrous to like the thought of a pregnant woman sleeping on couches and he's got a huge house with lots of bedrooms and Molly insisted. Second, he discovers what Simone and her sisters are. Third, he doesn't figure it out in time to save Richard, who dies of a stroke.
Thomas feels terribly guilty because if he'd intervened at the start Richard would not have died and Rose wouldn't have lost her husband and the father of her unborn son. And Molly likes Rose, and Thomas is happy that Molly is happy and has company. So he lets Rose stay. And then little Peter, when he's born. Rose is just as pragmatic and hard-headed in this life, but having free room-and-board gives her a bit of space financially, and she's able to get the British-style qualifications she needs to go back to being a librarian, instead of having to take cleaning jobs because she needs the money. (Also, Rose is not shy about getting Thomas to get Postmartin to pull any strings she needs. A recommendation from an Oxford professor and librarian goes a long way.)
Molly loves having another woman there, and likes Peter well enough, and Thomas is sort of an uncle-figure, and the old-wizard-grapevine is just sure Rose is Thomas' mistress, which annoys them both and embarrasses Thomas. (He wouldn't take that kind of advantage; she may have forgiven him for the negligence that led to Richard's death, but she sure hasn't forgotten it.)
Peter grew up with magic, and begged his mum and Thomas to let him learn. (He also grew up playing a lot with Mama Thames' daughters.) Rose thinks it's good for him to have at least enough skill to recognize and resist glamours and the like, and so she thinks it's a great idea, but she is REALLY DRACONIAN on enforcing limits on practicing. bb!Peter might defy Thomas, but he is not stupid enough to disobey his Mum's strictures.
As for Peter's career in this universe, I'm not sure. I think the two choices would be a) either he became an architect because he had a better school in this universe and thus passed all the A-levels he needed, or if b) he decided to be a magic copper like Uncle Thomas right out of the get-go and so went straight to Hendon instead of doing odd-jobs-whatever-he-did between school and Hendon.
In the first scenario, I think Thomas might have been spurred into finding other apprentices by the experience of teaching Peter, so he would have other cops. In the second, well, Peter and Lesley wouldn't have been classmates at Hendon. Peter would have been a DC and possibly a sergeant by the time she graduated. Instead of him looking up to her, he would be the experienced authority. Which would change that whole relationship there in really fascinating ways.
Also, I know I posted about this years ago, but I'm still bummed nobody has ever written the epic Downton Abbey AU where Mary got pregnant when she slept with Mr. Pamouk in season one, and she and Cora went to America to "visit" *cough*have the baby in secret*cough* and when they came back, they passed it off as Cora's child. (And if it was a boy, even told Robert that it was Cora's--after all, a son of Cora's and Robert's would inherit the title, cutting Matthew out of the succession again, and that would be Dishonerable! and Robert would object. Cora, however, strikes me as much too practical for that, and much happier with her own grandson (even if he is a bastard) getting her money and the estate than letting someone else get it.) To make things even more interesting, you know of course that O'Brien would have to go along with them--Cora would never leave her maid behind, even if she wanted too it would be too suspicious.
I'm picturing the trip over, where O'Brien is solicitous of Mary whenever Cora's in the room but not when she isn't, because O'Brien cares about what Cora thinks of her, but isn't impressed with Mary--and now has material to blackmail Mary with, so she's not worried about getting sacked or anything. It's not that she's cruel; Cora wouldn't like that. But O'Brien doesn't care about Mary's shame and self-loathing and depression and woe-is-me act, because (as she points out to Mary quite bluntly) Mary's got all the luck. Her family has the wealth and willingness to cover for her mistake, so Mary probably won't face any social stigma at all, and will still get to see her child as much as she wants because it'll be right there in the family. If O'Brien had ever been as "stupid" as Mary was, she would have been turned out and probably died starving in a gutter somewhere. Nobody's ever talked to Mary like this. She doesn't like it, but she doesn't quite dare complain, and it at least gives her something new to think about.
They get to America and hole up in a house Grandmother Martha rented for them somewhere out of the way. Martha doesn't stay there often; she doesn't want her friends to wonder where she's gone for months, and maybe ask questions. Mary loves her grandmother, and sometimes Martha's modern attitudes are such a comfort when Mary's having an attack of patriarchy-shaped-conscience. But on the other hand, Martha never makes a compliment without some sort of cutting backhand to it, and Mary can usually let it slip off like water off a duck's back. But she's feeling a bit more fragile than usual now. And she wonders: is this what Edith feels like when Mary snipes at her? It's a novel thought. Mary is having a lot of novel thoughts. Cora writes home to Robert that she's pregnant, that she found out by being seasick all the way across from England to America, and is not getting back on a boat until after the baby's born.
I don't know whether it's a boy or a girl; if it's a boy, then Matthew gets disinherited and goes back to Manchester and Mary never falls in love with him and I don't know who Mary ends up with romantically. However! Edith! First of all, while she was jealous of Mary getting a long trip with their mother, she was bought off with the idea of Cora taking her on a long trip in her turn. Second, being the lady of the house for nine months or so and not having Mary to snipe at her did wonders for her self-confidence, and also gave her a clear field for husband-hunting. I'm not sure whether she should find a husband (the thing she wants most at this point) or not (giving her room for the sort of independence she grew into in later seasons) (maybe she can marry someone who dies in the war, giving her the freedom of widowhood and her own house to live in. that would probably be good for her.) Whichever, Mary is a lot nicer to her when she and Cora and the new baby get back to England.
Anyway, those are plot bunnies I'm never going to write for various reasons, but I thought others might enjoy them, too.
It started with a premise. I had been thinking up possible AUs, and one of them was "Peter Grant was raised in the Folly" and then I realized that you could actually make it work with a minimum of canon alterations. All you really have to fudge is when, exactly, Simone tried to seduce Richard Grant, and whether or not she succeeded.
So. In 1987, Thomas Nightingale goes to listen to a jazz band play. It's not something he does that often, and it is very different from the music of his youth, but modern jazz is still the closest to familiar he can get without going to the symphony. And it's a good band. But while he's there, he notices something ... odd. The lead player, a really great trumpet player named Richard "Lord" Grant, gets approached by a groupie. And she's ... very magnetic, in a focused way. It's almost like a glamour, but it's very different from the glamour of a River or any other fae he's met. Thomas doesn't think much of it; he tells her to tone it down, but she doesn't seem to understand, and he's not sure if it really is a glamour, and it's not like Thomas has a modern understanding of things like being roofied or date rape, and he's got all that socialization about gender roles and sexuality so that it doesn't occur to him that a woman can rape a man. And SOP for dealing with people glamoured by the Rivers has always been to disapprove but not do anything about it because it wears off.
So he doesn't stop the groupie from going home with Richard, and when Richard's pregnant wife Rose makes a scene, Thomas tries to comfort her afterwards with "well, it'll probably only be temporary." She doesn't find this AT ALL comforting, and while he thinks that a white man turning to a white woman when his black wife gets pregnant is tragic, it is sadly the sort of thing one might expect. Rose insists that it's not like her husband at all; Thomas internally sighs and discounts it.
Then a week later Rose Grant shows up in Russell Square and insists that he Do Something. She knows her husband has been put under some sort of spell, and she knows he's a policeman, and she knows he knows SOMETHING at least about "witches" because she saw him talk to Simone about it, and he still isn't sure it's really his case, but most glamours would have worn off by this point, so he goes and investigates. And during the investigation, three things happen: first, he offers Rose a room because she's been couch-surfing with relatives since Richard threw her out in favor of Simone and Thomas is too chivalrous to like the thought of a pregnant woman sleeping on couches and he's got a huge house with lots of bedrooms and Molly insisted. Second, he discovers what Simone and her sisters are. Third, he doesn't figure it out in time to save Richard, who dies of a stroke.
Thomas feels terribly guilty because if he'd intervened at the start Richard would not have died and Rose wouldn't have lost her husband and the father of her unborn son. And Molly likes Rose, and Thomas is happy that Molly is happy and has company. So he lets Rose stay. And then little Peter, when he's born. Rose is just as pragmatic and hard-headed in this life, but having free room-and-board gives her a bit of space financially, and she's able to get the British-style qualifications she needs to go back to being a librarian, instead of having to take cleaning jobs because she needs the money. (Also, Rose is not shy about getting Thomas to get Postmartin to pull any strings she needs. A recommendation from an Oxford professor and librarian goes a long way.)
Molly loves having another woman there, and likes Peter well enough, and Thomas is sort of an uncle-figure, and the old-wizard-grapevine is just sure Rose is Thomas' mistress, which annoys them both and embarrasses Thomas. (He wouldn't take that kind of advantage; she may have forgiven him for the negligence that led to Richard's death, but she sure hasn't forgotten it.)
Peter grew up with magic, and begged his mum and Thomas to let him learn. (He also grew up playing a lot with Mama Thames' daughters.) Rose thinks it's good for him to have at least enough skill to recognize and resist glamours and the like, and so she thinks it's a great idea, but she is REALLY DRACONIAN on enforcing limits on practicing. bb!Peter might defy Thomas, but he is not stupid enough to disobey his Mum's strictures.
As for Peter's career in this universe, I'm not sure. I think the two choices would be a) either he became an architect because he had a better school in this universe and thus passed all the A-levels he needed, or if b) he decided to be a magic copper like Uncle Thomas right out of the get-go and so went straight to Hendon instead of doing odd-jobs-whatever-he-did between school and Hendon.
In the first scenario, I think Thomas might have been spurred into finding other apprentices by the experience of teaching Peter, so he would have other cops. In the second, well, Peter and Lesley wouldn't have been classmates at Hendon. Peter would have been a DC and possibly a sergeant by the time she graduated. Instead of him looking up to her, he would be the experienced authority. Which would change that whole relationship there in really fascinating ways.
Also, I know I posted about this years ago, but I'm still bummed nobody has ever written the epic Downton Abbey AU where Mary got pregnant when she slept with Mr. Pamouk in season one, and she and Cora went to America to "visit" *cough*have the baby in secret*cough* and when they came back, they passed it off as Cora's child. (And if it was a boy, even told Robert that it was Cora's--after all, a son of Cora's and Robert's would inherit the title, cutting Matthew out of the succession again, and that would be Dishonerable! and Robert would object. Cora, however, strikes me as much too practical for that, and much happier with her own grandson (even if he is a bastard) getting her money and the estate than letting someone else get it.) To make things even more interesting, you know of course that O'Brien would have to go along with them--Cora would never leave her maid behind, even if she wanted too it would be too suspicious.
I'm picturing the trip over, where O'Brien is solicitous of Mary whenever Cora's in the room but not when she isn't, because O'Brien cares about what Cora thinks of her, but isn't impressed with Mary--and now has material to blackmail Mary with, so she's not worried about getting sacked or anything. It's not that she's cruel; Cora wouldn't like that. But O'Brien doesn't care about Mary's shame and self-loathing and depression and woe-is-me act, because (as she points out to Mary quite bluntly) Mary's got all the luck. Her family has the wealth and willingness to cover for her mistake, so Mary probably won't face any social stigma at all, and will still get to see her child as much as she wants because it'll be right there in the family. If O'Brien had ever been as "stupid" as Mary was, she would have been turned out and probably died starving in a gutter somewhere. Nobody's ever talked to Mary like this. She doesn't like it, but she doesn't quite dare complain, and it at least gives her something new to think about.
They get to America and hole up in a house Grandmother Martha rented for them somewhere out of the way. Martha doesn't stay there often; she doesn't want her friends to wonder where she's gone for months, and maybe ask questions. Mary loves her grandmother, and sometimes Martha's modern attitudes are such a comfort when Mary's having an attack of patriarchy-shaped-conscience. But on the other hand, Martha never makes a compliment without some sort of cutting backhand to it, and Mary can usually let it slip off like water off a duck's back. But she's feeling a bit more fragile than usual now. And she wonders: is this what Edith feels like when Mary snipes at her? It's a novel thought. Mary is having a lot of novel thoughts. Cora writes home to Robert that she's pregnant, that she found out by being seasick all the way across from England to America, and is not getting back on a boat until after the baby's born.
I don't know whether it's a boy or a girl; if it's a boy, then Matthew gets disinherited and goes back to Manchester and Mary never falls in love with him and I don't know who Mary ends up with romantically. However! Edith! First of all, while she was jealous of Mary getting a long trip with their mother, she was bought off with the idea of Cora taking her on a long trip in her turn. Second, being the lady of the house for nine months or so and not having Mary to snipe at her did wonders for her self-confidence, and also gave her a clear field for husband-hunting. I'm not sure whether she should find a husband (the thing she wants most at this point) or not (giving her room for the sort of independence she grew into in later seasons) (maybe she can marry someone who dies in the war, giving her the freedom of widowhood and her own house to live in. that would probably be good for her.) Whichever, Mary is a lot nicer to her when she and Cora and the new baby get back to England.
Anyway, those are plot bunnies I'm never going to write for various reasons, but I thought others might enjoy them, too.
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Date: 2019-05-15 07:04 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2019-05-16 12:17 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2022-05-19 09:34 am (UTC)From:That is a grand idea! The jazz connection would work so well!
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Date: 2022-05-19 05:54 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2022-05-20 11:00 am (UTC)From:https://definitely-not-an-alb.dreamwidth.org/530.html#cutid1
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Date: 2022-05-20 09:57 pm (UTC)From: