dollsome | the mary & lavinia comment ficathon

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the mary & lavinia comment ficathon

a.k.a. the

oliveoyl and i get an excuse to post lots of prompts ficathon

It's a legit thing, okay! The world needs all the Mary/Lavinia adventures.

rules (?)

+ One prompt per comment. Feel free to submit as many prompt-comments as you'd like. The more the better! If you'd prefer platonic fic to shippy fic, just specify that in your comment.

+ If you respond to a prompt, include a title in the subject line of your comment if you are using a lj layout that has subject lines. If you're not, please put that same information at the top of your comment.

+ Okay, that's as authoritative as I feel like being right now!

+ Spread the word:

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Masterlist of Responses
My dear, my dear, it is not so dreadful here by

oltha_heri - You reach out a hand, slowly oh so slowly you inch closer to the porcelain skin of her wrist, and then dark eyes are fixed on you.

with grace in all she offers by

dollsome - You are Lady Mary Crawley. Cold and careful, soulless and heartless. Selfish. Thorn-sharp to those who would stand in your way.

throw over your man, i say, and come by

screamlet - "Lavinia, what about London?" Matthew asks as he clasps my hands.

it's you season by

dollsome - "It's tradition," Mary says. "It's barbaric," Lavinia says.

Scandals Bear No Meaning by

femme_slash_fan (crossover with Upstairs/Downstairs) - The fact that Agnes Holland had stood by her good friend and, for the moment, only company at home, had meant a lot to Blanche Mottershead.

The Truth Will Out by

femme_slash_fan - Lavinia had come to Mary’s side when she called, gently taking her hand, feeling the girl’s trembles and gently squeezing her hand.

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Oh my God, this is beautiful and so intense and lovely; it has that sort of feverish, delirious, drifting air that is so exactly right for Lavinia's perspective in this circumstance, and I just love how vivid Mary is, and how strong Lavinia is, the way it contrasts with her current physical weakness, and how Mary brings that strength out in her, and augh, augh, augh, you have to write about them forever!

And, here, these are my notes I had to take while I read because I kept getting too overwhelmed not to caps lock at you:

It is not large. It does not rival the brightness of the sun that filters through the window, it barely shows her teeth; but she is Mary and you would not expect anything more, not for you. And then Mary shifts closer in her chair. You see her eyes. They are warm. Like a hot water bottle to curl against in the middle of January; like a fire to read against; like coming home from a downpour.

YOU HAVE BLOODY KILLED ME.

Her voice carries you to Verona, to Crete, to India, to the lost palace of Kubla Kahn. But she is beside you as you dream and so you are not afraid.

LIKE I'M REALLY DEAD FROM BEAUTY.

No, you have a feeling it is not what one would say.

OH, LAVINIA, I LOVE YOU.

With legs shaking from disuse and a hand on the wall to balance you slowly remember the path to Mary's room.

MY HEART.

That whole last paragraph! That last line! I just! AM DEAD.

Scandals Bear No Meaning.
By Ros Sawyer.

The fact that Agnes Holland had stood by her good friend and, for the moment, only company at home, had meant a lot to Blanche Mottershead. She had been stunned by how quickly she had been cut from society. She had wondered if she’d ever see any other friends, if she even had any.

Her answer had come soon enough. Cora Crawley, one of Agnes’ more discreet family friends, had sent her daughter and her… companion, Mary and Lavinia, to visit.

Agnes had excused herself soon enough, leaving Blanche to have a little more personal time with the girls. Blanche had found herself flattered by how kindly Lavinia treated her and how genuinely happy Mary seemed to be to have met someone who understood what she was struggling to come to terms with.

Lavinia had smiled softly, glad to see Mary so confident and relaxed. Both Blanche and Agnes had been happy to see the girls getting along so well, even if Agnes had seemed a little quiet.

Mary had solved the problem somewhat daintily, inviting Cora down to join them, sensing that Agnes was perhaps feeling a little lonely.

The group had stayed together for a long time, long enough for Cora’s husband to relax and for it to be safe enough for Mary and Lavinia to go home.

I AM SO GLAD YOU LOVED IT! I was worried it was too much, but you've made me feel better.

And just, augh, the number of stories I have unfinished on my computer about Mary reading to Lavinia while sick is ridiculous. There is one with a lot of Twelfth Night references that if I ever finish will be about how Viola and Olivia's epic love enlighten Mary and Lavinia to their epic love.

Filled.

I HATE AND LOVE YOU

I want it so much....

Oh yay! Lavinia as Mary's "companion." That is how I see them forever now. :)

Glad you liked. <3

I was so struggling not to just go right to 'wife' lol.

ps: dibs dibs dibs

with grace in all she offers

You are Lady Mary Crawley. Cold and careful, soulless and heartless. Selfish. Thorn-sharp to those who would stand in your way.

In a way, you've been waiting for Lavinia Swire your entire life. Granny and Aunt Rosamund scheme and smirk and all but cackle like the wyrd sisters: how eager they are, to watch you do what you have always been meant to, to unleash a talent you no doubt inherited from them. You may be a woman, your battlefield a drawing room, your rival an unassuming English rose with a smile that is inconveniently sweet and true. That doesn't mean you won't go in for the kill to take back what is yours.

You would have once. Edith will certainly attest to that, if asked.

And yet it only makes you tired, tired and sad and a little ashamed, sitting at tea and listening to your aunt and grandmother plotting the ruin of the mousy and inferior Miss Swire. You think of the way her hair catches the light at the dinnertable, hovering sweetly somewhere between red and gold. Everything about her seems soft and inviting; if chamomile tea and May mornings could be shaped into a person, they would be Lavinia Swire. You don't wonder that Matthew has had the good sense to fall in love with her. You can't blame him a bit.

+

Perhaps it is the thought of Matthew that stays your hand. Your love of him: selflessness at last, and you don't even have anyone to show it off to. Matthew deserves a good girl, a kind girl like Lavinia after being dragged around by you every which way. He is living through hell; let him have his angel to think fondly of. To live for.

And yet it isn’t only that. You wonder what you would have thought of her if you’d met her in any other world, one where she was not Matthew Crawley’s Inconvenient Fiancee first and foremost, and never mind any of the other facets of her soul. Those under the roof at Downton certainly don't. You imagine shaking hands with her, hearing her name for the first time from her lips. A few years ago, you would have thought her very dull.

Now your standards have reinvented themselves. Now she seems quite wonderful. A treasure. The sort you'd want to call a friend, if you had any of those. You think you could tell her anything and she would take it to the grave. Let you cry on her shoulder. You are remarkably unacquainted with the shoulders of other people -- at least those that don't belong to the serving staff.

Your mind keeps wandering back to the garden: Lavinia crying, saying things that no one says, especially not here. Empty polite lies don't come naturally to her. No one could doubt that she has a heart.

+

Perhaps you envy her.

If you ever admitted it aloud (which you won't), of course everyone would think it had to do entirely with Matthew. You almost wish it did. It would be so much easier to recognize yourself, then.

You wonder what she might see in you; perhaps you're softer in her eyes. You hope that she can feel it back -- this thing she's done to you.

jkdfskljfslkj FEELINGS. YOU HAVE GIVEN THEM.

My poor bb Mary, and all I want is for Lavinia to hug her. And this is just so perfect in its characterisation, and brilliant!

This is perfect. I never really liked Lavinia in DA (I wanted to cut her most of the time), but you really made me love and appreciate her here.

"It's tradition," Mary says.

"It's barbaric," Lavinia says.

OH, I WENT THERE (and went slightly over the comment character limit). (http://dollsome.livejournal.com/1760940.html#cutid1)

There is one with a lot of Twelfth Night references that if I ever finish will be about how Viola and Olivia's epic love enlighten Mary and Lavinia to their epic love.

DID I EVER TELL YOU YOU'RE MY HEEEEROOOOOOOO

Shush woman I'm reading your "It's you season." WHEREIN YOU BECOME MY HEEEEROOOOOOO!

Matthew brings back Amelia (as seen here (http://archiveofourown.org/works/346712) & here (http://dollsome.livejournal.com/1760940.html)) following Lavinia running away with Mary for a bit. When the whole family is once again gathered Matthew is paranoid about leaving Amelia alone with Mary. Hilarity ensues.

I'm glad I could make you appreciate her here!

Oh, this is really really very lovely!!!

AAAAAAH GOD I JUST LOVE IT.

Robert and Cora react to The Truth About Mary/Lavinia.

FINALLY:

throw over your man, i say, and come (http://archiveofourown.org/works/369858) (2265 words) because lol what is a character limit

MINE MINE MINE!!

*clings to prompt*

I'll write it soon.

So if this got turned into how everyone finds out eventually, how would you feel? (This would basically be an extension on the Paris adventures + some time at Downton.)

matriarchy AU, Lavinia is engaged-to-be-engaged to the heiress Lady Mary, gossip rags.

omgosh!
*cries*
Wonderful! <3

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