#prudence holmes

[inposterumcumgaudio]

Mr. Kite

Remember how I said you already know everything you need to know about Mr. Kite?

Mr. Kite, as a character, embodies a narrative concept that I think a lot of people struggle with these days. There seems to be this idea now that if a question is posed and then left unanswered in a story, it's unfinished or a plot hole. It's not! Not every story is going to spoonfeed and hold your hand all the way to the end. In fact, some stories will leave you hanging, left to determine on your own what happened. People who cannot do this will have a bad time with stories like those. Further still, some stories will purposely leave you wondering with deliberately inconclusive possibilities, such that you'll never have a satisfactory answer even if you have the wherewithal to actually suppose about it on your own.

Like the question of what happened to the kids on the train. There's not a canon answer for that; there will never be a canon answer for that. You can come up with your own answers, but you're never going to have the satisfaction of knowing whether it's correct or not. And real talk? There was never any intent to have a correct answer. The writers themselves almost certainly do not have the answer because they purposely didn't want one.

Do they not make kids read The Lady, or the Tiger? in school no more?

Anyway, the question of Mr. Kite does two very interesting things.

In a world where apparently people are no longer comfortable with being left with an unanswered questions, the game presents you with this one and then makes you play through three acts and three more DLC without ever giving you the conclusion. Kinda mean! Love it!

Though not specific to videogames, but I do think it's the best medium to play with this idea: that you never meet Mr. Kite or ever get very close to learning more about him is playing with the convention of anything you encounter in a world like this being there specifically for you. That is, you are playing the protagonist and so any information presented is for your benefit and any problems that arise are yours to solve.

The second is the more compelling concept because a world where you are merely a cog in the machine rather than the operator is more realistic, but videogames are constructed so it asks a bit of both the designer and the player to engage with that and be satisfied. For the designer, you have to put in things that seem extraneous to the experience and there's limitations and considerations to take into account. Because it's a fine line. We Happy Few does do this in ways far less successful than Mr. Kite. You know, those things I like to call go-nowhere-mysteries. There's a difference between a part of the story you're not permitted to get any closer to and a part of the story that wastes your time trying in spite of that. And for the player, one has to be okay with not being the center of the world's attention at all times. They have to have that understanding that not everything is going to be for you to manipulate or interact with.

Now that I've made you sit through my philosophical rant, here's the one thing I think it's important for people to know about Mr. Kite (but you probably already knew and just never really thought about it (unless you wrote Une Raison d'Être Au Courant in which this is a crucial detail).

Mr. Kite does not help just anyone. He only helps Downers who can still take their Joy.

Part of this is, I think, practical. That we find Prudence in the motilene mines tells us that the way out for him is the same as it is for Arthur who must make the same journey unguided. And to get there, you have to go through the Parade and to get into the Parade, you must be able to take your Joy at least once.

But... there's also a dismissiveness to the Wastrel condition in his instructions. That they're starving and cold is no concern of his, he cares only for his "favourite Rabbit". Still, his Edenham safehouse is guarded and populated by Wastrels who will attack other trepassing Wastrels who enter which means that even if there's no Resistance, he does have accomplices in this. I wrote a chapter detailing why a Wastrel might want to work for Mr. Kite, but less nobler intentions might be that working for a man who has access to "good food" is the better bet than siding with your fellow Wastrels in Barrow Holm.

And then there's that he calls Prudence his "favourite Rabbit". It's a little creepy, yeah? That Prudence does make it all the way to the end suggests to me that this isn't any sort of play on her so much as that Mr. Kite might just be Like That in General but still, if my life were in the hands of some mysterious benefactor, I don't know that I'd like him being that affectionate in his missives.

But I also like the idea that whoever he's moving out of town at the moment is his "favourite Rabbit". Means you don't have the change the codes on the phones every time you get someone new.

You know what rabbits are? Delicate. They break their own necks if you look at them the wrong way. A person who wants to leave town on their own could and does. Arthur, Sally, Ollie, and Victoria all leave on their own. But I think if you need Mr. Kite to guide you through a town you've lived in your whole life, it's because you're too timid to set out on your own.

His note also seems to imply a joviality about the whole thing. Prudence is having a miserable experience making her way through the town, but Mr. Kite's having a grand time orchestrating Downer escapes under the nose of polite society. I suspect his is a life of some privilege if he's having this much fun with it. Would explain his disinterest in the plight of Wastrels, despite his otherwise apparently charitable acts against the status quo.

He's also one of Sally's Blackberry clients meaning he's either someone of enough importance in the town to justify it or, more likely, he's convinced her that supplying him is a good idea. Possibly even both. Prudence was also a client of Sally's so it's possible she's the one who referred her to Mr. Kite.

Overall, I think Mr. Kite is someone who recognizes the problems of Wellington Wells, but is not suffering from them personally. In fact, he's having a lot of fun playing subterfuge with the local government and playing hero to people who would never have been brave enough to leave the town on their own.

#we happy few #mr. kite #prudence holmes

[kariplus]

prutoria the women you are .. 🫶

full 18+ image here

#my art #prutoria #we happy few #Victoria byng #prudence holmes

[the-commonplace-book]

(separate post for the other ship)

Send me a ship for the ship bingo chart: Victoria Byng / Prudence Holmes ( We Happy Few )

Let's go lesbians! Let's go!

Victoria and Prudence are such a classic case of lesbian pining. While I think the idea of them being together would be nice, we know from Prudence’s diary, letter, and notes that she never acted on her crush and she was fairly certain that even if Victoria returned her feelings, still nothing would come of it. That Victoria would “never stray from her appointed path, no matter how much she loved anyone.” 

Victoria inherited that strong sense of Duty from her father, taking it to a level of sincere devotion that even Gen. Byng never achieved. Prudence notes that she had to be the most English Englishwoman to walk the earth due to being half Indian and needing to prove her Englishness. Victoria was dedicated to Wellington Wells first and foremost and everything else came secondary. In late-stage WW, the general public can’t be arsed to care about sexuality anymore, but I imagine that would have been something Victoria was aware of. Being with a woman wouldn’t be upstanding-proper-Englishwoman-like, not to mention the distraction from her responsibilities that any romantic relationship would pose. 

Prudence suspected that Victoria might know, and even suspected that her feelings might have been returned, but that didn’t change the reality that there was likely nothing to come of it. So she loved her quietly in their friendship. In the way Prudence writes to and about Victoria, it’s clear that they were friends and that Victoria cared for her dearly. In classic lesbian fashion, it’s unclear if that caring was exceptionally affectionate friendship or some sign of romantic attraction. 

If Victoria returned her feelings and they did get together: 

They would be cute in the way that romance blossomed of friendship is cute, but there are definite conflicts there. Victoria’s steadfast devotion to Joy and the Wellsian Way of Life. Prudence’s questioning thereof, going off Joy, and plotting to escape. In her diary, Prudence remarks: “I could still go to a Mood Booth and pretend nothing happened. But I won't. I won't do it. Not even if she meant the way she looked at me.”

Prudence loves Victoria, but even that love doesn’t outweigh the misery of living in Wellington Wells when you aren’t drugged out of your mind. Maybe the relationship would delay the inevitable, but it would cause extra tension between them because Victoria is sharp about that sort of thing. She would notice if Pru was acting strange – showing signs of not taking her Joy (even if she was on Sunshine as a substitute). It would be harder and harder for Pru to get away with it. When she finally reaches her breaking point with Wellington Wells and makes plans to escape, she wouldn’t ask Victoria to leave with her. She already knows what her answer would be. Telling Victoria would only result in her being given Joy against her will “for her own good.” And Victoria would truly believe she was doing what was right, because she hasn’t been off her Joy in years. So Prudence would leave a letter and make her escape. And Victoria would stay behind and wish she had noticed the signs sooner so she could have stopped Pru from going Downer. 

Alternatively, if Pru was still around when Ollie forces Victoria to go off her Joy, then they could burn it all down together, but I’m not sure that timeline fits narratively with the game. Still, it might be a bit fun to have Victoria, off her Joy, talking to Prudence about everything that’s going on, Pru not being shocked at all, and that being the moment Victoria realizes that Pru really has been off her Joy all this time. 

If Victoria didn’t return her feelings and it was just Pru’s wishful thinking:

So this is a very silly idea that came up a while back when chatting with some friends. What if Victoria cared about Prudence in the same way she cared about Arthur? Both of them are her employees under her care, both of them are showing signs they may be high risk of going Downer. What do they need? Accountability and a pick-me-up. If the two of them got together, they would surely dash away these silly notions of going off their Joy. And keep each other accountable to take it regularly going forward.

So Victoria subtly tries to matchmake them, but she doesn’t want it to look like that’s what she’s doing. So she invites Arthur into the conversations when Prudence comes to talk to her. She makes sure their offices are right next to each other so they might bump into each other in the hall more often. She encourages them to talk to each other when they’re at a company party and Pru and Arthur are both being proper wallflowers. 

Maybe it starts to work on Arthur. Making those “googly eyes” at Prudence that she complains about. Arthur never says anything about it and fumbles his chance at every turn because, well, he’s Arthur. And because Prudence catches on sometimes that he might be trying to work his way around to asking her to lunch and finds a way to derail the conversation and excuse herself every time. 

Because Prudence is in love already, but she’d never say it. She continues to hold on to every conversation, every little brush of their hands, every glance from Victoria as a hopeful sign that maybe, just maybe, she returns her feelings. And Victoria, seeing her as a dear friend and colleague, is none the wiser.

#we happy few #whf #prudence holmes #victoria byng #f; we happy few #compulsion games #[sketchbook]

[veryfancydoilies]

Prudence Holmes from We Happy Few aesthetic

Dearest V,

By the time you read this, I will be gone. Leaving you is the hardest part of what I have to do. You were right about my being off Joy -- the others were easy to fool, but you of course were always so attuned to my moods. I'm sorry for saying you were just imagining it, but I did so to protect you. You must by now know my true feelings for you (though I suspect they are not reciprocated). Please don't come looking for me. We both know that your sense of Duty is at the core of your being. I will always remain your true friend, even though our paths must now diverge.

Yours truly,

Pru

@we-joyless-few @joyful-downer

#aesthetic #character aesthetic #we happy few #prudence holmes #images do not belong to me #we happy few aesthetic

[axxloe]

Yeah well I listened to all of Prudence’s phone calls and her body wasn’t in the motilene pipes so that means she made it out of wellington wells and is living an amazing life rn

#rambs #we happy few #prudence holmes #it wasn’t a glitch that’s just wacky

[ratodemadame]

Pru with a bunny balaclava

#rato #whf #we happy few #prudence holmes

[exmcrtis]

you can sit beside me when the world comes down...

(a general overview of what my muses have been up to post-event)

ARTEMIS has mostly been laying low. she was unaffected by the destruction in town, but the emotional damage was enough to convince her she needs to keep her head down, and she's been spending more time at home or at work. she's been feeling more and more lonely these days, and as a result has decided to stop using physical intimacy as a coping mechanism. long story short, she's a reformed hoe.

BELLA has been splitting her time between jerico, the cruz-duttons, and her friends, but has mostly been with jerico. his injuries have worried her enough that she's in full-time panic mode, but is doing her best to hide it from everyone. she's also formed a new friendship with jessie, one that she plans to hold near and dear. just don't tell other people that she has a heart, she'll probably kick you in the shins.

CAIN suffered an eye injury during the earthquake, and has been sentenced to wear an eye patch for the foreseeable (pun intended) future. not being with val during the ordeal freaked him out, and they have been shacking up at his place for the past couple of weeks. he really only leaves the house to go to work, but he's been rendered useless since he needs both eyeballs in order to do his job properly. just call him captain cain and slap a pet parrot on his shoulder.

EZRA did not attend the event, as the idea of being around that many people freaks her out. she happily stayed at home with her books, but often visits the large cracks in town to inspect them. can usually be found staying out dangerously close to dark, but thinks nothing of it.

HALLEY sustained sprains to both her wrist and shoulder, but is otherwise unscathed. she's still quite emotionally stunted when it comes to her family situation, but chooses to distract herself by visiting mo as often as possible. she also spends a lot of time with zarina and knightley, but still doesn't fully open up about her feelings. she also confessed her feelings for saffron and doesn't regret it, but the very thought of liking someone that much terrifies her.

LAVENDER hasn't been doing so great for the past couple of weeks. the disappearance of her mother has left her feeling like a shell of a human, and no matter how much she tries to distract herself, she just can't shake it. she spends most of her time at work or around town, no longer feeling like the commune is home. however, she has no plans of moving out, so she's stuck in a limbo state currently.

LEIA was beebopping around until the earthquake hit, and then she scrambled home. she visits draven and salem more often than not, wanting to make sure that draven is okay despite how heavy things are at home.

LUCA has been hovering around parker as often as they'll let him. he didn't attend the event, but seeing so many people grieving and recovering makes him tense, so he's been spending most of his time at work. he does regular check-ins with all the weirdlings, and while he wants to pretend that he has no feelings, his concern for his little siblings for all intents and purposes outweighs any façade that he tries to put on. basically, this is the best time to try and befriend him.

ONDINE has been trying to adjust to life in town rather than the commune. her life has been uprooted in every sense of the word, and it's caused a lot of trust issues to develop that weren't there previously. she's made quick friends with celia, a good thing considering she's been bringing joei to work with her, and has begun settling into the idea of being around people outside of the commune. ondine wants to believe that she and joei are safe now that there's some sort of separation from absinthe, but she can't help but feel paranoid that something bad will happen at the drop of a hat.

PRUDENCE is living in a current state of grief and sadness. the loss of minnie hit her hard, so she's been trying and failing to find as many distractions as possible. she hasn't been sleeping much (if at all), and the exhaustion is starting to show. conrad's offer for her to stay over at the greene residence whenever she wanted has been accepted every single day since the earthquake. she's started to feel like a burden as of late, but she continues to show up at mason and conrad's door on a daily basis. she worries that she's overstaying her welcome and is waiting patiently for the day when they kick her out. spends most of her time crying but has become a pro at hiding it.

SALEM sustained some pretty serious burns from her shoulder down on her left side. in the past couple weeks she's visited the clinic a few times to make sure she's taking proper care of herself, but unless she's there or at work, she's spent most of her time at home. though draven tries to fuss over her, salem still keeps her focus on him, trying not to think too hard about what happened to her. however, she plans to cover up for quite some time, not wanting to draw attention to her burns. garnering extra attention is too scary.

SARE has spent most of her time working. she tries to check in with spencer even more now, not wanting to feel like a helicopter sister, but also wanting to make sure her little sibling is doing okay. she's finally coming around to the idea of having a closer relationship with sycamore, but she's choosing to take that one step at a time.

VIOLET has been a worrying mess since the earthquake. she's been trying to give saffron space, but has done at least one check-in (even if it's met with a grouchy attitude). she knows how worried rex is and has been spending as much time with him as possible so she can keep both of their minds at ease.

WOLF has been coping with his injury by cracking jokes and annoying arty. his hand was crushed badly by debris, and he anticipates that it'll never gain its full functionality ever again. while it's been extremely painful to deal with, his aversion to going to doctors (and being touched, for that matter) has made him refuse to go to the clinic. he will continue to cope with humor.

WYLIE is doing the worst of them all. minnie's death has left her feeling like she barely exists, and she cries most of her days away. she has stopped going to work all together, and when she is around other people, she mostly stays quiet until someone addresses her. wylie feels like there's no point to life anymore, and has no idea how to channel any of her emotions. coping mechanisms don't currently exist, and being around her can only be described as 'miserable'. she misses the love of her life.

#artemis hayes: musings #bella darling: musings #cain barlowe: musings #ezra blum: musings #halley macgillivray: musings #lavender parsons: musings #leia tolentino: musings #luca russo: musings #ondine feng: musings #prudence wheaton: musings #salem salazar: musings #sare holmes: musings #violet beauregarde: musings #wolf lykaios: musings #wylie bateman: musings

[shanastoryteller]

Happy lovers season Shana! I'm very excited for the upcoming prompts! 😀 Can I please request some more Enola Holmes or Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries? 💚 If not please feel free to do a dealer's choice. I love all that you write and it fills me with joy to see new updates from you 😊

set in the same universe as Here is Your Home Country

Dot doesn’t want a big wedding, doesn’t want a lot of fuss. Married at her church, and then Prudence has offered to have the reception in her garden. Probably more at Jane’s insistence than anything else, but considering Mr. Butler has already insisted on handling the catering and logistics and anything else she might need assistance with, she might as well.

It’s sweet of him, really. She knows that he’s worried about her sisters that disapprove and her mother that disapproves and her brothers that had been apocalyptic at the news, and how that means she’ll be planning this wedding without them. She’s not worried. They’d never cared about her life or her happiness until it was something that would embarrass them.

The less said about what her friends from church think, the better. But she hasn’t headed their gossip for years, not since she started working for Miss Fisher.

Jack’s a good man and doesn’t deserve their ire. She won’t tolerate it.

~

“You’re really doing it, huh?”

Dot looks up and feels first pleasure then wariness that settles on a gut rolling mixture of the two. “Hello, Nell.”

Her older sister is standing over her, blocking her light, but she just closes her notebook and uses her foot to nudge the chair opposite her. The waiter should be by again soon.

She looks different out of the heavy makeup and light clothes of the club. Wearing a sweater and long skirt, she looks like the sister Dot remembers. “Mum called me. Me.”

Dot winces. “You’re invited, of course, I just wasn’t sure where to send the invite.”

Nell leans back in her chair, raising an eyebrow and reaching into her purse for a cigarette. Dot wishes she wouldn’t. She hates the smell. “I didn’t really get that impression from you two.”

“We were just colleagues then,” she says, which isn’t completely accurate, but neither is friends. Or perhaps it is. They knew one another then, and respected each other, and were kind to one another. But she’d had Hugh, and Jack’s eyes had been on Miss Fisher, and – they hadn’t known, then, where they would end up.

It’s nice.

She knew him and liked him and cared about him before she loved him. It makes her feel like she can trust him, that he won’t surprise her in a way she doesn’t like.

Nell hums, then says, “She wants to know if you’re having money troubles.”

Dot stares, wishing she knew her mother a little less well and didn’t understand exactly what she was saying. “She thinks I’m marrying Jack for his money because I have gambling debts?”

She shrugs. “You know what she sees at the church.”

She’s not going to get angry. Getting angry won’t do her any good. “I’m marrying him because I love him.”

“You loved Hugh,” she says. “He was cute. Your age. He even converted.”

Part of her wonders who was keeping Nell updated on the gossip of her life. The rest of her doesn’t care. “He didn’t love me right.”

“There’s a wrong way?” she asks, too lightly.

“Yes,” she says, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from scowling. “And I can’t love anyone right who loves me wrong. Hugh and I would have been miserable, in the end. We were in love with people that didn’t exist.”

She’d wanted someone who would love her through all of her changes.

Hugh had wanted someone who would never change.

Even in her bitterest moments, she can’t truly blame him. She had been a static woman when they’d met. She was the one that changed and she was the one that had wanted someone who would love her anyway and she was the one that had ended their engagement when she’d realized that someone wasn’t him.

Nell leans forward to steal her half-drunk cup of coffee, leaning back as she gulps it down in three long swallows. “Okay. I’ll tell Mum to back off, yeah? Not that it’ll do any good. She never listens to me anyway.”

“Oh,” Dot says, startled, and then Nell is getting to her feet and waving as she melts back into the crowd of the street.

~

Bert and Cec are in their room, sleeping after working through the night. Jack is over, but he’s never not known, and these days they don’t even bother to shove their twin beds apart when he's here.

She’s seated on her knees at the coffee table, Jack sitting behind her on the couch, nose buried in a case file that she’s going to look over herself as soon as she figures out this seating chart.

Jack clears his throat and she leans back, pressing her back to his knees and looking up. The file has been discarded and he’s looking at her with a sort of warm softness that has her reaching out her hand and letting him haul her upright just enough so that she can fall into his lap, seated sideways so her legs are stretched out over the couch.

His arms come around her waist and his lips quirk up in an almost smile. She smooths out the line between his eyebrows with her thumb, almost asks, but know it’s a waste when he’s nearly there already.

Sure enough, he looks at the space over her head and asks, “Do you want us to get a new house?”

She blinks. She hadn’t considered it, really, had assumed that she’d move into the house Jack has now. She’s been there. It’s a very nice house. A little empty feeling, perhaps, but she figured they’d solve that quickly enough. Instead of saying any of that, she asks, “Do you want me to want us to get a new house?”

He looks at her then, exasperated, and she smiles, shifting her hand lower to trace his bottom lip. He licks his lips, his tongue barely brushing her fingertip, and her breath hitches, but he says, “Rosie picked it.”

It makes sense that his first wife helped pick the house, and Dot has never tiptoed her way around Rosie, but that’s not quite what he’s saying.

Rosie picked it.

“Do you like it?” she asks.

Jack shrugs, looking away from her again. “She made a good choice.”

“Yes,” Dot agrees. It really is a very nice house, in a good area. “But do you like it?”

He shifts beneath her, meeting her gaze when he admits, “I let her pick what she wanted. I thought things would be okay, if I could give her what she wanted.”

And now it reminds him of how much that didn’t work, how she left that house and him both. He’d offered her the house in the divorce, but she hadn’t wanted it, for her own reasons.

“Why don’t we pick something we both want?” she asks, because no matter how nice the house is, she doesn’t want what he doesn’t’. “I bet Mac has some good leads on houses that are going to be on the market. She knows so many useful things like that.”

“Yeah?” he asks, relief making his whole body relax even as his arms tighten, tugging her that much closer against him.

“Yeah,” she echoes, then dips down her head for a kiss he’s eager to give her.

#prompt answers #prompts are closed #asks #solvblad #miss fisher's murder mysteries #mfmm #i'm so glad you asked #dot/jack is my rarepair and i love them

[akajustmerry]

[divinebruises]

STATISTICAL “WHICH CHARACTER” PERSONALITY QUIZ

rules: take this test and present who you got as the characters most similar to you

1. Raymond "Red" Reddington - The Blacklist

2. Lady Macbeth - Macbeth

3. Annalise Keating - How To Get Away With Murder

4. Dr. Hannibal Lecter - Hannibal

5. Beth Harmon - The Queen's Gambit

6. Michael - The Good Place

7. Dr. Ian Malcolm - Jurassic Park

8. Sherlock Holmes - Sherlock

9. Berlin - Money Heist

10. Prudence Night - Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

tagged by: @lesbian-hannibal ty my dear

tagging: @love-songs-for-emma @itsthetreesknees @zephyr-of-death @willgrahamscock

#huh #yeah that checks out

[mahkari]

prudence holmes as slenderman: collect my phone calls

#kari rambles

[inposterumcumgaudio]

Prudence Holmes?

So Prudence's story should be serving a pretty crucial point to the narrative, but it gets impeded by design flaws and glitches. People also get hung up on the "mystery" of Mr. Kite and disregard how Prudence's escape connects to the rest of the story.

The most glaring problem for understanding Prudence's story is that Prudence's body in the tunnels suffers from a glitch in that game that will sometimes fail to spawn narrative-triggered corpses. The same thing will happen with Bobby Hickinbotham, for example. He should be passed out on the couch when you arrive at the Reform Club, but sometimes, all you find are his things strewn about. Lucky you don't have to search him to get the ID card you need!

Same thing happens with Prudence when you get to the motilene mines. And if you're the sort of player who isn't paying rapt attention when Arthur comments on it anyway and connects that to the ongoing plot about her, you may then never find out what happens to Prudence.

And that's assuming that you have been dutifully answering the telephones in the Garden District every morning and are invested in that. Which one may very well not be. I play quite efficiently these days, but I think even most new players do not spend enough time in the Garden District to be there on ten separate mornings to answer the phone ten times.

I do wonder if the quest "An Awkward Courtship", in which you're asked to return to the same Garden District set piece five nights in a row to eavesdrop on a couple meeting clandestinely, wasn't meant to sort of nudge the player into spending more time in Lud's Holm than they might have otherwise. If you look at it as trying to set the player up to be in the Garden District at dawn to answer the phone, then that quest seems a little less like a pointless time sink.

And all of this stems from the larger problem WHF has that the areas are so large and so samey unless you are in a set piece that one gets environment fatigue. So a player is probably wanting to get out of the Garden District as soon as possible, rather than linger about.

So they then also made it an achievement to listen to the phonecalls. A merit badge that Steam reports only 1.5% of players having collected. Welp. The generous thing to do would be to make your progress on the phones carry over to Sally's act, but I suspect we'd be asking quite a lot. (And then you'd miss Agent Sally the Super Spy's meandering and astute observation that it must be some sort of secret message.)

Speaking of environments, you're also supposed to be guessing at what the coded language in the calls means, but that's hard to do if you've never played the game before and don't know the landmarks or characters yet.

WHF is a game that very much benefits from multiple playthroughs, but let's be real, it's kind of a slog and most people do not complete it even the once. (High five it if you're here though, means you made it!)

But let's imagine a world in which all the information about Prudence that the player should have collected from those phonecalls is given to them in a way memorable and in the course of the average playthrough.

Like I said, people get hung up on the whole thing of who Mr. Kite is, but that's actually not important. It's okay for a plot element like Mr. Kite to be simply be without further explanation. You already know everything you need to know about him.

And actually, you already know everything you need to know about Prudence's escape too!

The important thing is that Gemma doesn't.

Prudence (and to a more obvious but muddy degree, Johnny Bolton) are your clues that Gemma does not have the entire picture of the situation on her conspiracy boards and is unknowingly trying to fit pieces of separate puzzles together. That she has Bolton, Prudence, and Harry Plantagenet all together means she suspects Verloc in all of their disappearances. By the time you're reading Gemma's boards, you could have met Bolton in Lud's Holm and know that he's alive and well-ish and even with all the impediments to Prudence's story, you probably picked up her journals in the Barrow Holm and Maidenholm hatches and would know that she left of her own accord and has been following Mr. Kite's path out of town. Prudence is the most reliable point that what Gemma has concluded is not the the actual facts, but merely supposition.

If - big if - you're following the phonecall stuff, you'd know Prudence is still kicking about and not locked in Haworth Labs.

Other Proodle thots:

Arthur was apparently smitten with her when they worked together at the Department of Archives, Printing and Recycling (such that Prudence even notes his making "googly eyes" in her journal), but does not recognize her voice on these phonecalls.

Which I personally elected to mean that it's not actually her or Mr. Kite on the phones and that when it's a message for them, it actually is. Prudence does mention coming back from the phonebooth herself in her journal, being chased by the bobbies she's electrocuted in the Maidenholm hatch, but bobbies are rarely seen in the Garden District, the only place in Wellington Wells with working phonebooths. She also writes that she's "leaving a message" when she needs to inform Mr. Kite that she needs a new shelter because the Maidenholm hatch smells like rotting corpse. She could be euphemistic in her own diary (it's par for the course in Wellington Wells to speak that way), but you could also interpret that literally as I do.

Prudence also says in her diary that Victoria always suspected a resistance movement plotting away, but that Mr. Kite says there isn't one. And I think that is the case. There are some disparate resistance actions happening in Wellington Wells (Mr. Kite's Underground Railroad, William Godwin's overt protests, Johnny Bolton's operations, whatever it is the Reform Club is doing) but none of them are organized. They don't know about each other and aren't working together.

Isn't it very interesting how Arthur more or less forgets all about his infatuation with Prudence the second Sally reenters his thoughts? He really only mentions Prudence when faced with her existence, when he's answering a phonecall.

I like to think that his two week "holiday" from the O' Courant and sudden move to civil service was related to his feelings for Sally. And that he ends up working under Victoria? The Ploughboys call him her "pet" and she does seems somewhat invested in him. She very likely took him under her wing so she could keep an eye on him and encouraged him to move on, chemically and otherwise, in any direction other than Sally. So maybe Arthur's attentions on Prudence were never really founded on anything other than that he already had those feelings but was willfully forgetting their actual subject and needed someone else to hang them on.

Which would be quite convenient for Victoria if it worked out. Much as everyone loves the idea of Victoria/Prudence, I have to think it was unrequited. Obviously Victoria would never act on those feelings if she had them, but what a character doesn't say is as important as what they do and not once in Victoria's DLC does she ever mention Prudence. She doesn't even remember Prudence's goodbye letter in her own recollection of her house.

#prudence holmes #victoria byng #arthur hastings #gemma olsen #johnny bolton #mr. kite #we happy few

[booklovershouse]

Oi oi, booklovers!

Vcs já sabem q eu costumo ler livros de classificação baixa (pq é mais difícil ter hot/palavrões), ent resolvi fazer dois posts indicando livros pela classificação: esse, com livros +12 e outro, com livros +14 - eu poderia até fazer de outras tbm, mas eu basicamente só leio nessa faixa, ent é oq tem kkkkkkk

» Caso queira mais detalhes, os links nos títulos irão te levar para a resenha específica do livro/saga!

🧁| A Seleção (Kiera Cass)

Tudo começa em um pequeno país chamado Illéa, onde a sociedade é dividida em castas. É como uma herança: se seus pais são Seis, você será Seis pro resto da vida, a menos que consiga casar com um cara de uma casta acima (caso seja uma mulher), entrar para a guarda real e se tornar Dois (caso seja um homem) ou que pague uma fortuna pra mudar de casta.

A Seleção é um evento onde jovens de várias castas e províncias diferentes são sorteadas para ir ao palácio e, se escolhida pelo príncipe, se tornar a próxima rainha de Illéa. Caso perca, a garota ficará com a casta Três - se não for uma Dois -, já que é difícil para as moças de castas mais baixas voltarem pra a rotina normal após o tempo no palácio.

America Singer é uma Cinco (apenas três níveis acima do fundo do poço) e sua mãe está tentando convencê-la a se inscrever para a Seleção a qualquer custo, mas a garota tem um temperamento forte - e um namoro secreto. Após muita insistência, ela resolve fazer o que a mãe quer, já que há uma grande possibilidade dela nem ser chamada...mas é claro que as coisas fogem do controle e então America se vê "brigando" por uma coroa que nem deseja.

~ resenha originalmente publicada no meu outro blog, em janeiro de 2023.

🧁| As Férias da Minha Vida (🇧🇷)

Um romance de verão durante as férias no Caribe, uma viagem que deveria ser pra comemorar os quinze anos, mas só aconteceu aos dezessete.

🧁| Instant Karma - Caos, Amor e Destino

Foi meu primeiro lido de uma das minhas autoras favoritas e conta a história da Prudence, q depois de muita luta pra terminar um trabalho em dupla com Quint Erickson - que todos amam, mas ela odeia -, Pru recebe uma nota abaixo do que esperava e decide refazer o trabalho, nem que tenha que suportar Quint outra vez.

Mas então, numa animada noite no karaokê, ela cai enquanto cantava, bate a cabeça no chão e recebe o estranho poder de fazer "justiça kármica".

🧁| Amor e Gelato

Depois da morte da mãe, Lina cai de paraquedas em Florença, na Itália, para morar com um pai que nunca viu na vida.

Maaaaas, no meio dessas mudanças, longe de seu país e de sua melhor amiga, há uma coisa boa: Lorenzo Ferrara. Eles logo viram amigos e saem por aí, visitando os pontos turísticos que aparecem no recém descoberto diário da mãe de Lina.

Agr olha, se vc viu o filme e não gostou, por favor, tente dar uma chance pro livro, pq nem a gnt q gosta da história achou o filme bom, imagina qm nunca leu 🤡

🧁| Trilogia Princesas Modernas (🇧🇷)

• Cinderela Pop: sinceramente, eu não lembro de muita coisa, só que a Cintia é DJ e tem All Stars.

• Princesa Adormecida: meu preferidinho. Ana Rosa vive com seus três tios super protetores e praticamente só sai de casa para ir ao colégio. Isso até as amigas dela a levarem escondido para comemorar seu aniversário e ela começar a receber mensagens de um garoto misterioso no dia seguinte.

• Princesa das Águas: Arielle Brotel é uma nadadora famosa, que está prestes a participar das Olimpíadas pela primeira vez, porém, ela é super protegida por ser a caçula da família e então ela é apresentada a um novo mundo...onde tem alguém que pode virar sua vida de cabeça pra baixo.

🧁| Um Estudo em Vermelho

O primeiro de uma saga com 4 livros e 56 contos, Um Estudo em Vermelho é a porta de entrada para o 221b da Baker Street e seus moradores que adoram um mistério não solucionado: Sherlock Holmes e seu fiel companheiro, o Dr. Watson.

Nesse livro, você vai ver como uma das duplas mais amadas do mundo se conheceram e solucionaram o primeiro de muitos casos espetaculares.

🧁| Minha Vida Fora de Série (🇧🇷)

Um dos meus preferidos da pré-adolescência, Minha Vida Fora de Série conta a história de Priscila, uma garota de 13 anos que, após o divórcio dos pais, se muda com a mãe (e alguns dos seus muitos bichinhos de estimação) para BH.

Cidade nova, amigos novos e, quem sabe, talvez um novo amor?

🍰| Conhecem mais livros +12? Se sim, conta aí, eu amo e aceito indicações!

Bjs e boas leiturassss <333

#livros #leitura #livrosderomance #books & libraries #leitores #livros nacionais #paula pimenta #books #books and reading

[enheriter]

[ jacob anderson, he/him, cisgender man ] — was that ALOYSIUS PONSONBY? the THIRTY-ONE year old is the DUKE of OXFORD, how exciting to see them this season! rumors have it they are EXPRESSIVE and PRODIGIOUS, but i’ve heard they are MELANCHOLIC and LETHARGIC as well — maybe that’s why they’ve been called the VIRTUOSO. I have even heard that HE PAYS OFF NEWSPAPERS TO WRITE ABOUT HIS WORKS — only time will tell.

QUICK FACTS.

NAME:  aloysius  weatherall  ponsonby  NICKNAME:  aloysius  AGE:  thirty-one  PLACE OF BIRTH:  oxford,  england    NATIONALITY:  british  GENDER:  cisgender  man  PRONOUNS:  he/him  ORIENTATION:  bisexual  RELIGION:  anglican  PARENTS:  erskine  st.  clair  ponsonby  (  duke  of  oxford  )  &  felicity  prudence    (  duchess  of  oxford  )   LANGUAGES:  english,  french  (  fluent  )  german,  italian  (  conversational  )  spanish  (  basic  )  EDUCATION:  oxford  university  OCCUPATION:  duke,    aka none,    aka  amateur composer  HOBBIES:  music,  opera,  travelling,  art,  being rich,  gambling   LABEL  the  virtuoso

PARALLELS  

asuka  langley  (  neon  genesis  evangelion  )    camille  preaker  (  sharp  objects  )    lestat  de  lioncourt  (  interview  with  the  vampire  )    sherlock  holmes  (  arthur  conan  doyle  )

HISTORY.

tl;dr  stage mom wreaks havoc on her child’s life and said child continues doing what he’s always been told to do because there is literally.  nothing else. 

aka  asuka  langley  if  she  was  an  industry  plant  tw   for  ableism,  mental health issues,  unhealthy  familial  dynamics,  parental  death

sometimes  life  unravels  in  but  a  moment;    sometimes  life  unravels  through  a  slow  decay  charted  over  the  course  of  a  lifetime.    your  father  was  the  first,    your  mother  the  second:    you  will  never  know  the  details,    but  you  slowly  come  to  learn    —    through  hints,    through  riddles,    through  something  that  beats  in  the  hollow  of  your  chest    —    that  there  is  a  sickness  running  thick  in  your  blood,    a  sickness  that  took  your  father  away�� from  you  for  your  safety  and  made  your  mother  the  only  parental  figure  you’ve  ever  known,    a  sickness  that  will  one  day  rear  its  ugly  head    (  so  your  mother  says  )    and  ruin  everything  that  you’ve  come  to  know.

it  is  difficult  to  live  life  as  a  curse,    but  you  do.    it  is  difficult  to  live  life  as  something  closer  to  a  burden  than  an  heir,    but  you  do.    father  is  a  figure  who  convalesces  in  seaside  towns  where  the  air  might  do  him  some  good,    a  summertime  figure  whose  face  grows  stranger  with  every  passing  of  the  year,    until  one  day  you  come  to  him  in  his  chair    —    and  he  is  talking,    as  he  always  does,    about    THE  MUSIC  DO  YOU  HEAR  IT    —    and  you  realise  that  you  don’t  know  this  man  at  all.    that  perhaps  you  never  did.    that  perhaps  the  man  whom  your  mother  says  you  are  a  reflection  of  is  but  a  husk  of  flesh  covering  up  void.    and  if  you’re  his  reflection,    then  what  does  that  make  you?

your  mother  does  nothing  so  uncouth  as  to  ban    THE  MUSIC    in  your  house.    her  cruelty  runs  far  stronger,    far  wiser:    she  makes  you  learn  it  under  the  auspices  of  the  finest  tutors,    the  greatest  musicians.    you  cannot  help  but  think  perhaps  she  is  fixing  your  father  through  you,    but  you  do  not  mind  it.    maybe  you’d  try  to  fix  your  father  as  well,    but  all  you  really  want  to  do  is  to  sit  besides  him  while  he  looks  towards  the  shore  and  asks  you    DO  YOU  HEAR  IT    tells  you    IT  IS  EVERYWHERE    and  you  will  look  at  the  horizon.    you  will  feel  the  wind  in  your  hair.    you  will  come  to  think  that  maybe  your  mother’s  right,    that  your  father’s  sickness  is  in  you,    because  this  is  the  moment  you  will  realise:    IT  IS  EVERYWHERE.

(    you  just  don’t  know  what  it  is.  )

but  where  your  father  fears  its  presence  and  where  your  mother  ignores  it  and  pretends  everything  is  alright,    you  simply  let  it  dwell  where  it  dwells.    and  it  dwells  in  this:    when  you  hear  mozart’s  lacrimosa  for  the  first  time,    you  cry  a  little  because  you  think  nothing  could  ever  possibly  compare.    that  life  is  but  a  lead-up  to  this:    you,    sitting  in  your  darkly  lit  box,    listening  to  a  choir  of  singers  lament  for  a  guilty  man,    asking  begging  pleading    have  mercy  on  him  have  mercy  on  him  grant  him  eternal  rest.      and  then  there’s  a  message  the  very  next  morning  telling  you  and  your  mother  that  your  father  died  in  his  sleep,    the  very  same  moment  tears  were  flowing  down  your  cheeks  at  the  idea  of  absolution.    you  do  not  believe  as  he  did,    but  in  that  moment  you  send  out  a  thought.    a  prayer.    do  you  hear  it  now,    father?

this,    the  greatest  tragedy  of  your  life:    you  do  not  hear    THE    MUSIC    the  same  way  your  father  did    —    something  you  have  to  be  thankful  for,    according  to  your  mother,    and  you  do  as  your  mother  commands    —    but  you  do  not  hear  music  the  same  way  all  those  expensive  tutors  and  practitioners  and  helpful  assistants  ever  do.    this,    the  realisation  you  had  to  face  sometime  during  your  early  twenties,    when  your  mother  smiles  at  you  for  the  first  time  you  remember  her  doing,    and  it’s  because  she’s  finally  going  to  be  rid  of  you:    you  do  not  have  the  same  passion,    not  really.    and  when  i  say  passion,    i  mean  passion  for  just  about  everything.    not  just  music.    not  just  composing.    your  father.    his  life.    your  life.    life  itself.   

think  this  once,    and  then  never  again:    you  lack  a  passion  for  life.

still  the  conductor  motions  for  the  orchestra  to  play  on,    and  lack  of  passion  isn’t  really  a  reason  to  stop  doing  what  you’re  good  at.    and  what  is  important  here  is  that  you  absolutely  cannot  think  that  thought  again,    because  if  you  do  then  what  is  this  all  for?    a  stray  note  risks  losing  the  structure,    and  a  stray  thought  risks  the  collapse  of  everything:    your  personhood,    your  history,    your  entire  being.

you  are  good  at  what  you  do.    the  notes  swells  to  a  crescendo.    the  climax  is  coming.    it’s  just  right  around  the  corner.    you  cannot  stop.    if  you  stop,    then  you  are  lost.    if  you  are  lost,    then  you  are  just  like  your  father.    are  you  ready  to  face  the  music?

WANTED  CONNECTIONS.

fans  of  his  works  which  would  be  funny  as  hell  bc  he  couldn’t  possibly  care  less  about  it  but.  hey.  that’s  all  he  has  to  show  for  his  whole  entire  personhood  so.  thanks  for  your  appreciation!  and  in  complete  reverse  of  this:    people  who  know  he’s  an  industry  plant  and  like.    kinda  make  fun  of  him  for  it?    

broken  betrothals  aplenty.    i  think  he’s  developed  a  sort  of  reputation  as  being  a  tortured  artist  (ZZZZZ  BORING!)  over  the  years:    taciturn,    unpredictable.    these  broken  betrothals  have  definitely  helped  in  popularising  this  ‘image’    (read:  he’s  just  depressed  lmao)    but  have  also  definitely  Not  helped  his  reputation  as  being  a  dependable  ‘match’

fellow  patrons/appreciators/makers  of  the  arts,    both  performing  arts  and  like.    paintings  and  stuff  ig.    he  doesn’t  have  any  siblings  to  mind  the  financial  cares  of,    so  he  just  kinda  throws  his  money  at  art.    he  technically  has  a  growing  private  collection  of.  Stuff  at  home.  exact  details  tbd  but  it’s  probably  garish  as  HELLLLL

someone  he  went  on  a  grand  tour  of  europe  with!    or  maybe  not  even  that  but  people  he  just  kinda  bumps  shoulders  with  in  whatever  swiss  alpine  spa  towns  there  are  in  the  world.

fellow  ‘intellectuals’  ig??  he’s  oxford-educated  bc  duh  home  pride  lezzgo  but  also  gotta  be  real:    he  cares  less  abt  the  discussions  abt  ‘the  true,  the  good,  and  the  beautiful’  and  more  about  GAMBLING

people  he’s  currently  being  matched  with  in  the  gossip  rags  of  19c  england.    or  like  even  just  the  grapevine  lmfao.    could  be  as  grounded  in  truth  or  as  groundless  as  we  want  it  to  be,    but  it’ll  be  fun  to  play  out  a  sort  of  comedy  of  errors  for  this  whole  shebang.    bonus  points  if  this  actually  ends  up  with  them  being  actually  betrothed.    bonus  points  if  they’re  actually.    gasp.    in  love  w  each  other

people  he  offended  bc  he  is  Annoyingly  Rich  n  privileged  n  he’s  oxford  educated  so  he  thinks  he’s  automatically  the  Smartest  Person  in  any  given  room  (unless  that  room  is  filled  with  oxford  graduates  as  well)  and  he.    kinda  but  not  really.    doesn’t  have  a  filter?    mainly  bc  his  privilege  afforded  him  the  luxury  of  not  rlly  filtering  his  thoughts  lmao

#wdintro #❛ ALOYSIUS PONSONBY ， INFO ! #❛ ENHERITER ， INTRO !

[letsgocat]

"African-American US Army nurses receiving mail from home, 268th Station Hospital, Australia, 29 Nov 1943; 3 of the nurses were Lts. Prudence L. Burns, Inez Holmes, and Birdie E. Brown" Photo by Dick D. Williams source

#1943 #1940s #vintage #vintage photos #vintage photographs #poc #vintage poc #ww2 #wwii #australia #usa #op

[ilthit]

OC-tober 9: Prudence Gao

Week 2: Peccadillo Parlour - Modern mundane OCs.

Portrait done with Artbreeder.

Prudence was a Cinderella story. Her first few years were tough, living with low income, with an absent father and a mother who relied on addictions to get through the day. When she was nine, she was snapped up by her wealthy aunt, and her education was finished as the third favourite daughter of a yogurt magnate and an aspiring judge.

Pru knew she would never be free of her background, so even as her confidence grew to the point of arrogance she began to engage with it. This led her to law school, where she intended to attack the system that had allowed the deterioration of her birth family. But the struggle was more than she could take.

At the age of 32, already exhausted by battling systematic injustice, she received an offer from an upscale law firm. She took it and never looked back. Ten years later she is still working for Holmes, Gordon & Gibbs in Boston, specializing in civil suits, and now positively rolling in money.

Prudence projects a cool, tough aura, and there is nothing fake about it. She has a short temper but years of experience mastering it. Power gives her a rush of pleasure in her public and private life both; surrender may be sweet, but even then Pru feels she needs to be in control. She is fiercely loyal, sharp-tongued, and never an easy touch.

However, at her center is still that one thought: I should have done better.

#ilthit oc tober 2023 #oc tober #ai art #peccadillo parlour