Heathcliffe, it's me, your Cathy, I've come home. Let me in your window.

[postingmemes]

Gothic Romance

Lightning streaks across the inky blackness. Somewhere far off in the deep woods, a single wolf howls. Go ahead, bring your meager candle close, no matter the danger that the flame presents to your luxurious satin clothing - you won't find any warmth to relieve you in this mansion built just as much of regret as it is of stone. But you have no other choice since you've been imprisoned here. Or perhaps you're the one who's keeping a less-than-willing soul here to ease your own pain. Either way, you've found yourself the subject of an atmospheric, suspenseful gothic romance! a type of novel that flourished in the late 18th and early 19th cent. in England. Gothic romances were mysteries, often involving the supernatural and heavily tinged with horror, and they were usually set against dark backgrounds of medieval ruins and haunted castles. The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole was the forerunner of the type, which included the works of Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Gregory Lewis, and Charles R. Maturin, and the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Jane Austen's novel Northanger Abbey satirizes Gothic romances. The influence of the genre can be found in some works of Coleridge, Le Fanu, Poe, and the Brontës. During the 1960s so-called Gothic novels became enormously popular in England and the United States. Seemingly modeled on Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre and Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, these novels usually concern spirited young women, either governesses or new brides, who go to live in large gloomy mansions populated by peculiar servants and precocious children and presided over by darkly handsome men with mysterious pasts. Popular practitioners of this genre are Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, Catherine Cookson, and Dorothy Eden. ( source ) HOW TO PLAY 1. Comment with your character, info, and preferred role/trope or even setting. Is your character a bright-eyed ingenue? A tortured soul with as many skeletons in their closet as their are rooms in the castle? Hired help who has fallen for the mansion's newest guest and wants to save them from a certain doomed fate? How about a vampire, werewolf, or ghost? The only limit is your imagination! 2. Reply to others. Hash things out or go with the flow. Just get your gothic, creepy shipping on. 3. RNG the prompts if you need to. Otherwise, have fun. Treat this as seriously or as irreverent as you'd like. PROMPTS ( change the gender/pronouns out for appropriate ones! | source ) 1. Powerful love. Heart-stirring, often sudden, emotions create a life or death commitment. Many times this love is the first the character has felt with this overwhelming power. 2. Uncertainty of reciprocation. What is the beloved thinking? Is the lover's love returned or not? 3. Unreturned love. Someone loves in vain (at least temporarily). Later, the love may be returned. 4. Tension between true love and father's control, disapproval, or choice. Most often, the father of the woman disapproves of the man she loves. 5. Lovers parted. Some obstacle arises and separates the lovers, geographically or in some other way. One of the lovers is banished, arrested, forced to flee, locked in a dungeon, or sometimes, disappears without explanation. Or, an explanation may be given (by the person opposing the lovers' being together) that later turns out to be false. 6. Illicit love or lust threatens the virtuous one. The young woman becomes a target of some evil man's desires and schemes. 7. Rival lovers or multiple suitors. One of the lovers (or even both) can have more than one person vying for affection. 8. Dark (and brooding?) At least one member of the pair has a tragic past or experiences that have left them closed off to the world. 9. Less than ideal beginnings. It's an age-old story: falling in love with the person who locked you in the dungeon. Or the attic, if they're a bit more hospitable. 10. Supernatural elements. Strange dreams about a shadowy place or a mysterious face. Blurry figures that linger just out of the line of sight. And the master of the house, always indisposed around the time of the full moon.

Comments

Lenore (Netflix Castlevania)

[beloyaltome]

[Can be either the ingenue or the vampire, though she's likely to be a bit of both.]

[blackfire]

（ ooc: i straight up did a world fusion so congrats japan is now full of stupid op magical ninjas. ）


（ akatsuki does not, strictly speaking, hunt vampires. there are other sources of power in this world, but madara — and by extension, nagato — do not wish to make enemies of them, either.

capturing the jinchuuriki remains their priority, yet there is a reason that itachi and kisame venture to the cold wilds of styria. neither of them are diplomats — though itachi is nearer one than his partner — but they are both formidable men, seasoned fighters, and neither one liable to be taken in by glamour. equally as much, they will not be stirred nor swayed by beauty or lust.

itachi is pleasant enough with carmilla. dispassionate but purposeful. explaining the terms of an alliance with his faction a half world away. they speak into the long night before she's remotely satisfied that she won't be putting herself or her sisters in a disadvantageous position, and then she exiles he and his partner to their quarters for the long daylit hours that spell her weakness.

this becomes a holding pattern. sometimes he speaks with striga — though she prefers kisame's company, the clash of their mighty swords rings throughout the halls — and sometimes with morana. he does not see lenore until the ninth night, and he suspects it is not by accident that she finds him at the peak of one of the castle towers. he is sitting at the edge of the tower, overlooking spires of treacherous ice below, unbothered by the cold.

he has not dared deactivate the sharingan here. he needs to see everything, and know more than most would catch, so his eyes are a flicker of crimson afterimage as he glances towards her. politely: ）

Lady Lenore, I imagine?

sansa stark | asoiaf/got | ota

[eyried]

luci(fer), the devil. ota.

[starofthemorning]

alexiel | angel sanctuary

[againstgod]

Remilia Scarlet (adult) | Touhou Project | OTA

[scarlet_devil]

[She's the owner of the house, a vampire of course. ]

douma / kimetsu no yaiba / m/f

[lotusandlies]

thomasin — the witch

[puritanism]

( could be a ward, new bride, or the mysterious stranger. )

[verbrennen]

[ hello! I would love to stick Caleb into Thomasin's world, if you'd like to do something with these two! Could be before/during/after the events of the film - maybe an AU where Thomasin is married off for money, etc? no worries if you're not into it, of course! c: ]

Faramir | Lord of the Rings | OTA

[insufficientjewel]

6, otherwise known as Hasten to Church

[skirka]

It is meant to strike fear into her, she supposes - this wasteful trip so far south has been devised for no greater purpose than to remind her of her place, which is that of a lady. A lady hailing from gold and insurmountable power, which means untarnished pride and respectability, which in turn demands that she be made of opals and rose petals. For now, her primary function is to be pleasing to the eye, and to remind doddering lords and striving knights what they might one day have, should fortune turn a kindly slant of light upon them. Her worth exceeds them, of course; her name alone commands a wealth that most could never dream of affording. Hers is the price paid by princes and kings. When she is bought, she will be attended quite ostentatiously by her House's unimaginable wealth and all the might at her father's command. She does not need to preen coyly for every common visitor to her father's household when she has been informed, by the old lion himself, that much more is promised to her, more than the histories have ever written of a Lannister before.

Why should he instruct her to adopt the poise of an unassuming, blushing maiden, then? Why should she dip and curtsy in the shadows of men's doings, as if she were no better than them, as if she in some way depended upon them? Why should she be punished for carrying herself with the fearless elegance of a lioness, stepping mildly through a world which belongs, in its every detail, to her? Why should her appetites, only half of which her father is even aware of, be cause for shame? Why should it trouble her who might be unnerved by the level, unflinching way her eyes catch upon their prey? Why should she be accused of impudence, of immodesty, of foolishness or a lack of lady's tact when she cares to speak the assorted and glinting thoughts which scatter through her head like dropped knives? Why should she fritter away a single day being any less than what she is?

There is no justice; she is simply slated to accompany her aunt, her septa, a senile maester and a handful of dim, dutiful guards to Oldtown. Oldtown, so far south that it shall take days upon days to reach it, and for what? So that she can be brought before the Starry Sept, and the Citadel, and a dozen motherhouses before one at last strikes mortal fear into her carnivorous heart? Do they expect that she will fall upon her knees and proclaim her remorse, and devote herself, body and soul, to the Seven? As if she would ever imprison her soul so; as if she would, more direly still, waste the gift of her body. The gods did not deserve to have its loyalty sworn to them. She has sung to them no prayers in earnest, and her septa and the maester and her father will never have the privilege of comprehending the depths of her sins, and the thorough joy of their committing. She holds nothing closer to her heart, and indeed covets her transgressions with all the more relish to know that the mere thought of them has so unsettled her venerable sire.

She betrays no wonder at the sight of the ancient city; Oldtown is a haven only for stooped and scurrying old men, whose spotted hands have only ever stroked leather-bound tomes. This is a place where men come to knowingly and bafflingly sacrifice their manhood, if ever they had it. It is stuffed to bursting with fable and academia and dusty, scholarly drudgery. She is less able to mask her delight at beholding the Honeywine: broad and bright and sweetly-named, it is all that seems inviting in such a hallowed city. The Citadel, den of the decrepit and the decidedly small-sworded, dominates the sun-dashed river from both sides, and there is ever the threat of septs, of unfeeling stone, of quiet study in crypts. What else could the inside of those halls feel like, heavy with so many centuries-old tomes, musty and drear, never tasting the perfume of the gardens and rivers outside?

It is to the riverside that she has found a long-awaited reprieve, having begged her aunt for leave to steal along the water's edge for a time before she must suffer another history of another ancient sept, before she must be brought before another motherhouse, as if her father truly means to see her sent to one, as if he would discard her so. A small mercy she is granted, then, though only in the company of two trusted guards to escort her, to shield her from any devilish whims which may have followed her even here. But she learned many years past that it is an easy thing to win a guard's loyalty, to secure from a man a promise for anything at all, and it costs her twice a brush of murmuring lips, a downward hand, before she is left to wander unattended for a time.

And it is from the riverside that she spots a man who is not, it would seem, wholly abandoned to age and listless study quite yet. He is older than she is, certainly, but which of her own household guards isn't? Which visiting lord does not surpass her in years, before whom she knows her father has had her prance like a filly recently come of breeding age? But this man is not immediately repulsive, as are so many; there is something yet youthful in his build, and his hair is dark as an animal's pelt. He has before him a tome of some sort, and has he chosen to take it in his arms out here, beneath the sun, where he can listen to the river whispering, where he can watch the water turn giddy and bright beneath the light?

Her thoughts do not proceed much beyond this; she comes from her wandering into his view, into the relative seclusion of the spot he seems to have chosen, purposefully or not. Dressed in silks that are the deep scarlet of her House, she takes easily to the natural and incidental gait of one walking without motive or malice. Her hands come up to her hair, where her aunt had been so kind as to neatly plait and pin it, beginning absently to find and withdraw those pins. Cat-green eyes cross the distance between them at a glance, and her voice is one of well-meaning friendliness. If this is a man of faith, surely he adheres to a tenet of politeness toward strangers? Surely if he has chosen to take his studies outdoors, he is not immune to beauty?

"Oh, I do beg your pardon, my lord. I had thought to find myself alone here, but on a day as lovely as this, who would not wish to lie in the sun?"

kylo ren (star wars)

[rensistance]

[ tortured soul with skeletons in his many closets. very interested in prompt 10 - here for some good old crumbling castle fall of the house of usher vibes. open to cross-canon, m/f for shipping. ]

[arenicolous]

[ ooc — i desperately want all of this. maybe a new bride from an arranged marriage a la crimson peak, rey the ingenue, or she could be the ghost of a lover that haunts him. kylo ren the vampire and rey stumbling upon his crumbly old castle? seriously here for everything and everything. ]

Sherlock Holmes || Sherlock BBC || m/m

[desecrated]

[ooc: Either the dark handsome one with the mysterious past or the very naive one.]

marta cabrera 🔪 knives out

[vomito]

( ota m/f. the nurse of the lord of a crumbling manor with an awful family who all have too many secrets? open to all the prompts! )

margaery tyrell | game of thrones

[versigny]

adam | i frankenstein

[thecreature]

[ the mysterious stranger with a personal connection to the esteemed manor family. m/f shipping default, ask about m/m. ]

Hermione Granger | Harry Potter

[bookish_lioness]

[Would love for her to be the apparent ingenue, but maybe with a twist? She could secretly be a witch and trying to put up the façade of a proper lady to avoid ramifications, or have suspicions about a handsome stranger's dark past and is determined to find them out only to fall for them, or a student at a boarding school with a mysterious history she's trying to uncover, or anything else along those lines!]

vanessa ives | penny dreadful

[transgressings]

[ perhaps a governess to the master's children or his intended new bride. ]

Integral Fairbrooks Wingates Hellsing || Hellsing

[topsdracula]

[ she already has a mansion in a dark forest, two vampires, and a bonus hellhound from one of them. ]

Joey Mallone, Blackwell Series, M/F

[handsinpockets]

((Possible idea: Your lady is the new fiancee/wife of some mysterious rich guy, and Joey is the benevolent ghost trying to warn her that he's going to kill/sacrifice/etc her? Perhaps that's a bit more "fairy tale" than "gothic", but *shrug*.

Good with cross-canon, cross-medium, assumed CR, random stranger tags, etc.))

[badanniversary]

(ooc | So, I love the idea with a slight twist. Emma is from a movie in which her husband tries to kill her in a very odd way on their anniversary because their marriage has become a very unhappy one. We can assume the basic premise and have them come to the estate to celebrate for the week and that's when Joey warns her, if you're down for it? )

Kit Marlowe | A Discovery of Witches

[nightschool]

(OOC: Secret supernatural, poet, dark & intense Byronic hero meets pain in the ass mischief-maker. Probably trying to write until enter: spooky shit. Gen is a-okay, too!)

[chainedtoaskull]

[Spooky shit--- A ghost/necromancer living inside a human skull? Gen or Flirting? Bob can't touch the real world unless someone else's magic intervenes but he can ride/possess others and share consciousness.]

Nico Acosta | OC | OTA

[anoranza]

[ooc: Open to discussion.]

Evie Montgomery | OC | OTA

[la_bonne_chose]

[ooc: Open to discussion.]

dracula.

[drank]

tex | red vs blue | m/f

[allyourexes]

chiaki nanami | super dangan ronpa 2 | m/f

[cheatcoded]

tifa lockhart | ffvii remake

[divekicked]

Thomas Sharpe | Crimson Peak

[myheartceasetobeat]

[OOC: Thomas is pretty much made for this. Open to ideas for a thread.]

[curiositea]

[ ooc; anything calling out to you? ]