🎀🫀🦴

I really like Fitzjames, but I keep stumbling over the fact that I can't come up with enough whump scenarios for him. I can only be obsessed with characters I can make suffer and bleed. For example, in my opinion, Fitzjames would be perfect for a whump scenario where someone cuts his face with a knife. But I can't come up with emotionally interesting reasons for it, or find someone who'd do it in a way that works for their dynamic. I guess it's a skill issue. If anyone can come up with a scenario where someone cuts Fitzjames' face with a knife, I'll take off my hat to them with the deepest respect.

Okay, I’ve slept, and an idea came to me. China Mieville’s lore is, as always, full of charm - in The Scar, there’s a custom in which a lover’s or wife’s face may be scarred so that no one else will desire her. Especially if your lover is beautiful: the more attractive she is, the greater the chance that someone else will want to take her away. So, an omegaverse AU (of course! Omegaverse AU can take anything), where Fitzjames is hiding the fact that he’s an omega, but when it comes out, guess what happens? That’s right: FORCED MARRIAGE. Yes, there’s both omegaverse and forced marriage here, why not. Francis knows that Fitzjames is very beautiful 😔 and Fitzjames knows it too, but of course he isn’t worried - god, they’re in the Arctic, the rules are different here. And after all, they’re comrades in this brotherhood at sea, it’s not the same thing as if he were just some weak omega. And although in some places this tradition is considered honorable, and omegas wear their scars with pride, Fitzjames... wouldn’t want that. He likes his face. He likes being admired. If his beauty is the weapon they want to disarm him of, why should he want that for himself? But Francis can’t stop thinking about his face. No, James is too beautiful, too beautiful. And Francis has already lost enough, so if there is anything that can keep Fitzjames with him...

Of course, the rifle is Jopson’s acknowledged weapon, but you know what else would suit him as a symbol, just as the knife suits Hickey? Scissors. I can imagine a great scene with Jopson armed with bloody scissors (guess whose blood is on them).