Welcome the Green-Eyed Monster

As with anything there are exceptions: a notable one was the case of Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII (Henry Tudor). She was married at age 12 to Edmund Tudor. The Wars of the Roses had just broken out, everything was politically very dicey and dangerous and she was of a very valuable bloodline, so from that point of view perhaps it makes sense that Edmund pressed his legal marital right. From his point of view it was the right decision: he died a year later, leaving her pregnant with Henry Tudor. Both mother and child almost died, and she never conceived again. Which is precisely why everybody knew it was not a good idea.

And yes, non-aristocrats generally married much later, including into their twenties and thirties - and women often remarried, frequently preferring younger men, because by that stage many women had a fairly well established household/income and could therefore pick and choose to please themselves. (Hello, Wife of Bath!) 

Pre-marital sex in theory was frowned upon, but in practice not really so long as it got legitimised at some point. And the technicalities of ‘legitimate’ aren’t so formal as you’d think: though there was pressure from the church to involve a priest at some point for the purpose of social recognition, technically by canon law all you needed was for each of the parties to freely say ‘I take thee’. Scholars differed on whether or not this had to be followed by consummation to be binding, but as a rule the church might well dissolve a union on appeal if the exchange of words had not been followed by consummation, or if it was proved that one or both parties were coerced into it (eg, by family pressure). Free and willing consent was very important. 

So basically, since all you needed for marriage was the consent of both parties and consummation, in many cases pre-martial sex was probably more-or-less marital sex in any case, especially once you get a degree of social recognition, the couple starts living together, etc. The pressure in the later Middle Ages and the Early Modern period to have an actual wedding at an actual church door (ie, in the foyer - you then go inside for mass once the wedding ceremony’s happened) was more about having the union formally witnessed by the social group and acknowledged by families than about legal requirements - plus of course the local priest always has an excellent reason to say sternly that it isn’t real unless God has witnessed it, because he gets a marriage fee out of it. ;)

Commission of Malachai for @xxcubus !!

Thank you so much for commissioning me, it was a blast drawin’ him ; v ; )/ !!!!!

Stunning Conceptual Scarves Emulate Butterfly Wings

Born to a family of seamstresses, costume designer for theater, movies, opera and TV and fairy tale lover Alassie runs El Costurero Real (The Royal Tailor), an online shop based in the beautiful city of Granada, Spain, which creates a wide range of bridal, fantasy and steampunk inspired design.

Her collection of butterfly cloaks and scarves are inspired by real butterflies and their beautiful and complex anatomy. Printed in Musline, each piece is a dainty, soft and delicate piece of textile, which reminds us of hidden treasures, fairies, and the magic found in the enchanted forest. Deeply impassioned by fairies and fairy tales, each design is a story-telling piece you can find in her Etsy shop.

“And I fell in love instantly.”

“It’s probably nothing.“ 

“It becomes perfect when you learn to accept it for what it is.“ 

“If you see something, say nothing and drink to forget.“ 

“And you may find, as time passes, that you remember it less and less.“ 

“Look, I’ve probably said too much.“ 

“If you don’t hear from me again, it has truly been a pleasure." 

"We are not history yet." 

"You are safe now." 

"You can let go now." 

"We have nothing to speak about. There never was." 

"I have chosen to not be certain of anything at all." 

"There are many things I wish I could remember." 

"I do not live but I exist." 

"I don’t know if he listens to me sometimes." 

"We can do this together, you and I." 

"You don’t know what to say." 

"I know what I saw." 

"Regrets just bear us down." 

"You are all to me." 

"Think nothing of it; it’s forgotten." 

"There—now you know. Has that filled an emptiness for you? Are you any happier now?" 

"I have something of urgent importance to tell you." 

"And for now, existence is enough." 

"No, not you! Not you!" 

"Please, stay safe inside." 

"I just don’t believe violence is ever the answer—it is a question. The real answer is far more terrifying." 

"We can get along." 

"I’m coming in there." 

"There must be something beyond this something." 

"I will try not to be long." 

"I don’t know where I am." 

"I told you I would be back." 

"I let that woeful beast live." 

"We have each other." 

"As with life, and as with all things, it will pass." 

"Am I in Hell?”

“I am certain that there must be more to us than just us." 

"Let’s not dwell on our corpse strewn past; let’s celebrate our corpse strewn future." 

"I probably won’t miss you." 

"Well, let’s just find out together, shall we?" 

"And it’s just no good anymore. We can’t carry on like this." 

"Nothing is real, I don’t think. Whatever; who cares?" 

"When I die, I want to have earned it." 

"The present tense of regret is indecision." 

"The future tense of fear is either comedy or tragedy." 

"I can disappear if I want to." 

"And what if the void is not as void as we thought?" 

"Time is weird; so is space. I hope ours match again someday." 

"We should all be so lucky to set our own futures." 

"I fear for what we know." 

"I fear for what we don’t know." 

"We have nothing to fear and never did." 

"It is likely I will learn nothing from this." 

"After everything that happened, I just wanted to see you." 

"It is too late for us." 

"But maybe you shouldn’t sleep in your home anymore. Just in case." 

"Your sadness will know no bounds." 

"Nothing will be the same." 

"Nothing has ever been the same." 

"When something is this weird, one shouldn’t assume to understand anything specific about it at all." 

"Ignorance may not actually be bliss, but it certainly is less work." 

"No one has ever known anything—not really." 

"I don’t know much about anything at all, honestly." 

"Everything is some level of probably, nothing is a promise." 

"You don’t know, and so it might very well." 

"Nothing ever really happens to me." 

"Thanks, that means lot. Not to me, but your words hold a lot of meaning intrinsically." 

"So it’s best just to stay away." 

"It cannot give you what you need." 

"Oh, you don’t even want to know." 

"But it wasn’t what I thought it would be." 

"I’ll be back as soon as I can." 

"You have no idea how often it is just you and me." 

"There always seems to be something upsetting you." 

"It’s not that there’s nothing coming to get you; there’s everything coming to get you. But relax anyway." 

"Don’t worry. All is as it was meant to be." 

"It was meant to be lonely and terrifying and unfair and fleeting, don’t worry." 

"This is because I am also slightly malicious. Sorry about that." 

"Thinking about it now, nothing seems good, let alone perfect." 

"And those imperfections in our reality are the seams and the cracks into which our outsized love can seep and pool." 

"And sometimes we’re annoyed. And disappointed. And that, too, is a part of how love works." 

Cast of characters (by RPer), links to RP blogs. Under ‘read more’ cut for length. Timeframe: 1 day ( Feb 8, 2016 ). 

Ink

GM (NPCs)

Ink 

Chalenna (owned by Tai)

Javilynn (owned by Javi)

Daine

Daine 

Iris 

Mike and Rachel 

Thea

Eloki

Loki 

Emma (owned by Meghan)

Ce

Cecelia Wells 

Lucky Luke 

Malachai 

Remy 

Nick

Tiran 

Caelar

Jack

Ace (observer)

Sakura

Koishe

Kichuna

Mius