Oh, I Adore This Entirely. And It Seems Our Brains Were Working On The Same Track In A Few Places Lol.

Oh, I adore this entirely. And it seems our brains were working on the same track in a few places lol.

I actually really love the idea that people start to see more and more of Callisto in Theodore (I think that’s the perfect name for him actually, it’s pretty cute). I think it would be funnier if Theodore mostly did it unintentionally though. Like, he’s taking on his brother as a role model of sorts, and so starts to unconsciously copy some of Callisto’s mannerisms. Talking to a nobel that’s either being rude, or he just doesn’t like? Theodore will give a smile that’s really more of a mocking smirk. Not quite as vicious as Callisto, but the resemblance is there. He’s very unimpressed with something someone just said? He’ll tilt his head just so and raise an eyebrow, silently judging you. (Bonus points if Callisto ends up doing the same thing to the same person, and everyone around them is like, “Oh you know you’ve messed up if the Crown Prince and Second Prince actually agree on how stupid you’re being.”)

It would be hilarious if Theodore manages to get his hands on one of Callisto’s letters to Penelope, and just goes “You call this flirting?” He argues with Callisto about how to properly go about writing a romantic letter, and manages to convince Callisto to make some changes to the letter. Unfortunately, it somehow ends up sounding even more ominous and threatening, and Penelope is wondering what she could have possibly done to irritate the Crown Prince in this time loop.

As for Marquis Allen attempting to slap Theodore, I had a similar scenario in my head between the Second Queen and Theodore. She’s upset at her son for becoming so distant with her, maybe she even suspects him of having sabotaged some of the assassins. And she’s screaming at him, demanding to know why he’s doing all this, doesn’t he know they can’t allow Callisto to take the throne, heartless monster that he is—?

Callisto had been walking by, and had hidden himself away when her heard the Second Queen ranting, listening in. He’s absolutely shocked at what his brother replies: “A monster? Have you ever stopped to consider that he was once a child too? A child that you could not even find it within yourself to tolerate, and so you tried to have him murdered. No, Callisto was not born a monster, mother. He’s merely grown into the monster you’ve forced him to become.”

Dead silence for a few moments. Callisto doesn’t know what to make of Theodore’s defense of him, but is startled out of his stunned reverie when he hears the sound of a slap. He walks into view of the Second Queen with her hand raised, breathing heavy with the force of her rage…and his little brother with a red mark on his cheek, head still turned to the side and blinking in shock.

Callisto is furious, because that’s his little brother, and when the Queen reaches for Theodore again, Callisto is suddenly right there, her wrist gripped in his hand. “I don’t think so,” Callisto says quietly.

Callisto is quick to get him and Theodore away from the Second Queen, and they go to his palace. Some brotherly bonding ensues. Meanwhile, the Second Queen is convinced that Callisto has been brainwashing Theodore somehow, so when Marquis Allen proposes allying themselves with the Leila cultists, she doesn’t hesitate in saying yes.

Headcanon #39

[Attention! Non-standard Relationships! The Second Prince/Penelope Eckart] Σ(°ロ°)

After Callisto's return to the empire, the Queen is desperately trying to figure out how to strengthen her position in the palace and elevate her son in the eyes of the nobility. But perfect military campaigns and unquestioning execution of the emperor's orders ruin all her plans to expose the Crown Prince in an awkward light and deprive him of the status of heir.

The Queen decides to take a risky step - to lure Duke Eckart to her side. She understands perfectly well that the Duke will adhere to neutrality, ignore any provocations and take his position, regardless of either side. But this "shield" had a small flaw -the Duke's adopted daughter. There were many rumors about her, and the Crown Prince was head over heels in love with her.

The Queen ordered her son to make a Penelope fall in love. Thereby creating a reason why the Duke would be forced to go over to her side and protect his daughter from the unrequited Crown Prince, who would fall into a deep rage if he found out that the woman he fell in love with had gone to brother.

The Second Prince wants to play with Penelope's heart. He had enough favorites and ladies with whom he dated, so he was sure that a woman like Penelope would instantly melt from his charms. But here's the bad luck - she didn't care about him, his gifts and flirting.

Every time he tried to start a conversation with her and translate it from official to unofficial, Penelope easily waved him off and left.

Not only anger and petty capriciousness grew in the Prince, but also curiosity. Gradually, he begins to fall in love and change, that is, to grow up, leaving the image of a mama's son. He begins to argue with the Queen and tries to take care of Penelope, thereby coming into conflict with Callisto.

VADD FLASH FICTION: PAPERWORK PILEUP

One day, while Callisto was poisoned and on his supposed death bed again and with Penelope away and scheduled to return soon.

Cedric looked at the pile of mounting paperwork and then at the Baroness, the closest thing Callisto had to a mother, worries over their charge for two completely different reasons. Cedric puffs up and produces a letter and mouths ‘I got this.’ To the Baroness.

“Your Highness, oh, what should I tell Lady Penelope?” He said in despair. The Prince twitched. “She should have returned by now and is no doubt getting ready for the date. Or perhaps she’s there by now. Oh the poor lady, she’ll think you’ve jilted her.”

The Prince twitches harder. And Cedric continues. “She doesn’t know what’s been going on and this might push her into another’s arms. I heard she’s good friends with the Marquis Verdandi.”

Callisto springs up in bed, the ill effects of the poison gone and miraculously now fully healed.

“Your Highness!” The Baroness cries in relief from her seat but Callisto spares her no mind as he races for his wardrobe and orders them to prepare him a bath.

As soon as he’s ready, Cedric hands him the letter he was holding. “Oh, and this came for you two days ago.”

Callisto spotted the Eckart crest and quickly grabbed it from him. He tore it open and read it before his face fell.

“It seems the Princess has been delayed until three days from now. A combination of poor weather and dangerous roads holding her back.” He sighed before he dropped onto his bed. “Still I’m glad that she’s safe.”

Cedric had known the contents, the messenger had given him a brief rundown of the situation when he had received it on the Crown Prince’s behalf. Cedric consoled his liege. “There, there. At least you didn’t inadvertently stand her up or give her a false impression that you were jilting her.”

He then coaxed and led the Crown Prince to his office with surprising efficiency, so much so that by the time Callisto had even realized it and come out of his stupor, he had signed half of one pile of documents and had eaten a hearty lunch that the Baroness had brought. He stared at his aide in confused suspicion but the man was purposefully focused on his own work before he stood up and excused himself.

As he walked out of the door he glanced back at his employer. “Your Highness, I’m so happy that you’ve woken up and though I do feel bad that your date has been postponed, please look on the bright side. At least you’ll get to spend more time with the Lady if you get all your paperwork done in time.”

And then the door slammed shut behind him.

Hi people! I'm going to make a playlist for our beloved couple on Spotify. If you want to add songs, leave comments on this post 🌹♥️♦️

reblog if your name isn't Amanda.

2,121,566 people are not Amanda and counting!

We’ll find you Amanda.

I get what you’re saying, and those are very good points! When this AU popped into my head, that first scene I talked about where Callisto has come to kill his brother, but Theodore can’t really see a monster in that moment, was just so vivid in my mind, I guess I became more focused on platonic/familial relationships. But yeah, Theodore having a crush on Penelope would be the most likely driving factor for his character growth.

Maybe after a few time loops in which Callisto and Penelope become close but she dies in some way and Callisto goes on a rampage, Theodore decides to find out everything he can about her. What about this woman, this commoner masquerading as the daughter of a duke, could possibly drive his brother to repeated madness? Theodore watches and observes Penelope whenever she shows up at an event at the Imperial Palace. And he notices just how lonely she is.

She is ostracized by society, hated by her family, she had to scream to be heard and yet still she is dismissed as nothing more than a child throwing a tantrum. Theodore looks into what past incidents he can involving her, and finds that she was usually just defending herself, yet she was always blamed. Not a Mad Dog, but a girl who was thrown into a pool of sharks and told to deal with it herself.

Theodore has to stop his investigation for a little while because he keeps making connections, in the back of his mind, between Callisto and Penelope and how they were treated and how unfair it was, and he’s not quite ready to confront the truth he’s just starting to realize about his brother.

Maybe Theodore starts staying for the Hunting Competition throughout all the time loops afterwards to try and talk to Penelope? Especially since he remembers that she did stay in the palace after Callisto was poisoned. This is probably where he starts to fall in love.

However, as he gets to know Penelope and she tells him about her abuse, he becomes angry on her behalf. He’s ranting about that’s not right to treat a child with such cruelty, and Penelope goes quiet. When he finally notices and asks what’s wrong, she tells him, “You see how awfully I’ve been treated and are furious in my behalf…yet you feel nothing for your own brother, who’s gone through similar experiences? And for far longer than me.”

Theodore is stunned into silence. Because there it was, the truth he had tried to deny, to run from, thrown into his face.

Penelope seems to see something in his eyes, because she nods and starts to leave. Before she does, though, she gives him a piece of advice: “Never fear a monster. Fear what created it instead.”

Theodore thinks and reflects on what she said for a long time afterward. He starts to accept that he doesn’t really know anything about his brother. That is was beyond unfair that he judged Callisto so harshly without trying to speak two words to him. I imagine Theodore might try to investigate some of the incidents Callisto has been in involving assassins being sent after him. Perhaps he even discovers what really happened during the bear incident, because I highly doubt the Second Queen ever told him the truth when she still needed him to be scared of Callisto. This would probably lead to one last time loop, in which Theodore starts trying to make amends with Callisto.

Penelope telling Theodore not to fear monsters is based on Nikita Gill’s poem, “The Truth About Monsters.”

Headcanon #39

[Attention! Non-standard Relationships! The Second Prince/Penelope Eckart] Σ(°ロ°)

After Callisto's return to the empire, the Queen is desperately trying to figure out how to strengthen her position in the palace and elevate her son in the eyes of the nobility. But perfect military campaigns and unquestioning execution of the emperor's orders ruin all her plans to expose the Crown Prince in an awkward light and deprive him of the status of heir.

The Queen decides to take a risky step - to lure Duke Eckart to her side. She understands perfectly well that the Duke will adhere to neutrality, ignore any provocations and take his position, regardless of either side. But this "shield" had a small flaw -the Duke's adopted daughter. There were many rumors about her, and the Crown Prince was head over heels in love with her.

The Queen ordered her son to make a Penelope fall in love. Thereby creating a reason why the Duke would be forced to go over to her side and protect his daughter from the unrequited Crown Prince, who would fall into a deep rage if he found out that the woman he fell in love with had gone to brother.

The Second Prince wants to play with Penelope's heart. He had enough favorites and ladies with whom he dated, so he was sure that a woman like Penelope would instantly melt from his charms. But here's the bad luck - she didn't care about him, his gifts and flirting.

Every time he tried to start a conversation with her and translate it from official to unofficial, Penelope easily waved him off and left.

Not only anger and petty capriciousness grew in the Prince, but also curiosity. Gradually, he begins to fall in love and change, that is, to grow up, leaving the image of a mama's son. He begins to argue with the Queen and tries to take care of Penelope, thereby coming into conflict with Callisto.

Penelope: AAAAAAHHHHHHHH

Reynold: Derrick, do you hear that?

Derrick: Reynold, I feel that.