motetus: (downton abbey / sybil/tom arm around)
[personal profile] motetus
How much packing have I been doing in the last few days? None! I have been busy with something far more important: TV. Finished Downton Abbey (♥♥♥), about to get started on the rest of Sherlock, then Walking Dead, then um... I'm sure I'll find something else by then. WIFE CAN DO THE PACKING. Also, the estate agents are being an arse with our forms and have made it impossible to move before next week. Next week if we're lucky. Hrmph.

Anyway, all the way through Season 1 of Downton Abbey I was torn between shipping Lady Sybil/Gwen and Lady Sybil/Branson (it took me a while to figure out why Branson made my heart go ridiculously mushy despite his rather boring storyline: a chauffeur's uniform isn't the only uniform he looks adorable in), but then there was that hugging scene with all three of them in the final episode of the first season, and HELLO THERE NEW OT3. :D Reason why season 2 wasn't so great: no Gwen. :( Why anyone thought Matthew's penis difficulties were more interesting than more Gwen being awesome, I don't know. I went searching for fic and I found there was a grand total of 2 Gwen/Sybil/Branson fics on AO3 which made me very sad, so I had to cheer myself up with some fluffy fanart of the three.

This is basically an exercise in entirely shameless self-indulgence, so impertinent questions such as why Branson is wearing his heavy coat indoors, why Sybil's hair is up in a formal style while her dress is informal, why aren't they doing their reading in the library etc etc, are answered by BECAUSE LOOKING PRETTY IS MORE IMPORTANT THEN MAKING SENSE, OKAY?




(thank you to [livejournal.com profile] demon_rum for the title! It is probably the most interesting title any of my art has ever had, because it was not thought up by me)




Now someone please take away my fingers before I draw the wild f/f adventures of the Dowager Countess' youth. TAKE THEM AWAY FROM ME.

Date: 2012-04-04 04:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] splix.livejournal.com
That is completely adorable!

I thought there was better sexual tension between Sybil and Gwen than Sybil and Branson. I loved him in Rome but I thought he was a boring sod in DA. Well, his storyline was boring. They went very timid with the Irish patriotism, I thought.

Date: 2012-04-04 04:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
Thank you! :D

Yeah, I wasn't too thrilled with Branson's story either, or the way his romance with Sybil was basically "I'm going to nag you for years until you give in!" :/ I think the only thing going for it was I didn't find it quite as boring as Matthew/Mary or Anna/Bates (also, the actress who plays Sybil is gorgeous). Here's hoping that when they come back to Downton in S3 he actually does something.

Date: 2012-04-04 05:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] splix.livejournal.com
I love the show, even a lot of S2, and I admire Julian Fellowes, but I think it's clear that he's really enamored of the upper classes and only shows a few facets of how parasitical, isolated, and contemptuous they were.

I think Violet was a hellraiser in her youth, btw. I say go for it. :D

Date: 2012-04-04 04:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] seascribe.livejournal.com
JOY! GLEE! FLAILY NOODLE ARMS! I just. Nnngh. All of your self-indulgent buttons are also apparently mine, because this just makes me so happy.

I really must get a better OT3 icon. Like, at least one with three humans in it. ANYWAY. Your art, I love it! I mean, obviously, it is all your fault I love this OT3 and am mourning that there is not more of it.

I will fiercely guard your fingers from anyone taking them because I neeeeeeeed Violet's wild and crazy adventures.

Date: 2012-04-04 05:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
Yay, I am so glad you like this, seeing as you were the one who encouraged me to go from thinking about it to actually drawing it! :D And you have excellent taste in buttons.

I have no OT3 icon either. Hrmph. :(

I am going through my Chronicle of Western Costume book and trying to figure out when Violet would have been in her late teens/early 20s. 1860s? Oh gosh, look at those awesome bustles and fabrics they had at that time... and aww, look at young Maggie Smith!

Date: 2012-04-04 05:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] seascribe.livejournal.com
It makes me wish I had time to rewatch S1 of Downton.

I poked at the OT3 snuggly-art you made for my story, but it was beyond my very feeble indeed iconing sklls to make anything out of it. But I'm putting that forward as the art that is the solution to our lack-of-OT3 icon woes. :p Just in more capable hands than mine. *is so subtle*

Awesome f/f 1860's costume porn with young Maggie Smith, be still my heart. <3

Date: 2012-04-04 05:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
How's this? Not the best ever icon, as poor little Esca looks like he's been shoved to the corner, but it's not really the best bit of art to turn into an icon. :(

Date: 2012-04-04 05:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] seascribe.livejournal.com
Hey, better than anything I came out with. ♥ Thank you! (Now I'm going to be that obnoxious person who uses it everywhere, all the time)

Date: 2012-04-04 04:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sineala.livejournal.com
Eeee. Amazing, as always. You're going to make me start watching Downton Abbey again. Aren't you.

*ships Sybil/Gwen liek whoa, as they say*

Date: 2012-04-04 04:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
Thank you! Is everyone not already watching DA? I thought I was the very last one to do so! It's the hats that kept me going through the crappy S2 episodes. Marvelous, marvelous hats. ♥

Sybil/Gwen is the BEST. I wish Sybil had gone off with Gwen instead and had awesome feminist f/f nursing-and-writing adventures instead. :(

Date: 2012-04-04 05:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sineala.livejournal.com
I gave up at the beginning of S2; I thought it was much less entertaining.

Also in my head that is what Sybil does. La la la can't hear you.

Date: 2012-04-04 05:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
You didn't miss out on much then - the rest of S2 didn't improve. :( I'll give S3 a chance, but it'll have to be a lot better if I'm going to stick with it and not adopt your Sybil headcanon. Or at least have some awesome flapper dresses.

Date: 2012-04-04 05:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coeurdesoleil.livejournal.com
OMG THIS IS TOTALLY AWESOME!!

Date: 2012-04-04 05:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
Yay, I am so glad you like it! I thought only Seascribe and I would be the only ones interested in this OT3! :D

Date: 2012-04-04 05:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coeurdesoleil.livejournal.com
Lol I am not particularly interested in this OT3 tbh, partly because Branson is a douche imo (well to be fair that's mostly S2 Branson), and partly because I'm not all that into OT3s in general. Still think your art is stunning and amazing and totally adorable!

Date: 2012-04-04 05:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
Ah, sorry! :P I kinda agree Branson was a douche in S2 (which sort of broke my heart, as I adored him in S1), though I thought he'd started to redeem himself in the last S2 episode with all that shouting at Lord Grantham (poor Robert reminds me too much of my supervisor, that is why I cannot bring myself to like him). I really hope Branson and Sybil are treated a bit better in S3!

Date: 2012-04-04 09:38 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coeurdesoleil.livejournal.com
I know! There were a lot of things that disappointed me about S2 and Branson suddenly acting like a twat was one of them. No Gwen was another :/
I agree that he did redeem himself slightly in the last episode though, but he's on notice for the time being lol.
Hopefully S3 will be better than S2!!

Date: 2012-04-04 05:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] altri-uccelli.livejournal.com
Mmm, this is so beautiful and tactile. I don't have much of an opinion on the OT3ness (I got simultaneously bored and stressed out early in S2 so don't give much thought to Downton these days), but I always thought Sybil was by far the most gorgeous person on the show.

I really, really love the way you do fabric. I find it kind of mesmerizing, actually. :)

Date: 2012-04-04 06:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
Thank you! I am learning to really love drawing fabric now. :D Yeah, I started this when I finished S1 - I think if I'd waited until I was done with S2, my squee might have diminished enough to not bother drawing this.

I am so in love with Sybil's actress. It's not just her looks, she's got such a sexy, husky voice that does all sorts of things to me.

Date: 2012-04-04 06:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] demon-rum.livejournal.com
If the use of your fingers means we'd get young!Violet femslash action in bustles, I will mail my own damn hands to wherever the hell you live at the moment.

Date: 2012-04-04 06:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
STOP IT I HAVE TOO MANY THINGS ON MY TO-DO LIST. :(

Also, if you post me your hands, I will put them to work doing my washing up.

Date: 2012-04-04 06:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] demon-rum.livejournal.com
I KNOW YOU DO and some of it, maybe possibly, is for me and I am a selfish tart as you know well, SO I SHOULD NOT HAVE DONE IT.

I have not yet done my own washing up. So I would be happy to do yours. Maybe I will do that when I visit?

Date: 2012-04-04 06:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
YES YOU ARE A SELFISH TART.

Now I am going to go away and finish my poor Inception rBB. And you are not to pester me until it is done. If you can do that, you get a hospital illustration and you can shout at me for drawing IV drips all wrong.

Date: 2012-04-05 05:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] demon-rum.livejournal.com
I promise not to bother you. *pinky swear*

ARG THIS IS HARD ALREADY.

All I know about IV drips is that if you do them wrong, they go all over the floor. Which is entertaining, but not therapeutic.

Date: 2012-04-04 06:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] the-little-owl.livejournal.com
I don't know the series, but I like your picture. Lovely threesome.
Why is it called "Fidelity and Sport"? Seeing it, it thought "The Joy of Reading".
I think I should watch Downton Abbey some day.

Date: 2012-04-04 06:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
Thank you! Alas, it is not a canon OT3, and although it was nice that two of the characters ended up together, how they ended up together I was not so thrilled about. :( But Downton Abbey is still fun! Not perfect, but it's rather addictive and the costumes are my favourite part. So many lovely hats!

Heh, I like the title - it sort of captures the devoted look on Gwen's face and the playful one on Branson that I was attempting to show.

Date: 2012-04-04 08:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] poziomeczka.livejournal.com
FUCK I NEED TO WATCH DOWNTON ABBEY, I keep fucking forgetting it.

This is utterly utterly stunning and the sexual tension both tender and palpable. Beautiful colours too and yes looking pretty always makes sense. Even when it doesn't.

Date: 2012-04-04 09:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
Thank you so much, I'm so glad you could enjoy it despite not knowing who on earth everyone is. Yes, you need to watch Downton for the delicious hats! The haaats...

Date: 2012-04-04 10:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] poziomeczka.livejournal.com
God, if you haven't realized, you had me at haaats

Date: 2012-04-04 09:28 pm (UTC)
ext_189645: (Default)
From: [identity profile] bunn.livejournal.com
DA not my sort of thing (don't believe in history after 1500 :-D) but that is a lovely picture, you can really feel the relationship between the three of them, and it is sexy despite the enormous number of clothes. :-D

Date: 2012-04-04 09:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
Thank you! And shush you, clothes are way more sexy than exposed flesh and all those pesky skin tones that never look quite right, and limbs that never look right no matter how much you study your anatomy reference photos... ;)

(also, not saying Alan Leech hasn't got a nice body as I've seen him strip off in Rome and aww, he looks so cuddly, but those buttons on his coat do all sorts of happy things to me)

Date: 2012-04-04 11:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sistermine.livejournal.com
Unfashionably, I hate Downton Abbey with a fierce loathing that I can't explain, but this picture is lovely. Really like the sofa.

Date: 2012-04-04 11:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
Hahaha, that is understandable. My TV show I hate passionately is Doctor Who, possibly because my ex-boyfriend thought at least half the Doctors were hotter than I was. Glad you like the drawing though! Heh, the sofa was supposed to be damask-patterned to make it more accurate, but it gave too much of a pattern overload to the picture.

Date: 2012-04-04 11:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sistermine.livejournal.com
Yes, damask might be a step too far; I've already admired your wallpaper from a distance.

Date: 2012-04-04 11:17 pm (UTC)
ext_1611: Isis statue (Default)
From: [identity profile] isiscolo.livejournal.com
This is beautiful! I love Sybil/Gwen; the OT3 never occurred to me...but now it has.

Date: 2012-04-05 01:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
Thank you so much! :D After season 2 I think I ship Sybil/Gwen more than Sybil/Branson, but hey, his uniform is pretty, no? And that hug with the three of them was pretty adorable.

Date: 2012-04-05 12:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] themostepotente.livejournal.com
I LOVE YOU. THAT IS ALL <3

Date: 2012-04-05 01:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
:D

I love that I can draw something so shamelessly self-indulgent and rare-pairy after a 2 second clip that got me squeeing, and people like it. :D

(I am uh, contemplating begging that amazing person who wrote the DA/Eagle crossover to let me illustrate it. Once I have a few more things cleared off my To Do list...)

Things of Import

Date: 2012-04-05 12:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] livejournal.livejournal.com
User [livejournal.com profile] themostepotente referenced to your post from Things of Import (http://themostepotente.livejournal.com/311973.html) saying: [...] 1.) ART REC! Fidelity and Sport - Sybil/Gwen/Branson [WS] [...]

Date: 2012-04-05 12:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ladytiferet.livejournal.com
Ooh, I'm glad it's happened :D SO MUCH PRETTEH!

Date: 2012-04-05 01:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
Thank you! :D I pin the blame for this on Seascribe's encouragement; I probably wouldn't have taken it past a thought without her urging. DAMN HER. :P

Date: 2012-04-05 12:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rinsbane.livejournal.com
Gorgeous! So much love for this!

(here via [livejournal.com profile] themostepotente)

Date: 2012-04-05 01:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
Thank you! I'm so glad you like it. :D

Date: 2012-04-05 04:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] planejane.livejournal.com
This is sumptuous and utterly lovely. I really loved Gwen and Sybil together and while Branson was under-developed as a character, I liked him too, especially with Sybil. I love the fond look on his face and the way the ladies are so relaxed with each other. ♥

Date: 2012-04-05 10:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
Thank you! My fondness for Branson is pretty much due to the actor and his pretty uniform, but I hope they do better with his character next season.

I miss Gwen. :(

Date: 2012-04-05 09:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] citruses.livejournal.com
I've come to dislike Branson given that he seemed to think a campaign of attrition forcing a lady to capitulate to your wishes equalled romance -- not cool, Branson -- but that doesn't mean I don't ADORE this. SO CUTE. I think my favourite bits are Sybil's hand on her own chest, which is just lovely and feels so real, and Gwen's hand creeping up Sybil's leg because OOH NAUGHTY. Gwen's hair is also particularly lovely. <3

Date: 2012-04-05 10:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
Thanks! Yeah, I started this just after I'd finished S1, and through S2 I was all NO, BRANSON, NO. :( I'm still confused whether the writers meant for it to be quite that creepy, or whether bad writing was to blame. Ah well. Maybe Sybil will have him firmly under her thumb in S3.

Date: 2012-04-06 10:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sibila-cantus.livejournal.com
Ooh, this is yummy. Their clothes are fantastic, and I love the look on Branson's face. <3

My femslash goggles weren't on while I watched S1, but now that you mention it I love the idea of Gwen/Sybil. The writers ruined Branson for me in S2.

Because I am riddled with pestilence, the only thing that could possibly make me feel better would be a picture of young and wild!Dowager Countess. :D

Date: 2012-04-07 02:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] motetus.livejournal.com
Haha, I had my femslash goggles firmly in place through S1 seeing a) the hats were awesome and b the het relationships were boring and most of the men irritated me (Robert, Matthew, William and Bates, you are all boring and need to GTFO). My biggest ship in S1 was probably Violet/Isobel. I like to imagine the sex would be... tempestuous. :D
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