Visionaries--Part One--Chapter Eight

[Rahere]

The redneck angle was rather more the remnants of Eric the Redneck. Roger de Hauteville, the Norman who took Sicily in 1068, was just four generations removed from a Viking chieftain who was part of an invasion of France in 885, and was himself paid as a mercenary by southern Italians who wanted the Arabs out of their hair, not the best of moves as within a generation they were all his clan's vassals. His life overlapped that of Eleanor of Acquitaine, in power terms his son's immediate neighbour, sufficiently for him to have been an architype behind her invention of the ideals of chivalry, as a measure to reduce the simple barbarity of his ilk. One might paint hm in Taliban terms without too much inconsistency.

[Evie]

"Erik the Redneck"...why, yes, I do believe I know what my husband's costume will be next Halloween.  LOL!   

[Alkari]

"Erik the Redneck"...why, yes, I do believe I know what my husband's costume will be next Halloween.  

But ...  with you in your Sister Helena garb, here was I thinking that he'd go as Bishop Duncan?!     Why just have a Pocket Duncan when you could have a handsome life-size model

[Rahere]

Better than my own distant ancestor Eric Bloodaxe, mind you - but I'll leave that to those who want to get into a Hallowe'en frame of mind to investigate exactly how he earned that soubriquet...not the only one, mind you, the French have an abusive term, tire-dents, refering to an ancestor on the other side of the family, who introduced the first commercially-available false teeth, Waterloo teeth they were called...reminds me, gotta go sharpen my scythe for tomorrow. Yup, the back lawn's a meadow and yup, I've got a real scythe. Should liven up the evening for the kids.
Reminds me of the time I took my daughter to the York Dungeon, one of these local gory history reenactment places where the locals find gainful employment. A quiet day, they took rather too long between scenarios, so I removed my back pack and put it on under my jacket for a joke. Said local never seems to have encountered a six-foot 120kg hunchback before...not least when I got me daughter to offer me a slug of Jack Daniels and I was able to reply, "No, no, the Bells, the Bells..."
Anyone else with some 'orribly 'admirable 'ancestors?

[Evie]

"Erik the Redneck"...why, yes, I do believe I know what my husband's costume will be next Halloween.  

But ...  with you in your Sister Helena garb, here was I thinking that he'd go as Bishop Duncan?!     Why just have a Pocket Duncan when you could have a handsome life-size model

DH looks more like KK's description of Brion Haldane than any of her descriptions of Duncan, even if he were to use hair dye, colored contacts, and a shave. Though the real trick would be getting him to wear medieval garb on Halloween.  After 30 years in the SCA, he doesn't think of medieval clothing as costume anymore, so without some humorous twist added, that would have all the appeal for him as just showing up at the party in jeans and a tshirt.-

[Rahere]

There's the old tale about the tattoist turning up the day before the execution with instructions from Elven Safety to mark a line of dots with "Cut here" at the end...

[Shiral]

 

DH looks more like KK's description of Brion Haldane than any of her descriptions of Duncan,  

So whassamatta with going as  Brion Haldane???   He's pretty cool!

Melissa

[Evie]

Aside from that whole "dead people don't party much" thing, no problem at all, except that it would be difficult to ever pass Brion off as Duncan without an extreme makeover.  . And again, there's the whole "medieval clothes don't count as costumes because I get to wear them regularly and just think of them as normal wardrobe" mindset that would make it unlikely DH would be interested in showing up to a Halloween party as anyone from the Deryni books.  (That and he's not read them.)

[Rahere]

So the streets of Mobile are thick with lepers in full rags, complete with bowls and clappers, dripping merry pus, and the corners are decorated with visitors from Folsom Street, hung in irons? Persuade him his alternative is to go as Marat - Charlotte Corday fixed HIM in the bath, so presumably utterly uncostumed.

[Alkari]

And again, there's the whole "medieval clothes don't count as costumes because I get to wear them regularly and just think of them as normal wardrobe" mindset that would make it unlikely DH would be interested in showing up to a Halloween party as anyone from the Deryni books.  (That and he's not read them.)

Hmm - I know!!    He can go as Steampunk Bishop Duncan!      With that recent contraption of his playing music by Hildegard von Bingen.   

[Rahere]

Steam catapult yet! The question is whether to load with gummi bears for the adhesion, or chocolate eggs for penetration. I reckon I can hit one of the sprites at fifty yards. Next project, a self-igniting Chinese cracker load for Nov 5th. Remember, remember, the 5th of November, Gunpowder, Treason and Plot. However, Guy Fawkes masks are now being worn by Anonymous members, the anarchist group currently besieging St Pauls Cathedral who also specialise in DDOS attacks of capitalist websites. They really don't understand what happens to Guy Fawkeses on Fireworks Night!

[Rahere]

We've ended up on the wrong meme here - this is Lammas Night territory, where the white covens may be somewhat concerned by the confused symbology of the night. Souls on the loose tonight are most certainly not celestial - yet - but may be infernal. The balance lies on the dark side, therefore, as shown by the artistic themes on the subject. The accursed walking the earth, temporarily released from limbo as the sole option to checking in to a more painful place, the poor Bishop would surely sympathise with DH's lack of inspiration! It's a night for all good vicars to be preparing their sermons for the morrow. But for the bad ones...
Just had the first nervous visitors, no wonder given the classical radio channel in the background had just hit the peak of the Dies Irae from Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique as they rang the bell! By comparison with the Belgians, weak and quivering...

[Evie]

So the streets of Mobile are thick with lepers in full rags, complete with bowls and clappers, dripping merry pus, and the corners are decorated with visitors from Folsom Street, hung in irons? Persuade him his alternative is to go as Marat - Charlotte Corday fixed HIM in the bath, so presumably utterly uncostumed.

Um, no.  We're a good six hours drive north of Mobile at any rate.  I wouldn't dare bring up the Marat suggestion, and not because of DH's understandable reaction to the idea of venturing forth au naturel.  No, more because that clever prop-building mind of his might just as well come up with some bizarre contraption meant to look like poor Monsieur Marat's bathtub, somehow to be propelled on wheels with some hidden means of steering concealed beneath the board serving as his writing desk, and for an added whimsical touch, a rubber ducky, because my man, he ain't right in the head.  That's why he's married to me!  

[Evie]

And again, there's the whole "medieval clothes don't count as costumes because I get to wear them regularly and just think of them as normal wardrobe" mindset that would make it unlikely DH would be interested in showing up to a Halloween party as anyone from the Deryni books.  (That and he's not read them.)

Hmm - I know!!    He can go as Steampunk Bishop Duncan!      With that recent contraption of his playing music by Hildegard von Bingen.   

Um, what part of "With the exception of that Y chromosome, I look more like Bishop Duncan than DH does" are we still not getting?!    Steampunk Brion Haldane, maybe, but in any case, why would anyone ever want to steampunk our late lamented King Brion?  Unless...hm...Steampunk Reanimated King Brion?  Naaah. 

[Evie]

Steam catapult yet! The question is whether to load with gummi bears for the adhesion, or chocolate eggs for penetration.

I'd go with malted milk balls for penetration, myself.  They're hard enough to get through the outside surface of the target, but that brittle middle should fragment nicely afterwards, creating lots of shrapnel, because I'm diabolical that way.  Which of course is why my characters all love me so....  *whistles innocently*