“I’d like to think that there will never be a time that we cannot sit down together, as a family.”
Baldwin’s tone deaf reading of the room! So, so wrong. The family dinner from hell.
Peter McDonald, Lindsay Duncan, Edward Bluemel and Steven Cree with Teresa Palmer and Matthew Goode in A Discovery of Witches season 3.
Question: Where was Phoebe? Didn’t see her in the other dinner either. Miriam, Hamish, Marthe and Sarah but no Phoebe
ADOW S3:01 my edit
I loved this scene, even though it gave me second-hand-stress!!
I’d argue that Baldwin did not misread the tone of the room, he knew exactly what he was doing, and saying, and it was all most likely tailored to get under Matthew’s skin, and stir up drama between Matthew and Diana.
His father is like the messiest of bitches when it comes to stirring up drama so, learned from the messiest!
The Assessment: aka the schmoopiest fluff I ever wrote
It was time. Baldwin had been given the opportunity to examine the twins. He had only glimpsed them at the church, so new and well-swaddled he could hardly sense anything from them. This was, of course, disguised as an avuncular visit. He knocked on the door of Les Revenants with two large teddy bears, one on each hip. He steeled himself for whatever he might find, whatever he might have to do to protect the family.
“Oh, Baldwin,” said Diana as she opened the door (Matthew let her open her own door?!?) “those bears are bigger than they are!”
“They’ll grow into them,” said Baldwin. He smiled. It was not convincing. He knew Diana had only permitted this so he would stop emailing and calling her about it.
He was shown into the salon, now covered in pillows and blankets and playpens. Diana re-emerged with a wiggling lump in a pink and yellow blanket. “Philip is asleep, but this one almost never takes her nap.”
Noted, thought Baldwin.
“This might be a silly question, but have you ever held a baby before?” asked Diana as she was about to handle one half of her entire heart over to her adopted brother.
Baldwin blinked, lip curling. “I have had the occasion to over the millennia. Support the head?” He held his hands out. He could smell the girl from there. She smelt of baby. And Matthew. And Diana. And mostly, of vampire. Diana gently handed Becca to Baldwin.
She wriggled, testing her new situation and managed to free her arms from the confines of the blanket. Baldwin shifted her to one arm, head cradled by the crook of his elbow as he attempted to replace it. It was true he knew little of babies, but he did know that they needed blankets and were prone to catch a chill.
Well, she could certainly pass for a human child. And she seemed to be growing normally. Her fists were already swinging about, albeit rather aimlessly. As he tried to cover her arms back up with the blanket, she caught his finger in one tiny hand.
Oh, thought Baldwin. If he hadn’t been holding her, he might have grasped his chest. He felt a pang between his ribs. But also a warmth? A tremendous warm ache? She squeezed his finger, pulling his hand towards her.
“That’s not your pacie,” said Baldwin, trying to sound stern as Becca pulled his hand over her face towards her mouth. He pulled his hand away. Oh dear, now the feeling was behind his eyes. They felt a little wet.
Baldwin tickled her tummy tentatively. He didn’t know what to do with her now he had her. She felt warm and squishy.
“Gah!” she squealed, letting out a peal of laughter. She kicked her legs under the blanket. As he moved to grab her head again, she grasped his finger once more, bringing it over her face. This time, she had gotten his pinky finger with his signet ring on it.
“Oh, she likes your ring,” said Diana. “Shiny! Shiny ring!” Baldwin looked at her oddly. Motherhood seemed to have caused her to regress to a state of idiocy.
Becca pulled it towards her mouth and tried to close her lips over it.
“Ah. Well done. You’ve kissed my ring. You may call me ‘Uncle Baldwin,’” he over enunciated to her as if she might actually remember it. “Oh, but you can’t say that. I’ll excuse you. You haven’t any teeth. Perhaps you might call me…” Baldwin searched through his many names. A memory surfaced. The first time he had held a baby. It had been his little sister. Another memory followed. Loo loo loo loo loo loo, she had trilled at him from his mother’s arms. “Lu? It will be a while before you can manage Lucius.” He cuddled her close to his face. “Loo loo loo loo loo. Yes, that’s nice. It’s very fun to say,” he grinned back at Becca’s gummy smile at his little name song.
She reached up and touched his face, tiny fingers warm against his cool chin. He stood up abruptly. “Very good. A healthy baby. Well done,” he said to Diana, handing her back and turning as if to regard the vista from the window. “And the boy? Will he wake soon? I haven’t all day.” He waited until Matthew looked away at Diana and Becca to quickly wipe at the corner of his eye.
When asked by his fellow vampires if he had seen the children, he would say that he had, and they had not done anything remarkable. They were simply babies. And he would say it in such a way that everyone knew that if they went within smelling distance of the twins, he would tear their head off and punt it like a football across the French Alps and then rip their body in half longwise and use it as skis.
I can’t!!! I just love this, just wanna include an addition:
———
“Baldwin?” Marcus frowned at the sight of the de Clermont patriarch standing in the doorway.
His tie was loose, the first two buttons in his shirt undone and, most concerning of all, his jacket was being crushed in his hand.
He looked worried.
“Do not panic but there is a chance I have been exposed to a vampire pathogen.“ Marcus looked dumbly at Baldwin for a moment before jumping into action.
“Okay, alright, let’s figure this out.”
What followed was a battery of blood tests, ECG, EEG, X-Ray, CAT scans.
Baldwin paced whilst waiting for Marcus to interpret the results.
“Blood work is normal, all tests, normal. How do you feel now?”
“What does that have to do with anything? I’m either ill or I’m not, you have the results.”
“You came to me, if you won’t cooperate I can’t help you!”
“Normal, I suppose.”
“When you came in you complained of an intense burning in your chest, that’s gone?”
“Thankfully. It was like being set on fire from the inside.”
“And the allergy response, watering eyes?”
“That’s gone too.”
Marcus’ phone buzzed and he glanced at it.
“You are in the middle of a consultation!” Baldwin rebuked.
“Sorry, you’re right, Diana likes to send cute little photos of the twins.”
Baldwin’s eyes narrowed.
“Show me.” He replied with a defeated surrender.
Diana had sent a photo with both twins being carefully cradled by the bears Baldwin had gifted them.
“That is cute, I-“ Baldwin stopped, had to his chest, “it’s back, the burning is back. Is this a spell?”
Marcus shook his head.
“I know what it is.”
“Well?”
“You won’t like the answer.”
“Marcus so help me-“
“Okay, it’s-“
“Stress,” Miriam, who had been working silently the whole time, took out her EarPods and shot Marcus a silencing glare, “it’s just stress.”
“Unlikely,” Baldwin retorted, “I have managed Matthew for fifteen-hundred-years, why would I suffer from stress now?”
“The blood vow extends to the children, concern for their safety is hard-coded into your DNA. For all the grief Matthew gave you, he wasn’t a helpless baby.”
“So what do I do?”
“Yoga, meditate, have a long hot bubble bath, visit one of your many lovers?” Miriam needled.
“Should I avoid the children?”
“Won’t help, you need to acclimate. The more time you spend with them the faster the symptoms will lessen.” She offered.
“This is an unwelcome development,” he frowned, “thank you both for your assistance and I trust in your discretion.”
“Of course.” Miriam gave him a nod.
“Spoilsport!” Marcus pouted when Baldwin left.
“Did you actually want to tell Mr Control that his greatest Achilles Heel is his love for infants who can’t even hold their heads up by themselves yet?”
———
Please people, please if you feel the urge please join in with your own additions, love Baldwin feeling feelings!!!
Timeframe: Can safely say AU at this point, about a month after Matthew and Diana go back in time.
Summary: Alisha and Rebecca covertly meet with an ally who knew Catarina but trouble arrives in the form of an old enemy armed with stolen information.
Spoiler Warning: TV Show canon S1-S2, some Book of Life (wrote this chapter before seeing S3 so shouldn’t be too spoilery)
“We’re now sitting at two weeks without word or update from Baldwin, or any indication he has located Alisha.” Marcus complained over the table.
“If he has found her,” Nathaniel commented, “we’ll never learn of it.”
“Nate,” Marcus frowned, “he wouldn’t!“
“Poor Gallowglass was banished, for a supposed failure!” The daemon argued.
“He wasn’t banished, Nathaniel,” Ysabeau interjected, “he was given an assignment, one which for all we know is related to finding the girl.”
“Agreed,” Emily put her hand over Sarah’s.
“Then why the secrecy?” Nathaniel challenged, “why will he not let us help him find her?”
“I agree with you,” Marcus assured him, “but he gave me an order and I cannot disobey. Right now, the only power I have to protect all of you is underwritten with Baldwin’s support.”
“Which he could withdraw at any moment.” Ysabeau agreed solemnly.
“In any case, Baldwin does not want us looking for her in case it draws attention.”
“As far as everyone else knows, she is a daemon,“ Nathaniel scowled, “the congregation won’t care what he does with her.”
“Are you seriously suggesting that he would kill her?” Ysabeau asked.
“If he hasn’t already.” Nathaniel offered.
“You are wrong, we have had many disagreements in our long acquaintance, but for all his pride Baldwin would never turn against his family. Whoever and whatever she is, she is a de Clermont now.”
“I didn’t know you cared, Ysabeau,” Baldwin joined the debate, “what’s this, a family meeting without it’s head.”
“Baldwin-“ Marcus stood.
“Wait, of course it isn’t, these creatures are not family.”
“You disappear for two weeks and return only to insult our guests?” Ysabeau stayed seated and fixed him with an icy glare.
“They’re not my guests.” Baldwin hit back.
Alisha listened to the soft lapping of canal water against the boat as she tried to calm her nerves.
Two weeks waiting for Baldwin to leave Venice, Rebecca’s contact finally came through. Miyako was fortunately able to stay close by with missions that were primarily located in Paris.
Coming up for a large building, she fiddled nervously with her rings beneath her hooded cloak, the plain wedding band and the engagement ring whose pearl had been bound for a far grander figure than her.
That was, until her husband used its purchase to sour relations between Mark Anthony and allies who would have given him the decisive victory over Octavius in Actium, thereby preventing him from becoming Augustus and changing the fate of the entire Roman Empire.
Such was the power of a de Clermont patriarch.
“Alisha?” Rebecca prompted, not receiving a response she gently touched her arm.
“Hmm, sorry I was miles away.”
“It’s fine, we’re almost there.”
Venice was beautiful at night, the lights reflecting off the canals almost took the edge from her apprehension.
Almost, until they pulled into an underground dock and Rebecca helped her out of the boat.
“This contact, are you sure we can trust him, that he won’t betray us?”
“He has no loyalty to any of his kind beyond what benefits him, allying with us benefits him. He won’t sell us out to Uncle Baldwin’s enemies.”
“I’m just as concerned that he will sell us out to your uncle,” Alisha admitted, surprise evident in Rebecca’s eyes, “Becca, what if he finds us, he doesn’t know you yet, he might-“
“What? Kill me?”
“Both of us!”
“He wouldn’t harm you and since Grandad’s blood vow covers me as well as Mum, he can’t hurt me either.”
Alisha frowned, unsure.
“Look,” Rebecca started patiently, “it’s not even really about the contact, it’s this place. Before other you was captured, you stashed something here, something that can help us stop what happens in my time.”
“That you can’t tell me about?”
“Exactly. We don’t have a lot of time before my parents return from the past, I need to be gone by then.”
Alisha let her niece lead her through the labyrinth of the lower level to a grand staircase leading to an upper floor.
It was a stunning building, unfurnished, but the paintwork was pristine and the marble floors gleamed.
“Who’s home is this?” She looked around in wonder.
“It is yours,” a handsome vampire with curled dark hair and mischievous air answered descending the central staircase, “Principessa da Venezia,” he bowed low in a medieval style, hands outstretched, “and Contessa,” he greeted Rebecca with an almost worshipful tone.
“Domenico,” she responded cooly, with the air of a courtly queen regarding a swooning suitor.
“No offence, but, why are you helping us when you could turn us in to Baldwin and win his favour?” Alisha asked.
“Your husband is an arrogant twat,” he shrugged, “and Venice is your home, where it’s safe, not locked up in Sept Tours.“
“I’ll just be locked up by you, I assume?”
“Not at all, you are free to come and go as you please. This place belongs to you, I merely held it in trust until your return. Just know that Baldwin has many spies so if you do decide to leave, he will locate you instantly.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Alisha sighed defeated, “so, you knew me, before?”
”I knew the man I believed was your father, Pasquale Cicogna, the Doge of Venice. I hadn’t realised until later that he adopted you to replace his young daughter when she died from illness. He kept you with him, treated you like his own, trained and tutored you.”
“Sounds nice.”
“You don’t remember everything of your previous life yet?”
“No, why? Were we a-“
“God no,” he looked offended, “you were a child and in need of protection.”
“So you’re a ‘good guy’?” She asked with a hint of sarcasm.
“Not particularly but I do have an unfailing loyalty to my own kind.”
“Creatures?”
He shook his head.
“Venetians.” He explained simply, leading the way to a room off the main area and flicked on the light.
A large painting took up almost the entire wall, it was her face but the clothes were unrecognisable, definitely Renaissance era.
“One of few paintings of you that exist,” he explained, “on the rare occasion you were seen in public, you concealed yourself behind a porcelain mask, long gloves, showing no skin at all, many opined it was as a result of smallpox scarring.”
“Why was it, really?”
“Freedom,” he explained, “as his silent and masked daughter you were privy to many conversations had around you and were able to uncover many plots and schemes.”
“Sounds boring as hell.”
“I’m sure it was. Luckily you spent most of your time as your alter ego, the minstrel, Oscine.”
“Like Clark Kent?”
“In a sense,” he grinned, “for some reason nobody ever wondered why Cicogna’s daughter and his musician were never seen in the same room.”
“That seems kind of obvious!” Rebecca pointed out.
“It was Venice in the late 1500’s, everyone was preoccupied with politics, murder, wine and other pleasures.”
“If I was always masked, who painted this portrait?”
“That I don’t know but the daemon, Michael, he was investigating strange, recently unearthed frescoes of you, Diana Bishop and,” he glanced up at Rebecca, “Contessa.”
“I suppose I have you to thank for defacing mine.” Rebecca gave him an appreciative smile.
“As much as it pained me to destroy your image, I did so only to protect you. But, I made a copy of the work.”
He handed her a photo.
“A copy,” Rebecca teased, “you say that like you were sat in front of it with paints and an easel, not an iPhone!”
He chuckled warmly.
“The daemon believed there was a code hidden in the photo, without knowing what it was, I couldn’t risk accidentally omitting a detail.”
“We both know you can forge any artwork.”
“Not one with you in it, all other detail would remain unnoticed by me as I toiled to properly capture that inscrutable expression.”
Rebecca seemed to blush slightly at the compliment and Alisha made a mental note to pry later.
“So, Rebecca, her mother and myself were all painted by someone 500 years ago?”
“That’s where time walking makes things more complicated,” Rebecca grimaced, “they may have painted it then but who knows where or when they came from.”
“Time-walking is a rare skill, only Contessa and your mother seem to have acquired it.” Domenico pondered.
“Some powerful witches are well hidden, even right now in this time!” Rebecca admitted.
“Tell me their names and I’ll deal with them.” Domenico smirked but the expression quickly shifted to concern when the doors swung open to reveal Miyako.
“We have to leave, now, he knows where you are!”
Alisha turned to look at Domenico accusingly.
“Baldwin did not hear it from me,” he promised.
“Not my father, it’s Benjamin and he’s not looking for Alisha,” Miyako’s tone betrayed the fear that was in Rebecca’s eyes, “Gerbert is with him.”
“I have no idea who Benjamin is but I can handle Gerbert, go!”
Rebecca simply nodded, and took both Miyako and Alisha’s hands.
Alisha hadn’t noticed until then that she was shaking.
“Becca,” Miyako prompted, getting her attention, “he won’t get you, I promise!”
“Just remember your other promise.”
Miyako gave a solemn confirmatory nod.
Receiving the assurance, Rebecca resumed her spell.
The door splintered outward, revealing Benjamin, bloodied from a fight.
“Domenico,” Rebecca inhaled sharply.
“Not your boyfriend I hope, Daddy wouldn’t be pleased.”
Rebecca closed her eyes and continued weaving as Benjamin tested the shield she had put around them.
“Fascinating witch, Alice, she followed you from the future, gave me all sorts of information. Knew I had to find you.”
Alisha couldn’t shake the horrible feeling of familiarity with him. She knew him and almost shrieked when he set his shark-eyed gaze on her.
“And Catarina.”
“Don’t talk to her.” Miyako snarled.
“You cannot save her from the memories I gave her current contemporary. Stay too long in a shared time and the ghosts of the displaced will haunt you. I learned that from my studies of time spinning, waiting for Diana. Now, I don’t have to wait fourteen years for you, Rebecca, you can give me what I want now.”
“Becca?” Miyako prompted.
“It’s not working, we need a shared focus.”
“We each share one person in common, one person who means so much to us. Think of him now and drop the shield when you are ready.” Miyako instructed.
——
“And you wonder why she left you!” Marcus seethed.
“Speak to me like that again boy-“ Baldwin challenged.
“That’s Grand-Master, head an order to which you belong!” Phoebe defended.
“And you are?”
“Phoebe Taylor.”
“Miss Taylor, you really should learn the etiquette required of a subordinate de Clermont’s mate. You address me as Sieur.”
“If I wanted lessons in etiquette comparable to your own I would visit the nearest pigsty.”
Everyone fell silent.
“Apologies, the nearest pigsty, Sieur.”
——
“We’re here!” Rebecca exclaimed with excitement upon seeing the terracotta squares of the dining room wall. Noting the shocked expression of Miyako and Alisha, she turned to see Baldwin and Marcus, both mid fight, both staring at them with everyone else in the room.
Certainly has a sense of self-importance but I guess the judgement is whether or not it’s exaggerated. He’s head of a powerful vampire family, influences the global stock market and is leader of the Congregation.
Have a sense of entitlement and require constant, excessive admiration
Is definitely entitled, don’t know about the admiration part. Pretty sure he answered Machiavelli’s rhetoric with “feared, definitely better to be feared than loved, next question!”
Expect to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it
Weird family/vampire dynamics makes this tricky. He does expect to be recognised as superior but again, he is the head of his family.
Exaggerate achievements and talents
He has talents and doesn’t seem to exaggerate one’s he doesn’t have.
Be preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate
Doesn’t really have time for fantasies, seems to spend most of his energy putting out fires. Has success, power, saves his charm for women he happens to be seducing, hasn’t found his mate yet but doubt it would be because of something superficial like status.
Believe they are superior and can only associate with equally special people
Bans non-de Clermont’s from family dinner, carelessly exposes Nathaniel, Sophie and baby Margaret to Knox despite being in Agatha’s debt.
Monopolize conversations and belittle or look down on people they perceive as inferior
That whole dinner was just him lording it over the captive family. It was literally a hostage situation and it gave me second hand anxiety.
Expect special favors and unquestioning compliance with their expectations
Didn’t EXPECT favours from Domenico and Agatha, was grateful for keeping his head. Unquestioning compliance goes with the territory of being the family/congregation head.
Take advantage of others to get what they want
Not sure what he got from selling out baby Margaret. Beyond giving Peter enough rope with which to hang himself that is, he knew Gerbert and Knox were working together.
Have an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others
I think he can recognise needs and feelings of others, he just weighs them up against his own criteria of importance.
Be envious of others and believe others envy them
Only person he seems to envy is Matthew and only because of Matthew’s relationship with Philippe.
Behave in an arrogant or haughty manner, coming across as conceited, boastful and pretentious
Um… yeah!!!!
Insist on having the best of everything — for instance, the best car or office
Dude has helicopters, next question!!!
VERDICT-
On balance I’d say no, mainly because the criteria used cannot fairly reflect the situation in which the character exists. He is self-important, controlling, demands fealty and obedience. That’s all true, but it’s how he’s expected to act in his position.
Thoughts???
*This is an exercise in character analysis, I am not a therapist, trained or otherwise, no-one should try to diagnose-from-a-distance IRL.
Never been one to celebrate New Years but New ADOW Season is different!!
Same basic spoiler posting as last year. I will only post gifs/analysis relating to episodes that have been aired in the US. Do not understand why some places get them all but others have to wait for any.
Also, was going to hunker down and watch them all tonight until I was shamed by my nephews who want to spend time with me before going back to school/college next week. I have one staying tonight and one tomorrow night. That means I won’t be on Tumblr until Sunday night after the marathon. I kinda get why Baldwin is such a sucker for his niblings!!
I know I’ve read the books so know overall what happens but a lot has been changed so I wanna get it fresh.
Wish me luck!!!
Also, for everyone bingeing S3 today, ENJOY!!!!
Love and squishies,
Nicki Xx
P.S. Wanna also say Bye King to our trystan!Baldwin and HELLO to our peter!Baldwin!!!
I haven’t written in you in quite some time! But I found you in my hiding place at Sept Tours and I have a lot on my mind and would like to organise my thoughts. No one has managed to crack the code Pater and I devised when he orchestrated the death of Caesar, so I feel safe enough confiding in you.
What’s bothering me today is the continued pattern of “vampire murders” in the news. I hope to the Gods it isn’t Matthew. He seems happy enough holed up in his laboratory. Miriam swore to look after him and she would speak up if something were really wrong.
Strong armed Knox into giving a statement to the press saying there was nothing supernatural about the murders. He seems more receptive to Gerbert than myself, so I had to convince Gerbert to approach him. Gerbert gave me the go around, but eventually agreed to do it, as if our entire way of life didn’t depend on this.
