A/N: A series of Tumblr fills (finally) being posted over here, all prompted by Avani/avani008 on Tumblr.
Mary I of England, for the Four Seasons meme
Spring
the circumstances of his/her birth | favorite (or least favorite) family member | first word | happiest birthday | genderswap au
All good children should revere their lord father above all else save God, especially when he is also their King. But although Mary has always adored her father, it is her mother whom she pays attention to most intently, whose approval she craves the most, whose disappointment would hurt her the worst. Her father proclaims himself pleased to have Mary as his heir in the absence of a son and sends her to Ludlow with all due diligence and glory, but it is her mother who wraps her up in her arms and whispers into her hair that she will one day make a great Queen, who tells her stories of her grandmother Isabella, who swears that she would not exchange her for a thousand sons. It is her mother who imparts in her the faith that will sustain her long after everything else has abandoned Mary.
When her father leaves her mother for good and the world falls out from underneath her feet, it isn't even a question for Mary whose side she'll be taking.
Summer
fantasy | love language of choice | a pet or other animal companion| the decoration of their bedroom| fusion au
The maid - Sybil, Mary later learns - averts her eyes when Mary is slapped across the cheek for using her title of Princess and banished to her room like a disobedient wench. Later, when Mary is nursing her wounded pride in her chamber, Sybil comes knocking timidly, seeking to apologize for her cowardice and swearing that she is loyal to and loves the true Princess.
"Are you truly loyal to me?" Mary asks coldly. "Then are you willing to sneak me something from the kitchen when I am not allowed to eat? Carry a letter to Ambassador Chapuys if I believe I may be in danger? Adhere to the Catholic faith even though it might draw the King's anger upon you? Speak up when you see your princess being beaten right in front of you?"
Sybil drops her gaze shamefacedly.
"I thought not. If all you have to offer me are pretty words, then begone. I have heard enough of those in the last year. If for every hundred pretty words someone had said to me, they had followed it up with some deed or action, then I would not be here at Hatfield."
With that, Mary slams the door in Sybil's face. It may be un-princesslike, but Mary has never felt less like a princess at that moment, for what princess can have so many well-wishers yet so few well-doers?
Fall
the one person/cause/ideal they would sacrifice everything for| storms| nightmare | the lie(s) he/she has told | hero/villain reversal au
Father might think that Mary had no inkling of the Great Matter until he and her mother finally separated for good in 1533, but he is wrong. She knows, has known ever since the Blackfriars Trial happened when she was still cocooned away in relative safety at Ludlow. At her mother's behest she says nothing, but there are times when Mary wants to grab her father by his lapels and ask him, why, why must he put her lady mother through this torment? What does Nan Bullen have to offer that her mother does not? But that would do none of them any good at all, so Mary learns to swallow the questions and smile. "All queens must learn how to lie," her mother tells her bluntly. "Call it dissembling, call it keeping your cards close to your chest, but if you ever wish to be Queen of England, you will not always be able to tell the truth."
Mary has never had any trouble learning lessons early.
Winter
haunting | tarot | then and now | gods and mortals | reincarnation au/historical era swap
"She is my perfect pearl of the world," her father had once bragged about her to a visiting ambassador. He had been carrying her on his shoulders, her Tudor-red hair sweeping down like a curtain. Mary remembers holding on tight as she towered above the whole court. "This is a girl who never cries!"
In the darkness of her chamber at Hatfield, Mary smiles bitterly, tasting the salt of her dried tears on her cracked lips, before dissolving into fresh sobs once more as she clutches her mother's final letter to her chest.
A/N: Ending notes from the original Tumblr tags:
#mary's love language is acts of services since after the great matter she would feel that words are cheap #she needs to see tangible acts of service to prove your love #the pearl of the world and a girl who never cries were both nicknames henry gave to mary when she was young :(