Everything Old is New Again

[gardenplots]

Song here, and I bring to you one Margaret St. John (Maggie to her friends and Aunt Maggie to half the Deck), returning character, currently an 8 of Hearts and member of that suit for 30 years. You can read her app here.

She's a BAMF grand dame with a deadly aim who left her Spade roots when (at the ripe young age of twenty-nine) she fell in love with her mark (a certain heartfelt King) and became his paramour instead msters have (pretty much) stopped trying to make an example out of her for deserting them, or (as Maggie says) "stop sending me presents that I keep sending back in boxes." Some claim her vaunted gardens hide the bones of many a Spade seeking advancement. Indeed, few remember when she was the shining star of the Spades, their up and coming cleaner, spy and wetwork specialist.

Maggie is everyone's favorite "auntie." It's a role she's played so long that most people forget she was once the Spades' most feared weapon. She relies on charm and sharp eyes--and sharper wits--when need be. Maggie adores children and, due to lack of any of her own, has adopted most of the Deck. She plays the role of gossipy auntie quite well.

In reality she remains a strange blend of Spade and Heart. She sees the worth of both philosophies and has seen the worst of both philosophies when taken to extremes. She joined--and remains with-- the Hearts because the Spades committed the unforgivable and because someone must look out for their interests. Poor dears. It's a wide world out there. Some of them tend to forget that.

Maggie's a crack gardener and cook. She can often be found puttering in her own gardens or attending to those of the Hearts. She bakes the best brownies on the Deck and make a cheesecake to die for. She's unflappable, unsinkable, unassailable, and yet never cold. She'll do anything to protect her Hearts--and has--whether they know it or not. She'll continue to do so until the day she dies.

I know we have new players and characters, so hit me with your CR!

Comments

[alwaysmessedup]

Um. I don't think any of ours really had CR in the past.

But she can make Johnny eat something.

And maybe whip Justin into something resembling shape.

And side-eye Julien.

And maybe Elani can come visit?

[alwaysmessedup]

Also, if the other one happens, they should be sisbros.

[gardenplots]

She'll feed whomever visits (including Julien) though they'd be wise to come via the door. She nearly killed Sieben when she found him in her garden. XD

Justin should find a younger woman to whip him, just saying.

Of course Elani can visit.

(And I'm dense and don't know the character you mean.)

[alwaysmessedup]

She'd have been doing several people a favor, I imagine, considering later events.

Hah. Well. You know. Delilah's gone?

\o/

(and no worries, if it happens, you'll see. :) )

[gardenplots]

Yes, well, in her experience young men often are given to fits of drama and in his case unfortunately so.

Better start looking!

(aaaaaaahhhhhhhh secrets!)

[uncutclarity]

AUNT MAGGIE.

Ahem.

Her CR with Zoe is some of my favorite CR, so I would imagine she knows cousin Dillon in some capacity. They probably aren't quite so close, as Dillon grew up in Town, but he can probably be convinced to eat brownies.

Alasdair probably dreamily wandered into her garden when he was growing up; he was a year old when she became a Heart, and his parents are NOT wary, judgey types.

What does she think of Briony?

[gardenplots]

Dearest, you know she'll sit on the bride's side. I'm certain Charlotte won't mind. Also, she must. He can come hide at the villa and scarf brownies, poor boy. She might put him to work in the garden.

She remembers him when. Still dreamy.

I don't see any reason for her to disprove of her. Maggie's own parents were Spades of their time (i.e, horrible, horrible, horrible). Briony may or may not feel differently about her. Maggie probably knew her mother, but she left before Medea became Queen (or David King for that matter). When she does think about her, she no doubt is thankful she got away from that toxic atmosphere and was allowed to grow up her own woman.

[uncutclarity]

She can sit in the Mother of the Bride chair since Charlotte is not setting foot in that church. And since Dillon is helping Michael with the garden, I can only imagine he's been well-trained.

Excellent. We shall see how that goes, then.

[gardenplots]

You caught me. I was going to suggest that. Also, don't mind, Dillon Dearest. Aunt Maggie has oodles of experience training young men.

We shall! How old is Briony? I can't remember off the top of my head. Anyway, I'm sure part of her felt bad she had to witness what she did. No child (or parent for that matter) should ever have to do that.

[civilizedpoison]

He is side-eying so much, Maggie. So much side-eying.

Briony just turned twenty-nine last month. And yes, Medea left her mark.

[gardenplots]

Whatever is he thinking of? Young men, nowdays.

So her mother was pregnant when Maggie left. Anyone who says the Spades haven't changed doesn't remember. Sadly, too many who do remember would like to return to those times. Just thinking about it makes Maggie want to bake.

[civilizedpoison]

She probably remembers bitching about Margaret St. John in her very early years. Possibly some of her siblings/her parents sent some of the assassins to kill her, which might be why she's always been on guard for the same.

[maskofhearts]

There will always be the epic Maggie/Hadyn CR. Always.

The others, well XD I am not sure about.

[gardenplots]

I don't know why he thinks she's a horrible old woman. You realize she's friendly with Elisha, right? You know the type of friends he keeps. XD Anyway, he's a lovely young man (Haydn) and she quite approves of him.

You can do anything you want with the others. I think she finally relaxed about Victor and Zoe after it became apparent he'd settled on one woman. At first she'd only been worried he might be using Cards from other Suits for intel. Don't hold it against her; it's what she used to do.

[yourcupoftea]

I'm a newbie! Maggie (Meera will call her Ms St. John but I'm just gonna type Maggie here) is one of her heroes, despite leaving the Spades. She's heard about how capable Maggie was/is (but nothing of that wetwork business) and secretly thinks it's quite romantic that she left the Spades for love. So... I hope Maggie doesn't mind a little busybody constantly offering to help with the gardening.

[gardenplots]

XD That's the entire idea. She did have a substantial fling with Lafayette, but he had flings with several ladies. She did get her villa out of it (and the only shooting range on Deck). Maggie adores company, so Meera can stop by all she wants to get her hands dirty (and probably be fed).

[cutslikeaspade]

Juliette will more than likely take her up on the baked goodies, and probably, if allowed, sleep on her floor in front of the fireplace a few times a month. She'll be nice and keep Dutchie outta the garden, too. :) (Although a carrot or an apple or two every now and then would be nice.)

Ethan...probably avoids her, or at the most, eyes her with extreme wariness, since Old Spade Ladies usually mean painful childhood memories for him. See Lauraline for more information. But he'd be polite, because he's not an idiot, if their paths ever do cross. It'd be interesting to see how they interact, come to think of it.

Ivona's about the same, I doubt they were ever close, but out of respect for Former Spade, she'd be respectful.

Theo's her king, and I have no idea how or what they'd even. I'm absolutely up for suggestions on that one.

[gardenplots]

I'm sure Maggie sets some aside for Dutchie. Maggie will offer her a bed, but if she's like most Jokers, she's part wild. Expect to be covered with a blanket at least.

She did what all Spades did to survive back then. She and Laureline did not get on. Just be certain to drop by the normal way. Unexpected Spades still make her twitchy. She acts for all intents and purposes like a Heart.

I can't remember when he came over to the Hearts or I'd try to come up with something. She had a scare with cancer a year or so back (her original reason for leaving the Deck). He might know about that since he's a doctor. She's fine now.

[holdsmyheart]

Yeah, I don't think Juliette's slept in a bed since she arrived in the Deck, lolol. But blankets and apples are love.

Neither Ethan or Ivona would visit without a proper notification, I don't think. Or unless there was official business. But passing in the street or the like would definitely receive a nod of recognition, maybe more. :)

Theo started out as a Heart when he was 15, um...twenty years ago. He left for a brief stint when he got married, but came back about three years later, and has been on-Deck for a decade, give or take a year. It's highly likely he's helped with her illness? I'm good with that. :) And yay for beating it! \o/

[standlikestone]

I'm sososososos late to this. But. Riley loves Maggie. So much love and admiration. Just forever. /o/ Also I figure Edie must know her in some way because Huntly. :|a Also Piper hangs out in her garden, yes?

[gardenplots]

More babies to cuddle! Maggie had a very long-standing fling with Georgios and tried to be mother away from mother for Zoe, so I'm pretty sure she knows the Huntlys (and is incredibly thankful they aren't all like Charlotte). Piper is definitely welcome and would she like to help with the baking someday?

[heartvestment]

The most unlike Charlotte ever is Edie. XD And of course she would like to help with the baking :< She is a baking expert or something.

[old_dog]

I'd been caught up in doing other things but glad you brought her back! As dodgy as 'I have older men to throw at you' sounds, you know what I mean XD IIIII don't know what you want to do with Michael because they could very well get along with their amicable personalities. But I could also have him keep his distance if you like because she'd be one of those dangerous old Spades he kept getting into trouble with despite becoming a Heart.

Iollan would be courteous and linefacey as usual. I don't know how else to describe it. Maybe a bit of Y U LEAVE combined with I KNOE U LONG TAIM.

And I don't know if you want to have anything to do with Caleb Caustello but yeah they can be like random friends or something. Deckborn buddies. I don't know XD

[gardenplots]

Dearest, she'd catch him if he was at all interested. As it is, they both enjoy gardening. She really is your atypical Spade. She left because she couldn't accept what the Spades were doing to themselves. They probably know each other fairly well since they're of an age.

Now, when I had to write an actual app for Maggie, Jordan helped me fill in the timeline. Sean was king when she left, but Erzsebet was still queen. Hopefully I have this all written down somewhere. I could probably piece it together from her app. That means Michael would remember Domitian, too. It was pretty bloody when Sean took over.

Aaaaanway, I was going somewhere with this, but can't remember what. Oh! Maggie is a really, really nice person if he wants to give her a chance.

Silly Iollan, they tried to kill her and she was sick unto death.

Sure! They've been knocking around since forever. I don't see why they wouldn't now each other and probably be friendly. It takes a lot to make Maggie dislike you.

[old_dog]

Yeah I definitely think Maggie and Michael have the most potential for backstory as Iollan would have been fairly confined to the Castle and Caleb is in a different Suit. I have no clue about anything before Sean and Medea but I'm happy to go with whatever is currently canon. If she was an atypical Spade from the get-go then I think they would have gotten along since they were kids. She's probably about 5 years older but they're of the same generation. She would have been nice where most others would have seen an opportunity to bully/take advantage. It was for the better that they both left anyway since things would have probably not ended well if they'd stayed XD

But I can have Michael be more wary of her if Maggie sort of became disillusioned afterwards rather than being different from the start, as she'd probably have come across not that much different from all the other Spades.

There's no reason why we can't work out stuff with Iollan too if you're keen. I suspect he'd have kept the same distance he keeps with all other non-Chives, but they could have been friends before he reached whatever age the Chiveses reach when they become emotionally stunted.

And finally for Caleb, definitely keen on being on good terms. His feelings about Spades in general would have been tainted by the number Shea did on Rachel, but. He could have become acquainted with Maggie before that. There's even posssssibly a window of time when they could have had a fling if you'd like that sort of storyline. But it'd probably be only a few months anyway and then after he gets married and loses his wife, Maggie probably wouldn't have liked to be around him all that much while he tried to drown himself in booze.

/late

[thecutdiamond]

I don't think Rachel had any CR with her previously so. That's that unless you want something there.

She's free to've taken Rowan under her wing I suppose?

And if she likes coffee there is always Teresa \o.

/even later

[oneirophiliac]

I can't remember what CR she and Säde had, but generally there's respect and tiiiny bit of awe from Säde's direction.

Iggy occasionally has to retrieve kids from her garden? Or from any garden?