{ Monstrous Headcanons }
Warning: Abuse mention / scar mention / violence mention / assault allusion / period appropriate puritanism
Mirrors: What is your muse’s least favorite thing about their appearance?
Her scars from her time with Ned Low. The ones on her ankles and wrists from bondage she can bear – it is the smaller, more private scars on her stomach and thighs no father would think to look for that occasionally cause her great distress.
The marks were instilled on her to lower her sense of value in herself, to cause pain and fear – the violence of them was relatively minor, but the permanence of them would ensure she could never forget her time as a hostage, could never erase her history in a pirate camp. And though she was never once violated by the crew, those marks would ensure that any man would question that truth – a devastating blow for a girl whose sole role in life was to marry rich and well for her father’s benefit.
As a surgeon, she makes the decision to ink the lines and turn them into artwork, reclaiming her power over what her body looks like. As an author, she eventually overcomes it with the knowledge nobody will see them but herself. ( And in the version where she has Joji as a companion, she meditates when troubled and eventually concludes that they are marks of survival she has no reason to be ashamed of )
Number 13: Does your muse believe any superstitions?
Abigail believes in a few small things – such as the spilling of salt being bad luck lest more be thrown over the left shoulder, broken mirrors meaning bad luck, the terrible nature of sneezing, that it is good luck for a bride to wear something borrowed, and that the first newlywed to sleep the night of the wedding would be the first to take the long sleep in the end ( thus her quiet vow not to sleep at all on her wedding night, prior to realizing her freedom from societal bonds and wondering whether or not marriage even existed in her future! )
She believes in the evil eye, in demons and angels, in bad spirits and good. She believes there is more to the world than many see, though she has no means of proving it nor any wish to try. Only that – were she to encounter something wholly strange – she would not be too terribly surprised. These facts all stand true for Abigail regardless of verse.
Ghosts: Has your muse ever seen something they couldn’t explain?
Mr. Flint’s inexplicable wardrobe change prior to his hanging.
In truth there is so much that Abigail has encountered since ( and admittedly prior to! ) the Charlestown affair that feels utterly beyond explanation she has turned frequently to her writings by way of solace.
On a more supernatural level however, she has had no experiences herself beyond the stories brought to her by sailors that ultimately framed
Ocean Archive 