1 - 20 of 128 Works by DroughtofApathy
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Summary
Once upon a time there lived three brothers who took three women as wives. The eldest was a serrated knife that left flesh raw and ragged. The middle a slender needle so sharp that no one noticed it piercing through the heart until it was too late. And the youngest was a battering ram that splintered all that came into her path. Three women who shared nothing in this world except a single wish for power beyond measure. And a curse that would keep them from it by any means.
Series
- Part 49 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas
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Summary
A modest collection of short-form prompt fics from my tumblr, featuring an eclectic mix of pairings and situations. Mainly Aurora-centric, but there are some hidden gems in there.
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- Part 44 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas
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Nancy Adams Bell's life has revolved around feathers, flowers, and other frippery found in her millinery shop. She has neither the time nor the interest in chasing Aurora Fane's lark around town in the vain hopes that she might capture the key to the widow's home and heart. But when the songbird sails into her store in need of shelter one ordinary afternoon, she may not have a choice.
Series
- Part 48 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas
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Summary
In 1884, seducing the woman whom your mother has publicly humiliated and rebuffed on multiple occasions is practically free therapy. It's hardly Charlotte Astor's fault that her mother has also apparently been in love with said woman for years.
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- Part 47 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas
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Let's not even be coy about it: Bertha has Charles Fane kidnapped and forces him to watch as she defiles his wife with her strap better than he ever could. And then they kill him in cold blood.
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- Part 46 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas
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News of John Adams' untimely demise upends an otherwise peaceful afternoon along the Newport coast. Heartbroken by her brother's passing, Nancy Bell hastens back to the city with Aurora Fane for much-needed moral support.
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- Part 45 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas
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Summary
Following her public humiliation at Mamie Fish's Newport party, Aurora is a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
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- Part 43 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas
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While visiting abroad with her distant English cousin, Aurora Fane makes the acquaintance of Lady Sarah Vere, sister to the Duke of Buckingham. Lady Sarah does not take kindly to American socialites, but perhaps her coldness is for a very different reason. And someone as vivacious and charming as Aurora could charm the most frigid of souls. And when a snowstorm strands them at Beaumont Castle, they'll have ample time to figure it all out.
Or, the real reason Aurora stayed far away from the wedding of the century. It would be terribly awkward to run into one's ex-lover anywhere. But especially when said ex-lover is the sister to the bridegroom.
Series
- Part 42 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas
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Summary
From the age-old prompt: "Temples are built for gods. Knowing this a farmer builds a small temple to see what kind of god turns up."
A young woman with a voice like sunlight after a long winter builds a temple fit for a goddess. But what can a goddess of inconsequential fleeting moments possibly do for a songstress like that?
Series
- Part 41 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 5,490
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Kudos:
- 6
- Hits:
- 57
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Summary
In an act of desperation, Aurora Fane pays a visit to the house of her husband's mistress to confront her face-to-face. She bites off far more than she can chew.
Series
- Part 40 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas
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The humiliation of Charles bringing his mistress into their home simply too great to bear, Aurora throws propriety to the four winds. After imbibing enough wine to make Aunt Ada squeal in disapproval, Aurora ventures out into the night without a coat, a hat, or pocket change to pay the cab fare. To her surprise, she winds up on the doorstep of a woman whom she has excluded for as long as she can remember.
Rather than turn her away, Sylvia Chamberlain takes her in, cleans her up, and offers sage advice. After all, Mrs. Chamberlain has ample experience in matters of infidelity. That she knows what it's like to be the other woman is something Aurora can overlook.
Series
- Part 39 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas
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Her divorce and social disgrace finalized, Aurora visits the Fane family plot in the early dawn. Nestled in the dew-covered grass, next to the headstone that was to bear her name one day, two little graves call to her. She brightens the faded stone with bouquets of white carnations and baby's breath, and lets her tears mix with the water she uses to clean away the dust from her unborn babies' tombstones.
But her catharsis is soon shattered by the sudden appearance of the very last person on earth she wishes to see. Charles Fane has never once cared to visit their children in their final resting place. How dare he start now.
Series
- Part 38 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas
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And the Wounds Never Healed, and the Games Not Worth Winning by DroughtofApathy
Fandoms: The Gilded Age (TV 2022)
26 Jun 2025
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When Charles Fane confesses his affair, Aurora wants to scream at him. To demand he explain why he felt it just to act on his own disgusting lust when she has denied herself all her life. Does he think he was the only one who wants more, no matter how sinful and taboo?
Left reeling, Aurora stops denying it. What harm would a silly little fantasy do in light of her greatest suffering? Spread out by the fireplace, she looks damnation in the eye and opens wide a Pandora's box of repressed desire.
Series
- Part 37 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas
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Make Me Confused, Mock Me with Praise by DroughtofApathy
Fandoms: The Gilded Age (TV 2022)
23 Jun 2025
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Summary
Furious that Charles had the audacity to ask for a divorce, Aurora pays a visit to her good friend Bertha Russell. That is, she sails into Bertha’s personal study, plants herself in her lap, and demands that her darling friend fuck her senseless so that she may approach the situation with a clear head. It's a proposition Bertha can hardly refuse.
Series
- Part 36 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas
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The House on the Hill by DroughtofApathy
Fandoms: The Gilded Age (TV 2022), Ragtime - Flaherty/Ahrens/McNally
10 May 2025
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Summary
One summer afternoon while gardening at her home in New Rochelle, Aurora discovers a little Black boy half-buried beneath the hydrangea bushes but still mercifully alive. Rather than condemn mother and baby to their fate, she takes them in. With them comes the music of something beginning. An era exploding. A century spinning. The people called it Ragtime.
Series
- Part 35 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas
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With a war going on across the Atlantic, Nancy Adams Bell should have far greater concerns than the indignity of sharing a bedroom with her fellow teacher at Mrs. Astor's Finishing School. Recently-widowed Aurora Fane, was only meant to be a temporary replacement but owing to a series of events Nancy tried not to think about, she'd become a permanent fixture. If only Miss Fane were not so proper and pretty and practically perfect in every way. The least she could do is have the decency to display one fatal flaw that might justify Nancy's hostility. As if Nancy doesn't have enough trouble to deal with, Marian Brook and Carrie Astor seem to have abandoned all decorum in their final year. And Nancy and Aurora simply do not see eye-to-eye on appropriate disciplinary action.
Series
- Part 34 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas
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Since Mrs. Astor's coveted winter balls began thirteen years ago, Aurora Fane and Sylvia Chamberlain have stolen heated kisses in dark corridors but Aurora's cowardice has kept them from having anything more. Finally, on the thirteenth year, she is ready to take the next step. Things do not progress as planned, but she has no complaints.
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- Part 33 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas
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Basking in the glow of post-coitus and waning afternoon sunlight, Bertha Russell asks her lover a rather personal question.
Series
- Part 32 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas
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The burden of being The Mrs. Astor is a difficult one to bear, but Lina has long ago developed a perfect method of maintaining the utmost control in society. Behind closed doors, if she prefers to cede that iron-clad control to her steadfast lady's maid, well, that's no one's business but her own.
Truth be told, said lady's maid has begun to wish her mistress would just ask for what she wants rather than resort to childish tantrums. But after over forty years of routine, that may be asking a little too much of Manhattan's Queen of Society.
Series
- Part 31 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas
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In which John Adams is not the only sibling besotted by a van Rhijn. Like brother like sister. Older and wiser, Nancy Bell sets her sights on pretty, prim, and proper Aurora Fane, and leads her down a darkened hallway during one of Mamie Fish's infamous parties. She soon discovers Aurora isn't quite as innocent as she imagined.
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- Part 30 of The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas