More like Peony LIE-DEN

I'm not sure what to make of the Peony Gaiden. I read it and it doesn't quite jive with what I understand to be canon and/or logical, and then it doesn't help that the romantic-centric plot could've been dreamed up by a preteen girl. (Which is so strange, it's so utterly different than the intrigue and characterization at work in the Asch and Ion Gaidens.)

( Timeline and adoption. )

Well, for my part, I'm going to take the gist of it -- tragic romance -- and I'll bring that to my own RP as Peony. (Although man, he was kind of a dick back then. It was all very romantic, but he was still kind of a dick! I'm glad he got over himself.) But I'm definitely not taking the specifics. XD