#I hope I characterize Marcus alright

[luasworkshop]

👫Evander and Marcus Aquila - vesuvian-disaster

Evander doesn't personally see enough of Marcus (though they do interact for various work and occasionally personally related reasons) to correctly remember what age he is and his mental picture and/or descriptions of him range from 'youngish adult' to 'isn't he in his forties by now?' This is despite having literally seen him grow up to a degree. I think it has to do with Marcus' ongoing levels of exhaustion.

Both Marcus and Evander do agree on the need for proper filing, paper trails, and the usual documentation in relation to business and law. Evander runs a clean ship - However, when Evander's more cutthroat business actions go down (there's no escaping it in Vesuvia), he does get some leeway because it's generally all reasonable as per files and information (not falsified - simply occasionally excluding a certain detail or telling the story in a certain way).

While Evander definitely knows better than to trust the Queastor for... literally anything, he still appreciates Marcus' warnings to keep away. Evander does not have the mental time or space to concern himself with whatever house Summanus is up to (he has far too much work to attend to himself), although if he did he wouldn't care for it (obvious, perhaps, but yanno... it's Vesuvia.)

Hortensia and Evander surprisingly haven't jumped each other's bones, but Evander doesn't tend to play as much with other nobility. They do get along though, on rare occasion that they interact.

[francesderwent]

I need you to give me all the delena/tvd coded ttpd songs, hit me with it

bless you, anon!

so this is an EXTREMELY tvd-coded album!! the steady relationship with the guy who saved you isn't working anymore and hasn't been working for a long time. he doesn't understand you anymore. he can't move forward with you. the relationship is starting to be symbolized and characterized by death. at the same time, there is someone who does love you the way you are...and maybe has loved you even longer than the person you're with now. you escape the prison of the first lover and run straight into the arms of the new one--and everyone you know hates it and hates him. but you know who he is, and you know what you want!

you see the vision, right? this is where it starts to break down, because Damon is very much not The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived. he gives Elena her sparkling summer, and then (after some bumps in the road) he gives her the promised rings and cradles. so here's the delena songs:

in a weird way, I think The Albatross is a Damon song. and when that sky rains fire on you and you're persona non grata, I'll tell you how I've been there too and that none of it matters is Damon when Elena becomes a vampire! everyone warned her about him, but he swoops in and saves her.

Fresh Out the Slammer is 4x07. Elena is freshly broken up with Stefan, because he don't understand me, and runs straight home to Damon, the one who...no matter what I've done, it wouldn't matter anyway

But Daddy I Love Him is s4 when Caroline and Stefan and co have all turned against Damon. stay away from her, the saboteurs protested too much. Elena won't hear it! no I'm not coming to my senses, I know he's crazy but he's the one I want! Elena stands by her choice! he was chaos he was revelry, bedroom eyes like a remedy!

Down Bad is Elena in season 6a when she thinks Damon is dead. they were supposed to have forever and he left her, and now she's spiraling. tell me I was the chosen one, showed me that this world is bigger than us, then sent me back where I came from. I might just die, it would make no difference.

I Look in People's Windows is 6x06, Damon back from the dead and pressed against Elena's door hoping that she'll remember him if she sees him. does it feel alright to not know me? what if your eyes looked up and met mine one more time?

The Alchemy is season 6b when Damon is back, Elena still doesn't remember him and is trying to date some unimpressive boy, and they still find themselves falling into old habits anyway. call the amateurs and cut 'em from the team! the sign on your heart says it's still reserved for me! who are we to fight the alchemy??

but the fun of it is But Daddy I Love Him comes back at the end!! Elena gets the whole story, including the fantasy happy ending. Damon wins over Alaric and Bonnie! Elena gets the wedding and to dance in her dress in the sun!!

miscellaneous non-delena ones:

Who's Afraid of Little Old Me is a Katherine song!

I Can Do It With a Broken Heart is Caroline Forbes, hands down.

I think The Black Dog is Caroline singing to Tyler. "I just don't understand how you don't miss me", and "tail between your legs, you are leaving" are the stand out lines.

the chorus of Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus reminds me of delena because "just say I loved you the way that you were" is 2x22 and "I've always wondered" is 3x22. the rest of the song does not work.

The Prophecy is a Bonnie Bennett song.

[leiflitter]

Hi! Hope your car is ok . Meanwhile...

Any YAH Felix sprog (Harry, Ru, Ellie) facts? Favorite vs hated things, things they do with Felix vs Oliver, how they are when they grow up, what they think about Ollie's family and Ollie himself, relationship/dynamic with each other, their grandparents,

Venetia, Farleigh and Lu (just anything you can imagine). Marcus facts would also be very welcome.

Would you ever continue any of your other fics or do you consider them a one-and-done because you've already said everything you had to say about that AU?

Any other Cattonquick plot bunnies?

If you read Saltburn fics, any favorites?

Favorite vs dreaded part of the writing process?

Parts you're especially happy with in your Saltburn fics? (a scene, foreshadowing, characterization, dialog, Ocs...)

Alright let's whack a cut in- gonna do these out of order for speed purposes! There's a lot here so I didn't answer everything, but there should be a lot to sink your teeth into!

Extending my oneshots- there may be scope for more on top of em when I am finished with YAH but I will probably leave them be. I'm a firm believer in that Felix and Oliver probably wouldn't work out if they got together younger, but it's still an interesting dynamic to play around with. If I was going to continue one, it'd probably be Hang Me Out To Dry, though.

Other fics- I actually haven't read any others, mostly because I am on that #grindset for YAH 😅 it's something I'm looking forward to when it's finished, being able to rummage about and find authors to hype up!

Best/worst bits of the writing process- worst is finding the starting sentence for the chapter. Once that pops into my head, it's fine. Also, when I'm trying to shove them towards a plot point but they won't get off of each other. Best is hittin' that flow state, brain go brrrrr and words happen. I honestly don't really edit that much, although I am slowly going back through and making lil tweaks, but even that is kinda satisfying.

My fave bits of YAH are:

Any of Felix's dumb lil one-liners, but especially, "runny eggs at mach five."

The Christmas Party.

Felix and Farleigh's heart to heart.

The bathroom chat with Jeff.

The Lucia foreshadowing for sure- that was so satisfying to see people going "OMG I SEE IT" in the comments.

I also really like my lil supporting cast, I hope they feel real and nuanced!

So gonna just do a big ol ramble on the Cattonlets, because I love these kids, but it may not cover everything because even I don't know all of it yet 😅

All of the kids go to/went to boarding school, but only because Lucia and Felix agreed that they need the best education possible. They're home as much as possible, but that means Saltburn is often pretty empty in term-time. The schools themselves are "sister schools" so although they aren't coed, there's plenty of chances to see each other in the week.

They have very different relationships with Felix and Lucia. Felix kinda threw himself into "parenting" in part as a rebellion- if I'm gonna be a dad, I'm going to be a DAD. They had nannies, but mostly to be backup instead of the primary caretakers. Lucia, on the other hand, was still a teenager when Harry was born (she was on her gap year when she and Felix met) and was so desperate to be accepted that she went hard into The Done Thing. This slowly turned her into a slightly distant figure- the kids love her, but they cherish the times when her mask slips and she can actually have fun with them. They'd all known that their parents are together out of duty, but things only started to get really unbearable when Aunty V got sick, because then Felix was stressed and as such couldn't just shrug off Lucia's annoyance any more.

They're all very different, but they're a tight-knit little bunch. Harry's the princess, Ru's the nerd and Ellie's the brains. They're all pretty popular, but they're not as cliquey as Felix was- in part because Felix wanted them Properly Socialised from a young age (hence getting The Help to bring their kids over for Saltburn Summers). He also really wanted to make sure they were more emotionally mature than he was. Felix saw how his "accident" hurt his parents, and once Harry was born he had a bit of a realisation that he really had not been prepared for anything bad to ever happen to him.

With Oliver, the main thing is that he makes Felix far happier than they've seen him in ages. There was absolutely a Cattonlet group chat about it. Their general consensus was that they probably wouldn't mind if Oliver came around more, but that dad probably wouldn't ever realise what was going on. Harry absolutely had a very small, situational, only-available-option crush on Oliver that started when they picked him up, but that absolutely vanished the night of the Alexander Dinner. She kept it to herself because although it wasn't really fair on mum, all three of the kids missed their actual, fun dad. She assumed that if she got them together, they'd keep it secret like everyone else's parents, and it'd be a win-win.

There's an initial shock, obviously, and Ellie takes it hardest because she still really hoped that her parents loved each other. She's the slowest to warm up to Oliver properly afterwards, but Harry and Ru help because Harry has Felix's five-second emotional memory and Ru... well. Ru feels absolutely betrayed by Lucia, which means he's suddenly Oliver's staunchest supporter. There will be more about this later, once YAH is done and I'm into less established territory.

Oliver as a step-parent is actually a far better foil to Felix than Lucia, primarily because while Lu was concerned with appearances, Oliver comes from the world of Consequences and will give better reasons than "it would look bad". Lucia is also a better parent after the split, because she can actually take time to find herself as an adult and take time doing stuff she likes. They actually end up being sort-of friends, although Lucia actually realises she likes Oliver better than Felix after a little while of coparenting.

Oliver's parents are a little intimidated by the Cattonlets- and remain intimidated by Harry- but they are actual, well-versed grandparents. They're initially nervous, because these kids are rich-rich, but that actually means that the little treats and outings they do are novelty. "What do you mean, you've never been to Knowsley Safari?" "You kids fancy mcdonalds?" "Off to a car boot sale- come off it, you must know what a car boot sale is..."

They do need to find out about Farleigh, but we will tackle that later.

Marcus. I love, love, love Marcus and he will be showing up in later stuff but...

He is the stability that Farleigh has always needed. Think Patrick from Schitt's Creek in private, he's a wry, solid figure that Farleigh can rage at or break down on or just be near. He exudes calm like one of those plugin things people use to chill their cats out.

In public, he is just there for The Farleigh Show. People think he's an accessory, but he's choosing to be one. He and Farleigh are actually intensely private about their actual relationship, in part because Farleigh's need to be detached manifests far more around others. They are non-monogamous, but they're highly, highly communicative about it.

He's a solid country boy from a small town in Ohio. He has one older brother, and was the only out gay guy in his school.

His family are, honestly, amazing. Farleigh loves them so hard, because they gave him the whole hearted love the Cattons couldn't. He buys Marcus's mom expensive, tacky handbags that she LOVES. His dad doesn't speak much, if at all, but he has a faded bumper sticker on his truck that says I LOVE MY GAY SON. PROBLEM? and a less faded one that says I LOVE MY GAY SON AND HIS PARTNER. PROBLEM? that Marcus had made specially for Christmas one year.

Marcus' father has absolutely knocked out teeth at a PTA meeting. The same with Marcus's big brother. For both Marcus' dad and his brother... think Wayne from Letterkenny.

You will not have a problem with Marcus, because then your bigger problem will be a broken jaw. If you have a problem with Marcus and Farleigh, especially if your problem is because Farleigh ain't white, you're gonna need to set up a gofundme because you sure don't have medical insurance. They do, because Marcus' lovely partner made sure of that.

Why are Marcus' parents so chill? Simple, really. Marcus had an uncle that he never met. Nobody knew that Stephen was queer that way until he... passed away. The letters he left behind broke his little brother's heart. When Marcus told his parents that he liked boys, there was no question about accepting him wholeheartedly. They'd already known anyway, ever since he was a little boy.

[volterran-wine]

Hello! Before I ask I just want to say that you're one of my favorite writers in general on Tumblr, I love your world-building and how realistic you make these characters come across.

I read your post about how you believe the Volturi would treat/deal with a child. So, my question is, what would happen if Caius, Aro, and Marcus found their mate and they have a child. Like, in a situation where the mate isn't going to leave their child (which would likely be the case in most situations ) what would they do in your opinion? Would they pursue the relationship and accept the child? Or would they choose not to continue with the relationship? Would the action depend on the king? Or would it be the same across the board?

Sorry if this has been asked already, and I hope it made sense lol. It's just been on my mind since I read that post. I hope I didn't miss a rule and go against it whether it's answered or not, thank you for all the great content!

Good morning darling Anonymous, and thank you so much for your question. It warms my heart knowing that people enjoy my characterizations.

Alright, so Athenodora and Sulpicia does not exist in this universe, and Marcus would not mind finding another mate. There are two ways this scenario can unfold.

𝟏. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐞 They feel the mate-pull towards this human, see that they have a small child and deems it too much of a risk to get involved. Within my worldbuilding feeling that pull does not equal a love at first sight sort of thing, so if they felt this pull towards a random person they know nothing about? They will probably ignore it, too much of a hassle for it to be worth it in the end.

𝟐. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐞. I believe all of the kings would react similarly; they would simply wait. In the meantime they place their mate under vampiric surveillance to make sure nothing bad happens to them, this also gives them ample time to observe their potential mate to see if it is worth it.

𝐀𝐫𝐨: Would wait until the child is a teenager, probably around the age of 16/17 so they are nowhere near being considered an immortal child; only then would he make himself known to a potential mate.

𝐂𝐚𝐢𝐮𝐬: Would wait until the child is grown up and can take care of themselves before he introduces himself to his potential mate.

𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐬: Would wait until the child is at least 20+ years old so that they are out of their mothers life completely.