#her husband is a disaster bi which means she has to do everything

[vesperpharsalius]

i got your reference! that’s why i said in gs cassius taking back the ring was just the engagement. i love that two lines because when i read the ending of gs i was traumatized by all that was happening, like darrow was there, stuck paralyzed on the ground by the venom, fitchner’s head on one side, nero and lorn killed by the jackal that has just shown his true face on the other, victra dying and roque having his judas moment. he did not know what had happened to sevro and mustang. peak dramatic moment. then cassius touched his hand and he was like “oh is he holding my hand??? <3” like BITCH BE SO FOR REAL this is not the moment to be gay (wrong it’s always the moment to be gay).

but also omg you saying that was cassius’s ring in Ig please like what if the rings were slightly different because maybe at the institute one was slightly scratched and so darrow realised that and virginia knew that too because she is observant. they looked at each other and the pin of remaining internalised homophobia in darrow made him say “maybe he lost the other one…” they both know it’s not true.

please you’re feeding my delusions too much I need chapter 9 of your fanfic 😭

Lol, that scene cracks me up, too. It’s such an unbelievably tense moment and I remember the first time I read it, I had to do a double–take, because—honestly, Darrow, these are your thoughts? Maybe apologize for destroying his entire House before you try for first–base.

(I am aware that Darrow thought Cassius was going to shake his hand, rather than hold it, but I think it says something spicy about Darrow that not only is he unfailingly tender where Cassius is concerned, he also invariably expects Cassius to return his affection—even after he admitted to killing Julian and did not apologize for it, he honestly believed that Cassius might forgive him. Like, dude, even Cassius isn’t that gay.)

But you’ve got me thinking of the end of MS now, when Darrow had just assassinated Octavia, overpowered the Jackal, and saved Cassius from the Joy Knight—y’know, he’s on the verge of either resounding success or crushing failure, trapped in the Dragonmaw, about to face Aja, the most terrifying razormaster in the system, with no armor and one hand. Despite all this, what is his stream of consciousness?

He grins, more alive in battle than anywhere else. I feel a pang, knowing this is always how it should have been. Missing the days where we rode together in the highlands pretending we were lords of the earth. I grin back at him, wounded, bleeding, but almost whole for the first time I can remember.

And Mustang has to literally tell them to focus and stop being gay. And you know what? They don’t. Good for them.

IIRC, they received new rings after they graduated from the Institute, ones that are iron rather than gold, but it’s possible that Darrow’s and Cassius’ could be perceptibly different.

I like to think Darrow and Mustang would both, independently, realize the ring was actually Cassius’, but never say anything. Darrow, because he’s a goddamn fool, wouldn’t understand the significance of it.

(Maybe Cassius was just confused? Sent the wrong one accidentally? Lost mine? I mean, what reason could he possibly have to send me his? 🤔)

But Mustang would, because she knows that Cassius is in love with Darrow (because it’s painfully obvious and, honestly, he probably confessed, while they were psuedo–dating) and it would make her smile.

And she would tell Victra, too, in confidence, who would find the entire thing hilarious.

I see the vision!

Ch. 9 is coming soon! Stay tuned. Tysm for reading.

Bonus points for the fact that, after the Iron Rain in GS, when Mustang is telling him everything that happened while he was unconscious, who is Darrow worried about? Guess.

“Oh, goryhell, you’re so tender sometimes. Do you regret cutting off his arm, too?”

[11queensupreme11]

Here comes another platonic AU I was interested in Percy's future children and how they would deal with the bi-racial culture that combining Percy's marriage with any yandere would bring upon the children

Percy is loved for being herself and that means she can indulge in her human culture without any problems because the gods find her values ​​and beliefs adorable but any children she has will not have that same privilege

Any child independent of his father will be raised as a God and if he is expected to behave like a worthy God, it would be totally confusing for the child to see people loving his mother for her humanity only to criticize and punish that child whenever he shows any hint of resemblance to his own mother

I definitely see Percy teaching and reproducing little traditions and values ​​that she herself learned from her mother to her children, the yanderes would let this continue because seeing Percy acting so happy and excited warms their hearts

It would be so difficult for the children because literally all the gods around him would be criticizing humanity and its customs while at the same time idolizing their mother who is the definition of humanity, the children would be criticized for having 25% human blood ( which is ironic because Percy is 50% human and NOBODY cares about that), the gods make children feel inadequate because they have human traits (maybe they don't even realize they do it, maybe they treat it as something more fragile and dumb, like they accidentally underestimate and infantilize children) while also adoring their mother for the same reason

An example: no one cares that Percy is a disaster at mathematics, this has become another of her charms but that would be the opposite with her children, it would be shameful if any of them were incapable of performing basic operations (Beelzebub is a scientist so I imagine he would be livid if his own son couldn't calculate a mathematical operation) definitely human traits would take the blame, everyone would talk about how human blood made them inferior to the other gods and again no one will blame Percy, everyone they blamed poor Sally

Imagine that for years this feeling of shame, comparison, insufficiency and anger builds up inside the boys until one day all these feelings explode while Percy was just trying to recreate a human tradition that she did with her mother (baking blue cookies) until that Makarios and Kyrr just explode saying that they don't care about her stupid human traditions and that they don't care about her inferior human mother and that they disown her as a grandmother and that she is ashamed of having human blood and that they hate her for being half -human, Thalassus and Luke even try to calm the situation but in the end they admit that they also hate her human side (they don't really hate her, they just said it in the heat of the moment)

Maybe in the heat of their anger, Thalassus and Luke even ask if they are really bastards, if it's true that the nobleman from Atlântica really isn't their father (a bit like that scene in House of the Dragons where the eldest sons Rhaenyra asks if the rumors are true and she just remains silent without being able to answer), the younger brothers are horrified (they have always heard that only dishonored women and prostitutes have children outside of marriage, and that a woman's greatest sin is cheat on your husband) then they scream and insult her   Percy would first be shocked and then she would be deeply hurt, it would be an underlying pain worse than any injury she had ever received on any mission (and she would know a lot about painful injuries), she loves her mother very much and always misses her but like her now she's probably dead, the only way to revive those good ones would be to pass those beloved traditions on to her own children (since all the other gods despise anything remotely human), to know that the only beings she can share her own culture with in truth, despising everything she loves would be extremely painful, and I won't even describe the pain of a mother when she hears her child scream that he hates her

And she was also insulted for something that wasn't even in her control, she never chose to sleep with the yanderes, she was simply forced (eventually she came to love the yanderes and their children but that doesn't erase the abuse she suffered), Hearing her beloved children saying they feel ashamed and disgusted with her for something she didn't even have the power to change (she didn't choose to marry the nobleman in the same way she didn't choose to get pregnant by yanderes) simply DESTROYED her heart

I just remembered that there is a syndrome called "Broken Heart Syndrome" it is extremely rare, going through extremely stressful situations such as the loss of a loved one or hearing great negative news makes the heart beat so hard and so quickly it causes symptoms of a heart attack and sometimes can even be fatal, after hearing everything he heard, Percy's heart LITERALLY breaks (let's imagine that Percy inherited this genetic syndrome from one of Sally's ancestors), she spits blood from her mouth (just like in wmmap, I like to be dramatic) and just falls to the ground like a merionet that has had its strings cut

The children despair and scream for help, the yanderes arrive desperately in the kitchen trying to understand what happened, Percy is cured by the joint efforts of Beelzebub and Apollo, he is placed on absolute rest, the children go to her room to apologize Percy, like a good mother, accepts the apology but when the children look into her eyes they notice that her eyes are dull and have lost that happy glow, after that many things change

Percy is depressed, she has stopped all human traditions, she has lost her appetite and not even blue food attracts her, she just lies in bed staring silently at the ceiling, Poseidon is so desperate that he offers her fatty food but she doesn't show it interest, he tried to take her to New York but even that didn't cheer her up, the romantic yanderes are desperately trying to cheer her up and her children are feeling very guilty and ashamed

Now more than ever Percy feels suffocated in his supposed home so she asks to stay at Uncle Adamas' house for a while, Poseidon doesn't like the idea but considering it's the first time she's spoken in days he lets her, since Percy left In the Palace the atmosphere is tense, the children, feeling guilty, go to land to get some human gift for their mother in an attempt to improve her mood and it is while they are on the nearby beach that they see something shocking: The nobleman from Atlântica lovingly kissing a pregnant woman

(I'm going to stop here because this post was very long but I'm going to write part 2, I had sent you a post almost similar to this one by mistake, that post was the draft of this one and I ended up sending it by mistake because I got confused with Google translate 🤣🤣🤣)

WAIT I NEED CLARIFICATION BEFORE I GO ON SO QUICK QUESTION:

since you stated here that percy is still 50% human and her kids are all 25%, does this mean percy is still a demigod in this AU? like, she hasn't ascended so she's still aging, can die later, etc? or is she already dead and a spirit in valhalla? OR is it that she gave birth to the kids first, and THEN ascended??? ORRRRR is it just that she's still a demigod, but they found a way to make her immortal without turning her into a god?

OKAY NOW MOVING ON

when the kids are still young, the yanderes wouldn't be that harsh cuz... you know, they're kids (except for poseidon, he's gonna always be hard on them smh). but it's when they grow up is the problem.

anubis and apollo would be mostly okay (sorta) with their kids having some human-like traits, mostly because it reminds them of percy and it's further proof of their love for their kid to have some of percy's beliefs.

but it really depends on the yandere and the human trait. baking, cooking, and eating would be okay for pretty much everyone but poseidon, but on things like academics, most of them would be pretty.... speciest? idk if that's the right word for this, but yeah 💀 OR just being physically weak or getting tired, yeah most would look down on them for things like that 💀💀

but percy's heartbreaking from her kids.... omg. honestly, beelzebub and loki would go ballistic on their kids if they found out they were the cause of this, ESPECIALLY beelie who has no issue hurting his kid if need be 💀

ALSO WHAT THE FUCK????????? NOBLEMAN ARE YOU SUICIDAL WHAT ARE YOU DOING

that man fucking lost his mind LMAOOOOO

DID HE FORGET WHO HE'S GONNA PISS OFF IF HE GETS CAUGHT? 😭😭😭😭

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I NEED A PART TWO 😭😭😭😭

[inky-duchess]

21 History Ancedotes for my 21st Birthday

So today I celebrate my 21st birthday and I have decided to gift you all with 21 of my favourite historical Ancedotes. Some are funny, some are sad and some are plain bizarre but I hope the make your day 💜

Mary Maloney, an Irish-born suffragette in England followed Winston Churchill around while he was campaigning for a seat in Parliament, drowning out everything he said with a very large bell and calls for him to apologise for his comments on women's rights and suffrage movements.

Clodius Pulcher was a well born Roman noble during the last day's of the Republic. He gave up his Patrician status to become Tribune of the Plebs (an office in which one had to be a Pleb) by being adopted by a much younger Plebian man who became his "father". Clodius was a bit of a riot, sneaking into religious festivals dressed like a woman to sleep with Caesar's wife, building a shrine to Liberty in the ruins of the Conservative Cicero, vetoed the last speech of one of the Consuls (who basically did nothing all year and was apparently going to roast Caesar) and burned down the Senate House with his funeral pyre (the Plebs who loved him literally tearing up the furniture to build his pyre). He was honestly the best fun.

When laying on her deathbed, Queen Caroline of Ansbach turned to her husband George II of England and told him he should marry again. George refused to ever wed again... But added he would have mistresses. Caroline said , likely with a roll of her eyes, "oh my god that doesn't matter."

Florence was a pretty cool city in the Renaissance until Savanorola came to town. He disliked the loose living artists that crowded the city, with their naked pagan gods and rampant homosexuality. He expelled them all with help of the French hoping to make Florence Holy Again. When the Borgia Pope excommunicated him and sentenced him to death, one man in the crowd was reported to have said. "thank God, niw we can return to sodomy." One Floretine man in the 1490s said Gay Rights.

So this list couldn't be complete without an entry of the only American politician I love, Alexander Hamilton who was just a walking entity of sass. I could go on about his sharp sarcasm or his disaster bi vibes with John Lauren's but my all time favourite Alexander Hamilton ancedote has to be this exchange with Thomas Jefferson "There are approximately 1010300 words in the English language, but I could never string enough words together to properly explain how much I want to hit you with a chair."

Caterina Sforza was an Italian noble woman during the Renaissance. She was apart of the powerful Sforza family, which drew many enemies to her. One fateful day at Forli, Caterina's children were snatched as hostages. The besiegers threatened to kill her children if she did not cede the castle. Caterina refused, lifting her skirts and shouted to the besiegers that she had the means to make more children.

Hannibal Lecter's creator Thomas Harris was happy to end his great character's story with the original trilogy. However his publishers forced him to write an unneeded prequel explaining why Hannibal became Hannibal. Thomas Harris agreed lest he lose the rights to his character so he wrote Hannibal Rising, where Hannibal as a young man hunts down the Nazis who ate his sister with a katana.

Nell Gwyn is my favourite mistress of Charles II, mainly because of her sass. Once while trapped in the middle of a riot where Londoners swamped her carriage thinking she was Charles's Catholic mistress. She popped her head out the carriage and told the people "Pray good people be civil. I am the Protestant whore." She also dosed her rival Moll Davis with laxatives in order to free up some of Charles's time and she once flashed her underwear at the French ambassador after asking him why the Franch King did not pay her to spy on Charles because she was with him every night. A true Queen.

Emperor Ai of the Han Dynasty of China once rose from his bed to go do some ruling when he realised his lover, Dong Xian was sleeping on his sleeve. Rather than disturb his lover, the Emperor cut his sleeve off at the wrist to leave Dong Xian nap. Nothing has ever been more romantic than that. Y'all could never.

Princess Margaret the sister of current Queen Elizabeth II was a socialable Princess and often tasked to visit the up and coming music stars of the day on behalf of the Crown. When meeting the Beatles one evening, she noticed George Harrison was acting a little odd. When she asked what was the matter, he replied "We arent allowed eat until you go." Princess Margaret laughed and promptly left so the Beatles could get some dinner.

During the Siege of Jadotsville, Irish soldiers under the flag of the UN were attacked and besieged by local insurgents allied with the Katanga Regime. The insurgents numbered thousands while the Irish only had 158 soldiers, all who were lightly armed. They radioed to their allies assuring them that "we will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could use some whiskey though".

Napoleon was famous for writing raunchy letters to his wife, the Empress Josephine while he was away. She used to reply with really mundane letters or not at all. She really just could not be bothered with him.

Josip Broz Tito was so fed up with Joseph Stalin sending assassins to kill him, he wrote to Stalin personally to say "If you don't stop sending assassins to kill me. I will send one to Moscow and I won't have to send another." It didn't work but Big Dick Energy.

Successful Roman soldiers returning from war often got to march along in parades known as Triumphs. During this, it was customary for them to sing bawdy songs about their commander. One surviving one about Caesar goes like this "Romans, lock up your wives. Here comes the bald adulterous whore. We pissed away your gold in Gaul and come to borrow more."

Matilda, Lady of the English was a woman so badass that history cannot handle her. She was the daughter of Henry I who left his throne to her after the death of her brother. She was away in France when her father died and her throne was snatched by her cousin Stephen. They battled back and forth for years with neither side ceding any ground. Matilda was once besieged in a castle during a snow storm, with Stephen's men all around her. Instead of fighting her way out. She simply donned a white cloak and walked out of the castle. Just walked out without any of Stephen's men seeing her.

Pedro of Portugal once fell in love with a beautiful lady in waiting called Inez de Castro. For years, they lived as man and mistress, popping out a few kinds. Pedro's dad really did not like Inez and wanted Pedro to find a legitimate wife so he had her killed. Pedro returned home to find the mother of his children dead. Pedro went a little crazy. He had all his father's assassins killed, ripping out their hearts as they had done to him. When Pedro ascended the throne, he demanded the Pope legitimize his children by Inez. The Pope not wanting to upset the King, said he couldn't because Inez was never crowned Queen. Pedro dug Inez up and crowned her as Queen, having all the nobility swear loyalty to her corpse. The Pope had no choice but to agree to his request.

A famously clever general once saved an entire city with an ingenious stragety to sit outside the city waiting for the attacking army to come. The attack had come to fast for the city to ready themselves for a Siege so, the general had to move quickly. He evacuated the city and took his place waiting for the army to come. The enemy forces stopped and took one look at him and bolted, thinking he meant to lure them in one of his famous traps.

Michaelangelo was really badly treated by the Vatican when he was painting the Sistine Chapel. He constantly fought with the Popes over the design and his work, which he was paid peanuts for. Michaelangelo got his revenge in his work, painting the gates of Hell behind the Papal Throne and an angel flipping the ol' fig (the Renaissance version of the bird) toward the Pope's chair.

Peter the Great was not a perfect guy. He kept serfdom as a practise in his kingdom, he had his son tortured to death and he could be an unpleasant guy. But Peter was a dreamer. He wanted nothing more to build a fleet for Russia and bring Russia beyond its borders. Peter took a gap year from ruling Russia to wander around Europe. When he stopped in England, he was granted Leicester House to chill in while he did his shipwright studies. It was here that Peter found a new passion. The wheelbarrow. Cue Peter and his new found English buddies drinking in Leicester House, punching the artwork and rolling each other around in barrels across the house's Great gardens.

Diogenes is hands down a walking shit post. He was a great thinker in Greece during the reign of Alexander but a rather dry, sarcastic wit. He lived in a pithos/a jar because he shunned all vanities and values of society. He trolled other philosophers, attending their debates to heckle them and eat loud foods through them. When Alexander the Great came to fan boy over him, saying that if he were not Alexander he would like to be Diogenes to which Diogenes just said "yeah me too, now get out of my sunlight."

Cosimo de Medici was the son of a Floretine banker with a great knowledge and love of art. Cosimo wished for Florence to release its potentially and join the Renaissance. He hired Filippo Brunelleschi to finsh the Great Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore which had láin unfinished for over a century, a symbol of a failure of ambition. The builders had lost the knowledge of creating a dome so large so it remained unfinished. Despite much opposition from the other nobility and denouncers of the Renaissance, Cosimo's dream of the completion of the dome was completed, making it the largest brick dome in creation at that time. There is nothing like achieving your dreams and certainly nothing like leaving a lasting reminder that screams 'I was right and you were wrong' to stand for centuries.

[verobatto]

Destiel Chronicles

Vol. LX

It was a love story from the very beginning.

Cain's Mark vs Profound Bond (Part. III)

(10x20/10x21)

Hello my friends! I'm here with the third part of this meta, and we will be close to the end!

I will talk about episode 20 and 21, and how they showed a lot of hints of foreshadow, anticipating the season ending and the beginning of season 11.

Let's start!

What your heart really wants

Episode 10x20 Angel's heart, starts with a desire coming from a heart that belongs to a woman that was separated from her lover: Amelia and Jimmy Novak, and their fake encounter in Amelia's drama induced by a Grigori.

The Grigori fed with human's soul, by putting them into a dream. Just like the djin.

Two facts to describe here:

1) We were talking in previous episodes about what Dean really wants. We had him confessing he wanted to explore these new feelings about people (we know it was Cas), trying to imagine his retirement in the beach, and now we had this scene... A woman trying to find the love of his life. Dreaming with find him. The perfect manifestation from her desires. And we know the episode will end with Jimmy and Amelia together in Heaven. So, what Amelia really wanted was to find his husband. Again they're showing us what a heart really wants linked to a romantic situation.

Gif credit @mad-as-a-box-of-frogs

And the episode is called angel's heart, leasing us to Castiel's pure heart, and making us think what he really wants too. He wants to recover Dean from the Mark.

2) Having the Grigori feeding with himan's souls, is a blatant foreshadow of Amara feeding with souls in season 11.

Married

Keeping the Jimmy/Amelia and Destiel parallel and mirror. We had a very married situation when Castiel and Dean came back from interrogatory, and went together to buy a birthday gift for Claire.

Gif credit @hallowedbecastiel

There's a little moment in which Cas confessed to Claire where he had bought the gift, and Sam turns to see Dean, with a face that tells DID YOU GO TO BUY IT TOGETHER? And is just hilarious.

Gif credit @mad-as-a-box-of-frogs

Another married scene was when Cas scolds Claire and Dean. It was just a very domestic situation in which the daughter and the husband received vituperation.

Gif credit @mad-as-a-box-of-frogs

It was so sweet when Claire asks Dean to take care of Castiel...

CLAIRE: Will you keep an eye on him?

(Dean and Claire look over at Castiel who is talking with Sam) He's been through enough.

Gif credit @mad-as-a-box-of-frogs

Okay, this has such a beautiful meaning, and screams foreshadow too, because Claire knows how had was to Cas everything that happened to her and her family, but she also knows about Castiel being a human. And she sees him as a protector who needs to be protected too. And she, as a protector, feels identified with Dean's profile. Then, she knows Dean is like her. So she trust Dean to take care of the angel.

But Dean replied "SO HAVE YOU" , as a recall of himself.

There's a song playing talking about blue eyes crying in the rain, and meet that loved person again. It could fit with Claire, it could fit with Jimmy, but, if we take the quote YOU KEEP AN EYE ON HIM, knowing that Castiel will be possessed by Lucifer in season 11, and Dean will say I WAS JUST A WITNESS, we could speak about a LOVERS SEPARATION, thanks to Lucifer intrusion, and those blue eyes crying in the rain coul for perfectly with Castiel's depression, causing his YES to Lucy, and Dean could be that one longing for find him again, just like the song says.

The Betrayal

In episode 10x21 "Dark Dynasty" Dean finds out about Castiel and Sam's "affair".

This is a very sad episode, because Charlie dies. In a very bloody picture...

But let's talk about the "affaire"... Watch this dialogue...

DEAN: Wow.

SAM: Hey.

DEAN: Well, you look like crap on toast.

SAM: I just haven't . . . really been sleeping well.

DEAN: There's a woman you haven't mentioned?

SAM: A woman?

DEAN: Well, I'm just saying. You weren't here when I went to bed last night. You've been running off on your own a lot these past couple weeks.

And then... The weird call...

DEAN: Cas?

CASTIEL: Sam.

DEAN: No, it's Dean. What's up?

CASTIEL: Nothing. I'm just, uh . . . Just staying in touch. Like I do.

DEAN: Something on your mind?

CAS: No. This call is pointless. My ride's here. (Cas hangs up on Dean.)

Gif set credit @pinkman

Even Cas mistook Dean with Sam. Sastiel?

And the foreshadow I picked up at the beginning of this season...

Gif credit @agusvedder

So Yes, he caught Cas' and Sam cheating on him.

And then this scene, showing us Dean is about to find out...

ELDON: Were you here when I mentioned that we're underground? There are secrets.

DEAN: Well, I'm swell at uncovering secrets.

Pointing us he is good at uncovering secrets, and Cas and Sam working at his back, is like a red alert about to sound.

Finally, there were little quotes talking about the balance and disaster that should been repaired. As a premonition of CHUCK/AMARA LIGHT/DARKNESS YING/YANG. Balance. And of course, erasing the mark will release the darkness, and somehow the brothers will have to fix it.

To Conclude:

Both episode gave clues about the incoming season. The Mark of Cain vs what Dean really wants in his heart continues his inner war, showing us through different episodes that Dean wants, deep inside, explore the love he has inside for Castiel, and a better ending.

Charlie's death will release the monster inside of Dean, and we will have a lot of angsty situations (mostly Destiel) to talk about in the next and last chronicle from season 10.

I hope you like this one. See you soon!

Tagging @metafest @magnificent-winged-beast @emblue-sparks @weirddorkylittlediana @michyribeiro @whyjm @legendary-destiel @a-bit-of-influence @thatwitchydestielfan @misha-moose-dean-burger-lover @lykanyouko @evvvissticante @savannadarkbaby @dea-stiel @poorreputation @bre95611 @thewolfathedoor @charlottemanchmal @neii3n @deathswaywardson @followyourenergy @dean-is-bi-till-i-die @hekatelilith-blog @avidbkwrm @anarchiana @dickpuncher365 @vampyrosa @foxyroxe-art @authorsararayne @anonymoustitans @mybonsai1976 @love-neve-dies @wildligia @dustythewind @wayward-winchester67 @angelwithashotgunandtrenchcoat @trashblackrainbow @deeutdutdutdoh @destiel-is--endgame @destiel-shipper-11 @larrem88 @charmedbycastiel @ran-savant @little-crazy-misha-minion @samoosetheshipper

@shadows-and-padlocked-hearts @mishtho @dancingtuesdaymorning @nerditoutwithbooks @mikennacac73 @justmeand-myinsight @idontwantpeopletoknowmyname @tenshilover20 @teddybeardoctor @pepevons @helevetica @isthisdestiel @dizzypinwheel @jawnlockwinchester @horsez2 @qanelyytha

@imjustkipping @destielle

If you want to be added or removed from this list, just let me know.

If you want to read the previous meta about season 10 here you have the links...

Vol. LI, LII, LIII, LIV, LV, LVI, LVII,LVIII, and LIX

Buenos Aires, May 5th 2020 8:46 PM

[fishyelvenantics]

Ok, just got back from the doctor so I apologize if I'm more of a mess than always, so have some hesdcanons about Langdon that bitch Caul and Edith, the poor woman who deserved better. Also, most of these were created with the help of the amazing @ellieheim

- FIRST OF ALL, let's just pretend he wasn't a jerk with Edith, canonically, he was a bitch, but let's just pretend he wasn't (at least with Edith, everyone else can suck it)

- Now, I can't for the life of me, remember if it was even mentioned how they met and such, nor the circumstances of their marriage, so Imma go with the following scenarios:

They met at the library. Edith got bored, went for some books, ended up finding a very sleep deprived and possibly drunk Caul, somehow they ended up talking and it was nice.

It was an arranged marriage. Edith's parents went like "ehhh, that one!" So they just introduced them and somehow they actually liked each other.

By sheer casuality, what are the odds you'll find your future spouse on the market looking for random products? Idk

- Now, keep in mind, we are pretending Caul was way nicer than what he was in canon, now, about Edith, she is nice and proper and all of that jazz... but she can also kick your ass and she will kick your ass.

- Don't mess with her, she'll slap you, she'll smack your head with an umbrella or something.

- The whole Oaness society is scared of her, Caul finds that hilarious.

- Speaking of Caul, Edith's the only one allowed to call him Langdon.

- Also, remember my bi Abe headcanon (x)? Goes without saying that it also applies to Caul, A.K.A, disaster bi/demisexual icon.

- Ok, so this one wasn't mine, Elle, I love your ideas: basically, Caul almost dropped the wedding rings on the sea by accident, then he DEADASS just flopped into the water for the sake of not loosing them.

- It happened the same day him and Edith got married, he showed up with his suit all wet and seaweed on his hair. Edith was unimpressed.

- There's definitely a photo of the where he's wearing a freaking deep sea diver suit, Edith once again is unimpressed.

- Btw, the wedding was cute and all but everyone was freaked out by the groom's guest, who were the whole fish cult society acting like the weirdos they are.

- I said Caul is nicer in this one but he still is a punk ass bitch so... I mean he kinda deserves a slap from time to time but overall he's just a drunk mess who definitely became the town's cryptid at some point.

- Oh and, since I know there are sourcers that say a little about his childhood (will put a proper link if I find it, for now I just got things I rebbloged), I don't care if he was a shy and nerdy kid who loved the outdoors, he was also a gremlin.

- Like, imagine this 5 y/o running around with a journal, taking notes of everything he encountered, face covered in dirt or mud, wet hair and clothes cause he fell into a river at some point, probably lacking some teeth, I mean, that's cute but has the potential to be extremely chaotic (plus kids are weird so...)

- Then his dad introduced him to the sea life and all, listen, just imagine this mess of a teen, complete nerd, probably a lanky mess of hormones and anxiety, just collecting sea shells and fossils while being extremely antisocial (a mood, ngl)

- Edith wasn't a fan of the idea of him putting all those weird things and fossils and crap as decoration, somehow he managed to convince her that at least one room would have those, Edith's inner interior designer was fumming but she at least got to pick the wallpaper.

- Let's be honest, Caul can't cook, he'll burn down the whole kitchen, but he totally is in charge of making tea and coffe.

- Edith stole a few cigars while he was gone out of sheer boredom, Caul knew but pretended he didn't, one day Edith finds a whole box of cigars with her innitials on it, she still is not sure if that's sweet or passive aggresive.

- Caul doesn't sleep, at all, that man lives on caffeine and spite, Edith tries to make him go to bed yet keeps failing, one day she tought he woke up early, turns out he hadn't even realized it was morning already. (Thank you Ellie for that wonderful idea)

- Imagine them drunk, lying on bed, ranting about life, each one holding a cigar, and yes, I know women weren't expected to smoke on the 1860s but I like to think Edith didn't give a damm and Caul was ok as long as those weren't his cigars.

- And speaking of drunk, one time good ol' Langdon got drunk enough to read outloud one of the poems he wrote as a kid, Edith liked it though.

- Also, I know men back then didn't grew as tall as they do now, but I like to imagine Caul being the same height as Abe (before certain comics events), I just like to imagine him awkwardly standing out next to everyone else.

- Edith on the other hand was the average height for a woman, which made her look even shorter next to her bastard of a husband, but hey, cute height difference interactions.

- I'm still not sure how Caul looked that young at amost 70, I think it's because of some cultist thing, but personally I have a headcanon that back in his 20s/30s or somewhere around those lines, he ended up involved into some weird thing that makes you look young and of course the bitch himself became the test dummy for it.

- The thing that made Caul fully realize he wanted to marry Edith was seeing her beating the crap out of a guy.

- TEATHER DATES, TEATHER DATES, those two totally went to the teather for special ocassions, or the bakery, or just to the beach to take a stroll. (Again, thank you friend for that)

- Caul's excuses for going away for months are crap and Edith doesn't believe them, they both know it, no one will say a word but Edith manages to came up with better excuses in case anyone else asks for him.

TL,DR: Caul is less of a bitch, Edith will fuck you up, let's imagine their marriage was happy instead of the mess it canonically was, that way what happened to them will hurt more.

[luci-cunt]

Ok so when I said I was writing fanfic for AW I planned on doing a lighthearted cops/robbers kinda thing and then last night i woke up at 4am and wrote this all down and the only way I can describe it is as “Markus Zusak meets William Goldman” and I’m very sorry.

Anyways, here’s 

“This is a love story”

--------------------------------------------------------

There was blood on the linoleum tiles, it shone in the garishly bright lights of the store. Everything looked slick, and hazy, and Izetta laid out on her back with her head resting next to the gasping man. 

They both stared up at the ceiling--the man because he couldn’t move other than to wheeze a few more desperate breaths--and Izetta because she was waiting for someone. 

“Bi--bitch,” the man dying managed to choke out. 

It just made Izetta smile. “Yeah.”

This--as unbelievable as it may seem--is a love story. 

Not between these two, however, but something a bit more… unexplainable. The concept of love predates the concept of hate, or murder--if you believe in a dusty book with just about one thousand too many words trying to explain the utterly unattainable seeming concept of: do not be a dick. Of course, maybe you follow a different religion--they all have a book though--the big ones at least. 

However, I was there--at the beginning of all time, and I can tell you this one particular thing: no one started it. 

The universe was created on a wild coincidence, and the planet you’re currently sitting on was forged in the opulent expanses of pure, unadulterated, chance. 

One thing that is for certain is that--no, I will not be explaining who I am because I don’t matter--remember, this is a love story and I am but a concept given a typewriter and a fuck ton of a magical substance called caffiene. Remarkably, I find it tolerable, despite the fact that I watched you humans learn to chew the beans by watching goats get high. 

I digress, back to Izetta and her stained linoleum floor. 

The man laying beside her, dying painfully slowly had a name. It doesn’t matter though, all that does matter is that he was taking far too long to reach the end of life. 

Finally, finally, the man wheezed his last breath and his eyes went dark and his body limp and lifeless. Izetta grinned, still staring up at the ceiling, her ears perked for any sign of her expected visitor. 

As usual, there was no sound. At least, not until she wanted to be heard of course. 

“Sloppy,” Ivory said, making Izetta’s grin widen painfully. 

“Hello darling,” she said, pushing herself up to get a good look at the woman looking distastefully down at the man on the floor. 

Something to note: after death you have the opportunity to become a guardian of sorts. You can watch over someone of your choosing and assist them through their life, keeping them safe. Most people stick to their families, others will latch on to total strangers just for the excitement, and others still--well, they’re Ivory. 

Ivory has a brother, who has a husband. She has two nephews and three godchildren. She is also too good at her job. Despite the--for lack of a better term--OP seeming possibility of guardians, they are still human, they still make mistakes and death does not make you omniscient. Ivory however, is clever. Her brother survived four natural disasters, an attempted hostage situation, and a very messy run-in with a garbage disposal. 

This couldn’t be tolerated, people do have to die at some point--thus is the circle of life. And so she was forcibly reassigned. 

This is when she met Izetta--another woman horrifically good at her job. She worked as an assassin, hunting and killing people and she noticed when Ivory appeared. Most don’t, guardians are silent things, they watch over you and keep you safe in subtle ways. Izetta however, had a bit of a… shall we say… remarkably idiotic streak. 

When she noticed Ivory she began actively trying to kill herself to test just how far her newfound ‘luck’ would get her. 

And that was when Izetta met Ivory. 

On your deathbed is the only time you can see a guardian, they’re supposed to explain the concept to you, offer you the choice, and then move on to the next family member or just off into the ether. 

Izetta had to drop four toasters into her bathtub and blow her apartment up with C4 to see Ivory. 

And then it became a game. 

Izetta began to literally flirt with death, an affair that wasn’t unreciprocated. But then Ivory ran into the same problem she’d run into before--she was too good at her job. 

They’re last moment together was a quiet one, both sprawled out in a bed, skin slick with sweat and breathing heavy as they stared at the ceiling with their heads together. 

“How did you die?” she asked bluntly. Honestly she had expected something flippant as an answer. Ivory was a strong woman, she took every hit with her teeth gritted and her fists clenched just waiting for the next opening. 

So when Ivory went quiet, Izetta was surprised enough that he turned her head to see Ivory’s dark expression. She was quick to push herself up and bring a hand to Ivory’s cheek, all mirth draining from their conversation. Ivory’s eyes looked dull, empty. 

“You don’t have to answer that I didn’t mean to--” 

“My mother,” Ivory cut her off. Izetta blinked, she didn’t get the chance to speak though, because Ivory was speaking again. “I died saving my brother from my mother.” 

There was a long, endless stretch of silence. “Fuck,” Izetta whispered. 

And then in the next moment Ivory was gone, vanished into thin air. It was always impossible to tell when Ivory’s will to keep her physical form would reach an end, usually it was sudden, but in this case it made Izetta ache. 

She laid awake, alone in bed for a long time, before she finally made up her mind. She caught a bus, taking it to the last place Ivory had mentioned living--Wyoming--and she found herself a phone book and she searched the entire state until she ended up on Monte Cyron’s doorstep. 

She knew she’d found the right person as soon as she saw him, they could have been twins. He furrowed his brow when he saw her, there was a toddler on his hip and a man a little farther in was cooking something in the kitchen and chatting with another child. 

Izetta felt out of place, uncomfortable, and she drew a blank on what to say. 

“Can I help you?” the man asked. 

“I need you to come with me,” Izetta said. A shitty, half baked and terrible plan forming in her head. 

The man breathed something akin to a laugh. “Uh, no?” he said. 

“Ok,” Izetta said, and then she turned and left. She waited until the man closed the door and then snuck around the side of the house. She could hear them talking inside, quiet murmurs of confusion and concern. Izetta groaned quietly and pulled on her hair, gritting her teeth and cursing herself. 

Then she looked upwards, even though she had no way of knowing where Ivory was watching her from (behind her and a little to the left, her expression dangerously dark but with a glimmer of curiosity) and she whispered. “Sorry, I really hope this works out but just--trust me? Please don’t kill me I’m trying to be nice,” Izetta said.

(it didn’t help Ivory’s expression).

Izetta waited until night had fallen thick and hot over the flat plains of Wyoming, she listened intently for any sign of movement after she heard the two men put their children to sleep, and then, when everything was quiet, she broke into their house. 

Despite her rash personality, Izetta was still a highly experienced assassin who was excellent at her job, breaking in without making a single noise was as easy as slipping into sleep and she carefully crept upstairs. She slipped into their closet, neither man stirred from their sleep, and she waited patiently until one of the children in the other room started crying. 

The two men groaned awake, and then Monte shoved Sinclair off the bed, which was met with a curse and a light-hearted promise of vengeance, but he left the room. Monte himself rolled over, trying to slip back into sleep, and Izetta took her opportunity. She left the closet, quiet as a ghost, and locked the bedroom door. Then, without any hesitation, she jumped on Monte and strangled him half to death. 

To his credit, he fought well, and he almost got away, but Izetta was desperate and she refused to let go. 

Then, right at the last second, she dropped him. He lay still for a brief second, and then gasped, quickly sucking in air and shoving Izetta off of him. She went, scrambling to the far side of the room and then grinned when she noticed the new figure in the room. 

“Monte,” Ivory said, and Monte froze in his vicious attempt to follow after Izetta with the lamp on his bedside. He turned slowly--so very slowly, and then dropped the lamp when he laid eyes on Ivory. 

“Ivory?” he whispered in disbelief. 

They crashed into one another in the space between blinks and held each other so tightly it looked painful. Ivory’s eyes were squeezed shut and she held the back of Monte’s neck as he pressed his forehead into her shoulder and held her arms in a vice grip. It looked so practiced, so easy, like it was second nature to fall into the embrace. 

Then Ivory opened her eyes and glared at Izetta. “I’m going to fucking kill you,” she growled, sounding like she was barely hanging on to her composure. 

Monte pushed away quickly. “What?” he yelped, and Ivory shook her head. 

“Not you--her,” she explained, and Monte jumped at the reminder of Izetta, who waved and tried her best to look polite. 

“Wait--yeah what the fuck?? What the hell is going on?” Monte demanded. 

“Sorry about that whole--choking you to death thing, I was trying to be nice,” Izetta said. 

“You had no idea it would work, you’re a fucking idiot,” Ivory snapped. 

Izetta just shrugged and smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, but it did work.” 

“Monte--” Ivory said, grabbing her brother’s shoulders and stealing his attention again. “I don’t have much time, I just--” she stopped, like she didn’t know what to say. “I’m so proud of you, and so happy for you.” 

“I don’t--” 

“It’s harder to stay here for someone who isn’t my charge, I’m already slipping but just know--you mean everything to me, and if I could do it all over again--I wouldn’t change a single thing.” 

Ivory didn’t let Monte speak again, she just pulled him into another tight embrace and whispered, “The wedding was beautiful, I’m sorry I could be there for you,” and then she was gone. 

“What--what the fuck,” Monte whispered. 

The doorknob turned, and then Sinclair’s confused voice called out. “Monte?” 

“Shit--ok, I gotta go,” Izetta said, jumping for the window. Monte caught her arm at the last second and she let him, for just a moment.

“Wait--what--?? How--?” he tried, and just shrugged. 

“Sorry I’ve got no idea, bye now,” and then she was gone. 

Again despite her brash personality, Izetta was actually surprisingly observant. She noticed that Ivory wasn’t around her anymore--it was hard to miss. It felt like an aching hole in her chest that she couldn’t quite put her finger on, and she was sure it was going to drive her mad. 

She knew Ivory had been forced to leave her brother because she was too good at what she did, and so she just assumed that was what had happened, and she made it her life’s mission to make Ivory horrible at her job. 

And so we meet back at the beginning of our story, with a man bleeding out and Izetta grinning up at the love of her life. 

How she managed to track down an invisible, unknowable entity--I personally have no idea. How she managed to do it for the rest of her life? 

Well, I told you, 

This is a love story.

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

as we are exchanging asks, something you asked me once: 10 favorite characters from 10 different operas and what you like about them?

an extremely delayed response, all apologies, and also it’s past midnight right now so perhaps I should be sleeping and I’ll try to keep this somewhat short (and probably fail), but anyway, to answer your question:

1. Don Carlo(s): I love just about everyone in this opera (except you, Grand Inquisitor. you can go die) but if I had to choose one, I’d go with the absolute icon that is Princess Éboli. The thing I love about her most, I think, is how wonderfully complicated and real she is. I mean, she loves life, she’s a fierce badass, she does some horrible things for...lots of different reasons, but she does her absolute best to set things right again. In short, an extremely relatable, amazing, gorgeous Disaster Bi. Also: Verdi mezzo, so epic-as-hell music.

2. La traviata: Violetta Valéry. She doesn’t have much in the way of competition within her opera, but I’m still putting her on here because she’s one of my favorite characters in anything ever, and one of the first fictional ladies on whom I developed a hardcore crush. Something people forget about courtesans is that they were more than just...sex objects. They were smart ladies who oftentimes set the pace for upper-class life even as they were privately scorned for their position. And Marie Duplessis (on whom Violetta is based) is pretty much your ultimate rags-to-riches story (although we know how it ultimately ends). So Violetta goes from having nothing to teaching herself the ways of the world, climbs to the top of Parisian society, then decides she wants to give it all up for true love and fulfillment. While she didn’t choose the right guy IMO, she’s incredibly brave and bold and sensitive and she cares so much about everyone and she gives up her happiness so many times and I can’t and I love her so much and also her music is amazing and excuse me while I go cry. Also I need to make these shorter.

3. Simon Boccanegra: There’s my boy, Simon! One: I am a sucker for Good Baritones. Two: I am particularly a sucker for Good or Good-at-Heart Tormented Verdi Baritones. Three: THIS GUY. All he wants is to have peace and be with his family. That’s it. He’s so good and kind and amazing but also he is taking exactly no one’s BS (just listen to that Council Chamber scene!). He takes a position he didn’t want in the hope that he’ll be able to win Maria, but then she dies, but then he still uses his position to try to reconcile the factions anyway (and surprisingly enough, he’s pretty successful?). And him as a dad MY HEART. 

4. Falstaff: Alice Ford, aka area 15th-century mistress of the house who has the mind of a 21st-century woman and is absolutely iconic for it. She’s incredibly smart and funny and clever and such a sweet person and great mom. She takes no one’s crap whatsoever and she outsmarts both Ford and Falstaff at every turn. She’s the ultimate ‘girls supporting girls’ lady and she gives the middle finger to the concepts of women just being good for being men’s playthings and of arranged marriage. And she knows how to have fun with it all. My one complaint: VERDI WHAT WERE YOU THINKING NOT GIVING HER A BADASS ARIA. That’s all.

5. Carmen: Carmen, my first love...I fell in love with her Habañera and her sheer confidence when I was 7 (and not realizing what it was about, may or may not have attempted to sing it on the playground at school, much to everyone’s confusion, but that’s a story for another time) and I’ve loved her since. I love her freedom, her huge self-confidence, her devil-may-care attitude, and every last note of her music. I just love her as a person. And of course, the iconic ‘‘Free was I born, and free I will die!” That right there is a life motto.

6. Eugene Onegin: My fellow book-loving, perpetually-dreaming nerd Tatyana Larina. Of course, I love her because of how sheerly relatable she is but there are so many other reasons as well. Like her and her sister’s dynamic. And the way she grows up and matures. And the way she’s not afraid to set some damn boundaries with Onegin, indeed, tell him no. That’s a strong girl right there, and while I wish she’d been able to get Onegin and true happiness...I’m not sure a relationship with Onegin would’ve worked out, and I’m proud of her for realizing that such a relationship (and perpetually fantasizing about it) could be extremely unhealthy and moving on. And oh God, her music. Especially the letter scene, which is every writer on an inspiration binge. And the final scene. Anyway.

7. Guillaume Tell: This is another ‘I love just about all the characters in this opera but welp I have to choose just one’ opera, and my choice is Guillaume Tell himself. First off: see #4. Second off: He’s just??? such an incredible person in every way like how is it possible to be that great of a human being??? He’s brave, he sticks up for what he believes in, he’s always willing to give others a helping hand, he’s super-enthusiastic, he’s a great husband/dad/friend, he’ll do anything for the people he cares about, he will readily call those who need it out on their BS...anyway we STAN him on this blog. Also, Rossini. And that incredibly gorgeous aria ‘Sois immobile’. I die.

8. Les Huguenots: Yet another grand opéra where I love the vast majority of the characters, and while I am 99% sure you already know the answer to this, I’ll say it again: it’s the only, the only Valentine de Saint-Bris, who just so happens to be incredibly amazing. She’s so...real and expressive and she’s someone I just personally feel like I get, like I see a little (okay more than that) of myself in her because of how real and relatable she is (I wrote a few posts a while back about why I headcanon that she has a severe undiagnosed anxiety disorder, which was...a major part of the story of my life for a while and to a lesser extent still is, but I digress) and also how amazing of a person she is. She’s not willing to just sit idly by while the world around her falls apart and the people she loves turn on each other (and eventually her). She’s one of the few people on either side of the aisle who’s like ‘this whole religious war thing is stupid and y’all need to stop’ and when things go from bad to worse, she puts herself out there in the middle of it all to save the people she cares about most (oh, also, remember how she just. stormed into the royal palace, demanded an interview with the Queen Mother, got it, and then used said interview to get a way to save Raoul and Marcel? yeah me too), and then when that fails, she literally renounces her own faith rather than belong to a religion that is committing actual crimes against humanity. and while she still fights to the bitter end, she still believes there’s a way to redemption for everyone and forgives her dad and JUST...I die. Also her music’s great but like. I love her mostly for her story.

9. Benvenuto Cellini: I am falling in love with this opera and literally all of its characters more and more every day, but my favorite character is probably Benvenuto Cellini himself, who is a) one of the few Not-Dumb tenors in opera and b) is a (mostly) Good Tenor. He loves life, he loves his art, he loves Teresa, and there are so many times where he is just such a Mood (see pretty much his entire second-act aria). Also, dude is GUTSY as hell. I mean, he literally gets the Pope to give him...pretty much everything he wants in exchange for the statue. That right there is an iconic moment. I don’t have a whole lot else to say about the character because it’s still kind of a new opera to me, but anyway he’s super-cool and I love him.

10. Les contes d’Hoffmann: Nicklausse! (Also his incarnation as the Muse, but mostly Nicklausse) He gets some of the best music in the whole thing (the Violin Aria anyone? or the Barcarolle with Giulietta?) and also he’s one of my favorite trouser roles. He’s super-ambiguous— is he really Hoffmann’s buddy or is he actually secretly working for Lindorf or is he going back and forth or is he somehow trying to help Hoffmann through working with Lindorf??? But one thing’s for sure: he’s by turns funny, serious, caring, devious...and I love him all the time. And his Musely work...ugh, the Muse gets me every time. Also, I invariably picture Kate Lindsey in the Sher production and that is a LOOK.

That’s all, sorry about the wait, and here you go! ❤️

[prettylittlelyres]

Inside the Writing Process - Part 5

I’ve been so excited about the ideas this chart has given me for Violins and Violets, so I’m making this fifth “Inside the Writing Process” post about it. It’s immensely useful for...

Expanding a Story into a Series

OK, so I’m sure a lot of people with ADHD have seen this going around and related to it a lot, but I think a lot of writers could relate to it as well in terms of things that can distract us from the main points of our WIPs (and of course some writers have ADHD anyway).

I saw a copy of this chart on Facebook yesterday, and it got me thinking. Disclaimer: I don’t know if I have ADHD (I have executive dysfunction and a lot of trouble concentrating, but I don’t know why, and don’t have time or energy to get it looked into), but it did get me thinking.

It made me think about how to organise my expansions of the world around my WIP Violins and Violets (currently seeking beta readers), because I wanted to address a lot of things in the book that just weren’t practical to address (because there’s only so much you can put in a book without it become completely unreadable. This is why I’ve never finished Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey, even though I love it, especially all the beautiful world building... it’s just too much to hold in my head). It was always in my mind that I could solve this problem (too many ideas for one book) quite simply, by writing more books.

This is a really long post, I know, but if you want to learn a fun way to come up with ideas for prequels, sequels and companion books for your story, keep reading! It’s a little bit like the snowflake method, and of course you can then use that to expand each individual idea that you have. It’s also available in shorter form here.

I’d been letting ideas for storylines involving other characters rustle around in my head since I finished the first draft of Violins and Violets in August... and then I saw this yesterday, and realised it would be a pretty good place to start thinking about the ideas that I do have, and listing them in relation to the main storyline of Violins and Violets. I spent about an hour writing down everything, just letting it all spill from my head, and this is what came up.

(Side note: I really do adore Pukka Pads Irlen refill pads. Another thing I may or may not have is Irlen syndrome, which would explain why I can’t read off white backgrounds for very long, and why my eyes hurt if I try. All I know for sure is that these pads help me so, so much, and they come in very gorgeous colours! These pages are from the “rose” pad, but I use “lavender” ones as well, a very soft and relaxing pale purple.)

Expanding Violins and Violets

Pre-Story Prologue for “Context”

Write down all ideas about character backstories to help you develop a prequel (or set of prequels) by exploring those.

Magdalena’s upbringing and Conservatory training with Dorota and Maja (these characters also never appear in Violins and Violets (with the exception of Magdalena) but I really want to explore their lives, going into more detail about Dorota and Maja’s relationship, how they raised Magdalena as their daughter, how they met, and Dorota’s fight to get Magdalena an education).

Käthe and Hansi touring Europe with their music. I’d be missing out on the opportunity to portray a fun sibling dynamic like the Mozart siblings had if I didn’t write this story. However, I do feel it might be better suited to a series of short stories, a collection of small standalone pieces, than a full-length novel, but it’s early days, and I have a lot else to do for this project in the meantime.

Franz and Julia’s early marriage/courtship, particularly how it really only happened once they were married; it would go a long way to explaining why Katharina’s parents are so relaxed about her having an arranged marriage; they genuinely believe it’ll work for her, like it worked for them (and they’re not entirely wrong, but that’s quite literally another story).

Start of Story

Consider all the characters involved in the main story, and ask yourself what’s going on in their lives that the protagonist doesn’t see. If a character only appears partway through the story, ask them what they were doing before.

Katharina goes to Prague (which is of course the main story of Violins and Violets).

Hans tours Europe with a comically large and ever-increasing pet entourage (this post goes into that in proper detail!).

Renée finds her way to Malá Strana and makes friends with Magdalena. Not for a second does she realise that a) Magdalena is with Katharina or b) that she, Renée, is in love with both of them. And then she meets the man who becomes her husband, also a big bi disaster, and Realises™.

Johann and Wilhelm meet at university; they’re both Law students. This would be a fun opportunity to take a step into the Dark Academia genre, but I’m not exactly sure what I’d do with them. Perhaps a poetic treasure hunt sort of mystery love confession? (I know already that this will be tricky because I manage to write about two proper poems a year and I’ve already written one in 2019, for Violins and Violets. I may have to put this off for a while.)

Semi-related side-story

Now think about the characters who come and go in the story and think about why that happens. Develop the stories of what they do after they leave.

Herr Benes and his boyfriend have a marvellous time in Budapest, enjoying their retirement away from the scrutiny Benes faces in the Malá Strana Opera House in Prague.

Herr Havelka is a devious and sacriligeous boi, also a sneaky bastard, but why is that? What other yuck things does he do after he leaves the Malá Strana? What is the origin of his malice?

Herr Janda retires and leaves Katharina (or Sebastian) in charge of the Malá Strana Opera House, but how does he spend his retirement? What does he think of Katharina’s continued work after she’s discovered? He’s a composer, himself, so I want to explore the compositions he works on, later in life. Maybe he’s quite inspired by Katharina both in terms of technique and ideas for music to compose in her honour.

Magdalena’s husband, Bartolomeǰ, runs a bookshop, and this is how they meet. He’s a big fan of Katharina’s music, and gets to know a lot of his regular customers. What are their stories? Who are his friends? What do they think of Magdalena? What do they think of Katharina?

Wait, OK, back to the main story

If you’re a fan of time-jumps, then a) Violins and Violets might be right up your street because it has a massive one, and b) this is probably a good and useful step for you. If not, maybe not. But ask what happens in the time-jump and then write about it. What stories can you tell about the space in between one part of your story and the other?

I want to explore Katharina's life in Salzburg, her friendship with Johann, Wilhlem, Lulu and her family, and her reconciliation with her parents after so many years apart. They're not angry at her, nor she at them, but things aren’t perfect between them, especially while they’re grieving Hans, and I want to look at that.

Something I just now remembered

Do you ever get deep down a rabbit hole, thinking about your story, and realise part of it you’d never thought about particularly deeply is actually very sad or very happy or makes you angry? Go into detail about it.

Magdalena and Bartolomeǰ never have any children born to them, but they're everyone’s Cool Aunt and Cool Uncle, and are basically extra parents to Evžen after Bartolomeǰ took him on as an apprentice.

Magdalena and Renée never lose touch after Renée leaves to marry, and Magdalena also stays in touch with Herr Benes, and they each eventually figure out the other is bi (Magdalena) and gay (Herr Benes), and have many fun letter exchanges not dissimilar to meetings in a Lesbian Crying Cupboard. I love their friendships and I want to dive into them more than I could from Katharina’s perspective alone. Imagine something like Lemony Snicket’s The Beatrice Letters, and you have some idea of the absolutely delicious format I’d want for this--because it wouldn’t be a traditional prose novel; it would be mostly epistolary, and for that, I need something a little different--all the letters bound together in a collection along with diary entries from the characters, ticket stubs from operas, playbills, pictures of gifts they send each other over the years, absolutely everything. A treasure trove and a mammoth project, but I am so entranced by this idea! The Baroque/Rococo aesthetic of the late 18th century is right up my street.

Wrap up story and finally get to the point/end of story

I’m, uh... not excellent at fully understanding the sentiment of instructions, but I feel less bad about (deliberately) misinterpreting this one, because I do so to have it mean “create an epilogue/a sequel”. Write down any ideas you have to that end.

Lulu’s children all grow up to follow careers in music. Hanna becomes an opera singer following help from Katharina and Magdalena to get her into a Conservatory in Berlin. Minna becomes a highly renowned composer (arguably a successor to Katharina), and Theo... well, I’m not exactly sure what he does, but that’s the point. I don’t have to know just yet. All I need to know is that I want to find out.

After grieving Johann, Wilhelm finds happiness and new love. Perhaps he brings his new partner to Prague, or perhaps he meets him there. That’s something I want to explore, as is...

...Herr Benes’ return to Prague with his boyfriend, meeting Wilhelm and his boyfriend (boyfriends for everyone. In this house we write gay joy or we write nothing (or we write angst)). Maybe there follow some nice rag-tag-band-of-elders adventures (quite literally a band, too, since they’ll all be musicians) and/or shenanigans. Do they all--with Katharina and Magdalena, of course--go on a fun trip to Salzburg and Eggwald together? That would be rather lovely. Some kind of Best Exotic Marigold Hotel story. Happiness.

Too many details/lose train of thought

Now’s your chance to get away from the main story! Ah, the guilty pleasure of AUs. Ah, the even more fun version of AU-related guilty pleasure where you get to write AUs of your very own novel! Go on. You deserve it, because you wrote a whole novel and you’ve read it at least as many times as you’ve drafted it... but you still want more content. You want to see how these characters that you love will cope in different worlds, different situations, different everything. Go for it. And if you have any details about the far-flung prelude or coda to the story (music terminology drop? Who’s that? I don’t know her), get into those, too. You know the ones I mean. The ones where you discuss the impact of the storyline on people centuries later, or get into the creation story of the world your characters live in.

I was fool enough to start thinking about a Vampire!AU of Violins and Violets before I had finished the first draft of the actual book. But that’s going on this list, because I have already written a slightly-related one-shot, Daughter, and I certainly don’t plan for that to be the only thing I ever make for it.

Violins and Violets and Varsity - a high school AU I’ve been thinking about since December 2018 - drawing on my experiences playing Swing Band and Pit Band in secondary school. It would be set in the UK, though, and characters would have more Anglophone-sounding names. I have some ideas for this written down somewhere in my computer, but, for now, I’m just going to leave you with the names, because I’m not certain I’m super happy about the current premise for the plot.

Katharina - Kate

Magdalena - Maddie

Hans - Henry

Bartolomeǰ - Bart

Renée - Rena

Going back to the dark academia mentioned earlier, I think it could be interesting to explore--not a modern AU, but in the modern day--how people now would look back on the lives of the characters from Violins and Violets had they really existed. I grew up not far from Reading, where an original handwritten manuscript of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was found in a charity shop in 2011, and I want to take that idea and run so, so far with it. I adore dark academia, as my followers will know, and it seems like a perfect chance to combine my knowledge of Music History and Music Theory with my current studies of Sociolinguistics. Here’s what I’m thinking:

Music History students team up with Sociolinguistics students to study the letters exchanged between the characters and coming to realise that everyone involved was a big and lovely Queer Disaster in some way or other, and that Katharina and Magdalena, as Johann and Wilhelm, were in love. And then all the students fall in love, too, because dark academia plus romance is my downfall (hence my current WIP, She Has No Name).

Steps I missed out of this process, I missed out because I couldn’t think of ways to relate them to my storyline. Those are:

What was I talking about?

Realise I’ve been talking too long.

Apologise.

If you can think of ideas to go along with those steps (although I’m hesitant to encourage anyone to apologise for what they write), too, go for it, and please let me know! I love hearing about everything you write! Now I dare you to have a go at this process for planning expansions of your story.

[squidproquoclarice]

Fine, now that you mention it I do want commentary on ch3 of MAWAMS, you absolute menace. Also, this is hella good imagery even though it hurt me emotionally so props on that: “Suddenly the whole thing seemed to turn as one single nightmare, like a thaumatrope, that 19th century child’s toy, the disk with a bird on one side and a cage on the other. Spin it fast enough and the two pictures combined, the bird suddenly trapped in the cage.”

I…have only myself to blame for this.  Though oh shit, where do I even start.  Buckle your seatbelt because this will take a while.Since you mentioned it specifically: the thaumatrope image seemed too on the nose to not use at this point.  Lorena and Lucy, watching them die, watching them happy in love with someone else.  There’s no way it ever ends well for him with either of them, because he’ll only fail them, and he doesn’t deserve to be happy anyway.  It’s all just one big blur of pain, the bird captured and stuck in its cage.I debated skipping the scene where Denise and Garcia go see Lorena.  But it’s an important thing for him.  He’s waited for four years to see her alive again and he deserved that moment, painful as it is.  I deliberately wrote it as somewhat spare in some ways–he’s not focusing on how beautiful she is to him, or looking for too long at her kids to see how much they may resemble Iris, for example.  He’s doing his best to keep the emotions in the box and lock everything down tight.I had Lorena come over because Lorena Valaitis is tough and nobody’s damn fool and seeing this strange car and people staring at her house, she’s gonna take notice and confront them.  And honestly, because Flynn sort of needed more than to just spy on her walking her kids to the car.  This hurts like hell, but it also helps him make more peace with her situation.  And on a meta level, Lorena deserves some Goddamn screen time and a voice of her own rather than being simply a concept inspiring  Garcia’s emotions, because she’s a really great character to write.As to the house, it made sense for Lorena to live there now.  I’d written it as an inheritance from her grandparents that the Flynns used when they were stateside with Lorena’s family.  They lived primarily in Croatia, in Split, due to Garcia’s work as an Eastern Europe NSA asset, but as I wrote in the vodka confessions, they were planning to move to Baltimore permanently in the future.  So it’s a house Lorena loved.  Of course this Lorena whose life centers even more tightly around her hometown will still live there.I had the murders happen in Baltimore because it makes more sense for him to get to Brazil, especially with virtually no money and no resources, if he’s on the proper side of the Atlantic already, and from the look of the cemetery and some the names on other headstones in 1x06, they’re seemingly buried in America, not Croatia, which is what originally made me go for Lorena likely being American.  (I think the “wife” on Lorena’s headstone is an angry accusation by the Valaitises of oh look, it’s a wife and daughter taken too soon as more domestic violence statistics!)And it’s another good and bad thing for Garcia.  Seeing the house again for the first time since he ran from Rittenhouse is not easy.  But seeing it as a place where this didn’t happen, where Lorena’s family lives and it’s peaceful and good, will actually do him some good in the end.  But for now the cognitive dissonance is most definitely a mindfuck.  The fact Lorena  doesn’t seem to have even that “huh, do I know you?” moment both helps and hurts.  This is when he knows it’s truly over between them, because it never was, and he’s glad because it means she’s safe.  He probably figures Emma will never go after her because this is more or less a punitive peace treaty forced upon him on the Lorena and Iris issue.  Rittenhouse kills this Lorena, it’s game on again for him to change history to get both Iris and his Lorena back. Garcia being Garcia, he sees how happy and safe she seems and thinks about how she’s so much better off, how this is the life she should have had and he couldn’t fully give her.  At this point he’s basically Pushkin’s Ya vas lyubil as a giant sad Croatian and saying his goodbye to her, and it hurts but he’s OK with it because he’s convinced she’s better off than she ever was with him.  Because yes, Flynn has a few self-respect issues.Denise, in that moment, probably is concerned for him as a friend but seriously in awe of how he can control himself in this situation and flawlessly bluff his way through it without even a flicker of the devastation showing.  Because Garcia Flynn, albeit a Human Disaster, is also a Very Good Agent.  Seeing how the two of them readily play off each other shows Garcia a lot about the teamwork they have in this timeline where they don’t have all the bitterness and mistrust that they do in the original.  It’s weird, yes, but he’s grateful for it anyway.It would have been way too easy for Tim to be an asshole, or for them both to be Rittenhouse, and then Garcia has quote unquote the “right” to try to rescue Lorena from this, blah blah.  I didn’t want to go that route. Tim’s a good man, a good husband, and a good father.  They literally have never heard the name Rittenhouse, except maybe there’s some place in Philly named that?He’s seen Lorena and he knows he has to accept this.  But Lorena’s the easy part.  Iris is the hard one.  Denise drags him to her favorite cop bar in the ‘burbs between DC and Baltimore where she used to live, and given they’re now on the wrong side of town to easily head back to Gettysburg, and it was probably at least a half hour or forty-five minute drive to go specifically to that bar, she’s clearly spending some time and effort on this.  And he notices that.   It’s what you do with someone who’s been a partner on this years-long mission, who’s become a close friend.  You drag them to your favorite bar, buy them a beer, and just sit with them.  If they want to talk, they talk.  If they don’t, you just silently support.Side note: in this timeline, I do think Denise and Garcia have also bonded over her being a lesbian WOC born of immigrant parents and him being an immigrant, bi, and demi (though I don’t think he has the word to describe the latter–it’s maybe Lucy or maybe even Jiya that defines it eventually) and being in a profession that’s not always exactly the most friendly to non-white, non-straight, and non-native born.  And prior to noticing him pining for Lucy, she really was trying to think of a nice woman or man to set him up with.  ;) He’s trying to make peace with it so he can carry on, but he’s also kicking his own ass that he handed Emma that information because he so desperately needed an ally.  Though notice it doesn’t turn into paranoia: he doesn’t start to regard Denise with suspicion.So: Lorena is fine, but Iris is forever out of his reach.  He realizes his mother was wrong–you do have to find a way to let go, somehow, eventually.  There’s no hope for Iris.  The best he can do is not make himself a worse man trying to bring her back. But he’s struggling really hard to let go, and not feel like he’s failed her as a father. He’s got a clean slate, and Lorena’s happy, but he’ll have to live knowing he owes that to Emma.  Fine.  Rittenhouse is going to burn for this, and Emma especially, because as angry as he was in 2x07 at her betrayal, it is now 100% personal between them.  But Garcia being Garcia, and still so used to being alone and without support, he starts wandering back towards the Dark Side. That sort of cold steely rage we saw from him in season 1: Only the mission matters.  You don’t.  He’s good for killing things. All right then.  Bring it on.  He pushes himself through range clearance, and then when they get back to Gettysburg, he goes right to the punching bag to go push the injured shoulder exactly like Abby Kovac told him not to do.  Because he can’t be weak when the next mission happens.  And yeah, he’s got a few frustrations to work through right then and punches and kicks sound like a great idea.He couldn’t save Lorena or Iris.  Rufus died right in front of him.  He almost got killed himself, and he’s seeing that it was a very severe injury and he’s not 18 and able to just bounce right back from it.  And emotionally off balance as he is then, he stumbles onto the next part of it: he can’t be less than back to normal on the next mission, because he absolutely, positively, 100%, cannot fail Lucy.  He can’t lose her.  Can’t watch her die.  Realizes he almost did in Chinatown.He’s not quite at Sao Paulo levels of emotional breakdown, or season 1 levels of closed-off rage, but he’s definitely Not In A Good Place.  And he’s pushed himself so hard he’s exhausted and can’t even punch anymore.  And it’s then that Lucy shows up.  (Actually, she’d been standing there for a few minutes already trying to figure out how to handle this, and him backing off gave her the opening she needed.) And dammit, Lucy, your timing is impeccable because you’re just what’s needed here.  She came, because as much of a screwup as he thinks he is, somehow she does care.  He manages to calm down a little, enough to say he’ll go get cleaned up.  They’ll talk, and he’s hoping that somehow, she’ll say the right thing as she usually does, and show him a different way.  Denise tried, Jiya was sympathetic, but as usual, it’s really only Lucy who has that deep enough bond to get through to him when he’s on the edge of the void.

ANYWAY.  Anyone else want to join the Denny’s parking lot fight?

[faejilly]

every odd number for the OC questionaiire, with a different OC for as many of the numbers as you have. if you run out, use canon characters you have made your own~

oh my gosh nonny.  THIS IS VERY LONG. OBVIOUSLY.

1. What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.)? 

I wanted to make a DAO character who actually fit into the narrative/lore, rather than the more palatable from an outside-perspective rebel type. Someone who believed in the establishment, in Chantry doctrine, who was a normal human, in terms of the politics as they were described by the game. (You couldn’t really be “normal” with the origin choices though, so I ended up with Coraline Amell, human disaster.)

She turned into a terrifying angry force of nature, because honestly, you take someone who believes in the rules of the world around them, and surround them with inept blood mages and Circle politics and a failed Templar who jokes about being a bastard royal, heretics and apostates and assassins and murderers and literal actual monsters, and supposedly she has to be OKAY WITH ALL THESE TERRIBLE PEOPLE OR THE WORLD WILL END?!? FUCK ALL OF YOU.

3. How did you choose their name?

I let Thing 1 name my first mabari, who was Widget after one of his favorite picture books at the time. Ingva Brosca’s mabari was Scabbler, after a mining tool. Daryn, Adelaide Hawke’s mabari, is from Patricia Brigg’s The Hob’s Bargain. The source character in that one dies too soon, so I enjoy how mabari-Daryn lives to a ripe old age and has many many puppies post-game. The Dark is Rising/King Arthur’s dog.

Tisala Hawke’s name is from Patricia Brigg’s Dragon Bones/Dragon Blood (Hurog duology), though source material Tisala would despise Hawke Tisala, which is appropriate on several levels, if kind of sad. Hurog (Aeducan) is also from the same set of books, and exemplifies everything that has ever been terrible about the historical Hurog family, so that was me amusing myself yet again.

5. Is there any significance behind their hair color?

Ingva Brosca’s hair is brown. Her eyes are brown, her skin is brown, her clothes tend towards brown… I really wanted to make someone who looked a lot like Rica (because Ingva looks a lot like Rica), whom everyone emphasizes is eye-catching and attractive, but who could legitimately fade into every background, who would look the part of every negative Duster joke ever told, and yet is actually really lovely once you stop and look at her.

7. Is there any significance behind their height?

Erana Lavellan is tall for an elf, almost raw-boned and sparse, not at all delicate. She’s basically the same height as Blackwall,, both because I enjoy them being the same height for aesthetic/battle couple/thematic reasons *eye-to-eye and hip-to-hip* and also because it adds to how disconcerting she is for most people who meet her as Herald/Inquisitor. She’s clearly Very Dalish, and yet not at all what most people think of as “elfy” in their heads.

9. Are they based off of you, in some way?

Probably all of them are, in some ways, and none of them in others? Like, that’s a cop-out, but I never know how to answer that one. (I mean, as part of #11, I do tend to always use echoes of my own sexuality in most of my characters, just because I seldom see anyone in fiction approaching sexuality the way I do... maybe I’m still trying to figure out mine while I’m at it? Something like that.)

11. Did you know what the OC’s sexuality would be at the time of their creation?

I’m gonna cheat and not put a person here, because basically all my OC’s are various degrees of bi, except for, oddly enough, my two most recent tabletop PnP RPG characters, (Kaylani Seren, Star Wars Pilot, and Shan Xia, angry cursed selkie), who are both lesbians.

Probably because of how much @darthkrzysztof and  I tend to “joke” that lesbians make everything better?

13. How far past the canon events that take place in their world have you extended their story, if at all?

Well, Miri Hawke’s entire fic-life/inspiration is past canon? She is Princess of Starkhaven with an unofficial semi-secret second husband in Fenris. They’re a pretty happy and stable triad, though they are (mostly) careful that their first child is Sebastian’s to avoid inheritance issues. (Later, their twins have green eyes, which rather gives it away to anyone who didn’t already know, since Miri’s are brown and Sebastian’s are infamously blue.)

15. What is something about your OC can make you laugh?

Cherries!

(aka the Adelaide Hawke/Sebastian Vael first time having sex fic for the kinkmeme... it was like, only the second thing I’d written for them, too? Adelaide Hawke exists because the kinkmeme was full of really sad and disturbing Sebastian prompts/fills when I first found it and I wanted SOMEONE TO LOVE HIM. Romantically. I mean, yes, physically too obviously I’ve written a lot of smut-fic, but the original inspiration was just that I liked the character and no one else I knew at the time seemed to.)

17. Is there some element you regret adding to your OC or their story?

Hmm. Neria Surana started with And/rs reminiscing after her death but then I wrote some earlier fic for her and had feels and she really deserved better than to be pre-emptively doomed. (Sorry Niall, you did too.)

19. What is your favorite fact about your OC?

Ella Shepard exists because of Ellen Ripley, even if she’s two or three incarnations removed from my very first vanguard Ellen playthrough of ME1, oh so many years ago.

[the-little-prophet]

CHARACTER QUESTIONNAIRE: CHARLIE LITTLE 

ORIGINS & FAMILY: Name: Charles Boon-Mee Kai Little   Nickname: Charlie, Kai (Kai is Charlie’s chu len-- or Thai nickname.) Reason for name: Charles’ father wanted Charlie to have an English name first and foremost and named Charlie after himself. Boon-Mee is Charlie’s Thai name which means “good fortune.” Kai was the nickname that his mother chose because he was born early and was very small. Kai means chicken. ;) Age: 19 Gender: Male Place of birth: Swynlake, England Places lived since: Nowhere! Number of siblings: Charlie has one stepbrother from his mother’s second marriage. He usually only sees them when he visits his mother-- usually twice a year, hardly ever more. 

Relationship with family (close? estranged?): Dad–Charles “Buck” Little used to be a pro baseball player from Los Angeles California, but an injury early on in his career benched him and ended that career. Instead, Charles “Buck” Little became an insurance agent and got a job working at InterPride until Taka Lyons took over and fired half his department. That was four years ago. Now Buck gets disability insurance and works at Pride U in their IT department.

Mum- Dr. Phailin Dilsworth, formerly Little, formerly Chaisurivirat. First-generation American, became a college professor and found a job teaching at Pride University where she had her first child, Charlie. She was NOT into the magick-friendly thing as much as Charles was and wanted to move for a long time. She blamed Swynlake as a big part as to why Charlie had his chronic sleeping disorder. Eventually she got a job teaching in a school down in Bournemouth and left Charlie and Buck when he was 9 years old. She remarried when he was 10 and moved with her husband, who was also a professor, to Toronto. Charlie talks to his mom on the phone every month or so and sees her for a few weeks in the summer/every other Christmas.

Sylvester Dilsworth- Charlie’s stepbrother-- same age-- who thinks Charlie is a #freak for growing up in Swynlake, aka England’s great failed experiment. Wants to go into Psychology like his dad (thinks Charlie is #crazy). Charlie does not like Syl.

PHYSICAL Height: 5’6 (teeny) Weight: 125 ish idk height Build: Charlie has always been very short since he was a child and grew very slowly. He’s kinda still hoping he’ll put on another inch or two before he’s done growing but… looking pretty hopeless Nationality: English Disabilities (physical or mental, including mental illnesses): Charlie has severe astigmatism in his eyes. He’s severely sleep-deprived and suffers from dissociative episodes. Complexion (freckles, acne, skin tone, birth marks): Olive-toned skin, and a few moles on his face and neck. Often times cuts himself shaving (does it like every few days) and so he’ll have tiny nicks here and there. Also misses lil hairs all the time, look he’s trying Distinguishing facial features: His very big thick glasses lmao and he’s got quite pretty eyes in my opinion, even if they are hidden behind his messy fringe and big, thick glasses.  Round cherub cheeks.

Hair color: Black. Usual hair style: Messy and long-- Charlie never has time to brush his hair in the morning   Eye color: Dark brown Glasses? Contacts?: yes to both though contacts bother his eyes.

Style of dress/typical outfit(s): Charlie comes from a middle-class family and dresses like a typical Brit-- sweaters over collared shirts, that kind of thing. He leans toward hipster-esque if only because he likes comfy sweaters because it’s easiest to fall asleep in haha, and he’s often seen around in pajama pants and zip up jumpers if he slept past his alarm and had no time to change. I would call his style “frumpy nerd chic.” Typical style of shoes: He wears a lot of Toms because they are comfy and easy to slip on, so you know, better than sandals. Health (is this person usually sick? or very resilient?): Chronically sleep-deprived, Charlie also suffers from migraines. He’s noticed that if he has bad migraines one day, he’ll probably have a night terror. Which stresses him out. And makes the migraine worse. Otherwise, Charlie is a relatively healthy young boy, with pollen allergies in the spring but no other sensitivities.   

Grooming (does she/he wear makeup? shower daily? wear only clean clothes? pluck her eyebrows?): NGL this could be better but it’s not his fault he’s just very tired. He does take a shower nearly every day (cold showers to wake him up) and does his own laundry so he had clean clothes. But he often does not brush his hair and wears hats to make up for it. Jewelry? Tattoos? Piercings?: None thus far! He does wear a watch. Accent?: Typical brit Unique mannerisms/physical habits: He rubs his eyes a lot and toys with his hair. He cleans his glasses both as a compulsion and because a lot of the time when he tries to rub his eyes he will hit his glasses and need to clean them from all the finger smears.   Athletic?: He’s pretty fast and limber due to yoga and many years spent running from disasters, whether real or imagined. But Charlie won’t be beating anybody up lol INTELLECT Level of education: Completed a nurse’s assistantship and has a pheblotomist’s license. Taking uni courses on the side, hopes to one day be a proper doctor/surgeon. Level of self esteem: Medium-low. Charlie feels like a burden to his father and a freak to other people even though he knows he can’t help his condition. Years of therapy mean he’s pretty in touch with his sense of self though so while he beats himself up, he does have coping mechanisms. He also knows he is trying his best !! Gifts/talents: An excellent drawer, a pretty great cook, and a hard worker. He also has a lot of practical life skills. He’s a practical guy. Shortcomings: He can struggle to concentrate because of his health issues, he’s pretty cowardly and paranoid, he overreacts, he’s a bit socially awkward (not in a shy kind of way-- Charlie is actually outgoing ish but because he doesn’t have many friends he doesn’t understand a lot of the social cues. His desperation for friendship is also Not Attractive). Style of speech (loud, mumbler, articulate, etc.): Nervous talker for sure. Doesn’t stammer, just goes on and on and on. Definitely overshares when nervous. “Left brain” or “right brain” thinker?: Left-brained.Charlie is deductive, rational, and wants to be a doctor someday. His secondary -claw is super strong and he craves an explanation for things and hates that he doesn’t have one for his night terrors. The fact that it could be magic also doesn’t comfort him but scares him, despite growing up in Swynlake (hey he thought he was a Mundus all the time ok!) beccause he doesn’t uNDeRstanD and can’t conTrol it. Artistic?: Yes, uses charcoal and pastels. Mathematical?: Yes, he’s p good at math. Languages? Just English. He once spoke in Tongues during one of his Doomer episodes but that was probably a glitch haha. His mother never taught him any Thai.

Makes decisions based mostly on emotions, or on logic?: Logic, always logic.

Neuroses: Thinks World Is Ending At All Times

Life philosophy: uh don’t die? Do the good you can with the tools you have. Be Prepared-- Two is one, and one is none (aka hvae two of everything; its a prepper mantra). 

Religious stance:  Is starting to explore aspects of buddhism which is tied to his Thai culture (something he’s very distanced from especially because his mother no longer lives with him and she was pretty removed from it too) and hopes will help him with his night terrors.

Cautious or daring?:  Cautious Optimist or pessimist?: Pessimist- the world is literally always ending.

Extrovert or introvert?: Ambivert, leaning to introversion. If Charlie had friends, he’d probably prefer smaller get togethers and that kind of thing but he would totally socialize and likes talking to people and working together in group projects charlie it is so sad that school is your main form of interaction.   Level of comfort with technology: Very comfortable. True millennial. Instagram, Twitter, FB, blog. He depends on his phone and computer a lot for his social life/coping mechanisms. He definitely has internet friends who are doomers like him.

RELATIONSHIPS Current marital/relationship status: Single Sexual orientation: Bi. Charlie doesn’t really think about romance that much because he’s mostly preoccupied with Death but he had a crush his bff as a smol boy (who was also a smol boy) and also has crushed on girls from afar (and tbh probably kinda crushes on Minnie a bit because she’s so pretty and kind to him). He never really questioned it and so its a nonissue for him. He would like to have a romantic life one day but kinda thinks its impossible like who would like him he’s CRAZY. He can’t even sleep a whole night thru let alone with another person in the bed.

Past relationships: As a boy, he had a crush on his bff at the time--Nate. Nate’s family moved away following one of Swynlake’s disasters bc they weren’t gonna fuck with that shit.

A social person? (popular, loner, some close friends, makes friends and then quickly drops them): Charlie is not afraid to strike up conversation and sort of accepts his reputation as a Crazy Person so that helps deal with any social anxiety (he’s too busy with his generalized anxiety thanks hahahah.) He has a few people in his classes who are willing to work with him on projects and stuff, a few internet friends-- but otherwise he considers a lot of the patients at the hospital his friends… problematic charlie ur friends r gonna die

Most comfortable around (person): His...cat? SECRETS Life goals: Charlie has always wanted to be a doctor. He wants to be able to respond to medical emergencies like the ones that he’s seen, so he’s thinking of trauma surgery but is open to other paths (he’s also pretty interested in neuro because of his own disorder; he also loves kids, so pediatrics). Just as long as he can help people.   Dreams: it would be nice to have a normal one whats that like   Greatest fears: Death, dying, disaster. And that he’ll be helpless in the face of all that and can’t save the ones that he loves. Also that he’s gonna be a lowkey embarrassment to his father for the rest of his life. Most ashamed of: His night terrors and the fact that he drove his mom away (he didn’t). Compulsions: Snacking. He snacks a lot during the night and when he watches tv. Obsessions: Watching the Golden Girls a lot, also the impending apocalypse which he had been prepping for since he was small.   Secret hobbies: ...being a prepper…. Is that a hobby…astronomy also thats more normal !! Secret skills:... prepping… Crimes committed (and was he/she caught? charged?): none thank god What he/she most wants to change about his/her current life: Find a cure for his illness/curse What he/she most wants to change about his/her physical appearance: Charlie would really like to be TALL. His dad is very tall and he got none of those genes and he feels like a pipsqueak and kind of helpless and he sort of is. So number one: TALL. Then he’d like to not have glasses and one day wants to get laser eye surgery to correct his vision, especially if he wants to be a surgeon.

DETAILS/QUIRKS Night owl or early bird?: Night Owl bc he’s terrified of sleeping. Light or heavy sleeper?: heavy sleeper. When he is sleeping, nothing can wake up but like, his dreams or his father shaking and yelling at him. He sleeps like he’s dead lmao Favorite food: Spicy food is his fave. Loves sushi, also loves chips and potato crisps and snack foods in general. When he’s too tired to cook, he’ll just eat an entire bag of crisps.   Least favorite food: Charlie isn’t a fan of a lot of red meats, like burgers and stuff. Favorite book: uhhhh mmmmm charlie isnt a big reader, he’s usually watching television. If he’s reading, he’s reading medical cases and articles.   Least favorite book:  horror story books Favorite movie: old musicals, honestly-- Hello Dolly, Pajama Game, that kind of thing. Very soothing. Probably LOVES It’s A Wonderful Life. Least favorite movie: horror movies leave him alone Favorite song: gosh idk Least favorite song: idk eIETHER probably does not metal Crunchy or smooth peanut butter?: crunchy Lefty or righty?: leftY Favorite color: green or brown Cusser?: er, a bit, normal youngin. He doesn’t curse in front of adults though he’s pretty good about that. Smoker? Drinker? Drug user?: Charlie has had a few drinks here and there a social drinker if anything. Though he does wonder if drinking a lot could squash the dreams though this is a bad path for him to wander down. He has also thought the same about #drugs but is kind of a wimp and so he hasn’t tried any...yet Biggest regret: Charlie feels like he was a big part of the wedge that drove his mother to divorce his father because they had diff ways of dealing with charlie’s condition aka-- his mother wanted to deal with it and his father didn’t. This isnt really true, just another thing the two disagreed on. Pets?: A cat that his mom left behind! She’s old and fat and grey and her name is Emily

[dpeace85]

Happily Ever After

Nikki and I married more than ten years ago. We started “dating”- I use that term loosely because we were not even old enough to drive - more than seventeen years ago. That’s somewhat unique for couples our age. She’s the only girlfriend I’ve ever had. She’s the only woman I’ve had an intimate relationship with. She was much more popular than I – because she was much prettier than I – so I’m not lucky enough to say I’ve been her only boyfriend. However, I’m very proud to say I’m the only man she’s ever had an intimate relationship with. That is most certainly unique among couples our age. For that, I am most grateful. Our relationship started just like many others. We’d pass notes in school via mutual friends and call each other on (corded; meaning “attached to the wall”) phones. One night, I mustered the courage to ask my cousin to call her and ask her if she’d date me. Bold move, right!? She said “yes” and we lived happily ever after. Um… well, not exactly. You see, there was this one little thing that kept giving us problems… we were teenagers. We already knew everything we needed to know. Our choice of fashion, friends, and beepers (remember those?) were the most important decisions in life. It also didn’t help that, like most teenage boys, I liked to look at physically developing teenage girls. She didn’t mind me looking at her. It was the other girls who caught my attention she had the problem with. This made her jealous, which made me angry, which made us argue. I also liked to hunt and fish, which interfered with “us time”, which made her jealous, which made me angry, which made us argue. We were a typical teenage couple. Over the next few years we fell in love but the relationship didn’t change much. I still did the dumb things teenage boys do. She still did the dramatic things teenage girls do. We were very much in love but were still very much individuals. So, we did the only thing we knew to fix our problems… we got married. Here’s the happily ever after part, right? Wrong. If you think you have relationship issues before marriage, you have no idea. You see, before marriage I had my money. I had my truck. I had my stuff. After marriage we had her money. We had her truck. We had her stuff. I read somewhere that if a man has $5 and his wife has $20, the the wife has $25. The greatest stress in our marriage was rooted in our finances. I wanted stuff and she wanted financial security. She also wanted to make me happy, so we financed a brand new ATV on our honeymoon. We made great decisions back then (sarcasm). It wasn’t long before the credit cards were maxed out and the bills were piled high. A few years later we were up to our ears in debt.

There was another problem too. Everyone wanted to know when we were going to start having children. Although we knew they meant no harm, this was a very sensitive subject. Here’s a word of advice from someone who’s “been there”; Don’t ask a childless couple when they’re going to have children. We were physically unable to have children. We really, really wanted a child of our own but it just didn’t seem to be God’s plan at the time. We were confused and a little bitter about it (if we’re being honest here). To keep a long story short, we knew Nikki had some physical issues that were preventing her from conceiving. What we didn’t know, but soon discovered, is that I too wouldn’t be able to conceive a child without medical treatment. This was probably the lowest point in our marriage. Oddly enough though, it made our relationship better. We’ve never had a “bad” relationship, but I realize now she and I both spent several years in a state of depression. This put a lot of strain on our relationship. I didn’t know it then, but the feeling she carried all those years was guilt. She blamed herself – or rather, her condition – for not being able to give me a child. I was too hard headed (a.k.a. a typical man) to realize she needed me to tell her it was okay; That she wasn’t somehow unworthy of my love. Knowing now that I too was unable to help the situation made us appreciate each other. She no longer carried the burden of “producing”, and she understood – more than anyone – the helpless feeling I had of not being able to “fix it”.

After such devastating news, we needed to get away. We took a weekend trip to the beach and that’s where we made a change. Psalms 37:4 says, “Delight yourself also in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” There’s an old saying that goes, “The heart wants what the heart wants.” I believe it’s pretty obvious that God puts desires in our hearts. We don’t control the desire. We control the pursuit of the desire. We decided we’d “delight in the Lord” and just be happy with each other. We knew that if the desire did not subside, we’d be patient and wait for God to intervene.

He did. Less than a year later, we adopted a beautiful baby boy. There it is! There’s the happily ever after, right?! Nope… not yet. Although we felt as if God had filled a giant void in our lives, we still had our money problems. We still hadn’t learned to manage our finances properly. We got much better – Mostly because we had no choice. Diapers and formula are expensive. – but we still weren’t very frugal. Trying to raise a child and manage a very tight budget can put a lot of strain on a marriage. The date nights became few and far between. The fishing and hunting trips also suffered. At times it seemed “marriage” was just alternative word for “two people surviving together”. Then she got pregnant…

We couldn’t believe it! We had our little boy, and now we were going to have our little sister! We were ecstatic! The very thing we were sure would never happen had become our reality. Now… we can finally have our “happily ever after”!

Here’s a secret bridal shops, jewelry stores, bakeries, and florists don’t want you to know. There is no “happily ever after”. It doesn’t exist. If you are single and looking, know this; you will not find your “princess” or your “knight in shining armor” (or your “Edward”, “Bella”, or “Jacob”). Those are only found in fairy tales. Fairy tales are only found in fiction books.

So what’s the “secret” to marriage? There isn’t one. It’s never been a secret. Genesis 2:24 says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” “One flesh”… Far too often men and women get married and continue living separate lives. They have separate friends, separate bank accounts, separate hobbies, separate lives. Too many singles are searching for someone who will enjoy their lifestyle and not interfere with it. I see plenty of women on Facebook longing for someone who won’t make them cry, won’t break their heart, and won’t forget the special occasions. I see men searching for a “loyal” woman, or a woman who accepts them for who they are. I am not the man Nikki married 10 years ago. She accepted me for who I was, but she expected me to mature and be the husband she needs. I still make her cry, I’ve broken her heart a few times, and I rarely remember our anniversary. Still, I consider our marriage better than most. She realizes – as do I – the most important thing in marriage is your spouse. Not your feelings, not your special occasions, not even your children.

Now there’s a touchy subject. The Bible never mentions children when referring to marriage. Children are important to a marriage. They are not important for a marriage. They are a bi-product. I’ve heard it said that when you marry someone with children, you marry the children too. That’s not true. The children should have no influence when deciding whether or not you will marry someone. If they do, for any reason, there is an issue that needs to be addressed before the marriage, but that’s a parenting issue. If you can’t honestly say the person you have chosen to marry is the single most important person in your life (even above your children), you shouldn’t marry them. You are not “one flesh” with you children, even if they were there before your spouse (or future spouse). You will – or have already – become “one flesh” with your spouse. It doesn’t mean you won’t put your children before yourself at times. It just means they won’t have a say in financial, career, housing, and other marriage decisions. If you don’t put your spouse first in your marriage, they will feel and act like they are second. That’s a recipe for disaster.

So, before I go I’d like to offer a few tips for a successful marriage. Will it be perfect? No. Will it be fulfilling and rewarding? Yes. Will it be hard? Of course. But it will last. It’s taken 10 years for Nikki and I to learn some of this. I wish it hadn’t taken so long. I’m just thankful it didn’t take longer.

-I tell Nikki I love her every single day… everyday.

-Nikki and I have no secrets. None. If I have a friend that happens to be a female, she knows about her. If she guy friends, I know about them.

-Nikki and I are never alone with someone of the opposite sex unnecessarily. No lunches with coworkers or friends (This doesn’t mean we won’t socialize in groups), and no parties unless we are together. -Nikki and I share a bank account. It’s fine if you don’t, but don’t give your spouse a reason to believe you are hiding money.

-We know each other’s passwords for social media accounts and all other accounts.

-We never make a significant financial decision alone. Ever.

- We respect each other’s parenting decisions. If I say “no”, Ryan gets a spanking if he asks Nikki.

-We don’t buy each other gifts for special occasions. I buy her random gifts or take her on cheap dates throughout the year. Her philosophy is, “I’d rather have a husband that appreciates me all year long, than one that has to prove his love a few times a year.” We understand the amount of money you spend on someone does not reflect the amount of love you have for them. If someone tells you the price of a gift matters because it shows the financial sacrifice they are willing to make for you, stay away from that person. They are superficial and that makes for a miserable marriage.

I saved the next one for the end because it’s the most important.

- Put God first. If you don’t, you’re wasting your time no matter who you marry.

Dusty Peace 1/13/2017