This was tricky, because I needed to supply a lot of backstory fairly quickly and I didn't want it to be an infodump. At the same time, I wanted to say something about Curio, because though he presents himself as a bodyguard and not a particularly well-educated one, he's a very shrewd and observant man with a very dry sense of humor. Here I had him do the research about Violette and Sebastien because, while he could have delegated the job without causing any problems, he's genuinely curious. He wants to find out.
The information was on a scanned yearbook page because no one remembers that yearbooks are documentation. But Curio thought of it. He's just that thorough.
As for Sebastien's original name--I had just finished re-reading Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, so the name Vivienne was fresh in my mind. I just put Marie after it because it's a very common middle name and, since the Messaline twins were from Quebec, I wanted the original middle name to be French but simple at the same time. (Sebastien has changed his middle name as well, naturally, and has adopted his father's middle name--Charles.)
I also had to explain how Violette and Sebastien could possibly look so much alike. I know that Half Identical Twins is a trope...but, for my own peace of mind, I had to make sense of it. The logical solution, as far as I was concerned, was that Sebastien was trans. I had known that since the beginning, but this was the big reveal.
I did have one person complain that Curio should have been more shocked by Sebastien and that he shouldn't have been so aware of the myriad possibilities with Cesario. This person felt that he was too politically correct for a Mafia member.
But for me, that was the point. Curio isn't a stereotype. He's not particularly fussed anything sex-related or gender-related, though he gets a trifle flustered by the OT4 at the end. He genuinely admires Sebastien for becoming the person he wants to be. I'm not sure he quite gets why Sebastien wants this--but he wishes Sebastien well. (And you'll notice that he never mentions Sebastien's past as Vivienne in the story. He'd say that that's Sebastien's business--it ain't his.)
The combination of exposition and character development was why I picked it, actually--because that's something I struggle with as a writer and you've done a fabulous job of it here. And trans!Sebastian does make so much sense.
I agree, too, with the way Curio reacts--we've seen throughout the story that he really doesn't care what other people do in their private time so long as it doesn't interfere with his job. His only real criticism of Orsino chasing Olivia is that it was giving Orsino problems.
This was tricky, because I needed to supply a lot of backstory fairly quickly and I didn't want it to be an infodump. At the same time, I wanted to say something about Curio, because though he presents himself as a bodyguard and not a particularly well-educated one, he's a very shrewd and observant man with a very dry sense of humor. Here I had him do the research about Violette and Sebastien because, while he could have delegated the job without causing any problems, he's genuinely curious. He wants to find out.
The information was on a scanned yearbook page because no one remembers that yearbooks are documentation. But Curio thought of it. He's just that thorough.
As for Sebastien's original name--I had just finished re-reading Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, so the name Vivienne was fresh in my mind. I just put Marie after it because it's a very common middle name and, since the Messaline twins were from Quebec, I wanted the original middle name to be French but simple at the same time. (Sebastien has changed his middle name as well, naturally, and has adopted his father's middle name--Charles.)
I also had to explain how Violette and Sebastien could possibly look so much alike. I know that Half Identical Twins is a trope...but, for my own peace of mind, I had to make sense of it. The logical solution, as far as I was concerned, was that Sebastien was trans. I had known that since the beginning, but this was the big reveal.
I did have one person complain that Curio should have been more shocked by Sebastien and that he shouldn't have been so aware of the myriad possibilities with Cesario. This person felt that he was too politically correct for a Mafia member.
But for me, that was the point. Curio isn't a stereotype. He's not particularly fussed anything sex-related or gender-related, though he gets a trifle flustered by the OT4 at the end. He genuinely admires Sebastien for becoming the person he wants to be. I'm not sure he quite gets why Sebastien wants this--but he wishes Sebastien well. (And you'll notice that he never mentions Sebastien's past as Vivienne in the story. He'd say that that's Sebastien's business--it ain't his.)
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I agree, too, with the way Curio reacts--we've seen throughout the story that he really doesn't care what other people do in their private time so long as it doesn't interfere with his job. His only real criticism of Orsino chasing Olivia is that it was giving Orsino problems.
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