Author's Notes: Poisoned Piece
This was one of those stories: those stories being the ones which don't write themselves so much as ensalve you and refuse to let you go until you have them all down on paper. It's also the first full-length piece of fanfiction I've ever managed to finish. I'm pretty proud of myself. And kind of worried about the fact that my muses apparently have the ability to make me type things completely against my will. But, anyway...
Titles
The name of the fic itself comes from the idea in chess of a sacrifice: a piece you dangle for your oponent in order to lure them into a trap. Each of the chapters is named for a chess move as well: 'Blackburne Shilling' is a weak opening gambit whose only strength is really that of unpredictability, which describes how I felt about the chapter origianlly. Falkbeer is a type of countergambit, also normally used in the early stages of a chess game. Zwischenzug is a fancy German name for a middling move that doesn't actually do anything but set a piece in a new position. Connected Pawns refers to the strong position of having your pawns within moving distance of one another, preventing their capture. Castled King is the move where a King is placed in a more secure postion by being tucked in the back corner next to a rook. And you should all know what Endgame is by now.
Mad March
I was really flattered by how sympathetic people found Mad March to be. I tend to read him as being part Dexter Morgan part psychotic man-child; it's not that his aims are completely incomprehensible so much as his methods and ideologies are completely batshit insane. He has an opportunity to get his friend back; if it involves torture and brainwashing, then it involves torture and brainwashing. Why should that bother him?
The Picnic
I'll amit, this was sort of the result of me having writen myself into a corner. I didn't want the fighting to be too brutal, because the Suits would need to switch sides easily and I couldn't really have either side advance too much, because the Suits needed to stay between the Resistance and the Casino for the plan to work. And so, completely out of nowhere, my muse decided that the only way to resolve the issue was to feed everyone sandwiches.
Me: ...the fuck?
Muse: No see, it's actually quite brilliant. It fits into the theme you had of the food being important, and Charlie's growing confidence.
Me: It's silly!
Muse: Didn't you just here me, it's brilliant!
Me: It's so silly the cop from Monty Python is going to arrest me!
Muse: You need some elements of humor in this chapter, it fits in well with the arcs you've laid out, and while we've had this conversation you've started to type it out.
Me: Fine!
This sort of schizoid method is apparently how I'm writing my entire next fic as well.
Other Characters
Felix is the Nine of Clubs, and is named after Alessandro Juliani's other adorable inside man. I had a hard time writing Duchess because when I tried I sometimes came out with a repressed Lady Gaga, but I feel I got a hang of it by the end. Duck's job is something of a pun- what do you do when there's a cannon pointed at you? Duck, of course! Owl originally had a much bigger part where she ended up telling Alice that she was a former Parliamentarian- which is also a pun, a Parliament is the collective noun for owls. It ended up being cut because it was a was lot of nothing for a joke most people wouldn't get, and I kind of liked Owl as the dottering grandmother who accidentially trebuchet'd Suits. Dormie also got his part cut down, because I felt like Alice being shot had more of an impact if her getting the body armor was in flashback, rather than beforehand. I also had a cut scene where, while in adjascent cells, the Queen realizes that the only person who isacting like she's still the Queen is Winston, and gives him a smile, but it was too creepy for the tone I was aiming for in the epilogue.
Asclepius is the Greek god of medicine and healing. Why was Charlie threatening the Suits with him? I don't know, ask Nick Willing.