Commentary, part four.
Hello from Florida! It's sunny and lovely here. We're visiting my aunt and cousins over Christmas. Fun times!
Two more for the commentary meme! I wrote these out on the plane ride, lol.
Moments, a Polyfaceted fic, requested by Geena.
Ah, my music meme fic. I love this meme-it’s very helpful when I want to write but am stuck.
This is the meme in its classic form: put on your music, first however many songs that play (however many drabbles you want to do, usually five, but for this one I went twenty: one for each kid, plus an extra, because who does nineteen drabbles?), and you write, bam bam bam. You only get the length of each song, save for editing and whatnot afterward. I do sometimes fiddle with them, word count-wise, but the structure of each drabble stays intact. That’s why I find it so helpful-you can’t overthink it. You just write.
And, yes, all these songs came up organically. I really do have music taste this varied, lol.
Okay, first one! Tik Tok, by Ke$ha-who else to write than Nic being awesome? She’s having fun here, obviously, and why not? That’s one thing I enjoy about writing PF: female characters who are not at all shamed by their sexuality or anything ridiculous like that.
Eva’s is next, with Not Ready To Make Nice by the Dixie Chicks. This one is shortly after Eva tells her parents she’s pregnant-she’s only either 18 or just 19, and Owen has a rather poor reaction, saying some things that are very hurtful. A fight between these two is devastating, really-Eva and Owen have a bond that rivals Nic and Augusto’s. Owen, of course, instantly feels bad, but that doesn’t fix it automatically. There’s still some healing to be done.
Adamo’s was also sad, and also him standing his ground-a conscious choice after Eva’s, and then the music helped me out with The Wreckers’ Leave The Pieces. Fuck you, Lance. (Okay, okay, he has legitimate problems, really, and he does feel guilty as fuck about this, but he broke Adamo’s heart, okay, I get to hate him a little. Adamo is the sweetest person ever.)
Ah, this one-Both Hands, by Ani DiFranco. I was initially unsure who to write for this one. It wasn’t until I got to the bit of lyric I quoted that I settled on Seamus and Cris, and man, they kind of hurt my heart. Just a terrible idea all around, this marriage. I feel bad.
Now this bit of juxtaposition, with Betta (or Ellie, as George calls her) and George being happy right after Cris and Semaus being…not, this I wish I could say was All Part of My Plan. Alas, happy accident-the luck of the music randomizer. I love Ridiculous-it’s such a fun song, and pretty Betta, I think! Also fitting for this relationship. They have such fun together, and treat it as an adventure. They kill me with adorable.
Haha, oh, man, Hollaback Girl. I do remember quite firmly deciding I would not use one of the sisters for this song, and thus we get Johnny! Which makes me lol, so win-win. He’s punching some homophobe’s lights out, so, you know. Hard for me to care. =P Go Johnny.
Lol, Mr. Policeman could be no one else but Vito, come on. Although I did decide to take this in a more serious direction, with Vito reflecting on his skills/abilities and basking in how much it’s his thing, dammit. He’s fucking excellent at it, too, so I say he deserves an opportunity to bask every now and then.
Love You Out Loud and Is, who is beaming happy, having just been proposed to. This one makes me lol solely because of the line about Is smiling at David and him giving her a look. I just imagine that look to be so, “……wtf.” that it’s hilarious, lol. Excellent mental image.
…lol @ Crush for Maria, self. I think I managed to forget I’d picked this one for her, so now I’m amused again. I do like to be contrary. =P I find this one interesting, too, because it’s one of the times (note: when I wrote this out long-hand I initially wrote few, but crossed it out; I think it’s more often than I really explore) she wants to get laid but doesn’t want to kill the guy afterward. Hence her annoyance, which I find kind of darkly hilarious-it’s hard to find decent guys, dammit. Finding assholes is much easier!
Hee, Stray Italian Greyhound for Gina Sophia and Natalie. They are so cute. If I’m not mistaken (I think Geena told me this once upon a time) for a couple weeks, Gina Sophia keeps dressing up solely to get coffee, because of Natalie, and Natalie eventually writes her number on one of her coffee cups, lol. They are so cute. I love them.
Ah, Cell Block Tango. Such a Corlioni song. Lea, though she hides it better, is not immune or above the classic Corlioni attitude: fuck with us, you pay for it. You do not mess with her family, and if you do, you get what you have coming to you, full stop. This attitude is what drives her and Carlos’ very rare fights. He has some trouble reconciling it. Which, I mean, I can’t really blame him-it’s a very insular, frightening attitude.
This song choice, Perfect, was another contrary, ironic choice, lol, given the couple. Daria and Leo are Fucked Up with a capital F and a capital U. All of Daria’s pregnancies are orchestrated by her, because she wants kids, so of course she’s going to have them. Who cares what Leo thinks? Duh. And yeah, Daria totally won this chess match, lol.
Oh, Teresa, with For You. I have to admit, this was the hardest for me to write. Her artist headspace…it’s all Greek to me. I don’t have a millionth of the talent and vision she does, so writing her can be a challenge. She’s so very…I don’t know, strangely precise to me? I’m not sure how to describe it. But on the flip side, Teresa is kind of the essence of delightful, so even if it is a challenge, writing her is still fun.
Ah, Mina, with Before He Cheats. Also not like normal people. Here she just destroyed a guy’s life (granted, an asshole guy), or at least seriously derailed it for awhile, and she doesn’t care. To her, it had to happen. It’s the essence of Corlioni again: mess with me, you get what you deserve. Her way is a little less violent, sure, but it’s not in any way less devastating. I like seeing that come out in the less-obvious ways, from the more mild-mannered Corlionis. It really is a theme.
Hee, lol again @ myself for using this song with this character. He Loves You Not for Torey! Lulz. It’s a very, “Lol, okay, sure, hit on my SO, whatever, nothing’s going to happen.” song, though probs in a more Angela way than a Torey way, but whatevs, still fun. =P Anyway, Torey and Eileen! I love them. They are so cute and, like, functional and shit. Awesome. This dude wasn’t a dick, just kinda clueless, and hey, Eileen is super hot and super awesome, who wouldn’t want to hit on her if they saw her alone? So of course Torey’s not mad, though the dude is legit super terrified anyway. I don’t even think he recognized him-Torey being GIANT and FIT was plenty, lol. ANOTHER THING, this one is set in 2004! It is the first visit to Dan’s by any Corlioni, though you don't know that yet here. Yay, momentous occasion. I wrote Dan’s POV of this here, in his binge, the first section. He was very impressed by Torey’s calmness here, lol, especially since he did recognize him. The start of a beautiful friendship! (…aaaaand I just gave myself Torey/Dan thoughts. Wtf brain. Wtf.)
…I had a lot to say about Torey’s, apparently!
Aww, This One’s a Cheap Shot for Stef. Poor Stef. Here he is debating with himself over telling Augusto about the priest, and I just…oh, Stef. I wish he’d told him. Or anyone. I just want to hug him here, poor kid.
Gino meeting Zara (who is Morena Baccarin, GINO YOU SUCK. Not really, but damn you’re lucky) for I’m A Believer. Fitting, lol. Lulz at stopping Vito from moving in first-good call, Gino. (Vito tends to hit on women with, “You have an awesome rack.” Which, while kind of adorable in ‘refreshingly honest’ sort of way, would have resulted in no Zara, lol.)
Oh, David, with Mama Tried. David is such a mama’s boy, there’s no denying it, and it’s fun to show. He’s only four, almost five here, and already bugging the shit out of Johnny, lol, and also already learning to tell his mother what she wants to hear. He’s a quick learner. (Sometimes. Other times he does stupid things. As we all know. =P)
Poor Romeo. Oh, Romeo. WHY DID WE BREAK YOU. He’s so sweet and good-natured and we totally crushed him. We suck. Here he is grieving, and I just want to hug the poor guy.
Aaaand the group one! Lulz forever here. I had to have this one, of course, because there are only nineteen children (that we know of and NO WE ARE NOT NAMING THE OTHER POSSIBLE ONES BECAUSE WE’RE US AND THEY WOULD TAKE OVER) and doing nineteen drabbles would have been silly and also bugged me a lot. So here’s the twentieth, with the PERFECT song, Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked. The music gods were smiling upon me. This idea makes me laugh. Of course the Corlionis are no stranger to press, bad or otherwise, but stupid, gossipy, page 6 crap? Fuck no. They are professionals, thank you very much. I simultaneously want to lol at and pat poor Vito on the head here. Oh Vito.
So I wrote this out, and thus did not know what the word count was. Now that I have typed it up, however: 1,665 words. You guys, that is almost as long as the fic itself. Just wow.
Trigger warning right off the bat for discussion of severe child abuse in this one:
Further Repercussions, a Polyfaceted fic, requested by Kelly.
LEO. SUCKS. AT. LIFE.
Ahem.
We all hate Leo. Shit like this is why.
Anyway. The title, for once, was actually purposeful/thought out, rather than just being the first workable thing I could slap up there, lol. It’s a play on Repercussions, the fic with the aftermath of Leo dosing Teresa with acid. Also purposeful given the last scene, but we’ll get to that in a moment, as well as a handy metaphor.
First scene: Lea does not like Daria. She doesn’t fool her for a second, like she does Gabriella. Plus, Leo’s her baby brother-without knowing the facts, she’s biased toward him. It’s totally uncharitable, and she knows it, but. Corlioni. She doesn’t care.
So Lea heads to Daria to find out what’s up. I kind of fucking love this part, with the two of them. It’s so…considered. Every interaction they have is a careful calculation. Daria can’t play Lea, but she has, you know, the truth in this case, and given she knows how much Lea loves Leo (and, on another level, how much Leo values Lea’s opinion), she does have the upper hand here, and will definitely use it.
Thus Lea finds out what really happened-Leo, because he sucks at life, caught his four-year-old daughter playing with his camera and broke her hands with a bronze bookend. Fuck you, Leo. Fuck you hard. Lea is, of course, appalled.
She takes a day to decide what to do. I found out she visits Dan’s in that day, which also comes up in the Dan binge. I do honestly believe she took that day because she was debating whether or not Leo should die for this, quite literally. And she would not have gone to Torey and Johnny had she decided she wanted him dead.
Ultimately, however, she decides against it, which I will elaborate on in a second, and goes to Torey and Johnny to make Leo hurt. He did something wrong. He has to pay. That’s the Corlioni mindset, through and through. I have fun with their sense of retribution-it is so extreme and so them and so fucked up. (Although admittedly it can be harder to care about in Leo’s case because, again, HE SUCKS.)
I do have to lol a bit at her opening line. Right to the point, and very out of context! No wonder it throws Torey and Johnny for a second. Anyway, they agree to take care of it, because, once again: WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU LEO.
Here we are. Last scene. So. Much. Parallelism. I very purposefully wrote this to strongly invoke the hospital room scene of Repercussions, right down to the standard, rote oh-darn-those-gangs line the family likes to use in cases like this. (Side note: you have to wonder how many doctors are totally on to them, but don’t press further because, you know, scary mob family and all. Man, now I kind of want some cookie crumbs. Maybe a pocky chain.)
Lea is not bluffing here, at all. So now for my handy metaphor.
I don’t know how universal this system was, but when I was in first grade, we had a traffic light behavioral system. Everyone started with a green card. If you did something wrong, broke a rule or were disruptive or whatever, the green card got pulled, and you were on yellow. If you broke another rule, you got your yellow card pulled, and you were on red. If you did something after that, you got sent to the principal/got a call home/the whole nine yards.
Leo is on this system with Lea. She loves him dearly, but she, unlike Gabriella, has always known what he is, really, and some part of her has always carried the burden that some day, she just might have to end him. Dosing Teresa pulled his 'green' card. Doing this pulled his 'yellow' one. If he fucks up again, he will not get sent to the principal. She will kill him.
…and now I kind of want to write that AU. Or have someone else do it, lol.
Next up: She Tells Him, since it's half done, and probably either Stages or Rules (or both) after that.
Two more for the commentary meme! I wrote these out on the plane ride, lol.
Moments, a Polyfaceted fic, requested by Geena.
Ah, my music meme fic. I love this meme-it’s very helpful when I want to write but am stuck.
This is the meme in its classic form: put on your music, first however many songs that play (however many drabbles you want to do, usually five, but for this one I went twenty: one for each kid, plus an extra, because who does nineteen drabbles?), and you write, bam bam bam. You only get the length of each song, save for editing and whatnot afterward. I do sometimes fiddle with them, word count-wise, but the structure of each drabble stays intact. That’s why I find it so helpful-you can’t overthink it. You just write.
And, yes, all these songs came up organically. I really do have music taste this varied, lol.
Okay, first one! Tik Tok, by Ke$ha-who else to write than Nic being awesome? She’s having fun here, obviously, and why not? That’s one thing I enjoy about writing PF: female characters who are not at all shamed by their sexuality or anything ridiculous like that.
Eva’s is next, with Not Ready To Make Nice by the Dixie Chicks. This one is shortly after Eva tells her parents she’s pregnant-she’s only either 18 or just 19, and Owen has a rather poor reaction, saying some things that are very hurtful. A fight between these two is devastating, really-Eva and Owen have a bond that rivals Nic and Augusto’s. Owen, of course, instantly feels bad, but that doesn’t fix it automatically. There’s still some healing to be done.
Adamo’s was also sad, and also him standing his ground-a conscious choice after Eva’s, and then the music helped me out with The Wreckers’ Leave The Pieces. Fuck you, Lance. (Okay, okay, he has legitimate problems, really, and he does feel guilty as fuck about this, but he broke Adamo’s heart, okay, I get to hate him a little. Adamo is the sweetest person ever.)
Ah, this one-Both Hands, by Ani DiFranco. I was initially unsure who to write for this one. It wasn’t until I got to the bit of lyric I quoted that I settled on Seamus and Cris, and man, they kind of hurt my heart. Just a terrible idea all around, this marriage. I feel bad.
Now this bit of juxtaposition, with Betta (or Ellie, as George calls her) and George being happy right after Cris and Semaus being…not, this I wish I could say was All Part of My Plan. Alas, happy accident-the luck of the music randomizer. I love Ridiculous-it’s such a fun song, and pretty Betta, I think! Also fitting for this relationship. They have such fun together, and treat it as an adventure. They kill me with adorable.
Haha, oh, man, Hollaback Girl. I do remember quite firmly deciding I would not use one of the sisters for this song, and thus we get Johnny! Which makes me lol, so win-win. He’s punching some homophobe’s lights out, so, you know. Hard for me to care. =P Go Johnny.
Lol, Mr. Policeman could be no one else but Vito, come on. Although I did decide to take this in a more serious direction, with Vito reflecting on his skills/abilities and basking in how much it’s his thing, dammit. He’s fucking excellent at it, too, so I say he deserves an opportunity to bask every now and then.
Love You Out Loud and Is, who is beaming happy, having just been proposed to. This one makes me lol solely because of the line about Is smiling at David and him giving her a look. I just imagine that look to be so, “……wtf.” that it’s hilarious, lol. Excellent mental image.
…lol @ Crush for Maria, self. I think I managed to forget I’d picked this one for her, so now I’m amused again. I do like to be contrary. =P I find this one interesting, too, because it’s one of the times (note: when I wrote this out long-hand I initially wrote few, but crossed it out; I think it’s more often than I really explore) she wants to get laid but doesn’t want to kill the guy afterward. Hence her annoyance, which I find kind of darkly hilarious-it’s hard to find decent guys, dammit. Finding assholes is much easier!
Hee, Stray Italian Greyhound for Gina Sophia and Natalie. They are so cute. If I’m not mistaken (I think Geena told me this once upon a time) for a couple weeks, Gina Sophia keeps dressing up solely to get coffee, because of Natalie, and Natalie eventually writes her number on one of her coffee cups, lol. They are so cute. I love them.
Ah, Cell Block Tango. Such a Corlioni song. Lea, though she hides it better, is not immune or above the classic Corlioni attitude: fuck with us, you pay for it. You do not mess with her family, and if you do, you get what you have coming to you, full stop. This attitude is what drives her and Carlos’ very rare fights. He has some trouble reconciling it. Which, I mean, I can’t really blame him-it’s a very insular, frightening attitude.
This song choice, Perfect, was another contrary, ironic choice, lol, given the couple. Daria and Leo are Fucked Up with a capital F and a capital U. All of Daria’s pregnancies are orchestrated by her, because she wants kids, so of course she’s going to have them. Who cares what Leo thinks? Duh. And yeah, Daria totally won this chess match, lol.
Oh, Teresa, with For You. I have to admit, this was the hardest for me to write. Her artist headspace…it’s all Greek to me. I don’t have a millionth of the talent and vision she does, so writing her can be a challenge. She’s so very…I don’t know, strangely precise to me? I’m not sure how to describe it. But on the flip side, Teresa is kind of the essence of delightful, so even if it is a challenge, writing her is still fun.
Ah, Mina, with Before He Cheats. Also not like normal people. Here she just destroyed a guy’s life (granted, an asshole guy), or at least seriously derailed it for awhile, and she doesn’t care. To her, it had to happen. It’s the essence of Corlioni again: mess with me, you get what you deserve. Her way is a little less violent, sure, but it’s not in any way less devastating. I like seeing that come out in the less-obvious ways, from the more mild-mannered Corlionis. It really is a theme.
Hee, lol again @ myself for using this song with this character. He Loves You Not for Torey! Lulz. It’s a very, “Lol, okay, sure, hit on my SO, whatever, nothing’s going to happen.” song, though probs in a more Angela way than a Torey way, but whatevs, still fun. =P Anyway, Torey and Eileen! I love them. They are so cute and, like, functional and shit. Awesome. This dude wasn’t a dick, just kinda clueless, and hey, Eileen is super hot and super awesome, who wouldn’t want to hit on her if they saw her alone? So of course Torey’s not mad, though the dude is legit super terrified anyway. I don’t even think he recognized him-Torey being GIANT and FIT was plenty, lol. ANOTHER THING, this one is set in 2004! It is the first visit to Dan’s by any Corlioni, though you don't know that yet here. Yay, momentous occasion. I wrote Dan’s POV of this here, in his binge, the first section. He was very impressed by Torey’s calmness here, lol, especially since he did recognize him. The start of a beautiful friendship! (…aaaaand I just gave myself Torey/Dan thoughts. Wtf brain. Wtf.)
…I had a lot to say about Torey’s, apparently!
Aww, This One’s a Cheap Shot for Stef. Poor Stef. Here he is debating with himself over telling Augusto about the priest, and I just…oh, Stef. I wish he’d told him. Or anyone. I just want to hug him here, poor kid.
Gino meeting Zara (who is Morena Baccarin, GINO YOU SUCK. Not really, but damn you’re lucky) for I’m A Believer. Fitting, lol. Lulz at stopping Vito from moving in first-good call, Gino. (Vito tends to hit on women with, “You have an awesome rack.” Which, while kind of adorable in ‘refreshingly honest’ sort of way, would have resulted in no Zara, lol.)
Oh, David, with Mama Tried. David is such a mama’s boy, there’s no denying it, and it’s fun to show. He’s only four, almost five here, and already bugging the shit out of Johnny, lol, and also already learning to tell his mother what she wants to hear. He’s a quick learner. (Sometimes. Other times he does stupid things. As we all know. =P)
Poor Romeo. Oh, Romeo. WHY DID WE BREAK YOU. He’s so sweet and good-natured and we totally crushed him. We suck. Here he is grieving, and I just want to hug the poor guy.
Aaaand the group one! Lulz forever here. I had to have this one, of course, because there are only nineteen children (that we know of and NO WE ARE NOT NAMING THE OTHER POSSIBLE ONES BECAUSE WE’RE US AND THEY WOULD TAKE OVER) and doing nineteen drabbles would have been silly and also bugged me a lot. So here’s the twentieth, with the PERFECT song, Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked. The music gods were smiling upon me. This idea makes me laugh. Of course the Corlionis are no stranger to press, bad or otherwise, but stupid, gossipy, page 6 crap? Fuck no. They are professionals, thank you very much. I simultaneously want to lol at and pat poor Vito on the head here. Oh Vito.
So I wrote this out, and thus did not know what the word count was. Now that I have typed it up, however: 1,665 words. You guys, that is almost as long as the fic itself. Just wow.
Trigger warning right off the bat for discussion of severe child abuse in this one:
Further Repercussions, a Polyfaceted fic, requested by Kelly.
LEO. SUCKS. AT. LIFE.
Ahem.
We all hate Leo. Shit like this is why.
Anyway. The title, for once, was actually purposeful/thought out, rather than just being the first workable thing I could slap up there, lol. It’s a play on Repercussions, the fic with the aftermath of Leo dosing Teresa with acid. Also purposeful given the last scene, but we’ll get to that in a moment, as well as a handy metaphor.
First scene: Lea does not like Daria. She doesn’t fool her for a second, like she does Gabriella. Plus, Leo’s her baby brother-without knowing the facts, she’s biased toward him. It’s totally uncharitable, and she knows it, but. Corlioni. She doesn’t care.
So Lea heads to Daria to find out what’s up. I kind of fucking love this part, with the two of them. It’s so…considered. Every interaction they have is a careful calculation. Daria can’t play Lea, but she has, you know, the truth in this case, and given she knows how much Lea loves Leo (and, on another level, how much Leo values Lea’s opinion), she does have the upper hand here, and will definitely use it.
Thus Lea finds out what really happened-Leo, because he sucks at life, caught his four-year-old daughter playing with his camera and broke her hands with a bronze bookend. Fuck you, Leo. Fuck you hard. Lea is, of course, appalled.
She takes a day to decide what to do. I found out she visits Dan’s in that day, which also comes up in the Dan binge. I do honestly believe she took that day because she was debating whether or not Leo should die for this, quite literally. And she would not have gone to Torey and Johnny had she decided she wanted him dead.
Ultimately, however, she decides against it, which I will elaborate on in a second, and goes to Torey and Johnny to make Leo hurt. He did something wrong. He has to pay. That’s the Corlioni mindset, through and through. I have fun with their sense of retribution-it is so extreme and so them and so fucked up. (Although admittedly it can be harder to care about in Leo’s case because, again, HE SUCKS.)
I do have to lol a bit at her opening line. Right to the point, and very out of context! No wonder it throws Torey and Johnny for a second. Anyway, they agree to take care of it, because, once again: WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU LEO.
Here we are. Last scene. So. Much. Parallelism. I very purposefully wrote this to strongly invoke the hospital room scene of Repercussions, right down to the standard, rote oh-darn-those-gangs line the family likes to use in cases like this. (Side note: you have to wonder how many doctors are totally on to them, but don’t press further because, you know, scary mob family and all. Man, now I kind of want some cookie crumbs. Maybe a pocky chain.)
Lea is not bluffing here, at all. So now for my handy metaphor.
I don’t know how universal this system was, but when I was in first grade, we had a traffic light behavioral system. Everyone started with a green card. If you did something wrong, broke a rule or were disruptive or whatever, the green card got pulled, and you were on yellow. If you broke another rule, you got your yellow card pulled, and you were on red. If you did something after that, you got sent to the principal/got a call home/the whole nine yards.
Leo is on this system with Lea. She loves him dearly, but she, unlike Gabriella, has always known what he is, really, and some part of her has always carried the burden that some day, she just might have to end him. Dosing Teresa pulled his 'green' card. Doing this pulled his 'yellow' one. If he fucks up again, he will not get sent to the principal. She will kill him.
…and now I kind of want to write that AU. Or have someone else do it, lol.
Next up: She Tells Him, since it's half done, and probably either Stages or Rules (or both) after that.