From With a Cunning HandOnce I make my excuses and run the search, it does not take long before I find two names: Sebastien Messaline, Sr. and Sebastien Messaline, Jr. Messaline Senior died recently, and seems to have been an importer and exporter of rare goods. The genuine variety, mind you, and not the euphemism. Messaline Senior checks out as a fair, noble and honorable man, which may explain why he died broke
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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
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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.
Not his wedding anniversary, please note. His wedding. For the prince, wearying of the strong and beautiful woman he was wed to, had chosen a new bride, a beauty he had found comatose in a ruined tower. The prince might have resisted such a temptation, but, to be honest, he did not wish to. And so he used her savagely and left the tower, sated. The girl knew nothing until she gave birth to twins and one of the twins, seeking food, sucked an accursed splinter from her mother's finger, breaking the curse of eternal sleep that had been cast on both girl and kingdom
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A Dance in Iron Shoes. That's a strange story--basically, what happened after Snow White's happily ever after.
When I was younger, I used to think that there were an awful lot of Prince Charmings in fairy tales; I decided that the Charmings were a huge royal family with more boys than they knew what to do with. Here, it's darker. Snow White's prince--who's already been established as a sadist and a necrophiliac--is conflated with the rapist-king from an older version of the tale of Sleeping Beauty called "Sun, Moon and Talia." Here's the pertinent part:
After a time, it happened by chance that a king was out hunting and passed that way. One of his falcons escaped from his hand and flew into the house by way of one of the windows. It did not come when called, so the king had one of his party knock at the door, believing the palace to be inhabited. Although he knocked for a length of time, nobody answered, so the king had them bring a vintner's ladder, for he himself would climb up and search the house, to discover what was inside.
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Word on the Prince Charmings thing. They actually ran with that in the comic series, "Fables". In it, Prince Charming was one character, but he was a serious womanizer and married and divorced Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella. Cindy points out that he likely hoped to give up his philandering when he married Snow (he ends up having an affair with her sister, Rose Red) and that he probably figured he could sort himself out when he married Beauty, but by the time he got to Wife #3, he almost certainly knew he couldn't break the habit and married her anyway.
Ah yes, Sun, Moon, and Talia. That charming story. I think the only adaptation that wasn't squicky was "A Kiss in Time", and that's because the guy still kissed her instead of raping her (she was given the name Talia, as a nod to that particular version).
I really like your interpretation of Sleeping Beauty. It makes perfect sense for the situation she's been thrown into.
It's significant that the princess helps the beauty, because it would be very easy to see the two as rivals. But they aren't. They're both in the same horrible situation. The princess has been preparing to escape for seven years--but she won't leave someone else in the same position, and she won't let the beauty's children become hostages to be used against their mother. She speaks bluntly, but that's only because she wants the beauty--who is as young and as resolutely optimistic as she was when she wed the prince--to know just how bad things are
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From The Whispering of AngelsHe'd grown with the years, though Winifred doubted if he realised it. She was certain that this wasn't what the High Council had intended. They had wanted to break him--first his spirit, then his mind--by severing him from her presence forever
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This was written as a direct result of getting to know you and cyloran. You hadn't brought Winifred into hearts_andminds yet, but Cal's Bob was definitely in the village of Haurvatat
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Once I realized that, I knew what was happening with Harry and Bob.
Because Harry DOES love Bob. He has since he was a child. Bob's behavior with Little Harry, as well as his decision to teach him how to defend himself from black magic rather than how to be the source of it, indicates that he's loved Harry for a very long time as well. Harry will put everything aside and risk his life to rescue Bob from his kidnapper; Bob will die rather than see Harry suffer or perish. They make each other better...and they don't realize it.
The Council keeps referring to how proud and powerful Bob was in the past. The show also tells us in the few appearances with ghosts and spirits that the dead rarely change from what they were in life. So no wonder they don't see Bob as different now than he used to be; to the Council's way of thinking, Bob is a ghost, and ghosts don't change.
(Also, going by what Word of God said about ghosts of necromancers in Ghost Story, I'm sure the Council wouldn't want to think of Bob getting free, for dead
( ... )
I will admit that I picked that passage (actually, most of that fic) because I loved it (no surprise there), and because I wanted to get you talking about Bob, Harry and Winifred again. It's a nostalgic thing. :)
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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 ( ... )
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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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When I was younger, I used to think that there were an awful lot of Prince Charmings in fairy tales; I decided that the Charmings were a huge royal family with more boys than they knew what to do with. Here, it's darker. Snow White's prince--who's already been established as a sadist and a necrophiliac--is conflated with the rapist-king from an older version of the tale of Sleeping Beauty called "Sun, Moon and Talia." Here's the pertinent part:
After a time, it happened by chance that a king was out hunting and passed that way. One of his falcons escaped from his hand and flew into the house by way of one of the windows. It did not come when called, so the king had one of his party knock at the door, believing the palace to be inhabited. Although he knocked for a length of time, nobody answered, so the king had them bring a vintner's ladder, for he himself would climb up and search the house, to discover what was inside. ( ... )
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Ah yes, Sun, Moon, and Talia. That charming story. I think the only adaptation that wasn't squicky was "A Kiss in Time", and that's because the guy still kissed her instead of raping her (she was given the name Talia, as a nod to that particular version).
I really like your interpretation of Sleeping Beauty. It makes perfect sense for the situation she's been thrown into.
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This was written as a direct result of getting to know you and cyloran. You hadn't brought Winifred into hearts_andminds yet, but Cal's Bob was definitely in the village of Haurvatat ( ... )
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Because Harry DOES love Bob. He has since he was a child. Bob's behavior with Little Harry, as well as his decision to teach him how to defend himself from black magic rather than how to be the source of it, indicates that he's loved Harry for a very long time as well. Harry will put everything aside and risk his life to rescue Bob from his kidnapper; Bob will die rather than see Harry suffer or perish. They make each other better...and they don't realize it.
The Council keeps referring to how proud and powerful Bob was in the past. The show also tells us in the few appearances with ghosts and spirits that the dead rarely change from what they were in life. So no wonder they don't see Bob as different now than he used to be; to the Council's way of thinking, Bob is a ghost, and ghosts don't change.
(Also, going by what Word of God said about ghosts of necromancers in Ghost Story, I'm sure the Council wouldn't want to think of Bob getting free, for dead ( ... )
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I will admit that I picked that passage (actually, most of that fic) because I loved it (no surprise there), and because I wanted to get you talking about Bob, Harry and Winifred again. It's a nostalgic thing. :)
Thank you!
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