A Box Full of Nonsense

So, there's fanfiction on display in the Victoria State Library.

They have an exhibit on the topic of love letters, on the messy, squirming, embarrasing human condition that is loving a person, a place, a thing, and how ai puports to take all that, scrape all that messy humanity off, and sell the squeaky clean prose back to you as a product.

It was very startling to read the letters of Andrew George Scott, perhaps better known as Captain Moonlite, writing to his victims begging on bended knee not for absolution, or forgiveness, but for the grace to be burried at the side of his friend, his soulmate, James Nesbitt, who the folk he held to ransom were kind enough to bury decently, and then turn to see the faces of Kirk and Spock.

There were so many other beautiful, heartwrenching stories. Loves lost, loves remembered, love denied again and again, friends reaching through the ages, lockets and postcards and text messages and charm bracelets and mixtapes and photocopied fanfiction zines.

I have been tagged by the lovely @eolewyn1010 for a little game!

Rules: Without naming them, post a gif from ten of your favorite films, then tag ten people to do the same!

Yeah I dunno 10 people either XD Uhh, @sasodei do you want in? Anyone else who wants in just pretend I tagged you, kk?

Curt:

5. What are your character's opinion on scars?

Curt hasn’t really got a strong opinion one way or another. He’s got a very blue collar background, and where industry is concerned, accidents happen, so injuries culminating in scarring and the odd missing extremity aren’t something he’s going to see as terribly unusual or inherently reflective of character. He does have a bit of a soft spot for the underdog though, so someone who’s obviously lived a bit of a hard life might get his paternal instincts going just on that alone, which, he isn’t great about matching with charisma and social grace and instead ends up kinda glomming onto people like a big scary duckling.

14. Does your character prefer restaurant food or home cooked food?

Depends on the restaurant! He generally likes hearty, filling foods, staples like a good roast dinner or a big bundle of fish and chips wrapped in paper. If it’s hot and there’s a lot of it, he’s happy, and with company? Even better. He’d be equally happy carving up a roast for his family at home as he would be enjoying a beer and a plate of steak and kidney pudding at the local pub with some mates. Fine dining though? That wouldn’t be to his taste. He does not have a sophisticated palette, and he would find courses of fiddly little delicacies more annoying than interesting, and while he’d make an effort to learn the etiquette he’d probably spend the whole time stressing about looking a fool and just not enjoying himself.

3. What is a talent your character wishes they had?

Curt wishes he could command the attention of a room without raising his voice, and could earn their respect without throwing his weight around. He’s seen it done, been held spellbound by people with charisma and conviction that seemed wondrous to him, and wishes just once to know how it feels to hold it without making a fist around it.

He also loves songbirds, and with his burgeoning interest in photography he wishes he could capture the essence of them on film. Shutter speeds and film development times aren’t quite up to the task yet, but he keeps on experimenting with his pet canaries all the same.

Claire:

4. Does your character have a favorite material they like to wear?

Claire has very good taste in fabrics, but one her salary can’t quite match. Her own wardrobe is by no means poor though, she has a nice linen dress she favours for working in warm weather, and several nice woollen ones to be layered upon for the rest of the year, worn soft from years of service, and made her own, a little embroidery here, a few more pleats here, a new-old set of pretty shell buttons she saved from the out of season fashions they cast the companion’s way.  

Still, her work in service has allowed her opportunities to handle silks and satin and wonderful laces that she could not help but covert. She still remembers the feeling of a pashmina silk shawl running through her hands like a river of pure colour, and, her favourite old skirt was as sackcloth against her shins in comparison.

If she had all the money in the world, she would wear nothing else.

5. How well does your character act under pressure?

About as well as you could expect a teenager to. Her work in service has ingratiated her with a certain stiff upper lip, and the ability to react to and roll with the whims of their employers, how to triage tasks, when it’s a good time to speak up and when it’s time to put her head down and not poke the bear. That being said, removed from that environment and left more to her own devices, she is a teenage girl, she has a lot of big feelings in a culture that has taught her she ought not to have them, yet alone impose them on others. Emotional pressure will buckle her where work and money will not, and when it does it will feel like the end of the world, as all things are at that age.

3. What is your character's favorite kind of social event?

She would absolutely love a good stitch and bitch with a group of close friends, and maybe an old gossip or two. She's the sort of person who enjoys company but also likes some structure to her socialisation, an activity that gives cohesion and social lubrication as well as an end time, a good stitch and bitch provides all three, and includes her favourite hobby. (Yes I know that the term is American and post WW2 but, come on, women getting together to work and chat has been a thing since the invention of sewing, she would enjoy the primordial essence of the stitch and bitch I know she would.)

Theresa:

6. What is something your character is proud to own?

Theresa's Grandmother, Oriana, had lost almost everything she had when Napoleon invaded Iberia, their farmstead gobbled up by the encroaching column like a roast chicken, its bones scattered to the winds. But she had kept her jewellery box. It was plain, oaken, inlaid with a simple border of cows bone and secured with a sturdy brass lock. A humble thing by all accounts, but it’s modesty was the only reason she had managed to keep it, when it’s contents had to be bartered away for what safety they could get. When finally, finally it was over, and when her Great Grandfather had taken her home to English soil, he had made it his mission to fill it up again, as best he could on his sergeants pension. He put a silver band upon her finger, bracelets of shells for her wrists, paste jewels for her ears, a necklace of bright glass and twinkling foil, each with a story that slowly unfolded, a day at the seaside, a prize at the ring toss, a kiss upon a blanket on a bright summers day.

The filled box is hers, now, Oriana had had only sons, and her sons, only sons, until finally she came along, to be bestowed. Her brothers teased her about her family jewels, feeling themselves far more pleased with Great Grandfathers service medal, his rifle and bayonette, but she wants for no other, because when she opens the box, and cards her fingers over glass and shell and wood and bone, she feels nothing less than loved.

2. Would your character prefer baking, cooking or mixing drinks?

She enjoys all these things, but just now I think she would prefer to mix drinks, since that’s not something she gets to do very often, and the other two she does daily. Her employers, for all they are kind and reasonable to work for, are very boring, and after working for them for so long being able to prepare a party with punch and cocktails and a little more life than the usual sedate card game and laborious smoking of pipes would be great fun for her.

2. Has your character had a meaningful encounter with an animal?

My Carapace: Neon Green

My Diet: Pollen and Nectar

My Wings: Out Without Needing to Open My Wing Cases