An Eden Darkly

"You will see it, on a special occasion. We... we give red envelopes of lucky money as gifts, on birthdays and at the start of a new year, things like that."

Still, she upheld her duty and kept up her performance as expected. Though the newly returned lordling - Lord Ian - as he introduced himself. The male was a bit more refreshing than she had prepared herself to deal with, so, when his joke landed and she laughed? Oh, that was genuine and something that MJ was usually the cause of. Still, she shared Lord Ian's grin and finished off the rest of her champagne before feeling movement behind her.

At least, that was his hope. For her sake.

“Can’t say I’ve ever been one. I’ll try anything, once.” The bouquet was held against his shoulder as a soldier would a sword. As he bowed, so too did her flowers, bending suspiciously low, as if aware of her royalty as every attending guest.

Suspiria (2018) // dir. Luca Guadagnino

    Guildias is hand’s down my oldest character, and one of my favorite creations. Written on a character sheet all the way back in high school (freshmen year, 2002). He originally had only one sibling, Gabriel, and a son named Sebastian. He has always been of the Setite clan, and I still have the original photo which I based his look. I’ll show it down below. (The green artwork. Wish I could find the artist. I’ve kept it for I think 20 years now.)

    Unlike anyone else I have created, (short of Maximus, and I’ll explain later,) finding an FC for Guildias had been especially difficult. I didn’t want to budge from his original look/idea. A man towering 6′5″, medium frame, long midnight hair, warm olive skin kept after his Embrace, happy trail, whiskey-brown eyes, long sharp nose, and serpent-like movement.

    For years, I kept only these photos as reference, while everyone else had an established FC. Writing partners would have to, like with a book, just use their imagination on Guildias. I really wanted to find someone, and finally landed on Santiago Cabrera. Now, the man is not the perfect find as far as every last detail. What sold me was his role in Heroes, mostly for the somewhat acceptable length of his hair, but what solidified him for me was actually his mannerisms. 

    I compiled some examples here. 

The Maximus Story

    I mentioned Maximus before, because for years I wanted a butler-type character. He became this secret character I kept to my thoughts, and I pushed some of that idea onto Lawrence Atlas, before he became his own fleshed out character, independent of the concept. Once more, a lovely piece of art was all I had, and I wouldn’t budge. With what happened to Guildias, I wanted this character to be spot on, and I wasn’t going to flesh him out until I found what I was looking for.

The Violin Student by Stephen Seymour Thomas, my inspiration. 

    And then, I watched the first Downton Abbey movie in theaters, without having ever seen the show. And there he was. I had to be sure, so I went home and started watching from episode one. Unlike Guildias, where I had to settle on mostly mannerisms, there Maximus was. Moving, talking, dressed exactly as I had imagined! Down to his hair and eyes!