back on my hotd!captive prince bullshit and proposing the vibes of blood and cheese except it's the laurent+auguste ghost story being reversed with laurent dying young and auguste being driven wild with grief....
just here to say the little bit you wrote on the hotd inspired au has been rotating in my head like a rotisserie chicken for the past few days. it’s just so good!! ur super talented!!
thank you!!
tempted to write more on it but I think to do it justice it would need like 100k lol and I cannot give it that! but the idea is stuck in my brain and I'm happy to hear it resonated with you too
not only damen having a kink for laurent saying his name during sex is relevant character-wise and narratively consistent (damen's primary source of Pain and Pining in prince's gambit was not that he believed laurent wouldn't reciprocate his feelings but that laurent could never truly love damen entirely for who he was when he found out. who damen truly was ergo full name kink is more emotional comfort than kink at one point) but it's also very hot and fun to imagine and i love that for them <3
in terms of loving patience damen is to laurent what laurent is to nicaise. bringing that whole “i know what you're trying to do and i know it's because you're afraid and hurt. i will now answer your certified asshole comment with kindness, gentleness and compassion because i love you” vibe to the party
tfw you remember every single critical choice laurent did in the series was motivated by LOVE! in the beginning he hated damen with passion because he loved auguste so much and it was only his love for damen that overcame that hatred! he gave up himself to the regent for damen and his country after THREE MONTHS of knowing him because of his love for damen! when laurent of vere decides he loves you, he loves you with his entire being. 🩷🩵🤍❤️🧡💛
Damen fully understanding how dangerous Laurent is makes it so much sweeter when he gets all "I've left him alone and I'm his only protector 🥺" about him later on.
And it's interesting how even though his internal monologue is like "Laurent will be fine because he's too annoying to die," for once he's fully aware that he's lying to himself. He's normally so good at compartmentalizing his thoughts when he's the one in danger, but when it's Laurent at risk he can't help but worry.
It took me 84 years, but here's the notes for Pacat's Instagram live on January 22, 2022! You can find previous summaries here. This time I added a section for things that involve both capri and dark rise because there was a lot of that.
“It’s funny, I tend to write, as I think back on Dark Rise and then before that, Captive Prince, I tend to write these book ones that kind of don't necessarily reveal themselves until the end or cohere until the end or maybe are written for the re-read rather than necessarily for the first read… I kind of have this philosophy that difficult pleasures are the most enjoyable because you have to work to achieve them, and so you know, I like the idea that you get rewarded at the end of Dark Rise for reaching the end.”
Important Updates
There has been some progress on the capri News™, though it was epically delayed by the pandemic. It’s not a fourth book, hardcovers, Laurent’s POV, or a TV series
There were updates about Dark Rise and Fence too but none of it is news anymore because this happened so long ago. The capri fandom is just unlucky like that
Pacat has a new project! It’s very different and is more adult in tone than his previous works. It’s kind of monster-horror-gore, he’s been wanting to do something with a shounen horror vibe like Berserk or Attack on Titan. It’s coming in the distant future, not soon
Captive Prince
Pacat hasn't heard of the capri fandom term Smaurent (small Laurent) but thinks that the idea of him does exist in the books as he was a very different person as a young child. Pacat likes writing characters who explore the idea that one’s past leaves fingerprints on one’s present self and Laurent is the most extreme version of this that she’s written
A fan said that they think of “Damianos V” as being a roman numeral, so that Damen would be the fifth King Damianos. Pacat really liked the idea
Pacat cried for a really long time while writing Nicaise’s death scene. Got a few strange looks as he sat in the Melbourne State Library with tears streaming down his face for a few hours. Nicaise’s death was planned from the beginning, he was always a bittersweet character to write
Laurent is such a private person. Writing more from his POV would risk exploding the mystery of his character and might kill some of the tension in capri
The capri News is like a missive from Rohan- it's on its way and it'll arrive at some point, just when you need it most
A fourth capri book isn’t completely out of the question but there isn’t one planned for now
The Brazilian capri covers are their own thing but they don’t represent the books well. They have a very dark-ages-hard-masc-medieval aesthetic
How tall is Damen? Laurent thinks that he’s a foot taller and that sometimes it feels like more
Orlant: Rough exterior, heart of gold, didn't deserve what happened to him
Pacat pronounces Vere like Veer (veer off course) but that is not the correct pronunciation that Laurent and the Veretians use so feel free to pronounce it how you want
Pacat wasn’t really involved in the art for the Japanese edition but has been a fan of Chinatsu Kurahana for a long time. Usually the author doesn’t get much input for foreign editions. The Japanese publisher was very welcoming and let Pacat have some input, but he was such a fan of the artist that he let her do whatever her vision was. He gave a bit of a description for clothing but didn’t tweak any character concepts once they were drawn because he likes having different versions of the characters in different media. We shouldn’t think of it as an official version of the characters or as Laurent’s canon hair length
Dark Rise
The submission date for the Dark Heir manuscript was June 2022. At the time of this live, Pacat was just past writing the midpoint of the first draft, heading towards the climax. The climax has been planned for a long time
We absolutely get James's POV in Dark Heir. Pacat had just finished writing one of his chapters when this live happened
How would Anharion describe Sarcean in one word? The answer would change depending on whether Anharion was wearing the collar. If he was wearing it he would say whatever Sarcean wanted him to say
James is not named after the gay king james (James I of England)
We will find out about James’s mother at some point, either in book 2 or later
Pacat’s current favourite Dark Rise character to write is a new character from book two
It was important that the stewards were racially diverse. When Pacat was pitching Dark Rise he had little pictures of the characters to show what the aesthetic of the book is, it was art that he found online. Things might have changed since then but this was three or four years ago and it was really hard to find fantasy imagery of non-white characters. If you wanted to find mages or warriors in suits of armor, all the artwork had white characters. So he wanted to include different types of people in the traditional western fantasy aesthetic
Favourite part of Dark Rise #1 is the ending because it was all of the pieces falling into place
Cyprian’s surname is not St. Clair but saying more than that would be a spoiler
Stewards have family in the outside world
Pacat would love to write short stories for Dark Rise like the ones for capri but she’s a slow writer so it would be some time in the future
Dark Rise/Capri
Justice’s appearance wasn’t specifically influenced by danmei, he has long hair because all the Stewards have long hair. The Stewards have long hair because everyone in the Old World had long hair and the Stewards carry on the sacred traditions of the past. This was inspired by the delightful long-haired-Laurent contingent in the capri fandom because they were so underserved by Captive Prince. No one in capri other than Ancel has really long, butt-length hair so Pacat wanted to change that in a new series
Where do you get inspiration for jewelry like Nicaise’s earring or James’s collar? Pacat has been thinking lately about the importance of creating a strong visual aesthetic for a character. The earring was created as a plot device. It’s long because it had to be very gaudy and noticeable because Laurent would use it as a disguise later, and it has blue sapphires because blue is Laurent’s colour. It's one single earring instead of a pair because it felt more poignant as a memento. The earring was more about purpose than aesthetics, but Pacat paid more attention to aesthetics in Dark Rise. When working on Fence, Johanna is so good at creating characters with an iconic visual look, and Pacat was thinking about that when he created James. He started with the idea of red because it's the colour of blood. The collar started off as a necklace that was a drop of blood, but it was changed to be more interesting and to have more of an impact. Pacat often thinks about the scene from the Hunger Games when Katniss is about to prove herself to the sponsors and they're not paying attention to her so she shoots the apple in the boar's mouth. A lesser author would’ve had her nail the bullseye but Suzanne Collins souped it up one more level, to come up with something slightly cooler or more imaginative. So Pacat goes through his finished drafts and thinks, is there anything I can turn up to 11? And the necklace wasn't at 11. So he thought about making it a choker, then a collar. A choker with rubies looks like a slit throat and that’s a very cool image, so that’s what it was changed to
Pacat is an only child so Tom and Auguste as older brothers aren’t based on personal experiences, but the idea of siblings has a strong importance to her. Dark Rise is dedicated to her half-sister Mandy who committed suicide when she was 15, which was the year Pacat was born
Fence Comic
The process of creating Fence: First Pacat writes the script, then it gets sent to the illustrator Johanna. It goes through a few rounds of notes where the two of them talk about the kinds of things they want to see happen, what would be cute or great in the upcoming storyline, and then Johanna does sketches. Then art edits happen, but usually the art is so incredible that it doesn’t need many edits so the only usual change is to make sure that Nicholas is left handed when he’s fencing. Then Boom (the publisher) looks over it before it goes to inks, then to the colourist Joana Lafuente, then to Jim Campbell for lettering. Jim places the speech bubbles and fits the script onto the page. Where the bubbles are placed and which words are emphasized makes a big impact on the flow of the script. Then everything gets sent back to Pacat for proofreading and editing of the lettering and then it’s done
Pacat worked very closely with Sarah Rees Brennan on the fence novels. They talked a lot about how events would play out, biographical details of the characters, made canon compliance edits, saw the books at every level and loved them. It’s impressive how Sarah can turn on a dime between two sets of opposing feelings when transitioning between emotions. Her books have a lot of wit and charm but also a lot of hard-hitting emotion
There was information about Rise and a preview but I'll skip over that part because it's already out now
Personal
When creating characters, Pacat often thinks of them in terms of dynamics they’ll have with other characters, or what they want to achieve, or what kind of archetype they resonate with, or how to build a backstory that gives them layers. Characters are interesting when they have more than one motivation, when they look one way on the surface but then different aspects of them from the past are revealed
Pacat was an Earth sciences major
Pacat chooses all the fanart friday posts himself and then his assistant Hannah sends a request to the artist
Least favourite book trope: band of misfits who save the world through a hail mary pass. Pacat likes a highly confident crew, not a small rabble of people who fluke their way into saving the world. It's not a bad trope, he doesn't know why he doesn't like it. He doesn't like Firefly because of this trope
He often reads fanfic on ao3 for more of a story than was in the original or more of a dynamic that was underserved in the original. But authors can’t read fic of their own works for copyright reasons
Owns multiple copies of the Lymond Chronicles. Book four is her favourite because the ending is so intense and devastating. Pacat often thinks of that ending when deciding what to do with her own works because most authors would’ve chickened out of writing an ending like that. She read book one for the first time in a restaurant at 9:00am and stayed there until she finished the book. She probably looked like a mess because of all the laughing and crying, and at one point one of the waiters came over to bring her a handkerchief and said “are you okay?” and Pacat said “I’m just at a really intense part right now"
Pacat does brainstorming sessions with friends to come up with ideas for books and looks at art books for inspiration
He’s reading the BL manga Twittering Birds Never Fly
Danmei dramas/web novels are really long so he isn’t familiar with most of them, but he ordered MDZS and he’s looking forward to reading it because he’s heard a lot of good things about it
Pacat doesn’t usually like love triangles, whenever he ships something in a love triangle he ends up choosing the unlucky guy. He liked Gale more than Peeta and liked Edgar more than Heathcliffe
damen truly give zero fucks when it comes to angering laurent like everyone else will be shitting themselves under that cold blue glare meanwhile damen will look at laurent straight in the eye and ask him 'are you done bitching?'
I love this scene much because, first of all, NO ONE ASKED YOU THAT, LAURENT! Second of all, Damen was ready to step forward and announce himself but he stopped bc he wanted to know IF LAURENT LIKED WHEN THEY FUCKED
Captive Prince AU where there was no war between kingdoms, the royal families were besties, and the princes spent their childhood visiting each other...
The old artwork (under the cut) no longer sparks joy, so I must redraw it ✏️
"why don't we see laurent's schemes in kings rising? why does he act so helpless, like a puppet?" idk maybe because laurent & damen are no longer friends for the entire first half of kings rising so laurent is back to being completely alone and after prince's gambit he has no idea what to do without damen beside him. maybe bc laurent is not actually the domino master of the series. the regent is. maybe bc laurent is (canonically) behind in the game and the only reason he ever had a chance of winning is literally bc not him nor his uncle can ever predict wtf damen is going to do next. this is textual btw i am not making shit up. just as the "captive prince" is both damen and laurent, the "prince's gambit" is both laurent's and damen's gambit.
the song of achilles, madeline miller // king rising, c.s pacat // lana del rey // pet, c.s pacat // a clash of kings, george r.r. martin // prince’s gambit, c.s pacat // tian guan ci fu, mxtx // accident report in the tall, tall weeds , ada limon
auguste vs damen: tragic, doomed, poetic cinema, shot in 4k with a bloody sunset background, ramin djawadi soundtrack, slow motion, beautiful and terrible and inevitable, honorable noble princes fighting their fathers battles, wins 4 emmys, many tears were shed
laurent vs kastor: bitch on bitch violence, brutal, director of fight club directs it, techno club music plays in the background, laurent is doing parkour, kastor is doing jiu jitsu, there’s an extended slap fight, damen chained to a wall says ‘you’re not even hitting each other you’re just breakdancing’, nikandros has his phone out but he’s not calling 911 he’s just livestreaming it on twitter
sitting here pondering a captive prince au where theomedes lives long enough for damen and kastor to have children, so kastor's resentment of damen and wanting his throne is handed down to the next generation and it turns into a drawn out civil war within the akielon royal family that theomedes refuses to see
a little something inspired by the knife/eye scene of HOTD
Night had fallen by the time that Damen’s wife’s wails had subsided and the terrible emotion that clouded Damen’s vision had somewhat cleared. Someone had told the King. Someone had told Kastor.
So they were all called here, the family of King Theomedes, to play out the aftermath before him in the light of flickering braziers.
“He is your blood, Exalted,” Kallista pleaded. “He is the son of your trueborn heir.”
“Daughter,” Theomedes spoke evenly in the face of the chaos, “this a tragedy felt by our entire family. Kastor has spoken for his son. What happened to Prince Dion was an accident.”
Damen watched her receive the word accident like a slap to the face.
“There must be justice,” she said, pushing forward. “There must be recompense.”
“Prince Vasos shows remorse, sister,” Jokaste said, her tone perfectly mild, perfectly contrite, not a hair out of place. “Let him come to you with the apologies that you are owed and spill no more blood.”
Kallista turned on her, all of her anger and sorrow trained on one singular, implacable object. Damen had a sudden vision of his wife crossing the room and taking Jokaste down to the floor, wiping the perfectly crafted look off of her face. It would satisfy him, deeply.
He held her arm, keeping her beside him.
Kallista looked up at him, her eyes wide. “Damen,” she pleaded.
“My wife speaks fairly,” Damen said to his father. “This is an offense against my family that cannot be borne.”
“Offense?” Kastor scoffed. “They were training for the okton! It is the sport of kings! Men have suffered worse, men have died honorably-”
“He is not a man!” Kallista shouted. “He is a boy! He is eight years old! He should not have been there.”
She was right.
Damen, who excelled at the okton, had spent months training for it before he had ever been allowed to compete. Even then, he had been twelve years old before he was able to take to the empty track at all.
Kastor’s son was old enough to train for the okton and soon compete. It meant he was old enough to have known better.
Damen looked at his nephew, who stood solemnly beside his mother. Damen saw the apprehension on his face. If he himself wasn't so angry, he might have noted that the boy's guilt seemed genuine, but that was not enough, given Damen's mood, to give any insight into what had led him to take a young boy along to a deadly field.
Vasos was either malicious, he thought, or an idiot.
He thought of his youngest son being carried into the palace on a stretcher, unconscious, bloodied and broken.
Damen had asked, through his horror, what happened?
The closest attendant had told him that he had been riding the okton course. His horse had been spooked by a spear, and he had fallen, his leg trampled.
Whose spear. Flatly.
The Prince Vasos.
It was too much to bear.
Damen listened to a few more words of the conversation surrounding him. It sounded similar, in its essence, to the position each member played on any other day, in smaller matters. Except now, Damen’s child lay in his rooms with a crushed leg and a head wound that might take his life. Except now, Damen felt a sick feeling deep in his stomach that called back the words Laurent used to warn him, each and every time he was in Akielos.
“If my son should die tonight,” Damen swore, looking his father in the face and letting the words be heard across the hall, “Kastor will face me at the end of the sword.”
titsay
theartofmadeline
yousharknotpass
jbbartram-illu
germansingergirl
kaledo-art
