#alfreds plot-relevant lobotomy

[freegiftjones]

good news: wrote another 4k today, go me

bad news: we are 16k in and JFK isn't even here yet

[freegiftjones]

No no, speak its entertaining and also tides us over until the fic drops

i have this problem where i think im being annoying even though all of you follow me willingly and could leave at any time. anyway, i wrote 4.8k words today, feeling very pleased with myself, and im loving the 1960s setting. its very refreshing even though i have to search "when did the interstate system start" "how did you make an international call" "did they have X in Y" etc etc. having lots of fun. very motivated by the though of posting a chaptered doni fic and filling in some blanks in the face fam history.

tangentially related, i got a lovely comment on stamp 1 this morning, made me feel very happy. i really cant believe that fic sometimes. its got 800 something kudos. thats a lot of people. i feel very very happy to have written something that so many people care about. not just because big numbers make you feel good but because theres that many people--more people than that--who read something that i cared a lot about even though it was a little silly, and it wasn't always perfect.

so yeah, i do love talking about it all, but ive permanently got imposter syndrome. like, no one actually wants to hear about your silly au, kat, stop spamming the dash. not true, i know, hit me with a stick.

i cant wait to be posting the lobotomy fic and stamp 2. it was only a few months ago, but i am so nostalgic for stamp saturday. it was just so pure and happy and good. i like talking to yall. its a little overwhelming sometimes but its also the most fun ever and i am very happy with our corner of the internet. ive been on bad corners of the internet before. this is a good one and i will do everything in my power to keep it good.

lobotomy snippet for your troubles:

Alfred had scrambled eggs for breakfast, and that went well enough. People stared. He doesn’t know if the nurses didn’t try Alfred with forks first, or they only mentioned spoons because Alfred’s mastery of spoons was a recent development, but the fork comes much easier to him. Matthew makes a note of that in his head. Forks, great. Spoons, okay. Matthew’s brother is so good at using a fork. Alfred even showed some initiative and, in the middle of his meal, reached for their booth’s bottle of hot sauce. Did he at any point try to open it by himself? No. But he picked it up, which is the thing that really matters, and Matthew helped him with it. Things that Matthew knows about his brother presently: he’s good with forks, he can sew, and he has a familiarity with hot sauce.

[freegiftjones]

ok im telling myself i can make one more post tonight and then i have to shut up but the thing about our dear matthew pov 1960s lobotomy fic is that its only been 20 years since wwii, 100 years since the american civil war, 40 years away from the first face fam chistmas in the 2000s. there are many puzzle pieces which are connecting here. alfred's avoidant relationship with arthur ✅ matthew feeling resentful for having to take care of his younger siblings ✅ there being this massive hole in the narrative which im calling Wheres Mum Syndrome because if 2025 mum was here this wouldnt be happening but 2025 mum isn't here ✅ alfred did not know he was going to an asylum ✅ matthew just wishes he had a parent here so bad to help him ✅

plot relevant lobotomy you are everything and im so sorry you had to happen but alfred and matthew had not yet full healed their bond by the 1960s, there was still something there between them, and then there could be nothing between them for this to work ✅ for 2000s face fam christmas to happen because matthew had seem his brother despondent in 2001 and recognized it and knew he had to do something ✅✅✅

alfred, who thought he was going on some nature retreat (that he only agreed to because he didn't want ivan to get into trouble) being taken to a mental asylum, and in a last-ditch effort to save himself, put his brothers name in the place of his boss's on the secondary contact form when no one was looking. ✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅

[freegiftjones]

oop

[freegiftjones]

DONIverse Matthew Williams repeatedly calling Alfred’s office in 1963 just for the answering machine message to hear his brothers voice again after the lobotomy

[freegiftjones]

its going to be a long fic im sorry i know the lobster is too buttery and the steak is too juicy but its going to be a long fic

[freegiftjones]

I’ve gone back and forth on including this but I’ve decided to bite the bullet. Each chapter of the #lobotomyfic will include a semi-relevant to that chapter quote from one of the various books/studies/articles I’ve read on the history of lobotomy. Is this a weird thing to include in a fanfiction? Maybe. But the more I read the more I feel like I need to share these things so that everyone has an understanding of the situation and how it was viewed in the 1950s/1960s. Plot relevant lobotomy yes but never in a quirky “live laugh lobotomy” way but a way that tries to humanize these people who were so failed by their communities and who were often shunned afterwards

[freegiftjones]

ok goodnight everyone good talking was had today. your #lobotomyfic update is that we are at 30k, five days of in-fic time have passed, and this happened

Matthew asks the question that has been haunting him all week, “Why?”