Happy Storyteller Saturday!! Can you tell us more about Zachary Appleton? I read your blurb the other day and I loved it and would love to hear more about him, if you can share without spoiling anything for your WIP?
Ahhh oh my gosh, thank you so much!!! I’m still pretty nervous about posting my writing on here, so this really means a lot! I’ll leave a link here for those who haven’t read it yet!
The only WIP he’s in right now Morsmordre, which gets pretty grimdark in its later years, with themes like war, a younger generation inheriting a fight that they didn’t start, and having to grow up way too quickly so that they can secure a better future that they might not live to see.
Zach is one of my kindest characters I think. One of the things I really wanted to do with him was to make him a realistic optimist since I know those two concepts don’t often mesh well together. (Realist = pessimist usually, whereas optimism is seen as naive). So he tries his best to remain positive and optimistic, despite knowing how bad things really are. His original concept was really centered around him being really smart — it’s remained a part of his character, though I’ve focus more on other parts of him now — and so he’s capable of understanding reality and how dark things are. Despite that, he tries to continue to be positive and try to find a silver lining when everyone else is just really pessimistic and cynical because that’s when he believes it’s truly needed.
Hence the emphasis on him smiling, and being known for his smile in Half-and-Half. He’s a big brother person, a reassuring presence who you can always go to for comfort, and he tries to remain that way even while he’s going through his darkest, hardest times. Like yeah it’s major spoilers, but I’ve already spoiled it in the drabble anyway; Zach gets bitten by a werewolf and has to suffer with that for the rest of his life. It’s HP lore, so it really puts a dampener on a lot of things.
Besides that, he’s a really laid-back person who’s extremely chill. I like to think of him as just one of those people who’s always stretched out or lounging, He’s really tall, has long lanky limbs so he’s always a bit too big for normal desks. There’s not a lot of people who can get along with Clara for example, because she’s really highly-strung, kinda bossy, pretty impatient, etc. Even her friends get irritated with her every so often because of that, but Zach is rarely bothered by all of that, and is one of the only people who can get her to relax because he’s just so chill and calming. It’s really rare to see him bothered about something.
I ship him with Vinny, @decantae‘s character. They’re just really cute together. I love all of my ships and want them to be happy, but if Vinary (Vinny + Zachary) is not happy I will legitimately riot. I need them to be happy. They’re always together, and Zach is pretty affectionate so he always has his arm around Vinny. They’re also very put together compared to their peers, like immediately out of school they get their life put together and move into their own apartment, while their friends are still scrambling. Their apartment just becomes a place where their less figured-out friends come to crash when they need somewhere to stay.
Also my favorite moment about them: When there’s a heteronormative ruling about how guys and girls aren’t allowed to be close together, Zach decides to protest it by grabbing Vinny for a kiss — which is technically allowed, because there’s no rule saying boys can’t be close together. That’s their first kiss, and also how they start dating! The rule is soon applied to people just can’t be closer together in general, but hey. It’s completely worth it.
Thank you so much for asking!
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