#zachary appleton

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Storyteller Saturday: Your characters are on a ship and a bomb is about to go off. Who is doing what to help with the situation?

Oh I adore this question, thanks so much for asking!

Clara is reciting the rules and guidelines for how to safely abandon a ship and board lifeboats to frightened employees so that they know what to do if they’ve forgotten. (And probably stays on the ship to track down who planted it with Caerwyn.)

Callisto is tracking down the bomb and the person who planted it with Clara, and is taking drastic measures to find it, like axing down walls if necessary.

Zach is helping to reassure and calm people who are freaking out and panicking, and is lifting smaller people onto lifeboats, or physically supporting people who need it.

Laurel is giving up his seat in the lifeboat to other people, and is helping Zach keep people relatively calm. He’s probably the one that spots a suspicious person somewhere as well, he’s surprisingly 

Blake is helping people board lifeboats while simultaneously keeping mental records of who’s getting off the ship and who isn’t, who looks suspicious, etc., just in case, and eventually will publish the newspaper story about it.

Aiden and Jess are probably fighting the antagonists that put the bomb on the ship.

Vanessa safely dismantles the bomb with alarming and suspicious ease and expertise.

Storyteller Saturday: Come ask me about my writing!

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happy sts! ❤️ if you were stranded on a deserted island, which three of your ocs would you want with you? why? // ~livvywrites

Vanessa because she is a survivor with really sharp instincts. While I doubt that she’s ever been stranded on a deserted island, if anyone can find a way to come back from that, it’s her. She’s ruthless and clever enough to find a way out.

Zach because he’s optimistic without being naive. In a stressful situation like that, I think it’s really important to have someone who can help you feel better without giving you false hope or empty assurances. He’s also really smart and resourceful, he’s probably read some ‘how to survive on a deserted island’ books for fun tbh.

Blake because she’s a relatively famous journalist with a big online presence. I don’t know if she’s the best person to have with you for the surviving part of being stranded, but she’s well-known enough that people would be concerned for her. Additionally, she could write about her experiences when we’ve made it off the island and sell a lot of books. That would give me enough fame and prestige and money to let me live easy for a while!

Thanks for asking, this was a fun one!

Storyteller Saturday: Come ask me about my writing!

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Half-and-Half

Even people who didn’t know Zachary Appleton well, knew his smile.

It was easy-going, reassuring, a little bit lopsided with a flash of white teeth. It was like the sun peeking through on a cloudy day, a warm blanket when it was cold outside, and a bear hug when it’s needed the most.

He still smiles these days.

Or rather, he tries.

The jagged scars raking across the side of his are still raw, still bloody, not fully closed yet. They won’t be for a while — not with werewolf bites. Those always took a ridiculously long time to heal. His smiles were grimaces now, a quick quirk of his lips that retreat quickly as they stretch and painfully pull the gashes on his face.

His lopsided smiles gave way to half-smiles, a crook of his mouth on the good side of his face.

Half a smile; Half a Zachary.

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Ahhhhh Undine!!! Storyteller Saturday question time! Who of your characters require glasses? Who *should* have glasses? Who has the best sight of all of them? (Does anyone have nightvision or other supernatural sight traits?)

Oh my gosh, do any of my characters have glasses??

Most of my characters are created off of a foundation of a face claim — for me, the personality has to match the face somewhat, and a face claim helps solidify the concept — and a lot of face claims tend to be minor celebrities because I feel skeevy about using people who don’t consent to their image being used in media, which means that a lot of them don’t wear glasses in their images/gifs, so I never really thought about it too much.

Zachary definitely needs glasses, but I think he usually just wears contacts. He only really wears his glasses in the morning before he puts in his contacts, and at night once he’s ready for bed, or having a lazy night in with the boyfriend. I feel like he really likes the glasses as a symbol of sorts for when he’s relaxed/lounging, as opposed to when he’s out and about.

Blake probably wears glasses too, now that I think about it. There’s no why she survived childhood with her vision still perfectly intact. She mostly wears contacts as well because it seems a bit more professional — but also because she wears computer glasses to help prevent eye strain from staring at a digital screen for too long, and she can’t wear them with her actual glasses. Blake isn’t really the type to care about taking care of her eyes, but as a journalist she spends a lot of time staring at the computer, and she started feeling the eye fatigue hardcore enough to take preventative measures.

Vanessa probably should have glasses since she’s in the dark a lot, and I dunno, she just seems like she would, and mostly wear contacts despite having several frames for stylish glasses. I think her vampirism fixed her vision though, and allows her to see much better than a human, especially at night.

I feel like Clara has really good vision, despite being the type of person who seems like they should have glasses. She’s such a nerd and definitely stays up reading in the dark, but somehow it hasn’t impacted her vision at all.

As for supernatural vision abilities... I’ve never particularly been a fan of clairvoyance so I’ve never used it. But in For Queen and Country, several characters have enhanced vision due to being a nonhuman. Vanessa and Callisto for example, definitely can see much more than a human because they’re a vampire and fae respectively. (Being a werewolf however, doesn’t seem to have an effect on Zachary’s eyesight).

Thanks for asking!

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Okey, a zombie apocalypse happens tomorrow. You can choose two of your main OCs to help you survive. Who are they (and why)?

The first character to come to mind was Vanessa!

She has a way of connecting to and reading people that would be really useful for meeting other survivors in a perilous, high-stress environment. It won’t be that useful for zombies, but she’ll be able to figure out who she can trust, how to get them to trust her, and people who are untrustworthy and can be swindled.

And she also has an uncanny instinct for survival — kind of like a sixth sense for danger that she pays close attention to, and the brutally efficient know-how to make the difficult decisions to ensure that survival. I’m pretty sure I’ll definitely 100% survive if Vanessa is around... Provided that she doesn’t abandon me.

The other one I would bring is hmmm... Zach, I think.

Not only is he really smart — particularly with technology and innovative thinking — he’s optimistic without being naive, unconditionally kind while still being practical. Not only would be be a great person to have around for making plans, rationing, and being creative with what resources are available, in a gritty, despairing time like a zombie apocalypse, he’ll be really important for maintaining humanity and being a spot of sunshine in an otherwise cruel world.

Thanks for asking!

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2, 18, 13, and 42 for Blake and another person of your choice?

Thank you so much for asking, friend!!!

02. What is one of your character’s biggest insecurities? Are they able to hide it easily or can others easily exploit this weakness?

One of Blake’s insecurities is not being taken seriously. She's passionate, she has important things to say, she has a lot to offer but a lot of the times her opinion and input is disregarded because she’s too young, she’s female, she’s too angry, she doesn’t have enough real world experience, etc, etc, etc. Keeping her mouth shut isn’t something she’s good at and she’ll stand up for whatever she believes in — sometimes to her detriment. It’s all too easy to rile her up and get her to snap.

Zach is insecure about his scars. I wrote a drabble about it here.  He usually shrugs it off with a smile or a joke, but I think it really does bother him to have several large scars across his face that he can’t quite hide. 

13. What are your character’s sleeping habits? Heavy or light sleeper? Blanket stealer? One that always rolls onto the floor? Pushes their lover onto the floor? Sleep talker or walker?

Blake’s sleeping habits depends on what WIP she’s in. In Post-Script she’s an extremely light sleeper because it’s during wartime, and she needs to be able to be roused in an instant for whatever reason. 

For Queen and Country is a much less dangerous environment however, and Blake is a heavy sleeper. She’s never quite rolled onto the floor, and she doesn’t sleep talk, but you can bet that when she wakes up she finds herself completely tangled in blankets (if they’re still on the bed, sometimes she wakes up to them on the floor) with impressive bedhead since her hair already has a mind of its own.

Zach is a pretty light sleeper I think, though he pretends to be a heavy sleeper. I think he might seem like he has messy sleeping habits because he has long sprawling limbs and they’re kind of everywhere when he falls asleep on a chair, but he’s a very calm sleeper. Doesn’t steel blankets, doesn’t move a whole lot.

18. What kind of home would they want to live in? Where would they place this abode?

On one hand Blake wants to go live in a little seaside cottage like the fairy tales she grew up reading, but on the other hand Blake is very much a city girl and would be bored of living away from the bustle and smog. I think her dream home would be a penthouse in the middle of London or other similarly large city, overlooking everything. That’s definitely definitely extremely out of her price range, so she’s somewhat content with her cramped flat... For now.

Zach is honestly fine with any cramped apartment as long as he can make it homey and there’s lots of natural light! I do think eventually he’ll move out into a house with a white picket fence and garden and everything so he has enough room for his husband and their several adopted children out of necessity, but he’ll enjoy it all the same.

42. Is there anything in your character’s past that they regret, haunts them, or they wish they could change?

There’s not a whole lot in Blake’s past that she regrets to a massive degree besides the standard stuff like old cringey things she did as a kid, or accidentally saying “Thanks you too,” to a server at a restaurant when they said enjoy your food. I suppose sometimes she wishes that her family could’ve been different and more loving/supportive... But she has no regrets when it comes to her decision to leave them — it was the right thing to do.

The things that she’ll regret greatly are coming in the future though~

Zach regrets not doing more, I think. Not that he doesn’t do stuff because he does — he does so many things, everything that he can. He has a really strong sense of morals and responsibility, and even though on an intellectual level he knows that he can’t do everything, he wishes he could, especially when something devastating happens.

Send me an OC ask!

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Would having a chance to talk about your characters help? (Because I'm very super interested!) If you had to choose colour themes to represent each of your characters, what colours would be the most prominent, and why? (Any characters you'd like~ 💖)

Awww thank you so much that’s super sweet!!!

So, I haven’t posted a lot about this on my writeblr since I’m not a huge fan of moodboards, but I’m a very aesthetic-oriented creator. I have endless aesthetic considerations for all of my characters, and while I’ve been trying to evolve beyond simple color aesthetics for them, I do have color themes for all of them!

I also roleplayed and having a color hex code for your character was a standard in the community.

Clara is extremely Ravenclaw ― in fact, as far as Morsmordre is concerned, she’s the Ravenclaw representative since the four main characters each represent a Hogwarts house, so naturally her color is a dark Ravenclaw blue. This is the image I use for her spotify playlist. I think the most Clara of color combinations is specifically dark blue with a gold accent like this pattern here. She’s not suited for warm colors because she’s fairly standoffish and prickly normally, but she’s not a cold character ― the gold helps soften the intensity of the blue a little. I seriously think that dark blue with gold starry image I linked is Clara in a pattern, it is so her.

Callisto, similarly to Clara is representative of her house in Morsmordre. She’s a Slytherin, so her board is full of dark greens. She’s ambitious, mysterious, and a little closed off which makes green a really good fit for her, regardless of her house. That being said, fae!Callisto in For Queen and Country has a different color. Fae!Callisto’s color is very pale blue, like the color in this header I made for her character sheet a while back. Fae!Callisto is associated heavily with ice and snow, considering that she’s an Unseelie Fae, and she’s also a lot lighter and brighter than her much darker, grimmer, more cynical Morsmordre counterpart.

(As a bonus: FQAC!Clara also has a color change: she’s still dark blue, but she’s also dark green in that setting for whatever reason.)

Aiden is this darker green color like in this image here. When I originally conceptualized him, I had thought he was a really deep purple, but as he evolved into who he is now, his color palette became paler, grayer and more washed out. His aesthetic board is currently filled with blues, greens and grays, all with that kind of… foggy tint, I guess if that makes any sense. He’s not super in-your-face and is kind of passive, so bright colors don’t suit him.

Jess’ color is dark pink and coral orange. The second one is very specific, but it’s been the color code that I’ve given her every single time without fail ― I think it fits her sassy, playful demeanor really well. That being said, her other color is dark pink, because of that darker, more sinister tone in comparison. She’s not all fun and games; she’s quite devilish and selfish ― there’s definitely a darker side to her that’s not always apparent.

Blake… I struggle with honestly. She’s had this kind of blue, urban aesthetic to her, which I think fits, but lately I’ve been considering reds for her, just because she’s so passionate, emotive and explosive. I haven’t been able to find a proper shade for her that fits her very intense nature though, and blue does work for her so she’s still blue I guess. It’s a touch lighter than Clara’s blue and more colorful than Aiden’s blue.

Vanessa is purple, and sometimes red. Specifically, I consider her color to be the purple colored lights that pulse at a club, if that makes sense, with the occasional red light thrown in. She’s very seductive, confident, a creature of the night, and plays with the darker underbelly for society for fun, so mysterious, expensive purple is the perfect fit for her.

Zach’s color is a warm orange, and sometimes yellow. He’s super kind and positive, but he’s also very laid-back and chill. Warm colors suit him, but not really bright ones, because he’s not super dynamic, so a lowkey orange fits him really well. He’s a good supporting character that doesn’t demand a lot of attention.

Laurel is a warm, autumn brown color. He’s a super sweet kid, a star student, mama’s boy, but not a stick in the mud. Brown suits him because he’s a warm presence, not super out there, it’s lowkey yet reassuring… And also has the added bonus of being the color of dead/dying leaves, and fall is also the season where everything dies… I mean, the symbolism there speaks for itself, yeah? 

Yulia has a lot of colors! Pastel pinks, lavender, orange, light blues… I think the best way to describe her colors would be the colors of the sky on a sunny day. The brilliant blue of the sky during the day, the warm oranges and reds of sunset, and the pale purples, and pinks of the dusk, right before nighttime. Yulia is very spiritual and connected to nature so I think that description and color theme is very apt for her. She was also my first aesthetic board that I managed to break out of just using certain colors!

It got a bit long haha sorry! I think these are the characters that have been on my mind the most lately though. Thanks so much for asking!

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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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