paradisaooc | HOW'S MY DRIVING?

HOW'S MY DRIVING?

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I think you're very good at both of your characters, I am always amazed by how much I can hear Fred in the wording of your tags especially, but there is something about her I've been meaning to ask.

Is there a reason for how depressed she's been for the last few months?

It seems as though every post or log I've seen has been her either baking (while trying to get rid of her sadness) or being genuinely upset. I understand that events in game can pile up sometimes, but I haven't been able to find where a lot of it has come from and I wonder if I've missed it? I can understand her getting stressed about the pirate plot (as alternate dimensions) and Gunn arriving (with Wes and all), but this was going on quite a bit before the pirate plot and I just wondered what was causing it?

I've missed seeing Fred at her happier times; in canon she can be shown to be quite resilient and her quirky sense of humour is something I'd love to see more of! Apologies if this is wall o'text or not very clear, it's just something I thought I'd ask for clarification on.

You are absolutely welcome to ask! And thank you for the kind words about Fred's voice.

I had actually just worked Fred back up to a happier, stabler place again right before the pirate plot began and there were notes in that last pre!pirate post that were downright silly. But that came after two solid months of something I didn't want to gloss over -- and that was Illyria's arrival.

I gave her just about two months to work through those issues, and they weren't anything I wanted to rush. (It might have taken a few weeks longer after my fall from work in late April and the doctor's appointments and Mris that followed) There were many things I wanted to touch on there as respectfully as possible.

The first being her friends. Fred's heard more than once that she dies, and processed that information in kind. But she'd still never had to see it, face to face so to speak. And recently she's slowly amassed 'versions' of her friends that didn't know about her death. There are multiple notes in threads where she talked both Spike and Lorne into keeping the secret for her. Lorne warned against such secrets in the castle, but she didn't listen. All this not knowing that months later?

Illyria would walk through the door. So Fred has to stare down her own death. Somehow try to be there for friends she deliberately kept secret from and deal with fallout of her lie of omission. And? Process news of Wesley's death. While she's had years to process her own death Wesley came as a shock.

She was just starting to come clear of that when baby plot happened. I am always hesitant with Fred around baby plot. She is the lone character in Jossverse with a truly happy childhood, and she takes family very VERY seriously. This is something she consciously gave up, the idea of marrying and having children of her own, when she didn't go back to Texas with her folks. She thinks giving and taking children away is one of the cruelest thing the castle does. Also? Over two years ago the only other time she did baby plot? After her daughter left Wesley left almost days after. It became as associated event.

So, she had a daughter again with Wesley this time. And because everyone would assume what a wonderful mother Fred would make? Because of warmer aspects of her nature and her own strong family background? I enjoyed tweaking those expectations a bit. Have her struggle to reconnect, remember previous losses and work to overcome them. Which she did.

She was really in a solid place when Pirates happened, and honestly it threw me just how difficult it was for her. Her route was definitely intense. And it wasn't just being pulled somewhere. It was scrounging for food and clothing, not always knowing where you are going to sleep. Seeing friends taken away as prisoners. Fred's never really addressed what happened to her in Pylea. It got glossed over in the show. She spent a summer in her room, but now she's out and talking so she must be on the mend right? But you see in her breakdown to her folks 'I got so lost and they did terrible things to me' and later on 'years of torture' these small lines that are a glimpse of just how bow it got. She was actually, physically tortured in a very cruel manner -- she likely has scars on her body from it. She was forced into slave labor and watched friends died and ultimately? She survived. By forgetting her own name and pushing that so far down that she could get through the basics needed to fend for her life.

There is still a lot Fred needs to face, and thanks to Pirates I am putting her on an arc where she is going te start to deal with things. It will come to a head in September in the mindspace plot where walls of her room will one more become cavelike. But instead of numbers and formulas on how to get home? It will be what happened to her. The torture she faced. Her first day in Pylea, almost like a storybook. A diagram of a collar and how to disarm it. Fred will face it, begin to talk about it with people she cares about and start to heal.

Because I do believe that will Fred is resilient, her veneer is even moreso. That is what people associate with her. Her 'chin being up'. But you see in her breakdown after Charles heart stops 'I am so sick of my chin being up' that it is a choice she makes. A role she believes she fills within AI.

But Fred is a survivor, and one that adapts to do so. So, she kept the news of her death from her friends and faced fallout? She will be telling Charles about it now in current thread. One to many times being thrown around and beat up as lead her to Elektra for lessons.

Fred's definitely been through a rough patch, but I wanted to be respectful of events that would impact her deeply. I apologize if it's felt one note or not grounded at times. I am aware she cooks a great deal and while I have worked to get her out of the kitchen more? Clearly I have room to keep growing there. It is just something she associates with her childhood and when Fred's mind is busy? Her hands need to be too.

The good news? She has a LOTS of projects of a scientific bent now coming up. She just finished creating a genetic inhibitor that allows Lorne to process alcohol differently and get drunk. She is working on something for Wes and a has a project for Oliver as well. She will also be helping out Bones in her lab as needed.

I am SO sorry I went on for so long but I wanted to hit all the questions you had! Thank you so, so much for your investment and interest in my character. She's getting stronger by the day, I promise!

Thank you for responding so clearly and in-depth :)

Perhaps if you had known her last few months had been hard - with Illyria, babies, etc - and she was finally getting back to a good place, it may have been a better idea to have placed Fred on the cruise ship? Or even on Route A where they were rescuing the kidnapped Route B members.

The route information was up prior to sign ups and, as seeing friends get caught as well as being in another world would be frightening for her, it may have been better to let her keep the happier place she'd been striving to since Illyria arrived?

It certainly makes more sense why she's been down prior to pirates with that explanation, so thank you, and it'll be good to see her taking the proactive approach with science/training with Elektra.

Honestly the pirates reaction caught me slightly by surprise. While the posts were up, there was no was to prepare for violence of attacks I think? Nor was I fully prepared for triggers. At initial read I though A looked more stressful for some reason. And on a selfish mun level, I often am not around for the full big plots with my work schedule. I was going to be on leave from work and wanted to be involved as much as possible. Willow got 'A' and Fred got 'B'. I divided them, favoring more action based routes. And even then, B was said to be 'medium' paced route. I thought at the time I made the right choice. Maybe not?

In the end I think it could lead to interesting things.

And YES, she now how standing training appointments every Friday with Elektra and am looking forward to seeing her grow even more. :) I can tl;dr on Fred all day long.

Awesome sauces :)

HOW'S MY DRIVING?

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