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curiouscreationss · 1 month

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ASOUE characters: How popular are they on Ao3?✨📚😎😮🫢

No.of fics with each character in them

Baudelaires:

Beatrice: 417

Bertrand: 257

🔧Violet: 977 🏆

📚Klaus: 822

🍳 Sunny: 662

👶 Beatrice II: 192

Quagmires:

Mrs Quagmire: 34

Mr Quagmire: 28

🖋️Isadora: 369 🏆

🗞️ Duncan: 367

🗺️ Quigley: 332 (Surprising tbh, I thought he’d win out of the triplets at least)

Widdershins:

⚓️Captain Widdershins: 40

🍄 Fiona: 114

🪝 Fernald: 166 🏆

Olaf+his troupe:

🎭 Count Olaf: 722 🏆

🍸 Esmé Squalor: 379

Woman with hair but no beard: 30

Man with beard but no hair: 25

👓 Georgina Orwell: 143

Henchperson of indeterminate gender: 84

Bald man: 57

White-faced women: 56 (just mildly less popular than the bald man yet there’s TWO of them- that’s gotta blow 😔-)

🎪[The Freaks] 🎪

Kevin: 14 🏅

Hugo: 13

Collette: 12

Denouements:

Frank: 76

Ernest: 92

🦄: 102 🏆

Snickets: (Take this with a grain of salt bc they have a whole other series -ATWQ- going for them)

Jaques: 347

Kit: 410

Lemony: 536 🏆

Guardians+the likes:

🏦 Mr Poe: 104

🗞️ Eleanora Poe: 14

📰 Polly Poe: 1

🐑 Edgar Poe: 10

💰 Albert Poe: 6 (Why is Edgar more popular??)

🐍Uncle Monty: 114

🐍 Ink/The Incredibly Deadly Viper: 8

🪟 Aunt Josephine: 72

Ike Anwhistle: 26

[🚬 Sir: 30

Charles: 54

👓 Georgina Orwell: 143 🏅

😃 Phil: 10 ]

[🎻Vice Principal Nero: 37 (That’s less than the bald man who has maybe 3 lines total, take that!)

Mrs Bass: 4 (Damn.)

Ms. Tench: 2 (Double damn)

Mr Remora: 3

📚 Olivia Caliban: 237 🏅]

🍸 Jerome Squalor: 104

(✨Esmé Squalor: 379 but I put her in the Olaf’s troupe section. This is just for quick comparison to Jerome. Poor guy. Ish. I don’t actually feel that bad for him tbh.)

🦅 The Council of Elders: 4

🎈 Hector: 48

Hal: 8

Babs: 9

Phil: 10

[🍎 Ishmael: 17

🐟 Miranda Caliban: 8

🕶️ Friday Caliban: 26 🏅

🚢 Thursday: 5 ]

Miscellaneous VFD members:

😎 Jacquelyn Scieszka: 172 🏆

🎥 Gustav Sebald: 78

🐟 Larry Your-Waiter: 85

👑 Duchess R of Winnipeg: 61 or 64 (3 are under ‘Duchess R’

Uncategorised:

Ben: 4

🚲 The Paperboy: 3

💃 Carmelita Spats: 149

Top 3:

1~ Violet Baudelaire! 🔧💜 (977 fics on Ao3 are tagged ‘Violet Baudelaire’! 🎉)

2~Klaus Baudelaire!!📚💙(822 fics!)

3~ Count Olaf! 👁️ 😈 (722 fics!)

Loser:

Polly Poe (with a disappointing 1 fic!😱)

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library-child · 1 year

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To me, this is a compelling, brilliant scene. It's the turning point for both Lemony's character arc and the story.

Here, Lemony realizes that Hangfire is most certainly Armstrong Feint in disguise. This confronts him and us readers that the story is bound to end in tragedy. Until now, there was the possibility of a happy ending if the good guys only managed to defeat the bad guys. But Lemony was set up for failure from the beginning. No matter what he does next, there won't be a happy ending. The best thing he still can hope to achieve is to save the town and its children from Hangfire, but there will be no way to spare Ellington her suffering.

On a storytelling level, this marks the passing from a children's mystery series to a full-on, unapologetic tragedy. On a character level, this might be a key moment to understand Lemony and his entire generation of volunteer children, such as Kit, Dewey, Olaf, Beatrice, etc.

These children were kidnapped by VFD at a very young age. Many of them were also orphaned. They were isolated from people they knew and trained rigorously since day one. They had it drilled into them that their basic needs and emotions didn't matter and that they only existed to serve the greater good. In return, they got a notion of nobility: They were an aristocracy because their skills and sacrifices made them morally and intellectually superior to regular people. Being stripped of everything they had, these kids clung to those dreams of greatness.

But as they got older, they realized that their elders at VFD didn't live up to their own promises. They were incompetent, callous, and caught up in internal conflicts. So at the beginning of ATWQ, Lemony and his friends seemed to have come up with another notion to fix their emotional crisis. VFD may not be as great as it should be, but they would make it so. They would be overcome the older generation and save the organization and the world from evil. They were going to be heroes. Everything they had gone through would be worthwhile.

But here, Lemony is confronted with the horrible truth that destroys the coping mechanism he's relied on for so long. So now he has to choose to either accept that and be honest about his suspicion or go into complete denial. He chooses the latter. Up until the very last moment, he clings to the illusion that Armstrong may be innocent after all, that he may still save the day. He tries to solve the problem by killing Hangfire, thus going against the very principles that he's been preaching. At the end of ATWQ, he's just traumatized, running away mindlessly and living on the streets.

I think the other volunteers from his generation have to face similar disillusionments. As the schism worsens, some leave or turn against VFD, such as Olivia and Ernest. Others fight teeth and claws to recreate this quiet world utopia they have been raised to believe in. They resort to increasingly violent tactics that only worsen things, like the Volatile Fungus Deportation, the burning of Anwhistle Aquatics, or the murder at the opera. And so they die before their time, by each others' hands or their own poor decisions. They end up as just another failed generation that leaves their children a pile of debris and unanswered question, but also the hope to do better.

#lemony snicket #all the wrong questions #atwq #a series of unfortunate events #series of unfortunate events #asoue #vfd #kit snicket #beatrice baudelaire #count olaf #ernest denouement #olivia caliban #hangfire #armstrong feint #ellington feint #dewey denouement #the unauthorized autobiography #tragedy

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beatricebidelaire · 10 months

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[at the bar in the lobby of hotel denouement]

lemony: can i ask about the menu please?

ernest: the men i please are none of your business

#lemony snicket #ernest denouement #vera.txt

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badlydrawndrawnings · 3 months

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ASOUE Characters (The Adults)

And the Beatles Songs I Can't Help But Associate Them With

Lemony Snicket, In My Life (~All these places had their moments/With lovers and friends, I still can recall/Some are dead and some are living/In my life, I've loved them all~)

Beatrice Baudelaire, Golden Slumbers (~Golden slumbers fill your eyes/Smiles await you when you rise/Sleep pretty darling do not cry/And I will a lullaby~)

Bertrand Baudelaire, All My Loving (~All my loving, I will send to you/All my loving/Darling, I'll be true/All my loving/All my loving, Ooh/All my loving, I will send to you~)

Count Olaf, Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (~I once had a girl/Or should I say she once had me/She showed me her room/Isn't it good Norwegian Wood?~) + (~And when I awoke I was alone/This bird had flown/So I lit a fire/Isn't it good Norwegian wood?~)

Esme Squalor, Girl, being the Girl in question, not the 'singer'* (~She's the kind of girl who puts you down/When friends are there/You feel a fool/When you say she's looking good/She acts as if it's understood~)

*The 'singer' of 'Girl' is Jerome Squalor, who has strong feelings of his former marriage with Esme, more bad than good

Jacques Snicket, While My Guitar Gentle Weeps (~I look at the world and I notice it's turning/While my guitar gently weeps/With every mistake we must surely be learning/Still my guitar gently weeps~)

Kit Snicket, Help* [~When I was younger so much younger than today/I never needed anybody's help in any way/(Now) But now these are gone (These days are gone)/I'm not so self assured/(And now I find) Now I've changed my mind/And opened up the doors~]

*Despite the upbeat tone, the lyrics really do fit Kit

Dewey Denouement, A Day in the Life (~I read the news today, oh boy/About a lucky man who made the grade/And though the news was rather sad/Well, I just had to laugh/I saw the photograph~) + (~A crowd of people stood and stared/They'd seen his face before/Nobody was really sure if he was from the House of Lords~)

Ernest Denouement, Carry That Weight (~Boy, you're gonna carry that weight/Carry that weight a long time/Boy, you're gonna carry that weight/Carry that weight a long time~)

Frank Denouement, You Never Gave Me Your Money (~You never give your money/You only give me your funny paper/And in the middle of negotiations/You break down~)

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drowninginredink · 2 months

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Consider: trans male Denouement triplets who originally developed the habit of hiding which triplet they were not because they actually wanted to keep their identity secret, but because they hated their deadnames and no one could call them by them if they didn't even know which person it was. By the time they had names they actually liked, they were stuck in the habit.

Also come on, the idea of Frank picking his name and Ernest going "I know the most annoying name I could pick now that would make people confuse us even more." Like I know the Snicketverse has weird names, but those make a lot more sense if they chose them and not their parents. Also like, yes, the librarian absolute chose to name himself Dewey. He didn't just happen to be born with a fitting name.

It would make it easier to hide Dewey, too. "Oh, our third triplet? Well she's cis, so she left the VFD because she couldn't exactly pretend to be us anymore."

This makes way too much sense for an idea I literally only had because I was thinking over a fic in my head and was like "I don't wanna write PIV sex this time. What if I just transed Ernest?"

#a series of unfortunate events #asoue #snicketverse #denouement triplets #frank denouement #ernest denouement #dewey denouement #trans headcanon #trans male headcanon #trans masc headcanon

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afterthegreatunknown · 6 months

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a long, complicated denouement headcanon, featuring the sbg

Despite their ‘100%’ identical appearance in TPP/the ASOUE period, the Denouement triplets weren’t 100% identical. Dewey, Ernest, and Frank did not like being mistaken for one another when they were children, partly because the adults thought it ‘cute’ they dress identical. By their pre-teen years, they begun to differentiate from one another, and by the time they became young adults, were 100% no longer identical. Did that stop anyone from mistaking them for the wrong brother? Nope. But they (reluctantly) accepted it as it is.

(It’s ‘100%’ identical because there is one [1] thing that prevents them from truly being 100% identical.)

After an incident that had Dewey almost dying by a fire-starter, the Denouements realize that to keep their family and the newly built Hotel Denouement safe, they had to be identical once again. Fearing also for Dewey’s life, they hatched a plan that they didn’t want to do, but knew was necessary to allow them to be secretly neutral a la Olivia Caliban under the Madame Lulu persona at Caligari Carnival (the organization didn’t grant them permission to be neutral).

The Denouements ended up faking Dewey’s death in an unrelated VFD accident, and have Ernest and Frank fake their own family schism. Ernest ‘joins’ the fire-starters, while Frank remaining ‘loyal’ to the fire-fighters. With the two brothers now on opposite sides yet still running the Hotel Denouement together, both sides end up treading carefully with their actions. As such, the Denouement triplets achieve the goal of neutrality underneath almost everyone’s noses (some are in on the ruse).

So, by ASOUE, they’re ‘100%’ identical. But in the past, they weren’t, yet sometimes still got mistaken for one another despite making it easy. What were those attempts? Who are those that can 100% tell the brothers apart, mostly pre-canon? Who can’t 100% tell the brothers apart, pre-canon (and maybe during canon itself)?

100% can tell the Denouement triplets apart:

Raymond ‘Q’ Quagmire: As their [adopted] cousin, Raymond discovered a speaking quirk the Denouements triplets individually have. Dewey speaks in a steady pace that isn’t too polite or formal; it’s in between. Ernest speaks slightly faster on the casual/friendly side. Frank speaks slightly slower, more directly + formal, and is the sole Denouement to throw in a cuss word in conversation if given the chance/angry (sometimes minor, sometimes major).

(This speaking quirk is the one [1] thing that prevents them from being 100% identical by the ASOUE period.)

Joan Quagmire, nee Morstan, and her triplet sisters Alex and Lindsey: The sisters picked up the speaking quirk after their first meeting with the Denouements. The sisters also discovered how each Denouement triplet -at least Ernest and Frank- use a different dominate hand. Ernest is right-handed, while Frank is left-handed. Dewey while ambidextrous, is more likely to use his right hand than left. So if Joan, Alex, or Lindsey are interacting with either Dewey and/or Ernest but don’t know who it exactly and they’re using their right hand for something, the speaking quirk is their guide.

(By the ASOUE period, Ernest and Frank successfully taught themselves to use their other hand. Frank had the harder time though.)

The Snicket Siblings: The Snicket siblings, not long after picking up on the speaking quirk, discovered the Denouement style their three (3) hairstyles differently. Their first style -short hair with bangs- has Dewey leaving his bangs alone, Ernest sweeps his bangs more towards the right, and Frank sweeps his bangs more to the left. Their second style - hair down to their neck nickname ‘the Mane’- their ends are all different; one of Dewey’s ends goes down while the other ends flips upward, both of Ernest’s ends flip up, while both of Frank’s ends goes down. Their third style is the ‘growing out’ stage between hairstyle one and two; Dewey never tucks and runs a hand through his hair, Ernest tucks and runs a hand via his right hand, and Frank tucks and runs a hand via his left hand.

(By the ASOUE period, it was agreed via Dewey’s insistence that they rotate one another in a cycle, to keep it lively. During the period of TPP, all three brothers were in their ‘Mane’ phrase, copying Ernest’s style.)

Bertrand: After picking up on the speaking quirk, Bertrand discovered the Denouements react differently regarding hugs and handshakes. Dewey accepts and gives them out with glee. Ernest is always shock when receiving them and ends them quick; he also rarely initiates them but when he does, he does it in a friendly/casual matter. Frank reluctantly accepts and gives them out. Frank is also the sole Denouement willing to tackle/throw someone to the ground if they’re very suspicious, VFD member or not.

(By the ASOUE period, Ernest and Frank managed to act like Dewey regarding hugs and handshakes. Frank also managed to stop tackling/throwing people to the ground, making others do it in his place, like the waitress in TPP who threw that man on the floor after he asked for sugar.)

Beatrice: After picking up on the speaking quirk and hair quirk, Beatrice discovered the Denouements wear different colors socks, even if they’re all dress identically for reasons. Dewey wears blue socks, Ernest wears green socks, and Frank wears red socks. Beatrice also learned another 100% sure way to tell them apart if all three are in a matching suit and tie (they don’t wear bowties) with matching socks; Dewey always has his tie properly on, Ernest’s tie is slightly loosen, and Frank for whatever reason is missing a cuff link, or has one unbuttoned cuff.

(By the ASOUE period, the Denouements decided to wear white socks only. Ernest and Frank also decided to copy Dewey’s dressing habit. Ernest constantly fights the urge to loosen up his tie. Frank quickly adapted to wearing both cuff links/have buttoned cuffs.)

Can 100% tell apart the Denouement triplets. HOWEVER...

R: R learned the Denouement triplets dressing quirk of different color socks, taking weeks to figure out which color each triplet associated with. However, when it comes to a matching suit and tie with matching socks, R for some reason, thinks Dewey is missing the cuff link/has the one unbuttoned cuff, Ernest has the tie properly on, and Frank has the slightly loosen time. R discovers she got this particular quirk wrong post-canon, after an accidental meeting with the sole Denouement triplet survivor.

Monty: Monty learned of the Denouement triplets hair quirks for hairstyle one and two after several rapid conversations with each brother in under an hour. However, Monty never did figure out the quirk for their third hairstyle, and so he keeps quiet on who he thinks he’s talking too to avoid trouble. In Monty’s defense, he rarely interacts with the Denouements when they’re growing out their hair; Monty has the odd luck of interacting with them with either short hair with bangs or with ‘the Mane’.

Widdershins: Widdershins picked up on the Denouements’ speaking quirk after a few years of interactions. However, Widdershins can be trick into thinking he’s talking to the wrong brother. The only Denouements who does the tricking is Ernest, but that’s only in the month of April. Widdershins is mainly trick by his associates who also can 100% tell the brothers apart due to them wanting to prank the Denouements, or are angry at the Denouements and are using Widdershins as their stand-in.

Can 100% tell apart Ernest and Frank, but throw in Dewey...

Gregor and Hector + Josephine: The three discovered that Ernest is right-handed and Frank is left-handed. Because Dewey is ambidextrous with a leaning of using his right-handed, they will make the mistake of thinking Dewey is Ernest, and vice versa until correct, which in that case, they’ll apologize to both. At least Hector and Josephine. Gregor will apologize to Dewey, but not Ernest. Ernest has no idea why he never gets the apology.

Miranda and Olivia: The two Calibans discovered together that Ernest is a bit of a motor-mouth, and Frank is a bit of a slow talker. Dewey’s steady, polite pace has him getting mistaken as Frank by the two. In their defense, they don’t interact much with the Denouements, so they will apologize when corrected. Olivia does it more so, especially to Dewey.

Can 100% tell apart Dewey and Ernest, but throw in Frank...

N (Nestor) Caliban: Like his sisters, N. discovered that Ernest is a bit of a motor mouth. However, his discovery was made when Ernest was with Dewey. As such, Frank’s slightly slow speaking matter is mistaken at times by N. as Dewey trying to get his point across. N. usually realizes he’s wrong after thirty seconds, apologize, and continue on with the conservation.

Haruki: Haruki, because of all the coffee drinks Ernest partakes in with him and Larry, knows the man’s quirks. But Haruki doesn’t know the quirks of Dewey and Frank, for Haruki rarely visits the Hotel Denouement. As such, whenever Haruki runs into Dewey or Frank at a party or meeting, he avoids saying their name or says ‘Denouement’ when talking to one of them.

Can 100% tell apart Dewey and Frank, but throw in Ernest...

The Sebald Siblings: The reason why Sally and Gustav can’t tell Ernest apart from Dewey and Frank is because they interact with Ernest the least. Every quirk known for Dewey and Frank, the Sebalds know. It’s just Ernest’s quirks they lacking knowledge of. They’re as such, apologizing constantly.

Can 100% tell Ernest and Frank apart, but they don’t think Dewey exists (because they got the luck of never interacting with Dewey properly):

Ike: Ike discovered the sock quirk by accident, and the dominate hand quirk after observations. One of the two SBG fire-fighter members to think Dewey as non-existent, sort of. Ike thinks Dewey was a brother to Frank and Ernest (in that order because Ike assumes Frank is older due to his demeanor), but died after choking on an avocado pit. Attempts to tell Ike the truth about Dewey never happen due to Ernest finding it hilarious to stop anyone from telling Ike (this is why Gregor never apologizes to Ernest).

Larry: Larry is the other SBG fire-fighter members to think Dewey as non-existent, sort of. He too, thinks Dewey was a brother who died after choking on an avocado pit, and also not told the truth due to Ernest finding it hilarious to stop anyone from telling Larry. Larry learned on his own very quickly Ernest and Frank have different hairstyles after accidentally getting coffee with Frank once. Larry does learn Dewey is, or was, real, post-canon, and promptly punches the sole surviving Denouement triplet in the stomach for making him [Larry] thinking Dewey died by other means.

Olaf: After interacting with Ernest and Frank after so many years, especially Ernest, Olaf picked up on their hair quirk. Regarding Dewey, Olaf thinks of him as their dead brother who didn’t survive childbirth that comes to ‘life’ every April Fool’s Day. Attempts to tell Olaf the truth are always interrupted by outsiders, before attempts just stop happening.

Esme: Esme picked up on their hair quirk after an accidental night out with Frank (best night Esme ever had). Regarding Dewey, Esme thinks that Dewey was their brother who died as a child in the same fire that also killed their parents, and goes with the ‘joke’ every April Fool’s Day that brings Dewey back to ‘life’. Attempts to tell Esme the truth never happened.

[Regarding the matter of Dewey faking their death and his funeral, which would reveal to the four that Dewey is a real person, they were all conveniently out of the City and Land of Districts at the time of it happening. On the matter of Ernest ‘joining’ the fire-starters while Frank ‘stays’ loyal to the fire-fighters, their return had them learning of a family schism that drove the brothers apart, and weren’t given more information about it.]

100% can’t tell Ernest and Frank apart, and has no idea Dewey exists.

Jerome: Not part of the SBG or VFD, but his association with Beatrice and the Snickets (mainly Jacques) puts him on the list. Jerome, try as he might with Beatrice’s help, he just can’t tell Ernest and Frank apart. Jerome managed it twice, but they were lucky guesses due to Frank swearing. Jerome didn’t get better even after learning of VFD during the ASOUE period.

Charles: Not officially part of VFD, but because he offer his services and has knowledge of VFD and its working, he gets put on the list. Charles, to avoid embarrassment on being wrong, refers to Ernest and Frank as ‘Denouement’, even in less formal settings. This actually works to Charles’ favor, for either one will always say, “Please, call me [X].”

Fernald: Not part of the SBG, but he is a lump member. Fernald legit can’t tell Ernest and Frank apart, even with help from his stepfather (before he became a stepfather). And Fernald didn’t get better after joining the fire-starters. Fernald as such, keeps quiet and hopes others like Olaf or Esme, will recognize they’re talking to Ernest, before jumping into the conversation himself.

100% can’t tell the Denouement triplets apart and doesn’t bother to make the attempt to learn their quirks:

Georgina Orwell: Because Georgina doesn’t see herself as part of the SBG and never makes the attempt to associate/interact with them as if she is, this is chalked up to rare interactions between them. The Denouements rarely are in need her services, and Georgina rarely goes to their hotel (she prefers the Preludio). When they do interact (usually in a meeting or party), Georgina takes the polite route and calls them ‘Denouement’.

Bonus: A lump OSG member who 100% can tell the Denouement triplets apart, but pretends otherwise:

Adeline Montgomery, Monty’s older sister: Adeline is four years older than Monty. When the schism broke out, Adeline being ten and Monty being six pushed her into being lump with the OSG. Adeline can tell the Denouement triplets apart by their hair quirk. The reason she pretends not to is because she feels bad that Monty, who also uses the hair quirk, still makes mistakes, so she makes herself worse in comparison.

#asoue #a series of unfortunate events #denouement triplets #dewey denouement #ernest denouement #frank denouement #book verse #headcanons #sugar bowl gen #sugar bowl generation #being mainly focus on the denouements #not going to make the attempt to tag everyone

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fanonical · 6 months

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in the penultimate peril frank or ernest denouement use the sebald code, where you hide a code in every tenth word after 'ring', when talking to the kids

but like

how the fuck are you meant to decipher that out loud. i only hear like three in every ten words in a sentence anyway, there is no way i'd be able to do that

#A Series of Unfortunate Events #ASoUE #Frank Denouement #Ernest Denouement

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croquel · 1 year

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me when i use the sebald code wrong and my brother slips and falls into a pond. classic denouement cringe fail x2

#asoue #sunny baudelaire #klaus baudelaire #violet baudelaire #frank denouement #ernest denouement #carmelita spats #snicket #croque art #happy birthday tpp #a cool read <3

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aseriesofunfortunatetexts · 7 months

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asoue + tumblr

#lemony snicket #count olaf #frank denouement #ernest denouement #fernald widdershins #fiona widdershins #violet baudelaire #a series of unfortunate events #asoue #asoue edit #text post meme

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oh-look-another · 3 months

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f is for frank who is friendly

e is for ernest who is evil

d is for dewey who is Very Fucking Dead

#im sorry #has it been done before?#i think it has #frank denouement #ernest denouement #dewey denouement #vfd #asoue

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asoue-siblings-bracket · 11 months

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#a series of unfortunate events #asoue #asoue siblings bracket #fiona widdershins #fernald widdershins #frank denouement #ernest denouement #dewey denouement #widdershins siblings #denouement brothers

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asouearchitecture · 1 year

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Hotel denouement

#I know it's not canonical height #But c'mon the canonical height is 900 floors #asoue #art #pencil drawing #the penultimate peril #Hotel denouement #Frank denouement #dewey denouement #ernest denouement #snicketverse

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beatricebidelaire · 12 days

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“i do not know how to tell you guys apart,” fernald says, frustrated. “if i need to work with you and pass on messages for olaf, then —”

“kid. relax.” ernest interrupts. fernald bristles at being called a kid, and ernest briefly remembers how he used to get annoyed at the way georgina thinks of ernest himself as a kid, with that condescending tone of hers. still, this is different, he knows. “you’re not a volunteer anymore. knowing things down to the detail and following the rules are the vfd’s way of doing things - my brother’s associates are all desperate to learn ways to tell us apart, wanting to memorize the little differences, wanting to know all the tricks. that actually makes it easier for me to trick them, because i can play frank’s role perfectly and do everything they expect frank to do, say everything they expect frank to say. that’s the volunteers’ weakness. they stick to the rules, and that makes them easily tricked. you’re not a volunteer anymore, you need to abandon their way of thinking.”

“okay, i get what you’re saying, and that’s all well and good, but if i need to give you something i don’t want it to end up with your brother and i still can’t tell you guys apart. how does not knowing how to tell you and your brother apart solve my problem?” fernald demands.

“listen, do you think olaf can tell us apart? do you think esme can? and dr. orwell? alright, i suspect she probably could, but she doesn’t actually care. she cares for very little, georgina. and yet olaf and esme, they don’t worry about it. you need to get used to the firestarters’ methods, now.”

georgina possibly can, but it doesn’t actually matter to her, because she’s less of a firestarter than an independent agent. she’s not with either sides, and she trusts neither ernest nor frank. esme doesn’t care about telling them apart because she simply doesn’t consider them relevant enough. actresses, in ernest’s experiences, are too self-centered. admittedly, beatrice had always wanted to know, because beatrice is even more nosy than she is self-centered.

olaf, on the other hand, considers that it’s ernest’s job to receive the information, that it’s ernest’s responsibility to find out what olaf wanted him to know even if he accidentally passed it to frank first, and then make up some lie to tell frank to smooth over the matter. if frank pretends to be ernest to tell olaf something - well, it’s ernest’s job to keep his brother away from olaf, or to find a way to let olaf know that it’s frank who’s talking to him and not give away any information, or not believe what he says. olaf’s reasoning is simple: if ernest wants to remain ambiguous, then he certainly must take up the responsibility to clean up any misunderstanding for the firestarter side that was caused by it. olaf claimed that he “didn’t like to micromanage”, which was potentially a dig ag his own ex, kit snicket. this actually suits ernest just fine, because his loyalty is to his family first and foremost.

there is nothing specifically “firestarters’ method” to the attitude of not being able to tell the denouements apart, actually. there are people, ernest knows, on frank’s side that thinks the same way about frank, the way olaf thinks of ernest’s role. there are people who simply doesn’t care enough, like esme. and there are people who distrusts them both, like georgina. but fernald doesn’t need to know that. he doesn’t know the real reason ernest doesn’t want to tell him is merely because he prefers to keep the people who can tell them apart to the minimum.

the more people who can tell frank and ernest apart, the more dewey risks being found out. but with a recently defected guy like fernald, giving him a speech like this probably helps with solidifying his sense of identity, or something. also, it’s easy to lie about this. too easy.

don’t say i’ve never done anything for my side, ernest thinks to himself, humorously.

fernald doesn’t look very convinced.

“don’t worry about it,” ernest says briskly. he pats fernald on the shoulder. “you’ll learn our ways sooner or later. liberate yourself from vfd’s way of thinking.”

#fernald #hook handed man #ernest denouement #vera.txt

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