#or sabotaging her wardrobe so she exposed herself on set

[tparadox]

The Guardian: Actor/producer Noel Clarke has abused his power to sexually harass women in the industry, here's testimonies from 20 women he assaulted and blackmailed.

Industry backlash: BAFTA suspends his membership and an award, some production companies and talent agencies aren't doing business with him anymore.

Old video of Clarke: John Barrowman used to flop his dick all over the Doctor Who set in front of women co-stars a long time ago as an ill-advised prank he got away with at the time by being gay. (he apologized for this behavior in 2008)

Industry backlash: *canceled show* *canceled appearance* *cancelled appearance* *rewriting a Doctor Who theater show with a non-Jack Harkness Torchwood tribute* *canceled show* *canceled audio drama*

#Barrowman is slightly more serious than it sounded at first #but also he apologized for it over a decade ago #and Clarke has been a danger to women up until last month #and every day there's a new headline about someone else pulling Barrowman from a show #while I had to go do my own research to find anything about Clarke getting any more serious consequences than having his BAFTA taken back #there's plenty of convention video about Pat Troughton and Frazer Hines pranking Wendy Padbury by stealing her underwear #or sabotaging her wardrobe so she exposed herself on set #but Big Finish isn't canceling their projects with Hines

[paradox-n-bedrock]

Okay, here we go! I'm so excited 😁 hahaha I have to start with "la chaleur dans ma vie" because that's what introduced me to you and your writing. Please share anything about your process regarding the dynamic between Zelda and Marie here, because it walks that beautiful line of softness and slight friction. And also I'd love to hear more about how you started picturing Marie in a domestic setting - what she wears, how she inhabits spaces, what she likes to cook etc :)

(Find the fic here.)

Let’s do this! I’ll probably spread out answering these throughout the day, so I can think about them, but I’m excited too!

Alright, “la chaleur dans ma vie”. This story is kind of an outlier, because mentally I set it in my fix-it verse, because I was not emotionally prepared to be writing in anything that looked like a post-part 3 canon, but it really is a stand-alone Zarie story. I’m glad I included it, because the latter stories are so Lilith heavy. But it’s really just a peek into the early days of their relationship, once Zelda has accepted that she cares -- cares and trusts enough that she doesn’t freak out over having Marie roaming her home with Sabrina about -- but is a long way from being comfortable with that, or with how fully Marie seems to be throwing herself into the relationship.

I tend to write in close 3rd, but this was my first time doing it with Marie’s POV and I was hella stressed about it. I always want to do her justice. I want her to be her own person and never divorce her from her culture. I want her to be soft towards Zelda, but not passive. I wanted a balance of her being caring (but not a caretaker, a role I feel she slides easily into) and Zelda caring for her in return. She’s empathetic, but it’s important that she’s not doing all the emotional labor in the relationship, especially if I’m writing Zelda with romantic inclinations towards both Marie and Lilith. 

So, I thought about her relationship history. I headcanon Marie as a lesbian and I looked a lot into the attitude towards sexuality in Vodou (and found that Vodou is more accepting than the broader Haitian culture). I thought about her having experiences, as many people do, even in wlw relationships, where her perceptiveness had her doing more or accepting more shit than she reasonably should, because she does so thoroughly understand what the other person is going through. She’s already learned that lesson and doesn’t want it to happen with Zelda. 

The key moment, though, is when Marie starts to verbally set boundaries. Zelda fears pushing Marie away and self-sabotages by engaging in the exact sort of behavior that could lead to it, but when Marie calls her on it, she wants to step up. She realizes that Marie’s boldness is exactly what she wants. She wants Marie to be able to be fully herself, even as overwhelmed as she might feel sometimes. She tells her that she “brings warmth into her life”, as the title references, and that really is how I think of them.

Oh! Her domesticity, though. I really like contrasting Marie with the women of the show who have such weight on their shoulders about how they are perceived. It’s such a change to write someone without that level of trauma or stress. And a lot of fun to write someone who doesn’t think twice about putting on someone else’s clothes and rummaging through their kitchen, all for the sake of doing something sweet. She doesn’t feel too emotionally exposed or anxious, she doesn’t overanalyze every move she makes. She's one of few characters who are ever shown dressed casually, so that’s interesting, but she’s very femme, so if pieces of her own wardrobe start sneaking over to the Spellman house, I picture a long robe with a shorter nightgown. I thought about how she might wrap her hair at night, and that Zelda would be the self-conscious one. For daywear, flowy dresses in soft fabrics, bolder patterns and brighter colors than we see from anyone else. She’s fond of floor-length and sleeveless, or off the shoulder. Some loose pants and warmer tops to account for New England weather. (We have limited screentime of her, but I’ve spent a lot of time trying to extrapolate, haha.) As far as food, I wish we knew how long ago she left Haiti for New Orleans, but I see her as someone who likes to experiment. She wants to share her favorites from home with Zelda, but my Marie has a wide repertoire and enjoys expanding it.

Thanks! I hope I actually covered what you wanted to know!

#marie lafleur #mambo marie #zarie #zelda spellman #caos #chilling adventures of sabrina #asks #whoops this is a lot #i might have to do a couple today and a couple tomorrow #but thank you #i love talking about this and your questions are great #ask game