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snicketsquadron · 11 months

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Schism Headcanons

The Netflix adaptation in general was making the story more streamlined and trim, such as using Larry and Jacqueline as story glue characters to use across books, as opposed to doing things like Hal reappearing in book 12. So it makes sense from that perspective that they would fuse together the schism that split VFD with the sugar bowl theft and the murder of Olaf’s parents that split the friend group of that generation.

I get it, but I prefer the books’ account. Especially as several facts (including one’s still carried over in the Netflix series) don’t make a lot of sense unless some amount of fragmentation is already occurring. In the books, Kit says the schism happened when she was four, and the young volunteers are already being forced to move between multiple headquarters regularly (Unauthorized Autobiography). And why would the Baudelaire’s believe Lemony was dead (as indicated by their naming intentions) before Violet was ever born, if there weren’t already problems? The schism gets talked about as if it was one singular event, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense either. The ATWQ books take place post-schism, and there are still VFD-organized trainings and apprenticeships and systems, they’re just continuing to crack and corrupt with multiple internal conflicts. (Lemony “almost gets kicked out” of VFD for his speech, Gifford and Ghede should have helped Kit but don’t), but at the same time, Olaf and Beatrice are still allies and working together. I think VFD members talk about the schism the way people talk about historical events such as “The Cold War” or “The Jazz Age”. In an American classroom (or on Wikipedia) the “Civil Rights Movement” refers to a specific time period of American History from 1954 to 1968. The movement itself wasn’t just one event- it was multiple actions on behalf of multiple activists with multiple sources of opposition, working together or separately, and visible as one thing only in hindsight. And furthermore, calling it “The Civil Rights Movement”, while useful as a shorthand and academic term, obscures the fact that there are many civil rights movements in many places and many times, and one could argue a continuous narrative starting in the beginning of recorded history to the present day. And to think of the schism in similar terms- that it wasn’t any one split, but a series of internal conflicts that ultimately shredded VFD as an organization- also lines up with Lemony’s speech about VFD as an organization and his own principles. The idea that VFD in this particular iteration, with these initials and these tattoos and these headquarters, is being lost. But that the general concept of good people banding together to fight fires has happened always and will continue to occur naturally and take many forms across history.

#Lemony Snicket #a series of unfortunate events #all the wrong questions #asoue #atwq #netflix asoue #schism #the schism #Headcanon #ooc

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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 · 7 days

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so one thing that ive been thinking about is how we know lemony during his apprenticeship era and also see in ?4 ghede and gifford mentioning many others in his generation during their apprenticeships, but we never actually get any indication of these people, growing up into adulthood, become ..... chaperones. the closest one could get is maybe jacques was sort of, kind of, chaperone to quigley but that's not an official thing, not actually vfd-assigned. and maybe in a way kit having the baudelaires carry out the mission in tpp sort of is like what jacques did with quigley, but that's still not official. and we knew quigley met kit as well.

vfd's official chaperone system - is it like, a set list of volunteers are specifically chaperones? do this list of people always have apprentices, then? like after one, another gets assigned. or is it more like, all volunteers over a certain age qualified as "chaperone", but they don't always have an apprentice with them. like, anyone could be. and when they're not on chaperoning duties they're just, regular volunteer?

we knew theodora is "ranked 52nd out of 52 chaperones". if it's all volunteers over a certain age, that would mean that 52 is possibly roughly the number of total volunteers over that age - at least, in this city / this area / whatever. maybe the vfd section in another country had their own system. but this is getting into how international vfd is, etc. so do i think 52 is all of them, or a subset? which would be more accurate?

maybe it's a, some volunteers can signed up to be in the chaperone system, but they don't always have to be chaperoning someone. and they could in fact have a long time in between two chaperones. but if there are a new group of students who needed to be assigned chaperones this upcoming summer or whatever, then these people, who generally qualified as chaperones, could also, sign up as "available for this summer" or something?

of course, just because we didn't see anything in the books didn't mean no one was a chaperone. baudelaire children were not vfd, after all, and things could be taking place in the background without their knowledge - at the hotel, frank could possibly had apprentices working as concierges. actually, while we're on this subject, considering the importance of hotel denouement, they likely will train volunteers here? which means he could possibly have apprentices as concierges. dewey is very secret, but maybe he also, at some point, had an apprentice. possibly his apprentice thinks he's frank. in fact, we don't quite know when ernest switched sides, so if it's already in adulthood, was there a time he could also have apprentices? in fact, who said the other side couldn't have their own chaperone-apprentice training system? during all these time, could r, faraway in the winnipeg, have trained an apprentice of her own?

jacques, while he was working at the daily punctilio, in the city - maybe at some point had an apprentice? since that would be before the asoue timeline, naturally the baudelaires never knew about it.

so was it never mentioned because, timing or whatever and we didn't see it happening in the background, or just these people really never were chaperones - perhaps only selected people are chaperones? or by this time the schism has worsen and everything was in chaos and they can't keep going with the original system?

#vera.txt #vfd

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drowninginredink · 2 months

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How did it take me until April 3, 2024 to realize that Lemony Snicket is absolutely a trans woman and someone needs to get her some E, stat?

- Lemony is always, always, always hiding her face. Well... okay they cut it from Netflix, but in the books and movie, the most iconic thing about Lemony is that in every photograph, she's managed to hide her face. And yes, allegedly that's to hide her identity, but like... Is it? Or is that an excuse and really Lemony just does not like her face because it's too masculine? God knows most pre-transition folks hate being photographed

- Have you seen the way she talks about Beatrice? Have you read that letter from The Beatrice Letters? "Summer without you is as cold as winter. Winter without you is even colder," "I cherished, you perished, the world's been nightmarished," "When we first met, you were pretty and I was lonely. Now I am pretty lonely." Straight men do not write about women like that. Lesbians do. Especially that letter. Do you think that a straight man wrote "I will love you if I never see you again, and I will love you if I see you next Tuesday" or "I will love you until the chances of us running into one another slip from skim to zero, and until your face is fogged by distant memory" or "I will love you if you don’t marry me. I will love you if you marry someone else – your co-star, perhaps, or Y., or even O., or anyone Z. through A., even R. although sadly I believe it will be quite some time before two women can be allowed to marry?" Absolutely not. Those are obviously the words of a lesbian.

- Pretty much everyone important in Lemony's life is a woman. All of the people closest to him: Beatrice, Kit, R, Moxie, and Ellington. Sure, he does interact with other people, but those are the 5 closest relationships indicated by the text. Obviously you can be a man with all female friends, but how many times has a "man" always gotten along better with women and ended up not being a man.

- The audiobooks are (mostly) read by Tim Curry, and we all know he plays a pretty famous transsexual

- Lemony strikes me as very self-sabotaging. Now, this is my own opinion. One could believe that all of the mess that Lemony is in is purely VFD's fault. Maybe VFD forced her to take the blame for Olaf's crimes and generally end up buried so deep in accusations that she had to fake her own death and go on the lam. However, I can see an absolutely self-hating Lemony who volunteered to take on the role that she did. Who chose to be the fall guy. And why would she hate herself so much? Dysphoria. A deeply dysphoric and closeted woman who figures that since she isn't happy with herself, she might as well be the one to have her life ruined by the schism. That way all the actually happy and good people don't need to have their potential ruined.

- Similarly, Lemony never actually jumps in to save the Baudelaires, merely writing about them from afar. She is, to put it bluntly, a coward. She tells herself she's doing something to help them, but won't intervene in the way they really need. Why not? Because she's so deep in self-loathing! Again, that could just be because of her failures in life, but like... What if she also hates herself because of repressed dysphoria?

- Lemony is just generally really, really, really, really sad. And look, I know I'm aromantic as hell, but do we really think that's *just* because she lost the love of his life? Or do we think maybe something else is making her that gloomy?

- Look I just really want Lemony to have a way to be happy. And there's no bringing Beatrice back. But. HRT? Sure. I bet there's HRT in the snicketverse. Why not? I take the reading that Beatrice and Bertrand had Violet at like 20, which makes Lemony only like 35. He's 35, and yet she's completely given up on life. She is just a shelll of a person. She doesn't actually interact with anyone and spends all her time researching terrible things that happen. She's too young to be resigned to misery. I want Lemony to have a way to be reborn and find some form of happiness again. Thus, I would like to blame some of her misery on living as a man, and propose that transition could save her.

- Again. Lemony hates pictures and doesn't like to show her face. Give her some FFS! Stat!

- Come on. Beatrice and Lemony are an iconic couple. You cannot tell me that if given the choice, you want them to be M/F when they could be F/F

Okay. I rest my case. Now to submit to @couldtransitionsaveher

#lemony Snicket #a series of unfortunate events #asoue #snicketverse #trans headcanon #trans fem headcanon #trans femme headcanon

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ven10 · 4 months

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hello! it's your friendly anon again :D! i truly love how details you are with your headcanons! the isadora headcanon is my favorite!

this been on my mind after browsing your blog a bit, so i hope you don't mind me asking once again. as your main focus is the unfortunate generation, especially the quagmire triplets, do you have any thoughts or headcanons for the other kids? in particular, fiona? fiona is one my favorite characters next to the quags. i would love to read anything you have for her.

Hi again anon! :) Great hearing from you again! :D I’m really happy you liked the last hcs I did!!!! :)))

I have lots of hcs for the unfortunate gen so I’ll just stick to answering for Fiona in this so my answer doesn’t turn out to be the length of a novel! :) [feel free to ask for the other characters again tho+I will happily answer in detail!]

Thoughts about Fiona:

Not hesitating is definitely a key aspect of her character (I mean that one’s obvious tho) but I like how consistent this is with all aspects of her. She doesn’t hesitate to take charge but she also doesn’t hesitate to correct those who are in charge, like correcting Captain Widdershins by adding “or she” to his motto.

{ Negative side of this? Not hesitating for long enough to kiss Klaus. As in, not even waiting for his consent. Although it is stated on page 232 of ‘The Grim Grotto’ that Fiona “hesitated for a small moment” the fact that Klaus’ reaction to the kiss of to lift “one trembling hand to his face, as if Fiona had given him a slap instead of a kiss” clearly conveys how the kiss was unwanted. Although I personally believe it was more so due to circumstances than attraction that the kiss was unwanted as Fiona does this after betraying the Baudelaires. }

Wracking up life experiences like kissing is maybe something Fiona is trying to do as she may feel she’s missing out by spending her time isolated from her peers on a submarine. Maybe she didn’t even want to kiss Klaus specifically, maybe she just wanted to kiss someone. Resulting in her failing to consider (or failing to act on the possibility) that the romantic desire was not mutual or that it shouldn’t have been acted on under those circumstances, i.e, kissing your crush right after revealing you have teamed up with the guy who has been stalking him+his siblings trying to murder+kidnap them.

Loyal: I know she may seem like one of the least loyal characters in the series given (SPOILERS FOR ‘THE GRIM GROTTO’) how in TGG she betrays the Baudelaires, choosing to join the ‘bad’ side of VFD over helping them however thinking about all that time she spent isolated, likely thinking+imagining scenarios where her brother-Fernald/the hook-handed man- had stayed with her…the fact that Fiona still chooses her brother over her friends despite him abandoning her and becoming a villain clearly conveys how deeply loyal she is to her family.

“mother is dead” “father moved away” “stepfather has abandoned me”

“my brother may not be as wonderful as you Baudelaires, but he’s the only family I have. Aye! I’m staying with him! Aye!” [‘The Grim Grotto’ Chapter 13, page 224]

The fact that in this outburst Fiona is (subconsciously?) mimicking the speech patterns “Aye!” of the stepfather who abandoned her is another level of sad. She has to follow her family because she knows that if she doesn’t then she will be left behind.

***

I noticed a slight parallel between Fiona’s character and Olaf in the Netflix version. (Not exact wording)

Violet: His name’s Phil.

Fiona: Well, I call him Cooky.

Fiona: His name’s Fernald.

Olaf: Well, I call him Hooky.

In Fiona’s case I doubt the nickname was meant as insulting given how Phil says he doesn’t care what he’s called whereas in Olaf’s case Fernald tried multiple times to tell Olaf his name but was shut down every time. This shows how although Fiona’s actions may be similar to some of the villainous characters (E.g by joining the ‘bad’ side of the schism) her good intentions are what sets her apart.

***

The way she folded her family photo in Netflix!TGG was having creases between each person in the photo (photo of younger Fiona with her stepfather and Fernald). This could be so that she only sees the image she wants to see when looking at it, E.g, folding Fernald away so she sees only her stepfather+her and doesn’t have to remember the pain of Fernald being gone.

Defiant: A detail I remember from the book version of TGG is ‘or she’ being scratched next to the quote ‘He who hesitates is lost.’ I like how she’s willing to noticeably+permanently challenge flawed things. Especially given how she may have risked punishment for this ‘vandalism’.

Capable+Independent: in Netflix!TGG Fiona was able to successfully control an entire submarine on her own!! She even repaired damaged solo! This is impressive (if a little sad that so much responsibility+pressure has been placed on her…)

I love how said independence clashes with Violet’s character. These two have had to take charge of things for their own safety (+the safety of siblings for Violet) that it’s difficult for them to follow decisions made by the other.

In terms of VFD…she’s in deep😟… Fiona didn’t even know what was in the sugar bowl but still chose to pursue that inanimate object over taking three children to ‘safety’. Also, in her telegram to Kit Snicket in ‘The Grim Grotto’ she mentioned the safety of the sugar bowl BEFORE the danger that three live human beings aka the Baudelaires were in. Yikes. (Ig that’s what growing up surrounded entirely by VFD members can do…)

Sorry to low-key insult her like this but Fiona had no need to reveal Fernald was her brother to Olaf. The revelation would be more likely to get her used as blackmail to get Fernald to do Olaf’s bidding than anything else tbh. (Scene took place in TGG when Olaf was threatening to kill Fernald and had his hands to his throat, pushed up against a wall). Maybe the threat of the situation caused Fiona to act without thinking. Especially given the ‘no hesitating’ mindset that’s been drilled into her.

Major respect to Fiona for somehow putting up with this mess of a man for YEARS :’) [Cap Widdershins]

This is probably reading WAY too into it but you said you like my detailed analysis so,like a submarine, I’ll dive in DEEP. Fiona’s glasses are shaped like isosceles triangles: 2 sides equal, 1 different. Fiona+Fernald on one side of VFD captain Widdershins on another. 🔼

2 angles the same, 1 different. Fiona being willing to see things from Fernald’s angle. Cap Widdershins being unbudging.

Or, Captain Widdershins + Fernald knowing secrets that are “too terrible for young people to know” whilst Fiona is left in the dark. Someone is always left out in their family trio.

Hc that post-canon Fiona living on land would choose clothes like jumpsuits that resemble what she wore on the Queequeg for familiarity. Refuses to go to the opticians to update her prescription for the longest time bc she doesn’t want to change her triangle glasses. Klaus avidly encourages her to avoid the opticians. Eventually she goes bc she is informed that she can keep the frames+just change the lenses if she wants to. 👓

Fiona would find it really difficult to adjust to ‘normal’ life post-canon (if she ever gets that chance-) bc ordinary life would be so STRANGE to her after growing up underwater 🌊 surrounded entirely by VFD members. Poor girl probably thinks communicating via secret code through literary references is normal. Also she’s not had many peers to interact with so that’d be an issue. Not to mention things VFD (especially the ‘bad’ side) may have forced her to do that she’d have to come to terms with…

Uses ‘Shiitake mushrooms!’ as a swear 🍄.

Hope you like this analysis, anon! Sorry this took a while, Fiona is a complicated character+I wanted to do her justice. :)

Also, she would use this mug I found on Pinterest! ☕️

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asouefanworkevent · 2 years

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woevember is coming!

what is it?

woevember is an asoue fanwork event week, that will take place from november 13th through november 19th, 2022. each day of that week is dedicated to a different group of characters from a series of unfortunate events and all the wrong questions.

what do i do?

the character groups will be revealed now, so everyone has time to make something. between now and the week of november 13th, you’ll create fanworks about the characters, and then post it on the corresponding day during november 13th - 19th!

don’t forget to tag this tumblr (asouefanworkevent) in the post so i can find it and reblog it, and tag the post with #woevember !

what do you mean by fanwork?

everything! fanfic and fanart are of course allowed, but also edits, gifs, analysis posts, even just headcanons!! super short fics!! your sketchiest drawings!! i want people to be encouraged to and be able to create even something small that didn’t exist before for the snicketverse, and share it with other people!

are there any rules?

to keep the event open and comfortable for everyone, no explicit content. also, this should go without saying, but in case it doesn’t, sibling romance and age gaps are not allowed and will not be tolerated.

do i have to make something for every day?

only if you want to! feel free to just make something for one day if you want :) the point of having a different character group for each day is so everyone’s favorite character (or a character you like or find interesting) will hopefully come up at some point, so everyone’s covered, and you can at least make something for one of the days.

what are the prompts?

i tried to get a good mix of characters we already love a lot, and characters who you might not have thought about before!

november 13th – sugar bowl gen siblings

the best siblings. the worst siblings. they’re going through a lot, at all times. "the schism has turned many brothers into enemies."

character options include: snickets, denouements, anwhistles, calibans, sebalds

november 14th – firestarters

what makes a “firestarter”? (besides needing to find seven broad categories in which to fit many, many characters.)

character options include: olaf, esme, the bald man, fernald, the henchperson, the white-faced women, the man with a beard but no hair, the woman with hair but no beard (also related characters, like ernest, georgina, olivia)

november 15th – the city

there is so much in The City! and so much with a deep vfd history, that every aspect of the city must’ve crossed paths with vfd or the baudelaire’s story at some point, in some way.

character options include: jerome, eleanora, geraldine, esme squalor’s fanclub, honestly anyone you would like to stick in a specifically City location

location options include: the punctilio, the banking district, the herpetological society, the hemlock tearoom and stationery shop, the taxi, the opera, the fountain of victorious finance, 667 dark avenue, veblen hall, orion observatory

november 16th – unseen characters

there’s plenty of characters we hear about in the series, but never actually really see. give us your takes on them!

character options include: lemony's editor, the snicket parents, olaf's parents, haruki, the baudelaire's uncle elwyn, madame dilustro, gina sue, whoever beatrice and bertrand invited to their dinner parties besides mr. poe, moxie's mother, ellington's mother, violet's friend ben, lemony's friend playing the sonata on the pipe organ in the cathedral of the alleged virgin

november 17th – stain’d-by-the-sea

what becomes of stain’d-by-the-sea and all the people still living there, after lemony leaves? what happens to wade academy? what happens to ellington?

character options include: moxie, pip, squeak, jake, cleo, kellar, ornette, lizzie, ellington, prosper lost, stew, the mitchums, the talkie brothers, any character from 13SI (theodora can also be included here)

november 18th – the unfortunate generation

what are they up to, post-canon? or what were they up to, pre-canon?

character options include: violet, klaus, sunny, duncan, isadora, quigley, fiona, carmelita, friday, the second beatrice

november 19th – free space!

is there a character you want to make something for that didn’t necessarily fit in these categories? (and my deepest apologies for who didn’t. the duchess? miranda? ishmael? the islanders? widdershins? hector? the village of fowl devotees? jacquelyn? larry? phil? beatrice and bertrand, technically????) is there a character you wanted to do but you didn’t like the group they were in? (you’d rather talk about esme outside of her relation to the firestarters?) do you want to do something centered on a ship? (lemony/beatrice/bertrand? dewey/bertrand? kit/beatrice? violet/isadora? jacques/jerome? olivia/jacques? beatrice/bertrand? monty/gustav? sally/r?) put it here!

can i do ships for other days?

you absolutely can! i’m just giving options in the free space.

can i include other characters that aren’t a part of the group set for each day?

yes, as long as the major focus of the work is still on the designated group! for example, for sugar bowl gen siblings, you could definitely make something about, say, beatrice interacting with the snicket siblings, as long as the focus of the work is still on the snicket siblings. or, for stain’d-by-the-sea, you could definitely write about those characters interacting with vfd characters, or the unfortunate gen, or even mr. poe, as long as the focus of the work is still on the stain’d-by-the-sea characters.

if you have any questions about anything, feel free to drop me an ask or a message!

happy creating and i hope to see lots of you november 13th - 19th!!

#asoue #a series of unfortunate events #atwq #all the wrong questions #lemony snicket #woevember

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whoslaurapalmer · 11 months

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what are lemony and ernest doing right now?

lemony and baby bea are staying at the hotel ernest and frank are running post hotel denouement and lemony and ernest are pretending not to recognize each other but the tension is slowly and steadily building and any moment now, one of them is going to snap, and they’ll have a dinner date, because they are classy.

(this is not my best, but i tried!!)

GASP!! no no this is perfect. of COURSE they have a dinner date; both of them ARE so classy it is no less than pretentious and candlelit. babybea picks out lemony's tie. (it is green. lemony is too touched to tell her he's never been one for green. more pressing is, in fact, where did she find the tie?) (lemony, you think your niece leaves home without a bag prepared for any event?? she's probably got a broadsword in there somewhere. it's foldable. she made it herself and she's very proud of it. don't tell violet.)

but first, let's backtrack a little --

lemony and ernest have not spoken since lemony's research for the books, which was, oh that's always a hard timeline to pin down no matter what theory you roll with, but let's say a few years ago at minimum, and it was probably very slim communication anyway. neither of them were probably in a great place to say anything more? it was very formal, barely anything, mostly confirming details. and before THAT, it was many, many years previously, when beatrice and bertrand were still alive, and of course everything was very dicey for a whole host of reasons, nearly half of them schism related. and nothing, special ever happened between lemony and ernest. nothing really at all ever happened between them, nothing like a friendship and especially not a relationship. but they looked at each other and had an understanding, back then. there was a respect, for what they stood for, even if they were not necessarily standing in the same place. and that alone was enough to make even an idle look across a room complicated. and to see each other now is -- it's a lot of things.

neither of them have ever forgotten each other. not just because they're some of the few left of their generation of vfd. how do you forget someone like lemony, especially because, no matter what lemony has done or how he's tried to hide, he's also made it so that no one could ever forget him, or what he tried to do? how do you forget someone like ernest, suspicious and untrustworthy and forgettable to the wrong eyes, but to the right ones, to the people who looked, clever and aware and charming, someone also trying his hardest to do what he thought was best? they were both very dangerous people, once. to other people, to each other, to themselves. but now most of the people that danger mattered to are dead. things are so different, so many people they knew and loved are dead. and now they're -- just two men, older than they ever thought they'd get to be, enjoying a fragile freedom neither of them thought was possible either, pretending not to recognize each other, lemony because he doesn't know if he should say anything, even if the only thing stopping him now is his own eternal anxiety, ernest because he is waiting to see how long it will take lemony to stop overthinking. and both of them are very good at waiting.

frank: why do you keep bringing that lunch table bread baskets? don't they have enough bread by now? ernest: i'm waiting for lemony snicket to stop being stupid frank: frank: wait, w h a t ernest: what do you think? five dollars for another hour, at minimum? ten? frank: w h a t ??????????????? ernest: don't tell me that's steep, you can afford it.

now, babybea poses a minor problem -- if she hasn't met the denouements at this point, this is terribly awkward, because she has not two but three total uncles engaging in a severe lack of eye contact over her head while she and one out of three uncles eat a nice hotel lunch, and eventually SOMEONE is going to go, hold the FUCK up there's a child there, but if she HAS met the denouements at this point, this is very frustrating for her, because she has three uncles engaging in a severe lack of eye contact over her head and she wants to know WHY.

babybea: uncle lemony, why does uncle ernest keep bringing us bread baskets? lemony, thinking babybea is still too young to understand the intense psychological warfare between old, friends?, while picking up a breadstick: you should never pass up an opportunity for bread, beatrice. babybea: why don't you just say hi to him? lemony: oh, well -- he's much too far away. i would not want to bother him. ernest, standing five feet away, casually leaning against a sideboard, going through the afternoon paper: hmm, might rain later.

babybea, who at this point has been given A Phone, texts sunny to tell her what's happening, and sunny sends back '🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖' which babybea interprets as 'please bring the bread home'

violet: sunny, what are you laughing at? sunny: stupidity klaus: i KNEW we should've gone with them.

lunch passes, with little else happening. babybea asks frank if he's finished any new ships in bottles, his current meticulous control-based hobby of choice. he has, and they spend a nice afternoon together talking about tiny craft hobbies and different types of ships. she shows him her foldable broadsword, and he is both impressed, and concerned.

frank, on the phone: violet do you know about the -- violet: oh yes, i know about the broadsword.

so that leaves us with lemony and ernest, now engaging in what could be called high stakes hide and seek, only without quite, hiding, or, seeking. at this point, they, or just lemony in particular, i guess, have passed the 'should i do something' point and now it's more a matter of pure principle, keeping up this not talking not looking game. and ernest will never pass up a good game. they while away the afternoon wandering about the hotel, spending time in the same rooms just not interacting with each other at all, individually reading more of the paper or commenting on the weather or the food or the books in the hotel library (because of course it has a library.) (i've been in a hotel twice in my whole life. i am not. entirely clear on what they could conceivably contain.) (but also, OF COURSE they'd put a library in the hotel, for lots of reasons), just waiting for the other to break first. it's so. goodness, these two.

(let's also assume it's a slow hotel week. i did have a joke in here about other guests watching this go down, but i think it's pushing it a little.)

of course, it does start to wear on them after a while. all the not-looking. it does get silly. they wind up looking at the other when the other one isn't, looking. eventually, they find themselves in the same hallway, looking at the same painting of a frog lamp.

lemony: it's very well done. ernest: had enough, have you? lemony: i do mean it. i am afraid i don't know a great deal about art, but i think the brush strokes are excellent. ernest: ........thank you.

(i think ernest's own hobby of choice is painting. idk, i think he'd find it nice. calming.)

what is there to say? what other games are there to play, really? what do you gain by that? how do you exist as Just Two Guys At The End Of The World, When The World Is Still Going? there's a lot in here. there doesn't have to be. but there is. and it doesn't even matter to talk about it anymore, but it's still There, you know? some habits and old fears die very, very hard.

babybea, from down the hall: uncle lemony, uncle frank gave me one of his ship in a bottle kits!

but there is still so much else in the world, somehow! isn't it something.

ernest: dinner? lemony: that would be nice, yes.

SO, THE DINNER DATE. yes, lemony's green tie. ernest actually thinks it's charming, but fully agrees, it's not lemony's color. but they both look stunning in well-cut suits. they don't eat at the hotel, but go to a restaurant. again, pretentious and candlelit. wine is involved. they share a dessert. it is very much a date and also not a date, because it's a little strange, to think of it as a date, when you've just started talking to someone again. ..........but it's a date. there is a great deal of eye contact. it's very thrilling for both of them to keep looking up and finding the other still sitting there. it's one of the most terrifyingly normal things lemony and ernest have ever done. they can do normal things, now! what a world. wow.

(sunny: update babybea: they went to [restaurant name redacted] sunny: ❗❗❗😡😡😡😡😡🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐 frank, looking over babybea's shoulder, because now he has to babysit, and you KNOW frank eavesdrops on anything. can you eavesdrop on a text? you know what i mean: oh, that's unnecessary. (frank, do you even text. do you even know what an emoji is. frank.) babybea: sunny likes bread.) (anyway, sunny wants the restaurant bread too. that's a fancy restaurant.)

oh, they do bring home the bread. it is reprehensible to not take any leftover bread from a restaurant. they do have a bit of a time trying to sneak it in their suit pockets, until their waitress just hands them a bag for it. sunny gets to eat a great deal of delicious bread, the next day.

#lulu talks about the sad lemon man #so i could not finish this while at the doctors office and had to keep working on it when i got home #however. i am VERY tired. and wound up going back and editing some things maybe more than i should have. idk #see. //i// want them to make out right away. however they have to work for it. so. so must i..............#and it was getting all that in there that took time.#i've looked at this for much too long is it even anything anymore. i hope so. i still had fun. hits some interesting thought beats #that i should keep in mind for later

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afterthegreatunknown · 3 months

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asoue au where gregor anwhistle is alive and the stepfather of fernald and fiona, part one:

in a ripple effect that can't be explain, the mother of fernald and fiona -frigga- still in the process of a divorce with her husband thursday, despite it seemingly confirming the so-call rumor she cheated on thursday with gregor and said rumor ruined her marriage, frigga decides to go after gregor.

gregor is a handsome man that while not frigga's personal taste, is still eye-catching. and gregor is an intelligent man she gets along with well, as work associates and regular associate. and her children (well, fernald at least) knows him, as well as like him. or at least has no complaints with him.

of course, the problem at hand is that frigga doesn't know if gregor thinks of her other than a work associate. so it surprises her when gregor agrees to go on a date with her one afternoon, and then another a few days later in the evening.

it was the second date that has frigga finally popping the question of them becoming a couple. gregor agrees with no hesitation.

gregor, despite having feelings for a certain no hesitating submarine captain, knows that his feelings will never be return. gregor knows that widdershins doesn't and will never, see him in a romantic light.

so gregor figures, if he has to spend the rest of his life with someone, frigga would do. she's someone who his mother would approve of, ignoring the small age difference. and frigga is someone he does gets along with well, as a work associate and as a regular associate.

with frigga and thursday's divorce finally settled, frigga and gregor go on several more dates, before deciding to get marry. it was in the papers, for the anwhistle name is quite well-known, and it is a family in the organization that is old and such has lots of respect.

and such respect has the organization willingly to be more accepting of the volatile fungus deportation project. it was a project that had a couple of great intelligent working on that is thought of to be grand. it would the thing that ends the schism once and for all!

but it didn't. it instead created a schism within a schism. some of gregor and frigga's associates thought it dangerous. that the couple was playing with fire, and would destroy everything.

associates like kit snicket. associates like widdershins.

kit and widdershins and others of gregor's generation came together, and agree that the anwhistle couple must be stop. after a long time planing, with the help from one of gregor's brother who was going to be leaving the city and relocated to a village in the hinterlands, widdershins and another associate was able to sneak into anwhistle aquatic late one night, ready to destroy the fungus.

said other associate was a vfd superior of frigga's generation: ishmael. kit and widdershins and everyone else in the know were wary of his presence. he was vocal about his his dislike for the volatile fungus deportation project, but never he tried to go persuading his associates to turn against the idea.

still, having one associate of frigga's generation gave the group the confidence they need to sneak into anwhistle aquatic.

but gregor and frigga knew of the plan. or at least, suspected it. gregor's other brother and his wife, while disagreeing with the idea of the mycelium, didn't like the idea of losing family, especially in a violent matter. they told gregor about the possibility of someone going after him and his wife, and told them to be careful.

gregor and frigga didn't want to lose their lives' work, especially to those they thought they could trust. such perspective betrayal had the confrontation between the four ending in fire and death.

ishmael barely escaped with his life due to finding the one working bathyscaphe that the marine research center and rhetorical advice service had. not before setting a fire without mercy, wanting to spite gregor for what he had done, to the organization, and himself.

gregor escaped the fire by stealing the queequeg, crying his eyes out for the betrayal and lost of the one person he truly loved. while never having proper submarine training, he did had a few lessons underneath his belt due to widdershins' teaching him.

frigga was injured by ishmael via gunshots, for ishmael brought a revolver. the blood loss had her dying before the fire. but she would have perished in the fire anyway if she wasn't shot, risking her life to save her research, forgetting about her children at home.

as for widdershins, gregor in the confrontation grabbed a sample of an prototype fungus on his desk, and shoved it into widdershins' mouth, forcing the man to swallow it. then, gregor pushed him out the top window. if the fall didn't kill widdershins, the mycelium did.

despite having a surname that is associated with being unlucky, widdershins got all the luck in the world that night.

gregor's brother hector, the one who helped kit and widdershins and others, had a feeling something would go wrong. on the night he was suppose to leave, hector instead stole a boat, and went to anwhistle aquatic, just in time to see the flames engulfing the center in the early morning. in the distance, he sees a floating body.

the body floating by, is widdershins. hector rushes to bring the man aboard, and in his horror, sees widdershins is infected not just by the fungus, but the prototype, which is more volatile. it's growing out of his mouth, trying to take over his entire body.

it's a lucky thing that hector came prepare with a jar of grated horseradish. hector was able to cure widdershins of the prototype, though he now has 'scars' on his neck, his chest and stomach, and almost all of his left arm.

hector eventually does as he was told. he relocate to the village of fowl devotee, and he takes widdershins. hector asked widdershins upon their return back to hector's soon-to-be-former apartment, if he wants to leave with him, and widdershins agrees with no hesitation. he feels no loyalty and love to the organization that saved him, even to the man he calls father. the two go to the village, after some careful paper work that has widdershins going back to his biological name. widdershins is no longer v. widdershins.

widdershins is now back to veasna heng. most people refer to him as heng, for they can't pronounce his first name. well, except hector. and hector has the honor of still being able to call widdershins 'widdershins', at least when alone together. hector had fears the other man wouldn't like to be call by his old surname, but widdershins told hector that he can be the exception.

the village had initial objections to hector bringing in an outsider they weren't inform of, but they accepted the outsider after they got him on the platform, and questioned him nonstop to learn anything about him. hector was quite worry the elders would reject widdershins, or that widdershins would get himself into trouble and burn at stake.

with the elders accepting widdershins, hector can finally take his place as the handyman, with widdershins as his assistant.

hector quite likes living far away from the city, and the ocean. most importantly, hector likes having the company of widdershins. with widdershins around, hector has something to talk to, to vent to. hector realizes that he has someone to comfort him when thinking of past that has hector feeling close to tears. having widdershins around has hector realizing his dream of living in his self-sustaining hot air mobile home would be incomplete without company.

widdershins dislikes the hinterlands, for it's far from his element of the water, and it rarely rains. when it rains, it's short or too long and muddy. being around hector though, widdershins can forget his element, and the pain it caused. widdershins feels while not a different person, feels better than he had in years. being around hector has widdershins realizing that there's more to life than he once thought, and that he doesn't want it to disappear.

one day hector does a grand proposal; if hector has to spend his life with one person, it would be widdershins, flaws and all.

and widdershins didn't hesitate to say yes; if widdershins has to spend his life with one person, it would be hector, faults and all.

with their decision made, the two soon spend their days repairing and taking care of the village, as well as building the self-sustaining hot air mobile home, ready to escape and be free of the past, ready to start a new life together.

at least until three orphans decided that the village of fowl devotee be their new home. at least until another familiar face shows up, with hector and widdershins doing their best to defend the three children who were accused of killing said familiar face, and failing.

hector and widdershins realize as they escape the village with duncan and isadora quagmire, force to leave the baudelaires on land, that they can't escape the vfd. they see it's catching up to with them, and it reveals itself at open sea where it all began.

(it's always the ocean.)

#asoue #a series of unfortunate events #asoue au #gregor lives au (fernald and fiona anwhistle au)#gregor anwhistle #mrs widdershins #captain widdershins #hector #hector asoue #(and it's this post au that i reveal my headcanon name for widdershins. i might make another post to explain why)

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moldygreenblue · 11 months

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Hello! I've just read your ficlet about E and Jacob Snicket immediately after their kids were recruited. I wanted to ask if you had any other headcanons about them? Thank you!

♪(´▽｀)

I'm willing to share some headcanons, @dragoneyes618

Jacob used to be known as Jake as a child, but starting in his teen years he switched over to his proper name. Only his bridge partner -TMWBBNH- calls him Jake as an adult.

E worked as a (D.A.) investigator for the City. As such, E was close with TMWBBNH (who worked at the time as a prosecutor) as they worked several cases together. E also was rather friendly with TWWHBNB when off working hours, when they're not being on opposite sides of the courtroom (sort of. TWWHBNB was a defense attorney and sometimes cross-examined E on the stand.)

Jacob worked at The Daily Punctilio after getting fired from another rival newspaper The Slapdash (that is now defunct by the ASOUE period) as a reporter (and sometimes photographer).

Jacob goes back and forth between being clean shaven or having a bushy beard. If anyone gets ask which look Jacob looks better in, you'll get a 50/50 split.

E annoyed everyone with her peppermint obsession because she eats as many mints she can get her hands on it. Mainly her siblings.

E greatly enjoyed camping and the great outdoors (she's the sporty athletic Snicket of her generation). She didn’t really do it as much after her children got recruited though.

I admit this headcanon is a bit wonky and needs to be clean up a bit, but I personally have it that when the Schism first broke out (like, on the first day it happened), not many volunteers in the City were initially informed of it. E and Jacob were two such volunteers.

They only learned about the Schism after discovering why their children weren't home. E and Jacob had actually given permission for VFD to recruit and raise their children, but they wanted it to happened when Lemony was a bit older (around 5). They're upset the date was hasten big time due to the Schism.

E and Jacob also sadly died after the events of the final ATWQ book. E died in a fire when on her job as a (D.A.) investigator, trying to help TMWBBNH for a murder case he was on (TWWHBNB set it; it was a trap). Jacob died in a house fire working on a file he and E were working on (TMWBBNH set it). And something interesting about this is that the file wasn't completely destroyed. Remnants of it later became part of the well-known and sought after Snicket File.

Thank you so much for reading my Aftershock ficlet! I hope you enjoy my headcanons for them!

#asoue #a series of unfortunate events #the unauthorized autobiography #headcanons #ask #replies

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eyesteeth · 2 years

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i have some thoughts about qwerty’s age. this is not an attempt to solidly state what his age is, but thoughts on how it works narratively. spoilers ahoy. apologies for any potential inconsistencies - it’s been a bit since i fully reread the series.

in the snicketverse, characters are usually placed into one of two categories age-wise - child and adult. either

you’re around the age of the protagonist(s) and are easily overlooked but perceptive and intelligent

you’re an adult and are in a position of power but are largely unhelpful if not outward malicious.

(granted, there are exceptions to this, stew is a horrible child and kit as of asoue is an adult doing her best, but that’s beside the point, and i’m only including it so people don’t yell at me for it.)

within these categories, characters are usually around the ages of “17 or younger” or “older than 35”. very few canon ages are given, but the schism is about as old as lemony is, which informs a lot of the vague areas of other characters’ ages. you almost never see anyone who’s a young adult, only people who were children when the schism happened, or their children.

except, of course, for qwerty.

when qwerty is introduced, he is described as being “younger than [one thinks] of a librarian as being, younger than the father of anyone [lemony] knew”. this places him between the two categories of age, as this line suggests that he’s in his mid-to-late 20s. and for a series so focused on age and associated behaviors, this is fascinating.

as is revealed in the second half of atwq, qwerty is indeed an adult in a position of power - he’s a member of vfd. and not only is he a part of vfd, he’s a supervisor - someone who looks after chaperones and makes sure they’re successfully doing their job. he is higher ranked than s theodora, and two or more ranks above lemony as a result.

there is generally, in the snicketverse, a reoccurring theme of useless or incompetent adults, especially those in a position of power. qwerty, despite his rank, ultimately does not accomplish much. he shows up, imparts knowledge, and those around him continue moving in the same direction they have previously, with little exception. he is, in a way, useless.

except, qwerty is only a “useless adult” because lemony doesn’t listen to him.

qwerty, like several of the child characters, knows more than he lets on, and is overlooked despite this. he all but explicitly tells lemony what to do next and is consistently ignored, almost as if lemony already expects him to be incompetent. when s theodora asks him for a good evaluation, he, aware of her incompetence despite barely interacting with her, flat out refuses.

he is between adult and child, and narratively has the traits of both, perception and intelligence and a place of power, but is ignored and ultimately does not help much. he dies doing so much and getting nothing in return.

dashiell qwerty deserved better.

#atwq #atwq spoilers #dashiell qwerty #feel free to correct me if i’m wrong i love civil debate about my favorite characters

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littlestsnicket · 1 year

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bertrand/ernest for the ship meme?

thank you! this is an excellent ask!

1. they both are *always* wondering if the other person would rather they were someone else (its not true though, neither of them interact with anyone else with quite the sort of honesty they show to each other (not that bertrand isn’t generally an honest person, he can just allow himself to be a worse version of himself around ernest (beatrice knows he has it in him and wouldn’t care but bertrand cares, he wants to be the best version of himself for her)))

2. i think this is vera’s head canon but they’re pan pals post schism. they send each other letters full of mundane things they wouldn’t bother anyone else with

3. bertrand wouldn’t hesitate to kill ernest if he thought it was necessary. ernest thinks killing bertrand is inherently not necessary. (but that has more to do with their views on morality and the schism than how they feel about each other specifically.)

(now i want to write fic for them delving into their relationship with vfd! probably too much of my brain is plotting witcher fic and i really really want to write two other asoue things first… but we’ll see)

#mayo replies #shipping ask meme #b/e #virginian-wolfsnake #i really liked thinking about this!!

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virtualfindingsdocumented · 5 years

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E was born in a VFD family so becoming a volunteer was just the expected future for her, it was natural, it was not something she gave a lot of thought about

Jacob was recruited at an older age and was born in a regular family so he was convinced that being a volunteer was a good choice. He saw meaning in volunteering

And that was the source of a lot of tensions between them later, because the difference in context for them made them see things differently and communication was never one of their strengths in first place

#from the volunteer #save #jacob snicket #e snicket #snicket parents #vfd schism generation

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badlydrawndrawnings · 2 years

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theory: the original vfd schism happened because no one was in agreement who -or maybe it’s what- broke up the beatles.

#asoue #a series of unfortunate events #vfd #original schism generation #shitpost #i feel they would be the generation #who would be around when the band was active

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beatricebidelaire · 6 months

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for day 5 of woevember of @asouefanworkevent, the masked ball

the masked ball is not a VFD event. rather, it's an old tradition of the duchess's family, passed down from one generation of the duchess to the next, like the ring with the letter R engraved upon it.

the most recent R, Duchess of Winnipeg, is a volunteer of the VFD, but her mother, the previous R, and her mother, also R, are not. (see: the end). so, naturally, duchess R (the most recent one)'s friends and associates from VFD are often invited to the masked ball, and the VFD volunteers have sometimes used the masked ball as a way of communicating with other volunteers.

however, one would be mistaken if one thinks that no VFD members have ever attended the masked balls held by R's mother, or grandmother, or great-grandmother, and so on. like R's family, and her family ring, VFD has been around for a long time. the Duchess's masked ball has always been quite popular event amongst the high society, and oftentimes influential people would attend, and previous generations of VFD members have also sometimes attended the ball for various different purposes, even if the Duchess at that time is not a VFD volunteer

R continues to hold the masked ball regularly, even amidst the schism, even if sometimes enemies of the volunteers also managed to sneak into the ball for nefarious purposes. it's an event that people who's on the lam or rumored to be dead may show up, since everyone's in masks with a proper reason. it's a time when old associates can meet.

in some way, it signifies hope - the hope of being able to meet an associate you have not been able to contact for sometime, the hope of the chance to confirm that a family member is safe and sound

year after year, as various members of VFD and its enemies meet their demise, fewer and fewer associates and enemies of R's show up at the masked ball each time. some of them she knows for a fact are confirmed dead - M for one. and G. and also G - not that it's ever quite clear whether she stood on the schism.

R continues hosting the masked ball, if she's able to at that time. L appears less and less frequently, but despite various "confirmations" of his death, he's possibly the one who's most likely to still be alive, since all those so-called confirmations are flimsy at best, featuring blurry pictures that could've been anybody in a hat.

sometimes she knows that L has showed up and left before they had a chance to talk, and she knows this because she would find little messages from him that he's left behind. an encrypted code on a little note hidden under the accordion, for instance, that can only be decoded if one is well-versed in poetry

when L's brother J first fell out of contact, and soon it's been said that nobody has been able to reach him, at first R thought he's just gone on the run like L did. perhaps planning to fake his death. she had hoped he would show up at her ball sometime soon - but he never did. instead, the daily punctilio featuring the death of olaf at some faraway village with the picture of J brought the worst news.

and then came the fire of hotel denouement, and also K who lost contact after that. barely any of R's associates or enemies show up for a long time, after that.

until one day L appears again - not at a masked ball, but just one a normal day - with his niece. kit and dewey's daughter, beatrice.

the little girl made a lot of efforts to find and reunite her family - including the children of beatrice and bertrand that R's heard so much about but have never met, and lemony, and dewey's triplets.

having old friends again at the next masked ball gives her a certain ache of nostalgia, but she's also so very glad to be able to see them again, after all these years, and away from their VFD identities that's bound them tight when they were younger. she's also so delighted to meet the kids - although maybe violet and klaus can hardly be called kids, now. they're older than when R and her friends had been getting drunk at the masked ball, decades ago.

everyone dress up for the masked ball. beatrice and sunny have never attended such a formal event and the girls are very thrilled. beatrice tells R that violet has taught her how to draw fake scars as R finds a costume for her, and R gets reminded of beatrice - the other beatrice, the first beatrice, whom violet must've learned the skill from.

sunny wears a pair of butterfly wings that once belonged to her mother. frank tells the story of how beatrice and kit used to pull the trick where beatrice wears the fancy wings and distract everyone's attention and kit uses the chance to do something discreetly as everyone's attention is focused on beatrice. sunny and beatrice listen attentively in wonder.

beatrice asks if her father attended the masked ball too - she's learned that his existence is mostly a secret, but considering that at a masked ball everyone can put on a mask, maybe this is his chance?

R confirms that dewey does indeed attend the masked balls sometimes. and that he and bertrand always manage to find each other, no matter what kind of masks they have on. "the elephant poem," sunny says, remembering what dewey has told her and her siblings.

"exactly," ernest says. "i've actually tried to pretend to be dewey once by reciting the poem to him. but B soon recognized me."

r: "were you actually surprised?" ernest, fondly nostalgic: "i guess not. he was always able to tell us apart."

#asoue #the duchess's masked ball #r duchess of winnipeg #lemony snicket #brotp: midnight beatrice conversations #frank denouement #ernest denouement #beatrice baudelaire jr #violet baudelaire #klaus baudelaire #sunny baudelaire #vera.txt #woevember

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