Sometimes it’s funny to remember how Albus was on the first nights I went to sleep with his story and compare it throughout the few years I have had him.
He was so quiet, barely even made anything in the story because in my head he was just a whumpee I would make suffer to entertain me before going to sleep. He was just a clean slate that I began filling up as the days went by and I wrote more and more.
Albus wasn’t supposed to do much more than be obedient and pliant, but then I discovered he kinda had a thing to be punished. Not exactly only because of his status. I began noticing he wanted to be punished sometimes. To feel calmer because of a perceived mistake or because he kinda dug the feeling of a bit of pain. But, he wasn’t going to let just anyone hurt and punish him.
From the very beginning I saw he had an underlying conflicting nature. So I pushed him more and more into situations that would let me bring it into the surface. And slowly, a few more things began to pop up.
Like the way he goes ride or die and does everything he can to help others, how he’s really gentle and kind but can also be cutting and dry without meaning to. Also how fidgety he was and how often he would use his hands in a clever way, just perfect for pickpocketing.
When I noticed he was handsy and nobody took notice I began to work on “quickhands”. By that time I had already written about his files and how he refused to remember Annie, so when I began to wonder why and what connection it had with the way his hands moved, I first thought it was to survive and he didn’t want to remember someone that had betrayed him.
Annie was supposed to be someone people wouldn’t like. At all. But then, I noticed he didn’t really have motives to hate someone even if they betrayed him. He just couldn’t do it. He blames himself first rather than admitting someone hurt him. So I switched up the story a little bit and so, the nightmares with the Coronel storyline began.
It’s just funny to me how the whole story is me picking and giving him pieces of personality and then, when exploring those, I piece 1 and 2 together and they lead me into yet another facet of him.