Liberty Belle

You've tuned in to the ERP Fiction Addiction, a fan podcast all about Winona ERP fanfiction. Join our intrepid host Dark Wicket as they dive deep into the sometimes sweet, sometimes spicy, and always varied world of fan fiction for the Wynona Herp Fandom.

Thanks announcer guy. Addiction, the podcast dedicated entirely to And fiction I am My wonderful Hey, it's Lara. Lara, hello and happy July 4th to you, you person who's not in the United States. Thank you. I realized after laying out the schedule for this. That there is something kind of perfect about you not being from the United States and joining us for the July fourth episode.

It would be even more ironic if I was English, but Right? Yeah, yeah. No, I I think the uh no, I I feel like the Irish have our backs uh or have our backs. Yeah, yeah. We get you. Um but I think, you know, it's pretty also s safe and to say that uh some of us here in the good old US of A aren't feeling particularly patriotic lately.

So we're having so so myself included, uh, in that group and so we're having to sort of drum up creative ways to feel patriotic and uh and so I think I think we've found a good good solution uh with our episode today. Um but uh I will say it's hard to focus because we are dealing here up in there in the Pacific Northwest we have something called the summer snow.

Which any if any of you live uh in an area in the contiguous United States uh that has uh cottonwood trees, you know what I'm talking about. And for those of you that don't know what I'm talking about, imagine a dandelion puff ball but the size of a large tree. And when the wind blows, the the puffs go everywhere.

And it is the most aggravating pollen I have ever encountered in my life. So if I sound a bit uh congested uh or um uh sniffly, uh that is why. Uh Um so I apologize to our listeners if at any point I uh I just don't sound like a pleasant voice to listen to. This is DM summer snow. How's your summer going, Lara?

It's all right. Yeah. Do you have anything anything like summer snow over there in Ireland? Um not not nothing that sounds that bad. We we certainly have allergy season. Yeah. Um, for sure. Uh I know all about that. Uh but uh yeah, no, we just get rain. Lots and lots of rain. Yeah. Yeah. We get the we call the d the June gloom here.

uh in in Washington State. This is airing on July fourth, but of course, as you know, we record a little bit earlier than our episodes air, so it's technically still June here. Uh and yeah, we're we're also dealing with the June gloom. So you get people who are dying of allergies thanks to the cottonwood and then just look like drowned rats rats thanks to the trenchal. So nice. Yeah. So summer summer bod means something else completely and up there. So yes, it absolutely does.

A thousand percent yes. Uh so just a quick update. Uh a couple of weeks uh actually wow, let's see the yeah, a couple of weeks ago the Fic Challenge uh period uh for submitting stories ended. It ended on June twenty sixth. at eleven fifty nine p.m. on Pacific Coast time. So we have been reviewing those stories and I just want to say thank you for the hard work.

There's that summer snow boys. Thank you for the hard work. We have our definitely have our work cut out for us once again. And this is just a joy to start to pick through all of these wonderful, wonderful submissions. Ooh yeah, I actually haven't looked at the tag yet. I should go and start to get caught up by I was busy, I was in New York, but um yeah I'm gonna How that how okay, well hang on a second. How was New York? How was New York? New York was great. New York was great. Mm-hmm.

And you did kind of experience a little bit of patriotism because you got to see Hamilton, right? I got to see Hamilton, that's true. Yes. Um so I did I did experience a little bit of patriotism. Um yeah. That's that's apropos for this episode. That works. Yeah, we should have we somebody should write a Hamilton A.U. I don't know what it would look like, but Uh ooh yeah. That Hm. I think the closest we can get to that is there's a story by um

the r by Green Ola, which takes place during the Revolutionary War. Uh that's really fantastic. And I'm blanking on the flippin' name of the story right now. At least I can remember the author's name. That's something at least. Uh Let's see here if I can find it super fast. Let's see, how fast can I type? Uh green. Hola. Green. Underscore. Hola. Oh L A, go. Um

The Judges Nochales Last High Revolutionary War of the Heart. But that was easy. Revolutionary War of the Heart by Green Ola. If if you wanna be a little patriotic today and and read uh something that takes place at the same time as Hamilton, uh and may or may not feature characters recognizable from that period of history. I I know that some famous people show up in here. So it's really great. There's like all of Green Ola's historical works. It's really fantastic. So check it out. Um yeah.

So anyway, back to uh the the patriotism that we're uh attempting to feel today in this very complex and complicated time. Uh we I I I was like when we were tr trying to figure out, you know, okay, what are we reading for this episode? Um I was like, what does patriotism even mean? Like what does patriotic fic mean?

And I finally decided the easiest answer, the simplest and probably the cheatingest answer is it just means it's military centric and it doesn't have to necessarily be u US military, it can be any military service. Uh and so that's what we went with. And and so we we narrowed it down to three titles. uh that are all, you know, good titles. Uh and uh well I mean that they wouldn't be on the show if they weren't good, right? So um uh and and really really a couple of excellent titles in here. So

Uh so yeah, so I guess we'll just kinda dive into this and and start going uh through. Um so the first uh pick up is I'll keep you my dirty little secret. Um and of course now I've got that song in my head. Uh which is funny because this song showed up in one of the other fics. But right? Yeah. This song gets around. Uh this song is everybody's Drear Little Secret, I guess. Uh but uh

This is by author Gurge Fourteen, that's G-U-R-J fourteen. And to be extra patriotic in military uh phonetics, it's It's Gamma Uniform Romeo Juliet 14. Um so you can uh you can check that out. And um this is a story where the military in question is black badge. Uh so uh Lari, you wanna give us a quick little uh uh rundown of the of the basic uh premise slash plot. So Nicole Hart is the new captain of a uh Black Badge uh spe special anti terrorism unit. She is coming from um black art.

Nobody knows who she is because she's, you know, been in block offs for years. uh Dolls was um supposed to or felt he was entitled to the new role as captain and so he is disgruntled. and everyone else is disgruntled. We have um Lucado, we have um Eliza Shapiro, we have Wainona, um, Jeremy and I think that's the core team. Um Um uh oh and Chrissy. Chrissy as well. Okay and Doc. Oh my god, I'm forgetting everyone. Did you say Waverly's name?

She's not on the core team. Well she's not on the core team. You're right. You're right. Yet. Not at the beginning. Yeah. There. Okay. Spoiler. She becomes on the team. But before she becomes on the team, she meets a certain mysterious soon to be captain. Mm. Um, and they Hit it off. Engage. They engage Make it so. Yes. They engage and then um

basically Nicole is like, Why isn't Weaverly on this team? She's the best linguistics, etcetera person. Um, there is. She should be, you know, decoding our our comms and all that kind of stuff. And uh Winona is not happy about uh her being on the team. Her um father Ward is in this who and he's he's not completely awful in this. Um he's kind of only semi awful. Um

And he is he's, you know, throwing an even bigger fit over all of this. He doesn't want uh Waverly on the team because basically she is seen as a big threat from the cults they are trying to stop, which is the Bolchar cult. Dun dun dun. Yes, this also does a very good job of incorporating the um the the canon stuff into into the fic, even though it's quite uh I guess it's somewhat similar with black badge, but

It's it's uh it's quite different. But yeah, so it's navigating Waverly and Nicole have to navigate their relationship in secret because it would be inappropriate. They're also navigating Waverly being a target of this cult. Um and then after that they also deal with some general Uh in house badness um for someone else who is stalking uh Waverly, which I think if you even just read the tags, you will the character tags you'll know who I'm talking about. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Uh but uh yeah, it's a fun little story. It's only a couple chapters. It is completed. Um so it and because it is uh such a short story, you know, things happen quickly and they they move at a quite a pace and that's good in this instance. Uh we wanna dive kind of we sort of dive right into the middle of things as we start off and

And then a little more into the middle of things as we get Um but uh but yeah, no it's uh it's a uh a a fun a fun little thick and uh and very well uh takes ma as as Laura mentioned, makes very good use of existing uh information from canon to fill out this short story with uh lots of fun little Um I wouldn't call'em Easter eggs really, uh, but just again an excellent uh use of of existing canon knowledge too uh

fill fill things out, fill the plot out. So yeah, it's it's to enhance our reaction. You know, exactly familiarity. Exactly. Yeah, there you see, that's why I have you here. Make you make us sound smart, Laura. Thank you very much. Uh so again, that's I'll keep you my dirty little secret by Gurge. 14 again G U R J fourteen or Gamma Uniform Romeo Juliet fourteen. Uh

And of course, we'll have a link to all the effects we talk about in today's episode in the show notes uh for today. And yeah, so that's that one. Um moving on.

To our next selection. It's uh In the Heat of the Moment by Dreamwalking 78. And um I really like this story, you guys. It's it is a um an Iron Man AU. Now, I am I I will be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of the Iron Man movies, but I very much enjoyed watching Iron Man make his appearances in the other in the like the like ensemble Avengers films. Um so Uh, so yeah, I, I, uh... I have a bit of a of a I won't say a love, but a ad not admirable.

Uh Steam? No. Something I have a like. I have a strong like for Iron Man, uh just as a character. And so I was just really thrilled to see Dreamwalking Seventy Eight take the character and and really use a lot of references to uh what we know of uh like Tony Stark's um temperament uh from the comic book. Now here's the thing, Tony Stark not in this story.

So who is the Tony Stark of this story? Well, I will say this. There is no billionaire, play playboy or playgirl who are who is a genius in building, you know, the Iron Man suit. What we have here is the concept of what if the Iron Man suit truly was a something developed um within the military by military scientists. and then uh basically utilizing military personnel such as test pilots to uh to test this new technology out. What if that's what was going on instead?

Um, but test pilots have to be cocky SOBs because they are literally putting their lives on the line every time they get into a new piece of kit. Um, so there's an element of like, yeah, man, I'm totally gonna walk away with this un walk away from this unscathed'cause I'm the best that kinda has to exist in the ego of a test pilot. Otherwise if you get a humble test pilot, I don't know, I'm not saying they're gonna die, but Yeah. So um

So yeah, so that's what we have here. Uh and so this is uh the Iron Man program uh that is being tested at a secret military facility. Um where other secret military projects are currently also underway. Um and the people the personnel who are working on any individual project at a time may not know or most likely do not know anything about the other projects being tested on site at the time.

So you have this situation where you have a group of people who when they see each other outside of the testing facility don't know each other and and are tr genuinely kind of truly strangers to each other. Um and so if they have the opportunity and they're not actually supposed to talk to each other, I don't think, if I recall correctly. So

So they're yeah. And they certainly aren't allowed to discuss their projects with one another. So now they've kind of thrown all that out there as far as complications before we even get started. Uh in this instance, um Nicole Hott is a test is the test pilot uh and is being used as the test pilot for the Iron Man program. Uh Dahls is her direct report, and Jeremy is the scientist in charge of uh the technical side of the program.

Um so when we first meet uh dolls and Nicole, Nicole is in the middle of running a test mission. Um Okay, that's all well and good, great, but this is a way hot story, right? So where does Warbelly come in? Well Waverly is also working at the testing facility in a different program. Uh she doesn't have any contact with anyone else outside of her initial uh outside of her program specifically. And um just like Nicole doesn't and so

the way that they meet each meet each other is completely by accident. Uh they are basically out running uh on their own. Um And uh and well one of them Waverly is like out in her favorite secret hidey hole spot just kind of relaxing after a long day of testing. And uh Nicole's out for a run and accidentally kind of comes upon her. That's a that's a dangerous phrase here, isn't it? Um she she stumbles across her.

Uh and um And they realize right away that that they can basically ex ex exchange names And and maybe the barest, barest, barest tiniest bit of information about why they're there, but nothing that could give away their true purpose. Uh so that makes it difficult to have a conversation, but they

they do uh you know, inevitably strike up a friendship, which then as they continue to meet covertly outside of the testing facility, then grows into something more romantic. Um and and then We have a situation that occurs that requires one of them to rescue the other one, and I'm not going to say who does what.

But uh I will say that this is a fantastically written story. It's got a again, another very fast-paced story. It's uh fourteen chapters, but only about forty thousand words, which is not a lot. So it's it really does move quickly for I will say this, it's not a lot of words for that many chapters. That makes sense. Yeah. So um so so yeah, so it does move very quickly. Uh smut warning in full effect, uh a as as Dreamwalking says in the tags.

Um, but this is a really fun, fast story, and I highly recommend it. Uh whether you're an Iron Man fan or not. Um I think just really what you need to know going into this as far as what as far as from the Iron Man lore is how does the suit work? Like what can the suit do? That's kinda what you need to know. Other than that, you don't have to have like a encyclopedic knowledge of Iron Man comic books or Iron Man movies or anything like that. So

Uh I think I think this is a wonderful, wonderful little uh little uh diversion. It's it's uh fantastic little story in the heat of the moment by Dreamwalking78. It's it's excellent. One one thing I really loved about this fic was it it's kind of um subscribed to this new age version of a song fic where music is used to enhance a fic and enhance a story without actually dominating um the the the text. Oh yeah. Yeah. It's more like here's a reference to a song title that's playing.

But we don't need to or here's one line here's one here's one line. And it's so much more effective than a s than a traditional song fig. Where it's like and well yeah, the song creeper's like, uh I don't know just th thinking of Willow sat back and listened to the song playing across her radio and then they post the entire song. The entire lyrics, I know, yeah, and I've probably been guilty of it myself and in in my youth, but it it it doesn't nobody reads them.

At least if it's a line that has an impact, you you will you will get the reader's attention. Even you have to assume that the reader will never know the song, will never listen to the song. But if there's just one impactful line, they will read it and they'll get enough. Yeah. Yes, yeah, that that is the the um there's no wrong way to write fix.

But being said There are better ways. There are better ways of writing fic. And so yeah, I'd say that you're absolutely right. This is like a next generation uh song fic in that it uses references to music. without relying on a reader's knowledge of music uh to enhance a story. So yeah, they do an a Dreamwalking does a fantastic job of that. Alright.

Moving on to our final story, uh recommendation of this uh s f and first segment. Um and it is an officer no wait. I gotta cut the un, because there's no un in there. It's just Officer and a Gentlewoman by Lost Muse. Uh and this is um a American Navy um military AU that focuses specifically on um cadets attending Annapolis. uh at the naval the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Um and uh uh

d yes, and the experience of what it's like for for a a cadet going through that. And what I think is particularly interesting is that uh so in this instance Nicole is the cadet, but Nicole has already been serving in the Navy. So she's already gone through her um initial uh like general boot camp.

Um and and she's already served for a period of time. So this is her going basically into officer training school uh through through the Naval Academy, but she basically has to start over, which to me just feels like unfair. She's gotta go through all this crap all over again with all these essentially kids um, you know, for who this this is their first experience in the Navy and she's uh they're straight out of high school. Yeah, exactly.

Um and she has to deal with being ordered around by by s officers who are technically senior to her, but junior in age. Like that's gotta be especially one officer in particular. That's yeah. Yeah. Um, but I mean the one thing the good thing on her side is that because she's been through the boot camp experience before

and all that business is that she knows what to expect and sh she's not phased really by just she's pretty much unfazed by just about everything. There are a couple of things that get to her because it's just this particular

jerkwad of an officer being a dick t t for the case, you know, for the sake of being an asshole. But um but otherwise y sh it's like nothing is catching her by surprise, essentially. So that's a good thing I guess, but at the same time I feel bad for her that she's kinda having to go through this stuff. Yeah, it's all it's all very um

Just military E. I know it's not a word. I'm making up a word, but it's it's all like salute your superiors and all this sort of stuff that is like it's so difficult to have to watch her do it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. But I mean, you know, she's happy to do it. Oh, she is, and she she does it well, um and she she has a friend there. I think we can say who the friend is, it's Dolls.

um who uh you know, sticks by her and helps her through it and she she grows a whole kind of um Annapolis family, really, while she's there. Uh, which is is not surprising. Um, but I guess again you can kind of see from the tags who what's gonna happen as well. Um so it's it's uh It's an... Yeah. Of all of the military fakes this was like the most military. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, but it was it was quite interesting because um I never felt like I was out of the loop.

I know nothing about the military, nothing. Um, you know, and I never felt like I was like, Oh, what's that term they just used? The author really was able to um incorporate that really well. Yeah, no absolutely. You can tell that that um Lost Muse is former Navy themselves. and and is bringing that that m working knowledge to the storytelling here and and again but not leaving anybody, you know, in the lurch. Uh I'm

I just being here in the US, I know a little bit more about the military than you know, Lara, but not much. Not much. Um, and so but the same, I've never I I not once at any point did I feel left behind or like I didn't know what was going on or didn't understand why things were happening or anything. Lost Meet does a very good job of communicating that information and bringing you along and making you feel like it's something you've always known. Um

And and as far as as uh Waverley's involvement,'cause again this is a Wayhawk fix, so where's Waverly, right? Uh Waverly uh is a civilian uh who works in a bar in town. Um and uh Nic Nicole and Waverly meet on when Nicole arrives in town to before she starts uh s uh before she um reports, I should say, to the to the Naval Academy. And uh they have a uh they have a time. Uh and it was very mem memorable. And that sort of uh inspires Nicole uh, you know, in her uh

uh daily activities to to do the best she can so she can sort of get back to seeing to see Waverly again. So that Um Yeah, they form a very close bond very quickly. Mm-hmm. Um, but it gets Nicole through the the rough uh sort of introduction to the Naval Academy, I think. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Uh I mean when you have a memory like that in your mind to carry you through uh you can do anything, right? Uh Um

But uh yeah, uh it's it's just I don't know what else to say without spoiling stuff. That's the tricky part here. It is an unfinished book, we should we should tell people, so it is still ongoing. Um it was updated well more than a month ago. Um and it's it was written I think throughout the pandemic. Um so it's it's been an ongoing fic for a couple of years and uh there's still a lot more to tell. Yes, there is absolutely a lot more to tell.

Uh we're not even out of the uh the first semester of the academy yet, I don't think. I don't think we've even barely started it. Yeah. So yeah, it's kinda hard to tell, right? I mean no, it's not hard to tell because Lost Muse does give us a timeline, but I think because the the posting has been um a little bit uh protracted, it feels like it's it's longer. Uh the timeline of the story is longer than it actually is.

Um but something to bear in mind is that Lost Muse is um a civil servant in real r reality and that's something we have talked about with them on the show before and we will be talking with them today. Um, and uh and so they have a lot on their plate right now. So the fact that they've been able to post at all.

uh rec uh recently is is really amazing and wonderful. So um so yeah. So again, always patient with our authors because real life is a bitch, y'all. So we oh yeah are always, always patient Um, so so yeah, I'm again I'm not I don't feel like there's a whole lot more ground to cover here. So I think without without going into deep spoiler territory. So um I think at this point.

Uh, we should wrap up and and get into get ready to uh chat with author Lost Muse. What do you think? Ooh, I'm excited. Awesome. All right. But before we do that, we must of course introduce this week's reverse sponsor. Hey Laura, who is this week's reverse sponsor? This week's reverse sponsor is Olivia Joy Taylor. Olivia Joy Taylor is one of the new

Fan artists to grace the Winona Earp fandom. Her sweet, adorable, and often beautiful works showcase delightful animated style and celebrate the joy that is everyone's OTP Weiha. While her works are not for sale, you can still enjoy them by visiting her gallery on Tumblr at olivajoy Taylor. Tumblr.com. Olivia Joy Taylor Art Yeah.

And welcome back everybody to the ERP Fiction Addiction, the podcast dedicated entirely to Winona ERP fanfiction. I remain your host, Dark Wicken, and with me still is my wonderful co-host. Hey, it's still Lara. And uh joining us after hanging out the Red, White, and Blue Bunting is our wonderful author of the story we were discussing before the break, uh an o officer and a gentlewoman.

I keep wanting to put the word un before that. Officer and a gentlewoman, Lost Muse is here, who we're gonna call Mare. Is that okay? Yeah, Mare's good. Mare, welcome back to the show. It's good to be back.

How ha now since we last spoke, uh you were uh n running for uh uh office as the Commonwealth Attorney for Virginia, is that correct? Oh wow, cool. Well not the whole state. I mean Just a small little portion of it. Okay. Well d but you you won.

Yes, I mean no one ran against me. So yes, I didn't it was a tough battle. Just don't mention that bit. Yes Well well congratulations. How has been a civil service for you? Uh it's good. I mean it's I uh I was an assistant before I ran, and so I've done it's the same stuff I was doing, it's just now I'm the boss. Oh okay. So so how's it been being the boss? Uh I mean, like I said, good and bad, it's good because if I wanna leave I can. Like it's like I don't have to tell anyone, hey, can I go?

Um but it's also, you know, you have to do all the paperwork and the like budget and all that stuff and I'm like, ugh. So I know you probably can't talk about any of them in any any sort of specifics, but speaking very broadly, um how has it been uh representing your constituents in court? Uh I mean Interesting? I don't Yeah. I mean it's it's good. You know, this is uh like so where I am is where I grew up and so like

it's it's what I know. It's you know, I don't know all the people, but I do know some of the people. I know the roads, I know the land, you know, it's so it's more familiar than where I was before. Um But, you know, it's it's good. It it's it's I don't know, it's it there's a very good feeling when like you can actually help someone. So

I mean when it you get like I get like moms that hug me and stuff and victims that hug me and it just you know, it's it's a good feeling. Or fist bumps or whatever. With That's awesome. That I mean that's great. That that that's that's so cool. I I don't know so that's awesome. I so now are in your position, are you trying um like criminal cases or are you dealing with more like

Civil stuff. Yeah, can we go okay? So I I I'm the prosecutor. Oh wow, okay. So like anywhere else it's called a district attorney. Okay, okay. Just Virginia we're special. Well, you're one of the original thirteen colonies, so I think you know And we like to was you know, sometimes we like to forget that it's not those same times, you know. So

Well well looking to these current times and and speaking about your your story that you've got going on, first of all, kudos to being able to ha find the time. uh to to write and post fic. Uh'cause I know that that uh you've gotta be ver very, very busy. Even if you do get to make the r be the boss and and and leave when you wanna leave.

Uh you still, as you say, have lots of paperwork and other stuff that you have to handle. So so kudos to finding the time to to write fic and and get it posted. Um now this story uh is I I believe it's safe to say that the story i is based on your own experience in the Naval Academy. Um when you started watching Winona Earp, could you imagine these characters falling into that world?

I mean so when I I never would have like like it didn't hit me when I first started watching that it would like fall into the world, but I will say one of I hmm so one of the things, one of those tropes that I love is the college AU. Like I love reading college AU stories.

I don't know, I don't and so I was like, Hey, I could write one and then I was like, I didn't go to real college. I went to special college. So but when I started like thinking about my college experience and then thinking about the characters, I was like, that character definitely fits that and fits that, you know, so You know, it wasn't when I first started watching, but it was like when I said, Hey, I wanna maybe write a college AU I kinda could see'em fitting in that way. Okay. And um

So so sorry, my brain just stalled out. Like I had I literally had a follow-up and it just went. But essentially I think what I was trying to attempt to ask was uh how how much um of your own like day to day or or just mem like specific, like memorable experiences from your time at the Naval Academy, did you like plug in for little personal Easter eggs for yourself?

I mean I would say a lot of it is stuff that I actually experienced or knew people who experienced or, you know, just remember from the whole thing. I mean it's you know, it's what now, I went a long, long time ago, but so I some of the some of it has changed. But it you know It it's definitely a lot of the things I dealt with and I went through. Okay. Did you have a a dickhead um Uh

What are they called? Wouldn't be called Uh Upper Class. Upper class, yeah. Yeah. So uh I did. Um Mine was a very short female who My family just refers to as Satan. She kinda tore into me all the time, um, starting in plebe summer. And uh yeah, I was not happy. And then it was kinda like a vindication thing. Uh one of my friends who

you know, is went to the Naval Academy with me. She told me like years after we had graduated that she had been stationed with this person and she was like, Yeah, she was whiny and was crying about stuff. And I was like, Yeah. Like But anyway, yeah, I had someone who was very much not nice to be. Well it's funny that you say that she was very short because

Um you and I both, Mare, are are also we could be classified as very short people. So so what She was even shorter than me, so it was like Oh, okay. That's how short she was she was I mean, she was probably like five one, uh ish, so Um few inches shorter than me. And yeah, like if I tell my mom, like, oh, I was talking about Satan, she'll know exactly who I'm talking about. Oh man.

Yeah, that's not something that you want to be to somebody else. That's Yeah. Well, and that's one of the things like in the story, like if you're reading, like, um, I don't know if I but y you can see some people that are like that nastiness and then you see people who are kind of the opposite. And like I always say that there especially if you get so for instance, me and a friend of mine both had people who just beat us down all the time.

And so you kinda have two ways to go from that. He became a jerk because that's what he had. you know, experienced and he felt other people needed to. And I became very laid back and tried to help people because I didn't want anyone to ever experience that. So yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. We see that a lot, don't we? We see it in things like student loan relief and people are like, Well they had to do it, so you should have to do it. Exactly. Um is something you mentioned there, CW was that um, you know, the Academy had changed uh in your time since you had had been there. Was that something you researched a lot? Did you did you check in on how things were done these days?

Yeah, so actually I have uh I keep it up uh as a tab on my computer So interesting enough, when you research what happens at the academy, especially like for plea beer and stuff. It's not as easy to find information because nobody wants to tell you, hey, this is gonna really suck. Like that doesn't get people to come to your college. Like, you know. But uh one of the best resources that I've found out from I mean I've known because it's uh my parents did it and it's the parents' message board.

Because you get all these parents who have never had their kid go away and then you their kids go into this situation where they don't have contact with them for weeks and stuff. And so then they all are on these message boards like, what's gonna happen with this? What's gonna happen with this? So like for instance, one of the big ones is cell phones. Uh when I went to the Naval Academy, I I did get my first cell phone while at the Naval Academy.

But it wasn't until after plebe year. Um and so plebe year, I had calling cards and I used payphones. Um, I remember there was a payphone outside of the uh boathouse for the crew team, which I was on. And I would always call my parents from that. And I mean, that's just how it was. You didn't have a cell phone. So I had to like kind of figure out could plebs have cell phones since everyone has'em, which they can, apparently, but um, yeah, so it was like

I had to go and like dive into these parents' message boards, which I like I said, I still have up in tabs on my computer. So when I have another question I can go look into it. That's really good. Yeah, I'm imagining just like this like gaggle of mothers. Just like like like trying to find out all this information, like little like mini detectives. Like and it's so funny'cause like during the summer, you know, when you're not having that contact.

you'll have people that take pictures. Like there's they have like professional photographers that will take pictures. And my mom was telling me, like when I was there, they would like post these pictures or links to these pictures and You would go through them and try and find your son or daughter or whatever in these pictures, like of this group of people, you know. So they would just that's what they would do. Um

Wow. It it feels so like analog to our life these days, though it was still the internet. Yeah. I wonder what they did before the internet. Did they get like yearbooks that they had to look through? Oh I have no idea. Yeah, probably. Because they do s they put that out. Like they'll put out like This is all the pictures from Plebe Summer, like enjoy. And you're like, no, I don't ever want to see those pictures again.

So um did you uh liken any parts of Annapolis to Purgatory in in setting up the the storytelling for this this fic or 'Cause it f it kinda feels like you might have but aga I've never been to Annapolis so I have no idea. So, you know, it's kind of like I so I would take in I would take parts of Purgatory, like the uh like the obvious parts, like for instance shorties.

Um, like you gotta have shorties. That's that's part of it, you know? So but I actually modeled and in my brain when I'm writing the shorties in my story after an actual bar in Annapolis. Um, it's it's the Ramshead. It's you know, kind of off the main. So for instance, I will tell you Annapolis, downtown Annapolis is very tourist.

touristy. Um, there but there's like a strip, um basically like one main road that has bars and restaurants and all of this stuff and um And, you know, a lot of those bars, like those are the bars I would go to, but they were more like I don't know, everyone, they were packed and everyone went there and everything. And, you know, this bar that I mar modeled after Shorty's is actually like up the road some. So like it would be more of a might be empty on a Friday night or something.

Um but there's also like I think I mentioned it. I hope I did. If not, I will eventually. But you know, that they go to uh I think they go to dinner and it's I modeled it after and I may have even used the It's a restaurant that's right in downtown Annapolis. And it was one where like I made my wife go to the first time I took her because they have they used to when I was there have this like awesome buffet breakfast. Now they don't because buffets not so much.

Um, but they have like seafood and stuff and like that's just where you went. You went to buddies and so I, you know, ta took my wife there and so I wanted that to be like a place. But like anyway. So a lot of it is Annapolis, but then you throw in the purgatory things, like where Gus and and Curtis live is um it you know, I modeled that after the homestead, but I also modeled that after like where my sponsor, mom, lived. So

Nice. Kind of merge the two. Yeah, almost like a like a purgatory overlay, really. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good description. Yeah. So something I mentioned in in the first segment to D W is that I know nothing about the military, really. Um I I I just don't. I've lived my adult life in a politically neutral country and you know, we just I just it's not something that's in my day to day life.

However, I did not struggle at all with reading this book. Um it was very, very clear what was being said, if there was a term that needed to be explained. I felt it was explained like in a really easy way.

So I was just curious if that's something you were conscious of, that you were writing for a a civilian aud audience, um, and you were c maybe conscious of not wanting to overexplain things. Oh, absolutely. Um so It i I I always when I'm writing this story it always Um, I I battle with that because uh if you ever if you ever even talk to like if you get military people together talking, you won't understand a word they say.

Because they all use like different acronyms and if they're different services, they use different acronyms for different things. It is kind of a mess. And like they know what they're saying, but nobody else does. And so like especially like with the Naval Academy and you know, it's one of those things like You know, like for instance, I can say sophomore and everybody knows what a sophomore is, but you know, if I say a youngster, people don't know what that is.

But that's what a sophomore is at the Naval Academy. And, you know, so uh when I go to write it, I try and keep it in mind and sometimes I may not use the exact term I would use. Um for what it is. Um, like but then Or if I do, because I want to keep it, you know, on brand, I will kind of try and explain. Um, but like if I had a sentence in there that was like the plebes were ch chopping down the P way, squaring their corners and then, you know, uh

braced against the wall, like people would be like, What the hell are you talking about? You know, and it wouldn't be a good story for most of the people who read it. Um, so I try to use the words but also explain it, but I don't want to get too wordy, so sometimes I don't use the exact words I would. I think I think you pulled it off really well. I think um there's just enough in there to make us feel like we're in that environment without, you know, having no idea what's going on.

That's good. I mean, I you know, it's it's funny because my wife reads everything I write before I post it. And Like she understands some of it. Like if I Sh like she understands like if I say plebe or youngster or first year whatever, she knows what I'm talking about, but she also doesn't know a lot of it. Um You know, she only knows what I've explained to her. So usually if she's like, I don't get what you wrote here, then I I can go and fix it.

It's a great resource to have actually. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Just to make sure it's like wait, what does this mean? Oh hang on, that's a little insider baseball. One second, let me just uh clear that up for you. Well that's I mean, it's it's just funny because I mean, for instance, I still have like

very good friends from the academy I talk to all the time, but like half of us went navy, half went Marines, so sometimes we don't even understand each other. Because we use different like terms for things, you know. Oh, that's funny.

Um so so moving past the the um establishing of the story in the in the world of of Annapolis and and the language of of the Naval Academy and into the interpersonal relationships. Um so Nicole and Waverley fall into a very quick

They don't I won't say they fall like in love. It's it's more like a famili familiarity. It's a very quick familiarity. Um Do you think that this was intensified by having to part so quickly and knowing that they wouldn't be able to see each other again for for quite some time?

Yeah, I think so. Um, I think it's it's one of those things. First of all it's, you know I if you ever meet me, I um I seem very tough and like uh you know, I'll sometimes throw out things like, Oh, I could bench press you or like, you know Um like having met you, I will say you never once threatened to bench press me, but see I've recently gotten into lifting, so I probably could like at least squat every Urper I've ever met. So that's but anyway Um challenge accepted. Are you going to Acon?

Like I I I wear braces on my knees, but y I am I am very strong. But anyway, um but one thing that you know, people that know me know is that I'm also, well, as one of my best friends from the Naval Academy says, I'm a teddy bear. Like I seem like scary on the outside, but I'm like soft on the inside.

Um, so I'm a hopeless romantic. I am I've always been that way. I am yes, soulmates are real. I believe in them, they are out there and love at first sight and all those wonderful things. I mean, I cry at rom coms, my wife like looks at me funny at that. It's I don't know. But uh like so for me

you know, I I just felt like they had that connection. Like I wanted to write it, like they had that connection. And then having that time apart, that kind of comes from like so my wife and I when we first met, we actually first met on the internet. Like we met

I mean, taught started talking in April and never actually met face to face till the end of September. And uh I wouldn't even like video chatter. I didn't even call her on the phone till August because I'm weird like that. Um, but Like that distance and like we were still long distance and that distance, even not being able to see each other and stuff, you just kind of it it intensifies everything.

Like, um, so that's kind of where that comes from is that, you know, that being apart, that not being together, it just when you feel that connection with someone and then you can't be with them, it just kind of builds up inside. Yeah, it's the old it's the old uh absence makes the heart grow fonder kind of a thing. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I I I mean honestly I will say my wife and I have gotten through some

some difficult times and I think part of that is'cause we have such a strong connection and part of that's because we started out apart and it built and we built that connection that way. I mean For goodness sakes, that sane of a woman moved to where my family is, so we got to be able to do that. But I mean that's the thing. You're willing to do what you feel you need to do to be with the person you you're meant to be with. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, I think when y you start out with something kind of that kind of intensity. Um you can either the absence will either completely crush it or make it blossom. Absolutely. Um so I I very much believe that. Um Even though it was like it seemed kind of intense after one encounter for them to be like especially in the cold to be like so kind of um enraptured, but it's Waverly, so of course she is.

Well I always like see I mean, I don't know. I tend to especially when I write or when I read or whatever, I I tend to see myself more in Nicole. And so I like Nicole to be this like tough person but very soft and gushy on the inside. Yes. I think that yes, she definitely portrayed that in this book, I think, for sure.

Um another s uh swerving away from WayHot slightly. Um At one point I I I found it really interesting in your notes that you called a chapter a love letter to Gus. Um, because I think Gus is is of course pretty much uh routinely loved in the fandom, but I haven't seen that many fakes where she's, you know, prominently featured as a as as someone that would

as a character that uh would have a love letter written about them. W was she a character that you really wanted to feature in this So yeah, so uh when I started writing it I knew you know, I I knew kinda where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do and I wanted it to be that, you know

Because Nicole doesn't, you know, she d in in the fic doesn't really have like parents and stuff. Like they're not in the picture. And so I I wanted it Nicole to have that family and, you know, Uh with Gus, I w so and that's that's where Gus fit very well is as that sponsor bomb because uh Like, I will tell you, that's something that's not always understood with people who don't go to the academy and stuff, is the sponsor families. Um

They are I mean, I I will say I do not still talk to my sponsor mom, but that's because she moved and stuff. But I did, you know, I know I I knew her before I went in. But like I know people who I mean I went to one of my friends' weddings and her sponsor parents were there at the wedding. And this is, you know, 15 years later. You know, she stayed at her sponsor mom's house.

like a couple of years ago until her sponsors moved. I mean the sponsor family is something that is so like it's almost sacred and like'cause that's your family when you don't have your family there. And so I wanted that to be and I I've always gotten that from Gus. Like she's tough. And like, you know, she's not in that many episodes, but like you see this woman who is tough as nails.

And will tell you what she's thinking, but she's gonna take care of her family. And that's like what you want in a sponsor mom. And like so that I wanted that and it I don't know. I just love that. Like I love that. And the whole Winona ERP like theme of found family and stuff is just I love how it is and it fits so well with like a military, like the Naval Academy and the sponsor family, that kind of thing. And so I knew that I wanted Gus to be that person and

you know, I I wanted Gus to be, you know, hey, this is your family now. I'm your family. And that's you know Yeah. I was always sad we never got more Gus Nicole interaction. Yeah. Yeah. So I like that this provided that. Yeah, I completely completely agree. I I think Uh yeah, definitely. I just yes. Yes on the Gus Nicole interaction. I completely agree. I'm just repeating what Laura said. I'm sorry. Um but yeah, no, sponsor families are amazing. Now I I don't um

I was never in the military, my family, my immediate nuclear family was never in the military, but my extended family, grandparents and whatnot, were. And my um Grandfather was in the navy. He was a C B during the uh

during the uh W World War Two. But uh that aside, we when I lived in Las Vegas, uh we lived a couple doors down from a naval family who were uh who are basically uh a sponsor family as well. And we'd go over to their house and at any given time of the year they would have, you know, any number of of um

uh service persons there, uh, you know, who were like in their first or second year and they were just there there to visit, you know, they needed somebody to see they couldn't get home to see their own f parents, so they went to to this family instead. And it was uh really very it was really kinda sweet. It was very sweet.'Cause these were kinda like these were kinda rough people, you know? But but like you could tell that like we're just

Like they loved all these kids, whether they were blood or not, and and the kids love them. And that was just really it was just nice. It was just really nice to see. There's just such Such true loyalty um you know, between everybody and and uh and that's just something that's so very, very important to anyone is to have that that um stability that you can rely on.

Yeah, and that's I mean, like my sponsor mom, like I said, I I haven't talked to my sponsor mom in a long time. It's it's a weird situation. My sponsor mom, my sister actually dated her son when she was in high school. It it's like a long thing. But we've known her for a long time. And uh but it was like it was such a Like I didn't have my parents there and it was actually one of my first times away from home.

That's where I do differ from Nicole and the Sfic. I was not prior enlisted. I was, you know, right out of high school. And it was it's hard to be away from your parents when you never have and when your parents are such a big part of your life. And so it was you know, my sponsor mom let me do you know, sh she set me up in a room. I had like TV. She's like, the first time it came over, she's like, What do you want to eat? Like, we'll get it from anywhere. So she got me Chinese food, you know.

It was she's like, You can bring clothes here'cause we weren't allowed to wear clothes when we were off. you know, you st had to wear what you were issued as a plebe. But she's like, I don't care, bring your clothes and she lived far enough and that's kinda why I was able to write that in this story because my sponsor mom lived far enough like uh um about twenty minutes away from the academy.

So no one was coming around there. So I could wear whatever I wanted. I could I had a place to go and I had someone who, you know, would do anything to help. I know my like my granddad came to visit me once, my granddad and my parents And I still have this picture and my granddad had it until he died. It's a picture of me, my granddad and my dad out in front of my sponsor mom's house. Because she put'em up and like said, Yeah, come stay with me. I've got extra bedrooms, you know.

My house is your house kind of thing. And like even when she moved away, she let me and my parents come and stay at the house, you know, where uh her new house. Um so they are ver they become part of your family and Yeah. Which again I just think that's that's really that's a very um

it's the wrong word, but it's the only word that's popping into my head right now. Uh I a a neat aspect of military life specific to this story that I've just never I've not seen before and and it was really uh cool to be able to to read about the side of things that I'd never seen represented in in fic form.

Uh well Uh, Mara, this this is just a wonderful story. It's about twelve chapters of an unknown total. Um and uh and as we expl explained to our our listeners in the first segment, uh you will post as you are able to. And you'll

And that's and that's one of those things, you know, I've you know the story that I was on before I still am writing. So I alternate between just so I don't leave one out and stuff. So uh but yeah, I kind of just I I break out my uh my c computer and stuff whenever I get a chance, which is not always. You know, I don't always have time to, but I try.

And that and again, like I said at the outset, the fact that you've been able to post anything given how busy I know you are these days is really admirable. And and talk about loyalty, you know. Um well we uh th well this has been a delightful chat and I um again I'm so grateful that you you had the time to come on and talk with us today. Um

And uh but we'll let you get back to your very busy life. Okay. Thank you. Uh but before we do, of course we do have our final question that we must ask. Uh Laura, would you be so kind? You're stranded on a desert island and only have one novel to read. What is it? Okay, so of course, because I'm an avid listener to the podcast, I was preparing this answer just like I did last time I was on. But Um, so funny enough, it kind of does tie in to the Naval Academy.

Um, even though I read it for the first time in high school, I will say my friends from the Naval Academy will still talk about this part of me is that. When I was first there at the Naval Academy, I was very socially awkward. I have ver like a lot of social anxiety. And until I feel comfortable, I I'm very quiet, which

Y'all have s if you've ever met me at a con, you know I'm not like that because I'm comfortable around herbers. Um but uh I used to sit in the crew in the boathouse and I would wear this orange hat that I'd pull down over my eyes and I would always be reading this one author and my novel is my favorite book from that author, and it is uh Slapstick by Kurt Vonnig.

Oh hey. Yeah, another Vonnegut fan. Yes, I am also a fan of uh Mr. V for sure. Uh my favorite, however, is Slaughterhouse Five. Oh well Slaughterhouse Five's a classic, but you know it's Uh slapstick always resonated with me because when I first started reading it, it was in high school when my older sister had gone off to college and I always

that aspect of siblings. It's a weird aspect of siblings and slapstick, but it was still that siblings and closeness and stuff. So it it always kinda resonated with me. But yeah, I'm I'm a I've read a whole lot of Vonnegut and it kinda creeped some of my friends out and they will still point out to this day how weird I was sitting there quietly reading Vonnegut Not talking to anyone, but slapstick is one I've read over and over and over again.

Nice. Well I am more than happy to provide a link to Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. on Goodreads in the show notes for this episode.

Mayor aka Lost Muse aka at Hot Doc on Twitter. Thank you again so much uh for chatting with us today. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. And that's all for this episode of the Herb Fiction Addiction. Thanks for joining us. Huge thanks to Mare for chatting with us about their work. Thanks also to our announcer Byron Titwell for our intro.

Background music for the episode was A Proper Story by Darren Corb, Sam's Band Pop Version by Eric Baroni, Up Where We Belong by Jennifer Warren's and Joe Cocker, and the outro music is Don't Deal with the Devil by Christopher Madigan. If you have questions or comments for the podcast, you can find us on Twitter at EFA underscore podcast and on Facebook at EFA Podcast.

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