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Chapter 2 by Zingiber Zingiber

What is Lucy's portion?

Notes for Writers (plot spoilers)

Taken from the forum post here: http://forum.chyoa.com/threads/lucys-portion.74/

Lucy's Portion

I'm hoping to keep the character interaction and motivation strong and develop the setting.

The basic premise:

In a baroque steam-electric-and-airships pseudo-Victorian England, house servant Lucy Longbottom, fatherless daughter of another servant, is recognized in a codicil to the will of Lord Jeremy Netherwood as his eldest daughter, and given a significant inheritance appropriate to her status as a family member.

All her life, Lucy has worked for the Netherwood family and has been exploited by them, since her position as a servant without her own family has left her completely dependent on their good graces. Jeremy's son Edmund has been the most shameless in taking advantage of her, especially sexually. Lucy's own illegitimate daughter Annie, however, has been more greatly favored, acting as a companion for Edmund and his wife Clarissa's daughter Sabrina. When Lucy became pregnant, Lord Jeremy and Lady Catherine insisted that Lucy stay on without change in her status, for which Lucy was deeply grateful. Lady Catherine herself took advantage of Lucy by appointing Lucy her sexual aide after Lord Jeremy's .

Lucy is torn inside as concerns her loyalty to the Netherwoods. She considers it partly honor and duty to be loyal, and partly simple survival, as she has had few other prospects than to keep them happy enough to keep her on.

But now that it's revealed that Lucy has been one of the Netherwoods them all along...what will she do? Now that she's her own woman, what does she want? Or will she just slide into a role as Annie's mother, trying to make life better for her daughter?


This story's set-up is an invitation to mix in sexy parody versions of British or more broadly European literature. I'm imagining a span of roughly 1800-1914, whether Jane Austen (the marriage-land-reputation swirl), the romantics (tormented passion, struggles to be true to one's self), D.H. Lawrence (the infernal industrial mechanism vs. the throbbing sexual core); Jules Verne (airships and submarines to wild remote places of adventure); the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (a suspense-and-action mash-up comic using characters from adventure novels of this era); or pure polysexual naughtiness such as The Romance of Lust [keeping it within site rules, of course].

Note: I've used more old-fashioned and longer words in the descriptions, but if you would like to contribute using a less fussy writing style, that would be fine -- especially if you follow someone other than Lucy.


What will Lucy's portion be?


Lucy is in her mid-to-late thirties. Edmund and Clarissa are a bit younger. Sabrina Netherwood and Annie Longbottom are just eighteen.


Possible directions to develop Lucy?

  • Other than inheriting a title, or receiving life tenure of an estate, what other alternative bequests might Jeremy have left to her?
  • More about Lucy's past. She's more literate than a mere house servant. Did she have someone who favored her when she was young? Does she have an inquisitive nature, and she perhaps spied on Edmund's lessons, or a sister, if he has one?
  • Where does she find joy? What does she want for herself? Does she have secret vices? Friends or contacts inside or outside the Netherwood estates?
  • Does she try and contact "Paul", now that she's an independent woman? Edmund claims to Lucy that Paul was his gift to her in this thread: Rose Court. http://chyoa.com/story/lucy-s-portion/thread/rose-court
  • Circumstances of Annie's conception. Is she definitely Edmund Netherwood's, definitely someone else's, or undetermined (e.g. Edmund makes Lucy yield to one or more male friends near the time of Annie's conception, or she takes a lover besides Edmund)?
  • What of Lucy's mother, Margaret Longbottom? Is she still alive (in her mid-fifties?), or is there any family on that side?
  • Lady Catherine had female lovers with Lucy in attendance, including the political writer and notorious bluestocking Violet Crandall. Was Lucy involved beyond mere assistance? Does Lucy still have any connections with Lady Catherine's lovers?

Possible side directions of development:

  • Edmund and Clarissa's airship journey. What are they like as man and wife? Why did she marry into the family, and what is her family like?
  • Sabrina and Annie's "finishing school". Some of it will at least teach politeness and propriety, but there may be an "underground" part to it as well.
  • The extended Netherwood family. Are there any nephews, nieces, or cousins with an interest in Lord Jeremy's estate? Are there any more out-of-wedlock relatives in the family tree beyond Lucy herself?
  • Footman Jack claims that he was on his knees polishing Edmund's penis as often as his shoes. Do Edmund's sexual impulses for men extend beyond the convenience of demanding his footman to orally relieve him?
  • A couple of branches mention Lucy's younger sister Tessie (also Maggie's daughter) as an airship hostess making an independent life for herself and traveling the world, while sending cards back to Annie. Tessie didn't get mentioned in Lord Jeremy's codicil alongside Lucy. Who's Tessie's father? Does she have the smashing life of glamour and travel that Annie imagines? How does Tessie walk the line of being among the rich without being one of them?

More directions for development.

  • Will we see Jack again after that kiss in the introductory thread? Is his remark about Lucy having "hot blood" borne out by any of her history?
  • Does Lucy have reason to owe the Netherwoods any special thanks or loyalty, beyond those due for their favor to her illegitimate daughter Annie?
  • Has Lucy ever tried to run away or seek other service? Perhaps this would be a case where the Netherwoods could have rescued her and/or agreed to take her back; possibly associated with Annie's conception.
  • Does Clarissa have any secrets? One thread suggests that Jeremy has some dirt on her that will be released if she contests Lucy's inheritance.

-Z.

Nothing to see here, start over...

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