#in this AU Husk is African American with Russian ancestry

[mary-laib]

I'm thinking of writing a very long, multi-chapter human!au fic about Alastor (might be the caffiene talking and tomorrow I'll forget to go through with it lol) but I've got a ton of headcannons and have been thinking about a timeline for this thing for months now. Only thing is, I'm making a lot of ocs for it (keeping only Husk and Mimsy in the story) and I want the characters to be as era-accurate and culturally accurate as possible, so I was wondering if anybody here wanted to help beta it while I'm writing out the timeline and details.

I'm doing a ton of research, but I feel like for some of it, it's best to get real-person explanations on things, so here are some of the characters and details about them that I'd like to hear people's personal experiences with:

•Alastor's mother's side of the family:

African American with a lot of cultural roots in their history, such as their practice of Voodoo, and Fijian ancestry (I'd like to reference or even introduce a Fijian character, but I mainly add this piece of info to give Alastor some background with Cannibalism, not necessarily to introduce a character that actually practices). I'm p sure I have most of this down (outside of voodoo, which I'm still researching and will be putting a fantastical twist on) but if anybody has info or personal experiences they'd like to share, please reach out to me.

•Alastor's father's side of the family:

Alastor's father was non-religious, but grew up with an older sister in a catholic household. My dad's catholic so I'm p certain I can work with this, but again, help is welcome.

•Gay Muslim character that appears later:

I know a decent amount about Islam (more than I do about judiasm and I have jewish family lol) but I'd appreciate some tidbits on writing him since I'm def not Muslim myself and plan on writing a lot about this character's experience with discrimination, going to mosque, daily prayers and duties, and Qur'an lore, specifically relating to angels and armies in the afterlife/end of the world.

•Gang characters:

I'll admit that I'm not well-verses in early 1900's gang etiquette, but it's my hyperfixation rn so this is what's happening.

•Russian Husk:

I have some knowledge of Russian culture (specifically in a historical context) but am also looking for info relating to other east-European countries (such as Germany and Slovakia) since his background is going to have him moving around a lot before coming to the US.

•New Yorkers:

A lot of these characters come from New York (due to immigration, city-backgrounds, entertainment industry, etc.) and I'm p confident in my historical knowledge of the city and state, but fun facts are appreciated nonetheless.

•The Queers:

I'm planning on adding multiple gay/lesbian/bi characters to interact with Alastor's ace-ness to kind of compare to. I know some about old-time gay clubs, but if anybody wants to lmk more about them, I'd love to hear it.

•Tech:

I have no idea how modern tech works, so if I'm gonna write about Alastor starting his radio biz through mechanical work, I think I should know a thing or two about how it works lol

Anyways thanks! Might add more later!