#presbysnippets

[shitposbyopia]

The final shot of season 1.

We have had the big ol battle, the escape, all that, and now we get the debrief.

Outside, it's raining. Hailing even, and Isabella and Barley stand in the doorway. We get the first time in the series that Isabella asks for permission to do anything. "May I hold your hand?" And then the camera moves backwards.

Up the stairs, we see Payton smoking a cigar while leaning against the wall as strings hang from the corkboard, her rifle propped up next to her.

We see Reece by the window. His breath shaky, unable to steady his hand as he tries to raise a glass of water to his lips.

We pass through another door, past the alchemy equipment, to Eli Stones rushing around a table, trying desperately to keep someone on it alive.

The camera pans downwards, to Northumbrias arm dangling like that of a corpse, next to a silent guitar.

The scene cuts to black, and there is the sound of Northumbria giving a single, heaving, rasping breath.

Then the title, and credits roll, silent but for the rain.

[shitposbyopia]

Been thinking about Adam Kramer.

I'm trying to write a scene and having that frustrating part of writing where nothing fits quite as it should.

But I have an outline.

The episode opens, we have the Title Sequence, and then Presbyopia office. The crew is doing stuff, yada yada yada.

Downtime is interrupted when in walks Mr Adam Kramer, who refers to Eli Stones as "my Gabriel" and flat out ignores the rest of the cast as they become increasingly annoyed with him.

Until Barley makes a threat and Stones directly asks them to stop. At which point Kramer zeroes in on them.

Kramer calls Barley's bluff, Barley reiterates the threat. So Kramer pulls out a gun and shoots Isabella in the hip before repeating the question. At which point the entire room goes silent and Kramer begins to shout.

"Go on then! Punt me for seven! Be the hero, save the day. It's only fair. But it wouldn't help you, would it?"

He continues, and Barley says nothing. All their bravado vanishes in the face of a threat they couldn't stop, and they can't even look Kramer in the eye as he monologues before casting a spell and sending them into their own mind as they try to rush to Bells' aid on the floor.

It's crucial to me that Kramer sees everyone in this episode for their worst selves, so later on when they prove they have changed, it throws him for a loop.

Kramer may be Stones' abusive parent, but he thrives in isolating his victim, and he is a villain for Presbyopia as a whole.

It's why the punch is so satisfying. Barley will keep faltering at the last minute, unable to directly confront anyone, constantly running directly away from what they want because they can't let themself feel anything other than a need for survival. Until that punch.

Because no... fuck this guy. He sucks.

It's not survival, it's not saving anyone. He is just having a bad day and decides to be a cunt to someone who happens to cross his path, and instead he gets utterly decked.

And Barley stares him directly in the eye and smiles as the last fragment of his worldview shatters.

[shitposbyopia]

"You're playing poker with our lives. How much did that stunt win you? How much did Fairbairn set you back? How much are our lives worth to you? How much do you think you are worth to someone else?"

"I am Isabella Tylluan."

"I've noticed."

[shitposbyopia]

I think its interesting that none of my character playlists match the vibes of their character.

Like, Stones is menacing and slow moving and his playlist is 90% Crane Wives.

Reece is immaculate in terms of presentation, and yet he has all the butt rock and grunge and punk music in the world

Isabella is nice and charming and patient and proper and her playlist has this kinda modern-ish independent pop kinda feel to it. Like, AJR, Dove Cameron, Sam Tinnesz.

And then there's Barley, who goes out of their way to be blunt and straightforward. And their playlist is the most overly melodramatic collection of musical theatre songs you will ever here. Hadestown. Wicked. Phantom of the Opera. Les Mis.

And I think that speaks to the story. Like, every character in this story has a mask. The playlists are who they really are, and they mean I can write the masks as imperfect.

[shitposbyopia]

Figure I might as well start showing off this stuff.

[shitposbyopia]

The Presbyopia dynamic rotates through this.

[shitposbyopia]

Stones just melted through a pair of handcuffs out of sheer spite.

[shitposbyopia]

The dynamics of Presbyopia are so fun. The first arc is fairly localized, but for the second there is an A team and a B team.

For the A team: a world class detective, her bodyguard/love interest, an occultist, and a lawyer.

Slightly unconventional, but considering the genre, it fits.

Then there's the B team: two ghosts, a tree, and THAT SAME FUCKING LAWYER!!!

I am not a creator but a vessel for story and this story has no care for my mental wellbeing. Onwards!

[shitposbyopia]

I keep lingering on the question of whether Eli Stones is human.

I want it to be ambiguous. Like Kramer says that he created him, and Stones is clearly supernatural in some way.

But... is he? Is he not just a kid who endured and got good?

In any case, I don't think he believes it. I think he holds humanity in high regard and has bought into his father's abuse a little too far. He thinks of himself as but a simple creation.

This is actually inspired a lot by a friend (@ge-nde-rr-env-y)'s D&D character. We've been discussing their humanity as the plot does plot things and they react accordingly (Not my character, so no spoilers beyond that), and we came to the conclusion that humanity and magic are not counterpoints. The human is not the antithesis to the miraculous, it's the epitome.

As for the story, I think that Stones would have an arc around taking agency and feeling emotion more than just fear. But he would also need to have a conversation with Barley, and he would need Barley to just genuinely not understand his point.

He brings up his magic, he brings up his worth, his purpose, and Barley cannot grasp why any of that makes him any less human.

I think it's especially important that Barley does this because the two are sibling coded in the series. They despise each other, sure, but they are also each other's right hand at all times.

Also, Barley is about as blunt as they come, so having someone call Stones an idiot while helping him heal would be a fun scene to write.

Idk.

[shitposbyopia]

I adore Reece being a snarky little shit.

Like, yeah, he's a phenomenal communicator and he's surprisingly good profiler and after some character growth, he is the only one in England who can stay cool under pressure.

But also, just him constantly trash talking like a true football supporter will always be dear to my heart. Even when it gets him in trouble.

[shitposbyopia]

I was discussing Presbyopia with a friend in a writers' group chat and someone else interupted to ask a simple question. "Why are all of them gay? There were less of you back then."

So, lets be abundantly clear about the theming and perspective of this story.

Isabella is a lesbian character.

Barley is a nonbinary character.

Reece is a bisexual character.

Eli Stones is a straight character.

Payton is a trans character.

Northumbria is an aromantic character.

So... quantitatively speaking, the statement was false. Not all of them are gay, some of them are just punk.

But there is something more important here, because no actually. There were not less of us back then. Presbyopia is set in 1875. Gay, trans, queer, and all kinds of people who don't fit the cis/straight norm have always existed and will continue to exist. We are an out group who found each other, classified as not being a part of an incredibly small group of people. We will not go away.

Presbyopia is about forbidden knowledge. It is about the horror is self-discovery and the fact that there are monsters who have hidden on the outskirts, so yes, it is going to be told from the perspective of characters who are pushed to those same outskirts and specifically highlighting that those groups are not the same thing.

Besides, there are cosmic horror entities running around and one of the main characters regularly sets himself on fire and another has good people skills and none of that was abnormal. The person on the chat specifically could suspension of disbelief that away, but multiple queer characters, that is a step too far.

Yes, this was just one guy on a writers' group chat. But it annoyed me, and I felt the point needed to be made.

[shitposbyopia]

Presbyopia has breached containment.

Eli Stones has just bitten someone.

[shitposbyopia]

[shitposbyopia]

A Breakdown Of The Wills

These are the overarching entities that interact with the story, separate from the Eidolons. Here's what I have so far.

The Avalanche (Darkness) - The Avalanche toys with free will. It didn't make you turn on each other, it just gave you the right situation so you would do it yourself. It thrives on making people into the worst versions of themselves. Cold is the word of the day, with the Avalanche taking great joy in engineering situations where people are at their worst, emotionally.

The Blood (Blood) - The Blood dwells within the realm of loyalty and faith. It calls upon community and companionship and as such has the Benandanti who worship it and enact its will. There is also sub theme of dreams and hallucinations and illusions. Essentially, the deal with summons, i.e. the most loyal servants.

The Blind (Hail) - The Blind is enormous, too big to comfortably think about, and that is the key with this will. The Blind relies on storms and the ocean to take full advantage of that megalophobia.

The Council (Frogs) - The Counsil plays within knowledge and unknowledge. It watches and waits, moving and manipulating pieces to keep everyone else in the dark. Case and point, it manipulates Persona (The Eidolon) to her demise. It has a swamp aesthetic.

The Faer (First Born) - The Faer is grief and loss, it is emptiness and unwilling. It helps and guides (this is where Whistles comes in), but with the end goal of everything just stopping. It wants stillness, no pain or anger, but no love or joy. It has a fey, Seelie, and Tylwyth Teg aesthetics.

The Crawl (Bugs) - The Crawl makes you feel unclean to the point of obsession, and that there is the magic of the Crawl. It moves through addiction and cravings, bad habits and nervous compulsions. It desires order above all else, hence the insect aesthetic, but also the allegiance with the Benandanti and the Blood.

The Oncoming (Locusts) - The Oncoming wants only to consume, and as such acts only out of hunger. It is not capable of alliances or long-term planning; it moves quickly and towards its next meal. It brings about droughts and famines in its wake.

The Clefyd (Pestilence) - The Clefyd is disease incarnate, but also chaos, reveling in the lengths people would go to in futile attempts to ward off the inevitable. It is one of the most personable of the wills, even affectionate towards human ambition and acting in opposition towards the Benandanti and the Crawl.

The Agony (Boils) - The Agony is my feeble attempt at body horror. It twists people into creatures, and creatures into chimeras. It is an experimenter, a scientist, a necromancer of sorts. The dead stay dead, but their bodies are up for grabs.

The Matron (Wild Animals) - The Matron is the old woman of the Wills. She despises all technology from the lightbulb to the wheel and wants to return to the good old days when everything killed everything else with its teeth and claws. There is an order to food chains, a balance to the give and take of survival, a fairness to brutality.

[shitposbyopia]

Something occurred to me about writing the Faer. It's a nihilist, but it's kinda right and wrong at the same time.

Like, it's big thing is that it would be easier and safer if everybody stopped doing anything. Like, lie down and wait to die. Sacrifice the end goal. Wouldn't you like to stop caring?

And yes, it would be easier. The series proves this fact correct. A lot of the second arc and its dilemma is caused by the fact that these fuckers care about each other.

The care for Stones directly drives a wedge between Reece and everybody else. Isabella suddenly caring about other people and her place in that causes her own spiral, but also drags Barley down with her. Stones caring about the others is why he goes with Kramer for most of it.

It would be easier and safer if these people didn't care about each other.

But it wouldn't get any better for any of them. The care is the sacrifice you must make for other people. Selflessness by definition doesn't help you, at least not directly, it helps other people.

The end result is all these people saying that yes, it would be better on the short term, but the long term is worth it. The fact that I care validates the sacrifices it causes.

That is the goal anyway.

[shitposbyopia]

Thinking about sound design as storytelling.

Like, there's the little things. Payton doesn't make noise, Reece despises silence, Barley's tapping on every window they find frequently coincides numerically with whichever of the Wills the crew is dealing with at any given moment.

But then there's the soundtrack. Stones' theme is repeatedly diagetic. Like, there's a music box that plays it and a street musician and then a whole ass orchestra.

And of course, Northumbria, who is a musician. I had the idea of framing her transformation into an eidolon in the case if grand, romanticism style images. But I also like the idea of her, at one point, just getting out her guitar and starting to noodle along to the backing music. Like the nondiagetic soundtrack.

At this point, it is firmly in the realm of "this would be cool", but hey. Gotta start somewhere.