This commentary covers the following posts:
Untitled
Untitled (Ravens and Writing Desks)
This is why I barely ever drink
Introduction (Ravens and Writing Desks)
Wrapping a few things up
Another Report
Messenger's Report (Heavy Boy)
Caper's Last Tale (Ravens and Writing Desks)
A lot of posts to cover again, but a lot of them with little substance that can be glossed over more simply.
The first post, as you may have gathered, was simply just trolling. It appears to be a stereotypical "Slender Man is making me lose my mind!" post until it's revealed in my next post that...Messi just had a hell of a hangover. Some people like realism, some people like meta, but what I really, really like to do when I'm writing is mess with people's expectations. Build something up, and then subvert it.
Around this time, I had started getting worried about writing Poe. I knew she would be a difficult character, largely because of who she was, and I knew it would be difficult for me to avoid writing her in a way that seemed sort of backwards in terms of female characters. After all, Poe is quiet and submissive, and with potential romance playing such a large role in the story, you can see how I might have been a bit worried. So I asked AJ, who had previously just helped me brainstorm some, if she'd want to write Poe, since she had helped develop the character and all. She eagerly agreed, and Ravens and Writing Desks was born.
The first post is a poem by Edgar Allen Poe, entitled, "Annabel Lee." As you might already know, that's Poe's real name. She was, in fact, named after the poem as her parents were (as is later mentioned) both English majors. This poem is the reason her name became Poe, so it made sense to start the blog with it. The second post is just a basic introduction that's fairly self-explanatory.
Anyway, moving on past that discourse. An important event that occurs offscreen (or, at least, more offscreen than anything else in the blog) is Poe visiting Messi and spending the night drinking with him. This encounter was actually roleplayed through a Skype chat, with Alex playing the part of Poe. While I don't believe I have the conversation anymore, it helped develop both characters and, more importantly, bring them closer together. They bonded over memories of Caper. Poe had many and Messi had few, but talking about them helped nonetheless. The two also started actually paying attention to each other at this point. Before that, they had been sort of peripherals in the other's life, connected by a mutual friend. They do something close to flirting while drunk, though it's mostly just trying to cheer each other up. And really, at that point in time, it's something that both characters needed. Poe needed someone to latch on to, and at this point in time, Caper and Helios are both dead. Messi was the next closest person. And Messi, had Poe not reached out, would have shut himself off from the world and gone spiraling down into depression.
This is where we planted the first pushes towards a relationship between Poe and Messi, bolstered by their awkwardness surrounding the whole thing. Also note that Messi states that he is not a frequent drinker at this point, whereas he's practically an alcoholic by the end of the blog.
I really have nothing to say about the other posts, other than Poe's eulogy for Caper straddles the line between heartbreaking and funny.
