Branches: Thairn

[skylarkrogers]

Between 2006 and 2009, I wrote seven books. I called the series Weird. An irritable, gloomy faerie named Rain Fallsong (in Fan, Illa Sh'rettgratti) and his werewolf partner B (full name Bernadette Jones) have deadly adventures together. In the second book, Rain's unwanted fiance Thairn Autumnsgold (in Fan, Thairn Aurvo'sha) appears, basically stalking him. This Thairn is grandiose, dramatic, and above all, pushy as hell about wanting a romance with Rain, whom he continuously nicknames Showers. They end up with one, but it's rife with argument and despite and reluctance. They have a couple of kink scenes, but not many--Rain doesn't trust Thairn that much, for good reason.

Also in 2006, my friend Kristen Brand wrote a never-published book, Angie. The book had an interesting side character, Mickey Morley, who was from a magical mafia.

When we did collabs and fun messages together, we'd pair Thairn with Mickey. Decided that some ways off in backstoryland, Thairn had infiltrated the Morleys and the two had fallen in love.

In 2016, after several attempts at editing/rewriting the first book of Weird, I was on vacation and decided to experiment with writing Thairn a bit differently. I had a note down about some time when Thairn and Rain had been assigned to pretend to be a married couple.

It was after two partnerships gone sour that Thairn asked Rain over coded letters if he wanted to work together once again. Rain agreed, to Thairn's surprise, and soon enough they were set up in a studio apartment in New York, New York as a married couple, renamed to Thea and Ian Falson. They slept in the same bed--for appearances--and had matching wedding rings that held their glamours. On Fridays they hit the swing revival clubs, dancing to Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald between meeting with informants.

Rain's chagrin at their need for a public show of intimacy slowly faded, and they began to dance more songs than public appearance needed. He began to sleep closer to her in bed, to brush her with his fingers when he passed her in the living room. She crowed over this, of course, pointed it out to him at every turn, as she'd always done. That was the way they did things together, that was the way they were together. It was what she was used to with him.

But she'd originally done it, decades ago, in order to push him away, and she'd forgotten that in excitement, in the way her old friend suddenly made her heart pound and her cheeks flush. And soon enough, he stopped dancing so much with her, stopped sleeping so close to her, stopped brushing her with his fingers as he passed.

She wasn't sure he ever knew she meant it when she said it broke her heart.

 

But this time, I was frustrated with Thairn's old characterization. So, I tried something different. A more reined-in Thairn. And, more importantly, a Thairn who chose to stop pushing. To actually respect Illa's boundaries.

Everything has rippled out from there. The whole original timeline, wiped away by this one decision, because as a consequence, so much has changed about their story, what happens between them, and where it goes. Thairn isn't the only difference, I've changed some worldbuilding and some characters, but it's amazing just how much branched off from Thairn's choices.

The seven books of Weird will never be published, outside of whatever snippets I decide to post. And I'm... actually really happy about that. I like this version of the series so much more. Between that and other changes, there's now hope between horrors, instead of an inevitable march towards madness.