Would the Real Earl Please Stand Up...

Further to my mental wanderings of yesterday as to just who is who as far as the earl and the street guy go, the dilemma continues. Not that it’s an actual dilemma really. In fact it may well be nothing more than an escape from the fact that the characters in Brimstone are misbehaving and causing me no small amount of grief. So, instead of trying to figure out their problems (of which I’m certain are varied and many), my brain has run away and hijacked these new characters.

Because, of course, if I can figure out which of them is the earl and which is the street guy then I have accomplished something and can then stick my tongue out at Devlin and Isabel having shown them that I am not a complete waste of space in the writing arena.

So the earl, whose name I don’t even know yet so will heretofore refer to him as “the Earl” is not from an aristocratic background. While he does come from a well to do family, they are but wealthy merchants. Yet, through a set of circumstances and a bloodline to his benefit, he inherits the title, lands and all the problems to go with it. Which would be fine. If he wasn’t missing. I don’t know much else about him, other than he is a bit of a hardened young man, 30ish, with a rather large chip on his shoulder, mistrustful and yet with a strong sense of honor.

Then we have street guy, who we do have a name for. He is Jack. Now Jack didn’t always live on the streets. In fact, much like the Earl, his family made a decent living. Until a fire or some such thing destroyed their business and killed them all dead (as if you can be killed some other way?). Anyway, Jack survived and somehow ended up on the street where he honed his skills as a pickpocket and such. Now, years later, Jack is a quick-witted, intelligent guy. He has a sly sense of humor and charisma to burn. He’s a chameleon – he would have to be to survive on the street. And while he is generally out for number one, he can’t seem to help rescuing those in need, sometimes to his own detriment. Probably working out some issues for not having saved his family.

And this is what I know.

Now at first, I thought Becks would make the better Jack. He has a hardness to him that could happen from life on the street. Yet...the Earl is the man with the hardened soul. And there was something in his eyes that in the pictures I chose that just screamed – back off, don’t get close (okay not so much in today's pix but definitely in yesterday's). And somehow, Mr. Aubry’s face just seemed to exude the charming charisma of Jack. The chameleon. Charming and crafty and hard to get a bead on.

After much thought, and just letting my imagination roam at will, the two characters settled in my head.

So it gives me great pleasure to introduce:

The Earl

And

Jack


I think. Maybe. Oh for the love of God!!

Sigh...great...now I can't even figure that out. At this rate Devlin and Isabel are going to fire me and get someone else to write their story...

Och! Oh! I think I just had an idea...maybe...maybe...oh yes, this might just work...