Footprints

End Notes

So this is done. Took a while to write, and I wasn't to sure about it, but decided to post it anyways. I am not the most confident in writing dialogue, but quickly realized that at a certain point I had to. So if the feel of the writing changes during points of dialogue this might be why. I'm sorry!

I also didn't intend for this to be so long or plot driven. But I realized I had set some things up, pretty early on, and with the rule of Chekhov's Gun(If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired.) I realized I should follow through. This both pleased me, and added stress.
I believe in the rule of Chekhov's Gun. I didn't want to erase anything, because the pieces the metaphorical gun was placed were also integral in creating the character of Jessie. So I had to utilize this metaphorical gun, and figure out how to do so in a way that feels believable, and made you want to keep reading. I can only hope the final act of this fic works well, and I am now patiently waiting your thoughts.

In regards to Priam. I intended him to be a red herring(something, especially a clue, that is or is intended to be misleading or distracting), and if you truly believed him to be the "villain" until the twist, than I did my job well. I wrote him as Tamlins son, knowing that Tamlin is not a well liked character, hoping to throw you off. There are small hints that the true "villain" was Darnall all along. Picking up on the fact that Jessie admits freely to eavesdropping on her family and asking her about it for example. But I tried to write it in a way that Priam was the red herring everyone looked at.
I don't believe a child should be punished for their parents crimes. I have seen many times in this fandom, any time someone tries to portray an original character that is Tamlins child, there are parts of the fandom who will villainize that child, because of Tamlins crimes. What Tamlin did was beyond wrong. But any future child he may have should not be ostracized for it. So I intentionally created Priam to be a red herring.

I really tried to come up with names for these original characters that the names meaning, would fit their character.
Priam as a Greek name, means "Redeemed." Where as Darnall as an English name means "Secret which is well kept."
When searching for a name for Jessie's brother, I decided on Aidan Sol. Aidan is Gaelic and means Fire, while Sol is a Latin name that means Sun.
This led me to look up what the name Jessie means, and it turned up many different answers, but the first one that popped up stated that Jessie, as a girls name, is of Hebrew origin meaning He Sees. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but I found it particularly interesting as I found this out after Jessie has been characterized as an eavesdropper. Just thought I'd share this information.