Trivia and In-Jokes
About the Story:
This is an idea I had while I
was driving to work by myself over Christmas week. “Would a botanist make their
own fertilizer?” I know animal manure can be used for fertilizer and horse is
supposed to be pretty good (though, according to Google, chicken is better) so I
figured fertilizer made from unicorn manure should be fabulous, lol.
I spent a lot of time on Google and on Butterfly Boy’s journal and on
Secundus proper (I Wiki Walked through V’s fics during this) for
fertilizer-making information and the mannerisms of Touched. Yes, Touched!AL is
in it but I’d say it's more of a cameo since I did my best to focus on Lorina
and Victor’s POV. I’m not sure how old Lorina would be (I didn’t want to ask and
give away part of the story) but I suppose she’s old enough to be able to do
some work on her own yet young enough to still want to call her parents “Mummy”
and “Daddy” (V surmised about 14 or 15). I also figured she'd have some kind of
lab of her own eventually so I thought a greenhouse was a safe bet.
Story:
The
mocking blank page:
Came from this icon.
Slice of tree: Came from this
picture I saw on Facebook about books.
Foul-smelling chicken manure: I worked at a barn that had chickens and
cleaning their stall was one of the most disgusting things I had to do there.
Goldy’s nicknames: Goldy has nicknames for a few people and since he gets
along with children well he gave Lorina one.
AL’s lobby full of animals: Reminiscent of Fluttershy’s house being
overrun in “Magical Mystery Cure” when Rainbow Dash had her cutie mark. They
were originally supposed to be causing chaos (Victor was going to be dive-bombed
by a sparrow) but I changed it.
The deer and baby fawn: Was going to be a reference to Bambi but I
didn't go that far. The cold was a reference to my kid’s cold.
The hypochondriac squirrel: There was a character on one of those
hospital shows (either Scrubs or House, MD) that was a
hypochondriac who kept going to the hospital for something stupid that wound up
being nothing (except for the once when he really was sick). There was also a
character on Star Trek: The Next Generation who was the same but less
irritating.
Wondrous Germination: Another name for Miracle Gro. I was gonna namedrop
it but decided not to.