Story Trivia: Amicus

• The idea for Amicus was first conceived while I was watching a documentary about the abuse of children within institutions run by the Catholic church. 
• 'Amicus' is Latin for 'friend'.
• A lot of the religious activities in the story come from the ones that I was forced to practice as a child. I was raised Roman Catholic, so I'm very familiar with the faith and activities. Though every church could be different.
• Sister Katherine, or 'Sour Face', was loosely inspired by a few teachers at my primary school. There was one teacher of mine who was always grumpy, miserable and sour looking, and the fact that Seras was her favourite abuse victim was inspired by me being a favourite abuse victim of one of my teachers. Though I would like to clarify that I was never beaten (though she came close lol). My experience was more psychological abuse. 
• The statue of Jesus that Seras stared at in chapter one is based on a real statue that existed in a church that I attended as a child. It was pretty gory, and I used to stare at it for entire sermons as it freaked me out. 
• The injuries that Sour Face receives in chapter six was part of a small personal revenge of mine. When one of my cousins was in care, she would be beaten on the head with a hairdryer to a point where she now suffers from seizures, so that scene was my own way of getting hypothetical justice. 
• Inspiration from the story also came from my analysis that Seras and Alucard actually had pretty similar backgrounds. Both had rough childhoods and lost their parents at a young age, and both had to survive in a world of abuse, neglect and betrayal. It made me wonder what it would be like if Alucard was by her side during this stage of her life. 
• The main song inspiration for this story is Black & Gold by Sam Sparro. Pay close attention to the lyrics and you'll probably make a lot of the connections. 
• In chapter three, Alucard states that he was once 'Orthodox.' This was a branch of Christianity that Vlad III (the Impaler) followed for most of his life.
• The song that Seras sings in chapter two is called, It's a Long Way to Tipperary. This was a song about homesickness (by an Irishman living in London), and was often sung by the British army during both world wars. This is also why Alucard comments on its familiarity. During the wars, he would have heard the soldiers singing it.   
• In chapter 6, what Alucard mentions about Latin is true. In modern times, we don't know how the words were officially pronounced. It could be completely wrong for all we know.