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sitting together with a friend and they tell you "wow, you are disturbingly susceptible to hypnosis!", without any apparent prompt, and refuse to elaborate

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Jack Seward would be thrilled to wear a chastity belt and hand over the key don't @ me. Problem: If he suggested it to Van Helsing, his answer would be "Friend John I do not mind if you fully enjoy your youth. Besides, you hardly need one. Ho ho!" If he suggested it to Arthur he would get an "Oh no, I fully trust you old fellow ❤️ 😊". He can't suggest it to Quincey due to him being dead.

Mina would absolutely do it to him tho. She'd be into it. Problem: She's taken

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Justin Brown Artwork "Apres la fete"

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"In God's name, Professor Van Helsing, what do you mean?" I cried.

Feel free to use this sentiment every time Van Helsing goes on a monologue.

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I love how Jack Seward goes from

Professor, let me be your pet student again.

to yelling and smiting the table with

"Dr. Van Helsing, are you mad?"

to

He raised his head and looked at me, and somehow the tenderness of his face calmed me at once.

all within seconds

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Lucy and her three weed smoking boyfriends

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I love that one of the first things we get from Van Helsing is this dig at Jack

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Has this been done yet

[ID in alt]

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Next time there's a big adaptation of Dracula, they should do a cold open.

Its the year 188x, Amsterdam University. In a small operating theatre, a professor has just been stabbed in the hand by his overly anxious colleague during an operation. Realizing it was a dirty knife with gangrene, a student quickly kneels before him, seizing the professor's hand and selflessly decides to suck the gangrene from his wound. He sucks and spits the blood out, looking up intensely at the professor. Fade to black.

The next scene transitions to May 189X in Romania, and a young Jonathan Harker steps off the train.

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But I wanted a kiss…

[ID. A three-panel comic. In panel one, Van Helsing smiles and holds Jack Seward’s bandaged arm gently, as Jack, dazed from blood loss, stares at him with anticipation. Jack has a slight blush on his cheek and spirals around his head. A speech bubble over Van Helsing’s head reads: “I think the good doctor deserves a reward.” A heart-shaped speech bubble beside Jack reads “Oh…?” Panel two shows a circular sticker with a blood droplet mascot in the Sonic Adventure pose, and the words “I gave blood today” in all caps circle the mascot. Radiating white lines emphasize the sticker. In panel three, Jack stands with the sticker on his suit lapel, and a sour expression. He holds a full glass of port wine in his hand. END ID.]

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There is a different side to Jack Seward that gets unlocked once Van Helsing enters the story, and I think that speaks volumes on how deeply layered their relationship is. Not quite intertwined, but complementary to each other. It still endlessly fascinates me that before Van Helsing, Jack is an entirely different character to the reader.

Jack's appearance and personality is of one slowly unravelling, slowly becoming more unhinged. He cannot get over Lucy's rejection and instead uses Renfield as a distraction. He gets invited out with the boys but we don't hear him talk about it, it's almost as if another Jack Seward got invited. He talks about how vivisection was misunderstood and maniacly plans to let Renfield escape so he can study him further. The audience can feel he is spiraling though he does not want to admit it.

And yet when Lucy is sick, Jack does something unexpected - he asks for help. He reaches out to his old friend and mentor, and it softens him into a different person. When he writes to Arthur about Van Helsing, his arrogance about the hierarchy of man melt away into earnestly describing how incredible his former professor is. And in turn we see how quickly Van Helsing drops everything to go see him.

Not only that, it changes our perception of Jack as well! When Van Helsing teases Jack and confuses him with his vague statements, he's still so accepting. In the next few entries, we will see Jack's character diverge from being a brooding "mad doctor" type to being pathetically loveable. He becomes less sure of himself, yet somehow more vulnerable, more impartial, more sympathetic.

I cant get over it. These two doctors drive me mad, actually.

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The Suitor Squad, ref under the cut

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Dr. Seward we love ur pussy

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Abraham Van Helsing & Dr Jack Seward

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yall ever see a fictional character n be like "this is my rotten little man and i encourage his rotten little shenanigans"

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My three girlfriends. And yes, they smoke weed.