#Carmilla

[youremysunshine8]

Vampires have different strategies on getting a place to stay.

[specificpollsaboutbooks]

F/F Couples

Final

[see-arcane]

Hearing today's interaction with the General, Comtesse and 'Millarca' out loud really strikes home 1) how elaborate a setup the charade is, which also highlights 2) how little Carmilla ultimately gives a damn about her eventual snacking spree on the lower class women of the village once she gets around to Laura's home. Because look at all the effort that went into planting her with Bertha and the General. It didn't have to be them, of course. Bertha just caught Millie's eye. But the point is the place it happened: a giant extravagant Rich and Important People masquerade.

The General mentions that he's the closest one to a 'nobody' there, just as Laura's father exists in the shallow end of the well-to-do pool--while still living in a castle with servants. And isn't it something how Millie and her crew have sniffed out targets within that balancing area. Obviously well off (not peasants, lame) but also obviously not big enough in the hierarchy to draw attention if a tragedy were to befall them; at least not enough to go hunting after the crew. (Give or take a General with a vendetta.)

I keep circling it now. How Carmilla/Millarca/Mircalla can and does very easily very quickly target random victims to her taste in the village entirely on her own and drinks them to death in no time. No invitation. No theatre-quality ruses with la Comtesse and company and staged tragic happenings. Just her and her own power, settling for the unpolished girls she has access to in order to preserve her honeymoon period with Laura a little longer.

All this pageantry to attach herself to Bertha, to Laura, and, we can guess, other pedigreed victims in the past, is just that for her. Pageantry. Picking her next meal with her pinkie up. And I think that's important to acknowledge when examining the difference between that MO and her attachment to Laura, regardless of what future chapters will try to insinuate otherwise.

Because if Laura had been any other upper(ish) class girl, she would have been as dead as Bertha ages ago. Drunk and loved to death and promptly ditched. But Carmilla is committed to her and to collecting her into vampirism to drag along with or without consent; a decision the novella never shows her making with any other victim. It's just been corpses all the way down. Either with hasty throwaway meals in the village or dragged out loving suppers made of girls like Bertha. However complicit Carmilla is or isn't in her own monstrosity, she is making choices within it, those choices are classist and self-serving to an undead aristocrat's palette, and they have all ended with her victim, treated with care or not, dead.

And Laura breaks that habit. She isn't just another case of Carmilla playing with her food. She is a spur of true love cracking through who knows how many lifetimes' worth of playacted romance with victims past.

For those who think I am taking le Fanu's wedged in explanation, no, I am not agreeing with the bullshit stance of 'all vampires are faking their love for their victims all the time always! especially the gay ones!!' that the story ultimately tries to pin in place. I'm saying that Carmilla has shown she proves that assumption wrong in both directions.

She doesn't seduce the peasant girls. She just breaks in, chugs them, kills them, and moves on.

She does star in intricate traveling theatre setups to get planted in more than one plush abode with a pretty daughter in it. And with them she does bother with friendship, charm, romance, et cetera, because she sees them as worth bothering with.

And Laura? Laura she latches onto with all the possessive bottomless love that the story implies was thrust upon her once upon a time; the same kind of Love that brought her into undeath. A love she hasn't felt herself once since then, not enough to collect any companion into vampirism. Except for Laura.

Apart from being grateful at having the podcast turn up old stones in this story that I'd either forgotten or completely overlooked. It's a refresher in how genuinely complicated Carmilla is as a character and as a villain. I've run into reads of her that are all purely sympathetic to the point of sanding down all her actions into being someone else's will, it's not her fault she's like this, there's nothing to take away from the story that paints her in a bad light that isn't just the man characters being wrong about vampires and lesbians and lesbian vampires!

And I didn't understand why that irked me so much until I realized that this borders on the same edge of Dracula's defanged makeover into a patchwork woeful dreamboy caricature made of traits that belong to anyone other than himself. Because we like Carmilla. We love Carmilla. She is The Classic Lesbian Vampire and Can Do No Wrong!

Except she does. She very much does, regardless of what biases are there to read in the male characters' framing of vampirism/homosexuality/impurity/Other etc.

The classism is there. The needless serial killing (VS taking a few sips and running) is there. The longing so great it demands she must steal Laura away is there. Just as the love is there, bringing with it the bitter agony and self-made misery of fear that Laura, her Laura, will learn the truth soon, that Carmilla's willpower is second to Carmilla's wants, and she will conscript the girl she loves because that is how a monster loves; it was how she was 'loved' and made what she is.

And God! Think of what would come after Laura being turned! Not just the revelation of what Millie has forced on her, but everything Carmilla has done for ages. All that death she's breezed through for so long is now suddenly a sword hanging over her head, held up by the thread of Laura's affection and her ignorance to what said beloved has been up to on her nights out.

Carmilla isn't a tragic monster because she's inherently innocent and the narrative has simply maligned and mistreated her. Carmilla is tragic because she's been a casual, canny and far from helpless monster for well over a century and is only now being tripped up by the bittersweet fact of her love and all the dread and shame that comes with being a bastard (gender neutral) and knowing that any moment your paramour will learn the truth of what you are.

tl; dr: Today's chapter hit me with an epiphany stick. Just as Dracula didn't deserve to be defanged by over a century of sanitizing and sexifying, Carmilla doesn't deserve to have all her sharp edges blunted into a helpless anti-villain/antihero because Girl. She's in on this gothic horror villain shit. Said villain shit needs acknowledging to make the reality of her romance with Laura stand out as truly tragically shattering to her undead lifestyle.

[chaoskid-deer]

carmilla’s mother is as charming and charismatic as she is… she is running rings around the general, and alan burgon's voice acting is really highlighting it with how tongue tied he sounds

[sharas-bae]

i've really been enjoying re: carmilla as my first experience with carmilla! as expected, the acting and sound design are excellent, and the story has been really fun so far.

gotta say though, i can't take the 'millarca' pseudonym seriously. at all. like ok stacey fakename, sure. are you trying to get found out? would this have worked for a contemporary reader in a way it just doesn't now?

[besotted-with-austen]

Laura: I suspect you are making our era-appropriate Pseudo-Romantic Friendship weird on purpose, Carmilla.

Carmilla, who is trying really hard to have an era-appropriate Gothic Love Story: only suspect? I should definitely try harder.

[rikiteekeetavee]

It is clear that Carmilla's bohemian lifestyle (via her Mother's troupe) has led her to many masquerades and balls and parties. Enough for her to be sharing gossip about the many revellers frequenting them. Carmilla has been around.

Thing is, she was attacked -and eventually turned- right after her first ball, at 19.

Carmilla momentarily trembling before, or during, or after almost each new ballroom dance. The fact that she can remember the aftermath of her first one enough to speak of it to Laura, twice, despite the vow of silence, despite her human life being blur a blur, it all shows how the trauma never truly left her.

Yes this is her 28th party, yes she is the most enchanting young woman you have ever seen. She's just left a girl panting and weak just by making eye contact with her while seductively lowering her domino mask, and yes she intrigues every reveller because she knows everyone and everything about the world, and yes she looks like Venus herself in the moonlit balcony.

But if you could excuse her... she needs to go and hide, to swallow a moment of panic down with no one to witness it.

[new-hyperfixation-every-month]

Your Carmilla sketches are everything

TYSM ❤️❤️ heres a teensy messy thing i never posted

[maumausie]

Carmilla please give me one chance I will let you drink my blood PLEADE PLEADE PLEASE let me have your children

[thegoatsongs]

I wanted to wait for both Carmilla's Masquerade chapters from @re-dracula to make some observations on Carmilla's Mother aka Madame La Comtess. Especially about her relationship with Carmilla.

When we first meet her, it's in the second chapter. She's described as a dark, mysterious, authoritative figure, of a powerful countenance, leading a carriage and troupe.

While she talks about Carmilla as her dear daughter, Laura catches a few glimpses of interactions between her and the unconscious Carmilla:

The lady threw on her daughter a glance which I fancied was not quite so affectionate as one might have anticipated from the beginning of the scene; then she beckoned slightly to my father, and withdrew two or three steps with him out of hearing; ... I was filled with wonder that my father did not seem to perceive the change.

She kneeled beside her for a moment and whispered, as Madame supposed, a little benediction in her ear; then hastily kissing her she stepped into her carriage

Those could be both an indication that there is a fraught relationship between them, as well as the oath-binding that Carmilla mentions often. It could be read as her compelling both Laura's father to ask no questions, and a reminder to Carmilla herself.

On the masquerade, where she and Carmilla meet the General and Bertha, we see much more of her and a few direct interactions between her and Carmilla. She's called Madame La Comptess and has a deathly-looking valet. Once again, she's authoritative, enigmatic, and incredibly compelling with words to get her way.

La Comptess and Carmilla again seem to have hints of a tense relationship. This time Carmilla herself expresses it:

‘She is gone,’ said Millarca, with a sigh. ...‘She did not look up,’

Whoever she is, her vampire biological mother or her sire or both or other, she and Carmilla have a bond.

If Carmilla has felt a tense relationship between them throughout the decades, it would further explain why she's desperately seeking Laura's love. Just like Laura at the beginning, as she's expressed before, Carmilla's been feeling a deep loneliness without a companion her age.

[phantomval]

ᛪ༙ 𝕮𝖆𝖗𝖒𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖆. . .

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔉𝔦𝔯𝔰𝔱 𝔙𝔞𝔪𝔭𝔦𝔯𝔢.

𝕿he classic that inspired 𝕯𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖚𝖑𝖆, dives us into ℭ𝔞𝔯𝔪𝔦𝔩𝔩𝔞’s deep love for 𝔏𝔞𝔲𝔯𝔞.

𝕮𝖆𝖗𝖒𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖆 𝖜𝖆𝖘 𝖕𝖚𝖇𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖍𝖊𝖉 𝖎𝖓 1872 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖜𝖗𝖎𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖇𝖞 𝕾𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖎𝖉𝖆𝖓 𝕷𝖊 𝕱𝖆𝖓𝖚.

«ℑ𝔣 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔡𝔢𝔞𝔯 𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔱 𝔦𝔰 𝔴𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔡, 𝔪𝔶 𝔴𝔦𝔩𝔡 𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔱 𝔟𝔩𝔢𝔢𝔡𝔰 𝔴𝔦𝔱𝔥 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯𝔰»

𝕮𝖆𝖗𝖒𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖆

[phoenixfire-thewizardgoddess]

Headcanon - Overlords as Batteries

-------------

Shortly after the place reopens post-extermination, Charlie tries calling her mother again, leaving a delighted voicemail about what is happening. 

Cannibal town shuts down without warning, and when Charlotte and Niffty go to find out what’s up, only the little cannibette is allowed in. Everyone cagey. 

Someone has attacked Rosie and drained her power, it's there but faint for now, and she’s unable to be roused. Her cannibals are extremely protective, as they adore her, and Susan threatens to break Charlie's legs if she steps into town.

It’s heartwarming and terrifying.

Alastor appears upset by the news but doesn’t go to her, confusing Charlie.

“All of cannibal town would need to be decimated before they allow another overlord near Rosie in this state, even if we are close, dear.” he explains, trying for calm but shattering the mug in his hands. “And I strongly suspect Susan would go out of her way to flay us alive if we dared, hah.”

“Susan’s still alive?!” Lucifer spits his pancakes out. “I thought she was ancient last time I saw her, before your mother left, duckling. She beat one of the exterminators with her cane so badly it had to be carried back to Heaven… terrifying woman.” Thousand yard stare.

A week later, Zeezi’s district goes dark. The saurian sinners closing ranks and to the hotel, it's clear something has happened to her. Charlotte is able to get in as an impartial person, but Alastor is kept at the border.

He assures them it’s fine, he’s here because the dear princess had never had to come this way before and didn’t realise how many boobytraps were in the preceding streets. She is nigh indestructible, but… a mine is a mine, and it can hurt.

This is reluctantly accepted  (mainly because one of the brontosaurs watched him lift her out of the way of three separate spike traps, and punch a log trap to pieces while she sang her way to them.)

And then Angel comes back to the hotel shaken up, the day after, Valentino was in a fury because something had happened to Velvette. He couldn’t say what because the spider hadn’t seen her, but something was up.

Lucifer gives the sinner a little regenerative boost to settle the black eyes, because if he turned up without them the next day it would be a red flag to a bull for Val. 

Voxtech doesn’t report on what’s happening.

But Katie Killjoy and Tom Trench go behind the CEO to report on overlords falling into ‘stasis’ and being targeted by Something Unknown. The broadcast is cut off, but the damage is done.

As Valentino is taken out, leaving Vox alone to keep the doors shut against the masses seeking to change their fates, the other overlords are under siege too.

Zestial, Carmine and Alastor are left to monitor the rabble who attempt to broach territories and kill off the overlords. Normally it would be someone else’s problem but, one lost overlord was one thing… to have all new overlords all at once could send the system into a tailspin.

To be fair, a lot of suspicion is dropped on alastor immediately, but he is quite clear back that they would KNOW if it was him. And he would never think to harm Rosie.

Some feel that was a ploy… but until one of the overlords regains consciousness, its not possible to know who did what.

For the fourth time that day, Alastor was tearing a half-dozen sinners into wet confetti, and the demon was starting to get tired. This time it was at the border for the Vees, and if that didn’t gall him… but, Carmilla was exhausted and her girls had dragged her home for rest after her previous shift of holding back chaos across this sector of town and her own.

They felt observed. 

They could only use trusted thralls to keep watch.

Niffty was with the Cannibals and would alert the nearest overlord if something was up or they needed help. Husk was at Zeezi’s border, where Zestial was currently having tea.

Would be nice if Vox could spare time to help… the ungrateful bastard.

Charlotte was trying to find a cause. There had to be a thread. She was on her third corkboard and eighth ball of red string.

Lucifer was intrigued in a ‘that’s weird wonder what its about’ way.

When Alastor pointed out that given the overlords are high ranking, their combined power is likely to be stacking/amassing, and even now whoever has it could likely challenge a mid-tier goetia or higher. What is to stop them going further? Claiming that next, and moving up to take on the Sins? The Princess?

That makes the former angel pay more attention.

Charlotte notices the wear and tear on everyone, and offers to have the overlords and their closest thralls stay at the hotel. This is flattened, unfortunately, as the seats of power have a regenerative effect. 

Susan is beating the shit out of anyone who looks funny at cannibal town. Must mention that.

Takes a swing at lucifer before adjusting her glasses, pointedly looking down, and calling him ‘Your Shortness’ which sends Alastor into gales of laughter.

Vox teleports through the wires with Velvette and Valentino to the Hotel after he barely escapes being attacked, his network falling and no way to stay safe. His form is damaged, and powers down after landing.

There’s a tense moment where it looks like Alastor might just kill him… but it passes. 

“If he must be here with his vile little companions, I suppose placing them on the second highest floor will ensure there are layers of protection above and below. I wonder how he was spared the energy to flee…?” Suspicious. 

Angel wants Val gone, but if Al can’t kill Vox, Angel isn’t allowed either. Rooms warded by the king.

Zestial is attacked next, surprisingly in Carmilla’s headquarters where he’d been resting. It is assumed she was the next target. The weaponsmith locks down her fortress, refusing to come out. 

Lucifer reaches out to some of Paimons lower ranking goetia for assistance in keeping the peace. Soemthing is very wrong here, and Paimon agrees that shit’s fucked.

Sinners are subdued by the more powerful trained bird warrior dudes/dudettes/duderinos and kept in line. 

Charlotte tries to visit Clara and (Odette?) to check in, but they admit their mother has been taken down.

Alastor refuses to be confined, even when Charlotte asks him to stay close because he’s the last of the Sovereign Overlords left

His collar tightens at the refusal to complete her request. 

His body is slowly healing after the run in with Adam, angelic wounds are normally fatal because of the time they take to close, even with Overlord abilities, but it is more like an irritating mozzie bite than anything right now. He wishes he could spend more time relaxing, but this… forced altruism is as necessary as it is grating.

If the regular sinners get it in their heads that any overlord can be taken out, especially the sovereigns, without punishment… then things could turn ugly fast even after the others wake. 

It has been weeks. Concerning that there is no stirring from anyone. Surely they should have amassed their powers by now? Return to consciousness? Were they still under attack invisibly?

 

Alastor is tired, but needs must.

It must show though, because Vagatha drags in a sinner she had to… stop… from breaking in to get to the Vees, and offers them to him. She’d even hosed the sinner down to make sure they were a ready-made snack. He’d laughed in delight for a long moment before thanking the ex-orcist. 

There’s now a single giant corkboard filling the lounge area, it has photos and strings and pieces of parchment, newspapers and all manner of bits and bobs on it. If Charlotte were a human, she might be mistaken for a tinfoil wearing conspiracy theorist the way she glared at the board and twitched, seeking meaning in too many unconnected factors.

“My dear, you need to look after yourself or you’ll fall over.” He intones one evening, watching her muttering and tapping her lips. “I understand that your heart is bleeding for the overlords but… what good will it do anyone for the princess to make herself ill on their behalf?”

“The bellhop has a point, Char-Char… an ironic one, because he looks more like a frayed deerskin rug than usual, but a point nonetheless.” The King adds, snark lacking his normal bite. The goetia were becoming concerned now, as more power was being leeched to an unknown assailant. 

They disliked sinners in general, but the idea of one being exceptionally powerful and attacking the next rung down hell’s powerful ladder to themselves? It ruffled feathers.

“At least I don’t-... oh, do pick some portion of your outfit and extrapolate an insult from there, Sire.” Alastor waves him off, feeling a tension headache growing between his eyes as if his head was in a vice. His right eye flashed into a dial as he jumped up from the couch. “Ah, it seems someone has tripped a ward outside of Carmilla’s, and needs dispatching. One moment.”

“Wait, take someone with you. We’re all tired and-... and he’s gone.” Charlotte sighed, groaned and stamped her foot. She smacks her hand on the board. “It’s here. The answer is right here and I can’t see it no matter how I look at it.”

“To be perfectly fair, Toots, I have eight whole eyes and can hang from the ceiling with my boots off, so I’ve looked at this thing from every angle too, and it ain’t making much sense.” Angel shrugs, putting a bandage on Niffty’s small arm where some enterprising sinner had slashed her with their talons earlier before cannibettes tore them to shreds. “Why would someone go to all this trouble to take out Overlords, and then… go silent? Where’s the pizzazz, the show of force? And… actually HOW did they get close to all the overlords? Those fuckers are paranoid.”

“I-... actually, that’s true. How did they get to them? Shit, I need to start asking more questions. I know that they found Rosie by a table in the back of her emporium, there was tea on the table, and one of the cups had smashed. Not sure about Zeezi, they’re cagey about it…” 

“So it sounds like this was someone they knew and trusted, perhaps? Not many could do that. I had kinda thought maybe Smiles-... but then, this ain’t the way he operates, right? We’d know if it was him.” Angel squints at Vaggie. 

Vaggie nods, “Yeah, he wouldn’t have left them alive… not physically at least, they go into his broadcast and the screams last for days.”

Lucifer blinks, “He does what in the what now? Sinners can’t do that!”

“I assure you at least one of them can, little Sire… although, unfortunately, I suspect Vox has been attempting to replicate the ability with his little bandwidth experiments. They’re quite irritating to behold. Based on what I’ve observed in the last few months.” Alastor says, returning. His jacket is on fire, but it’s swiftly patted out by Husk as the cat observes the rather nasty burn to Alastor’s right wrist. 

“Ah, good work Husker. I hadn’t noticed. It seems that we may have to pay closer attention to the rabble, some are starting to use some innovative siege tactics… a rather emboldened fellow and his friends tried to burn down Carmilla’s tower to force those inside, out. Leaving Carmilla and Zestial vulnerable.”

“Well, didja at least ironically barbecue ‘em and have a nice little lunch?” 

“Hah, if only. They were odd little half-metal sinners. Cannot imagine they’d be pleasant to chew…” 

“Eh, well I made some of my nonna’s lasagne… sort of, she never used Chimkin in it before but it’s what we got down here. Take a tray if you’re hungry, big guy.” Angel waves him off and turns his attention back to Charlie. “But for reals, there’s… something in the fact that none of them seem all that banged up when what happens happens. Right?”

Someone raps on the front doors, and Vaggie answers it with her spear pointing forwards.

No one appears.

“How odd, do you suppose that-...” Alastor’s tone cuts off in a choked snarl as a collar appears about his throat, yanking backwards on a chain that sinks into the inky pools of a portal, appearing behind the Radio Demon. 

“I think that’s about enough out of you, my disobedient little deerling.” Croons the Queen as she steps through, snapping her elegant fingers. The portal swirls into nothingness as Alastor’s eyes go completely blank, the overlord crumpling to the floor without a second’s hesitation or resistance. The hand holding the chain wraps the length about her wrist and Lillith smiles coldly as power begins to seep up through the links.

“Mum…?” the hope in that voice as Charlie comes into the main foyer is heartbreaking.

“What are you doing?!” Charlie cries, skidding to a halt at the sight as her heart thunders before plunging into her stomach. In all her attempts to pull the threads together, this wasn’t… this couldn’t… why? 

“Oh darling, don’t you worry about the sinners, they’ll survive. The little sovereign overlords make such lovely little batteries, perfect to top you off when you need a boost. Here, sweetie, try some!” She profers the chain to Charlie, who is going quite pale, hands trembling.

Likewise, Lucifer is frozen in the doorway.

Vaggie seems torn, but ultimately brandishes her spear at the Queen. “With all due respect, your Majesty… let him go. He’s an asshole, but he’s ours.”

“Oh, that’s where you’re wrong… he’s mine. In fact, all of them are. Mine to do with as I wish… be it merely drop in for a confidential chat with a close confidant, or tear their chained souls from their bodies. You know how it is.” Lillith laughed, as if she hadn’t just said The Most Unhinged Shit Ever. 

“Your little angel is delightful Charlie, but… hmmm, I don’t think this is the best option for you. We need you to show Heaven that you are committed to playing nice, and a Fallen won’t help you there. Trust me, I know… how about I find you another one? There’s this fetching lieutenant called Lute you might like. She’s a bit rough around the edges but-...”

“...are you seriously going to return to Hell after all this time and lecture Our Daughter about who she can love while you drain the life out of her friend before her eyes?” Lucifer asked, incredulous, hurt, furious. “What happened to you? Where have you been? Why are you doing this?”

“Oh Luci, darling, it will all make sense when I have a chance to explain it… how about I sing it for you all?”

“NO.” There’s a Royal Command there, one even she can’t nullify. “Don’t you dare try to sway everyone with that little trick of yours… use your words and tell me what’s happening.”

Sighing, put upon and bothered, Lilith drops the chain and the collar disappears into the aether. “Well, since no one is going to offer me tea for this chat, shall I just stand here on ceremony and divulge my little secrets, hmmm? Honestly, you should take hospitality lessons from my lovely flower, Rosie, she always greets me with gossip and jasmine tea.”

“Is that how you tricked her into lowering her guard then?” Charlie asked, glaring at her mother. “You popped in for tea and, what…?”

“Why, I politely asked if she recalled our little deal, and took her powers. Don’t worry, she didn’t suffer, I promise… I wasn’t angry with her. Our little agreement was more around turning a blind eye to Cannibal Town’s activities as long as Rosie would help me if I needed her to. Oh, you should have seen how hard she fought me at first, it took quite the humbling defeat to force her compliance… but I am the Queen.”

“And the Vees? Carmilla? Zestial? Zeezi?”

“Yes, I have little agreements with them all. You’d be amazed what you can get out of these so-called Sovereigns when you break them down to within an inch of their existence and squeeze their weakest point. Carmilla loves her daughters, as I do you. Zestial? He adores Carmilla and her daughters. Quite a simple little net to trap them in. Zeezi’s was harder to figure out, quite a long story. The Vees? The fools made a triad of themselves which made it infinitely easier to threaten them… not to mention the ridiculous obsession that television has with your deer.”

She scowled down at the Overlord at her feet, whose blank eyes remained open, unseeing and his body barely stirred as it took shallow breaths. 

“This one took far longer, I was getting quite annoyed honestly, but… there’s a breaking point for all of them. But there’s fun in the finding, I will need to show you some of my techniques when you’re older… for torture my love, nothing salacious. Promise.” Lilith smiles. It’s slightly off, like it doesn’t fit her face. “Best way to force a deal on someone is to push them to their last moment and threaten something they care for, even if it is only themselves. Sinners are durable, never be afraid to remove parts as needed.”

She laughed. It sounded so… off, that it turned Charlotte’s stomach.

Lucifer was shaking, expression contorting between horror and anger. This was not the wife he knew… what had happened to her?

“Mum, please. Why are you taking their powers? You’re already the Queen, you hold more power than anyone besides Dad and I…”

“I did, yes. When I was still the ruling queen… but I bet your father didn’t mention that the loss of the title came with a downgrade, did he?” She scowled. “When we separated, my power diminished to a mere middling goetia level… how was I to fare on my own like that?”

“You… separated?” Charlie looked lost.

“Yes. After your mother tried to sell your life to Heaven in order to get back in their good graces, Char-Char… I never wanted you to find out.” Lucifer added, looking chagrined. “You were only a toddler but… they wanted you Bound to avoid dealing with something they didn’t know how to categorise.”

Vaggie stepped between Charlie and Lillith then. Spear raised.

“Oh don’t fret, I realised my mistake after the uprising! Sera and Michael took the time to speak with me, to share the Truth with me… and I saw the misery I had caused. Could cause by allowing you to grow up in this pit of despair… and I wanted you to be safe. They promised you would be!” 

And that’s when Lucifer sees the grains of Madness in those beautiful eyes, sown there by the song of seraphim whose cruelty knows no bounds and had no concept that their Help was such. His wings droop.

“Oh Lily, they’ve changed you at your Core… the Lillith I knew wouldn’t ever have tried to harm Charlie, or do whatever the fuck this plan is that involves leaving comatose sinners about the place.” He gestures.

“It’s okay, my love, it will all make sense soon! You see, I had a little deal with Adam to let me stay in Heaven and not bother with anymore uprising silliness… Sera was very helpful in stopping such ridiculous thoughts. She would visit so often it was like having a roommate, ha hah!” Lilith smiled, stepping over Alastor to reach for Charlie, ignoring the angelic spear at her midriff. “But when he died, they said I had to come back down to Hell… and deal with this whole redemption project of yours. Sweetie I love your heart, but Sinners are vile little things that you waste your potential on.”

Charlie jerks away, rejecting the woman before her. This was not the kind, passionate mother she recalled… the woman who brought hell from its knees to rise up against heaven. This was someone in her skin. A doll with a mind so twisted it couldnt recognise who it once was.

“You see, that was the other part of it all. I needed your hotel to fail… but I wasn’t allowed to pop back down for a visit, because it might give the Sinners the wrong idea, didn’t want to start that whole rebellion mess again. So, I sent you Alastor. He was the strongest, and the one I had tightest binds on… someone to keep you safe, even in ways you didn’t realise you needed.” Lilith says, shoving the spear to the side and backhanding Vaggie.

Angel catches her, thankfully, but Charlie flares into demonic form.

“Like this hotel for example. I made it clear he had to destroy it, to break your heart and these childish dreams of yours about redemption because it was upsetting Heaven. And what does the silly little fawn do? Ignores my orders. Uses one to counteract the other. I knew I liked the devious bastard for a reason… but, it must be said, that I had to quash that rebellious streak lest it rub off on you. That took some doing.”

“...what did you do?” 

“Oh don’t worry too much, darling, just made sure he didn’t bother my dear Adam too much in their little tiff. Although I understand that ultimately it was one of his own little chains that did the deed, so we shall have to speak about that later. Heaven was quite upset with me over that.” Lilith explained. She claps her hands, “So you see, in order to prove to Heaven that I can fix these little errors, I needed to regain my status amongst the people. I needed my full power back to sing to them, to inspire them to heed the rules of the realms and not question things anymore. After all, that is why I have the Sovereigns under my control… their millions of chains can be siphoned to myself for the good of Hell. Is that not fair?”

“Okay, am I still high or is she soundin’ absolutely batshit insane?” Angel asks, four arms held up in a general wtf expression [explain better].

“No, you’re right Legs, that explanation makes it sound like Heaven got into her head and fucked with something. Your Majesty or whatever you are now, how does draining the head honchos and throwing the sinners and all of Pride into chaos help you, or heaven? Cause your plan might work, but from what we all know, your songs don’t work well on those who are closed to them.” 

“Silence, pet. The machinations of Heaven are not for mere sinners to understand.”

The intonation was very much Michael at the core, and Lucifer shrank back, skin crawling. Yes, she’d been bamboozled over time. His strong, proud wife with Heaven in one ear distorting who she was… if he could undo it, somehow, she’d be horrified by her actions.

“Let us help you, Lily.”

“No need, my love, I just need to collect The Signal and mesh it with The Network to boost my song. Then all of Hell can be reunited under Heaven, doesn’t that sound wonderful? Why, Michael promised you can even come to meetings there, see your siblings, isn’t that lovely? Charlie can meet her aunts and uncles!”

Lucifer went very, very pale.

“Lillith… can you hear yourself? They wanted to kill her before she was even born, and then every waking moment after. If you were in your right mind, you would never think such as thing was wonderful… you’d be telling Michael to ram a cactus up his backside, like last time he suggested we get rid of Charlie and get a hellhound. He turned so purple I thought he was going to discorporate…” Lucifer huffs a laugh, tears in the corner of his eyes. He steps closer to the Queen, hands out for her own.

She tilts her head and pulls away. 

“No, stay there… I know you will seek to silence me. They said you would.”

Her aura was so off-putting now, whatever semblance of sanity slipped away the more power she supped upon. Helping whatever grains of holy falsehood grew in her mind to blossom with each moment. She would singlehandedly provide them Hell if her plan worked… and if it went wrong, she would be justification to raise the place. 

Lilith had no idea, couldn’t, not like this.

“Charlie, darling, I will be back to see you I promise…” Lilith smiles sadly, backing up as a portal opens behind her, watching as Lucifer launches towards her. Trying to snag her. Etc. 

“Shit!” he snarls as she disappears to who knows where. “We have to gather the Overlords here, or in the palace, somewhere I can ward against her. That plan is… it’s insane, Charlie, I love your mother but-...”

“But that’s not her. Somethings wrong with her.” Charlie breathes, starting to sob. 

“And the only way to stop it is to keep her from fully charging up on whatever the fuck the deer and the tv have going on… she didn’t fully get Box, and you stopped her getting the bellhop. If we can snap them all out of this, they should be able to call their power back from your mother. Anyone should be able to capture her then.” Lucifer explains.

Husk’s tail flicks as he prods at Alastor, whose eyes remain blank, unresponsive to stimuli. 

“I dunno what she did to ‘em though. He’s like the others, almost… empty. But not. Cause she didn’t get it all. This doesn’t make sense, ‘cause when an Overlord pulls on you or your essence or whatever you wanna call it for a boost if they’re like dying or something, it just makes you tired. This is… something else.”

Scrubbing at his eyes with a shirtsleeve, Lucifer sniffs and pulls back his shoulders. “Okay, let me try something.” he moves over to crouch by Alastor, at first testing the Sinner’s pulse at his throat before sending a small pulse of golden energy through the Overlord. Alastor, for his part, twitches minutely and there’s a flash of Something in his eyes before they close.

“Okay, so I think I can jumpstart them with a little thrill of my power, or yours, Char-Char. We should get on that after we have them all brought here to safeguard. And-... oh this fucking idiot.” The feedback pulses back up Lucifer’s arm making his nerves sting. With a slight push, the overlord lays on his back, and its apparent that blood is leaking through his shirt. “Well, she did say she punished him with Adam somehow… I’m guessing he got in a good hit with that stupid little axe of his and it’s healing super slowly. Hmmm, you’d need to close it again, or it’ll take longer to get them up again.”

“I can get Smiles to his room, if you need it. I got the height and the arms for it… and Im a decent nurse, too… even got a hot little outfit for it.” Attempt at levity etc.

A groaning audience sound is faintly heard.

-

Muttered convo with alastor (Angel)

“How dare you, people pay good money to see that shit and I’m doing it outta the goodness of my heart, Smiles.” 

There’s a scattered sound of reluctant clapping, like an audience pressed into applauding for something mediocre.

“That’s better. Now, don’t bite me if I pick you up wrong, there’s like a lot of you… and to be fair, it could be worse… short king could be doing it.” the lack of response made him think alastor was on board.

“Cool… also, is that like… do you have a tail? Or are you hiding a ferret in you back pocket? Either way, don’t kill me. I just have my hands there to keep you stable.” 

Theme from Jaws plays.

Angel laughs so hard he stumbles.

“Ya secret’s safe with me, Smiles.”

--------------------

>retrieve other overlords

>boost to waken

>Find out how she Got all the overlords. They were friends once, some she sang to to lower their guard, others she built on past connections and made little deals that escalated. Others she tortured until they complied.

All based on Heaven’s changes to her mind.

>Adam arrives in hell as a demon and has to deal with the hatred

He realises he fucked up when Lillith now finds him and treats him as Lesser

Has to help catch her

>Finally subdued and overlords can start to pull their power back. If she was still at the ability level of a queen there’d be no chance, but right now? She was running on a mishmash of stolen power that wasn’t submitting to her whims. Easy to recall by their owners now she couldn’t just shut down their minds (Lucifer and charlie can block this). They can’t break the deals, but can hold her off.

>Lucifer purges her mind with charlie’s help, removing heaven’s tainted ideals

She’s mortified when she wakes, and needs time in other realms eg with Belphagor in Sloth re for medical care

>Returns and reconnects with the overlords she hurt, her friends. Breaks the deals. She does backhand Val into a wall for his actions with Charlie and his business, it was never so vile before

He pulls back, realising that she wasn’t going to let it lie and releases a few thralls, rewrites the contracts with her Majesty present.etc 

----------

Backstory time - Lilith was a caring queen and she made a point to get to know the Sovereigns, build friendships. They cared for each other, in a way the goetia scoffed at at the time… because why would the queen consort with sinners?

She learned things about them they trusted few others with, because she genuinely wanted to know about them, their lives, they were all to some level, her children. The pain they had suffered, the joys, and their crimes were things she sought to know. Lillith provided solace to them in their darker moments. And as with any close friends in hell, a favour was shared for a favour here and there, a little agreement that left them with a bracelet, a ring, something small and trite. Common amongst overlords who interacted, to maintain dynamics without overextending. But something about her started to change, Zestial noticed it more than most having had the longest association… but, it was too late. He could recall the birth of Charlotte and the joys of her, the fears her Majesty carried about the heavens. She asked her Sovereigns to lend her their strength if ever she needed it to protect Charlotte. And in this limited specifically worded deal, none ever shied away, not when their Queen asked with naked need in her eyes, hands out. But… Heaven was in her head already, after the failed uprising. Something shifted, she began to press, to change the words, to ask for them to put their souls in her hands, and met resistance.

When you can inflict violence on someone until they cannot take it any longer, when you can use their own memories and fears against them… when you take trust and stab it in their spine, twisting it violently to create agonies that flesh couldn’t manage. 

When you could return them whole, unharmed, with the ringing of pain in their nerves and minds screaming, with the threat of doing it again and again and again on your lips.

Lilith eventually, methodically, broke down each of her little Sovereigns. Some easier than others. Friends, once, who put up walls between them and other Sovereigns for fear of being found out as one who had been collared. Only making her job far, far easier in the end.

Carmilla found her way back to Zestial however, the Vees doubled-down somehow, but never spoke on the situation. Worried that they might become a weakness in their connection, that would lead to ruin out ousting from the triad. Rosie and Alastor were staunch friends, even when she told their skin to burn when in contact with one another, the pair laughed it off as an odd hellish allergy. 

But Vox and Alastor were broken apart. Just as she needed. Oh she needed them together eventually, for The Plan, but right now if they collaborated against her and found out they both were chained… they might work out how to blot out her voice, her influence.

She’d liked to sing for her Overlords, once. And they were so used to it that when she encoded responses in their brains, triggers for her alone, they never noticed. Applauding all the same. 

That trust was gone, and the hatred and suspicion in their eyes when Lillith was once more herself made the queen revile her  flesh. Tearing at it with a roiling pit in her stomach. Sobbing and begging for their forgiveness.

Rosie and Alastor cannot stand it, and eventually fight down their suspicion around being trapped again to offer her solace… or at least non-angry words and a handkerchief. 

Reluctant to touch.

>Overlords rain hell upon anyone who dared to have tried to kill them. Rewarding the thralls who fought for them with their preferred items. Maybe husk gets freed? 

Funny scene where it’s like “Al, would you… free Niffty too?” Charlie asks, looking hopeful.

Alastor sighs, “My deer, I promise you it will not go as you assume… trust me, I’ve tried.” 

The chain snaps off Niffty and she screams, grabbing it up and putting it back as it disintegrates. She bursts into tears, grabs a weapon and launches at Alastor. 

She sadly stabs him in the shoulder a few times as her heart breaks. “Put it back! PUT IT BACK! I Like to be WANTED!” she sobs.

“OhmygoshNifftyNooooooooooooooooo….” Charlie gasps, hyperventilating.

“Niffty my dear, would you take a deep breath for me? I can’t take your soul if you’re sobbing. You are wanted and will always have a place with Rosie or myself, as you like.” Alastor soothes, petting the woman on the back. 

Sniffling, Niffty shoves back and wipes her eye. “Promise? You let me stay and you look after my soul?” 

“It’s a deal then.” He agrees, and the lights flash as she grabs one of his ears in an odd pseudo shake. It makes them both laugh as her collar pops back into existence.

Charlie seems very confused. Husk puts a wing about the princess, “It’s uh, a long story, but this is what she wants. C’mon, I’ll explain it to you but I ain't doing it sober…” 

>Something something goetia and lucifer friendship

>Heaven pissed their plan went wrong. Try to even score.

Run into blockade.

>Lillith earns love and light from daughter and Lucifer back. Works hard for it.

>Micheal and Sera face no backlash, but try to send censure upon Lucifer for the whole thing. He laughs and tears it up, feeding it to Razzle.

>Sir PEntious revealed to be alive! 

>Adam is at the Hotel, he is actually made the Busboy, and he’s Big Mad about it.

[cathyartie]

1. Whose look took you longest to decide in keeping steadily as is now? 2. What era do you base your dresses on?

1. Laura. My dearest, darlingest, stupidest-with-love of a daughter Laura.

As for Carmilla, I already like her design from the novella, so I just, like Laura’s, took the original design, changes a tiny bit and stick with it since then (Carmilla’s clothes often shift between her original one and a newly designed one bc idk i can’t choose)

2. Let’s just say Le Fanu didn’t even put an exact year when the story happened, I actually have no clue lol, but I used elements from 1840s-1850s as references. Why?

I’d stumbled upon this ebook from Amazon, it’s called “The Annotated Carmilla”. This book gave me an interesting insight about when ‘Carmilla’ takes place :

I mainly stick with mid 1840s fashion if I were to redesign them again (at the time ‘Carmilla’ happened)

ps. You should probably check this book out! It gives many interesting footnotes and analysis. Trust me. Worth a shot for us Bookmilla nerds.

[see-arcane]

A gentleman, dressed in black, who looked particularly elegant and distinguished, with this drawback, that his face was the most deadly pale I ever saw, except in death. He was in no masquerade—in the plain evening dress of a gentleman; and he said, without a smile, but with a courtly and unusually low bow:—

But at this moment she returned, accompanied by the pale man in black, who said: “‘I shall return and inform Madame la Comtesse when her carriage is at the door.’ He withdrew with a bow.”

You know who the man in black reminds me of? The Addams Family butler, Lurch.

That man is no human.

Anyway that's why I've always been more interested in Carmilla's Evil Bohemian Vamp Fam than anything he's ever written about the schloss people or the upstanding evil-fighting gentlemen lmaooo

In the introduction of them as well. La Comtesse was introduced as stern, with a "proud, commanding countenance", shrouded in black, pale, leading a small army. ...And now she plays a general like a fiddle without unmasking, revealing his own forgotten secrets that "instantly started into life at her touch"?? That woman is an enigma boss how can you introduce her and the goth corpse servant and crew and not expand. Though that's the nature of writing it all from Laura's and the limited-knowledge mens' POV, we are not privy to Carmilla's POV and life to explore them, aside from her mentioning her oath-binding... Which is a shame because there's clearly a Lot going on.

They have so much narrative meat on the bones for spinoffs to chew on. The few glimpses we get of the crew feel so much like the introduction we get of something more meaningful and vital to a Bigger Story than just the vehicle by which Carmilla gets from target to target. I wish le Fanu had given them a tiny wedge more of spotlight to fill in some gaps, if only because it leaves us in limbo of trying to figure out who is who/what and where the power dynamic is between them all and, you know, what the ration of human:vampire:??? is

Combine that with today's episode and how deftly La Comtesse and 'Millarca' play heartstrings--is the performance all performance? did Millie really want Mama to look up at the window, whether she's Mama or not? we don't know! we never get to know!!--and glide through the whole plant-Millie-in-the-target's-home charade like silk, this is clearly so so easy for them. They've had practice. History.

AND I WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT, SHERIDAN

[chaoskid-deer]

what if laura’s dad and the general kissed