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nellasbookplanet · 6 months ago

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Book recs: monster/creature friendships

Do you like movies like Alien vs Predator, Venom, and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes? Do you enjoy dragon riders and talking animal companions? Friendly yet deeply inhuman aliens? Monster children and monster parents? Consider yourself less of a monster fucker and more of a monster best friend? Watch horror movies and fantasize about befriending the horrifying ghosts and ghoulies? Then this is the list for you!

A note: some of these books do have romance subplots, but not as the most important relationship or focus.

A (second) note: the criteria for "monster" are subjective. I looked mainly for titles featuring creatures who neither look nor act/think human. In cases where they are more human looking, I wanted a distinctly inhuman mind and morality, meaning most books featuring vampires, werewolves, fey, etc are excluded. I may have included books you feel aren't monstrous enough, or excluded ones you feel are sufficiently monstrous but I don't agree about. Again, it’s subjective.

Feel free to leave your own recs in the notes, but please know that if you rec books featuring mostly human vampires and werewolves I will be judging. I have separate lists for those, go look there instead.

For more details on the books, continue under the readmore. Titles marked with * are my personal favorites. If you want more book recs, check out my masterpost of rec lists!

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir*

Ryland Grace just woke up from a coma, unable to remember anything. He finds himself alone on a space ship, and as his memories slowly trickle back, he realizes he’s been sent on a mission: to find a solution to the impending doom of the earth. Still struggling with holes in his memories, Ryland tries to fulfill his mission, but as he gets closer to his goal, he discovers someone else got there first. And they aren’t anything close to human. Funny, heartfelt, and heavy on the science.

Fragment by Warren Fahy*

The reality TV show Sealife is having a rough time - as it turns out, a ship full of scientists doesn’t make for the kind of drama they hoped for. Hoping for some excitement, they reach Hender’s Island, a fragment of a lost continent that may contain an interesting new ecosystem. But as they step foot on the island, they quickly come to realize the ecosystem isn’t just new, it’s highly dangerous and very hungry. Among all this life is one single species that may be more dangerous than any other, but which may also be the salvation of the scientists on the island. A bit wonky, but genuinely one of the most fun books I have read, I love it so much.

The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis*

Francie has just traveled to Roswell to attend her college friend’s wedding to a UFO conspiracist. Not a believer herself, Francie is shocked when she finds herself abducted by an alien. Her abductor is not much what popular media would have you believe, looking more like a tumbleweed than a grey alien, and is clearly on some kind of mission it isn’t willing to put on hold for the sake of Francie attending to her duties as a bridesmaid. As more people get roped along - among those a conman, an old lady, a ufo conspiracist, and a retiree with an RV - Francie finds herself getting closer to the alien and wanting to help it succeed.

The Last Human by Zack Jordan

Young adult. Sarya is a human - the only one of her kind. Living with her adoptive mother - a vicious, insectile alien - on a space station surrounded by hundreds of other alien species, Sarya spends every day staying below the radar and hiding her true identity. But when an odd new alien arrives on the station, she may finally get an answer to her biggest question: why humanity was deemed too dangerous to be allowed to exist.

Alien vs. Predator: Prey by Steve Perry & S.D. Perry*

On desert planet Ruyshi, businesswoman Machiko Noguchi is about to take over the leading position in a small human colony. Her job is made infinitely harder when the colony comes under attack on two fronts as two species of vicious aliens choose it as their battle ground. If you're reading this list, you probably already know of the movie by the same name. The book, while completely different in setting and cast, does feature many similar plot points, among those a third act team-up between a human woman and a murderous alien.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky*

Millenia and generation spanning scifi. After the collapse of an empire, a planet once part of a project to uplift other species to sentience is left to develop on its own, resulting not in the intelligent monkeys once intended but in sentient giant spiders. Millenia later, what remains of humanity arrives looking for a new home, only to be met by the artificial remains of the ancient woman who once led the uplift project - and she is not willing to let them on her planet.

The Moon and the Sun by Vonda N. McIntyre

You can’t go wrong with a Vonda McIntyre novel just, like, in general. This one is set in 17th century France, where a young woman and her brother travel to live at the royal court, where they are to care for and study a strange captured sea monster fabled to have the ability to grant eternal life. A lot of focus on court politics as well as the cultural and biological differences between the humans and the mermaid. Also available as a movie (but it’s not very good, please just read the book).

Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys*

Lovecraftian fishpeople! Aphra and her brother are the only survivors after the government raided their home, Innsmouth. Their only living family are the amphibian people of the deep, whom they will one day join, but until then they are bound to land where they struggle to build new lives for themselves after the great loss of their home and loved ones. Then rumors start to spread of a russian agent seeking dangerous and ancient magic, forcing Aphra to involve herself as they try to stop it. Does contain horror elements but is generally a much more optimistic look on cosmic horror than most lovecraftian stories, told from the perspective of one of his monsters. Lots of focus on found family and rebuilding of community.

The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky*

The Doors of Eden is something of an experiment in speculative biology, featuring versions of Earth in which various different species were the one to rise to sentience, from dinosaurs to neanderthals. Now, something is threatening the existence of all timelines, dragging multiple different people and species into the struggle, among those a pair of cryptid hunting girlfriends and a transgender scientist. Together, can they find a way to save the multiverse?

The Spider and Her Demons by sydney khoo*

Young adult. All teenager Zhi wants is a normal life (and possibly for her harsh aunt to be a bit nicer), but it’s hard when she’s half spider demon. Every day she must conceal her true nature and hide in human guise. When she slips up and eats a man in front of her rich, aloof classmate Dior, Zhi thinks her life is over. But Dior has secrets of her own, and she is dead set on making herself a part of Zhi's life.

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

Young adult fantasy. Artemisia prefers the dead to the living, and is training to become a Gray Sister, a nun who helps the souls of the deceased pass on to the afterlife rather than remain as dangerous spirits. To defend her convent, Artemisia accepts the help of a dangerous revenant, a powerful spirit which grants her great power but also could possess her the moment her guard is lowered. As evil threatens her homeland, Artemisia and the revenant must find a way to work together.

Slewfoot: a Tale of Bewitchery by Brom

Historical horror. Young Englishwoman Abitha has only recently arrived and married into a Puritan colony when she unexpectedly becomes a widow. As she strives to save her small farm from going under in the wake of tragedy, something dark and dangerous stalks the surrounding woods. He doesn't know whether he's spirit, devil, or god, doesn't even know his own name, and in requesting Abitha's help, both their lives are changed forever.

Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O'Neal*

Young adult. Priya had plans to go to Stanford, but is derailed when the fallout from lyme disease puts her back, making her question if she'll ever get back to normal. Luckily she has her discord support group with whom she can chat and vent about her illness. Even more - she has Brigid, online fandom friend and fellow chronic illness sufferer. But when Brigid disappears from the web without warning, Priya must drive to Pennsylvania to make sure her friend is okay - and finds that Brigid's condition is a bit hairier than she expected.

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Young adult. Elisabeth is a librarian, trained to handle grimoires - books of magic which, if mishandled, can turn into horrifying monsters. When an act of sabotage leads to the release of one of the library's most dangerous grimoires, Elisabeth finds herself implicated in the crime. Forced to team up with an enemy sorcerer and his loyal and unpredictable demon servant, Elisabeth sets out to find out the truth of what happened.

The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

In a post apocalyptic, zombie-infested wasteland, a group of characters try to stay alive and hope to find a cure. One of the characters is Melanie, a young girl who carries the contagion inside of her and hungers for flesh, but like many children of the apocalypse has kept her humanity. Is she and children like her the answer to the cure we are looking for? Or are they the start of something entirely new? This book has also been adapted as a movie!

Malevolent by Harlan Guthrie*

Lovecraftian horror mystery. Private detective Arthur Lester wakes up in his office, his partner dead, memories fuzzy, vision gone, and the voice of a malevolent entity in his mind. Unable to see, Arthur is forced to rely on guidance from the entity as he attempts to solve the mystery of what it is and where it came from. Is this a book? No. But as someone who reads mostly audiobooks, the difference between a book and a fiction podcast is negligible, and also I love this story and its characters and want all of you to do so too.

Parasyte by Hitoshi Iwaka*

Horror manga, heavy on the bodyhorror. Shinichi Izumi wakes one day after a strange dream: that an alien parasite crawled into his arm. Soon he realizes it was more real than dream, and that an inhuman creature, having failed to eat and take over his brain, now controls his arm. Forced to cooperate, the two do their best to survive as more parasites quietly infiltrate society, meaning to devour our entire species. Also available as a very faithful anime!

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy*

Young adult. Twelve-year-old Stephanie Edgley's uncle, famed horror writer, just died mysteriously and left her his entire fortune. As it turns out, the stories he wrote weren't entirely made up, and that which killed him wasn't entirely human. In trying to avenge his death, Stephanie joins forces with Skulduggery Pleasant, sorcerer, detective, and living, walking skeleton.

The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells

Moon doesn't know what he is. Having lost his family young he lives on the move, shifting his shape to hide his true form. The only ones similar to himself he's ever encountered are the vicious, bloodthirsty Fell, but he knows he cannot be one of them. When chance leads to a meeting with someone like him, he hopes his days of loneliness are over. But his new people stand against a dangerous enemy, and not all of them welcome Moon's help. A departure from other titles on this list in that it features only creatures, with not a single human on page.

The Girl From the Well by Rin Chupeco

Young adult horror. Okiku died three hundred years ago, her body thrown down a well. Now she spends her days hunting for and punishing murderers like the one who once killed her. When a strange boy bearing odd tattoos appears in her area, he catches Okiku's attention - as does something that follows after him. To save the boy, Okiku will be drawn into a journey taking both of them from American suburbia to a faraway shrine in Japan.

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

When Magos loses her son Santiago to a longtime illness, she loses herself to grief and cuts out a piece of his lung. After hearing old folktales, she begins feeding it - and is shocked to find it growing and alive. Soon finding herself in charge of a hungry and bloodthirsty creature, Magos and her family must come together to care for what they can only see as a second chance for Santiago.

Semiosis by Sue Burke

A generational story following a group of humans trying to survive on a new planet, where a strange and unkowable intelligence is finding ways to use them to its whims. As the humans come across an abandoned city wrapped in the roots of a strange plant, they slowly come to the realization that mutual communication is the only path to peace and survival. Meanwhile, the alien finds itself tied all the more tightly to the growing human community.

The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei

Maya Hoshimoto used to be an art thief, and a damned good one to, until a disastrous heist made her retire into academia, hoping for peace and coping with an alien disease which causes her to see glimpses of the future. When an old friend tracks her down and asks her help to find and steal a legendary artifact that could save his entire species, Maya is convinced to do one last job.

Magical Girl Dandelion by Mizuho Kaeru

Manga. Tanpopo Ohanami's parents were killed by a phantom monster when she was young, but her life was saved by Shade, another phantom. Ever since then, Shade has been her friend, watching over her and keeping her safe. But then Tanpopo is revealed to be a potential magical girl, meant to fight the phantoms and protect humanity. Her and Shade are meant to be enemies, but can they instead work and fight alongside each other?

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

It’s the height of the Napoleonic Wars, and soldiers on dragon back fight each other in the air. Will Laurence isn't a dragonrider but a sea captain, but when his ship captures a French frigate and discovers a dragon egg about to hatch in his cargo, his life changes forever when he and the dragon hatchling bond.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

Middle grade. In Lyra's world, every person has a daemon: a talking animal companion who follows them throughout life. When children begin being stolen off the street, among them Lyra's friend, she must embark on a great journey to save him, taking her to the furthest north - and beyond.

A Redtail's Dream by Minna Sundberg*

Graphic novel inspired by Finnish mythology. When an irresponsible fox spirit accidentally traps an entire town in the dreamlands, it’s up to slacker Hannu and his talking, shapeshifting dog Ville to save everyone. Together the unwilling heroes must travel the dreamlands and locate the townsfolk, returning them to the waking world before the fox spirit sends them all on to death to hide his mistake. While the physical copy is all but impossible to get a hold of, the original webcomic can still be read for free here.

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oldshowbiz · 2 months ago

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Ghoulies Go to College (1990)

#horror movies #kevin mccarthy #vhs

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quietwingsinthesky · 1 month ago

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there is a tape in the basement of the mystery shack. no one has listened to it in over thirty years, and they won't find it until it has rotted into incoherence and gets tossed. it isn't labelled. it isn't supposed to be there. but these kinds of things are never a clean break. there's always debris.

if you played it before it fell apart, you might hear:

████: So, is this a job interview? I've never done one of those. I don't have a resume.

Ford: You've been bothering me for weeks, and you don't- Don't touch that.

████: I'm not touching it. I'm looking at it. Closely. Do I get the job now?

Ford: I don't need an assistant. Or a maid. Or whatever it is you think you can do here.

████: You absolutely need a maid. Which I'm not. Look, you don't belong here.

Ford: I've been doing perfectly fine-

████: You don't belong here, and you're not making it easier for yourself. Half the people in this town don't even know your name. You're like this... thing that everyone gossips about seeing right out of the corner of everyone's eyes. It's like you barely even exist, and when you do-

Ford: A ghost.

████: You're not a ghost. I know what a ghost looks like. See, there it is. Why are you surprised by that? I live here.

Ford: I've tried to ascertain how much the local residents are aware of the phenomena in Gravity Falls, and every interview I was able to conduct led me to conclude you are all unaware of what's happening around you. I had some theories about some sort of dampening effect on perception-

[Chair creaking, like someone's leaning forward]

████: Mr. Pines. They hate you. You. Are. Really. Really. Irritating.

Ford: That's uncalled for.

████: You know who people don't hate? Me! Because I used to be a cheerleader, and I've got a family business to be a proud member of, and I even help old ladies cross the street.

[Silence]

████: [mumbling] That face is uncalled for.

Ford: You still haven't even said what you want to do for me.

████: Taxidermy.

Ford: What.

████: No, man, the family business. It's the taxidermy shop. We do hunting trophies, mostly. My dad does it. My grandpa does it. Way, way back. We've been here a long time.

Ford: [sighing] I don't need a-

████: What you need is a guide. You're doing great now, but you're gonna hit a wall in studying our town if you aren't willing to be one of us.

Ford: And what do you need? I know that look. Your service doesn't come free.

████: Weird look to be well acquainted with, Pines.

Ford: Well acquainted is a strong word. Passingly familiar.

████: Look, you went to college? Because I didn't. I mean, I don't need to, I'm fine where I am, but I've got these sisters, right?

Ford: How many?

████: Two younger. I'll probably die a taxidermist, but I'll get them out of this town, first. I just... Need a little extra to put away. With someone who won't go telling everyone in town about why I'm doing it. Not big on, uh... leaving, our dad.

Ford: If I agree- If. You'll help ingratiate me with the town. And-

████: You're stomping around the woods, too, right? I know them better than your maps would.

Ford: Favor with the local population, knowledge of the terrain. I'm assuming familiarity with my area of study?

████: Yeah, I know ghoulies.

Ford: "Ghoulies" is not what it's called. I study the anomalies centered in Gravity Falls. Cryptozoology. Parapsychology!

████: ....You study ghoulies.

Ford: If you can't take this seriously, then we can't work together.

████: This is why no one likes you. Hey, you know what the solution to that is?

Ford: Don't say it.

████: Me! I am! Because people like me, and they'll like you if you stand next to me and... Maybe smile?

Ford: [Even louder sigh]

[Silence.]

████: It's for me, too.

████: I'm okay here. I am. It's not a bad life.

████: I just also wish I was doing more, sometimes. I want people to remember me for something. You have any idea what that's like?

[Silence.]

Ford: Yes. I do.

████: I got a job here, Pines?

Ford: Stanford. I'll accept your help, Miss-

The tape is too damaged to hear the rest. It came into existence damaged. There was never a time at which anyone could have listened to the entire thing. Which is a moot point. As no one will ever listen to it at all.

#mystery shack ghost #it goes something like that. in another world. and nothing like that at all in the one that's left.

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lostcryptids · 1 year ago

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ghoulies go to college is the freakiest movie out of all of them because the ghoulies can 1. now talk 2. have cartoon powers, leading to horrifying scenes such as this where they put a plunger on a girl's face in the shower and it gets sucked off like a cartoon

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myfirstbreakcharacter · 9 months ago

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I enjoy the Histories in BREAK!! being a mix of lifestyles. The last edition of D&D is probably the game most people have played that involved some kind of history/background mechanic, although I think we can all name some games where that's a much bigger factor. I think something that got missed in the way people treated those was that the initial PHB offerings were effectively all reasons one might travel. Even the Hermit: they lived a secluded live, discovered some secret or insight, and are out in the world now spreading that around. Over time this remained mostly true even if the became more tied to specific careers and experiences, a mix of superhero origin story and CV. In a world where you're constantly beset by giant beasts, ghoulies, magic monsters etc, the average NPC leads their life in one place.... content with their lot and awaiting a wandering party to fix their problems. When the world is wild, civilization is small. BREAK!!, on the other hand, is not terribly wild at all. There are places OF wildness, and places where time has gouged deep wounds into the world, but the world is largely known and "mapped" such that there are few places to leave blank for "here be dragons." Indeed, BREAK!!'s map indicates explicitly where there WERE dragons... What great nations and city-states exist do so with something approaching a modern awareness of one another that recalls at least the European colonial era if not late Victorian explorer accounts. Folks in Berry Town may have heard that the junkers of Stahlfield eat babies but they know where they are and what their overall deal is apart from those rumors, at least. One scholar of ancient culture I read in college had a definition of civilization as the point where a shared language is adopted, and since Low Speech is baked into the Outer World and spoken by all sapient things one could argue for BREAK!! being among the most civilized and connected fantasy settings on the market....

The Histories on offer do have some typical genre conventions (e.g. Knight Errant, Street Rat) but they're typically very specific and very tied to the demands and expectations of their associated regions. Some denote training, some denote upbringing, and some denote circumstances, but whereas I think a lot of D&D5's Background were designed from the perspective of "Why have you found yourself on the road in an adventuring party?" as if being "an adventurer" is something you can just fall into, BREAK!!'s Histories seem more designed around what your character would be doing if they weren't ON AN ADVENTURE. Tom Hanks used to be a teacher in Saving Private Ryan and that does inform his character and his behavior when you know that, but it's wildly different from how everyone in his command pictures him. He's on an adventure because of a convergence of unique circumstances, some of which arose our of necessity and some of which seem almost contrived against him. He's going to go back there some day, just like Gonzo the Great. There are others in his company who feel differently, who can't wait to leave their old life behind and use the money and experience from their military service as a launchpad into something new, something better than the circumstances they left behind.

That's because the Histories in BREAK!! represent a choice. There are some folks bopping around doing good deeds because it's what they've run towards, and there are others for whom these wonders and horrors are only something to run THROUGH. Sometimes the choices are easier than others: someone devoted to "vanquishing all evil" after a life of pious service will find being a vagabond savior a smooth, imperceptible transition. A merchant or craftsman might easily find opportunities to ply their trade during travels, or might commit to this new way of life precisely because of the opportunities it affords them for when they elect to walk away. That's life, though: depending upon our circumstances and resources, some lifestyles might make some choices easier or much much harder depending on the person.

But it is a choice. That's why they're Histories and not Backgrounds. Do you long for the Shire and wish you'd never left, or do you embrace the riches and spectacle that you've found walking man's road: your past or your present? Known or unknown? You have to reconcile it somehow to have any future worth speaking about at all.

#break rpg #break!!#break!! rpg #break!! inspiration #breakrpg #rpg #ttrpg #rpg theory #backgrounds #character history #character background #lifestyles

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climbermal · 6 months ago

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⤑ simone ashley, appears to be 29 but is 35, cis female, she/her

𓇢𓆸 my my, if it isn't Malavika “Mal” Yadhavar, my favorite vampire in town. you know, though people say they can be rather impulsive and arrogant, i know they’re really dauntless and passionate. but hey, what do i know? i’ve only known them for 5 years. if you need to get in touch, you can probably find them at their work as an owner at Apex Climbing Gym.

starters | musings | aesthetic | more links?

⤑ ooc info: ghoulie, she/her, 26, central.

Biography

Malavika Yadhavar was born into a tiny Tamil community in Cape Town, South Africa to a large family. Her parents owned a successful restaurant in Camps Bay. In addition to her regular chores working with her family, Mal would spend every available moment in the gorgeous nature where she lived. She very quickly discovered a talent for rock climbing. By the time she was eight, Mal began participating in South African National Climbing Federation (SANCF) competitions. Medals accumulated and she went from local climbing comps to international competitions, traveling around the world as a boulder and lead climber.

When Mal was fifteen, her family made the difficult decision to emigrate to the U.S. There was already a large community of South Africans in Atlanta and the Yadhavar family followed a number of close friends. Mal continued to rock climb, traveling around the country and competing. While her parents preferred for her to go to college for something stable, Mal 'hired' her best friend and the two jumped into the internet personality occupation. She made a good living from her competitions but becoming a brand ambassador paid even more.

Her life turned upside down after a rare night out on her 29th birthday. Mal was much more likely to go to bed by 9 PM but she had a lot to celebrate. Nike agreed to sponsor her even though she’d moved away from competitions and more towards education, conservation, and impressive outdoor feats. Her own line of climbing gear would be available in REI. One evening of clubhopping later and Jasika woke up with a wound on her neck and the worst hangover imaginable.

She confided in her best friend who became her blood donor after she attacked a couple one night after losing the ability to control herself but she couldn’t trust herself after. Having spent enough time climbing in Colorado, Mal had heard of the town with excellent crags and natural bouldering problems but also to avoid it at all costs. She broke off her contracts, despite how heartbreaking it was, and moved to Blackwater as soon as she knew it was a safe place for things like her.

Attempting to give up climbing was impossible and Mal quickly pushed herself into finding her new limits as a vampire. She opened up Apex Climbing Gym in an industrial park near her home in Rocky Knoll. She found someone who could handle the business side of things and focused on route-setting and trying not to yearn for her former life. She has a lot of thoughts about how her new supernatural abilities have impacted her climbing but she didn’t know who to talk to about it.

Connections

(I'm only listing plotted connections. Always open for non plotted ones !!! also will do this when I have more time)

#bwfm.intro #about.

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horrororman · 2 years ago

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Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College was released on September 18, 1991(US).

#horror #comedy #fantasy

#horror #horror movies #horror movie #Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College

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thistleandthorn-rpg · 9 months ago

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Congrats Allie on your audition for Adriana Lodge. Send us her blog within 48 hours! :)

OOC INFORMATION: Name/Alias: Allie Preferred pronoun: She/Her Age: 27 Timezone/Country: EST RP Experience: Lots Activity Level: Um like a 9ish? IC INFORMATION: Name: Adriana Carina Lodge Former Designation: Switch originally but claimed as a sub Age: 33 Birthdate: July 22, 1991 Faceclaim: Selena Gomez Orientation: Pansexual Owner: Stonewall Prep Kinks: Up for anything not on anti-kinks Anti-Kinks: Electric shocks, vomit, watersports, excessive degradation

Key Points:

- Intelligent, resourceful, caring, diligent, driven, passive-aggressive at times - Previously family-oriented, now not so sure about that - Has been screwed over by enemies of the family three times: When her Dom was killed, when her second claim was suddenly denied, and when she was bought as a new slave by the Ghoulies and held for about a year - Has trouble deciding how she feels about her family, but knows she doesn’t fully trust anyone - Likes photography and film, business, horses/polo, drawing, and cooking

BIO

Adriana Carina Lodge was to be first in a line of perfect specimens, with good looks, charm, money, and power all on her side. She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, and you could serve her something on a silver platter and she’d ask why it wasn’t gold. She was a very capable toddler, knowing what she wanted in life as well as how to get it. Her parents were tough people, but there wasn’t much they weren’t willing to do for their first born. Sometimes she didn’t get as much attention from them as she wanted, but she knew they were busy doing important things. In the meantime, she became close to some of the subs in the house, as well as to her siblings. She was about four when the twins were born, not liking the duo at first because babies weren’t very glamorous. She was gifted a horse that she named Pegasus on her fourth birthday, and while she was really too young to care for a horse, she did her best- at first just as a way to get away from the incessant crying. But by the time she was six, Adriana was in competitions for racing and jumping. By ten, she’d added polo to the list of activities she did with Pegasus.

Adriana is and has always been a caring person- at least compared to others in her family’s social circle. She watched what felt like every Disney movie ever made with Alex once he was born- having to stifle her comments about how unrealistic and scientifically impossible some of it was- and she went to his and Logan’s soccer games. As for Veronica, she’d come up with a plan as a child to pass the torch of official princess off to her little sister. From the time she could talk, Veronica was very comfortable and confident in the lifestyle. Anything her little sister wanted to do, she did her best to support her. Adriana liked all the benefits of her life, but she felt the pressures too. By helping Veronica come into her own, she could feel the pressure on herself dropping as she took very subtle steps away from the dynasty part of the family. This gave her a lot of time with her sister in particular which made them close, though she also tried to make sure Logan knew how to treat people. To this day, she’s not sure if she succeeded in that or not. The best thing that came out of not being the princess was that she began making friends outside of her usual circle. She found a love for photography after finding an old film camera in her mom’s closet, and also enjoyed drawing.

Between her friends, her hobbies, and hanging out with her younger siblings, she was pretty down to earth all things considered. Plus, she enjoyed cooking, which was a little unexpected considering they had a chef. When she was eleven, she planned out her life. Horse stuff and family stuff, high marks in elementary and middle, honors in high school. After she got as far and prestigious as possible in her equestrian activities, she’d go to college for a double major of Business and Photography/Film Studies. After that, she’d go to an Academy, rock whatever mark she got, fall in love and get a claim. She did all of it. She’d even thrown in some work experience as a photographer’s assistant in between college and the Academy. Everything was going her way, which she deserved because she’d worked damn hard for it. Plus she was a Lodge, so her success and good fortune just made good sense. There wasn’t a single negative thing any tabloid could say about her, which she took great pride in. Of course there were those that criticized her for not having received a Dominant mark as the matriarch of the next generation of Lodges, but she was happy with her Switch mark. It let her experience everything- let her gather data on every possible path she could take.

When she claimed as a submissive, it didn’t feel great to her. She didn’t feel she was meant to be a sub, though she wasn’t supposed to be a dom either. She was supposed to be a Switch for life, and the fact that that was impossible kind of pissed her off. All that said though, she and Darius were a match made in heaven. He’d claimed and married her when she was 27, and even bought her a slave that she could use to practice her more dominant side every once in a while if she earned it. Darius was the heir to a well-known law firm, and his aunt was a photographer. He even had Pegasus brought to his place from her parents’ place. Her way of life never really changed, and they were extremely happy. Adriana was set for life- just like she’d been planning since sixth grade. What she hadn’t accounted for were the bad parts of being a Lodge. She didn’t know the full extent of what her family business actually was, but she knew that if anyone looked at her funny, they’d disappear. And that came with something her eleven-year-old self hadn’t thought of: Enemies.

A few years into her idyllic claim, Darius died on his way to a briefing on Wall Street, yet there were no witnesses. It had been framed by police as a mugging gone wrong, but Adriana knew in her bones that it had been a purposeful and targeted attack. Stricken with grief and shell-shock, she went back to an Academy. She had trouble finding someone with the weight of her loss hanging over her, but just like everything else in her life, Adriana was successful in finding another claim. But again, the tragedy of having enemies would find her. Her perfectly good claim with Carlos was suddenly and unexpectedly denied by the headmaster after a payoff. A couple months later, she turned thirty and was taken to an auction house for slave training. And the second she’d ‘graduated’ from said training, she was bought up by someone in Ohio. She was sure it was her father, as she knew he was there being the mayor of some small town. But she was transported there and found out that she was mistaken. She’d been bought by a gang; an apparent enemy of her family.

The fucking Ghoulies. They were known to be horrible, even amongst other gangs. The Ghoulies had plans for her. They couldn’t believe their luck that she had become a slave. She was just sitting there, an open target. So they snatched her up and took her to an undisclosed location, some kind of compound was all she could guess. She was beat up upon arrival, and it was clear that they thought the submissive would break from that. But lying down and taking it didn’t feel right. So she decided to become a nuisance to these people- the bane of their damn existence. She wanted her tormentors to wake up for work each morning and dread it. So while there was crying involved, she was still an entitled ass to everyone. It didn’t come naturally, but the torture and abuse she endured made her understandably angry. So they could use strobe lights and loud music and static at ridiculous decibels to disturb her sleep and make sure she never felt settled. They could fuck her against every surface in the place. They could make her feel every feeling on the map. They could give her the most sorry excuse for a pillow that she’d ever seen. She was still going to give them a hard time.

This continued for months on end, until her anger started to subside. She developed a plan to be a mole. She was inside their compound, being interrogated by their people; there had to be plenty to learn. So slowly, Adriana became withdrawn and compliant. She did what she was told and even used her manners sometimes. Combined with her charisma and knack for manipulation, she learned a lot about their operation when her tormentors thought she was too broken to pay attention. At first, it was by design. She’d keep it up until she got out of there; and she WOULD get out of there. But her behavior influenced her thoughts which influenced her feelings, and soon she’d begun to lose herself. She lost her vigor, as her practicality told her that she would never be allowed to leave. And she was right: those people weren’t letting her out of their grasp. They didn’t want money.

They wanted the Lodges to know they had their daughter. Once she started behaving more accordingly to what they wanted, they began using her for more than just behind-doors activities. They took advantage of her business and photography skills to help sell their slaves, and even went so far as to use her face to sell products that funded some of their operations- just to rub the Lodge’s faces in it. At least they knew she was alive. However, the universe had a different plan. About a year in to her imprisonment, a SWAT team infiltrated the compound, taking everyone who wasn’t a slave into custody. She was then bought up very quickly, this time by the Headmaster of a local Academy. And of course it was the one in Lima. It just had to be, because that’s just how her luck had been lately. She has no idea what she’ll say to her father, or how she feels about him or her mother. She has to blame them for her misfortune, but beyond that, she feels very indecisive where her family is concerned. Broken inside, she’s about to be a slave in a completely new setting- starting over with her wits not exactly about her. Having seen no decent humans in a year, her work is cut out for her. And unlike the rest of her life, this work will have no reward.

BIO QUESTIONS

Describe your path to slavery.

My Dominant got killed and my second claim was denied because the Headmaster had been bought off. Then I went into slavery and got bought by some asshat gangsters who eventually got bitten by karma, so they’re in prison and I’m starting my journey as a slave over.

What advice would you give to current students to avoid ending up in your position?

Distance yourself from your family’s shit? Either that or don’t claim for love. I don’t actually believe in that, but if I’d done that, it would have saved me a lot of heartache.

How do you feel about the system, and how have your views changed since becoming a slave?

I always figured that being treated as less than human sucked, but the people who got in that situation just needed it to be able to fall in line. Now I think it’s kind of evil. Even someone who is unlikable or unlucky is a human. There should at least be a longer grace period than a year if your claim dies though. Healing from that and opening yourself to someone new takes a long time. I made it work until the headmaster got in the way (I swear he was bought off) but it was very hard and cut the deadline too close for comfort.

#accepted #allie

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