#Thank you for the other ask you sent in too!! You're so kind! :'oD

[dreammeiser]

Are there any confirmed ships in DAWM (what I've abbreviated your story)?

Hi there! I've been playing around with different options and whether they have significant impact for the character and the messages I want the story to have... There are some relationships that are canon, though! I have a hard time justifying romantic subplots in my stories so for me they absolutely must serve a significant purpose.

For now, all the art we are seeing are from a platonic standpoint-- I am ahhhh demi-pan and have a hard time relating to characters where romance is their focal point, though I am trying to look beyond my own perspective! The Gang are all friends that are very comfortable with each other and trust each other immensely, which I think is a friendship dynamic I sorely want to see!

... But I am enjoying playing around with some of these ships yes eeheehee :oD

Mae objecting to any and all recent allegations, even with the damning evidence!!

[pinkiepiebones]

Hi! I absolutely love your writing, you always have just the right blend of angst/emotion/humour which makes your writing so enjoyable. You asked for prompts, so if you’re still taking them, may I request a Renfield and Dr Seward interaction, set in the novel/movie timeframe?

Okay first of all I'm ???!!! I love and appreciate your kind words so much!!!!

So here's the thing- 1) I'm not good at the book's timeline and B) the 1931 movie is very much not based on the book, and Renfield 2023 is based on the 1931 movie, not the book, so I have a different version od Seward in my head. In fact, Renfield met a Doctor Seward in my fic Scar Tissue...

Anyway, I still want to send you home with something in your bag, so-

-

Robert never liked doctors. He had grown up in an era, in a village where leeches were still considered good medicine. He never told Rebecca that; she'd never let him live it down.

Today she was driving him- as she often did when she was available, as Robert never learned to drive and did not in fact own a car- back for a follow up with a withered old ex-Mafia doctor.

Doctor Seward.

The name still sent jolts of dread up Robert's spine. Several decades ago he had been found in the belly of a merchant vessel, the Vesta, his grip on reality more than deteriorated partly due to the thrall of Count Dracula, and partly due to the weeks he had been confined in the cargo hold, guarding Dracula's coffin and eating the occasional rat that dared to venture too close to him. The sailors who found him took him to the sanitarium- fucking awful name for a fucking awful idea of a place. There he had been placed under the care of Doctor Jack Seward, and, later, Professor Van Helsing. Admittedly, Robert didn't remember much of his actual treatments, if any, in Seward's sanitarium; his attempts to remember were mostly blotted out and filled with the howling of wolves and the feel of cold stone stairs...

"Robert! Jeez dude, you're freaking me out."

Robert startled back to the present. He was still sitting in Rebecca's car. She was standing by the passenger side door, looking at him over her sunglasses. She had parked in the cracked and sun-baked parking lot in front of a desolate-looking strip mall which housed a nail salon at one end, a pizza parlor on the other, and in the middle a nondescript office from which this Doctor Seward, present tense, worked. Robert clambered out of the car and Rebecca put a hand on his arm. "You okay? We can blow this off if you want."

"I'm fine," Robert lied. "Just remembered something."

Rebecca frowned but trusted him. She led the way into the office. The inside had wood-panel walls and sickly yellowing floors and had the uneasy atmosphere of a cheaply made 1980s horror film. Or even a cheaply made 1980s courtroom drama film.

The receptionist barely looked up from her very important nail filing and waved Robert and Rebecca back. Rebecca fumbled for Robert's hand and squeezed.

"This is just a little follow up," she said as much for him as for her. "No X-rays this time." She let go and sighed. The first visit had scared her. Seward had shown Robert- and her- that Dracula's blood had never healed Robert fully, it had just zipped up his skin and set his muscle and bone tissue into spasms of replication, resulting in pockets of tissue masses inside his body. Seward had expressed genuine concern for Robert's pain and wrote him a prescription for it. And now they were back in the same exam room, with the same old magazines, only this time Robert wasn't in one of those silly paper gowns.

Doctor Seward shuffled in before Robert and Rebecca could start talking, which Rebecca was thankful for. He looked just as ancient and wrinkly as he had been when they first met, like a super-dehydrated Mister Potato Head.

"Mister Renfield," he said gruffly, extending his hand for a shake. No sooner had he gripped Robert's hand he turned and greeted Rebecca. "Not wife nor girlfriend."

"Rebecca," Rebecca said sternly.

"Hm."

Doctor Seward turned his attention back to his patient. "How you been, Mister Renfield? How's the pain?"

"Oh, um." Robert was sitting on the exam table. He looked down at his shoes. "I can definitely tell a difference in my day-to-day activities, thanks to the pain medication your prescribed."

Doctor Seward adjusted his thick glasses. "So, no more bizarre injuries that require a vampire's intervention?"

Rebecca stood, suddenly, and spoke. "Okay, enough bullshit. How do you know about that? Last time we were here, you called Robert a familiar. You know something, so spill."

The old doctor looked at Robert, who gave a little shrug and nod. Doctor Seward chuckled. "Well, Rebecca, it's not a big twist. A long time ago Mister Renfield here was a resident of Seward's Sanitarium." Rebecca stared at Robert, who nodded and managed to give her an apologetic 'sorry I didn't tell you about my time in a sanitarium' look.

"That Seward was my father."

Robert nearly fell off the exam table. "The fuck?" he exclaimed, then immediately after, "shit, sorry, I'm just-"

"Fuck," Rebecca agreed.

Doctor Seward nodded. "Yeah. After pop died I was tasked with going through his papers, y'know, what to save and what to toss. Found his old notes about Mister Renfield." He gave Robert a shockingly gentle smile. "Sorry for not bein' up front about this. Figured you wouldn't want to be reminded of my pop and your time with him."

Then, Doctor Seward returned to his gruff self. "Aright, clear out. The Invisible Man's coming in for X-Rays soon."

In the car, barely out of the parking lot, Rebecca gripped the wheel tight. "This is some fucking weird shit, Robert."

Robert was looking out his window, partially daydreaming. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is," Rebecca sighed, turning in to traffic, "that it's really weird that this Mafia doctor I knew about from my policing days just so happens to be the son of a doctor who treated you? That's weird!"

Robert made a noncommittal noise.

"It's like someone's trying to write your life, but that someone's also kinda lazy, I guess."

Robert snickered. "Well, if my life was being written, I'd certainly give the writer five stars for effort."

Rebecca rolled her eyes. "You're just saying that so the writer is nice to you."

Robert made a noncommittal noise.

[glazelilyy]

i'm terrible with words and i’m sorry for that— the message you sent me before i thought about leaving was very sweet; my heart is just too guarded sometimes and so i still left for... reasons.

i've seen a lot of writers come and go. your writing is honestly so, so good. i grew up with terrible self esteem issues, and i have the tendency to get jealous very easily. i particularly envy writers who can ‘write poetically’, as in those who can write with flowery words and advanced vocabulary: someone like you. my point here is that i truly love your works—it makes me happy, and even becomes a sort of motivation whenever i feel envious to write or improve my writing.

you're also very sweet to almost everyone—hell, you offered to listen to me talk about an oc of mine, even when we essentially just met (realized how selfish i was being, sorry again). i’m so lonely that it's gotten to the point where i became multiple anons on various blogs just to cure it—and regardless of who it is, it always makes my heart warm whenever the blogs respond. even if you don't, interactions with other anons gives me a weird sense of companionship.

insecurity is blind: it spares no one. but since you're insecure about you writing, i want to take the time to tell you that it’s not just pleasing to the eye to me—it’s a source of inspiration. but outside od that, i’m sure a lot of people appreciate your companionship, and, simply, you as a person. and if you, as a person who has their own struggles and is feeling down about their writing feel like you need a break, then you should take one; no apologies necessary.

best wishes, luce :>

- mushroom anon

despite being someone who writes, when it comes to expressing my thoughts i too am also bad with words :'> so i understand what you mean! but i've read this ask so many times, and i really genuinely can say that you have a way with words that touches the heart in indescribable ways, and i'm thankful that you chose to share some of the words in your head with me :)

believe it or not, i understand what you mean by jealousy. i was always taught that life was a competition, but in reality it's kind of like walking down a park lane at dawn rather than a cross country race at noon. everyone walks at different paces and has different destinations, some with no destination in particular at all. it's taken me a long time to realize that, and if anything i'm fortunate enough to know that you, who writes so eloquently and beautifully, has taken inspiration from the thoughts i conceive when my body is asleep but my mind awake :)

no don't say that at all/nm!! i'm always more than happy to hear about ocs, and yours in particular i had a special liking to because of how much detail and life you'd put into her (and her design is HNGNGNGH SO PRETTY AAAA coupled with the fact that i love her personality pspsps mihoyo make her real- *slams credit card on table*)

ahfahghds i can't tell you how many times i've read and reread this last paragraph, and you're absolutely right: no one can function properly as a creator when they don't have confidence in what they produce. i think this break has given me time to reflect, and also sit back and reflect on everything. and i know i have you and many others to thank for giving me strength and kindness when i thought i was unworthy of it :)

you're such a kind individual, and though we haven't interacted much so far i'm definitely looking forward to the future!! (i can't wait to hear more about your oc by the way hehe :>)

thank you for your kindness dree, sending you all my love and best wishes!! <3 :)

[veterveter]

Hey hey, it's gay bike anon again! I'm more than honoured to get my own tag!!! I definitely would like to keep talking to you <3 And only love for you too <3

I'll gladly wait for your response to my ask (or asks??? we'll see one day ehehehe)! I feel you, when people cite some of my text messages from a few months (or more) ago I'm often like "nope, nah-ah, that's not me, you're wrong". Same for older essays, I often can't believe I wrote those. And even with things I wrote late at night a few weeks ago, sometimes I'm like "I wrote that? That monstrosity??? Okay, I need more sleep before writing". (My capacity of writing in correct English grammar usually goes to sleep before I do, same goes for varied word choice). But sometimes I'll see this project I've worked on YEARS ago and exactly recognize the pieces I wrote? Since the ask would be fairly recent, I suppose I would recognise my writing style and word choice and since I didn't wrote it whilst sleep deprived (I hope??) I'm setting my chances of recognising it pretty high. But we'll see one day, the mystery will marinate for a while... [I am rereading this in the daytime, and this is EXACTLY what I meant, at night I make the weirdest word choices?? I’m definitely not changing it though because I might find it kinda funny]

I snorted so hard about the way you talked about your almost-name, I'm giggling here like crazy. Apparently my name means something alike 'dedicated to God', but my parents aren't really believers, so gotta love that. The meaning of my sibling's name is 'summer', but I'm the one born in the summer, whilst my sibling is born in autumn, oops. Guess my parents never checked one of those sites/ books where you can find the meaning of a name hahaha.

I love how my ask was so weird and chaotic that you sent a screenshot to a friend. I LOVE that she had no idea what was going on. Then again, I watched the semis (obviously hahaha) but I had no idea what was going on either... But honestly it was peak Dutch culture, water and bicycles, I would just add an ode to 'hagelslag' and voila, the entirety of Dutch culture summed up... [Also: if you don't know: 'hagelslag' is just sprinkles which we eat on bread, yes, on bread, we do not not only eat sprinkles as on cake or on donuts, like in any other country, no, we put it on bread. It's actually a really popular sandwich topping here. My ultimate favourites are the chocolate ones, but you also have them in several fruity flavours (like forest fruit) and anise flavour.] Thank you, perfect chaotic energy is an ultimate goal I strive towards *bows like I'm Victorian royalty or something*

You're absolutely right, it went EXACTLY like that. Specifically, I would be studying for my exams, explaining topics to myself like I always do, so I'd tell myself "The six possible origins of economies of scope are indivisibility, specialisation, marketing, research and development, GUESS WHAT.. SUBWAY DRIVER GANDÍA... ehhh... what was I doing again??" OR: "one of the most detailed and most used models of responsive regulation is Brathwaite's piramid. His enforcement piramid visually shows, nope not important, SUBWAY DRIVER GANDÍAAAAAA" And I'd laugh, continue explaining theories and calculations to myself until my focus started lessening again and my thoughts would wander off again. I am VERY glad I'm not the only one who thinks about it from time to time, and I'm glad you're not suing me for any mental harm yet.

Yess, those pictures I saw from Promising Young Woman look so beautiful and aesthetic!! I'll probably watch it somewhere after the 16th, because I'll most likely have finished my last exams by then. I'll tell you what I thought about it! Thank you SO SO SO much for all the luck wishes!!!! I had an exam last Friday and I absolutely rewarded myself, because it went better than I expected and I passed an earlier exam and a paper too! I didn't buy myself a tricorne (yet), but I did buy funko pops (my inner economist said it was 100% rational because it was a really good deal hahaha). I still have two exams to go, so I could always buy a tricorne for finishing either of those, OR. EVEN BETTER. I'll ask my parents (or my grandparents) for one for my birthday. I mean, that would be hilarious. They'd be so confused. They've never seen S3 and S4 of LCDP so they'll have no idea, even if I tried to explain it. It would be so incredibly funny (and really really weird for them), I am laughing like crazy just at the thought of it.

I've never been in Finland before, but those temperatures do not sound legal indeed. I have no knowledge of Finnish law, but maybe article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the prohibition of torture, would work? If I was the judge I’d 100% agree, so we should all sue the weather sksksks. I'm glad to have brought you rain though (and that I apparently possess the power to do so - magic weather controlling pirate seems like a nice enough job to me)!!! I hope the temperature has become at least somewhat lower. You're right, climate change should just... stop... right away. The weather is pretty weird here, right now: one day it will be super sunny and (at least) around 27 degrees and almost melting away, and the other day it will be raining and I'll be wearing my warmest sweater. Like, why the extremes??

I love that I am able to make you lose your coherent thoughts (that's probably why we have one brain energy about Underwater, because I, too, have the ability to make myself lose my coherent thoughts). I'm glad for your faith in my impersonation of Martín. I even started Duolingo Spanish again, and now know the phrase, "Yo bebo leche" (I drink milk) which obviously would be very important to him. Now I'll just need an Argentinian accent to go with it. Leaning menacingly on a cane would be GREAT, I love the idea. I'll open job applications for a Denver. Maybe my cat could help me, she, much like Denver, is super loud and she is super aggressive towards other cats, so there is potential there. And guiding dogs and even tiny guiding horses exist, why not a guiding cat?

I always assumed I would follow a more... you know… legal... career path, maybe even literally a career in law. But, my accounting professor also showed us how to manipulate financial statements ("so you can notice when people are doing this", uh-huh sure, sure that’s why) and another professor of mine also said that a criminal career sometimes could be the more rational, rewarding choice over a legally acceptable career. So, I suppose I should not be surprised by this sudden change of career plans. I should have seen this coming. And what better way to be able to avoid the laws than by knowing exactly what they are and how far you can go. And if that plan doesn’t work out, the books of law I have (they’re combined in two huge hardcover bundles) are really heavy and you could probably harm someone with them if you hit hard enough… Well, I suppose you can even leave “hard” away, just by hitting someone softly with those books you can bring serious harm to them… Ah, and like that one professor would say: in this scenario it would be a rational choice to become a pirate instead of a privateer. Oh dear, not Arturito :/ Mutiny would seem like a good option, I’ll take over the ship and become Palermo the Pirate. Sounds much and much better than “Arturo the Pirate”, since that isn’t an alliteration, sooo mutiny is reasonable even for that reason. And then there’s the fact that it’s Arturo, I mean, that says enough.

YOU LOVE UNDERWATER TOO????!!!! I completely forgot that you posted that! It seems we do indeed already have one shared braincell energy my friend <3

Last week has been pretty good (except for having to make a test at 9:30, what a godless time, I’m usually barely awake by then ehehehe), I think I aced the test I had, got back some good grades and finally got my first Covid vaccination (and only shortly slight dizziness as a side effect, so that's pretty great). And thanks so much!!! For now I’m safe from Gandía, but somewhere in mid-July I’ll have to take an exam on campus, so I’ll might be able to bring out my inner Palermo then.

How was your week? If the weather is still unkind to you (well, also if the weather *is* kind to you), treat yourself to your favourite ice cream and a break every now and then <3 Do you already have holidays or hasn’t your academical year ended yet?

You’re also right - this is conversation and we’re friends now <3 And I absolutely do like cookies! I would say my favourites are american cookies (though stroopwafels are reaally good as well) but honestly there are only a few kinds of cookies that I don’t love that much. And anything with chocolate in it is GREAT. I do also love apples and bananas, though grapes (which I just had) are even better! What’s your favourite kind of cookie?

Also, I know I have been giving you so many prompts already, but I saw this one in that list you reblogged and it gave me so much Berlermo energy: you live in an apartment with your best friend. the two of you always fall asleep in each other's arms, but one day, your friend isn't there. they've fallen in love with someone else. it's your other best friend, who recently moved in with you. and that's when you realize, that those nights you spent together, weren't so platonic after all. I would love it if you’d write it, but if you decide not to that’s absolutely fine too, no worries <3

By the way, I was going to post this quite a bit earlier, but my laptop (unlike me) decided yesterday night, when I was finishing writing this, that it was time to sleep, so I had to quickly dump this whole rant in Google Docs (it’s almost two and a half pages what the heck) and I was busy all day so I only was able to upload it just now. I swear I can ractually espond faster than after a week :) Have a lovely evening, much love from the gay bike country <3

Heeeeeeey you are back!!! How happy am I to see my favouritest gay bike anon return to my inbox!!! 💕 [Author's note: You can tell I started this reply right away because you've sent me three or four asks since this one and one can tell you are indeed back hahaha]

Yeeeeeees this is how one makes friends!! You know, I was just thinking the other night of how "gay bike anon" shortens to GBA, like the Game Boy Advance, you know. Make of that what you will, but it pleases me to know that you can also have a cute nickname for your cute nickname. Nicknameception.

Yes, exactly that, "I did not write that, and if I did in fact write that.. No I did not." Also, "the mystery will marinate"??? That's an amazing word choice and some day I will absolutely use it for something, just you wait. I think it just goes to show that you should write everything while tired, haha.

Haha I love that naming convention for you. It may make very little sense, but....... but. Also, happy birthday for whenever it is, presumably in the nearby past or future!! Lots of love!! You're the summer child while your sibling is... a summer child, but like, different.

Since you appreciated my almost-name story, I'll reward you with the rest of it: so my name is Tuuli, which is Finnish for "wind". My mum originally wanted to name me Pilvi, which means "cloud". And then she was like oh no this child is not at all serene and cloud-like??? and thus, a new me. I'm glad she had second thoughts, although I wonder if having such an ill-fittingly chill name would've done anything to alter my personality? Nomen est omen and all. There's some kind of an alternate universe where all of that played out, but I'm glad it's not this one.

Yeah either you watched the semis and have no idea, or you didn't watch them and have no idea. There is no way to get what was going on there, I'm certain they themselves also didn't get it. I had no idea about hagelslag but thjipgnhefjpihjo that's amazing, I love that for you!!!! There was absolutely no reason to go there but you as a country just... did that. Amazing. Please have some and report to me so I can live through you. And also, you are absolutely legit Victorian royalty [or something] *bows in return*. Also, I do love how you say "I watched the semis (obviously)." Imagine if you didn't and this entire time I was tragically misinterpreting the nature and intentions of your ask and you were just rolling with it because you've no idea what I'm on about but are also too polite to tell me that. Khhhhhhh

Your brain has priorities!!!! And they're honestly beautiful. Well done, brain. Subway driver Gandíaaaaaaaaaa~~~ My brain is filled with Berlermo quotes that come @ me at random times during the day and leave me just a tad shell-shocked, remembering how it all went down. I'm eating my morning yoghurt and my brain goes yo te propuse fundir oro juntos, and I'm just there like :)))))) Real nice, brain.

Have you had the opportunity to see Promising Young Woman yet? Hhhhh it's so pretty, every time I work on this reply [it's a lot of times, okay, I'm very diligent about this, I stare at this ask and craft snazzy replies in my head all the time, that's why I'm so slow in... actually replying] I'm reminded of that. I'm not a very visual person but the colours and the framing... that was really nice.

I am somewhat glad you've not been to Finland yet, you must hit me up when you come visit, I'll take you for coffee!!! It's actually cooler now (bless!!!!!!!!!!!), the last... four days have been reasonable 14-20 degrees, after four consequtive weeks of 25+. Kkhhhh thinking back to it makes me feel a little ill, but now beret weather is back. I own a lot of berets, dear gay bike anon. I'm going to my university city for the weekend and I'm already wondering which beret(s) I should bring with me. This is an important decision with potential long-lasting consequences. I don't know if you've played any of Telltale's games (The Wolf Among Us and the first two seasons of The Walking Dead are the best ones, fight me), but when you make a decision and the game goes "This character will remember that." and you instantly go oh no what have I done??? That's how I feel about choosing the perfect beret for my city outing. But yes, weather extremes are just the worst. We've been having the longest drought I've ever seen here (it's still not properly rained, for the record, on Tuesday it rained for an hour or so) while in other places there's awful flooding. That's awful.

Ahhh I'm so happy you're continuing your Spanish-learning!! I took a beginner's course at uni in the spring semester, I'm going to take the next one when uni resumes in September. And yes, I'm studying it for LCDP. I mean I love languages in general, but I never had a particular need to study Spanish, until this year I suddenly did. I'm also Duolingo-ing it! Very slowly and steadily. Also, I adore the idea of your cat being your Denver. What's your cat's name??? What do they look like?? Tell me everything, you can't just leave it at my cat, you simply must allow me to meet them. Also, you know why guide cats aren't a thing? Because cats are the worst. I love cats, but you can't just teach them to do useful things. They'll do them if they want to. As I type this, my cat is trying to catch flies at my feet. Her name is Muusa.

I studied accounting for my undergrad!! So I can join you in [[[preventing]]] tax fraud and [[[recognising]]] tampering with financial statements. We can make a totally legitimate business out of it. No but truly, I'm certain we were taught some of those things with the expectation that our future employers would expect it of us. Capitalism is so fun :)))))) And you shouldn't be surprised, academia is but a stepping stone to crime, honestly. Any dark academia book will tell you this. You start out learning Latin and wearing turtlenecks, you end up with murder. That's just how academia works. And you seem to have already chosen your weapon... you're well on your way. :) Palermo the Pirate sounds great!!! I support your mutiny. I don't think I said, but this is my favourite word of the English language. Mutiny. Mutiny????? It doesn't sound very serious. It sounds cute, actually. I love it.

I'm so happy to hear you got your covid vaccine!!!! I had mine a month ago or so - I typed you a reply to the subway Gandía thing on the train ride back, actually. I was really stressed about getting it on my right arm, because I'm left-handed, and last time I got a vaccination (like a decade ago) they insisted on giving it on my left arm and I was sad :( But this time!! I got it on my chosen arm and was very pleased. So anyway, that was a segue. I'm glad you got your covid shot and were side effect -free!!!

My week has been good, thank you!! I went to my uni city for my niece's birthday on Monday, and as said I'm going back on Friday (tomorrow). So this time in between has felt like exactly that, time in between. I started reading Call Me By Your Name. I had my Korean class last night. Now I'm hanging out with my cat (she has stopped chasing flies and climbed to my lap) and talking to you. My holidays started already in May! And uni resumes in the beginning of September, but I'm a tutor for new students so I need to show up three weeks earlier for the orientation weeks. Yes, we do three weeks of orientation (read: three weeks of drinking). It's a bit insane.

Now I need to ask you again how your week has been, since I'm so slow. How has your week been?? Are you free from your exams?? When does your uni resume?

Stroopwafels are so good ahhh I'll have to buy them when and or if I see them. Possibly when I'm in central Europe but haha I can hope to be lucky and see them at a store with imported stuff, you know. My favourite cookies??? Omg maybe these ones - they have this truffle filling, and they're fun to eat (this is important in cookies, you see):

And of course they're Fazer. Because Finnish people have only one setting, apparently. Or maybe that's just me. But all cookies are great, honestly. I like making American cookies, that's always a fun pastime (and you get to have cookie dough, that's like half the fun). I've actually not made them for a lifetime??? Maybe I should, soon. I'll keep you updated. Also, brookies. I love making brookies, they're great.

I really really appreciate being given prompts, I hope you know that!! Thank you!! Consider me pocketing this prompt and maybe eventually some day theoretically getting back to you about it!! You're right - it has Berlermo energy. Insofar as either of them actually have other friends. :)

Thank you for this kind message, dear gay bike anon <3 I'd apologise for my slowness in replying but I think I'd rather you just assume that I'll get back to you, and thank you for your patience <3 Your kind and funny and chaotic asks always brighten my day. I hope you'll have a great rest of the week and just... all the nice and fun and good things and great vibes in life. All the best, dear gay bike anon <3 Take care!! And greetings from Muusa as well - she just yawned and I presume that means "greetings".