#basically he hunts you down in your own mind- meaning that if alice's mad he will destroy your entire memory (but it's very rare)

[dumvixerum]

Damn. I suck at color theory 🤩

Anyway here's Alice's Jojo stand his name is Carousel and he's just a little silly fox (he won't hesitate to take all your sanity away and destroy it if Alice is mad 🫶)

I prefer the traditional version honestly it's better without the colors 💀

Rant about Carousel in the tags sorry not sorry

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

Can you please share some more facts about the Fawleys? I really enjoy reading about them dw if you can’t though 💓

Oh my dear anon! You act as though you are some sort of burden, when you are anything but? When your message could never bring me anything but pure joy? Thank you for gracing my inbox! (Side note, I discuss spoilers for “Remembrance” in this post, so just keep that in mind.) 

The first thing to understand is that I am flaky and indecisive. I can never make up my mind and head-canons and decisions about the Fawley family might very well change, alas. Particularly as new details of canon emerge. Example: I once wrote Luca’s rift with Rowan into the story as them suspecting Rowan of being R, but then having them come back together and be closer than ever following the Imperius incident. Given what I know now? With Y6CH18? I’m gonna say that whole rift never even happens. Rowan is one of the most important people in Luca’s life, period. So the more time they spend together, the better. Gail can have the “grown apart” relationship with Rowan, sure, but not Luca. This is just one example of how anything can change in the main story, and thus, my head-canons are subject to shift at any time because I cannot make up my mind or commit to anything. I am a true cornflake. All that said, let me talk about what I know and have decided about the Fawley family. 

I’ve debated a lot on what family to have Nina come from originally. I’ve bounced around The MacMillans, the Burkes, The Greengrass’s...but then I realized the perfect solution that actually ties in with previous details. Nina is from the Shafiq family. The other Pureblood line on the Sacred Twenty-Eight that never gets mentioned in the book. And oh boy, I’m gonna have fun defining them as well. This works well because I always envisioned Luca as Middle Eastern, but I had placed The Fawleys in Britain for the War of the Roses. Did a bit of digging, and Shafiq is an Arabic name. It totally works out! 

That being said, I’m so indecisive that I might not even keep to that as being her name. Nina, that is. I might come up with a different first name for her. Same goes for Luca’s father, who has been called both Eric and Arik in the past. The trouble is, I conceived Luca’s mother around the interpretation/theory I had about MC’s mum at the time of writing Luca’s fic. Basically, my theory is that MC’s family is part of R, or have some previous involvement with them that extends further back than Jacob. That one or both of MC’s parents were members. I dunno what it is, I just do not trust MC’s mum. She seems shady at worst, and a bad parent at best. But you can see how this particular background is subject to change. Who the hell knows if MC’s mum is a part of R, or if she will even appear. 

This also ties in with the mystery of just how Luca’s family got cursed. And this is something else that is subject to change. Literally everything about the Fawley Curse. (Also known by it’s proper name: The Invigorium Curse.) I made the “Mark of Despair” a black star and had it appear on the hand. I might change the design to be something like a rose, in thinking about it. (A “Black Rose” being the symbol of The Fawleys.) But if I move it’s location from the hand, to say, the back of the neck or something...well then, I don’t get that raw backstory about Mr. Fawley trying to free himself from the curse by chopping off his own hand...at which point, the Mark of Despair reappears on his other hand, because did he really think it would be that easy? I’ve toyed with placing the Mark on the back of the neck...that’s pretty metal too, and could tie in with how the Fawleys always have long and beautiful hair. But on the other hand, Mr. Fawley is dead by the time Luca and Gail are Hogwarts age...suppose he killed himself by stabbing the Mark? That may be a bit too much though...

I’m getting off topic, I was discussing the source of the Curse. Again, this winds up being connected to R in my fic. Connected to the power that they want. Based on what R winds up being and wanting, this could be subject to change. What I have in mind is that the Fawleys experimented with strange magic and ended up branding the Marks of Despair onto themselves. But I might change that. Either way, I want this to be something that they brought upon themselves. It could have been intentional, a selfish experiment to gain more power...or a consequence of something terrible that they did, a punishment. I’m not really sure. Just like I’m not sure I want it to be a Star or a Flower. It could be an ancient rune. I kind of feel like Luca would take Ancient Runes as an elective. Far more likely than Divination, that’s for damn sure. But then again, HPHM has ignored that half of these classes are supposed to be optional...anyway. 

The name “Fawley” actually means, bird-catcher. Hunter of wild birds. I wonder if the original Fawley was someone who hunted down and killed a beautiful swan or something, a creature that was precious to some ancient monarch, and they were cursed as punishment. Maybe the curse was applied to them by being force-fed black flowers. Imagine if the Fowler was a muggle, the Monarch was a Wizard (or at least, had one on his payroll) and the magic that the Fowler’s children bore as a result is what started this “pureblood” line. (Everyone can trace their ancestry to a muggle eventually. Everyone. Fight me on this, pureblood supremacists.) You know what, the more I think about it, the more I really like this idea. It ties in with what the Fawley name means. And it keeps to the story that I always wanted to tell with these guys. That being that, while Pureblood and thus privileged, the general consensus about them is that they’re unstable, unlucky, and dangerous. Have a history of madness and misfortune and even suicide. Almost like the Targaryens, for my Game of Thrones fans out there. It ties in with how Jacob and MC are viewed. This is also the reason I had Alice Longbottom be a Fawley by birth, and Aunt to Luca and Gail. She is one of many cases of Fawleys suffering and going mad, seemingly because they were just destined to. It is sheer luck and good fortune that Neville didn’t inherit the Mark of Despair, because Alice had one, and it’s a dominant trait. 

I’m so glad you wrote this to me, because it’s helping me figure things out. Even if I haven’t come up with that much new material, I can’t tell you how excited I am for this new origin story about the bird-catcher. What’s interesting is that “Shafiq” apparently is a word for compassion and kindness. Which ah...does not suit Mrs. Fawley, I’ll just say that. No matter how I interpret her, it’s going to based on MC’s mum from the game...and I don’t think she’s the best person. Yet ironically, all of the Fawley kids have her general look, physically. And compassion is truly the name of the game for her kids, especially with Luca. Mrs. Fawley’s kids all turned out to be better people than her, but Luca is the very best of them and Jacob notes this when all is said and done. The Fawley kids are a total trifecta and in a way, it’s Gail who is the happy medium. She’s the middle mark between polar opposites, those opposites being Luca and Jacob. And yet, Luca and Jacob adore each  other and Gail is kind of the outsider. 

She gets along decently well with Luca, but they’re different in certain key traits that make them distinctly uncomfortable with each other. They might have outgrown this had they been raised together, but it’s so important to me that no matter what, this never happens. No matter the AU. Luca and Gail grow up believing the other is dead. They don’t meet until young adulthood, and what should be a dream come true just kind of...isn’t. They have a strained relationship. Not hateful, just...not perfect. Because why it would it be? Because they’re biologically related? That doesn’t mean they’re going to be best friends, and trying to force it, simply doesn’t help. Seriously, Gail is actually far more fond of Luca than she is Jacob. Dear god, she cannot stand him. She’s so grounded and integrated into understanding how one should behave and following social norms. She’s Lawful Good for sure. But Jacob is just...he’s fire and ice and rage, he is a walking storm. Gail just doesn’t take well to people like that. They stress her out. It’s not like Luca. Their inherent patience and pathological desire to “rescue” problematic people...yeah, is it any wonder Luca x Merula is a strong contender for endgame? 

Ooh, here’s something new I can talk about. Middle names. I’ve tossed around a few in the past, but the one thing I’ve always been certain of is that I want Luca and Gail to both have middle names that are one syllable. Luca’s middle name is Rae. It’s simple, it’s gender neutral, and it sounds nice. Not only that, but it has Hebrew origin and the Fawleys are definitely Jewish. From what I can tell, it means either “lamb” or “friend of sheep” aka, sheppard. Both of these suit Luca remarkably well. As does the other interpretation I’ve found, which is that it means “timid” or “bashful.” It’s just the perfect name for them. Now let’s move onto Gail. I’m...still not sure. I’ve considered a few, like Brynn, Claire, and even “Rose” (Shoutout to a friend of mine, I’m going to assume you’ll see this.) But I have yet to land on one that I like enough for Gail to pin it down. Nothing just screams out at me like Rae does for Luca. What else can I talk about...ooh, wands! 

I’ve mentioned wand contents before, but I’ll reiterate them here, and provide some cool images I found to go along with them! Luca’s wand is Rowan and Unicorn Hair, and if you didn’t already know - it was Rowan them-self who previously owned it. The wand was fashioned at the tree farm and they used it right up until Luca’s first wand was destroyed by Rakepick. That first wand, Hazel and Unicorn Hair, had belonged to Mrs. Fawley. Right up until she lost her ability to do magic, a side-effect of her depression which happened after Jacob disappeared. (Dumbledore implied that this was possible and may have happened to Merope.) Luca took her wand and promised to safeguard it for the day that she would eventually be able to use it again. Enter the Curse-Breaker that everyone hates, bye bye Hazel wand. When just then, surprise surprise! Rowan’s wand suddenly chooses Luca. And you can bet that Rowan is over the moon and Luca is sobbing because they don’t deserve this. But they accept it. I wish I could say I had such a cool backstory for Gail’s wand, but the truth is that she just bought it from Ollivander. Aspen and Dragon Heartstring. On the other hand, one cool detail is that she defies Rakepick and rather than use a new one, she uses her old one after Dumbledore repairs it for her. See, it’s little moments like this, why Gail trusts him when Luca emphatically doesn’t. 

Behold their wands, pictured below! Why yes, the skull design for the Rowan wand’s handle is morbidly appropriate Why yes, the symbols written on Gail’s wand do look pretty cool. (I also couldn’t find an “official” wand that was colored white, apart from Voldemort’s, so there’s that.) 

[rpgmgames]

August’s Featured Game: Marinette

DEVELOPER(S): Teal Crown ENGINE: RPG Maker MV GENRE: Horror, Puzzle, Adventure WARNINGS: Sensitive Themes, Blood/Light Gore SUMMARY: A little girl named Marinette, in the wake of a splitting family and a change of homes, is having a birthday. But this, her eleventh birthday, will present a deadly opportunity to fulfill a special promise. On the night before her birthday, she is drawn into a strange realm; an unnatural dollhouse, populated with dolls who are not quite what they seem. A web of strings lying in wait, and threatening to ensnare the poor marionette; warping her perception, and twisting her every move. Will the strings attach, and force her to become an unwilling puppet, or will she escape this surreal web of strings? What will she have to do to avoid the dangers of the dollhouse, and set herself free?

Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! *Mitty: "Hello, I'm Mitty! Thank you so much for the opportunity to participate in this interview. I'm the main developer of the game and I'm working with a team of friends to make this game a reality. I work mainly on the visuals and programming, and I'll be representing the team, alongside Third! I've been on the community for around two years, even though I tend to not be active very often." *Third: "Hoi, I’m Third! I appreciate you reaching out to interview us. I’m the main composer and writer of Marinette, and I work under Mitty to make the story and soundtrack what we want it to be. I’ve been in the community for little less than Mitt but am even less active in most of my developer discords."

What is your project about? What inspired you to create this game initially? *Mitty: "The game is essentially about a girl that gets trapped inside a dollhouse. A simple concept really can go far ahaha I've always loved themes related to creepy dolls so I wanted to create something related to that. What pushed me initially to start were obviously the inspiration of seeing other devs creating, seeing how far you could go with these engines and create amazing interactive stories, however the huge support from a friend was what made me actually start past the planning and dreaming!" *Third: "Marinette is a story about a little girl becoming entangled in the complicated family and supernatural landscape she finds herself in on her birthday. I enjoy writing short stories about this kind of thing so it’s fantastic to work on a larger project about one of my favorite subjects. My primary inspiration and introduction to this kind of game in general was Pocket Mirror, and I use it the most as a model for how to do certain things. However, I also draw a lot of inspiration from masterpieces like Aria’s Story, Ib, Witch’s House, and Alice Mare."

How long have you been working on your project? *Mitty: "The project has been in the works for around two years now! The first year was mostly planning and right now we are on the right track with the programming and asset creation for the demo, as well as music and sound design for later development. Planning isn't over yet though, especially for the final game." *Third: "I’ve been working on this for almost two years. The soundtrack possessed most of my earlier attention, but now it’s taken a backseat to writing, now that I’m actively writing the scripts for the game now. "

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *Mitty: "Yes! The game has inspirations from plenty of sources, not only strictly RPG Maker Horror games, or games in general for that matter. If I were to mention those, of course games like Ib, The witch's house, Alice Mare, Pocket Mirror, Yume Nikki & .flow, Stray Cat Crossing, Mogeko's games...etc quickly come to mind. When it comes to the aesthetics and visuals, the inspirations come from several different places, including games like Alice Madness Returns, Dofus, Yomawari, The Legend of Mana, Little Nightmares...the list goes on; or other media, like Inu Curry's animation style or video creator nana825763, as well as some anime and music videos. Silent hill is also a huge inspiration for the atmosphere, and hopefully we can pull it off well!" *Third: "My primary inspiration, as I’ve said earlier, is Pocket Mirror, both for its masterful writing and soundtrack. The game’s soundtrack is the main reason I still play piano. Whenever I’m feeling musical, my fingers always hunt out the same kind of haunting, mysterious, and sometimes peaceful and playful melodies that Pocket Mirror is rife with. In the end, our soundtrack is probably going to sound like Pocket Mirror and Aria’s Story’s soundtracks were meshed together. Story wise, commonplace elements in this genre like demons, monsters, mean parents and puzzles that tell the story are commonplace for a reason, and certainly find their way into this one, in their own special way. Every other game I’ve mentioned involves them in some form or another. And young, curious protagonists are also a blast to write and do evil things to and put in difficult, dangerous situations. "

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them? *Mitty: "We surely have! Many of them in different areas ahaha Taking away bug hunting, I am primarily an artist, so programming for me is a secondary thing. Because of this it's easy to get carried away and hard to realise what can and can't be done. I don't want the game to be visually boring if I can make things move and seem alive! The way I'm handling it is programming like an artist: I think in my head what cool things I can do with my art by not having it completely still, and then it's a matter of executing it on the engine. However this comes with a downside. I tend to tweak things a lot, and that takes quite some time, but I honestly think it's worth it ahaha Also I find it hard to start writing, but when I do, I can't stop orz. Other challenges are also finding plot holes. This is fixed with a lot of studying the story, gathering inspiration and talking with the team. I also struggle a bit with communicating with the team, but thankfully they are all very nice and understanding." *Third: "Main challenge is overcoming the sheer weight of how much I have to learn about music and writing in order for this game to be what I want it to be. I’m a perfectionist, and when I care about something, I can’t tolerate it being worse than it could’ve been. Also, writing is getting more and more complicated and there’s more things and details to keep track of so as not to create inconsistencies or plot holes, especially as we try to revise it and make major changes to the story (Mitt will know what I’m talking about). "

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *Mitty: "It changed a lot, not only in terms of the story and writing, but visually too. The basic concept is close to being the same, though. You can check out old posts in the blog where I consider different styles of mapping and such. Actually, don't, please. It's too old...and my writing...oh god." *Third: "The writing has come a long way, but now that we’ve fleshed out and written down much of the backstory, it’s a much more complicated story than what Mitt first showed me when I joined."

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *Mitty: "Initially it was just me, occasionally having Mia to talk about the story and help develop it. Rindre joined as a voice actress very early on and also helped in other aspects of the game. Then I also talked about it with two friends I know in real life, one helped with organization and the other with some concept art, but they aren't that active anymore, even though I still count them as part of the team (Thank you guys btw if you're reading this). Eventually I met Third, an amazing composer and writer, and I asked him to join in! He brought along a friend who is also an amazing composer and writer, Code, and these two are complete madmen of music and writing and I'm super glad to be working with them, as they are super passionate and it makes me really happy ahaha. Bruno is also a really dedicated composer that is helping with a few tracks as well! Miku and Luccinia are two super talented and kind artists that have also been helping a ton with concept art, and their ideas have certainly improved the game as well. We are welcome to more concept artists, though! More heads, more ideas ahaha Recently we got the voice actresses for a few characters in the game, when we did the auditions, and hopefully soon another friend will jump aboard and help with organization and writing! We are a relatively small team, and sometimes progress goes a bit slowly since we can get busy, but we are all doing our best! I’m glad that I’m not alone. Links for their pages and such can be found on the team section on the blog, go support them if you can!"

What is the best part of developing a game? *Mitty: "For me, personally, I love seeing what my team mates come up with, whether it is music or concept art. I also enjoy the love and support we get, and it makes me excited in the development. As for the creation part, I like programming challenging cutscenes and doing cool things with the assets. Progress updates can also be fun to make when I have the time." *Third: "My favorite part is showing Mitt what I’ve written and composed. Making her happy and excited with my work is extremely fulfilling. "

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing? *Mitty: "Oh, yes! Besides being a cool break from programming hell, it helps me make it less of a hell ahaha I like improvising, though, so I think I play RPG Maker games because I enjoy them for the most part." *Third: "Occasionally, not really. I don’t play many games and I’ve played the heck out of the ones I have."

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *Mitty: "Ah I don't know, honestly. I think I can relate to every character in one way or another, and it's hard picking one, especially since the game isn't out yet and I'd like to keep most characters hidden until the demo. Marinette is definitely one of my favourites, though, I just love how innocent and cute she is. Her cheekiness can be made super interesting ahaha" *Third: "My favorite character is definitely Pierre. He’s a complete blast to write, and gives me lots of cool things to describe and say through him, from his magic tricks to his killer lines and quotes."

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *Mitty: "Hm...Having organized things better in the beginning would have saved a lot of time now, but I don't think it's been that big of a deal anymore. I don't have any regrets that I'm aware of at the moment since everything until this point was necessary to learn and get to where we are now."

Do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *Mitty: "I'm not sure yet, it depends on the reception and how willing I'll be to continue the story. Even though I would find it fun to make comics, another game or a different midia, realistically I can't tell how willing I'll be to continue developing content about it after the game is finished. Honestly, I hope I can develop more projects on Marinette, we do have content for that, and I absolutely love it with my heart! But it's also equally important to move on to another story. Only time will tell!" Third: "I hope to, but that day is very far away for me. I’ll be gone for quite some time after Marinette is finished, and I hope I’m not forgotten by the time I return. Perhaps I’ll entertain myself with additional short stories exploring the various aftermaths of the game."

What do you most look forward to upon/after the release of a project? *Mitty: "I honestly just want to get the story out there. I'm hoping people will enjoy it if they play the game, and will have a special place in their hearts to keep it on. This project means a lot to me, and having it making people feel things is what I'm looking forward to. I'd love to see other people playing it, definitely. I imagine I'll eventually be relieved to have finally completed it, it'll be a big moment for me to sigh be proud of creating. I'll be able to move on to work on other fun things while I see how this little child of a game is going to do out there in the wild, and that's always nice!" *Third: "Fan reaction, 100%. Having people ask me questions about my work and telling me how much they enjoyed it is my favorite part of writing."

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? *Mitty: "Yes, I don't want to feel empty with nothing to do when I finish the game. I know it will be great and all, but I've been working on it for so long that it's hard to imagine not working on it ahaha! It's a really fun hobby, but it's also engraved in my heart. I want it to be the best it can be, of course, so I'm scared of bugs, inconsistencies and overall it being clearly a bad game. I'm hoping that people will help with critiques on the demo, so I have a better outside perspective of where we are going. I don't want to drop the game, so I'm scared of having to take a long break from it during the development. I'm worried of being a terrible team leader as well." *Third: "I dread plot holes more than anything, and I dread a dull and overall unimpactful story. I want a tale that will punch the viewer in the gut, hard. I want to make them cry. I want to make them laugh. I want them to draw what I wrote, and explore it further in hopefully-not-too-sexual fanfiction."

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *Mitty: "Don't be scared to start. You're going to suffer mid-way if it's a long term project, but keep pushing through, you'll learn a lot and it becomes easier with time. Take breaks and take it easy, step by step. LIST STUFF AND MAKE BACKUPS. Learn with short projects first. Ask for advice from people you admire, but never hold them on a pedestal. It’s always helpful to be a jack of all trades! Try to think from an outsider perspective if you're not sure of how it's going, and if you can, tell people you trust about the game and ask for opinions. Always take criticism well, but don't stress too much over harsher or even meaner comments. Have fun and never forget your starts, the people you meet and the reason you're doing the project for. If you're also an artist, writer, musician, remember this is a great opportunity to add something interesting to your portfolio. Cool visuals attract people, but they are not everything that will keep them hooked." *Third: "The best part of making a game is the people you make it with. The story is the most important ingredient of your game. Prioritize it first, and everything else will fall into place around it. Otherwise, everything will serve some other aspect of your game, and that’s rarely a good thing. Always speak your mind; do not every not say something just because it’ll hurt someone’s feelings. Obviously don’t be a tool, but if you ever have to choose between hurting the game and someone’s pride, pick someone’s pride. It’s much kinder in the long run."

Question from last month's featured dev Froach Club: Have you ever had a moment where you got completely stuck or became intensely frustrated while using RPG Maker? *Mitty: "Yes I have, I think everyone has QwQ Despite silly mistakes, I've gotten stuck several times, but honestly it's usually either us doing something stupidly hard that can be done another way, or we are just not skilled enough yet, and it's better to come back later. You can usually do most things you wanna do if you have the advantage of knowing the programming language your RPG Maker Engine uses I think. Google is your friend always, and sleeping about it also helps. I once dreamt of a whole sequence to fix a problem, and it worked! ahaha Always take it easy and don't give up, but know your limits and the limits of the engine!"

We mods would like to thank Teal Crown for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!

Remember to check out Marinette if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Alice Vs The Questionnaire I Just Made

Because it would be remiss for me to send it out into the world and not answer it myself, right? ;p

1. How many of the sidequests did your characters do? Did they manage to complete all of them?

Alice completed most of the sidequests, mostly because I find them interesting, they're good to advance the plot of my story, and -- in-game -- they're good sources of XP. The only ones I skipped/failed were (Edit: naturally I forgot a few on my first posting; what can I say, there’s a lot of side quests!):

Drug Trip -- The Unofficial Patch Plus only quest where you can get some XP and +1 Finance by stealing some drugs for Trip from the clinic. In-game, I completely forgot this was an option and never did it. In-story, Alice is trying to get drugs by more legitimate means for Mercurio rather than steal morphine, so I don’t think she’d be keen to get the recreational stuff for Trip.

Daydream Believer -- Only marked as an official “quest” by Unofficial Patch Plus, this is where you can sell Copper “unicorn blood,” fang-blunting gum, and a stake to kill the head vampire if you’re feeling maliciously playful. Alice was not -- in fact, she likes the Thin-Bloods and wants to help them. And that includes sympathizing with Copper about his desire to become human again, while also warning him off doing anything stupid.

Replanting A Lily -- The quest where you send Vandal someone to replace Lily in his blood-draining chair once you’ve freed her as part of Thinned Blood. In-game, I simply Demented him into some hysterical laughter to forget the whole thing (in case I needed him for emergency rations). In-story, Alice slammed him up against the wall and informed him the only reason she wasn’t about to kill him was because she needed to stay in the Voerman sisters’ good books. Vandal being Vandal, he immediately found this the sexiest thing that had ever happened to him and tried to give her free blood (like might happen with the Intimidation option), which she told him to stick where the sun don’t shine. Yeaaaaah, Alice doesn’t like Vandal.

Occultish Personality -- The quest where you get occult items for Pisha, and she gives you powerful items in return. Rather than work with Pisha, I had Alice kill her after taking care of the Simon business. This was purely a character choice, as I didn't see Alice ever working with her (she disapproves too strongly of what Pisha does to sate her Hunger -- she understands that the woman is under a pretty nasty curse, but the entire camera crew?!).

Venucide -- Okay, this is an interesting one -- this is the alternate side quest you get if you take Boris up on his offer to kill Venus during And Her Name Was Venus. I didn’t do this in-game -- I’m not doing low Humanity with Alice, and besides you earn a lot more with Venus alive and giving you club profits -- but I mention it because Alice pretends to take the offer, goes back to Venus, and works with her to fake her death before going back to Boris to get the reward, then kill him. Venus is quite tickled by the whole thing. XD

Dirty Dishes -- The quest where you help one of the three Giovanni relatives at the party to gain an advantage over the other two. I attempted this one, with the intent of having maybe Victor or Victoria do something with the info in the story (as they're the ones actually doing the social stuff -- Alice snuck in Obfuscated with them), but as it turned out, I didn't have the Persuasion necessary to get the dark secrets out of all three. I only managed to get Adam Dunsirn to admit he’s broke -- ratted him out to Mira for an experience point. Ah well. . . In-story, Victor will probably learn Adam’s secret while socializing, but not actually tell anybody.

Model Citizen/Cover Girl -- Imalia's quests -- either planting webcams to spy on her rival Tawni, or (if you piss her off/want extra XP after the previous quest), getting her a copy of a magazine with her on the cover back before Nosferatuing. Imalia is one of those characters who reacts very poorly to meeting a Malkavian, and is generally pretty conceited, so I didn't have Alice stick around to actually get the quests. By this point in the story, she's not doing favors for people who treat her like ass unless she has to.

Poster Session -- The quest where you trade various objects you can collect around the world to Gary for posters of the ladies in the game. Okay, in all actuality, I am doing this one in my game, if only because I'm collecting the objects he's asking for anyway while doing other quests and I might as well, but Alice in-story wouldn't be interested, and I'm not sure Gary would make the offer anyway, given their relationship.

2. How long do you think their stay in L.A. lasted, from Embrace to ending?

I'm working on figuring this out right now in my current playthrough! Part of the reason I fired up Bloodlines again was to actually work out a timeline for "Londerland Bloodlines," as the one given on the wiki feels absurdly short (and cuts out all the side quests). The way I've currently got it, it looks like Alice's Adventures In Los Angeles will stretch from October 21st, 2004, to the middle of November that same year (maybe about the 15th or so?), though I think I'm going to be adding in extra time in the story to help develop relationships and build in some extra breathing room for the characters. So, at a rough estimate, about two months.

3. Which ending did they go for? And if they're the rare Kindred who sided with Ming or LaCroix, did they somehow manage to escape their canonical fates (blown up/sunk to the bottom of the ocean)?

Alice is Independent all the way -- by the end of the game, she neither likes nor trusts practically anyone in the Kindred/ghoul community of L.A. (with four key exceptions, and one of those -- Beckett -- has already skedaddled by the end game) and just wants out. Hell, she would have left earlier if she'd gotten the chance -- she would have happily left L.A. the moment LaCroix sent her up against the Sabbat alone if said Sabbat hadn't kidnapped Lizzie and Victoria, and she would have just left straight after rescuing them and killing Andrei if she hadn't had a guilt attack about helping to get a Blood Hunt called on Nines and deciding she had to tell him about what Ming-Xiao told her. And the Cabbie is the one who talks her into taking down LaCroix and Ming-Xiao when she escapes the Blood Hunt, telling her that the only way to truly feel free is to make sure neither of them can come after her again. She is only too happy to leave the city when everything and everyone is done and dusted.

(Also, semi-related I had what I feel is a pretty awesome idea regarding why she gives LaCroix the key -- a post in the vtmb tag mentioned that anyone who had Auspex might be able to scan the sarcophagus and see there's no uber-vampire inside. The way Alice uses Auspex in her story, it functions partially as a real-life "Shrink Sense,” to fit with her madness. Maybe, at the end of the game, Alice finally uses Auspex on the sarcophagus to see what she can glean, and sees that a) there's no vampire and b) the Insane Children have drawn jack-in-the-boxes all over it, along with arrows to leave. Figuring LaCroix can suffer the disappointment of it being empty, she drops the key and heads off, not QUITE realizing WHY the kids told her to leave -- that is, until her Wonderland friends start BOOKING IT out the door when she gets down to the lobby, and she realizes those jack-in-the-boxes look like her own Jackbombs. . .)

4. How do they feel about the major power players in L.A. (LaCroix, Strauss, Smiling Jack, Nines, Isaac, Ming-Xiao, Gary)? Did their opinions of them change at any point thanks to a quest or just more time spent with them?

LaCroix: Hates him from the moment he Dominates her into leaving the Nocturne Theater instead of bothering to answer any of her questions. She's willing to keep her head down when she's around him (for fear of more Domination) up until Grout's mansion -- then she starts demanding she be paid like a proper employee, at least, and getting a lot snarkier in his presence. When the Blood Hunt on Nines was called (which involved him Dominating her AGAIN so she wouldn't warn Nines beforehand), she was about ready to gut him, and sincerely hoped there was something in that damn Sarcophagus so it would eat him. She doesn't particularly mind he got blown up in the end -- she was much more concerned for anyone else who was in the upper levels of the tower.

Strauss: She found him a little condescending, but helpful, when she first arrived in Downtown and sought him out. (Didn't think much of his poetry skills, though.) He gave her some good information on vampires around the city and the Camarilla in general, and she can't deny he paid well for helping take care of the plaguebearer situation. Her opinion of him plummets the moment she learns about his role in creating the Gargoyle, though. The idea that he kept that living, thinking being as his slave. . .not to mention, his low opinion of ghouls doesn't do much to endear him to her either.

Smiling Jack: Like Strauss, she spends most of the game thinking he's not exactly the best company, but he was helpful and gave her a hand in a very tough spot in her life. And he seems to be the most chill of the older vampires she's come across.

And then the sarcophagus explodes, Alice manages to put together the clues on who's behind it, realize he slaughtered all those people on the Elizabeth Dane and is indirectly responsible for a lot of the shit she's gone through. . .and basically exiles herself from Los Angeles forever by staking him and leaving him for the sunrise on her way out. (She is as shocked as anyone that she managed to pull it off -- she thought it would be a much worse fight!)

Nines: Alice is grateful to him for helping to save her life at her initial trial, and she likes his philosophy just fine. Unfortunately, their relationship was wrecked fairly early on by two factors:

1) Alice making a joke about the Last Round, which Nines took poorly -- Alice attempted to apologize, but Nines refused to hear it

2) Alice not liking Skelter and Damsel, both of whom immediately gave her shit for being LaCroix's "lapdog" and a Malkavian

So yeah, there was definitely some tension there. And the whole Blood Hunt mess happened, and frankly Alice is shocked Nines was willing to talk to her when she went looking for him on her way out of L.A. post-Sabbat. She sometimes wishes they'd had a chance to make up, but given that she doesn't think much of the Anarchs in general anymore. . .she's not losing sleep over their cool relationship.

Isaac: He's one of the main reasons she doesn't think much of the Anarchs in general. She thought it was pretty smart of him to have someone to direct vampires new to Hollywood to him to say hello -- up until he mentioned "tribute." That and his generally imperious attitude toward her at first means she considers him just another Prince under a different title. Learning what happened between him and Ash didn't help either -- she can understand not wanting to let someone you care about just die, more than she would admit, but he doesn't seem to have handled things well post-Embrace, given he didn't do jack shit about the hunters menacing him. (Hoping the threat would drive Ash back into his arms, perhaps?) Add in that he didn't even pay her for taking care of the Gargoyle (never mind Alice didn't actually kill it -- she still convinced it to leave), and -- yeah. She considers him everything wrong with the Anarch movement.

Ming-Xiao: Alice considered her fairly stuck-up when they first met, but really no worse than any of the regular Kindred she'd met -- and it was interesting to quiz her on how Kue-jin are different. Of course, learning that the Mandarin was on her payroll and she's actively trying to kill her lowered her opinion of her a bit. She actively avoids Ming-Xiao after the Fu Syndicate stuff, and nearly just puts her new enchanted katana straight through her when she shows up post-Sabbat. She certainly doesn't shed a tear when she has to destroy her at the end of game.

Gary: Alice thinks he's a bit of an overdramatic jerk, but she kind of enjoys matching wits with him. And at least he's more honest about being a jerk than most vampires, and keeps up his end of the bargain when she frees Barnabus, no problem. Whatever relationship they have is built upon snarking at each other, basically. :p

5. How did they handle the situation with Heather (or, if you're like me, whoever you replaced Heather with in their personal story)?

Obviously, in my world, Victor got hit by the car and got the ghouling treatment. Alice saw him lying all alone in that room and -- couldn't let him just die like that. She's utterly horrified to learn that she created an addict by doing so, and actively has Betram and Knox seek Victor out (using the Cathayan's laptop as payment) and send him her way so she can keep an eye on him and hide any Masquerade violations he may commit. Her original intent was to hold onto him until he stopped being a ghoul, then quietly set him loose, away from prying Kindred eyes. . .

. . .And then she fell in love.

Cue quite a lot of angsting over the fact that she doesn't want to lose him, but she feels so guilty about the Blood Bond and she doesn't know if Victor's feelings are actually real -- which only gets worse when Victoria and Emily join the group, as then she's like "I should let Victor be with one of them -- oh crap I like them too, what the hell Alice, years of not falling in love and now it's two mortals and a zombie." It took Mercurio explaining that his Blood Bond does not actually force him to like LaCroix, just be loyal to him, to convince her that keeping Victor -- and turning Victoria into her ghoul -- might not be as bad as she feared.

And then Victor had his prophetic dream about the Sabbat. He and Emily successfully fled the city (the "letting Heather go" branch of her mini-storyline), but Lizzie and Victoria got captured by the Sabbat and used as bait for a trap for Alice (the "Heather gets captured and killed" branch). Unlike in canon, though, Alice is able to successfully save them (with the help of Bonejangles, VV, and Bertram), and ghouls Victoria to help her heal before sending them away. They all reunite once she's done with the endgame. :)

6. More generally, how closely does their storyline stick to how you have to do things canonically? For example, in quests, did they find third options that weren't offered by the game? Are their stories affected by mods you use while playing the game?

I play with the Unofficial Plus Patch, so there's going to be some stuff from that included in my story, just because that's what I'm used to -- for example, Alice is doing the restored library quest featuring the Lasombra in her storyline. As for the main storyline itself, I'd say that, even with the character replacements and suchlike, it stays pretty much true to the game until about the time Alice hits Hollywood -- namely because I've replaced one-shot character Sam with Victoria, who has a much larger role in "Londerland Bloodlines." After that, it starts to veer off a bit more, in particular during "Italian Dinner," where Emily, Lizzie, and Bonejangles join the party --

But the most major break with canon is in the endgame. Namely, Alice decides to skip fighting her way up Venture Tower and instead climbs up the outside with the help of some climbing equipment she sources from Mercurio. :p Lacroix is more than a little surprised. XD (Though she still has to fight the bat-form of the Sheriff -- can't escape the whole boss fight, Alice!)

7. Do they have an alternate storyline/history of what might have happened had they been Embraced but not ended up the protagonist Fledgling?

I covered that a couple of weeks ago! You can read the "Mistakenly Thinned Blood" AU of the AU in detail here, but the short version is "Alice is Embraced more secretly by her sire Fish, manages to kill him post-Embrace, goes to Santa Monica, and ends up hanging out with the Thin-Bloods because everyone thinks she's one of them. Still saves Victor, meets Victoria, and rescues Lizzie, Emily, and Sam from the Giovannis, though -- and then gets out of town before the freaking-out populace who just learned what she actually is can catch up with her."

8. Is the Cabbie a) Caine, b) another Kindred who believes himself to be Caine for whatever reason, c) another Kindred playing the long con by pretending to be Caine, d) something else entirely?

He's Caine -- I like the headcanon, and the idea of him posing as a random taxi driver in L.A., looking upon all this chaos and wondering "why. why." amuses me. XD

9. How do you handle/explain away obvious "this only works in a video game" mechanics in their storyline (e.g., the inventory system that allows them to carry like seven guns and five melee weapons at once)?

With me, Alice is going to be carrying a lot fewer weapons at once -- she'll generally pick a few favorites to take with her on missions (she always has a knife on her, at least), and uses Obfuscate to truck them around invisibly when she's in crowded areas. She probably also gets a bag or backpack to carry useful things. She also goes through a lot more clothes until she gets some decent leather jackets and such -- her starting outfit is basically wrecked by the tutorial mission, leading to LaCroix's agents having to buy her a new dress before she can pick up her things and go to her new haven in Santa Monica. (I have decided to make it Symbolic by having her wear the modern equivalent of her London outfit from A:MR when she gets Embraced, and the outfit being destroyed representing her change from human to vampire.)

10. How do you explain why the Fledgling is so ridiculously overpowered when compared to most other vampires their age (beyond the fact that they're likely 8th generation, going by their blood pool)?

My personal explanation, which might come up in the final conversation Alice has with Caine in the cab, is that some people in this universe are born with great supernatural potential, for whatever reason, and Alice is one of them. There's just something about her that lends itself well to being a supernatural creature -- and a powerful one at that. If she'd been from a werewolf line, she would have been an amazing werewolf; if she had awakened as a mage, she would have been a super-talented mage. As she was Embraced, she gets to be a terrifyingly strong vampire. Alice personally considers this a pretty shitty "chosen one" status, but she can't deny she liked getting really good at Obfuscate really fast!

[riverdaleroundup]

Riverdale Roundup: 2x08 “House of the Devil”

Alright so here we go

Jughead has made the bar his new pops and has decided to take to writing his dramatic ass novel there. Is this like an all ages place? I know I say this a lot but jughead is 15.

Veronica and Archie are also 15 but are going at it like it’s the end of the world. Veronica honest to god bites him and it’s just so much that I can barely handle it. When Jughead was talking about Archie and Veronica creating the opposite of death in his bedroom I honestly thought that they were like hinting at a pregnancy scare type thing but like whatever. They just continue to sin all over the place and have all the sex all the time. They literally get it on infront of the fireplace on a fur rug that Daddy worked hard to pay for.

Archie proclaims his love for Veronica post fuck and she’s like ummm let’s watch some netflix? Or HBO. Honestly she’d probably settle for Cravetv if it meant that she didn’t have to have this conversation. Master of avoidance.

Jughead and Betty are chilling at Pops and discussing the Riverdale Reaper. Betty knows about the creepy truck driver so like does she know that Jughead has been running drugs? They discuss going to Sheriff Hot Bod with this information but Betty like JUST accused him of murder so they decide to give him a break from their nagging.I don’t know what it is about Jugheads jacket but he honestly looks like he got it at forever 21. Jughead gets a call from an unknown number and honestly Betty probably feels pretty triggered about it.  By the grace of god FP is getting out of jail and i’m so excited about it because honestly I adore him more than I should.

FP is getting out because of overcrowding and honestly this is so how Khloe Kardashian only have to spend like 35 minutes in jail. Praise the justice system.

Jughead and Betty are busy with his dad so they ask Archie and Veronica to head the investigation on the Riverdale Reaper and they are pissed. They have basically just been given a pile of homework and neither of them are the brains of the operation. They don’t know how to solve murders, all they know how to do is fuck.

So Cheryl and Josie are in the locker room and Cheryl is ready to roll up in all her bi curious glory and give Josie a nice back rub that in her mind will lead to them falling in love. The janitor rolls up and Cheryl is ready to have the man fired for ruining their moment.

Veronica gets home to find Sherif Keller in her house and honestly she’d probably panting. The lodges have received a threatening letter from the black hood but they aren’t that concerned about it. Veronica is a little worried because she and archie have been sinning all over town.

Mr and Mrs Lodge think that Veronica should use Archie as like a bodyguard in hopes that he’ll pull a Moose and protect her with his muscles if someone starts shooting at them.

Betty wants to borrow the family car to go pick up FP and i’m like okay did all these kids turn 16 without me noticing? I guess that Jughead did have a birthday, but they spent so much time solving murders and getting into so much hyjinx so when did they have time to get their learner's permits and their required supervised driving hours?

All the serpents are excited to have FP back and for things to get lit. Tall Boy doesn’t like change and thinks that talking to the mayor is a bad idea and that Jughead needs to stop acting like he’s the big man on campus because he’s literally been in the gang for maybe half an hour. Jughead tells Tall Boy to stop being a lil bitch and then everyone cheers. We get a quick shot of Sweet Pea and i’m like oh i forgot about you. You’re kind really hot. So like he can stay. Toni Topaz is still just hanging around and I still don’t like her. I don’t want to not like her but like come on.

Archie comes over to Veronica's and really wants to talk about his feelings but V is like” hmmm no how about be don’t and we just get busy instead?”

Archie and Veronica both seek their parents advice about the Love issue and it’s honestly a little awk.

FP walks out of jail like a true baller and i’m just so glad that he’s back. Daddys Home. Alice came with them to pick up FP and is like “ so how sexually frustrated are you?” ALICE OMG!

So FP isn’t going to be a serpent anymore? What happened to being a serpent for life? Alice knows that if FP is going to be a waiter he’s going to turn back to drinking real quick. Waiting tables will have him hitting the bottle within the hour.

Archie and Veronica keep it in their pants for long enough to start the investigation and find out that they need to go to the devil's house.

So FP and Jughead suddenly both have their own motorcycles and they go on a father son ride. I just want to say again how much I love FP. Jughead is a dumb little bitch and lies to FP about Penny. We find out that FP was in the army and i’m just like “ that’s hot”. Jugheads hair is just so intense in this scene and It needs to calm down a little bit. FP just wants Jughead to pursue his dreams of being a writer. He’s just such a good dad.

So Reggie has his Daddy offer Josie 5 thousand dollars to perform at his car dealership so that he can get a date with her and i’m like who knew Reggie had so much cash on hand. That’s hot. But I mean come on Reggie.That’s a little desperate. Play hard to get.

Cheryl starts coming for FP and Jughead is not having it. Jughead wants his Daddy to be treated like a king and won’t settle for less. FP is top shit and everyone should know it. Betty wants to throw him a party because the only things she knows how to do is throw parties and solve murders.

Betty rolls up to the bar and Toni is working there and i’m like okay that’s so fake. She can’t be a bartender she’s literally a child. Betty and Toni chat like old friends and Betty admits to wanting to be serpent adjacent which is so a sentence I would say just in my everyday life. Some old serpent bat is like Betty you have to do this serpent strip tease and she also calls her Sweet Valley High and no nick name has ever been so fitting. She is so an elizabeth I just can’t handle it, but watch out here comes dark Betty.

So they’re going to have a retirement Party for FP. So i guess you can just leave a gang whenever you want. That just doesn’t seem on brand.

Penny calls Jughead and makes him come meet her at pops for another secret chat. Jughead is like  “fuck you Penny this was a one time thing” and she’s like “ I already told you i’m blackmailing you did you forget?”. Jughead once again decides that he has the authority to speak for the whole gang and tells Penny to go fuck herself. He tries to make a dramatic exit but then Penny is like “ Um i’ll murder your girlfriend so you better do what I say.” So poor little Juggie is in a pickle.

Veronica and Archie head out ot the devil's house and she’s wearing a cape AGAIN. We find out there’s a third child who didn’t get murdered so now they gotta hunt this guy down. This is more detective work then they’ve done the whole series so they are probably very tired.

Alice storms into Pops to have a chat with FP about their children and not letting Betty get wrapped up in the serpents. Okay i’m so strongly getting the vibe that something went down with FP and Alice back in the day. Like come on “ They weren’t all mistakes”. FP is like come to the party and Alice thinks he’s high and besides her boring husband would never come. FP tells her to leave Hal at home wink wink. Like honestly shove it Hal. I’m so convinced now that they had a thing or something like. Freak. Honestly this has the potential to be so gossip girl. Jughead and Betty are about to be the new Dan and Serena with their parents having a romantic past. I could be wrong but whatever.

So they finally get the whole scooby gang together and Archie and Veronica report their findings to bughead. Betty and Jughead have a party to plan which they forgot to invite Archie and Veronica to so they have to leave the rest of the investigation to the B team.

So the janitor is the third kid and they find out that the riverdale reaper is dead so there goes that lead but I don’t think we’re done with the janitor yet.

Betty practices being sexy in the mirror and honestly it’s kind of tough to watch. Yikes what's going to happen? Oh shit she took her hair down. It’s about to get real.

Alice and Betty roll up to the bar and Alice Cooper doesn’t do anything half assed so she’s in her biker best. She’s like living her best life and getting shots but she’s got Bettys back and she’s ordered her a shirley temple.

Archie and Veronica have a talk and Archie gets all pissy that Veronica doesn't love him.

They sing Mad World and i’m like okay so is this show supposed to use songs that put me in such a depressive state that I want to swallow a hand full of sedatives, drink a bottle of wine and sink into a bath to live out the final moments of my life?

Also the sheer number of musical numbers in this show like i’m sorry i didn’t know i was watching glee.Archie and Veronica bail and Betty saves the day. Holy shit she takes off her clothes what the actual fuck you literal 15-16 year old. I’m dying. Omg stop. I can’t do this. Jughead is like not living his best life. Alice is not ready for this. I’m not ready for this. Alice wanted her to dress more like serpent but she didn’t mean like this. FP leads an awkward clap for Betty and then gives her his jacket so that she can cover up for christ sake.

FP gives this big speech and honestly kind of calls out Jughead for not always being on his side. FP is still going to be the HBIC of the serpents and I’m like “ yas. These are your people” . Jughead is like not happy about it but like he thought that FP was still going to be a serpent before so like….

Oh shit. FP knows about Penny and is staying a Serpent to protect Jughead. He is pissed that Jughead didn’t do the only thing he asked him to do. FP is here to clean up the mess. He’s doing what he has to do. What he always does. He’s just the best. That forehead kiss broke my damn heart. I love him.

Okay so like did Archie and Veronica just break up because Veronica isn’t ready to love him? Jughead doesn’t want Betty to get wrapped up in the Serpent world so he’s breaking up with her to protect her? Yikes. Why is everyone getting dumped? This is such drama.

Oh shit so now Archie is going to go after Betty because he knows that she can love him? Fuck. I can’t deal with this.

Alright now for real. Where is Smithers? There must have been a reason they had him replaced with Andre. Where is Kevin? Hanging out with his hot dad? Where is Reggie? Hanging out with his rich dad? For the love of god WHERE IS MOOSE?

[imgilmoregirl]

A Thing Between Light And Darkness (Chapter 7)

AO3 Link

It was Saturday morning and Gideon was facing a sketch book as he drew the lines of the hood that covered the woman’s face. He had been dreaming about her for some weeks now, but his dreams always ended up at the same point: he tried to reach for her, then there was the unmistakable sound of a shot and suddenly, he died. Or better, he woke up, but somehow Gideon knew it was the end of the dream, because it was the end of him.

The boy finished the draw, facing the woman’s delicate lines, which looked so identical to the face that had been haunting his dreams and took a deeper breath, closing the sketch book and looking up at the ceiling. Things weren’t right anymore. He wasn’t supposed to be dreaming about inexistent people and thinking about himself as a magical being or urging to be at the garden and get more answers about powers he knew he wasn’t supposed to have.

It seemed like it was yesterday that his drunk father knocked on his door, saying in a languished voice that he was going to the grocery store and he should wash the freaking dishes before leaving. Gaston never came home and it seemed that ever since that day, everything changed in his life.

Standing up, he got the car keys and slipped them to his pocked, already knowing that he wasn’t going to get back there so soon and made his way to the kitchen, where he found Mrs. Potts working in front of the oven and his mother, sat by the breakfast table, dark circles around her eyes, showing that he didn’t have a great night of sleep.

"Hey, mama, I haven’t seen you arriving yesterday," Gideon said, kissing her cheek before sitting by her side and serving himself with some cereal.

"Yeah, I’m sorry, sweetie," Isabelle murmured, holding her teacup tightly. "I had to revise a research for the University and I think I might go back there today, because I wasn’t able to finish all the work."

Lifting the spoon to his own mouth, Gideon took sometimes chewing the cereal to think about the right answer. What he truly wanted was to ask his mother to stay home with him, so he could talk to her about the things that were bothering him and confusing his mind. With her, Gideon knew he could be sincere without expecting any judgement, Belle would hear everything he needed to say and she would do it with an open mind. But of course, she wasn’t going to be around time enough for them to have a real conversation.

"Oh," he mumbled. "Alright, but I'll miss you."

"And so, will I," his mother replied. "Be good to Mrs. Potts, ok?"

Nodding Gideon started to eat in silence again. He loved his mother very much, but along the last year it seemed that something had changed her; he didn’t think it was his father’s death, because Gaston was only cruel to Belle, most of the time. However, he couldn’t deny that she was different, more secretive and staying at the library until late night, doing a research he never knew nothing about.

When he finished his breakfast, Gideon washed his bowl and spoon, got his school bag and stopped beside Belle, watching as she traced invisible lines at the table, eyes appearing to be slightly hopeless, before he laid a hand on her shoulder and she glanced up at him with a huge smile.

"Listen, I have to finish some homework with Roderick, so, I see you by dinner or will you be already gone?"

"No, I'll eat with you," Isabelle promised. "Take care of yourself."

Gideon kissed the top of her head and disappeared through the hallway. It only took the needed time for the car’s noises to be distant to Mrs. Potts to turn around, resting both hands on her own hips as she faced Belle with narrowed eyes.

"He is not going to Roderick's and you were not at the University when you said you were," the housekeeper accused. "What happened this time?"

"Nothing," she shrunk.

"You can't fool me, Isabelle. Speak."

Her tone was authoritarian and commanding. Belle knew best than to anger Mrs. Potts, but she didn’t wish to bring more worries to her house, when she already had so many in her own mind. The last thing she wanted was to have more people concerned, even though she knew it would be only a matter of time before the housekeeper learned the truth.

"Gold found everything out," Belle sighed. "He knows Gideon is his son. And I didn't come home because I was with him."

"Are you mad, woman?" Mrs. Potts yelled, making her jump on her seat. "Do you know the threat these people are for your boy?"

"Yes, I know and that's why I told Rumford the truth. I may not like to admit it, but I will need his power," the brunette remarked. "He is the only one who can protect our son."

For the first time since she spoke with Gold, Belle was being sincere with someone, of course Ruby knew everything, but she had watched their whole forbidden love story at front seat and surely didn’t waste time leaving her a note saying how stupid she was being now. But Ruby, differently from her, thought they could face the darkness alone and, Belle who had already seen much of it was pretty sure that without help, they would all die.

"I protected the house. And I'm trying to protect Gideon, but he keeps getting involved with Alice," Mrs. Potts bounced, a flicker of despair appearing on her shaky voice. "The boy seems to seek danger, just like you."

"I know, my old friend and I'm grateful for everything you're doing, but we both know that you're not as powerful as an Incubus," Belle said, reaching for her hand, squeezing it gently. "And when Malcolm comes... He will want my son."

Alice was already waiting when Gideon arrived the garden. She was sat near the place where they found the chain that apparently cause the vision they had about her uncle, a pile of books by her side as she wrote something in a notebook. Gideon approached her with a smirk on his lips.

"Study time?" He inquired, dropping his backpack to the ground before sitting beside the blonde girl.

She looked at him with a frown, clearly not in her best mood. Gideon hoped he could fully understand her someday, but as much as she seemed to be willing to share some bits of her life with him, the girl was still a closed book. Or better, a mystery book, and it would take time to solve all of her.

"You think yourself so funny..." Alice contemplated with disdain. "This is serious."

"I know, I'm sorry."

He reached for one of the books in the pile beside her, moving to sit face to face with Alice so he could have a better access to them. Gideon had never seen something that looked so ancient as those books; their covers were made with dark leather, the titles, all very fantasying and confusing, written with what he thought to be golden ink.

"See? There is very proof you are magical," Alice pointed out. "Mortals can't touch these books directly without burning their fingers."

"Nice," Gideon grumbled, wondering if this was some kind of test. "So where do we start?"

Taking the book from his hands, Alice opened it and flipped some pages, until she found what she wanted and placed it back to his lap.

"Here, Incubus."

"What is this? Another kind of witch?"

"No," the girl rolled her eyes. "They are mostly dark creatures who feed themselves from Mortals."

Of course, he wasn't a stupid person, he was raised by a mother who was a scholar and a librarian, obsessed with books and acknowledgment, he knew the obvious answer was not always the right one, but he couldn't help letting slip through his lips the first thing that came to his mind.

"Oh, so basically vampires?"

"Don't be stupid, vampires don’t exist," Alice exclaimed, as if she now thought he was an idiot. "They don't feed themselves from blood they... Well, they feed from their vital energy during intimate acts."

A strong blush came to her cheeks and the girl looked away as he processed the information. Intimate acts. He could feel himself blushing now too.

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh," she coughed. "So, I think you're one of these."

Eyes getting wide, Gideon felt offended.

"Wait, I'm not some kind of manic."

"Of course, not," Alice bounced tapping a finger to the opened page of the book he still had, but that was completely forgotten by the boy. "And you wouldn't be now anyway because an Incubus is only complete in power when it reaches the age of twenty. Until then, you're almost normal."

In actual fact, Gideon's had was spinning. That couldn't be true. He couldn't be a monster obsessed with hunting woman down to make himself strong and powerful. And yet, he had his hand firmly wrapped around the book and they weren't burning.

"Sure," he muttered, trying to cope with everything she said.

"My uncle is one of a kind. He doesn't feed himself from woman's strength," Alice continued. "He steals dreams instead."

"Really?"

"It doesn't work the same way, because it means he is fighting his inner darkness, but it keeps him alive."

Internally the boy celebrated those words. So, there was another way. If he was really an Incubus he didn't need to be a monster, he could be a cool guy who occasionally invaded people's dreams. It wasn't that bad.

"Well, your uncle is very brave," Gideon praised.

"He uses to say he is a coward."

"I don't think so," the boy smiled. "But what brings you to the conclusion that I'm an Incubus and not anything else?"

Alice sighed.

"The power I feel in you is different from mine. It's like the one I feel in uncle Rum."

"That might explain why you think I look like him," Gideon chuckled.

The blonde girl laughed slightly, as she analysed her friend's expression, recognising the lines of his chin, eyes and ears from someone who she knew for an entire life. It wasn't a theory for her anymore but an undeniable truth and she thought it was only a matter of time for either Gideon or her uncle to realise that.

"You have no idea," she whispered under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing. Hold my hand," Alice asked and so did the boy. "What do you feel?"

Gideon concentrated in trying to notice something that wasn't the smoothness of her palms against his, until a strange feeling settled in him.

"It's like tickles on my fingers," he told her.

"Concentrate," she commanded. "Think about lifting."

He did and in a slip second all the fallen leaves around them where fluttering, held in the air by a magic Gideon didn't knew until now. He could now feel the great power that emanated from him keeping the leaves in place and he felt good as if for the first time in his life he was doing exactly what he was meant to.

"Whoa."

"You, my dear, Gideon," Alice started, very slowly, "is definitely gifted."

That was when the world got twisted. In a second he was about to pull away from her hand and start trying to make other magic tricks, although he had no idea how, and in the other, he was observing a scene that clearly took place inside the Gold Manor. He recognised the living room, even though the furniture was different, darker and with no big piano or shelves full of collective items there, but it was still the same.

The front door opened to reveal a younger Rumford Gold walking in and taking off his coat, before someone stopped behind him.

"Where were you?" An older man asked Gold.

"Studying," Rum shrugged walking away from the man.

"Liar. You were with that Mortal girl again," he inquired, a smirk on his lips as he followed the boy. "Did you have some fun, lad?"

"I'm going to sleep."

Rumford's tone was cold and the frown on his face let it clear that the last thing he wanted was to be having this conversation.

"You look healthy. I can almost feel the strength of your powers," the man pointed out. "I bet you screw her until she was senseless."

"Shut up," Rum yelled.

There was a loud noise of glass breaking and then the living room's floor was full of small pieces of it. All the windows had been broken by Gold's unbridled powers.

"That's what I like to see," laughed the other man. "But don't get much attached. We all know that you'll end up killing her in the end. And please do our family a favour and prevent yourself from getting the little bitch knocked up. Our magic fade in Mortal's blood and we want a strong line."

With these words, Rumford exploded. In a minute he was heading to the staircase, in the other he was attacking the man and making him fall on the floor as a punch hit his chin.

"You don't talk this way about her ever again, did you hear me?"

"No, you hear me, lad," he said behind clenched teeth changing positions and grounding Rumford on the floor, a hand firmly pressed to his throat, making him choke. "You better kill her soon or I'll will do it for you."

A gasp left Gideon's mouth as he came back to his senses. When he looked up he realised that Alice was wearing the chain they had found there.

"Your uncle again," Gideon complained, standing up before they had the chance of being dragged to another vision.

"Yes," Alice confirmed. "And my grandfather, Malcolm. I think now I know why they hated each other."

She quickly picked her things and headed back to the Manor, taking off the chain while she did so. First day of lessons was over.