#becoming a vampire in a vampire story is always the correct choice

[misty-moth]

If ikevamp MC became a vampire in the mansion, she could just wait until the day she went to the Louvre and resume her life from there, right? If even just long enough to tell her friends and family that she’s okay. If she misses her life for a century, she’ll at least know it’s still there and there will be a vacancy coming up.

Hell, she could even show up at the museum and watch her first run-in with Comte since there was already a crowd there. Maybe she pushed rogue Swiss man into her past self to jostle her earring; we just don’t know what she’s capable of 😒…

[breaddwoo]

-Bloody Kisses-

pairing: wednesday x vamp! reader

word count: 3.22k

warnings: slight nsfw, blood

desc: wednesday helps you with your blood deficiency and becomes addicted to the pain of your bite :)

a/n: lowkey erotic despite there being nothing sexual 😭😭 will probably write a pt 2!!

edit: pt 2 is out :)

tonight was like any night for wednesday; pitch black gear on to help camouflage her in the dead of night, hoping to once again get a glimpse of the hyde.

what she didn't expect was to watch a girl tumble limply down the incline that wednesday took shelter at the bottom of.

she heard a few coughs, painful ones that sounded full of death. coughs like those came from people close to hades' door.

in her intrigue, wednesday couldn't help but lift from her hiding spot and slowly trek towards the girl laying face down in the fallen autumn leaves. she knelt, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder to flip her upright.

who she saw was someone she recognized to be one of enid's closest friends. from enid's stories, her name is (y/n) and she happened to be part of the vampire division of the school.

wednesday noticed your eyelids begin to flutter with consciousness and she took a step back.

when you fully opened them, it took you a second to recognize where you were. taking in your surroundings, wednesday's attentive gaze smothered you.

your arms began to lift you from the ground, but they went limp and you collapsed into the leaves once more.

"you look awful," wednesday said in her monotone voice.

you looked up to her, eye twitching with pain, "gee, thanks."

"i suppose you're (y/n)."

"and i suppose you're wednesday addams," you retorted, a painful coughing fit following soon after.

"how come you're in this state?" she questioned. it almost sounded like concern, but you knew enough from enid that wednesday doesn't feel emotions like that.

you let out a self-pitying laugh, "i can't ingest the animal blood offered at school. i always throw it up, no matter how hard i try. i'm dying and i can't tell anyone."

"are you not already dead?"

her insensitivity was astounding.

"my bad for not using the correct terminology," you spat, another coughing fit taking over your lungs and causing you to clench the soil beneath.

as wednesday watched your life drain from your weak body, an idea dug itself into her thoughts. "is it human blood that you desire?"

you looked at her like she was stupid. the expression on your face was answer enough, so she continued, "i will give you some of mine."

now your pale face was dumbstruck. is this bitch crazy?

"why the fuck would you want to do that?" you asked, thinking her suggestion was absolute nonsense.

"to say that i am curious about the feeling of a vampire bite would be a... crude understatement," she replied, her eyes the color of the sky above, omitting the stars.

you shook your head defiantly, "absolutely not. i don't think i could control myself, i might just suck you dry."

wednesday's mouth twitched, restraining a masochistic smile.

"do you really have a choice, (y/n)? "

you looked down at yourself. your throat felt like hell fire and every single limb held an unbearable ache. you were treading a thin line between immortality and mortality, and that scared you.

running a hand through your hair, you gazed back up at her, "fine. we do this once, and i will owe you. just please, please don't tell anyone. i'm afraid everyone will believe i'll go ballistic without blood and i'll get expelled."

wednesday nodded and slowly sat beside you, her small frame accentuated by the moon light behind her. getting a better look, you could tell how pretty she was. enid never mentioned that.

"what is it that you need me to do?"

you looked at her, examining what she was wearing. a black spaghetti strap dress that zipped from behind with a long sleeved turtle neck beneath.

realizing what you were about to say, your face began to warm, "uhm- you'll need to uh, to removed the turtle neck under your dress."

she nodded, then said, "it would be easier if you would unzip the dress for me."

how she kept a calm, emotionless expression on her face was beyond you. having this much contact with someone you've only heard about through stories made your face flush red.

after unzipping her dress, wednesday didn't even hesitate to pull the turtle neck over her head. this exposed most of her bare, pale back and the inky lace bra that her clothes had hidden. you were intensely mortified.

"w-wait, are you okay with me seeing this? i-" your words of embarrassment were cut short by more hacking, this time with a string of blood down the side of your mouth.

"i am fine," she stated, moving the dress back up and concealing her bra once more. now her shoulders and neck were fully exposed. your mouth practically flooded with saliva at the thought of piercing the smooth skin with your fangs.

"(y/n), " she said, this time with a little force in her tone, "do it. i want you to."

these words made your chest tighten. you tried to breathe a little more steady, "okay."

scooting closer to her, you moved one of her black braids from the left side of her neck to let it hang behind her. you took her bare shoulders in your hands, leaning close to the skin of her exposed neck.

though you felt awful for what you were about to do, you also felt completely exhilarated.

and, surprisingly, so did wednesday. the way you gently caressed her as your warm breath tickled the skin about to be pierced; it had her mind tangling in knots that she couldn't be bothered to unravel.

the prick of pain that followed the penetration of your teeth made wednesday's entire body shiver. she was hyper aware of the blood draining from the spot you assaulted but the feeling was intensely pleasing.

she felt warm. then she felt cold. her shoulder went fuzzy, like it no longer blonged to her. then her mind floated in a euphoria she'd never experienced before; the pain was like a bruise she enjoyed pressing on.

you also felt incredible. with each second that passed by, it felt like life was entering your body once more. the liquid vitality that you consumed almost made your still heart beat again.

you loved the feeling. you wanted to drink. you wanted all of it, all of her. but in the back of your mind, a small voice screamed at you to stop. the voice got louder until you forced yourself to pull away.

a small stream of blood dripped to wednesday's collarbone. "you can lick it," she said in a monotone voice laced with need. you shook your head, wiping your mouth.

wednesday couldn't wrap her head around the euphoric feeling that your bite had inflicted on her; all she knew was that she wanted to experience it again.

with your fangs on full view, color returned to your face and a body back to it's original state, you looked like a whole new person. this thought set a fire ablaze in her stomach and she couldn't tell if she enjoyed it or not.

her arms felt like wet noodles. she tried to lift them, attempting to put her garment back on; it was to no avail.

you saw this, "i'm sorry, i drank too much. let me help you."

as you went to help her, she fell backwards onto your lap. eyes widening in concern, you lean close to check her complexion, "wednesday, are you okay? i'm sorry, i really should have restrained myself. "

"no," she shook her head adamantly, "i requested this. and it's not like being in this state is unenjoyable."

you pressed your lips together in a line full of judgement, but said nothing. after her clothes were placed back on her, she tried to lift herself off of you.

"wait, wait- trust me, if you can't put your own clothes on then you can't stand by yourself," you said with care, standing and placing her arm around your shoulders.

the walk back to nevermore was quiet. neither of you spoke a word, wednesday too light headed from the painful pleasure of your teeth. she even forgot what she had been doing outside in the first place.

when you arrived at her dorm, she was still weak and needed support. wednesday held a finger to her lips. her dead eyes motioned to the door. you knew that enid was inside, and hopefully, she was asleep.

with the door unlocked, you assisted wednesday to her bed. when you went to set her down, however, you tripped on the corner of her bedsheets that hung to the floor.

wednesday's eyes widened in surprise as you came crashing down on top of her. chest to chest, the details of her face were in close proximity. you could practically trace patterns in her constellation of freckles.

shuffling and the sound of a comforter moving came from the other side of the room. enid.

wednesday's arms encircled you as she pressed you closer to her chest, forcing your head to hide in the crook of her neck.

your face was practically on fire. this is so not how tonight was supposed to go.

"shhh," she whispered, completely unfazed. you could tell she was being cautious of her sleeping roommate.

as her soft, black hair began to tickle your nose, she released you. you quickly backed away from her, making sure you stayed quiet.

"thank you," you whisper. she gives you a slightly perplexed expression in response.

tiptoeing to the door, you open it. looking behind one last time, you notice that wednesday has situated herself into a more comfortable position. you waved at her, and close the door without a sound.

wednesday lay there, mind recounting the events of the night. she tried to cipher through them, but one thought continued to surface through the rest:

she smells like vanilla.

> > >

wednesday wanted to see you again. it seemed like every time she caught a glimpse of you in the hallway, you soon disappeared as if you hadn't been there.

it was starting to frustrate her. were you avoiding her?

the thought made her grind her teeth; it also made her insanely confused. normally, she would prefer that people avoided her. but with you, it just made her want to scratch at her skin.

finally, during lunch period a week later, she saw you sitting with enid and her group. wednesday contemplated whether or not it would be a good idea to go up to you; she had promised to keep the ordeal a secret. no one knew the two had any connection to one another.

her heart outweighed her brain in the end and she stepped into the maze of lunch tables.

"(y/n)," she called. the words you were speaking to enid dropped from your mouth when you noticed the girl in black next to you.

you smiled, fangs displayed, "oh, uh- hey, wednesday."

wednesday's eyes turned to where your tray should be, noticing that you had nothing to eat.

"i need to talk to you," she stated, "in private."

enid raised a brow, trying to subtly ask her why? but wednesday pretended to be ignorant; though, she knew she wouldn't be able to avoid an interrogation later.

you awkwardly laughed, giving a strained smile, "sure."

when wednesday lead you to a deserted hallway, her expression changed into a slightly angry one.

"are you avoiding me?" she asked bravely. you were surprised.

"well, we're not friends so i didn't think we needed to see one another."

the answer irritated her.

she tried to restrain her snarkiness, "i see you're still avoiding the animal blood."

you nodded, afraid of where this was going. it's not like you didn't enjoy what you both did a week ago; it was quite the opposite actually.

every time you thought of her your breath caught in your throat. the image of her bare shoulder basically served on a silver platter plagued your mind. god, avoiding her was awful.

you just knew that if you saw her again, you wouldn't be able to control yourself anymore. the little restraint you had was terrifying.

"so? what do you want?" your words came off a bit harsher than you intended, but you were afraid of her intentions.

she cracked a small smile, but it quickly dissipated as she said, "i want to do it again."

you knew it.

"wednesday, what we did- we can't do it again. i'm not as strong as you think," you tried to explain, "i was able to restrain myself last time. i won't be able to again."

wednesday took a step closer; her cold breath sending a ghostly chill down your spine.

"what if i don't want you to?"

you didn't know what to say. her words were painfully tempting; if you could, you would tear her uniform in the middle of the hallway and consume a waterfall.

you stayed silent for a moment, then cracked, "okay, fine, meet me at my dorm tonight. my roommate has plans so she won't be there."

elation filled wednesday to the brim; if she could scream and jump up and down in excitement she would've. instead, she nodded her head once and said, "see you then," before slipping into the darkness of the empty hallway before her.

you took a seat on a nearby bench, putting your head in your hands.

she really had you wrapped around her finger.

> > >

as you had instructed wednesday later in the day with a slip of your dorm key in her hand, she snuck into your room at the devil's hour.

there she caught you in pajamas, reading a book on your windowsill. she cocked her head a bit. the scene perplexed her.

wednesday had never seen you in casual clothing before; nor did she know that you enjoyed reading. this information was practically useless but it made her feel a closeness to you that felt impossible before.

your room wasn't bright like enid's; there were a few pinups of different artists and a cd collection on a small bookshelf. warm lighting made the room feel comfortable, unlike the white hospital lights that wednesday utilized in her own.

it took you a second to realize wednesday had arrived, quickly placing a bookmark in a page and turning towards her.

"are you sure you want to do this again?" you asked, wanting to reaffirm her consent.

wednesday already began taking off the black cardigan she wore over her tank top, looking at you with eyes that spelled are you daft?

you nodded, socked feet making small thumps on the ground as you walked toward your bed.

you patted the spot to your right. wednesday understood this signal, sitting close enough that her thighs touched your own.

a shaky breath left your throat. you were going to do this. it was too late to back out now; not with wednesday waiting patiently before you.

she pushed the strap of her tank top off her shoulder, leaving it completely naked. then you realized that the position the two of you were in wouldn't make this process comfortable enough.

"wednesday, do you mind- uh, shit, how do i say this," you were practically sweating as you swiveled towards her, legs criss crossed.

she mirrored your movements. her eyes were leveled with yours, patiently waiting for your directions.

"please- fuck, please sit in my lap. it'll give me the best angle so that i don't hurt you too badly."

you swore you saw a little flush spread on her freckled cheeks.

"alright," she agreed, crawling over to you. wednesday put her hands on your shoulders as she placed herself in the divot between your crossed legs. in this position, she was basically straddling you.

shit, isn't this a tad too intimate?

your thoughts were far beyond obsurd considering this was your request. knowing this, you sighed and let your eyes wander to her exposed shoulder.

"you're looking at it as if it's a buffet, you know," wednesday stated. you looked up at her, giving an annoyed face.

"i'm just nervous, geez."

wednesday's icey hand slithered up your back and rested at the nape of your neck. she guided your head closer, encouraging you to feast.

"do it," she whispered, her breath tickling your ear. by now, any self-discipline you tried to scrounge up had long vanished.

you leaned in. licking the chosen spot on her neck for a second, wednesday shuddered under your touch.

when you let your teeth puncture the virgin skin, you couldn't help but wrap her in your arms as you gripped her back.

wednesday let her head fall back, closing her eyes. the painful ecstasy was hers once again. this time felt different, though.

this time it was more than just the fangs deep in her skin; it was you, holding her tight as the familiar fragrance of vanilla washed over her senses. pain and pleasure were two sides of the same coin and wednesday felt light headed as she experienced both at once.

your fingers found their way under her tank top, wanting to grab at more than fabric. the taste of her blood made the world turn to static. your ears went deaf and all you could focus on was the girl in your lap and the way her jet black hair brushed against your face.

this act was like a drug administering the same affect on both addicts. you felt drunk and as your teeth sunk further in her shoulder, so did wednesday.

with her abdomen against yours, there was no room for you to get closer. when you pulled away, wednesday looked at you with her eyes half-lidded.

your mind was in a fog as you gazed at her. with the taste of blood still afflicting your tongue, your only thought was how beautiful wednesday looked.

and as she met your inebriated gaze, an overwhelming urge to kiss you took hold of her actions.

she leaned in. despite knowing close to nothing about you and wanting little to do with romance, she wanted you. she wanted you and the painful pleasure you bestowed upon her.

you got swept up in the moment and kissed her back instantly. you squeezed her closer, grazing her lip with your fang. irony blood tainted your lips. the taste left you higher than any drug.

opening her mouth, wednesday deepened the sinful kiss and you reciprocated in full. you felt like you couldn't breath. you didn't want to pull away.

just as wednesday's tongue skimmed your teeth, you pulled away.

deep breaths fogged the cold windows of the small dorm room. you still held her as her dead eyes held something a little more than a dark abyss; something even wednesday couldn't understand.

she wanted to continue, to ask you to bite her again and again and again. it didn't matter if you took all of her; it would be a great headline on a tombstone.

so, once you'd filled your lungs, wednesday stole away the distance of your lips once more.

you fell back, holding her. by now it was far past four in the morning, with school in three hours.

neither of you cared. the bloody kisses were an intoxication full of need; tonight would feel like forever.

[daechwitatamic]

Of Ruin: Chapter 5 || KTH

(banner by @/itaeewon)

Of Ruin (Masterpost)

Rating: NSFW - minors dni Genre: vampire!au magic!au royalty!au, s2l, slow burn, eventual smut, angst and fluff

Summary: Taehyung of House Rune, Prince of Infracticus has been cursed. You’re the human world’s leading curse-breaker. It should be simple. But unraveling the curse becomes the least of your problems in the face of a world on the brink of civil war… and the love you start to feel for the prince.

A/N: Thank you endlessly to @/sailoryooons for betaing!!! 💕

//

Section Warnings: language probably, tense situations with dangerous vampires, angst ig?

wc: 4.6k

Midmorning finds you and Namjoon seated on the stone floor around the low center table of your main room. The table is littered with papers and open books, pens and half-full coffee cups. Your previous argument forgotten, you’ve spent the morning productively and companionably. 

On the paper closest to you, you’ve made a list of all the threads of the curse that you’re confident are present, the same ones you’d discussed with Prince Taehyung in this very room yesterday. On Namjoon’s side of the table is a list of possible threads - things you’re unsure about, things you’re considering, things that are possible but thus far unproven.

On the paper beside yours, you’ve begun listing options to counter each of these threads. There’s always more than one way. The key to a countercurse is to first determine each thread that must be countered, and then find the exact correct counter for each one. 

It isn’t even a matter of countering each individual strand - there are elements of finding the least-common-denominator, in a way: you need the best thing that will counter as many as possible at once. 

One thread might be best countered by a certain incantation, but if a different one will counter three threads, then it’s the better choice. 

Once you know what incantations and magical elements you need to include in the counter, you can begin to decide how best to weave them together and cast them effectively into a countercurse. 

“We counter the infliction of pain with healing,” you mutter, tapping your pen against the paper. You look at Namjoon, thinking hard. “Do you think we could tap into the prince’s healing abilities for that?”

Namjoon’s eyes widen and he scrambles for his own pen, starting to write quickly before he can lose the train of thought. “Yes,” he answers you as he writes. “Yes, that’s brilliant. Instead of weaving in our own healing spell, we can pull his ability to the surface - it’s much cleaner that way.”

“I was also thinking about this…” you muse, glancing up to see that Namjoon is following. “I know this might sound silly, but… I was thinking about the creation myth? The Hunter and the Highest, do you know it?”

He looks confused, but nods. “Who doesn’t?”

“The myth serves as an explanatory tale,” you say, accidentally slipping into professor-mode, “regarding how the Infracti changed from just monster.”

“They were traded humanity,” Namjoon says, trying to remember the story.

“Traded, gifted - yeah. The magic-wielders gave them humanity. So, I’m wondering… if that’s what we’re meant to do now, with the countercurse. Return his humanity.”

Namjoon thinks on this. “That’ll be a hell of a thread for us to create,” he muses, and you have to agree.

You’re interrupted by a knock on the door, and Dansoo approaches, looking down at where you and Namjoon are seated on the floor. You look up at him expectantly, your hand frozen mid-air, still clutching your pen.

“Her Majesty the Queen has requested your company,” the Infracti says to you, tone cold. He’s probably still pissed that you escaped the other night. 

You look down at yourself - you’re in sweatpants and a t-shirt, feet in fuzzy socks. 

“Can I, uh… get changed first?” you ask, gulping.

The Infracti man looks over you, lip curling just a touch. “I would recommend that, yes,” he says flatly. 

“Okay,” you say, nodding. “Please wait for me outside. I’ll come out when I’m ready.”

“Do be quick,” he says, casting you a sharp side-eye as he turns to return to the corridor. 

Namjoon looks up at you. “Do you think she wants both of us?”

You let out a wild laugh, anxiety already starting to worm its way through your system. “I don’t care if she doesn’t,” you say. “Please come with me. She scares me.”

Namjoon smiles at this. “I’d be honored,” he jokes, and heads to his room to - you assume - get more presentable as well.

You hurry to change, choosing something that you hope toes the correct side of the fancy-or-professional line. Once you’re done, you meet Namjoon back in the main room. 

“Ready?” he asks, and you nod. He lets you lead the way into the hall, and Dansoo leads you both deep into the palace into a wing you haven’t seen before. 

You notice something you haven’t seen before in your time in Infracticus - as you get further and further down this particular corridor… it gets brighter, sunlight filtering through stained-glass windows on the doors at the end of the hall. 

“Are we going outside?” you ask, peering over the Infracti’s shoulder, trying to peek through the more opaque pieces of glass. 

You’ve read about the physical characteristics of Infracticus, written papers about them, given lectures about them. But nothing prepares you for the momentarily blinding brightness of unfiltered sunshine, or the sudden melody of birdsong as you step out of the palace into Infracticus proper. 

Your trip to the ocean’s edge last night doesn’t count; it was too dark to see a thing. Now, in bright sunlight, you’re breathless, taking in the beauty around you.

You must have come out the opposite side of the palace, because the ocean isn’t visible, nor does it even smell particularly salty here. Instead, a mountain looms to your left, the summit cut off from view by sandstone palace walls. Trees line a distant stream that runs nearly black, like ink. And the sky - the sky ranges from periwinkle to deep violet. 

A light laugh breaks you from your reverie and you feel your face heat in embarrassment. The stone pathway you stand on ends before you with a roofed gazebo that seems to jut out over the valley below. Seated at the table, the Queen has been watching you stand in frozen wonder, staring in awe at the sky she has known for over a thousand years. 

“God,” Namjoon mutters beside you, and you know he’s feeling the same thing you are.

It’s beautiful, you mean to say. Instead, you utter, “It’s purple.”

“I remember my first time going above,” she tells you, as you remember your feet and make your way closer. You can’t keep your eyes off the sky for more than a second. You feel like you’re inside a painting. “I felt the same way about the blue.”

“I read so much about it,” you tell her. “But nothing could describe this.”

“It pleases me that you find beauty in Infracticus,” she says. 

“It’d be impossible not to find beauty here,” you breathe, turning further still to try and see more. “Could I go out there? With the prince, maybe? Do you think he’d take me, if I asked?”

The Queen purses her lips and says, “I imagine after you break the curse for him, the prince would do nearly anything you asked of him.”

This reminder of your purpose here sobers you. You find yourself forgetting, yet again, that you aren’t here just to experience Infracticus.  

“Please join me, both of you,” the Queen says, opening a hand towards the empty chair across from her. There are a variety of pastries and fruits on the table, and you can tell that a small section of them aren’t bloodfood, but human food. There’s also a set of some sort of chess-like board game, the pieces intricately carved like tiny works of careful art. “My son said you were eager to see more of Infracticus. I thought it might help ease your restlessness to come outside. These are my private quarters, so no one will stumble upon us here.”

Prince Taehyung had said he wouldn’t tell on you; he must have mentioned that you were wanting to look around. Hopefully he left out that you’d tried, and been caught.

“Have you played before?” she asks, watching as you delicately take the seat she’d offered and pick up a piece to examine it. 

Namjoon shakes his head, peering closer. “It’s not chess?” he asks, eyeing the different pieces for differences.

“I’ve played, but only with humans,” you tell her, turning the piece over in your hands. “It’s similar to chess, but the pieces and their movements are different.”

“Would you join me for a game?” she asks lightly. 

You look at her over the top of the piece in your hand. If you’re right, and you aren’t completely sure, the piece is called the Seer. Behind it, the Queen watches you. Her eyes are inhuman, all black, and you find them hard to read. Her mouth quirks like she’s considering a smile, but you can’t discern if there is any true warmth behind it. 

She’s beautiful. She’s frightening. 

“Yes, of course,” you answer. “But you may need to help remind me of the rules.”

She gives a slightly bigger smile and begins to set the board up, and you replace the Seer where you think it goes. She gives you a pleased nod.

“I know it’s only been a day, but I wanted to inquire about your progress,” she tells you as she places the last piece, the single Bloodletter, on its spot. 

She moves her first piece and sits back, waiting for your answer to both her question and her movement. 

“We’ve identified many strands of the original curse,” you tell her, turning your shoulders to indicate inclusion of Namjoon, who sits in the chair beside you, watching the game board intently. It wouldn’t surprise you if he knew the rules by heart at the end of one game. “But certainly not all of them.”

You move a Mason piece, and then add, “There’s more we need to investigate. I need to spend more time with the prince, and perhaps run a few rituals to suss out what we can’t find through questioning.” 

The Queen accepts this, nodding, and the game continues, pieces beginning to fill the middle space of the board. She asks a few follow-up questions about the threads you’ve determined, about what might help you discover the rest.

You don’t want to go over the prince’s head to his mother, even though you firmly believe that seeing him while the curse is active will be paramount to your work. You’d rather change his mind yourself, rather than risk making him upset with you. 

You eye the board as you answer, weighing your options. You could move a Mortal, which would be a very safe movement and wouldn’t earn you much. You could let your Mason take a hit, which would open a path for your Seer. Or, you could take on the Bloodletter with your Priestess - which would give you a clear and unblockable shot at taking the Queen’s Thief. 

Do you dare actually take one of her pieces, before she’s taken one of yours? It wouldn’t win you the game, but it would certainly make this an actual competition. 

“I see the move you see,” she says evenly, her voice cool and still. “If I wanted to win without a challenge, I’d simply play against my staff.”

You smile at this, caught. “As you wish,” you tell her, and the Priestess takes the Bloodletter, the piece being placed to the side of the board, belonging to both and neither of you. On your next turn, as you’d arranged, you reach to take her Thief. 

The piece burns your fingers and nearly slips from your grasp as you jolt with surprise and pain; you sit forward in your seat and use both hands to catch the piece before it can hit the board and scatter the others. 

Cradled between your hands, the Thief glows - brighter and brighter, the color starting out orange and shifting quickly to yellow and then blue. It no longer burns where it touches you, but you set it down gently anyway, your hands starting to shake. 

The fingers that were burnt seem to pulse, the pain stabbing and unrelenting. You hold up the hand that stings, eyeing your injured fingertips, looking for evidence of the burn. There is none, but the smarting continues, keeping time with your quickened heartbeat. The blue light fades from the Thief as it lays still and unassuming, sideways on the tabletop. 

You do not reach for it again.

Behind you, Namjoon whispers your name. You don’t turn, instead locking your eyes on the Queen, whose face stays as impassive and unreadable as ever. 

“I would really like,” you say, your voice low and trembling, an animal caught in a trap for the second time in as many days, “to know what just happened to me.”

The Queen lazily lifts her hand and an Infracti woman appears at her side. “Fetch my son, would you?” she says, and then reaches to move one of her Mortals as if nothing had happened. 

When you don’t take your turn, she looks at you with those fathomless black eyes. “Does it still hurt?” she asks innocently. 

It does, but less than at first. Mostly, you’re suddenly terrified, hands still shaking so badly you don’t think you could grasp another game piece without dropping it. You’re reminded that you are alone here - that you cannot and should not completely trust a single Infracti, that every single one of them sees you as dinner to be toyed with before eating.

You should have known the game was more than a game. You should have known a request for your company was anything but.

“That was a magical reaction,” you say bluntly, feeling something harden behind your ribcage, armor sliding into place and latches snapping shut. “I’m very curious as to the specifics.”

Beside you, Namjoon has shifted into your line of sight, in your periphery. You can’t afford to turn and meet his eyes right now. You can’t afford to look frightened. 

The Queen is spared from answering you as Prince Taehyung strides up the walkway, brow furrowed. 

He takes in the scene in seconds - Namjoon’s hand hovering near you, alarmed like a mother hen; the Queen’s expression gone defensively haughty; and you - clutching your burned fingers, trying to fight against the frightened tears that threaten to give away your terror. 

He lets out an exasperated growl. “Mother,” he scolds, and then drops to kneel beside your seat. “May I heal that?” he asks you, expression open and apologetic. Your stupid heart dares to flutter - weakly, but there. The little ways he cares for you are enough to make you forget that he’s royalty - plus, inhuman.

It’s easier to forget when he’s made his eyes look human again today, as he had yesterday and the day before.

You nod mutely, letting him take your hand in his. He passes his thumb over the pad of each burned fingertip, and you feel the sting of the burn slip away, as you had imagined the whole thing.

“Thank you,” you whisper, keeping your eyes on him. His presence tethers you, is the only thing that allows you to feel safe. You want to hide behind him, make him stand between you and every scary thing here.

He stands again, but keeps your hand lightly in his own. He faces his mother, frowning again. “Well?” he demands. “Did you get the answer you wanted?”

The Queen sets her jaw in response.

Prince Taehyung scoffs and continues. “Do remember, Mother, that our guest could decide she doesn’t want to be here anymore. She could go right back to the human world and never look back. I certainly don’t want that - do you?”

You know he means for the sake of breaking the curse, but you can’t help but feel a rush of… something - gratitude? pleasure? - at his words.

“Come,” he says to you, giving your hand a light tug. “Mother’s played enough games for the day.”

You follow immediately, hearing the heavy steps behind you to indicate that Namjoon isn’t far behind. As Prince Taehyung nears the doors that lead back inside the palace, the Queen calls after him.

“It turned blue, Taehyung,” the Queen’s voice calls. “Almost instantly.”

Prince Taehyung doesn’t indicate that he’s heard, doesn’t even turn his head. He simply leads you inside without looking back.

In the safety of the palace, you feel yourself calming, no longer feeling like the Queen is simply playing with her food - with you. 

Prince Taehyung doesn’t speak to you until he’s led you both in your own main room, latching the door shut behind Namjoon, who takes up the rear.

He sighs apologetically, his head hanging a little. “I cannot seem to keep you out of trouble,” he laments.

“Was I supposed to refuse her request?” you say hotly, feeling suddenly defensive.

“Of course not,” he soothes. “I’m sorry my mother tried to scare you half to death. Is the pain gone? Are you better?”

“I feel better,” you tell him. “But… what did she do? What does that mean, it turned blue?”

He shakes his head, frustrated. “That’s an indicator of your magical quotient,” he explains. He’s frowning deeply, and your mind is whirring fast trying to fit pieces of information together. “She was… measuring your ability. Blue is… well, it’s quite high.”

Beside you, Namjoon makes a strangled noise, like he’s choked on his own breath.

He’s done the math faster than you.

“My magical quotient?” you repeat. “But I’m human. My magical quotient is zero, unless I’m casting - and that’s borrowed magic.”

“A human,” Namjoon murmurs to you, shifting protectively closer, “would have held nothing but a wooden game piece. There would have been no glow at all.”

Your eyes dart around the room for answers that aren’t there. Your head spins. You can’t even begin to process this - that you may be inherently magical - because still pressing is the question:

“Why did she want to know that?” you ask, your voice a bit like a gasp. Both men in the room are looking at you carefully. You’re a wild animal in a trap again. Again. 

You want to go home, you want it to stop. You want to feel safe, and you haven’t since the Infracti two days ago had cornered you at the top of the stairs. 

“I don’t know,” the prince admits, twisting his mouth to the side. “But I assure you, I know my mother well. Her intentions would not be to hurt you, or to frighten you. Even though it seems she did both.”

You shake your head, overwhelmed. “My parents were human,” you whisper. “What does this mean? Am I a -?”

You can’t make yourself say witch. This is too much. It’s too much.

Prince Taehyung reaches out a hand like he wants to comfort you, but thinks better of it and lets it rest at his own side again. “It happens that way sometimes,” he says gently. “You really didn’t know?”

You turn and look at Namjoon a little wildly. 

“Don’t look at me,” he laughs, holding up his hands. “I just met you.”

“Dr. Kim?” you press. “He never -?”

“If he had suspicions, he never told me,” Namjoon tells you seriously. “Though it does explain your… aptitude.” 

Something inside you feels like it’s sinking. “I thought I was just… well-studied,” you admit to no one. You feel weirdly like you’re grieving - like you’ve lost something instead of gained it.

You feel wilder still, less calm by the second. You need to get away from them both - their gazes too heavy. 

The prince shifts his weight uneasily. “I have to leave you now,” he says, and he sounds regretful. “But I’ll come check on you - rather, on your progress - after the court families leave this evening.”

He waits; you don’t reply. You’re reeling too fast - you can’t fake normalcy, not right now.

“That’s fine,” Namjoon says, looking sideways at you cautiously, like he’s waiting for you to explode. “We’ll try to get some work done this afternoon.”

Prince Taehyung nods in thanks and heads for the door. Before pulling it shut, he pauses, and somehow his eyes meet yours. The look he gives you borders on pitying, but stops shy of it. Instead, you read something understanding and sorrowful, like he’d rather stay. You wish he would.

“I’ll check on you later,” he repeats softly, just for you. 

You manage to nod. The door closes.

Namjoon looks from the door to you and then back again, like he’s starting to put pieces together of a puzzle you didn’t know you were part of.

“I think I need to be by myself for a little bit,” you manage to say, your voice flat and hollow even to your own ears. You close yourself in your own bedroom, change robotically into sweatpants and a loose t-shirt, climb onto your bed and roll to face the wall.

You’re feeling so much - too much, all contradictory and all overpowering and none of it mixing well together. You’re been foolish here, and you’re embarrassed. You feel unsafe. You feel afraid. You feel angry. You feel doubtful about the curse. You feel doubtful about your partnership with Namjoon. You still, despite everything that’s happened, feel eagerness to experience more of this place. You feel excitement at spending more time with Prince Taehyung, which is the stupidest part of all of this. You feel idiotic that you hadn’t known you have your own magic for almost thirty years. You feel bereft that what you’d thought was grit and hard work was actually unearned, inherent ability. You feel grief at losing your humanity.

It’s too much, and you’re a simple creature. It all furrows into one thought, and you repeat it to yourself over and over as your blue-grey walls blur before you: I want to go home, I want to go home, I want to go home, I want to go home.

You repeat it until, eyes puffy and nose stuffy, you drop helplessly into sleep.

—

When Taehyung enters the dining room, where his parents are already seated, it is with the energy of a stormcloud descending on a picnic. His father seems downright jolly, bristling with good cheer as Taehyung stalks his way towards them, scowling.

“Whatever are you so worked up about?” The Queen asks, peering carefully at him, as if she herself hadn’t just tried to scare away his best chance of a cure.

“The stunt you pulled this afternoon,” Taehyung says honestly, leaning his long legs against the sturdy wooden table and eyeing them both, arms crossed over his chest. He addresses his father, asking, “Did she tell you? That she tried to send the curse-breaker running? What would the plan be, if she left? I’d stay like this forever?”

They both ignore most of this outburst, exchanging a mildly amused look. Taehyung’s irritation digs its teeth in a little harder, pushes him closer to snapping.

“Well?” he demands.

“Your mother told me she tested the girl’s magical quotient,” the King admits, still smiling slyly at his wife. “Did she tell you? It glowed blue?”

“Who cares?” Taehyung bites out. “Beyond that she can use her innate magical abilities to cure me, which is all I care about.”

“That’s just the problem,” the Queen says with a sigh. “You’re failing to see the bigger picture, as usual, my dear.”

Taehyung grits his teeth. Six hundred years of their bullshit have been too many. “Enlighten me then,” he growls. 

The King raises an eyebrow, looks at him appraisingly. “Do you think I forgot about our little deal?”

Our little deal. As if it was just a laugh, to him. 

Taehyung finds himself scowling again. “Of course not. But I did think we could afford to shift our focus just a bit until the curse is broken.”

Their little deal, to Taehyung, was anything but little. And his side of the bargain, his price to pay, was to start meeting suitors, and to give them a fair shot. 

And he had - suitor after suitor, some human but most Infracti, some common but most from court, some clever or funny but most just… lacking. 

“You promised to give her a chance,” the King had complained when Taehyung had refused to meet one particular Infracti for a second date. 

“I am,” Taehyung had groused, aggravated but trapped. “Pick a better selection, that’s all I can tell you.”

“You need to think more like a prince and less like a -” 

Well, Taehyung doesn’t need to remember the rest of that sentence. It wasn’t very kingly. 

“What exactly does that mean?” Taehyung had challenged. It was a dangerous game, pushing back against his father. If their agreement crumbled, there was an awful lot at stake. He’s got to remember that this game affects more than himself and his pride.

“Think more about what she can do for the bloodline and less about if she gives you butterflies,” the King had snapped, eyes narrowed. Taehyung had slammed the door on his way out that day. 

“I believe we were shifting focus,” the Queen says, something softer in her tone, finally. “But I saw you two together, and wondered…”

Taehyung bristles, feeling weirdly protective of the little witch (apparently) who’d been brought here to fix him. “You saw us together and wondered what else you could get from her?”

The King laughs. “What are you angry for? We were curious about her - couldn’t you feel her magic?”

Taehyung grimaces. At first, he couldn’t. For your entire first meeting, he hadn’t felt a thing. 

He’d felt it, finally, when he’d found you in danger. You hadn’t thought to use it, but your magic had been screaming, so loudly that Taehyung had heard it before he could hear your heart beating. In your distress, your magical signature had risen to the surface, singing just under your skin, summoned by and answering the magic that was inherent in him, in all Infracti. They knew each other, these two magics, and they called like-to-like.

He’d known it was strong. He hadn’t known what to do with it, so he’d ignored it, had put the information away for another time.

It hadn’t occurred to him that others - his parents especially - might notice, might have their own questions they wanted answers to.

“I felt it,” he admits, voice low and defensive. 

“She has the potential to be quite powerful, if she learned. Imagine adding that kind of raw ability to our bloodline,” the King says, serious for the first time. 

Taehyung doesn’t answer. He’s busy remembering his deal with his father, his agreement to marry - for the sake of the bloodline. 

He’s thinking about all the suitors he hadn’t cared about at all. 

He’s thinking of waking up morning after morning exhausted, his muscles weak from hours of throwing his poor, battered body against the door, his eyes heavy from lack of sleep, his throat raw from growling like the animal he is, deep down. 

He’s thinking about the look of relief you’d sent him when you spotted him behind your attacker, and again when he’d appeared at the veranda this afternoon. Like you trust him, like you knew even if everyone else was a danger, he wasn’t. Like you believed in him, and no one else, to be more than a monster. Lately, he’s felt like the monster is winning, and being seen as more feels… as necessary as oxygen. 

“Of course we want her to end the curse above all else,” the Queen says gently, watching her son’s eyes go unfocused as he loses himself in his thoughts. “But when that’s done… maybe her time in Infracticus doesn’t need to be. Consider it.”

“I’m considering,” Taehyung concedes, moving to take his seat. The King beams, but Taehyung talks over him. “But you two need to watch your step with her. If you scare her away, she won’t end the curse - and then no one will marry me.”

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thank you for reading!!! <3

[flowerslut]

I don't know about you but I've always hated the trope of vampires being addicted to blood like it was drugs. That's like saying that a human can be addicted to regular water if they drink too much so they have to filter it or something to change it. I don't know, I just don't understand why they would be 'addicted' to the very thing they need to survive? It makes me think of the quote from Mad Max; Fury Road "Do not, my friends, become addicted to water. It will take hold of you, and you will resent its absence!" In saying that, I do find it very funny that Jasper can be addicted to certain emotions, like how he was following Bella around the house and reluctantly leaving rooms she was in when she came to visit because he was getting 'high' off her good mood and Edward was so bemused to see him in that state because he's typically sounded by moody bitches who always argue and complain so he's not used to someone (other than Alice but I think he's used to her now, whereas Bella would be a bit like a slap in the face I think) being so genuinely happy that he follows her around like pepe lepew and skunk stink. I read a fic once about Jasper/Alice and Emmett/Rosalie going to college and meeting there and joining frats and they were around a bunch of drunk college kids and Jasper was ALSO starting to act a little drunk and loose and silly because SO MANY DRUNK KIDS all in the same space together was starting to affect him too. I don't know. I've just been thinking about it

I've never really thought twice about the whole "blood thirst as an allegory for addiction/human vices" because that's always been tied together really well with most vampire stories. I sort of expect that measure of symbolism from vampire media now, and tbh you'd really have to do some heavy, intense worldbuilding to make a vampire universe where bloodlust isn't akin to sex or addiction or some sort of taboo in order to make it still have the correct ~vibes~ (not that it's impossible, but I think the struggle to having to resist, or not resist, is honestly part of the lure for some people.)

and I know what you're trying to do with the "humans can't be addicted to water" thing but if water could only be obtained through killing other people (which, ahem, *gestures to history books*) then people sure would be snapping necks to get it, aaand that makes for an interesting story! I think it (obsession with blood being used as an allegory for drug addiction) can lead to some really interesting story dynamics and plot conflict!!

"I just don't understand why they would be 'addicted' to the very thing they need to survive?" because it's interesting! what do you do when you have to kill to survive, even if it goes against everything you've ever been taught? i love it. 10/10. bring on the pain game. I want to see the hoops people will jump through to moralize their choices!!!! its fun dude!!!!! 🤩

it is cute that jasper's drawn to happy emotions but the way that stephenie implements it makes me roll my eyes half of the time. especially when edward is like "wow bella, jasper loves being around because your emotions are soooo nice and pure and good and addicting because our love is so #Strong! 😌" like, yawwwwn. talk about an informed trait. sorry steph I will never care about edbella 😔 and also, like, reading twilight from bella's pov we... really don't get the proof of her being such a happy person. homegirl has self-esteem issues out the ass so color me skeptical that her emotions were really that alluring 🙄

but it does lead to fun opportunities for headcanons whenever people ask "so...alice just walked up to jasper and he just? went with it?" because if all it takes is a bitch with a good mood to have this war criminal trailing behind them then jasper never stood a chance at being an independent entity. he would've been simping for the first person who didn't feel revulsion toward him. I guess we should be happy it was alice that scooped him up and not someone less cool and hot and fun

but yes! i love the opportunity for jasper's gift to really mess with him and its SO fun to play around with it in fic!!!! breaking dawn doesn't have a lot that I love but if does have some fun "jasper having to feel some nonsense" moments

[edwardsvirtue]

idk man, every time I see a post about how jacob was better for bella, how he accepted and understood her exactly how she was, how he could have made her so happy... i don't know how to say "yes! this is totally correct! but also missing the whole point."

the fact that bella had another option for happiness (where she wouldn't have to sacrifice anything or change herself at all) but STILL CHOSE EDWARD ANYWAY is meant to lend more significance to her decision, not to demonstrate that she somehow chose incorrectly. bella knows she has the potential to become something greater than what she is by becoming a vampire. she also knows that SHE can't make JACOB happy because she will never stop thinking about what could have been with edward. and i think this was what stephenie was trying to say with the HEA in breaking dawn.

it's not that team jacob is wrong, it's that the whole jacob/bella relationship was designed specifically to be a tragedy. stories have themes – it's not just about rewarding whichever character is the least problematic. i agree that stephenie communicated this theme really poorly, but this is how i've always personally interpreted eclipse. jacob deserved better than what he got, but he also deserved better than being bella's second choice.

[steely-eyedmissileman]

The Vampire Diaries, Ep. 1x01

Pilot

they did not name the pilot, but that's okay, most shows don't. however, sometimes pilot works for a show, sometimes it means something more than 'we are in hollywood and they didn't want us to name this thing.' for instance, in one of the (many) soft reboots of doctor who in recent years, for season 10, the final season of peter capaldi as the twelfth doctor, the first episode is called the pilot. the pilot is a character in that story, has a meaning. there is no pilot in the vampire diaries. from the very beginning, this show is pilot-less. it does not seem like any of the characters are driving the plot. unlike similar shows, like teen wolf and buffy the vampire slayer, there is not a choice in this episode that makes it clear that our protagonist(s) have agency over the things that happen to them. there is no 'body in the woods,' body of water or otherwise. there is no rush towards the graveyard after a girl we barely know. there is just a girl and her sometimes ridiculously overwrought diary.

i want to take a moment to discuss my history with vampires. simply put, i'm obsessed. i watched buffy the vampire slayer in high school and it fundamentally change me (for better and worse). i think about vampires a lot. i talk about vampires a lot. my classmates are not always very receptive to this as we are in grad school for physics and most physicists do not talk about vampires loudly in the office every day for months. i am more interesting than most physicists (i like to think.) i will compare the vampire diaries to buffy many times. i think many of those times will make tvd look bad. i have also seen teen wolf. teen wolf changed me too. when i watched the first episode of tvd, i thought 'he's so derek hale' about damon. then i realized that derek hale is so damon. this will not be the last time this happens, i am sure.

i have not seen the vampire diaries before. i have multiple friends who are obsessed with it, so it's not like i know nothing, but i'm coming to this from a position of familiarity with vampires, not these vampires. my immediate goal is to learn the rules of this particular set. it is not as easy as i would like.

full disclosure here: i watched this episode about two weeks ago. i just read a summary of what happens in this episode specifically because, unlike buffy, like teen wolf, tvd thus far exists in an unbroken stream in my mind. individual episodes are not distinct from each other, not units of meaning, simply dependent clauses in the runon sentence of this season. but we'll come back to that at the end of the season, probably.

dear god, so much stuff happens in this episode. i'm not going to talk about all of it. we are introduced to elena, who should have a cooler last name than gilbert. she is played by nina dobrev who is quite hot. she dresses like i did in elementary school (i was in elementary school when this episode premiered.) i find it very unnerving. we are then introduced to an absolute glut of characters who are hard to distinguish between and also incredibly difficult to remember (especially the men). no one looks the age they theoretically are. notably in the fucking revolving door of characters who pop out of the woodwork to assault me with their two thousand nine fashion, we meet bonnie. i like bonnie. she has prophetic visions and will become a witch. i was told i would like bonnie before i started watching this show. my best friend was correct. i love bonnie. i am more interested in her than anyone else. nevertheless, she, like all the other teenage characters, behaves in a way that i'm pretty sure american high schoolers didn't, even in two thousand nine. why was there such a big blowout party in the middle of the fucking woods with beautiful lanterns everywhere. (props to tvd for being able to light scenes well, even when they are in in-universe darkness. it is much better than some more recent shows i know.)

we also meet two vampires. they are obviously vampires, even if i didn't know about stefan and damon before just by virtue of having been a teenage girl when this show was coming out (to reconcile this time statement with earlier statements about my age, this show ran for eight seasons.) both of them are incredibly creepy. the only difference in how i felt about them after the pilot is that one of them is creepy and hasn't bitten a teenage girl in this episode and one of them is creepy and has bitten a teenage girl in this episode. stefan is currently my favorite (the non-biter. i like my 'good' vampires to do consensual biting.) i still not care for stefan all that much.

[lunas-otome-blog]

Luna's Review: Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~

Official Summary:

Venture into a reimagined steampunk version of 19th century London. Follow the adventures of the poison-skinned maiden Cardia, the men trying to help her, and the mysterious organization intent on capturing her.

Experience a visual novel adventure brimming with literary and historical characters including Victor Frankenstein and Abraham van Helsing. Will Cardia find love, or destroy those she cares for? Her story is in your hands.

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(Spoiler-Free) Luna's Thoughts

This game was ok! It wasn't the trainwreck that was "even if Tempest," nor was its storyline as convoluted as "Cafe Enchante." I liked the historical figures and other fictional references, and the art was lovely.

A small thing that annoyed me is that they keep referring to Cardia's skin as "poisonous." I believe poison has to be ingested, so it would be more correct to say she is "acidic," but I guess that's not very charming to say lol. There are also a few plot points that seem a bit silly, and I didn't think the true end character necessarily deserved that role.

But overall, this was a solid game. The steampunk London setting was cool AF and I enjoyed the emphasis on airships and steam power. All the routes were pretty different, and though I would have liked to see more crossover between them, none of them felt extremely out of line like in some other games I've played.

I wasn't excited enough about it to bother with the ample supply of bonus content on offer, but I did like it and would consider playing it again in the future.

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(SPOILERS) Common Route

Honestly, Cardia's backstory is the weakest part of the game as writers scramble to explain why she can't wear normal clothes or stay in one room for long. She can't eat with normal utensils, for example, but nobody is concerned that she might melt through her bed because her hair covers her back and her hair isn't poisonous for some reason. Some details were given a lot of thought and some are just explained away with "science" that happens off screen.

None of that is truly an issue, but I feel like it could have easily been more streamlined to say, for example, that Cardia can melt living things. That would still have the effect of making her isolated, alone, treated like a freak and unable to interact with humans. But it would do away with some of the more contrived details such as how she avoids melting into the ground.

The scene that should have been one of the most emotional — when Cardia tells the story of how she was trapped in a cave and accidentally killed her mother figure — ends up feeling frustrating, as you yell "just melt the rock!" at the screen the entire time. She does, but not until too late. "But she didn't know she created toxic air!" you say. Ok, but surely she didn't want to sit in the cave indefinitely? She could have just started work to melt the rock immediately. Maybe the result would have been the same, but at least it would seem more logical.

I thought the first choice to ignore Lupin's offer, which dead ends the game as Cardia sets out on her own adventure, was very funny. I also liked how she starts becoming more expressive as she spends time with her boys. My favorite part is how it shows her gaining skills and learning to fight and defend herself. That's refreshing compared to some other series where the protagonist is always being protected.

Below follows some thoughts on the actual routes, in the order I played them.

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(SPOILERS) Impey Barbicane

What I thought was going to be my least favorite route ended up being my favorite. Impey is the flirt archetype, and also the genki character of the game. His route was the lightest, as he carries the least baggage of all the characters, but his sincere nature got to me.

Unfortunately, his flirtiness makes him annoying in other routes. Like, boy, I'm romancing someone else, back off!!

I do wish Impey being a vampire was more relevant to the game in general. I know that angsting over the fate of the vampires was more for Victor, Helsing and Delacroix II, but having Impey be a vampire was basically thrown in for shock value and didn't end up being super relevant.

I did think Nemo was an extremely fun villain and his design and speech pattern are so unique. He was a good foil for Impey, as they have similar reasons for becoming engineers, but he becomes the typical "mad scientist" here and takes everything a little too far.

I'd say Impey's route was the simplest of the five, but for that reason, I also thought it was the most solid, and the one that left me with the least questions.

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(SPOILERS) Saint-Germaine

Call me nitpicky, but Saint-Germain is the character with the most baffling design choices IMHO. His hair is ridiculous. He only wears half of his coat the entire time. He has watches all over his arms that seem to do nothing. Truly some odd decisions were made during his creation.

Aside from Victor, I'd say his route was the most angsty as he rebels against his job and his nature to save Cardia. Unfortunately, this results in him being off screen for a lot of his route as he kills his way through the other members of Idea to save Cardia.

I thought the whole route felt a bit overkill-y. This is a man who essentially caused the Black Plague, who knows what one bad decision can do, and yet instead of choosing to stay by her side and defend her, he abandons her to preemptively fight the other Idea members, none of whom are given a sprite except Guinivere. (Side note: I adore Guinivere. Easily one of the most rad characters of the game.)

What's stopping any other of the Idea members from attacking Cardia while she's left defenseless? It falls apart under scrutiny. Perhaps this is because Saint-Germain's attraction to Cardia was the least convincing for me. I just didn't feel much of a connection there.

I do love how you basically only see his eyes on his route. It makes it all the more threatening when you do. And despite how critical I'm being, I did think the concept of the Apostles of Idea was pretty cool. I just thought it was a little far reaching for the framework of this particular game.

While one of the more interesting routes, I'd call Saint-Germain's route the least romantic.

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(SPOILERS) Victor Frankenstein

Personality-wise, Victor is my favorite character. He's got baggage but desperately wants to reverse the damage he's done inadvertently. And he's so sweet and wears glasses! I did want to know what was up with his headphones but they're never addressed.

Victor's route is the one where you have to deal the most with Queen Victoria, and at least for me, this kind of ruined her character for me. You learn she was the instigation behind a lot of dark incidents and has an even darker one planned that basically equates to genocide. While in the true ending she fesses up and seems to have grown as a character, it was hard for me to get behind her again after seeing how needlessly cruel she was in Victor's route.

I absolutely adored the development of the Queen's relationship with Leonhardt in this route. Honestly I ship them more than most of the characters in this game with Cardia. Even if you want to interpret them as having a more father-daughter relationship, it's still really sweet. He clearly cares so much for her and just wants to guide her down the right path.

But back to Victor. I like that, despite being the gentle nerd of the game, he can still fight in his own way, and even teaches Cardia to do the same. It was nice to see him come out of his shell and become more confident as the game progresses.

Victor's route was solid and his relationship with Cardia is very believable. After all, he's done so much for her. He's the reason, in every route, that she can eat with the boys and wear different outfits. Cardia returns the favor by forgiving him for being involved in her creation. I did think the brief "is Victor my father" storyline was pretty funny. I mean, he kinda is though.

All in all, one of the better routes in my opinion.

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(SPOILERS) Abraham Van Helsing

Man, I wanted to like this route more than I did.

Van Helsing is the closest thing to a tsundere in this game, so I thought I'd like him and saved him for last before the true end. Unfortunately, he's so cool and collected that he rarely breaks, and he comes across as cruel a lot of the time, even when it's revealed that he's doing so to keep Cardia out of it. She's kept at arms' length so much that I didn't feel the relationship developed naturally. She isn't present for a lot of the conversations, either, though we do get to see them off-screen.

Helsing's route is also the one that's least connected to the rest of the storyline. He's got a few tie-ins, most notably to the Vampire War, but his dealings with Aleister didn't relate to the overall mission. It felt a little disjointed to me.

I also thought we'd see more of Delacroix II in this route. I figured it would be Cardia helping the two of them become friends. Delacroix needed to learn that Helsing regretted his actions. But we honestly don't get a lot of that. I also figured it would be more angsty, with Helsing's death wish being relevant, but again, that didn't come up a lot.

I do find it extremely endearing that he can't cook to save his life. And I feel bad that his is the only route that ends without him being able to touch Cardia.

I don't think this was a bad route. It just wasn't what I was expecting so it made me a little disappointed.

.

(SPOILERS) Arsene Lupin

Lupin's route was ok. My gripes are mainly the same as with the true end of Collar x Malice: I don't think he's fitting for a true end character.

Not only is he visually the least interesting character, but his backstory is also not particularly interesting or impactful. A lot of stuff happens on his route just because it's the true end, and we have to wrap up the game. Lupin himself isn't particularly relevant to that.

He's a nice guy, sure. You can't help but like him and his positive attitude. I think his route is the one that most treats Cardia like a human, but this comes at the cost of not allowing her to do a lot. This could be seen as a positive, I suppose. She's spend most of the other routes convincing other characters that they should be forgiven, so it's fitting to have the final route involve forgiving Cardia herself for being created.

All in all, the game wraps up pretty well, and it felt like a suitable end for everyone. I just wish Lupin was a bit more interesting of a character.

.

(SPOILERS) Side Characters

Here, I'm going to comment on a few side characters in the game.

Finis

No notes. Flawless character design. My theory for why he looks like this is that the original Finis and Cardia were both female. Maybe this is explained in the bonus content, idk. I've heard his hair donuts are part of the headband and not his actual hair. Either way, adorable. More male characters like this, please.

Herlock Sholmes

Upset this character wasn't a datable option. Perhaps that's for the bonus content. Either way, I wanted to see more of him. I thought he'd be more relevant in Lupin's route, and you do get to learn a bit about him, but not enough IMHO.

Queen Victoria

Who approved this outfit? I just wanna talk... Seriously, this is the worst sprite in the game. I get that her whole thing is about bees and visually there are a lot of honeycomb references, but surely we could have a black and yellow outfit that doesn't make her look like she raided an antique store.

[doc-hudson]

"Myeah" Paul nodded as he aired his drink a little, never minding that it didn't really needed it "'t's difficult to explain, really, you'd have to see a 'race' to fully get it. 's not only 'bout speed, but also 'bout agility 'n general and creativity to navigate obstacles -hell, Battle Specialty Sorcerers also do pretty well when they join"

He then took a sip of his whiskey, then moved towards the almost forgotten bottle in order to refill both his glass and Bullseye's.

"I feel like we owe them big time" he said, with a shrug "Those Vampires, I mean; I know the relationship you guys and the rest of the Magicks have 's pretty complicated-"

(Not unlike with the wolves).

"-and that Radiator Springs has a couple o' things to say 'bout their choices-" Doc added with a joking tone mostly to diminish the impact of it and maybe help Bullseye forget about the less-than-pleasant part of the story "-but I find it...I dunno, heartwarmin', in a way? That they spent so much of their time, money and effort helpin' a specially niche sport become bigger, specially when participatin' there would...you know, force a Vampire to expose themselves 'n a way, due to the rules"

It was...complicated. There wasn't much privacy there: people knew that if you participated on the Magick Grand Prix, you had to be a Magick and...well, one had to disclose what kind of Magick they were, which was easier for some of them: for those that were 'benign' Magicks or more common ones-

-even there, where different natures were celebrated, there were still a bit of taboos. It was rather ironic, and sad.

But things were changing, little by little, and the fact that Vampires had helped bring the sport to were it was today, helped a little.

'But in all fairness, most people prob'ly would know him. He jus' happened t' get stuck wit' th' one guy who's been under a proverbial rock for a hundred years.'

Paul laughed at that, shaking his head 'no' in return.

"Nah, 's okay. Again, we're part of a very niche sport an' the kid has a bit of an ego"

He paused.

"Had" he corrected "He's well-known 'n some circles, specially 'round California, but he's spent so much there that I guess he forgot what it was like outside o' 'em. That's why he had a hard time adaptin' to bein' a somewhat-average-Joe again; Again, 'm sorry he didn't give you a glowin' first impression he's just...a little bit stupid and young"

And he couldn't help but laugh at that part because...well, in a way, he was, too, compared to Bullseye: young.

(Also, a little bit stupid, he guessed, since wisdom came along with age most of the time).

Again, It was easy to forget about...well, that, about the age difference between them when they were ironically physically inverted and...well, it was an exercise in suspension of disbelief, too: for everything Paul knew about the wild west had been formed by books and movies (and the occasional comic book, sure), and as such felt like too far away of a time, felt unreal to him.

But it had been real to Bullseye: and his stories reminded Doc of that, and that things weren't always black and white; Things weren't about good and bad guys, and sometimes those classifications overlapped and didn't make the other worse or better because of it.

"Things were hard" he nodded "I get it: A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do an' sometimes that takes us places we probably wouldn't have gone to otherwise"

Bullseye being a former bandit was still a surprise, but Paul could accept it -probably because of how far away that part of his story was to the current day, and that the man admitted to being there along for the ride as opposed to really having his heart into it.

"You're probably one of the nicest people I know, Bullseye" he said, after taking yet another sip of his drink "and definitely the nicest old-timey bandit I've ever met"

That last part was, of course, said mostly in jest.

"I don't really care what you did before, nothin' 's changin' what I think and feel 'bout you: and that's that you're one of the kindest, most helpful, most patient people 'round here"

He smiled and uncharacteristically soft smile, as he looked at the other man.

"An' wonderful friend to have"

@bullseye-stoddard

Oh, of course people involved in the Magick Grand Prix were Magicks themselves. Obviously that had been a silly question. But Bullseye figured he had made it clear enough that he had been out of the loop for a long time that Paul would not think it was too stupid of a question. "Ah, no wonder she's good at somethin' like that. But I gotta think, wit' it bein' a magic contest, there's some extra special rules for what you can an' can't do. 'Cause if it was jus' a race, I feel like you Speed Gifteds would win wit'out much effort!"

He really knew nothing about the contest, so when Paul imparted the fact that vampires were behind the sport's popularity, Bullseye stared at him in amazement. "Huh, now I never woulda guessed that! I mean yeah, most vampires aren't as skittish as I am, but still. I wouldn't o' thought they'd have had a hand in buildin' up a big ol' magic show like that!"

Bullseye remembered Paul mentioning where he was from, and while he did not know the town itself, he was aware of Route 66 and how towns had sprung up along the road, only to be left behind when the highways came into being. "Guess that makes sense, t' move it t' a bigger place if it became such a thing. Sorry that was a blow t' th' town, though. I know 'nuff 'bout how a lotta things got affected when th' highways came 'round t' know it prob'ly didn't do 'em no favors."

In his case, however, it had been the opposite. Roads and towns kept getting closer and closer to his ranch, and instead of taking away activity, it had only added more. He did not want to say that he felt the townsfolk in Radiator Springs were better off without the activity, but at least he could agree that it sounded like a good place to lay low. Not that he wanted to think about possibly having to leave town, but it was nice to know he had options.

He took another sip of the drink and gave a nod. "I sure will, if the situation ever arises. Wish I'd known 'bout th' town 'fore I came all th' way over here, but then o' course I wouldn't o' met you." He also would not have reunited with Jessie, or met any of the other people in town he had been slowly getting to know, so clearly he had made the right choice. At least, he hoped he had.

Even if Lightning had been less than cordial the first time they had met, Bullseye could not help smiling at how Paul talked about him. Obviously he had the skills to back up his bravado, and maybe there had been a time when he had a better attitude, because their last meeting had made it seem like he could mend his ways if he really tried. "That is a hell o' an accomplishment. I mean, I figured he was good at somethin'. I jus' didn't like th' way he came in an' 'spected me t' know who he was an' what he'd done. But in all fairness, most people prob'ly would know him. He jus' happened t' get stuck wit' th' one guy who's been under a proverbial rock for a hundred years."

For which there were plenty of reasons why he had, and while once again Bullseye did not mind talking about his past with Paul, the specific question about gunning down bandits gave him a little pause. Giving a nervous cough, he said, "Well, uh, not 'zactly. I originally got th' nickname from my pa. He was so proud o' how well I learned t' shoot that he started callin' me Bullseye. An' once I lost him, clingin' t' th' name helped t' keep him wit' me in a way."

He could have left it at that, figuring that Paul would not question the answer. But his honesty made him continue. "He…He weren't th' only one who dubbed me that, though. I told you that I, er, kinda fell in wit' th' wrong crowd later on. Well they thought I was darn good at shootin' too, so they decided t' call me Bullseye too." A sad coincidence, he supposed, yet it had only given him another reason to cling to the nickname.

Taking another sip of his drink, Bullseye gave Paul a sheepish smile. "Wish I could tell you things were jus' like in th' movies, an' that all the good guys won an' all th' bad guys got what was comin' t' 'em. But if that had been th' case…then I prob'ly wouldn't o' been 'round long 'nuff t' have had th' chance t' get turned in th' first place. 'Cause, well...I was one o' those bandits. Can't say I cut th' kinda figure all th' bad guys in th' movies do, though. I was jus' kinda…along for th' ride. You see, I'd lost one family, an' while my new one wasn't quite th' righ' sort, they were all I had, an' I didn't wanna lose 'em too." Which he had, in the end, so even his sticking with the gang through thick and thin had not stopped the inevitable.

@doc-hudson

[hanyaraksa]

Becoming a woman in "Valerie and Her Week of Wonders"

This is defitely one of my favourite films. "Valerie a týden divu" from 1970 is a surreal masterpiece. It is a fantasy horror from Czechoslovakia directed by Jaromil Jireš. This film together with Chytilova's daisies made me fall in love with the Czech New Wave. Interestingly, the original screenplay was written by Ester Krumbachova, who also worked on Daisies, but eventually Jires made some corrections to it. Krumbachova was also responsible for production design.

It is an extraordinary fantasy horror film about the transformation of a girl into a woman. The world that the film presents gives the impression of a fairy tale and a nightmare at the same time. It is not said where the story is happening, nor when it is happening. Although at first glance it may seem that the events that take place in the film do not make sense, the whole action in it is very clear.

Valerie wakes up one day and realizes that her earrings are gone. During her search she notices a scary looking man with a mask- Constable. Valerie is very confused by the strange world that surrounds her. Everything is suddenly ... strange, her relations with others, society's attitude towards her, but men treat her and look at her differently, but she has to come to terms with these changes. Against her will, her age robs her of innocence. In the film, the girl's room, as well as her clothes, are mostly white. Valerie is also becoming more and more aware of her sexuality against her will. This is due to the sudden change in men's attitudes towards her, someone who was supposed to protect her before now acts like a predator.

The aesthetics of the film are very girlish, quiet and delicate, but at the same time it is filled with obscure fantasies and a sense of uneasiness. Together with a very unique score, the film gives the impression that it is a dream of an adolescent girl, filled with violence, sexuality, but also flowers and the warmth of the sun's rays and the first infatuation.

it also shows the tragedy of femininity. After Valerie managed to get rid of the priest who wanted to rape her, he turned the townfolk against her and accused her of witchcraft, which was why they wanted to burn her at the stake. Additionally, another young woman gets married which makes her very unhappy, because she was not given a choice, Valerie cures the same woman from a vampire bite with her warmth and love. The conflict between the individual (a young girl) and society is shown, she cannot trust the adults in her life.

In Vítěszlav Nezval’s book, on which the film was based on, the action is set in motion by Valerie’s first menstruation, We do not really know if the events taking place are 100% real, or if they are just an element of Valerie's imagination, who tries to cope with loneliness (she is an orphan) and living in a tiny boring town.

Valerie grows brave through her experiences. The entire film is a feast for the eyes. The viewer observes Valeries journey that resembles a ritual which introduces her to the world of femininity and adulthood. Valerie, like most young girls, however, has to make this journey alone, learn to make decisions on her own, because adults do not necessarily always know what is best, because they themselves are often driven by their own greed. As horrible as it may seem, everyone has to get used to this new world and accept its madness.

I saw this "Valerie and Her Week of Wonders" for the first time when I was a teenager, now every time I come back to it, I am overwhelmed by an incredible melancholy behind this wonderful and beautiful, but also at the same time nightmarish time of adolescence.

[destielshippingnews]

Edvard's Supernatural Guide: 2x01 In My Time of Dying - Addendum

(This is an addendum to my analysis of 2x01 In My Time of Dying, which can be found here.)

Due to my eagerness to get my analysis of 2x01 done and published by my 31st birthday, I neglected to discuss some smaller aspects of the episode. Contributing to this was also the fact that the analysis as published is just over 6,500 words (almost a Bachelor’s dissertation in length) and I did not want to bog it down any more, not to mention the 7,500 word essay on the abuse Dean suffered published the week before. However, as I am taking short break from writing and posting analyses whilst teaching an intensive Finnish course at the Bank of Finland, I have the time to write a shorter postscript to my analysis.

The first thing I wanted to discuss was Dean’s belief that his choices dictate his future. Tessa was a representation of divine will and predestination, or even resignation to the inevitable, and Dean was at odds with her. He believed that if he fought hard enough and refused to give up, he could find a way to return to his body. This is a trait of Dean’s which remains fairly consistent throughout the whole show, a few moments of hopelessness notwithstanding (moments of hopelessness Bobby, Cas, and Sam et al wasted no time chastising him for, but that is a story for another time).

He wanted control of himself and his own life, which is one of the reasons the revelation that God had been dictating his whole life affected him so deeply at the end of series 14. His struggles had been in vain because God had decided for Dean at every possible juncture. The natural end to this narrative arc in 15x19-15x20 should have been God’s defeat and Dean taking the reins of his own life, rather than the insulting mess we actually got. As I have said on many occasions, Dean is suicidal and believes nothing awaits him but a bloody death at a young age. Having him die by indirect suicide (the back wound was treatable) undermined years of Dean fighting for a better future for himself and undermined his own belief that one should always keep going, no matter what.

Dean’s philosophy is absolutely correct: everything we do is a choice, and we have to accept that if we want to be active agents in the world. Buffy Summers summed this up in 2x07 Lie to Me with her statement: You might not have a good choice, but you have a choice to a man forced to choose between dying of brain cancer or becoming a vampire. He was not ‘forced’ by anybody to chose becoming a vampire over death, but rather that was one choice out of several possible choices which he made for himself. I do not want to retype Mark Field’s analysis of this episode of Buffy, so instead I will link this video which discusses this very episode:

Whilst Dean's predicament is not as dire as Ford's was, he chooses not to give in to 'fate', nor to see himself as an object or helpless victim. He chooses to make an impact on his own life and those around him by continuing to fight for as long as he can. Dean is an agent and thereby changes the world around him, simply by accepting and acknowledging his own power as as a human capable of making choices.

Further to the subject of Dean’s beliefs, this episode also presented us with Dean’s false belief that his self-worth is to be found in doing exactly what other people expect and demand of him. Part of this belief is that if other people do not value him, he is not fulfilling their expectations and demands, urging him to therefore strive ever harder to be what other people want him to be.

This belief is evident in Dean shouting at John while Sam visits Bobby. “I have done everything you ever asked, and you’re just going to sit there and watch me die? What the Hell kind of father are you?” Clearly Dean believed (or hoped without belief) that doing what John asked and told him would make John value him and make Dean feel he was worthy of other people.

This is a vicious circle perpetuated by the fact that one’s self-worth is not to be found in ablating oneself and sacrificing one’s own autonomy and self-determination to become a tool in somebody’s toolbox. This false belief is a huge character flaw in Dean, though that is not a criticism of his character. It is entirely understandable and relatable that a son should seek to be worth his father’s pride and admiration, and strive to embody said father’s idea of what a worthy son should be.

John’s death was a huge loss for Dean, as well as a moment of fundamental change. Dean was ever humourless around John, an automaton, but his loss allowed Dean to slowly (very slowly) become more like himself and less like the man John made him be. This is not to say early-years Dean is fake at all, but over the year he allowed himself to enjoy things his father would have disapproved of, and to become more of the person he wanted to be. He gradually learnt (whether consciously or not) that self-worth is not to be found in being what others want, but in being himself around people who accepted him. Sam never accepted Dean for who he was, nor appeared to even understand that his brother was much more than the 2D image Sam had in his mind. Cas, however, did, as did Charlie, Donna, Jody, and even Garth. Dean had worth to them not because he was who they wanted him to be, but because they cared about the people they each were.

Something else I thought worthy of discussion (or contemplation, rather) is how exactly Ghost!Dean interacted with the world. We see him as he was in life, but it is never made clear to the viewer whether this is an accurate representation of being a ghost. It could very well be that ghosts in the Superverse are invisible, disembodied entities walking on the same ground as the living and ultimately experiencing the world in almost the same way as the living. If they have no body, however, then they have no eyes and no way of taking in light to perceive their surroundings. One could argue ‘a wizard did it’, but I am not as content with lazy storytelling as Supernatural is (I hope that does not come back to bite me in the behind when I publish my novel…).

It is possible that a ‘ghost’ is not a disembodied figure or spirit, but rather thoughts, memories, emotions, and experiences on a different plane of existence. If this is the case, then they would not have eyes, ears, or a mouth, and would not interact with the world the same way we do. However, it is possible that such an entity would be able to perceive the brainwaves, heartbeats, and general goings-on of our plane of existence in a way which essentially approximated our senses of sight, sound, touch, smell, and touch.

The fact that Sam as a psychic is able to sense Dean’s presence supports an interpretation like this: as a tiny number of people are able to see infra-red and ultra-violet, Sam can just about detect activity on the spirit plane. Dean’s brainwaves (for want of a better word) in their own plane of existence are able to detect Sam’s, as well as those of everybody around him as well as the location, and he converts it into a form of information he is able to digest and understand. Sam is sensitive to other planes of existence, and so he is able to tap into this and talk to Dean.

It has no bearing on the storytelling, but colours do not exist outside our brain (or eye-sockets), but rather our brains assign colours to different wave-lengths entering our eyes- It is possible that bats’ brains assign different colours to different sounds. If this is true, then bats may hear in colour, meaning that they ‘see’ their surroundings in a way very similar to creatures with eyes, such as us. Ghosts in the Superverse might function similarly, though occasionally they slip through into our plane of existence as psychics such as Sam have some form of access to their plane.

Given this, though the viewer sees Dean in this episode as himself but without a body, this might just be a way of presenting him in a way we can understand, as bats might process sounds with colours. It is also likely that Ghost!Dean interpreted the information he received on the spirit plane in such a way as to envision himself standing in the hospital when in actuality he was pretty much a celestial wavelength of intent.

It is probably best I leave speculation like that here, as I expect the majority of my readership has had enough of it. There were, however, a few other things I wanted to mention before finishing.

Sam showed a side of himself in this episode which really needed to be visible and prominent far more often: that is humility and care for his brother. Despite the fact that his claim that ‘We were just beginning to be brothers again’ is utterly hilarious (they really were not, unless their model for brotherly behaviour was Noel and Liam Gallagher), it was nice to see Sam caring about Dean.

Also rib-tickling was John’s claim that ‘I’ve made some mistakes, but I’ve always done the best I could’, because he most certainly did not do his best. He was on a suicide mission, but he took his children along with him and almost got them killed multiple times. I would have sympathy for John if it were not for the second half of that sentence.

Azazel, however, appears not to know John very well at all, in spite of his overtures at omniscience. “I figured you for many things, but suicidally reckless wasn’t one of them.” If you had only paid attention, Azazel. But as I have said elsewhere, Azazel is a little dumb, as well as hubristic and prideful. He met Dean in 1973 (see episode 4x03 In The Beginning…) and must surely have recognised him in 1x22 Devil’s Trap. He is utterly stupid for making the deal to revive Dean, but as I have said elsewhere, demons in Supernatural are stupid. John said to Azazel “You care a Hell of a lot more about this gun that you do about Dean”, but Azazel knew that Dean would be the one to kill him with the colt. This is why time travel episodes are a bad idea.

One last thing I forgot to mention was that Supernatural is not the first time Jensen and Jim Beaver (Bobby) have been on screen together. Their first time sharing the screen was on 31st October 1997 on an episode of Days of our Lives.Jensen’s character Eric attended the last-minute wedding of his dying father Roman to his ex-wife Marlena before Roman died of AIDS (try convincing me it was not AIDS, I dare you). Jim Beaver played the priest officiating the wedding, which was – predictably – interrupted at the last minute by John et al with the cure for Roman’s AIDS. (It is strange to think that this was very probably the same Hallowe’en I dressed up in a red t-shirt and red tights to be the devil at a Hallowe’en party at my sisters’ Guides’ group. My youngest sister was also three weeks old at the time.)

Thus concludeth this addendum and my analysis of 2x01 In My Time of Dying. I expect my next analysis of 2x02 Everybody Loves a Clown to be ready in two weeks’ time, and I will not be kind to Sam.

[troquantary]

Twilight Reread, Part 0: Thesis Statement

It occurs to me that I never explained what, exactly, I’m hoping to accomplish by rereading the books. I mean, I’ve said I want to reevaluate Bella, but I haven’t told you what my current interpretation of her character is as a starting point. Oops.

The interpretation I want to test is this: 1) Bella’s character parallels Edward’s from the beginning, in that she starts the series depressed, self-loathing, and dismissive of the mundane world around her, only to become swept up in a delusional romantic fantasy that she prioritizes above all else; 2) Bella projects an ideal love interest onto Edward just as much as he projects his ideal onto her, and neither of them ever truly knows the other; 3) Becoming a vampire is the most important thing to Bella, not her relationship with Edward -- but she doesn’t realize that, instead convincing herself that she wants to be a vampire for the purpose of being with Edward rather than for its own sake; 4) By the end of the series, she’s succumbed to the same brand of insanity Edward enjoys and is a much worse person for it.

Basically, I think Meyer’s correct that Edward and Bella are made for each other, but instead of a love story, it’s a tragedy. Bella was always capable of becoming the caring, responsible, practical person she wanted to be, but in pursuing vampirism she cultivates her negative traits rather than the positive ones.

Don’t worry -- I haven’t forgotten that Bella’s only other option, besides turning, was to die horribly. Edward personally ensured that by returning to Forks rather than fuck off to literally anywhere else for a measly year and half, and his own batshit behavior has a caustic effect on Bella’s mental stability.

Bella still has agency in the series, though. While the ultimate outcomes are set in stone per Alice, Bella still makes choices, and a lot of those choices are demented and/or selfishly motivated. Not so much in the beginning -- she’s basically fine in Twilight, but after Edward leaves her in New Moon she never gets back to herself again, instead falling into a moral and mental decline.

Or at least, that’s what I think right now. My opinion might change as I go, and I hope that by the end I can say that whatever my conclusion is, it’s one that I reached through careful, considerate, and critical reading of this sparkly vampire romance for tween girls. 

[kaetchup]

rei sakuma idol story 1

rei's first idol story, and my first real post on tumblr! i know that this one's already localized on engstars, so this one's mostly just ripped from engstars with some minor changes for readability.

♪ obligatory disclaimer! none of this is mine, i'm just sharing it for my love of our idol boys. all content belongs to happy elements ♪

rei: ... ♪

Oh? Well, well, if it isn't our young lady Producer. What could have possibly brought you here? This dormitory should be out of bounds to a lady like you.

A broken taboo in this world induced either divine retribution or direful curses. You may have already invited the devil after you! Kekeke ♪

Yet now is not the time for pleasant vampire chats.

You seem most troubled. Very well, I, Rei Sakuma, shall lend a hand.

I'm always indebted to you, young lady, so allow me to return the favor. Truth be told, demons are much more genuine and earnest than humans.

Hm? Is it inappropriate if I call you "young lady"?

Because the intimacy between producers and idols will leave a negative impression on fans?

Hmm, you are correct. I have yet to fully comprehend the appropriate distance humans keep between each other...

I have, for ages hitherto, considered myself a longer, a beast inhabiting the dark.

But people around me, including you, warmly recieved me as one of your kind...

This is why I can finally breathe fresh air and wear a smile.

Words cannot express my gatefulness. I would do anything for you.

As age has deprived me of all joy except giving allowances to children ♪

Kekeke. It was wrong of me to treat you as a child.

I admit that it is one flaw of mine to treat those around me liek young children.

It proved nowhere near unpleasant back at Yumenosaki Academy.

But now that I have become a part of society...

Suddenly I find myself surrounded by older adults.

Thus I should exercise care and treat everyone as equals.

My sincere gratitude for reminding me, Producer. Please don't hesitate to point out my inadequacies.

... There, there. Don't give me that look, will you? I didn't keep you my audience for nothing.

I have arranged everything on my phone while talking.

As much as I don't like machines, they sure are convenient... What concerns me, on the other hand, is that such comfort brought by out advanced civilization might eventually lead to the degeneration of humanity.

Yet this is in a way evolution as well. Adaptation knows no discrimination.

Change is much more desirable and valuable than stasis.

Kekeke, I see... My investigation has enlightened me on what happened.

The right person fares better than the internet in a time like this.

There was an idol drunk at a banquet who kept whining about not being able to walk...

And you had no choice but to accompany him back to the dorms in a taxi.

I believe such work is more manager than producer...

Could it be that you are too used to undertaking everything by yourself?

It will help if you recognize such a demand as peculiar. However reluctant I am to find fault with anyone for the past...

Idols are no saints. Things might have gone wrong under such circumstances.

How could you possibly tell he was not planning something unforgivable under the pretense of intoxication?

Though you are free to believe that an idol would not do anything that will upset their fans...

Unfortunately, not all people are well-intended. Never had a single second passed without accidents or incidents.

Do take more care of yourself. I would turn over in my grave if something happened to you.

I would most certainly live with indelible regrets until my last breath.

Is it your intention to leave me an eternal scar?

Kekeke. That was a bit harsh of me... You were the one frightened and thus hurt.

I shouldn't utter anything judgemental like that.

You are a smart child, and I am sure that you have learned your lesson with a fright.

Hmm. I will take care of this certain problematic idol.

Even if he meant no harm, even if he inconvenienced you inadvertently... I can't sit by and watch.

I will discipline him. My standing in the industry enables me to do so to whomever he might be.

Well, I hope you are wiser but not sadder after today, and that you get back to work as usual.

Forget about the annoyances... but make sure that they don't happen again.

Pinky promise, then... ♪

Hmm, good girl. I will walk you outside. There is no need to act as though you were a thief about to break a window.

I have cleared our surroundings, so no one would see us.

This way, young lady. I will take you to safety... ♪

...

... See? You should pay attention to what I'm saying. You cannot possibly read my mind-

What if I, like the devil, were to harm you?

If you let your guard down like this, there is no promise that I wouldn't sink my teeth into you from behind...

As someone who nearly paid for your kindness, you really should be more suspicious of others.

Well, I presume this is your virtue. How sad it would be if we should start to suspect everybody...

Innocence is never a sin.

But do please remember this much- we idols love you, and we are concerned about you.

I, not as a colleague, but as an individual human being, pray for your happiness.

For our sake, please take care of yourself.

Very well. Let's end such heavy talk if you have kept my words in mind.

Return to where you belong. I will escort you as long as you wish.

Now then, Producer... Enjoy your walk with the vampire on this beautiful, serene night ♪

[the-sprog]

So since I'm very bad at remembering my ideas, I'm gonna throw this out there and hope one day I'm like "WAIT didn't I have an idea for a fic??? What was it???" And I will find it on my tumblr.

It's about Danny Phantom, obviously.

There are actually two of them in here so:

The easiest one: Jack and Maddie are not stupid. I mean they're scientists, the use the scientific method. One of the things about the scientific method is that if you do a bunch of tests, based on an hypothesis and only one of them comes out disproving it, then your hypothesis is incorrect.

Phantom has disproved basically all of their hypothesis.

So, next thing to do? Create a new one. Do new tests. They take Jazz's suggestion and try and see if the ghosts of Amity are actually conscious. Because obviously they're sentient, but are they like animals? Or are they like robots with artificial intelligence?

Or even better yet, are they like humans?

They grab Phantom's attention and ask him if he would cooperate for this test. A simple Turing test. Obviously they're still wary because of everything that happened with him, and do the test with witnesses to keep both Phantom's and their minds at ease.

He passed the test. With flying colors.

They're shocked and ask him if he knew peaceful ghosts that would be willing to take the test (because, y'know. Scientific method. Need to try over and over again). Phantom would have to explain that not all ghosts are as human-like as him (as, first of all, he's a halfa, but he doesn't say that. And second, lots of them are blobs or animal-like ghosts), but cue his parents meeting Jhonny and Kitty (cause I like the idea that they have a truce with Phantom and that going out of the zone helps them with their couple problems), as well as Shadow (example of a less human-like ghost). Then Sidney, Dora, the Fright Knight (cause king ghost Danny ftw) and Frostbite.

They all pass, more or less. Some, like Dora, the light and Sidney, where given away by their choice of word, but other than that all of them passed the test.

OK SO MORE COMPLEX ONE:

I love crossovers. I love finding ways of putting the two universes together, of making them work with each other, adapting the rules so that they apply to both. (With Danny Phantom it's also really cool to just... Make him travel the multiverse. He doesn't adhere to the rules of where he goes to, so it's always hilarious. But we're not here for that now).

One of the best ones to do this with is My Hero Academia. Whenever a show has someone with powers I end up asking myself "how should that work in the world of my hero?" And start trying to incorporate it in the lore.

So, first thing first, we're getting rid of the canon story of my hero. Completely unrelated to the show. This takes place decades in the past, when the first people where developing quirks (so if I wanted to write something with this and actually use my hero characters, I'd make it so that they where hit with a time traveling quirk or that Clockwork was somehow involved).

The Fenton's hatred for ghosts? Make it discrimination against the people who have quirks.

Danny being half-ghost? His quirk's fault. He calls it Ghost, for simplicity, it allows him to come back as a sort of ghost-like creature after he dies. Somehow, one day, he doesn't die completely so his body fixes it the only way it know how. Making him partially ghost.

Obviously that would mean that all the ghosts he fights aren't ghosts anymore. They're villains with quirks, and their powers would be based on what they can do on the show, minus the basic intangibility, invisibility and flight.

Obviously only Sam and Tucker would know he was Phantom and he had a quirk, he's also kinda the only one in town with one. People would be a little racist against quirk havers, but the kids, like in the show, come around to it. And actually start loving Phantom and thinking of him as a hero.

How do I fit Vlad in all of this? Ehm ahhhh this is the one thing I didn't think about. Very basic, but could give him a power similar to Danny, were instead of a ghost, he becomes a vampire. But his quirk is caused by an accident in college, so it's artificial.

Why does Skulker (who doesn't have a quirk. He's just a guy in a suit) hunt Danny? He has a very unique quirk.

Does Dani exist? I mean. Yeah. Cloning is not so farfetched, especially with the existence of quirks.

Clockwork can control time, he involuntary does that being a child, then an adult then an old man thing. The Observants are people without quirks that keep him in check, an organization that made a pact with him to stay young forever or something in change of idk what. No idea what Clockwork would get out of it I won't lie. Money maybe? Or somehow they found a way of keeping him there against his will?

Walker (and I'll make a seperate post about this) is an ex guy in white. Yes they still exist, but they hunt quirk havers instead of paranormal stuff. Walker was kicked out because he actually has a quirk but lied about it. He's after his own kind in the show as well. I mean, he's a stickler to the rules, but he only ever seems to care when it's ghosts that brake them. Correct me if I'm wrong, but never has he punished a human. His quirk is making semi-sentient minions. They're not copies of himself. They're like clay humans with basic forms. They all look alike and have no special characteristics.

Frostbite is just... A yeti. With cryokenisis. It's a mutation type quirk.

Same goes for Wulf, he's just a humanoid wolf that can create teleportation portals. I can't think of a reason why he would only speak Esperanto though. It could be something similar to Five from umbrella academy. He accidentally got stuck in the 1600 as a kid and managed to come back only relatively recently.

I feel like all the other ghosts have obvious powers.

Cujo can become ginormous,

Technus can control technology,

Dora and Aragon can become dragons,

Jhonny gives people bad luck and can control his shadow,

Kitty can make man disappear,

Ember can mind control using music,

Spectra can use people's negative emotions to stay young,

Bernard has shapeshifting,

Youngblood can't be seen by adults (side effect: can't grow old) and his sideckick has a variant of shapeshifting where he can only transform in animals. A definitive father figure),

Box ghost can control boxes,

Pandora can control the plagues of the world,

Desiré can make people's wishes come true,

Sidney can swap bodies with people,

Undergrowth can control plants,

Pariah Dark- I... Actually don't know...

Lunch Lady can control food,

Aaaanndddd no more come to mind.

I want to do something with this AU but I can't really think of an interesting story, other than "kids from 1A get misplaced in time and Danny has to help, discovering the existence of Clockwork and the Observants, whom he hates. So he tries to get Clockwork out of there with the other kid's help" but that's it, really.

I actually have a 3rd idea, but it basically works the same as the MHA one. Crossover with the X-Men.

Substitute quirk havers with mutants and quirks with mutations and you get the idea.

The plot would be more of a "Danny gets recruited by Xavier after the trauma of almost dying activated his mutation and goes to live at the mansion. This happens after the events of season 3, alla salted to make sense in the world of Marvel, but without Phantom planet. He makes friends there, since Sam and Tucker aren't with him and everything is fine and dandy and happy. Until it comes out that the Fentons actually contribute to the creation of the Sentinels, because they hate Phantom that much.

So Danny has to infiltrate his own family to get info on how the Sentinels work so they can destroy them, since his parents are still oblivious and they made it so that the Sentinels wouldn't attack Danny thinking that his accident just somehow make him register as a mutant on machinery" and that's it.

[morning-might-arrive]

Here’s the continuation of my last post. Thank you so much to everyone who liked and reblogged! This is becoming a lot longer than I thought, so there will be another part soon. Feedback is appreciated!

A series of misunderstandings involving a limousine and Spectra’s blog lead Jackson to the realization that he has way more friends than he thought.

Wednesday

Jackson sighed as he silenced his blaring alarm clock. 7:00 am. As he walked to the bathroom to get ready, he was suddenly struck by a memory.

“It’s nothing personal, normie. You just look like such a freak.” Manny told him as he shoved him off of the lunch table. Jackson looked towards the other mansters, but they said nothing. So they all agreed. Even Clawd. 

He cringed. He’d had to eat lunch in a bathroom stall that day. He looked at his reflection, desperately wishing he could change it. He sighed and got dressed. He had to leave early since he now had no car and his parents weren't home. He plugged his headphones into his phone. Holt had gotten them into this situation, only fitting that he deal with it.

Holt Hyde cursed under his breath as he walked to school. Although the weather was warming, mornings in March were still frigid. He sighed in relief as he approached Monster High.

“Heya there, sweetpea,” Operetta drawled in greeting as Holt waltzed through the front doors of the school. 

“What’s good, Oppy?” Holt responded, his usual loud and energetic self even at the early hour.

“Just peachy keen like always, hun. Say, you seen the Ghostly Gossip lately?” She asked.

“Nah, we usually stay away from that garbage ever since that story about us and Frankie. Humiliated the poor ghoul and almost tanked our relationship. It really ain’t cool what they're doin’.” He replied nonchalantly. 

“Oh. Okay. Well sugar, you know you can tell me anythang you wanna, right?” She continued.

“Uh, yeah, sure. Thanks Oppy.” That was kinda weird for the rough and tumble ghoul to say, but honestly Holt was just glad their botched attempt at dating didn’t mess up their friendship. Oppy was a cool ghoul. 

“What’s the word, cool cats?” Came a new voice.

“Johnny!”

“Johnny.”

Johnny spirit sauntered casually down the main corridor of Monster High, and students jumped out of his way as if he had the plague. He put his arm around Operetta’s shoulder. “Hey, babe.”

Holt snorted. “I’ll never get why everyone lets you float around like you own the place.”

Johnny shrugged. “Guess they don’t have a choice. Besides, I never see you doing anything about it,” he replied with a bit of challenge in his tone. Holt rolled his eyes.

“You know you don’t scare us, Spirit. Anyway, it seems like Oppy’s got you on a leash without our help.”

Johnny bristled at that “Y’know Hyde, I’m gettin’ real sick of-”

“Why don’t we scamper on down to the catacombs and finish that new song we been workin on, sugarpie?” Operetta cut in. She really didn’t want to deal with a fistfight this early.

The couple walked away and Holt made toward the auditorium. He found the symphony on stage setting up and dashed up to join them, plugging his guitar into its amp. Jennifire was nearby greasing the corks on her clarinet. He huffed and sat down next to her.

“Another run in with the phantom pianist?” She asked, not even looking up.

“That guy is such a jerk!”

She chuckled and shook her head. “You boys are so easily provoked; I may never understand it. My brothers were just the same. He has done not to insight your anger.”

Holt really hated to admit it, but she was right. Johnny really didn't scare Holt, and he knew a little better than to try that tough guy act on Jackson. Plus, it was kinda funny seeing guys like Heath and Manny faint when he walked past them.

“Your emotions run like wildfire, I am very impressed you came to terms so easily with your end.” She continued.

Wait. What. “My what now?”

“Of course, it must be so hard for you to talk about. I am sorry.” A tear fell from her eye and promptly turned to smoke upon hitting her face.

“Jen, are you okay?” Holt asked, facing her.

She smiled. “Yes, I will be okay. So kind of you to think of me.”

“Okay, Okay, enough chit chat. Places people!” The director yelled as he approached the stage. Well. That was weird. Holt took his place in the stool beside the amp and looked up as the director began counting them off.

After an awkward hour of rehearsal, they were dismissed to second period. Holt emerged out into the crowd of students in the hall. Jennifire was nowhere to be found, so he made his way toward the art room. His Spotify playlist suddenly changed to a song by Pierce the Veil. He pulled out his phone to skip it and saw he had a message from Jackson. He scoffed. If D-low had told him what was wrong, would he be asking? JJ could be so oblivious. Maybe it was just a normie thing. 

He took his usual seat in front of his canvas and continued his painting for this week. 

“Psst, Holt.” he heard a whisper. He turned and met the shiny magenta eyes of retired popstar Catty Noir. “We’re turning up at Cleo’s place on Saturday, you in?”

“Yeah totally- oh, nevermind. We can’t make it, we kinda got a...thing that day.”

“Oh,” she said, looking kind of taken aback. “It’s that soon?” 

“What was that?”

“ I said I’ll see you soon!” she hastily corrected herself as she got up and turned in her painting, promptly leaving the art room. Man, everyone's acting off today. He touched up his work and quickly followed suit.

He basically had the rest of the period to himself, so he decided to riff on his guitar for a little bit. He couldn’t do it in the building anymore ever since that one time Headmistress Bloodgood caught him, so he moved to the front steps and set his bag beside him.

“Hey Holt!”

Holt turned towards the front of the school. “Frankie Fine-Stein! Where have you been hiding?” Her skin glowed a light mint green and her eyes sparked in the sun. Just as bootiful as ever. She sat on the step beside him.

“I was actually just in the library. I found this book about the original Jekyll and Hyde. It was way harsh; It said that Edward Hyde trampled a child in the streets of London, is that true?”

“Nuh-uh! Those stuffy normie’s didn’t like that grandpa’s were different so they dragged their reputation through the dirt!” Holt declared passionately. “Some of the people they charged him with killing didn’t even exist in the first place! Then they made Dr. Jekyll out to be a complete basket case and threw them both in jail! That is until they got bailed out by our great-great-grandma, Lucy.”

“Oh, man. I didn’t know any of that!” Frankie replied. She actually knew all about it, she had heard the exact same thing from Jackson before. They were both incredibly salty about the smear campaign launched against their great-great-grandparents that made their family flee to America in the first place, and you could hardly bring it up around them without a passionate rant. Frankie felt a little bad about bringing up something she knew was a sore subjet for them, but she had to make sure Spectra and the other ghouls didn’t get caught. It was for their own good, right?

Her phone buzzed in her lap and she glanced down. “Spectra got something, meet us back in the library.” Clawdeen. Frankie jumped up. “Sorry, Holt, I really gotta go.”

Holt watched her go in curiosity. He checked the time and quickly jumped up himself and dashed back inside the building. The only way to not be late now was to go through Section C, the so-called “vampires only” hallway. It really irked them when other monster’s used it, but he didn’t really care when it was either that or detention. As he made his way through he felt someone glaring at him, and met eyes with a large group of the former prep-school vampires. He braced himself, but instead of giving him grief like they usually did, they just let him pass. They were acting weird, but so was everyone else. Oh well, he didn’t really have time to think about it now.

Holt’s third period was Chemistry 2 with Mr. Hack. No thanks. Science was never his strong suit. Plus, there was seriously something off about this particular teacher. He just took a little too much pleasure in the cutting open of living things for Holt’s liking. He pulled out his phone.

“Keep an eye out. Today’s been weird, Bro.” He typed the message out and then disconnected his phone from his headphones. The world went dark.

Jackson blinked a few times. What was that ringing sound? “Oh, shOOT!” He bolted through the closest door- which just happened to be the right one- and took his seat as the bell finished ringing.

Mr. Hack passed out a hefty amount of worksheets to the class. “Okay class: no whispering, no talking, no looking around, no coughing or sneezing, no you can’t use the bathroom, and if I catch you on your cell phone the whole class gets detention. You have until the end of the class to complete the worksheets or it's a 0 for today.”

Everyone groaned. Good old Mr. Hack. Charming and likeable. Jackson tried to ignore the stares and whispers in his direction as he did his work. He knows he’s different, don’t they ever get tired of reminding him? Were they all paying more attention to him than usual, or was it just his imagination? He blazed through his work in about 20 minutes, it was just some simple thermodynamics equations. He looked up and noticed that Mr. Hack was asleep. Typical. Half the class were on their phones and the other half were talking amongst themselves. He pulled his phone out and saw Holt’s message.

Huh. Maybe it wasn’t just his imagination then, everyone was acting a little odd. Granted, every day at Monster High was pretty weird. Last week they had lost their school crest in a rollerblading contest and the school nearly toppled over, so maybe he could just ignore whatever this was.

The bell finally rang for lunch. He set his work on Mr. Hack’s desk as he jolted awake and practically ran from the room. He shot Clair a text

“Okay, transportation is set and decorations bought. Am I forgetting anything?”

“Measurements, goofy.” She responded almost instantly.

“Oh, right. I can get a tape measure from the woodshop teacher and get them during lunch.”

“Have you told the other monsters about Saturday?”

“No. I just don’t know how they’ll react, y’know?”

“Aren’t they always telling you about how you don’t belong? So why would they care?”

“Yeah you’re probably right. It’s just a difficult situation.”

“Yeah, I hear you. Let me know how it goes.”

Looking down at his phone, he didn’t notice Draculara until he bumped her as he passed.

“So sorry!” He exclaimed. 

“It’s alright.” She reassured him as she walked away. She made her way to the library where her friends were already gathered around in a circle. Spectra floated in the center.

“What’s this all about?” Draculara asked.

“While Frankie had Holt distracted, Spectra looked in his locker.”

“Well what did she find?” Cleo demanded.

“Just this. It appears to be a receipt for some kind of car rental.”

Clawd glanced at his phone. “Heath says Jackson is in the boys locker room right now taking measurements of himself and writing them down.” He told the group.

“Then what Spectra said is true.” Fraknie finally admitted. The room fell into extended silence.

“Well we can at least show Jackson he means something to us.” Draculara spoke up.

“Yeah,” Frankie agreed, “we can do something nice for him and Holt.”

“What are we going to do? Hijack the gym and throw a huge party during lunch?” Cleo asked sardonically.

“You’re on a roll Cleo! It’ll be closed tomorrow, but we can do it Friday!” Clawdeen agreed.

Cleo smiled. Very well then. Friday would be a day for the monster history books.

[councillor-roland]

"I believe so. Your support is appreciated, however, as always." He smiled to show he wasn't just being flippant. Roland did honestly appreciate how good a friend Merek had been to him this last little while, listening to his drunken rants and sob stories and so on. Merek had obviously caught him looking, not that Roland had been trying to hide his appreciation, and he smiled wider at the wink. He wasn't ashamed, why should he be? Merek knew how attractive he was and Roland was always drawn to beauty.

"Lucien's been restricting visiting hours, then? How unfair." Roland would never have responded well to being barred from seeing someone he wanted to see. Granted, he was in a different position from Merek, but still. The vampire sipped his wine and shook his head. "Well who would choose to be a slave? It seems like a terrible decision." Most of them didn't get the choice, obviously, but Merek had clearly made the correct one by becoming staff. Slave wouldn't have been fitting for him anyway though he would've been very popular in the Undercroft, Roland was sure, if he hadn't gotten claimed quickly. He glanced down at his glass and swirled the contents, thinking. "Do you want me to talk to Lucien? Intercede on Kaden's behalf, perhaps?" It wasn't usually done and Roland did it least of all but Merek was his friend, the least he could do was try to help him out. He and Lucien had reached a sort of strange understanding after Christmas, too, though he doubted that would buy him much leeway. Still, if Merek wanted him to he could see what strings he could pull.

"Well, then, I'm sure things will turn around for the two of you in no time." Though maybe Merek was a little easier than Rhys and it would take more to win him around, but he supposed time would tell. Whatever happened, the pyromancer knew that he'd ben there for Roland if the councilman needed him. Stretching out just a bit more, Merek glanced at the vampire in time to see the older man admiring him and the chief of staff gave him a playful wink and a smile before he relaxed back into the couch.

"You would think, but it certainly doesn't feel like that. Though I might have just gotten used to seeing him whenever I wanted to." Merek shrugged, knowing that he'd been lucky to spend almost all the time he'd wanted with someone who belonged to one of the councilmen. The pyromancer knew how possessive some of them could be with their slaves. He chuckled a bit, shaking his head. "I can't imagine. I probably would have done quite poorly if I'd made the decision to be a slave instead of staff here." Merek had spent the first twenty years of his life being caged, he'd had little interest in ever going back to that.

[knight-queen]

Lunatic Parade Subaru Sakamaki– (Chapter 3)

[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2]

Place: Glimmer Street, Main street/グリンマーストリート 表通り

Subaru: Haah...I wonder what that old-uncle’s planning to assign us this time.

Yui: According to what I feel... I bet we won’t be facing any ordinary things this time too…

(Hm…?)

Vampire Woman E: Haah...it’s no good…

Yui: (That grandmom seems to be troubled by something….? Why’s that?)

→ Selection

声をかける / Call her out (+Correct)

そのまま通り過ぎる/ Pass it as it is

Yui: Excuse me, grandmo一

Subaru: Oi.

Yui: Subaru kun…

Subaru: Don’t tell me that ye’re gonna call her out?

Yui: Eh...Yes, I am…

Subaru: Are you awaring of this situation? We have to go somewhere important.

Yui: I know that but...we can’t just leave someone alone who’s been troubled…

Subaru: What you mean by troubled…

……

...Haah, got it. Do as you wish.

...Kindness is existing inside you as always.

Yui: Umm...excuse me grandmom, is there anything wrong?

Vampire Woman E: Oh...a girl. You see, I have dropped off a precious handkerchief somewhere…

Yui: So that’s what it was. I’m going to lay you a hand searching for that!

Subaru: Bah dang….that’s the only option…

*After a moment*

Yui: (It’s rather difficult to search for a handkerchief without having any clue…)

Subaru: Oi, I couldn’t find it here.

Yui: Likewise...I couldn’t find it either.

(Was that flew away somewhere by wind…? 一Ah!)

The thing stuck with that bench over there, it’s the handkerchief yeah!?

Vampire Woman: Oh goodness! You’re right!

Subaru: Finally found that huh? Well then, let’s get that an一

*A bird has grabbed that*

Yui: Ah…!

(That bird has….!)

Subaru: Wai- hold on!

*Flying sound*

Yui: (The bird picked the handkerchief in it’s mouth and flew away…)

Subaru: Tch...on the roof huh…

Yui: ...I’m gonna bring a ladder right away…!

Subaru: Aah, hold it! For you using a ladder will probably be so risky that I can’t even look at that.

...I’ll go and get that so wait ‘re.

I won’t need any kinda ladder for just this...I can get that in a sec’ if I just fly.

...Here I go…

*Flies*

Yui: ...Ah, Subaru kun…

*Comes back after a moment*

Subaru: ...Here, it should be fine now.

Yui: (Ah, the thing he’s holding is…!)

Vampire Woman E: Oh my, yes! This one! Huge thanks to both of you.

This thing was really important for me...so you were a great help. Really thank you very much.

(She is being so happy. It was good to her after all!)

Yui: Ah...sorry Subaru kun for making you stop by there...but thank you.

Subaru: ...Haah. Every time I see the depth of yer’ kindness, it keeps surprising me…

...But, you know...if you prefer that then I won’t stop you.

Yui: Yes…?

(He’d usually say that doing these is just absurd but...he’s somehow different I guess)

Subaru: Anyways, we’re done with this business. Let’s move on.

Place: Rubean Canal / ルビーン運河

Gondolier A: 一Time to departure!

Yui: (...Today’s work is to find a mineral from an abandoned mine inside of the volcano.)

(...Sounds so difficult…)

Subaru: Oi, what was up with that guy from earlier?

Yui: Eh? The guy from earlier?

Subaru: When I said “let’s go”, then you were freaked out. That one.

Yui: Oh…

(The time when he said that today we’ll have to go to the volcano…)

(I thought Subaru kun is gonna deny but, he simply nodded by saying “Let’s go”...)

Ah...yeah. I want you to listen without getting angry…

I really thought that you’re gonna have an objection in going to the volcano.

However, I was surprised when you smoothly agreed with going there…

Subaru: ...Hmph.

...Even though I can’t understand other people, every single one has a precious thing.

Atleast, I understood that right.

Yui: ……?

Subaru: Such as, the head-mask that the old-uncle asked to get and,

The handkerchief that the grandma was searching.

Yui: Subaru kun…

Subaru: Above these...if I look from the perspectives of persons, then to me you are also…

So, they may have looked at those things considering like this way.

Yui: ...kh…*flushed*

(It’s unfair to say these things out of nowhere…)

(It’s embarrassing but...I feel like my love for Subaru has increased more than before.)

Place: Lake / 湖

Gondolier A: This place is Tilkes!

Yui: (Phew...looks like we’ve finally arrived.)

(Rest is to go to the volcano right ahead…)

Subaru: Finally we’ve come here huh…

Yui: I guessed you’d prefer flying instead of riding on Gondola.

Subaru: Yeah...I had thought about flying. But, I’ll have to use some stamina from here on, yeah?

Yui: (Fufu...looks like he’s having positive feedback in the missions that Mr. antique-artist has assigned.)

*After a while*

Yui: Certainly we can see the volcano if we pass by this lake-side, right?

Subaru: That old-uncle said so.

Yui: Well then if we take this direct approac一

*Crowd noises*

Yui: ……

Subaru: ……

Yui: (I’ve been thinking about it for a while though, this lake-shore is full of couples I seeee….)

(Since it looks like a tourism spot, I think we’ve no other choices…)

S- so many couples right…

Subaru: Tch...dang noisy…

Yui: (But, if we don’t cross through this side-road of couples then we can’t go to the volcano….)

Subaru: Oi, Yui.

*Hugs her*

Yui: Wah…!

(He is hugging me…!?)

Subaru: It won't be unnatural if we just walk together like this.

Yui: Maybe you got a point but still...it’s embarrassing…!

Subaru: Looking to the other side, we’re also....two of us will also be considered like that way. *blushing*

Don’t worry about it. Let’s go.

Yui: M- mhm…

Place: Front of Mine Entrance / 鉱山跡地入口前

Yui: L- looks like that’s the entrance.

Stallkeeper near Volcano: 一Please wait up there.

Subaru: Yeah?

Stallkeeper near Volcano: Are you going to enter there?

Subaru: If we do, then what?

Stallkeeper near Volcano: Oh, it’s nothing...if so, then you should take this.

Yui: This is...marshmallow…?

But... Why do we need this for getting inside this volcano…?

Stallkeeper near Volcano: To be honest...there’s a certain story behind this land-area.

Yui: Story…

Monologue 一

一一Thus, we’ve ended up hearing a sorrowful story about the Smaragd Volcano.

Long time ago...the resources of this volcano were so abundant that the mineral-mining was just being continued. 

One day...a man who was working there fell in love with Reis who lives in the underground lake. 

It was rather unusual story as Reis and Vampire to become lovers, however in order to live with Reis, 

That man has deceived a vampire woman and gave her body to his beloved.

It’s because...unless Reis isn’t possessed by some person, she cannot leave that area where she was living. 

But she was binded with the fate of getting erased away if she leaves that place.

Despite not for being used to that, those two were spending happy days together.

The only one thing that Reis appreciated in her life as a Vampire was...marshmallow.

...However, that happiness didn’t continued to last long.

One day, the main owner of the body that Reis had possessed over got awakened and 一一

Ended up killing the man.

Reis who was shivering in anger had killed the woman whose body she had taken over and relied on at that time…

As a result, she disappeared…

That man is wandering around the volcano to find his beloved Reis even now...

Reis’s comrades had also cherished her choices, so they also made themselves to like marshmallows...

End of Monologue

Yui: ……

(There’s such a painful story behind this volcano…)

Subaru: Hmph, overall you just mean that we’ll have to give this sweet stuff to Reis if she shows up, yeah?

It’s just a myth. How absurd....

*Subaru walks away*

Yui: Ah, wait up, Subaru kun…!

(As he said, maybe it’s just a myth but…)

Umm...sorry, but is it okay to take this marshmallow just for advancement?

Stallkeeper near Volcano: Ofcourse. I just pray that you two don’t have to face Reis.

Yui: Thank you very much.

(Aight, let’s catch up with Subaru kun then…!)

Place: 鉱山跡地 / Mining area

Yui: (Where did Subaru kun head out…?)

(I didn’t predict that he’d go so far away…)

Subaru: 一 I knew.

*Screen slightly shakes*

Yui: Wah, Subaru kun!?

I got... freaked out as you suddenly showed up…

Subaru: In anycase, it’s for you. Before coming here, you got that marshmallow, right?

I have been waiting ‘re when I thought so.

Yui: I- I see…

Subaru: Did you really believe that story to be true?

It was just a childful-trick to make you buy that for sure.

Yui: Maybe you’re right...but just in case...okay?

Subaru: ...Haah.

Well, it’s fine. Let’s start searching for the mineral.

Yui: He told us to get the mineral which has a blue-shining on it.

Subaru: Yeah, he said we can find that...if we search the bare rocks of this place.

Looks like there’s a... mining-tool just in the perfect place.

*Takes that tool*

Subaru: I’m gonna cut off this wall using this, so you better look for that mineral.

Yui: Yes, I’ll do my best...!

*After a while*

Subaru: Ah...haah...ha…

Yui: (Uh...We’ve been searching quite a lot but we’re not finding that…)

(I don’t think that we’ll be able to find that at all…)

(And also…)

*Wind blows*

Yui: (Perhaps it’s for the story of Reis we’d heard before...I’m ending up feeling a bit creepy.)

???: Hehe...ehehehe…

Yui: ...kh, who was she…?

*Wind blows more deeply*

Yui: (No one’s here…)

(Was it an illusion of my mind….? But I can sure say there’s someone here…)

Subaru: Oi, what’s wrong?

Yui: Ah...Subaru kun...I have been feeling creepy for some reason…

Subaru: ...Well, this place is bad.

Yui: Yes…

Subaru: ...We shall have a rest for once. You have something to eat, no?

Yui: Ah...yeah! On the way to come here, I bought some sandwiches.

...Here, this is your part!

Subaru: Oh...thank you.

*After a moment*

Yui: Fu...it was yummy.

(This place is creepy indeed but it’s a bit fun since it looks like a picnic…)

...I should have brought some desserts with me.

Subaru: Yeah? But we do have dessert.

Yui: Eh?

Subaru: You got some at the entrance...the marshmallows.

Yui: Are you gonna eat that!? We should save it for the time if we meet Reis…

Subaru: Bah, but I told ya’ that it’s just a myth, didn’t I?

Yui: I wonder…

(Well but...it’s better to eat it instead of wasting it away by throwing…)

Wait a little…

*Checks out for the marshmallows*

Yui: Huh…

Subaru: Oi, what now?

Yui: I couldn’t see any marshmallow…

Subaru: Hmm. I think you’ve dropped it somewhere on your way?

Yui: ………

(Now...could it be Reis has taken that way…)

(If she did then it was good to buy that marshmallow following the advice of that stall keeper….)

Subaru: ...What’s wrong? Did you want to eat marshmallow so bad?

Yui: Ah...nope. It’s not that…

(Let’s not talk about it to Subaru kun….)

(Since I can’t confirm that Reis has taken that away…)

(Even if that story is true, I better not drag myself into it.)

Subaru: …? What a weirdo. Let’s go back to our work right away.

*Time skip*

Subaru: ...kh, Haahh…!

Yui: Subaru kun, you see anything…?

Subaru: Not at all...instead I’ve found some kind of extraordinary thing but,

It’s not the thing that Old-Uncle asked for…

Look, this one.

Yui: Waah, it’s such a beautiful gem.

(If I look at this at an angle then the color changes to another! Incredible…!)

(But the thing we’re aiming for is not this one…)

Subaru: ………

Yui: (He’s just keeping watching this stone he’s holding…)

Fufu...if you like it then what about taking it home as a memory?

Since it’s an unusual gem!

Subaru: O- Oh...right.

Yui: And...what should we do next…

(At this rate, even if we search it aimlessly, it will basically be pointless…)

???: Hehe...ehehehe…

Yui: ...kh…!

(This voice...is the same from before…!)

(I knew that the truth’s Reis exist….? What should we do since we don’t have marshmallows with us…)

Subaru: ...Someone’s voice.

Yui: You noticed that too...?

Subaru: Yeah. It was coming from our back right?

Yui: Yes…let’s go to the direction where the voice came from.

*After a moment*

Subaru: ...was that coming from ‘re…?

Recalling that, I had read a fairy-tale of the Lower World when I was a child…

It was written that by digging the place where a pet-dog barked, one can find treasures.

You know about that?

Yui: Eh? Y- yes...It was a common story…

Subaru: There’s a chance that….it’s gonna work for this thing too…!

...Let’s try it out by digging here.

*Digs*

...GGh….!

Yui: Ah! Look Subaru kun!! It’s this stone, right…!?

Subaru: Certainly...it’s blue exactly like that Old-Uncle said…

Yui: Waah! That’s a great relief that we find it, right!

Subaru: Haah...Jeez, finally huh…

But...it was worthwhile to work damn hard searching for it…

Yui: Right.

(Hm…? Then Reis’s voice from earlier…? Could it be that she told us the clue as thanks for giving her the marshmallow…)

Subaru: We’ve managed to get the gem safely so let’s get out.

Yui: Sure一

*Bird’s buzzing sound*

Subaru: Aah…?

Yui: This…. Sound…?

*Eagle rudely whistling sound*

Yui: Eh...Eagle…!?

Subaru: HAAAH!? Where did this shit come from!? ….No way….it’s coming this way…!

*Whistling*

Subaru: ...kh! Watch out…!!

*Screen shakes*

Yui: Are you okay!?

(Now...the eagle is after the gem that Subaru kun’s holding…?)

Subaru: Oi, oi! Could it be that it's aiming at this stone?

No way we'll handle it over after getting it with so much effort!

Let’s hurry and escape!

*After*

*Eagle whistling*

Subaru: Chhe...it’s still chasing after us!

Yui: Ah, Subaru kun! There’s a minecart over there…!

Subaru: Only option is to use that for escape huh…!

*Timeskip + Gets on minecart*

Subaru: Oi, take care of this gem.

Yui: (Let’s put it inside my pocket in such a way it won’t fall…)

Subaru: kh...mo...ve!!

*Sound*

Subaru: Aight, it started to move!

Is that giant-eagle still chasing?

*Eagle whistling*

Yui: Yes...As expected, she’s wanting to get this gem…

Subaru: Tch...fuck that old-uncle! I didn’t hear him say for such a bird to exist here…!

*Eagle whistling*

Yui: Ah…! Subaru kun, it’s no good…!

Subaru: Damn it all…! Oi, you bend downward. Don’t raise yer’ face up no matter what.

Yui: Ye- yes…

Subaru: Tch...behave yer’self! Play outta somewhere else!

*Subaru picks up a tool*

Yui: Subaru kun! Don’t overdo it that much…!

Subaru: Yeah, I know…! ….Uaaah…!?

*Punch*

Yui: Ehh…!?

(The giant-eagle has….grasped Subaru kun…!?)

Subaru: ...ghh...Oi, lemme go…!!

*Eagle whistles*

Subaru: ...gh!!

Yui: Ah…!!

Subaru: Yuiii…!!

Yui: No way...Subaru kun!?

(He is going in the ravine-bottom…!! I gotta go there to help him...but how can I…)

*Screen vibrates*

Yui: Wh- what was that now…!? Rumble in the ground…?

*Screen shakes*

Yui: Eh…!

(This minecart is going to tilt...at this rate I’m gonna fall…!?)

...kh...Kyaaa…!?

*BG turns black*

Yui: (Wh-what should I do...it’s means, before getting back my heart, I am going to…)

(......)

Subaru: 一Yui!

Yui: (Eh…?)

(My body is...floating…?)

Subaru...kun…?

It’s fine now, hold me tight!

Yui: Yes…!

Place: 洞窟 / Cave

Yui: Haah...haah…

Somehow...we’re saved…?

Subaru: Aah...looks so.

Yui: (But...which place is this? As what I’m seeing, it’s a cave though…)

...kh…

(What…!? It hurts to...breath…!)

Subaru: Tch...looks like... we rather fall right into the underground…

We gotta leave...before we get choked…!

Place: 地底湖 / Underground Lake

Subaru: Haah...Oi, you...okay?

Yui: Somehow yes…!

(There’s even a lake in the underground…)

Subaru: Oi, are you having that gem with you?

Yui: Yeah, no worries. It’s safe.

Subaru: Good...let’s get outta here then.

That’s gonna be a trouble if we get dragged into something again.

From here on…

...Don’t you ever leave my side again. We don’t know what’s gonna come up next.

Yui: Yes…!

*Screen shakes*

Subaru: ...gh, hold it. Something’s...coming…

Yui: (This sound...don’t tell me it’s the same ground-rumble again…!?)

*Water sound*

Subaru: ...Water…!?

Yui: Ah...perhaps the lake got overflowed because of that rumble in the ground…

Subaru: Fuck...one after another…!

Yui: Kyaaah!?

(I am gonna be swept away…!?)

Subaru: Oi, hold me!!

*Subaru gets closer*

Subaru: Don’t let go of this hand no matter what!

*BG black + after a moment*

Yui: (I was...saved…?)

*Fades to CG*

Yui: *coughs*.... *coughs*....

Subaru: Oi...you okay?

Yui: Ah...yes. I swallowed up water a little but, I am not having even a single injury.

I’m sure I’m okay because you protected me.

Subaru: Ha- HAAAH!? What are you saying!?

Yui: Eh...what you asked, I just said that you’ve prote一

Subaru: AAH, shut up! Don’t say anymore than this!

Damn you…

Yui: (Ah...he has turned his face the other way…)

But, really thanks to you that I was able to return back here safely.

Thank you for supporting me.

Subaru: ...kh…

…...hmph.

Yui: ...We had to deal with many things but…

It’s good that we’ve come back safely.

Subaru: It was no good...we had to face terrible things.

I’ll regret it if I deal with such things again.

Yui: Fufu...right.

*CG Fades *

Subaru: For starters...let’s get back to that old-uncle at once.

Because it’s gonna piss me off he complains that we’re late of somethin’.

...kh…

Yui: Ah, Subaru kun, are you alright…!?

Subaru: My feet got staggered a bit. Never mind.

You better don’t worry about others as you're also terribly exhausted.

Yui: Ye- yeah…

(I’m worried even if he says it…)

*After a while + BG black*

Yui: (nnh…)

Place: ホテル•モーントシュタイン  客室 / Hotel • Mortstein,Guest room

Yui: (Huh...this place...where is it...it’s not the antique artist’s…? Hotel…?)

(I’ve remembered that I went to the antique art dealer with Subaru kun but…)

Subaru: Nngh...Oh shit...my body hurts…

Ah...huh, why are we in the hotel!?

Yui: (That’s good... he’s woken up too.)

Tell me, why are we right back in the hotel?

Subaru: Who knows...all I remembered is that we’ve gone to that Old-Uncle’s place…

Yui: (We’re on the same track...huh. ...Hm?)

(On the bedside table, there’s a note…)

*Yui gets that*

Subaru: What’s that? A note? Gimme that for a sec’.

『一I’ve received my required mineral safely. 』

『You’ve to be prepared for the last task on tomorrow so have a good rest today.』

『...Furthermore, I’ll throw you out in the street next time, if you fall down on my storefront.』

...He said.

Yui: Ah...that’s right...we collapsed in his store.

Shit...whom does he think we had collapsed for!?

Damn him…! That fukin’ talkative old bastard…!

Haah...I’m gonna sleep. You should sleep too. Tomorrow is the last task after all.

Yui: Yes, I will.

(Today was a really difficult day for us however...I have enjoyed it.)

一 The END of Chapter O 3