#bloodbound meta

[gaiuskamilah]

i'm so fascinated with rheya's story and the concept of her as their goddess, because it's such an obvious rejection of christianity. of course, this is no surprise considering that the book lead is a jewish man and the series has multiple times subverted the antisemitic tropes associated with vampires. religious themes are prominent in bloodbound, and the treatment of it and its distinct parallels to a certain point of view of christianity i think can't be denied.

rheya is referred to as a goddess throughout the series. she's a priestess and arguably the goddess phampira made flesh, which already draws parallels to jesus, who was a spiritual leader himself. gaius augustine is roman and her most devoted follower, converting (turning) people across the world in a similar way the roman st paul the apostle did. gaius also shares a name with st augustine of hippo, arguably the most important philosopher in christian history and theology.

to be a vampire in bb is to drink the blood of another vampire, and all are descended from the priestess-goddess rheya. this immediately evokes similar Eucharistic notions - as in john 6:53-54, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day."

rheya herself has inspired canon organized religion. the chapel built by dracula is highly reminiscent of catholic and orthodox churches:

in the bonus scene in the dark solstice, serafine is also shown to be praying to rheya. this in particular caught my attention because of how it was worded:

"when the First shall return to us... when the Order will burn... when we may once again be free" it's a very messianic prayer and in itself mirrors the christian belief that one day, jesus will return and enact his will and his kingdom onto the earth.

the whole passage can be compared to the lord's prayer. "when the first shall return to us... when the order will burn" - "hallowed be thy name / thy kingdom come / thy will be done / on earth as it is in heaven" which talks about second coming of jesus, and in this case, rheya. vampires are waiting for salvation, waiting for and asking for "deliverance from evil".

despite all this, bloodbound actively rejects rheya as god made flesh, rejects the notion of her as their savior, and arguably even the concept of a savior. mc denying that rheya is neither savior nor goddess is akin to denying that jesus is the savior and is god:

and this even extends to her name itself - rheya apostolous. "christ" is not jesus' actual name, it's a title that means savior. and while we can take "rheya apostolous" as a typical first name-last name thing, i choose to view "apostolous" as a title - and apostolous means "apostle", a follower, not a savior or a goddess.

and again, knowing that the book lead is a jewish man makes this approach make more sense. through christianity has undeniably jewish roots and jesus was jewish himself, judaism denies that jesus is the messiah. this approach to vampire lore as well as the care that was put into it in order to subvert antisemitic tropes rife the concept of vampires makes bloodbound such a refreshing take on the vampire genre as a whole.

[lilyspencerappreciationweek]

(This awesome Halloween-themed poster is the handiwork of @sazanes!)

Welcome to our first ever Lily Spencer Appreciation Week!!

She's a tech-savvy gamer, the best friend you could ask for, amazingly funny, and often uses her humour to cope with extremely stressful situations. She loves everything supernatural - even writing werewolf fanfic.

Bloodbound has seen her grow from an ordinary woman just navigating a world she thinks is normal, to a baby vampire, to someone confident in her skills and powers and ready to join the fight against forces like Gaius Augustine and Rheya Apostolous.

This week is about celebrating every aspect that makes Lily the fantastic character she is! We will be beginning at Halloween, then spending some of the first week of November celebrating her as a character! Hope you will join us!!

Here's what that schedule will look like:

31st October - Happy Halloween!! 🎃

1st November - Lily the Gamer

2nd November - Lily from Wisconsin/Throwback

3rd November - Lily the Baby Vampire

4th November - Lily's Friendships/Relationships/Family

Any and all content is welcome!! Fic, art, edits, moodboards, gifs, meta, headcanons... everything goes! Our only requirement is that the pieces should be centered around Lily, and feature her in a positive way. WIPs and Throwback pieces are also welcome.

Be sure to tag @lilyspencerappreciationweek, and hosts @lizzybeth1986 and @sazanes in your posts. Also make sure that you tag your posts with #lilyspencerappreciationweek and #LSAW! This is to make sure we don't miss any of your posts!

A lot of fan content blogs will be running some great events around this time, and we highly encourage you to check them out! @choicesficwriterscreations, @choicesmonthlychallenge, @choicesoctober, @choicesnovchallenge, @choicesholidays, @choicesprompts, @choicespride, @choicesflashfics. If there are any other Choices fan content blogs you would like us to tag, let us know!

See you all at Halloween!! 🎃 👻 🦇 🎃 👻 🦇 🎃 👻 🦇

✅✅signal boosts are always appreciated!✅✅

[mr-laveau]

@cashandprizes has handed me the keys to the kingdom and now that means I get to info-dump about EVERYTHING I've had in mind while designing each and every one of these characters. To start, welcome to...

Laveau's Redacted Design Notes: Bloodbound Edition I

Without further delay, let's get into it.

Darlin's design incorporates elements from their pack since I wanted to visually show similarities between them and the pack by having them share tastes in clothes. It also was me solidifying my HC that the pack rubs their fashion sense off on each other. (David), Darren wears a leather jacket and a belt with a silver buckle; (Asher), they sport a choker and high waisted pants; (Milo), they also wear ripped shirts and share boot colors; (Christian), they both wear gloves.

The floral print on Sam's shirt is actually a Chrysanthemum; It's a flower that carries the symbolic meaning of devoted love, loyalty, happiness, longevity, and joy–appropriate to his role in Darlin's story. More specifically, given the color of his shirt, Sam represents a red Chrysanthemum which also represents deep love and passion. They're also flowers that have medicinal properties too!

Vincent's jumpsuit is designed specifically to reference a mechanic's jumpsuit given his love of cars. The jumpsuit is printed with a rose floral pattern which–in addition to the pearls around his neck(which is queer symbolism)–are symbols of Aphrodite, something I find fitting given the similarities he and the goddess have.*Vincent was also deisgned with the intention of him looking like a fuck boy, his blonde bangs also were meant to reference fangs

I said this on twitter some time ago but Alexis being Persian was something I wanted to run with given how desired Persian women were to the colonizers and outsiders of the country long ago (and still are today), being objectified and simplified without regard to their humanity. Much of her design choices are based on the idea of desire, her likeness to Betty Boop (a heavily sexualised character), her sweater having roses (flowers that represent love and desire), her dress, her balletcore-inspired outfit (being a reference to ballerinas–which fun fact, they used to be used as prostitutes after shows for patrons) are all a part of the larger bit. I also made Alexis a WOC for the specific purpose that anytime a WOC is presented as flawed and beautiful, they are immediately lined up to be femme fatales or villains–call that meta commentary if you want. *again, yes, I'm of the school of thought where we HC Alexis as a flawed person cuz canon ain't saying enough.

Lovely's design is heavily inspired by several gaming references; their post-inversion design includes a sweater that reads "reset", a reference to undertale and fitting regarding the fact that it's a post-inversion design; their pre-inversion hoodie reads "game over" on the front which I will admit is a morbid joke foreshadowing their turning; their color palette is heavily inspired by Raiden Shogun from Genshin Impact; the controller symbols on their sleeves in the pre-inversion design is an obvious playstation reference, and the "NPC" on the sleeves of their post-inversion design is a small nod to the fact that Lovely, at the time of designing, did not feel like a very active listener (still don't, to some degree) so I threw that in there!

Bright Eyes is heavily inspired by the Magical Girl genre of anime; her bikini top has a reference to Senketsu from Kill La Kill and a ribbon tie that resembles a part of Usagi's Sailor Moon uniform; her hair and choker are also inspired by Usagi and her color palette is based on Panty from Panty and Stocking. She is prime black magical girl material™️. *Her design also incorporates eye imagery due to their namesake and the fit is heavily inspired by Aliyahcore.

Quinn's design is littered with Christian religious iconography. His choker and earring are all upside down crosses which are typically regarded as signs of evil, his other hoop earring was intended to draw close to halo (but ehhh, not really) and all of them being silver was a decision based on the facts that A.) Silver is regarded as a pure and holy metal and, B.) Silver is traditionally the weakness of a werewolf–which when contextualized with his involvement with Darlin can be read as him maliciously equipping himself with silver to hurt them or be seen as him being their weakness in some way.

William's design is purely meant to communicate the fact that he is rich, elegant and powerful. For those of you who don't know, braids (especially well done braids) can be a sign of wealth because them shits ain't cheap to put in and best believe, Will has his done by the best in Dahlia. Speaking of symbols of status, use of the gold accessories and ruby are intentionally put there to emphasize his status as the Solaire clan's king. Additionally, Rubies are associated with blood, power and youth as well as acting as talismans of protection.

Sam's alternate design is actually based on a rattlesnake! The many fang shapes in it, the rattlesnake-skinned pattern on the band of his hat, the beads in his hair and the snake tattoo were pretty much dead giveaways. The choice to base him on a rattlesnake was all set in stone by the fact that rattlesnake venom also has healing properties in addition to being dangerous which I found fitting for Sam! *Fun fact: I kept thinking of rattlesnake Jake while I was designing him. That was also the reason he was based on a rattlesnake. LEAVE ME ALONE–

Quinn and Darren both share thorn motifs but in different ways. Quinn's motif is meant to play on my interpretation of him being close to that of a cult leader, someone who reels people in at their most vulnerable and brings them under his allegiance, thus his use of the thorn motif was to be presented as a martyr/anti-christ figure. Darren's use of the thorn motif specifically ties into their guarded personality and affections towards Sam (a rose with thorns). The best part is that the shirt's thorn design, while alluring, also adds to the pattern or scars on his body and on his neck where Darr bit him. They fulfill the idea of both hiding and blending in with his scars to somewhat embolden them in my HC where Quinn uses his pain as a point of pride for attracting others whilst not being vulnerable enough to actually let them see his humanity behind the image he's built up.

Alexis and Darlin share rose motifs solely based on how they presented their affections to Sam. Alexis being having roses as she simply put herself out there as an option for Sam (queue the bachelor reference) and Darren being a rose with thorns (see above). Interestingly enough, Alexis and Vincent have this in common as well as two vampiric royalty who turned their royalty and presented their affections openly towards the people they prospectively were interested in.

Quinn, like Darren, wears a choker and while this initially was meant to push the image of a priest/cult leader, I also used this as a visual similarity to Darlin given their shared history.

Some of the designs contain references to Greek Mythology. Vincent's pearls and rose jumpsuit are symbols of Aphrodite similarly to the patterns on Darren's pants and Alexis' top. Darlin however more so represents Aphrodite Areia/ Aphrodite the Warlike which was Sparta's epithet for her as a war goddess. Lovely's peacock earring is a nod to Hera which becomes interesting when you consider that Lovely's hair is shaped like lightning bolts which is Zeus's symbol.

[a-cloud-for-dreams]

Dear Choices Secret Admirer aka @gaiuskamilah

I know I am RIDICULOUSLY late to submit for the event, I really wanted to earlier but life threw some stuff at me. I was debating between submitting this even later with multiple gifts (specifically including your Guinevere pairings) or submitting it as a two-parter(?) but I didn't want you to think I forgot about you so I decided to share this edit now. I can hopefully find time to submit another gift to your inbox directly. Thank you so much for your patience (and @choicesfandomappreciation) for my late responses to your messages I didn't mean to cause a panic 😭)

I was super excited when I got you as my secret admirer because I love your blog sm I remember a while ago I was spam liking your bloodbound metas and I was like "they're so cool and observant!!" One of my favorites is the one explaining the Jewish influence on Bloodbound/subversion of the vampire trope because it was a refreshing shift in perspective for the book and vampire-related media in general. Sorry for my ramblings lol, you're a super cool creator and I hope we can interact more soon!

Nia Ellarious Edit

Note: I did post this on my TikTok because that’s where I always post my edits but if you want me to private/delete it, please tell me! This is your gift so I don’t want to go against your wishes

[puredoesnotmeankind]

I really loved how Bloodbound explored the conflict between the Order and the Vampires (will definitely write a proper post about this because holy shit) and I think they did that very well and consistently throughout book 2. The only thing I kinda didn't like was how quickly Xenocrates was removed from the plot, considering the build-up about the First Son and learning about Rheya's backstory. I get that the writers didn't want him having a larger role in the main plot with facing Gaius and the Vampire War in New York, like that's not the route they wanted to go and I respect that. Still I very much enjoyed the reveal and Xenocrates as a character (Like shit, the metas I could write about this if I made more brain cells)

[landoffreaksandfrogs]

also i think that not enough people fight over which is the best aspect in homestuck anymore. i want people to be going #doomsweep. i want paragraphs upon paragraphs of the narrative and meta significance of the life aspect. how are so many trolls in the friendsims bloodbound.

[elfilibusterismo]

bloodbound 2 tapestry analysis

so. in this long, over-the-top post i dissect and analyse the bloodbound 2 tapestry using the imagery in it, archetypes found, and its connection with bloodbound’s story and characters.

the bloodbound 2 tapestry depicts rheya apostolous standing in front of the tree of life, with blood on her right hand and a bloodied dagger in her left. gaius augustine genuflects to her on his right knee, while xenocrates genuflects to her on his left knee. a skull with a queen’s crown lies by rheya’s feet, and the background shows the image of a solar eclipse.

first thing im gonna touch upon is the image of the solar eclipse in the background. solar eclipses are new moons. in witchcraft, new moon rituals are done in order to set new intentions and to “begin anew” with the cycle of the moon. however, it should also be noted that eclipses are malefic, and any intentions or spells done under a solar eclipse will backfire on the caster, whatever the intention may be. additionally, eclipses are considered bad omens for many cultures and religions around the world. how does this connect with rheya’s story?

the image of the solar eclipse alone foreshadows rheya turning dark. rheya’s turning and eventual rule was made with good intentions. she desired to create an era and queendom of peace and diplomacy but once her child and beloved were killed, she eventually spiralled into darkness.

second is the image of the tree of life behind rheya. we all know that drinking from the tree is what gave rheya her power, but there’s more to the tree. the tree is leafless and white. white can represent a successful beginning, and “to remove prejudice and pre-conceived notions, to see the innocence in others,” which we see at the beginning of rheya’s story when she takes over mydiea. 

however, it should also be noted that the tree is leafless. leaves represent fertility and growth, and leafless trees can indicate the feeling of hopelessness. leafless trees are also associated with winter, the season which has the strongest connotation to death and darkness the most. if you mix this meaning with the aforementioned meaning of the colour white, the image of the tree of life in the tapestry showed the successful beginning and inevitable downfall of rheya’s days as queen of mydiea. 

next is the skull with a queen’s crown at rheya’s feet. the meaning of the skull is obvious: death and mortality. it can also represent the unachievable nature of immortality. paired with crown of a queen on it, i choose to portray it as how rheya achieved immortality, how she is beyond mortal. (however, i also like to portray it as how rheya’s queendom was doomed to violence and war from the start, how she would inevitably be the “goddess of blood.” demetrius once said “violence begets violence,” and it can be alluded to how rheya killed kaelisus and crowned herself as ruler of mydiea)

moving on. we have gaius genuflecting on his right knee. the placement of the knee is actually important, because genuflecting on the right can specifically symbolise that you are genuflecting to something holy. catholic liturgies note that genuflection using the right knee symbolises adoration, and is reserved for the most blessed sacrament. gaius genuflecting on his right knee is no coincidence; it reflects how he saw rheya as his holy goddess for majority of bloodbound’s events.

gaius’s devotion to rheya can also be found in the bb1 tapestry. we see the crown of a king on the floor (symbolising gaius being “king” of vampires), but there’s another crown, elevated. i like to think of it as a symbol for rheya, his “goddess”:

in comparison to gaius, xenocrates genuflects on his left knee. genuflection on the left knee symbolises that you are kneeling to a human dignitary, not a holy being. it reflects how even though xenocrates did refer to rheya as his goddess, he saw through her and only saw a bloodthirsty tyrant in the making, which led to him betraying her as revealed in bloodbound 2. 

additionally, note how gaius is placed on rheya’s right, while xenocrates on her left. though left and right have varying symbolisms throughout different parts of the world, arguably the most common one is that the right side equals good and the left bad. in context to rheya’s story, gaius placed on the right (good) reflects how he was the one to continue on her legacy and kept her memory alive. while xenocrates, being on her left (bad), alludes to how he betrayed her and strove to kill her vampire bloodline with the order of the dawn. 

her hands are no coincidence either. her right hand (gaius) drips with blood, symbolising how gaius spread rheya’s bloodline after her death. meanwhile, her left hand holds a bloodied dagger (knife?). it should be noted how daggers represent treachery, as it has been used with numerous assassinations in history (including julius caesar lol). we’ve already established that her left is xenocrates, and her holding a bloodied dagger in her left reflects how he would eventually be the one to (temporarily) take her out. (note how the knife is also seemingly poised to xenocrates’s chest/heart, just something to think about)

overall, the bloodbound 2 tapestry encapsulates gaius, xenocrates, and rheya’s story quite well in my opinion. if you made it this far, nice! im open to any and all discussion regarding bloodbound imagery (any choices imagery talk really) so pls pls share if you have Thoughts on it :D

tagging: @jaxsmutsuo​ @cingerix​

[jaxmatsuo]

thinking about bloodbound again as usual and there was a really easy way for lily being more connected to the plot outside of MC? like they literally could’ve just made her girlfriend melanie a vampire. they made it a point to include the fact that melanie was constantly disappearing and even the first time i was playing bloodbound it felt off to me....... if there were two or three more chapters before MC and adrian were attacked by the feral they could’ve had MC and lily look into melanie’s disappearances, or at the very least confront her. imagine how flavorful it would be if she was clanless and the reason she was always gone was bc she had to move around a lot and the reason jax found out MC was working for raines corp was through her. maybe she could’ve been at the initial feral attack or made an appearance at marcel’s ball.

or, idk, melanie could’ve just shown up at literally any other point in the book honestly. like i’m legit writing stream of consciousness rn but the idea works in any context. her character didn’t even have to be kept in for the entirety of the book or the series; having her around for even a short amount of time would’ve solidified lily’s connection to the vamp world in way that was completely unrelated to MC just like all the other love interests did which is what she deserved. and having lily’s ex present but them not actually being together would’ve added the tension, that again, every route but hers had and made the best friends to lovers trope more delicious. idk !

[eternal-flame]

hot take: while I'm perfectly happy with Power Of Love™ convincing MC not to become an evil goddess, you know what would be a fun plot twist? if Gaius was the one who convinced her to stop instead of the LI.

okay, okay, put your pitchforks down and hear me out!

1. it would make his redemption arc feel more substantial and probably convince more people to spare him

2. MC saved him from darkness - wouldn't it be cool if he did the same in return?

3. and on the opposite end there's what happened between him and Rheya. Gaius gave Rheya the knife she used to drink from the Tree, in a way facilitating her descent into darkness, and then she dragged him down with her. if he and MC did the exact opposite for each other, it would be really poetic in my opinion (not in a shippy way, just in a narrative way. although you can interpret it in shippy way too, if you feel like it.)

[clansayeed]

At what point did Adrian and Kamilah’s relationship shift to the close friendship it is now? Did it all go down like in the book when they went on the ship mission during the Revolutionary War or was it different in your universe? What has kept them close through the years? I love their relationship because it had so many layers in Bloodbound but it has even more in Destiny.

ack nonnie this made me smile so much and today I needed it more than I can describe so thank you??? so much???

So in terms of like specific events that led to their developing friendship and close platonic bond, I haven’t thought super in-depth about it RE “is it different than it was in canon with the ship blowing up, etc.” I might, if I get to a point where that reference or flashback might be necessary or particularly poignant, but to answer it straight-laced -- I don’t know. Right now there isn’t a big change in that event, not that I’m aware of anyway.

But in terms of how they’ve kept close, evolved as friends into pretty much surrogate siblings for one another, kept each other strong, that kinda stuff, a lot of it is subtle but strong if that makes sense.

Like the immediate things I can think of right off the bat are

The sense of us against the world that comes into play during Adrian’s Trial in book 1 -- where Kamilah was still sort of beholden to her duties because she (at that point) had switched from one extreme loyalty to another (Gaius to anything but Gaius, being the Council) but witnessing the injustice of his pain and knowing he was just trying to be good and do good and keep the city safe was enough to make her flip the switch to saying enough is enough.

The Kamilah and Adrian flash(forward) scene in book 3 [V.iii. And There Was a Great Calm] where they are at the Awakening Ball post-WWII. It’s a lot of subtle stuff here but the implication I was going for was how hard Adrian took personal accountability and self-guilt each time he would come back from a war. In this scene in particular he can’t stand how wasteful everyone is being because he’s only just started to settle back into civilian life -- and Kamilah’s attitude sort of implies she’s done this before with him; helped him remember how to be a normal person and not just a soldier

Another reference to their past comes in the pair of scenes in Adrian’s memories in book 4 [Chapter 21: The Progeny] which are shown in reverse, but taken chronologically it goes from the 19th century where she approves of Adrian following in Gaius’ footsteps to the early 20th where she sees Gaius treating him cruelly for the same bright mind he was once beloved for, and that unsettles her.

But the last straw for my Kamilah, at least, comes in The Price, a drabble which was meant to serve as a Trinity tie-in primarily but ended up being more of a commentary on what Gaius was willing to do to secure loyalty. He has a woman Adrian is falling for killed and is extremely flippant about it to Kamilah, who is the only one to go comfort him. It’s a very “do whatever you will to me, but hurting someone I care for is the final straw” kind of momentum for her finally agreeing Gaius needs to be stopped.

Something that should also be taken into account is the opening chapter for book 5 [Chapter 1: The Refuge] where we learn that (directly different to canon) Kamilah’s brother, Lysimachus, is alive when she’s Turned. She gets so close to seeing him, even for one final goodbye, and Gaius stops her because, essentially, “I said so and you’ll learn to listen to me.” When she ends up finding that spark of brotherly affection in Adrian, even if it’s ‘off-screen,’ it becomes something she draws parallels to without her conscious knowledge.

I know most of this has to do with Kamilah’s POV on things but that’s because of a lot of what I’ve written so far, even without really realizing it, comes directly to and from her perspective. Now that you’ve pointed it out though Nonnie I definitely want to explore more of Adrian’s side of their connection. Both in reaction to these events above and others I’ve not yet come to a decision on.

It’s not so much a specific statement answer as what I hope is a timeline (is a disorganized one) that shows the progress of their companionship and events that triggered change in their dynamic. There’s still more to come especially given that Kamilah didn’t see Adrian’s meltdown in the King’s Manor and has yet to realize how close to the surface his lingering issues with and about Gaius really are.

Thanks so much for this ask, it was a lot of fun to dig into their dynamic!

talk to me about Oblivion Bound! (about the series)

[bauliya]

Rheya isn't the first vampire because she was created in 800 BC and they've said that every civilisation had the myth of the vampire. So I postulate that Phampira was a vampire who was killed in the dungeons and later whose legend became a god. Rheya found Phampira's corpse, her tree, and drank from it.

The first vampire was some human 200k years ago in Africa who drank from a weird ass bleeding tree, grew too powerful, and was stabbed from a stake created by that tree, thus become a tree of life themself.

So. Basically. Vampirism is the slowest fucking process of process of plant reproduction.

And Demetrius became the tree of death because he took a branch of the phamipra tree to the island with him to commit suicide.

The farther your bloodline "dilutes" (gets farther from a tree) the weaker you are, more susceptible to sunlight etc.

Adrien managed to create a synthetic version of the tree sap in book 1.

[gaiuskamilah]

metas/analyses/essays

updated 2024/09/06 - some of these are less structured and more spur of the moment, others more structured and evidently more thought out. it's probably easy to see which is which.

BLADES OF LIGHT AND SHADOW

blades of light and shadow and race-coding

kade and aerin

shadow nia

blades 2 epilogue and the gospel of luke 23:34

blades of light and shadow and motherhood

dinvali-kilvali, orc matriarchy, and power systems

BLOODBOUND

[on-going series] Bloodbound and the Politics of Dominance and Submission [also available on ao3]

bloodbound 2 tapestry analysis

bloodbound and the rejection of christ

jewish influence on bloodbound and the subversion of the vampire trope

vladimir nabokov's lolita and adrian, kamilah, gaius

robert frost's stopping by the woods on a snowy evening and gaius augustine

lily and the shadow den

gaius, history, memory, and the book 2 museum finale

CRIMES OF PASSION

thornecest and the institution of the family

the thornes, sibling incest, societal alienation, and solipsism

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

the love interests as foils to the mc

IT LIVES

danni and parker and their designated symbols

QUEEN B

my opinion on poppy

RIDE OR DIE

ride-or-die, the mirror, and the narrative foil trope

VEIL OF SECRETS

veil of secrets and liberal politics

[lilyspencerappreciationweek]

We saw some amazing work for our first day of LSAW today! Wonderful art and edits and moodboards channeling her unique sense of humour and vibrant spirit. We just can't wait to see what gems you all have in store for us!

Tomorrow will be Day 2 of our Lily Spencer Appreciation Week, and we're super excited to see what you all have in store for us this week.

Our first theme is Throwback, where you can share content you've made previously on Lily! If you like, you can also reblog the work with commentary on how it came to be, and your process in creating it!

Our second theme relates more to the overall theme of Bloodbound and its sister series, Nightbound. The Supernatural! Lily is familiar enough with the dark net that she's able to remember the rumours she has heard about supernatural events and sightings, some of which she learns is accurate when Adrian and the MC team up to Turn her. She enters this world as a baby vampire, and grows and learns in the process. At the end she is even central to the uniting of the regular world and the supernatural one.

Any and all content is welcome during this week - fanfic, fanart, headcanons, meta, edits, moodboards, interactive media, even screenshots of your favourite Lily scenes!! Our only requirement is that the pieces should focus on Lily and present a positive depiction of her. WIPs and Throwback pieces are also more than welcome!

You can send pieces during any day of the week (not necessarily just the day of the theme) but do specify which day you meant the piece for!! We will keep a bonus week open for any pending entries too. Our rough deadline for entries will be July 21st. You can still send entries after the date and it will still be put up in the masterlist - this date is mostly for us to make the thank you video! Otherwise we will be open for entries until the next event, which means we will accept entries all year!!

Do keep these points in mind when you make your posts:

1. Use the tags #lilyspencerappreciationweek and #LSAW, along with the days you mean the content for (#LSAW Day 1, #LSAW Day 2)

2. Tag @lilyspencerappreciationweek as well as hosts @sazanes and @lizzybeth1986

FAN-COMMUNITY BLOGS keep the creative parts of our fandom alive! If you would like to participate in other events alongside this one, here are a couple great blogs you can check out!

@choicesficwriterscreations - Accepts both fic and art! Check here for their rules, policies and roster of events!

@choicesmonthlychallenge - Any and all content welcome! Here are the prompts for @julychallenge.

@choicespride - Any and all content, as long as it is centered around LGBTQ characters and/or themes! They are currently hosting the Choices Disability Pride event - check out their prompts here!

@choicesholidays - Any and all content welcome, as long as it is centered around one of the holidays listed! Currently no events, but you can definitely check out past prompts!

@choicesprompts - Primarily writing and fic. Currently no events, but do watch the space for more updates!

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Super excited to see what's up next for LSAW!!

Happy Lily Spencer Appreciation Week, everyone!!

[cassiopeiacorvus]

BB LI Appearances & Diamond Scenes

Notes & Methodology

Only counting diamond scenes solely involving the LI.

Only counting Books 1 & 2 as they are the only ones completed at the time of this post.

Appearing solely in a tapestry scene does not count as appearing in a chapter.

This meta can only measure the quantity of a character’s appearances, not their quality. For example, Lily has appeared almost as much as Adrian, however, she doesn’t get the same quality of treatment by the narrative as he does. 

Jax Matsuo

Book 1

# of appearances: 10

# of solo diamond scenes: 4

Book 2

# of appearances: 16

# of solo diamond scenes: 4

Total # of appearances: 26

Total # of solo diamond scenes: 8 

Adrian Raines

Book 1

# of appearances: 15

# of solo diamond scenes: 8 

Book 2

# of appearances: 16

# of solo diamond scenes: 9

Total # of appearances: 31

Total # of solo diamond scenes: 17

Kamilah Sayeed

Book 1

# of appearances: 13

# of solo diamond scenes: 8 

Book 2

# of appearances: 15

# of solo diamond scenes: 5

Total # of appearances: 28

Total # of solo diamond scenes: 13

Lily Spencer

Book 1

# of appearances: 15

# of solo diamond scenes: 4

Book 2

# of appearances: 14

# of solo diamond scenes: 3

Total # of appearances: 29

Total # of solo diamond scenes: 7

Conclusions

Surprising absolutely no one, Adrian leads in both appearances and diamond scenes with 31 and 17 respectively. Behind him in appearance are Lily with 29, Kamilah with 28, and Jax with 26. Jax is still recovering from barely being in Book 1.

Solo diamond scene-wise, Adrian leads with 17, followed by Kamilah with 13, Jax with 8, and Lily with 7. Most of Lily’s scenes, especially in Book 2, involve other people, leaving her and Jax in the single digits.

Aside from Jax having only 10 appearances in Book 1, Bloodbound is...decent at making sure its LIs show up regularly. The problem is diamond scene distribution. Diamond scenes are where PB likes to add backstory and additional characterization, so having Jax and Lily have so few scenes undermines their character development. It doesn’t help that in addition to the solo scenes, Adrian and Kamilah appear in many of the tapestry scenes whereas Jax has appeared in 1 as of Book 2 and Lily hasn’t appeared in any.

It’ll be interesting to see if Dark Solstice and the rest of Book 3 will bother to deal with these discrepancies. I doubt it, however.

[ask-the-crimson-king]

😌 main go to theme song & 🙂 secondary theme song for magnus (although I'm curious for Kazakh too tbh)

[Muse theme song]

[Each have their own unique reasons, and some are less apparent than others. If you wish to know of them, they will be under the cut (plus I got into a bit of Kazakh’s lore too for the last one). If not, then there’s your answer, anon.

Magnus main theme – The Magician by Aether Realm

Kazakh main theme – Veil of Elysium by Kamelot

Magnus secondary theme – The Warlock’s Trail by Bloodbound

Kazakh secondary theme – Roads Untraveled by Linkin Park

The Magician - Aether Realm

No, this is not because of the title. Well, okay, a little bit because of the title. However, there are various other aspects of the song that strike me as being Magnus-esque. First of all, the lyrics. Notably among them; 

Stray not from the Path you’ve chosen,You may yet find what you seek.You will learn to command the Aethereal Realm,And fulfill your Destiny!Cast out of his Land for reachingFor that which lies out of Mortal Sight.Like a Beast he is feared and hunted,Like a Beast he intends to fight. […]Take hold of Strength divine,Shape the World to your Design,And release the Power you keep inside your Heart!

This has deep Magnus vibes for me, precisely about his discoveries and how he started investigating his powers connected to the Empyrean. Now, this is more of a song that I feel reflects a young, very naive and extremely arrogant Magnus who was eagerly learning all he could about the Great Ocean without heeding warnings about it. Plus a small bit about how he was kind of hated for being a psyker (among other things). Also, the last three lines I included I associate a bit with Magnus encouraging his sons to explore their powers, to not shy away from them.

Another thing about the Magician – this little bit right here;

I am the Light when a Life’s at its End,The still burning Candle when Darkness descends.I am Desire, Warmth from the Fire,Fueling your Steps when your Journey began.

I am the Fear twisting tight round your Throat,The Life giving Spark hiding deep in your Soul,I am your Aura, Hunger for Honor,I hold the Power you seek!

The meeting with Tzeentch. The pact to try and save his sons from the Flesh Change. That is what this reminds me of the most. Especially the ‘the Life giving Spark hiding deep in your Soul/I am your Aura, Hunger for Honor,/I hold the Power you seek’ – very Tzeentch-y to me, and something he would convey to a young primarch who wants to save his Legion. In addition to lyrics, instrumentally, this also just… fits. In ways that I can’t quite describe. It does have a bit of a mystical sort of feel to it throughout, from the intro to the guitars, to even the singing. 

Veil of Elysium - Kamelot

Alright. Why Kazakh? Why is this song about a brightly colored birb daemon who collects and hoards shiny things? And possesses knives. One – the chorus. From how the synth-symphonic bits swell, to how Tommy Karevik sings it. It sounds very grand, very loud, flashy, even. To me, anyway. The rest of the instrumentals sound a little more… subdued. Which is a part of Kazakh that isn’t often on display, due to many reasons but I won’t put them here.

Another is the whole theme of a sort of childlike innocence, of remembering good times while one weathers the bad. The lyrics don’t really fit Kazakh in any specific sense, save for:

One day I know we will meet again,In shade of a life to die for.Watching the world through the eyes of a child,In Elysium.Will I find you there?In the darkness of the shadow that comes over allDear friend, will I know you then?Will I know you then at all?

Why? Well… maybe the explanation for his secondary theme will help. But know that Kazakh is a bit more than just a brightly colored birb.

The Warlock’s Trail - Bloodbound

Okay, listen, it is NOT just because it has warlock in the name, this one actually is based on lyrical and instrumental content. 

Yes, I know, ‘oh but redundancy’, hush. Honestly any of these songs can change on a given day, and Wrong Side of Heaven by Five Finger Death Punch and Rise of the Dragon Empire also by Bloodbound were good contenders as well (although the latter is more of something I associate with all primarchs.) Citizen Zero by Kamelot is also a song I associate with Magnus at the Siege of the Fenris system but I already have Kamelot on here and I wanted to be variable with my bands.

If anyone reading wants an explanation of Citizen Zero or any of the other two, go ahead and send an ask.

The main reason why this song fits – The Burning of Prospero. Lyrics:

When we summon the legion of fire and flame,And open the portal of fear.When the quest is so long and the silence is all we hear…

In the mist of the morning a winters day,Came a man in robe from far away.Out of ashes and clay of the magic vale,Cause sorrow sail on the warlock’s trail.

The ritual leading up to Magnus projecting himself to Terra. The first three lines are more Legion-specific, what they were kind of going through, and then the chorus itself is Magnus emerging through the Webway. ‘Sorrow sail on the Warlock’s trail’ can be used for many things – that Prospero will burn, Magnus’ folly, and Horus’ betrayal. The other lyrics, notably the two verses, also work for the battle of Prospero. The first describing daemons and the gathering of the Host to Kill Magnus, the second more of the actual battle itself.

Sorcery, Enchanted by the spell,A stone is magical, Becoming like the gods,Elements,Gathering into the holy light,In life we burn!  

Magnus quickly doing the spell that unmakes his physical form and spirits his sons to Sortiarius. Plus the ‘in life we burn’, kind of the whole Thousand Sons are damned to being dust for eternity. So this can also work for the Rubric

Instrumentals – listen. Just listen to them. They work. That sort of cheesy, cherry sort of whimsy? The bridge with ‘sorcery’? It works. It is aesthetic to Magnus, even if it’s not the ‘I-fucked-everything-up’ Magnus. To me it works.

Roads Untraveled - Linkin Park

Okay. I hear you asking, ‘what sorcery is this?’ A Linkin Park song for a colorful daemon birb with kleptomania? Are you sure you don’t want to add another happy, cheery, cheesy power metal song? Something like that?

Yes.  I am sure.

One of the reasons why Kazakh exists, and one I haven’t really been able to touch on – he’s a companion for Magnus. Kind of like a familiar. An Emotional Service Bastard. Or Birdstard. Or Birbstard. 

That was the intent behind making him, initially. When I originally picked up Magnus as a muse, circa May 2018, pre-Tumblr, I knew that he was sort of a strong, stoic-ish character. As I learned more and more about him, I started to see that regret and sadness were beginning to leak in. Magnus was becoming a bit depressing.

So, to counter this, I made a brightly colored daemon birb to keep him company. Also, something to balance out Magnus, and something for others to have fun with while interacting.

A few people have picked up on the fact that Kazakh is a good companion, one who doesn’t mind being held or hugged when someone is feeling sad. And that is his original intention, he’s supposed to be like that. And yes, I did also originally make him hoard shinies. The knife thing was an addition that came on later, something I didn’t intend to make a mainstay for his character, but other people enjoyed it. I was having fun with it, so I kept it.

There’s the sort of meta-explanation. Now, with this all in mind, look at the lyrics:

Weep not for roads untraveled,Weep not for paths left lone.‘Cause beyond every bend is a long blinding end,It’s the worst kind of pain I’ve known.

Give up your heart left broken.And let that mistake pass on.'Cause the love that you lost, wasn’t worth what it cost,And in time you’ll be glad it’s gone. […]

Weep not for roads untraveled,Weep not for sights unseen.May your love never end and if you need a friend,There’s a seat here alongside me.  

It’s Kazakh speaking to Magnus. I have not yet penned down exactly how they first met, but this did factor into it.

Let’s just say Kazakh has been with Magnus for a pretty long while, and has seen him go through some… things.

So long as Tzeentch doesn’t obliterate him, he’ll be staying for a pretty long while too.]

[the-resurrection-3d]

Black, for the colour ask game

Black: Would you want to live in one of the fictional worlds you’ve created?

Ohhh, great question! I’d generally say “no,” since my stories are so angst-centric, and I don’t really believe I’d end up in any great position of power or anything within my worlds unless I played the whole isekai meta mind game, lol. 

In my worlds, whether or not I’d want to live in them really depends on what kind of creature I’d be reborn as. For instance, in the CB AU, if I’m a human I’m always under threat of being either eaten or changed into a bloodbound slave. Sure, I get to become a full-blown demon eventually with cool demon powers, but is that worth being an actual slave in the meantime? And then a lot of my worlds have really only one key fantastical element the story centers around, which of course means I’ve spent many hours thinking of every possible way said element can fuck someone’s life over. 

It’s telling that the only fictional story I’ve written myself into ends with my being drowned.