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volvolts · 2 months ago

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If they did went into Belos' backstory which direction do you personally think the show would have went with (example: either Belos was a good kid but grew into a bad person, or even as a kid he was evil)?

Neutrally speaking, I feel like belos was meant to be as unsympathetic as possible and this should reflect in the backstory. Also iirc how evelyn met caleb was that she “went to find the least crazy human in town and caleb was that” meaning that caleb was definitely someone we are meant to compare favorably against philip. There’s also the two most important traits we have to also think about with belos: his refusal to change and his inability to take accountability. I think he would be a good kid in which being “good” mean he didn’t come out the womb evil but just doesn’t want to admit he’s wrong and never grew out of that

Ideally this would all be from caleb’s perspective and only cutting to philip sometimes to show his more manipulative traits and attachment issues. We would not be following philip’s perspective at all.

I feel like with those in mind that it would go something like this: caleb shielded philip from the dangers of the world as best he could and while caleb grew weary and questioned society as philip’s protector, philip followed gravefields ideals uncritically. Also probably philip manipulates caleb to get out of stuff probably like faking a cold so caleb does his chores, taking advantage of caleb’s kindness and all that. It’s small things but like, red flags that add up ya know. also he probably has delusions of grandeur for his whole hero thing. Caleb meets evelyn and realizes the boiling isles is everything he wants to escape to. Maybe if philip and evelyn met he did stuff like hide letters evelyn gives him to give to caleb or something idk

Philip learns that caleb thinks “maybe witches aren’t bad actually and we don't need to be witch hunters” and does something awful to caleb or evelyn and so caleb follows evelyn and philip is unable to cope with the fact it was his own fault that he drove caleb away–it was the witches fault clearly. He needs to go to the demon realm to prove to himself that the witch did this. He does not reflect because he doesn’t think he needs to.

From there we follow caleb unlearning his biases and realizing maybe philip was a bad brother to him and caleb was victim to the system. He learns, he copes, he’s recovering.

Then philip shows up.

Philip hasn’t changed. He’s still caught up on this idea it’s evelyns fault things happened. He doesn’t think he did anything wrong. he'll look guilty but brush it off and insist it's evelyn's fault. Philip brings the worst out of caleb. Philip is mad that caleb isn’t listening to him and caleb is mad that philip doesn’t realize he’s the problem. He still thinks he is just someone who can save caleb despite him not needing saving. Evelyn suggests that maybe he should cut philip off. Caleb refuses because philip is family. He’ll come around if he gives him time.

And you know the rest

also ultimately he is this picture

#ask #owl house talk #philip wittebane #caleb wittebane #we will not get a sympathetic belos backstory because that is not who he is meant to be #but thats what fanfic is for lol #and look i also want to believe that the toh writers wanted to write a good story with a good villain #belos' final story left many wanting including myself #and i do geniunely think him being one note is a bad thing because #just evil one note villains was not what i expect from the owl house #you know owl house a show that is very character driven and the whole 'there's more to it than it seems'#and giving people the initial courtesy before deciding they're too far gone #like we gave a woman who cursed her sister to get on the varsity team #an antivaxxer and a passively abusive/neglectful father the benefit of the doubt and they changed #and we also had sob stories for them #but given who belos represents i understand why they might have wanted to avoid making him any sympathy at all #but having arin hanson tell me 'naw fam kill him guilt free as the god i approve' was underwhelming

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plushie-lovey · 6 months ago

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FINALLY!! At long last, I've gotten my hands on a Pumpkin Kitty, after a whole year of wanting and waiting.

Her name is Latte! (Short for Miss Pumpkin Spice Latte) You can also call her Miss Spice!

#I spent 10 minutes picking her out omfg #not even exaggerating. I was deciding between this one and one of the last 3 unstuffed PKs #altogether there was only 5 of them left in the store including the 2 stuffed displays #the other one I was looking at had a nearly perfect pumpkin eye patch but less pumpkins overall #and their face wasn't as nice plus the ears were a bit wonky for my taste.#tho it was really hard to tell which would be better while they were unstuffed and flat #in the end I chose Latte because right away she looked to have a sweet face. her ears were nice and she had better patch placement #including a couple full patches on her tail #tbh if I'd had the money I might have bought both because the decision was hard #the bear builder actually asked if I was alright while I concentrated on studying each of those damn cats #I apologized and explained wtf was up with me. she was very understanding #I've always had this quirk where sometimes it'll take forever for me to pick between plushies I really want #especially if they're both the same exact plush. because then I gitta focus harder on finding out which has the better personality #you get what I mean?#anyways this has been a thing for me even as a real little kid #I remember spending and hour-hour and a half almost every time when my dad took me to choose my monthly webkinz #“my monthly webkinz” god that makes me sound so privileged. it was the nicest/best thing my dad could afford to get me because we were poor #he wanted to spoil me as all good fathers do but that was the most he could afford and I was always so grateful and still am! but I digress #anyways I took way too long to pick which kitty would become my Latte #but I'm glad I had the opportunity to choose yet alone to actually see pumpkin kitty irl available for purchase #what do you guys think of her?#stuffed animals #plushies #plushblr #build a bear #BAB #pumpkin kitty

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feroluce · 10 months ago

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Belobog was my fave main quest but a lot of it is so. Contradictory. It's like they had multiple groups doing different shit and none of them checked in with each other for consistency. And you see this so much in Gepard's profile.

So in the main quest, they made him unfailingly, unquestionably loyal to Cocolia. Gepard's character arc is him learning to question authority etc etc. And this isn't even a bad thing; that's a story worth telling! It makes good conflict between him and Serval! And I love that we got Gepard as a boss battle and I get to see him all the time in SU!

But then you look at his character stories and it's like. The complete opposite.

According to his profile, Gepard has already HAD this awakening, long before the Astral Express, and he'd already decided Cocolia sucks. Even outside of his stories, there's a pretty damning readable between him and Pela.

He even disobeyed direct orders right in front of her- he has been disobeying orders for a while now!

So I've decided I'm marrying the two different sides of this into a 1.5k fic-ish thingy, because I think there's some fun potential there with Gepard not trusting Cocolia, but still having to pretend to be a good obedient little soldier.

Anyway. I love to think of it as like. Gepard knows Cocolia has sunk into her apathy. He can see it in her eyes every time he looks at her. She doesn't care. Not about him, not about Pela, not about all his soldiers on the frontlines giving their lives to protect the citizens. And that's... It makes him bristle a bit, but ok. Gepard can deal with this. Even if Cocolia no longer cares, as long as she does her job then it's fine. Having compassion behind an action doesn't matter as much as the action itself. If Cocolia's heart is no longer swayed, then he'll just have to care twice as hard to pick up the slack. He considers it part of his duty as a captain of the guard anyway. It's fine. Gepard can deal with it.

And then, Cocolia starts coming down to the restricted zone. Issuing direct orders.

And Gepard realizes he is in way over his head.

Because Cocolia orders him to stay back and issue commands from the ramparts, away from all his comrades, away from where he can protect them.

Gepard had thought nothing could be as bad as watching a fellow guard die right next to him. But the first time he watches someone struck by a killing blow, so far away, it hurts. Every defensive scar across his arms itches, his fingers curl in want of a weapon, the cold cannot numb his hands enough as they desperately ache for his shield. It hurts.

Gepard tries to find any reason to stay. Because surely... He knows Cocolia has lost her love for her people, but surely... She wouldn't...

One day, Cocolia orders for their gunners to advance 20 yards. There are no survivors. She almost looks like she smiles.

Gepard doesn't sleep that night.

Pela brings him the report at the end of the first month; and then the month after that, and the month after that. A significant uptick in losses, and all of it started on that first day Cocolia started overriding his authority and issuing her own orders. The ends of Gepard's pens have all been nearly chewed off. Pela outright calls Cocolia an idiot, and Gepard corrects her. Cocolia isn't an idiot. Gepard had known her through Serval, knew her through all her college years and then some, and he knows how intelligent she is. It's not that she's stupid, and it's not that she's inexperienced, it's nothing of the sort.

Cocolia knows exactly what she's doing.

She must, there's no way she could make such a horrible mess of things so badly by accident. And Pela, quick as a whip, sharp as a tack, always too smart for her own good, catches onto the meaning behind Gepard's correction without any further prompting. The tent goes deathly quiet, nothing but the wind howling outside.

"...She's trying to kill us," Pela whispers, her voice swiftly suffocated by the silence.

Gepard swallows. He can't bring himself to correct her this time. There is nothing he could say that he would actually mean.

His gaze drops, back down to his desk and the reports on it. The names aren't listed, just the numbers, but Gepard knows them, knew them, and there must be something wrong, something he's missing, because why, why would she-? What could this possibly accomplish-?

“Gepard! Focus!” Something snaps right under his nose, and Gepard startles, eyes instantly honing in on Pela's irritated face as she leans over his desk. She holds his gaze for a moment before she huffs and begins to pace, wedges a knuckle between her teeth and bites like Gepard hasn't seen her do since cadet school.

Pela angrily strides from one end of his tent to the other, words hissed between her grit teeth. “What are we going to do?” In the dim lighting, Gepard can just barely see the damp spot of blood weeping under her gloves. “We need a plan.”

“A plan?”

“Wh- Yes, a plan! Unless you want more people to die!” Pela rounds on him then, all the wrath of a blizzard, winds roaring and snow sharp enough to cut.

“We don't even know-”

“What does it matter?! She killed-!!” Pela cuts off with a garbled noise when Gepard leaps up from his desk, hastily shoves his hand over her mouth. The prosthetic, not the flesh one, because he knows better than to assume Pela won't seize the opportunity to leave teeth marks in his skin.

“You're right. I'm sorry, I'm sorry; you're right. But you need to keep quiet.” Pela quirks an eyebrow at him and Gepard can read the question in her face. “Because we both saw what she did to Serval,” he hisses.

It's amazing the snow plains haven't thawed out yet, the amount of heat Pela can put behind a glare. The mere mention of Serval, and the smoking ruins Cocolia had made of her life and career, have her bristling up like a riled cat. The sudden hot breath she takes fans fog across his metal skin, and Gepard wisely keeps it in place until Pela finally sighs and reaches up, taps her fingertips against the back of his hand.

The second she's free, Pela bats him away and then her knuckle is right back between her teeth again, Gepard leaning back against his desk with his arms crossed to watch her resume her pacing. “If we spread the word, she'll have us discharged and make sure we can't even touch the frontlines,” Pela's voice seethes like an open sore. Gepard nods but keeps his silence. He knows better than to get in her way.

“And if you and I are both out of the picture, Belobog is fucked.” A little harsher than how he would have put it, but there's no denying that they're both important to the city's survival. Pela has the restricted zone running as efficiently as ever, and Gepard had become the youngest captain on record for a reason. “We need to keep this tight under wraps, at least for now… It can't leak to anyone higher up the chain.” Another nod. “Serval might know other discontents…” Another n-

Gepard's head snaps up. “No.”

“No what?”

“No. We're not involving Serval in this.”

Somehow, even the same tone that leaves entire squadrons shaking in their boots has never worked on her. “You're not deciding that for her, Gepard.”

Pela hadn't seen the worst of it, though, back when his sister had just been banned from the Architects. Serval's pride hadn't allowed it. Pela wasn't the one to find her passed out bottle still in hand, hadn't been the one to wash the sick out of her hair or carry her to bed.

Serval still has trouble thinking clearly when it comes to Cocolia, still can't quite bring herself to be objective. And Gepard maybe doesn't want her to be purely objective- but he would worry a lot less if she thought twice before she acted more often.

“At least let me be the one to bring it up to her.”

“Whatever, fine,” Pela gestures affirmatively at him as she paces past, and Gepard sighs. Good, at least that's one thing he can help.

From there, it's a lot of hemming and hawing and frustration. Cocolia has them under her boot, and Gepard and Pela both know it. Even with the way she's been cracking down on freedoms lately, Cocolia is still, overall, liked by the people. It's unlikely anyone would believe them. They don't even have solid proof, because most people don't know Cocolia as well as they do and won't see the clues in the same light.

The Fragmentum has been ramping up in recent years, too. Everyone is struggling just to survive as is, they can't afford a fight on two fronts. Gepard is a damn good captain, one of the best for that matter. But they're at a massive disadvantage, his experience is narrowed to fighting a defensive battle against monsters, that's all he's ever done. That's all anyone there has ever done. He has no way of finding first-hand knowledge for taking the offensive against a human opponent, and if he goes at this blind, there's no way he'll get everyone out unscathed. He's going to lose people. He's going to lose a lot of people.

He'd never thought before that Cocolia would have it in her to have someone killed. And with this new knowledge, he has no guarantee she won't go after Serval or Lynx if she decides to retaliate.

Gepard has to remind himself to breathe when he realizes this.

Pela writes down every name the two of them can come up with. Lists and lists of names and groups and anyone they can think of who might be an ally in all of this. They memorize every bit of it, make their plans of who to talk to and when. Gepard watches the sparks reflect off Pela's glasses as they burn the evidence together.

Pela finally leaves, far too late to make it home, but says she wants to stay in the restricted zone anyway to investigate. Gepard watches her make her way in the direction of Dunn's tent, watches her back until she's out of his sight and squashes down the urge to follow and keep an eye on her. His tent feels empty.

In the morning, Gepard is up before the wake up bells. He drags himself out of bed, leads his soldiers through their morning training. The same people gravitate to each other everyday. Friend groups and training partners. There's an ongoing rivalry between a few squadrons that everyone bets on. Some of them have lockets around their necks, keepsakes, mementos. Some of them wear wedding rings.

Gepard is suddenly, painfully aware of something acidic clawing at the inside of his throat, of a heavy weight low in his chest that blooms, takes up room until it threatens to spread his ribs. His mouth tastes of bile and blood.

He rearranges the schedules. Puts himself down for every open patrol into the Fragmentum, makes sure he'll be on the frontlines every single time Cocolia visits.

He only hopes that it's enough.

#honkai star rail #gepard landau #hsr gepard #pelageya sergeyevna #hsr pela #hsr #smacking Gepard out of Hoyo's hands and running off with him skzjmdkd #tentatively Figuring Out how to write these two... It feels a little tricky starting out with extreme circumstances like this haha #I feel like a lot of people see Gepard as naive for trusting Cocolia so much but I don't think that's quite it. He's not stupid.#He's not even naive.#He's someone who has been groomed since birth by his own parents to be an obedient Guard and nothing outside of that role.#You are not immune to propaganda etc etc #But even then there are a lot of things like all the included screenshots where he. Doesn't actually seem to like/trust Cocolia much.#I think Serval was a really good influence on him as a kid. He might have turned out much much worse without her.#and even with how I've written him here. I don't think he's normally slow to act or one to stand aside and make other people lead.#it's just that this specifically was a pretty extreme circumstance for him.#and also he openly states elsewhere that Pela is overbearing and he tries not to interfere with her work whenever possible nskzhdjdjd #Pela too. I don't know that I normally see her as someone with a bad temper or quick to anger.#But again; extreme circumstances haha #Bc like. they both would have seen what happened to Serval when she stood up to Cocolia. they know damn well what's going to happen to them.#if they fuck this up and get caught then they're done.#and I mean. What are they supposed to do? they're two people against the highest authority of the entire nation.#regardless I do love Gepard agonizing over this in the future after Bronya takes over and everything has settled down #did he do the right thing? did he make the right choice? if he went vigilante how many soldiers would have died without his protection?#would Belobog have fallen completely? how many people died because he DIDN'T run away? was it actually enough?#I love characters forced between a rock and a hard place. no good options. pick your poison.#no winning- only weighing what you can and cannot bear to lose.#make your choice and decide whether you want to rot or to burn.

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the-gateway-to-madness · 4 months ago

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anytime i see posts about how 3Below was a mistake and that it didn't fit into Tales of Arcadia or that it's bad or really just ANYTHING complaining about it, my brain reminds me of when this site used to cross over Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons and the Futuristic Four. At the same time. not to use an old meme but you wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me (hiccup haddock and hiro hamada being friends. emo edits of rapunzel. Do you Remember? I Remember.)

3Below being part of Tales of Arcadia feels like HOME to me. It's the part that resonates with my brain and my feelings. It makes me feel like the way my head and humor work has a place in this universe I love- 3Below is my anchor to the franchise.

I wouldn't be who I am without this show, and the show wouldn't be what it is if it weren't part of Tales of Arcadia.

#hello i'm feeling a bit angry today #finals you know #tales of arcadia #3below tales of arcadia #toa 3below #trollhunters tales of arcadia #wizards tales of arcadia #the force of the inside of my brain could one hit k.o. a fixed-minded trollhunters stan if i got mad enough i think #anyway. this pisses me off every time I think of it #when you say a part of a franchise as small as tales of arcadia should not have been included #you reject its fans too whether you meant to or not. you tell them they're wrong for caring #like by all means think what you want about parts of a franchise #i just. 3below has such a unique position of being crapped on even though it's good just because of tales of arcadia's peculiar structure #it's exhausting to be a Tales of Arcadia fan when 3Below is your favorite

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abigmessofablog · 12 days ago

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i love you, characters who have the explicit purpose of representing entire concepts in the narrative. i love you, characters bigger than themselves. i love you allegorical characters. i love you characters so wrapped in metaphor and the creator philosophizing through you it eclipses you as a "person," i love you characters who haunt the narrative long after you're gone. i love you characters who are doomed because the thing that they represent are doomed. i love you characters who are more lesson then character.

#character analysis #examples include #the brothers K and their respective deals #characters who die because they're “too good for this sinful earth” or to represent the death of innocence or whatever (too many examples)#jesus figures who preach forgiveness and good chirsitian values #and then die tragically (ex: Helen Burns from Jane Eyre is the first one who jumps to mind fsm)#characters who represent whole political views that are obviously just so the author can give their opinions through them #(Enjolras and Grantaire in Les Mis representing the headstrong young revolutionary and the cynic who “doesn't believe in anything”)#characters who explicitly represent or subvert specific archetypes (all 7 of the characters from If We Were Villians)#(ie Richard Stirling as the “tyrant” and James Farrow as the "(tragic) hero” and how those two roles play off of each other)#(especially in the specific context of the Shakespearen tragedy with those two)#two characters who parallel each other and represent “good” and “bad” Black/White Swan style #whatever #I'm sure other people can come up with other examples this is off the top of my head and barely coherent #my posts #originally i had a rant about javert (les mis) in here but although i find him fascinating as a CHARACTER i wanna punt him into the sun #so he doesn't get an i love you LMAOOOOOOOO

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callie-flower · 6 months ago

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"proship dni" this, "comship dni" that, "neutral dni" unfortunately the people you don't like are still human and deserve comfort. my fucking god shut the hell up you're just as annoying as they are and protest WAY too much about it. go unlearn your purity morality shit

#i dont even KNOW what comship means man #but im so tired of reading every instance of this under the sun with every post about selfshipping #like you realize a good CHUNK of the selfshipping community is going to BE them because they're already otherwise normally ostracized from #their communities for other reasons including being neurodivergent.#they deserve comfort too good lord shut the fuck up with the holier-than-thou “i'm better than you” attitude you're really fucking not and #frankly i'm more suspicious of people like you having something to hide about what they like and dislike #i'm neither pro nor anti nor neutral i'm just a human fucking being that stopped giving a shit about stuff that truly does not matter and #won't affect me in the long run. i'm an adult with more serious things to worry about.#it's like seeing the damn “dni” banners everywhere You Are Annoying.#also it's not like i like anything particularly 'heinous' anyways or pedophilic and i shouldn't need to clarify this but apparently i do!#i'm just sick of this purity culture bullshit i REALLY am #whether u want to hear this or not it is queerphobic and ableist. do u understand? cool.#proship #comship #f/o #selfship #selfshipping

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trentcrimminallybeautiful · 5 months ago

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i think about the whole "love that" exchange a lot.

#i think i already have a post about this somewhere im just. rotating it #they realize they just kinda revealed a bit too much in front of Trent Crimm (Formerly) The Independent #and he does the whole biting wind-up to a question you know is going to be sharp as hell. bringing in that heat #and rebecca just. doesn't even try to get out of it #is she taking a leap of faith? is she just tired of spinning a whole yarn? testing him? giving him a chance?#and his response is just. simple. a real smile--almost conspiratorial and they're both in on the joke--and 'love that.'#sincere and almost warm. love that. bc that's what he actually thinks. not asking what he thinks he should #what he thinks the crowd wants to hear. but just. god her ex husband is a dickhead. absolutely you should try to fuck him over. love that #and rebecca all but beaming at him in response #i wish we'd gotten more of their dynamic tbh. i think that interaction probably helped soothe any anxieties she had about the whole thing #i think the next time we really see them interact is just the girl talk thing #where she's gleefully including him on the gossip and he's SO fucking pleased to get a good grade in girl talk something both normal to w #but like them developing an almost easy banter Fast. please. and like. him letting himself be. himself. in front of other people #not just ted. and rebecca GETS that if anyone gets getting flayed by the lasso effect it's her #so like. IDK MAN I JUST THINK THEY SHOULD BOND #also keeley. DEFINITELY keeley. all three of them. FUCK #trent crimm #rebecca welton #gertspeak #god. him being so pleased about the girl talk comment too. lives in my brain rent free #rebecca or keeley pays him a genuine but offhand compliment and he (and clearly completely unconsciously) just #fully does a pleased little wiggle in his seat. and they're like hmmmm

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bubblesxo · 1 year ago

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okay, for my de-aged gotham!bruce au

what if there was a new rogue running around de-aging everyone who got in their way? the trigger to turn back is unknown and seemingly random. so after bruce is de-aged, some of his old rogues are de-aged too. since their MOs are a bit different because they're at a different point in their lives (it depends for each one when they're de-aged to) bruce is their main source of information on them, meaning that the batfam is basically forced to let bruce work with them to fight the de-aged rogues.

rogues i want to include (so far): the penguin, the riddler, (of course) the joker (i want to find a way to include jerome so so so bad but i don't know how exactly yet), not sure who else as to the rogues.

but i also want to de-age selina and alfred at some point. maybe someone hit the manor at a gala or something. they play that off as when bruce was hit so bruce can walk around gotham without the cops scrambling to find bruce wayne.

#i mean including too many rogues would make it repetitive right? so that might be a good amount #i really just want to write alfred saying “right what's all this then mate?” and the consequential chaos in the batfam #they are so not used to him talking informally #selina would be such a treat to write #the jason parallels!!!!!!#the riddler and penguin would so humanize them in the bats' eyes which is probably a good thing? maybe? i mean the riddler is severely #mentally ill but the penguin is kind of just. a total jerk #to put it lightly #hmm maybe bane?#oh! OOOH!! JIM GORDON #yes yes yes i wanna write a de-aged jim gordon to s5 #i love taking characters from s5 cuz it's pulling someone from an active war zone to a time when they're all just. chilling?#the batkids seriously do not know what their dad went through like WOW #gotham tv #gotham tv show #gotham #gotham tv series #batman #gotham!bruce #bruce wayne #gotham!batman #gotham!bruce wayne #tv: gotham #gotham!alfred #gotham!jim gordon #alfred pennyworth #jim gordon #commissioner gordon #captain jim gordon #g!bruce meets batfam

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victorluvsalice · 2 days ago

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Valicer Multiamory Month, Day Twenty-Nine: Vampire AU (Londerland Bloodlines AU)

It's the final weekend of @polyamships's Multiamory March, and today brings with it another specific AU prompt -- "Vampire AU!" And, much like with the "Soulmates AU" prompt back on Day Seventeen, I came to this prompt already prepared with a vampire AU -- good old Londerland Bloodlines! Why make up a new one when I've already got one ready to go? :p Accordingly, here is a story about Victor reflecting on just how fortunate he is when it comes to vampires inserting themselves into his life. Enjoy!

Victor often thought that he had to be the luckiest ghoul in all of California these nights.

He knew that he’d already been extremely lucky by ghoul standards – the brief but enlightening conversations he’d had with Knox, Mercurio, and Romero during his and Alice’s time in Los Angeles had clued him into the fact that being a ghoul was generally not a fantastic life. Yes, one got immortality, super strength, perhaps a useful Discipline or two, all without having to give up the sun – but those perks almost always came with being under the complete control of a monster. A civilized monster, yes, but still a monster. Still someone who only kept you around for as long as you were useful – who saw you as a tool, not a person. And he knew that he’d come distressingly close to suffering that fate himself – he still shuddered at the thought that he could have ended up under the thumb of LaCroix. That would have been – perhaps not a fate actually worse than death, but pretty close.

But instead, the universe had sent him Alice. Alice, who’d saved his life out of genuine altruism, and who had sought him out afterward not to make him her servant, but to keep him safe from her enemies. Alice, who’d done everything she could to make sure he kept his free will, including trying to break their nascent blood bond before it could get its hooks into him too firmly. Alice, who’d finally bonded him properly only after making sure he understood exactly what he was getting into. Alice, who was more than willing to share him with the others he loved, and bring them into the fold of their chaotic existence. Alice, who truly loved him, and who he truly loved in return. It was more than any ghoul could hope for, and he’d been appropriately grateful.

And then – Smiler had shown up in their lives. Smiler, who lived up to their chosen name by being the cheeriest person Victor had met since Knox. Smiler, who’d seen him watching his friends enjoy themselves from the sidelines in the local club, and had immediately made it their mission to ensure he had a good time too. Smiler, who could practically destroy a person’s mind if they so chose, but who had instead used their powers to calm Victor’s anxieties. Smiler, who’d contacted Alice upon learning their Ministry friends had kidnapped Victor to make sure he got home safely – and who’d turned on them the moment they realized how their powers were being exploited. Smiler, who’d been willing to walk away from them all if it meant they would be happier – if it meant Victor would be happier.

Smiler, who also genuinely loved Victor – and whose blood tasted just as good as Alice’s.

And that was how Victor knew he was truly the luckiest ghoul around. Because how many ghouls could say that they had not just one truly kind and loving domitor – but two?