#flyingbananasaur

[bardicbeetle]

BLUSH - What is the best compliment on your writing you have ever received?

ROSE - Is your main character right? (your choice for who/what)

Blush - One that I've received more than once but never stops giving me the warm fuzzies: that my characters feel like real people and that the close style in which I write makes it very easy to get inside their heads. So much of my work is character based rather than having a real plot to run with, so I'm always delighted to hear that the load bearing part is actually worth it.

Rose - This is a strange and interesting question to apply to Safe in the Dark, considering there are effectively...five main characters.

With no context given, Alex, Moira, and Jesse are right. Daniel and Isaac are wrong. Interpret as you please.

[celepom]

Not really an ask, but I've been following you for months because your meme game is on point, and I JUST learned that you're the person who made/makes Aces Wild (I have no idea how I failed to notice that 😅)

Anyway, that comic series was SUPER influential to me when i was still a little baby gay figuring out my identity, thank you so much for putting it out into the world ♥︎♡💜

Oh hey! To be fair, it's been a couple of months since I posted an Aces Wild, I think. And Celepom is an older moniker than my pen name "Sally Vinter" so it may not be super obvious.

I'm glad you enjoy my memes, eclectic interests, and work! I'm so happy it was helpful when you were a baby gay. I hope you continue to have fun here! ^w^

[afoolandathief]

#yeah i've done this#and decided that instead of a pattern its more of just 'every some-odd times it switches'#whenever it feels right#tbh thats kinda more realistic in a way i think

@flyingbananasaur yeah, good point. when I did the first draft i sort of did it that way where pronouns randomly switched but decided to add some uniformity for draft 2. after reading it over i realized the placement makes more sense as is for various reasons (having a character use they instead of she when interacting with a character who strictly uses she, for example). and if anyone asks, canon reason is it does switch up whenever said character wants

when you have a character with multiple pronouns and decide to alternate between them for this section of the story only to realize you fucked up the alternating pattern at one point

[captain-kraken]

thank you @writernopal for tagging me to make a tree!

come decorate if you like :)

no pressure tag for @covenscribe @flyingbananasaur @simkarta333 and open tag for anyone who wants to do it!

[vbartplace]

I've been really busy with horrible life events, but I finally finished this commission for a character from a "Pokemon themed D&D campaign" where I tried to imitate that pastel watercolour style from the original manga. Thank you to @flyingbananasaur for your support and the commission!

[smolghostbot]

Hi please can I be mutual with you?

Hi! Without meaning to sound rude, I've been on tumblr for a long time and this is by far one of the most confusing asks I've ever received.

Um... you're welcome to follow me, if you want.

I usually only follow g/t focused blogs from this account to keep my dashboards seperated, but I'll sometimes follow back from my main/fandom account (may as well link it, @flyingbananasaur) if people follow me and aren't themed around that.

[awesomeduskangel]

Current things tag game

Thank you for the tag @phoenix-arts7!! This looks fun :)

3 ships: My OCs x my other OCs, Gloria x Hop (Pokemon Sword & Shield), Soul x Maka (Soul Eater)

Last Song: Technically, the last song I listened to was a lofi playlist on YouTube called "slow afternoon. 🍂 chill lofi mix" by the bootleg boy. (Lots of great playlists on that channel!!) If we're talking specific songs though / not a playlist, "Northern Lights" by Megumi Hayashibara.

Currently reading: Nothing unless you count the website icons and my other answers to these questions while I try to remember what I'm doing and what I like lol

Last movie: "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi". I just saw this for the first time a few days ago lol and it was pretty good.

Currently watching: Nothing currently.

Currently craving: Warm bread and a good, thick/chunky soup. <3

Currently consuming: Nothing. Feed me pleaseee QAQ </3

Uhhhhh I'll tag @flyingbananasaur, @ankhkheperure, and @alban-quinn if y'all would like to participate? Or anyone else who wants to do this.

[bardicbeetle]

soft vampire writing prompt! if you choose to do so, no pressure if you don't 💜

are there any (non-violent) times where the any of human cast under- / over-estimates what the vamp!characters are able to do, maybe by confusing them with classic or 'fictional' vampires (ex: like thinking they can shadow meld or have weaknesses to crosses,etc )

if so... maybe you could give an idea of what that conversation would look like i think that could be kinda cute

Ooooh, yes. There are.

There are smaller scale discussions of this a lot, especially when Carrie comes into the picture and goes "Hey so, many questions, many many questions as a medical professional, most of which boil down to what and or how the fuck?", her quickfire interrogating Jesse to get answers out of him when Alex is wounded (Can I pierce you with a needle, can I still get blood from your actual veins, etc) and her later conversations with Daniel when she's trying to figure out what exactly the parameters of care are when she is Very Abruptly Playing Doctor for the Undead.

There is also a pretty big one immediately after the other two members of the Chaos Trio find out Alex is a vampire, where they are both prodding at Alex for answers about "powers" and Alex is just sitting there like "I have been this way for approximately three months I do not have the answers you want me to have."

Fuck it have an excerpt of Carrie doing what she does best:

“So your body just- just what, how does it repurpose blood into new cells when you’re not technically alive?” Carrie’s voice had changed, her eyes were wide with curiosity “Your fangs, they’re retractable obviously, which is really cool, but are they just to make a hole or are they hollow? On that note, you don’t have to take blood from people directly- are there vampires working in hospitals, taking blood when there’s excess? Holy fuck, vampire paramedics? Turning people who wouldn’t make it to the hospital?”

I love her.

I need to rewrite those scenes because a lot of them are Old. Like, pre Alex Pronoun Change Old, sometimes Still in First Person POV old.

[captain-kraken]

10 songs 10 people

Thank you for the tag @sam-glade ! Check out their post here

Rules: Put your music on shuffle and list the first 10 songs that come up.

No pressure tag for @writernopal @aether-wasteland-s @arctic-oceans @words-from-rae @kittensartswriting @elshells @nanashi23 @covenscribe @flyingbananasaur @aquadestinyswriting

---

I used my Favourites playlist this time, instead of my entire liked songs lol.

Dirty Pretty - In This Moment

Lie After Lie - Axxis <3

Louder Than Words - Les Friction

Unwanted - Rick Astley

Brother Moon - Axxis <3

Tales of Glory Island - Axxis <3

Bella Donna Twist - Cirque du Soleil

House of Chains - Apocalyptica

Talking 'Bout Bri - MegaGoneFree

Napolin moottoritiellä - Lauri Tähkä

[bardicbeetle]

spoopy asks! for whatever story you feel like blorbin about

🎃 Pumpkin: What character continues to light up your mind and inspire you to write more?

👻 Ghost: Do you have a character or a scene that continues to haunt you? Something or someone you wish you had done differently or just can’t stop thinking about?

(hard mode: 👻 cannot include That Part from SiTD)

@flyingbananasaur

🎃 - Isaac. While this answer changes frequently and without notice, Isaac is one we pop back to again and again because his choices tend to change my writing the most drastically. He's the catalyst. He's the one everything hinges on for no good reason. I love him.

👻 - For the uninitiated: "That Part" = The Massacre = the night Eric abducts Alex

However, we need not even call this hard mode, because while The Massacre TM takes up a decent chunk of my brainspace, there is another scene that I am constantly haunted by and changing forever in bits and pieces, and is the scene itself that re-sparked my work on Safe in the Dark back in, I dunno, 2016?

The death of Jack and Corrine/Alex's first kill.

This scene refuses to leave me alone.

I have written and rewritten it a half dozen times in 2023 alone, and I haven't touched it since JUNE.

I think the reason it won't leave me be is because it's such an important scene to the whole story itself. It's important for Alex so they can move forward, it's important for their understanding of their own power and worth, it's fucking important for them to realize exactly how far the entire vamp!house but especially Daniel are willing to go for them. It's the point at which the story used to end. It's the culmination of months of hunger and suffering and fear-based procrastination. It's the final nail in the coffin, the acceptance that this is what they want.

And in the beginning Alex killed both their parents. Then just Jack. Then just Corrine. Sometimes Daniel kills the other. Sometimes he kills them both because Alex can't do it. Around and around it goes like a fucked up circle of made and unmade decisions.

Sometimes they die without Alex taking their blood. Sometimes Alex lets go completely and while they are unconscious afterward, Daniel has some serious fucking cleanup to do.

It comes back and it comes back and it keeps biting at my heels and saying fix it, change it, you're not done here.

Yeah.

The death of Jack and Corrine.

The moment you stop being the rabbit.

[bardicbeetle]

Henry: surely leaving this person I made into a vampire with the person I've been avoiding for a decade and a half will have no consequences for me.

“Can he stay with you?”

“Excuse me?” Angelface quirks an eyebrow, “Tired of him already?”

“No I—he’s new and volatile and I can’t—”

“—control him? Keep him in check?” The smile on his face is infuriating. He’d known this was coming. He was just waiting, watching Henry flounder and skirt around the problem until it couldn’t be avoided.

“Angel—”

“—so what, you want me to keep him until he can stand to breathe in a ten mile radius of humanity? You remember what kind of business I’m running here, don’t you Hen?”

“I remember, thank you. You’d be more than capable of keeping a dozen of him in check—”

Angelface laughs, a short sharp little sound. “Do you have any idea how exhausting it is to keep someone under compulsion that long?”

“I’m sure you can handle it.”

“Did you ask Adrian about this?”

“No.”

@flyingbananasaur / @abalonetea / @meatandboneasmr /

@captain-kraken / @revenantlore / @albatris /

@excessive-vampires / @booptasticbadonkadonk / @indecentpause

@afoolandathief / @dyrewrites / @mr-orion / @ashirisu

Share an excerpt where a character makes a decision they will regret later.

Check the reblogs to read others’ responses!

If you’d rather make your own post, no problem!

Click here for more “share an excerpt” tips.

[bardicbeetle]

vibe check! green, blue, and purple

We know I am Creachure

I am haunting you.

you are haunting me

we are together haunting the spaces in which we create things and hand them out to the world or hold them close to ourselves. I am standing next to you in the dark ephemeral void where conversations across hundreds and thousands of miles can take place instantaneously. you are haunting me in the form of the gift I have waiting to send to you, sitting on my desk, not quite ready, but always a reminder of your presence in my life. I am haunting you by inflicting my creations upon you in such a way that you turn back around and inspire me to dig into them deeper.

I avoid the eyes for a reason, I don't always like to see the way they stare, the way they watch and wait for the way I move to change, how it's not quite right, not quite wrong, somewhere enough in the in betweens to be unsettling. Eye contact would just startle them further.

And I am not so cruel as to scare without reason.

<3

[bardicbeetle]

ship ask!

for Daniel/Jesse: 20. How do they comfort each other when one of them is upset? Is this method of comfort effective?

and you know i have to ask this one too i'm so sorry /lh

for Alex/Isaac: 42. What’s their relationship like with each other’s friends/families?

@flyingbananasaur

Alright, buckle up, this is gonna be long.

Daniel & Jesse: 20 - How do they comfort each other when one of them is upset? Is this method of comfort effective?

Daniel @ Jesse - It's very quickly evident to Daniel that Jesse opts for distraction over everything. Jesse also isn't the type to bring it up when something is bothering him, he's the one trying to make sure everyone else is doing okay. He's fine. He's good. Don't worry.

Maybe it's the decades of watching these little brushings off, maybe it's the fact that, as Daniel puts it, Jesse thinks too loudly. But he always knows. He can always feel it when something is wrong, he's always the first to notice when the smiles go a little tight. Getting Jesse to talk about what's bothering him is a process, for as open as he is, he doesn't like burdening people, he doesn't like to cause negativity, he doesn't like being a "problem".

Sometimes Daniel regrets not putting the fear of god into Jesse's parents.

It's a tap of fingertips on shoulders, a low whisper of "Let's go, Jess." and the promise of getting as far away from whatever the problem is for however long Jesse needs.

It's the apartment Daniel still keeps in Santa Cruz.

It's whatever Jesse needs to remember he's allowed to feel things that aren't good.

It's the constant reminder that he doesn't have to make himself smaller for the comfort of those around him.

Daniel thinks it's a little funny that they respond to pain in near opposite ways. Jesse craves contact and touch like it's water in the desert, and Dan is always happy to oblige. Always there with arms open when Jesse is ready to talk.

However long that takes.

Jesse @ Daniel - When Daniel is upset it comes, primarily, in two flavors. The more common being shut down. Daniel pulls away and isolates himself and pushes back against most if not all contact. When this happens, Jesse just talks. The example that comes to mind is from shortly after they move into the vamp!house, after Amalthea's drop in/reminder that she very much knows where they are/is only leaving them alone because she feels like it. Daniel is, very not okay after that. Jesse talks about being a kid and taking care of Sarah, about getting kicked out, about college and loneliness and finally coming out to a handful of people and throwing himself into every stupid heat of the moment decision he can get his hands on because he spent his whole childhood doing whatever he was told.

And slowly watches the emptiness leave Daniel's expression.

Jesse let's him come back on his own.

Leaves when he's asked to.

Stays when he's not.

Knows that most of the time, Daniel is struggling to stay closer to the present. Knows that if he keeps talking long enough, his voice will drown out whatever thoughts won't leave Dan alone.

Knows when to push a little harder.

When to drag Daniel out and away.

When words aren't enough and he just needs to be taken out of his own head for a while. To go do something that will place him solidly back in his body instead.

It just has to come slowly. Daniel's reactions when he's in that headspace are to shut everything out, are to flinch away from contact and warmth.

There is the other flavor of upset, the rarer one, the one that is fire licking gasoline and ends in both of them shouting. Most of the time Jesse knows he just needs to be left alone in those moments.

He just can't always help himself.

Alex & Isaac: 42 - What’s their relationship like with each other’s friends/families?

Ha, oh no.

So, let's start with the good.

Alex with Isaac's friends: Carrie and Tom both immediately absorb Alex into the group, even before knowing what the hell is going on. Alex slots right into that space like it was waiting for them, it's easy, it's comfortable, it's just a tiny bit dangerous in a way that gives their anxiety an outlet to be blown off. Carrie is initially a little more wary than Tom, if only because she can't place why Alex's voice is so fucking familiar (she does eventually piece this together the night that Tom stakes Alex.) but she likes having another sparring partner, and she and Tom are glad that it seems Isaac has found someone who cares about him on the same level that they do.

Neither of them react... badly necessarily to finding out Alex is a vampire either. Tom is, admittedly traumatized when he thinks he mortally wounded them, and Carrie is mostly pissed off at Isaac for not telling them both flat out from the beginning. When Alex wakes up from the abrupt Healing Nap and finds the trio asleep in a pile of blankets on the basement floor, Carrie is the one who drags them down and says they should stay, insists immediately that they don't need to be apologizing for what happened.

The more neutral.

Isaac with Alex's friends/family: Slightly more complicated is Isaac's relationships with the members of the Vamp!House. He is openly hostile towards All of Them at the start, especially Daniel, who he harbors a mixed resentment and unease about since Daniel saved his life.

Moira tries her best to make a decent impression, though given the first time she meets Isaac is immediately post-eric-massacre and she's bloody and exhausted, it isn't great. Isaac begrudgingly appreciates that she's at least straightforward and doesn't try to fuck with him, and Moira just thinks he's a good kid. She likes that he's trying to help Alex, respects that he's willing to put himself in danger for someone he barely knows, and listens to him ream on Daniel which is nothing short of hilarious to her.

Jesse and Isaac do not get along for a very very long time. They are civil enough, especially because Isaac is the one who tells Jesse he doesn't need to worry about Alex wanting to be human again, that he doesn't need to worry about losing Daniel to that because Alex made the decision months ago, but they don't actually become friends until Daniel is taken. Jesse views Isaac as an impending problem and a situation that is going to hurt Alex no matter what way it ends. They are also both much too similar and unwilling to see those similarities.

Daniel is initially just trying to get Isaac to keep himself the fuck alive. He gets what Isaac is trying to pull off, appreciates it, but really wishes he would cut it the fuck out before it gets him killed. This doesn't stop Daniel from reaching out to Isaac after the massacre, because by this point he knows Isaac isn't going to listen to him, so he might as well help. After Alex turns all the way, Isaac reaches out to Daniel a few times, eventually asking if they can meet, because Isaac is starting to get really fucking confused about the choices he's making and wants someone to blame. Daniel lets him shout himself hoarse without denying anything, and after that night and the very long ensuing conversation of they didn't ask for this, and neither did I, the two actually become pretty close. Both are the others first point of contact when something goes wrong, both are the ones trying hardest to keep their respective family groups safe. It just so happens that now those groups overlap.

Re: Alex's parents, just for shoots and ladders, many many many drafts ago, Isaac was the one with Alex when they went to kill their parents. Isaac is the one who went to the vamp!house saying "Let me take them, this will work." when Alex is running out of time, and options. He takes them to Georgia, he goes into that house, he watches Alex kill them both and it fucking stays with him. Despite what he knows about Alex's parents, it's still traumatic as all hell, he doesn't ever manage to scrub that image from his head.

Anyways.

The real fuckin' bad.

Alex and Isaac's uncle, Eddy Raes.

Ed meets Alex a whole of twice while under the impression they are human. He's gruff and a little awkward, but he doesn't deal with people a whole lot outside of the few hours he runs Lamplight Books per week. The second he realizes what is going on, Alex becomes a threat, an enemy, and priority number one is making them suffer for what they've done (corrupted his nephew into thinking vampire does not automatically = evil monster, and worse than that, making Isaac care about them, view them as a person).

He waits for Alex one night when he knows they're supposed to visit, locks Isaac in the basement, and Alex takes a crossbow bolt to the fucking chest about it. He keeps them bound to a chair in the attic for two solid weeks, slowly starving them, replacing the crossbow bolt with a wider and wider stake every couple days. Spitting venom at them about his dead brother, about his little sister being turned, about how Isaac is the last family he's got left, and he's not about to let some fucking monster take him away. When the chaos trio find Alex, they are barely conscious and even less coherent. It takes another week after rescue for them to even wake up. The hole in their chest never quite fully heals, there is still a divet on their chest and in their back from the stake, about a half inch deep on their chest, closer to a quarter on their back, and roughly the size around of a half dollar.

Needless to say, they do not get along.

<3

[bardicbeetle]

ship ask ship ask ship ask (your mistake for telling me about it totally would have missed it otherwise /lh 😊)

2 (each of their primary love languages) and 7 (their shared interests / what they do together) in Love for Alex/Isaac!

(and Daniel/Jesse too if you're feeling up to it but four questions is a literal big ask)

<3

What are their primary love languages?

Did I just take a quiz as both of them to confirm if my thoughts were corroborated by fake data? Yes I did, and yes they were.

ANyways, Isaac's is Quality Time and Alex's is Words of Affirmation.

(Jesse's is also quality time, Daniel's is acts of service, none of this is surprising on any level)

What are their favorite things to do together?

This is... an interesting question in that, if we are to take this in universe then it's spar. It's exhilarating for both of them, it's a physical outlet for the anxieties that Isaac always carries, and it's a way for Alex to stretch their new limits.

Later later later as in post-Daniel-being-taken-and-rescued later, they spend a lot of time just doing different things near each other (parallel play my beloved), Alex plays 3ds games until they go cross-eyed and have to switch over to a comfort book-- while Isaac fills journals with information about possibly-real-supernatural-entities. Alex is usually laying with their head in Isaac's lap for this, or else sitting on the floor in front of wherever he is on the couch.

[bardicbeetle]

tree ask for the plant wizard!

Pawpaw: How do you name your characters?

A frankly alarming number of my characters are either: Names I once considered (Moira, Leir), or characters from other media whose name I stole because I loved it (Mellori, Endora).

Some of them come from family (Jesse after my cousin, who he takes some mannerisms from, Antonella after someone far far up the ladder of my lineage)

Some of them just Happened (Hello Daniel just being David shifted two degrees to the left, and Alex slowly melting from Full Name Alexandra into Just Alex Only Thank you.)

Some are references (Isaac's father and uncle being named Al and Eddy respectively, most after the Frog bros, and a tiny tiny bit an FMA reference)

It depends entirely on what I'm feeling like at the moment.

Some characters have been easier to name than others. Daniel took forever to get to Daniel. Alex has always been some flavor of Alex. Tom's name changed like eight times.

I throw spaghetti at the wall.

Sometimes it sticks immediately.

Sometimes it's still raw.

[bardicbeetle]

making up a color: light purple! which of your characters would you NOT be friends with. because "sworn enemies" feels way too strong but we all know the friends answer for pink is Jesse lol

(bonus challenge: no irredeemable antagonists if you can avoid it)

(also don't make me set a character limit, no essay this time 💜 )

I think I would probably have the hardest time getting along with Alex to be honest. Which is, frankly hilarious given they were the original protagonist.

I just have a feeling we would butt heads a lot given our personalities.