#i feel vaguely like I was preyed on. they admitted to trying to seduce me on purpose so I’d have sex with them

[wireboy]

days without crying over them counter: 0

[visarcana]

In (Reluctant but Needed) Defense of Allen

This is something I wrote in the Slack channel discussion but I wanted to save it here. And I’m sure I’ll expand on it even more as I go. Well, I am trying to make Millerna a bit more relatable and sympathetic character in the fic; why stop there? Though I admit, this might be even one level up. Cause you either love or hate Allen, right? No gray area there. Nevertheless, let’s try (also, belated happy birthday to him!)

So what is the most superficial, caricatured image there is to get of Allen? I think there are two things that people often reduce his character to:

a manwhore (and turbo one at that) that would do anything that breathes and seduces women for the fun of it

a toxic, manipulative “30 year old” that preys on all these innocent teenagers, moreover, teenagers he sees his sister in (yuck, how creepy is that?!)

It’s usually one of these two, or a combination of them. And ngl, my image of him was not much better early on, after the first watch and reading some fics where he often became a straight-out villain.

It took me many years, several rewatches, and some new content to improve my opinion of him. First of all, let’s get some facts in here.

Allen is 21, he’s the same age as both Dryden and Eries

His sister was spirited away 10 years ago and around the same time his mother died, making him roughly 11 at the time

He then turned to life of crime, becoming a highway bandit, until he met Balgus

It was Balgus who changed his perspective of life, made him care about honor and all that, and made him into a master swordsman

His romance with Marlene happened as he was about 16 while Marlene was two years his senior and it was Marlene who was after Allen from the minute she first saw him, manipulating her father to get him a post of the Palace Guard near her (from the novels, feel free to disregard if you want though it’s all complement to the series)

Allen & Women

Obviously, we have to start here. But, consider this: Allen’s womanizing reputation may come simply from how he treats women, not necessarily from his body count. People tend to oversimplify things, so when they see him switching his charm/flirty side on, they would automatically assume he would have tons of experience. 

Because no matter how you look at it, there's just not a whole lot of time for him to play around too much. Obviously, he is not flirtatious yet as he trains with Balgus and coming from the novels and stuff, he is STILL not a "ladykiller" while in relationship with Marlene. And then he gets banned to a remote sausage fest of a border fortress.

The series itself is a bit vague in the Marlene part (there is that troubled look of his in that shot where they are hugging in the garden, but that's easy to miss or disregard)... so the viewers may jump to the conclusion that "hey, this guy already seduced the princess as a teenager, it's in his nature!". And that's their image of him they work with. 

I think the Marlene chapter in the novels definitely changed that image even for myself. It was not Allen who actively sought that relationship, or did a whole lot to make her fall for him. Heck, he barely DID anything. A good example of how a crushing girl can build a whole castle of melodrama about a guy she barely even knows.

After Marlene, there shouldn't be a whole lot of time for him to seduce half of Palas or whatever. And then there is the banishment to Castelo, where it doesn't look like a whole lot of women would come by. Still, his men recognize the way he treats ladies so they must have witnessed it before. Didn't have to be like every other day, a handful of typical charming Allen displays would paint his picture sufficiently for them. Let's also not forget that they are a rough bunch and probably not used to chivalry and courtly manner at all, so it's all the more remarkable for them.

I think the creators struggled with Allen’s image a bit, too. It's interesting that two of the deleted scenes in the early episodes actually showcased Allen flirting with  Hitomi. Besides one extra scene at Castelo, there's another one at the Crusade just before landing in Asturia for the first time. I think that one is the most daring, I mean, it looks like he's about to nuzzle up or even kiss her. And there's no Dilandau or other objective/protective reason to be so affectionate, except to ease her (and his own) mind before landing in the "Capital of Intrigue." 

I can see how this got axed because it really fixes his image of flirtatiousness. They possibly had second thoughts about it if they toned it down as much, and yeah, you don't really see him behave so forward even later in the series. Probably also because he befriends Hitomi and takes her a little bit more seriously. 

I also think the motive behind Allen's behavior is not to seduce women like sport (even though he's often portrayed like that in fanworks)... it is to be pleasant to them, protect them, tell them what they want to hear etc. In one of the filmbook secrets, Allen is called feminisuto (I refuse to write it as feminist, becaust the meaning is different here). 

Feminisuto in Japanese is a "guy who indulges women," basically, the meaning is the same as a gentleman. I think this could be sort of an archetype of a man in Japanese society, and knowing more about that culturally would explain a lot about Allen's character. One of the reasons I see is what happened to his mother and obviously Celena, but I want to talk about Encia a bit.

I think it's clear that Allen very well understood much of their family's misfortune was rooted in his father emotionally neglecting and eventually abandoning his mother. I think this influenced how he treats women a lot. Yes, he is overprotective and coddles them, but I also believe he is very weak towards them and can't say "no" to them.

For example, it's obvious that he doesn't want to get involved with Millerna from the start, but he is also too weak to refuse her properly, whether it's because of his attraction towards her or hesitation to hurt her.  Also, that early flirting phase is something he’s the best at, because he thinks it's all about that and doesn't really know how to build an equal, trusting relationship... he thinks being nice and attentive to women solves all the problems, without having to open about himself too much. Hitomi may be an exception, which is maybe why he asks her to marry him eventually.

Of course, Allen's looks combined with those caring and gentlemanly ways of his would just attract women endlessly. That's another thing, you may have witnessed it irl; the good looking guy, no matter how shy or awkward in the beginning, would gain a lot of self-confidence as women throw themselves at him just because of his looks and he gains more experience with them. 

Also, I believe Marlene was a big heartbreak for him so maybe he did become a bit of a playboy afterwards, while he was at his lowest... I think that’s the sort of a headcanon the fandom agrees on, that it was at this point that he fooled around with women. 

I also wrote a while ago already that I don't think he was banished immediately after the Marlene affair, giving a time window for Millerna and Eries to develop their respective relationships with him. Because they both are familar with him and if he was gone from the capital immediately after Marlene... then at least Millerna wouldn’t know or remember him at all, young as she was when Marlene left for Freid. 

Perhaps he was gaining a bit of that reputation few years after Marlene, and that was what eventually pushed Aston to order him far away from his daughters? That, or it was at a later point he found out about the affair. Or even both. I think it all comes together nicely, just depends on how you want to connect it all in your head. 

About him seducing younger women... I would obviously never condone anything like it irl but you gotta take the setting into consideration. It’s not like it doesn’t happen in modern-age stories, too, but I would be more forgiving in this kind of (pseudo)historical story.

I specifically believe that on Gaea, at 15 you are already considered “of age.” We see that as both Van and Folken attempt the dragonslaying to become the king at 15, Dilandau is a commander and the Dragonslayers are soldiers at 15, Millerna gets married at 15 (and in general, looks mature enough so that nobody would guess she is only that). Gaea’s level of development is 17-18th century Earth with a much shorter life expectancy, which yes, pushes these ages down and nobody would pause at that. 

The way I see it, 15 is Gaean 18 and the difference between Allen and the girls would be 24 and 18 years old in Earth terms. Of course, it’s still not ideal and nothing to be proud of on Allen’s side, but I guess Gaean society would not frown at him (or Dryden for that matter) for craddle-robbing. Also, let’s realize that by modern standards, an “adult” Marlene seduced an underaged Allen, too, though the age difference was much smaller.

An entirely other beast is Allen’s “cage” speech and his overprotectiveness. You really start to see the loss of his sister and mother seep through when he reprimands Hitomi even about simply walking around the city. And that “keeping precious things under lock,” you sort of see where it’s coming from but then; this is truly a character flaw and I have nothing else to say here. I just pity poor Celena after the end of the series but I know she would get him to change his ways, in many ways. Also, living with her and helping her gain her independence again should improve this (the guys growing up around sisters tend to have much better understanding of women).

It seems Allen subconsciously avoids an older and more experienced partner who would see right through his crap and confront him about it. I honestly hope for this to happen to him, could also be pretty hilarious to watch. Eries is probably the only good candidate from the introduced cast to give him a piece of mind, especially since he seems to respect her and she’s all ladylike. I could still see her doing it without breaking her form too much.  An older Millerna might as well. I mean, she did give him a bit of a wake-up call in chapter 14 of my fic, too, I hope at least.

The Bravery & Honor

This is too often forgotten but if you watched paying attention to anything else than shipping, Allen is always trying to act honorably. When he takes Van and Hitomi under his wing, that’s not calculation, nor attraction towards Hitomi... it’s just the right thing to do. He lets his fortress to be destroyed for that right thing, and King Aston is quick to scold him about it (“honor alone can’t save a country.”) 

You might be distracted by his princess hair or skirted uniform but Allen is a heroic, honorable character, and can wreck pretty much anyone with his mech. And does it all with a certain effortless charm of some sort of movie hero. I sort of recognize this sort of character from other mecha titles, the initially unreachable rival/friend/aniki who is annoyingly good at what he’s doing, is sort of an idol for the protagonist and helps him improve and often dies heroically. Allen successfully averted that, maybe because this is not quite a classic mecha story. And then, there is was Folken (this still kinda felt too soon).

Anyway, Allen gets in trouble again and again because of honor (he saves the kidnapped Van against all odds on Vione, he gets arrested for crossing Zaibach - at the time still an ally of his country, he escapes to Freid to warn them about the attack, etc.) Time and time again you see him make a decision when the dishonorable option would have been the easier one, and Allen takes the honorable way, again and again. 

And he teaches Van a thing or two about it, too. I think this is an important thing, because the origin of these teachings is Balgus, so through Allen as a senpai, Van still can get some of the Balgus’ lessons he never had a chance to obtain. But then, there’s something else between the two.

The Rivalry & Pettiness

This is sort of harder to track because Van is a trademark hothead who would pick fights with Allen against all reason... but it seems Allen enjoys it himself? I mean, enjoys knocking Van into dust. 

I will repeat myself here, but one of the things I disliked about Allen fighting Van at Castelo was how he mentioned Balgus for no other apparent reason than to throw him off (”Balgus never held back like that.”) And that was not nice of him in my charts because there is no way he would mention this if he didn’t know Balgus trained Van (he may have as well said “did you even learn anything from him?”) And it makes Van feel shittier than he had to about his loss, beating himself with the memory of his late master. 

This really gives me trouble because why would the honorable Allen proceed like that? He can win this with ease anyway, so why pull the Balgus card? And if you read about bushido... even remaining in today’s sports like karate/judo/kendo, it’s just disrespectful and weak to show joy over beating someone and such, same as using some petty tricks. And yet, Allen does it, despite being an alumni of The Balgus School of Honor.

Well, one of the explanations I found is, he probably tries to kick Van into action and improving, instead of pitying himself. And he sort of succeeds, cause Van really focuses on training more from that on, as confirmed by the artbooks.

Other possible theory was, when Balgus left back for Fanelia (”sorry lad, I hear my king is ill, g2g!”) Allen felt sort of bummed that his master ditched him? There was probably some talk where they agreed that Allen should get back to Asturia and regain his house. But maaaybe Allen had wanted to stay with Balgus and learn/adventure some more?

Another, and I tend to like (and when I say like I mean use) that one is, Van is eerily reminding Allen of himself at his age, I mean, at his emo bandit age. Van surely looks and plays the part of emo bandit all too well. So, being hard on him comes naturally to Allen, he would be hard on himself after all. He wouldn’t be so mean to another adversary, but to Van, who is his rival (in more ways than one) and reminds him of the him he would like to forget, somehow brings out the worse in him.

To be comprehensive, Allen has a similar hack and slash with Dryden, but the latter seems to be more on the winning side there, skillfully turning the knife in Allen’s wounds left by his father just as well as Allen managed to do with Van early on. Then Dryden gets a whipping himself. Yeah, karma is a bitch.

There, I think I wrote enough, and that on top of the chapter 14, where we sort of touch upon Allen x pretty much everyone... and that will continue for a short bit now, among other things. Regardless of the fic, I think the implication of the end of the series is that Allen wouldn’t have much time for romance from now on, his family relations with Celena and perhaps Chid would take precedence for a while. I wonder how that would change him and make him more mature. Allen at 30 or so, now that is something I’d like to see... 

So yeah, to sum up, 

YES Allen has a weakness for women BUT NO he would not have the time nor opportunity to whore around a whole lot

YES he acts flirtatious BUT it’s also about chivalry for him

YES he pursues younger women BUT they are of-age in-universe and he is quite immature himself

YES he is all this BUT don’t overlook that he is a honorable knight and without him, his ship, and protection, VH would have been screwed from the get-go and too many times to count

AND YEAH he’s supposed to be so relentlessly handsome on top of that kindness, chivalry, and heroism, that it must have seemed like he stepped out of a dream to them... so please forgive also these girls who don’t know any better YET

P.S. The reason it’s a reluctant defense is I feel like I may not be big enough fan of Allen to be writing this but here we are. On the other hand, I doubt I wrote more even about my top favs!

[abbacchiosbelt]

Mango 🥭 Would I be able to request NSFW headcanons of incubus Risotto after he was summoned by the reader? Like, how would he entice them and eventually fuck them? Sorry if it’s so vague it’s my first time requesting 😅

i am a Hoe for incubus and succubus content, so thank you for this request!♡

18+ under the cut! cw for manipulation.

Risotto hadn’t been summoned in quite some time, so when familiar furls of black smoke started to form around his body in order to pull him somewhere else, he gladly gave in. If he’d been summoned by someone… unworthy of his services, he could easily dispose of them. Plus, he’d be in for a quick meal. Risotto had no problem finding meals of his own, but being handed a body brimming with energy on a silver platter was a nice break. If someone interesting had summoned him, well, that was all the better.

You had never taken yourself as the type of person that would find themselves attempting to summon a demon (a demon that fed on lust, nonetheless) but here you were, lips bitten pink from nerves. The supernatural had always intrigued you and the thought of being taken to the sheets by a mysterious creature had been a thought in your mind more times than you’d like to admit.

The summoning circle in your room reacts quickly to your words, lighting up with a red flash and bringing forth black smoke. You’re speechless when whatever you’ve summoned steps out. In front of you stood an impossibly tall, dark-skinned man with black sclera and red eyes, two black horns sticking out of his forehead. He was dressed in no more than mere straps that covered his chest and lower half, large black wings and a black tail unfurling behind him. His body was thick and muscled — he was so large that you feared a single slap could kill you. 

He was beautiful. He radiated death. You couldn’t look away.

Risotto, too, felt pleasure coursing through his body from your sheer energy when he caught your gaze. Oh, you were a lovely meal. Not only were you a beautiful human, but you were crackling with lust and fear. Yes, it had definitely been worth responding to your call. And yet while he’d normally feel the beast within him clambering to eat & kill, Risotto wanted to spend time with you. He wanted to play with you.

‘What business do you have with an incubus, human?’ Risotto steps out of the circle as he speaks, feeling his cock pulse when he sees you give him a once-over and swallow. He’d be ready to push you to the floor and take you right now, but it was always more fun to draw things out, especially with something as delicious as you. 

You feel like you can barely speak, not with how much powerful energy the creature in front of you is radiating, but he was right — you summoned him for a reason. It was best not to lie to demons, you’d read. You supposed the advice was sound, considering the people who lived to tell the tale were there to give it…

“For exactly the reason you’d expect.” You say, feeling bold. Something about the energy in the room invigorated you. Perhaps it was from the creature you’d summoned. “I’d like a night with you, incubus.” You let your eyes trail over his body again, widening when you see the sizeable bulge under his thin straps of clothing. 

Risotto can’t help but laugh at how absolutely bold you’re being. Most humans who summoned him did so on accident, or to request a favor for him. He’d had yet for someone to outright ask him for sex, despite his very nature. Risotto steps forward and forces you back against the wall, caging you in with his strong arms. The taste of fear and arousal he can smell coming from you is driving him wild.

‘You’re an interesting human, dolcezza.’ Risotto puts one clawed finger under your chin and tilts it upward, leaning down until your lips are ghosting against his. ‘What do you want?’ 

You feel dizzy but the arousal in the pit of your stomach is burning brighter than you’ve ever felt. You expected the incubus to put up more of a fight but maybe you shouldn’t have been surprised that he had seduced with you with just a few words and the lightest touch. You place a tentative hand on his chest and marvel in how hot his flesh is, sliding your hand up until you’re cupping his jaw.

“Use me.”

That’s all it takes for Risotto to growl and pick you up, pressing his lips against yours in a bruising kiss as he savors the energy coming from your body. Though his body was bursting with almost violent energy, he wanted to savor you. That didn’t mean he’d be gentle, though. No, you had summoned him and you would take whatever he gave you.

Risotto wastes no time ripping your clothes off with the aid of his long nails, leaving you bared to him. He can’t resist pressing his mouth against your warm skin hungrily, inhaling deeply before he runs his tongue along your flesh to make you shudder. Risotto picks you up with ease and holds you so that he can press his mouth to your chest, rolling your nipples with his tongue as you squirm against him. Each moan that he draws from you tastes divine — the sexual energy you were emitting was like nothing he had tasted before.

You were not something he could only try once. 

With uncharacteristic slowness (Risotto was known for being a… quick eater amongst his peers, even compared to Melone) Risotto lifts your body up even further as he pins you to the wall and dives in-between your thighs. 

It’s almost too much for you. You cling helplessly to his thick silver hair, digging your fingers in as Risotto licks and kisses at your sex with such fervor that you can barely think. Maybe it was because he was an incubus that you had fallen into a pleasurable haze, unaware of anything else but how good it felt to be touched by him. You couldn’t care, though, not when he brought you over your peak and eagerly licked up your juices. 

Risotto’s cock was painfully hard at this point — everything about you, a mere human, was sending his incubus nature into overdrive. You were the most exquisite meal he had ever tasted and he could scarcely wait to bury his cock into you and drink up more of your energy. Risotto drags you away from the wall in his arms, wings flaring out behind him as he flips your body around to press your chest to his back. The straps of his clothes had long been shredded and there’s nothing between your slick center and his cock, Risotto hissing as he nudges his thick head against your entrance. 

He wanted to draw things out further but he couldn’t wait anymore. Risotto presses his lips to your neck as he starts to work his cock inside, unable to resist biting down when he feels your walls clamp pleasurably around him. He knew he was stretching you to your limits by the loud moans you were making and the way your head was falling back against him — it only pushed him on further as he drank more and more, your stolen energy buzzing brightly in his veins. 

When Risotto is pressed fully inside of you, you feel lost in pleasure. You’d never felt anything this big, nor thought anything this big could even fit. And yet here you were, being held up by a demon as he drank his fill, huge cock snug inside of you. The haze in your mind is getting even thicker and you can’t help but think you could spend your life like this, as ridiculous as it sounded… But then he starts to move and you suddenly don’t find it so ridiculous. The groan he lets out in your ear is intoxicating and you tighten around him happily.

Risotto doesn’t waste a second before he starts driving his cock in and out of you, craning his head down so he can kiss you roughly while he fucks you and drains you of your energy — this is what an incubus liked Risotto lived for. It wasn’t often that he encountered a human with such delicious energy. It helped even more that you had summoned him solely to be fucked, to be used by him. It’s that which draws Risotto to start working your sex until you’re crying out and cumming. He draws your final burst of energy into himself and roars as he holds you to himself and fills you with his seed, brimming with energy to imbue you the same feeling he was experiencing. 

This is normally the moment that Risotto would use to tear into his prey’s jugular or to rip out their heart to add to his meal, his jaw cracking on the sides to reveal an even sharper row of teeth — but not this time. You had a better use than that. While you were in your haze, Risotto would claim you.

Risotto flips you back around to face him, only pulling his still-hard cock out for a moment before he slides it back into your sensitive walls. You moan against him and he watches with delight as your eyes roll back into your head. The energy he had put back into you was working perfectly.

‘You were delicious,’ Risotto coos, calling your name. You can’t remember telling him that, but you’re too drunk on pleasure to think properly. ‘You want more of this, don’t you? You’d like to be fucked and filled every day. Your life will be perfect if you wish. It will be filled only with pleasure.’

There wasn’t anything tying you to this world, and though you should have thought about it more nothing could convince you to say no, not with how much your body was shivering in pleasure. You knew what you had to ask — you’d read about it. Risotto’s eyes are locked with yours.

“What is your name?”

The demon smirks at you, sharp eyeteeth visible. ‘Risotto Nero. You may call me Risotto.’ He presses his lips to yours and nips at your bottom lip before he pulls away, his cock twitching inside of you. ‘What a smart human you are. Come, I have much more in store for you.’

There’s nothing but a lazy smile on your face when Risotto steps back inside the circle you’d summoned him from, the same dark smoke from earlier furling around both of your bodies as you’re taken to somewhere unknown. Risotto, of course, knows it well — he is taking you back to his home in hell, after all.

Yes, you’d be the perfect pet for his team… Though he would make sure they knew you belonged to him.

[fanforthefics]

Tyson /Gabe frat or vampire au?

I couldn’t get the frat in but I want to be clear that despite being a vampire AU, I want you to imagine Tyson would have been (and probably has been) in a frat had one been available. 

cw: mentions of chronic illness

Tyson is about 100 years old when he meets Gabe. 

It’s not like, ancient. Not really old, not like some people he could name. (Cough EJ cough). Tyson is young at heart, is what he means. He can still hang. He’s not one of those vampires who goes and hides in a manor with the bats and shit. Tyson can respect that as an aesthetic, but he’d make a mess of it. He could not keep that kind of straight face. 

And anyway, he doesn’t want to do that. He doesn’t want to hide himself away--just because he’s dead doesn’t mean that he can’t have a life. 

Which is, maybe, how he ends up huddled in the corner of a cabana, glaring out at the sun that’s trapped him there. 

Which is how he meets Gabe. Gabe, who smells like a human but doesn’t smell at all like fear, who throws a blanket over Tyson and hurries him back inside, who rolls his eyes at Tyson when he flashes his fangs at him and tells him he’d be a lot scarier in something other than a Hawaiian shirt. Which is bullshit, and Tyson tells him that, because Hawaiian shirts are the bomb. Gabe tells him that no one is saying the bomb anymore, which Tyson argues isn’t true because he’s seeing it, and anyway, it ends with Gabe throwing his arms up and walking off in a huff and Tyson yelling so he can get the final word in because he can’t go outside. 

Tyson writes it up to a weird day--he’s had a lot of those, over almost a century--but then, even weirder, Gabe comes back. 

And it’s not like, a subtle coming back. Gabe knocks on his door that evening, comes in before Tyson even has a chance to welcome him in (Tyson does anyway, talking loudly to the air outside the door how just because vampires can’t come in without asking doesn’t mean humans have a license to just barge in, willy nilly; Gabe ignores him).  

“I noticed you didn’t have any blood stocked,” Gabe informs him, already rummaging in his fridge; Tyson gapes a little as Gabe shoves aside all of Tyson’s fresh food--he can manage a farmer’s market, with some fancy umbrella work--to put in bags that look like they’ve come from a butcher. “What were you going to do if you got hungry?” 

That sets off another argument, and it ends in Tyson storming out this time, before he remembers it’s his house and he turns around to kick Gabe out instead. 

Thus begins the tale of Tyson, worst vampire ever, according to Gabe, and Gabe, who has decided he’s going to fix him.  Gabe whirls into Tyson’s life and just doesn’t leave, and Tyson can sort of admit that there are some perks--having blood around is good, he guesses, and having someone who can pick him up if he stays out too late (or make sure he doesn’t stay out too late) is probably the sort of thing that Nate would advise him to do, if he wasn’t fucking around somewhere on the plains and had been for the last decade. 

And, like. Maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world, to have someone stick around. Tyson’s not lonely, because he hangs out with people all the time, but none fo them know--none of them are there, really. None of them stay.  And all his vampire friends are scattered around the globe, and it’s just not the same as having a ridiculously attractive human bullying him around his house and laughing at his jokes. 

One day, they have a conversation--Gabe’s a little snappy, because maybe Tyson was flirting with the wrong person and maybe their boyfriend had some silver on him and maybe he also decided getting Tyson into sunlight was a good idea, which Tyson had strongly disagreed with. Anyway, he was fine, but Gabe was all worked up, and when he got worked up he got mother henny and sort of angry. 

“Why do you even take these risks?” Gabe demands, as he shoves some blood into Tyson’s hands in his favorite mug. “You’re immortal, you won’t ever die if you didn’t do stupid shit.” 

Tyson’s still a little drunk, and also he’s never been a good lier, so, “What’s the point of an immortal life if you don’t live it?” he asks, too honest, and then maybe Gabe says something or maybe he doesn’t, maybe Tyson’s just a mopey drunk, because then he’s telling a story about a boy who loved the sun, who wanted nothing more than to move to a beach where he could bask in it all day, and of a father who made the wrong enemies.  Gabe looks at him oddly when he’s done, which Tyson waves away as just the usual reaction to his not-really a sob story. It’s whatever. He’s fine. But he’s not going to hide away just because life through some fangs at him. 

Gabe doesn’t stop nagging him after that, but it’s different, maybe. He’s a little more likely to humor Tyson. He gives Tyson weird looks sometimes, something half-confused, half...well. If Tyson were someone else, if Tyson were human, he’d say that look was yearning. 

But Tyson’s not human, and Tyson might be the worst vampire ever, but he’s over 100 years old. He’s lived what was once two human lifetimes already. A generation he knew and loved has lived and died, and Tyson is still here. He knows what it feels like, to love something that ages and dies, and Tyson might want to live but that’s a pain he doesn’t need to invite. So he decided he’s misinterpreting the looks, and if he’s in love with Gabe, no one has to know that except him and Nate, who knows everything and is threatening to come visit just to meet this new person in Tyson’s life. 

Time goes on. Gabe keeps doing his nagging thing with Tyson. Tyson determinedly does not notice any way Gabe might be looking at him, and maybe misses a thing or two in that determined ignorance--the way Gabe sits down sometimes, out of nowhere. How Gabe is sleeping longer than usual. How Gabe has appointments more, things he doesn’t tell Tyson about. 

Then the hunters come. 

And like, Tyson can usually deal with the hunters. They’re generally fairly reasonable people who want to keep vampires who’ve gone feral or are actually bad people in line, and Tyson’s all for that. Maybe he’d like some more due process than vampires are given now before their heads are cut off, but no one’s asking him, and his head isn’t cut off yet, so he hasn’t suggested anything.  But these hunters--these hunters are fanatics, which is irritating, and they don’t listen to reason, and long story short Tyson actually has to fight, which he is historically not good at. 

He gets away, anyway, and he’s pretty sure the hunters aren’t going to be an issue anymore because he’s proved there’s easier prey than him, but he’s really fucking hurt. The sort of hurt he hates because it burns in him, through him, until the humanity he tries so hard to keep a handle on is only a thin veil under the parts of him that are just bloodlust and animal need. 

That’s how Gabe finds him, when he lets himself into Tyson’s house like it’s just a normal evening, except Tyson’s huddled in a corner half-mad with bloodlust and using everything in him to keep himself inside and away from anyone he could hurt. Tyson warns him away, because this is bad enough that it’s going to take a lot of blood and time to get better, because animal blood long from the body just isn’t the same, but Gabe just looks at him, and holds out his wrist. 

Tyson’s still enough himself to resist, and tell him no, that he won’t, that he will not be the monster, but Gabe insists. “This is me offering, and trusting you won’t take more than you need,” Gabe tells him, clear-eyed, and Tyson hates himself, hates the hunters who forced him into this, hates everything about it, but he grabs Gabe’s wrist and bites. 

It doesn’t hurt the human, Tyson knows, vaguely remembers, because docile prey is easy prey. So Gabe’s gasp isn’t pain, but that’s all Tyson knows, as he drinks. 

Except--it’s easy, to pull away, when he’s had enough. He wipes his mouth, and looks up at Gabe, who’s swaying a little. More than he should be; Tyson knows he hadn’t taken a dangerous amount. He’s not that bad a vampire. 

He licks his lips. Tastes Gabe’s blood again. He really isn’t that bad a vampire. “You’re dying,” he says, and Gabe looks for a second like he’s going to try to protest, so Tyson goes on, “I can taste it. It’s in your blood.” 

There isn’t much Gabe can say to that. He is dying, after all, his body slowly giving out on itself. He knows that. Now Tyson does too. 

Tyson stands, and looks at him.  He’s not stupid. “You want me to bite you.” 

“You just did bite me,” Gabe points out, angry in the way that means he’s defensive. 

Tyson bares his fangs.  They still have Gabe’s blood on them. “Not for real. Not like you want. What, were you going to bribe me? Starve me to death until I’d have no choice but to bite? Or--” and there it is, the memory of those looks. “Seduce me?” 

Gabe opens his mouth, all blown up like he’s going to protest, but Tyson can see the truth in his eyes. And it’s--Gabe’s not the first person Tyson’s met who wants him to bite them. There have been a handful before, people who see the glamour, see eternal life and health and think they want it, and will do anything to get it.  

Gabe’s not the first person to break Tyson’s heart, either, but hey. That one never gets old, apparently. 

So Gabe leaves. Well. Tyson snaps and bares his teeth and turns his back until Gabe huffs and leaves anyway, muttering about how Tyson won’t listen to reason. Tyson ignores that too. Maybe all those vampires who hid from humans in their caves and dust were right. It’s easier. 

Gabe doesn’t come back the next day. Which is fine. Tyson’s not going to bite him, and he knows it, so he’s got to go find some other vampire to do that. Tyson wishes, suddenly, for some sort of vampire phone tree to make sure everyone knows not to bite Gabe in his stupid handsome neck. Because they don’t have a phone tree, he compromises by calling Nate instead. (”I could come back and just kill him,” Nate offers, very earnestly. Tyson loves his best friend, but he thinks that maybe it’s about time for him to connect to society again instead of living off with horses and vampires). 

Anyway, Gabe keeps on not coming back, so fuck him. Tyson doesn’t need him. Tyson goes back out and keeps doing his thing, and maybe he’s a little reckless but whatever, he thinks it’s justified, even humans go crazy when their heart’s been broken.  So he parties and drinks and only almost catches on fire like twice, and never entirely runs out of blood thank you very much Gabe, and he’s fine. 

Then he gets a call. It’s in the middle of the day, so it wakes him up, and from a number he doesn’t recognize, but Tyson’s always liked living on the edge so he picks up. He has the time to talk to telemarketers. 

Except it’s not a telemarketer--it’s Gabe’s sister. And she’s telling him that Gabe’s in the hospital, and she thinks he should know because Gabe talks about him all the time and they might be in a fight but--

She’s still talking when Tyson starts swearing, because he’d forgotten it was daylight out when he’d started to rush outside. 

Anyway, it takes some maneuvering and some creative use of tarps, a garbage can, and precisely three plastic bags that someone had left in Tyson’s car approximately a decade ago, but he makes it to Gabe’s bedside. He’s sitting up and not actively dying--Tyson can taste it in the air--but the part of Tyson that can sense the weakest prey in a pack is pricking up, too. 

Luckily, he’s alone, because Tyson is maybe steaming a little when he gets in. Gabe stares at him, blinks, then looks very pointedly at the window and the sun streaming in. “You,” he tells Tyson, “Are definitely the world’s shittiest vampire.” 

That sets off a whole argument again, part of it Gabe’s well-worn scolds about Tyson’s habits, more of it about how Gabe was trying to get Tyson to bite him, and the part of it neither of them say about how Gabe left. 

But it all circles back to Gabe’s original plan, and how he was going to try to bribe Tyson, or starve him, or something, and Tyson gets mad at him, about why he would want this life, he sees what it is, and Gabe just sort of looks at him and asks, “What’s the point of a life if you can’t live it?” Which is a shitty low blow, and Tyson tells him so. 

But he also tells him--like, he’s seen that before. He’s seen the people desperate to be turned, and what it turns to too often, the anger and bitterness at their sires, when it isn’t what they wanted. They don’t tell you how most vampires don’t make it past 80 or so. 

“You did.” 

“Yeah well, you always say I’m a shitty vampire.” 

Gabe looks like he’s going to argue that, but he decides not to. Instead, he looks at Tyson, and there’s the same bravery there, the same trust, that made him barge into Tyson’s life in the first place, that made him put his wrist to a predator’s mouth. “You really are,” he agrees. “That’s the other reason.” 

“Reason for what?” 

“For why you should bite me,” Gabe tells him. “You need someone to make sure you don’t get yourself burned to ashes.”

Tyson considers arguing that he’d kept himself undead for the better part of a century, but Gabe gives the sunlight in the windows another pointed look. “If I wasn’t going to turn you for any of your other bribes, I don’t think unwillingly binding yourself to me is going to work,” Tyson points out, a little offended. Hating himself a little, for how the idea of Gabe there felt. “We’d already gotten past indentured servitude when I was born, and from what grandma said, that was a good thing.” 

“Who said anything about unwilling?” Gabe asks, eyes clear and sure, and the blood dries in Tyson’s mouth. 

They go a few more rounds, probably, because Tyson can’t accept that and Gabe can’t accept his not accepting it, until Gabe finally gets fed up and pulls Tyson over to kiss him. 

Then they have a few more rounds to go, but--Tyson stays until it’s dark, and then he keeps staying. 

He doesn’t bite him. Not then. Not when human science is doing well enough. Instead, Gabe goes back to nagging at Tyson and Tyson starts doing his best to make sure Gabe’s taking advantage of the life he has, and also maybe uses his superhuman abilities to like, make things easier for Gabe. And also for sex, because Tyson’s got 100 years of experience. 

And then--then, when human science starts to fail, when Tyson starts to taste death in the air, and Gabe still looks at Tyson and smiles and nods, sure--then Tyson lets himself give in.  

Epilogue: 20 years later, and Gabe is coming back from one of his trips, because immortal life is great and also gives perspective on things like ‘I love you but maybe we should spend a few years away from each other before we kill each other’ and finds Tyson huddled in a corner, trying to keep out of the sun because he’s just wearing a bathing suit. 

“How are you still so bad at this?” Gabe asks, running over--because he is dressed properly, thank you very much--and Tyson grins at him before he kisses him hello. 

“Because I have you to take care of me, obviously.” 

[albertandgraceworld-blog]

Personality Grace Jones

PERSONALITY GRACE JONES

-       ‘’Masculinity may not come natural to a men, femininity may not come natural to a women’’

-       During her acting career, Jones hasn’t always got on with her lead-man - Arnold Schwarzenegger supposedly complained Grace was ‘too tough’ during filming of Conan The Destroyer, and Roger Moore commented he had a genuine dislike of Jones during filming of the Bond film A View To A Kill. (clash music)

-       Rebelliousness à included her constant love of nightclubbing in New York, as well as going out road-tripping and taking acid with Hell’s Angels. She wore afros before they came into fashion and she was exposing herself in clubs way before nude establishments were officially commissioned. (clash music)

-       She created a lot of controversial moments à she just didn’t care. (careless)

-       She fell in love with boyfriend Jean-Paul Goude and they got a son together à Paulo Goude, he is part of the band Trybez and has a baby girl. He once said: He reluctantly admits, “I am my mum’s number one fan and she will always be my first fan.”

-       She inspires super stars as Lady Gaga and Rihanna.

-       She was very musical. She created a few albums (Portfolio, Fame, Muse, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living my life) and was really beloved in the gay scene.

-       She played in several artistic movies, nothing commercial.

-       She also had a few scandals à arrested because of in possession of cocaine, because of misconduct she was put out of an Amercian Express plane, she had a tax arrears and put her current boyfriend on the news as missing but he wasn’t missing. (Wikipedia)

-       She is one of the biggest style-icons in the 80’s. Her behavior was shocking and irascible. But she became as well known for her voice.

-       She keeps shocking the world still at this age à her influence is still visible.  

-       Her character was be shaped when she was younger. She was abused by her step granddad. when she was younger. He was a sadist. (Linda nieuws)

-       She is very vague, but very straight to the point, very absently

-       Gender-bending, hypersexual persona.

-       Free inspired

-       Provocative

-        hailed as a disco queen, gay icon, and gender defying iconoclast.

-       She says: But I did things for the excitement, the dare, the fact that it was new, not for the money, and too many times I was the first, not the beneficiary.” (nme)

 -       Her music also broke free, blending house, reggae, and electronica into a timeless hybrid that led to classic hits such as “Pull Up to the Bumper” and “Slave to the Rhythm.

-       She lives to fight and fight again. She says that she is living already for years, that she is ageless. She will always be around she says.

-       She says:  “Even death won’t stop me. It never has. You can find images of me from centuries ago. Faces that look like mine carved in wood from ancient Egypt [...] I have been around for a long time, heart pounding, ready to pounce on my prey [...] tripping, grieving, loving, hunting, conquering, seducing, fighting, dreaming, laughing, and I always will be.” (telegraph)

-       She is risky but yet futuristic

-       She can be aggressive when somebody does her harm, when she feels like she is not accepted à when Johnny Casablancas of Elite Model Management refuses to promote her, on the ground that “selling a black model in Paris is like trying to sell them an old car nobody wants to buy”, she screams, “I’m going to make you EAT THOSE WORDS! AND I HOPE YOU DIE OF CIRRHOSIS OF THE LIVER!” .” (Telegraph)

-        Jones was very thin and shy as a child and was often teased by her classmates, showing no signs of the bold and unfettered individuality for which she would become famous later in her life.  (biography) but in the interview with RTL late Night she does points out that numbers (as in her income) is important and that you need to keep track of that.

-        Jones added: “The problem with… the Nicki Minajes and Mileys is that they reach their goal very quickly. There is no long-term vision, and they forget that once you get into that whirlpool then you have to fight the system that solidifies around you in order to keep being the outsider you claim you represent. There will always be a replacement coming along very soon – a newer version, a crazier version, a louder version. So if you haven’t got a long-term plan, then you are merely a passing phase, the latest trend, yesterday’s event.” (nme)

 References

"10 Things You Never Knew About... Grace Jones". Clash Magazine. N.p., 2017. Web. 10 Jan. 2017.

Britton, Luke. "Grace Jones Says Andy Warhol Would Be Into Selfies If Still Alive - NME". NME. N.p., 2017. Web. 10 Jan. 2017.

"Grace Jones". Nl.wikipedia.org. N.p., 2017. Web. 10 Jan. 2017.

"Grace Jones Zoent Filemon Vol Op De Mond Bij 'RTL Late Night'". LINDA.. N.p., 2017. Web. 10 Jan. 2017.

Haas, Lidija. "I'll Never Write My Memoirs By Grace Jones, Review: 'A Tease'". The Telegraph. N.p., 2017. Web. 10 Jan. 2017.

Researched by Roanne de Kluizenaar