#like a lot of vampires don't particularly like being vampires but alex is on a whole other level

[atlantic-riona]

I read a lot of books in the last ten days - a lot of them were very light, since I was on vacation - but since it's been so long since I read for fun, I thought I'd note down some things for each of them.

Completed

The Hollow Kingdom by Claire B. Dunkle: Still an absolute favorite of mine - I personally think it's one of the best books featuring a Goblin King, and Kate is such an interesting protagonist. I won't spoil anything, but I do like how the book actually doesn't follow a more traditional plot for these kinds of books.

In the Coils of the Snake by Claire B. Dunkle: Probably not my favorite, per se, of the trilogy, but I do find it fascinating. It brings back the elves, and I love the questions that get raised about the future and past of the goblins and elves. Can they ever escape their own tendencies?

Entwined by Heather Dixon: Best retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses ever, in my opinion. Really good characters and I loved the family relationships.

Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt: I kept seeing this in various lists and it is very good! I enjoyed reading it a lot. Kind of Scheherazade-like, where Keturah keeps Death from claiming her by telling stories and then promising to finish the stories the next day.

The Vampire's Promise by Caroline B. Cooney: Genuinely unsettling descriptions of the vampire, but in a good way. There's something about this genre of supernatural fiction that I love (pre-2000s small town America encounters something supernatural) but it's hard to find nowadays imo, because so much of it is just romance now. I enjoyed it a lot, and there's two other books in the trilogy, but I have to put off reading those because of how unnerving the first was, lol.

Mixed Magics by Diana Wynne Jones: Very fun! I always love the Chrestomanci stories, they're funny and also just brilliant worlds to visit.

In Progress

Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones: Going to be honest, I'm probably not going to finish this one. I started it after The Hollow Kingdom, because I was looking for more Goblin King-esque stories, but this one is not for me. I like some of the premise - the music aspect is interesting, and so too is the childhood friendship with the Erlkonig - but it's veering into "historically women were so repressed by society and religion and now I'm going to glory in being violent and hedonistic" and that's just not my cup of tea. I may try to push through it, but not if it's going to continue down the current path.

Fated by Benedict Jacka: This one's interesting. It's a bit like the Dresden Files, but Alex is definitely a bit more level-headed, which is interesting. I'm also interested in the world itself, but I will admit I got distracted partway through reading it and so I'm not very far in yet.

Captured by Maggie L. Wood: Didn't think I would like this one, but it reminds me a lot of the kinds of books I would devour in middle school. It's an interesting kind of portal fantasy, and I like Willow and her reactions to learning that she's not from Earth originally. The chess aspect is interesting, but I do wish they'd focus more on Willow's skills with chess, since it's so integral to the plot.

Nightwing, Vol. 1: Bludhaven by Dennis O'Neil: I have gotten maybe...five pages into this one, haha. I do like it, though! I'll have more to say later, though I do think it's funny that everybody's like "yeah, Gotham is bad, but Bludhaven is even worse." Like...you have seen Gotham, right? Maybe I just need to read more of the comic.

Stolen Songbird by Daniell E. Jensen: Another Goblin King-esque story, though here they're trolls in some kind of fantasy France? It was interesting, but I'm not going to lie, it's turning into a slog. I don't particularly find it interesting to read about characters that flip-flop their minds every five seconds, and I wasn't interested in the romance part, which is turning into the focus (I don't know what I expected, it's marketed as a romance, bahahaha). I probably will also not finish this one.

The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science by Seb Falk: Only made it through the intro and first chapter so far, but it is FASCINATING. It will probably take me a long time to finish, but that's just because I find so much of what's being explained interesting that I have to track it down further or include it in my own stories.

Ladies of Liberty by Cokie Roberts: Didn't get through much more than the intro (it was buried in the car during the trip), but I love this period of time, and I love when historians dig into women of history without acting as if only women pursuing masculine activities are worth studying, and the intro makes it seem like this is one of those books where all kinds of women are being studied. So fingers crossed this one works out!

[yellowloid]

7, 8, 41 and 48 for the fic questions? 🥰

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

has to be the one i did for my 'satin and lace' series! i just love the backstory of their relationship, love the whole trip to france (amy my beloved <3 the universe hating alex my beloved <3) , love every little moment they spent falling in love in the french countryside as young puppies and then reliving all that once they came back, grown and ready to take the next step... and then the flashbacks to their wedding, and the honeymoon... ugh. i love researching for my fics and i just had so much fun doing it for this series, especially the 'geographic' aspect of their idyllic french summer and then their dream italian honeymoon. ugh i'm just so proud of this whole series and i love it so much </3

8. What song would make a great fic (to either write or read)?

so many possibilities!! i think i've already said this in the past but i would absolutely LOVE to read/write a fic about the aviation/eycte/miracle aligner trilogy - i think that's pretty self-explanatory in and of itself jshfhsf. it has so much fucking potential and i'd write it myself but it'd be such a huge project and it'd mean so much i'd go insane trying to make it as perfect as possible and unfortunately i don't have time for that djfhshfhs but who knows, maybe one day

also bonus answers: dracula teeth because vampires (duh), sculptures because it'd make a great thriller, the bakery because of wholesome meet-cutes and coming-of-age vibes, the jeweller's hands because mysterious and crazy gay sex aura

41. Link a fic that made you think, “Wow, I want to write like that.”

aaaaaa that's such a difficult question... i think in this fandom we truly don't realise how lucky we are when it comes to fanfics - because trust me, i've read a lot of fics in oh-so-many different fandoms over the years and although i've read a lot of great ones... the moment i joined the milex fandom it was all over jshfdgf a while ago i tried reading something (*smut, but that's only relatively relevant) in another fandom, from an author i used to trust even - and trust me when i say i had to close the tab so fast because it was... meh. it was just not passing the vibe check. it wasn't even *that* bad, it was just... idk. there's a lot of great stuff out there but once you read about milex there's no way out and definitely no way back sjfhdfdxhg

however, in our little tumblr corner we have SO MANY different writers who are just so extremely talented it's honestly crazy. everyone has their own personal - and very identifiable - way of writing about those two silly idiots in love, and everyone writes slightly different versions of them, and all those little details come together to make every fic so special. i could recognise something written by a specific author rathen than another just by looking at their writing style and way of characterising alex and miles, as well as their dynamic with each other. and i think that's so beautiful and special and ugh <3 i really really love this fandom and all the talented people that are part of it. y'all are amazing <3

now to answer the question, there's just so many outstanding fics out there... but if i really had to choose just one, i'd go with 'Miracle Aligner' by WeirdChick333. that fic took me on a journey and literally changed my brain chemistry in the process; it's just so insanely good it blows my mind over and over again even just thinking about it. left me speechless when i first read it and keeps leaving me speechless every time i think back to it. absolute fucking masterpiece.

48. What’s the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?

'going back to 505' by my lovely bestie @alexturne that i still need to leave a proper comment on bc i'm bad at being the ao3 equivalent of a tumblrina but just know i loved it very much and she always delivers the most wholesome fluffiest fluff xx

thank you so much for the questions, this was really fun 💖

[albatris]

happy (possibly very late) storyteller Saturday!

does anyone in the rental car cast have any opinions on vampire literature? oh, does the Garble mean that vampire stories as a whole are slightly different?

thank you for the ask!! :D I am very very late responding, whoops

also I'm so sorry this turned into more of a ramble than I've done in months, I swear I did not mean to subject you to this, I'm mortified

ooh, this is an interesting question, and not something I've put too much thought into yet!

in particular, "does the Garble mean that vampire stories as a whole are slightly different?" - I hadn't even considered this and now my brain is doing a whole spiral thing which is fun (genuinely)

I will say on the topic: I hadn't intended for it! the Garble has existed for hmmmm 800 - 1000 years, ish, so in real world terms a lot of vampire lore and literature predates it! but it's quite likely that it has influenced some more modern (relatively speaking) takes on vampirism which could be fun to explore in the story c:

also this has made me think about, like.... the nature of the Garble does mean it began as just a single regular human ("doctors hate him! local dumbass finds one fucked up trick to achieve immortality!"), but the original Garble found a way to outsource its murders to other people while still reaping all the benefits for itself, and grow a whole stupid hivemind system that basically runs itself

whereas perhaps with previous instances of people in the same situation it would all just stay contained in that one person on a much smaller scale, and resulted in a more traditional "undead" vampire existence for that person after a while

so, like, a combination of misunderstanding ordinary human phenomena and a few rare instances of genuine undead vampires would contribute to the existence of vampire lore and vampire literature - then at some point the entire system just fucking FLIPS due to the Garble finding a way of expanding and outsourcing and bringing living humans under its influence, and a Lot Of Them, who as vampires end up markedly different in appearance and behaviour and physiology and vibes to those more traditional undead vamps. unless in very very specific cases (cough Ethel cough)

which might result in, like, a REALLY odd shift in vampire lore at some point, and perhaps an odd shift in the way people represent vampires in literature too

HM. LOTS TO CONSIDER. thank you for making my worldbuilding brain happy ahaha

anyway!!!! opinions on vampire literature!!! sorry it took me so long to get to the first part of your question fdhgjkdfg

----

I will give you the opinions of the vampire members of the cast because that's what I'm vibin with. I'm sure Quinn has some Opinions too though lmao

so, I've entertained the possibility of Riley being something of a vampire literature/film/media-in-general buff, mostly just because she finds it entertaining to see all the different takes and twists people have on vampirism :P she's Riley, so she'd have some Strong Opinions for sure. and probably an ever-updating ranked list of which stories are most accurate

for the most part she enjoys vampire fiction, I think! the scary fucked up horror vamps are her faves in a sort of morbid self-deprecating way ("haha hey it's me!")

Alex's opinion on vampire literature is that it's the worst. do NOT ask Alex about vampire literature unless you want to be trapped into hearing an unbearably miserable three hour rant

and like Alex KNOWS it's being petty. but still

it despises ~sexy vampire romances~ the most I think, but to be fair Alex is also aroace so there's multiple reasons for that. but also, yeah, it irks Alex to see vampirism being portrayed as cool and sexy and mysterious in a way that's meant to be appealing and attractive, like. none of this is cool and sexy. this is not cool sexy angst. this is horrible nightmarish surreal angst 24/7 that makes you super depressed and anxious and not want to get out of bed for a week. sexy vampire tropes make Alex super fucking uncomfortable

another sore spot is any vampire literature dealing with like..... themes of morality and humanity and anguish........ like. no, fictional vamps are not allowed to be sexy and fun. but they are EQUALLY not allowed to be miserable and monstrous and full of symbolism. perhaps they are simply Not Allowed

like, moral crises and misery and questions about the nature of humanity are things Alex struggles with on the daily, and seeing vampirism all turned into some big important symbolic moral lesson or just kind of..... woven into some dramatic angsty spectacle for people to fawn over. giving it some Deeper Meaning or revealing some meaningful truths about life or whatever. idk

humans always try to make vampirism into a Whole Big Thing to entertain other humans, be it tragic or symbolic or sexy or whatever else

it's rough, kinda

n like. logical Alex does Get It. bitter jaded petty Alex is like "fuck you. vampirism fucking blows. that's it. end of. stop making a stupid song and dance about it"

on that note, Alex would be fucking furious to learn it itself is, in fact, a vampire in a novel about vampirism

idk about Nat lmao. he canonically has enough vague knowledge of Twilight's terminology that he occasionally feels the need to awkwardly clarify that when he says he's both a vegetarian and a vampire he means this in the "I'm a vampire who makes killer salt and pepper tofu and hasn't had a hamburger since he was fourteen" way and not in the "I'm a vampire that refuses to drink human blood" way. just so there can be no misunderstandings and no unfortunate surprises when he inevitably just fuckin drains a guy like a capri sun

but yeah, neither human nor vampire Nat has ever really been one for reading OR for horror stories, which a lot of vampire literature would count as. he doesn't have a lot of opinions like Riley or Alex do. he's just kind of like "well, books about vampires sure are a thing that exists!"

that being said he DOES have personal beef with any stories portraying vampires as exclusively fancy formal hoity-toity rich folks who live in fuck off giant mansions. he himself is a broke unhinged gremlin of a man who lives in a shitty apartment and works in a petrol station. most of the vampires he knows personally are in similar boats (with varying degrees of gremlinry, of course)

anyway thanks for coming to this behemoth of a ramble! I hope u have a nice day!

[lunarisgirl44]

I know that a lot of the trans-community and lot of longtime Harry Potter fans are divided and disowned the series over Rowling's comments. I still love the books and movies despite what happened as it was still part of my childhood and just pretending to hate it is just like saying I never liked it. Until things mellow over, people are gonna be angry and I don't blame them. So while things settle in, I have some suggestions over book series in case any of you happen to be looking for a new series.

The Hex Hall Series by Rachel Hawkins

Need a new wizard role model, look no further.

An underrated gem of a wizarding series kept in the shadow of Harry Potter. If any of you have been asking for a female version of Harry Potter, this is honestly the closest you'll ever get. Meet Sophie Mercer, a 16-year-old witch who sent off to an all magic boarding school.

Here are a few bonuses that might help convince you.

There's a lesbian vampire called Jenna as Sophie's roommate/best friend. However, unlike most LGBT characters in media, this isn't bashed over your head like a game of Whack-a-mole. It's brought up twice in the first book which is twice as many times Dumbledore's sexuality as been brought up any of the six HP books.

There is a female version of Malfoy too. Her name is Elodie Parris. She is the leader of a coven of dark witches and is desperate to try and get Sophie to join in as she's the only other dark witch. They have a rivalry going as there's a love triangle in the first book between them and Elodie's boyfriend Archer Cross. She may not have the power to call upon her father like Malfoy (My father will hear about this!) But she does serve as a worthy rival to main character Sophie.

The love triangle is not the main focus of the series. Oh look, yet another love triangle, I've seen this before. Peeta and Gale, Edward and Jacob, Brenda and Teresa, the list goes on and on. But unlike these series, it's not the main focus as it's mostly contained in the first book of the series even then, it's not the main focus of the book. Sophie may love Archer but her crush isn't her priority until later towards the end.

It's lore and diverse characters. There's more than just witches attending Hex Hall, as there are werewolves, shapeshifters, faeries, and as I mentioned before vampires attending the school with Sophie. They do bring up biblical lore and history such as the battle of heaven and how angels who choose neither heaven nor hell were banished to earth with them becoming either witches, faeries, or shapeshifters. Despite there being a group of supernatural hunters called 'Eye of God' they don't paint the witch characters as devil worshippers like in most media.

Female Representation. This has a wide range of badass female characters, from the villain to the headmistress, to the defense teacher to the werewolf who ends up befriending Sophie, there's no shortage of memorable female characters. Even it's spinoff School Spirit is given the main female protagonist.

Its made by Hyperion Books, the same publishing company as Percy Jackson.

And lastly, it has yet to be adapted. Most would say this is a negative towards the series. I would disagree. This is an amazing series and to see it get adapted would be fantastic and hopefully, they'll be some fan traction to give it the proper adaptation it deserves. Until they, we still have time to enjoy the books and fan cast the characters. If Harry Potter could be given an adaptation, why couldn't Sophie Mercer?

Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Series by Rick Riordan

Not what you're looking for, or want to support Trans/(non)binary characters in media? You should totally check out my dear Uncle Rick's series Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard for it's an amazing representation of Alex Fierro.

Alex Fierro is both Transgender and Gender Fluid. Canonically in the Riordanverse, Alex is the third LGBT character after Nico Di Angelo and Will Solace. Alex goes mostly by female pronouns (so I'm mostly gonna address Alex using female pronouns since that's how Alex is normally addressed as) but she has her male days so there are times she will be addressed as he. Alex will change her voice depending on her current gender. Honestly, I love Alex not only as a trans character of color but as a character in general. She is badass in her own right and seeing Rick normalizing Magnus and Alex's relationship is so satisfying as it's not often we get a trans relationship like this, particularly with the second kiss since Alex is going by male pronouns at that time, making it the first same-sex kiss in any of Riordan's books (sorry Solangelo shippers). Riordan was risking a lot when writing Alex but whatever he was trying to do, he clearly succeeded with Alex. Now if there's any Trans character that needs your attention, it's Alex Fierro.

[queercapwriting]

Hiya I sent you an ask about a fic about Kara dealing with body issues (I know you're swamped so please don't worry about answering it soon!) b/c I have a lot of issues with my own body and it's just getting really bad. I feel like there's this voice in my head every time I walk by a mirror that's just really fucking mean and I feel crazy. But I've been working harder at the gym for the last year and I'm hoping that'll make it stop. It just sucks b/c I can't go too often now with school and all.

Alex used to tease her about it – I hope you get fat, she joked as she passed her the last potsticker– and it didn’t feel bad when Alex did it. In fact, it was pretty funny,because it’s Alex.

It still feels funny when the woman at Noonan’s asks how sheeats so many sticky buns and still looks like she does, because she answersthat she’s an alien, and the woman thinks it’s a joke.

So it’s funny.

But it’s also not funny.

It’s also not funny because her muscles aren’t what hercousin’s are.

It’s also not funny because Mon-El just assumes he’ll bestronger than her because he’s a man, because he’s bigger than her, and sheknows he never will be, but sometimes she’s not sure.

It’s also not funny because Alex is solidly human, and Jamesis solidly human, and they can survive – they do survive – without any powers.Without any powers except their training and their wits and their very small,very human, very not-Kryptonian, strength.

They can do what Kara does, but they distinctly cannot flyand they distinctly cannot bench press an airplane.

And she doesn’t hate it. But she hates it.

Because if they’re that strong, and she has powers, but theycan survive the same kind of work she does, how weak must she be? How muchweakness, how much mediocrity – and Alex wasn’t the only one raised by parentswho expected perfection – lives in her skin?

Skin that lasted when everyone else died.

A face that forces a smile when she doesn’t feel it at all.

Hands that all the social media feeds make jokes about whatthey can do, but really, she just wants to be able to touch someone full force,outside of the green room, without worrying about breaking them?

Because they might be better than her, tougher, moreinnately strong, more innately special, but she can still break them,completely by accident.

Because her body is not in her control. But it is. But itisn’t. But it is.

But it isn’t.

Mirrors remind her.

Remind her that she must really be nothing special, mustreally look like nothing special – must really be on just this side of uglyenough to ignore, to not even register, to be completely indifferent to –because they’re all fooled by glasses, because Leslie Willis wasn’t wrong abouther awkwardness, her inability to know what to do with her hands, with herface, with her whole damn body.

Her whole damn body that can lift busses and deflectbullets, but that she can’t bring herself to love.

Leslie Willis – Livewire – saw right through her uniform,straight into her damn body.

And everyone else probably does, too.

So she changes in a rush, always.

She changes with Barry Allen-type speed. Always. Even whenthere’s no emergency.

No point dwelling on what no one’s ever going to noticeanyway, unless the uniform catches their eye. No point dwelling on what no one’sever going to want anyway, unless for the power trip of bedding a Super.

Except, no one sees her with her glasses, so that wouldnever even be a thing.

She doesn’t think about Maggie.

Doesn’t think about how her sister’s girlfriend saw her.

She doesn’t think about how Cat saw her.

How James saw her (sure, he already knew. But still.Still.).

How sometimes, she sees flickers in Lena’s eyes that makeher think she sees her, too.

She doesn’t think about these people, these people who seeher, who would tell her without hesitation that she is worth seeing – that herbody is worth seeing, worth lingering on, worth living in. Worth loving.

She hates how scattered her thoughts are. How contradictory.

How nonsensical.

How raging.

How real.

Alex notices first, that it’s getting worse lately. Kara’shatred of her own body, of its contradictions, of its dual invisibility andhypervisibility, how everyone wants it and yet nobody notices it. How everyonewants her and yet nobody notices her.

Alex notices.

The way Kara skips quickly over the photos that include herwhen they’re scrolling through which pictures from game night to throw up onInstagram.

The way she jumps and squirms when Eliza is visiting andtells her how beautiful she looks.

The way she avoids mirrors like a vampire desperate to notbe discovered.

“So you’ve seen it, too?” Maggie whispers to her one gamenight as she watches Alex squinting closely at the way Kara’s hand keepsrunning over her abs, like she’s trying to reassure herself of something, likeshe’s trying to wish herself into something, out of something.

Because apparently, Maggie notices, too.

Alex just nods, because she doesn’t bother being surprisedwith what close attention, with what close concern, Maggie watches over herlittle sister. She’ll reward her for it later. For now, she’s just scared.

Because Kara’s been particularly unsteady lately, and Kara istraining harder than ever at the DEO, and she’s eating less potstickers thannormal, and it’s a horrendous and scary combination.

By unspoken agreement, Alex and Maggie linger after gamenight. They linger after Winn and James give their hugs and leave together,still laughing about who would have won Jenga if a certain someone hadn’t fakeda sneeze.

“Hey Kara, I just… I wanted to let you know that you’regorgeous,” Maggie says casually as she washes dishes, and Kara nearly drops aplate.

“Hey, you’re dating my sister, I mean – “ She tries laughingit off, but the hue of her face and the strickennss of her eyes and the way she’sadjusting her glasses furiously give her away.

Alex smiles. “She is, and I’m standing right here, and youknow what? I love that she loves you like she does. That she sees you. All ofyou, Kara. And she thinks what she sees is beautiful. Because it is. You are.”

Alex is talking casually, too, drying dishes and puttingthem away in the shelves Maggie can’t reach.

Alex might not have superhearing, but she hears her sistergulp, and she might not have mind-reading abilities, but she can all but hearthe voices in Kara’s head telling her that her sister and her girlfriend arelying, they’re being nice because they feel bad for her, they’re exaggeratingbecause they love her – for some reason she can’t possibly fathom – and moreimportantly, if she’s not feeling good about herself, she’ll be less effectiveas Supergirl, and…

Kara doesn’t know she’s started sniffling and crying untilAlex’s arms are wrapped around her, until Maggie’s turned off the sink and is standingagainst the counter with her arms folded across her own chest, hugging herselfas Alex hugs Kara, as Alex holds the body that feels worthless to Kara up fromfalling, up from figuring out how best to destroy itself, up from figuring outhow best to dismantle itself in disguise as trying to make it better.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Alex is soothing her, and Kara tries topush her away, because she doesn’t deserve to be soothed, she didn’t mean tobreak, she didn’t mean to tell anyone, she didn’t mean to, but her body’sbetrayed her again with its tears and its quaking, but Alex knows, and Alex hasplanted her feet, and Kara doesn’t put any real heart behind the push anyway,because Alex is kissing her forehead like she loves her and supporting herweight like it’s nothing and rubbing her back like it’s beautiful and whisperingto her like she’ll never lose faith in her, even if Kara loses faith inherself.

“You’re perfect, Kara,” Maggie is whispering, then, becauseAlex is using all her energy holding her little sister up. “It’s okay if youcan’t feel it now. Your sister and I will feel it enough, believe it enough,for you, until you can figure out a way to believe it yourself. Okay?”

She’s helpless in Alex’s arms and under the thrall of Maggie’ssoft words, and she nods as she sniffles and sobs and sobs and sobs.

When she’s stopped shaking quite so much – when she feelslike there’s no water left inside her, when she’s wept her way through herthoughts, through her deepest fears, through her stickiest shames, through hertoughest contradictions – she just clings to Alex life the lifeline that sheis.

She lets Alex carry her to bed and tuck her in like she usedto when they were kids and she’d had another nightmare.

“Stay?” she grabs Alex’s hand after she kisses her foreheadand starts to stand.

“Of course,” she says without hesitation, and Maggie leansin to kiss Alex’s cheek.

“See you in the morning, ba – ” she starts, but Kara cutsin.

“You too, Maggie?”

Maggie grins down at her girlfriend’s little sister andnods. “Anything you need, Little Danvers. Anything you need.”

[albatris]

I have Missed blorbo blursday and I don't wanna overwhelm u with asks, but also,,,, if you are up for it,,,, may we get some facts about Riley?? Because Riley seems very cute and nice,,

I also have a tune for you! I recently discovered the song Tangerine by Nolune and it's a Very Good Tune. Makes me a little emotional in a good way

ooh, hello, I'm very late but thank you for the ask!! :D

first of all, WHAT a good tune omg..... just lovely.... gorgeous song <3 thank you for sending it, it makes me emotional too :'))

and uhhhhh yeah, Riley! Riley is good, lots of love for Riley over here, I like her a lot hehe. she is indeed very cute and nice!!

Riley lives in one of the apartments across the hall from Nat and she's a fellow vamp, and was turned about six years ago :3 she was turned voluntarily but I haven't pinned down exactly why yet, though I have my suspicions...... she regrets it, but tries not to dwell on it too much

she's the first friend Nat makes without Quinn's help! for her first appearance in the story, she senses the presence of A Vampire in Nat's apartment and knows Nat is a weird paranoid hermit who, to her knowledge, has never had a single person over to his apartment in the three years he's lived there....... so naturally she assumes some vampire has gotten inside somehow and is going to eat her weird neighbour lmao

she very anxiously attempts to break in and save him, and they have an extremely awkward spiderman meme moment at the door where she's like "are you ok do you need help??????" and he's like "dude what?? I was just taking a nap??? I'm fine???" then they both have the Oh I'm Staring At Another Vampire realisation at the same time

anyway, ye, Riley is very cool....... a popular gal who makes a good first impression.... polite and friendly but with a big ol' mischievous streak....

she loves bright colours and clashing patterns and zany makeup, her fashion tends to be very eccentric and bold and she gets a lot of compliments on it, that and her signature multicoloured hair, which changes frequently c:

she loves dramatic soap operas and old horror movies. she's a bit of a vampire film buff and has a running ranked list of which are the most accurate. she personally has a fondness for the really horrible monstrous scary vamp films, in a sort of jokingly self-deprecating "haha look it's me!" sort of way :c

she doesn't have a fatal sunlight allergy the same way Alex does, but still gets nasty burns and blisters pretty quick so she's mostly nocturnal too. she works as a tour guide for haunted locations and does ghost tours, basically! she also often writes about ghosts and the paranormal for little magazines or online journals.... she and Shara from ATDAO would get along so well. ghost time!

she's great with kids because she's basically a big chaotic kid herself, and great with adults because she's good at pretending she's not just a big chaotic kid xD she's bubbly and mischievous and loves a bit of good-natured chaos. she's a prankster and often takes Nat for a bit of a ride, seeing what ways she can mess with him or what silly things she can make him believe...... mostly because he's a very very very new vampire and doesn't know left from right yet lmao. but it's all in good fun :3 she's a big sweetheart and loves to fuss over her friends (of which she has a LOT)

in terms of vampiric activity, she just hangs out at shady bars and eats creeps. extremely valid. bigoted dirtbags talking a little too loudly, people slipping things in other people's drinks, dudes who get too handsy without consent or follow people home. eat more creeps 2k22. she's not always particularly subtle and quite a few humans who are familiar with her turn a blind eye when some unpleasant bastard mysteriously goes missing lmao

she knows about Quinn's reputation and has made a point to stay as far away from them as possible, n she's extremely worried about Nat being involved with them....... she doesn't want him to be taken advantage of :< she's quite terrified of Quinn and wants him to be safe! she's part of the reason Nat stops letting Quinn push him around so much, her care and encouragement definitely have a big impact on him

though Riley has a very bubbly and cheery personality, she's super fuckin depressed and extremely high anxiety all day every day. she was already an anxious human and vampirism aka "If You Didn't Have An Anxiety Disorder Before, You Do Now!" disease of course exacerbated this...... she's less prone to paranoia than most other vampires, though, probably due to her open and trusting temperament as a human

mmmm one final fun fact about Riley is that...... I always imagine she and Yvonne would get along SO well! I think Yvonne would be fascinated by Riley tbh, for...... reasons :3 well, for reasons thematically related to Yvonne's character arc, but that I won't go into here because they're still simmering in my brain and not ready to be rambled about yet!

so in my head, although Yvonne and Riley don't actually have much of a chance to get to know each other, I always think under different circumstances they could have been very good friends..... we can throw Zeke into the mix for some fun too :D

in terms of shipping with the rental car gang I'm always just like "idk just do whatever!" and Riley/Yvonne is such a good one..... have considered writing aus where [REDACTED] doesn't happen and the two get a chance to become close..... Riley/Yvonne/Zeke love triangle also has fun potential hahaha

chaotic vampire + chaotic human + chaotic vampire hunter. perfect. chefs kiss

or more likely both the chaotic vampire and chaotic vampire hunter think the human object of their affections is just some ordinary sweet normal girl and she turns out to be ten times more chaotic than both of them fjdjdks

anyway. yeah! :D