#muses. [ vlad. ]

[grasshopperdoingdogpaddle]

The other members of Jack's evil army (and eventually Jack himself) apparently switched sides to Chase right after Chase and Omi defeated them all at the temple.

Not that it's odd for them to turn coat so quickly. These guys aren't known for their loyalty. They definitely operate under a "no honor among thieves" thing, and mostly just want to be on the winning team. (Though Vlad and Cyclops did seem to bring Jack along to plead his case because those two wanted Jack to be on the winning team too?)

And Chase seemed to just sort of... tolerate them following him back to his lair and hanging around. He didn't consider them among the ranks of his warriors or offer them much respect, but he didn't kick them out. Yet.

But only while Omi was still chi-split.

As soon as Omi is whole again but still bound to serve Chase, Chase rounds up the other villains, ties them in rope, and catapults them into the fiery hellscape of a world that Chase has carved out.

The only ones he allowed to continue staying by his side are the depowered Wuya and the fallen warrior Omi.

He's even more attentive and doting towards Omi himself now, probably since he's not being distracted from his displeasure by his excitement anymore like Heylin!Omi was. Or because his plan with Wuya has been carried out now.

It gives the impression that Chase allowed the other villains to loiter around nearby because he needed the extra people to keep chi-swapped Omi occupied.

Either because chi-swapped Omi was a very hyperactive little guy who wanted lots of targets and fighting partners, so Chase saw them as toys for Omi to play with. Or because Chase needed to focus on his plan to return Wuya to her human form while also sealing her powers, so Chase saw them more as very temporary sitters.

[vlarelythere]

A concerned Mer-plasmius checking on a swimming danny

Alternative title: damn vlad why ur tail so long

[kalicofox]

Okayso. I've been thinking a lot about Dark Dan, and Vlad, and the relationship between the two, and one thing that gets to me is that really, everyone seems to neglect the *Vlad* portion of Dark Dan. Like, yes. He's Danny's ghost half. But he's also Vlad's. And I feel like no one ever really explores Dan fully. Like, yeah, we get it, he's dark Danny. But he's also light Vlad. Not in the sense that he's a good guy or anything, but in the sense that… Plasmius' Obsession is Family, or at least that's how I've always seen it. When the Fentons died, he lost his family. Sure, Danny was there, but Danny was a sad, depressed fourteen year old. Sad, depressed fourteen year olds aren't pillars that you should be leaning on for support when your two best friends, people who've been closer to you than your own parents, die.

Plasmius' Obsession is Family.

Phantom's is Protection.

People, me included, talk about Dan's Obsession like it's just Danny's, but broken, but that's not entirely it. Plasmius' Obsession is there, too, and it ends up neglected a lot.

[runeystatic]

@sparklytimebun

Vlad looked away in thought. He clearly had a slight fear of falling in love again. He had lost too much, and he wasn't sure if he wanted that. "I don't feel like discussing this right now." He said.

[alucard-thee-edgy]

How did it feel being decapitated as a human and did you have any last regrets before you were "executed"

Vlad nods. “There were many emotions that day. I felt betrayed by God for His refusal to acknowledge my worship of Him. I felt regret in my heart for the countless lives lost to my zealous devotion. I regretted that I would not live to see my homeland grow and prosper after the tragedy I brought to it. 

The decapitation was swift, leaving me little time to feel anything. I laid dead on the ground for quite some time before the vampirism took hold, stitching me back together. It was an… unpleasant experience.”

[jonathancrane-scarecrows]

(From @quaintnecromancer for Vlad)

Jett was beginning to sorely regret taking this gig, but he needed the money. The café job just wasn’t cutting it anymore. He’d been filling in for house drummers at local bars for a few months now, and had been doing well for the most part, but tonight had gone off the rails in plenty of ways. The lead singer of the house band of the infamous Ragin’ Rattlesnake Bar quit after getting into an explosive argument with the owner over something stupid, and Jett had arrived just in time to be pretty much press ganged into taking his place. The witch had a decent voice, of course, but rarely sang in front of crowds. Karaoke was the odd exception, as was choir when he was much younger. Still, with a thorough rehearsal beforehand, he managed to bring the house down, and even had fun with it.

The breaks between sets, however, were chaotic and intense. Between, drunken patrons getting a little too friendly with him at the bar, the owner trying desperately to hire him on full time, and the sheer volume and rowdiness of the place, he was more than ready to leave. One more set, and he would be free for the rest of the night!

It flew by. The crowd loved him, and the rest of the band was quick to buy him a drink for stepping up on such short notice. His next drink was bought by an older woman, clearly already inebriated herself, who didn’t quite understand the concept of personal space. She kept putting her hands on him, playing with his hair, flirting with him as hard as she could. He tried to get away from her, but she had him pretty much cornered. Frantic but still determined to let her down easy, he showed off one of the many rings he’d thankfully opted to wear tonight. “Ah, sorry, ma’am, but I’m taken. My fiancé’s definitely a jealous guy, too. Probably won’t take too kindly to you tryin’ to steal me away.” He scanned the bar over her shoulder, looking for anyone who might be willing to play along and come to his aid

He soon met the intense gaze of a handsome dark-haired stranger, and sent a pleading look his way, hoping the man would pick up on his distress. “Actually, I think I see him over there,” he added nervously, attempting once more to extricate himself from the drunk woman’s presence. She still didn’t allow him to pass, and Jett felt himself growing impatient and anxious.

Vlad had been around for a long time. In that time, he had made use of his long life. He had learned to control his hunger and the darkness inside of him. Even so, that darkness was still there. Tonight wasn't about the beast. It was about relaxing and enjoying himself to the best he could. Tonight, he found himself at a local bar that many seemed to enjoy. He at first stuck to the shadows, making himself less noticeable until he got a look at the band. It was a rather decent group.

When they had finished playing, it seemed the singer was doomed from the start. Good looks always dragged out the perverts, drunks, and whatnot. He was very much struggling to get away from the woman's clutches. Even from the distance, he could sense the panic and the need to escape. Locking eyes with the man a light smile tugged at his lips.

Making his way easily through the crowd, he soon was there gently placing his hand on the woman's shoulder. " If you please, I think you should let him go. After all... he does belong to me." He shows the ring on his wed finger. He then gently moves her to the side so Jett may join him he then takes his hand in his.

Once they move past the woman, he takes him away to a less crowded area. Lightly releasing his hand, he looks him over, saying," Take deep breaths. It will help calm the nerves."

[flcyed]

I, without a doubt, DO think that the fact that a majority of the mages in the Runeterra verse have weird-looking eyes does irk Averna. I think the fact that she looks into the mirror and sees the thing she hates most in the world reflected back in her own sclera infuriates her to no end. That when she wakes up, for a moment she sits there without her glasses and wonders what purpose there is to putting them back on.

[grasshopperdoingdogpaddle]

My wretched eyes are not fit to gaze upon your magnificence, oh, mighty Xiaolin dragon.

My inner evil! It made me look! It's taking over already!

It is decided. In order to save the future, I must give up my position as a Xiaolin dragon in training.

Leave me be. I am evil. I will corrupt your quest.

Perhaps I should go away for a while where I can do no harm.

Perhaps I am not worthy to be a Xiaolin monk.

I wouldn't be so sure.

Despite Omi's confidence in himself, his view of his position in the temple is so complicated. And by extension, his view on his place in the world, or even just his right to exist in it.

As someone who's never had a home or a family, Omi's strict place in a hierarchy that he could lose at any moment is all he thinks he has, and that's something he constantly feels the need to earn and sometimes feels that he doesn't deserve at all.

It's interesting that Chase is one of the few people to challenge Omi on that idea, in encouraging Omi to see a worth in himself that's inherent and inalienable. Even if that means reassuring Omi that he does have a right to be a monk and be at the temple. Even though it would be in Chase's best strategic interest to let Omi fester in that emotion and send himself on another "long walk of no return", if Chase still only saw Omi as a threat to mitigate.

Because as much as Chase doesn't want Omi at the temple, he doesn't want Omi to think he's not good enough for the temple. He doesn't want Omi to think he's not good enough for anything, he wants Omi to feel the self-assurance befitting of someone who Chase sees as worthy of ruling the world beside him.

And Chase also just seems to have gotten somewhat sensitive to seeing Omi depressed in general.

Not that he'll stop his own plans that will have that obvious outcome. But he keeps trying to alleviate the emotion afterwards. Oftentimes awkwardly, as if Chase himself is a bit surprised at how much he feels compelled to cheer up the little one when he gets depressed.

[ninakaina]

vlad only got like a two sentence mention in that fic but i have to emphasize that in conjunction with how peter tends to handle jealousy/competition, The Vlad Situation is one of my favorite things to imagine regarding petermaria. i love to imagine peter watching vlad across the bar at the broken heart imagining one million gruesome murders & not even considering that vlad may be aware of his physical presence until finally vlad goes to andrey like hey man your brother keeps staring at me i think he fucking hates me what's the deal and andrey says oh i don't think so he's just autistic he freaks people out sometimes but he doesn't mean it, if he hated you like that i'd be killing you right now haha. and vlad is like well... okay... and looks back over and peter is still glaring at him with like a table knife in a reverse grip. hasn't blinked. if i could draw comics i would draw that

[shadowsteed15]

So I was doing a bit of thinking today and I think one of the reasons I love Renfield so much is that it perfectly illustrates one point about any modern media that I think it's really important - that is the fact that it doesn't really matter how good or bad a piece of media, especially adaptive media is as long as it introduces the audience to the wider story at the core of it.

And I think this is something that Renfield has done really well, it's a slightly comedic movie touching upon morality and destructive relationships that so many people experience and not everybody liked everything about it, but for the people that did, there is so much stuff to discover at the core of the mythology around it, because the whole team, especially Nicolas Cage took great care to incorporate all the absolute best we've seen from Dracula's history.

So I imagine a lot of people who previously haven't been exposed to the Dracula fandom are suddenly in love with it because Cage was so phenomenal in the role. And whether through listening to the interviews or the movie itself they suddenly discover his little inspirations, cause the movie had everything - the fantastic rendition of 1931 intro, the little Nosferatu bit at the beginning, Cage's fantastic impressions of Christopher Lee, it's all in there.

And on top of that, of course, is that scene in the gym, where Dracula goes: "I'm the prince of Wallachia." And it's a very subtle thing, but I imagine some people catching on to that and going: "Wait, isn't he from Transylvania?" And most of them will probably let it go, but some people might actually research it, and they look up Wallachia, the name Vlad Tepes naturally comes up and suddenly, their little mind gets blown and they go: "Wait, Dracula was actually real??" And boom, suddenly, they're aware of the fact that the world's most famous vampire was based on one of the coolest people in medieval history. 😊

So yeah, I think Renfield deserves to be one of the best Dracula movies of all times, because it just brought the myth back into the spotlight in such a loving, dedicated way.

[resolutepath]

DOSSIER: VLAD.

Vlad, the daytime guard of Northland Bank, a member of the Fatui, skilled in both deception and combat. Born in Snezhnaya to a father of the same descent and a mother from Fontaine, he is the eldest child of four and took on responsibility young (16) for looking after his family, when his father passed in a fishing accident. He needed to help his mother support the three younger siblings financially and so stepped up to help in any way he could, odd jobs here and there and some petty theft before discovering his talents for certain crimes.

BEFORE. (the liyue archon quest.)

It was not within the ranks of the Fatui that Vlad’s skill begins, but before. In the lands of Snezhnaya and Fontaine a teen turned young man wandered, attractive but forgettable, pleasant but nondescript, the type of man for the moment but not one to linger. He was a conman, a silver tongue who weaved pleasant words where he could, charming people out of their mora for lucrative deals that did not exist, challenging them to bets they could not hope to win, doing what he could to beguile then walk away with that he sought to support his family. It started first with a crew then he branched out on a solo gig, never spending too long in one town and coming to know how to change his appearance just enough to never be too recognisable. He had no regrets until the day he attempted to swindle someone who was more than a match for him, a Harbinger, and who offered him a choice in return for his ensnarement. Death or The Fatui. Pay for his crimes or wield his skills for a different purpose. Well there was no choice, at least within the ranks of such a formidable organisation there was hopes for security for the family he cared for, at least with a steady paycheck. So a life was departed, and a new one begun.

DURING. (the liyue archon quest.)

Vlad (32), since joining the Fatui, had shown himself to be adept with not only his words but his blade, claymore showing prowess on the battlefield and though no vision graced him, he was skilled enough to make a good, reliable soldier. He had undertaken a range of missions both within Snezhnaya and overseas, short and offering opportunity to return to his family in between. He had been skilled enough to volunteer for the Liyue mission, his application accepted and he was sent with the advance party to take on the role of a guard at Northland Bank while getting a feel for the ground and locals. He spent a long time acclimatising and seeking information, passing it on with the arrival of the Eleventh Harbinger. Throughout the mission he worked diligently, slowly becoming homesick as the weeks passed, the mission becoming his longest from home to date. Letters helped and so did the work, but when Osial was defeated and no call home issued, something began to waver within him.

AFTER. (the liyue archon quest.)

Vlad lingers in Liyue but he is a struggling man. The homesickness is rife, his letters home not enough to sate him and with no end in sight he turns to thrill seeking to cope. Gambling becomes a regular habit, mora and favours traded too loosely, and though he sometimes wins, he often loses. He starts taking odd jobs, at first nondescript (akin to daily commissions) but soon considers work with the Treasure Hoarders, Yelan’s group, the shadier merchants of Liyue, all simply for the right price. He’s a man who is slipping, creating debts that he then has to work to pay off, taking long walks at night to quell the rising insomnia and clinging to every mission offered at Dragonspine for a chance to feel the ice and chill and feel at home for a little while. He’s falling, he’s losing and he can’t seem to keep himself on track. But with no sign of returning home in the future he’s lost.

NOTES:

Vlad is a very skilled liar that only really starts showing tells when he has got himself to a point of overwhelmed with the web he has spun. It is hard to catch him out on the fly.

He’s not very easily social when he’s not aiming to get something from someone. He’s quite isolated, keeps to himself. He’s the type who has a few close friends really.

He’s a frequent gambler at Yanshang Teahouse. Yelan’s people are aware of his visits. 

Takes frequent missions to Dragonspine just to feel the ice and chill when he can at the bank. After one of these missions he returns to his former self for a time before the homesickness consumes him again. 

Vlad is prone to bouts of insomnia and when he’s not seeking the thrill of gambling, he’ll wander the docks, watch the sea or take walks around Liyue Harbour until the exhaustion hits. He can often be found standing on the walkways staring out at nothing, present but far away.

Combatwise Vlad’s a solid hitter but there’s nothing special going on about him. He’s not got a vision, he’s not got a delusion, he’s just a guy swinging a claymore around.

I’m deliberately being vague on which Harbinger Vlad tried to swindle to eventually end up within the Fatui. Simply because I don’t want to lock any muse into that being definitely part of the dynamic but also if I do explore that in a thread I will edit to reflect a specific portrayal of a Harbinger / specific portrayals of Harbingers.

[mmxstrangers]

I have graduated and am back home for the moment. I do want to get back into roleplaying but I’ve been neck-deep in the Danny Phantom fandom for a minute and am going insane (in a good way). That, and I’ve been doing some preparation for Art Fight next month!

Also I redesigned Theta for function as a fandomless OC, and SOMEONE MADE FANART OF HIM WHILE I WAS STILL DESIGNING HIM.

You know who you are. (respectfully, and with fear. you are too powerful.)

I’d post him but I’m afraid it’s a wee bit spicy and I’m being careful of visual content I post publicly, DM me if you wanna see. :3

In any case! I’m working on reviving my muses, but ummm don’t be surprised if I end up working on one of my sideblogs instead, I got a lot of ideas knocking around in my head right now.

I missed y’all. quq Hope everyone’s doing alright.

[a-cloud-for-dreams]

Imao I just reached the chapter in Bloodbound II where you could sleep with Dracula and I'm CRYING 😭😭

[darabeatha]

/  The pain of wanting to focus on one (1) or maybe two muses but at the same time not knowing who + knowing that your mind is constantly jumping between 7893454564 thoughts :CLENCHES HANDS ON FISTS:

[hopefulstarfire]

Why is it the thing that I actually feel accomplished about lately is that. I'm almost done with one neighborhood on my sims 4 save I'm making for myself. I've got one more family to finish for Willow Creek and then I can move onto the other worlds.

[yeonban]

On a lighter note I need you guys to see Hugo's menace bastard side 😮‍💨 this moment (his nameless introduction) from 9 months ago is when I first became obsessed with him & now that he's actually appeared in the story outside of Lycaon's memories I'm inconsolable