#renfield doesn't know how to show affection

[davidsfactcorner]

renfield didn't give rebecca flowers because he's 'in love' with her, he gave them to her because it's the only way he knows how to express gratitude. for the first time in decades, someone showed him real, genuine kindness, and he doesn't have a single clue how to respond. after all, why would he? he's never needed to, all he ever does is show artificial, forced care towards dracula.

renfield, not having the faintest idea how to thank rebecca for her kind words, thinks shit, how am i supposed to react to this?? but then he realises he's seen people receive flowers as a gift before, and he knows that flowers make people happy, so he goes with that. he is so grateful that another person is treating him with actual respect, he gives her flowers - he thinks he owes her a kind gesture, and that is how he does it.

[kame-writes]

Had some questions about the Radiostatic Vampire/Human AU on discord, so thought I'd post them here too incase anyone was interested

Again, this AU is up for grabs just tag me if you use it because I wanna see ^^ This means anyone can use these ideas, pick and choose what to use or discard if you do anything with it. These are just some ideas I had.

I might draw up some designs for this au later.

More info:

Obsessive stalker Vox trying to find Alastor is bordering on insanity, He's been searching for years and only just getting some leads.

The other Vees are annoyed at him, but also worried.

Velvette thinks Alastor is in a cult. She never met him, but gets that vibe from what she's seen and heard from the other two.

Valentino thinks Alastor is a serial killer because of all the disappearances when he shows up. He always gave him the creeps the few times they met. They hated eachother.

Vox probably eventually tracks Alastor down via Husk or Rosie, since they're more in the public eye. He probably also becomes very jealous of Rosie since Alastor keeps in contact with her and not him

He had no idea when they were friends about Alastor being a vampire

Alastor also doesn't need to kill, he can feed off people and leave them alive. He just enjoys the hunting and killing of his prey as a form of sport.

Humans hunt animals for sport and food, and Alastor is a step above humans, so why would there be a difference?

Vampires are able to make people not remember when they feeds off them, either a low-level hypnosis or maybe a venom that causes short-term memory issues

Alastor was probably feeding off Vox the whole time they were friends. Whether long term use of memory alterations or hypnosis affected Vox is unknown

The reason he didn't kill Vox could be either he was useful in some way. Or he was a target to kill, but Alastor realised that he'd be missed, therefore more chance of him getting caught.

Mimzy might be an old friend that Alastor turned into a vampire to save her life, so feels partly responsible for her when she comes to him for help.

Husk Q&A Under the cut

What does Husk being a familiar mean?

So, my basis/reference for vampire familiars are based on 2 different fandoms. 1 The saga of Darren shan books, and 2 the movie Renfield.

Basically, familiars are half-bloods. A vampire gives them enough of their blood to grant them abilities, but not enough to turn them into a vampire themselves. This meams they don't need to drink blood and aren't affected by daylight, they live as an enhanced human, but still need human fuctions ie. Food, drink, temprature control ect. To survive.

My idea was Husk was a human who was tricked/persuaded into making a blood pact to become Alastors familiar, because Alastor needed someone to work for him who could operate in the day and take care of little task for him.

Is he a shapeshifter? / Does he have cat qualities?

This is up to anyone who wants to do something with it honestly, I don't have much ideas involving this. He needs to be human passing to do his job, but shape-shifting could also be good/useful too. Could also have Alastor being able to transform into a bat, like some of the vampire lore to tie it in why he'd have these abilities.

How did he end up that way?

Alastor probably stalked him a bit first, saw qualities that he found useful/appealing, and then made Husk an offer. Husk probably didn't know the full weight of what he was agreeing too, but understood enough to agree.

I see Husk as a loner, no friends or family that are close to him, probably still having his gambling and drinking issues ect. So he had nothing to lose and more to gain by accepting a deal from someone like Alastor.

[theshadowbastard]

The Mystery of Mr. Renfield

One of the most fascinating, baffling, and mysterious characters in Dracula is R.M. Renfield, the insect-eating lunatic incarcerated in Jack Seward's asylum. He's one of the story's most iconic figures, but in virtually every adaptation outside of the original novel, a crucial element is always added that Stoker apparently felt wasn't so crucial: an explanation.

In the 1931 classic, Renfield is the solicitor who visits Dracula's castle to sell him Carfax, not Jonathan, and his encounter with Dracula is what drives him to insanity. In Nosferatu, the character of Knock has made some kind of dark deal with the vampire and is driven to violent madness as a result. In the 1979 film, Renfield is attacked by Dracula early on in the movie. Even in the relatively faithful 1992 adaptation by Francis Ford Coppola, a line is added in about how Renfield was Dracula's old lawyer, who later "lost his mind, poor chap."

These details are almost always added in the movies because in the original novel, there's not really any explanation for why Renfield behaves the way he does, and I'm not talking about his obvious mental illness. For just what is his connection to Dracula? He obviously knows who he is, knows what kind of powers he has, and has at least a passing familiarity with the concept of vampirism (as displayed by his "Old Lady Who Swallowed the Fly" routine). How does he know these things? We never see Dracula interact with Renfield in any way, or at least we haven't so far, and having read the novel several times before I certainly don't remember there being any interaction between the two of them that would indicate the nature of their relationship.

It all comes back to our society's attitude towards vampires. Vampires are seen by western culture as a kind of mix between disease and moral corruption. People often speak of "warding off" vampires with crosses and garlic and such, because like a disease, the best way to prevent infection is to avoid contact with the source. In other words, you won't be preyed upon or otherwise tainted by Dracula if you just stay away from him. So naturally, we assume that Renfield, who is experiencing some kind of connection with Dracula, must have at some point come into contact with him. But reading the text, we find it difficult to "contact-trace his infection" as it were. There doesn't seem to be any source of his malady (connection with the Count).

We may learn more as the emails continue, but at this point I'm inclined to think that Stoker may be making some kind of point about insanity and how it affects people's perceptions. Remember, back in the Victorian era, mental illness was not very well understood, and all sorts of bizarre theories were banging around about how it worked and how it treat it. One of the more popular ideas, and one that persists in some form even to this day, is that madness grants the afflicted with a kind of heightened awareness; a sort of "sixth sense" that allows them to perceive things others cannot. Stoker may be suggesting that Renfield, as an insane person, is more sensitive to the supernatural, and is somehow predicting or being affected by Dracula's presence, even going so far as to imitate his vampiric nature by consuming living creatures such as flies, spiders, birds etc. It also might be Stoker trying to underline how powerfully evil Dracula truly is, by showing us how the sensitive and heightened among us are being affected by the very idea of his presence.

It'll be interesting to see where this goes.

[issela-santina]

about Renfield being autistic in the tags: I think the length of time he's been with Dracula says it all

renfield didn't give rebecca flowers because he's 'in love' with her, he gave them to her because it's the only way he knows how to express gratitude. for the first time in decades, someone showed him real, genuine kindness, and he doesn't have a single clue how to respond. after all, why would he? he's never needed to, all he ever does is show artificial, forced care towards dracula.

renfield, not having the faintest idea how to thank rebecca for her kind words, thinks shit, how am i supposed to react to this?? but then he realises he's seen people receive flowers as a gift before, and he knows that flowers make people happy, so he goes with that. he is so grateful that another person is treating him with actual respect, he gives her flowers - he thinks he owes her a kind gesture, and that is how he does it.