#she's basically cassandra the seer too so.

[tragedia]

thinking of perhaps adding my tabletop dnd characters to the roster, which includes: mei, a half-elven bard / sorcerer who's a seer; echo, air genasi druid who's a banished princess; and siggy, a wood elf oathbreaker paladin who's a vampire spawn right now.

[headknight-oh]

Ok so I’ve begun to draft my daryl x foil character fic (by starting with the scenes I want to write instead of the beginning which is a very stark departure from tradition for me). This means that I’m running into the problem of a name for the foil character with increasing frequency. So ive decided to crowdsource.

So the basic description of them is that they were a history and anthropology doctoral student from ohio (because I want them to be from Deanna’s voting district for thematic reasons) who functions a bit like a court jester in the way that they provide entertainment but also that they’re the only courtly advisor allowed to call out the king on his shortcomings. And because this is a little bit of a self insert, they are a faggy little boydyke. Their primary motivation is keeping judith safe (because that baby is left alone far too often after season 3) and that’s going to tie back into their own loss of their nephews or something similar.

All this being said, we’ve come to the name. I’ve been thinking some sort of historian, prophet, or poet from around the fall of empire during the Iron Age or mythology. The ones I’ve been thinking of are:

(Also if anyone has any suggestions for names, I’m so not set on any of these rb)

More info on each choice below the cut

Cas (Cassandra- the oracle who was ignored and all her prophecies came to pass). Kinda disgustingly supernatural coded tho

Finn (Fionn mac Cumhaill from the Irish Fenian mythological cycle. Seer poet leader of the Fianna. My personal favorite, but the mythology of twd is grounded heavily in revelations and also some gnostic interpretations, so something from the abrahamic tradition might be better)

Sibyl (name category for prophetesses across much of the ancient western world from the Mediterranean to Babylonia and Egypt)

Jo (Jocasta- I know she’s oedipus’ momwife, but I think she gets a bad rep. She warned both her first husband and her husbandson about shit and told them to get more info, but they ignored her)

Micha (one of the 12 minor prophets of the Hebrew Bible. Foresaw destruction and rebuilding of Judah due to the dishonesty and corruption of the people) honestly might fit the mythological overlay from the show the best

[kostium]

I thought perhaps I should write short little bad descriptions about my kids here for your convenience, so here goes:

Mist (changeling, druid & rogue) — your local shapeshifter, in all meanings of the word. Used to be a big shot a very long time ago, but due to unforseen circumstances (own choices done in the name of family), has been stuck in a cycle of reincarnation, having a bad time. Gender is yes, has the personality of a wine aunt, burnt out eldest sister who dropped off the face of the planet and an out of touch grandfather all at the same time.

Niki (half-drow, hexblade warlock) — was born to cause problems, will cause problems (on purpose). Had a hard life and decided to get revenge, but so far got distracted (twice). Was a little bit dead for a while, but then found a sword at the bottom of a Shadowfell lake and now he's back on his bullshit. Drama queen. Has romanticized being a wizard, but does not have the attention span to read. Should be a cleric, but instead has a talking sword.

Echo (air genasi, druid) — former princess who got banished because of a prophecy. Big sunshine syndrome, but has no filter and is often too blunt. Her life in recent years has basically been doing random side quests. Can fly, command the weather, spends lots of time on ships and the sea, hates wearing shoes. Used to talk to bones, but now mostly talks to stars instead. Wiser than initial impressions would suggest.

Mei (half-high elf, bard & sorcerer) — what happens when your beloved bard is actually an introverted black cat. Mei loves her life first, so of course she died thrice, and money second, so of course she has debts. Accidentally awoken powers and can predict the future, however has big Cassandra the seer syndrome, so often no one cares to listen. Has big beef with pirates, and an even bigger beef with her blood relatives.

Siggy (wood elf vampire spawn, oathbreaker paladin) — the pipeline of going from renowned hero, to propaganda that makes you out to be villain, to a proper monster. Once a jock who had sworn to bring beauty and joy to the world, she has lost everything and decided the only sane thing left to do is hide in the woods for decades and make herself a bird costume. Just waiting for the end, she's ironically too lucky to ever get there.

[sybillctrelawney]

had a dream so big and loud i jumped so high i touched the clouds. i stretched my hands out to the sky. i howled at the moon with friends and then the sun came crashing in. but all the possibilities; no limits, just epiphanies. don't wake me now.

basics. 

name: sybill cassandra trelawney. meaning: prophetess and oracle. will help tap into their inner magic. nickname: sybbie. syb. birthday: february 23rd. pisces. age: twenty-two.  pronouns: she + her. sexuality: romantic asexual. bisexual. siblings: none. parents: benjamin trelawney (father, deceased). iris trelawney nèe fox (mother). other family: anne fox (maternal grandmother). cassandra trelawney (great-great-grandmother, deceased). languages: english.  current residence: hogwarts. born: cornwall, england.

wizard fun. 

hogwarts house: ravenclaw. hogwarts year: eleven. area of study: divination / universal certificate. extracurriculars: astrology (president). herbology club. affiliation: neutral. pet: bengal cat, eeyore. blood status: half-blood. species: witch. patronus: dapple gray mare. boggart: her father's car crash. amortentia scent: sea salt air, stardust, animal hair, grass. wand type: willow, unicorn hair, 10 ⅛ inches.

appearance. 

height: 5'2" hair color: dark brown. eye color: brown. hair style: thick, straight and has character. fashion style: prep school + nerdy chic.

personality. 

positive traits: + whimsical + open-minded + hopeful negative traits: - too trustful - flighty - frazzled

theme song: wildflowers by tom petty.

quick facts.

father died at nine. where she gets her moral compass from. shaped her life completely. they were best friends. his death was her first vision.

didn't have a tight knit group of friends. but very friendly and never turning anyone away, no matter who they are or what they stand for.

very academic yet head in the clouds all at once.

during fifth year she did fortune telling for people just to get people's attention. she began to lie about what she saw. she angered herself so much and during that summer vowed to never do it again and hasn't since.

stays neutral and doesn't care about the war.

headcanons.

updated frequently.

bio.

[ tw: parental death. ]

the stars aligned in cornwall, england when magical father, benjamin and muggle mother, iris, welcomed sybill, forming the three musketeers. the family was tight knit and supportive of one another. she and her father were particularly close, a glorified daddy’s girl. iris loved seeing the two of them grow close as she had never had a father figure of her own.

sybill was strongly encouraged her to explore her abilities. it wasn't since her great-great-grandmother, cassandra, that anyone had shown signs of having visions and being a seer. they had always told her that the truth laid within her and facts are what the world saw, both of which she needed to believe in. it was a hard concept for her to grasp due to the fact that she lived in her own head, but sybill listened. she would go to work with benjamin at the cornwall library and read books on books learning all she could about the muggle world. there she was, teaching herself before ever going to school. she longed to learn and her parents nurtured her desire. but the one day she didn’t go to the library, tragedy hit.

sybill was nine years old. sybill had her first vision. benjamin died. sybill stood still, her voice dropped octaves, and she said her benjamin wasn’t coming home. she didn’t remember saying anything but she could recall an empty feeling. a blank feeling came over her and like something had been ripped from her chest. once she came to, she was ice cold and shivering. her vision didn’t show her what exactly happened. all she knew is he was there and then BAM. no more. his earthly presence was gone. this vision, her first, terrified her. she didn’t want this gift if it was going to show her things like that. for a brief moment, sybill actually had the thought that if he died, she should have died with him. he was her rock and she, his. her only way to understand death was through her first vision. iris stood up to the plate, not to replace her father but to be a strong parent. she didn’t know how to help foster her daughter’s gift, but told sybill that her father would be proud of her for continuing the line in their family. he wouldn’t want her to give up. -- this stuck with sybill because she knew her mother was right. she fought to never give it up in her father’s name: trelawney.

when sybill’s letter from hogwarts came it was bittersweet. it was something she had been waiting for since she could breathe but her father wasn’t there to hug in celebration and to see her off. at king’s cross iris held her still tiny sybill just a little more and sniffled, slipping something into the young girl’s bag. “you almost forgot this.” it was the copy of winnie the pooh benjamin had given to sybill as a gift, one of her prized possessions. she reached out and hugged iris a little tighter with tears in her eyes. the time had come to get on the train for the first time, get on the boats and enter the dining hall for the first time. and, finally, to be sorted.

it was no surprise that the self-educating sybill was sorted into ravenclaw, where the mind was most valued -- and benjamin’s old stomping grounds. she sat at the table with her back straight, head held high, smile on her face and with pride. she was where she was supposed to be. the sorting felt like it was a sign that she could, indeed, live in both the worlds her parents described and she did so to the best of her abilities. later that night she wrote an owl home to her mother to tell her how she felt that things were going to be fantastic, that it felt right and that she loved her. this would become a routine each night before bed.

sybill loved being at hogwarts though she did have trouble fitting in. she wasn’t entirely shocked by that. she always knew she was different, but not that different. It wasn’t easy to make friends, but she saw the best in people, always spoke up and never let a sad face be alone. she knew sadness and didn’t want that for another soul, no matter the circumstance. however, because of her desire to fit in, she did something questionable her fifth year. the biggest thing she was ashamed of. 

the other students knew she was highly adept in divination and was a seer; it was something she was proud of and didn’t see a reason to hide it. there was this first person to come to her and asked what she saw in their future. sybill to seize up and had to make a quick decision. yes or no. she chose yes. after that one person, word got around and people came to sybill as though they’d been friends for years. after some time, she had to begin lying. she couldn’t read everyone’s cards or tea leaves and she certainly wasn’t having visions for anyone. over that summer she made the decision that she wasn’t going to do it anymore. it was against her moral code. she was livid with herself that she did it in the first place, all to get attention. after telling people no it was no surprise that those people drifted away as quickly as they came. it broke sybill’s heart but deep down she knew why they’d been there in the first place -- and it wasn’t for her. from then on out, sybill’s compass was where she followed.

the years passed and sybill began growing into a young woman, she looked around her and saw that fellow students were seriously dating and some were even getting betrothed -- already. she couldn’t believe it. all sybill wanted was to continue learning, cultivate her arts of divination, astronomy and herbology. she wanted to discover where she would go with her talents. she wanted to keep learning, to know everything about everything. one field of study wouldn’t be enough for her, leaving her no time for romance -- if anyone even wanted something romantic with her. either way, she was preoccupied. also either way, friendships were the relationships she yearned to see thrive. that’s what she reminded herself anyway.

as the war comes closer to home, she tries to maintain a neutral stance but it’s hard because she’s sybill. she always sticks out because of how she carries herself; head in the clouds and without a care in the world with only one life to live. if her father’s death taught her anything, it was to live each day as though it was the last. he wouldn’t want her wasting it on the chance that something could happen because someday it will, so why fear living? she wasn’t going to live in fear. and she wasn’t going to live in anger or bitterness. her heart was pure. too pure to pick a side in a war that shouldn’t exist. so she wakes up, puts on her dresses, brushes her hair and teeth then sets off for a day full of what? she doesn’t know but is excited to find out.

[restless-soulz]

original ideas that I’ll probably never get around to writing pt 3

Odysseus meets Cassandra and incidentally adopts her and basically rewrites the story of the Illiad. Also, Penelope is an awesome mother and odysseuses son and the both love the Trojan seer too.

NEW STORY:

A girl gets kidnapped by alien teenagers, who decide to play a prank on the alien “friend” they bully and tell them to shift to look like a human, make them trade clothes and things and as a joke “leave her there in the place of the human” the teens get caught speeding by the intergalactic police. The police find the human girl on board, and they decide to bring her to the station and find a way to bring her home. Except, one officer that does the examination on her sees that since she’s in near perfect condition, decides to sell her.

Humans are apparently very popular pets, every since the published papers about the scientist picking up the musician human girl and their experiences. He sells her to slave traders. She gets packed on a slave ship, and stays there for several weeks. The traders do uncomfortable examinations on her (there’s even a couple human men who join in). The slave traders also need to bulk up and break down the merchandise so there are several implied torture scenes. She’s scared out of her mind and the other slave aliens notice and adopt her as their child. She even starts to call one mama. It’s very heartbreaking when they are forced apart.

Eventually, she ends up in a privileged aliens house where she gets locked in a cage all day, eats only scraps and forced to perform tricks for the family. Two important things happen, the child alien leaves her outside for a couple months alone (forcing her body to adapt to have its own powers, gravity, heart rate, camouflage, temperature, strength, flexibility, lung control etc. and forage for her own food (the food she eats is like the equivalent of captain marvels powers plus indominus Rex plus Spider-Man)) and a family friend asks for her name, and she says her name. The family is shocked that she talked without permission and hits her so hard that her arm breaks.

Now bound by a witness and scared for their “pet” the family takes her to a vet against their wishes. The vet asks to see her papers, and when the family doesn’t have them, she calls the police. They find out from the human all that has happened and promise to reunite her with her slave alien family. She joins the force and helps rescue each of her family members. The head of the slave trade organization is the father of the alien left in the humans place on earth. 

Meanwhile, the alien is actually pretty good at being the human and likes it. Does not want to return to her old life. The human girl finally confronts the head, and the figure out that the alien was left in her place is the traders daughter. She shoots him so he can’t move and uses his resources to get a ship back to her home, promising alien mama that she will come back, she just has to clear a few things up.

When she arrives, it’s by the side of her house, when the alien is taking out the trash. Together they walk in and explain things to the parents. The alien girl is happy here, she is as much your daughter as I was.

“Was? But you are still our daughter-“

“Not anymore. I-I’ve grown up. I’ve seen the dangers of the galaxy. I’ve been taken from my home and now that I am home, I don’t even feel safe here anymore. I’m not gonna let anyone else feel that way ever again. I’m sorry Lorraine , I’m not your daughter anymore. She is. If I stay, I’ll never feel comfortable in my own skin. I know I don’t need your permission, but I do need to know if you’ll still love me.”

“Of course we do, there is nothing we could be prouder of than you doing what you want to do.” Big sad moment, but then Oh No! Slave trader dude has come to take humans in exchange for his daughter! Human girl asks the daughter if she can kill him. Alien girl says yes, he hurt so many people, he’s my dad and I still love him, but I give you permission to end him. Human girls shows off her powers, that earns her the moniker “Galaxia” across the universe.

NEW STORY:

Little girl explores and meets Norse, Scottish, Irish mythological creatures.  

NEW STORY:

Book that becomes whatever you need to read when you need it

NEW STORY:

The stories of the people I’ve met, what I know about them and if I saw them ever again, people with faces but no names to put to, names with no faces and hazy clouded memories. How each one o remember something, an adventure, a conversation, a moment where we connect. 

NEW STORY:

A girl finds out the boy in her class is a werewolf and has been hunting the local deer population almost down to extinction and caused quite a few injuries on some unlucky people. She offers to help him out so he doesn’t hurt anyone, and slowly they figure out that if they feed him a ton of calories before and after, and play with him they slowly find out that he’s a good wolf, he’s just a big ol’ puppy. And with more control when he’s wolf means he can do it anytime, day or night Monday or Thursday, any. Time. Or alternatively, he approaches her in wolf form when she’s crying and licks away her tears and they grow up together, both wolf and human form. He’s got like 10 siblings and his parents are awesome.

NEW STORY:

Story about zodiac signs

NEW STORY:

3 girls are best friends, who on the same day lose everything. A wealthy Christian girl (who doesn’t know that she’s wealthy) receives news that her grandparents/guardians who went on a trip to Hawaii got caught in the eruption and died, a girl (not entirely human) who accidentally set fire to her own home and loved watching the flames until she realized she killed her cat, and a girl abused by her own family to be an hero escapes because she let her best friend be killed in her place and watched it happen, really manipulative. Kinda all morally grey, they are hero’s in some places and villains in others. They go on a road trip trying to find people willing to bear their burdens? Or something. Idk.

NEW STORY:

Fluff story about a mute florist and her language of flowers

NEW STORY

Girl who thinks she broke her tailbone is surprised when 3 months later she has a tail. It’s really painful if she sits in it wrong, and eventually she’s the daughter of a no name demon, meant to take down the king. But she just wants to stay at school. (This on is actually based on me growing a pilonidal cyst, growing things with a munch of nerves in it is INCREDIBLY PAINFUL)

NEW STORY:

A library of all knowledge, three stories, post quarantine?? Called the library of Alexandria and has a copy of every book in the world in every language. Including lost times of knowledge. Secret society of librarians who guard it, girl keeps finding it and makes friends with the people she finds and becomes like the co-president without meaning to.

[homestuckexamination]

Seers & Mages

Good lord- These are two long posts from Magua-Vida and an anon about Mages and Seers. Y’all really like long talks about this stuff huh? @.@

Magua-Vida:

For that Seer VS Mage ask,

Seers seem more prone to look for outside confirmation for the knowledge that they seek like citations for a thesis while Mages defer confidently to their own acute judgment more often. This isn’t a hard rule, though. They’re tendencies or leanings.

It’s partly instinctual for Mages as well as relying on their own experiences and direct observation. Sollux is the Cassandra. Nobody listened to his predictions most of the time because, to them, he sounds like he’s constantly bemoaning how pointless a lot of their actions are. And to a degree, he’s right. But, he didn’t make the greatest success of his time by serving as the equivalent of a Doomsday Weather Forecast. 

He had to act on his knowledge himself. His actions served for the best of everyone still alive he cared for, but he’s also tired of all the murderstuck and plot, so he decided to join in with Aradia and hopped off the meteor adventure despite Karkat’s request that he stay. Meulin is also similar. It’s never revealed how she came to suddenly know that Meenah may have red feelings for Karkat. Might be gossip travelling fast. Either way, she just excitedly purrclaims that she “JUST KNOW[S] IT”. Even when Meenah is getting uncomfortable with her shipping talk, Meulin insists even when Lord English is out there about to go perma-kill a lot of ghosts that may include her. She also gives Horuss *very* poor advice as a moirail- telling him to smile despite not feeling happy and starting a relationship with him in the first place for a ridiculous reason of seeing their dancestors being moirails.

Mages tend to do better by acting on their vision themselves, as long as they’re not putting words in the wrong people’s mouths. They are doers as much as dreamers who don’t need much prompting from others to act on their wisdom for a better world.

Seers are more often the type to look at other people to reach their own conclusions- sort of like how Rose continues to look for meaning by parsing through what she thinks SBURB is throwing at her. Seers are the mission control of the group. Their role is to guide other people through, toward, or away from their aspects. This is one of the most explored classes in the comic, so this part is longer since we have more examples Anyhow…

It’s sort of like comparing how Rose & Terezi are usually good at directing other people, but not much when it comes to themselves. Rose is relied on by her group, especially Kanaya, as a source of reliable information- data that she dug up to guide her pupils to victory. However, she tried to look for any hidden morals to the story and struggles with not being able to when there’s no signal from anywhere that indicates “hey, this is the ultimate reveal that you’re supposed to learn about”. Oh, and Doc Scratch manipulated her by dangling iffy info in front of her nose like a kitty treat with a helping of non-answers, omission, and misdirection. Oh, and she and a fellow Seer got drunk for a period of time. Perhaps… it’s better that she looks for her own meaning or make her own.

Terezi is known for being good at being perceptive and manipulative. Even Karkat tells Vriska that. She dissects how other people think so, to summarize her words, they won’t end doing something stupid and irrational in the chaos. But, she’s also highly dependent on others’ input. Her self-esteem issues, romantic attachment to the wrong people, and even her blind justice, are all strongly connected to external sources, but also her own poor choices.

Kankri, like Meulin, is a more negative showcase of a Visionary. He aims for his group to be more sensible as a community by teaching them to be extremely sensitive to trigger warnings by scolding and preaching to those who violate his gospel. His stubbornness and trigger-happy lessons end in him failing to lead the Alpha Trolls, similar to Meulin’s insistence in making her ships sail in sweet seas. His Alternia self is a more positive Prophet, at least. One of his m9n9- I mean, dial9gues include him trying to look for a fault in his methods (and of course he never sees any). It’s like any teacher trying to see a flaw in his syllabus. 

Seers do better by directing and guiding other people, but also need to reexamine their gathered research and not be too reliant on dubious sources, lest their worldviews and sense of self would be easily shattered.

To summarize,

Class:Source of Knowledge:Action

Mages:Internal:Act on Their Knowledge Themselves

Seers:External:Guides Others

Again, these are just overgeneralized wording. There are times when Seers act themselves like Rose destroying LOLAR ruins to find secrets and Terezi rigging the bet for Vriska’s fate as much as there are a couple Mages that guide and teach others to follow their ideals. It’s how often they do and where they conduct their understanding that set them apart. If anyone has anything to add or construe, feel free to do so.

Of course, both classes can be blinded in different ways. Blind Prophets and all. But that’s a different topic for another time.

Anon:

For me, the difference between mages and seers are that mages tend to act more subconsciously while seers tend to act more consciously. Mages are based more on understanding while seers are more on knowing. Mages experience their aspect through different means and because of that, it gives them an understanding of it. Due to the experiences they accumulated, they act subconsciously, not needing to take time to consciously think because they act more on the subconsacious thoughts that they already have which allows them to constantly be in motion during a predicament, making them passive thinkers but an active class; on the other hand, seers are more active with their thoughts despite being a passive class. Because of their ability to see with their aspect, they tend to know more than to understand. Like, they may know exactly what happened but they don't immediately know why it happened. They tend to take their time to consciously think of the situation they are presented while mages understand the situation because of the countless experiences they have with their aspect, leading to an immediate subconscious conlusion based on their understanding (Basically, seers are more on the 'what' and mages are more on the 'why'). With the knowledge of seers and them being a passive class, they tend to guide people with their aspect while mages are more solitary and independent because they have their own understanding of what they should do. Of course, there are times when mages can act seer-y and seers can act more mage-y but that is circumstantial. Mages can also guide people with their understanding of their aspect and seers can also be solitary. To me, I believe that all of us have a primary class, a secondary class, etc. So based on the other classes that someone may be leaning towards to, that person being either a mage or a seer can be affected by this factor. Do know that I only described mages and seers as pure classes without having any mixture of any of the other classes so it's fine to not feel a complete relation to these classes if anyone is a primary mage/seer because their secondary and other classes they lean toward to may affect how they act.

[secndsight]

╰ ( dilan çiçek deniz. cisfemale. she/her. ) welcome back to hogwarts SYBILL TRELAWNEY! you’re a SIXTH year from RAVENCLAW, right ? i’ve got your school file right here. it says you’re a TWENTY ONE year old HALF-BLOOD, is that correct ? this file even has a personality entry, saying you’re ECCENTRIC & LOYAL as well as OBLIVIOUS & DEFENSIVE. is that why you’ve chosen to JOIN THE ORDER ? would you look at that ! it says here other students also describe you as : smooth glass-made orb with milky swirls, the faint smell of incense smoke, carefully held herbal tea warming cold hands, and disarray of clothing that scatters the floor. how interesting. oh well, see you in class !

BASICS:

NAME: Sybill Patricia Trelawney

GOES BY: Sybill, Sy (pronounced sigh), Patricia (rarely) 

PRONOUNS: She / Her

ORIENTATION: Demisexual

ZODIAC SIGNS: Cancer

AGE: 21

YEAR: Sixth

HOUSE: Ravenclaw

BIOGRAPHY:

Everyone knew of Cassandra Trelawney and with each generation passed from her bloodline, they waited for another Seer to be born. Disappointment came each time, and when it came to Sybill’s father, they all but lost hope.

When Sybill was born, her family was already slightly shunned from the rest of the Trelawneys due to her mother’s muggle status. They tried to think of a way to climb back up the proverbial ladder, and it all came to Sybill announcing to her parents that at the age of six, she was able to ‘see things.’ They deemed her as having the second sight, and they paraded that around. 

Although, she wasn’t able to come up with visions at whim, her parents pushed her to ‘exaggerate,’ and to play out the fantasies as part of her seeing into the future. They wanted theatrics, drama, the works and because those were the only times it seemed like her parents wanted to have anything to do with her, Sybill obliged. 

Her reputation grew in her hometown and even though there were those that doubted, her bloodline is what solidified their beliefs. She had to keep up with the act; she was the Trelawney’s meal-ticket. At times, Sybill would lose herself with the show, and she’d want quiet, but her mother would only look at her in disdain and her father would remind her of how bad they had it back then. 

They all but pushed her to go to Hogwarts, reminding their daughter that she still carried the Trelawney reputation. Even in the safety of her school, she had to play the part. 

PERSONALITY:

Sybill can get pretty annoying. She’s the definition of too much. She can’t help it; her parents owl her every week to remind her of the role she plays. 

Because her parents never really let her have any close friends -- their reasoning being that she would be distracted -- she doesn’t have the social skills to really get sarcasm. This gets her in trouble when her peers are getting irritated with her presence.

When she does get called out, she gets downright defensive. 

HEADCANONS: 

Those that actually bother to get to know her would know that she prefers the quiet. 

She doesn’t like being the spotlight and so her persona is basically a facade for her parent’s sake. 

Sybill actually does have the gift but it’s limited.

[vitosscaletta]

>:) Personality + Background for Helena, Basics + Appearance for Erin

YES thank u... vampire time

Helena

PERSONALITY

What’s their alignment?

Probably neutral good ehehehe

What are their hobbies and interests? Do they have any particular “favorites” (food, books, and so on)?

Her number one passion is acting, it’s not really a hobby since she does it professionally (or is trying to lol).. She enjoys learning history though, especially the mid-18th century :^) Also music, corny movies, she’s also a huge sims fan >:)

As for her favorites uhhh her favorite band is My Chemical Romance DUH, fav movies are Shakespeare in Love, Valley of The Dolls (yeah ik it sucks),... Shark Tale.... aaaaand her favorite food is fries. Or it was, she can’t eat it anymore :(

What are they bad at?

Within the game’s mechanics and all that.. she’s not much good in a fight (thank u faelike background). She’s still significantly stronger than the average human of course, but very fragile for vampire standarts :/ Noodle arms bitch

Do they have any vices/addictions/mental illnesses?

None that I can think of

What are their goals and motivations?

Before her embrace it was to become a famous actress.. which isn’t possible anymore, she’s still craving that kind of lifestyle though. She grew up not being very well off and not being very popular either, so it’s kinda... wanting to be someone important? Like that Will Smith fish from shark tale :)

What are their manners like? Any habits?

She’s rather well-mannered, not exactly posh but she doesn’t do anything weird in public either.. usually.

What are they most afraid of?

irrelevance... something like that :/

BACKGROUND

Where were they born? What was their childhood like?

She’s originally from San Francisco, grew up with a single mom and her younger sister. They weren’t very well off so her mom had to work a lot, it was pretty much just her and her sister :/ She wasn’t very popular either so she made only few friends in school, it was lonely :(

What’s their family like?

Her mom Jenny is a nice lady, very goal-oriented.. she was very popular in high school, which is how she met Helena’s dad. He’s originally from germany and comes from a long line of vampire hunters and religious zealots (Society of Leopold hoes..), doesn’t really know anything about it though. His family are just a bunch of weird catholics. They had two children, miss Helena & her little Sister, Elizabeth before he divorced his wife and fucked off 👋. He cut off all contact and doesn’t pay child support bc he’s a freak. Also Elizabeth is currently studying law somewhere, their mother insisted they make something of themselves >:(

What factions or organizations are they a part of? What ranks and titles do they hold?

She’s with the camarilla, mostly due to the fact that Christian is in it too. She came to them all starry-eyed because the other members were all sexy, powerful and rich vampires which is pretty much what she wants to be like lmao.. She works directly for Lacroix, kinda like the fledgling except with better pay, slightly less shitty jobs and a tiny bit more respect (only a tiny bit everyone still thinks she’s dumb af). She just has to run small errants lol. There’s no official rank or title though lol.

She’s not really loyal to them or anything and quickly becomes disillusioned by it all. Vampire society is fucked up... she kinda starts spending more time with the Hollywood anarchs because toreador solidarity, doesn’t join their cause though. The anarchs can’t stand her lmao. She’s really mostly independent...

How do they fit into their “story”?

She’s just your good ol’ regular La Croy foundations employee, she was initially my fledgling but I don’t want Christian (her sire) to die, I suppose she’s just like.. there.. idk its kind of a wip

Where do they currently live? What’s their place like?

She has that little apartment in downtown LA during the events of bloodlines :^) It’s a nice place, modern interior and all that... she does miss her old apartment with the victorian furniture though :(( Post bloodlines she probably leaves LA after the whole thing with Lacrosse lol... she’s friends with Ash now they can go on a road trip or something

How do they eventually die?

she doesn’t... shes a vampire >:)

Erin

BASICS

What’s their full name?

Cassandra Erin Winters :~)

What does their name mean? Why were they named that?

Cassandra (from greek “to excel, to shine “) is a little nod to the seer Cassandra, who appears somewhere in her bloodline :^) In-universe it’s one of those names that appear throughout her family.. there are a bunch of important great-grandmothers, aunts and other relatives so her parents named her that to make it look like they’re an important dynasty or something. Rich people bs. Erin is an english derivative of the irish word for.. Ireland lmao. It was just one of those names that were popular in the early 80′s and her mother liked it, there’s no real reason behind it!

Do they have any nicknames?

jhdfjhfd Cammy by Damsel even though she helped them out 😒 also “Newbie” by her bf sdkjskjdf romance ❤

How old are they?

22 in 2004, I suppose she’s 37 in 2020 aka during the events of bloodlines 2

When’s their birthday?

December 13th, 1982

What’s their zodiac sign/element/birthstone/etc.? Do they believe that holds any significance?

I had to take a whole quiz for this but she’s a Sagittarius 😌 I’d say it definitely does lol... she reads her horoscope almost daily

What’s their species/subspecies? Do they have any special/magical abilities?

Vampire lol... specifically of clan Malkavikan. As for magical abilities yknow, typical vampire stuff, plus the voices & Malkavian insight and all that. Her abilities are Auspex and Obfuscate :^)

What “class” do they belong to (for fantasy characters)? If none, what weapon do they favor?

No class but her favorite weapon was the axe she found in the haunted hotel

APPEARANCE

What do they look like?

goddd.... small, pretty blonde, pale skin bc she’s dead, yellow-ish eyes (used to be blue)... big eyes, sliightly overplucked eyebrows bc it’s 2004 :( she’s still cute though

Do they have a face claim?

Mostly Bella Heathcote and Christina Ricci in one image I found on pinterest lol.. I never have faceclaims that are 100% what they look like :(

What’s their style like? Clothes, hair, makeup?

goddd jt was pretty much regular late 90s/early 2000s popular girl before her embrace.. short skirts, juicy tracksuits, tube tops, those awful tinted glasses, coats with fake fur. Her hair was often in those late 90′s updos with a few streaks hanging loose in the front... makeup is just regular looks from the time, lipgloss, frosty eyeshadow and all that 🤢 she’s a big fan of turtleneck sweaters though 😌

It’s still the same but a bit more fucked up post-embrace because she’s just like go crazy aaahh go stupid aaahhh and digs out some of her weirder clothes because half of these vampire bitches wear dumber clothes than her anyway... an old white lace dress that looks like it’s from the early 1900s or something like that... her standard outfits are still low-rise jeans with tank tops and those giant early 2000s shoes though, she just adds in a few weird looking clothes for fun sometimes

How do they carry themselves? What’s their default expression?

Honestly she looks like this emoji 😳 most of the time, Malkavian voices, weird doomsday visions and all that... She had a very cheerful attitude before her embrace and it still shows sometimes, most of the time it’s kinda weird though :(

Do they have any physical ailments or disabilities?

nope!

[sleepingdragon-rp]

☆ SYBILL TRELAWNEY —

BASICS

★ BIRTH DATE / 9 March, 1961 ★ BLOOD STATUS / Half-blood ★ PRONOUNS & IDENTITY / she/her; cis female ★ FACECLAIM / Mina El Hammani

ACADEMICS & ROOMING

★ PRIMARY SCHOOL / Cornwall Country School for Girls, 1979 ★ ACADEMIC PURSUITS / Divination degree ★ HOUSE & YEAR / Ravenclaw, first year

POINTS OF INTEREST

{ CW: Fire mention } ★ When Sybill was a child - about six or seven, she doesn’t remember and her parents disagree on the year - she “correctly predicted” that the supermarket in town would catch fire. Her parents figured this was the case, at least, as she had thrown the biggest fit known to man when they tried to load her into the station wagon to go grocery shopping. In her wild tantrum, she had yelled, “Fire!” in the hopes of distracting her parents long enough to give her time to run up to her room. It worked, but when the news reached the Trelawney household later that evening that the Wonder Mart had burned down, the rest was history: Sybill was officially the Trelawney family’s first Seer in almost four generations. 

★ It wasn’t until Sybill’s first true experience with the Sight at age thirteen that she actually believed she was a Seer - up until that point, she kept making things up to appease her parents and “live up to the legacy of the great Cassandra Trelawney.” It was sort of a fake-it-’til-ya-make-it moment: Little predictions about the impending deaths of family members (coincidentally, she only predicted it when said family members were old and ill) or the upcoming births of newer family members (only predicted after weddings, of course) kept her parents happy, though they also built up Sybill’s reputation, which she dreaded because she was convinced she was a fraud. Then, one night while at the dinner table, she basically blacked out. When she came to a minute or so later, her father explained that she just made a prophecy. He couldn’t recall most of the actual words she said, as he was too in shock, something along the lines of the meek will rise and the risen will be humbled, whatever that meant, but Sybill realized that it was real. She actually possessed the Sight. Still, it doesn’t come to her as often as she would like, and she finds herself lying and making up predictions on the spot quite often.

★ Despite being the only Trelawney presently at Hogwarts, Sybill is a middle child. She has a much older sister, Sylvia, who is married with children and has an established job at the Ministry, and a younger sister, Stella, who is a Squib. Stella is her favorite person on earth, whereas Sylvia could run away to Morocco forever and the only thing Sybill would miss is her nieces. Dramatic? Maybe. Truthful? Definitely.

★ Sybill doesn’t want to be known as the Kooky Wannabe Seer, but that was her reputation at Cornwall, and at this point, she’s positive it will carry on at Hogwarts. She’s good at other things - great, even! - but in her eyes all anyone cares about is her connection to Cassandra and her possession (or lack thereof) of the Sight. Even if someone’s convinced she’s making it all up, they still want to talk about it just to see what she’ll say. Sybill’s wonderful with potions, and she’s quite proud of her duelling ability, and she loves working on her little home garden and playing with her pet cats (twins, Marco and Meeko, how could she split up twins? She couldn’t! She’s also very allergic to cats, but that’s another story), and watching Quidditch games and listening to her mother’s old records. Sybill wants to be more than her great-great-grandmother’s legacy, but she also can’t help but bring up her name at any implied moment of doubt, and she does lean into the divination aesthetic quite hard, so we’ll certainly see how that goes.

TRAITS

✓ caring; loyal; whimsical ✗ eccentric; picky; dishonest

☆ OOC — WRITTEN BY CASSIE, SHE/HER

[goose-books]

hello hi i have no idea how late i am for the 🎵 asks but please may i request a 🎵 or several (honestly as many tunes as you like, go wild)

SHOOT hold on i forgot to specify uhh for quark maybe??

oh i guarantee you are not late and even if you WERE i am answering this ask like. at LEAST a week after you sent it so there we are. i sure do run some kind of operation here at goose-books productions. not sure what kind but it sure is an operation!

while looking through my playlist i discovered that a lot of quark songs are... spoilery... so i offer you Wolves Without Teeth by Of Monsters and Men because that is one of the juicier ones that does not also have the whole plot of quark written out in it ahsdfbsdbfds.

this is so long. man i’m so sorry this is LONG

i imagine this as a duet of sorts between caelum and dawn! quick background: caelum is a seer whose prophetic powers were triggered the first time he met dawn, when they were both seven years old. (the number seven is... a Thing in quark.) the story starts when they meet again fourteen years later under very strange circumstances. and then caelum’s like “dawn i think you’re the chosen one” and dawn is like “oh god please no” and then they’re a dynamic duo!

notable lyrics:

I can see through you We are the same It's perfectly strange You run in my veins How can I keep you Inside my lungs I breathe what is yours You breathe what is mine

chosen one and prophet or not, dawn and caelum have a definite connection. part of this is that they had such a strange meeting all those years ago, and both of them have thought about the other frequently, but it’s also just that... both of them are uniquely lonely in a way that the other can empathize with. dawn grew up an outcast neurodivergent kid with magical powers she couldn’t tell anyone about, and now as an adult she conceptualizes herself as like... a person who is destined to be alone. not in a sad way! just sort of... like she’s Meant To Be alone, which is fine, and she’s not upset about it. and caelum was literally isolated from society for fourteen years because Prophets Are Dangerous so he has psychological issues up to here [i am standing on my tiptoes and holding my hand in the air] and basically what i’m saying is that both of them are like “being alone is my DESTINY” and then they immediately imprint on each other.

You hover like a hummingbird Haunt me in my sleep You'll sailing from another world Sinking in my sea, oh You're feeding on my energy I'm letting go of it She wants it

caelum is very much sailing from another world. he comes from the magical part of society while dawn has grown up passably human. (also there’s some dimensional stuff going on that makes this pretty literal.) additionally, caelum and dawn’s combined powers/energy make them vulnerable because Everyone wants to get their hands on them and use them. like, the supervillain character does, but so does the magical government (oh you thought they were the good guys? ha) and it’s a whole mess. i feel like 75% of quark is dawn and caelum running around NYC trying not to get kidnapped. (the other 25% is weird conversations.)

“(s)he wants it” repeats three times throughout the song, which is significant to me and only me because... of the three major figures that “want” their power/energy.

number one, of course: cassandra divinesight, former broadway star turned murderous supervillain. she was the most powerful prophet in NYC, and she almost tore the whole place down; suffice to say people are very worried about caelum becoming Cassandra Divinesight Number Two Electric Boogaloo. (including caelum himself.) cassandra would very much like caelum to be Cassandra Divinesight Number Two Electric Boogaloo and she’s gonna do her good goddamn best to make it happen.

number two: believe it or not, cassandra is not the Big Bad. cassandra has all of the panache and tragic backstory to be the Big Bad, but she’s not. in fact, she might be a little TOO flashy and tragic. the REAL Big Bad is behind the scenes of quark the whole time, pulling the strings. all i will say right now is that her name is lucinda and she is a Very Unpleasant Person.

number three: maude. and i can’t say literally ANYTHING about maude that wouldn’t take another thirty thousand words to explain but i WILL say that after googling for ages i have FINALLY found the post that inspired maude’s whole deal all the way back when i saw it in SEVENTH GRADE and that’s this post

...this post is so long. tl;dr: OMAM slaps, caelum and dawn are having a weird fucking time of it, and quark is like a hydra because every time i try to talk about one aspect of it i have to also talk about thirty thousand other things.

[wealucy]

the control freak { natasha liu bordizzo, cis female, pansexual } ♛ 》LUCY WEASLEY, TWENTY, has been marked safe after the recent events. SHE is currently a BAKER. to some, they are COMPASSIONATE & OBSERVANT. for others, UNEASY & HYPERSENSITIVE. to me, they remind me of a sense of déjà vu, heavy concealer to hide under eye bags, nervous tapping to eliminate silence, braided hair, and an apology forming on the tip of her tongue without a second thought.

full name: lucy irene weasley.

nicknames: luce.

date of birth: july 19th.

age: twenty.

i’ve got the magic in me

bloodstatus: halfblood.

hogwarts house: ravenclaw.

wand: hazel, 10″ with unicorn hair.

amortentia: freshly baked bread, sea breeze, and lemongrass.

if you met them, you’d understand — family.

father: percy weasley.

mother: audrey weasley.

sibling(s): molly weasley ii.

extended family: arthur weasley (paternal grandfather); molly weasley (paternal grandmother); various weasley aunts, uncles, and cousins (biological and married in).

take me by the hand — brief bits.

y’all know how percy canonically has no chill? that ish is genetic because lucy has none either.

rather soft-spoken especially by weasley standards, and is constantly paying attention out of fear that something might go wrong.

spent countless hours of her childhood baking with grandma molly and has since fallen completely in love with it. lucy isn’t great at showing affection, but if she’s ever shown up to your front door with a loaf of freshly baked bread, she loves you.

lucy has a low degree of seer abilities that manifest in basically the worst possible outcome. it’s more outlined in her second bio point, but the gist is that instead of turning her into someone like trelawney, its just given her lifelong anxiety and a fear of things happening to her people. yikes.

the sorting hat barely touched her head before chucking her into ravenclaw territory.

not likely to speak out on most things, but will get riled up at insults or disrespect to her family. she won’t be able to enunciate any proper rebuttal and will just end up a stammering mess telling you you’re wrong, but it’s something.

just a little bit more — bio points.

Growing up, Lucy was what some parents would describe as ‘sensitive’. Not her parents; hers chalked up all of her fussiness in her early years as a byproduct of being her father’s child.. She would fuss over anyone who allowed her to, often times reminding them of all the bad things that could happen from whatever troublemaking stunts her cousins were up to.It was thought cute when she was a kid (“a mother hen in training”, her parents would joke), but as she grew into adolescence and later into adulthood, Lucy’s fretting turned into an anxiety that influenced most everything she did.

It wasn’t just that her thoughts were hardwired to be negative — Lucy would swear there were images that passed through her mind of things going horribly wrong. From her sister scrapping her knee during a game of tag, to her grandfather suffering a tragic gnome incident if he decided to clean the yard a certain way — even if what she envisioned didn’t always come to pass, they still left her fearful.They grew few and far between the older she got, but that didn’t stop Lucy from waking up each morning to wonder, what if today is the day it all goes wrong?

Much like her neuoriticism, Lucy also inherited her father’s intelligence. Growing up, she often wondered if she fit in with her extended family — she wasn’t outgoing or athletic or even humorous like so many people associated with being a Weasley. She didn’t even look the part, and Lucy often found herself questioning what good she was, if not in the same ways that her aunts and uncles and cousins were. Academia is where Lucy truly shined though. Learning came easy to her, and while it’s been her biggest enemy for as long as she can remember, Lucy’s mind has also been her greatest ally. Once she got to Hogwarts, she began to rely on her intelligence for a sense of control over her constant anxiety.  This was reinforced by the way her parents, particularly her father, would beam with pride at how much she excelled in school. It wasn’t that Lucy felt like she was being forced to be the smartest — even if she brought home terrible grades, she knew her parents would still love her. But it was the one thing she truly felt like she could control. What was wrong with that?

It was a strong motivator for ages but by the time fifth year hit, the amount of pressure Lucy put on herself to succeed backfired in the form of her experiencing a panic attack  in front of her head of house. Following this, and a reassuring urge to talk to her head of house, Lucy opened up about her constant state of anxiety. She felt humiliated and weak, but there was one blessing in it all: a statement on her mind “flashing” prompted her head of house to recommend Lucy speak to a few others, and after years of thinking herself crazy, the idea was proposed that she possessed a low-degree of seer abilities. Nothing to merit recognition by any means; she definitely isn’t about to be the next Cassandra Vablatsky. And merely knowing about her powers doesn’t give her any way of controlling them, but knowing it was an answer to a question Lucy had always been too afraid to ask. That alone was a relief. 

Baking has always been her outlet, ever since she was a little girl and could be found helping her grandmother out at just about every family get-together. Over time, it became the only thing that really helped to quiet her mind, after studying became more about her need to be perfect than any source of relief. Being in the cooking soothed Lucy’s anxieties in a new way. She couldn’t very well imagine awful things happening if she was focused on figuring out the right amount of almond slivers needed for a recipe, could she? Lucy was smart enough to have gone into just about any field she set her mind to, but after graduating, she decided she’d much rather focus on something she loved than enter a workforce that would push the limits of her anxiety.

A part of her will always fear being a disappointment by her family’s standards — the Weasleys are filled with so many success stories, consisting of curse-breakers and quidditch stars and war heroes. Now her cousins are settling in to the professional world, and many of them are making names for themselves as well. Meanwhile, Lucy spends her days rolling dough and sifting flour, working in a small bakery that’s only been opened in wizard London for a few years. One of Lucy’s biggest flaws is constantly comparing herself to others. And really, when you come from a family like hers, how can she not?

inspo

pinterest board

[actiobellicahq]

THE BASICS

Name: Sybill Trelawney Year: Sixth Age: Sixteen House: Ravenclaw Blood Status: Halfblood Allegiance: Neutral Faceclaim: Mina El Hammani

BIO

Trelawney is an interesting last name to have, in the wizarding world. Meant nothing to the muggle kids at primary school of course, but when her letter arrived Sybill’s father realized he was going to have to tell her the stories of her eccentric great great grandmother, and the sort of treatment she might get in Hogwarts as a result. Sybill, for her own part in this conversation, realized she did not want to tell her father about the strange dreams she’d been having as of late. In fact, she decided she was better off never mentioning them to anybody.

Her father had worked hard, see, to garner a reputation for himself that had absolutely nothing to do with the nonsense of seers. He was a well respected worker in the office of Improper Use of Magic within The Ministry, and one day Sybill was going to do something respectable and useful too. Her mother, a muggle science teacher, was a practical woman herself, encouraging Sybill to stay out of trouble and study hard.

So that was what Sybill Trelawney did. She kept her head down, she was nice to others, excelled in her classes, and only occasionally leapt up out of her seat in the great hall during dinner to rush across the room and save someone who hadn’t even started choking yet. As years have gone on these dreams have only become darker and more twisted, and contrary to the fresh and ready to learn face she once always wore there are now days you will see Sybill in class barely able to keep her eyes open. She can be jumpy and forgetful, but always says bless you when someone is about to sneeze and will tell you straight if the haircut you’re thinking of getting will suit you or not.

Most of the time if you spot her in the common room she’s got her head bent over a textbook, but there is occasionally a murder mystery novel hidden behind that academic cover, and if you manage to get her talking about crystals you’ll find managing to get her to stop a lot harder.

Sometimes the things that are whispered to her at night will appear in the paper the next morning, and Sybill is starting to get very concerned. Is she going as mad as people claim Cassandra did? Or was Cassandra never mad at all? Sybill tries her best to keep all this panic to herself, but it’s starting to affect her mood and schoolwork and she doesn’t know who she can turn to her problems with.

TRAITS

+  Curious, Passionate, Frank

-  Melodramatic, Erratic, Pessimistic

SYBILL TRELAWNEY IS TAKEN.

                                          contact ll open ll application ll submit

[calamitycassie]

Warning: This Q&A is a little different, involving only one question and basically being an essay on why I made Cassie the way she is. Anyone not particularly interested in the technical aspects of novel writing are advised to skip it. Also, the usual caveat applies–this is only my opinion, but that’s okay since it’s my books I’m discussing.

A question came in for the Q&A, which I decided to answer in detail. That’s partly because I’m sick and taking a day off from my usual writing schedule, not feeling very creative at the moment. So I have the time. But it also happens to be a question that I’m asked regularly in interviews, and I’d like to set the record straight.

I read alot of urban fantasy and love yours, but it seems Cassie is, I don’t know, a little weak? Why did you make her the way you did? I mean, she can’t even shoot a gun!  

First, I’m going to be bitchy, because I am always bitchy, and because my head hurts right now. And point out that this:

is an alot. By the way, if any of you aren’t yet familiar with the awesomeness that is Hyperbole and a Half may I suggest you remedy that immediately? You are missing out.

You mean, I assume, that you read a lot of urban fantasy, and I’m glad that mine is a part of that (although probably not now, huh?) Anyway, I used to be confused by questions like yours, since I didn’t view Cassie that way, even in the first few books of the series. But eventually I realized that the question wasn’t referring to personality/backbone but to power.

Cassie starts the series as a clairvoyant who stumbles into time-travel abilities once she becomes Pythia, the chief seer of the supernatural world. Now, that doesn’t seem like a bad skill set to me (sometimes, especially near a deadline, I’d love to be able to turn the clock back!) But compared to the usual gun-toting, wisecracking, blow-’em-up-and-sort-’em-out-later types that populate much of urban fantasy, I suppose her attributes do appear a little “softer.”

My answer to this question was usually to point out that Cassie is the lead character, but that the Cassandra Palmer series is an ensemble effort (think Avengers Assemble rather than The Hulk). And that Cassie’s abilities were designed to complement those of the other characters. So she didn’t need to be all things to all people and do every single thing herself, which I always found stretching credulity anyway.

Now, that wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t exactly the truth, either. At least, not the whole truth. I just didn’t think that the bloggers who asked me for a short Q&A really wanted a novel on character creation. But you asked and I’m bored, so here goes.

Have you ever noticed that many urban fantasy series are fairly short-lived? In some cases, maybe the books just didn’t resonate with readers and they got the old corporate ax. But in many more, it was the author who chose to end them after only three to five books. Now, maybe some of those authors just like writing shorter story arcs, which is absolutely their prerogative. But that often seemed like kind of a waste to me, since a good portion of the space in most fantasy series’ early books is devoted to world-building. Ending a series early therefore doesn’t leave a lot of time to explore the characters’ personalities, or provide much room for a story arc.

That’s particularly true since, unlike epic fantasy, urban fantasy tends to have a limited page count. My publisher prefers nothing over 120,000 words, and ideally would like the books to come in at closer to 100,000. It’s simple economics: it costs more to edit, print and ship longer books, and while e-books are making those distinctions less important, they’re still there. I know because I frequently go over that maximum!

So, why have such short series? I think the reason has to do with where some authors choose to start their characters. Of course, few these days are going to go Dicken’s route and start a character off at birth, but every author has to decide whether to begin the story earlier or later in their character’s development. And most choose later. Why? Because it plays well with readers.

There’s little that most fantasy fans like more than an ass-kicking, name-taking, alpha lead character to drive a series. That’s why the rows of urban fantasy books tend to be dominated by leather-wearing protagonists, usually in scary surroundings and carrying one or more deadly weapons. And hey, there’s nothing wrong with that. And going that route does have some pretty big advantages.

For one, a lot of readers are not known for patience (don’t look at me like that–you know it’s true), and if you want them to get past book one, you have to hook them early. And the easiest way to do that is to give them what they want. So if they want the traditional butt-kicking hero, why not just give it to them?

For another, it’s just plain easier to write a hero who is at the top of his or her skill set. You don’t have to come up with explanations for why your lead is heading boldly out to confront the bad guys. Why wouldn’t he? He’s Iron Man! Or the Hulk! Or Captain America! He can handle himself. But, of course, if your hero is a normal gal in a happy face T-shirt who couldn’t hit the side of a barn with a gun even if she threw it, AKA Cassie when my series begins, then you have to work much harder to get her into a believable set of circumstances where she must confront the villain. You also have to manage to find a way for her to beat him when the opposite would seem far more likely.

It’s not surprising, then, that many urban fantasies choose to start their hero out either at or near the top of her game. And for a few books, that works great. The series is dynamic, villains are falling left and right, quips are being quipped and fun is being had. But then comes book number four, or possibly five if the writer is especially skilled. And the wall is hit.

The problem is that, even in fantasy–or maybe especially in fantasy–characters have to act in a way that is believable. When you’re demanding so much suspension of disbelief where your universe is concerned, something has to ground your story and that something is usually going to be your characters. And what is not believable is to have a character who never changes.

Change, whether good or bad, is part of human life, and a static character therefore starts to feel unreal after a while. The problem is, if you’ve started a character out near the top of her arc, where are you going to take her? Yes, it is possible for people to change in emotional ways: to work through a problem they’ve had with someone or something in their past (AKA the Inigo Montoya approach). Or to find true love (AKA the Harlequin approach), although that’s more often found in the realms of paranormal romance. Or to fulfill a destiny in some way. And all of those are legitimate story arcs. However, they also tend to be short ones.

So after a few books, when much of the world building is done and the characters are set and the hero has completed her arc, the author starts to wonder…now what? Or sometimes the audience does, when it seems like a bunch of otherwise good characters are wandering around in search of a storyline. The reason they don’t have one is that their story has been told. It’s done, it’s over, and all that’s left is to ride off into the sunset. And so the series folds.

At least, ideally it does. Since the only other option is to morph the character out of all recognition, AKA the weird approach, and essentially give yourself a new character to work with. And therefore a new arc, for a few books anyway. This has been done successfully on occasion, but it’s risky, since it can cause a backlash from readers when they see a favorite character change to the point of no longer being recognizable.

Which brings us back to Cassie–or Frodo at Bag End, or Harry Potter in his closet. Having heroes start at a much earlier point in their arc often makes an author work harder at the beginning, because there’s not as many bells and whistles to keep people entertained, and because their character can come off looking weak even in comparison to her own supporting cast! But it pays dividends in the long run. A lot of dividends.

Dividend 1: It makes the series longer, since your character needs time to change from Harry Potter to Harry Freaking Potter, which in turns allows you more books with which to explore his psyche and flesh him out. When your story starts before everything gets crazy (or at least before it gets as crazy as it inevitably will), the reader gets to grow along with your hero. They get taken on the journey, too, instead of just being shown this character that is already fully formed before the first scene opens. Also, if your main character’s arc is longer, it gives an opportunity to flesh out side characters as well, leading to a more well-rounded cast.

Dividend #2: It is wonderful for building tension. Nothing takes the wind out of a story’s sails faster than having overpowered heroes. You want the protagonist to have to work and struggle to overcome the odds against him or her. You want to have readers on the edge of their seats, wondering how your hero is going to get out of it this time. You want readers to identify with the character, to worry along with him, to bite their nails and be glued to the page, thinking that maybe this is the end because ohmyGodnowaywesurvivethis! And you don’t get that with an overpowered hero.

Dividend #3: You get to help with genre diversity. Urban fantasy is still a relatively young genre, which means it’s a bit more dynamic and less set in its ways than some. But there are already signs of tropes, clichés and stock characters developing. And let’s face it, if every hero is a super-powered, suave, take-no-prisoners type, things get boring fast. Personally, I like to play against type.

That’s why even my other heroine, Dorina Basarab, who is a lot more traditionally butt-kicking than Cassie, has elements that make her very unusual for the genre. She’s a dhampir, half-vampire/half-human, with something of a split personality thing going on, since her two halves never really merged all that well. In a sense, she’s two people in one, and at least one of them is as crazy as a bed bug. But that’s half the fun! Longer series give you a chance to do some pretty unusual things with your characters, and that’s only healthy for the genre overall.

Dividend #4: For the reader, your world and characters start to feel like home. Because, seriously, how many people read Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe stories for the mystery? I’m a mystery buff, and I love me some Rex Stout. But I’ll be the first to admit that his ability to put together a compelling mystery was, er, somewhat limited. But it didn’t matter, because nobody read them for the mysteries anyway. We read them for the characters.

We wanted to know what Fritz was cooking that day and what Wolfe was reading and what girl Archie was pursuing and how the orchids on the roof were doing. And we wanted to know these things because we cared about the characters, and because that old brownstone had become a second home for us, one where we felt completely at ease and yet suitably tingly, because a body could drop out of a closet at any second. It was our second home because we’d visited so many times over such a long period, that it began to feel like we’d actually lived there, too. But you don’t get that feeling out of a one-off book, no matter how good it is. For that, it takes a series and a long one. And a long series takes a special kind of protagonist.

[bisexual-yuri]

I saw you talking about your ocs in the tags of a post (Tristan, Vasch, Claire, and Ember) and got really excited about it!! I have a few ocs too and I love them so much!! I was wondering if you felt comfortable talking a little about yours??

Ahhh what? Someone wants to hear about my OCs?? Amazing! Thanks for asking anon! 

Claire Ember Tristan and Vasch all come from the book I’m working on, so their lives are all set in the fictional land of Amaria. Lately though, I’ve also been imagining what it would be like to try and see how they would translate into a modern NYC AU (writing fanfic of my own work? me? naaaaaaah).

Claire is like, my main bae, a gritty young woman with a sort of practical idealism that is willing to fight quite literally to help others. She’s got a bit of a hero complex that she’s gotta work through, because she’s a little _too_ prone to throwing herself into incredible danger to help other people (and quite nearly giving Tristan and her dad, Peter, heart attacks). Pretty much everyone who knows her is at least a little inspired by her, but she’s both oblivious to it and doesn’t believe in giving individual credit for the things she’s accomplished. She’s pretty traumatized by being forcibly being turned into a cyborg, so that’s kinda what she’s working through rn. She’s also a really good artist! 

Ember is the daughter of major mob boss who was raised from a young age to be a human weapon. She ended up being terrified of her powers after accidentally setting her childhood caretaker on fire with magic, and ended up becoming a major pacifist. The fact that she also quite literally died also makes her very anti-violence. She’s a nurturing person in an attempt to make up for the perceived damage she’s done as a mobster’s kid, and also usually the one who keeps Claire and Tristan from becoming the disastrous human beings that they truly are. 

Tristan is a soft nugget who just wants to be useful to the people around him. He started the story as an amnesiac, and felt pretty bad about Claire and Ember having to basically solve his life for him for 3 months while he remembered shit. Once he gets back his brain though, he’s honestly rather brilliant. He’s endlessly fascinated by the world and strives to make biomechanics something humane, rather whatever it was when Claire was integrated. He’s known to get a little rambly, but it’s mostly endearing. Mostly. He Claire and Ember are all in a relationship. 

Vasch is a master martial artist, a seer, a skilled clothing designer,  and sass master extraordinaire. He’s also basically Claire’s adoptive brother. Because he can see magic and other people’s emotions, Vasch is both incredibly people savvy and also hella skeptical of pretty much everyone. That said, if you do earn his trust, he will put everything on the line for you. He lacks Claire’s self-sacrificing streak, and is usually the one to pull Claire out by the ear when she’s about to do something stupid for the sake of heroism. He’s basically everyone’s voice of reason, but he’s got that Cassandra thing going on (why does no one ever listen to the seers?). I have a lot of fun with Vasch to be honest, he’s great to write.

...that got long. I hope this wasn’t too rambly for you, and thanks for asking!

[howlsmovinglibrary]

So I finished ACOWAR

This is in no way a coherent or articulate piece of writing in the same way my ACOTAR/ACOMAF piece tried to be, and I don’t think it even can be called a review, because I don’t tend to review books that already have this much visibility in the booklr community. It’s more just the notes I made while reading ACOWAR, which I kind of felt was the weakest book in the series so far (and if you haven’t already guessed it, I’m not much of a fan to begin with).

This entire piece is basically just spoilers, and salt, so please don’t read unless you already know/don’t mind finding out some major plot points!

First off, can I just say that every time ‘the male’ or ‘the female’ is used as a descriptor, I wince. I think it is a) bad writing and b) cis-centric as fuck. There needs to be more non-binary people in fantasy!

This book was so….bloated. It needed to be edited down a lot – the sheer number of chapters is insane. I had this poignant realisation when I read five chapters of High Fae trash talk at the faerie High Lord meeting and then…the thing they were having a meeting over just…happened anyway? And the meeting suddenly had no meaning whatsoever?

So many abusers are now being made into sympathetic/rehabilitated figures. I took Rhys’ redemption arc in ACOMAF because I kind of suspected that that was the way his and Feyre’s relationship were going to pan out but….both Eris and Tamlin received sympathy, and were made into heroes or forces for good at some point in the plot? Feyre forgave Tamlin? Mor’s abuse at the hands of Keir and Eris is pushed aside because ‘times are hard’ and ‘tough choices have to be made’? And Mor had literally no say or agency in that decision?

Meanwhile we have Ianthe. an abusive woman who’s entire character is one-dimensional villainy and demonised female sexuality. She is portrayed as having not a single scrap of goodness in her soul, not one redeeming characteristic, someone who Feyre has no moral quandary over letting be munched up by the Weaver. Even though her use of sex could realistically be portrayed as a product of internalised misogyny? And yet the men who ‘nailed a message’ into Mor’s womb get nuanced portrayal, the benefit of the doubt in the run up to the war, and even moments of heroism?????

I’m not saying that Ianthe should be redeemed, I just don’t understand why this instance of sexual abuse is so utterly condemned to the point where we watch her smash her own hand in some kind of medieval punishment, and yet the instances of sexual abuse perpetrated by men are all given a degree of either redemption or pardoning because of the circumstances of the plot. Is it because female to male abuse is more taboo and thus seen as more ‘evil’? Because SJM has so ingrained male-to-female sexual abuse into the very fabric of her patriarchal fantasy society, that we and Mor are expected to just accept that this is ‘the way things are’, or even write it off out of necessity as ‘boys will be boys’? I HAVE NO IDEA AND IT MAKES ME UNCOMFORTABLE.

Given my recent essay on the subject, I was interested that SJM tried to problematize and dismantle the concept of mating bonds a little in the conversation Feyre and Rhysand have about Lucien and Elain. It’s made into ‘Some natural function, not an indication of true, paired souls’ (Chapter 24). There was even the handwave of ‘oh this homosexual relationship may be the product of a mating bond, but they’re probably keeping it a secret from everyone’.

To be honest, I don’t think it succeeded in explaining away the problematic elements of mating. The biological imperatives were still there, ‘the bond is nothing more than...preordained guesswork at who will provide the strongest offspring’ (Chapter 24). Aggression was still a major part of the male side of the bond (like when we get the internal monologue of Lucien and witness him fighting his ‘instincts’) and it’s still implied that men are slaves to the desire that the bond generates, whereas women don’t feel it as strongly/can control their physical desires? ‘But the males...It can drive them mad. It is their burden to fight through’ (Chapter 24) This has some serious ramifications in terms of gendered conceptions of sexual drive. In my opinion, mating bonds are still squicky.

I now mostly just want SJM to put her money where her mouth is and follow through on her attempts at muddying the water: if she insists on pairing the spares, have Elaine get together with Azriel rather than Lucien, and show a relationship where the mating bond is terminated not because of outright physical abuse on the side of the male, but because of a romantic attraction overcoming a sexual/biological one. (Yes, I ship it. Or rather, I ship Elaine overcoming her trauma and going on to be a badass seer, building herself a temple and calling out bullshit like Cassandra in ancient Troy. But if she needs to have a boyf – and it’s SJM so she probably does – I want it to be Sad Shadow Man.)

‘Helion favours both males and females. Usually together in bed’ (Chapter 47). I’m not saying that bisexuality can’t work this way, but I gather that SJM has used the hypersexualised bisexual trope before. 

I think that perhaps Mor’s jealousy of Nessian is because she’s attracted to Nesta (a la season 1 Korrasami)? But even so her possessiveness of Cassian and her hostility towards Nesta was horrible and OOC and made me angry every time it happened. I hate it whenever female-female relationships are sacrificed because of a guy, but it is particularly frustrating in a book where male-female relationships are definitely already the priority. And given the way that Nessian is reaching canonical status, even if you do attribute the jealousy to female-female attraction, it’s only going to end badly for Mor.

Feyre used Mor’s sexuality as a weapon against her after she was justifiably called out on reckless behaviour. Fuck off Feyre.

I know that Azriel is a good character. I know this. And yet this book turned his relationship with Mor into this awful poster child ‘friendzone’ dynamic, where Mor feels pressurised to hide her sexuality because of the hurt it will cause *him*. I don’t think this is a fault of the characters, but of the entire treatment of their friendship and SJM’s portrayal of Mor’s queerness as a burden.

No main characters die. In this apparently impossible war that basically ends in an afternoon. No – everyone is magically resurrected after barely five pages.

Bonus points for not even having the courage to keep Amren out of fae form and thus rip up her incipient ship with Varien. You could have written an entire book on the inner circle going off on a quest to find and subdue a superhuman dragon Amren unshackled from the bonds of human morality. But no. She’s ‘in the cauldron’.

DEUS EX MACHINAS (dragon ex machinas?) MAKE ME WANT TO SCREAM. Find a better way to resolve your conflicts. Especially when even the decision to unshackle Amren from her human form in order for her to become the Deus ex Machina in question has literally no lasting consequences.

Speaking of deus ex machinas: is anyone else annoyed that the only death god who survives the battle is Bryaxis, the one who only asked for a window in exchange for his services, rather than freedom and an implicit murder spree? This means that there are literally no consequences to these so-called ‘tough decisions’ that have to be made in times of war, and everything can just go on fine. ‘No evil death gods were permanently unleashed in the making of this war.’

Can I forcibly rip SJM away from the Russian mythology that she is no doubt going to butcher in the continuation of this series? As soon as I read the name ‘Koschei’ I groaned aloud. You can’t just take whatever mythology you like and use it to make your own magic system! You’ve already detached the Morrigan from any semblance of Celtic Mythology!!!

That being said, I did like:

That the Archeron sisters FINALLY seem to be forming a strong friendship rather than the girl-on-girl hate mess it’s been for the past few books. I liked that Nesta was as powerful as Feyre, and had a more integral role in the final battle than she did.

I liked that in Feysand we see a stable ‘after they get together’ relationship. I still think ACOMAF is ‘stronger’ as a book, as SJM is better at writing romance than plot, but at least there was no needless YA angst, beyond Rhys’ martyrdom complex.

And this sounds awful, but I’m glad that Feyre had a PTSD relapse. I felt that in ACOMAF, her recovery from mental illness was equated a little too strongly with her growing romance with Rhys. Love doesn’t cure mental illness, and I’m glad the SJM showed that.

But overall, this book (much like this commentary) was a bit of a rambling mess of little consequence.

[insanelymadd]

Whats your new au about 👀

Ok so it’s called Heroes Reversed, and I know it sounds like all the heroes are villains or something but it’s not (also Into the Darkness paras are here too but they’re not important)

Instead of the main paras in Heroes being superheroes, it’s their kids/adults in Heroes who were important enough to have names as their kids. Which sounds confusing, but I will explain through (*drum roll please*) tiny character bios (that, knowing me, will be way too long)

the usual suspects (aka these are the kids who always appear as my para’s kids in normal aus):

Lila Milonas-DiAngelo: she/her; Xander (Cassandra’s brother) and Nico (Adriana’s cousin)’s adopted daughter; Ryan’s twin; hero name is Shockwave; has gloves that create little bolts of electricity (made by Ryan); becoming superheroes was her idea

Ryan Milonas-DiAngelo: he/him; Xander and Nico’s adopted son; Lila’s twin; hero name is Reverb; uses sound wave tech; mostly acts as the guy behind the computer and only comes out to fight as backup

Sean Calloway: he/him; Cassandra and Seth’s biological son; raised by Seth and Hugh; a twin (but I’ll get to his brother in a minute); hero name is Persona (he’s the third Persona but I’m not going to get into that here); fights with a bo-staff and does the more detective-y work and also sees the future; will judge you but you won’t realize he is

Merripen: he/him; no last name and dead parents (oof); hero name is Hades; he’s half-dead and basically has the same powers as Quinn (who’s alive in this au); joins the friend group (they’re basically all either cousins or siblings) because of Ryan (they’re this au’s Cass and Quinn)

kind of a weird mix between the two categories (as in she’s always the paras’ kid but her one namesake doesn’t exist in this au):

Idarila Natasha Lasko: she/her; Arriela and Sarah’s biological daughter; hero name is Melody; a siren so basically the same powers as Arriela (who is a siren in this au); actually has common sense (not many of my paras have that); Arriela’s grandmother in Heroes canon

reversed from adults to my para’s children (right what it says on the tin):

Cyrus Milonas: he/him; Cassandra and Seth’s biological son; raised by Cassandra and Quinn; Sean’s twin; hero name is Guess (comes from the same vein as Hint and Clue); no powers but he’s a genius and the new wielder of the Mirrored Ghost (Cass’s spear and another thing I’m not getting into); will argue with anyone for fun (but is actually not a jerk); Cassandra’s grandfather in Heroes canon

Saoirse Thompson: she/her; Cassandra and Quinn’s biological daughter; Sean and Cyrus’s older half-sister (she’s two years older than everyone else); hero name is Robin Hood; uses a bow and trick arrows (made by Ryan) and can see the future; she’s backup for everyone else and has had to bail them out of jail before (she makes them pay her not to tell their parents); Quinn’s mother in Heroes canon

Jean Nova: she/her; her parents are the actual worst; hero name is Lady Galaxia (a nod to old Heroes canon); also a genius and probably has some sort of artifact that can manipulate dark and light; joined the group because of Cyrus because she originally was trying to manipulate him for his seer powers (which he does not have) but actually ended up happy with the group (haha that won’t last buddy); Cassandra’s grandmother and the leader of Nova Corp in Heroes canon

It’s basically them as teen superheroes and also them getting up to normal teen shenanigans (or like normal for my paracosms) and I love it so much