#fire and mist and bisexual blades

[shegcdless]

❛ 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬 ; 𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚 𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐜𝐤       ⸺       a lady forged in iron rather than silk ; born with duty braided into her hair and expectations sewn beneath her skin ; spine a banner never lowered, eyes that see too much and forgive too little ; blood that runs colder with every oath kept, every softness carved out for the sake of the name she carries like a shield ; she does not flinch, she endures—because someone must ; calloused hands beneath velvet gloves, strategy inked into her every step ; affection is rationed like wartime grain, and grief kept folded in drawers no one dares open ; the stag does not kneel—it watches, waits, and strikes ; love, to her, is not tenderness, but loyalty tested in fire and silence.

          ONE     ,         BASICS  .

name :         thalia urswick .         nicknames :         lea ( childhood only ), steelheart ( behind her back—never to her face ) .         age  +  dob :         26 , october 9th .         birthplace :         stonebridge hall , the witterwood .         gender  +  pronouns :         cis  woman  +  she / her .         orientation :         bisexual , with a preference for sharp minds and soft hands .         species :         human ( more steel than flesh, some would say ) .         element  +  gift :         ice + strategy .         occupation :         lady of house urswick , war-mind of the north, keeper of expectations she never asked for .

          TWO     ,         PERSONALITY  TRAITS  .

positive :         disciplined , commanding , fiercely loyal .         neutral :         stoic , analytical , brutally honest .         negative :         emotionally distant , controlling , impatient .         zodiac’s  main  three :         libra sun , capricorn moon , scorpio rising .         moral  alignment :         lawful neutral ( with cracks in the armor ) .         temperament :         sanguine .         label :         the iron rose .         mbti :         estj – the executive .         deadly   sin :         pride ( sharpened into a weapon ) .         heavenly   virtue :         diligence ( bordering on obsession ) .

          THREE     ,         DISTINGUISHING  FEATURES  .

big  blue  eyes  usually  sharp  and  measuring  if  not  lit  with  frost  and  fire  when  something  insults  her  honor  ;  a  smirk  that  suggests  a  secret  she  holds  like  a  blade  beneath  her  tongue  ;  the  scent  of  rain-soaked  earth  lingering  in  dark  braids  after  a  roaming  through  mist  in  the  evening  ;  black  leather  boots  and  fine  tailored  cloaks,  the  swish  of  fabric  a  reminder  of  the  noble  roots  she  never  lets  go  ;  the  deliberate  stride  of  someone  who  knows  they  belong  to  a  lineage  etched  in  stone  and  blood.

          FOUR     ,         INSPIRATIONS  .

medea  (greek  mythology),  she  inherits  a  fierce,  vengeful  nature  marked  by  betrayal  and  pain,  while  lady  macbeth  (shakespeare)  offers  her  ambition  and  calculative  tendencies,  intertwined  with  a  thirst  for  power.  catherine  earnshaw  (wuthering  heights)  influences  thalia’s  capacity  for  destructive  love  and  pride,  while  dorian  gray  (the  picture  of  dorian  gray)  speaks  to  her  hidden  darkness  and  timeless  beauty.  her  mythological  inspirations  include  nyx,  the  greek  goddess  of  night,  reflecting  her  affinity  for  mystery  and  the  unknown,  and  hades,  the  ruler  of  the  underworld,  embodying  her  quiet  but  overwhelming  power.  medusa  and  sekhmet  (greek  and  egyptian  mythologies)  further  fuel  her  darker  side,  filled  with  vengeance,  power,  and  a  sense  of  isolation.  in  tarot,  she  resonates  with  the  empress,  embodying  creation  and  control,  and  the  high  priestess,  signifying  depth,  wisdom,  and  secrets.  the  devil  and  the  tower  in  tarot  represent  her  struggle  with  temptation,  destruction,  and  transformation,  while  the  chariot  symbolizes  her  unyielding  drive  and  control  over  her  path.  in  anime,  esdeath  (akame  ga  kill)  and  yuno  gasai  (future  diary)  lend  her  an  edge  of  obsessive  loyalty  and  ruthless  power,  blending  the  lines  between  love  and  manipulation.  finally,  hel  (norse  mythology)  serves  as  a  reminder  of  her  affinity  for  the  underworld  and  the  coldness  that  often  defines  her  presence.

          FIVE     ,         STORY  .

“  whispers  of  a  past  wrapped  in  shadows,  a  sorrow  that  clings  like  the  damp  mist  of  twilight,  pulling  you  into  its  depths  with  every  breath,  leaving  your  soul  adrift  in  the  quiet  hours  before  the  first  light  of  dawn,  haunted  by  the  choices  that  echo  through  your  bones,  lingering  long  after  the  world  awakens.  ”

               “   you  were  five  when  your  world  shattered — the  day  the  winds  of  fate  turned  cruel.  your  family's  estate,  nestled  in  the  distant  west  near  windveil  keep,  had  always  been  a  place  of  calm  amidst  chaos.  that  night,  the  storm  outside  was  nothing  compared  to  the  tempest  that  raged  within  your  home.  you  remember  only  fragments,  fragments  that  twist  together  in  nightmarish  visions.  the  door  splintering  open,  the  cold  of  the  stone  floors  beneath  your  feet,  and  your  mother’s  desperate  gaze  as  she  hid  you  away  in  the  shadows  of  a  closet . 

               when  the  silence  finally  fell,  you  dared  to  emerge,  only  to  find  your  father’s  body,  lifeless  on  the  cold  marble.  your  mother,  trembling  with  grief,  cradled  him,  a  broken  woman  unable  to  save  the  love  of  her  life.  she  had  dared  to  love  him—a  scholar  of  great  wisdom,  a  man  who  had  devoted  himself  to  knowledge  over  power—and  for  that,  they  had  taken  him  from  her.  the  ancient  ties  between  house  urswick  and  the  crown  had  been  tested,  torn  apart  by  the  very  hands  that  claimed  to  protect  them.  the  power  to  twist  truth,  to  manipulate  the  world  through  knowledge,  and  to  strike  at  the  heart  of  a  family,  all  in  the  name  of  maintaining  control.  your  father  had  been  collateral  damage  in  that  war,  and  you,  a  mere  child,  would  have  to  live  with  that  truth  forever  .

               with  only  a  satchel  of  clothes  and  her  broken  heart,  your  mother  fled  with  you,  leaving  the  world  of  ambition  and  power  behind.  the  memories  of  that  night  never  left  you,  not  even  as  the  years  went  by.  you  grew  older,  and  with  time,  the  whispers  of  your  family’s  legacy  were  whispered  in  hushed  tones  across  the  halls  of  windveil  keep.  there,  in  that  cold,  storm-ravaged  corner  of  the  kingdom,  you  began  to  learn  the  meaning  of  survival .

               her  eyes  were  never  the  same  since  that  day,    but  she  still  managed  to  convey  love  and  adoration  in  them  when  she  looked  at  you,    still  managed  to  make  you  feel  safe  despite  her  despair,    despite  the  evident  desire  to  stop  existing  that  haunted  her  and  you  never  knew  about  until  later,    when  you  were  old  enough,    when  you  felt  worthless  once  and  she  scowled,    “  no  one  worthless  would  have  managed  to  keep  me  alive  like  you  did  when  all  i  wanted  to  do  was  die.  ”  

               you  never  questioned  your  value  in  this  world  again  .

               but  survival  was  never  enough.  your  mother’s  eyes,  once  full  of  light,  grew  hollow  with  grief,  but  even  in  her  despair,  she  held  you  close.  she  kept  you  safe,  even  as  she  battled  the  darkness  inside  herself.  "you  saved  me,"  she  would  whisper  when  the  weight  of  the  world  became  too  much,  her  voice  breaking.  "no  one  else  could  have  kept  me  alive  like  you  did."  those  words  became  your  anchor,  a  reminder  that  your  existence  was  not  without  purpose  .

               by  the  time  you  were  seven,  you  began  to  realize  that  you  had  inherited  more  than  your  mother’s  grief—you  had  inherited  her  sharp  wit,  her  ability  to  see  the  world  as  it  truly  was.  you  grew  into  your  power,  learned  how  to  use  the  storms  inside  you  to  shape  the  world  around  you.  but  it  was  not  just  power  you  craved—it  was  knowledge,  the  key  to  unlocking  the  mysteries  of  the  past  and  securing  your  future .     

               you  spent  your  formative  years  in  windveil  keep,  where  house  urswick’s  legacy  was  both  a  blessing  and  a  curse.  the  winds  of  change  were  always  close,  but  you  learned  how  to  tune  them  out,  how  to  lock  the  doors  of  your  heart  just  as  the  people  of  amberhigh  locked  their  doors  every  night.  your  mind,  sharp  as  ever,  was  your  weapon.  and  soon,  you  realized  that  the  key  to  your  family’s  survival  in  this  fractured  world  wasn’t  just  in  what  you  knew—it  was  in  how  you  used  it.

               and  so  you  became  a  woman,  a  woman  who  knew  the  power  of  her  charm  and  her  beauty,  a  woman  who  understood  the  deadly  game  of  politics  that  stretched  back  generations.  you  learned  to  navigate  the  court  of  windveil  keep,  to  twist  stories  and  play  the  game  with  precision.  you  reveled  in  the  power  that  came  with  your  status,  but  you  also  knew  that  the  price  for  it  could  be  steep.  your  mother  had  shown  you  that  much .

               the  storm  outside  rages  on,  but  you  stand  firm  in  its  wake,  ready  to  face  the  challenges  that  lie  ahead,  armed  with  the  knowledge  of  your  house’s  history  and  the  strength  of  your  will .

          SIX     ,         HEADCANONS  .

i.  thalia  has  a  secret  collection  of  vintage  cameras  —  every  once  in  a  while,  she'll  disappear  for  a  few  hours,  wandering  the  town,  capturing  moments  on  film.  she  loves  the  art  of  capturing  time,  even  if  her  photos  are  often  imperfect,  as  she  believes  imperfection  holds  a  certain  beauty.  her  walls  are  adorned  with  her  best  shots,  mostly  candid  moments  of  people  she's  met  along  her  journeys.        ii.  she  always  wears  something  with  a  touch  of  amber  —  whether  it's  a  bracelet,  a  necklace,  or  even  just  a  tiny  pendant,  thalia's  affinity  for  amber  is  almost  like  a  personal  superstition.  she  believes  it  keeps  her  grounded,  balancing  her  chaotic  energy  and  protecting  her  from  misfortune,  even  if  she  doesn’t  admit  it  out  loud. iii.   thalia’s  morning  routine  is  chaotic  yet  comforting  —  she’s  the  type  to  start  her  day  with  a  cup  of  herbal  tea,  but  not  before  getting  distracted  by  something  that  catches  her  attention—maybe  a  new  book,  a  strange  plant  outside,  or  a  phone  call  from  someone.  she’s  late  more  often  than  not,  but  her  mornings  are  full  of  small,  intimate  rituals  that  make  her  feel  at  peace  with  the  world . iv.  a  natural  storyteller  —  when  thalia  speaks,  it's  impossible  not  to  listen.  whether  she's  recounting  a  tale  from  her  past,  describing  a  dream  she  had,  or  just  explaining  something  simple,  she  does  so  with  a  flair  that  captivates  her  audience.  her  stories  often  take  unexpected  turns,  leaving  her  listeners  more  entranced  than  they  ever  expected  to  be.    v.  she  can  never  resist  a  good  adventure  —  if  there’s  a  chance  to  explore  a  hidden  part  of  the  town,  or  even  just  wander  the  streets  on  a  whim,  thalia  is  always  up  for  it.  she  thrives  on  spontaneity  and  curiosity,  never  able  to  sit  still  for  long.  she  might  drag  you  along  on  one  of  her  impromptu  adventures,  and  more  often  than  not,  you’ll  end  up  with  a  new  memory,  a  new  story,  and  a  bit  of  mystery  to  unravel.    vi.  her  temper  is  a  force  to  be  reckoned  with  —  while  she  may  come  off  as  lighthearted  and  charming  most  of  the  time,  when  thalia  is  angry,  it’s  a  storm  you  don’t  want  to  face.  she  can  hold  a  grudge  longer  than  she  cares  to  admit,  and  when  her  patience  snaps,  there’s  little  she  can  do  to  hide  it.  thankfully,  it’s  rare,  but  when  it  happens,  even  the  people  closest  to  her  know  to  give  her  space.    vii.  thalia  has  a  soft  spot  for  underdogs  —  if  there’s  anyone  in  need  of  help,  whether  they’re  an  outsider,  someone  misunderstood,  or  just  struggling  to  find  their  way,  thalia  will  do  everything  in  her  power  to  help  them.  she  doesn’t  believe  in  leaving  people  behind,  and  despite  her  sometimes  chaotic  and  impulsive  nature,  she  has  an  immense  capacity  for  loyalty.    viii.  her  sense  of  humor  can  be  both  sarcastic  and  wildly  inappropriate  —  thalia  will  make  you  laugh  with  her  wit,  but  sometimes  it’s  a  bit  too  sharp  for  comfort.  she  doesn’t  always  know  when  to  dial  it  down,  especially  when  she’s  teasing  someone  she  cares  about,  and  sometimes  her  jokes  can  go  a  bit  too  far.  but  she  always  means  well,  and  if  you  call  her  out,  she'll  genuinely  apologize,  though  she’ll  probably  try  to  make  it  up  with  another  joke.    ix.  her  wardrobe  is  a  reflection  of  her  mood  —  thalia’s  style  changes  with  the  seasons  and  her  emotions.  one  day  she’ll  wear  something  bohemian  and  flowy,  the  next  it’s  all  black  with  bold  accents.  it’s  almost  like  her  clothes  are  a  mood  ring  for  her,  reflecting  everything  she’s  feeling.  if  you  want  to  know  how  thalia  is  doing,  just  take  a  look  at  her  outfit.

[zirkusschwert]

About

Name: Rafael Krieger

Age: 580 (Turned at 32)

Gender: Cis Male

Sexuality: bisexual/pansexual (he really doesn’t care for labels tbh)

Nationality: Austrian

Race: Vampire (formerly human)

Appearance: Tall, weathered skin, long ginger/ blond hair, well groomed beard, bright blue eyes, handsome features, strong build, bright smile, several tattoos and piercings.

FC: Ben Metzner

Personality: Jovial, wise, observant, curious, loves to entertain others, lively, natural leader, friendly, mostly forgiving, generous, slow to anger, enjoys a good fight, protective, considers friends and/or coven members to be his family, restless at times, longs to see the sun again, swashbuckler at heart, strong sense of justice and loyalty, will always help outcasts when and where he can.

Powers/Abilities: hypnotic gaze, silver tongue, shapeshifting (bat, wolf, or mist), superhuman speed/agility/strength, telepathy, vampiric bite, immortality, eternal youth, can scale vertical surfaces and ceilings without being affected by gravity, adept swordfighter, plays the lute, flute, and bagpipes, sings brilliantly.

Weaknesses: Holy water, crosses and other non-satanic holy symbols, running water, sunlight, fire, stake to the heart, cannot enter someone’s residence without invitation, must feed on human blood at least once every few nights (he can sustain himself on animal blood, but must do so far more often), not very studious (though he can read multiple languages), bad at math.

Languages: German, English, French, Romanian, Russian, Hungarian, Latin, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish.

Style: Sort of a blend of pirate, carnival barker, and punk rock star. Lots of leather and fringe, flowing shirts, tight but breathable pants, pirate boots, either neutrals or loud patterns, lots of rings, always wears wrist cuffs and bracelets, multiple belts.

Profession: Traveling Entertainer (former, multiple times), Carnival Barker (former, multiple times), Musician (off and on, current), Mercenary (while human), Circus Owner/Ringmaster (current, seasonal)

Family: none (orphaned as a baby)

Backstory: Rafael grew up in an orphanage in the mid-1400’s. From a young age, he was well known amongst his peers for being a born entertainer, always coming up with wild stories and singing songs of great battles. At fourteen, he decided to appease his restless heart by taking his talents to the streets to try and earn some money. Traveling from village to village, he made quite a name for himself. People would always toss him a spare coin or two when they heard him play, if they had it, and by the time he was twenty, he could afford most any comfortable accommodations. Life was good!

Or so he thought. The more he traveled, however, the more he saw how naïve he’d been. In the villages closer to the border, poverty and corruption and lawlessness were far more evident, and only made worse by sporadic raids from Ottoman invaders. Rafael found himself called to learn how to wield a sword and shield just as expertly as he wielded his silver tongue. His sense of justice prompted him to train day in and day out, which payed off when the time finally came for him to fend off his first real adversary: a city guard with a penchant for abusing power in various ways. The guard took offense to one of his songs and challenged him to a duel, only for Rafael to defeat him soundly, proving his natural talent with a blade. From there, his skills only improved, but the dangers he faced also increased exponentially. He kept traveling, fighting in more battles against raiding parties and marauders than he could keep count of, defending civilians and nobles alike to the best of his abilities.

By the time he was thirty, he was a renowned warrior who’d built a name for himself both with his blade and with his ballads, had learned a few new languages, and had met a woman who drew him to stay put for once in his life. She was gorgeous, intelligent, witty, and utterly enchanting. It didn’t take long for Rafael to realize that he was madly in love with her, but actually summoning the courage to ask for her hand in marriage took him nearly two years. She was worth it! He would have loved to spend the rest of his life with her, but unfortunately, this was not meant to be. On the day of their wedding, just after the ceremony, their village was attacked by a raiding force the likes of which they’d never seen, which was actually on its way to invade a much larger city to the north. The little town didn’t stand a chance, but they fought back anyway.

Rafael and his love got separated in the midst of all the chaos, both dueling valiantly. He wound up going head to head with a knight in strange black and scarlet armor: the general of this invasion force. Coal black eyes bored into him as their blades clashed, urging him to submit without uttering a word.

Rafael refused.

There was a searing pain in his neck before everything went black.

When he next awoke, the full moon shone brightly over the bloody battlefield, the invasion force had moved on, his wife lay slaughtered by his side, hand resting on his unmoving chest, and he was no longer human. No longer mortal. And the overwhelming hunger that burned in his gut brewed together with his building rage, anguish, and determination, driving him back to his feet, blade and shield in hand. He caught up to the army easily with his newfound speed, and found it all too easy, delightful even, to feast on their blood. He didn’t stop even after his thirst was satiated, wanting nothing more than to rip them to shreds for what they had done, what they were planning to do. Vengeance was his true craving.

It was a locket that made him stop. A glint of gold amidst the mud and blood that caught his eye while its owner died mid-scream. A small token of affection from a loved one who was probably back home, waiting for their sweetheart, father, brother, son, or husband. Someone who would never see him again. Someone who would mourn his loss. The guilt of his rampage rippled through Rafael in an instant, bringing him to his knees as the surviving soldiers fled into the night.

He was found by the general he’d dueled before, and was prepared to fight him again, but could not resist the man’s overwhelming presence. A fog over his mind telling him not to get up, and to lay down his blade. The voice he heard when the fearsome man finally spoke out loud was nowhere near what he’d expected, however; young, frantic, shaking, a far cry from the commanding aura he radiated forth. The general was terrified of him. He was rambling in Romanian, which Rafael only understood bits and pieces of. He had picked up just enough from his travels to know that the young man was urging him to stand down, so he tried saying something back in Russian which he was much more fluent in. The boy seemed shocked, but responded in kind, begging for a chance to fully explain himself before Rafael murdered him, too. Rafael snapped back and asked if his dear wife had been afforded the same chance before her death, or if anyone else in their village had. The boy apologized profusely and said he didn’t know, he was captured again shortly after biting Rafael, then went on to explain that he was no Turkish soldier. His name was Radomir. He’d been handed over to the Ottoman Empire when he was a young boy, along with many others from all over Romania, to be trained and forced to serve in their armies. One of the generals had taken a liking to him early on, and demanded to oversee his training and upbringing personally, which eventually led to a more…intimate relationship as he grew older. He had just turned eighteen when he got got the call to go to war, and had been looking for an escape ever since, but the general’s sharp gaze made that difficult, especially after he bit and transformed Radomir into what he called a weapon. Eventually, while the general was having a strategy meeting, the boy managed to sneak into his tent and steal his armor, hoping it would make for a good disguise. It didn’t. He was caught, but the general said it looked good on him, and ordered him to wear it in their next battle, the one against Rafael’s village. He didn’t want to fight. He was actually looking for a place to hide when Rafael found him and charged him, having mistaken him for the general, and only bit him out of sheer terror for his life. The general caught him feeding and had him captured.

Rafael, disgusted by everything that Radomir had been forced to endure, demanded to know where the general was. The boy shakily pointed out a heavily armored corpse, which had been relieved of its head. Rafael had evidently killed the dastardly general in his frenzy, the revelation of which finally extinguished his rage, leaving him with nothing but overwhelming guilt and sorrow. He didn’t want to be this monster that rampaged and inspired fear wherever he went. He didn’t want to fight anymore. When he said as much aloud, Radomir echoed his sentiments, collapsing to his knees before him. Both were exhausted, and dawn was quickly approaching. They agreed to find a place to rest and shelter from the sun’s deadly rays, then figure out where to go from there.

A day of recuperating together turned into many more, as Radomir had latched onto Rafael’s noble heart and asked him for protection and comfort. Rafael, though still working through his grief, gave such things freely. He wanted to make sure the boy finally got home safely, after all. They traveled together across the Austrian countryside, healing and growing closer. When Rafael finally started playing music again, Radomir listened with rapt attention, encouraging him to play more. He grew fond of the boy. How could he not? So sweet, despite everything, so kind and attentive, so insatiably curious. The sort of son he’d have liked to raise, had his marriage not been cut so unbelievably short. Radomir’s affection, on the other hand, turned out to be less familial in nature. He confessed his attraction on a cold winter’s night, just after the two had finished a hunt, and made an attempt at seduction. It was the first time another man had kissed Rafael, and while that didn’t necessarily bother him, Radomir’s youth certainly did. He rebuffed the boy as gently as possible, confessing that he found it difficult to be attracted to anyone at the moment, and that he didn’t reciprocate the boy’s feelings.

Things were a little tense after that. More than a little. Radomir was a petulant teenager still, caught up in his own feelings and unsure of how to work through his trauma. Rafael did his best to help, opening up in the hopes that his young friend would do the same. Eventually, it worked, and their arguments turned into lengthy discussions about anything and everything. Rafael taught him German and how to play a few different instruments, and in return was taught Romanian and how to repair clothing. They were inseparable for years before they made it back to Radomir’s village, where they parted ways for the first time, and have managed to stay in contact throughout the centuries.

Rafael’s next adventure had him traveling throughout Europe, playing music to earn coin as he had in his youth. He grew particularly successful in the winter months, when Carnival was in full swing, despite the fact that he wasn’t Catholic. The people he played for greatly enjoyed his lively music and jovial attitude. Lust and excess of all kinds were encouraged, and he found himself wanting to experiment more and more with it every passing year. By the mid-1500’s he’d accepted the fact that his attraction wasn’t necessarily restricted by gender, and had taken to laying with anyone who would have him that sparked some semblance of romance in his heart. There were many affairs throughout the centuries, some of which didn’t end well. A farmhand who’s aging father chased them out of the barn, a tavern keeper whose husband was not a amused to find her sporting with another man (he had no idea she was married until they were caught), a few nobles here and there, a notable playwright with an unfortunate gambling addiction, and even a royal couple who claimed him as their ‘favorite bard’.

By the early 1800’s, Rafael had visited England a few times, but never stayed for long. Times had changed. He had tried to change with them, but found it immensely difficult. The fashions of the day had grown tighter and less durable, especially for men. English men were expected to look like stuffed pigeons in his opinion, but he went with it in order to blend in. His last partner, a German noblewoman, had left him quite a fortune in her will, demanding that he go make a comfortable life for himself somewhere, and he settled on a town just outside of London.

Naturally, his arrival sparked interest amongst the social elite, as did his purchase of a long derelict yet appropriately opulent estate. He cut his hair, cleaned himself up, and did his best to fit in, despite not being able to go out during the day. What he didn’t realize was that he was not alone in his ‘condition’. A young and breathtakingly beautiful lord by the name of Mortimer Ambrose made his acquaintance shortly after he settled in, having immediately clocked that his new neighbor was a fellow vampire, and decided to take pity on him. The two became fast friends, though Rafael kept himself somewhat distant. He was still in mourning, after all. This frustrated Mortimer to no end; he’d been searching for a suitable partner to start his vampire coven with for so long, and thought Rafael would make an excellent candidate, but grief got in the way of courtship time and time again.

It didn’t keep Mortimer from flirting, though, and bestowing the man with lavish gifts, including a brilliant citrine ring enchanted to let any vampiric wearer walk safely in sunlight. Rafael appreciated it immensely! With spring and a brand new social season rapidly approaching, he’d likely be invited to many garden parties and other daytime events, but practicality was the last thing on his mind. The thought of finally feeling the comforting warmth of the sun on his skin again was far more enticing than any social gathering. That night, Rafael and Mortimer stayed up until dawn, watching the sunrise, and when it crested over the horizon, bathing them in golden early morning glow, they embraced each other tightly. It was was the first time in a long while that Rafael had allowed himself to feel such raw joy. He was much more lively after that, engaging more with the community at large and allowing Mortimer to help him make his debut. What followed was probably one of the most peaceful and prosperous decades in his exceedingly long life; ten years of courtship and revelry as a member of London’s social elite.

He couldn’t help feeling restless, though. Rafael was a wanderer and a swashbuckler by nature, and his brashness and casual attitude often set him at odds with his fellows, as did his strong sense of justice. More prevalently than not, he found himself getting into duels with men who thought they were entitled to the attentions of young women who clearly were not comfortable around them. He refrained from killing these men, only aiming to disarm with his blade, but when they started disappearing, he became the prime suspect. Mortimer was instrumental in proving his innocence, insisting that Rafael would never go to the trouble of kidnapping and/or killing somebody he’d previously allowed to survive a duel, lauding his friend’s honor and integrity. This was echoed by the women he’d defended so gallantly. When another overly aggressive nobleman disappeared in the night, Rafael was finally released from custody, having been thoroughly proven guiltless. Naturally, he then dedicated himself to finding the missing men, unwilling to let them suffer some terrible fate. He enlisted a reluctant Mortimer to help him investigate, uncovering the truth slowly but surely. As he’d suspected, the culprit was indeed a vampire, a newborn that Mortimer himself had recently sired. She’d apparently started by attacking the man she’d been forced to marry after he cornered and ‘compromised’ her, then gone after other men like him because she simply didn’t believe they deserved to live anymore. Rafael’s opponents made easy targets, as he dragged their misdeeds into the public eye. She insisted that she was just finishing what he’d started, punishing the filthy rats who thought to dominate women and making sure they got a taste of what true domination felt like. Rafael was shocked to say the least. Not only was she kidnapping people, she was either killing or enthralling them, building herself a small army of vicious vampire spawn. The biggest shock, however, came when Mortimer revealed that it had all been his idea, and that he’d been hoping for a long time that Rafael would join him and rule this little coven by his side. Rafael, of course, refused. He felt so angry, so utterly betrayed! The temptation to let his rage consume him and demolish these monsters like he had demolished the Ottoman army centuries ago was incredibly strong, but he resisted.

Never again.

Instead, he threw Mortimer’s daylight ring back in his face, turned on his heel, and left, allowing his disappearance to rock London society as yet another mysterious death, instigating a massive manhunt. The people had had enough. Mortimer fled, leaving his thrall to take the fall for his failed plot. Rafael had predicted that he would, and honestly didn’t know whether to feel even more angry or relieved.

He spent most of the 1800’s traveling throughout the UK countryside as a wolf, favoring the wild life after spending so long catering to societal expectations. Eventually, even that grew boring; being trapped on an island drove him to restlessness, even if it was a rather large island. He sought passage to the United States in the early 1890’s, having heard many tales of the opportunity to be found in the New World.

He landed in New York, first, enchanted by its bustling streets for a short time before seeking to explore the rest of what America had to offer. 1893 saw him in Chicago, taking in the very first World’s Fair, which inspired his performative side for the first time in a long while, as traveling fairs and carnivals had become all the rage. He auditioned for several, showing off his many talents, and was quickly hired on as a barker, musician, and strongman by the Starbright Carnival of Extraordinary Oddities. Celeste LeBouf, the wife and muse of the carnival’s owner, Henri LeBouf, took an interest in Rafael rather quickly, intrigued by his ability to only perform after dark. It didn’t take long for her to discern that he was a vampire, much like herself and several other members of the carnival. She told him as much, revealing the true reason why maybe of their best acts were put on after sundown. Henri had built the carnival as a sort of safe haven for all manner of supernatural creatures and beings, being a very prolific witch himself. Devil-blood and angel-kissed, faery and occultist, vampire and werewolf, all were welcome there, provided that they all pulled their weight and didn’t start trouble. It was a whole new world for Rafael, one where he didn’t have to hide his nature so vehemently! He loved it, though hearing humans refer to his new home as a freak show was a hard pill to swallow. The carnival quickly became a surrogate family for him, growing in prosperity as they traveled throughout the States, putting on show after show over the course of several decades.

All good things must come to an end, however. Henri was not immortal. He’d grown old while most of his troupe had remained ageless, and by the late 1940’s, he could no longer travel. Determined to help the man retire comfortably, Rafael offered to buy the carnival for triple what it was worth, having managed to covertly reacquire the wealth of savings he’d hastily left in London, and even helped him find the perfect place to settle down. Celeste was distraught; she’d been trying to convince Henri to let her turn him for ages, but he always declined, and now she was being forced to watch him decline into a slow and painful death. Rafael comforted her, knowing the feeling all too well. Still, when he took the carnival back on the road, she did not go with him, opting instead to stay behind with her ailing husband.

Rafael managed to keep the fair afloat, rebranding it as simply the Starbright Carnival and trying to place more emphasis on the variety of performances rather than on the ‘oddities’ and ‘freaks’ that had previously been advertised so callously. He hated the thought of his performers being othered in such ways. It was certainly a struggle, especially with the Cold War and Red Scare in full swing, but he kept his head up, and urged his colleagues to do the same. The mid-60’s sparked the boom of something that Rafael dearly wished he’d invented: the Renaissance Pleasure Fair. It was a direct rebellion of creators and educators against the harsh onslaught of McCarthyism, inspiring people to take a long, uncensored look at history. To say the least, Rafael adored it, and in 1970, he rebranded the Starbright Carnival again, adapting its theme to that of the Carnival celebrations he’d attended in Europe throughout the renaissance. He played all of his old songs, translating several of them to English and teaching them to his performers, most of whom were eager to go along with the radical changes. By the time they officially opened again in March of 1971 at a rural Ohio fairground, their transformation was complete, and they enjoyed roaring success as a result. The Carnival’s yearly schedule included three-week stints in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, Connecticut, and Massachusetts before settling down in Kentucky for a long winter break. They continued this way for decades, enjoying incredible success.

The fall of 1985 brought with it some complications, however. The small town where they’d decided to set up for their Halloween stint in Massachusetts had recently fallen victim to some rather strange happenings. Disappearances, mentions of hauntings, and an old abandoned house on a hill that had started coming to life after dark, all highly intriguing to Rafael. He resolved to investigate when and where he could, though the Carnival remained his top priority. They got set up in record time, opening in mid-October, as always, but Rafael spent the night before opening day scouting the sleepy little town. Seemed ordinary enough. People were eager to unwind after spending a long day at school or work, frequenting local bars and diners, as well as the park, bowling alley, roller rink, and arcade. He heard many rumors, of course, particularly about the house on the hill, and even met a plucky young man who was eager to take him up there to investigate it. Honestly, he’d half suspected that the teen was just using it as an excuse to get him alone. There was a shifty, mischievous demeanor about the boy that Rafael didn’t quite like but was willing to tolerate for now. As long as the boy didn’t try anything stupid, he was willing to go along with it. The approached the house a little before midnight, and the aura around it made Rafael’s spine tingle. At the urging of the grinning teen, whom he’d learned preferred to be called Ace, he knocked on the door, half-expecting it to creak open by itself.

To his surprise, it was answered by a spunky blonde valley girl who introduced herself as Trixie and said that her master was expecting him, then playfully ushered him into the parlor. Ace followed him, and he quickly realized that Ace and Trixie definitely knew each other. Before Rafael could piece together more details, he was joined in the parlor by beautiful yet haunted-looking brunet who spoke with a lilting Italian accent. The man introduced himself as Fausto, declaring that his master awaited them all in the dining hall. Locking eyes with him for a moment, Rafael swore he saw the gaze of someone who desperately wanted to run, but it was to brief for him to be sure. He followed Fausto and the other two into the dining hall, wondering just who their mysterious master was. The dining hall was surprisingly opulent, and quite obviously the largest room in the house, complete with a massive crystal chandelier and an ornate oak table, at the head of which sat none other than Count Mortimer Ambrose. Several others flanked him at the table and ceased their idle chatter when they saw Rafael enter the room. A whole new coven. Mortimer greeted him with an eerily charming smile, bidding him welcome and beckoning the older vampire to come sit at his left for their midnight feast. Reluctantly, Rafael agreed. From the way he talked, Mortimer had missed him quite dearly and wanted to catch up, even going so far as to give him his daylight ring back. They spent the night drinking and reminiscing, and Mortimer even took him on a wine-drunk tour of the house. It ended with them making out on the roof as the sun rose. He hadn’t expected to want anything like that from his ex-friend, but one thing had led to another, and now neither of them wanted to stop. Hands and lips and teeth and tongues wandered and explored wherever they wished, teasing until golden warmth prickled their skin. Rafael gladly would have gone to Mortimer’s bed if he didn’t have a carnival to finish setting up for opening day, but alas, duty called. He left his friend with one last kiss before gracefully flying down from the roof and departing for the fairgrounds.

Opening day was a resounding success! The townsfolk flocked to the Starbright Carnival, delighting in the rides, the food, the performances, and the renaissance flair. When he wasn’t Ringmastering or playing his music, Rafael made time to visit Mortimer, learning as much as he possibly could about the new coven. Ace, he quickly found out, was not yet a vampire, but mortal teen with infernal blood. Trixie was a Fae who’d had the misfortune of being bit by a vampire during her first excursion to the mortal plane, and thus was not allowed back into the Hollow. Fausto was definitely more antisocial than the rest, though he perked up whenever Rafael spoke to him in Italian or Latin. He sometimes caught the young man praying with some sort of coin in his hand, but didn’t pry.

[monstershearts]

Rafael Krieger

Age: 580 (Turned at 32)

Gender: Cis Male

Sexuality: bisexual/pansexual (he really doesn’t care for labels tbh)

Nationality: Austrian

Race: Vampire (formerly human)

Appearance: Tall, weathered skin, long ginger/ blond hair, well groomed beard, bright blue eyes, handsome features, strong build, bright smile, several tattoos and piercings.

FC: Ben Metzner

Personality: Jovial, wise, observant, curious, loves to entertain others, lively, natural leader, friendly, mostly forgiving, generous, slow to anger, enjoys a good fight, protective, considers friends and/or coven members to be his family, restless at times, longs to see the sun again, swashbuckler at heart, strong sense of justice and loyalty, will always help outcasts when and where he can.

Powers/Abilities: hypnotic gaze, silver tongue, shapeshifting (bat, wolf, or mist), superhuman speed/agility/strength, telepathy, vampiric bite, immortality, eternal youth, can scale vertical surfaces and ceilings without being affected by gravity, adept swordfighter, plays the lute, flute, and bagpipes, sings brilliantly.

Weaknesses: Holy water, crosses and other non-satanic holy symbols, running water, sunlight, fire, stake to the heart, cannot enter someone’s residence without invitation, must feed on human blood at least once every few nights (he can sustain himself on animal blood, but must do so far more often), not very studious (though he can read multiple languages), bad at math.

Languages: German, English, French, Romanian, Russian, Hungarian, Latin, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish.

Style: Sort of a blend of pirate, carnival barker, and punk rock star. Lots of leather and fringe, flowing shirts, tight but breathable pants, pirate boots, either neutrals or loud patterns, lots of rings, always wears wrist cuffs and bracelets, multiple belts.

Profession: Minnesinger (while human, essentially a traveling entertainer), Carnival Barker (former, multiple times), Musician (former), Mercenary (while human)

Family: none (orphaned as a baby)

Backstory: Rafael grew up in an orphanage in the mid-1400’s. From a young age, he was well known amongst his peers for being a born entertainer, always coming up with wild stories and singing songs of great battles. At fourteen, he decided to appease his restless heart by taking his talents to the streets to try and earn some money. Traveling from village to village, he made quite a name for himself. People would always toss him a spare coin or two when they heard him play, if they had it, and by the time he was twenty, he could afford most any comfortable accommodations. Life was good!

Or so he thought. The more he traveled, however, the more he saw how naïve he’d been. In the villages closer to the border, poverty and corruption and lawlessness were far more evident, and only made worse by sporadic raids from Ottoman invaders. Rafael found himself called to learn how to wield a sword and shield just as expertly as he wielded his silver tongue. His sense of justice prompted him to train day in and day out, which payed off when the time finally came for him to fend off his first real adversary: a city guard with a penchant for abusing power in various ways. The guard took offense to one of his songs and challenged him to a duel, only for Rafael to defeat him soundly, proving his natural talent with a blade. From there, his skills only improved, but the dangers he faced also increased exponentially. He kept traveling, fighting in more battles against raiding parties and marauders than he could keep count of, defending civilians and nobles alike to the best of his abilities.

(Not finished, but I’m publishing now before I forget. I’ll add more later)

[cycleof-dusk]

updating my pinned! i want people to have better access to my characters and their basics, along with a small introduction

i’m Jax! 23, located in the EST timezone, and use they/she pronouns! follows come from @darkxyzdragon​ as this is a sideblog - but my main is predominantly FFXIV and chronic illness/disability awareness, for those interested! you can find me on the NA servers at darkxyzdragon.4792 !

Characters are under the cut for length reasons, ofc! (Hikari is all the way at the end to keep everyone in one post)

Name: Sionedda

Birthday: 69 Scion 1325 AE (almost 9 years old! also yes i did change this)

Orientation: Bisexual

Partner: Aym Riverwolf (found at @/riverwoofs)

Gender & Pronouns: Feminine, she/her

Race: Sylvari

Cycle: Dusk

Role: Pact Commander, Leader of the Crystal Bloom

Profession: Elementalist (Tempest)

Alternate Professions: Thief (Deadeye), Revenant

Titles: Commander, Lightbringer, Voice of Aurene, Champion of Aurene

Likes: Cocoa, cold temperatures, light refracting through crystals

Dislikes: Desert, humidity, chak, fire, early morning

Originally a bright violet dusk bloom, reminiscent of a succulent with her hair pattern, Sionedda is bubbly and affectionate with everyone she meets. She predominantly focuses herself on Air magic, but is also known to fall back into a more supportive role with Water. After The Departing, she has never attuned to Fire again.

Her appearance changes twice throughout the story: First, after The Departing, she awakes from the Realm of the Lost with the fern hair instead of her succulent leaves. Then, during the scene in which Caithe is Branded, in Sionedda’s story, she takes her place, and her colors shift more to richer indigos and teals.

Name: Tiernanne

Birthday: 42 Zephyr 1333 AE

Orientation: Homosexual

Partner: Pact Marshal Trahearne

Gender & Pronouns: Trans, he/him

Race: Sylvari

Cycle: Dawn

Role: Pale Reaver

Profession: Mesmer (Mirage)

Alternate Professions: n/a

Titles: Warmaster

Likes: arid desert climate, soft textures, cold drinks

Dislikes: humidity, unfamiliar areas

A blind sapling, adopted by Sionedda during the events of the Icebrood Saga. His vision allows him to see enough to fight, but he prefers not to, in the off chance he hurt someone he cared about because of it. He never has, but he would rather not take the risk. He still ascended to Pale Reaver within the Vigil, as he’s hard-working and a damn good swordsman.

Name: Destiny Sonnen

Birthday: 85 Colossus 1313 AE (20 years old)

Orientation: Homosexual

Partner: n/a

Gender & Pronouns: Cis, she/her

Race: Human

Ethnicity: Canthan/Krytan

Role: Shining Blade Associate, Double Agent

Profession: Necromancer (Reaper)

Alternate Professions: Revenant

Titles: Magister, Lightbringer

Likes: food, her minions, research

Dislikes: dead ends, the ministry guard

A street rat of Divinity’s Reach, Destiny learned that her unknown family were Shining Blade - in addition, a whole line of them, on one side, going back 250 years. In being given a family heirloom - a curved dagger, pointed at both ends - she became determined to find out more about them. She managed to become both a Whispers Lightbringer and a Priory Magister in her efforts to uncover more. She has a feeling there are a few people who know, but possibly don’t realize they do.

In seeing the Pact Commanders in Divinity’s Reach one day, she had glanced at the norn and realized at his side was the twin to her own dagger, and immediately jumped to him and interrogated the two, only to learn the Aym Riverwolf had about as much idea as she did about the daggers. Currently, she’s still searching for her answers.

Name: Eir Aymsdottir

Birthday: - (currently undecided)

Orientation: -

Partner: n/a

Gender & Pronouns: Cis, she/her

Race: Norn/Sylvari

Spirit: Wolf

Role: baby

Profession: Ranger (Druid)

Alternate Professions: n/a

Titles: Little One, Dreamer

Likes: plants, fluffy animals, sugar

Dislikes: sour foods, slipping on ice, when her pets won’t come back to her side

A bubbly Norn-Sylvari child, short for a norn but massive for a sylvari, with a bioluminescent patterning in her skin easily mistaken for traditional tattoos. These markings, along with her freckles, the roots of her hair, and her eyes glow in the dark.

She’s quite sweet, and very empathetic, with a faint connection to the Dream.

[Note: This was me looking at ArenaNet giving Sylvari a FULLY FUNCTIONING digestive system but saying “nah they absolutely cannot reproduce”; I find it cowardly that none of the main races can reproduce among each other but that’s a conversation for a different day. MY POINT BEING, no one is under any obligation to agree with my headcanons and can choose to not ask/interact with her! <3]

Name: Hikari Poole

Birthday: 58 Scion 1051 AE

Orientation: Homosexual

Partner: Zhi Yawen (@/riverwoofs), Jora

Gender & Pronouns: Trans, she/her

Race: Human

Ethnicity: Canthan

Role: Hero of Tyria, Cantha, Elona

Profession: Elementalist/Necromancer

Titles: Priestess of Grenth

Likes: girls, opulent clothing & jewelry, street food, Echovald

Dislikes: the desolation, watching her loved ones in pain

A young elementalist and necromancer, originally from a small village on Shing Jea Isle, she’s attended Shing Jea monastery from a young age, honing her magical abilities and expanding on her knack for blood magic and sacrificial arts, as opposed to minions.

She and her partner - both romantically and in crime - Yawen have traveled across Tyria, Elona, and their Canthan homeland, and helped save lives (and the world, a few times).

In death, they both haunted the Echovald forest happily, as well as traveled through the Mists; when Glint arrived, they mourned, but greeted her warmly, having loved the dragon when they met her; it was during one of their forays back into the Mists that they were directed by Glint to assist the current Tyrian heroes in their fight against Joko - seeing as the two of them are the ones who freed him in the first place, two and a half centuries prior.

[shirtlesssammy]

2x02: Everybody Loves a Clown

Then:

Dean wore cute hospital PJs once. And I’m being really flippant over a very cool Then sequence. 

Now:

Medford, Wisconsin

At a fair, the locals are enjoying the rides, and carnies, and clowns (and fire breathers--I mean, I spent many a summer at the county fair in my youth, but I guess, never the one in Medford, WI...wow.) A family with a young girl is enjoying the day. The daughter sees a clown in the distance and waves. 

Yay CLOWNS! If the fucking thing didn’t look like Pennywise’s depressed cousin, maybe I wouldn’t be so skeptical right now. 

Later that night the family drives home in their little Smart Car when the daughter sees Pennywise’s cousin again. Even later, the daughter, hopped up on cotton candy and Fun Dip, can’t sleep. She looks outside to see Pennywise’s cousin chillin’ in her backyard. TOTES NOT CREEPY. She races downstairs to let him inside. 

Meanwhile, the brothers give their father a hunter’s funeral. Sam is overwhelmed and wants to know if John said anything to Dean before he died. WHelps, NO Sam, NOT AT ALL. Dean lets a Single Man Tear fall because he’s not emotional and not lying and not a big ball of pain and anger and relief and guilt. 

One week later, Dean’s at Bobby’s fixing up Baby (and finally grooving to the actual music of the show, thx Netflix for always ruining my season 1 experience). 

For Is This Pornography Science:

Sam wants Dean to admit SOMETHING. Dean wants to bury it all REAL deep and continue to fix his soul car in silence. 

Sam also has a voicemail on their dad’s phone from a woman named Ellen. They agree to head out to find the woman. 

Sidenote: I love that the minivan only plays AM 70’s music. GOLD. 

Anyway, they end up at a place called the Roadhouse. They head inside to the seemingly deserted bar. There’s a man sleeping on the pool table. Dean is accosted by a young woman with a shotgun. He gets the better hand without issue though. She punches him though and Sam comes out from the back at the end of another gun. Boy, this is a real fun crowd. 

Meet Ellen and Jo Harvelle. They know Sam and Dean, but Sam and Dean don’t know them. And I know John is fresh in his grave, but fuck you, man. Way to isolate and terrorize your children their whole lives. Ellen tells them she could help with the demon. She then puts it together that John is not alright. Sam admits that the demon probably got him. 

Ellen tells them that Ash can help them with their cause. Enter: Ash and all his mullet glory. 

Dean and Ash flirt unnecessarily. Ash is a genius and can’t believe what John accomplished. (I mean, what does a genius have to do with hunting, but ok. Sam and Dean are geniuses too but I’d say it’s their street smarts that’s kept them in the game this long.) 

Anyway, Ash can track the demon. He just needs time. Dean tells Ash that he really likes his hair, and then the camera thought that was too gay so it cuts to Jo’s butt. It’s a cute butt and all, but Dean’s still very bisexual. 

Sam asks Ellen about a folder of case information. 

Dean asks Jo about how Ellen got caught up in the hunter life. Jo’s dad was a hunter. He passed away. There’s a moment of Dean thinking about Jo in more than a friendly stranger way but that passes really quickly. Jo calls him out but Sam interrupts (as he does). He’s caught a case!

Sam actively wants to pursue a killer clown case. What kind of upside down world are we living in? Oh right, the world where Sam works cases to process/push through his grief. The brothers try to figure out what’s happening. Dean wonders if it’s a cursed object since it’s moving from town to town with the carnival and it’s happened in the past. Time to find that needle in a haystack!

At the carnival, a disillusioned kid wanders around the funhouse with his dad. He sees Pennywise’s cousin. 

He’s scared but his dad tells him they’re his friends. That night, little Evan lets his new friend into his home to murder his parents. Boy, I dread thinking about the panel of therapists he’ll need in life.

The brothers decide to pose as carnival workers to blend in to find the cursed object. Dean immediately gets off on the wrong foot with one of the carnival workers, who is blind and has an apparent hair trigger temper. Papazian, the worker, is also adept at whirling blades right into a bullseye which is definitely #goals. Dean then pulls an older brother and makes Sam sit in the clown chair during their interview. “This place is a refuge for outcasts,” the carnival manager says. SOLD!

The boys patrol the carnival with EMF meters, until Sam discovers a real human skeleton dangling in the funhouse. YEESH. Papazian overhears Dean talking about the case over his phone and stops him to ask about “EMF” and “skeletons.” Dean scrambles for an explanation. Um, they’re writing a book about...ghosts! Phew! Saved it, Dean Bean. Before the end of the day Sam and Dean witness another kid who sees an invisible clown. Dun dun DUN. 

Sam and Dean tail the family to their home and then sit outside waiting for the clown to appear. It’s much later when a light turns on in the house. The little girl is awake and she’s ready to bring in her new playmate!

My GOD. 

Dean and Sam intercede in the most shotgunniest of ways, by breaking into the house and blasting away at the clown. The clown suddenly fades to nothing and launches out the door.  

Invisible clown on the loose? G R E A T

Later that morning, the Winchesters ditch the van in the woods off the side of the road.

While they walk, they discuss emotions. Sam pushes Dean to grieve in a healthier, more open way. But Dean is OKAY, he’s FINE! He pushes Sam in return to deal with their Dad’s death and stop trying to bury himself in hunting. 

Later, with emotions safely squashed into a tiny space in their chests again, they go over the case. Ellen’s crew turned up a likely suspect: they’re dealing with a rakshasa, which feeds on people and can turn invisible. They eat every 20-30 years so it lines up with the earlier carnival. Carnival manager Cooper worked at both carnivals, and is now their top suspect. 

Sam breaks into Cooper’s trailer, while Dean heads to Papazian to borrow a brass rakshasa-killing knife. Papazian invites Dean to look for the knife in a trunk, only Dean discovers a clown wig inside. “You?” Dean asks before Papazian morphs out on him.

Dean breaks out of the trailer and runs into Sam. He didn’t get the knife, but he found the killer! Good job? Unfortunately Papazian is currently in invisible mode. Sam races for the funhouse to get some brass, heading for the piping hot pipe organ to steal a few blades. 

In the funhouse, knives whirl out of nowhere, pinning Dean to the wall. He pulls the fire extinguisher system and the invisible shape gets trapped in the mist and strobe light. The Winchesters stab it with a brass pipe and it fades away into a pile of clothes. 

Back at Ellen’s bar, Jo congratulates them on a successful hunt. She heavily hints that Sam’s a third wheel and Sam miraculously leaves so that Jo can make her move.

Dean admits that he’d be heavily on the side of massive flirtation, but he’s been having a rough time lately. “Wrong place, wrong time,” Jo surmises. Yep! 

Ash wanders in. He scraped out all the data from John’s notes and turned it into a genuine demon tracking program on his computer. He’ll notify the Winchesters if omens turn up. 

Ellen offers the Winchesters spare beds but they head back to Bobby’s so Dean can drink and work on his car and pretend that he doesn’t feel things. Sam admits that he’s got a lot to work through about their Dad’s death. He feels guilty that he never mended fences with their dad, and admits that he isn’t okay. He tells Dean that he knows he’s feeling the same. Dean admits his own feelings, except instead of words he uses a crowbar to bash the living hell out of the rear trunk of his soul. I mean car. Dean bby

DEAN SMASH:

I feel like a friggin’ soccer mom!

Was there an article in the Demon Hunters Quarterly that I missed?

I know what you're thinking, Sam. Why did it have to be clowns?

“Planes crash!” “And apparently clowns kill!”

I swear, the next person who asks me if I'm okay, I'm gonna start throwing punches

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive! 

[lockekatirci]

LOKMAN “LOCKE” KATIRCI

ROLE: Hell Hound CHARACTER’S NAME: Lokman “Locke” Katirci AGE: 28 GENDER & SEXUALITY: Cismale / Bisexual FACECLAIM: Alperen Duymaz

[trigger warning for: blood, mild gore description and continued implied abuse from skeleton]

HEADCANONS: 

·         A thumb drags away from serrated metal; a clean protrusion opens for crimson to ooze from the fleshy tear. Lokman’s hand rises to his lips, quick tongue laps up the spillage like he might miss a drop; wasteful. Iron against the roof of his mouth; harsh reminder of where he came from, what he once was compared to the man he is now. Taste of defeat; of weakness reminds him that hell was once his and where he once was a demon; a spawn, expendable. He’s instead the devil’s personal hound, risen through the ranks and where metallic honey sticks to the roof of his mouth, fuels him like an aphrodisiac. He will not forget; for that means he can forgive and Lokman will never lose sight of what the own blood on curved lips means. Not long apart from a blade, secured at the rear of cargo-like trousers and it’s shine dulled.

·         As all that have a twisted mind; deluded over time where lies to oneself become so believable that there’s no longer a line to cross. Blurred to ash and burnt away is morality, no niggle in the mind for pity upon prey. Katirci blends through crowded circles in Butcher’s Street as though he isn’t privy what’s beneath; perhaps he isn’t, truly? That his knowledge that it houses a second place that accepts the youngest child who frequents Million’s Square like the monster he is; fast fingers, scabbed to gain bare necessities; hired by benefactors to enact a perverse kind of justice. He redirects simmering rage into creativity; and his favourite colour’s sangria.

·         A mind that works overdrive requires amble distractions, previously negated, Lokman’s mind flourishes in collecting tendrils of knowledge; absorbs it like a sponge and drags somewhat desperate eyes across inky paper; reads every historical word on crinkled pages, throws them away when finished, never keeps them. Always remembers their contents and where trickery is his element; mastering the forever growing need for knowledge is as impossible to sate as his wits.

SAMPLE PARAGRAPH

Profligate fingers draw marks against delipidated brick, darkening mahogany stone stains murky streaks when thin layers of flesh peel off fingertips. Lokman’s skin absorbs a strange comfort in the shadows; embraces it like a friend who’s never able to part with him. Yet the familiarity tinged in brisk air remains so different in every bated breath exhaled; the prominent aroma of carcinogenic cigarettes lingers in the atmosphere; hooked in by constant regeneration of exposed tobacco. It’s haphazard in its method, following the scientific laws of diffusion and how it swarms to fill each empty crevasse; spreads white wings of mist to swallow bodies in its choking hold. The alleyway of shadows offers a home Locke’s never possessed; he couldn’t grasp it then, found resentment in mistreatment and on this intangible turnaround, the shades of night that light obscures remain as untouchable as ever.

But he doesn’t mind this time; tells himself that even though he wishes beneath the cold underbelly of his soul that he desires, it provides the skin trace that such physical needs require; that masochistic desire that sits in the hidden depths stays hungry, but only bloodied fingertips induce it to surface.

Accustomed to the cold of Ilbern, the paved streets beneath heavy boots are the only tell of Lokman’s presence when he treads through narrow alleyways. Natural to vanish in the darkness, assimilate in others, swift; presents a danger that brings notoriety to those that know of how it’s abused. Eyes of the monsters cannot look away, won’t blink – only then to miss the ghost in the darkness and along with that, other precious artefacts vanish. Appendages clean cut; a brutality that’s bubbled over and spills that alluring red on twisted streets, leave marks as permanent as inky tattoos on skin.

Like legacy – one that’s born of malicious and agonised hatred, it’s something to leave behind. The attention that Lokman craves for his work. Old scars smear rough skin, remind those wandering eyes of the world that jagged edges come with Katirci’s criminalistic ideologies. Necessity for fear; a survivor of more than just the outside world. The carvings that Lokman looks at; cares for that serve as stark reminders of how the inside world moulded him so far past the new one and that encourages those looking too deep about how such a man manages to forge a path of destruction in his wake.

Then they look at those scars, and they know.

Infamy comes in just as many forms as legacy; history and to him, the driving force of pursuit to the one thing not so easily bartered in even the underworld of Ilbern. Where such trivial hunts for yearning fulfilled comes an irrevocable knowing that it’s not bought like the falsified need some can front. There’s no buying being wanted and beneath the curved grins and silver-tongues jibes, he knows only a true tortured soul would pick up fragmented pieces of twisted morals. A rage that sits below the surface, constantly utilised to enact savage chaos and brutality where it had once been forbidden in a room of eight.

If he were in a new room now – another dozen sets of flesh and bone, he would exist to be the last man standing. Nobody had suspected him then, only scarred the silent ghost as it built walls of rebellion around its soul.

Still a ghost, only Katirci will not be cast aside and discarded. He will be known to all as the reaper; a name in the mouths of even the farthest and holiest of men. Lokman knows well the brittleness of existence and expects the look behind fearful hues when the criminal hands puncture bone and break ivory. He’ll whisper:

“To bleed is to feel,” in the ears of the unsuspecting, as though one would be like him and as virulent. From within shadows, insanity can be found; a mind so dangerously clever, Locke’s spent years learning how to quieten and watch through obscured visions. “Tell me what it’s like,” an order so lost in its meaning that it’s never answered before the light in eyes departs. Though, if it were to ever be countered, he’s not sure he’d recognise the words that leave trembling lips. Because with all those wits, the smarts and the learned information quickly acquired, he’s never been asking the right questions.

He traipses through narrow gaps in slick bodies; a definition of seen by many but not seen at all. Locke doesn’t see them either, lets only the slow trickle of the scratched fingertips be the tell amongst crowded places that there’s something more in the ghost that walks among them. Gone in one moment, appears elsewhere in the next; haunts and makes those ones adore him for such clever mastery of the persuasive arts.

Hidden in the depths of Millionaire’s, a rickety sign; neon and shameless is nailed into those mahogany bricks flags Locke’s destination, a place beyond petty theft; too aware of a residence to permit crimes like arson in its walls. All that dare venture, know what it is; and Lokman craves the looks they give him when he steps inside, wooden door slams against the rear wall when he heads inside; an entrance that isn’t shrouded. His heart is steady against ivory ribs and the thin layer of sweat that beads at his hairline is as slick at the smile he wears on wicked lips. Like a golden cape draped over his shoulders, he laps up every eye that turns his way, visualises how the place now is his in the new world; haunted to still compare to the one locked in a cage at the back of his mind.

But you’ll never forgive and forget, will you Locke? It’s the one side of his Cerberus head, coaxing the aide-mémoire into him.

Lokman orders a drink, figures well deserved when his opprobrium doubles as notoriety and the same dark eyes that shift around the room with a confidence unmatched is every telling tale of how everyone knows Katirci by name, understands what it represents. But none ask about the crimson that stain shredded fingers. The devil’s hound winks, like a bullet fired: “Have you ever thought of the consequences of a man who’s had to wait too long for his drink?”

[jace-the-writer-guy]

Indigo Strife-Daturas

Appearance

- Red fox faunus female with large, rather fluffy fox ears atop her head with black tips

- Her hair is parted in the middle, going behind her shoulders. It goes down almost to her waist, a lighter red color than her brother's with white tips and black between the white and red. All around her hair are small bits that curve out a bit, colored white.

- D-cup breasts

- Petite, athletic body with strong muscles underneath her skin

- She has golden eyes

- Like her brother, her facial features are very androgynous

- Also like her brother, she has a blue aura

- Her skin is a bit paler compared to her brother's

- She has a bit of a bubble butt

- She can always be seen wearing an arrowhead necklace that her girlfriend had given her

__________

Outfits

Combat/Casual: She wears a corset over her torso colored black with a white cropped tank top under it, leaving a good portion of her chest visible and has a zipper in the front. There are two short shoulder sleeves that are connected to the corset as well. The corset also has a thin strap going across her chest, connected between the sleeves with a buckle in the middle. Around her waist she wears a white belt where she keeps a couple of red pouches connected to. She wears a pair of tight, black pants that have sections of red around the knees. On her right thigh is a harness in the shape of an 'x' connected to her belt from the top and wrapped around her thigh at the bottom, with a round magnet in the middle. Above the harness is where the sheath for her shortsword hangs from, which doesn't get in the way at all when she draws either her sword or crossbow. Hanging from her belt at her left hip is a quiver for her crossbow bolts. She wears a pair of very light, black knee-high boots with two thin straps and buckles around the top of each boot. She wears a pair of black sleeves over her arms with holes for her thumbs, and with patches of white on the undersides of the forearms. 

Casual 2: She still wears her normal boots, but she wears a pair of tight grey pants, black stockings over them that reach just below the middles of her thighs, and a tight black sleeveless top with a skirt to it, reaching an inch or so below her rear. Her pants have black bands around them on the thighs. Over the pants she wears a pair of black mini shorts under the skirt part of her top. She also wears a hood over her head that is connected to a small piece of clothing that wraps around her midsection just under her breasts. The entire garment is colored dark red, and has holes cut out in the hood for her fox ears. She always keeps her sword on her at her right hip.

________

Bio

- First year student of Beacon and member of team CIAN (Cyan)

  - Eighteen years old

  - Bisexual

  - Parents are Raine Daturas and Vivian Strife, and her identical twin brother is Inigo Strife-Daturas

- Likes to joke about being the older sister, due to her being born five minutes before Inigo

- When science became reliable enough, Raine and Vivian had signed up for Raine to be impregnated by using a mix of medicinal dust, Vivian's DNA, and other things to combine with sperm cells and it was implanted in an egg in Raine's womb. It took numerous tries, but Inigo and Indigo were born two years behind Ebony and the others

- While Inigo trained hard to be accepted into Beacon early, Indigo didn't have that luxury due to her highly antisocial attitude at a young age. When Inigo had gone to combat school, Indigo was instead given training by the Rangers themselves due to Vivi being commandant, and decided by a vote by all Rangers. Due to this training, Indigo had to spend the entire duration of combat school as a normal student would, and went into Beacon two years after Inigo.

 - Much like Inigo, she sees Star as an older sister

 - While she doesn't use a longbow as a weapon as her family does, she does have one to fire for recreational purposes with her brother. She isn't as skilled though

- She decided to train a bit more under Star's father more than what Inigo did, and her sword was created in his honor

- She can act like a tsundere at times

- Very much like her brother, she hates to be called short and will yell at the person that does it

- Trains constantly and has excellent balance

- She also takes heavily after Vivi in her manner of speech, using words like "This one, his, he," or things like that

- Loves for her ears to be taken care of and given attention by those closest to her, especially her girlfriend.

- While she doesn't have a tail like her brother, she loves for her hair to be brushed

- Her girlfriend is Kairi Aideen

- After she began to date Kairi, she started to take lessons from Alyss on bellydancing. She was a fast learner and loves to use water to swirl around her with her semblance.

________

Weapons and Semblance

Weapon 1: Crossfire: A custom, light, mostly wooden crossbow that packs a powerful punch. It has two limbs to it in the front that are in a horizontal 'X' formation with two strong chords, connected in the middle to launch its bolts. The front of the crossbow and the limbs are made of metal. The main body is dark red wood while the limbs and the metal they're attached to are white. The chords are a red color and are infused with water dust, letting Indigo use her semblance to easily pull them back while she is already bringing out another bolt to fire. The stock is very simple, made of lightweight black metal and can fold to the crossbow's left side when needed. The arms also fold to the sides as well, and can easily be stored on her thigh thanks to the magnet on the harness there attaching to the folded stock. Crossfire is complete with a small scope with two magnification levels, medium and long, and the top has a simple sight for close range.

Weapon 2: Diamond Vulpes: A simple looking shortsword with two flares in the blade at separate spots, and a wider flare at the base. The blade is a diamond-like color, fifteen inches long and an inch and a half wide, and the hilt is four inches long with a simple circular pommel. The hilt is black metal mostly with spirals of red across it. The hilt has the capability of extending a long shaft from the pommel to four and a half feet long including the hilt, turning the weapon into a glaive.

Semblance: Even Flow: Shared semblance with her twin brother. Indigo can control any type of liquid completely. She can freeze it or make it scalding hot. She can turn it into mist like a smokescreen. It extends to snow too. The downside is if she makes the liquid boil, her body and her own blood gets hot and it gets harder to breath the longer she keeps the temperature high while it’s in her control, and she could suffer a heat stroke. Freezing the liquid makes her body and her blood cold and she’ll begin to shiver more and more the longer she has the liquid frozen while it’s in her control, and she could suffer hypothermia. She does her best to keep a balance.

________

Sexual Information

- (If futa) Seven inch long, thick Canine cock

- Can make her body take a slime form thanks to her semblance, turning her body and hair into a light blue color.

- Can make water have the consistency and thickness of slime, and can make any tentacles or other appendages like that blow loads of fake cum that feels like the real thing. It’s still water, so it’s safe.

 - While she hates to be called short, she likes the size difference between her and her girlfriend

  - She loves to use her semblance to create water tentacles to pleasure herself, and Kairi

- When she isn't using her water tentacles on Kairi or another person, she's actually fairly submissive

- She loves to just watch other girls get fucked either by someone else, or by the tentacles she can summon

- She and Kairi have an open relationship so that Indigo can watch Kairi being fucked, and she absolutely loves to watch Kairi be fucked by someone else

- She loves to hear dirty talk from Kairi as Kairi is being fucked in front of her

- Loves shower sex

- Loves sex while swimming

- She is a huge switch, and loves to be either dominant or submissive

- (Jauneverse Harem) When she's able to, Indigo loves to have Jaune boost her aura so that she can make multiple slime clones of herself and reverse gangbang him. She needs a good amount of water to do this, but Jaune's semblance makes it possible for her to make the clones easily with the water.

[astridxhofferson]

 ❝ Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness.  I am kind to everyone, but when someone is unkind to me, weak is not what you are going to remember about me  ❞

𝑐𝘩𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟⧸𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑒 : astrid hofferson  ▸  viking ( haddock tribe )  ▸  lili reinhart    .

❛❛   aesthetic .  ❜❜   ―   ◜   ❏  . ―  dragons , scars , forests , wildfires , thunder && lightning , oceans , dragonflies , axes , knives , shields , swords , freckles , braids, campfires , hooded fur ,  bruised && bloody knuckles , campfires , ashes , leather , cuts , bruises . ― ✎ penned by gigi , 23 , est , she/her .

▐  ᴀᴛ ᴀ ɢʟᴀɴᴄᴇ ▸

[ NAME ] astrid hofferson . [ GENDER & PRONOUNS ] female ( ♀ ) she/her . [ SPECIES ] human ( hofferson bloodline ) . [ BIRTHDAY & AGE ] sept. 7th , AGE 21 ( twenty-one ) . [ VIKING TRIBE ] haddocks . [ KINGDOM ] dunbroch . [ FACECLAIM ] lili reinhart ( ♆ ) .

▐  ᴘᴇʀsᴏɴᴀʟɪᴛʏ ▸

courageous /  competitive /  loyal /  spirited 

input description

short-tempered /  emotionally driven /  stubborn /  perfectionist

▐  sᴛᴀᴛs ▸

       DRAGONS TOOK EVERYTHING YOU HAD

⚡ — THE TRAGEDY IS WRITTEN IN THE SCARS of the fallen born in an age of FIRE && s w o r d .  murderous beasts .  with their slaughterous talons && their razor-sharp fangs .  generations have been spent drenched in blood && bathed in flames .  with the snapping && cracking of bones still echoing in their nightmares as they watched comrades fall , sometimes helplessly ,  && other times despite every ounce of their heart-clenching effort .  

       a trespass terror in the kingdom of dumbroch’s sky that loomed in every shadow despite the blazes that never failed to lick their way through the wood && foundations that had only just begun to smell familiar to them .  the first thing they took was their childhood , but this is the worst thing , because they didn’t even know it .  they were so young when they were taught that valour && glory is shaped with a battle-cry, a shield && axe .  

       ❝  when you carry this axe ,  you carry all of us with you  ❞

       your legacy ,  your family’s legacy ,  all rests on their shoulders .  they're going to slay a dragon ,  the enemy of dunbroch’s kingdom ,  && take their place among the ranks of their viking warriors .  carrying the name of the once fearless finn who froze at the sight of a DRAGON , bringing the hofferson name down in his shame  -----  there was NOTHING more important than learning how to fight a dragon .  but now , the enchanted world is in ruins .  stuck in a war within a war BE FEARLESS , ASTRID ,           you’re a hofferson .                       YOU’RE A VIKING .

 [  an unwritten tale of princess fishbone becoming a hero/villain the hard/easy way  ]

       DRAGONS GAVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU HAVE

▐  ᴛɪᴍᴇʟɪɴᴇ ▸

[ MONTH / DAY ] accepted into talehqs .

▐  ᴀᴘᴘᴇᴀʀᴀɴᴄᴇ ▸

[ BUILT ] athletic slender , lean && strong ,  fair-skinned ,   freckled ( beauty marks ) ,  a kaleidoscope of scars along her forearms && legs ,  calloused hands . [ DISTINGUISHED FEATURE(S) ] heart-shaped face ,  sharp jawline ,  high cheekbones ,  nordic nose , weathered ,  light freckles dusting across her nose && cheekbones ( more visible in the summer months ) . [ SCAR(S) ] small scrapes && burns littered across her body , numbing tissue , rough calloused hands , arrow gouge just above her right knee ,  tween sharkworm dragon bite imprint on the back of her left shoulder blade . [ HEIGHT ] 5′6 . [ HAIR COLOR ] weathered blond ( styled in a lengthy side-braid draped over her left shoulder ) . [ EYE ] really big , round , stormy bluish-green aquamarine eyes . [ VOICE ] rough ,   jagged  && stormy .  loud-spoken . [ SCENT ] campfire smoke ,  salty tides ,  a touch of eucalyptus-honey,  fresh pine && wild bog myrtle . [ CLOTHING ]  red chest binding ,  dark leather skirt ,  leg bindings , arm-wraps ,  yak fur boots && hood cloaked over her back && shoulders  ( worn in the colder months ) ,  kransen .

▐  ᴀ ᴅᴇᴇᴘᴇʀ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ▸

[ ZODIAC ] virgo ( ♍ ) ,  RULED BY mercury && AFFILIATED WITH earth [ MOON SIGN ] ## . [ SEXUALITY ] bisexual . [ MARITAL STATUS ] single, clueless, and not ready to mingle. [ ABILITY(S)/SKILL(S) ] athletic prowess ,  melee fighting ,  combat ,  sailing ,  dragon tracker ,  the use of axes ,  shields ,  knives ,  swords && improvised weapons . [ THEME SONG(S) ] whats up danger - blackway & black caviar | born for this - the score | 1 800 273 8255 - logic 

&&.   /   THE HOUSE OF HOFFERSON :  astrid was born into the house of hofferson of the haddock tribe in the kingdom of dunbroch.  &&.   /   DREAM :  astrid dreams of creating a name for herself as a warrior .  when she was younger ,   she dreamed of fighting dragons in the mists of the shores of dunbroch .  she dreamed of valour && glory .  dreamed of becoming renowned for her combative prowess && strategic mind ,  in honour of the family who had perished around her so quickly .  but her dream has no future .  she’ll die on the battlefield ,  which is the most honourable way to go for a viking warrior . &&.   /   INPUT :  coming soon &&.   /   CURRENTLY :  ( cause I couldn’t find a good angle this was the best I got )  with the whisper of war the chief stoick the vast && gobber the belch sent the haddock dragon trainees to collect intel && put their extreme survival skills to the test for the next couple of months in teams of two as they go about travelling from one kingdom to the next .   &&.   /   SNOGGLETOG :  when hiccup was 16 winters he gave astrid a knife ( that she still has to this day ) he forged himself && oddly after that every snoggletog they’d exchange gifts && sorta --- kinda -- talk  &&.   /   WEAPON TESTER :  hiccup lures astrid with his strange weapons as she honestly enjoys testing them out .  her favourite invention thus far is his megapult ( ♆ ) . &&.   /   CHOICE :  ( unaffiliated ) a model shieldmaiden && dragon trainee who sticks along with the viking status quo .  she executes others plans && ideas .  LATER; hiccup is the one who frequently comes along with the revolutionary ideas && out-of-the-box thinking .  whenever he does so ,  astrid trusts his judgement && executes his plans && supports the plan that hiccup contrives .  && like a general she chooses his choice of action rather heroic or villainous .  for now ,  astrid is unaffiliated until hiccup decides what side of the war he’s really on .

▐  ᴄᴏɴɴᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴs ▸

x. HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK THE THIRD ( chasin’ all the wrong things most of my life been every kinda lost that you can’t find but I got one thing right, you ) the fishbone of a boy who cried dragon .

x. PRINCE ERIC ANDERSON ( lyric ) input .

[boricuareads]

20 Anticipated Reads of ‘18

It seems like yesterday that I was gearing for the books released this year, but 2017 has come and gone and I’m intent on leaving it behind. There are so many great books I’ve had my eye on for this year, so here goes my list below the Read More:

Blanca y Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore – 2017 has been the year of reading all of her books and now I can’t imagine not reading anything by her. [Also, finally, she gives us the sapphic latinx fairytale retelling we needed (or maybe it was just me?)] To be released Fall 2018.

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White – Another author I discovered this year! After reading And I Darken and Now I Rise, I’m so excited for this book! To be released Fall 2018.

Bright We Burn by Kiersten White – Of course, I need the third installment of this brutal saga. I need more of Lada’s ruthlessness and Radu’s pragmatism. I love this saga so much it’s not even funny. To be released July 2018. (Read the Goodreads blurb here)

A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney - It’s been pitched as a mix of Alice in Wonderland and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and it has a black rotagonist, so count me in! To be released in 2018.

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi - Having already read the excerpt from Chapter 1, I’m so READY! I really admire the work the Rick Riordan Presents imprint is doing by allowing marginalized authors of color write their own middle grade books a la Percy Jackson with mythology from their own cultures, since this prevents the trend of white authors using and exploiting mythologies that aren’t theirs to begin with. To be released March 28th, 2018.

Chainbreaker by Tara Sim – The second of the Timekeeper series, I’m so excited to witness the return of a beautiful cast of characters, and this time, they’re travelling to India! Knowing how important this book might be for diasporic/mixed-race Indian readers who rarely see themselves in YA novels, let alone Fantasy books, this book is bound to be amazing. I’ve already pre-ordered it on Amazon, so make sure you do too! To be released January 2nd, 2018.

Love, Hate and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed – A contemporary YA with an Indian-American Muslim teen at the center of it? Inconceivable! However, Samira Ahmed actually conceived it and I’m looking forward to its debut on January 16th, 2018.

Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann – A book centering a black biromantic ace woman as its protagonist in 2018? It’s more likely than you’d think! It’s also #OwnVoices, which makes it all the more enticing for my grubby little gay hands. To be released January 23rd, 2018. (Here’s an excerpt from Swoonreads!)

Markswoman by Rati Mehrotra – This book has a “highly trained sisterhood of elite warriors” in a South Asian-coded setting. What’s better than that? This book will be the debut of Mehrotra and the beginning of the Asiana series.  To be released January 23rd, 2018.

Another middle-grade Fantasy with an Indian protagonist, The Serpent’s Secret is Sayantani DasGupta’s debut novel. Laced with Indian mythology, royalty, and a love-triangle for our 12-year old protagonist, I’m actually looking forward to this book that’s being released on February 27th, 2018.

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi – One of the most anticipated releases of 2018, I would be remiss if I too wasn’t anticipating it. To be released March 6th, 2018. (You can read a chapter excerpt here!)

Inkmistress by Audrey Coulthurst – A bisexual demigod with the power of dictating the future with her blood? Sign me the fuck up! I also heard somewhere they may be a dragon in it which sealed the deal for me. (It’s also tied to the Of Fire and Stars series, which is awesome) To be released March 6th, 2018.

Circe by Madeline Miller – After destroying me with The Song of Achilles, Miller is back with Greek mythology retellings, this time with a female character at the center of it. To be released April 10th, 2018.

A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir – I might’ve screamed internally with the ending of A Torch Against the Night, but I’m super hyped for the third installment of this Quartet. I don’t know what else is in store for the main three (Laia, Elias, and Helene) but Oh Boy do I smell Death coming for them. To be released April 24th, 2018.

From Twinkle, with Love by the New Queen of RomComs Sandhya Menon – We all fell in love with Dimple and Rishi in When Dimple Met Rishi earlier this year. Now, we’ll get to fall in love with Twinkle and Neil (or, is it Sahil? ;) ). To be released May 22nd, 2018.

Bruja Born by Zoraida Córdova – The sequel to Labyrinth Lost, we’ll follow Lula Mortiz’s life after coming back from Los Lagos. I’m really looking forward to this release in June 1st, 2018.

Hullmetal Girls by Emily Skrutskie – I think I’ve established how much I love Emily’s The Abyss Surrounds Us duology, so it’s not surprise that I’m already hyped for this book, especially after reading the first chapter’s excerpt. The book will be released on July 17th, 2018. (There’s also a Goodreads Giveaway happening right now and ends on December 1st, 2017)

The Storm Runner by Jennifer Cervantes – Another upcoming Rick Riordan Presents release, this time with a Latina author writing a Mexican MC into Mayan mythology and I’m PSYCHED. To be released September 18th, 2018.

What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera – I’m so stoked to see this co-authorship happening right now. Can’t wait for its October 2nd, 2018 release!

Smoke in the Sun by Renee Ahdieh – The sequel to Flame in the Mist, Ahdieh’s deft authorship left a mark on their readers with her twist on the enemies-to-lovers trope set in Feudal Japan. I’m excited to read the sequel, because the first installment left me wanting more. Set to be released on June 5th, 2018.

There are plenty more books I’m looking forward to on 2018 (which you can find on my tbr on Godreads) but I’ll let the year unfold before I can talk more about them. What are some of yours? Send me message or hit me up on Twitter @boricuareads!

[twelvesignsrp]

congratulations lorena, taurus is now jude castillo with the faceclaim alberto rosende

APPLICATION

Character Sign: Taurus

Character name: Jude Castillo Birthday: May 2, 1997 Sexuality: Bisexual Gender: Male Moon Sign: Pisces Faceclaim: Alberto Rosende

Power:

Quick Healing: Jude has suffered a rougher upbringing than most. He’s taken his share of hard hits, and dealt them back out as well. Now, the hard hits seem to fall right off of him when he’s in the mood to be heroic.

What do they study?

Jude managed to get into the school of his dreams on a football scholarship. He never could have afforded it otherwise. He has a keen mind for mathematics, but struggles with every other subject. He aspires to one day teach arithmetic to primary students.

Biography:

Jude is a survivor, but he doesn’t want that to define him. For as long as Jude can remember, his father was an alcoholic. His childhood days consisted of school, football with his mates, walking the three miles home, eating dinner with his Mum, then silently hiding in his room while his father drunkenly raged through the house each night. At first his mother took the brunt of it. Melinda was a stay-home mother. She had no car. She was tidy and quiet and obedient. When Jude turned fourteen however, he had somehow obtained a rude tongue his mother never had. Another thing neither of his parents had was his stature. The boy grew like a tree. Stocky and tall, Jude soon outweighed his father. It did not stop the occasional verbal and physical abuse the angry little man would throw at his loved ones.

Jude soon found himself getting into trouble outside of his home. When his best friend was hooked on cocaine late in secondary school, Jude decided the best way to solve the problem was to snitch on the dealer. In the following week, one drug dealer went to jail, and Jude was confronted by three thugs with cricket bats on his walk home from school. He came out of it with three fractured ribs and a broken wrist. Despite his injuries, Jude continued to play football at school.

Over time, he has learned that everyone is a victim of some kind of predator. He used to be the guy who stood up for the little guy, but that only seemed to get him more trips to the hospital. Though he still has a strong compassion for others, Jude has developed a healthy level of caution from experience. He’s had enough failed relationships to know that not everyone wants to be saved. Maybe one day he’ll meet someone who wants to save him in return.

He may seem unfocused. His interests lie all across the spectrum: sports, video games, gardening, partying, meditation, sculpture, reading, cooking… His practical mind has formulated all these distractions as ways to put up walls over his sensitive nature. Rather than worry, he keeps a level head and practices one of a million different mechanisms to get things done. He’s well-practiced in damage control, and knows how to stay strong in just about any situation. At his new school, he fits the “big guy on campus” stereotype rather well, and would like to keep it that way.

Five interesting facts about your character:

Jude has known he is bisexual since he was sixteen years-old. He has never told anyone. He once took a part-time job when he was fifteen, and was fired two weeks into it. If he has headphones on, he will usually be listening to hip-hip or punk music. Jude has three tattoos: rose thorns and barbed wire wrapping around his left ankle and climbing his leg, a large horned bull skull across his shoulder blades, and the calculus equation for a heart-shaped graph (look here) on the inside of his wrist. Though he likes animals, he not a pets person. His lazy predisposition is much better for tending houseplants than puppies.

Character Quote:

“And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain Don’t carry the world upon your shoulders For well you know that it’s a fool who plays it cool By making his world a little colder” -The Beatles

“It takes a great deal of courage to see the world in all its tainted glory, and still learn to love it.” -Oscar Wilde

If your character had a patronus what would it be? and why?

Ok, I took five different quizzes and got five different answers. Sooo helpful. I’m going to go with the badger, because the badger is strong and protective of its home, fluffy on the outside but all teeth and claws on the inside. Badgers are also very close to the earth, making them more “grounded” and sensible.

WRITING SAMPLE

It had been a surreal kind of week. Of all the things Jude expected to happen at uni, weird occult magic was not one of them. It was strange enough when a voiceless desire had pulled him from a round of beer pong at a party. “I’m gonna take a piss, be right back,” he said. Next thing he knew, his feet had carried him out into the park. He wasn’t alone. Some faces, he recognized, others were complete strangers. None of them knew what they were doing there.

The next morning, Jude had wrote it off as a little too much alcohol and chips before bed. It must have been a crazy dream. Things like that don’t happen in real life.

Then, real life went and proved him wrong again.

The air was brisk and thick with fog that morning. The clouds had fallen to rest on the university grounds for a morning snooze. Jude tied his scarf tight around his neck and laced up his boots.

“I’m off!” He called to his roommate, who was still chewing on his breakfast in a zombified state. “Good luck on that quiz,” Jude added.

“Cheers.” His roommate waved an ineffectual goodbye.

He hoisted his book bag over his shoulder and stepped out into the cold mist. Tiny pinpoints of water lighted on his skin. Sighing, Jude tucked away his glasses into the pocket of his wool jacket. His fingers brushed against the smooth plastic of his phone. Thoughtlessly, he slipped the phone from his pocket and checked the time. Then the world went black.

A head-splitting stab of pain dragged Jude back into consciousness. His cheek rubbed against rough concrete as he pulled himself up, blinking against the foggy daylight. “What the f-” He groaned as he grasped the back of his head. Warm liquid slicked through his fingers and coagulated in his hair. “Aw, what the fuck,” he hissed through clenched teeth. He climbed to his feet, hands brushing aside shattered pieces of terracotta clay and clumps of dirt.

Jude stumbled into the nearest public toilets, grasping his bleeding head. His spare hand grabbed a wad of paper towels and cranked on the hot water in the sink. As he wiped away the blood in his hair, the pit in his stomach opened wider. His fingers searched at the surface of his skin. There was no cut. He could not even find a bump where the pot had struck him. His hands shook as he tossed the bloody towels in the bin. He balled his hands into fists to stop the quivering.

“This doesn’t happen in real life.” His rough voice sounded distant in his own ears. “People don’t just almost die and then walk away like nothing happened.” The pain in his skull had subsided to a dull ringing. He sucked a deep breath into his lungs. “I need to talk to the others. One of them has to know what is happening here.”