#man and van godalming

[spoonerwrites]

The 60k celebration poll had joint winners, which means...TWO extracts!

“Your friend is very unusual, isn’t he?” said Miss Westenra.

“He can be that,” I answered carefully. “But he is a brilliant man, and his mind works like no other I have ever known.”

“Oh, I meant no offence!” She looked suddenly stricken.

I smiled as I buttered my toast. “I know you did not, my dear. For those who have never met Holmes before, he can come across as strange, and even standoffish, yet I have always found even his oddest behaviours have significance which reveals itself when the time is right. If he insists on walking about the garden, he is undoubtedly looking for something.”

“What clues could he find in the garden?”

“What clues might be found in any garden? Footprints, disturbances in the grass or flowerbeds, animal tracks; all sorts of things. I can think of more, and Holmes would know more still.”

“But that does not make any sense, doctor!” She laughed, covering her mouth with a delicate hand. “How might animal tracks have made me feel unwell? It is true that sometimes I like to go out and watch the birds or the squirrels, but I have not been for more than a week. I am afraid Mr Holmes may be wasting his time.”

I continued to do my best to entertain Miss Westenra and keep her spirits up until my friend returned, while enjoying a hearty and delicious breakfast. I encouraged the young lady to eat as well while we talked. She managed a good amount of tea and toast liberally spread with bright orange marmalade. I found the same technique that I sometimes used on Holmes worked on her; if I kept her attention, she didn’t seem to notice that she was eating, and would only acknowledge the food when I made her laugh and she covered her mouth politely.

The door to the dayroom was slightly ajar, and so I spotted Holmes out in the corridor just before he knocked. “Watson, if you’re finished, I must speak with you,” he said with a polite nod towards Miss Westenra. “Do you mind me stealing him away?”

--------------------------------------------------

My nerves would not let me rest. In the cab, my knee jogged up and down without me realising until Holmes put his hand on my leg to stop it. I apologised at once.

“Nonsense, Watson,” he said, waving a hand, “it stands to reason your nerves are tried after tonight, and with what will come tomorrow.”

I shook my head. “I have witnessed things tonight that belong in nightmares and legends, and even having seen them with my own eyes, part of me refuses to accept them.”

“It’s only natural for your mind to revolt, my boy.”

“Do stop making excuses for me, Holmes. My mind is not revolting; it’s at war with itself,” I grumbled. “I know what you’ve told me, what Van Helsing has described, what I have seen. Each explanation only raises further questions. What sort of spell did that creature weave over our minds, to make Lord Godalming wish to embrace her in spite of his revulsion and grief? How was it that the crucifix repelled her so? And the use of the Host to seal the tomb - how on earth does the professor know to do these things?”

“He is an inexplicable sort of fellow, isn’t he?” said Holmes with a little laugh. “The use of the Host; I wonder if His Excellency might grant me a similar supply. He does owe me a favour or two.”

“You’re very energetic, old chap, considering what we’ve just seen,” said I.

“I am full of plans, Watson!” he declared, taking my hand and giving it a shake. “All we have had for days is mere speculation. The missing children, the bite marks, they all pointed toward Miss Westenra as the culprit, yes; but tonight – oh, tonight we have had a concrete truth laid before us. Now we may – Harker!” he added suddenly.

“Pardon?”

“Harker.” He shook my hand again. “Van Helsing mentioned ‘the diaries of Harker and the rest’, and I have been racking my brains trying to remember where I have heard that name before. There was a letter to Miss Westenra from one Mrs Mina Harker, in which the latter described finding her husband recovering from a traumatic ordeal in a hospital in Buda-Pesth. They married then and there, with the young man in his sickbed.”

“You went through Miss Westenra’s correspondence?”

He gave a sharp nod. “Her mother’s too. It is how I knew of the changes to the will. Miss Westenra and Mrs Harker appeared to be very close friends.”

“What do you suppose the Harkers have to do with all this?”

“That, friend Watson, will have to wait. I am confident an explanation will come in time, as explanations have come for everything else. Tomorrow we have more urgent business.”

[thethirdromana]

The droughtula is lasting forever so here are some headcanons about Dracula's characters' politics.

Arthur Holmwood (Lord Godalming) Let's get the difficult one out of the way first. Arthur is nobility, a hereditary peer in the House of Lords, in the 1890s. He's literally entitled to a say on legislation solely because of who his ancestors were. So he's unlikely to have views that we'd find sympathetic in 2023, and is probably a Tory.

He's well-travelled and outward-looking, so I think his greatest political concern is empire. He's eager to ensure that Britain is victorious in the Scramble for Africa, concerned about growing tensions with the Boers in South Africa, and admires the leadership of Lord Salisbury.

(sorry about this)

Jonathan Harker I think Jonathan is and always will be aware of how lucky he's been, as an orphan who's then catapulted into vast wealth thanks to the generosity of Mr Hawkins. As a result, I think he would be very keen to support others and generally vote for a government that's focused on the eradication of poverty. At the same time, I don't think he would be particularly radical; I think he would shy away from revolutionary thinking.

I see him finding reasonably a happy home in the 1890s Liberals, and supporting the beginnings of the welfare state in the early 1900s. He might even join the Fabian Society. By the 1920s, his sympathies would shift to the Labour Party.

Mina Harker I've written a bit about Mina's politics already. The obvious question is what she thinks of women's suffrage, and I'm inclined to say that her view is that women should have the vote one day, but not yet. At least, not at a national level; I think she'd support the move in the 1890s to allow women to vote in local elections. She would be more focused on women's access to education, so that when the time came for them to get the vote, they would be educated enough to use it wisely.

Unfortunately one other thing we know about Mina is that she's interested in physiognomy, a pseudoscience that's connected to eugenics. So it's depressingly plausible that a real-life Mina would have an interest in eugenics as well.

Lucy Westenra I think Lucy is probably less politically aware than Mina is, but also quite possibly more radical in her views. After all, we see more of Lucy chafing against her social role than we do Mina (though Lucy's life is also a lot more restricted than Mina's). As an upper-middle or upper-class woman, doing charitable works is a big part of her role. That would bring her into contact with poverty, and I think she would want to do whatever she could to help.

I don't think she would be formally a member of any campaigning organisations, but I suspect she might be sympathetic to the temperance movement. That would be her route to women's suffrage, as the two causes were connected in the 1890s. Where Mina might worry that women lacked the education to use their vote wisely, Lucy would feel that in a good marriage, a husband would help his wife to make the right choices.

Abraham Van Helsing One sec, just need to give myself a crash course in Dutch politics of the 1890s.

OK I'm back. Dutch society at this time was divided based mostly on religion: Protestant, Catholic and a secular socialist grouping. This was called 'Verzuiling' ("pillarisation") and it meant that each of the sections of society were effectively segregated: separate schools, separate institutions, separate newspapers and little intermarriage between the "pillars".

By rights that puts Van Helsing into the Catholic pillar, but I can't see it - this is a man whose close friend is an English Protestant who's half his age. The group most likely to oppose the notion of Verzuiling were the Liberals, sometimes treated as a pillar of their own. And I think that's where Van Helsing would most naturally fit.

People who learned about this bit of Dutch history more than five minutes ago should feel free to chime in.

Quincey Morris I know about as much about US politics in the 1890s as I do Dutch politics, but that's not going to stop me.

I instinctively feel that Quincey Morris has strong views on something relatively niche, like the adoption of the gold standard. So I'm pleased to learn that the adoption of the gold standard was in fact a live political debate in the US in the 1890s. Quincey is in favour. He supports hard money policies and - as a wealthy landowner - particularly worries about the rise of the People's Party back home.

Jack Seward The biggest wildcard of the lot. Other than Van Helsing, I think Jack is the character most likely to have read widely and to be open to unexpected ideas. But ultimately I think his attitude to politics is driven by his interest in and desire for technological progress, which would lead him towards the Liberal Party.

He would be horrified by Tory prime minister Lord Salisbury's repeated opposition to change (e.g. his 1879 statement that "Whatever happens will be for the worse, and therefore it is in our interest that as little should happen as possible"). If he lives long enough, he'll be delighted by Wilson's "white heat of technology" speech in the early 1960s.

[ninadove]

Nina reads Dracula 🦇

September 24th

I hadn't the heart to write last night; that terrible record of Jonathan's upset me so. Poor dear! How he must have suffered, whether it be true or only imagination. I wonder if there is any truth in it at all. Did he get his brain fever, and then write all those terrible things, or had he some cause for it all? I suppose I shall never know, for I dare not open the subject to him.... And yet that man we saw yesterday! He seemed quite certain of him.... Poor fellow! I suppose it was the funeral upset him and sent his mind back on some train of thought.... He believes it all himself. I remember how on our wedding-day he said: "Unless some solemn duty come upon me to go back to the bitter hours, asleep or awake, mad or sane." There seems to be through it all some thread of continuity.... That fearful Count was coming to London.... If it should be, and he came to London, with his teeming millions.... There may be a solemn duty; and if it come we must not shrink from it.... I shall be prepared. I shall get my typewriter this very hour and begin transcribing. Then we shall be ready for other eyes if required. And if it be wanted; then, perhaps, if I am ready, poor Jonathan may not be upset, for I can speak for him and never let him be troubled or worried with it at all. If ever Jonathan quite gets over the nervousness he may want to tell me of it all, and I can ask him questions and find out things, and see how I may comfort him.

Can we talk about how cool Mina is for a second? Her first reaction upon finding out is disbelief, of course, but she turns around so quickly so she can A. support Jonathan and B. potentially save the world. She knows her skills are valuable and she immediately puts them to good use. It’s not hard to see why Jonathan fell in love with her!

It also means that everything we’ve been reading so far is courtesy of her work, by the way. Which immediately prompts two thoughts:

She apparently wasn’t jealous at all upon reading the Three Weed-Smoking Girlfriends bit Jonathan was so worried about, otherwise she would have edited it out;

She had to transcribe Lucy’s journal and her own letters… She had to add the “unopened by her” mention herself…

Everybody say thank you Mina!

And now for the bit where I genuinely shed a tear:

I pray you to pardon my writing, in that I am so far friend as that I sent to you sad news of Miss Lucy Westenra's death. By the kindness of Lord Godalming, I am empowered to read her letters and papers, for I am deeply concerned about certain matters vitally important. In them I find some letters from you, which show how great friends you were and how you love her. Oh, Madam Mina, by that love, I implore you, help me. It is for others' good that I ask—to redress great wrong, and to lift much and terrible troubles—that may be more great than you can know. May it be that I see you? You can trust me. I am friend of Dr. John Seward and of Lord Godalming (that was Arthur of Miss Lucy). I must keep it private for the present from all. I should come to Exeter to see you at once if you tell me I am privilege to come, and where and when. I implore your pardon, madam. I have read your letters to poor Lucy, and know how good you are and how your husband suffer; so I pray you, if it may be, enlighten him not, lest it may harm. Again your pardon, and forgive me.

I’ve said it before, but there are some similarities in the way Dracula and Van Helsing talk. Well, there are some in the way they write too!

You may remember this little bit from May 3rd:

"My Friend.--Welcome to the Carpathians. I am anxiously expecting you. Sleep well to-night. At three to-morrow the diligence will start for Bukovina; a place on it is kept for you. At the Borgo Pass my carriage will await you and will bring you to me. I trust that your journey from London has been a happy one, and that you will enjoy your stay in my beautiful land.

Your friend,

DRACULA.

The letter opened and closed on a fake declaration of friendship, foreshadowing Jonathan’s imprisonment.

Van Helsing does something very similar here, but A. with desperate apologies and B. recognising his status as someone who is very much not Mina’s friend (yet?). So what does it mean?

It means he is breaking down

We saw him run himself ragged to save Lucy and fail. We’ve seen him fall from witty and pretentious banter (with Seward) to hysterical sobbing and laughing (also with Seward) in the span of a few weeks. We’ve seen him hide the truth while also giving out clues, we’ve seen him break down because he knows, and doesn’t want to burden anyone else with this knowledge, but realistically can’t bear the weight on his own.

So when he reads Mina’s letters — the ones Lucy never got to open — he has no choice but to reach out. Mina is not a doctor like Seward, she’s not a Strong Young Blood Donor like the suitors, she’s just a young woman who is also struggling and also loved Lucy, and this fifty-something genius finds a sense of kinship in her, and immediately decides she is the only person who can help him.

But that means she must know, and therefore be trapped in the same Hell he is. Hence the structure of the letter. I LOVE THIS BOOK

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[highfemmeharker]

its almost the end of pride month so im gonna list my gender headcanons for the gang in my au before i forget:

Jonathan Harker: I think he's a demiboy for gender because their masculinity might be important but also I don't think it matters to him THAT much and also they give genderless little rat vibes. he/they

Mina Murray-Harker: she probably experimented with being more masculine and decided that it wasn't for her and also because its femininity is important to the plot i think it unlocked cis+ so she's still a woman it's but kind of futch about it. she/it

Lucy Westenra: that's literally a beautiful trans woman. she/her

(Dr.) John (Jack) Seward: I'M NOT SURE YET...in the book he leans more transfem but i really really like it being trans masc. plus i really like him complementing van helsing by being a fem fag. either way he has a job so it drc about that. he/it no matter which way he's trans

Quincey Morris: that's literally a handsome trans man. he/him

(Honorable) Arthur (Art) Holmwood (or Lord Godalming): might be the only other cisgender in his friend group but he will 100% play with his gender expression kind of like mina, like cis and a half. he/him

(Professor) Abraham Van Helsing: that right there is a transmasc butch thank youuuu. he/she

R.M. Renfield: scary somewhat masculine creature, kind of masc leaning nonbinary. it/they

Dracula: He is above gender, so you could argue agender but in like a god way. He/Him

and orientation headcanons:

Jonathan Harker: biromantic demisexual. i think they struggle with sexuality a lot especially after leaving dracula's castle but he's a very devoted lover no matter what.

Mina Murray-Harker: pan. she loves jonathan it loves lucy she doesn't care its wonderful.

Lucy Westenra: polyamorous panromantic asexual. she wants to marry all her boys and get with her girlie <333 also she's ace because she's such a romantic lover i think she doesn't need/want the other stuff :)

(Dr.) John (Jack) Seward: polyamorous gay leaning bi. no matter how it loves his friends it's always really gay. he has 'can't stop falling in love with its friends disease'

Quincey Morris: polyamorous arospec bisexual. he certainly likes his friends and he certainly harbors love for those close to him but he seems like such a friend guy and i feel like him being arospec is just. right. yk?

(Honorable) Arthur (Art) Holmwood (or Lord Godalming): that right there is a flaming faggot, probably bisexual because he is still sososo in love with lucy but like that's literally the gayest person i've ever seen hoooly shittt. also poly because of da bois

(Professor) Abraham Van Helsing: bi dyke. no i dont take suggestions. dyke4fag seward. sapphic ex-situationship with dracula. like be serious

R.M. Renfield: aromantic gay. it doesn't need love it needs devotion and they know this. so good so good.

Dracula: arospec pansexual. is that weird. i dont think so. He says He can love but He cant really and He'll eat anyone. i think it fits.

id like to know what you think: :)

[igotusernamecrisis]

this will interest exactly zero people but I've been thinking about it for a while now and spent like four hours on this so may I present:

AFTG characters in a Dracula! au

featuring Jean's glasshouse, a grey-haired Neil and Renee with a Dutch accent

disclaimer 1: if u see my aftg mina and lucy and ask how their friendship is supposed to work in this case I expand on that and some other interactions down below*

disclaimer 2: aftg obviously has way more core characters than dracula and I tried out a lot of combis but I'm still doubting the results so yeah... and also while I altered some relationships I tried to preserve the og dracula feel as much as I could

so here goes:

Jonathan Harker - Neil Josten (main character with zero survival skills, tries to lie low but can't NOT stir some shit up, had a lovely few weeks at Castle Dracula/Castle Evermore, dramatic hair colour changes by the end of the story)

Mina Harker - Andrew Minyard (clever™, done with everyone's dramatics, has to deal with Jonathan/Neil's shenanigans, quiet observer, the only one who seemingly has their shit together while actually suffering a lot but not wanting to let others be preoccupied by that)

Count Dracula - Riko Moriyama PLUS some others (it was difficult to place just one big bad guy because aftg has different layers of antagonists so while Riko is the primary Dracula 1.0 in his Castle (Evermore) whom Jonathan/Neil and the gang opposes they later on encounter another vampire, an ally of Dracula's from the west — Jonathan/Neil's father Nathan (the Butcher of Bristol) (no shade towards Bristol it just sounds neat) whom Neil thought he was long rid of in his life (Neil didn't know he became a vampire), think of him like Dracula 2.0, not less of an enemy than Riko)

Lucy Westenra - Jean Moreau (the epitome of being a victim of circumstances (made a target of Dracula/Riko's because fate just oh so wanted to screw them over), somehow simultaneously sweet summer child and hot icon, everybody wants them, lively extrovert (Jean IS canonically a sassy extrovert we just don't see a lot of it in tsc because his very fresh trauma dampens it but in tgr in becomes clearer)

Arthur Godalming - Kevin Day (the it girl, aristocrat (queen parallels), despite earnestly caring about Lucy/Jean still oversees a huge part of their pain; in my au Lucy/Jean doesn't choose him as husband)

Quincey Morris - Jeremy Knox (southern American sunshine, loyal to death and extremely protective over Lucy/Jean, quote from the og novel 'a rough fellow, who hasn't perhaps lived as a man should' (freshman jeremy giving a huge side eye rn) (his pupils are suspiciously diluted), the only one who does not canonically journal (concentration problems lol); in my au Lucy/Jean chooses Quincey/Jeremy over Arthur/Kevin)

Jack (John) Seward - Aaron Minyard !!! I swear !!! not just because they are both doctors it makes sense okay???? (logical thinker, has to deal with mentally unstable people on a daily basis, sceptical, secretly a softie, truly wants to help people get better; in my au he's crushing on Arthur/Kevin instead of Lucy/Jean but doesn't admit to it for a while because Art/Kev is a lordling and he is a common psychiatrist and also Art/Kev is too obsessed with Lucy/Jean to notice him (only at first though I'm a sap I like HEA))

Van Helsing - Renee Walker !! hear me out on this one before you ask wtf !! (seems like a cutie patootie but knows how to saw off a head, seen some shit in their life, has a deeper understanding of Mina/Andrew's intelligence, steps in to save Lucy/Jean's life, does not fear Dracula/Riko (or more like is not hesitant to challenge him despite the fear)

Renfield - this one was such a PAIN to place my first thought was Jean but I ended up giving him Lucy so after turning it this way and that way I thought maybe Seth Gordon would work? he died as a prop in Dracula/Riko's sick game so that fits but the overall dynamic still seems a tad off to me, let me know if you have a better take on aftg Renfield

* Lucy&Mina/Jean&Andrew:

so as I see it Andrew and Jean could actually have a nice platonic dynamic:

I think they are very compatible. In canon if Andrew was not (understandably) unable and unwilling to fully trust anyone but Neil (and Bee but to a certain degree) and if Jean was not royally fucked over by his time as Riko's property I believe they could have been friends or at least have a good understanding because they both couldn't care less about exy (and Kevin and Neil being exy junkies are the bane of their existence), they are sharp, sarcastic, often amused (but don't show it openly) by others' stupid behaviour (or what they perceive as stupid regardless of whether it actually is such).

In my dracula! au Andrew met Jean when he was ten and Jean nine after being thrown around various fucked up orphanages. He was separated from Aaron (who ended up adopted by a local physician) at birth.

Jean was adopted, too, when he was little (the Westenras saw a broody abandoned toddler on the streets of Marseille while on vacation and were like welp guess we have a kid now huh). His adoptive parents, the Westenras, took Andrew in because they thought Jean was lonely as a teenager (he was okay with the company of his dogs and the bugs in the garden and the swallows living in a nest under the slope of the roof by his room's window but whatever). The Westenras are the kind of wealthy who are trying to 'make a difference' and not be like those other rich folks or something like that but my world is all sunshine and rainbows so they actually are THAT nice and did not adopt the boys for public appearances only. They wanted to give Andrew a chance at good life though Andrew obv has the impression of it all being bs at the beginning (who can blame him he's been through Things). Jean was very patient about his attitude and supported him on the journey of healing from the childhood abuse so they are practically siblings. (Aaron is very hurt and bitter because his brother feels like that about some random ass obnoxious French guy and it makes him dislike Jean initially which is only made worse when Kevin ends up fawning over him but as they are forced to work together when Jean is targeted by Dracula/Riko Aaron sort of starts seeing more of his actual personality and they actually get to know each other outside of Aaron's jealousy). (Jean was actually not at all hostile and very curious (ahem) about Aaron at the start, the young gentleman who appeared exactly like his adoptive brother at first glance but somehow completely different, so contemplative, unreachable, oftentimes letting out bitter quips abot this and that, a competent doctor, so mysterious and lonesome, for some reason reluctant to respond to Jean's attempts at getting to know him better. But then Quincey/Jeremy turned up and Jean was done for lol).

The dracula!au version of Jean and Andrew not giving a damn about exy would be them not caring about high society soirées and such, they would rather go explore some ancient abbey ruins together, read a book or study shorthand (in Andrew's case) or do some gardening and pottery (in Jean's case), while Arthur/Kevin organises all these high society events and cricket games and whatnot desperately trying to spend some time with his bestie (Andrew, remains unimpressed) or engage Jean's attention (unsuccessful, Jean would rather visit Kevin's good friend Aaron at the asylum to hover at his side while Dr Minyard speaks to some guy expanding on how he would prepare Aaron for dinner should he have a chance to strangle him, or listen to yet another good pal of Kevin's, an eccentric American with tan arms and cute freckles rambling about rare plants he encountered on his journeys which he swears he could acquire for Jean's winter garden should his dear Mr Moreau express such a whish) (Jean has scored with this one lol the neighbourhood's ladies will be foaming at the mouth at the mere sight of his gorgeous conservatory)

**bonuses:

Swales (old guy in Whitby who sences Dracula's coming) - Wymack (ngl I chose this one because it's objectively hilarious: just an old man who's seen it all and does not hesitate to openly say his opinion on anything with no filter whatsoever, also kinda the voice of wisdom to Mina/Andrew although they do not take him very seriously but he ends up being right every time)

the three vampire women in Dracula's Castle - Lola, Romero and Jackson (basically Dracula 2.0/Nathan's sidekicks)

***what's up with the rest of the characters (not exactly based on the novel but I tried (emphasise on tried) to be loosely historically accurate to the Victorian era setting):

Matt and Dan are a married couple, both children of formerly enslaved abolitionist activists. They are working at Jonathan/Neil's solicitor office and are thoroughly baffled by him skipping work (he left a cryptic note temporarily transferring his responsibilities to them) after being abroad to work with a private client and showing up a couple weeks later completely grey-haired, stacking the office cupboard with gallons of holy water and decorating the space with awfully smelly flowers. Obviously, knowing Dan's character, she (with Matt's support) was also an active advocate for equality (for women's rights as well as black people's rights)

Allison is a countess. She's friends with Arthur/Kevin and although he is supportive of her he does not always get her since she mostly spends her time exploring the life of lower classes all over England and travelling around the world shooting documentaries about different cultures (of course she has early access to the curious new invention of moving pictures). She meets Van Helsing/Renee during her stay in London and they bond over interest in science and being explorers in their respective fields

Nicky Hemmick is a renowned tailor, his clothes are worn by every self-respecting Londoner who can afford it and quite a few aristocrats all around England. He discovers his relation to the twins a bit later in life than he would have wished but he tries to be there for them both as much as he can. He loves tailoring but he also runs his salon as a front for what is basically a safe space for queer people since they are targeted by the Labouchere Amendment. Nicky doesn't know it but Andrew (using Kevin's ties) watches out in case Nicky falls under the government's suspicion because of such activities. Also, Nicky is friends with Oscar Wilde :)

Cat and Laila live in their own little paradise on a ranch in Texas, Jean and Jeremy will secretly elope there eventually after the gang deals with all the vampires because I refuse to kill them off in this au

Okay I think that was it for now. What am I doing with my life

[vickyvicarious]

It was an odd experience and we all took it differently. Van Helsing raised his hand over his head for a moment, as though in remonstrance with the Almighty; but he said not a word, and in a few seconds stood up with his face sternly set. Lord Godalming grew very pale, and sat breathing heavily. I was myself half stunned and looked in wonder at one after another. Quincey Morris tightened his belt with that quick movement which I knew so well; in our old wandering days it meant "action." Mrs. Harker grew ghastly white, so that the scar on her forehead seemed to burn, but she folded her hands meekly and looked up in prayer. Harker smiled—actually smiled—the dark, bitter smile of one who is without hope; but at the same time his action belied his words, for his hands instinctively sought the hilt of the great Kukri knife and rested there.

Van Helsing: a silent gesture as though once again asking 'why, what have we done to always be foiled like this?' - but then pulls himself together, ready to keep fighting. Very reminiscent of his breakdown at Lucy's house, just in a smaller way.

Arthur: the poor man thought it would be over soon. He's sad and he's been holding it back to get this done but instead his fiance's killer has escaped again and he is having a lot of trouble controlling his emotional reaction.

Jack: when in doubt or shocked he looks to those around him, defaults to observation.

Quincey: always practically-minded, his instinct is to prepare for action.

Mina: her pale face showing off her scar suggests what losing him here could mean for her, and her prayer is her awareness and desperate faith that it won't turn out that way. She's also very controlled in all her movements, quite deliberate or even thoughtful in how she reacts.

Jonathan: the bitter smile because he's been down this road before, many times, when he was at the castle. He knows how Dracula twists all your hopes into still further defeats - and yet he is determined anyway not to be stopped anymore, no matter what.

[see-arcane]

The Gravity Falls characters, and the Dracula characters somehow meet in a transdimensional "oopsie woopsie" incident, and Ford and Van Helsing finally meet someone that can match their freak quite well.

They have monologue marathons that leave their respective casts bluescreening before sneaking off to do supernatural hijinks (bar Dipper and Jack, who have popcorn).

As an aside, I think Mabel would have a belated moment of clarity regarding the Harkers—she isn’t old enough to have watched Coppola’s movie but she has swallowed all of the DraculaxMina schlock spin-off media that came from it. She assumes Jonathan must be one of the white hair variants of Dracula living happily ever after with his reincarnated love~~~

Until Mina and Jonathan gently inform her otherwise. Confused, this prompts her to Actually Read What Happened. Cue the romanceaholic going nuclear with retroactive shame and present fawning for Mr. and Mrs. Holiest Love’s whole deal

Stan is alternating between trying to wheedle Arthur ‘Judge Moneybags’ Godalming into investing in the Mystery Shack and losing a staggering amount of card games to Quincey no matter how he cheats.*

*Quincey is an honorable man. But the laconic son of a gun has an Eye for bullshit afoot and can and will respond in kind.

Soos was unloading some cargo and just happened to fumble an especially heavy box into the Bottomless Pit. At least it wasn’t anything important, just a crate of Transylvanian dirt :)

[tachvintlogic]

Mina and Jonathan refusing to voice their thoughts.

The Harker dynamic of being so open and trusting each other is so wonderful, and it is tailor made to receive maximum disruption when Gender Roles™ get reinstated to shut one of them out.

Mina, feeling so rejected, doesn't tell anyone about her nightmare or share her record of it because she fears being shut out more. Except she can't be shut out more than she already is because they're not telling her anything. She's hoping for a chance at crumbs here, and doesn't want to confirm the suitors thoughts that she can't handle it and take that chance away.

Throughout October 1st, Jonathan keeps trying to convince himself that this is fine, telling her nothing is protecting her somehow, and real props to his voiceactor on Re: Dracula because he sounds so doubtful. He does not believe a word he's saying but he wants to so badly.

They're both just itching to get this over with so they can tell each other everything immediately after, which is funny because that's not the impression I got from Van Helsing.

Sure, he did say "We shall tell you all in good time." but I got the feeling that he imagined telling Mina years later after the Harkers have settled down and had kids, if at all. He doesn't understand how his decision to exclude Mina has disrupted the Harker dynamic that they both want to go back to.

And this disruption has also caused Jonathan, the man who is most connected to and comfortable with femininity, to hesitate voicing his own feelings.

Somewhere, looking out from the shadow, I seemed to see the high lights of the Count's evil face, the ridge of the nose, the red eyes, the red lips, the awful pallor. It was only for a moment, for, as Lord Godalming said, "I thought I saw a face, but it was only the shadows," and resumed his inquiry, I turned my lamp in the direction, and stepped into the passage. There was no sign of any one; and as there were no corners, no doors, no aperture of any kind, but only the solid walls of the passage, there could be no hiding-place even for him. I took it that fear had helped imagination, and said nothing.

Arthur thought he saw the Count, and so did Jonathan. If Jonathan had backed up Arthur's statement, then the fact that 2 people saw him suggests it wasn't just a trick of the light, that he might actually be there.

But Jonathan says nothing, and I think there are a lot of factors that caused this:

Jonathan recently had brain fever put upon by doubting his own recollection of what happened. This place reminds him of the castle, so it's no wonder he might suspect his mind is playing tricks again.

He's in the presence of 2 doctors, one who runs a lunatic asylum, and they just got back from rejecting Renfield's request to go home. He doesn't want to give the doctors any reason to doubt his sanity.

His wife has been excluded from the hunt. Van Helsing declared her work "finished" now that all the documentation has been gathered. He helped with that too. Van Helsing could also declare that Jonathan is similarly "finished" and he has no more part to play.

And so, we see very clearly in the October 1st entry how disrupting the Harker dynamic has worsened the open and honest communication that was vital to their initial investigation and gathering the papers, and has also worsened the communication between the Harkers and the rest of the crew.

[lauralot89]

"All right; I'll go now"; and I asked the others to wait a few minutes for me, as I had to go and see my "patient."

why is patient in quotation marks

"Take me with you, friend John," said the Professor..."May I come also?" asked Lord Godalming. "Me too?" said Quincey Morris. "May I come?" said Harker. I nodded, and we all went down the passage together.

Renfield is now a fun field trip for the class

I was so much astonished, that the oddness of introducing a madman in an asylum did not strike me at the moment

I know I say this every time, but man, psychology sucked in 1893

Honestly, I would say Seward deserves everything he gets for not listening to Renfield, but Seward isn't the only one to suffer, unfortunately

"You will, I trust, Dr. Seward, do me the justice to bear in mind, later on, that I did what I could to convince you to-night."

YOU TELL HIM

I went with the party to the search with an easy mind, for I think I never saw Mina so absolutely strong and well.

foreshadowing is a narrative device

"Say, Jack, if that man wasn't attempting a bluff, he is about the sanest lunatic I ever saw. I'm not sure, but I believe that he had some serious purpose, and if he had, it was pretty rough on him not to get a chance."

Quincey continues to be the smartest man ever

but he seems so mixed up with the Count in an indexy kind of way

in a what

I only hope we have done what is best.

you haven't

He held up a little silver whistle, as he remarked:—

"That old place may be full of rats, and if so, I've got an antidote on call."

wait

do whistles deter rats?

remind me why they thought it was a good idea to go into Carfax at night, when the Count is most powerful?

Then, taking his little silver whistle from his pocket, he blew a low, shrill call. It was answered from behind Dr. Seward's house by the yelping of dogs, and after about a minute three terriers came dashing round the corner of the house.

oh okay

The rats were multiplying in thousands, and we moved out.

sudden stupid thought that came into my head and won't leave: what if Dracula wasn't technically cooking the food in Transylvania? What if he and one of the rats there were doing their own version of Ratatouille?

More than all do I rejoice that this, our first—and perhaps our most difficult and dangerous—step has been accomplished without the bringing thereinto our most sweet Madam Mina or troubling her waking or sleeping thoughts with sights and sounds and smells of horror which she might never forget.

*cries* You are all so stupid.

She looks paler than usual. I hope the meeting to-night has not upset her. I am truly thankful that she is to be left out of our future work, and even of our deliberations. It is too great a strain for a woman to bear. I did not think so at first, but I know better now.

SO STUPID.

Even Mina must have felt its exhaustion, for though I slept till the sun was high, I was awake before her, and had to call two or three times before she awoke. Indeed, she was so sound asleep that for a few seconds she did not recognize me, but looked at me with a sort of blank terror, as one looks who has been waked out of a bad dream. She complained a little of being tired, and I let her rest till later in the day.

GUYS YOU HAVE READ THE ACCOUNTS OF LUCY'S ILLNESS AND/OR WITNESSED IT YOURSELF, PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER

"I know you well enough; you are the old fool Van Helsing. I wish you would take yourself and your idiotic brain theories somewhere else. Damn all thick-headed Dutchmen!"

God bless Renfield

I shall go, if I may, and cheer myself with a few happy words with that sweet soul Madam Mina

YOU SAW WHAT WAS WRONG WITH LUCY, SEE IT HERE

if she had remained in touch with the affair, it would in time infallibly have wrecked her.

sigh.

deepest longest sigh of all time.

If I hadn't gone to Whitby, perhaps poor dear Lucy would be with us now. She hadn't taken to visiting the churchyard till I came, and if she hadn't come there in the day-time with me she wouldn't have walked there in her sleep; and if she hadn't gone there at night and asleep, that monster couldn't have destroyed her as he did.

Mina no, don't do this to yourself

The gaslight which I had left lit for Jonathan, but turned down, came only like a tiny red spark through the fog, which had evidently grown thicker and poured into the room.

MINA. MINA. YOU HAVE READ LUCY'S MEMORANDUM, PUT IT TOGETHER

To be fair Mina has more of an excuse than anyone else, because Dracula is influencing her now

Suddenly the horror burst upon me that it was thus that Jonathan had seen those awful women growing into reality through the whirling mist in the moonlight, and in my dream I must have fainted, for all became black darkness.

even under Dracula's thrall she's still smarter than everyone else

but of course she won't tell anyone about this. OF COURSE.

I put my question quickly and somewhat sternly, on purpose to disconcert him. The effort succeeded; for an instant he unconsciously relapsed into his old servile manner, bent low before me, and actually fawned upon me

Seward why are you the way that you are

Blow spiders!

Does blow here mean what I think it means

Merciful God! the Count has been to him, and there is some new scheme of terror afoot!

YOU DON'T SAY

Count de Ville

Subtle, Drac. Real subtle.

[singingbookwormwithrainbowheart]

It's a heavy heavy time.

Sorrows. Prayers.

Team Helsward work together to make everything innregard to funeral preparations, checking of imortsnt papers, etcetera , happen quickly but as nicely as possible, bless them!

Throughout all this, Team Helsward notice that Lucy looks so very alive in death. Most curious.

And then just like that, Van Helsing says that he shall "cut off her head and take out her heart."

Seward is horrified, as he does not know what Van Helsing knows.

Alas, happening makes this ghastly business not needed, so no cutting of anything is done.

Arthur, poor darling man, is brokenhearted as he has lost both his father and fiancée almost at once. Not the bright future our newely made Lord Godalming wanted.

A silverlining, if one can call it that, it the friendship Arthur has with both old friends and the newly forged one with Van Helsing.

[ifwebefriends]

Dracula Daily/Re: Dracula Highlights! [MAJOR SPOILERS]

May 3rd - The First Day! Our good friend Jonathan Harker starts his journey and has Paprika Hendl!

May 5th - We come face-to-face with the mysterious Count Dracula for the first time.

May 8th - “It is a foul bauble of man's vanity. Away with it!”

May 12th - Dracula moves on the walls like a lizard; Jonathan notices.

May 24th - Lucy Westenra receives three proposals, and we get to meet our favorite cowboy, Quincey P. Morris, as well as Dr. Jack Seward and Arthur Holmwood. Lucy accepts Arthur’s proposal.

June 30th - The last time we hear from our good friend Jonathan for a while. He’s planning a daring escape.

August 4th - The Captain of the ship Demeter makes his final stand.

August 11th - Mina Murray retrieves Lucy from a spooky sleepwalking escapade.

August 12th - We finally learn that Jonathan is still alive!!! He’s sick in a Budapest hospital and is such a good boy to the nurses.

August 24th - Mina Murray and Jonathan Harker get married.

September 2nd - We meet Dr. Abraham Van Helsing for the first time.

September 13th - Mrs. Westenra throws out the garlic flowers, pissing off everyone, including the readers.

September 17th - Dracula attacks the Westenra household, Mrs. Westenra dies.

September 20th - Lucy dies despite the best efforts of Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward.

October 3rd - The MegaEntry. Dracula attacks Mina and she is burned on the forehead. The gang runs into Dracula at his Piccadilly residence and send him running.

November 6th - The Finale. Count Dracula is finally slain once and for all, but not without Quincey P. Morris going to the great beyond as well in the struggle.

November 7th - The Final Day. Seven years after Quincey Morris’ death, Jonathan and Mina have a son, Quincey, named after their late friend. Dr. Seward and Lord Godalming are both happily married. The remaining gang lives happily ever after.

[calypsobulbasaur]

man between mrs westenra, mr hawkins, and lord godalming all dying, van helsing has become sole parental figure to the entire polycule

[ninadove]

Nina reads Dracula 🦇

October 1st

Happy spooky season (for real this time)! 🎃

Let’s stab some vampires!

4 a. m.—Just as we were about to leave the house, an urgent message was brought to me from Renfield to know if I would see him at once, as he had something of the utmost importance to say to me.

It’s the Mina Effect. No one can resist her Cool Secretarial Skills and Knowledge of the Train Schedule.

"Take me with you, friend John," said the Professor. "His case in your diary interest me much, and it had bearing, too, now and again on our case. I should much like to see him, and especial when his mind is disturbed."

"May I come also?" asked Lord Godalming.

"Me too?" said Quincey Morris. "May I come?" said Harker. I nodded, and we all went down the passage together.

GUYS this is not a picnic

"I appeal to your friends," he said, "they will, perhaps, not mind sitting in judgment on my case. By the way, you have not introduced me."

Renfield I love you

"Lord Godalming, I had the honour of seconding your father at the Windham; I grieve to know, by your holding the title, that he is no more. He was a man loved and honoured by all who knew him; and in his youth was, I have heard, the inventor of a burnt rum punch, much patronised on Derby night. Mr. Morris, you should be proud of your great state. Its reception into the Union was a precedent which may have far-reaching effects hereafter, when the Pole and the Tropics may hold alliance to the Stars and Stripes. The power of Treaty may yet prove a vast engine of enlargement, when the Monroe doctrine takes its true place as a political fable. What shall any man say of his pleasure at meeting Van Helsing? Sir, I make no apology for dropping all forms of conventional prefix. When an individual has revolutionised therapeutics by his discovery of the continuous evolution of brain-matter, conventional forms are unfitting, since they would seem to limit him to one of a class. You, gentlemen, who by nationality, by heredity, or by the possession of natural gifts, are fitted to hold your respective places in the moving world, I take to witness that I am as sane as at least the majority of men who are in full possession of their liberties. And I am sure that you, Dr. Seward, humanitarian and medico-jurist as well as scientist, will deem it a moral duty to deal with me as one to be considered as under exceptional circumstances." He made this last appeal with a courtly air of conviction which was not without its own charm.

I am, indeed, charmed

Van Helsing was gazing at him with a look of utmost intensity, his bushy eyebrows almost meeting with the fixed concentration of his look. He said to Renfield in a tone which did not surprise me at the time, but only when I thought of it afterwards—for it was as of one addressing an equal:—

YES!!!!! VICTORY!!!!!

"Let me entreat you, Dr. Seward, oh, let me implore you, to let me out of this house at once. Send me away how you will and where you will; send keepers with me with whips and chains; let them take me in a strait-waistcoat, manacled and leg-ironed, even to a gaol; but let me go out of this. You don't know what you do by keeping me here. I am speaking from the depths of my heart—of my very soul. You don't know whom you wrong, or how; and I may not tell. Woe is me! I may not tell. By all you hold sacred—by all you hold dear—by your love that is lost—by your hope that lives—for the sake of the Almighty, take me out of this and save my soul from guilt! Can't you hear me, man? Can't you understand? Will you never learn? Don't you know that I am sane and earnest now; that I am no lunatic in a mad fit, but a sane man fighting for his soul? Oh, hear me! hear me! Let me go! let me go! let me go!"

OH MY GOD YES he truly is Van Helsing’s equal!!! Not only does he suffer from I Cannot Tell You Shit Syndrome, he also uses what I will now officially refer to as the Dracula Loop™ to evoke his own imprisonment!!!

"You will, I trust, Dr. Seward, do me the justice to bear in mind, later on, that I did what I could to convince you to-night."

Well that sounds ominous. Hopefully no one immediately gets mentioned in a way that strongly parallels a character we’ve just lost in atrocious circumstances —

I went with the party to the search with an easy mind, for I think I never saw Mina so absolutely strong and well.

[Demonic screeches]

"You know this place, Jonathan. You have copied maps of it, and you know it at least more than we do. Which is the way to the chapel?" I had an idea of its direction, though on my former visit I had not been able to get admission to it; so I led the way, and after a few wrong turnings found myself opposite a low, arched oaken door, ribbed with iron bands. "This is the spot," said the Professor as he turned his lamp on a small map of the house, copied from the file of my original correspondence regarding the purchase.

Now is not the time to be facetious Abraham

The whole place was becoming alive with rats.

For a moment or two we stood appalled, all save Lord Godalming, who was seemingly prepared for such an emergency. Rushing over to the great iron-bound oaken door, which Dr. Seward had described from the outside, and which I had seen myself, he turned the key in the lock, drew the huge bolts, and swung the door open. Then, taking his little silver whistle from his pocket, he blew a low, shrill call. It was answered from behind Dr. Seward's house by the yelping of dogs, and after about a minute three terriers came dashing round the corner of the house.

As someone who grew up with a Yorkshire Terrier, this makes me indescribably happy. Good boys 🖤🩶🧡💛

The house was silent when we got back, save for some poor creature who was screaming away in one of the distant wards, and a low, moaning sound from Renfield's room. The poor wretch was doubtless torturing himself, after the manner of the insane, with needless thoughts of pain.

I came tiptoe into our own room, and found Mina asleep, breathing so softly that I had to put my ear down to hear it. She looks paler than usual.

I have no words.

"Don't you know me?" I asked. His answer was not reassuring: "I know you well enough; you are the old fool Van Helsing. I wish you would take yourself and your idiotic brain theories somewhere else. Damn all thick-headed Dutchmen!"

Renfield on the other hand has many words.

"Mrs. Harker is better out of it. Things are quite bad enough for us, all men of the world, and who have been in many tight places in our time; but it is no place for a woman, and if she had remained in touch with the affair, it would in time infallibly have wrecked her."

[Slams head on desk]

If then the Count meant to scatter these ghastly refuges of his over London, these places were chosen as the first of delivery, so that later he might distribute more fully. The systematic manner in which this was done made me think that he could not mean to confine himself to two sides of London. He was now fixed on the far east of the northern shore, on the east of the southern shore, and on the south. The north and west were surely never meant to be left out of his diabolical scheme—let alone the City itself and the very heart of fashionable London in the south-west and west.

JONATHAN HOW CAN YOU BE SO SMART YET SO DUMB

"To hell with you and your souls!" he shouted. "Why do you plague me about souls? Haven't I got enough to worry, and pain, and distract me already, without thinking of souls!"

🥺

Will not mention "drinking."

Fears the thought of being burdened with the "soul" of anything.

Has no dread of wanting "life" in the future.

Despises the meaner forms of life altogether, though he dreads being haunted by their souls.

Logically all these things point one way! he has assurance of some kind that he will acquire some higher life. He dreads the consequence—the burden of a soul. Then it is a human life he looks to!

And the assurance—?

Merciful God! the Count has been to him, and there is some new scheme of terror afoot!

AN UNEXPECTED BREAKTHROUGH

[Renfield] had got a scrap of paper and was folding it into a note-book.

Oh gods are we going to hear from Renfield himself??? Please say yes

The purchaser is a foreign nobleman, Count de Ville,

Count de Ville

Outside of the obvious pun I am being French-baited again… This novel truly is a Professor Layton game.

< Prev 🦇 Next >

[tenebris-lux]

I love the scene where Mina is comforting Arthur.

“… when Lord Godalming found himself alone with me he sat down on the sofa and gave way utterly and openly. I sat down beside him and took his hand. I hope he didn’t think it forward of me, and that if he ever thinks of it afterwards he never will have such a thought. There I wrong him; I know he never will—he is too true a gentleman.”

Before she goes on and requests to be a stand-in sister for him, I love how she just does that like, “screw propriety; we’re humans here, and that’s what’s important.” And Art takes all the sympathy offered for what it was.

Mina believes that there’s something more inherent in women to being “the nurturer”; I’m not convinced that is true, but it’s not an uncommon belief. And when she says—

“He told me that for days and nights past—weary days and sleepless nights—he had been unable to speak with any one, as a man must speak in his time of sorrow. There was no woman whose sympathy could be given to him, or with whom, owing to the terrible circumstances with which his sorrow was surrounded, he could speak freely.”

It says something for the gender roles at the time. He cried a bit in front of Seward and Quincey and Van Helsing, but he had still been holding back. He broke down in front of Jack, and Jack held him, but said in his diary—

“I comforted him as well as I could. In such cases men do not need much expression. A grip of the hand, the tightening of an arm over the shoulder, a sob in unison, are expressions of sympathy dear to a man’s heart. I stood still and silent till his sobs died away …”

Which was sweet, but it falls in line with what Mina said about Art having no one around that wouldn’t judge him for just … feeling so much; and her expressing all the sympathy needed and more, and the reassurance of ‘I’m here if you need to talk or fall apart.’ (Also Seward is more guarded with his emotions; he waits until he’s home and vents to his phonograph. Even then, he’s reserved. And his reactions to Van Helsing’s outbursts were, ‘o-okay, this … this is not … typical…. We’re guys here, right…? Um…’)

Sadly, it’s still a common belief today, though we’re trying to change it as best we can. “Boys don’t cry,” “Girls are the born mothers” … neither is true or healthy. We should all be there for each other when we need to be, and gender should have no measure in our emotional expression. We’re human.

[quailfence]

[Image description taken from alt: Image 1: Dorian Grey is casually sitting on an armchair, sprawled, holding a glass of wine. He’s smiling. “You caught me by surprise, Godalming. I was starting to think that you would never host an event. What’s the occasion?” Image 2: Shot of Arthur looking at a few party guests, who are chatting and holding glasses of alcohol. Van Helsing is the center of attention, while Irene, Godfrey, and Basil Hallward look at him, chatting. Arthur says, sitting in an armchair, holding his own glass: “Just a send off for a good friend leaving for his homeland. Now…” Image 3: Arthur turns to face Dorian, with a cold expression. “…To what do I owe the pleasure (italics) of a visit from Mr. Hallward and yourself?” Image 4: Dorian plays with his glass, an innocent look on his face. “I wasn’t about to miss a Godalming party, of course! But I also wanted to say you’re welcome for my help in apprehending the Invisible Man.” His speech ends with a heart symbol. Image 5: Arthur looks shocked, but standing his ground. Dorian continues offscreen: “Don’t try to deny it, that puppy face of yours can’t hide a thing. Interesting friends (italics) you’ve got, Godalming. I didn’t know you had it in you; it’s most (italics) fascinating.” Image 6: Dorian leers at Arthur with a grin, saying, “As interesting as certain happenings (italics) at a secluded park up north.” Image 7: Arthur looks calm and serious, leaning forward over their shared table. He says, “What are you getting at, Gray?” Dorian looks relaxed, responding: “You see, I, too, am rather interested in such strange cases…for personal reasons.” Image 8: Dorian leans forward, smugly, and says, “And you lot seem to be most adept at attracting them…but you need my help for that, don’t you?” Arthur calmly sips his drink as he responds, “If you wish to be part of this, Mr. Gray, you should be asking Mrs. Harker and Mrs. Norton, not myself.” Image 9: Dorian looks shocked, setting his drink down. “What do you mean—they (italics) are in charge of this?!” he says. Image 10: Arthur looks down at him, smugly, his finished drink near his lips. “Not as all-knowing as you boast, are you?” he says. End description.]

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Dialogue transcripts:

Panel 1

Godfrey: And do not tell Irene, but I am certainly going to commission you for a portrait of her.

Basil: I’d be glad to! As soon as I have completed Sir Murgatroyd’s, I am at your service.

Panel 2

Godfrey: Please, take your time. No matter when, it is a thrill to show your gift to the one you love!

Basil: Indeed, it is…

Panel 3

Irene: …Well, Mr. Gray, we shall keep that in mind. We do owe Mr. Hallward, as well as yourself, credit for giving us the first clue. Above all, we trust Lord Godalming having referred you.

Panel 4

Dorian: Ah, indeed, good old Basil…Anyway. I am glad Lord Godalming has put my little joke behind him. He’s a bit of a humorless sort, sometimes.

Panel 5

Mina: Oh, rest assured, Arthur is quite mirthful.

Panel 6

Mina: He does, however, have his limits when it comes to love.

Mina (white text): We, however, shall suffer no mockery of Love.

Panel 7

Background text (left side): “How long will you like me? Till I have my first wrinkle, I suppose.” “I love her, and I must make her love me.” “I have had the arms of Rosalind around me, and kissed Juliet on the mouth.”

Background text (right side): “I would give my soul for that!” “To-night she is Imogen, and to-morrow night she will be Juliet.” “When is she Sibyl Vane?” “Never.” “You have spoiled the romance of my life. How little you can know of love, if you say it mars your art! Without your art, you are nothing.”

Background text (white): Mockery of Love (x3)

Panel 8

Mina: …Is everything quite alright, Mr. Gray?

Panel 9

Dorian: Oh! Yes—I was just saying—We would be delighted to keep in touch with such…ahem…intriguing company. But for now I am afraid we must bid you adieu, erm, if you’ll excuse me…

Panel 10

Basil: Dorian! Are we leaving already?

[vickyvicarious]

Mina today like 😒🙄 anyway as I was saying, I could feel my husband who is Jonathan...

Oh man, imagine how offended she will feel when she eventually reads Van Helsing's memorandum and sees what he thought she was talking about. I don't think she noticed before, especially given how hilariously matter-of-fact she is about sensing Jonathan in this entry. But I can easily see her scoffing and kind of just tossing the memorandum down on the table in disgust at that part. Maybe leaving the room to go give Jonathan a kiss (in front of Van Helsing for extra measure) just because.

About her being so matter-of-fact today... It's funny actually, because when she's had premonitions about his condition despite physical separation in the past (thinking he's not on the water in Whitby, her fear to think of him/certainty he's not in danger soon after they part when hunting Dracula) she sounds a bit uncertain. But on November 5 (since both today and yesterday's entries occurred on that day), perhaps as she feels his presence getting closer, she drops any self-doubt or logical justifying in favor of utmost certainty.

"Let us go to meet my husband who is, I know, coming towards us."

"It was late in the afternoon when the Professor and I took our way towards the east whence I knew Jonathan was coming."

"The two men might be Dr. Seward and Mr. Morris. I knew at all events that neither of them was Jonathan. At the same time I knew that Jonathan was not far off; looking around I saw on the north side of the coming party two other men, riding at break-neck speed. One of them I knew was Jonathan, and the other I took, of course, to be Lord Godalming."

Look at all that knowing! She's not admitting any possibility of doubt at all. It's her husband (who, yes Professor, is of course Jonathan) who she senses and she knows exactly where he's coming from and which one is him. Sure, I guess you could say that she knows he's coming because they're all coming according to the plan, and she could recognize her husband even at such a distance because she knows him so well. But that doesn't really explain her certainty that Jonathan is close even before she sees him, or her consistent focus on only mentioning Jonathan when everyone else is coming towards them too.

And while it's a little less certain, there's even a moment in the middle of the battle where she seems to know he is safe (unlike Quincey sadly):

I should have felt terrible fear at seeing Jonathan in such danger, but that the ardour of battle must have been upon me as well as the rest of them; I felt no fear, but only a wild, surging desire to do something.

She says this just before Jonathan's approach sends the men cowering before him. In my mind it fits well with her certainty that he's in no danger when traveling on the ship, even though as far as they know he might have caught up to Dracula on the river and been in trouble. (In fact, after she says that he has a restful sleep.) It doesn't feel like too far a leap to say that Mina is so tuned in to Jonathan here that she can tell nothing will be happening to him.

If we harken back to early Whitby entries, where Mina woke when Lucy was in danger and felt deep worry about Jonathan, I think it's a lot easier to read as just her being a light sleeper and knowing her friend/husband well enough to tell if someone's off about their behavior or letters. But there's also a possible reading that she has always been a little bit psychic. Maybe she's only really tapped into that power since her attacks, when she was actively trying to use mental powers against Dracula, but at least some of it can be seen as inherently her own, which she's learned to use/trust/strengthen over the course of the book.

(Also, about that last quote - here's a fun theory. Maybe Mina does "do something" here. Maybe she psychically aids Jonathan somehow, helps him bring out the full pissed-off-vampire vibes to stare people down till they literally cannot stand in his way. That could be kind of fun, regardless of whether you assume Jonathan already is supernatural enough himself to do so and she's just helping him make use of it, or if you think she's loaning him some vampyness. ...Actually, I feel like the wafer circle around her should stop her doing any such thing via vampiric methods, so then it would have to be Mina using her normal psychic powers to bring out the full force of Jonathan's Supernatural Weirdness stolen from Dracula in order to protect him. Dunno that I believe it really but it's a cool idea I think.)