#` ✞ lore. ⁞ that shiny badge tells me you're here with the ministry of accounting and recounting!

[sunlessea]

RE : werewolves & why kindred, particularly in the neath, are not aware their kind even exist ( despite seemingly having a master of the garou, mr zees, among them ) ... the shortest answer is that most assume that any who ARE present are just fae, as most individuals in the neath exhibiting animalistic features (ears, tails, fur, fang, whatever that all entails - it can be of a canine variety, feline, deer, etc) typically hail from either pureblood or mixed blood fae families. these fae are extremely common in the neath and make up a substantial part of the population, so seeing someone with wolf ears, a big tail, cat ears, deer horns, bird wings, a beak even, whatever, is not exactly uncommon, especially since venice sank and the fae swarmed the city.

kindred on the surface are slightly more privy to werewolves' existences as their sects in the world of darkness simply do not get along or mingle with one-another : ( kindred who find themselves within werewolf territory are likely to start sweating for their lives, to be quite frank )

but neath citizens, ESPECIALLY those who have been there a long time, doubt if not entirely write off the existence of werewolves as myths. there ARE very very few werewolves in london, and those that ARE there typically find ways to handle their full moon frenzying privately ( ex : elysium literally imprisons himself in a cellar during the surface's full moon when he transforms into a full wolf )

so kindred just.......... never encounter werewolves. they're a myth, at best. the masters THEMSELVES even doubt that any exist ASIDE from mr zees, whom they doubt to have ever spread its bloodline. londoners themselves aren't even sure that mr ZEES is real, for how little it visits london. the only ones familiar with it are zailors, who likely don't really give a rat's ass if werewolves are real on account of dealing with everything that wants to kill them in the ocean, let alone on land.

makes it a little awkward for characters like elysium, whom often is likely to have to admit truth both about what he is with those he interacts with, and that he comes from a long, long, prestigious line of werewolves whose specific purpose is meant to be hunting and killing kindred.

[sunlessea]

happy day before sunday, curators ( + thus the ma.sters of the ba.zaar ) produce naturally very lubricating saliva, thus entirely eliminating the need ( but if wanted, it can still be used for funsies! ) for any extra aid w lubrication during sex as long as they use their mouth / tongues ( which are prehensile! and very long! btw! ) 🤡

amen amen date a vampire

[sunlessea]

just winter ramblings BUT LIKE..........

winter's morality and character is so all over the place bc he's actively so sympathetic while also being a complete bastard cuz it's like... he is extremely ruthless [being the ca.marilla / ven.true prince for his territory & having to deal with both the surface AND neath politics, he rly HAS to be] but also like thinking about who he was vs who he is now is so... sad

his character is so complex and i haven't rambled about it a lot but like ... he was murdered for his homosexuality considering the time period he was kine in and the only reason he survived is through being embraced by a sire who was disgusted by the crime / witnessed it and took pity on him [ * that sire being justine, one of the original v.entrue. ] and it's such a stark turning point for his character bc prior to that he was a very sweet, hopeless romantic individual who saw the best in everything and was wholeheartedly an optimist despite the cruelty of his circumstances with parents who didn't understand him and a childhood boyfriend who wouldn't stand up for him when he got outed [ * adrien, though through no fault of his own : they're both victims of a cruel time period and share the same trauma's ]

he didn't even leave his family initially despite being turned, until he had no choice when they started threatening to lock his sibling up in an asylum [ * that being summer, who was embraced after him by a m.alkavian, and that bloodline on top of him trying to fight coming to terms with being a ftm transman ofc made people of the time assume he was mentally unwell ]

winter's story is so wild because it's STEEPED in kindness + the necessity of freedom and acceptance, he literally uproots his already fragile life and runs away from america to chase the RUMOR of the neath's existence ultimately to save summer / find somewhere in which his brother could be himself and not even for the sake himself, considering he ultimately decides to stay on the surface because he wants to both change it and see the surface progress past kine's close-minded prejudices.

but he's also just like. undeniably an evil person once you reach present day london. he had to climb the ve.ntrue political ladder to claim the position he's in, he has to constantly deal with and threaten the masters, he has to hunt down and kill / make an example of people who break the masquerade, he has all these political dealings he has to go thru, etc and i'm just :')

a lot of winter's character gets lost on people who meet him because he's so ... different from who he used to be. the world hurt and then hardened him, he LOST the kindness / optimism he once had but NOT his open-mindedness, he hurts people for the sake of his practicality and position but never for the case of it being who they are, he's a progressive force in the surface's world but an overbearing dictator to the neath's kindred, he sacrificed himself to save his brother but sacrifices those around him to uplift his position, he continuously tries to push both the surface and the w.orld of darkness forward to accept and care for people regardless of their cultures or appearances or identities but refuses to progress as a person himself after settling into a role of v.entrue dictator because he can't heal his own trauma

etc etc etc

anw winter makes me have feelings bc he grew into such a morally awful person but he's also such a huge reason that london and his territories are so openly available to and welcoming to all kinds of people regardless of who or what they are, and there are so many kindred and kine both who fled to london specifically because they knew they'd be safe just existing there from a standpoint of societal acceptance regardless of race / gender / sexuality / culture / etc, even though dealing with the masters and the neath and the ca.marilla and etc all together is a pain