#guest entry

[pane-bistecca]

https://pane-bistecca.com/2023/09/13/andreas-glutenfreie-apfel-zwetschgen-wahe/

[girlsaloudmeme]

Stone Orlando Idea for a big, beige, two-story stone farmhouse with a gable roof

[flyingincandescent]

The Last Kiss

This is Hyacinth, sending a post from beyond the grave, using Rudolph's laptop. I'm sorry i didn't show up on halloween but I wasn't ready yet, and some of the other members of The Fallen mentioned something chaotic was going on at the bar anyways.

I feel like I need to say something here. I suppose its a bit safer to avoid knocking another one down from sheer embarrassment at this point, since everyone already knows, but it's still hard to write.

The day I died, I was visited by the angel of death.

Me and the others were ready to kick some ass, though I had to pop a spray-on potion to power through a migraine. I decided not to sleep, too determined to rest. We walked down the dark hallway and arrived on The Stage.

Beyond the stage, where the field of dreams resided, I saw a man that looked far more dazzling than anything that the mage could have possibly drawn in that webcomic.

I was struck by his beauty.

The others, RN and Jovin, they tried to focus on convincing young Dylan to turn down the business proposition. Now I say young, but that's mostly just in relative terms. Apparently there was only a ten year difference between the two different versions of him, with countless years beyond any mortal lifetime under either of their belts. Or at least, that's the vibe that I managed to get. For all I know, young Dylan could have been just plain-ass 20 at very least, knowing how long the lost pawns took to escape the furthest ring.

Anyhow, Elder Dylan took one look at me and said something that shook me to my core.

"You're early."

I'm not sure if either of the others felt it, but I could feel a sinking feeling in my gut, and a growing distance from The Network.

The timeline was doomed, and I felt alone.

Now, I'm not sure how, but it seemed as if Elder Dylan knew this too. He instantly smote his younger self with a bolt of black lightning, and began making his way towards he stage.

The way he walked, dragging a wooden baseball bat, with the glare I know all too well of a hunter... I should have been afraid. I should have ran. Where would I have ran to though? What lesson would I bring back to the alpha timeline, knowing my moments were numbered regardless? So instead, I gazed upon him. I couldn't even tell how exactly he managed to dispatch my allies. Had RN lost all hope? Had Jovin's fury led him to his folly? Had either of them managed to figure out that we were no longer connected to the outside world by any useful measure? Well, I suppose they would have to have known the mission was a failure from the sheer fact that Young Dylan didn't revive from that lightning strike for some damned reason.

Before I knew it, Jovin and RN were dead, collapsed on the ground, crumpled and bleeding. Even my gallade was mortally wounded somehow.

It was only me and him at that point.

Elder Dylan approached me. I expected the worst. I braced myself to be blasted away, to be cut into ribbons, to be slammed into the pavement, to be burned alive until I was no longer...

But when he got close... he reached out his hand... and stroked my face. My sandpaper-y coarse face.

"Now that we are alone..."

One of his many shadow tendrils held me... gently. I was lifted ever so slightly off the ground, at his mercy. Every hair on my body was standing on end.

"...No one can interrupt us."

He elevated me to his level, and pulled me in for a kiss. I had never felt so much from a kiss. Everything in me was on fire. I embraced him. I kissed him back, suspending the moment as long as I could. I held him tightly as the world began to spin. I had never felt so alive in my entire life...

...and then

it all ended.

before I knew it, there was a gaping hole in my chest, and he kept staring at me.

In his hand, gushing with blood, was my own literal heart.

He stole my heart from me.

And in that final moment of betrayal, I was powerless.

He let me fall to the ground, but I kept falling.

I should have known that he would do this to me.

I should have known that it was too good to be true.

Before I lost my last bit of consciousness, before darkness enveloped me forevermore... I heard him say only one thing:

"All shall return to void."

And then all was dark.

I had been kissed by the angel of death, and he took everything away from me.

Do yourselves a favor and stay as far away from that seductive bastard as possible. It will only end in emptiness and regret.

I'm still not sure if it was worth it.

[meamiiikiii]

siffrin deals with the woes of a frozen computer.

guest starring (hah) loop!

loop can just input text box dialogue onto tech within the reverse entry au for funsies, dont worry about it!

[iron-sparrow]

JUNELEZEN 【第 7 天】 BOAT

darling, just look beside you oh, I'll go with you anywhere ♪

feat. @ahollowgrave and @this-is-ris

[jaggedcliffs]

I've started up listened to the Re: Dracula audiobook (and reading a copy of Dracula that I picked up on a whim from an indie bookstore last month), and quite a few things are sticking out to me about the first few days

Jonathan's "I must ask the Count about these superstitions" was made fun of quite a bit, both because our cultural knowledge of Dracula makes it ridiculous, and also because he seems to be trusting the nobility's knowledge over the superstitious peasants, which ties into the sense that Jonathan is dismissive of the townspeople's warnings

But he opens his May 4th entry with asking the innkeepers for information about Dracula, and they keep ducking the answers.

(and it's fair that the people in the May 4th/5th entries don't say more when Jonathan asks (and he does ask), because unless you've grown up in the shadow of a vampire literally stealing babies from your villages, it would be a pretty insane thing to tell someone).

And when Jonathan finds the innkeepers' reactions "not by any means comforting," his first instinct is to want to ask other townspeople to find out more; he just doesn't have the time to investigate because the coach is (supposed to) arrive very soon after.

Plus, the innkeeper giving him the cross very much does freak him out! His first refrain of 'if I die, goodbye Mina!' comes at the end of the May 4th entry because of the innkeeper's worry.

The people speaking of "werewolves" and "vampires" only happens after he's already sitting in the coach -- which is when he makes the "ask the Count" note (a note that he likely makes because, again, he's sitting in coach and he's about to leave the townspeople behind). They only make a sign to guard him from the evil eye after the coach has just started on its way.

Before he leaves the town, Jonathan isn't given enough of a solid reason to present to his boss -- or to his client, if the client turned out to be a human person who doesn't imprison solicitors -- if he turned around or wasted the client's time and money by refusing the "best place on the coach" on the way to the castle. Nor is he given enough time after the first warning that something is off to find that solid reason or to find alternatives.

He even comments that as much as he's enjoying the scenery on the coach, he probably would enjoy it a lot less if he'd understood what the people on the coach were saying. It's more like he's trying to distract himself from the looming sense of dread, not that he's ignorant to it.

By the time Dracula is taking him in the calèche, the coach is barely out of sight before he outright says that he "think[s] had been any alternative [he] should have taken it" instead of doing whatever the fuck is happening to him now.

It's not just that he planned to ask the Count about the superstitions, but that he also wanted to ask the people about the Count. He wants to ask the Count about the superstitions because he isn't able to talk to the townspeople more. And he wants to ask the townspeople about the Count because the little he's heard so far worries him.

But after he gets his first warning of weirdness, he doesn't have the time to investigate further, or find a way to the castle in a way that doesn't put him in the count's power. Which is probably how Dracula wanted it

[spellboundcities]

HI!! I don’t know if you’re still taking request, but what if you drew a skrunkly Marble Hornets cast (or just a few, or just one) in Hawaiian shirts?

Also, you’re art is so cool and I love it with all of my heart JHDJNFNDN

Honestly I was just gonna do doodles of the whole cast but @sirenetica gave me some positively Golden shirts and a friend of mine requested some jam in this pose, so all of the planets aligned for The Image of all time

[ozzgin]

I'm shy so anon but love love LOVE your stories and drawings and honestky please keep it up thank you your content is great and I'm positive your hair is very shiny and soft and if ur bald or whatever that your scalp is also shiny and soft (idk if that's a thing people look for in a scalp but either way you are amazing)

Thank you for your compliments anon, however I would advise you to be careful when gazing upon my bald scalp. I know it is an entrancing sight, yet legend has it that whoever stares at their reflection against my shiny head for too long may risk bad things happening. Some even go as far as to say that the souls of the poor victims will be banished into the cuck chasm in their afterlife. I’d think they’re exaggerating, but one can never be too cautious.

[see-arcane]

So, Whose Blood is That, Dracula?

Since we have the image of a blood-bloated Dracula fresh in our minds and a few questions floating around as to whose blood it was—some point to Jonathan, others to some fresh local victims, some to both—I want us to backtrack to a story that wasn’t plugged into Dracula Daily, what with Bram Stoker trimming it off his original printing. An intended prologue called, “Dracula’s Guest,” that you can read for free here. (Everyone say, “Thank you, Project Gutenberg.”)

SPOILERS FOR “DRACULA’S GUEST” BELOW

The part I’m most concerned about is the fact that, in this prologue, it’s implied Dracula was not just the coachman that takes Jonathan to the castle. He’s been stalking him since Munich. Even saved Jonathan’s ‘Pretty Nature Walk > My Own Life’ ass from a village of other resting vampires (though Harker isn’t caught up or credulous enough to register this, he just checks the whole thing off as Some Weird Shit in the Middle of a Weirder Storm).

Anyway.

Dracula turns up as his Wolf form, scares off the other bloodsuckers who want a piece of Jonathan’s sweet English countryside, and spends the evening flopped on top of Jonathan’s unconscious body. The search party that comes out looking for him will take this as the wolf, ‘keeping (him) his blood warm.’ Not just from acting like the world’s hairiest weighted blanket, but by constantly breathing on and licking Jonathan’s neck. Now, the search party that finds him and takes him back to the inn is of varied temperaments on the subjects of:

1. Just what that ‘wolf’ really was. They all know, but some are more resigned to the craziness aspect of admitting as much, versus one member who is much more blunt.

2.  Whether Jonathan is…safe to be around. They seem to check him out:

“There was blood on the broken marble,” another said after a pause—“the lightning never brought that there. And for him—is he safe? Look at his throat! See, comrades, the wolf has been lying on him and keeping his blood warm.”

The officer looked at my throat and replied:

“He is all right; the skin is not pierced. What does it all mean? We should never have found him but for the yelping of the wolf.”

Okay! All good! But later on, we read this:

“Dog! that was no dog,” cut in the man who had exhibited such fear. “I think I know a wolf when I see one.”

The young officer answered calmly: “I said a dog.”

“Dog!” reiterated the other ironically. It was evident that his courage was rising with the sun; and, pointing to me, he said, “Look at his throat. Is that the work of a dog, master?”

Instinctively I raised my hand to my throat, and as I touched it I cried out in pain. The men crowded round to look, some stooping down from their saddles; and again there came the calm voice of the young officer:

“A dog, as I said. If aught else were said we should only be laughed at.”

So, what does that mean? Was he bitten or not? Well, the one who seems the most even-headed, and insistent about denying there’s an issue, is the same guy—the officer who first examined Jonathan’s throat and wrote off this new pain when Jonathan touched the spot. He knows something’s up, but also knows it’s moot.

But the guy with his hackles up clearly sees something and points it out. Look at his throat, he says. Because there is something to see. We’ll discover in later chapters exactly what a vampire bite looks like—and, spoilers, unlike the cinematic counterparts with their big punctures and red scars, they aren’t all that impressive. Really, they’re clean as pinpricks. Almost surgical.

Which is worth pointing out, as dogs and wolves*** tend not to leave neat little incision marks when they bite.

Another thing. This group was already suspicious when they went looking for him at the behest of Jonathan’s current host. Because the man had just received a note (and a monetary incentive) sent by Dracula, entreating/warning to be mindful of his future guest and his wandering. Wolves out tonight, you know. My bet is that the search party knew this.

Hence why, when they first spotted Jonathan pinned under that particular Wolf, we get this scene…

‘The wolf rose from my breast and made for the cemetery. I saw one of the horsemen (soldiers by their caps and their long military cloaks) raise his carbine and take aim. A companion knocked up his arm, and I heard the ball whizz over my head. He had evidently taken my body for that of the wolf.’ 

No, Jonathan. No, he did not.

If the hint isn’t clear, Soldier 1 thought it worth the risk, and the mercy, to try and put Jonathan down rather than take the chance he’d been turned. Soldier 2, likely the canny officer, saved Jonathan’s life—not because he doubted the risk, but because he knew there would be consequences if Dracula’s guest didn’t make it to the castle, whatever he might be by the time he got there. And, seeing as he probably WAS THAT WOLF, the Count would know just who to take up his grievance with.

All of which is a roundabout way to say, yeah, Dracula may have stolen a drink out of Jonathan while he was asleep. 

(Note for later, we’re going to find out that Jonathan’s habit of faints and blackouts is not just him going full damsel. Being too unconscious to protest while you’re being siphoned is about to become a very common trait for future characters…) 

But whether Dracula took that farewell sip or not—And left plenty of blood for his ladies! Gentleman that he is.—it would be as much for nostalgia’s sake as to help with his makeover.

Because whether Jonathan or the novel-proper want to admit it or not, Dracula already helped himself to a drink long before he reached Transylvania.

[commehter]

“You did well, Little Dragon” by malistaticy

Submission for The Spirit Tale of Fire Lord Ozai Art Contest.

The inspiration is from chapter 13, the scene where Zu-Ozai tugs on lil’ baby Azula’s bangs. So cute. I was trying to ape the style of the show, can’t say I totally succeeded. Had an enormous amount of fun though. Spot the turtleducks!

Back to SToFLO on AO3 or RR.

[quantumjellyfish]

Do you think that soul permeability makes Perfect Lyctorhood* impossible? Because two souls, interchanging their qualities, would inevitably merge into Paul-like melange

*a pair of a necromancer and a cavalier (neither of them being a soul of a planet or something weird like that) who mutually feed on each other souls, in this process creating infinite power for some reason

[randomreasonstolive]

Reason to Live #7931

  Reading the entries on this blog– Guest Submission

(Please don't add negative comments to these posts.)

[xcziel]

Cdrama Above the River 《江河之上》 airing March 11 - April 1 in primetime on the state TV broadcast channel

LC captioned this picture post with "Don't wear headphones when doing experiments!" (you can listen to my song Can You Be Yourself 《可不可以做自己》 later - shameless plug lol)

So my guess is he's referencing his character's actions. Looks like Nie Wen got himself into some trouble in the lab!

[gimmickblogcatalogue]

I’m so sorry There’s 50 painters and we’re getting more every day.

I'll be fine!

[themuseoftheviolets]

god i miss being a monitor at kids parties. i was eating bday cake and sweets every weekend

[spellboundcities]

I want you to know that Under Your Post with asher, I just got this ad right below it

DUDE. DIVORCE IS REAL.