#scribe does dracula daily

[larissa-the-scribe]

Okay this is late, but I noticed something

When Jonathan first arrives at the castle, he remarks on how well-preserved everything is, antique furniture rivaling those found in museums. And yet, when he goes exploring on May 15th, in every other part of the castle he keeps noting how old, dusty, and moth-eaten everything is.

Which, antique furniture that has been moth-eaten and damaged can't just be restored on a passing whim. Antiques can be restored, but it's an artform, and delicate work, and the way that Jonathan talks about stuff, it sounds more like the earlier-mentioned antiques are well-kept. Like this area where the Count presumably occasionally entertains guests has been meticulously maintained throughout the years.....

[tenebris-lux]

Catching up on Dracula Daily.

Van Helsing: “Friend John, this has been a great hour; and it have done much to advance us on our way. You must be scribe and write him all down, so that when the others return from their work you can give it to them; then they shall know as we do.”

I can hear Jack crying in his mind about that assignment, but he ain’t bitching on paper cuz it ain’t important right now. This isn’t a “waiting to see what happens, so I’m just killing time” entry. This one has a more specific purpose to catch everyone else up to speed, and can be reviewed for useful info in catching the Count.

It’s a shame they have that belief of the “criminal mind” being “naturally underdeveloped.” It’s just so blatantly wrong, even in story.

I wonder if Dracula has ever done to someone else what he’s done to Mina—making a connection that can be used to spy on the person’s surroundings and read their mind. If so, I wonder if the hypnosis being used to spy in reverse ever came up. I would guess not, and that it’s a detrimental (to him) side effect he was unaware of until this point. So now he’s cut off the deliberate part of the mental connection so he can’t be tracked. Unfortunately for him, he can’t “un-turn” her at this point, so some connection remains. Not much of one, though. If he knows magic outside of vampiric abilities (as was hinted earlier), I wonder if he’s putting in efforts to fortify his mind against intruders.

Now that Mina’s freer to be involved, she goes to it with a will. She catches up on all that she missed, and does some serious deduction as to what the Count will do next.

It’s because of her that they were all able to form plans for pursuing/ambushing the Count. The guys all got the info of his movements so far, which was necessary, but she put it all together and was able to infer what would work best for Count Dracula.

The hypnosis trance she was in where she said, “There is another sound, a queer one like——” and then ‘She stopped and grew white, and whiter still.’ I wonder that was when Dracula was killing Skinsky. That’s a horrible thing to witness, and from the POV of the one ripping his throat out. It seems like a mercy that she can’t remember it, but I wonder if it’ll pop up in her dreams from time to time in the future.

Mina typed out all the entries she hasn’t seen up to this point. It was October 5th that she made the decision to not be privy to any of the discussions about hunting Dracula, but I like to think this was the first time she reviewed the October 3 entries as well. I remember on October 4, she and Jonathan went over the old entries a few times, but I’m not sure if she saw Jonathan’s entry on the 3rd. I’ve no doubt that she’s seen his suffering this whole month, but she was also very distracted—she herself had been struggling to overcome a horrific assault, and the entire time felt some supernatural weight “binding her” until recently. It was only around sunrise and sunset when she felt that binding feeling lessen, and they were using those as opportunities to eavesdrop on Dracula. Now she feels the whole weight lift off.

In a way, it sounds kind of like depression (at least the depressive episodes I’ve been in). When it lifts finally, one can feel more “awake” and aware. She’s got her energy back and is using it to catch up, and with that comes some awareness of things she might have missed through being kind of “fogged out” and left out of the meetings. This isn’t to say that I think she was oblivious to Jonathan’s suffering as well, but she may not have noticed the depths of it, as her words seem to indicate:

“… poor dear, dear Jonathan, what he must have suffered, what must he be suffering now. He lies on the sofa hardly seeming to breathe, and his whole body appears in collapse. His brows are knit; his face is drawn with pain. Poor fellow, maybe he is thinking, and I can see his face all wrinkled up with the concentration of his thoughts. Oh! If I could only help at all…. I shall do what I can.”

From the more Doylist perspective, it’s because the only word of it we’ve had is from Jack, and he doesn’t have the emotional connection to Jonathan that Mina does, so he’s noticing just the superficial changes, and that’s all that’s been documented. Harker’s own entries have just been focused on what they have to do, but he can’t see the forest for the trees. And Mina’s been depressed (emotionally and supernaturally). So now Mina’s giving her take, and she’s noticing the deeper toll this whole experience is having on his psyche. And from there, she starts her detective work for hunting Dracula. The sooner this is over with, the better it’ll be for the both of them.

Also, bless Quincey for getting Mina the typewriter. He knows she’s going to want stuff to do, and that’s her realm.

[larissa-the-scribe]

If I had a nickel for every time I've listened to a podcast prominently featuring a morose guy with the initials J.S., who spends a lot of time talking into a voice recording device, goes through the Horrors despite not initially believing in them, and is voiced by the same person, I'd have TWO nickels but I'm amused it's happened twice

[larissa-the-scribe]

Once more, the count goes out in his lizard fashion.....

I saw this picture (under the cut) and couldn't resist

[larissa-the-scribe]

Shout out to the exceedingly kind townsfolk who tried their best to help shield Jonathon. They might have even left on time (there's no mention of leaving late this time around, despite Jonathan mentioning that frequently). Specifically so they could try and outwit the Count, and thus already getting Jonathan to be wary. PLUS all the gifts.

Love that for them. The unsung heroes of the story, truly.

[larissa-the-scribe]

I had to try my hand at our little guy, our good friend Jonathan Harker. I also gave him freckles, as a treat.

[larissa-the-scribe]

I'll try to avoid Dracula-posting too much over here, but I would like to point out that, while Jonathan Harker is often teased for obliviously wandering into the jaws of death, he understood that the Vibes were Off enough to preemptively wish Mina goodbye on day 2. And this is before, well, tomorrow.

Like, he has zero context for supernatural stuff being a thing, of course he wouldn't give up a business trip over what he currently considers to be superstition. He also doesn't know yet that the superstition is about his client being Definitely Not a Vampire. But he is worried, and I would argue that this all sets him up to survive Castle Dracula--because he's going into it already feeling that, generally, things are Weird, so he's quicker to pick up on and observe odd things.