#the werewolf thing is secondary to the actual conflict thing and i love that i really really do love that dfhghfdk

[varilien]

halloween idea: werewolfwood ??? :]c

okay sorry this wasn't going to be vashwood but i put on a couple random werewolf movies while working on it and they were consistently SUFFUSED with romantic themes so. coughs.

werewolfwood as ever has a cranky face but a soft little heart :)

[vacantgodling]

CURRENT BETWIXT THUMB AND FOREFINGER (AKA 19TH CENTURY TWILIGHT ADAPTATION THAT CRASHED INTO GOTH LIT SOMEWHERE) RESEARCH AND PLANNING and generally my chaotic thought process lmao.

sponsored by: @sarahlizziewrites & @ink-flavored

tl;dr: all of this is still subject to change bc i'm still planning a lot of this stuff out. however, i want to post what i have so far bc how i plan things is kinda intriguing to me and i wanna talk about something but bc i'm not Writing Prose atm this is all i got.

transposed under the cut but i wanted to showcase what the actual doc looks like :p

WIP NAME ⟶ BETWIXT THUMB AND FOREFINGER

(the hell) betwit thumb and forefinger — the time between solstice and equinox

with the secondary title that almost implies that the story is taking place over a short time period between solstice and equinox — which is a 90 day period, so about 3 months?

idk if i have to keep that in the title, but perhaps the title is a reference to how short a time this is in the grand scheme of things, especially in the life of an immortal creature, but for biscella this is a lifetime. going through every stage of grief and sommemore shit. so i think i’ll call it betwixt thumb and forefinger (BTAF)

some kind of celestial name (twilight/new moon/eclipse/breaking dawn) ⟶ something in this realm to tie back to twilight’s inspo’s somehow but idk if i wanna give that bitch the luxury

dark adaptation — the eyes’s transition to night vision

equinox / solstice

retrograde 

betwixt retrograde and amnesia LMAO

betwixt equinox and solstice

i need to decide what year i want this story to take place in cuz that’s gonna hinge everything.

History of the Netherlands - Wikipedia

peninsular war was 1807-1814. sjaak did not see the end of this conflict as he was turned into a werewolf by a fellow soldier “gust” (why, idk yet).

joined the french army (netherlands and french were allies during this time the batavain-french alliance™) and fought in the battle of zaragoza (1808) ; was injured and near death when he was found by gust a gravewalker. there’s been a rumor going around during the battle that people have seen corpses up and walk away from the battle and their wounds and its because gust (and others) have been turning them into werewolves for some greater purpose. — sjaak becomes one of these when he leaves.

if i assume that for all intents and purposes sjaak is 18 when he finally leaves the netherlands and joins the spanish FRENCH army, then maybe he’s 20 when he’s turned into a werewolf. so… 20 during 1808.

born: 1788 in the netherlands — black mother who was a slave but then brought to the netherlands and subsequently freed. father was the master of the home she worked at.

biscella is younger than sjaak and i want her to be a naive 18 during 1808—perhaps this happens during 1808? but then we would have the war to contend with going on unless it was removed from the battlefield somewhat.

the “cullens” are located in castillo-nuevo in what is now navarre spain and have cleared it out to build a castle there. that lonely castle in the middle of the wilderness is where biscella lies. the crypt is hidden among the mountainous landscape, and even though biscella was there during the funeral, another aspect of everything is eduard appearing to her in dreams/visions/as an apparition keeps her from knowing his location fully by scrambling her mind.

i want sjaak to kill that baby

“you have the face of the woman i love. but the blood of the man i hate flows thorugh you” or something. kills the damn baby and makes biscella’s death worthless in some ways

“she would’ve wanted you to live. she would’ve wanted me to show you the ways of the world and the sun in the trees and the apples that hang low from branches. but i am a monster filled with utter darkness and hate. i will kill what she cherished, and hope that in your death, her memory will haunt me.” or something.

NAMING STRUGGLES ⟶ Spanish naming customs - Wikipedia / Category:Catalan-language surnames - Wikipedia / Names Categorized "Twilight characters" - Behind the Name

possible names for bella (romani, coming from germany into netherlands after being expelled from the country or whatever)

biscella 

mirella ⟶ variant of amaryllis (meaning to sparkle)

sibella ⟶ prophetess (variant of the name sybil)

tsarla ⟶ evening

gisela ⟶ hostage/pledge

biscella schwann

tsarla schwann

gisela schwann

sibella schwann

karl schwann + tsarla schwann >> biscella schwann >> 

surnames for eduard & the cullens™ ⟶ casavantes (the name taken from the patriarch of the family; comas is the 

CHARACTERS

biscella schwann de casavantes (bella) ⟶ follows the standards of the region + is not spanish so she just goes with the flow

karl schwann (charlie father, dead)

tsarla schwann (mother, dead)

sjaak de witte (dutch) (jacob)

luis jofre casavantes basurto (carlisle) ⟶ created via union but killed his parents so he could defect to a “vegetarian” lifestyle (aka hibernation). he forbids the usage of venom to create more of their coven, forbidding the femme vampires from autonomous reproduction essentially.

maritxell comas miranda (esme) ⟶ wife and half-sister of luis; created via union and assisted luis in killing their parents so that they could start their own coven. completely loyal to him and was defanged in an act of loyalty (aka; she can no longer make other vampires stronger as luis removed her fangs, this also keeps her from drinking blood AND solely dependent on him for protection)

i want maritxell to actually have a more prominent role than just like. a sad woe is me matriarch. i want her to be like those women who uphold the patriarchy by being misogynistic towards other women. women like her own daughters (rosita and azelie) need to know their place, and because biscella is romani, she views her as subhuman (and also just as a breeder for eduard’s seed).

i don’t want her to be like romilda in vdtrt who’s more battered wife syndrome. i think maritxell and luis are very very complicit in one another’s bullshit.

rosita casavantes i comas (rosalie) ⟶ first child of the union between luis and maritxell, defanged at birth, rosita desperately wishes to be with child (need to figure out why). she is intensely jealous of biscella despite knowing the woman will die, and torments her now that eduard has been buried in the crypt.

eduard casavantes i comas (edward) ⟶ uses ‘i’ instead of ‘y’ or ‘de’ because he’s specifically from catalina ; created via union of luis and maritxell, and despite being the middle child, is the strongest of the vampire children.

azelie picard (alice) ⟶ luis impregnated a french woman who azelie assumed the name of once she was born. she was the one who met biscella first and despite everything is protective of her. she did not approve of eduard impregnating her (lesbian undertones and may defect and help sjaak, we’ll see). does not want to be defanged.

silvano di luise (jasper) ⟶ youngest child of the coven and born of an italian woman, his surname means ‘son of luis’ (as he is). he is very conflicted on the matter of whether or not they should stay ‘vegetarian’ if they’re still going to kill human (women) anyway by impregnating them with their spawn and thinks that human men should receive the same treatment by being killed for food or made as spawns as well. its caused infighting amongst the coven.

the other question is if i should add other characters. bc i included all the twilight vampires that are Actually Interesting (sorry emmett you’re fucking boring to me) and i’m also only including the werewolves that are interesting to me… which is mostly ig sam, leah, and whats her name. 

WORLDBUILDING AND SHIT

HOW VAMPIRES WORK (biologically)

vampires are made only through human hosts; vampires with penises can impregnate women and the pregnancy will last for 2 years until the woman is fully drained of all her blood and innards, then perish, with the baby bursting out of the womb

vampires without can impregnate men or women via their venom and it will take the form of a parasite forming in their stomach. these vampires tend to be more deadly, though because of the times it is rare to have these kinds of non-producing ‘coven’ leaders. they will do so if their mate is killed, but usually they use their venom to strengthen the other vampires in their coven.

vampires that are created via the union of two vampires in coitus will have a normal “human like” pregnancy, and tend to be the most powerful of all) (ie: eduard)

unlike werewolves vampires cannot be “turned” they can only be born.

HOW WEREWOLVES WORK (turned)

werewolves are the natural enemies to vampires as they were specifically engineered hundreds of years ago to be on par with the nightwalkers’s (vampires) habits.

they cannot be born biologically; once you are turned a werewolf you are infertile.

werewolves are created via consumption of the compound moonstone, which, as its name suggests, is what people of this time assume to be rocks from the actual moon.

whether it is or isn’t is debatable. its not Really important. you eat it and you are now lycanthrope congrats

[racicoricofalapatorius]

Dream Companions

Nyssa 2.0…sort of 

okay so first off noone can match up to Nyssa. Nyssa is life

but…

i’m thinking a future companion 

young adult (19)

keeps the doctor in cheek

understanding

friendly,sweet, silly, scared, stands up (learns to), naive, optomistic, patient, gets along with everyone, sympathetic, empathetic

tries to understand ppl best they can

but a secret badass when need be

technical mind - smart very smart (very nyssa)

leaves for the same reason tegan does but under better circumstances = sees to much death and can’t handle it but tell the doctor “i can’t keep doing this. i’m not as brave as you. but you have to be. becouse you are the doctor and save people. so be a doctor”

i’m also thinking Ally or lesbian

A boy

like seriously that’s all i want

a full time male companion-

no part time (jack bullshit) no i want a full time primary boy companion

any character traits you want

but a boy. GIVE ME A BOY PLEEEASE

Jamie/Turlough/Jack/Adric/Ian/Ben my besties just to name a few

Last of their kind warrior race

definite Leela vibes

i’m thinking war torn young adult (17/19/23)

the doctor has to show them that violence isn’t the answer and that ppl can be nice

actual conflict back (*wink, nudge,  nudge chibs*)

goes against the doctor

sacrifices themselves to save ppl AND STAYS FUCKING DEAD (*wink, wink, nudge, nudge Moffat*)

Adric but…likeable

BOY BOY BOY

I’ve been over this I WANT A PRIMARY FULL TIME MALE COMPANION

okay so teen to young adult

always stumbling into trouble

smart and knows it

lets their arrogance get the better of them

thinking they know best

the doctor acts very fatherly towards them

they admit they don’t know wtf their doing…eventually

also plz make them asextual/pan

future companion

so someone just not from modern day please

i can’t take another modern day Londoner girl

very omnisexual

doesn’t understand modern day earth

poor unsatisfied teen

like fucking housing commission level poor

i think sixteen year old would be best

underachieving self deprecating teen

age 14/15/16/17

fighting parents

bad grades

hates their life and just wants to fly away

but the doctor shows them how to love her life 

and you can make life whatever you want it to be

leaves the doctor by their own volition and is happy about going back and has no regrets

past companions

someone not from modern day (Please)

70s = badass activist radical teen

50s = (girl) non feminist ideals/learning that she doesn't need to marry to be fulfilled

tudor dynasty

victorian England

WW2

vietnam war

90s

70′s badass activist radical teen

think young marge Simpson

baddie lesbian or best ally ever

high school to collage student

pro life/pro drugs/feminist/pro pill/pro gays

basic activist

takes charge

challenges bad guys on moral principals

A alien

Either a girl, gender fluid or a non-binary

badass but heart of gold

cus no more modern day human girls

alien rights

amazing beautiful eyeshadow

maybe like immortal/age slower/extended lifespan

little differences to humans

knowledge of other alien races

awkward and funny wtf is that on modern earth (WTF is the funcion of a rubber duck)

a few lil alien powers

doesn’t get why the doctor always helps out earth and finds them to be a primitive ape race but soon comes to realise that helping someone is the best thing you can do

absurd fashion

Primary companion so resents the secondary earth contemporary companion but over time sees that she’s pretty cool

looks: light blue skin, pointy long ears, greyey-purple hair, big eyes,purple lips

fairy/godess/witch/slayer/shape shifter/werewolf

just think about it a supernatural badass with freaking powers

telikinis

can fly

very caring

telepathic

confused about earth culture

empath

too be honest i rlly just want Buffy and the doctor to team up

Career gal

i’m thinking lawyer or A+ student

smart, decisive, confident, stickler for rules, a bit of a nag, stuborn,self centered, sassy, excellent at talking someone down

turlough/Ian&barbara vibes

got a major ego but the doctor helps her dial it down

companion intro story (sorta tegan vibe) she gets transported to a alien planet and the doctors there too all she wants is to get back home but after a quick trip in the tardis seeing the marvels of the universe she decides to stay with him

often goes against the doctor as she’s very stubborn

bitchy and self centered to ppl into a person whos only bitchy to ppl when they deserve it and need a good talking to along with sacrificing themself for others

learns to chill out

Another timelord lady

I want that Romana/four dynamic back

come up with plans together

the doctor has an equal back

she gotta like permantly die or go away but to help ppl… 

example of leaving/dying: parellel world in need of a ruler or protector/dies saving someone but can’t regenerate as they died burning/blown up/idfk just something that’d kill a timelady

have a lot of fun together

confused about earth culture

assumed couple

caring of others

focuses on the problem more logically rather than how emotional the doctor gets

vibes either: sibiling bond or besties or lovers

A princess

A actual princess

no i’m not obsessed with Nyssa……………yes i totally am :)

[justfinishedreading]

The Mortal Instruments – Graphic Novel Vol.3 Story by Cassandra Clare, Artwork by Cassandra Jean

Warning: Spoilers

With the first two volumes in this series I already knew what was going to happen based on what I’d seen from the 2013 film, volume three is the first one in which I’m reacting to (mostly) unknown story developments, and as such this is going to be a very different type of review: it will be me gushing over what I find exciting, and scowling all the disappointments.

Speaking of disappointments, when I saw this cover I got super excited that we were going to see the beginning of Alec and Magnus’ relationship, the only clips I’d seen of the tv series were relating to them and I absolutely loved it. The biggest disappointment with graphic novel volume three is that their relationship happens “off-screen”, we get hits that things have happened between them but we don’t see ANY of it first-hand. We get a casual comment from Magnus that they’ve been “friendly” with each other, and Alec getting embarrassed at a love bite on his neck, and Jace remarking that he doesn’t understand why they are keeping their relationship secret. A glance here, a glance there. And that’s it. Now it could be that in the Mortal Instrument novels the Alec/Magnus storyline does indeed happen off-screen and the graphic novels have stuck to that, while the tv series had more time to show us their development, but still, I can’t suppress how disappointed I am, I was really looking forward to seeing their romance blossom.

Simon is probably the only character in this fictional world that I truly hate, he’s the dopey-eyed best friend, secretly yet not-so-secretly in love with Clary, the type to always be insinuating things but never saying them outright, always giving longing looks but never brave enough to declare their feelings properly. In this volume he calls her his girlfriend and kisses her. When someone asks Clary about it she says that she and Simon haven’t actually discussed becoming anything more than friends.

There are parallels between Simon and Clary’s relationship and Luke and Jocelyn’s, both Simon and Luke are in platonic yet potentially romantic relationships with women who are (or have been) attracted to someone else, and that someone else is more “alpha”, more charismatic than the “secondary men”. However the reason why Luke’s character works is because he has a lot more going on aside from his relationship with Jocelyn: he has a history with Valentine, he’s a werewolf and has a clan, he’s a parental figure to Clary and a source of wisdom, and he commands respect. Simon on the other hand is a mopey teenager who plays in a band and 80% of his life seems dedicated to pinning over Clary.

While it is true that Simon is going to be turned into a vampire and that is going to bring all sorts of new conflicts and drama to his life, it doesn’t fix the fact that his base character is so MEH. I’ve seen some spoilers that suggest that he and Isabelle might become a thing, which I absolutely hate, Isabelle’s character feels much older, much more mature, and she deserves more than this wimpy kid. However I am very keen on new character Maia, she looks about the same age as Simon, she’s super cute but with a bit of sass, it’s great to have more characters of different ethnic groups, and I think the fact that she’s a werewolf and Simon is a vampire and those two groups hate each other could make a potential Maia x Simon pairing really interesting, dramatic and hot.

Another pairing that I would love is Isabelle and faerie knight, Merliorn. Her over-flirtatious nature against his stoic appearance is perfection. But again spoilers indicate that Isabelle x Simon is the end goal, I’m sorry I just don’t see it.

Other comments, I find Jace’s rebel boy pick-a-fight-with-anyone attitude quite tiresome. But I’m happy with the progress between him and Clary, I already know the spoiler regarding them so I’m not on the edge of my seat for them, but I like them as a couple, helped greatly by how Clary is so likeable in the graphic novel. I am so glad I’m reading the graphic novels instead of the original novels because I can’t imagine dedicating so much reading time to multiple will-they-won’t-they romantic couples. I am, however, loving the supernatural world, really love the introduction to the faerie court and how they get in there via the moon’s reflection on a lake, and I’m liking the introduction of more werewolf and vampire characters.

Side Note: the illustrator has created a few colour illustrations that show character floral bouquets, at first I didn’t really like these, I feel like she should have drawn the bodies because it feels a little like floating heads, however I do find it interesting to read which flowers she’s picked, what they mean in the language of flowers and how that represents the character’s personality.

Review by Book Hamster

[naernon]

OC Questionnaire - Estryon Thramian

Found this in my drafts, and decided to finish off what I had to distract from the tediousness of trying to decide what to do with the aspect of his backstory mentioned earlier. I filled this out according to how he was at the very start/before the events of Skyrim, unless stated to be what happens later on.

Feel free to use this for your own OCs, I don’t mind.

TW; Mentions of pregnancy (of a trans man). Also, some NSFW implications.

GENERAL

Name: Estryon Thramian

Alias(es): Estre is a little nickname Ondolemar took to using later on. Arelnian, the parent who carried him and the only one he met (they died when he was two, his father died prior to his birth), also called him this. It is also his birth-name. Perhaps a bit of projection on my part. I don’t mind my birth-name. (altho it could just be because if i do mind it, i’m in for bad time from it)

Gender: Male.

Age: 25 years old.

Place of birth: Sunhold, Summerset Isle.  Or rather, Alinor. Morning Star 19th, 4E 176 (The Ritual)

Spoken languages: Tamrielic and Altmeri. Unsure exactly how native languages vs the common tongue works in TES, but I’ll just assume/HC it’s either like Latin (commonly taught but not used in every-day conversation) or just very secondary compared to Tamrielic. So that’s the status on his knowledge of Altmeri. Also had a minor interest in Ayleidoon when he was younger, so he knows some basic vocab, but not too much. Like you know how some people go through HS and take the entirety of Spanish/German/Whichever for the full four years and as soon as they graduated they forgot all of it? That’s Estryon with Ayleidoon.

Sexual orientation: Gay.

Occupation: Thalmor agent. Mainly used in assassinations and to stoke the conflict in the Skyrim Civil War by framing (in murder, accusations of law-breaking, etc.), propaganda, etc. Prior to that, as I’ve recently elaborated, he was a member of a elite force in Summerset called the Accipiters. They’re, as said, are similar to the First AD’s Eyes of the Queen, except with more brutality and tendency to murder. They are charged with cutting down all heresy and resistance against the Thalmor in the Isles through more silent and undercover tactics. Through whatever course of events I settle with, he is suspended and demoted within the Accipiters and sent to Skyrim to work as, again, a basic Thalmor agent for the time being. It’s not like he’s put into a useless job. Thalmor forces in Skyrim, according to this , are rather stretched thin, and with someone as combat skilled as Estryon, his work is much, much needed. Doesn’t mean he likes it, though. He hates it.

APPEARANCE

Eye color: Vibrant yellow/amber.

Hair color: Pale cream/blonde color.

Height: 6′ to 6′3/4. Haven’t decided.

Scars: Slight slashes/cuts on his right cheek and a scar on his right bicep. Likes to use… risky methods in his assassinations because he’s a dumbass and that has given him a few severely close calls on fatal weak spots; there’s a medium-length scar across his left abdomen, a shallow, light scar on his collarbone (was an attempt at his heart), and a few small ones on his thighs.

Burns: No major ones, but a lot of little burn marks because 1.) He sucks at cooking and 2.) Little mishaps in destruction magic usage.

Overweight: No.

Underweight: No.

FAVOURITE

Color: Yellow.

Hair color: He likes lighter hair colors but it’s not a huge factor.

Eye color: Yellow, but as said, not too much of a preference.

Entertainment: Horse-back riding. Causing general issues and difficulty for those around him. Taking care of horses. This man really likes horses. He also has a fondness for burning different stuff he finds, some of that stuff being important shit to someone other than him. There’s one major entertainment he commits to a lot but I’ll leave that unmentioned for modesty’s sake.

Pastime: This dude really does not do a lot to entertain himself other than [censored]. He spends a lot of time meandering and wandering and just.. being there. Either that or he rapidly switches between different pastimes because he can’t stay with one for the life of him. (he gets bored very, very easily) But. If anything, as said, he likes to experiment with magic and alchemy, and he loves horseback-riding and taking pleasure rides. This easy tendency towards boredom leads to recklessness and an unhealthy lust for thrill and adventure.

Food: As typical of Sunhold natives, he gravitates towards sea-food and he likes crab. Not typical mudcrabs from just anywhere, however. As is common knowledge, there are a lot of different varieties of Mudcrabs and there’s one particular off the coast of Sunhold that is high-demand and very flavorful. But other than that, he has a guilty sweet tooth in general, and he B U S  T S  A  N U T for vanilla ice cream.

Drink: He’s boring. He just likes water. He enjoys some lighter alcohol, though,  and perhaps some tea, but again. Water.

Books: Enjoys magic studies and books. Doesn’t like a lot of heavy-information stuff other than that, though, but he does like a bunch of light interests like aromatics and alchemy. He has Arelnian and their large array of aromatic/alchemy books + store to thank for those two interests.

HAVE THEY

Passed university: Yes.

Had sex: Pft. Yeah.

Had sex in public: Depends. Like, straight up banging in like, a marketplace? Nah.

Gotten pregnant: No. Not during the events of Skyrim, at least. Not until much later.

Kissed a man: Yes.

Kissed a woman: Yes, once or twice.

Gotten tattoos: Yes. Little ones. He has an eagle wing on each side of each of his ankles, and the Dominion emblem on the back of his neck. All hurt like Hell (especially the Dominion emblem one) and he’s kind of halted off of getting any after that.

Gotten piercings: Ear piercings, yeah. He typically likes small gold hoops or little jewels, but he tends to go through long periods of time where he doesn’t have any in.

Been in love: Yes.

Had a broken heart: Oof. Yeah.

Stayed up for more than 24 hours: Yes. He oftentimes has trouble sleeping. Has been that way since he was little, according to Ohtehil, at least.

ARE THEY

A virgin: Pft. No.

A cuddler: Not really, but, I mean. He’s not beyond it. He’s just not a very personal person in general.

A kisser: Yes.

A smoker: Not frequently, no.

Scared easily: Not typically, and even if he is, he takes care to not show it. He might flinch and recoil and you can get a little bit of a gasp from him but other than that, no. Unless it’s something incredibly outlandish or unnatural or… terrifying. Like a dragon. A large, ebony black dragon with red eyes flying from the mountains and passing over you, rumbling the ground and triggering all your fight or flight instincts. Yeah. Kinda scary. (but even then all he did was dive out of sight and hide underneath a little rock overhang. he may have taken a bit of a tumble in the process but i’ll have you know his cold altmeri exterior ™ was still in-tact)

Jealous easily: Gods, yes. He wouldn’t let that be known, however.

Trustworthy: Absolutely Not

Dominant: In terms of personality, yeah. He hates being told what to do, he thrives on spiting others, and while he is quite reserved and quiet he still manages to be…. over-bearing and dominant. He has three very particular methods of getting what he wants and one of them is a glare that could kill and keeping all words to the minimum, while also having those words cut sharp. Does that make sense? He’s one of those people that just have an overpowering presence without the need to speak. That’s one reason he doesn’t have a lot of friends, really. Anyways. One other method is straight-up killing whoever he wishes to and the other… Well. If you’re talking dominance in bed, he adapts to what is needed, wanted, or what he’s in the mood for. Whatever leaves his target vulnerable to a swift kill, framing, or easy investigation of possible heresy/conspiracy. So yes, actually, I guess he is dominant. Quite so.

Submissive: In any other context other than the Spicee (tm) one, no, not really. If in that context, then, only if he wishes to be.

Single: Yes, no committal relationship until later. Although, there was one earlier, but I haven’t developed it completely. I’ll give a little peek. It was with Thalmor Agent Sanyon. That dead Thalmor, at a Talos shrine? Yeah. High-school sweethearts, if you will. Estryon finding Sanyon’s body at the shrine, or rather, going there at all ultimately sets the course of the events of the main questline. That little event, along with Ohtehil’s little ‘turn-into-a-werewolf-and-slaughter-all-your-colleagues’ theatrical go hand-in-hand in starting it all. Estryon finding Sanyon dead would not have happened at all if not for Ohtehil, actually.

RANDOM QUESTIONS

Have they harmed themselves: Minor things.

Thought of suicide: Yes.

Attempted suicide: No.

Wanted to kill someone: Yes.

Actually killed someone: Yes.

Ridden a horse: Yes. He’s quite the horseman.

Have/had a job: Yes.

Have any fears: He isn’t too fond of heights. Or blood.

FAMILY

Sibling(s): Ohtehil (22 years older) and Tretlas (55 years older).

Parents: Arelnian and Ciryarel Thramian. Both fought in the Great War/First War of the Empire on the Dominion’s side. Ciryarel was a skilled mage who worked rather high up in the Dominion and Arelnian was also well-respected as an informant and recruiter stationed primarily in Hammerfell. Ciryarel perished in the final battle and Arelnian received significant injury. Survived two years post-War, but a highly weakened immune system as a result of the injuries ultimately cost them their life.

Children: No. Later, however, he does adopt Lucia and Sofie and does have Diatres, his only biological child.

Pets: Cyrel, a smokey black and sleek Summerset-bred mare. Had her imported upon the discovery he would be suspended in Skyrim for longer than anticipated. Prior to that, she was being boarded for a rather expensive price over at the Sunhold stables. And then Umaril, a “Pocket” Salamander. Ohtehil got it for him for his 9th birthday not anticipating a long lifespan nor the HUGE size they grow to be. Once it started growing alarmingly fast and large Ohtehil figured as long as Estryon was enjoying himself it would be fine; once he grew older he could get rid of it if he tired of taking care of such a massive and intelligent creature. Estryon did not get rid of it. Quite the opposite. He’s the dude to have a suspiciously large bag being lugged around and you see him stop once he’s in the clear, unzip it, and suddenly his dog or in this case a very large monitor pokes his head out. His commitment to Umaril and Cyrel is incredible compared to his dedication towards actual people.

[nellie-elizabeth]

Supernatural: Ladies Drink Free (12x16)

Claire survives another one! And Mick is... getting interesting? Let's take a look!

Cons:

In order for Claire's central conflict in this episode to work, we have to do some retconning. I understand that being a teenager is confusing and difficult, and must be even more so for somebody like Claire Novak. But the last time we saw Claire, we were dealing with the fact that she wanted to hunt behind Jody Mills' back, and Sam and Dean helped her see that she could have a real family. In this episode, Claire is continuing to hunt behind Jody's back, and the boys once again help her to discover that she should place her trust in family. It's not a bad arc, it's just an arc that we already saw.

Also, Claire gets bitten by a werewolf, and then a magic cure is discovered and she's fine. I'm torn here, because I'm really glad that Claire isn't a werewolf. I like her dynamic with Jody and Alex too much to want that to change. But on the other hand, why have her be bitten at all, if we weren't going to ask her character to deal with that? It feels a little cheap...

Pros:

But not that cheap. Honestly, this episode was a really good one. There are two character arcs going on here, with Sam and Dean's contributions being fairly secondary. Let's start with Claire, since I've already talked about her a little bit.

She's a brave kid. A bit of a brat, but really brave. And in the end, after her harrowing near-werewolf experience, she leaves Jody a message revealing what she's been up to. She needs to hunt on her own. It's scary, but it's what she needs to do. This was a great moment. Claire calls Jody her mother, and she talks about how much she loves Jody and Alex. They really did become a family.

I also adore the way that Sam and Dean interact with Claire in this episode. They're both protective, but not in the gross man-protects-woman kind of way. It's more in a father-protects-child kind of way, and it's so amazing to watch. Dean repeatedly threatens harm to anybody who hurts Claire in any way, and Sam tries to talk to her about her life and how she's doing, even though she wants nothing to do with this conversation. The best/most tragic part is when Sam and Dean are waiting for Claire to wake up from the dangerous werewolf cure. They are both having a really really hard time watching her in so much pain. It lends credence to their claim that they really do care about her.

Also, Claire's situation brings up a lovely philosophical divide between the brothers, and it's resolved in just the right way. When Claire learns there's a slim chance for a cure to becoming a werewolf, she wants to go for it, even though it's most likely to kill her. Dean, who knows Claire can survive as a werewolf and live a mostly normal life, is firmly against this. He tells Claire she doesn't get to make this decision, and then he turns to Sam for backup. Sam says, quietly and unhappily, "it's her life." At the end, Claire is fully transformed and bent on attacking the boys. Before Dean sticks her with the blood of her werewolf sire (the supposed cure), he asks "she wanted this, right?" and upon getting confirmation, he does it. That's actually a very powerful moment. There have been so many times when Dean has known exactly what Sam wanted - i.e., to let himself die - and Dean said screw it, and did whatever it took to keep him alive. In this moment, he knows that attempting to cure Claire is more likely to kill her than just forcing her to live her life as a werewolf. But he actually respects what she wants. He lets her make that choice for herself.

Meanwhile, you've got Mick. Dean is still not happy with the idea of working with the BMOL, but he begrudgingly goes along when Mick says he's going to join them on a werewolf hunt. Of course, things go wrong when Mick discovers that a victim of a werewolf attack was bitten. Mick surreptitiously kills the girl, because it's his job to rid the world of all monsters. When Sam and Dean find out, they are horrified and disgusted. While this is going on, they discover that Claire is also on the case, and when she gets bitten, it's Mick's chance to redeem himself. He doesn't kill Claire. In fact, he helps to save her.

Mick has become an actually interesting character. He's a counterpoint to most of the hunters we've met in this world. He's what Sam would have become if he'd been allowed to be a Man of Letters, and not a hunter. He's deeply knowledgeable about the lore, but has very little in the way of practical experience. All of the brutal things the BMOL have been doing have been totally abstract to Mick. Unlike Mr. Ketch, who kills victimized children, Mick isn't much of a killer. He sits in a lab somewhere and issues orders, following progress, making decisions from afar. The minute he's in the nitty-gritty, and he sees that things aren't black and white, he allows his opinion to be shifted. This makes him a thousand times more interesting than the British MOL have any right to be at this point.

We're finally getting the ramp up to the conflict I knew we'd be getting to eventually. This idea that the MOL "gets results," vs. the fact that not all supernatural creatures are irredeemably evil. Obviously this is going to come to a head in a much more serious manner at some point. I think when that time comes, Mick might defect to Sam and Dean's side, while Mary... well, that remains to be seen.

I also want to mention that Sam and Dean have some tension over Mick, too. Dean continually pokes fun at the fact that Sam and Mick are a couple of nerds, but there's this underlying sense of insecurity to the whole thing. Dean sees the merits in doing things the way the BMOL does them, but he's not about to give them the satisfaction of admitting it. Sam, meanwhile, is much better at playing nice. When it comes down to it, their whole "us against the world" thing is a lot less true than it used to be, what with their close relationships to so many other people, and a burgeoning alliance with a whole organization of hunters and supernatural researchers. I think there could be some real tension to explore here.

In all, this was a C-plot episode that didn't feel like a C-plot, due to the inclusion of Mick. We learn more about him as a person, and we start to lay more of the groundwork for the major conflict between the Winchesters' hunting philosophy, and the British MOL's sensibility. We also get some more exploration of one of my favorite recurring characters. Claire survives another episode! Woo hoo!

9/10