Going to have to rotate this idea until I've come up with something coherent, but Lucy talking about studying one's face in a looking glass got me thinking about how reading Dracula chronologically puts that letter in much closer proximity to the scene where Jonathan's mirror gets thrown out the window, and how mirrors and loss of identity is a common theme that comes up in other Victorian literature - I'm thinking of Jekyll and Hyde, and The Invisible Man specifically right now - and maybe something about future parallels between Jonathan and Lucy, but more on that later, perhaps.
This is Bobbin! He is a rat made of fabric and thread. He uses a thimble as a helmet, a broken safety pin with thread as a bow, and a needle as an arrow. He has a scar on his head from recklessly drawing the needle once, and he can’t patch the top of his head very well so sometimes stuffing does fall out, but he always wears his thimble since then. He has a tomato pin cushion he cherishes and uses for target practice.
Re: Dracula is Dracula Daily for your ears! Listen to the story with a full cast of voice actors and immersive sound design - all for free on your favorite podcast app. Search "Re: Dracula" to find us!
Our cast includes voice actors from The Magnus Archives, Wooden Overcoats, The Amelia Project, and more! Our crew has worked on SCP Archives, Doctor Who Redacted, Seen and Not Heard, and many others. We've got a deep love for this novel (and other horror media!), and are having the best time bringing it to life as an audio drama.
Can we just talk about how awesome the addition of the telegraph sounds are in today's Re: Dracula entry?
Y’all Quincey sounds so warm and lovely and full of the purest affection for his friends, I am having the world’s biggest friend-crush on him I have a parasocial relationship with the cowboy from my podcasts I WANT TO SIT BY THE CAMPFIRE AND SPIN YARNS and instead I have to do fraud risk interviews!! FUCK
Fanart of To Become the Water’s Foam
“He had gills. There, on his neck, below his jaw, were delicate, green-edged gills. That was why his hair seemed to be that funny greenish tone. That was why his skin seemed that strange colour, and why his eyes seemed to have shifted colour to green, too. It wasn’t the reflection of the light off the water making him see things. That was why Jaskier was singing that same mer dialect that the mermaid Sh’eenaz used: for some reason, Yennefer’s magic orb had put a Jaskier here who was a merman.”
this fanfic has such an interesting twist on the Mer-Jaskier idea. There’s also wonderfully complex Yenralt and Geraskier. Seriously go read it!
“Each Starday I pay visit to the ill at the temple hospital,” Xenk said. “The clerics of Eldath allow me to provide succor where I can.”
Edgin squinted. “Okay. But what do you do for fun?”
“Fun?” Xenk echoed. It seemed that he had never conceived of this word before, relating to himself. After a worrisomely long pause, he confessed. “I have been known to read for pleasure.”
“That’s … something I guess,” Edgin sighed. “Let me guess - courtly poetry? Epics of ancient battles?”
“This, I recently finished.” Xenk reached into his pack and retrieved a well-thumbed book bound in cheap parchment. Emblazoned over a painting of a half-elf bard, shirt torn to his navel, being bent over by a knight in full armor - The Paladin’s Wicked Oath.
Edgin raised his eyebrows. “Well … I didn’t expect that.”
“Despite the title, the Ser Gervassius’s intention’s are not wicked at all,” Xenk said reassuringly. “Though perilous forces throw them together, Robinet and Gervassius share a deep and earnest bond. The author - Goodwife Isobelle - does not correctly represent a paladin’s oath, but she has such understanding of men’s souls.” With a short sigh, Xenk placed the book in Edgin’s palm and clasped both hands around it. “It is nothing short of stirring. I implore you to read it.”
“Really, it’s okay,” Edgin mumbled. “I don’t need …”
“What’re you two still doing out here?” Holga walked up. “Oh hey. It’s Edgin’s book.”
“It is my book,” Xenk answered, confused as Edgin looked at Holga frantically, shaking his head.
“Edgin’s book,” Holga emphasized. “The one he wrote. Under that stupid penname.” She took the book from Edgin’s slack hand. “Goodwife Isobelle,” she snorted. “Edgin’s never been a good wife a day in his life.”
“Well!” Edgin clapped his hands, determinedly not looking at Xenk as his ears burned. “Holga is right. What are we still doing out here? Time to get a move on …”
For his final assignment as an art student Benjamin Harff produced an hand-illuminated version of the Silmarillion which he also bound himself. It is unbelievably detailled and exceptionally beautiful.
CW: mentions of daddy kink; also Vesemir fucking/fucking with generations of the nobility
—
The reason Vesemir stays around Kaer Morhen and is generally the most findable of the Witchers is because nobles keep trying to kill him. This is because he personally knew and fucked was intimate with was held in esteem by their great-great grandfathers.
And their great-grandfathers.
And maybe other people closer in the family line, but if it’s ever brought up, they usually imply that the Vesemir-loving tendency skipped their generation because it’s deeply uncomfortable that this Witcher of all people probably knows about any genetic predispositions they might have in the sack.
“He knows about the elbow thing! We can’t let him live,” a large portion of nobles get around to saying, approximately, eventually, whenever they get curious enough about the man, the Witcher, the legend.
And if the assassins give Vesemir a nice work-out and a reason to leave Kaedwen so he can come and sternly talk to said nobles about not making things that “sound like a personal problem” into HIS problem, then. Well. That’s just unfortunate. Nobody could have predicted it.
Certainly nobody could have made sure to stay informed about monster contracts nearby so Vesemir would have an excuse to stay in the area for a short while.
And certainly nobody would have made arrangements for the best guest room, the one with the convenient secret passage to the noble’s chambers, to be spruced up a little.
“That painting is new,” Vesemir observes as he drops his bag by the door. There’s a little scrape worn into the stone that matches the bronze reinforcements at the edge of the bag exactly.
This must be where Vesemir always drops his things, the noble realizes, simultaneously horrified and weirdly turned on. He forgets to explain that the painting is a very important purchase that he definitely cares about and definitely didn’t buy just because it was supposed to be impressive.
Later that night, Vesemir reassures him after a slip of the tongue. “It’s all right,” he says, still inside him, and pats him on the shoulder. “Most of the nobles that I’ve met have daddy issues. Something about the wealth, perhaps.”
The noble looks up into Vesemir’s weathered, silver-fox face. “Wealth,” he says, swallowing and running his fingers over Vesemir’s jaw, which has reddened generations of high-born thighs with its scratchy gray stubble. “Right. Definitely that.”
Vesemir smiles like the lift of a hungry wolf’s jowls. “Don’t overthink it, son,” he says. Then he starts moving again, so his advice is easy to follow.
Fucked so hard my descendants will feel it, the noble thinks afterward, and bursts into laughter. Probably Great-Granddad Algernon, the progenitor of the elbow thing that Vesemir had known about without asking, had thought the same.
—
(When Jaskier turns up at Kaer Morhen, Vesemir is instantly amused and a little charmed by the role reversal. A noble has never come to his house, after all.)
—
(Mignole had never heard of Vesemir before they met, nor had Vesemir ever before been treated like someone precious, someone who could be courted with surreptitious letters instead of lured in close and then released back into the wild. A gambeson is a small price to pay for the sweetness of that winter, for the ability to leave more of himself behind than a rumor and a scrape on the floor.)
The last character you drew/wrote about is now stuck in the last game you played. How screwed are they?
This is probably a bad idea but! Send me your Drac Doodles!
NEVERMIND THIS WAS THE BEST IDEA
INCREDIBLE ART ALL AROUND
Harry: And why shouldn’t I blame Spiderman for your injuries?? He calls himself a hero, protecting civilians like you should be his priority! Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kick his ass for letting you get hurt!!
Peter: Because-
Newscaster on the tv next to Harry: In this footage you can see Peter Parker, known freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle, actually shove Dr. Doom out of his way while yelling “move it or lose it,” as he runs with his camera, presumably to capture more pictures of the vigilante known as “Spiderman”
Harry:
Peter: -I’m a dumbass.
The image of Peter shoving Doom out of the way though. Like, did he get his ass beat? Or was Doom just stunned?
He must have flashbacked to getting pushed around in high school, lying on the pavement wondering why a guy that weighs a hundred pounds wet could shove him so easily in his armor. (I don’t know if Dr. Doom is even physically strong.)
Anyways, Harry’s about to have an aneurysm because of Peter “I push supervillains around for fun” Parker. Mr. One Bad Day Away according to his coworkers.
Shadow! SHADOW. This could tie in with the Polarizer post. The folks at the Daily Bugle see Parker pushing villains around for a shot or when he’s late to work and just goes: Oh, he’s gonna be top dog when he turns.
Just: “Hey Parker, want a coffee? ᵈᵒⁿᵗ ᵏⁱˡˡ ᵐᵉ ʷʰᵉⁿ ʸᵒᵘ ᵍᵒ ᵉᵛⁱˡ, ᵒᵏᵃʸ?”
Absolutely
Also, he was quick enough running that he got away with it, in fact, it’s not till he hears the news that he realizes who he pushed, that point of calling himself a dumbass was him realizing for the first time how badly he fucked up
He spends awhile after that anxiously waiting the consequences of what he’s done, when he runs into Dr Doom as Peter Parker, he’s once again in a bad mood, so several things happen quickly:
Doom confronts him, Peter snarks back at him, Harry freaks out and pulls a weapon out to defend his friend (he’s started carrying one around after realizing how disastrously Peter lives his life), and Reed intervenes because of course if Dr Doom’s running around then the fantastic four are close behind
So not only did everyone see Peter not back down from Dr Fucking Doom, but they all just saw Harry Osborn pull out a weapon, obviously something Oscorp specific that he got from his dad, and realize that Peter’s villainy could easily be funded and supported by Oscorp
It’s at this point that the coworkers who were just making jokes about future villain Parker start to join the others in genuinely believing it
Meanwhile, Peter’s just happy that one of his science heroes defended him …up till JJJ starts yelling at him for not getting pics of the fight despite being right there, meanwhile the rest of his coworkers are behind Peter, trying to silently tell JJJ to stop stop stop
They don’t know what’s preventing Peter from turning into a supervillain, seems like it’d be so easy for him to do so at this point, but they’re happy that whatever it is exists
Honestly, they’d probably believe that Aunt May is the one stopping him, and now every time she gets sick she gets a ton of cards and flowers and gifts from Peter’s coworkers wishing begging for her health to return
This is how “Peter Parker is already one of the villains” rumors surface
(Also!! This could tie in with him having a fake villain identity, he does all that work to make a fake civilian identity to go with it, but because only the villains know about the fake civilian identity, everyone else goes “shit that must be Parker.” he’s freaking out, why are people associating that identity with him??)
🤣🤣😂🤣 “Shit that must be Parker.”
I need Harry to find out about the supervillain persona apartment. Like, Peter has to desperately explain that it’s for photo-ops or something. He’s not actually a super villain or intending to be and Harry just thinks: Is this why Spider-Man hates him?
Now Harry has a conspiracy board. But also, determinedly devoted henchman Harry Osborn. Fake name when?
Hear me out tho, Harry hearing that people think Peter (his Petey, his bestest friend) is a villain, and Harry knows damn well that’s not how Aunt May and Uncle Ben raised him, so he does his own investigating
And by a stroke of luck he manages to connect it to Spiderman
It all just loops back around to Harry blaming Spiderman for the things going wrong in Peter’s life
Also yes determinedly devoted henchman Harry Osborn needs to be a thing
(Jhgfsl Harry creates a secret identity specifically to take down Spiderman because he found out about his secret villain identity, except, maybe due to the use of Oscorp tech, everyone knows it’s Harry immediately, so instead of people realizing he’s trying to be a hero (except for maybe JJJ), everyone thinks Peter’s finally snapped and sent his devoted henchman (Harry) after his obvious arch nemesis Spiderman)
Oh but it gets even worse! The supervillains who Peter “Might be New to Villiany” Parker worked with before they became villains is a pretty interesting list. I imagine a more stable Doctor Curt Connors is mildly horrified that young Parker has turned to crime. (He had such a bright future…) Octavius, who I think usually figures out Spider-Man’s identity, wonders what game he is playing having a hero and villian identity. One which doesn’t even try to hide his civilian identity—to throw people off?
Whether he knows or not, Norman thinks that Peter snapped from the pressure. Now Harry was more expected considering the history of the Goblins. Even just taking the damn serum.
The heroes don’t know what to do. Peter only seems to be focusing on Spider-Man at the moment. Which could of course escalate. Yet it gives them someone to help direct his attention away from civilians. Richards blames himself for failing another Doom situation despite his best efforts. Maybe he should have tried working with Parker more directly? SHIELD wonders how they missed him teaming up with Osborn Industries. Spider-Man himself is not amused by how many different people try budding into his schedule in-mask while avoiding Harry.
Somehow, Aunt May does not hear of this at all.
—
The real kicker from an outsiders perspective is that Peter still submits photos to the Bugle. He collects a paycheck without trying anything close to robbing people. What type of villian even is Peter if he focuses primarily on Spider-Man? One with morals maybe? (For Now???)
Can I propose that JJJ thinks Peter's villain persona is great and enthusiastically shills for him constantly?
Like, that's his boy, Peter! Fighting the Spider-Menace! He's way too emotionally constipated to ever tell Peter he cares about him to his face, but the alter ego is fair game!
Peter is so tired.
OP I am living for this situation
Jason, having seen Medea kill and dismember her brother and also kill Pelias for him: Probably I can just divorce her
Prompt: After a lackluster 1st year as a Hero, you’re ready to go rogue. The problem is that the new guy in the team is definitely onto you.
That nerdy guy knows your secret.
You scan the briefing documents as your team leader, Mr. Subterranean, drones on. As usual, the pack of graphs and statistics look impressive. As usual, you seem to be the only one at the table who knows they’re wrong. Or, maybe, cares that they’re wrong.
“Crime is down in the 52nd ward by 30% as compared to 2016…”
You take the chance to glance at the nerd. He’s listening to Mr. Subterranean as attentively as you did when you first joined this team of the Hero Force. His hands are folded very nicely on the table and he’s watching Mr. Subterranean lie through his teeth with a very polite look on his face. His thick, coke bottle glasses sitting neatly on top of his black mask hide his eyes, but you bet he’s the only one at the table not daydreaming while the leader talks. He strikes you as a teacher’s pet.
Teacher’s pet glances at you through his peripherals. His mouth twitches, revealing a deep dimple, and then he refocuses on Mr. Subterranean. A chill races down your spine.
You’re not sure why you think he knows, but you’ve got animal instincts. If your brain is screeching at you that your plan is in jeopardy, it is.
What are you going to do about it?
“We can see marked improvement in commerce in Old Downtown thanks to the consideration and dedication shown by our new patrol routes…”
Because you’re watching the new guy, you’re the first one to notice when he raises his hand.