“A good amount of them do, but a lot of them are probably also really overly protective or possessive of him for a reason they can't identify. I think the Jok bros also fell into this category. They just saw this adorable little Slovenian and decided "if you mess with him, we break bones" and didn't really know why they felt this way. I imagine Strahinja probably figured out Luka was a siren-type thing and then had to teach Luka how to protect himself.”
- do Cooper and Jamal fit in into the possessive category?
- how did Strahinja figure it out?
- does Luka keep a running list of fellow players he suspects being vamps? I imagine it would be a game for him to get them to break/reveal themselves.
- does Luka test the boundaries of Nikola’s possession at all? Purposely teasing other vamps, etc. You said Nikola would kill someone if they even tried to hurt him - Nikola’s not the only one who would do that I imagine - would Luka incite a fight on purpose?
Are Cooper and Jamal Possessive?
Possibly? I haven’t written enough of both of them to fully know yet, but here is my current thinking:
Cooper might be because he’s an old US American bloodline (as “American as apple pie,” as his handler noted), and American bloodlines tend to be on the possessive and aggressive side (though, it should be noted that a definitive “US American Bloodline” doesn’t really exist because of convergent evolution and the huge history of immigration in the formation of the U.S. Everyone other than Native Americans is an immigrant to the land, technically). US American bloodlines are not as possessive as some European bloodlines, though, so he probably isn’t as possessive as Luka.
Jamal might be protective over possessive. He has really strong instincts to protect the people he loves (this is more demonstrable in drafts of future fics I have going right now). He also has an extremely strong hunting instinct (more on this at some point), which does lean him towards wanting to find fresh blood instead of feeding off the same person over and over again. His instincts to hunt are so strong that they can accidentally be set off by completely normal situations.
How did Strahinja figure out Luka’s a moth and a flame?
Quickly for the uninitiated:
Moth = You are drawn to other vampires instinctively. Vampires and humans can both be moths. Moths are really rare.
Flame = You draw other vampires to you instinctively. Flames are really common. It’s extremely rare for vampires to be flames.
Strahinja probably noticed Jok gravitating towards Luka really strongly. We know that the Jok bros have imposed boundaries on Jok’s biting so he could be a functioning member of society (In “Like Any Other Disease,” Jok notes that his brothers “wouldn’t hesitate to snap his limbs like dry twigs if he besmirched the family name by acting like a fucking hooligan”). I imagine that means Jok was really well-behaved and was good at ignoring the urges to bite. But we also know that he’s had a really strong fixation on Luka for a long time—the brothers seeing Nikola, who is normally not fixated on anyone—developing such a strong fixation towards Luka was probably the first clue. Then, the brothers also feeling really protective of Luka was probably the second clue. It wouldn’t take that much observing of Luka around company for Strahinja to pick up that something is weird about the way vampires drift to him and vice-versa.
Does Luka keep a running list of players he suspects to be vampires?
Oh, absolutely. The boy loves puzzles, and figuring out if someone is a vamp is a hell of a puzzle. A notable thing about him is that he needs to meet a person face-to-face and get to know them a bit for him to be able to tell, since he’s generally pretty friendly and social towards just about everyone. But he definitely has a list.
Does he make a game out of getting them to break/reveal themselves?
With how tense things are in the league regarding players being vampires and such, I think this is something reserved for people he either really trusts or really hates.
Thing about Luka is that he actually doesn’t have a lot of wide social leverage. Even if he knows if someone is a vampire, revealing it to anyone will just put everyone in the hot seat. He can’t, say, threaten Dennis Schroder with revealing if he’s a vamp to anyone because Dennis knows Luka just wouldn’t.
But for the purpose of making it a game? Yeah, he probably does. I imagine he does like a vampire bingo card thing with his close friends or close teammates with various suspects of vampirism and other vampire-related shenanigans for funsies (and because he’s super competitive).
Does Luka test the boundaries of Nikola’s possessiveness? Does he ever incite fights?
Only to get Nikola’s attention, because he’s kind of fighting Mal, Natalija, and AG for Nikola’s attention. He would 100% get extra touchy-feely with another vampire if he knew it would rile up Nikola enough to summon him from Denver or Serbia. I think some part of him also enjoys the attention from everyone. It’s a self-confidence boost to have people wanting to go at him.
But when it gets to fights or violence, Luka’s out. He doesn’t actually want anyone to get hurt, he doesn’t like yelling, arguing, genuine threats, growling, baring teeth, and especially not actually fighting. If some rando is being an ass and Nikola goes off on them, he’ll find it hot, sure. If someone is an ass to him, he will protect himself. But he will never try to provoke someone’s rage on purpose because it does actually scare him. Because he’s a flame, he’s actually really helpful in diffusing fights (because no one wants to upset him; he will withdraw and protect himself), and was probably defaulted into the role of a peacekeeper when he was back in Real Madrid, so he’s seen some ugly fights.
