this semester has been genuinely very insane, a lot has happened for me in both my personal life and college life. unfortunately i have barely had any time to sleep, let alone write a whole fic (and i also went through a period of burnout, which is why i haven't been very active), so botc 2 is verryyyy behind. as soon as my finals end and my semester break starts, it is my goal to write as much as possible. i'll start posting botc 2 once I have written a considerable amount of it, which may not be until end of jan/feb. (i hope the fandom is still alive until then😭)
until then i will reblog botc 1 chapters on sundays. thank you all for your patience❤️❤️❤️
God so I’ve been cooking a lot more Italian food recently, because it’s fucking good, and I just realized like how fucked would it be to travel back in time to the Roman Empire, cook something with tomatoes, and call it Italian food. Like tomatoes aren’t native to the Mediterranean at all, they were only introduced to Italy after the americas were colonized by europe. so if you tried making like an Italian dish with tomatoes in the Roman Empire they’d be so fucking confused, they wouldn’t consider it Italian cooking. It’s that fucked.
What if the It Lives anthology and Immortal Desires were in the same universe? What if the Power and the Ley lines are one and the same? The Power in Westchester was corrupted, but in Crimson Beech the vampires and humans have been honoring the source of the Power/Ley line through the Autumn Festival. The vampires need the Power to survive, so it makes sense for them to protect it. Maybe they'd go as far as to kill anyone who showed too much interest in the ley lines? Either way, the vamps protecting the ley lines prevents it from getting corrupted.
The ley lines gave ID MC powers, just like the Power did with It Lives characters. ID witches did a ritual with the Ley lines to become vampires, and Matthias and Lincoln did rituals to gain power as well.
Both the Power and the Ley lined can be used to provide and sustain life. Both can be destructive when used by the wrong person (like Matthias and the Creator).
The Power in Pine Springs and Westchester are examples of what happens when it's not protected. ID lore has made it sound like the Creators were all power hungry creatures. A group of witches who got greedy. But what if they served a deeper purpose? If the witches' purpose is to maintain balance between creatures and the earth, maybe it was the original job of the Creators and vampires to protect the Power/Ley lines, which provide livelihood to said creatures?
I don't think this it was intentional, but something I noticed:
B1 villain, the Creator -> defeated by mc
B2 villain, the hunters -> defeated by Cas
It's annoying me that Gabe didnt get to save the day B3 lol
Also the hunters were related to Gabe but were defeated by Cas at the end. It would've been satisfying to see the witches, who are kind of related to Cas, get defeated by Gabe.
The plot of book 3 was shit. The final battle was lacklustre. The outfits and runes were useless. And yet, despite its faults, it's become one of my favorite choices books. ID wormed it's way into my heart, and I don't think it'll ever leave. Gabe and Cas are some of the best love interests. No matter how bad the plot was, I kept reading because of them and their relationship with each other and MC. I loved MCs relationship with their mom, I loved how by the end even the vampires I kinda hated in book 1 grew on me by book 3. Even Astoria and Lewyn. I love the MC as well. I love that they were never a damsel in distress kind of character. The characters are what made the story great, not the plot. So I don't care how bad it was. I'll replay it a hundred times over. For GabeCasMC
These two hated each other before mc even came into the picture. It feels too personal/intense for it to just be a Venandis vs Clements thing. In B2 they mention that Gabe met Cas when he was human. What happened? Are they exes? Secretly in love with each other? What went down that day they met? I need to know or I'm gonna start making shit up lol.
(skip some if its too many haha i just think a lot of these r fun 😭)
It's not too much, I love answering these! I have like 20 pages of notes on each characters backstory and vampire lore that i've made up for this universe so I'm glad to share it lol
☼- Appearance
Devi
Indian, short hair, nose piercing, always wears a necklace with a moon pendant that was gifted to them by their dad
wore glasses as a human, no longer needed them as a vamp
tattoo on their lower back (Priya goaded them into it lol)
Scar just below their chest from being attacked
shorty
art of her here
Gabriel
Mexican, curly hair (Devi loves putting little flowers in it)
one tattoo on his chest above his heart- four little hearts, each a different color representing his family members
Cas
Asian (I haven't yet decided where he's from exactly), long-ish hair dyed periwinkle, tall
septum piercing, eyebrow piercing, multiple ear piercings, tattoos on his arm and back
Cas and Devi keep encouraging each other to get more tattoos. These two have no self-control
art of Cas and Gabe here (i'll complete it... some day...)
♥ Family + ☮ Friendship +▼Childhood Headcanons
Devi
Family and childhood- Growing up, Devi was very close with their family. They were the apple of her parent's eye. Their dad especially would spoil both Devi and their mother with gifts and trips.
When Tara was pregnant with Devi's brother, Arush, she was so excited. In their mind, they were getting a living doll to dress up. Unfortunately, the 'doll' came with an annoying habit of pulling hair and stealing her toys lol.
Devi's cousin, Priyanka (Priya), used to live down the street from her. Together, the three of them caused a little mayhem. One time, they dressed up in their mothers' clothes (including their heels), smeared lipstick on their face, put Arush in his stroller, and strutted out of the house around the neighborhood. Sent their entire family into a panic for an hour until they came home crying with scabs on their knees cause the heels were too big.
Friendships- Devi had a few close friends until they were 13. After her dad and brother died, they kind of isolated themself and avoided everyone. They missed a lot of school and spent most of their time in therapy, and consequently they had to repeat a year. On top of that, they had just come out as nonbinary. For the remainder of middle school, Devi was bullied by her ex friends. They made fun of her for being nonbinary and for other reasons I can't mention without spoiling my rewrite lol. Through all of this, Priya was the only person that stood by her. Priya has been Devi's best friend since they were born. She lost her mother when she was at a young age, so she understood Devi when their family died as well. Once they start high school, Priya and her dad, Satish, move to NYC, and Devi doesn't bother making other friends.
Coming to Crimson Beech and meeting Gabriel and his friends was a huge blessing for Devi. They joined a friend group on their very first day, and she becomes close with Libby and Jade. (Libby has a crush on Devi hehe)
Gabriel
Family and childhood- Gabriel was also very close to his family, especially his older sister, Mia. He looked up to her a lot, and she became kind of a parental figure to him after their parents passed away. Sometimes he'd feel guilty that she had to take on so much responsibility at such a young age. She made sure he was always well-taken care of, not matter what it cost her.
Coming from a very religious family, Gabe was taught that homosexuality was immoral and a sin. He didn’t think much about it until he was 11 and suddenly that guy in his math class was looking very cute. Gabriel struggled with coming to terms with his sexuality and had to confront his own internalized homophobia. At 15, he confided to his sister about his sexuality, and she was the first person to accept him. His grandmother wasn’t very happy at first, but ultimately she decided it didn’t matter and that all she cared about was his happiness.
When he’s 18, his grandmothers genealogy project leads to the family learning about the existence of vampires. She seeks out the vampires and encounters Astoria, who captures and tortures her. Gabriel and Mia go to save their grandmother, but Mia is killed by a vampire guard. Gabriel offers to take his grandmothers place, but Lewyn convinces Astoria to turn him instead.
Sarah doesn’t survive her injuries and passes away after Gabriel's turning, and Gabriel is now left on his own as a vampire.
Friendships- For the first four years of his turning, he avoids being with other vampires as much as possible. He stays away from humans as well, as he feels like a monster. When he has to go to school again, he mainly keeps to himself. He slowly becomes closer with other Clement teen vamps, and spends more time with them when he graduates. He doesn’t fully accept himself, however, and spends a lot of time researching vampires in an attempt to find a way to be more human.
The next time he starts school (during canon timeline), he puts his all into it. He feels almost in denial, like acting human will erase or keep away his vampiric nature. He aces all his classes, does extracurriculars, and by senior year, he becomes class president. By doing all this, he becomes pretty popular among his classmates, but whether he's with his human friends or vampire friends, he never feels like he can truly be with himself.
and that's why he hates Cas. Cas doesn't pretend. He doesn't hide himself behind a mask the way Gabe does. He's a vampire and he's so proud of it. What, exactly, is there to be proud of?
though for someone who claims to hate him, he sure thinks about him a lot...
Cas
Cas' parents passed away when he was 5, and he barely remembers them, only little flashes here and there. He’s been in foster care for almost as long as he can remember.
He used to enjoy learning and school. He loved reading, especially comic books and superheroes. However, constantly moving homes and changing schools made it difficult to keep up with studies, and eventually he just gave up on trying. Similarly, he gave up making friends
From his middle school years, Cas started getting bullied. Every time he had to change schools, he had to restart as the new kid. And to top it off, it’s not easy being Asian in an American school, and even worse when you don’t even know anything about your Asian culture. When people made fun of him for his race, he didn’t have the knowledge to defend himself or even understand whether they were right about what they were saying. It takes him many years even after he becomes a vampire to understand his culture, if only marginally.
Whenever the bullying at school got bad, he’d find solace in the library. Sometimes, he’d eat his lunch in the corner of his current schools’ library. Being surrounded by books gives him a sense of comfort. He thinks it could be because his father loved books.
For a period of time after his turning, Cas had a kind fuck boy phase. He dated men and women, but only vampires. He avoided humans almost entirely, especially in his first few decades. He grows out of it after a while.
When Seth joins the Venandis, he and Cas instantly click, since Seth also went through foster care for a few years.
He considers the Venandis as his family, but sometimes he feels like he can't fully be himself with them. He feels like he always has to put up the tough guy facade in order to continue to be accepted by them. That's why he never tells anyone the fact that he sometimes works at a bakery, or admit that he enjoys it. He doesn't even tell anyone about his photography hobby, or the fact that he actually does like reading.
He's both pissed off by and impressed by Gabriel's ability to be so nerdy and be proud of it.
He's jealous. But he'd never admit it.
♒- Cooking/food
Devi
Devi loves cooking with her mom. They often cook together on the weekends while singing/dancing to ABBA, Madonna or Bollywood music. It's a tradition they started together when Devi was around 15, and sometimes they would get Priya to join.
They love Indian food. For them, it's home. When they were younger, they would occasionally get made fun of for eating 'weird' food, but that's not gonna keep them from eating some really amazing food.
Devi would continue to eat human food after turning, just for fun. They don't need it to survive, sure, but cooking makes them feel a little more human. In fact, they might start cooking more often and get into baking as well. She'd continue cooking with their mom as well.
Gabriel
Gabriel enjoys cooking as well. He used to cook Mexican food with his parents. For them, it was a whole family event- from shopping for the ingredients to washing the dishes when they're done.
Stopped cooking after he turned. He didn't have the motivation to do it. He did continue to eat human food, though. After turning, Gabriel kept trying things to feel more human, and that included eating.
Sometime after b3, Devi would probably get Gabe and Cas to join them and their mom to all cook together, and it would probably make them both feel like they're part of a family. tears ensue
Cas
doesn't enjoy cooking or eating. I don't think Cas would bother to cook after turning. He does know how to though. His foster 'parents' often left him to fend for himself, so he taught himself some basics.
For him, cooking is lonely. It was a reminder of the family he never had, a reminder that he only had himself to rely on.
Cooking with Devi and Gabriel for the first time (sometime after b3) was a simple but life changing moment for him. It wasn't a whole big thing, just being so comfortable together, making food for each other like it was the easiest more normal thing. It was comforting, a realization that he no longer had to be alone, that he had others to rely on.
