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I wonder if the trains in Malice haven't different seating classes the way most trains irl do. I tend to doubt it, solely because we know there are only two types of ticket anyone mentions, and they only limit where you can go, not where you sit.
Ille Shut The Fuck Up About Jonah Challenge (Impossible)
I was inspired. I swear I talk so much about a guy that shows up for less than two-three days and then disappears until halfway into the next book
Adam and Evelin are the main characters and I’m here going “HEY SO ABOUT JONAH MARSHALL”
These ‘re more general headcanons, though. Because again: inspired. (Might cross over into canon, too)
- He’s an only child. This left him pretty lonely for a while up until he started making friends in school.
- Aroace Jonah supremacy. He feels no attraction to anyone whatsoever and any attempts at flirting are purely accidental
- He prefers to talk his way out of fights. His dad did teach him a few things, it seems
- He’ll also sweet-talk Adam and Evelin out of trouble. With his parents being such important pillars of society, it works more often than not. Just about the only things he can’t get them out of are attempts to run away (how can he provide an alibi for something he wasn’t even there for?), destruction of property (you can only “accidentally” break something so many times) or murder (as he has to remind Adam multiple times)
- He’s an expert at puppy-dog eyes. He’s still a little bit baby-faced at 12 years old and his eyes are big and dark, so all he has to do sometimes is look up. Evelin hates him for this because he’s used this to get free snacks from her so often (yet Adam is immune)
- He has undiagnosed autism and conduct disorder. Potentially also has dependent personality disorder rattling around in there, which can sometimes wage war with CD
- Aquaphobia for days. He hates the water with a burning passion and had nightmares about his biblical namesake for days after hearing about the story
- He’s got sharp canines! He likes to tease that he’ll “literally bite you” if you start getting on his nerves. (Whether or not he actually will stands to be seen.)
- I mentioned before that he’ll bottle things up until something causes them to explode. There are warning signs that the bottle’s about to blow: short, terse answers (sure, okay, yes, no, ‘m fine, etc.); him gritting his teeth when he smiles; stimming by flicking his fingers, pressing against his temples or pulling on his hair (the last stim is a pretty sure sign that he’s hit his limit)
~spoilers for Malice by Chris Wooding~
i've been rereading Malice and it just occurred to me: did Seth go to sleep fully clothed after doing the ritual?
'Cause when you see him in the comic he's wearing a jacket and jeans, so i can only assume he went to bed fully clothed knowing tall jake would take him away in the night.
Lore for my Malice fic because I'm dying to talk about it
~~spoilers for Malice/Havoc by Chris Wooding~~
It's set more than a decade after the events of Havoc, in a rebuilt Deadhouse. I'm working under the assumption that there are a number of Meatmen and other og Deadhouse creations that managed to survive or otherwise escape the battle.
The new ruler of the Deadhouse is a bug-man hybrid called Silthrix, with one human hand and one mantis foreleg. His name comes from Psilothrix, a species of bright green beetle. He managed to capture some of Tall Jake's world-traversing energy and trap it in a vessel that resembles Tall Jake ("Small Jake"), only with little independent thought, completely reliant on Silthrix. He sends Small Jake to the real world to bring back kids for Silthrix to use in fantastical surgical experiments. Given how much weaker Small Jake is, he can only be sent out very rarely, which is also good because it means the rest of the Six haven't noticed yet.
Silthrix is more interested in creating monsters and weird brain experiments than subjugating Malice, so instead of making Regulators, he's been focusing more on making the perfect "Surgical Students" out of the kids he gets from Small Jake. The Surgical Students have their aggression and memories of home removed, and are instead made to be obedient and always happy to perform tasks for Silthrix and the meatmen. Silthrix thinks of this as a kindness, as he is removing often traumatic memories and depression and replacing it with a purpose. The two named Surgical Students in the story are called Myxophaga and Archostemata, both suborders of beetle.
The meatmen in my version are ogre like creatures with their own language, and implied to have a different kind of intelligence than human beings. Some of them help Silthrix brainstorm creature ideas and make more surgical students, while others work mostly as muscle, capturing kids that are hiding out in the Deadhouse.
The "science" in the fic is mostly based off the old medical idea of Humorism and the four temperaments derived from them, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and what has been established in the books by Chris Wooding.
tags for people who expressed interest:
@the-9th-genderfluid @streetwalking
One thing I think Chris Wooding did really well in Malice is never fully explaining why or even how Kady first went to Malice. Like it's kind of implied it happened due to the stress of moving countries and having to live with her stepfather for the first time, but Wooding doesn't really expand upon it. There's no flashback scene where Kady gets her memory back and dramatically reveals what happened. Like that stretch of time is just gone for her. The lack of information in the books really adds to the uneasiness of it.
"Sitting on the floor of the bathroom, he carefully placed the ingredients into the center of the bowl. The order was important: black feather, twig, cat fur, tear. Then he clipped a little of his hair with scissors and put that in."
Seth Harper from Malice. I've been rereading the books and I felt compelled to draw him. He isn't described anywhere in the text of the first book, only shown in the monochrome comic sections, so I had to guess at the color of his eyes and jacket. I feel like some of the details of his hair got kinda lost when I took the picture but I'm not really sure what I can do about that.
Two more versions below, one under a blacklight, one of just lineart.
Good morning happy pride MORE LORE (kinda non-specific this time)
- Dave and Mark are related. Yes, I’m taking this route. Dave’s his uncle.
- Dave’s eyes are also very sensitive to light. Bright lights are sensory Hell for him, which is why he wears sunglasses almost everywhere at almost every time
- ND Dave? ND Dave.
- Jonah’s leaning heavily onto scene/punk core even at a young age. The rebellious little brat (affectionate) wants to be loud and proud
- He’s also anxious that stealing from stores every so often is going to come back to bite him. He can see it now: the child of Bythorne’s pride and joy, caught shoplifting from a prestigious store, his future shot to bits... Not that he’s going to air his grievances to anyone.
- His other two friends don’t know of his exploits. All they know is he goes out a lot and sometimes comes back shaking like an adrenaline junkie.
- Evelin has kinda-sorta told Dave what she gets up to. He’s aware of where exactly she’s going, but never what she does; and he’s pretty much fine with that. She has a lot of free rein because he trusts that she’s smart enough to not get into trouble and trusts the other two to help her out if that happens. (Sucks that she’s breaking his trust on the first point, but details)
- Mary on the other hand has no fucking idea what Adam gets up to or where he’s even going. In his eyes it’s none of her business; in her eyes he’s covering for/hiding something and snaps at her if she has the audacity to ask about it. They’re both headstrong and Adam does not take strict orders lightly, so when they clash it’s a shouting match that often neither one wins
- To be fair to Mary, she didn’t know what to expect since their interview together was so short and she does try her best. But to be fair to Adam, she’s not exactly kind to him. Her mention of him not being adopted if he keeps acting up isn’t a one-time thing.
- There’s a reason Jonah and Evelin don’t like going over to his house.
Blood and Roses (FAITH AU)
(It’s finally heeeeere! TW: references to drinking, death of a child, mentioned blood and gore
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It was just supposed to be a joke.
Cesar’s hands shook violently, making the beam of light from his flashlight tremble. The thing outside his door giggled in insanity as something scratched against the walls. It was just a joke. Just a party trick. The Archangel wasn’t real, he–no, it was just some frightening creature from a morbid comic book.
That’s all he was…Right?
–--
The post-graduation party had already been in full swing when he arrived. The music was loud, the laughter and chatter was louder and he was already a little dizzy from the miniscule amount of drinking allowed at the ceremony (provided by Summer’s flask). He’d promised his mother that he would only be visiting to say goodbye to a few friends before heading home, staying for the weekend and heading off to university the week after.
University . The mere thought made him thrilled. The word alone made it sound more impressive, more…Fancy. It wasn’t Harvard, but it was good enough for him. The only regret he had would be leaving behind–
“Hey, Ces! Glad you could make it.”
Summer waved her hand from the doorway, snapping Cesar out of his thoughts. He grinned and rushed to catch up with her and she let him inside.
“Hell of a ceremony, eh?” She asked, dodging around a fellow partygoer. “When I imagined graduating from high school, I didn’t think it would be like that.”
“You were the one who brought the drink,” Cesar teased.
“Well–yeah, but I didn’t realize that I’d have to share it with the entire crowd thanks to you, ya snitch.”
Cesar laughed when Summer punched his shoulder to emphasize her point. A brunette girl rushed up to them and practically squealed. “Valedictorian Cesar and Summer! I didn’t know you’d both be here!” The two shared a look before Summer switched gears into her well-spoken persona. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Ellen.”
“You were both great!” Ellen squealed again. “The ceremony was amazing, all thanks to you!”
“Ah, I don’t–”
Summer lightly elbowed Cesar. “We appreciate the compliment,” she said, taking his elbow. “But there are other people we also wish to meet.”
“O-Oh! Yes of course, of course–make yourselves at home!”
“What was the elbow for?!” Cesar hissed in a whisper.
“I’m sorry,” Summer mumbled. “But once she gets going about us then she’ll never stop. You know what she’s like.”
Cesar missed the rest of her sentence when someone caught his eye. They were eagerly waving him over. “Who’s this?”
“Who’s who?” Summer took a moment to follow his line of sight. “Oh, him. I don’t know, I’ve never seen him before. Must be the friend of someone else here.”
“Seems pretty interested in me.”
Summer smirked and lightly elbowed him again. “Wouldn’t be the first time. Go say hi, see what he wants. I’ll be hanging out with the crew.”
The two parted ways with that, Cesar growing more weary as he made his way over to the stranger. A feeling in his gut was screaming at him that he meant bad news, that it was wrong, that this guy looked like something straight out of the uncanny valley.
He now wished that he had listened to his gut.
“Uh…Hi.” Cesar gave the stranger a side-eyed look. “You…Wanted to see me?”
“Hi! Yes! Sorry!” The guy cleared his throat rather roughly and coughed something into the sleeve of his worn-out varsity jacket. “I wanted to show this to someone. To anyone.”
Cesar’s curiosity was piqued. “What is it?”
The guy put a hand under his jacket and pulled out a thin navy blue book. He practically shoved it at Cesar and was bouncing on his heels as he looked it over. There was nothing particularly special about it; just the word FAITH carved into the cover and a very rough drawing of an angel underneath it. He opened it and flipped through a few of the pages. Faded ink showed a short story about a kid a little older than Mark’s little sister running from a shadow creature, only to get pounced on by two or three more. The blatant show of the little kid’s guts and blood flying everywhere made his stomach churn. What the Hell kind of comic book is this?
“Hey, your thing for gore is cool and all.” Cesar flipped through the rest of the comic before closing it and handing it back to the guy. “But don’t go around showing it to people, okay?”
“Did you see the chant?” The guy asked.
Cesar raised an eyebrow and flipped through the comic again. The last page made him pause. There was another drawing of the angel, though this time it looked wrong in a way he couldn’t place. Above the angel were three lines of the same sentence. “Dear Archangel, I wish to–”
The strange guy shushed him loudly and snatched the comic out of his hand. “You can’t just say it!” He hissed. “You have to do it properly!”
“Look, man, this is ridiculous.” Cesar looked over the crowd in an attempt to find Summer and the rest of their friend group. “I read the comic book. It’s not my thing. Now, I have to go–”
“You think it’s bullshit? Then call him. I dare you.”
That, regrettably, got Cesar’s attention. He’s never backed down from a dare, ever since he was a kid. He wasn’t about to now. Anything to get this creepy gore-addicted guy away from him.
The guy motioned for Cesar to follow him and left, walking through Ellen’s house to what looked like one of the bedrooms or a guest room. He pulled a bag out from under the bed and dumped it all onto the comforter: a nail, a tiny metal spring, some fur, a crow feather, a small sliver of wood, a lighter and some scissors. He sent Cesar on a small fetch quest to get a bowl from the kitchen, piled most of the stuff into it, then grabbed Cesar’s hand and raked the surprisingly sharp blade of the scissors across the back of it.
Cesar flinched back and held his hand to his chest. “OW! What the fuck, man?!”
“I’m sorry, but it needs your blood.” The guy yanked his hand back and squeezed it, ignoring Cesar cursing under his breath at the burning pain as some drops of blood dripped into the odd mishmash of things. “Okay, now set it on fire.”
“I don’t want to do this anymore. You’re out of your mind.”
“So what, you’re gonna back out of a dare? Do you think something’s gonna happen?”
‘I think you’re about to murder me.’ Cesar held his tongue and roughly picked up the comic book, folding the pages over the back out of spite towards the guy. The pages were nearly illegible now, except for the back. “How do I have to read–”
“Just read it.”
His gut screamed at him again. His instinct screamed at him to run, to get out of there and bring Summer with him. God, why didn’t he listen .
Making a mental note to bandage his hand as soon as the guy let him go, he nervously picked up the lighter and set the bundle of fur alight. The hand holding the comic shook as he read over the words. “Dear Archangel, I wish to atone for myself.”
He turned to the guy. “What the Hell does that mean.”
“Keep going!” He responded.
Cesar rolled his eyes, getting fed up with this dare. “Dear Archangel, I wish to–take my punishment, what the fuck?! ”
“One more!”
He ground his teeth. Just one more line and he’ll be out of this dare. “Dear Archangel, take my faith.”
Nothing happened. The fire ate up the items, the comic book faded in his hands, his hand burned at the scratch. The guy looked disappointed.
Cesar threw the book into his chest and left the room without a word.
Outside the solitude of the guest room, the party was in full swing but Cesar wasn’t interested in final goodbyes anymore. He ignored Summer trying to catch up to him as he went for the front door and practically ran out of the house.
For reasons he couldn’t put his finger on, he felt like he had just made a deal with the devil.
