#romitri

[hiccuppedstudio]

Sometimes,I touch his chest and remember...

When his heart would barely beat.

But now, I can always feel it.

Haven't drawn in ages, so I decided to come back with some hurt/comfort. The good stuff.

[thewisewill80sbyers]

VAMPIRE ACADEMY (2014)

[oblivionsdream]

Rose and Strigoi Dimitri from Vampire Academy. This artwork was commissioned for endpapers for a new edition of Blood Promise!

Strigoi Dimitri was one of the biggest plot twists I had ever read back when this series first came out

[northsonic]

It’s always the white man yearing for his badass girlfriend of color. 🫶🏽

[hyacinthoideshispanica]

Me, in a previous post: an au where Rose cuts her hair off and strigoi Dimitri is pissed.

Me, in a different post: Dimitri has a lock of Rose's hair.

My brain: Combine these!

In this au, Rose likes to braid her hair before training and after their first lesson, Dimitri points out that her braid is all messed up and crooked.

The next time they meet, Dimitri offers to help her and ends up doing a perfect braid.

It becomes part of their routine. Before each training session, Dimitri will gently braid Rose's hair, his fingertips skim longingly along her neck and spine during his moments of weakness. Then after each session, he helps her undo the braid while they cool down and discuss what moves to work more on.

During the cabin scene, Dimitri tenderly unbraids her hair, his lips grazing the back of her neck, his fingers tracing down her spine.

Afterwards, she asks him to redo her braid so they can steal an extra moment together. Dimitri agrees and once he's finished, he gently tugs on her braid three times, a silent I love you.

When they're attacked by stigoi in the woods and Dimitri gives her the code word, they don't have time for one more kiss, but Dimitri does have time to caress her braid, his eyes burning with a silent message that Rose understands. He's reminding her that the braid is part of her Guardian uniform. He's telling her to be the warrior she was born to be and she does exactly that when she defends the school.

Before the caves, Rose pulls Dimitri aside and presses something soft into his hand. Dimitri looks down and sees a coil of Rose's hair, set into a thin braid.

Rose: I know you once told me to never cut it, but it was only a small section and it's for good luck.

Dimitri raises the lock to his lips and kisses it before kissing Rose.

Dimitri: Hmm... I was wondering why you took your braid from the cabin out.

Rose: How did you know I took my braid out?

Dimitri: Because Roza, when I braid your hair, it never comes out crooked like your current one.

Rose rolls her eyes affectionately then turns her back to Dimitri: Well, you better hurry up and fix it Comrade, we've got strigoi to hunt down.

Rose's braid on the trip to the caves is perfectly straight and neat. Meanwhile, Dimitri has one hand in his duster pocket, fiddling with a smaller, messy version.

A horrific battle take place in the caves, everyone too distracted trying to survive to notice Dimitri has a lock of dark hair wrapped around his knuckles while he clutches his silver stake.

When Dimitri opens his new red eyes, he sees another strigoi standing over him, toying with a familiar braid, musing about how wonderful it smells and how delicious a meal it's owner might make. Those are the last words that strigoi ever says and Dimitri guards that lock of hair obsessively, knowing it's owner would be so much more than just a delicious meal if given the chance...

Rose hasn't taken her braid out since the caves. How could she? It was the last thing Dimitri did for her and she couldn't take it out until he was rescued, until he was with her again to redo it. She needed him back to help her braid her hair. She needed him back to watch her kick ass in her qualifiers. She needed him back so they could be Lissa's Guardians together. She needed him back to love her. She needed him back...

Then Mason appears and confirms Rose's worst fear. Dimitri wasn't coming back. So, knowing that she now has a promise to keep, Rose says goodbye to Lissa, gets a plane ticket, and grabs a pair of scissors.

Dimitri has been hearing rumors of a rouge Guardian loose in Russia, torturing and killing strigoi. At first, he's certain it's Rose, but after one strigoi returns, reporting that the Guardian had short hair, he's not as confident. Rose wouldn't cut her hair, she would never, but Dimitri can't fight the nagging feeling that maybe, just maybe, he isn't the only one of them with a new look.

Dimitri stands in the shadows, watching Rose spin and laugh in the middle of the street beside a human woman. His eye sight is flawless, he can see with perfect clarity that all her wavy locks have been cut off and he hates it.

Then he gets closer to her, she hesitates, and he hates it even more. His Roza would never cut her hair. His Roza would never hesitate. But as pissed as he is, he knows there's an easy solution. His Roza would come back to him and she would be improved, immortal, he was certain of that. First, he just needs to buy some time with Galina so Rose can correct her impulsive and stupid mistake...

Rose lives in a euphoric daze. She counts time not in days or even hours, but by how often Dimitri comes to her. How often she feels the divine rush of his fangs sinking into her flesh...

Then Adrian appears in her dreams and she wakes up. Looking at herself in the mirror, Rose is shocked. She sees the dark circles under her eyes. She sees the bruises and bite marks covering every inch of her neck. But perhaps most shocking of all is her hair. It had grown so long, it was almost back to the same length it had been before. When had that happened? Why hadn't she noticed?

That night, terror rolls through her when Dimitri's hand combs through the loose waves, brushing them aside so his fangs can scrape along her neck. "Finally" He breaths in relief, not noticing Rose wince as he bites down.

The night Rose escapes, it's raining. As they face off on the bridge, Dimitri can smell her adrenaline, her blood, and the rain soaking her long hair. She is wild and fierce. Her eyes burning. Her heart pounding. Her hair the perfect length. She is his Roza again and Dimitri knows that if she doesn't surrender to him, then only one of them is walking away tonight.

As the water rushes up around Dimitri and drags him under, he can feel the searing pain over his heart and the braid, a token of luck, desperately clutched in his hand.

When Rose returns to her life, she stops wearing her hair in a braid. Why shouldn't she? Her fight is over, after all, her heart is broken, and she could never quite get it to look right anyway. So, with her waves loose and wild, she passes the final tests, graduates, and then opens a mysterious package containing a silver stake.

Dimitri has been watching, waiting, planning and he knows that one way or another, things will end in this warehouse but even he's not prepared for the blinding white light that engulfs him.

He tries hard not to look at her while he sits in that cell. He tries so hard but he fails and the sight of her shakes his very core. She's just as he remembers. Determined. Fierce. Wild. Beautiful. Her hair loose, framing her face and cascading down her back. His fingers twitch with the urge to run his hands through it, to be close to her again, but then he remembers the last time he touched her hair in Russia and he feels sick.

Dimitri watches Rose silently shatter as his words sink in "Love fades. Mine has" and a small part of him longs for the little braid she had pressed into his hand when everything still made sense, a token of luck, of love and comfort, but it was gone, taken from him when he had been restored and arrested.

They're traveling together, hiding together, and Rose feels like she's going insane. His words from the church relentlessly play over and over again in her mind but there are moments when she sneaks glances at him from behind a curtain of her hair and she'll find him already watching her with something that looks like longing.

Dimitri knows he shouldn't be looking at her but he can't stop himself. Gradually, one heartbeat at a time, he had begun feeling again and ever since that night when he saw her hair in the moonlight and was reminded of all the beautiful moments they shared, well, he knew he couldn't deny it anymore. He was still in love with her. He would always be in love with her.

The words pour from his mouth like a sacred confession and he watches her body tense and her eyes widen as she processes the meaning. Then she's moving closer and closer until they're touching. He body radiating heat against his, her hair falling around him. He's enveloped with her scent, her taste, her love.

Rose can feel Dimitri running his hands through her hair and she revels in the sensation. His hands in her hair, his body moving against hers, his scent mixing with her own, his taste captivating her tongue. She revels in all of it. Revels and then demands more. More. More. More.

Dimitri gently runs his fingertips through Rose's hair and across her body, relishing in the warmth of her, knowing that she is resting with her head on his chest, listening to his heart and savoring every beat and the words he spoke to her at the cabin return to him, just as true in this moment as they were then.

"I love you, Roza. I'll never let anything happen to you. Never again."

Silently, Rose rises from her place on the bed, riffles through the nightstand drawer until she finds a sewing kit and takes out the scissors and a spool of red thread.

Dimitri watches silently as Rose haphazardly braids a small section of her hair, carefully cuts it then ties it off with the thin thread.

She repeats his words back to him, a loving vow, while tying the braid around his wrist. Then, to her surprise, she watches as Dimitri takes the scissors and thread from her and does the same.

They climb out of the car, ready to go to court and end this mess once and for all and Rose is a nervous, Spirit wracked mess. So, after discreetly tugging on Dimitri's duster and pulling him aside, she asks for his help with a braid.

Now with a silver charm around her neck, Dimitri's braid around her wrist and her own hair battle ready, Rose is able to enter the mass of Moroi fearlessly and deliver the truth.

Dimitri hears the shot echo through the room and sees Rose not hesitate to place herself between Lissa and the danger and for a moment, a very brief moment, he's proud of her but then he watches her body crumple and fall to the floor. Dark red, the same color as the thread on both their wrists, blooms across her chest and slowly creeps out from underneath her, staining the polished tile and soaking into her hair.

Dimitri watches Rose sleep in the hospital bed, her skin still a little pale but at least the blood had been washed from her hair, thanks to Lissa. Now it was sprawled around her, damp and drying while a rhythmic beeping marked each heartbeat. Just as she had done mere hours ago, Dimitri listened and cherished the sound.

When Rose opens her eyes, she feels a familiar warmth encasing her hand, Dimitri's voice near her head and as her vision focuses, she sees him next to her, his eyes tired but relief in his smile.

"Sleeping Beauty awakens."

Rose gently squeezes his had then smiles mischievously before opening her mouth.

"Pretty sure Sleeping Beauty got a kiss when she woke up, Comrade."

Dimitri chuckles, he wasn't sure exactly what to expect when Rose woke up, but her flirty response tells him that she's going to be just fine.

So, mindful of her still healing injuries, Dimitri tenderly slips a hand into his Roza's hair and kisses her sweetly.

[theloverlylo]

The Romitri Age Gap: Conflict is Good

Rose and Dimitri are one of my favorite ships, from any form of media, and have been since high school. I consider them to be one of the best written ships of all time. And that's not in spite of the age gap. It's because of it. Romitri's age gap and the idea that it's unnecessary is a prime example of a failure to understand how stories work and what is needed to make them succeed.

Specifically: Stories need problems. They need conflict. They are entertainment, and should be constructed as such.

I've already touched on age gaps a bit in a post talking about why an Angel-esque character is needed in any Buffy-like story, but the TL;DR is this: If the main character is a teen girl who has an above-average amount of shit in her life, it's easier (and often more believable) to give her an older love interest rather than a same-aged one, due to society not expecting boys to mature at the same rate as girls.

This isn't a hard and fast rule, though, and often an age-appropriate love interest can be created; it's just harder. See: Zach and Cammie from the Gallagher Girls.

Romitri are not an example of that. The seven years separating them and power imbalance HAVE to be there or the story does not work. Let me explain.

Every action in a story has two reasons: the Watsonian and the Doylist. That is to say, why does something happen as seen by John Watson, and why did Arthur Conan Doyle write that event that way.

A great example of this is tv pregnancies. Why did JJ Jareau start a serious relationship with Will LaMontagne? The Watsonian answer is that he is a good man, handsome, charming, who encouraged her to relax and think about herself and her own needs. The Doylist answer is AJ Cook was pregnant and they needed a baby daddy stat because JJ is not the one-night stand type, and Will was one of the only options available. The needs of the meta text drive the actual text.

Let's take a look at Watsonian and Doylist reasons for Rose and Dimitri. First Watsonian, of which there are three: compatibility, maturity, and trauma.

Compatibility- Rose and Dimitri are insanely perfect for each other. They share the same values and beliefs, such as loyalty to worthy individuals, deviation from the standard protocols over blind obedience, questioning the world they live in, and political reform while still serving their roles as guards. They understand how the other thinks, and respect each other when they come to different conclusions. They also have insane chemistry that everybody notices after four seconds.

2. Maturity Gap- touched on above, but teen girls are held to higher standards of maturity than teen boys are. Adding on top of that, Rose was basically an independent adult for two years. A big part of Vampire Academy (the book) is Rose's struggles with adults having power over her again after two years of not having to listen to anyone. The boys her own age she tries things with, mainly Jesse and Mason, don't really impress her because of this. They're still sheltered, still children in a way that Rose is not anymore. It's never stated outright, but there's a distinct tone of "look at the puppies" in her internal narration.

Dimitri, on the other hand, is an adult, he acts like an adult, and most importantly, he treats Rose like an adult. He respects that she did keep Lissa safe for two years. He understands that it's grating for her to go from being in charge of herself to under people's orders. When he tells him she cannot be a normal teen girl anymore, he accepts than answer. He doesn't act like a teacher to her, but a trainer- he's getting her in shape, but he's not talking down to her. Compare Alto-- who degrades Rose in class in order to reassert that she is a child and beneath him-- to Dimitri, who honestly tells Rose that he's not having her run as punishment, but because the most strategic choice is often to haul ass, and does so not by lecturing her, but by helping her work through the options herself. They are two people on the same level.

3. Trauma- Rose is not an average 17 year old. She's not even just someone with a jump on adulthood. She has TRAUMA. Survivors guilt and PTSD from the car crash, plus the side-effects of the bond, plus everything that happens during the series. She has a fuckton of problems and no support. Yes, Lissa is her best friend, but she and Rose both view their relationship as Rose supporting Lissa's needs, not the other way around.

Mason, who is the same age, is too immature to be the support she needs. It's not his fault, he's 17, and he tries. But he just does not have enough life experience to be what Rose needs from a partner.

Adrian is a little older. Eyebrow-raising, but not scandalous. But he has his own problems that he hasn't really dealt with, and those keep him from being what Rose needs. Even when he tries to quit drinking and be more stable, it doesn't work. Both because those are symptoms, not the underlying cause, and because he's trying to fix himself for Rose rather than his own sake, which, as we see, is unsustainable. Compare this to Adrian in Bloodlines, who has worked on himself, and is thus in a place to be a partner to Sydney.

Then there's Dimitri. Who also has had his own problems-- abusive dad, dead friend-- but has mostly healed from them. He has the coping skills and outlook needed, and helps pass them onto Rose. He understands her emotional turmoil, and is one of the few people to help her work though it, rather than blame her for having it or writing her off as being too young for problems. In a world where everyone tries to knock Rose down, Dimitri is one of the only people to help hold her up.

Now, all of those things are true, but none of the Watsonian reasons require an age gap. It's harder, but doable, to create a same-aged love interest. And we know that, because there is one in this series: Christian.

Lissa is in much the same boat as Rose as far as the dating pool goes. She lost her family, lived as an adult, and has mental health issues. But she finds an age appropriate partner. Christian has also had his own traumas that he's mostly healed from, which have matured him past their classmates, and he and Lissa have great chemistry. Their relationship is mostly smooth sailing as a result. So why can't Rose have that?

Because of Doyle. This is where we shift to why Mead wrote the story this way when there are others; the construction of the story over the end result. And there is one major reason why Rose and Dimitri are a couple: because stories need conflict.

Every story is, at it's core, about A vs B. Good versus evil. Man vs nature. Hunger vs wait time for a table. "There is a problem" is the foundation of every story known to man. And in our conflict-averse times, people are starting to forget that.

I once read a book where every character had been to so much therapy, and everyone talked things out, and I never worried that things wouldn't be ok. And it was the most boring thing I had ever read. Because at no point did I ever worry about what would happen if thing's didn't work out. Everything would be fine, and it wasn't, they would deal. Which is great for real life but terrible for a narrative. There were no stakes, no tension, no feeling that anything in this book mattered, even to the people in it.

A story needs stakes. It needs tension. It needs consequences if things go wrong. That's what keeps the audience engaged. Because we like this character, and we want everything to work out for them, but their scheming cousin is trying to ruin everything! I need to finish this so I know they're ok.

Christian and Lissa have a fairly easy journey as a couple because that is their function in the story. They are the beta couple, who traditionally provide a stable relationship to contrast the ups and down of the Alpha couple. Think Hodgins and Angela vs Booth and Bones. They're solid and socially acceptable and easy because they need to stand in comparison to the chaotic, inacceptable, and difficult Romitri.

It would have been possible to write an age-gapless Romitri. Make Rose 19, Dimitri 21, and you can keep the Watsonian reasons the same. But there's no stakes there. They're of age, who's going to complain.

Yeah, people scorned the Badica's guardians, but not for being together. They were scorned for leaving. There's a serious implication that guardians have relationships, and no one cares as long as they do their jobs. And if you think Rose or Dimitri would abandon their charges, you do not understand these characters. Rose at 15 risked being thrown out of the only world she knows to protect her friend, and you think she'd leave her for some dick? Fuck no.

It would be outside the social norms, but we see that there is more fluidity to relationships than Rose originally describes. Tasha and Dimitri being a normal, committed couple is mentioned as unusual but not scandalous; same with Rose and Adrian or Mikhail and Sonya.

Plus, all the characters Rose and Lissa gravitate to are social reformers. These are people who would not see a problem with two guardians being together as long as they still, you know, guard. There's no worry about what happens if people find out, because the people around them would accept it, and those who wouldn't are already the enemy.

And that is why the age gap is needed. Because it means that literally everyone is against them. Dimitri is older than her. He has authority over her. If he fails her, Rose loses her place in the world. The people who would understand two guardians together are horrified by the thought of a student and her teacher. Even Lissa isn't super on board but steps up as a friend and has Rose's back without question.

And there are rumors. Remember how I said everyone could see their chemistry? I didn't mean the audience, I meant in-universe. It's clear, as an adult, that there were multiple times were people watched Rose and Dimitri interact, and when Rose left, immediately turned to Dimitri and asked "what the fuck?". No one is surprised when Rose hunts Dimitri like Mikhail hunts Sonya, or when Dimitri commits treason to save Rose.

If they're found out, Rose is kicked is kicked out of her whole world and has nowhere to go. She loses her best friend, and she loses her lover, because Dimitri would probably be in jail. Hell, they don't even need to be fully found out. Enough gossip and Dimitri could get a transfer, and she'd probably never see him again. It's not like they could wait it out either. Even if they held off for 10 years, the immediate response would be "wasn't she you're student?" One rumor too many and there goes the love of her life, the only person who supports her instead of leaning on her, and she's powerless to stop it.

The wrong rumor, the wrong enemy, the wrong person sees the wrong thing, and that's Rose's whole life up in flames. And I care about that. I want to make sure that Rose is happy, that she gets the life she deserves, and that includes Dimitri. And I had to read the whole series to make sure she got it because I couldn't see how it would work out.

Friendly reminder that they get a happy ending because Lissa got elected as queen and said "my bestie gets what she wants, and she wants him. Any arguments may be directed to my crown".

That happy ending was a scrape. It barely got there. There are a thousand ways it could have gone wrong. And I was deeply invested in the story because of those thousand ways. Because I couldn't take it for granted that it would work out. Because it not working out meant very bad things would happen. The best case scenario is them getting separated and not seeing each other again. The worst case is abandonment and prison.

I could not imagine how these two people get their happy ending. Because even if you put aside the treason, and the running, and the Strigoiness, there is still THE GODDAMN AGE GAP. The only way to remove it and keep the tension is to rewrite the entire series from the ground up.

So yeah, the Romitri age gap is needed because it provides one of the strongest sources of stakes and tension for the series. Yes, it's concerning. Yes, I'd be calling the cops in real life. Yes, they're codependent and probably not that healthy. That is why it is interesting! The fact that is it a problem is a feature, not a bug. It's a story, not real life. It's meant to entertain, not model healthy behavior.

If real life was interesting enough on it's own, humanity would not have invented fiction.

[willhollow]

VAMPIRE ACADEMY (2014)

[thebubblesmj]

Ship 146 ~ Posting my favorite ship

Rose Hathaway ☀️🥋 | Dimitri Belikov 🥀🩸