Thinking about how v!Avid spread so much fear about vampires and fought them so vehemently, then willingly turned because he was getting sick. Thinking about how when you're turned, you're repressed thoughts and fears come to the surface, now unavoidable. And Avid compliments Scott. Flirts with him. Thinking about how it would feel to spend your whole life knowing something is wrong with you and getting sicker, becoming a monster hunter, hoping you won't become a monster yourself (hoping you aren't already one). Thinking about how free Scott is in his monstrosity. He doesn't hide his rejection of humanity or his vampiric nature. Scott is fully open. Scott is FREE.
Thinking about how Avid might find freedom in embracing his monstrosity for himself after all this time.
Another instrumental track, this one piano! :D "El Amanecer" by Algot Brooke. Thanks for sending this in!!
Here's the thing about Celestia: everything is perfect.
You can walk down any road, discover any forest, and it is beautiful. Everything is always beautiful. Her job? To make things beautiful. Her purpose? To enjoy beauty. Her hobbies? To find different types of beauty.
It makes things feel... unreal. Unsatisfactory. Fake. Where is the ugly that makes beauty something worth holding onto? Her very job, the dawn chorus, is striking in its ephemeral nature.
She is surrounded by eternity and perfection and she yearns for more.
When Nikaria discusses this with Cymbeline and Kiran, they don't understand. They tell her to talk to Janus. To her mother. To anyone.
Don't hold this inside, they plead. You don't have to suffer alone.
Apparently, she does.
Janus is reasonably concerned. Maybe she's not meant for the dawn chorus, he says. Maybe she is sunset, or night, or colors, or or or.
But what about temporality, she asks.
Those are temporary, he says.
But I want more. There is so much more out there. Why am I not helping? She does not ask: Why am I stuck here? Why am I not out there?
You help more than you know, Janus says kindly. You've saved many a life with your songs.
She wants more. She wants to talk to people. She --
She hungers.
She is ravenous for experiences. For curiosity. She is so tired of knowing what she will find. She is pounding on the door and no one is listening because they do not hear. They are trying their best to understand but they cannot. She doesn't know why they can't. But she knows that this is untenable.
She takes food, a map, changes of clothes, a tent, a first aid kit, and a communication device for emergencies. She leaves a note explaining. And Nikaria is gone.
I do think it would be fun if the remaining townies had the choice between becoming werewolves or vampires. What flavor of terrible monster would you like to be?
Pretty's depiction of low intelligence, and implicit assumption that Pretty was considered lucky to have a date at all, can parallel experiences from individuals who have also been treated and assumed in a similar, almost pitying away. This is further highlighted with Pretty being "sweet," as if that is his hidden redeeming quality. All for the punchline of "Pretty is ACTUALLY smart, look at him talk about theater and book writing! He has an idea of what relationships he wants! Wow!"
so often in a wlw pairing, the experienced one is suave and knows just what to do and say. the inexperienced, naive one is shy, clumsy, and starstruck. me & au does such a nice job playing off and then dismantling those tropes. it’s really good.
