ronanwalsh:
You’re excused, lady.
I’m generally not one to be a stickler for rules, but this strikes me as odd. The wolves have largely been rather polite. Has something happened?
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@vesperlinwood
ronanwalsh:
You’re excused, lady.
I’m generally not one to be a stickler for rules, but this strikes me as odd. The wolves have largely been rather polite. Has something happened?
ronanwalsh:
Aren’t you a little old to still be alive?
Ex....cuse me?
ronanwalsh:
Shit’s way too quiet for post-full moon.
Forgive my ignorance, but are things normally louder? One would think that the moon would grant some measure of peace for a time.
erickaholloway:
Right, so, full disclosure: I made a mistake. I was brewing a little… something… and ran out of vials so I stepped out to grab the first containers I could find and fill them up. When I was done I set them on that table and now… they’re not there. So if you drank from one of the bottles that were sitting here… just… ride it out?
Oh. Suddenly everything makes much more sense.
seancewren:
I didn’t know I would be arriving to a mass funeral, either. That also blurs the edges quite a bit for me. Well. That sounds like a whole bunch of nonsense I would find inside a fortune cookie. There will be people in power everywhere terrified of losing their grip on it. Hers just might present differently. You two are close?
I wish that wasn’t the occasion that marked your arrival either. That’s not an altogether untrue assessment. I’ve been known to be more philosophical and theoretical than anything. She is very much like a daughter to me.
aemiliablack:
[ PRIVATE ]
The harsh reality of inheriting a throne that overlooks empty halls. You’re a gift from the divines, Vesper. I don’t know what I would do without you.
[ PRIVATE ]
That is something I know that I could never truly understand. But so long as I’m around, no halls of yours will be empty, even if it just my solitary self. I think you would be just fine without me, Aemilia, but I’m glad to be here all the same.
seancewren:
I prefer it that way. That’s not a subject I’m well versed in, you could be right. I’m just trying to feel out the edges of this place. Does she take after her mother? Mired in tradition, for better or worse?
It’s not one I know well either, just a maxim that I hope is true. The edges, like most things, are constantly changing. Relationships ebb and flow, with tensions flaring and relationships being built and fading, just like any other aspect of life. She does in certain ways, but she’s her own person.
aemiliablack:
[ PRIVATE ]
What I do here will determine if there’s even a lifetime to be had after my own for the coven. The choices I make, the values I uphold, the alliances I make, who I marry… it’s not just my future those decisions will affect. The day my father died and the Grimoire was read to reveal that Grandpa Angelo changed who would next lead, I knew my life would be even less mine than it was before. The part of my family who would’ve lead me through this may not be here anymore, but I have to stick to it as if they were. I admit there are reasons why I find that far more difficult than it was at the start of all of this…. but like my mother, my father, my grandfather, I will have to keep this coven strong by whatever means necessary. But I will always seek your counsel. Truly. You will always be the first I go to for it, as my wickedly intelligent friend, my coven, and someone I consider family.
[ PRIVATE ]
The amount of pressure you place on yourself in this endeavor concerns me, but I know that it’s not my place to dissuade you from it. Only to offer my help and a listening ear whenever you need it. I believe your life is your own, no matter the circumstances. I have to believe that because everything I’ve done has been premised off of that notion. But I promise to provide you as helpful of advice as I can.
aemiliablack:
[ PRIVATE ]
With the glare I gave her after the council vote I’m sure she knows that’s coming. Do you remember when I was young and naïve myself and my rivalry with Alistar was kicking off? We were only children. One particular day, there was this leader from another coven visiting. He was talking to our father in the foyer and Alistar and I happened to be coming down the stairs at the same time. Now, for years I kept telling myself that father had only mentioned this man in passing, but I eventually realized that I just wasn’t valuing what he was telling me as much as I should have. The man addressed me first, and all I could remember was his first name, so his first name is all I greeted him with. The stutter in the entire room made me feel so small. The man was clearly offended, my father embarrassed, but lucky for him, his glowing heir stepped up with his first and last name at the ready, inquired about family members, the entire schtick. Father wouldn’t look at me for days. I’ve never made that mistake since, not with a single person… witch or wolf. It may have been hopeless to spend as much time as I did studying and bettering myself for father’s approval in the years following, but he taught me lessons I’ll never forget. That day, I learned that names are everything. They’re who we are, they’re where we’re from, and they’re who we’re with. Some names carry more weight than others. I never even bother with a human’s last name for this reason, amongst one or two others. And if there is power in a name, then there is certainly power with the great covens. Any witch who has studied magic history knows the Black name. That’s no mere fact that deserves blurring into the background. Without our names acting for our covens’ names, we lose power, history, our strongest enemies along with our strongest alliances, and the interests of our own people that make us separate from the others. It’s traditional, and perhaps dated, but that date stretches back thousands of years. And if someone doesn’t see eye-to-eye with that sort of thinking, well, addressing someone by their first and last name certainly commands attention, doesn’t it Vesper Linwood? It’s all power, and we’re going to need it to survive.
[ PRIVATE ]
Well I find that words often operate better than glares, so if you would like any counsel before or after that conversation, I’m happy to help if you think it would. I... I had never heard that story, Aemilia, but I understand how that has shaped the way you view things. Names are indeed power, I won’t dispute that. I have never suggested that we erase or rewrite history. As a historian, your historian, you should know that I would never let the Black family name be obscured or lost to time. But that cannot be your only legacy. You cannot control what happens past your lifetime, only what happens in this moment. Your father was a great many things, but in this, he and I disagreed. Building a legacy is a powerful and tempting goal, but there are ways to do it without employing brute force and demands. It may take more time, it may be more frustrating, but it will be stronger, harder to take down. A name is only as strong as the person who wields it. Force is swift and punishing, but brittle. Cooperation breeds the sort of alliances that we need.
seancewren:
I don’t mind a little sharpness. Not if you mean it and it isn’t for show. No use sanding down your edges. Of course. A former coven leader’s room is bound to be taken over by a coven leader. I hope she can’t sleep a wink.
I mean almost everything I say, even if I don’t intend to say it. A mother’s love is different, I find. I hope, at least. Aemilia doesn’t need any more weight on her shoulders right now.
thierryastor:
We don’t know the power’s drained. It seems it drained for them but for me … we’re just multiplying it. Haven, Riva, Ericka – their existences never made me weaker. So it seems perhaps my battery is stronger. Made differently. But those are all answers I intend to find. And no, I don’t think infighting is the answer. But I don’t see much infighting so far. Aemilia and Victoria disagreeing about everything is simply what they do. I’ll always pursue the interest of my people regardless.
What happens if the answers you find are not satisfactory? Find another source of power and repeat the cycle all over again? How do you determine who is worthy of immortality? And what happens in several hundred years, when one of these people you’ve given immortality to has lost touch with their humanity? Or when they split with what you deem the interest of your people? I just urge you to stop and think about this. Really look at what immortality has wrought for the people who were burned in the front yard. Is it worth it?
aemiliablack:
[ PRIVATE ]
Victoria and I often have opposing perspectives on what is best for our people and survival. She’s steady, but her eager acceptance of every person and magic without fail will be taken advantage of and it will cost us. My voice may be one, but Victoria’s is two. Compromising if only to be heard and be a part of the majority is a failure, Vesper. That kind of person can’t be counted on to make the hard choices that need to be made. And I’ve already become more lenient than I should be. Tradition’s carried us through centuries and centuries of living magic. I think people don’t give it enough credit for getting us this far. I appreciate your support, my friend, and your council. I value your mind and your heart so dearly and I’m selfishly very happy that you’re here right now. You are my coven and we will see growth in the future, but we need to get to that point first. And that means having the power to preserve what we are and determine how long we survive. I’ll figure it out.
[ PRIVATE ]
Have you spoken with her about this then? After all, your point is fair. Her voice counts double, and perhaps that is the nature of her position, but surely there is some solution. But I’m swiftly reminded by you and Thierry both why leadership was never my intended path. I know it’s naive, but I would have hoped that we could stop separating ourselves by covens and names, and simply work for the betterment of witches. The world is hard enough without it.
seancewren:
I didn’t realize I stumbled upon the touchiest subject in the manor, no wonder it felt so potent. Fine. I’ll take it off. I’ll even iron it. This sort of vintage look could have belonged anywhere in time, how was I to know?
It seems that you’ve touched on all of the unfortunate subjects thus far. You weren’t supposed to know, and I apologize for my sharpness. But I would probably suggest a different room.
thierryastor:
It may ring hollow to you. But it doesn’t to me. The world is full of finish lines. There are thousands. Right now, this war and waiting for the hunting to end. I sought out power to get stronger, to build a people that could no longer be overlooked by the council, that would have to be given a voice. Each of my girls was rescued out of a situation where power was what they needed. And we’ll use this time to get stronger, to get a leg up with the politics of our world, as we already have. The vampire experience reminded me that I still have a lot to do and that I can do more to make our power and expansion stronger. Nicholaus made it very clear that I’m the strongest magical creature left – an anomaly. I want to know how far that goes. I have nothing to preserve, Vesper. I didn’t grow up with magic. Sometimes one must tear the house down to build it new again. But even so, I’ve been on my best behavior. The belief that what we’re doing here destroyed magic can die along with the matriarchs that upheld it.
You are not the first to want this, Thierry. You’re the one who’s gotten the closest. How do you intend to continue forward, with the power source you’ve tapped into being all but drained? I think what you want is noble and the right thing. You know that things like names and bloodlines have never meant anything to me, but they mean something to others. Do you really think that the best way to advance anything in our weakened state is to fall back to infighting? I don’t believe that what you’ve done destroyed magic. I think we are long overdue for a change. But perhaps I’m still stuck in the past.
seancewren:
Anyone know whose dress this used to be? It was in an abandoned room. And if it belongs to someone no longer with us, I can feed off the resentment for a month. It’s so fifties housewife.
It seems that even as we try to get away from it, that sort of culture follows us around. But I imagine that Celestina’s resentment is a bit more potent, as being murdered in one’s own home can cause. Her daughters are also a bit resentful though, and very much alive, so I would suggest perhaps not touching her things.
jordan-becker:
Sounds like you’ll fit right in with everyone else I know. You call this overcrowding?
A role I have always preferred rather than sticking out as I am wont to do. This is... expressed concern for someone who is not related to me nor has there been any mutual understanding that I should be doing such. Some people dislike it. I believe it’s been called “minding your own business”, sometimes with a few epithets attached to the end.
aemiliablack:
[ PRIVATE ]
My formal authority means little without my family. Victoria got to vote twice during that council meeting, and Aurora will always vote with her wife. That’s three votes against the remaining two seats. Our coven, Vesper, is the most famous in our world, gods-damned royalty, and it will be thwarted at every turn by Victoria Devereaux’s family in council. I can’t accept helplessness, or failure, or weakness. That’s where our coven will end and everyone in this manor will face problems like the vampires over and over again until we all perish.
[ PRIVATE ]
I’m sorry, perhaps I missed something before I returned, but I thought this conflict between your families had been resolved? Or at least reached a point where this wasn’t as large of an issue. From what I’ve seen of Victoria, she seems to be a good leader, steady on her feet, and capable. But again, I’ve always had the luxury of having an outside perspective. But I’ll tell you what I’ve told your mother countless times. Your voice, as powerful and strong and necessary as it is, is still only one voice. You have the opportunity to have it heard, but that doesn’t mean it will always be listened to. An iron fist and unwillingness to compromise may seem like strength, but if our coven ends, it will be because of our unwillingness to adapt. We are steeped in tradition, no one more than you and I, but those traditions have been dashed to pieces and I am not certain they are coming back. But I am certain that no matter what comes next, you will lead us through. You will not be perfect, as none of us are, but you will never be alone. Whatever problems arise, we are here together and it is not entirely on you. Our strength has always been in our numbers, in the way we work together. That may now mean including the Devereauxs to help you in what comes next.