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manifestoonmoralmanlove · 4 years

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Blameless? Shameless? More like Shiftless: Wrap-up

I grumbled and fumbled through the first book in the series Soulless or Brainless. I fumed and gloomed through the second book Changeless or Gormless.

Now we’re onto the last book of the (initial) trilogy Blameless or...how I originally wanted to riff it...

But, I do not have riffs for you for this book. Why? I thought this series would end because I would run out of energy for it. That’s not what happened...the true reason, is that this book is BY FAR the best out of the three, and that because of that most of my riffs aren’t very funny. Despite that, I would not classify this book as GOOD by my standards. I think it’s barely mediocre and fixed a lot of problems the other books had. So I feel as if I have to concede a bit here.

Instead of riffs, you’ll be getting a summary and my review so I feel as if I can tie this off with a nice little bow.

Summary:

Obvious spoilers ahead.

The world is steampunk supernatural Victorian England. Vampires and Werewolves are real things, and there are also soulless. Soulless are another set of supernaturals that can negate the powers of vampires and werewolves with touch. Alexia is a soulless, and is married to an important werewolf Maccon. Alexia becomes pregnant by Maccon, however werewolves are not supposed to be able to have children. So Maccon is convinced she cheated and abandons her.

Alexia goes back to live with her family. She discovers her one vampire friend has split town without warning, and that every other vampire is out to kill her for this pregnancy. However she wants to prove that the child is Maccon, so she decides to go to Italy with her friends. Italy is a country that’s run by religious zealots out to murder every single supernatural person and DESPITE THE OBVIOUS benefits a soulless could provide that organization they treat soulless people shitty too. However, they suspect that with all the research they’ve done, they will have some information which can prove Alexia right. So Alexia travels to Italy with her dead dad’s stoic bodyguard Floote, and with a woman who has a crush on her named LeFoux.

Meanwhile her husband Maccon is being shitfaced and angsting a bunch about this. His 2nd in command Lyall is taking care of all his duties. Eventually Maccon sobers up and publishes a public apology for Alexia and claims that the baby is in fact his. Also on this end it is discovered that Alexia’s vampire friend Akeldama had his boyfriend kidnapped. So Maccon and Lyall manage to rescue the boyfriend, murdering the head vampire and being forced to change the boyfriend into a werewolf to save his life.

On the trip to Italy they battle a bunch of vampires and meet some allies. When they get to Italy they’re captured by the religious Zealots known as the Templars. When the Templars find out she’s with child they lock her in the dungeon. However with the help of her friends and Maccon they rescue her. Maccon and Alexia make up and happy end.

My review:

The story in itself…is simply not good. I could list you plot holes by the dozen by neither of us has the patience for that I’m sure. I think the sticking point for me is that their whole mission feels pretty pointless. They go through all this hassle getting to Italy (which honestly seemed like a super bad idea) while also being attacked by vampires the entire time and for what? To find out that yes she could get pregnant from a werewolf?

….Don’t we already know that since she’s uhh pregnant from a werewolf?

The lore of this book is super bad. All the major plot points hinge on nobody understanding anything about a rare but super fascinating and important race of people. It feels as if the author doesn’t really care about her own lore, and makes everybody in her fictional world the same. Also it’s kinda hard for me to believe, that even if female soulless are super rare that literally in this world’s whole history a female soulless has become pregnant by a supernatural person twice. TWICE! IN IT’S ENTIRE HISTORY! SEEMS LEGIT!

But there is a reason this is the best out of the three I swear!

I think the story starts off really strong with believable and easy-to-understand exposition that draws you in. I legit read the first chapter of this book and was like, “WHAT THE FUCK, WE’RE A GOOD SERIES NOW!?!??!”

I think a large part of what makes it better for me is that they finally treat this series like an action/adventure. There are lot of vampire battles, fighting weird technology, and dramatic escapes using wild steampunk vehicles. We also have Maccon fighting werewolves and vampires, and dramatically saving a person from a glass bubble from the bottom of a river.

The steampunk technology used here is just straight up really lame and forced but I think that’s easily forgiven in a silly action adventure novel.

I think the POINT of books of this nature. Is the fun action! We also pace this all together well. We have suspense, breaks from the action, and it’s not all the same pow pow fight scene by a long shot. I will say there isn’t a lot of suspense that she won’t be able to make it out alive. Nobody dies or even sustains any kind of serious injury. The protagonists seem to fight as if they’re invincible, but oddly enough LeFoux spends a lot of the later scenes almost instantly getting knocked unconscious. Which I suppose is fine to up the ante of the tension but she’s the only one who gets that treatment and she gets it a lot…which is kind weird.

Speaking of LeFoux, I was really bummed about her and Alexia’s relationship in this book. One of the few enjoyable things about the last book was the lesbian flirting and the unresolved sexual tension between LeFoux and Alexia. Sure Alexia didn’t know lesbians were a THING but it was quite clear that Alexia was attracted to LeFoux. In this book LeFoux continues to flirt with Alexia but Alexia treats it like a droll annoyance. Quite frankly it doesn’t make any sense if you’ve read the last book. Alexia is at her lowest point in her relationship to her shitty husband, there is mutual attraction, LeFoux treats her nicely and is very willing, they’re off on an exciting and at points romantic tour of France, Alexia is on the cusp of a huge life change without her family or her husband’s support, and LeFoux is raising a child too. I get that Maccon/Alexia has got to be OTP and that you don’t want her to look like she would actually cheat since, cause she’s gotta be morally better than the negative reputation she’s getting in the press. Yet at no point is a relationship with LeFoux treated as even a temptation for her. There isn’t even like a sub plot where Alexia worries about hurting LeFoux’s feelings or clearly explains that they can’t be together. LeFoux has no reaction when Alexia reconciles with her husband. It’s not treated as fucking anything more than comedic swatting down of lesbian advances. So honestly? That kinda made me angry. Now Alexia did sexually assault LeFoux last book and totally doesn’t deserve her but to treat her now as they wacky queer who hits on your Mary-Sue so you remember your Mary-Sue is hot is utterly aggravating.

The story still has the major problem of being such a no bummers train that she won’t dare give LeFoux and Alexia a messy relationship. It could have been so much more compelling ugh! A part of me wonders if the author originally intended for the two to get together this novel since there was all that previous build up and the set up here makes it ideal. Yet an editor said BIG NO to it, because apparently a hero cheating in a book is considered one of the most toxic of novel poisons. OH WELL!

But a female/female relationship that is way better in this book? That would be the friendship between Ivy and Alexia. In the last book, Ivy was the stupid comic relief with romantic troubles. Alexia spent the last book just being a condescending asshole to her. Ivy never treated Alexia’s bullshit romantic troubles with anything other than support and respect but did not get the same in return. They did not seem like friends. Ivy was there to make Alexia look better and for a cheap laugh at Ivy’s expense even though she does nothing wrong. That was garbage. In this book however Ivy trusts Alexia that she didn’t cheat, gives her all her love and support, gives her tea for her trip, and competently runs LeFoux’s hat shop while they’re both away. In exchange Alexia appreciates what Ivy is doing and treats her like a smart person capable of doing difficult tasks.

I said it before and I’ll say it again. Ivy is MVP of this series and you CAN’T CHANGE MY MIND!

But while we’re talking about relationships the crux of this series is Alexia and Maccon. I wonder if this is my favorite book of the series because they barely interact in person. The one time at the end where they reconcile was unbearable. Basically the just barely escape the dungeon and the entire crew is standing just outside it. Alexia goes on a tirade about how much she hates Maccon but she’s very obviously pretending to be mad at him, and it’s the most pathetic scene in the series. It was rushed and painfully awkward. We just immediately forget about any possible danger and the other people there so Alexia can pointlessly pout while we all pretend its agency. (It’s not.) We also than very quickly transition them to a RANDOM barn so they can have sex, which is fade to black anyway.

I can’t help but view their reconciliation as a desperate woman who’s been through a lot, wants so badly for things to be less chaotic and familiar again that she capitulates to a shit boy garbage man. She has many, many, many reasons to be properly mad at him. She is shunned by her family, loses her job, becomes a social outcast who can’t walk down the street without being harassed, and is the target of open and constant vampire hostility. But he publishes a public apology and now they’re even. The public apology is talked about as ~humiliating~ but he loses nothing for it. The series tries to sell us that they’re equals in this relationship cause they sass each other. They are not equals in this relationship. The series never seems to acknowledge that Alexia does like 90% of the work and gets way more shit than Maccon could ever dream of. Not that the series has to have a political message, it just seems so doped up by our shit heterosexual culture that it has no self-awareness. I dislike Alexia for being a bad person, but Maccon is a worse person who doesn’t do anything good and lives a charmed life while his wife suffers quicker and more severely. And what do we get out of it? Dialog that can be boiled down to…

“Let’s have sex”

“No you’re a gross terrible very bad man!”

“Oh okay, I’ll go over here to contribute nothing and whine a lot.”

“I MEAN MAYBE IT WON’T BE SO BAD TO HAVE SEX WITH YOU???????????”

“…Is that a yes?”

“YOU VERY BAD MAN WHO IS GROSS AND TERRIBLE! I WILL NEVER HAVE SEX WITH YOU.............................................................

.............................................................….unless?”

I hate it very much.

So let’s talk other characters:

Floote is boring and pointless.

Tunstell shows up briefly to be comedic relief and really bad comedic relief at that. He shows up in LeFoux’s lab and opens with him being very afraid of her wacky technology but then immediately starts sticking his fingers in dangerous stuff. Way to contradict your character in under a paragraph.

The way Channing was established last book, while making him look like a shitbird, gave him personality. In this book he’s there as a protective prop to make Maccon look marginally better. None of his personality comes out at all, and despite the last book showing him as a romantic rival there is 0 of that in this book. I don’t think he has more than 3 lines of dialog.

LeFoux’s one friend was also pointless and personality-less to the point I can’t even be bother to look up his name. He existed so they could dramatically borrow his flying contraption.

The villains of this series are two-fold:

We have the Templars who are religious zealots who want to kill all supernaturals and are disgusted by Alexia’s kind despite how useful she could be. They were not good villains because they are utterly pathetic. They let Alexia and her friends have the run of the place. While they can go outside the compound, once captured, they’re followed to make sure they return. However, the author did not do an adequate job making that atmosphere…even stressful. The pack of them should be frightened by this. They should be treading on eggshells because one wrong move and it’s an inquisition for them! …No they zip around enjoying pesto and don’t seem to have a care in the world.

Even when the fight is brought to them? They spend their whole lives training to kill supernaturals but when they get a chance to do so to protect Alexia they’re not very good at it. 3 podunk humans managed to evade capture by the entire vampire community as they trotted through Europe but zealots trained from birth to stake vampires fall left and right when they’re attacked by them?

OH YEAH, REALLY FEELING LIKE THEY’RE A LEGIT THREAT! THANKS FOR THAT!

Oh but don’t worry we have another villain to help balance things out!

We have Langs-Dorf or whatever the fuck his name is. He is a heartless dude who researches soulless. He basically wants to use her for experiments so he later teams up with the Templars and spills the beans that’s she’s preggorz.

He, like the Templars, are flaccid shit tier babies. He’s the archetypal sniveling scientist, who can’t even outwit them. He honestly doesn’t even really get much screen-time. I am not exaggerating when I say they dedicate more time to describing what his irritating dog gets up to than what he does. They did that for comedic purposes, sure okay whatever. But it’s not funny and the ankle attacking just highlights how harmless he is as well.

So Alexia’s pregnancy?

I mean, they do try to give her a character arc on how she feels about carrying a child. It starts with her calling it an inconvenience and just assuming she’ll miscarry eventually. Yet later is like, “Well I guess it’s okay if it lives.” I’m glad they tried but they didn’t do a good job. Little time is dedicated to her personal feelings on the matter and her steps in pregnancy acceptance feel disjointed. It felt very much like,

Chapter 1:

This sucks.

Chapter 10:

Well I’m not morning sick today.

Chatper 20: I guess it’s okay.

I get we can’t talk about her wanting an abortion cause EVERYTHING IS GOOD TIMES but this no-bummers train cruising straight into never-frown-town we’re on here really stamps down her ability to have a MEANINGFUL arc not just on her role of her impending motherhood but like recognizing it’s going to be whole different human being. ISN’T HER PREGNANCY SUPPOSED TO BE THE CORNERSTONE OF THIS WHOLE BOOK?! Like at least 50 shades had Ana recognize her pregnancy as ANOTHER POTENTIAL PERSON and that she wanted to protect it even after her shitty husband lost his mind over it.

But I mean…for Alexia it’s at least in character cause she doesn’t give a shit about anything besides herself. Alexia has not won me over as a relatable protagonist I want to root for. She’s self-obsessed, and dumb. Yet the whole world clamors about how great she is. She never has consequences tied to her negative choices or personality traits. She never gets in trouble for going into dangerous situations without planning. Nor does she get in trouble for her lack of empathy, or belligerence. What she does get in trouble for is being born a soulless woman. It feeds her smug martyr complex and overall is pretty fucking annoying.

TL;DR

Plot and characters? Bad

But this time the story has action, suspense, good pacing, and Ivy never did anything wrong. Good!

#soulless #changless #blameless #shameless #riffs #review

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briteboy · 7 years

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yelling @ santi, i’m evil again (what else is new), SOME REALLY REALLY OLD ASKS, one GoT spoiler at the very bottom (beware)

*angrily slaps santi* GET YOUR SELF TOGETHER YAH POOP HEAD

Lou and Fiona deserve happiness pls let it happen ty

they do ;-; it will happen, don’t worry, no one suffers forever <3 i’ve actually been planning out lou’s story and i’m excited to actualize it hehe

I just read all of Santis story. Dear god, it is amazing. I cannot begin to describe how much I love it. I have been really sick lately and have such a hard time concentrating on anything for more than one second but I have not been able to look away from this story, not even when I re-read it for the third time. You are an amazing writer and I have fallen in love with every charachter you have introduced. I teared up so many times and my heart began beating fast, it was really an experience.

OH MY GOD ;___________; YOU READ IT THREE TIMES WHAATDOSOIGODFSKL holy shit thank you so much, i don’t even know what to say right now lmao ;-; i’m just kinda in awe that i was able to grab your attention like that and that you enjoyed it so much and just askjdjfsd THANK YOU i can’t say anything else but just thank you, people like you make this all worth it <3

A case of the novembers is the kinda story you read and you just know its going to stick with you for awhile. Like ones day, you'll be long gone in the future, doing something totally different, older wiser, all that bullshit, and you'll just randomly remember what a bittersweet story it was.

OMFG ;___; holy heck asjdjnfkdkjs this really got me right in the heart lmao. that’s the kind of story it’s always been for me and seeing other people interpret it that way as well is just mind boggling, thank you <3

You are evil. My poor heart hurts. ;______________;

you've ruined my life

Life hack: listen to the entire Hamilton soundtrack whilst working out at the gym. By the end of it, you'll have lost half your body weight due to sweating and crying at the same time (pls help this was such a bad decision)

OMG that’s me with grimes’ art angels lmao i go hord to kill v maim and venus fly

hamilton fans also go hord i respect it. learn more about history get swole killing two birds with one stone

Okay this is so fucking random but a while ago you did a post where you talked about perfect bby gianni saying that he spent a lot of time in introspection and like Thank you 'cause now I have a word to put on this thing I do when I try to figure why I feel certain things or what my relationship with people/random shit is and why and yeah I kind of understand myself a little better now so thx a lot!!! 😘😘😘 Also, you're great.

i think i was actually talking about santi (’cause that’s where we’re at right now, in that period of introspection for him heheh) but YES omg that makes me so happy ;-; it’s a good word lmao and i do the same thing, in fact i’m always trying to figure out my relationships with everything in order to understand myself more. that’s kinda why i’m so into astrology haha. i’m glad you finally got to pin down that feeling for yourself, it’s the best when that happens <3 YOU’RE GREAT TOO 💫

NOOOOOOOO MY FAVS THIS CAN'T... LOU.... SANTI PLS... THIS IS A RIOT 😭😭

let’s start protesting santi in the streets

Hi!! Umm I'm guessing you do but just in case, did you know there was a tear accessory? I think it's an eyeliner (cause you mentioned having to draw them yourself)

yeah i do! i mentioned the ones by s-club, i’ve used those a couple times. but i like drawing them myself because i feel like it’s weird to have the same single teardrop every time one of my characters cries (and we all know they’ve been crying a lot lately lmfao) if they didn’t cry often i probably wouldn’t feel compelled to draw the tears. but i don’t mind drawing them honestly, it’s kinda fun lmao. thanks for your consideration <3

so im sitting here thinkin....... what if santi goes on this trip and coms back and lou is in a relationship!?!?!

��santi👏get👏it👏together👏

HE’S TRYIN

i want to die

AAAH SOLE DEVELOPMENT BETWEEN CUTE DEVIL CHILD AND I ALMOST DIED TWICE TATOO MAN YES

I HAD TO READ THIS LIKE THREE TIMES TO UNDERSTAND IT LMFAOSDOJDKF BUT YES their relationship kills me the most ;__;

wait santi tried to kys :'(

WHERE U BEEN he did :{

what font do u use in your histories?

arial!

hi u have a really pretty blog and I hope you have a good day

THIS IS SO SWEET I DON’T DESERVE IT ;-; I HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD DAY TOO HONEYBEE 🌻

nyooooooom

I WENT M.I.A FOR A LITTLE AND I COME BACK TO READ UP ON THE STORY AND HOW DARE YOU ASHDDJFKL

@teishajenaie on instagram looks like Rooney to me, idk if you'd agree but ??

i see it!! definitely in the eyes and nose. also sorry i answered this literally like 3 months later lmao

gooey by glass animals gives me santi vibes :) ive been listening to it on repeat (bc im tht bitch) and it was making me think of you and his story! c: i hope you dont mind me over here lmao anyway, im excited to see where it goes and real excited for a back story for lou!! <3 lots of love

omg haha that’s actually funny because i used it in that one scene of him tripping, although it’s like completely a gianni song to me (at least personality-wise, it’s even on his playlist on my character page) and noooo i don’t mind, i love that song and i love when people recommend me songs!! i have a whole bunch of recommendations in my inbox that i need to acknowledge omg. anyway I’M EXCITED THAT YOU’RE EXCITED, especially for lou’s story, it’s coming up reeeeeal soon <333

i feel so late to the party but i Just started reading your story like five minutes ago and im absolutely entranced by it already and i cant wait to catch up and finally understand what to heck is going on

this was sent literally forever ago when santi and molly were out there being wild in the desert lmao so i hope you caught up and everything. “entranced” omg that’s such a wonderful word i’m honored

i didnt think i could love you more but the fact that you watch arrested development makes me so happy. i cry. my boyfriend has a mr manager, bluths frozen bananas shirt thats literally my favorite thing ever.

OMGGG YES i watched it once forever ago and i need to re-watch it asap lmao. I’M PRETTY SURE I BOUGHT THAT SAME EXACT SHIRT FOR MY BROTHER FOR CHRISTMAS ONE YEAR

Just a biiig prank. Huge

this one is from so long ago i don’t remember the context but i laughed at loud when i read it. huge

i was playing with uncharted for the first time today and they said Navarro in it and i was like THATS MY BOI SANTIII

santi infiltrating everyone’s lives my bf played uncharted tho!! it looked cool. like indiana jones. i liked the marketplace part. a monkey stole his apple

Hi sunny! I really am in love with your story (even if it's tearing me apart at the moment) and just wanted to say you're cool Stay strong ma dude

HI THANK YOU <333 you’re also cool my dude and i’m sorry for tearing you apart (if it makes you feel any better this story tears me apart on a daily basis)

what packs and expansions do u have for ur game?

ummmmmm all of them except vintage glamour and fitness stuff. i wish i didn’t buy some of the stuff packs lmao but what can ya do i actually didn’t even get vampires or bowling or parenthood until like a month ago lmao i’m late to the party

Oh shit she's been dead hasn't she. Like this is all a drug or alcohol infused bender of mollys memory, she's probably never left. They're probably still at the hospital. I hope I fucking wrong but shit I also hope not. Poor santi

we’re so far past this but i just wanted to publish this anyway lmao it was a good theory! and this person was so sure of it it kinda made me wish it was true lol. sorry if that disappointed you but i’ll always remember this one in my sad sad heart 💔

how long did it take for you to make friends here? I started a simblr because I really like storytelling with my sims & I thought it'd be fun to meet people who enjoy that, too, especially since I don't have many friends irl...but I've been here for quite a few months now and it seems like no one even cares that I'm here....everyone I try to interact with pretty much ignores me after a message or two....I'm just feeling really discouraged about my presence here :/

I’M REALLY SORRY I DIDN’T ANSWER THIS SOONER ASKJDKJFSDKA (i’m sure it didn’t help the fact that you feel ignored, i really really hope you see this) but okay uhhhhhhh i only had acquaintances from 2015 up until like this year? then i started really becoming close with people. so it took a while lol, but i think everyone starts off slow because it’s mostly about the actual game we’re playing at first and then making friends just happens through that. don’t get discouraged, like i said it took a while for me. you really just need to reach out to the people you’d like to become friends with, reply to their posts, give your genuine thoughts, say something that’ll make their day...people notice that no matter what they have going on, i promise. i hope you’re still here and hanging in there. don’t get caught up in who’s talking to you or not talking to you, just do your thing, enjoy what you do, and people will notice you. <3

3. Hi so I just wanted to say that I love your story, I'm here for every update. I'm an s3 player I play s4 every once in awhile but s3 has my soul. I love Santi and I know he will be happy in the end, whether it's with Lou or not(hopefully it is tho) I only want him to be happy. I go through so many emotions in one post, like this is a tv drama and I can’t wait for the next episode. This is the end of my cut and paste. Have a nice day.❤️

HI HELLO <3 this is so sweet and i can’t believe you actually care about my story lmao thank you i’m glad you have faith in his happy ending, i don’t want anyone to think i genuinely like making my characters suffer lmao. i only do it to make the happy ending more satisfying. asjdfjksd comparing my stuff to film or tv always makes me so giddy so THANK YOU ily <333

"Suicide before you see this tear fall down my eyes" (Beyonce) reminds me of Molly's situation soooo muchhhh aaaahhhhh

OMG YES what a good connection. good song good connection yaeeahhh better call molly with the good hair

Ummmm... hello! I just read through your whole story with Santi and I'm like... holy fuck. Not only is your story wonderful, your editing is so good. I'm surprised I didn't shove my eyes up against my computer screen. Please continue making wonderful things and being great. Signing off 12:31 in the morning, I hope you have as much fun as you want to

“as much fun as you want to” omfgasdkngjd why did that make me laugh so much. don’t have too much fun, have the responsible amount of fun anyway HELLO thank you soooooO much ;-; pls don’t shove ur eyes up against the screen i’m almost positive that’s not good for them. but i appreciate this so much thank YOU for being great <3 signing off at 2:18 in the morning after ignoring this message for months now (i’m sorryyyyyyy) but um ily

HELLO??? I JUST READ A SERIOUS CASE OF NOVEMBER FOR THE FIRST TIME AND I'M LIKE CRYING???? y u do dis to me I hate you and love you at the same time

(I need to rant I'm sorry) My uncle is really positive towards the army and war and stuff like that and all day he's been going on about how it should be mandatory to serve in the military, especially for "little brat girls" like me? And it's stressing me out so much I want to cry :( The army and war is something that genuinely scares me and I don't want anything to do with it, but he's just going on and on! What should I do?

this is literally sooooooooo late and i feel so bad i’m sorry, i hope this still helps you out and i hope you see it tho okay. i’m pretty sure this was even before the trans military ban like whew idek what your uncle must think about that. tbh just ignore him, like i know it’s hurtful but like...what is his point in telling you this? i would’ve literally been like (sarcastically) “ok then sign me up” but i’m also a lil shit so that’s probably not the best thing to say. but really like the only thing he’s trying to do is feel powerful by means of expressing his militaristic (no pun intended) opinions to someone far younger than him. it’s so that he feels bigger and better than you (especially by calling you a brat). he’s a sad man and anyone who relies on the military, of all things, to shape a person probably doesn’t have a strong sense of self anyway. i love you okay, just ignore him, don’t let him stress you out <3

I'm a little high and it's late but I have a lot of courage now so I've been following you for a while and I just want to tell you how much I love your story! I have come across other places on tumblr who do this but none have captured me as this one did! You are amazing and I am in love with this story! Thanks fo being you! :)

ONMG YOU HAD TO BE HIGH TO SEND THIS LMAO that was me this weekend anyway thank you so much, it floors me every time anyone says these kinds of things to me and it never gets old ;-; you are so amazing ok <333

you can't possibly be offended by a homophobic joke in game of thrones, it's set in medieval times. they had several lgbt characters in it, it's not the show that's homophobic, it's the characters, which is accurate for that time period.

o i can and i will lmao i mean i get where you’re coming from but with that logic you could say it’s only accurate to put homophobic jokes in today’s media just because people are still homophobic in the time live in. i know it’s the characters, but you do understand that someone writes those characters, right? it’s bad writing. it’s lazy and pandering and because of that it’s offensive. idk if you know the exact dialogue i was referring to but it was so completely unnecessary lmfao. they could’ve made a million other jokes. regardless of how it offended me it was just BAD lmao

SPOILER BELOW OK DON’T SAY I DIDN’T WARN YA

@ I wanna watch GoT anon: don't. It's just so fucking bad. The definition of overhyped tbh (and btw, sunny, PLS HELP HE SCREWED HIS FUCKING AUNT WTH)

LMAO SOMEONE ACTUALLY AGREES WITH ME? wow bless u. it is definitely overhyped, like it was good at first but it’s been riding that hype through these past couple of seasons to disguise the bad writing. i understand being entertained by it, but i’m always surprised when people think it’s actually well written at this point...it’s so cringey and now thanks to the season finale this fanbase will be justifying incest. great!

OK MOVE ALONG NOW

#AND I'LL BE ANSWERING THE CHARACTER ASKS TOMORROW (well today but whatev)#anonymous #nonsims #saviorhide #sunny answers

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autumn-elwood · 7 years

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Ricky the Vampire

Summary: Ricky has been alone in his house for a long time so it's hardly surprising when he goes to drastic measures to cure his loneliness. What is surprising is how well his stupid and illegal plan works out.

For those of you who were hoping for a scary story, sorry. This is a really fluffy piece.

Also available on: Blogger

First off, I plead insanity. And loneliness. I plead insanity and loneliness. That is the only way I can really justify the stupid- very illegal- crime I just committed. Okay, wait. I should probably explain who I am since you’re all wondering ‘who the hell are you and what did you do?’

My name is Ricky Galvez and I am an eighty-year-old vampire. Practically a baby in vampirical age and I have no friends. Kinda hard to make friends when you look like you’re twelve and you can hardly go outside or you’ll develop a rash. Well to be fair, I was allergic to the sun even before I became a vampire but still.

And when I say I have no friends, I mean I have any real-life friends. I have plenty of online friends but I don’t have any friends I can touch. I miss hugs.

Admittedly, since the magical world isn’t exactly a secret in this decade I could just reveal I’m a vampire but people get put off by the twelve-year-old appearance.

So a couple weeks back when I was staring at my book collection bemoaning my isolation and slurping a blood IV bag, I got the most brilliant idea of getting someone to come to my house. Internet friends were quickly scrapped because my online friends think I’m twenty and I think I’ve made it clear why that wouldn’t work out. I felt myself about to fall into another bout of depression before my eyes landed across the books “Demon Summoning” and “101 Safe Demons to Summon”. Um… Ricky, why do you have those books?

I don’t know and I honestly wish I had questioned that more before I went all out and summoned a fucking demon, an act that has been illegal for five centuries in the magical and normal communities since the last demon MASSACRE. “Ricky, you dumb-ass,” you must be screaming. “Why did you do that?!”

Because I am insane and lonely, and insane and lonely people do extremely stupid things.

Some of you more optimistic fools are probably thinking, “It couldn’t be that bad, after all, you summoned a demon from “101 Safe Demons to Summon”. WRONG! No demon is a safe demon. Demons are infinitely old and infinitely unpredictable. Even the most amicable of demons have been known to raze a few cities.

After skimming “Demon Summoning” and selecting demon #82 from “101 Safe Demons to Summon”, the demon of souls, I began to draw my circle. The demon of souls is a demon who rarely gets summoned and hardly anything is known about them. I thought it was sad they didn’t get summoned often. I thought they might be lonely because if I was incredibly old demon bound to the shadow realm who saw my fellow demons being summoned on a regular basis, I would be lonely too.

To summon the demon of souls is simple. Place a pomegranate in the center of the circle and chant:

“In umbra ab, Universo Regno resurgemus daemonium animarum tenetur ad me ipsum.”

The candles I put around the circle grew four feet bathing my bedroom in reds and oranges casting dark shadows along my walls. The ground shook and wood split as my floor cracked. Spector like projections rose from the floor, their ghastly shrieks permeating and saturating the air with fear and pain. I clung to my bedpost in terror and unfortunately, pissed myself (Note to self: Don’t summon demons on a full bladder). A hand reached up from the crack and slammed itself on the wooden floor in front of it, clawing at it, and pulled the rest of its body up from the hole.

I couldn’t see it yet but I began to scream. A deep unnatural voice boomed from the floor.

“The mortal, Richard Galvez, why have thou summoned me!”

I opened my eyes, startled that I had noticed I had closed them and beheld the demon I had foolishly summoned. The demon’s appearance perplexed me. It was that of a late teen in a tweed suit. Their vessel appeared to be that of an Asian male but in my stupefied state, I could not recall the specific branch. When I regained my mental facilities, I guessed Japanese but my ability to guess ethnicity has always been spotty at best so don’t trust my judgment.

“I wanted to hang out,” I squeaked out, cursing my prepubescent vocal cords.

The demon blinked in bewilderment. Then they blinked again. They looked awfully confused.

“You wanted to… hang out?” they said slowly.

“Yes,” I replied timidly.

The demon’s face shifted to one of annoyance.

“You idiot,” the demon scolded. “You can’t just summon demons because you’re lonely. How stupid are you? If you had messed up, you could have been eaten or had your body reduced to its atoms! And why would you choose a demon of souls to summon? Do you even know what a demon of souls is? You shouldn’t summon things if you don’t know what they are!”

“What is a demon of souls?” I asked meekly.

The demon glared. “Don’t interrupt me. I’m not finished yet.”

“But–”

“Shh!”

The demon looked about five seconds away from slapping me. I shut my trap.

“You would think at your age, you would have learned to think things through better but you’re still as thick as your average teenage mortal. And look at your room, it’s a mess.”

“Well, some of it is your fault.”

The demon made an agitated zip gesture at me.

“I was not referring to that, brat. I was talking about the rest of it. Your laundry is piled a mile high and you have food growing eyeballs in here. Also, do you ever dust? It’s so stuffy in here. And about the crack in the floor, that’s your fault. You forgot the stability ring.”

I ducked my head in shame. I couldn’t believe I was being chastised by a demon about things I should have known to do. I’m eighty-years-old. I should know not to summon demons. I should know to dust. I should Know to do my laundry. I should know to throw away my food. I am so irresponsible.

“You’re right. You are so irresponsible.”

Oh shit. Had I said that out loud?

“No, you did not. It’s written plainly on your face.”

“Um… I’m sorry, demon of souls.”

The demon grinned flatly. “I’m sorry’s not going to cut it, Richard. I think you need to learn some consequences.”

The demon snapped their fingers and went up in a poof of black smoke. I coughed and waved my hand through the air. When the mist cleared, a small five-year-old boy in suspenders stood where the teenager had been yelling at me.

“What?” I said in confusion.

“I’m going to teach you some responsibility,” the boy-demon replied.

“Um… what?”

The little demon snorted. “Congratulations, for the foreseeable future, I’m your new little brother. You have to enroll me in school, take me to school, feed me and go to school yourself. After you take a placement test, I’ll age your body up.”

“You can do that? Wait, you want me to take care of you and go outside? I have a sun allergy.”

“I can fix that.”

“I can’t take care of you, I–”

The demon exited the circle and stalked up to me like a lion would stalk towards its prey.

“Stop acting like you have a choice. You’re learning responsibility. That’s your punishment for being such an ignoramus. Also, be prepared to get to know the cops because bodies are going to drop.”

“You’re going to kill people,” I shrieked hysterically, my voice cracking on ‘people’.

“No,” the demon rolled his eyes. “My presence agitates people and causes people’s murderous thoughts to amplify in order to collect souls. It’s less active in hospitals since people are already dying but you can’t really just leave me in a hospital all the time.”

“Can you turn it off?” I pleaded, having no desire to see a corpse.

“Sadly, no,” the demon said, not sounding the least bit sad but their eyes looked guilty.

I had nothing to say to that so I changed the subject.

“So, what’s your name?”

“It is impossible for your mortal vocal cords to replicate so I will have to think of something else,” the demon responded, putting their tiny fist under their chin. “Well, I would have to think up another name anyway. My real name isn’t exactly a mortal name.”

I sat down on the bed and stared at the demon as they paced the room. I didn’t understand the demon’s reasoning for the punishment they had selected but I was afraid that the next time I protested they would set me on fire or throw me into a pocket dimension to be torture. Observing their pacing for a while longer, I wondered if I should offer them a chair or a glass of water. All that shouting must have been exhausting. I shook my head. Why was I thinking these things? An attachment spell?

“Elliot.”

I hummed. Elliot wasn’t exactly the most popular name right now, not that I remember it being exceedingly popular back when I was actually twelve.

“You seem skeptical. I think the name works well. After all, you’re named Richard but go by Ricky and siblings often give each other nicknames. I could go by Ellie for short.”

I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. The infinitely old demon who could probably rip out my soul without moving a muscle, wanted me to call them Ellie. Okay. I could deal with that. There was literally nothing that could make this situation weirder than it already was.

“Yeah. That works.”

The demon nodded stiffly and materialized a packet for me.

“Here’s your placement test. We’ll get you sorted before we do my registration forms. Hopefully, you do well enough to be listed as an emergency contact,” shooting me a smirk at the last part. It felt like a challenge like an “I dare you to mess up”. I didn’t want to know what they would do if I failed to meet their expectations.

Taking that bogus placement test was a nightmare. I know I understood most of it but there was a lot that just went way over my head. Fuck landing a grade that would put at me reasonable place to be eighteen. I only hoped that I got enough right to land high school because there was no way I was going to be stuck in middle school again. Watching the demon grade the damn thing was, even more, nerve-inducing. There is something truly frightening about a five-year-old going over your test making displeased noises every now and then, especially when you knew that this five-year-old was a mercurial demon.

After an hour, the demon-boy looked up at me. They picked up and straightened the papers in that strange solemn way only authority figures can replicate.

“All right, let’s get started. Your Reading and Comprehension is post-high school. Your History is okay but overall unremarkable. You did well in your chosen foreign language, Spanish. Nowhere near bilingual but well enough to fulfill the two-year minimum requirement. Your Sciences could use improvement and your math and algebra is shit.

“I’d put you at junior year of high school to freshmen in college. Although if you want to do the college route we’d have to do some tutoring in math and algebra I think senior in high school would be the best due to your placement test and it’s reasonable for most seniors to be eighteen. With you being eighteen you could legally have custody of me.”

“Um… How does that work since Elliot Galvez doesn’t legally exist?”

They patted me on the knee.

“Leave that to me, Ricky.”

Unsurprisingly, that did not make me feel any more confident. Guess I’d better add forgery to my criminal record because no court on Earth is going to try the demon how actually did the forgery. Additionally, the child-demon’s partialness to vagueness didn’t make me feel any better either.

“Fine. I suppose senior will work but what am I supposed to say when people inevitably ask why I have custody of you instead of our parents.”

“We’re half-brothers. Your father left when you were twelve and Mom died when I was born. My father was a one-night-stand so he’s not in the picture and there’s no name listed for father on my birth certificate. We have been living with our grandfather until he died of cancer this summer. You’ve been homeschooled your whole life but after taking custody of me, you decided to enroll me in public school and yourself in the local high school.”

“That’s sad,” I said without any inflection in my voice after he finished explaining our tragic backstory to me.

“Not as much as my original idea. I had thought of having our imaginary parents murdered during a home invasion but I thought this was better,” they shrugged carelessly.

I gaped at them completely aghast. I hoped they wouldn’t say anything like that at school. I had a vision of child services sweeping the house and shuddered. The demon chuckled awkwardly like they were embarrassed although I doubt they were.

“Okay. Let’s get your body aged up,” they put their hand on my shoulder. “A duodenum octo mortalium incerta. Solis, nocere puer iste amplius.”

I gasped. My body felt like it was burning. I felt dizzy and weak. I could feel my bones shatter and reassemble themselves. I choked up two of my baby teeth I had never lost, blood dripping out of my mouth like when your body forms too much saliva. Most of it landed on my jeans while the rest dried to my feverish body. I could fill my skin stretch as my bones grew rapidly and how it broke in some areas causing more of my blood to exit my body. I was screaming but it was a note so high my vocal cords couldn’t hit it. My heart pounded against my chest like I was having a heart attack. At one point I threw up, my acidic bile searing my throat and splattering against my floor, mixing with my hemoglobin. When I landed on the ground during the convulsions, I barely avoided landing in my crimson sick. I felt like I was dying. The pain made me feel like I had been suffering through this for hours. At a later point, Elliot kindly informed me the whole transformation had taken place in a matter of three minutes.

For the first time since meeting the demon, they looked scared. Their eyes looked glassy and they had their arms wrapped around their waist like they didn’t want to look at their hands. I don’t think they realized how much growing like that would hurt me.

“Are you okay?” Elliot cried, panic evident in their voice.

“I’m–” I flinched at the sound of my deeper voice. “Fine, Ellie. It’s okay. It didn’t hurt that much.”

The last part was a total lie but seeing the demon so scared was unnerving. Elliot shook their whole body like they were forcing themselves to calm down.

“I should have given you some other clothes before casting the spell,” they remarked absently.

I lowered my eyes to my clothing. They were all ripped up and I was suddenly aware of my boxers digging painfully into my hips. I stood up to strip and almost landed in my vomit as I got vertigo from standing up. I felt so clumsy and awkward with my new long legs.

I glanced at one of my mirrors and was shocked at my appearance. Gone were the chubby cheeks and scrawny shoulders. I looked like a man. I didn’t feel like a man. I still felt like the small twelve-year-old I had been stuck as for sixty-eight-years. I could already feel all the door frames I was going to run into.

I felt a tap on my knee. I looked down at Elliot.

“You can go online and if you find anything you like, I’ll magic it up in your size,” they threw something at me, which I barely caught. “That’s our debit card. It’s mostly for groceries but you can buy anything with it as long as it’s reasonable. It works in all ATMs if you need cash.

I nodded blankly.

“I’ll find you some clothes for you too.”

Elliot looked surprised but didn’t comment.

It did not take long for me to discover I was absolutely shit at filling out paperwork. I won’t bore you with the details but kindergarten registration forms are a bitch when you have no idea what you’re doing. Thank god, Elliot filled out mine. Also, back-to-school shopping is horrible. I bought all the stuff on the recommendation lists and then some, and I still feel terribly ill-prepared.

And then, I also wasn’t sure if I was supposed to make Elliot’s lunch or not. There was a form for free and reduced lunch but I had no clue how to fill it out or if we’d even qualify with our access to Elliot’s freaky debit card. Elliot’s a demon and probably very independent but this whole exercise is supposed to be a lesson in responsibility for me. In most of the sitcoms I’ve had the misfortune to watch, the mom makes the kids lunch but there’s no mom in this scenario. Am I expected to act as Elliot’s dad, mom, and brother? I’m not ready to be a parent!

“What’s with the panicked look on your face?”

I let out a high pitched shriek.

“Panicked? I have no panicked look on my face. Hi, Elliot. How are you?” I stuttered.

They gave me a puzzled expression like they didn’t believe me. Understandable, I wouldn’t have believed me.

“Humans typically take their dinner around 17:00, correct?”

17:00? What did he mean by–?

“Dinner! I forgot dinner! People need to eat,” I stumbled towards the bedroom door and past Elliot.

What should I make? Did I have enough ingredients? I presumably should not serve blood. Elliot’s vessel is doubtlessly human in needs. Mac n Cheese? Spaghetti? Soup?!

Accursed agony. I had tripped down the stairs. I forced myself up, thankful my accelerated healing had taken care of my broken bones and careened towards the kitchen. I slammed open the cabinets expecting meager supplies but was astonished to find the cupboard fully stocked.

“Where the fuck–”

“I bought groceries online earlier.”

I squawked again, startled by Elliot’s sudden appearance.

“Jesus Christ, Ellie. Don’t sneak up on me like that. You just stole twenty years off my life.”

They blinked up at me angelically.

“I thought humans avoided using profanity in front of young children,” they teased.

“Typically, yes but I don’t think I could ever accomplish censoring my language especially when I know you’re not actually five.”

They hummed neutrally but didn’t voice any approval and disappointment.

After checking over our bountiful supplies, I decided to make some vegetable soup with grilled cheese. I burnt the grilled cheese and I had somehow managed to put a hole in the bread. Elliot seemed to enjoy it anyway but I don’t think they have much experience with human food to provide a reliable critique.

At first, I was quite terrible at this big brother gig but as the school year drew closer I began to get the hang of it. I repainted one of the guest rooms and bought new sheets for Elliot. I did a significant amount of cleaning and rearranging in order to make the house livable again. I fixed a laundry schedule and repaired my floor. I disposed of all the garbage in the house. That took forever. I’m so proud of myself and Elliot seemed to approve.

And then the dreaded first day came. I walked Elliot to school extra early, at 7:15, so we wouldn’t be late and so I could meet their new teacher, Ms. Rita.

“Hello! Welcome to room three! My name’s Ms. Rita. Now who’s this sweet little boy,” she sang.

“Well, this is Elliot. I know it’s weird but he’ll be in both the morning and afternoon classes because there’s no one to pick him up.”

She blinked rapidly, seemingly perplexed by my explanation.

“Okie Dokie but I’m sure you could have worked something out with the After School Program instead of enrolling him in both classes.”

After School Program?

“I wasn’t aware that was an option,” I confessed.

Ms. Rita smiled at me sweetly. It felt like a “you poor idiot” smile.

“That’s okay, honey. Elliot can be my little teacher’s aide in the afternoon,” she crouched down to Elliot’s level. “How does that sound, Elliot?”

“Delightful,” they smiled politely at her.

For some reason, she gawked at Elliot’s reply. I wasn’t sure why until I remembered kindergartners do not usually use phrases like delightful. I glanced at my watch and cringed.

“I really should be going, Ellie, Ms. Rita. Ellie, do you have everything you need?”

“Yes.”

“And your lunch?”

They nodded.

“I'll pick you up after school. Have fun.”

Hesitantly, I kissed Elliot’s forehead. He beamed at me and waved good-bye. I felt a tug at my heartstrings and a feeling of fear in my gut. I briefly wondered who I was scared for. Myself? Elliot? Ms. Rita and her classes?

High School was weird to put it simply. I knew no one and somehow they all knew I was new. How they could possibly notice one new face in hundreds astounded me. Students in all my classes kept coming up to me and asking me questions. How old are you? Elliot’s voice echoed in my ears. Eighteen, I answered. Why did you transfer here? I didn't. I was homeschooled before, I replied. Why? I don't know. I've been homeschooled my whole life, I lied. Do you have any siblings? One, Elliot. He's five. Cue awe’s from the girls. I felt like an animal in the zoo.

The syllabuses we received seemed promising and I was really excited. It all whirled by so fast and I was soon walking back to the elementary school. Ms. Rita and Elliot were waiting for me by the gate. Elliot ran up to me, bouncing all the way. He looked happy to see me. I wondered if he was genuinely happy or faking it.

“Hey, Ellie. How was your day?”

“Great! I made three new friends in the morning class; Maria, Chris, and Alex. They're super duper nice. They've been friends since preschool and they invited me to join their soccer game when they saw I was all alone,” Elliot babbled. “I didn't make any friends in the afternoon classes yet. Ms. Rita says I will soon. They're just confused why I'm a teacher's aide and don't know how to approach me.”

My heart clenched. The demon most likely knee the afternoon class was jealous of him. I wondered if he cared, if he felt hurt by their resentment or if he even liked his new friends. Was he using them as a part of the act, or did he genuinely enjoy the children's company? I felt despicable thinking it because I liked Elliot a lot and I hoped he cared for me too and not out of necessity.

Our walk home was, unfortunately, eventful. Elliot and I had decided to have a race home and Elliot tripped over a body. Neither of us dared to move for approximately ten seconds.

“I should have expected this,” Elliot muttered resigned.

I didn't know how to feel. We had just found a body. Elliot was lying on top of it. I felt numb. I picked Elliot up and deposited him next to me. I grabbed my cell phone and punched in 9-1-1.

“9-1-1, what is your emergency?” the operator asked flatly.

“I… We found a dead body on… William St. It appears to be a woman.”

“A body, on Williams?” the operator questioned, sounding more awake.

“Yes.”

“Sir, please stay there. May I have your name and any of your companions’ names?”

“Richard Galvez and my little brother, Elliot. Elliot tripped over the body.”

The dispatcher made an annoyed sound.

“I'll be sure to let forensics know. We'll need to take samples from your brother to separate your brothers DNA from any of potential DNA left behind by the killer if it turns out to be a murder.”

Less than ten minutes later, the cops arrived on scene. They had some kind looking younger cop interview Elliot while I got the third degree. It took them an hour to track down the dead woman’s identity. June Clark, a businesswoman from out of state and registered lycanthropic. I heard one of the cops mutter about a possible hate crime. A few of them who recognized that I was a vampire scowled at me suspiciously. I hate Hollywood for festering that stupid myth that vampires and werewolves hate each other. One of the cops looked like he wanted to drag me to the station and book me but the inspector sent us on our way and thanked us for providing information.

I was asked to hand over my number in case they had any more questions at a later point. I internally groaned, knowing in a couple of weeks, I would know most, if not all, of their names.

Next time a body dropped around Elliot, I wasn’t there. I got a call from the elementary school during my lunch hour explaining I needed to come pick Elliot up. One of the janitors had taken a misstep on the roof and had landed in a bloody heap in front of Elliot and his friends. The school helpfully informed me of a good therapist and that school was canceled for the rest of the day so the police could conduct an investigation. I ran to my school’s attendance office so fast I practically left a dust cloud in my wake. I must have said something about the incident because the office lady looked completely distributed. She literally threw the note at me.

“Get going, boy!” she urged me.

I easily complied, racing to the elementary school like there was a psycho with a stake on my ass. When I got there, most of the children were gone. Elliot stood over by the group of three he had introduced to me earlier in the week. Maria was crying into Chris’s shirt while Chris was trying to stifle his own tears. Alex sat on the ground rocking slowly back and forth like a pendulum, staring off at something only he could see. I assumed it must have been the janitor’s corpse. Heaven knows Mrs. Clark still keeps me up with only the apathetic moon to keep me company. Her empty eyes staring into me, dry blood masking her right. Her face left contorted in a scream.

Elliot stood behind them, murmuring softly. His words appeared slow and hesitant like he didn’t know what to say and I knew he didn’t. His poor attempts to comfort me after the first corpse lingers in my mind. He had told me there was no need to be sad because I hadn’t known her, that her soul had moved on safely and she was resting before being put back in the reincarnation cycle. I observed him for a long time before gathering my thoughts into words and even then I felt my explanation lacking.

“I’m not upset she’s dead. I’m upset someone decided to play god, that someone thought they had the right to steal her away from her life, her family, and her dreams. That, someone, believed she had done something to deserve death. No one deserves to die, Elliot. No one,” I finally articulated.

He was struck speechless by my statement and walked away with a pensive expression.

Back to the present, Elliot put his hand on Alex’s shoulder and began to rub circles on it. Alex did not respond. Over by the steps, Ms. Rita was hunched over with her head in her hands. I walked over to her and sat down.

“I don’t understand how this happened,” she whispered.

“I don’t think anyone could find an explanation for how or why this happened. It just happened and we can’t fix it no matter how much we want to.”

She looked up at me, her make-up smeared and eyes red. Dry tear stains were prominent on her cheeks.

“The kids shouldn’t have had to see that,” she cried.

“No one should have to see that,” I breathed subdued.

She let out a short sob. I wanted to sob too. I was as good at comfort as Elliot, that is to say, not at all.

“It’s not your fault and kids bounce back fast. Most of them will forget about this in a couple of weeks.”

“And will Elliot be a part of the most? The body almost landed right on top of him. He was almost crushed, he could have died.”

“This is hardly the first body Ellie has seen.”

“WHAT?!” she whisper-yelled at me, stunned.

“He was the one who found Grandpa,” I fibbed. “And a couple of weeks ago he tripped over a body when we were on our way home.”

“Oh my god,” Ms. Rita gasped.

I nodded, as I often do when I have no idea what to say.

“But there was so much blood,” she fretted.

The poor woman. I doubt any amount of blood could phase Elliot but I still felt the desire to placate her concerns.

“I keep blood IVs in our fridge for my condition,” I gestured at my teeth. “And I drink the bags in front of him. He’s well desensitized to blood.”

“You’re a vampire!” she exclaimed in surprise. Then she flushed like she had something rude, which in some ways it was rude but I didn’t mind. “I’m sorry. I just never noticed… um… is Elliot one too?”

I shook my head.

“He’s human. A bit psychic though,” I lied.

“He can see the future?”

“No, not as far as I know. He can make stuff float and other stuff. Neither of us knows the full extent of it. He only started showing signs of it a couple weeks before Gramps passed.”

We sat peacefully in the silence for a few minutes, only broken by the upset noises from the children.

“I should take Ellie home. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye,” she said, determination springing into her eyes.

“Children, how about we all go inside and color for a while until your folks get here?” she shouted, forcing any of her feelings from before out of her mind in order to present a strong front for the little ones to cling to.

I admired Ms. Rita for that. I know I could never push my emotions down like that.

It was a struggle to get Elliot to leave Alex but I did it. I felt like the worst human being on Earth but I did it. I thought Elliot was going to send me to the shadow realm when I dragged him away. Seeing him like this made me feel guilty for ever doubting the sincerity of his friendship with the kids. He would obviously protect those kids like a mama bear would her cubs. Excuse me for being cliched, but I pitied the poor son of a bitch who attempt to upset one of them, let alone all three of them.

It was at that point I seriously began to consider if Elliot saw me as a good brother. Guardian? I tried my best but I didn’t know how well I succeeded. I couldn’t help but ask myself whether or not Elliot would leave when he declared my punishment complete. I didn’t want him to leave. The house had been so quiet before, so lonely and although Elliot was often soft-spoken, everything felt oddly better, more alive, with someone else’s breathing.

With Elliot in the house, there was more laughter, more energy. I wanted him to stay even if I had to put up with bodies dropping whenever we leave the house. I wanted to be his big brother despite him being unbelievably older than me. I wanted to see him smile and grow. I wanted to praise him for every good grade and encourage him through every bad grade. I wanted to see him go on dates and be happy. I wanted to be there for him and be his friend.

“What happens when I pass your test,” I questioned that evening at the dinner table.

Elliot paused mid-bite of my shitty casserole, which he seemed to enjoy for some unexplainable reason.

“I guess I would go back to the shadow realm,” Ellie muttered wistfully.

My grip tightened on my fork, steeling myself for rejection.

“Could you stay?”

Elliot’s fork clattered on his plate and he looked at me in shock.

“You’d like me to stay,” he blurted out, incredulously.

“Yes,” I answered without reluctance. “I would love it if you could stay.”

“Thanks. I would really like that,” he smiled at me, a small nervous smile that made me feel like I had done something amazing like save a life.

I didn’t save a life but I think I just changed his for the better. I hope he knew he had changed mine in the same way.

I hope you all enjoyed the Halloween Special. I may choose to expand on this story at a later date so, be on the lookout for that. I hope you guys enjoy the new blog set up. Don't forget to follow or subscribe (whichever damn on it is) for regular updates. Ask box is open for prompts :)

#autumn writes #halloween #writting #orignal #ricky the vampire #ricky galvez #elliot galvez #demonn character #fluff

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