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duhragonball · 3 years

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Hellsing Liveblog, Chapters 20-24

By garn, it’s been a while. This ‘ere’s the “Age of Empire” arc, followed by two one-offs, “Call to Power” and “Ultima Online”.

Last time, Hellsing sent Alucard, Seras, and Pip Bernadotte to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to find out more about Millennium. But Millennium was expecting them, and sent Tubalcain Alahambra to attack Alucard almost as soon as he arrived.

Recall that the only reason Hellsing knew to check Brazil was because of a tip offered up by their Catholic counterpart, Vatican Section XIII, the Iscariot Organization. Iscariot knew about Millennium because they had discovered that the Vatican had helped them move men and materials out of Nazi Germany and into South America. Which brings us to this chapter, which is a flashback showing how Iscariot found out in the first place.

The date on this chapter really helps me understand all of this, because when I watched this scene in the anime, I thought it was taking place in the present. But no, this is set back in July, barely a week after Seras became a vampire. Note that Bishop Maxwell already knows a great deal about this by this point. He’s not talking to this guy to learn more, he’s confronting him about the crimes he’s already discovered.

This rando bishop he’s talking to was one of the guys who helped Millennium during World War II. He claims to have been deceived, but Maxwell knows the truth: that he and the others helped Millennium because they knew they were secretly researching vampires, and wanted in on some sweet, sweet vampirism.

This is a recurring theme in Hellsing, where Millennium gets a lot of help from various patsies by promising to make them immortal. Dandyman got all those SWAT team guys to help him by promising immortality to their superiors, and I have a sneaking suspicion that Dandyman himself was just a rube that joined Millennium thinking it was a path to greater power, when in fact they only sought to use him as a test of Alucard’s abilities. And so it was with the treasonous bishops in the 1940s. They helped Millennium move to South America, but their research in Europe was destroyed by Hellsing during the war. And the above page shows us our first look at young Walter, before he retired to the life of a butler.

And now we see Heinkel Wolfe, the star of “Cross Fire”, Kouta Hirano’s three-issue manga about gun-toting assassin nuns. “Cross Fire” was featured as backups in the first three collected volumes of Hellsing, which works out nicely, so we can recognize Heinkel as she debuts in this story. She executes this bishop for his unspeakable crimes against the church.

And really, it is a pretty horrific thing that this guy did. I mean, I thought about it the other day, how this guy’s pretty high up there in the ranks of the Catholic church. He doesn’t just go to Mass on Sundays, he’s devoted his whole life to the faith, and then he just turns his back on it as soon as there’s a hint of a chance that he could become an immortal vampire. And then it falls through, so he spends the next several decades just sort of hoping no one will find out what he did. It’s a pretty dark thing, though it’s easy to overlook in a whole series of dark moments.

Back in Brazil, the news media and authorities still can’t make any sense of the Alucard/Dandyman battle. Alucard and his pals escaped in a news chopper and Al must have hyp-mo-tized the pilot to cover their tracks.

Meanwhile, the mysterious guys who were watching the Dandyman from afar, well they head back to their secret lair. The Major is the guy in the glasses, and the Captain is the guy in the big coat. There’s also the Doctor, who sort of defies description, but we’ll deal with him later. It was the Major who ran the vampire research project back in the 1940s, and the Doctor who conducts all the research. The Doctor had been pretty confident about all the powers he gave to the Dandyman, and was dismayed to see Alucard defeat him but the Major doesn’t mind at all, because he’s got plenty more vampires to throw at this particular problem.

They board a blimp, the Graf Zeppelin III, bound for Jaburo, Brazil. I looked up the Graf Zeppelin to understand the reference, and it turns out the first two were aircraft carriers, not blimps. These were planned during the 1930′s as Nazi Germany began to re-arm for World War II, but by the time the war actually started, Hilter had lost interest in the project, and the German Navy focused instead on U-boats. Both Graf Zeppelins were left uncompleted, so maybe this blimp is named after them as a reference to abandoned Nazi projects that could be revived somehow. As for Jaburo, I looked that up and only found references to the Gundam franchise, so I’m pretty sure this is just a fictional town.

Meanwhile, Alucard and his team check into a motel, and he calls home to report that he successfully absorbed Dandyman’s memories when he killed him and drank his blood. He now knows everything Dandyman knew about Millennium. Integra orders him to return to London immediately, as the Queen of England herself wants to know what’s going on here. Al wants to know if Tegs enjoyed all the violence he caused in Rio, but she’s like “stfu.”

Up to now, Seras and Pip had been scouting around, trying to find some way to get out of the country, but there’s no planes and no ships available. They were, at least, able to bring back some McDonald’s. Wait... MacDooolnald’s. See? Giorno drives his vampire dad to MacDooolnald’s, but Seras goes out and gets it and brings it back for Alucard, because theirs is a much healthier relationship.

But Al wants to steal a plane. Pip and Seras don’t take this well, but now I finally see why Al is suggesting this. He was ordered to return home at once, so this seems like the only way.

Then Alexander Anderson shows up and starts punching the shit out of Al, because why not?

Everybody draws their badass weapons to escalate the fight, including Seras, who picks up her giant cannon, but Anderson just thinks it’s funny, and it snaps him out of his fightin’ mood long enough to explain why he’s here.

Seems the Vatican wants to get Alucard back to London as well, so they sent Anderson to tell them about a private plane they arranged just for this purpose.

Meanwhile, in Jaburo, the Major reports back to his “superiors”, but he refuses to explain what he was doing in Rio. The Major claims he’s under special orders from Hitler, and these orders supersede all other command structures. Basically, all these colonels and generals have little choice but to sit back and watch Millennium operate without them. The Major gives them only a thin veneer of respect, and barely at that.

Enter Zorin Bltz, a lieutenant in Millennium, who explains it neatly for the reader. The Major set up all this Millennium stuff after the war, only for these other officers to show up on their doorstep later, probably seeking refuge in the postwar world. They know there’s vampire stuff going on here, and they want to be vampires too, but the Major isn’t interested in that. I guess he figures if he turns them into vampires, they would try to pull rank on him.

But the old timers are also extremely curious about the Major’s goal. He’s used the research to create a thousand vampire soldiers, but what for? The Major explains that he’s out to “savor the joy of war.”

Let me pause here to talk about werewolves. Millennium also has at least two of those: the Captain, and Chief Warrant Officer Schrödinger. As he returned to Jaburo, the Major asked Schrödinger about “the other werewolves”, and he said they would be along shortly, but we never actually see those guys. Unless Zorin Blitz and Rip van Winkle are supposed to be werewolves, but I’m pretty sure they’re not.

On the plane ride back to England, Alucard has a dream, reliving his defeat at the hands of Abraham van Helsing a century earlier.

In London, everyone’s waiting for him to show up, including representatives from the Vatican. Heinkel wonders if maybe Anderson flubbed his mission to give Alucard the plane, but Maxwell explains that they had to send Anderson to Brazil, because he knows Anderson is loyal to a fault. If they sent just any old operative, there’d be too great a risk of that guy defecing to Millennium for a taste of that sweet vampire power.

Then Alucard finally shows and pays his respects to the Queen of England. Let’s face it, this is Elizabeth II, I don’t care how the art hides her in silhouette. This story depicts her as being such an old woman after all this time, but it’s 2021 and she’s still alive today. Alucard praises he beauty. I get the impression he finds human aging to be something precious in his eyes.

Alucard explains what we’ve already been over: That Millennium is the new name for the culmination of that Nazi vampire research project in the 1940s. Alucard and Walter put an end to the project in 1944, but the Major somehow escaped and kept going.

Then Schrödinger appears in the room, to the shock of everyone. He claims that he is “everywhere”, a talent which allows him to show up anywhere in spite of security. He claims to be an envoy from Millennium, and sets up a Zoom call with the Major.

Basically, the Major declares war on Hellsing and Great Britain, and on Alucard specifically, by name. He has no goal, which is basically another way of saying that he wants to fight war for its own sake. There’s no strategic objective to any of this. The Major finally has his army of vampire soldiers, and now he wants to take them out into the field and see what they can do.

Oh, also he has his “superior” officers brutally executed on the video feed, which seems kind of dumb, since neither Hellsing nor Iscariot knew about any of those guys. Ties things up nicely for the reader, I guess.

Alucard is overjoyed at the prospect of destroying the Major all over again, and Integra orders him to kill Schrödinger while Seras shoots the Major’s iPad. Then QE2 orders Integra and Alucard to destroy Millennium, like they hadn’t already been workin on that.

And yeah, there we are.

#2021hellsingliveblog #hellsing #alucard #seras victoria #sir integra hellsing #alexander anderson #pip bernadotte #the major #the captain #enrico maxwell #heinkel wolfe #zorin blitz #dammit i'm not gonna tag every single character you figure out who i missed

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englishgiraffe · 3 years

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My Love For The Eighth Doctor Books

Disclaimer: This essay is awfully long, the structure is terrible, and it probably shouldn’t have been over 4000 words, but hopefully, you’ll enjoy my insight of the Eighth Doctor Books.

Introduction

Trying to create a character around a brand new Doctor is tricky and Paul McGann’s incarnation is perhaps the biggest example for this. After 1996, he never had a TV appearance to fully flesh out the Eighth Doctor and remember: Big Finish didn’t use the Eighth Doctor until 2001. So writers in 1997 had a difficult task, especially when the Virgin Books lost the rights to the DW IP and were back in the BBC’s rights. Some Virgin New Adventure writers like Kate Orman, Justin Richards, Paul Leonard had come to write for the EDA’s, but new talent had to come in as well. They all had to intricately look at like, what, 40 minutes of McGann’s screentime in the TV Movie, half of which was the Doctor trying to figure himself out from amnesia and the other half is him being thrust into the plot without any way to truly develop his character. So… yeah, I actually can’t blame the writers finding their feet, at least with the VNA’s developing the 7th Doctor, he had 12 stories. Also, trying to pick up from the massive popularity of the VNA’s, and oh my God, I feel so bad for the writers. But, there could be a slither of a chance, maybe the magic they could have brought from the VNA’s can be replicated again. So, did it work? Hell yeah, it did!... just not under the guise of Uncle Terry Dicks. Just…screw everything about The Eight Doctors, it’s the worst possible starting point. But after that blip, yeah, it’s my favourite era of the Doctor Who IP, bar none.

Exciting Ideas

I’ll start off listing the sci-fi elements first before getting into character work. Much like the VNA’s, perhaps even more so, the EDA’s are not afraid to bring bold, extravagant ideas that TV Who could never do, perhaps not even what Big Finish could do, because of the novel format that allows descriptions and characters to fully grow. The Books are able to describe how a planet looks, feels, sounds, even down to taste so effortlessly, and a part of it is how unique, so bizarre, so beautiful these planets are, so… intimate. Could Doctor Who ever do planets like Albert (a planet entirely made out of Grimm’s fairy tales), Hitchemus (a colony world thriving on music and inhabited by intelligent tigers), The Crooked World (much like the Land of Fiction, except all the inhabitants and settings are cartoon-based). Not even Big Finish pulls off such weird and surreal settings and that’s because of the prose style allowing time and dedication to flesh out the multiple planets, without feeling clunky in its description and dialogue, which could plague early BF stories at times. But it’s not just the variety in the settings that make it great, there are also fascinating new ways to tell these stories with different formats. Narratives can be told in a Pulp Fiction-esque, out of order style (The Last Resort), told backwards (Festival of Death), books where the Doctor is barely in it but his presence is booming (Sleep of Reason), books told from the first person POV (The Turing Test, Frontier Worlds, Banquo Legacy), a narrative told from a non-fiction documentary perspective (Adventuress of Henrietta Street), a narrative told in a essay format (History 101), and that’s only a handful of the formats. There’s multiple pastiches and parodies; Trading Futures does Doctor Who crossed with James Bond harder than the Pertwee era, The Tomorrow Windows replicates Douglas Adams’ style down to a T, The Crooked World is basically Doctor Who crossed with Hanna Barbara Cartoons and many more. God, everything is so unique and wacky in this book range.

The Tone and Theming

As for the Books’ tone, it’s certainly interesting. In the VNA’s, because a lot of new talent, and a lack of the BBC reigning things in as well as major inspiration from 90s cyberpunk media such as Judge Dredd, a lot of the books, especially in its first half, were extremely grimdark and gratuitous in order to show shock value for its audience (Timewryn Genesys had Ace sexually assaulted and The Doctor told her to just shrug it off and claim that it was part of the times they’re in and Warlock had unconsented bestiality and detailed animal murder). It was too far in my eyes, despite me saying that DW can be more than a franchise that is just whirling around in a magic police box. However, in the EDA’s, yes there is more sexual content, swearing like bastard, bitch and shit is still a thing, and there can be gory violence. But here’s where the EDA’s success at compared to VNA’s; it attempts to earn it’s adult elements. With the VNA’s, the grimdark nature was so constant to the point of normalisation, with hardly any degree of wonder or wit, especially from its regulars (thank God for Bernice Summerfield bringing some happiness at least). It does address and deconstruct the grimdark nature near the end, but God, even as a depressing cynical man, the likes of Blood Heat, Parasite, Warlock were just too dour for me to truly enjoy. But here, there is moderation and it feels contextual to the overall story. It enhances the story, not pollute it. The Spanish Civil War of 1936 (History 101) is written maturely and handles its mature themes in a thoughtful manner, Suicide and Depression is handled with sensitivity and intimacy (The Sleep of Reason), and when gratituous violence is used, it is detailed certainly but never glamorised and often times extremely terrifying instead of gore for the sake of gore (Eater of Wasps). Hell, even the most comical story, The Crooked World, has introspective themes of free will, the concept of death, existentialism and the value of a soul. But, it’s not all bleak, as said, The Crooked World is perhaps the most comical story since The Romans, anything involved with Iris Wildthyme as well as being weird abstract, is just laugh-out-loud hilarious, Jonathan Morris’ The Tomorrow Windows is pure Douglas Adams wacky humour, and Lance Parkin’s Trading Futures is majorly inspired by Roger Moore James Bond movies. The way the Books tackle true adult themes like Morality, Honour, Sexuality, Gender, Trauma, Redemption, the Philosophy of Nature and Identity, whilst being imaginative, humorous and endearing is… just poignant and beautiful.

The Regulars-Sam Jones

So… the regulars. Well, I’ll save the main two (The Eighth Doctor and Fitz) for last, because they will be the longest. So starting with Sam Jones (and yes, they do the ‘Smith and Jones’ shtick about a decade prior to Series 3), and off the bat, she’s easily the weakest EDA Companion and a bit of a inconsistency. She often suffered from writers who wanted to write her as the worst extremes of ‘Vegetarian Political Activist’, who constantly bitches and moans towards everything without any proper tact. And I don’t mind characters who don’t believe in tact, Cordelia from Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel is one of my favourite characters, but when Sam gives her opinions on everything in a pessimistic attitude without a degree of optimism… yeah my enthusiasm starts to drain really quickly. Doesn’t help that she’ll flip-flop between being a lovesick puppydog for 8, cynical activist or just… woman. But I will say that when she’s written under the likes of Kate Orman/Jonathan Blum, Paul Leonard and Paul Magrs, I absolutely love her character. She’s perceptive yet bright, naïve but willing to grow, cynical but willing to bring in entertainment. And I will say that her backstory is a fascinating deconstruction of the ‘Perfect Companion’ trope that Moffat loved to overemphasise. She had been manipulated, used as a pawn and twisted by the Doctor (although this is accidental) from the events of the TV Movie, and the real/correct one is just a junkie that couldn’t wait to stick a Heroin needle if it was given in front of her. It’s tragic, especially considering that when The Doctor fixes all his companions’ timeline much later down the line, Correct Sam becomes the correct version and it’s revealed that this version never travelled with the Doctor and died of an overdose, despite Fitz knowing her experiences they had together. I also love her exit story in Interference, she had become more enjoyable near the end and the story is able to show her resources. Unfortunately, the inconsistency up until Fitz joins just left me too much having a cold taste in my mouth for me to love her.

The Regulars-Compassion

Next up, the human-TARDIS hybrid and Ice Cold Queen, Compassion. This is a character that I definitely appreciated way more after a first reading. The first time, I thought Compassion was too cold and aloof but on a reread, while she’s never going to be high on my list for favourite companions and I find her the hardest to analyse, I find that she works great as a hard-edged character, her dynamic with The Doctor and Fitz remind me a lot of 2/Jamie/Zoe, only if Zoe was way more upfront about her intelligence and rudeness. Her dynamic with Fitz as well is interesting as at first, they clearly despise each other for their clashing personalities and find each other untrustworthy but overtime, Compassion learns to enjoy Fitz’s goofiness and even learns to apologise. She can be destructive and violent with no emotion put behind it. That said, she becomes a more interesting character once she becomes the first Human-TARDIS hybrid, with the Doctor and Fitz forced to rely on her, but because of her cold hubris and after The Doctor forces a Randomiser thus violating her body, Compassion can become terrifying to The Doctor and Fitz. She does get brilliant material in The Banquo Legacy as well, with her possessing one person and her personality conflicting with the possessed person’s. And she has a decent farewell as well. Overall, I enjoy Compassion, it’s just really hard to analyse her considering that she only has 12 stories with the combination of perhaps a too subtle character arc.

The Regulars- Anji Kapoor

Now onto Anji Kapoor. If it isn’t for another companion that I’ll mention later, then Anji is certainly a close second in my rankings of 8th Doctor companions. And I also say with high praise that the 8th Doctor, Fitz Kreiner and Anji Kapoor team is my definitive TARDIS team… ever. You wouldn’t get that impression with her first story, as she has the trappings of an RTD Companion that you can pretty much guess a mile off. Stale relationship, life is going nowhere, working class, dead end job, jeez, I heard it all with Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy, Clara, Bill. The fact that she works in the stock market, an occupation I swear 98% of the population can barely figure out, and I felt like I was never going to like Anji. But Dang… Dang!!! The biggest glow-up happens in her very next story, and it practically sticks until her exit. I always felt that companions inbetween that period of Leela (arguably Tegan) and Anji never really basked in the pure absurdity of what world they were travelling in and never really gave any thought. The combination of new experiences around the universe and her haunting memories of her dead boyfriend was a lot to take in for her, to the point that she never really moved on (in Earthworld, she keeps writing emails to Dave, despite him being dead, and in Hope, she gives the secrets of the TARDIS over to the inhabitants on the exchange that they clone her boyfriend). She fell from grace multiple times, but with the Doctor and Fitz’s help, she was able to pick herself back up before spiralling down. What I love about Anji is despite her caring for The Doctor, she’s very distrustful to him because of his calculating and alien nature and both conflict with each other, their arguments almost feel too real. Anji often considers the options and is usually independent with her financial skills and intelligence. Over the 25 Books she’s in, she has become consistently enjoyable and a delight to read. Witty, clever, full of instinct, and humane, I did feel a proper sense of loss when she left.

The Regulars- Trix Macmillan

On the last companion, Trix Macmillan. She’s probably have the least amount of books in comparison to other EDA Companions (Sam had 25, Fitz had 51, Compassion has 12 and Anji had 25), with her only having 9 Books. Certainly not a lot of time to flesh out her character in comparison, but somehow the writers did it. What I love about Trix and what makes her a stark contrast to the first EDA Companion, Sam, is that Trix doesn’t want to be popular or well-liked. She’s logical, calculating, often devious, and often pretty tactless. She’s the kind of person who would steal a dead person’s identity and money. She treats The Doctor and Fitz not as friends, only acquaintances. But not just that, she can be (intentionally) a walking contradiction. Much like a showbiz actress, depending on what environment, time and crowd she’s working with, she’ll immediately change her personality. To the point that Trix doesn’t even know her true personality, and she is scared that she wants to know what she used to be. She likes being anyone but herself, wanting to become inconspicuous around the Doctor. Her relationship with the Doctor is interesting as well, he is judgemental towards her hobby as a conwoman, believing that she’s only with him and Fitz because she’ll steal whatever she can get. But as time goes on, he learns about her contradictory personality (most likely relates because of his own contradictory personality), and sees her, the real her. And despite her trying to detach herself from The Doctor, she slowly, but surely, opens herself more to The Doctor and Fitz, to the point that she feels hurt when The Doctor accuses her. Even with the short runtime, I found her relationship with Fitz to be really touching, and shows that Fitz’s open loyalty works in tandem with Trix’s cold secrecy. We don’t get much information about her past, but in a way I enjoy the lack of answers, whether she’s just a conartist or perhaps a chameleonic alien, what her relationship was like with her father. And maybe that’s the point, with her shape-shifting and unpredictable personality, she’s meant to be an enigma. At the very least, with 9 books, she had become a fascinating character that was wonderful to read and analyse.

The Regulars-Fitzgerald Kreiner

Now, my favourite companion in all of Doctor Who media, Fitz Kreiner. Better than the likes of Jamie, Donna, Sarah Jane, Ace and Evelyn. Before with Sam and The Doctor, the books were of varying quality, but as soon as he was introduced, even with a bit of a terrible debut story, he brought such humour that made the story just about bearable. He’s a bit of a goofball with some addiction for cigarettes and alcohol, but he starts becoming one of the most complex and special characters in the franchise. He begins as a bit of a James Bond-esque ‘Lady’s Man’, often trying to flirt and womanise, but by his third Book, Revolution Man, the development truly begins. He gets kidnapped, tortured and brainwashed under the influence of alien drugs and forced into shooting a man, with the Doctor forced to finish the job off for Fitz. He’s obviously going to have lasting effects that will damage him in the long run. But Damn, it doesn’t stop there, Interference leaves him in the absolute gutter with him being trapped in a membrane for 600 years, and resents the Doctor for failing to rescue him, and joins up to 8’s longlives enemy, Faction Paradox, and is converted to be a monster, becoming Father Kreiner. And it’s tragic, given his PTSD shown from Revolution Man. But that Fitz is gone, and what stays with the Doctor until the end is a clone of him, with full memories and everything. So thankfully, the loveable oaf never truly went away and only gets better from here. Much like how the 2nd Doctor was perfect for Jamie, or how Ian and Barbara are integral for the 1st Doctor, Fitz is ideal for 8. During the period with Compassion, he wants to prove that he’s the real Fitz, but can’t, because he isn’t. He may have the OG Fitz’s memories, but he can’t dream and thinks that some memories are missing. Even some aspects of his personality are different, like his skills of hiding and blending in easier. He may be a doofus, and hard to catch on certain things, but much like Jamie, he’s street-smart, and is able to spot simple situations that The Doctor wouldn’t give a second notice because of his desire for over-complicated situations. Even with him not being as bright, he’s able to hold off on his own from the Doctor, as in Trading Futures, he’s able to defeat Time Lord-wannabe Space Rhinos (no, not those kind of Space Rhinos) on his own without any of the Doctor’s help or knowledge by impersonating the Doctor, even willing to sacrifice himself. He’s the flame behind the EDA’s for me, the one who is willing to sacrifice everything he has to save whoever he considers family, and the bond that the Doctor and Fitz have together is inspired. He is fiercely loyal to the Doctor, even when he is kept in the dark. They both have a connection towards each other, like a mix between 2/Jamie and early 8/Charley, with Fitz even willing to hold the heavy memories of what 8 did to Gallifrey, even when The Doctor threatens to break every bone in Fitz’s body. He was the best friend that 8 could ever have, I loved their kindred relationship and it was totally worth it having Fitz for 51 Books to become such a developed character. My favourite companion, bar none.

The Regulars-The Eighth Doctor

And now, finally the Eighth Doctor. Before, I used to cite the Eighth Doctor from Big Finish as the definitive incarnation. And don’t get me wrong, I still love him in the Charley, Lucie and even the Doom Coalition era. He has brilliant gravitas in showing intelligence (arguably the most intelligence since the 4th Doctor), dry morbid humour, the right amount of patronising, and enthusiasm, often excelled by McGann’s excellent performance and Shakespearean voice. But, as time goes on, the era becomes more… how do I say… schizophrenic and uneven. Big Finish sort of starts off creating arcs for 8, but then… sort of wander off and never pick up on arcs they’ve created, like the 800 year maroon in Orbis, the angst in Dark Eyes, then finally culminating with Moffat’s Night of the Doctor, not picking up on his hatred for the Daleks after Lucie Miller’s death, and making him too naïve to the Time War, making it as if his journey from BF didn’t even matter.

Then came my experiences with the books. And discarding the first novel, The Eight Doctors, and jumping straight to Vampire Science, Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman immediately gave 8 more nuance than 75% of 8th Doctor material in BF. I should preface by saying this as well: despite my grievances from the Virgin New Adventures, I still think that the character of 7, Time’s Champion and its character work are still crucial to the EDA’s and how it conflicts/supplements 8’s character. 8 is no longer Death’s pet, stuck to the chains of fate, but much like 7, in the eyes of others, he is simultaneously whimsical, dangerous and manipulative, albeit more flawed than 7. When 7 manipulates, it’s more out of logic, thinking about the bigger scope, while with 8, it’s out of passion and love. He often uses his good looks and often childlike grin as a front to scheme, as evidenced in Genocide. But unlike the 7th Doctor, it’s never constant to the point of predictability, and sometimes, even his manipulation messes up due to his conflict with his passion and childlike personality. I’d argue that 8 is the most anti-hero incarnation of all the Doctors, even more than the 7th Doctor, often obliviously selfish, privileged and at times very toxic and callous. He often doesn’t let other people in on his schemes (him faking his own death to his companions in The Banquo Legacy), often clings onto people out of fear of losing them (Sam in Interference), pulls strings for his selfish needs (uses Alan Turing’s sexuality as blackmail to make Turing help him help aliens but on the basis that the Doctor just escapes Earth in The Turing Test), puts others on the brink of death (orders a possessed wasp-human hybrid to kill one of his closest patients to test if his true personality is still there in Eater of Wasps), often be cold-blooded and violent (throws a medic against the wall head-first and then stuffs him in a cupboard in Vanishing Point). In the second half of the Book range, he had lost his memory from his battle and destruction/erasure of Gallifrey, but here’s why this memory erasure works as opposed to other ones, like in Big Finish. For Big Finish 90% of the time it’s used, it’s often to create false tension. At times, it’s fine, but when it’s used constantly to pad out the runtime, my enthusiasm starts to wane out quickly. But Justin Richards as Book Script Editor brings something interesting. For the first time, the Doctor isn’t bitching about where his memory is, but rather, he’s a mirrored version of the 1st Doctor (my second favourite incarnation): full of rage, irritative, deceptive, arrogant and willing to fill his hands full of blood. The difference is there is no Ian or Barbara to hold him back, to make him grow, 8 must be the one to grow and develop himself, he has to make the work into becoming The Doctor. That’s another reason why I adore the 8/Fitz/Anji team so much; they are all broken, damaged people with flaws, and call each other out. But they are also a trio of friendship, love, can bring unity towards each other and most importantly, feel like a family, in fact probably the most family-like team since arguably 2/Jamie/Victoria or even since 1/Ian/Barbara/Vicki. 8/Fitz/Anji have truly descended into tough times (Fitz especially), but this team shows that you can pull yourself back from the depths of hell when you have the right support going for you.

Writers like Lance Parkin, Paul Leonard, Lloyd Rose, Kate Orman, Steve Lyons, Mags L Halliday, Martin Day, Lawrence Miles live and breathe the 8th Doctor, a true Bryon Romantic, poetic and literal with words. He’s a diplomat, rather than a conqueror. He may be brutal, manipulative, and cold-blooded, but it’s equally mirrored with empathy, mischievous humour akin to the 2nd Doctor, and a lust for the unpredictability of humanity. Yet unlike how Modern Big Finish and Moffat’s Night of the Doctor made 8 into an ineffectual pacifist buffoon, Book 8 is certainly an optimist, but he’s also a realist. In Reckless Engineering, he was given the choice between saving the correct timeline in the universe but at the cost of his friends or let the universe collapse… he actually chooses the universe. It’s a shocking moment (especially for Fitz, considering how long he’s been with the Doctor), but even he knows that, but has a responsibility to save the right reality. And with some introspection, nearing the end, he realises that, because there’s a gorgeous insight in The Sleep of Reason, about focusing too much on the bigger picture and the few things is equally as important. To see 8’s goals come to fruition, he brings it to himself that his mission of helping even just one individual can be seen as the greatest thing in the universe. He doesn’t want to remember the events of Gallifrey near the end because at the end of the day, he’s a man who strives for the present and future, not the past. He may not be a good person, he may not be right sometimes, and he may not have a happily ever after with destroying Evil for good, but he’ll still keep going on just to make a difference. That’s why I adore the ambiguous ending to The Gallifrey Chronicles, we never get a confirmation as to whether the Doctor survives his plan against the Vore, we never get what his plan is supposed to be and whatever happens after the battle (besides a song from Fitz closing off the book). I prefer Doctor Who to have an ambiguous non-conclusive ending than what Marc Platt did for Lungbarrow or Colin Meek for Death Comes to Time. This version of Eight has now become the definitive incarnation of The Doctor for me, I adore this character so much.

Conclusion

To me, The Eighth Doctor Books, especially in the second half, truly encapsulates everything that I love about the franchise: superb prose, introspective themes, emotional moments, pushing the boundaries of what Doctor Who could truly do but never accomplish. The writers made something special, and made the range one of the most suspenseful, sombre, intimate, and beautiful pieces of fiction I’ve ever experienced. I love them, and to me, they are my Doctor Who.

#eighth doctor #edas #doctor who #fitz kreiner #anji kapoor #sam jones #trix #wildnerness years

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otomeshistarlight-blog · 5 years

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Rant incoming

I was scrolling through the JoJo tag when I saw this post and I just ... I’m really tired y’all.

First of all, according to a google search it looks like the age of consent in Italy is 14 (if I’m wrong, please correct me) so Narancia is very legal, as is Giorno. America’s laws are not universal. The world is not so UScentric that whatever we as a country deem inappropriate is likewise considered to be inappropriate in other countries. There are varying standards throughout different societies and one is not necessarily more correct than the next. Whether or not I think real life fourteen year olds should be having sex is irrelevant- because even if I don’t agree with it, it’s gonna happen anyway - but Narancia is not a real fourteen year old so whatever the law dictates in America OR Italy is irrelevant.

What this boils down to is that there is no victim here. Narancia cannot be taken advantage of. Narancia cannot be sexually assaulted and face the physical/emotional consequences of such trauma. There is nothing inherently wrong with shipping him in ANY pairing, regardless of the ages involved. If I want to write about him getting wrecked by Bruno I will damn well do it because not a single person is being hurt by me doing so. If this is something that triggers you and causes you distress then don’t 👏🏻 fucking 👏🏻 look 👏🏻 at 👏🏻 it. 👏🏻

Fighting for the rights of fictional characters solves nothing. It helps no one. It doesn’t benefit real victims and it sure as hell does not stop real people from being victimized in the first place. This is a nonissue that people are taking up arms over for no reason other than a perceived moral superiority that makes them feel more in control of the world around them. It stems from feeling helpless and lost in a society that doesn’t bend to their every whim. Fandom space is the only place they feel like they have any power so they take on the role of morality police, try to dictate what people can and cannot like, and then accuse anyone who won’t do what they say of heinous crimes. It’s extremely toxic and harmful, not to mention it lessens the severity of sincere pedophile/abuse finger pointing so the chances of a real predator getting away with it are greatly heightened, and I’m just done with it at this point.

Let’s say I’m looking through the porn tags as I am won’t to do and I come across a post that features blatant child porn. Real child porn. The 3D kind that, yknow, actually features real children being exploited and assaulted for realsies. I’m understandably appalled so I file a report with tumblr and they don’t even look at it because they’ve been bombarded for the last year with false harm to minors reports and the user is never penalized for actually doing something inherently wrong and immoral. Y’all have heard about the girl who cried wolf right? Like, y’all know how that story ends don’t you?

But no. Instead of directing your efforts towards anything worthwhile, you’re going to keep going after shippers. And for what? Because oh no, the fictional seventeen year old who could just as likely be nineteen is being paired with a fictional twenty-five year old. The horror. What is the world coming to? Think of the children!

Except ... these supposed children don’t exist. How can you victimize a piece of paper? The same argument applies to loli/shotacon too mind you, and there is no crime in looking at drawings regardless of their perceived age, especially when the topic is anime where you can have a character who looks like a five year old girl and she is in fact a 400 year old vampire. Like?? There is absolutely no logic you can apply to this that has any internal consistency let alone actually makes sense.

Me: these fictional minors don’t even look like sixteen year olds, where have you seen a real teenager who looks like this?

Antis: they look like teens you pedo!! And ageing them up is still pedophilia because they are canonly sixteen so you’re still thinking about teenagers in a roundabout, highly contrived way

Me: *shows you a 300 year old loli vampire* okay so I can definitely fuck this one right? She’s unrealistically old!

Antis: no!!!! You’re just using her canon age as an excuse to be a freak who preys on children! She might be 300 years old but she still has the body of a child!!

Me: okay so I’ll just age myself down to self ship, no biggie.

Antis: absolutely not!! You’re still an adult and ageing yourself down doesn’t make it okay!! I’m reporting you to the authorities right now!

Me: but ... who am I supposed to imagine fucking then?

Antis: one of the few adults you find in anime, except this one because he’s an abuser, or this one because he tortured a little girl and not the serial killer either because wow problematic

Me: so what you’re telling me ... is that I’m only allowed to thirst after your preapproved, precious cinnamon roll faves even though my tastes or needs in a relationship might vary greatly from yours?

Antis: yes, exactly. I’m so glad you’re finally on my level of intelligence and moral superiority. : ^)

Me: oh, I see now. So what this boils down to is that you just don’t want people to enjoy something you don’t personally agree with. Got it.

Antis: absolutely not!! I’m thinking about the betterment of society by telling you what you can and cannot enjoy! You liking these questionable things is harmful against the greater good! Won’t you think of the children!?

Me: soooooo we’re just gonna ignore how much that sounds like a fascist/communist society or ...?

Antis: : ^)

Y’all should absolutely read 1984. It would do you some good. Because having an attraction to a fucking anime character is not a slippery slope, but this puritanical shit? It sure as hell is.

Let me pose this query: what is stopping an anti from going on a book burning campaign or fighting to get certain books banned? Lolita? Flowers in the Attic? All of the works by Marquis de Sade (a personal hero of mine)? Alternatively who are the only people who actually engage in book burning/banning?

Overzealous religious nuts. Everything about the anti movement is the same “our children shouldn’t be exposed to such filth” battle cry that religious sects - specifically the western ones - have screamed for decades now except with a cute little sjw hat on top. No rock n’ roll music. It’s Satan’s music. No porn. It’s tainting America’s youth. No alcohol. It’s leading our country down the path of sin. No violent video games or movies. They’re turning people into mass shooters. No problematic themes in fictional works because it’s turning people into pedophiles/abusers.

And that is just ... factually incorrect. There is absolutely no correlation between Lolita being published and an uptick in children being sexually assaulted. There is no correlation between lolicon or shotacon breeding more pedophiles. Because that’s literally not how it works. Period. I’m not going to accidentally stumble on a loli doujin and think “huh yknow what? This sounds fun!” I could even read loli doujins at length and that’s still not going to convince me that actually engaging in sexual situations with toddlers is okay. Like ... I don’t know why these people think we’re so stupid that we don’t know the difference between right and wrong but this is just insane. The only people who look at loli or shota and then go on to commit crimes against real children are the ones who were already having those kinds of thoughts in the first place. The only people who play Grand Theft Auto and then go shoot up a church are the ones who were already having violent thoughts to begin with. These thoughts are not magically implanted into our brains regardless of what media we consume and that’s just a goddamn fact.

Yes, media impacts reality but not the way you think it does. Even all those sources antis link to about the supposed correlation between the two are twisted to meet their own rhetoric. It’s called marketing and anyone with half a brain cell knows that it exists. It’s meant to encourage us into thinking we need some product so we spend money on junk and keep capitalism going strong. it works more often than not. However no amount of marketing is going to convince a mentally sound person that shooting up a mall is a valid life choice to make. It just doesn’t work like that and you could scream until your blue in the face that fucking kids is the bees knees and I still wouldn’t touch a real child because that’s gross. Period. And since I can’t touch Bakugou Katsuki or Narancia because they’re just figments of someone’s imagination and pen and paper ... then where lies the problem?? What is the issue with writing or drawing fictional characters, regardless of age or moral compass, in sexual situations?

I’m a CSA survivor that has been on the internet for a LONG time. I’ve seen some shit I sorely wish I could forget. Everything from real life gore, real life death, bestiality, necrophilia and yes even real life child porn. I don’t think there’s a single problematic thing I haven’t accidentally stumbled on and it’s horrific. It’s disgusting. I know all too well how awful these things are and I know even better how it feels to be a victim of rape and sexual assault and pedophilia and grooming. Like. That was my life growing up. I know what these things look like and I can assure you without a shadow of a doubt that whatever is going on in fandom space isn’t even comparable. Please. Draw your OC fucking a dragon mascot character instead of fucking a real animal. Please write about a fictional father fucking his fictional son instead of fucking a real child or a real sibling. Do whatever you want with your imagination - and I do mean WHATEVER. If you want to think about eating your favorite characters shit then by all means. Enjoy. It doesn’t effect reality in any way besides maybe giving someone a cathartic coping outlet and there’s nothing wrong with it.

There’s nothing wrong with ANY topic being explored in fiction.

The only problem is when someone commits a crime in reality. When someone hurts another living being. And consuming this so called problematic fiction does not lead someone to real life crimes. Period.

Finding myself on that stupid gore site when I was 14, BestGore I think it’s called? Did not make me want to try killing someone. I’ve never even seriously contemplated doing it because death is awful in every regard, I wouldn’t seriously wish that on anyone let alone convince myself that it’s okay. But according to antis me being exposed to that sort of content means I’m more likely to go out and commit murder?

Literally what crack are you smoking?

Get the fuck out of here and do something worthwhile with your time if you honestly find these topics so disturbing. If not then shut up, sit down and let people enjoy their fandom experience however they see fit. Because this right here? This treating fictional characters like they matter, like they’re real people? It’s not fucking cute. And as someone who was raped from the time I was eleven until I was eighteen by a family member I can safely say that you aren’t doing shit to help anyone with this holier than thou, I know better than you crusade.

And that is the goddamn truth whether you like it or not.

#discourse #anti #shipping

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xthebirdofhermesx · 6 years

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Hellsing: Rememberances - Chapter 3

I’m compiling on #Ao3, here, as I go for anyone interested in reading start to finish without having to scroll through Tumblr.

This... started as two little scenes in my head, and now is spiraling out of control in my head. I need to think. Figure out if there’s a small plot I can conjure for a bit since this is all still technically before Ultimate “began”. And where to go from there. Hmmmmmm. Chapter 4 will be part II, and its shaping up to be from Alucard’s perspective, so stay tuned! I have no idea when I’ll get the next part done (This one went really fast, but IRL is a jerk sometimes, and my muse can be a stubborn turd at others) but I will try and have it up as soon as I can figure out what “it” looks like ^_^

Saints and Sinners: Part I Looking in the full length, antique floor mirror that had been her grandmother’s at one time, Integra Hellsing had to admit even she thought she looked a little pale. It wasn’t the dress. The black satin bodice and a-line skirt, strapless frock was lovely and classy. Despite her general aversion to dresses as she’d become far more comfortable in pants over dresses nowadays, she very much liked the 50s style to it. The capelet that covered her shoulders was beaded lace, with a high collar and satin ribbon tie that allow her to affix her crucifix pin to it was well. Hair braided up around her head, she’d decided to go with an up style unlike her normal long, flowing plaits - she felt it made her look more distinguished.

Nor was her pallor a result of the Hellsing operation the evening prior. An operation that had required her to order the execution of approximately fifteen ghoul freaks, one proper vampire and more than two dozen civilians that were on their way to becoming mindless ghouls. No, that was her job. Her duty to Queen and country as was the legacy of her proud family. No, no she’d not even lost a wink of sleep over that.

No, she knew exactly from whence her pallor came. This night there was a party being held in her honor. Downstairs nobility of England, Knights of the Council of Twelve and others, supporters from the Church of England, and what few family friends outside of that left to the Hellsing family were already arriving. There were police officers and royal guard at the gate down the drive and the house proper preventing media and unwanteds from entering. Walter had been bustling about for a week now with preparations, phone calls and deliveries for the food, flowers, decor and his normal duties. Hellsing manor had not seen such a soiree in decades. All for one, momentous evening.

It was Integral Fairbrooks Wingates Hellsing’s eighteenth birthday.

Giving the difficult orders, even at her age, were no longer an issue. Fighting monsters, freaks both with her ultimate weapon, or on the rare occasion she herself had found need or situation to fight, no longer intimidated or threatened her. Nobility and political events, while not her favorite as she detested being unarmed, were also not the issue.

She was going to have to socialize .

Her training as both the head of the Hellsing organization and a knight of the realm was perfection. Overseen by the Queen herself at times, she had never received anything but perfect marks in combat, etiquette, procedure, language or any common core educations. But when it came down to it, she had been raised by a retired vampire slayer as her butler… and Dracula himself. She hadn’t the foggiest idea how she was supposed to maintain idle chit-chat, non work related conversation or casual discourse… with anyone.

Be it from practice, or the fact that he wasn’t trying to be stealthy, Integra saw when the shadows of her room darkened, and Alucard manifested from the wall behind her. She did not see him in the mirror, but the hair at the back of her neck stood up in the presence of his power, as it always did. The human mind, be it unexplained science, or instinct, recognized a predator and their power regardless of trust.

“You should knock,” she said flatly before turning around to face him. She could tell from the wide grin on his face, he was likely entirely informed of her state of mind. Regardless of how many times she’d asked or ordered, when it came to reading her thoughts Alucard could not seem to help himself.

He chuckled, the deep baritone of his voice bringing chill bumps to her exposed arms. “I could not help myself,” he answered as if she’s spoken aloud. “Not tonight. Your trepidation is palpable, and called to me. The fearless Integral Hellsing… chewing her lips over a party.” His head inclined slightly to one side in curiosity. “You had no fear ordering the murder of more than thirty souls not twenty-four hours ago. And yet the living terrify you.”

“The Salvation of those souls is my duty, servant . We released them from a tortured existence. Do not mistake or twist my purpose.”

The large smile returned to the tall man’s face. Integra noticed that he was missing his typical long red coat and dark suit in favor of a different one. So black it seemed to absorb light, the double breasted coat was long, to a few inches above the knees of his matching, pleated pants. Even the red satin cravat he wore was pressed, tied over a new black dress shirt. Though she also noted his unruly mass of back hair was as ever long in the front and shorter in back, curling wildly as if it had a mind all its own.

Red, glowing vampiric eyes narrowed as the ancient vampire observed her, observing him. “Penny for your thoughts,” he rumbled smugly at his own joke.

Integra merely raised one perfectly arched eyebrow over her crystal blue eyes. “You look… nice.”

This clearly amused him as the No Life King’s head fell back with laughter. At the same time he began walking towards her slowly. “Oh my sweet master,” he said, stopping only inches from her, “How you strive for your heart to be carved from the coldest, most unyeilding ice. And yet I know so much differently.”

Now it was her turn to incline her head curiously. “So you believe,” she said, but were she honest, she wasn’t sure what he knew - or thought he knew.

Alucard just smiled. “Tonight, you become the true, legal leader of this organization.”

“You’re changing the subject.”

“Am I?” he purred. “Or am I acknowledging that the beautiful, bloodthirsty and unflinching granddaughter of my once nemesis stands before me wrapped like a Christmas present in satin and disdain… on the day she becomes legally an adult?”

She frowned before she could school her reaction, replaying his words in her mind as she had no idea what on Earth they were supposed to mean together, until- oh. Oh. Ohhhhh .

He was granted the satisfaction of seeing her blush hotly before she turned away from him and reaching for her black, satin wrist gloves. “You’re disgusting, Alucard. How dare you imply such undertones in my presence. Had I any time for such thoughts, they would certainly not be of a five and a half century-old warlord King turned monster.”

“Liar.”

That one word hung in the air between them along with her hesitation and his shit-eating grin.

“No man or woman is in control of their unconscious mind. How dare you-”

“The unconscious mind merely shows us the truths of what we refuse to acknowledge with our conscious minds.” His voice was closer. Right over her shoulder now. She’d been so lambasted at the subject, she’d not been paying attention peripherally and certain not seen him move in the mirror as he bore no reflection.

Straightening up to turn and give Alucard a rather loud piece of her mind, Integra’s voice caught in her throat when she found herself nose to nose with him. Steel. Her mind had to be steel. Her expression, steel. Heart? Steel. It took such a mantra to not give him the satisfaction of her surprise. “You’re invading my personal space, vampire.”

“Mmm, am I?” He did not move a muscle.

“Stand back, monster. That is an order.”

One dark eyebrow raised slowly towards his hair, amusement sparkling in his eyes. “As you wish, my master - if ,” he said, still right where he had been, “That is what you truly desire.”

God help her she hesitated. He was right, she’d been dreaming about him in very… blush worthy ways. She was well read, she knew all the biology lessons and the chemicals involved with growing up, maturing both mentally, emotionally and sexually. She understood attraction. She understood what romance was. In fact, she had a small stash, in the box under her bed, of lovely little fantasy fiction novels, each with a bit of romance in them that usually made her sigh internally. None of this was unexpected, or abnormal.

Other than the subject of her explicit dreams being the most powerful of all vampires and king of the undead.

“It is what I truly desire,” she snapped at him, but her voice cracked, and he just grinned more wildly.

“Liar.”

“That’s twice you’ve called me a liar tonight and if you do it again, I will shoot you myself with every blessed bullet I can lay my damn hands on!” she prattled off at him as if it were rote. Which, if she were honest, it was becoming that way.

But Alucard didn’t back up. He stopped leaning, standing to his full height and allowing her to stop leaning away from him at an odd angle. However he still stood so very close to her. His ruby eyes never leaving her face, Alucard reached up and ran the back of his gloved fingers over the rise of her cheek. “What would you say, if I asked you to join me in unlife, my master? To rule the night, drink blood, cut down any who would oppose us and be my queen for eternity as an equal?”

Integra either hadn’t noticed or didn’t care that she had plenty of room to step away from him now that he wasn’t leaning. His caress of her face burned through her and she was having a hard time parsing in her mind what exactly was happening to her. “I would rather die than become a monster like you.”

“And what would you say after that?” he grinned. “After you gave me the answer your Council and the Queen and England expect of you- what you were raised to say- what you may superficially believe you mean- now that that answer is out of the way… What would your heart answer?”

She blinked at him slowly, wanting with everything she was to affirm that her words were in fact the answer to both. That she would never give in to such a dark, evil temptation and that he would leave her quarters right that instant to his dungeon to miss the party as punishment for his insubordination. That or just unload a clip into him to make herself feel better.

That is not, however, what happened.

If there was one thing that she could say with clarity and certainty, it was that she had never lied to Alucard. She may have omitted information not pertinent to him, or for the protection of herself mostly- especially after her final testing as part of her schooling where she’d had to go to London proper and a facility in which he followed and made a nuisance of himself all damn day. And she would try to conceal her privacy, lying about seeing him in her dreams or other such personal business because he was ever so damnably nosy. But she had never once lied… about anything truly big or important. Oddly… this felt big and important.

“I do not know, Alucard,” she sighed and crossed one arm over her chest, the other pressing a palm to her forehead. “If you asked me now- here and now... not in hypothetical, I would say no. I have too much to do, both in duty and as a person, too much to accomplish and experience as a human being to have any desire to step off this mortal coil and onto the dark, monstrous immortal one you walk.

“But if I were dying, if there was no hope to save my life and I knew the end was near… I cannot say for certain I would turn you down.”

He had been listening with a bemused expression at her internal turmoil and patently Hellsing answer, but with her final words his face alit with a nearly manic smile. “That, my master, is not a no.”

She sighed lifting her head from her palm to roll her eyes and look at him. “How observant of you. I am about to have to go field over one hundred people I barely know, and like even less in some cases, and I do not have the widgets to play your games right now.”

“Then, with your permission, may I give you your birthday gift, and escort you down stairs, my master?” he asked and Integra knew, expected there was a catch. At the very least something he was hiding.

“Fine,” she rumbled and stuffed her hands into her gloves. But then a thought occurred to her. “Wait when would you have left to get me anythin-”

She was cut off when he reached out and placed a hand in the small of her back and pulled her against his chest. He did not pin her, if Integra wanted to squirm away, she could have and they both knew it. She thought about it, and he saw it in her eyes that she thought about it.

And yet, she did not move.

“What are you doing?”

Alucard smiled broadly. “Giving you your birthday gift.”

He leaned down, and the moment his lips brushed hers, Integra had never known such fire to ignite within her. His skin was cool but soft and she found that not only had the old bastard bothered to put on cologne and brush his teeth, but she ached very suddenly, and very painfully for him to finish that physical thought.

Alucard only grinned where she could feel it, hovering but not actually making the final movement that would bring them together. “Oh for Heaven’s sake, you bastard,” she swore and lifting up on tiptoe, pressed her lips to his in a chaste, but heated kiss.

His other arm came around her and cradled the back of her neck, her arms coming to wrap around his neck and hold him there so she could kiss him longer. A soft, but deeply male moan escaped him and Integra knew that if this continued, there was a solid chance she might have a very impressive list of regrets in the morning.

Or merely an impressive list of firsts.

A knock on the door shattered the momentary spell, and Integra found herself suddenly staring at Alucard’s back where he stood between her and the door, and any possible threats. “Madame, the guests have arrived,” Walter’s voice called politely from the other side of the door. “I believe it is time for you to make your entrance. Shall I fetch the Count?”

Tucking a stray strand of hair loosed in their moment behind her ear, Integra cleared her throat and straightened her dress. “I believe he knows, Walter. That won’t be necessary. I will meet you atop the stairs in a few moments.”

“Of course, my lady.”

When Walter’s footsteps could no longer be heard, Integra looked up to Alucard to see his eyes glowing darkly under the shadow of his hair. He’d moved so quickly she’d not only not seen, but it had taken a second for her to register what had happened. Now, she stood staring into the burning eyes of a damned soul and true monster. She had to remember that. She had to remind herself that he was a monster, her servant. A weapon. A tool to we wielded against the darkness…

...And if he had then leaned down to kiss her again, she would not have stopped him.

Hell.

Before her train of thought could go any further, she noticed that same monster was holding his arm out to her like a gentleman. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. A handsome, dark angel of death and destruction. Some might say The Devil Himself.

“Best not to keep your public waiting,” he rumbled, but there was more to his tone than his usual torment in that statement. If Integra had a gun to her head for an answer, she’d have guessed there was a note of longing to his words.

Accepting his arm and letting him lead her to the door, she acknowledged in her mind for the first time that day that she was actually terrified of the living downstairs and completely… well at least mostly, comfortable with the monster on whose arm she walked. As he opened the door, she stopped him, tugging ever so slightly at his elbow. “Alucard,” she whispered, preventing echoes and eavesdropping, “Do not stray far from me this evening.”

His expression melted from poise, to sadistic delight as he smiled. “Is that an order, or a request, my master?”

She thought about it a moment, facing forward once more to resume their pace. Finally she sighed.

“Both.”

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