A PRINCE HEREAFTER

verhkrys asked:

So those sketches are really cute, and I don't know if they're meant to be 100% accurate but why would Davide insist/force/want Riord to cut his FLOWING LOCKS all off?

Since I change details like every five seconds and I wasn’t quite happy with those sketches, I don’t think they portray exactly how it happened, but yes, it is canon that pretty much immediately after the first night of confusing and frustrating negotiations between the two, Davide did saw the bulk of Riord’s hair off. And pretty soon after that he renames him Aureliano because Riord is a DEVIL NAME. Okay, it isn’t, but Davide didn’t like anything that came from Riord’s former life because he’s suspicious and superstitious.

I think the reasons of why Davide did that had a lot to do with control, ownership, and his pride. Davide was not a large man, even during that time period when the average height of men was quite a bit shorter. He was small and pretty weak; but intelligent and manipulative. Riord comes along and he has his huge mantle of fur and his mane-like, wild hair and he’s taller than anyone Davide’s ever seen and the dude is intimidating (to Davide, at least).

So Davide copes by both asserting authority and getting rid of some of that size intimidation. Takes away Riord’s clothes (which I didn’t really feel like drawing, so he didn’t actually have pants like in the sketches- but… just use your imagination), sells off his big fur cloak pretty quickly, and cuts away a couple pounds of hair.

as you can tell their relationship was based on trust and love

vadum asked:

hhi phantom. i searched through everything and i still can't find anything on this, which is weird because i had a really strong feeling that this has been asked before. oh well. anyways, do any of your characters believe in ghosts or supernatural beings? (either related or unrelated to any faith) and would any of them actually seek to communicate with them or summon such entities? or do things like 'ghost hunting'.

HEEEEY SEXY!

There was once an ask that involved the Grimms and Fantomes and Abstrials and Phanlockes who are all these interlocking families who have a lot to do with the paranormal, especially ghosts, but I don’t recall if there was ever a specific ask on that. And if that was the specific ask, it was like one of the first CSS questions I ever answered, so you know, it’s been awhile and I’m fine with answering again.

Anyway!

Quite a few of my characters have belief in ghosts and supernatural beings. Some of the most prominent are those families I mentioned above.

The Fantome family, which is just down to just Celdiere and her younger brother Arcaterxes, in particular are surrounded by the supernatural. They live in a haunted house, their uncles are vampires (one of which lives with them), there are ghosts and doppelgangers and werewolves and demons somehow involved in their property and even though they don’t always know what the supernatural things are, they’ve seen enough to believe that these things do exist and aren’t some hoax or coincidence.

Then there’s the above mentioned vampire uncles who are the last of the Abstrial line, Anon and Mercutious. They actually haven’t seen much of the paranormal happenings in the Fantome house, but being supernatural themselves has given them a belief that other supernatural things can exist as well. I should note that Mercutious is entertaining the idea that maybe what they are is caused by something scientific and not something unexplainable.

Then there’s the Phanlockes (cousins of the Fantomes), who have all died out now. There were five generations, the only before mentioned characters of this family being Obsidian and Jayce, of individuals who were involved with the supernatural. Two of which were monster hunters and three who were paranormal investigators.

And last but not least of these interwoven families is the last of the Grimms, Montague. Montague’s just a teen, currently homeless, and has the ability to see spirits and ghosts. I’m mentioning him because he is apart of this family, but I should note that he doesn’t actually believe in the supernatural and is under the assumption that he’s just crazy.

Some other characters include:

Davide, who believed in demons enough to summon Jesse at the least.

Isabeau, who not only attempted to bind Jesse to her, but also had a… knack, you could say, to find demons and to manipulate them. In her last years she became paranoid and thought that there were spirits surrounding her everywhere she went.

Saint George, who had a bad run-in with some kind of demon and now fights the supernatural for the SAFETY OF HUMANITY.

Matthias, who has the same abilities and skills as his mother. He also attempts to summon a demon for certain knowledge and he is, in fact, successful. But the situation scares (and perhaps scars) him so much that he’s wary to try it again. It should be noted that he believes in angels, demons, and ghosts- but doesn’t believe in a God.

Jesse believes that the most reasonable explanation is the most likely, but that there are often things that can’t be explained. Or might not be explained now, but will be in the future. In other words, he thinks that anything can be possible. But not that the supernatural is hiding around every corner or anything like that.

And then not related to the world that all of those above characters exist in:

Commodore Septimus believes in spirits. She thinks there’s good and bad spirits and that sometimes they walk around like people and that they have their own agendas most the time and shouldn’t be trusted.

Selidor believes in ghosts. No real reason why, he just does.

Oh, and last character of note is James/Jellybean who DOESN’T believe in ghosts or the supernatural DESPITE having the ghostly figure of Haedyn following him around in space.

Whelp that was a lot. I hope that kind of answered your question. And thanks for asking it!

sigishooter asked:

Are any of your characters particularly artsy-fartsy?

That depends on how you mean “artsy-fartsy”.

I’ve got characters like Davide (technically the first person to have summoned Jesse) who, for the longest time before I decided on a name for him, was just known as the Artiste. Jesse, in fact, still thinks of him as that instead of by his name. He kind of thinks of him as the Artiste ironically. Davide was an artist by trade at least, an oil painter specifically, but didn’t really have… the spirit of an artist, I guess. He showed some artistic talent and he kind of got pushed into art school by his father and meandered along without ever gaining a passion for what he was doing. I saw a lot of people like that while I was a music major (in fact, I was kind of one of them) who didn’t particularly enjoy what they were doing, they were just sort of good at music and school and parents had just kind of set them on that path and they just stayed on it without ever finding the thing that made them transfer from just being-sort-of-good-at-music-things into being a musician. I’m sure you get some people like that in SCAD too, those who have the skills and knowledge of art, but aren’t really artists. Anyway, that part of Davide is kind of based on that idea, that he’s an artist without actually being an artist. So I’m not sure if that counts as artsy-fartsy.

There is Jascha who is kind of an unused character who was a nachzehrer. Nachzehrer’s are pretty awesome and you should look them up and find out exactly what they are, but just to give a quick idea: they’re sort of like German were-boar vampires. Jascha likes painting a whole lot, and was kind of the portrait of a penniless painter, but he uses a range of mediums. His style is kind of like… gothic-hipster-surrealism. Yeah, we’ll go with that.

Selidor likes drawing quite a bit, but his drawings are kind of like grade school level so I don’t know if he counts either.

Then there’s Jesse, who is one of the more artistic of my characters. He never really sticks with anything, besides his gardening and cooking, but he does have an eye for aesthetic values and artistic things. He likes writing poetry on occasion though he doesn’t like people to know this, and sometimes he takes up drawing or painting or sculpting for a bit, though he doesn’t stick with it long because his crippling self esteem usually kills his creative inclinations or he’s reminded of the dreaded Artiste. Is also musically inclined in some aspects.

Kind of related to Jesse, the Falsilitator is like the cliche troubled/tortured/arrogant/romantic poet all rolled up in one.

Junus whittles on very rare occasions. Also plays his aeol every once in awhile too.

And then there’s Kyos. Kyos is surprisingly (or perhaps just unbeknownst to most) pretty artistic. Junus still has a stack of ink drawings Kyos did which tend to start out as very realistic and detailed animals on one side of the paper and kind of just degrade into chaotic ink splatters and smears on the other side.

sigishooter asked:

Could you talk a little more about Aureliano chilling in the lake behind Davide's house, as well as the girl he sees sometimes?

Sure! It was a man-made canal behind their house, not a lake, by and by. The canals go all through the city, and it’s hard not to live by one, but living by a lake would imply more wealth than Davide had.

Davide kept Aureliano inside the house as much as physically possible and would have been pretty pissed if he caught his slave swimming outside. Thus, Aureliano tended to swim at night when Davide was asleep. The canal was practically their backyard, so it wasn’t far at all, and Aureli liked the feeling of both being clean and being able to stretch his rather long limbs. Not to mention that water has a calming effect on Jesse at any time in his life. Aureliano also skinnydipped so his one set of clothing wouldn’t be wet and he wouldn’t be caught. He didn’t really have much opinion on being naked, regardless of that, and didn’t mind it back then.

The girl, who for further reference will be called Vitalia, he only met twice and neither meeting had anything of dire importance; but it was important for Aureliano because it was a full conversation with someone who wasn’t Davide, and with someone who was generally a good person. Vitalia lived relatively close to Davide’s house, she was almost eighteen and still not married (which at the time was kind of gasp-worthy), and though her parents loved her sometimes she’d sneak out at night to get a breath of fresh air and privacy to herself.

It should also be mentioned that Vitalia was a confident and head-strong girl, both brave and curious; so when she saw a handsome young man swimming naked in the canal, instead of blushing or turning around, she decided to go have a conversation with him. She walked up right to the ledge of the canal where he was and said hello and Aureliano, not being a confident and head-strong girl, thought to himself; Oh god I’m in trouble again. But, not having anywhere to run to at the time, swam up to the ledge and said hello back. She asked what he was doing there, and he answered, and they had some small talk about who they were and some of the things they liked and what they did.

Even though the conversation that time, or the next, weren’t very prolific, I think that Vitalia enjoyed talking to someone who wasn’t a relative and who wasn’t trying to get her married off every second of the day. Aureliano just liked being able to talk to someone who didn’t get mad at him for talking. He probably crushed on Vitalia a little as well.

Unfortunately, a month or so after that, Vitalia was married off and moved away to her husband’s house and Aureliano never heard of her again.

You know, speaking of that, there’s kind of a line of people who get married and break Jesse’s heart in some way or another. Maybe that’s why he so wanted to marry his first wife later on.

Thanks for the question, Ria!

verhkrys asked:

AND!!! What was the Artist's wife like (if you've figured that out) and did the Artist ever talk about her to p. Jesse? Did he ever talk about his experiences outside of the house with p. Jesse (probably after he stopped seeing him completely as AN EVIL DEEEEMON)? The people he met, or something funny he heard and what not?

I’ve often mentioned that p.Jesse has an ability to read and understand people; this by no means, however, implies that he always reads people correctly or that he can always read people. This has come up with Veene as some of p.Jesse’s fascination of him comes from him not being the best at reading him or understanding why he does what he does or what he’s thinking, etc.

The Artist was one of those people that p.Jesse just wasn’t good at reading, he could tell things like, “Oh, he likes when I do this in bed.” or “Ah, he didn’t like me cooking that.” but as for guessing what the Artist thought, it was like there was a wall between them. On top of that, the Artist was not a talkative man. One of the things, despite all the things I’ve changed in their stories and interactions, that has remained a constant is that due to their lack of communication and p.Jesse’s lack of understanding of the Artist is that to this day p.Jesse thinks that the Artist was a vindictive and shallow man who hated him until the end. This may have started out true when they first met, but the Artist grew and matured and p.Jesse just didn’t see that.

Despite his quiet nature, the Artist wasn’t completely mute in their interactions. The things he’d talk about most was places he would go during the day- like he had to pick up supplies here, or that he had to stop by his old teacher’s house today, or that the church was incredibly stuffy. On p.Jesse’s side of these conversations, he was interested in the places because his current view of the world remained so limited. But because he thought the Artist was a vindictive, shallow man, p.Jesse would often subtly ask questions in attempt to learn more of what the places looked like. On the Artist’s side, he purposefully didn’t bring up the people he interacted with often. At first this may have been because he thought p.Jesse was an EVIL DEEEMON who would do something terrible to them, or because of his extreme pride in the beginning he didn’t want p.Jesse to insult anyone he cared about- but even as time went on he was careful not to mention people to often. Even though his views of p.Jesse changed (despite p.Jesse not knowing that), he still was aware that he was dealing with something that wasn’t completely human.

As such, his wife (before she was his wife [p.Jesse was kicked out/let loose just before their marriage]) didn’t come up in conversation much. p.Jesse did notice that the Artist stopped taking much, if any, sexual interest and eventually they stopped sleeping together. Along with that, the Artist kept leaving the house more and more often. p.Jesse thought this was because he had become unsatisfactory and the Artist had become bored of him, and he didn’t realize this was because the Artist had started courting this girl and also began visiting the church more and more often.

[EDIT] Forgot to mention what the wife was like. Her parents had actually died around the same time the Artist’s did, and for similar reasons (there was a plague going around during a certain period which claimed many people in the area the Artist, his wife, and p.Jesse lived in) which was kind of a bond between them- but besides that terrible event, there was nothing too traumatic in her life. She was kind, often volunteered whatever help she could for the sick, and kind of brought out the best in the Artist. Much of his maturity is due to her, as well as his renewed interest in the church.

verhkrys asked:

Then I'm going to ask more related questions. Dohoho. Not entirely related to that specific point in time and I don't know why it's never occurred to me to ask before - what with the multiple pools at the Inn which is ALSO BESIDE A LAKE and p. Jesse's love of showers and baths - but does he enjoy swimming or did he only really like the cleanliness it brought him back in THE ARTIST'S days? Wait. Now I feel like I've asked this before OH NO.

I think you might have asked about the pool thing- BUT THAT WAS JUST A MISTAKE ON MY PART. I made out the whole blueprints for the Inn, with the pool outside and all, and then I had this left over room where I was going to put a pool- but I was like, “Wait. I already made a pool outside. I don’t remember what this was actually going to be for. Having two pools is stupid.” But for the life of me I can’t remember what that room was supposed to be for, besides a pool, and eventually I was like, “WHELP, P.JESSE LOVES WATER, AND NOTHING SAYS LUXURY LIKE TWO POOLS FOR YOUR HOUSE, WHY NOT.” and I ended up making the second pool anyhow.

Although this doesn’t have to do much with his canon story, I thought you’d find this note interesting: p.Jesse’s love of water actually comes from his plant days. Jesse (just Jesse, not p.Jesse) started out with abilities over plants and growing them and shiz, and often had plant-like traits, when p.Jesse came along these plant-like traits were amplified and he also had plant-like regenerative capabilities. I realized later that Jesse shouldn’t be anything more than a normal human, and that the plant part of p.Jesse really didn’t have anything to do with him, his origins, or his story. So I cut it out and he became a more focused character. Despite that, some traits remained- like his love of gardening, and although I found reasons for these traits that have more to do with his character, they did start out because he was pretty much a plant-dude.

YOU MIGHT HAVE KNOWN ALL THAT, I DON’T KNOW.

But, with that aside- canon story p.Jesse does enjoy water because of the cleanliness related, and he’s pretty OCD (jeez, can’t believe I didn’t mention that when Aly asked about psychology things on Sunday) when it comes to his personal hygiene.

He also finds water relaxing, it often creates both a sound and sensation that tends to soothe his overcrowded mind and relieves stress. Showers, besides being clean and soothing, are one of the few excuses he allows himself to be away from other people and to be alone (though he doesn’t mind sharing showers either) and therefore provides an escape. It’s pretty funny, but something Star and I noticed after he was dealing with some stress in some rps of ours is that he somehow managed to TAKE THREE SHOWERS IN THE SPAN OF TWO RPS. He’s talented like that.

And he also enjoys swimming! Something, before I decided to redo a lot of the sillier parts of his personality, was that he was NATURALLY MUSCULAR AND TAN AND DIDN’T HAVE TO WORK FOR ANYTHING. And then I was like… wait, no, that’s stupid. So I decided that he has to work just as hard as anyone else to keep in shape- and swimming is one of his favorite ways to do that. Not only is it a way to keep him pretty, but he already enjoys water, so it’s a double plus. He particularly enjoys strokes that involve more arm work, which might explain his broad and muscular shoulders.

verhkrys asked:

I'M CURIOUS ABOUT THE ARTIST, TOO, BUT PLANNED TO ASK THIS SUNDAY BUT WHATEVER. I'LL JUST ASK NOW AND YOU CAN SAVE IT TIL WHENEVER. But I was wondering, specifically, what living conditions for p. Jesse were like during his time with The Artist. (What he got to sleep on, eat, see, etc. Whether he was abused in any way beyond being used. That sort of stuff.) And I was wondering if he ever tried to escape or run away?

I’M GONNA ANSWER THIS ONE NEXT AS WELL BECAUSE OF IT’S RELATION TO THE PREVIOUS TWO QUESTIONS. It’s like p.Jesse And Artist Night or something.

It should be noted that p.Jesse’s conditions were not as bad as they COULD’VE been; but because his first incarnation was in a setting where he was able to take almost anything he wanted, just being denied that in his second incarnation made p.Jesse think that they were THE WORST LIVING CONDITIONS EVER. No, they weren’t ideal, but they also could have been much worse. They also got better as time went on and the Artist had more trouble convincing himself that p.Jesse was just a demon and not more like a dynamic functioning human being.

The attic he was kept in was of stone, and it was cleared out to keep p.Jesse there. At first there was no bed, he was often chained, and the Artist rarely gave p.Jesse anything to eat. Even to this day, one of the things p.Jesse hates most is an empty stomach. The floor was wooden, often splintered, and was often home to vermin like ticks and mice, and the walls were unforgiving stone. There was a small slit of a window that didn’t provide any cool air during the incredibly hot summers, nor did it help keep the warmth in on cold nights. It did, however, provide a small view of the canal just behind the Artist’s home, which p.Jesse liked very much. But, besides the harsh environment he was kept in and the lack of food or hygiene, the Artist never bothered to beat or purposely physically harm p.Jesse when he could have.

In slow increments of time, the Artist loosened his strict keeping of p.Jesse. This, I believe, is part a lack of care on the Artist’s part, but also because p.Jesse acted like a person instead of a mischievous and hateful demon, as mentioned before.

The change started with him neglecting to chain p.Jesse up in the attic, so he could move freely about there. Then, when the Artist got a fancy new bed, he kind of threw his dingy old one up in the attic. Eventually, p.Jesse was able to move freely about the house. And also, some time after this is when p.Jesse’s interest in cooking came about. Because the Artist would still forget to get food for both p.Jesse and himself, p.Jesse started making the food. And, as might be gathered from the first question having to deal with p.Jesse and the Artist, he eventually started sleeping in the Artist’s bed away from the miserable attic. The Artist was never comfortable with p.Jesse being outside of the house, so his freedom never really went past that building, but his conditions did improve massively during his time there.

Oddly enough, p.Jesse never tried to escape or run away. During his first two incarnations, p.Jesse was under the impression that he had to act like a demon and was bound by the same rules as other demons were and he didn’t really question whether or not this was true until the beginning of his third incarnation. Because he was summoned by the Artist, and the Artist was very careful in both his summoning of p.Jesse and in their deal of him-getting-to-stay-out-of-the-betwixt-if-he-brought-the-artist-fame-and-stuff, p.Jesse thought that he was bound to his summoner and was physically incapable of running away. I suppose his mentality would be like if we were able to fly when we hit the age of twenty-five, or something, but because we were incapable of doing so the first twenty-four years of the earth, we don’t even assume we can or make any attempts to.

There were several times, however, that he would sneak out at night and swim in the canal behind their house. p.Jesse found that he very much enjoyed water and the feeling of being clean- and occasionally there would be a girl there that he would talk to. They didn’t talk that often, and he knew that the Artist would be pissed if anyone found out about p.Jesse so he never told him about her, but p.Jesse did very much enjoy her brief company. Both the midnight swims and his conversations with this girl made him feel like he was being very rebellious. Livin’ on the edge, man.

vadum asked:

Are any of your other characters artistic? Have you ever written/drawn/etc. things as your character or made a style for them?

So I kind of mentioned this with p.Jesse, but despite not being an artist he is artistic. A lot of his style is apparent in writing, and most of that is visible in his unique metaphors and love of alliteration. He’s also the only one of my characters who has ever… made a character. Incidentally he made that character to rp with out of curiosity.

I have a character that I’ve never been able to come up with a fitting name for so is, in fact, just known as the Artist for now. He is the first person to have summoned p.Jesse. He’s one of those people that don’t particularly want to do something artistic with their life (whether it be music or dancing or such) but is guided into that career because of family or schooling or such. The artist’s (single) father saw some talent in the boy when he was younger, put him through school, and eventually the father passed away and the Artist graduated. He has the talent and skill in the techniques of painting, but lacks any spirit or creativity behind it.

And the last one that comes to mind is my character Jascha (who I apparently don’t have any pictures of) who was a nachzehrer. A nachzehrer is a type of German (if I remember right?) vampire that tends to eat its own death shroud and then possibly family members and such and then sometimes becomes a wereboar. Yep. Wereboar. But yeah, Jascha was a college art student and I kind of came up with a very abstract style for him.

Thank you for the question!