Wow, thanks for the fast reply! Yes I'd love to dive deeper into each sibling's life, I hope I'm not alone in that regard! And don't worry, I'm not disappointed at all, your ocs your story, I'm glad with whatever you share. Speaking of, may we know a bit about their parents as well? Maybe with a family portraIt of them together when they were a bit younger? I LOVE aristocratic family portraits, especially fictional ones and your artsyle is really in my alley if that makes sense. Much appreciated

And now for my designated extremely slow reply LMAO thank you for your interest and understanding, again I can't say this enough but it means EVERYTHING ;-;

And yes, you may certainly know about the Darkest mama and papa :> let's lie in this can of worms, baby

Ok so. Usually I wouldn't go this hard on artwork for an ask bc I have SO MUCH WORK TO DO ACGHH but I've always wanted to do a family portrait of these guys anyways so here was a wonderful opportunity (thank you haha) SO. Mama and papa Darkest, Aadhya and Abraham.

They were an arranged marriage, Aadhya being chosen by the ancestor for his son, Abe, (totally not because he wanted Aadhya for himself or anything, and was a total creepazoid about designing her children, no, of course not) who at the time was a very high ranking Cultist Gladiator. They genuinely fell in love over time, but in an attempt not to scare her away and lose her, Abe kept the whole Darkest cult thing a secret, sucking her into a terrible life and being one of his greatest regrets forever.

Shortly before the birth of their first son, Abe couldn't hold back the secret anymore and informed Aadhya of his and his father's true affiliations. She was rightfully mortified at the betrayal and the knowledge that her soon to be child was stolen from her, and fell into a deep depression, barely speaking or eating, that lasted through all of her children's births, save Robin, who she favoured due to being the only one not designed by the Ancestor. (Stoking the flame of jealousy from Howard, who loved his mother very very much.)

And through the birth of every child, those many many years, Abe neglected his family due to plotting revenge against his father for what he did to them. Eventually, when Robin was about 15, he and his siblings were sent away at the order of their father to a remote cliff side house in an attempt to protect them in case his plot of vengeance went awry (spoiler: it went awry). He confronted his father, and for his efforts, got himself transformed into a Templar Warlord and cast into the bowels of the Darkest manor. With just Aadhya left, the Ancestor attempted to sway her to the cult with promises of new worlds, and new chances. She relented, desperate for any peace of mind and respite from her burden. But her lack of passion or willingness or even ability to return his affections angered the Ancestor, so he punished her by making her an anonymous acolyte doomed to worship and live alone. Sorry, Tardif accidentally kills her in the Weald OOP-

All this while Robin suffers alone at the cliff house, transformed by his siblings into what is essentially a mini Darkest Dungeon, catacombs and cultists and everything. That is, however, where he starts noticing weird things about himself (not puberty- ok maybe eldritch puberty) like wounds healing up quick, tentacle powers, really really realistic dreams of people he doesn't recognize, and a strange pull towards his old home at the Hamlet that he knows isn't homesickness. Digging through his brother Phillip's books proves a fruitful endeavour when Robin comes across a ritual to commune with an ancient, evil god. And Robin wants answers.

ANYWAYS.... that was mostly about Abe and Aadhya lmao, who are explorations on conflicting parenting. They each adore their family, but have made irredeemable mistakes in the form of neglect and favouritism. And also keeping huge cult secrets from your wife. That was really fun to type up, and thank you again for sending me asks, it really keeps me going!!!

Bram "The GM" Stoker: Jack's lockpick roll was a success, so the bolt shoots back with a rusty clang, the hinges creak, and the heavy, oaken door opens wide. What do you do?

Arthur: Are there rats? I've got an anti-rat whistle! It's got a +9 against rats!!

Bram: You don't have darkvision, so... *rolls dice* ...you don't see any rats, per se.

Jonathan: Okay, then I want to do a spot hidden che--

Van Helsing: Too late! I've already walked in.

Jonathan: What?!

Jack: I guess I follow Van Helsing inside, but only after I mutter some pretentious prayer in Latin, then I go in.

Bram: Classic Jack. Well, since no one did a spot hidden check *rolls a big pile of dice*

Jonathan: *groaning*

Bram: *rolls even more dice* Now as the door shuts behind you and you all search through the decaying ruins, the pungent stench of mildew emanating from the wet stone walls, your dim lanterns barely pierce the thick curtain of darkness, you find only cobwebs and more shadows until... Jonathan, you can't get it out of your head that this feels like Transylvania all over again and maybe, just maybe, there's someone else here. Give me a sanity roll.

Jonathan: UGH! *rolling dice and sweating*

Quincey: Can I cast gun at the darkness?

I'm a few days late for that, but I'd also like to point out this: All the adaptations turning Abraham Van Helsing into some kind of bad ass action hero evidently didn't read the part where he fell face first on the floor while breaking through a door

When I find most upsetting in today’s entry is Dr. Seward’s dismissal of Lucy’s very detailed and accurate account—

"In God's name, what does it all mean? Was she, or is she, mad; or what sort of horrible danger is it?" I was so bewildered that I did not know what to say more

He immediately jumped to “she must be insane.” I think this is part of why VanHelsing hasn’t been upfront with everything because he knows that Seward will not be open to what’s actually happening

The first step to saving Lucy, saving everyone, and defeating Dracula… Is to believe in the mysterious horrors, and believe there is Dracula

And Jack just isn’t making the effort

Why does every writer look at Dracula and decide "Boring, those characters need to be absolute shitheads and abusive parents instead." (I've seen it happen three times with Jonathan and now twice with Van Helsing).

I think the pushback comes from postmodernist perspectives, which are all about subverting and questioning authority. Which is a valid way to interpret older media, but its become so ubiquitous with modern retellings that there's no nuance anymore.

I also feel like second wave feminism criticized the text and rightfully calls out Van Helsing's sexism, but it flattens all the male characters in the process. So you get more and more stories where Van Helsing and Jonathan are oppressors and Dracula, who represents xenophobic fears, must be sympathetic. Mina is a Victorian woman so she can only be repressed and needing to be sexually liberated.

Nuance is lost, and people just have knee jerk reactions to the text. I think this is why Dracula Daily has been so successful, because you have tons of new readers engaging with the raw text and analysing it with fresh eyes and seeing the multitude of ways Dracula can be interpreted. There is room for characters like Van Helsing and Jonathan to be sympathetic and also problematic.

Abraham van Helsing, M.D., D. Ph., D. Lit., etc., etc. about Dr. John Seward circa September 3, 189-:

lucy, two feet from death’s door, having to quietly lie there and Not React while van helsing absolutely SLAMS his former student and her ex-boyfriend for not having a wife, knowing full well that she rejected his marriage proposal

Mina: oh no help yourself I already ate :)

Van Helsing and I: S U S

'Memorandum'

Is.. is Lucy really dead. For real. I'm. I'm... I'm so numb I can't even--

Van Helsing reassuring Lucy that Jack would be there, but both the fact that he was attacked earlier today and VH's telegram arriving late almost a day later...

Lucy experiencing the worst night before her demise, watching his mother dying in front of her after just the short relief of her mother's wont soft words and comfort in her mother's arms... for everything to be destroyed in an instant...

The dreadful feeling we're reading Mina's letter, having one of the best time in her and Jonathan's life, being busy, yet excited for Lucy's wedding et al... unknowingly writing it down on the day her best friend and loved one died... for us to know that the letter will never be read by the intended party, and the next Mina will hear about Lucy is from someone else's words....

We're gonna see everyone's breakdown soon huh....

I am breaking someone pls end me

“How I miss my phonograph! To write diary with a pen is irksome to me; but Van Helsing says I must.”

Van Helsing: Madam Mina, we have much food, are you not hungry?

Mina, staring at Van Helsing as he cartoonishly turns into a big Blood Slurpee with bushy eyebrows wearing a tweed jacket: Not at present, no.

Ahhh yes it's time for my favorite line in this whole damn book:

Doctor, you don't know what it is to doubt everything, even yourself. No, you don't; you couldn't with eyebrows like yours.

-Jonathan Harker

van helsing has puppy dog eyes.

how else do you explain all the times he angers or upsets someone and then is like, "okay... but... please don't be upset with me? 🥺🥺 " and they're like, "...okay".

Every time I've read Dracula normally: Jon//mina OTP!!! They were robbed in movie adaptions!! Jon//mina are so sweet and cute!!

Rereading Dracula thru Dracula Daily: Whats that? Here comes Eccentric Dutch Professor and Dr Malpractice's intimate rituals and ongoing comedy routine with a STEEL CHAIR

man, now i can really see why van Helsing is a professor

he just does not stop talking

Dracula Daily current mood: