d e v i l i s h

#wtwevent ∣ day six … relationships

‘You’re not supposed to be here,’ Felix breathes, eyes wide, heart beating erratic against his ribcage. ‘I– I know that,’ Erin says carefully, brows knitted together in a frown. ‘Wait, how do I know that?’

[ MONSTROUS, WRETCHED, AND DIVINE ]

                    ALEKSANDER VOLKOV 

“please don’t - please, have mercy -” the man sobs on the floor. he kneels at my feet, his hands covering the back of his neck as he whimpers and pleads. i stare down at him, my blade pointed at his neck. “i’m a good man, i’m a good man, i swear -” 

“there are no good men alive. i am all that’s left.” 

I was going to do a massive love-rant about the little things which make you fall in love with your own characters and I decided that I was tired and that I’d prefer to just make a tag game instead. 

So, list your main characters and tell us a little thing you like about them. Nothing huge - no secrets, no mystical powers, no destinies. Nothing hugely plot related. I wanna hear about their quirks, their tiny heartbeats which change them from paper dolls to living, breathing people. What made you fall in love with as little people?

1. Emmett cannot put on a pair of shoes without tapping the toes against the nearest wall before he takes his first step to check they’re on right. 

2. Kizzy disguises her penny dreadfuls inside the dust jackets of her textbooks. None of them fit properly, but she devours every grisly tale long before they can be discovered.

3. Sixsmith has the worst screwkick which has ever happened. He can swim, but he has never quite figured out how to do breast-stroke without one leg at a drastic angle from the other.

4. Talas can paint flowers which look so real that you feel like you could pluck one straight off the page but he can’t tell you the first thing about them. 

5. Maia threads a needle perfectly every time, but breaks always her thread halfway through her embroidery. She doesn’t even slow down because she’s so used to this.

6. Although she’d never admit it, Scarlett knows all the words to Wee Ti-Lee Was a Mariner with accompanying hand-gestures. It’s all very twee and she will utilise it to entertain small children (despite insisting she doesn’t like small children). 

When John is really agitated from his nightmares, he often seeks out Nat, his best friend. Sometimes he falls asleep in Nat’s arms. Nat doesn’t mind.

Edward has a wonderful singing voice but he’s really shy. He only sings when he’s alone and gets embarrassed if someone compliments his abilities.

Belle would love nothing more than to sail a ship but she can’t swim. The first time she sees a crab, it scares the crap out of her. (Btw the Moanna song How Far I’ll Go is Belle’s anthem)

Tris is actually a very good artist. He can speed sketch from life and is adept at most forms of art. (He doodles on state papers during council meetings) An in-world artist is struck at some of Tris’s drawings and he is like WTF these are masterpieces.

Val cannot cook to save her life. She utterly panics whenever asked to cook anything more complicated than a slice of buttered bread

Vale is a goddamn lightweight and can’t hold his drink to save his life. This does not stop him from getting drunk on multiple occasions. 

Asenri is fairly numb to physical sensations, so as a child he was always bumping into things and not caring since it didn’t hurt. His aunt flipped when she saw him covered in bruises. 

Rayne and Emil were born on the same day and often joked about being twins, despite looking almost nothing alike. They still referred to the other as their “brother”, to the confusing of many. 

Demetrio grew up with three younger sisters and therefore learned to cook, clean, braid hair, sew clothes, and other domestic tasks to care for them when his parents weren’t able to. 

1. zak has a penchant for getting himself in trouble because his primary defence mechanism is to talk absolute shit to people. sometimes it works to his advantage, other times he just gets punched in the face

2. iera loves horses, and actually met her husband while working at the palace stables in place of her ill father. she owns a beautiful chestnut mare and dotes on her completely

3. freya collects weaponry that she commissions from her sword-smith friend jennet. she does it to provide her constant business that then puts food on her family’s table. freya feels particularly kindly towards her because they grew up together

4. oisín is a fantastic artist, and enjoys taking time to sit in the fields outside the city walls and sketch the people passing by or the flora/fauna he sees, though he’ll never show anyone his sketchbook

5. kasim is a gambler and resident yorvit champion of monarch’s port, which is a card game that relies on knowledge and also subjective opinion. he’s also a mighty sore loser

6. jin has a sweet tooth for bayaran peaches, because they make her feel a child again

1. Tanek has serious amnesia like his entire life’s memories are wiped away and mayhaps his lover for the past five years is like “tf why don’t you remember me? :(” big oof

2. Suri has one blue eye and one brown eye. don’t ask why I don’t know ask her

3. Neena is a lesbian <3

4. Diana, from a different wip, might maybe have killed someone? 👀

Idk I haven’t actually developed any of my characters lmfao

1. Cherry is kinda clairvoyant. It takes a toll on her body if she keeps what she knows to herself and she passes out all the time. Afterward she shrugs and pretends like it never happened.

2. Aylin loves to wear dresses, especially since the situation never calls for it.

3. Evie has excellent aim because her dad trained to to fight and fire a gun blindfolded. She won’t talk about it.

4. Sage watched her dad slowly kill her mom so she decided to never let anyone ever have control over her.

5. Meili loves to teach, but is afraid of someone going too far with what she might teach them, so she refuses when she’d to.

1. Cal has never won a board game in his life. No one he has ever played against, since he was a kid, has ever let him win, so he is convinced board games are traps.

2. Rot has a collection of kaleidoscopes. There have been times when he explores the caverns for the soul purpose of finding more of them.

3. Avalon once made up a language that she alone can speak and understand. After reading several linguistic textbooks, she now writes journal entries and top secret blueprints in what she calls “Traavettian”

4. Dextera has always wanted to learn how to cook but is embarrassed by it. She often sneaks into the palace kitchen at night and tries new recipes.

5. Kestrel cries during 90% of the movies she watches. It can be a horror movie, action adventure, romcom, doesn’t matter, she’ll find a way.

Viola, having been one of the handful in her tribe to be baptized by the Empire’s missionaries (and nearly drowning in the process), has developed an intense fear of water.

Hansen has a beautiful singing voice, although all the songs he knows are hymns.

Khee can weave flower crowns, even if they don’t remember ever having learnt it.

Afyailly would do anything for her tribe (which parallels Viola, who would probably have no problem watching it burn to the ground.)

― bea’s very good at whistling and can imitate several different kinds of birds ― kiriya secretly writes poetry, although she’ll never show it to anyone ― vall’s most treasured possession is an engraved scalpel given to him by his old professor ― matei is fluent in kveldt, which he picked up on the docks as a child ― kit has no memories of his mother, but what he does have is one of her old hair ribbons, which he eventually gets stitched into his wedding dress

+ julian from the sevenfold throne absolutely adores peaches, mangoes and other sweet, juicy fruits + laurie from blood lilies has a binder with glow-in-the-dark skeletons on it

#wtwevent ∣ day one … locations

some say zuiderhaaks was pulled from the sea to spite the gods – some say it’s built on an ancient deity, long forgotten, tied down by sailors vicious and hopeless. some say zuiderhaaks turns everyone that sets foot on her shores desperate – cruel.

the southern coast is calm, gentle, where the northern coast is wild, angry – all hulking waves, frothing at the mouth. the lighthouse watches over the island, a looming shadow, pulling lost souls in, like moths to a flickering flame.

zuiderhaaks is the third one in a chain of wadden islands, located just off the coast – it’s a popular tourist destination during the summer, attracting droves of mainland youth, looking for a place to let loose, without spending too much money.

it’s home to ghosts and urban myths – at the center of conspiracies, about government testing, mysterious lights in the woods, abandoned bunkers that come to life at night. rife with superstition – zuiderhaaks still battles the sea she so desperately tried to control. spirits still climb the land to haunt its people – rattling doors, flooding the docks, sinking the small fishing boats that dare the brave the waves as the sun rises.

+ taglist (send an ask to be +/-)

what’s this? another survey? well,,,, i’d love to have more follower influence on the creation of blood lilies, especially considering some of the themes i’ll be exploring. so, how can you get involved?

→ please send me an ask, message, reply to this post, however you can, with something you consider to be a key part of the human condition, eg. death, love, anything you believe is crucial to our experience as a species. → your answers will be used to develop the lore and themes of blood lilies!

… the morningcome cast ∣ 05 / 06

SCAPEGOAT ; noun

a : aart berkenbosch, he/him, nineteen – virgo, september 9th

b : aart stands in the doorway uncertain, shoulder propped against the faded frame, he surveys the room with a jolting slow turn of his head, chin only slightly raised, only slightly haughty. he’s like Hanne remembers him, and at the same time, he seems to be an entirely different person. he’s the same in his prim and proper way of dressing, in the way he manages to exude a wealth that he’s never truly had, the aristocratic set of his brows, the arrogant turn of his lips, it’s all still there, it all still raises hanne’s hackles, instantly.

c : one that bears the blame for others

taglist (send an ask to be +/-)

Poisoning is one of the oldest murder tactics in the books. It was the old equalizer, and while it’s often associated with women, historically men are no less likely to poison you. This is not a guide on how to poison people, you banana bunches, it’s a guide on writing about poisons in fiction so you don’t end up on a watch list while researching them. I’ve taken that hit for you. You’re welcome. These are just a few of the more classic ones.

Hemlock: Hemlock (conium maculatum) is one of the more famous ones, used in ancient times most notably in Socrates’ forced suicide execution. So it goes. The plant has bunches of small, white flowers, and can grow up to ten feet tall. It’s a rather panicky way to die, although it wouldn’t show: hemlock is a paralytic, so the cause of death is most often asphyxiation due to respiratory paralysis, although the mind remains unaffected and aware.

Belladonna: Atropa belladonna is also called deadly nightshade. It has pretty, trumpet-shaped purple flowers and dark, shiny berries that actually look really delicious which is ironic since it’s the most toxic part of the plant. The entire plant is poisonous, mind you, but the berries are the most. One of the most potent poisons in its hemisphere, it was used as a beauty treatment, so the story says, and rubbed into the eyes to make the eyes dilate and the cheeks flush. Hench the name beautiful lady. The death is more lethargic than hemlock, although its symptoms are worse: dilated pupils, sensitivity to light, blurred vision, tachycardia, loss of balance, staggering, headache, rash, flushing, severely dry mouth and throat, slurred speech, urinary retention, constipation, confusion, hallucinations, delirium, and convulsions. It’s toxic to animals, but cattle and rabbits can eat it just fine, for some reason. 

Arsenic: Arsenic comes from a metalloid and not a plant, unlike the others here, but it’s easily the most famous and is still used today. Instead of being distilled from a plant, chunks of arsenic are dug up or mined. It was once used as a treatment for STDs, and also for pest control and blacksmithing, which was how many poisoners got access to it. It was popular in the middle ages because it looked like a cholera death, due to acute symptoms including stomach cramps, diarrhea, confusion, convulsions, vomiting, and death. Slow poisoning looked more like a heart attack. The Italians famously claimed that a little arsenic improved the taste of wine.

Strychnine: Strychnine (strick-nine) is made from the seed of strychnos nux vomica and causes poisoning which results in muscular convulsions and eventually death through asphyxia. Convulsions appear after inhalation or injection—very quickly, within minutes—and take somewhat longer to manifest after ingestion, around approximately 15 minutes. With a very high dose, brain death can occur in 15 to 30 minutes. If a lower dose is ingested, other symptoms begin to develop, including seizures, cramping, stiffness, hypervigilance, and agitation. Seizures caused by strychnine poisoning can start as early as 15 minutes after exposure and last 12 – 24 hours. They are often triggered by sights, sounds, or touch and can cause other adverse symptoms, including overheating, kidney failure, metabolic and respiratory acidosis. During seizures, abnormal dilation, protrusion of the eyes, and involuntary eye movements may occur. It is also slightly hallucinogenic and is sometimes used to cut narcotics. It also notably has no antidote. In low doses, some use it as a performance enhancer.

Curare: Chondrodendron tomentosum is lesser known than its famous cousins, but kills in a very similar way to hemlock. It is slow and terrible, as the victim is aware and the heart may beat for many minutes after the rest of the body is paralyzed. If artificial respiration is given until the poison subsides, the victim will survive.

Wolfsbane: Aconitum has several names; Monkshood, aconite, Queen of Poisons, women’s bane, devil’s helmet) and is a pretty, purple plant with gourd-shaped flowers. The root is the most potent for distillation. Marked symptoms may appear almost immediately, usually not later than one hour, and with large doses death is near instantaneous. Death usually occurs within two to six hours in fatal poisoning. The initial signs are gastrointestinal including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. This is followed by a sensation of burning, tingling, and numbness in the mouth and face, and of burning in the abdomen. In severe poisonings pronounced motor weakness occurs and sensations of tingling and numbness spread to the limbs. The plant should be handled with gloves, as the poison can seep into the skin.