#a-vampire

object + emotion prompt list here! send some in!

18. Arcade carpet

4. Totally Chill, Nothing Can Prove Otherwise

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"Sir," said the tiny fancy boy at the prize counter, "are you using wizardly magicks to make the funky fresh carpet pattern into penises?"

The air was rich with the smell of sweat and obtrusively smelling cleaning products. Taako had been on shift for exactly four hours so far and it was not getting any better. It wasn't getting any worse, either, but who could say what would come next? The lights were just as flashy and headache-y as usual. Taako had snuck to the sound booth (read: the computer that controlled all the music that had a neon label that said SOUND BOOTH) and lowered the music to a reasonable level, but some godly power had turned it right back up.

Honestly, who could blame him for having a little fun? The worst day at a children's arcade was better than the best day at a court-ordered anger management class. Or however that saying went. He usually wouldn't revert to messing with the decor until about five hours into his shift, but he was feeling a little spicy today.

Plus, it's not like anyone could prove it was him.

"Nah," Taako said, leaning against the counter. "It's always been like that."

"It— it hasn't," the fancy boy says. He's got a light-up wand that he got from Taako's counter earlier. He'd been in here for an hour or so already, methodically going around the building and figuring out how to get the most tickets. He'd already come up to Taako four times to ask about game mechanics. "It was triangles and circles before."

"Mmmmh, nope," Taako said. "It's always been dicks."

The fancy boy frowned, looking at the carpet again. He took a few steps back towards the gaming area and then stopped.

"No, sir, it stops here," he said. "It's— it's very clearly not penises from this point onward— oh, well, now this is just rude, sir."

The floor magicked back to normal, except for about a two-foot circle around the fancy boy. When he took a step, the far superior, expertly crafted pattern followed him like a shadow. He scurried back up to the prize counter, a scrutinizing look on his face. He then glanced over his shoulder, as if someone might be watching their interaction. Honestly, Taako figured that if someone was spying and able to hear over the suddenly deep chorus of Fireflies by Fantasy Owl City, they deserved to hear every word.

But the fancy boy seemed to think the coast was clear. He leaned over the counter and said, in a low voice,

"Is magic not banned in here?"

"Read the sign, kid," Taako said, pointing the the sign above his head that read "NO MAGICKS ALLOWED IN THE ADVENTURE ZONE©." In smaller text, below it, it read, "for full Adventure Zone© magic related rules and services, please see one of our friendly PARTY MEMBERS for details."

"Yeah, but you just did magic," the fancy boy said. "So there's no like, barrier or runes to stop magic use inside the building."

Taako liked the turn this was taking. He raised his eyebrows at the fancy boy.

"You could say," he said. "And why, pray tell, are you asking?"

"Well," the fancy boy said. "If I pay the games the normal, non-magical way, it'll take me approximately nine hours to get enough tickets for the detective kit you have on the wall."

The fancy boy pointed at the wall of prizes. Near the very top, above the long plush snakes and the bin of Hot Wheels, a shiny play-pretend detectives kit was sitting, priced at 14,000 tickets, which was truly absurd.

"Only, I don't have nine hours, sir," the fancy boy said. "And frankly, I don't have the pocket money for five hours. So if, maybe, we could turn a blind eye to the rule— which seems very important and I respect that— then I could be out of here in about, uhm! Thirty minutes, tops. And then you don't have to deal with me and the birthday party that's about to start."

Both of them looked at the mom trying to wrangle her excited child through the doorway. The child had a pin on that said "BIRTHDAY GIRL". She looked like a feral cat.

"That's a tempting offer, little man," Taako said. He glanced around. No one was gonna come up to the prize counter any time soon. These kids were too sugar-powered to care about anything more than beating each other in stupid arcade games for babies. "You get me one of those fucked up bears—" Taako pointed at the wall behind him once more. Slightly below the detective kit was a poor attempt at a teddy bear, which looked more like a failed demon exorcism. "And we've got a deal."

"Deal," the fancy boy said, holding out his hand. "It's nice doing business with you Mr…" he squinted at Taako's name tag. "Tay-co?"

I'm so glad it's helping! I hope it continues to give you that extra determination to keep going. Gods know we all need it right now. Give it a little squeeze from time to time and leave it out under a full moon once in a while keep it charged.

Lots of love, witchling. It's a hard road ahead, but we'll keep on going, even if we have to stop and rest for a while. 💜

For anybody else who wants a bottle charm, you can find them here:

14. “Please don’t get morbid” “Right” “It’s just that I haven’t died yet”

((song prompts here - still accepting!!))

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The energy on this camping trip was… bad. Like, it had never really been great before, but at least it had been comfortable. Now it was just- weird. Bad and weird. The search for the Grand Relic this time had turned out to be a dud, but they weren't supposed to go back up to the moon base until noon. Merle figured that like, y'know, he might as well spend his time reconnecting with nature and, uh. Praying? Is that was clerics did? He didn't remember. So he had woken up early before the other boys and dipped out, settling himself down near the river to vibe.

His vibe session had been rudely interrupted by Magnus barreling through the trees, Taako hot on his heels. Merle, who had been getting rather sleepy as he sat out under the sun, jerked back to attention. He had his feet dipped into the river and the sudden temperature difference as he flung them out gave him goosebumps.

"Merle!" Magnus said.

"Whatzz happening?" Merle said, turning back towards them. He lifted his bible. "Who d' I need to fight?"

"You don't- no one!" Magnus said. "I just didn't know where you were!"

"Oh," Merle said. He lowered his bible. "No enemies?"

"No," Magnus said.

"Well then I'm gonna go back to praying," Merle said, turning away from them. Magnus made a frustrated sound behind him.

"Lemme try," Taako said. Taako sat himself down next to Merle. With a little huff, Magnus sat on his other side. Taako said, "hey, so, uhhh. Listen."

"Listening," Merle said, dipping his feet back in the water. Ohhh, cold. Cold, cold, cold.

"So I woke up and I was like, huh, Merle's not here! Weird! But I was ready to get on with my life-"

"You were not-" Magnus started, but Taako contuined, louder,

"-I was ready to get on with my life," he repeated. "But there this bozo over here woke up and was like, hey, what if Merle fuckin', I don't know, beefed it."

"I did not-"

"Like what if he fell into the river or got eaten by a bear or like, turned into a cloud of smoke and then vanished," Taako said. "And I was like, well, that seems unrealistic, except for maybe the smoke thing because Merle has been known to vanish into a cloud of smoke on occasion."

"When have I done that?" Merle asked, scratching his beard. Taako paused. He squinted his eyes in thought.

"You do that all the time," Magnus said.

"You do that all the time," Taako agreed. "But then I figured, hey, we can at least go look for him, because, y'know, I don't think the Director would be happy if you vanished into a cloud of smoke-"

"I don't do that! Where have I don't that!"

"And/or got eaten by a bear or a really, really big fish," Taako said. "So now we know you're fine. Problem solved, funeral avoided."

"Geez, you don't gotta get morbid about it," Merle said, despite being a little touched that they would go to his funeral.

"It's my right to be a little morbid," Taako said.

"Yeah," Magnus said. "We're just sayin'- if we had to bring all your Merle remains up to the moon-"

"I haven't died yet!"

"Then the least we're gonna do is like, do a little service. Here lies Merle, good friend, father figure-"

"Aw!" Merle said. "You see me as a father figure?"

"Died doing what he loved," Taako said, completely ignoring that. "Vanishing into a cloud of smoke and never coming back."

"I don't even know how to do that!" Merle said, again. "Is there a memo I missed or what? Now I wanna learn."

"Don't worry about it," Magnus said, which Merle knew to be Magnus-speak for "I have no fucking clue." He stretched, leaning back on his hands. On the other side of Merle, Taako was undoing the hooks on his boot to (presumably) put his feet in the river as well. Merle set his bible aside, figuring that was enough praying and shit for one day. They settled into an easy silence. Magnus took his shoes off, too, dipping them in the water.

And then,

"Wanna see me catch a fish with my bare hands?" Taako asked, rolling up his pants leg now.

"You've got bear hands?" Merle asked.

I can recommend a few! (And I agree, it's so disappointing to pick up that gorgeous book with the big pumpkin on the cover and then see the name of the author.....)

For the history of the holiday itself, particularly its' explosion in popularity towards the latter half of the 20th century, I recommend Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween by Lisa Morton. She does a good job of exploring the roots of All Hallows Eve from an academic standpoint and has also published a well-sourced reference book entitled The Halloween Encyclopedia.

For the witchy side of things, the Llewellyn Essentials volume on Samhain is a good overview of the holiday without the problematic Ravenwolf name attached. A grain of salt and some fact-checking is always required, but it's good to start with less bullshit to wade through.

The Sacred Herbs of Samhain by Ellen Evert Hopman is another book on the subject, largely focused on plant-based magic. I really enjoyed this one, along with the companion volume that focuses on spring holidays.

I also discuss secular suggestions for celebrating Halloween and Samhain in the 11th episode of Hex Positive, "Secular Celebrations." There's a series of posts on my blog that basically amount to a transcript of the episode and the Samhain portion is here.

hey hey hey you're not going to use these answers for evil, are you??

break: What would cause your OC to break down completely? What do they look like when that happens? Has anyone ever seen them at their lowest?

Literally anything happening to Lucy, to his family, or to his boys. that would simply shatter him. this almost happened when Lucy was attacked by a certain smarmy vampire and Monroe went on a path of destruction. we haven't seen him at his lowest yet!!

desire: What’s one thing your OC wants more than anything in the world? Are they open with that desire? Why or why not? What would they do to fulfill it?

he just wants a comfortable and safe and happy life for himself and his loved ones. he wants to be able to hang out with everyone with no secrets and no threats and no ill-timed visits to Dr. O'Malley's. it's kind of an open secret. And i genuinely think monroe would sacrifice himself if it meant the rest of the people in his life could be safe and happy. As happy as they could be, of course.

fear: What is your OC’s greatest fear? What do they do when confronted with it? Are they open with their fear, or do they hide it away?

ironically, in tandem with the previous answer, he is so scared that he's going to break his mom's heart. get too hurt, be too foolhardy, beef it. Be another hole in her heart. He's also again, terrified at the idea of anything happening to his family.

Felix you are a menace <3

but gosh you are a fan freaking tastic GM!!!! it is so so clear to me how deeply you care about not only the barnsend boys but just the entire lore of the town! you give such masterclass creeps and storylines all theee time (and you better believe I'm taking notes to really step my game up)

also youre just so passionate about so many things and it's so invigorating and contagious! I wanna sew and bake and do Everything all the time now!!!!

Felix!! Aaa!! You are so chill and fun to be around!! You genuinely just have an incredibly sunny personality and you're so nice and supportive all the time. Plus, it's vv freshing to have more ppl who are not afraid to assert their boundaries if needed. Gives me waaaay less anxiety knowing u would just Tell Me if i was doing something that made you feel bad.