#dankomanuels

i think if rience had been less arrogant and more clever, i.e. followed the advice of not playing around—and potentially if geralt was caught unaware, then he could have killed him…

@dankomanuels @onlymagpie the floodgates have been opened 🧍

i've already talked a little bit on here about why i think they would get along, catalogued their short interactions across ttos and lotl, and even written a few for myself... (here's their tag and their "posts reminiscent of them" tag if you want to catch up on the vibes)

why i think they have a dynamic

they are very similar kinds of people, with similar struggles and desires. i see a kind of similar personality-story between regis-angouleme and milva-cahir, which is why i see those two relatuonships as the kind of "i Understand you 👁️" of the hanza, and then milva-regis and cahir-angouleme are the "absolute polar opposites" relationships, and then when you divide it by gender you get some dissonance, but uh... learning opportunities lol

everyone gets off to a terrible start with angouleme, including regis, because she not only came from the group that was Going To Make An Attempt on All Of Their Lives, but she intentionally provokes the company to get reactions. however, out of them all, regis seemed quick to reconsider his first impressions and, canonically, became amused by her and found some inspiration in her human charm, i think... related to the breakfast table argument between fringilla and regis :)

angouleme only seems to give a shit about regis' opinion in beauclair as it's a joint opinion between him and geralt ('my two gay dads' much?) but i always love to repeat to myself the line "one does not preclude the other. believe me, angouleme," the vampire said gravely... which i find nice because no one ever takes angouleme seriously, and here regis took her seriously, about something that wasn't even serious and was actually interrupting their discreet conversation! even geralt was like please leave us alone. and regis was like ok Truth. you're right. and this is a pretty deep topic too.

i like how regis seems to see angouleme as having valuable contributions even when no one else does... i think the human-ness that is instinctual to everyone else makes them find angouleme base, but regis is so curious about her because for him he can learn from her example... i explored this most in my katabasis fic.

there's less backing for angouleme to care about regis, so i fill in her character with some projection of my own insecurities that i feel like are characteristic of young adults, or those transitioning into young adulthood without... well...

angouleme when we first grab her out of fulko artevelde's jail comes from such a horrible environment, and i dont mean this out of disrespect, "how did you come to be among criminals, tfu" , but that she was in a foul company, and nightingale didn't respect her and was "known to reduce women to their primal use/purpose" (if i remembered how that line goes...) and it's apparent in the attitudes angoulme carries over, when she says that milva shouldn't come with her and geralt because they won't respect company of three when two of them are women. compare to geralt's company, in which i don't think that anyone would ever doubt that milva would be respected... lol. like tell this bullshit to cloggy and his fucking wooden board wife? anyways

i feel like angouleme would hold regis in some contempt at first, or more just like distrust and dislike because he gives the impression of a haughty intellectual who's never suffered real suffering and just likes to say idiotic platitudes (well the latter is a little correct...) kind of like what ciri accuses vysogota of in chapter 10 of ttos.

regis also didn't help this impression by referring to her with that "i'm not your uncle dear child" ... though he was trying to draw a line between them, like "i'm not your dude"... but that drogie dziecko will live in my mind eternally btw :D

angouleme after an opportunity to learn regis would come to like and trust him, but she just needs to be shown that he's trustworthy, proven to that they are similar, that he understands. i feel like a huge part of being a teen/young adult is feeling like no one understands your pain and no one's ever gone through what you've gone through.

angouleme seems particularly defensive and insecure about her low birth, her background as a criminal, and her addiction to use of fisstech, which it seems (from her vehement pre-defense of) that she has been severely judged and shamed for this by others, or maybe just by general societal attitudes.

by incorrectly gauging regis initially, i set up an amusing thought here where, near the beginning of their story together, they have some moment where angouleme turns her nose up and remarks that regis has no business in her business because he doesn't know what it's like to wake up in the gutter hungover on cheap wine

and he's like........... i'd write like "the vampire's expression was inscrutable." meaning: he was trying not to laugh

tropes and stuff

on this note, i'll take this opportunity to talk about an aspect broader than just their dynamic and interactions, something i haven't spoken as much about on here.

i see them as a kind of played-straight, kind of subversion of a favorite trope of mine: the divine ally.

at least that's what i've been calling it, i don't know its actual name... divine advisor? guardian angel? fairy godmother? (that is actually relevant, for what i may talk about later)

this trope that is unfortunately less frequently seen in contemporary works, from what i can tell... (ugh, tv tropes even says: "This is also a highly Discredited Trope these days, usually associated with the most archaic parts of Fairy Tales, A Discredited Trope is a trope that has aged so poorly that it's rarely if ever played straight anymore.")

i think it still might be used somewhat, in the more general magical mentor trope (like come on. gandalf is right there), but from what i can tell of current trends, especially in YA and chick lit, when the dynamic is between a supernatural older man and a younger mortal woman... yeeeeah, :| , so what i'm interested in just doesn't follow the trend i guess, lol. hence why i hesitate to talk about them. but i will also talk about my reaction to this a bit further down.

for me, this trope is like when a hero is on their quest, and over their shoulder, has a distant guardian with supernatural powers watching them to see how they do, and possibly to bail them out when they need them to come to their side! maybe it's just because i was a percy jackson kid... and classical studies minor in college... but it's a trope that's always been so fulfilling and satisfying to me, pleasant to my heart when a god or an angel appears to help the hero when they're at their most desperate. it's so fictional for me, i think, i love it for its escapism... i think a lot of people can probably relate to being beaten down, desperate, even though you're an atheist you're praying in the dark for an angel's intervention, but nothing comes to save you. yeah.

anyhow, i like them for how they might invert this trope. a guardian angel, a fairy godmother, is usually something distant, ethereal, existing only in the mind, not human. they typically only show up in great times of need, and disappear at other times.

regis kind of does the opposite, as he does in the books... he shows up to geralt when he wants to be rid of him and his advice. he is like your conscience and you cannot get rid of him!

moreover, despite his supernatural powers (which i most often envision as flying, psychic abilities, and immaterial form like not casting a shadow, not feeling temperature, and (headcanoned) ability to glide on water or snow) do not make him a divine character in the classic sense of a god or spirit. he is kind of just a regular person, who likes to play advisor and confidant, can do some cool things, but is not godly by any means. this imperfection, this fallibility, this humanness, is what draws me to him. because especially through angouleme's eyes... okay, i'll get back to this thread eventually, (maybe in another post bc this is kind of the crux of 'book 2' of my fic).

let me get back to first, the other side of the trope: the hero. the hero is often pure, like cinderella or the virgin mary, or virtuous in other senses (odysseus is not a very "pure" character by far, pretty much the opposite LOL, but he is very clever, and that cunning is his excellence, what makes him outstanding). in other words, the hero is someone that the audience feels somehow deserves the divine, the ghostly, the godly throwing them a bone and helping them out.

angouleme is... at least, at the beginning of this arc, not a hero. actually the opposite, she's a bandit that was for all intents and purposes going to be part of geralt's assassination, but didn't get caught on the wrong side of history due to some freak accident (which was the author's pen). initially, she was intended to fade into the background, but sapkowski, like with dijkstra and boreas mun, said that they were characters who "stuck to his pen" and so they were elevated in pagetime. but even so, angouleme unlike ciri is not a princess, not a chosen one, she's not even anyone's daughter. she's a bastard, disowned and often forgotten and left behind (both in-universe, and by the fandom, i believe it's her curse and identity to be an insignificant accessory, a footnote).

so i think it would be so powerful if angouleme, who is used to everyone in her life disappearing on her, forgetting her—and regis, who is used to disappearing (both literally and figuratively, which is why i think it's fitting)—if when she needed him, he wouldn't disappear ... and then, maybe, if he would (for a negative arc, failed state, tragic take... i'll continue this also later).

either way, positive or negative, together these characters could have a really satisfying arc or two set during their time in beauclair.

which i've kind of mapped out.

fic storyline (book 1)

this continues to be a kind of really disorganized infodump so bear with me :) this is extremely unfiltered and unedited! (also haha "spoilers," but who cares though, because by the time i even start writing it you'll have forgotten what i said here. all i ask when sharing fic ideas on here is that no one write them before i do, pretty please)

so i'll now introduce my fic idea (not an actual book, but i just mean it like a volume or installment, since idk how to tell how long this story would be when i write it out). this first book is a lighthearted and comedic story set on saovine.

this idea centers on something loosely inspired by cinderella—a girl wants to go to a ball, but she's ridiculed owing to her low status and chased from her dream. but then, when all seems lost, the ghost of her deceased mother provides her with the most beautiful gifts to attend, and embrace an alter ego of herself, an elegant version no one knew existed, not even herself...

some motifs that regis and angouleme share are parties and revelry (oof), having separate identities (double oof), and being excluded from social engagement, when that's what they desperately crave (triple oof). i mentioned how i see them as very similar, how they are kindred spirits, how regis sees a lot of similarity in angouleme to his younger self, and how angouleme sees (though she's hesitant to trust it) an example of a better future in regis.

that, to me, is a sufficient motivation (initially) for him to help her in achieving her goals. especially because it involves parties and fun (i imagine regis and angouleme, sitting in the dark at the kitchen table, angouleme explaining her predicament, that it has to do with a ball, a big party. and then regis, smiling with fangs in darkness: "i like parties." haha)

and thus they have an opportunity to share the struggle of social pressure, empathize with someone who truly understands them, and then get to that damn party. and angouleme slowly begins to trust, open her heart a little, imagine that someone else could understand her dreams and have her best interests at heart...

also consider how angouleme's mother abandoned her and left a mother-sized hole in her heart. sometimes it's not who you would pray to that shows up.

another trope that i think would be really fun with these two, which i alluded to earlier, is the very common and ancient trope of the malevolent and predatory vampire specifically finding his prey in young women. regis already fucks up this trope into ten million tiny pieces in the series, his role is constantly to be the deliverance of women and girls (the girl from the camp accused of witchery, milva during her miscarriage, ciri about to be strapped to the steel chair). and i'm like, hey! i have in mind a blondie waif who's also in need of this protection.

but also especially because of the relationship between dracula and mina (in. dracula), how he attempts to make her into a vampire and she slips further into this... dracula exerts his malevolent power over her, and she withers, but also, is inextricably now linked to him via a psychic bond...

i kind of talked about how i have anxiety over people seeing them wrong, but i've also incorporated and played with this anxiety in the actual imagined story itself; how they influence each other and in that, it's misread by others as some decidedly dark influence, because as angouleme transitions to, becomes able to embody her ideal persona, a girl who will be loved instead of forgotten, she's now seen by the other characters as a girl to be saved, which invites unwanted attention, this attention being what is actually the exertion of force upon her autonomy.

what i imagine for the fic is a four-act structure. following the failures of angouleme in act 1, in act 2 through some... explosive circumstances that get out of hand, angouleme doesn't exactly fly under the radar in this merriment as she and regis kind of kick up a dust storm of trouble getting her a dress and horse-drawn carriage. there's no bippity-boppity-boo nothing here, so they use freely the strategies which bandits and vampires use.

(or instead of carriage, should i say, calèche, because i'd like another dracula reference here. by the way, just as regis has peak bartender energy, he also has peak uber driver energy. the kind where you get in, have the deepest conversation of your life, then get out. and rate 5 stars and give $5 tip. and never see that guy again).

so in act 3, when she finally gets to the ball and has her little #girlboss spotlight beloved moment where she's charismatically trying to get nobles to invest in her ponzi schemes (this is her character motivation all along... she wants a stable future ok so she is relying on inventing a new personality and scamming everyone into liking her), there's...

okay, i kind of didn't introduce the mild antagonists, but so basically, there's this club of beauclairoise noblemen who needed a hobby, so they became interested in paranormal collections and oddities... and since geralt was away, when the "hey i think a vampire just stole our horses" reports reached beauclair, these were the guys that were called. well, who you gonna call, i guess? maybe think of the witch hunter from good omens and his protege, but less aggressive and more clueless but arrogant all the same. they're comprised of three older gentlemen and one mmm... jarre-equivalent type of guy, young, around angouleme's age. i call these guys vampire hunters despite them having no experience hunting vampires

by the way also, in this introduction of them, i've brought this up slightly before, but regis' noble persona in beauclair (as they all had to assume fake identities, pretended to be nobility travelling incognito, remember)... ok he himself didn't actually come up with any script (with his experience he wanted to wing it this time) but his mysterious nature and constantly talking about the supernatural and his habits of dress, make rumors circulate that he is a vampire............ hunter. a vampire hunter. or at least, a retired one. and that's why he's in the company of the witcher geralt!

(beauclair nobility voice) "i fucking connected the dots" "you didn't connect shit" "i connected them". so the vampire hunters are like omg hi regis whats up you want to join our exclusive club of cool guys? and he's like um... ok lol. well. i'll participate in this conversation because it's funny lol. but i got my own things going on

anyways that's act 1 stuff. back to act 2. this 'crazy vampire shit has consequences' plotline is brewing underneath regis and angouleme doing said crazy vampire shit. switching POVs appropriately.

in act 3, angouleme, via making some awkward blunders (she got a little tipsy) gives them the "evidence" they need to scream "vampire" - except, they scream it in the wrong direction - at her.

cue the flight from the ball (of the cinderella story) and getting lost in the woods. after some moments spent lamenting, in fear, in regret, the two meet up and have the emotional resolution, heart-to-heart, about desperation to be someone else, fit in, be who people will love...

that kind of doesn't solve that guys are chasing them with stakes though. sooo there's a bit of an indulgent moment, for me maybe, here. regis is like: sooo, they want to fight a vampire... :D ok

angouleme is like "you're going to KILL THEM 😳☹️??? ... nice im watching this shit go down 🥺🍿." regis is like 😑 noooo...

they just scare them a little ;). it is saovine after all, and they are in the middle of some spooky, dark woods. as angouleme got her scene in act 3 charming the nobility, regis also gets a moment of excellence here.

i've played around with another joke here where the boy (blonde, grey eyes, big nose, skinny, freckles, hopeful and dreamy, but shy and anxious... i've been calling him jacek ig but i'm not set on a name yet) is the last to not get psychic-blasted or tormented by shadows or turned over on his feet out of being scared by voices in the dark ... idk what regis is doing to these guys lol...

jacek runs into angouleme and grabs her and is like "No No it's ok i'll save you i'll help you 🥺" and angouleme (to regis over his shoulder) is like 😬 making 'axe this guy' motions or eyes to him, but before regis smacks him into the fourth dimension or whatever, amidst his promises he's like "and we'll marry and you can share my fortune" and angouleme suddenly like waves her hands like 'no don't get him', mouthing exaggeratedly and pointing 'he has money' LOL idk. giving angouleme a love interest when she's not interested in love is funny. he's gone by the next installment anyways (engagement didn't work out)

so she allows him to try and 'save her from this infernal curse' and takes her (in the company of the other vampire hunters) back to beauclair, along the way they ponder over how clueless they are about this whole thing and how they don't actually know how to cure her (she's been sitting this entire ride with a garlic bulb in her mouth and her arms crossed, with jacek making big eyes at her but too scared to get close, holding a wooden stake between them lol). as they're approaching the foot of the city they realize oh shit there's an an entire guy we forgot about that knows so much about this

so they knock on regis' door and are like hey can you help us cure this girl of some Evil Vampire Affliction.. and regis and angouleme just look at each other like 😑😑 lol... anyways he kind of bats a laurel branch on her shoulders and flicks some holy water on her forehead and is like "all clear" and jacek is like yayyyy 🥺 and regis is like (gus from breaking bad smile drop meme) "but she might turn back if you get too close without brushing your teeth first ..." and angouleme (over shoulder) is like 😅👍👍 thx regis lol

so, all's well that ends well. friendship achieved, survived, fun and laughter was had and nobody died.

honestly idk how title inheritance works, if dheran and aillil and cahir automatically get their titles by birthright, or if they have to do something to earn it?

i do know that nobility and families of wealth were (at various times throughout history and in various cultures) commanders of the military anyhow… eh there’s one passage about how a roman father should raise his boy that we went over in class ages ago and i thought about cahir and ceallach ahaha. it was about that one should teach him to ride a horse and all the other noble activities. also iirc, at least in a roman context, it was normal for commanders to take their teenage sons to battlefields and instruct them, like job shadowing.

i actually Haven't finished neverafter, but i sure Can gif that Devastating acoc moment👌 definitely a top tier bummer moment, haha i'm workin on it right now big ouchies!