#mr. bevan

Varney and Marchdale. Whatever they've got going on could be fascinating. (I say "could be" because in practice Marchdale is a cartoon villain and Varney is a different kind of cartoon villain, and their relationship has zero depth.) I've expanded on their whole Deal a bit in blood, sweat, and tears (god I've referenced so many of my own fics in this post. I guess that's not surprising, most of the relationships I'm interested in are ones I've written about) where I have Marchdale In It For The Immortality and Varney playing along with him because he'll wade through fire for anyone who learns about the vampirism and still treats him like a person.

so, as i've touched on in other posts, clara crofton's short-lived career as a vampire is kind of disappointing. she gets no speaking lines, no real autonomy, and her sole victim is a random village girl rymer made up on the spot, which to me is criminal misuse of the tools HE GAVE HIMSELF to work with, because clara has a younger sister. everything is lined up for an emotionally devastating clara arc that actually treats her like a character. all we have to do is revive her and varney from their canon deaths and keep the narrative rolling past chapter 237.

so. clara stumbles home one night, soaked to the skin and covered in mud and her own blood, disoriented and with no memory of what happened to her as a vampire. at this point, clara isn't aware she's died, nor that she's a vampire. she's cold and hungry and scared and confused, and she's positive something dreadful has happened to her to leave her in this state, but she doesn't know what it is.

her father, upon seeing her, pronounces that A Miracle Has Occurred! his daughter is alive and well! (he is in DEEP denial. clara's death and undeath did a number on his mental state.)

her family takes her inside, get her cleaned up and dressed and give her a hot meal. under the recommendation of dr. north, world champion of gaslighting, they don't tell her about the whole vampire episode. better to put that whole thing behind them as a bad dream. as sir george keeps insisting, she's clearly alive and well now...right?

she's not well. later that night, she throws up her meal. this quickly becomes a pattern--she can't keep any food down. dr. north puts her on increasingly more restricted diets in an attempt to find some way to keep her fed, but her health continues to decline. her temperature drops, her pulse grows slow and erratic, and she gradually becomes weaker and weaker.

and then one night, clara awakens to the full moon shining through her bedroom window, and a raging hunger, or perhaps thirst, inside her. what happens next, she doesn't entirely remember. she only knows that when she comes to, her hunger is gone, and she feels better than she has in weeks...standing over her sister's bed, with blood on her hands and face. her sister, emma, is bleeding from her neck.

there is no more hiding the truth from clara. her brothers tell her everything, while dr. north sees to emma's injury. no one here knows very much about vampires, so the question hangs over all their heads like an axe: what will happen to emma? will she die? will she turn?

And Then Clara Is Summoned To A Vampire Council. the vampires have caught wind of varney's death and are seeking to expand their ranks in his absence, so they're having another exhumation. clara takes the opportunity to try to learn a few things about Being A Vampire by asking them questions, but none of them are very helpful. several of them, who don't know much about varney other than "he's really old and infamous", express doubt that he could actually be finally dead. fearing what will happen when she next grows hungry, clara decides to take a risk and travel to naples in search of varney, hoping he will give her answers.

she opts to travel with mr. bevan since he managed to have something of a rapport with varney before he died. she's still terrified of varney and hopes having bevan there will decrease the chances of Something Bad Happening. assuming varney survived, that is.

this brings us to the latest round of comics, in which clara finally tracks down varney's temporary residence in naples, steeling herself to come face to face with her killer--only to find him having Depression Time on the floor.