Whenever I Post Something And Im Hoping People Notice It, A Little Voice In My Head Starts Singingnotes

Whenever I post something and I’m hoping people notice it, a little voice in my head starts singing “notes give me notes I do need them” to the tune of “drugs give me drugs I don’t need ‘em” from Na Na Na...

I played the entire Danger Days album tonight while finishing up my taxes, and just as I stapled them together, the anthem in Goodnight Dr. D hit the staticky part. It felt... poetic. 

So, I’ve been reading the Buffy Season 8 comics, and I have a question. Well, several questions actually, but these are all about one particular panel. 

[Image ID: A screencap from the Buffy Season 8 comics which shows Dracula walking away from Renée and Xander, cape swooshing behind him, left hand raised in a dramatic flourish as he speaks. His speaking text reads “It’s not possible, manservant. These powers you speak of--they’re part of the ancient magics.  I risked my very soul to attain them. I am their worldly guardian.” The word ‘soul’ is italicized in his speech. End ID]

Does... does this mean that Dracula has a soul?? 

And if so, how long has he had one? Did he have it when he faced Buffy at the beginning of Season 5? Did he get it between then and now in the comics, and if so, how and why, or else how and why did he get it in the first place? Was he cursed like Angel, or did he fight for it like Spike, or is there some other way to get a soul in the Buffyverse? Why would he want one if he did get it willingly?

Is this otherwise unmentioned soul the reason why he’s willing to fight against other vampires by Buffy’s side in this arc of the comics, or is he another example of a soulless vampire acting for the common good for probably at least partly selfish reasons like Spike circa season 5 (although it’s worth noting that Dracula is doing it without a chip)? Is it because he really likes Xander (as a friend or as a crush), or just a personal grudge against the Japanese vampire group that, in his eyes, “stole” his powers?

Perhaps more significantly, does this make Dracula a third eligible party besides Angel and Spike who might be the subject of the Shanshu prophecy, seeing as he is also a vampire with a soul?? (And how mad would Angel and Spike be if that turned out to have never been about either of them this entire time?)

Or, am I jumping on the soul thing a bit too much? Could he maybe speaking... metaphorically for some reason? Does he mean something different by “soul”, like say, the poetic essence of who he is as a vampire or his honor or some such, rather than his human conscience as it is to Spike and Angel? 

Or is he aware of his soul outside of himself somehow, like how when vampires don’t have their souls they’re apparently just out in the nether somewhere, available to be summoned when called upon? If it can be put at risk but isn’t inside of him, then is Dracula’s human soul in some sort of Heaven somehow while his vampiric self is causing mischief on earth, and yet somehow vampire!Dracula is aware of his human soul elsewhere and is aware that his earthly actions may somehow put it in jeopardy? But Spike and Angel seem convinced that they’re fated for hell for being vampires (which irks me, but is a rant for another day), so why would Dracula be an exception? Could he have somehow sold his soul for these powers when he didn’t even have access to it? Does he just mean that he risked his soul back when he initially became a vampire specifically to attain access to these powers? But wouldn’t the specific use of the term “risked” and not “lost” imply that, while there was peril to his soul, the peril ultimately did not persist, hence his soul was neither lost nor damaged, only at temporary risk of being in some sort of harmed state? 

Why would the comic writers put emphasis on the world “soul” in a throwaway line that isn’t revisited at any point in Dracula’s stint in the comics so far (I’m just through with the Fray crossover arc now and no one has said another word about this that I can recall) when vampire soul lore is such a complicated and contentious aspect of the Buffyverse? Did they just... forget the significance of the whole soul thing? What could this line possibly mean other than that Dracula has had a soul this whole time without mentioning it to anyone, and yet he casually let it slip while talking about his secret transforming powers? 

To put it more briefly, I’ll quote Xander in “Something Blue”: What? How? What?

Okay, so it turns out I have many questions. Well, some of that was more like my own speculations and theories posed as questions since I was on a roll, but anyone can feel free to respond to any of the many questions I put here, honestly. It’s such a small moment but I saw the word “soul” there and it just sent me reeling because... well, it raises all of my above questions and then some. Anyways, I’d love to hear the fandom’s thoughts on this and the possibility of Dracula being a third vampire with a soul(tm). 

Edited to put an actual TL;DR: Dracula implies in this panel of the comics that he has a soul!? Thoughts??

So the one on the left is from August of 2010 but it’s about the closest I could find; side note, I have had a whole heck of a wild nostalgia trip today looking back through old pictures on my mom’s computer to find this. 

And yet, oddly, I’m kind of surprised how little I’ve changed from then until now? For a minute I almost wondered if this picture was dated wrong because some of the pictures of me in 2009 looked like they were from much longer ago somehow, but I think the date is right... I guess it’s kind of hilarious to me looking at how much everyone else in these pictures has changed and I just. Have not. 14 year old me and 24 year old me look almost the same. Maybe this is why it’s so hard for me to believe that much time has passed, haha. If I wasn’t a coward and I’d dyed my hair this summer like I was thinking about, maybe... but anyways, yeah. I’m perhaps a bit better accessorized now, although in fairness 2010 me was on a hike to the Cascades in Pembroke, Va, which is also why I was wearing my conspicuously rainbow-colored swimsuit under my shirt. But so much is still the same I’m a little flabbergasted that it’s been a literal decade between these pictures. 

*Kill All Your Friends starts playing* It’s been ten *bleep*ing years.... Sorry, wrong album. 

the 10th anniversary of Danger Days is coming up on November 22nd and i think we should all post what we looked like when the album was released verses now yknow “me November 2010 vs me November 2020” i think that’d be really cute

Halloween 🎃

A moodboard for my Killjoy OC Fruit Snack! She is half African American and half Hopi; I'm still working on developing the full details of her character, but putting together this moodboard has helped me work towards getting to know her better. Her name arose out of this post (blagueofchaos is my sideblog) and I’ve basically run with it from there, trying to work out what a Killjoy who named herself Fruit Snack would be like. I do plan on doing a full OC intro post once I have a decent summary of her worked out and written, so I’ll try to refrain from making this post super long with details and mostly let the moodboard speak for itself. 

I was motivated to make this moodboard by the Killjoys of Color Project run by @andromeda-flash and @code-red-against-mike-milligram. This is for Day 3: City Born OCs. Thank you for the inspiration to actually make this! 

For full photo sources and credits, plus an expanded section of thoughts on my moodboard process that I moved for brevity’s sake, see below the cut. 

I was also thinking about putting something to more specifically represent her Hopi heritage in this moodboard, and I’ve been reading up on Kachina dolls, but I didn’t want to just stick one in my moodboard without understanding the full context of them and whether it would be appropriate. I think it’s fairly likely that BLI, as an organization that tries to strip people of any individuality, would attempt to prevent the passing on of such traditions, but I’m also sure that her mother would have passed some knowledge of her heritage on to her in secret before she left the city, so I was thinking maybe a Kachina doll could be like the one physical aspect of her culture she has to hold onto. I may at some point make a revised or an additional moodboard with one in it, but for now I decided I should wait to be sure that I understand what I’m doing with those. 

Image Sources: 

1. Dreamstime; I edited the hair pink in Pixlr (which is a great free picture editing software by the way, if you’re looking for one).

2. Etsy

3. Background: Phototrekker; Quote from D. Antoinette Foy found via pinterest; my edit made in Pixlr.

4. My own work; I looked around my room and thought “what in here makes me think of Fruit Snack?”. My light up floral cat ear headband, my multicolor metal fidget spinner, two starbursts, and a rose pin. 

5. Background: Wikipedia; my text edit made in Pixlr.

6. My own work; I painted some water guns to be Killjoy rayguns and I do plan to make a separate post about them soon on this blog! Also, they glow in the dark. 

7. Background: Phototrekker; Quote from the 12th Doctor; my edit made in Pixlr. 

8. I forget what site but I bookmarked the picture link here.

9. Background: TripSavvy; Model: WiseGeek; I edited the pink hair in Pixlr.