"Preparation" and "Nosophoros" - Dracula related ficlets
Title: Preparation
Fandom: Bram Stoker's Dracula
Character/Pairing: Dracula, Mina, Vampire Brides, Dracula/Mina, Dracula/Vampire Brides
Summary: AU, genderswap. Dracula prepares to reclaim Elisabeta.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Vague allusions to physical and sexual violence.
A/N: Written for st-aurafina in Yuletide Madness 2012.
Growing old is easy - she needs only to remain still, in the stone coccoon of her own castle, and let age drip upon her like a stalagmite. She is comfortable, she thinks, in her old age, in the creaking flesh that gives her the appearance of harmlessness. Her brides, her pets, her sisters do not like to see her such - they desire the woman whose beauty lured them there, smooth-skinned and dark-haired. They pick at her red robes, offering their throats, trying to coax her into desire.
But she is no Ezrebet Bathory, for all that legends have confused the two of them at times. She only smiles at her acolytes and touches their hair, waiting for Jonathan Harker, who brings her fate.
-
Growing younger is more difficult, re quiring as much effort as it takes for the butterfly to burst from its chrysalis. But she must be recongizable, when she meets Elisabeta again. She looks at her own body closely, critically. As a human, she hated it for a long time, hated the restrictions to which her unchosen femininity condemmed her. A prince, she thought, would not have had to bear such exile from his native land, such gilded imprisonment within the harem of Sultan Mehmed. A prince would not have had to fight so hard to get back to his own land of snow and ice, wolves and mountains. A prince would not have had to fight to the very tips of his fingernails to claim his father’s name as his own.
How they had laughed, when they thought her dead. Voivode Daciana Draculea. Unnatural, they called her, and other words. Slut, whore. Devil, witch.
When she heard of what they did to Elisabeta before killing her, Daciana could have impaled all of them with her bare hands.
But that was over now. She had won. She had outlived those who spoke against her. And now she would reclaim her Elisabeta, and never, this time, let her go.
-
Her women helped to dress her in the new, unfamiliar clothing of that time. They laughed to see her in it, corsets and petticoats and high-heeled boots. Daciana laughed too, for all that mirrors were barred to her. Would Elisabeta recognize her? She must. She felt her body, the smooth, narrow line of her corseted torso. Centuries had not changed her. Elisabeta could not have forgotten.
-
“Come with me,” she said, extending a hand, “you have nothing to fear.”
She hesitated, Daciana’s Elisabeta, Jonathan’s Mina. Was that recognition which passed across her face, glinted in her eyes? It must be. Elisabeta had not changed, though what had once gleamed so pure and clear and firery in her was not dimmed as though by a veil. Daciana’s hands itched to pull it from her, as she itched to pull off the hat, the hairpins, the dress, the stockings, and hold Elisabeta’s body against her own.
Elisabeta took her hand.
Title: Nosophoros
Fandom: Anno Dracula series
Character/Pairing: F. W. Murnau, Albin Grau
Summary: Murnau and Albin Grau discuss a scenario for a new film.
Rating: G
Warnings: None
A/N: Written for shadowkeeper in Yuletide Madness 2012.
“Friedrich,” Albin Grau said, reluctantly putting down the typewritten scenario, “there is no way on earth that this is going to get past the censors.”
The young director looked at him, wide-eyed in innocence. “I don’t see why not. It’s a fable, Albin, about plague in a small village. It has absolutely nothing to do with anything political, there’s next to no sexual interest -”
“Nosophoros?”
“It’s a Greek word, it means plague-bearer -”
Albin sighed. “I know what it means. I know its etymological associations. And so will everyone else. Your analogy is so blatant that even the smallest child in the audience will understand it.”
Idly, Friedrich picked up the scenario and begin browing it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Albin was beginning to feel frustrated. “You just can’t use plague as a metaphor for vampirism, it’s unbearably offensive. Some of Prana Film’s most generous donors have been vampires. And all the stuff about sunlight and corruption is just hopelessly obvious -”
“Count Orlock,” Friedrich said, “is most certainly not a vampire. For one thing, he casts a shadow, as you must have noticed if you actually read through the entire scenario -”
“It’s not as though that helped Wiene, there were practically riots when Caligari came out, you must remember, and they went to enormous lengths to make sure Cesare’s shadow was visible -”
“What could they expect, casting Conrad Veidt? You know everyone assumes that any film he’s in must be about vampirism, no one seems to accept yet that vampires can play humans just like humans can play vampires -”
“This isn’t the point, Friedrich. We’re here to talk about this scenario you’ve given me which, as I’ve said already, is absolutely unfilmable. We won’t get the money, and if we do someone manage to get the money, we certainly won’t get the distribution. You know I have nothing but the utmost respect for your artistic vision, but I’m afraid the answer is no.”
“Come now,” Friedrich said, leaning in conspiratorially, “since when have you shied away from taking risks?”
Fandom: Bram Stoker's Dracula
Character/Pairing: Dracula, Mina, Vampire Brides, Dracula/Mina, Dracula/Vampire Brides
Summary: AU, genderswap. Dracula prepares to reclaim Elisabeta.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Vague allusions to physical and sexual violence.
A/N: Written for st-aurafina in Yuletide Madness 2012.
Growing old is easy - she needs only to remain still, in the stone coccoon of her own castle, and let age drip upon her like a stalagmite. She is comfortable, she thinks, in her old age, in the creaking flesh that gives her the appearance of harmlessness. Her brides, her pets, her sisters do not like to see her such - they desire the woman whose beauty lured them there, smooth-skinned and dark-haired. They pick at her red robes, offering their throats, trying to coax her into desire.
But she is no Ezrebet Bathory, for all that legends have confused the two of them at times. She only smiles at her acolytes and touches their hair, waiting for Jonathan Harker, who brings her fate.
-
Growing younger is more difficult, re quiring as much effort as it takes for the butterfly to burst from its chrysalis. But she must be recongizable, when she meets Elisabeta again. She looks at her own body closely, critically. As a human, she hated it for a long time, hated the restrictions to which her unchosen femininity condemmed her. A prince, she thought, would not have had to bear such exile from his native land, such gilded imprisonment within the harem of Sultan Mehmed. A prince would not have had to fight so hard to get back to his own land of snow and ice, wolves and mountains. A prince would not have had to fight to the very tips of his fingernails to claim his father’s name as his own.
How they had laughed, when they thought her dead. Voivode Daciana Draculea. Unnatural, they called her, and other words. Slut, whore. Devil, witch.
When she heard of what they did to Elisabeta before killing her, Daciana could have impaled all of them with her bare hands.
But that was over now. She had won. She had outlived those who spoke against her. And now she would reclaim her Elisabeta, and never, this time, let her go.
-
Her women helped to dress her in the new, unfamiliar clothing of that time. They laughed to see her in it, corsets and petticoats and high-heeled boots. Daciana laughed too, for all that mirrors were barred to her. Would Elisabeta recognize her? She must. She felt her body, the smooth, narrow line of her corseted torso. Centuries had not changed her. Elisabeta could not have forgotten.
-
“Come with me,” she said, extending a hand, “you have nothing to fear.”
She hesitated, Daciana’s Elisabeta, Jonathan’s Mina. Was that recognition which passed across her face, glinted in her eyes? It must be. Elisabeta had not changed, though what had once gleamed so pure and clear and firery in her was not dimmed as though by a veil. Daciana’s hands itched to pull it from her, as she itched to pull off the hat, the hairpins, the dress, the stockings, and hold Elisabeta’s body against her own.
Elisabeta took her hand.
Title: Nosophoros
Fandom: Anno Dracula series
Character/Pairing: F. W. Murnau, Albin Grau
Summary: Murnau and Albin Grau discuss a scenario for a new film.
Rating: G
Warnings: None
A/N: Written for shadowkeeper in Yuletide Madness 2012.
“Friedrich,” Albin Grau said, reluctantly putting down the typewritten scenario, “there is no way on earth that this is going to get past the censors.”
The young director looked at him, wide-eyed in innocence. “I don’t see why not. It’s a fable, Albin, about plague in a small village. It has absolutely nothing to do with anything political, there’s next to no sexual interest -”
“Nosophoros?”
“It’s a Greek word, it means plague-bearer -”
Albin sighed. “I know what it means. I know its etymological associations. And so will everyone else. Your analogy is so blatant that even the smallest child in the audience will understand it.”
Idly, Friedrich picked up the scenario and begin browing it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Albin was beginning to feel frustrated. “You just can’t use plague as a metaphor for vampirism, it’s unbearably offensive. Some of Prana Film’s most generous donors have been vampires. And all the stuff about sunlight and corruption is just hopelessly obvious -”
“Count Orlock,” Friedrich said, “is most certainly not a vampire. For one thing, he casts a shadow, as you must have noticed if you actually read through the entire scenario -”
“It’s not as though that helped Wiene, there were practically riots when Caligari came out, you must remember, and they went to enormous lengths to make sure Cesare’s shadow was visible -”
“What could they expect, casting Conrad Veidt? You know everyone assumes that any film he’s in must be about vampirism, no one seems to accept yet that vampires can play humans just like humans can play vampires -”
“This isn’t the point, Friedrich. We’re here to talk about this scenario you’ve given me which, as I’ve said already, is absolutely unfilmable. We won’t get the money, and if we do someone manage to get the money, we certainly won’t get the distribution. You know I have nothing but the utmost respect for your artistic vision, but I’m afraid the answer is no.”
“Come now,” Friedrich said, leaning in conspiratorially, “since when have you shied away from taking risks?”