The Wayhaven Chronicles: Book Three (WIP -FINAL DEMO)

[Bloodmoonrising]

I couldn’t agree more. I was just going off the auctioneer and Sin as an example but a 50/50 split would be ideal.

[JBento]

@Requiem

Love is not a victory march, it’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah.

I positively, absolutely, wholeheartedly LOATHE that song with every fibre of my being. Love is very damn well a victory march, despite how much Cohen wants to make it inferior to religion. Fuck that song, and fuck Cohen.

[EvilChani]

@Requiem

N doesn’t really substitute complicated words for simple ones and doesn’t seem to go out of their way to overly complicate a response (unless I’m completely glossing over some things that were pretty obvious and forgot about them). They seem to just like being thorough in their responses. Maybe this is what ‘flowery language’ means and it’s not something I’ve identified as such before?

No, I don’t mean that N uses complicated words or tries to speak above the MC’s head. When speaking to a non-romanced MC, N is mostly fine–extremely judgmental with M and M-mancers, but fine, for the most part.

With the MC as their LI, it’s just… too much. Like the dialogue was pulled from a cheesy romance novel. I think it’s just preference, really. Like the Murphy lab scene in b1, with N prancing about. I didn’t find that sexy or suave, I saw it as overcompensating, like N was trying so hard to be charming that it was just offputting. And that is pretty much how N comes off to me most times, in their route. My N-mancer just ignores it and avoids flirting with him, because she finds it weird and not all that cute, either (mainly because I’m so put off by it that I can’t even RP someone that likes it).

@Requiem

But I love the idea of the MC becoming Agency-ordered to be at M’s side at all times

I’d love that, too! Can you imagine how much M would bitch, though? Until they stopped playing the hot/cold shtick, anyway.

@Requiem

M’s [almost] declaration of love was in a good spot. The MC had a mutually shared emotional experience with M and it bonded them closer. I’m redoing an M run and, by gosh, it has some really sweet moments. I’m going to be just as pissed if M goes back to treating the MC like a cumbucket ™, especially after helping M with their crystal.

I’ll have the drinks and cookies ready when it happens. I have now resigned myself to it.

@Requiem

Just writing angst for the sake of angst isn’t very compelling.

I really wish someone would tell her this.

[Nazroth]

@JBento

I think this is specific to bonds with annunaki - the research path points out that annunaki are particularly vulnerable to soul bonds, leading to potentially vulnerability and even death, so would presume that bonds with other supernaturals do not confer this ability.

Doesn’t F tell us that the soul bond is like that with other supernaturals aswell? though they do say “usually” so there may be 50/50 bonds and they mention that the one not susceptible to it can have a tight leash so the whole weakening and death stuff may be just annunaki things.

[JBento]

@EvilChani

“A soul bond is a connection between—usually—two people that’s formed by magic.” He holds up the index finger of both hands before twining them together. “Two souls so meant to be in each other’s lives that the magic is too powerful to break.” He lets his hands drop as he shrugs. “At least, usually on one side anyway. Generally only certain types of supernaturals are susceptible to soul bonding with another.”

is the quote. It makes no reference to the auctioneer’s ability to hurt Sin via it. The wording is VERY weird, but I think it means that usually one side can break the bond.

At a meta level, it explains why the Detective can choose any of the four Bravos.

[Nazroth]

Under that it says:

[Without realising, I end up standing close beside Ava near the window. “And what happens when the soul bond is formed?”

“I think it depends on the supernatural. But from what I heard back in the Echo World, usually the one not susceptible to the soul bond magic can have a pretty tight leash over the one that is,” Farah explains through a grimace.]

So in the end it all is hearsay until the detective gets to meet a soul specialist mage/scientist or something or until we get to the point where we can say “it’s like this because that’s whats happening”

Though, if it was one sided at least on the Detective favour, then I doubt A and M would be so against a relationship and N would’ve stop their overprotectiveness after the Detective speaks up against it, unless of course it’s all way more subtle than one would expect.

[Tarlonniel]

@EvilChani

I think it would actually be cool if, by the end, the MC doesn’t have to be turned into a vampire to become immortal and their blood with Murphy’s additions makes them the first ever human immortal.

I would love this. Fingers crossed.

[E_RedMark]

@EvilChani Human Immortal? You joking right?

You are aware that being ‘human’ and ‘Immortal’ only mean you don’t die? You still feel Pain and suffering and are as useless as ever.

Where if you become a vampire you get new Powers.

You gonna go Hermit, shave your hair but not your legs and hide somewhere in a mountain to learn how to be like the Matrix?

[Nazroth]

The ideal for me would be to turn into a supernatural of our choice(most likely vampire) and keep the powers the Detective already has, no one would mess with us in that case.

[Requiem]

@EvilChani

What I thought would happen–before reading the tumblr asks where she said M would take till b5 and A would take till b6 to get to a “deep romance” stage (which doesn’t even mean a relationship by her definition)–was that the romances would progress and they’d be in relationships within a few books

This was the distinct impression I had, too. Was it something that was stated or hinted at somewhere? Assumptions on our parts? I thought, with assuredness, that it would follow a pattern of taking a few books to figure interpersonal things out and the rest of the series would be about the Duos-In-Love powering through situations together.

There’s only so much “I would die if the MC died, so I better get as far away as possible from them emotionally while still remaining as close as possible to their side” that I, as a reader, can take. Start acting your age, Mx Millennium.

If these were high school characters, this’d be fine, but they are vampires from 70-1000 years old. C’mon, now. This story is beginning to feel like a power fantasy for an insecure high schooler who just needs someone well beyond their grandparents’ age to constantly tell them they are “special”. I guess it’s just not the direction I was expecting the series to go in. I thought it was going to be a more mature version of Twilight, still YA Fiction but handled better, and I was down for that.

@EvilChani

The MC never felt like they were in danger,

I never feel like the MC is in much danger. I’m half tempted to make an MC that fails at everything starting from Book 1 just to feel like dangerous things can actually happen to them. Maybe it’s because they can walk around all the time with a bounty on their head, alone in the middle of the night, and never be accosted by anything or anyone.

I mean, researching on the rooftop while an Anunnaki is flying around was a pretty stupid idea, M, but at least there wasn’t any danger of being snatched off the rooftop because of course there wasn’t!

When the MC finally gets into the action, then the stakes are raised a bit, but there’s always a stat check to pass so the danger feels less…important, I guess. Murphy felt great because there was a tremendous amount of danger there. The maa’alused felt creepy-scary because they could travel through any reflective surface. Talk about nightmare-inducing. Sin was never actually going to harm the MC so the auctioneer should have hooked the MC up to a blood-draining device right there on the stage, or something. Kind of like a call-back to Murphy. Put the MC back into an instant high-stakes situation.

The audience keeps getting told that everyone wants the MC’s blood, so let’s see everyone trying to get at it, like, all the time. Then, any interaction with their LI would feel like a comfort and respite, even on the A and M paths. Go ahead and complicate matters with the LI now wanting MC’s blood, too, but figure out a way to work through that to make their relationship grow stronger.

@EvilChani

On a different note, I’ve decided I want Murphy back, not as an enemy, but as the one who has to help figure out exactly what was done to the MC with their little experiment. That’d be fun for the MCs who captured him…

I’m down for this. Bring him out of his mental torture prison and make a soul-crushing deal with him in order to gain information.

[E_RedMark]

I would love to be a dark Magic user and kick ass!

But beggars can’t be choosers. So, vampire, it is.

[Nazroth]

Elidor does say there is magic in everything so we should be able to learn a bit at the least, I always hate it when the use of magic is restricted to your race.

[Tarlonniel]

@zhirzzh

I think the real problem isn’t that there are too many books, but that each RO requires a series of a different length, so they don’t fully work together.

I think it’s both of these things - too many books and the romances needing different paces. Also, the A and N routes are tangled up with the LT route, which causes more complications.

[Requiem]

@Mosie

I think some people said they would like it if nothing too dangerous happened to MC for a change in the next book, but I’m dreading said idea because I need some kind of stimulus to fully enjoy a story… not to mention at least I can feed on drama if nothing else.

Precisely where I’m at. I’m not thrilled at all about the prospect of getting to/having to dance with A at a masquerade ball at this point in time. Depending on how M is going to be treated in Book 4, I’ll probably feel the same about them.

Now, dancing with anyone else—particularly someone on Team Alpha, or Elidor—or someone else, would be great. Not for a jealously side-plot, but just to have a nice, normal interaction with other Agency members for once, instead of being dragged back down into emotional turmoil.

But, if the masquerade ball is the climax or main point of the story, it’s going to fall flat for me. Where’s the danger and excitement? Where’s the main problem/disaster/issue that only the MC can solve? Just getting to be in fancy clothes dancing next to the LI, feeling all titillated inside? That’s Prom. That’s all that is.

[EvilChani]

@E_RedMark

You are aware that being ‘human’ and ‘Immortal’ only mean you don’t die? You still feel Pain and suffering and are as useless as ever.

I meant more of a “not being turned into anything” mutant more than a weak assed human. But it’s extremely unlikely, anyway, so it’s pointless talking about it.

@Nazroth

Though, if it was one sided at least on the Detective favour, then I doubt A and M would be so against a relationship and N would’ve stop their overprotectiveness after the Detective speaks up against it, unless of course it’s all way more subtle than one would expect.

I’m wondering (well, hoping) that, given the text, the soul bond between the MC and LI is a more natural thing that can’t be broken and is a good thing if both sides accept it and stop fighting it. A bit more on the soul bonds under the cut.

Soul bonds

The soul bond doesn’t seem to be a bad thing when it goes “right”, according to F, which makes me think that there are bonds where no one enslaves the other one:

#Grimace. “I don’t know what soul bonded is, but it sounds horrible.”
“I don’t know what soul bonded is, but it sounds pretty terrible,” I say with a grimace.

“When it goes wrong, it’s about the worst it can get,” ${felix} scoffs with a shake of ${f_his} head. “But when it goes right, it goes really right.”

Then there’s the bit that @JBento shared, where it’s a “meant to be” thing, like the connection is already magically there.

Then there’s this:

Unit Tango were successful in arresting a group of Trappers at the edge of Wayhaven’s borders. We’re unsure what they were attempting, but it looks like some kind of ritual. We consulted Jong-Soo of Unit Romeo, who said the ritual appeared to be attempting some kind of ‘soul-bonding’ effect, but according to him, soul bonding is connected to soul magic. What was performed here would have mimicked the effects, but not been a true soul bond.

So there’s soul magic, something that is used, it sounds like. And there’s the imitation that they tried to use on Sin:

I turn to face ${f_him} with a tight frown. “Do you think…?”

“That Mr. Birdman might be the product of their experiments?” ${f_she} finishes my thought before blowing out ${f_his} cheeks. “I’ve never heard of anyone successfully imitating a soul bond, and, seriously, so many people have tried. But I guess it’s possible they finally cracked it.”

But, most importantly, F shares this bit:

#Wince. “That’s not the romantic idea I hoped for when hearing about soul bonds.”
A wince twinges through me as I realise the implication of what ${felix} has said. “That’s not really the romantic idea that was conjured up when I heard about this.”

“No. Not for me either,” ${nate} replies through a heaved breath.

“Romantic notions are best left in fairy tales. Magic is anything but romantic,” ${adam} states, folding ${a_his} arms with a frown.

“Eh, that’s not always true,” ${felix} says. “Most of the time the soul bond brings people together who really are supposed to be…together.”

${adam}'s frown deepens. “Have you proof of that?”

“No, but I did meet a couple once who were soul bonded, and they were annoyingly in love.” $!{f_she} groans, but it’s still said with a wistful smile.

${adam}'s arms drop to ${a_his} sides as ${a_she} rolls ${a_his} eyes. “Whether real or not, it would seem the Trappers are using something like this to keep a hold over the anunnaki. That is what we need to deal with.”

Anyway, if it’s something where one is affected and the other isn’t, it’s fairly obvious the vampires are the ones unaffected, since two of them happily jerk the MC around and constantly walk away from them. And, no doubt, they’d snap that sucker, given the chance. And if the MC is the one with the control, it’s laughable how useless it is since they’re the ones on the short end of it.

So, squickiness aside, I just don’t see her writing something like this. Unless she’s decided to go full-on dark, anyway.

@Requiem

@Requiem

This was the distinct impression I had, too. Was it something that was stated or hinted at somewhere? Assumptions on our parts? I thought, with assuredness, that it would follow a pattern of taking a few books to figure interpersonal things out and the rest of the series would be about the Duos-In-Love powering through situations together.

There are a few things that support both A and M taking longer.

First, a very old post estimating when “deep romance” would happen.

Another explaining what “deep romance” means (which for the slow burns, does not mean a relationship).

M won’t fall anytime soon (ask was while b2 was being written).

On both M and A taking a long time to progress.

M taking quite a few books to get to caring.

M not happening until “quite far” into the series.

And, most recently, she flat out said that M still doesn’t know they’re in love as of the end of b3.

If you want more, I’ll see if I can find them. Those were the quickest to find. So yeah, neither M nor A will actually get a relationship anytime soon, according to her.

[E_RedMark]

The Soul Bond we can form with UB is not something you can compare to Sin and the Auction Host. Not even close…
As for going dark, considering how watered down is the angst in this game…that ain’t gonna happen lol

[SnowPhoniex]

@EvilChani

What I thought would happen–before reading the tumblr asks where she said M would take till b5 and A would take till b6 to get to a “deep romance” stage (which doesn’t even mean a relationship by her definition)–was that the romances would progress and they’d be in relationships within a few books, at most (if the MC was into it), then UB’s past would come back to haunt them and various supernaturals would cause problems that threatened to tear them apart or took the MC from them. Instead, it’s just two ROs fight their feelings for the MC, one of them lies constantly (despite being the best communicator in the bunch), and the last one is pretty much angst-free except for being sad over their mother.

Hold it, hold it right god damn there, book 6! I love a slow burn, but I like a well written one . After what I seen in book 3 if that’s what we’re getting for the next two books, I can’t even describe this feeling of immense anguish.

[Nazroth]

Damn, I was expecting A relationship to begin book 5, to for some reason break up with us in book 6 and reconcile on book 7, now I don’t know which is worse.

[EvilChani]

Well, even in that one ask (see the hidden details in the post from me above to Requiem), she didn’t specify, but there are asks where she said b6 for the LT resolution. I’m guessing A will take about the same amount of time, since M is like b5 for “deep romance” and it’s implied A is even slower than M. She stresses in several posts that there will be just as many “moments” for the LIs that aren’t in relationships as there are for those that are. She’s been fairly consistent with that, I think.

@Nazroth

Damn, I was expecting A relationship to begin book 5, to for some reason break up with us in book 6 and reconcile on book 7, now I don’t know which is worse.

I still think A-mancers will get an actual relationship before M-mancers do, so there’s that. And I figure that, given b5 is “serious angst” and misery, it’ll involve being split up from the LI for a time. The LI will probably push the MC away and distance themselves to protect them or some such bullshit. The only thing new for A and M-mancers would be the reason, lol.

[Nazroth]

@EvilChani

I still think A-mancers will get an actual relationship before M-mancers do, so there’s that. And I figure that, given b5 is “serious angst” and misery, it’ll involve being split up from the LI for a time. The LI will probably push the MC away and distance themselves to protect them or some such bullshit. The only thing new for A and M-mancers would be the reason, lol.

With M’s ending I doubted that… until I read that they may just ignore what happened and go back to their old self and don’t know what’s going on or take a page from A’s book and pretend to not know and deny it.