the_scent_of_lilacs | Commentfic Monenday

Commentfic Monenday

Commentfic Monenday! Comment with a prompt as many times as you'd like. Respond to another's prompt as many times as you'd like. Dracula / Nosferatu focus.

Commentfic is a type of fanfiction prevalent on journaling sites, such as LiveJournal or DreamWidth. The term derives from the fact that the fanfiction is written and then posted in the comment field of a journal entry.

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Her mother had smelt of lilacs, lying in state, hands folded prettily around a rosary from the old country. The child wanted nothing more than to climb inside the box and lie with her mother, lay her head on her mother’s breast, and have her own lips sewn shut. She had seen the stitches when she pressed her face close to hers. She had also seen the crescent moons of her mother’s eyes and wondered why her mother would sleep with her eyes cracked open. She had been slapped soundly when she had asked questions about any of this. The odour, the gossamer thread, the white slit of cornea. It had been her father’s brutish palm, of course, and Miss Plum, the nanny, urged her out of the parlor and back up the stairs and into the nursery which welcomed her like a diseased friend in a sick bed.

Her mother had a small and perfectly pruned lilac tree in a pot in the conservatory. Her mother had a talcum between her chafing thighs that smelled of flowers. She hid in the voluminous skirts until finally admonished and shamed in front of her uncle by her father and she remembered her mother’s face, the sadness. Her father was gifted at separating souls and dessicating them with a bitter tincture of loneliness.

Anna’s mouth had tasted of lilacs, but that was, of course, nonsensical. Had she ever touched the tip of her tongue to the riot of purple flowers as they dripped scent like petals? Anna had been the one to demure once she was engaged to Friedrich. And Friedrich watched her with an unblinking gaze of a snake like the one trapped behind a pane of spitty glass at the Tierpark that she swore had whispered a reptilian secret to her that day she and Anna had wandered to and fro arm in arm.

Friedrich brought his friend, Thomas, into her world. Her world was a cramped and contained thing, she a living corpse inside a satin lined coffin. Thomas ripped off the lid and insisted she step out and join him in spaces so wide and open and full of fresh air that when she was with him her heart soared like a bird and the sun darkened her skin and warmed her blood and she smelled nothing more than salted ocean air and long-grassed meadows and trees that bloomed with pink tulips.

That world was akin to the worlds one visits in a dream. Somehow, Thomas had made the dreaming world a waking one and her nightmares returned whenever she slept, dreams were for the days, nights were for the hauntings. Tortured flesh, piercing teeth, menstrual blood, the impossible weight pressing down upon her, the prick of pleasure, the sigh of release and the scent of lilacs like a nosegay masking the stench of her lover’s flesh and bone.

Beautiful, E., just beautiful, and so very evocative.

I love the subtle references to E's love for her friend Anna, and visa versa, and how Friedrich intervened, destroying that delicate love.

Also, how Thomas was a breath of fresh air to E. - most especially that last perfect paragraph, describing her days followed by the haunted nights.

And of course, the theme of lilacs woven throughout!

Thank you, G! This certainly is a creative fandom - endless possibilities it seems to me! I enjoyed writing this and I'm so happy you enjoyed reading it!

What's another challenge we can post? I'm about halfway through the novel. So many scribbled notes. I'm surprised this wasn't taught when I was an English major!

You're most welcome, E. : )

I must say, I'm really enjoying this comm!

And yes, I'm surprised Stoker's novel wasn't taught in class. It's so perfect for that.

Hmmm - challenges.

We've done prompts based on quotations (which I really love) - but how about prompts based on pictorial images? The writer could base their story or dabble on a photo from a film, or an illustration from a book or story? As an artist, this appeals to me!

Ooooh! I love image prompts! Think of something clever for Tearsday and post it! Make a banner, too!

I was at work yesterday, so unable to post an image prompt, but will definitely do so in the near future. Do you want to keep image prompts to Tuesdays? Or?

This is rich and piercing, lovely. Thank you for it.

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Commentfic Monenday

responding to my own prompt

Re: responding to my own prompt

Re: responding to my own prompt

Re: responding to my own prompt

Re: responding to my own prompt

Re: responding to my own prompt

Re: responding to my own prompt