I feel like I read this chapter before... deja vu I guess 

Ah, Fina, the voice of reason. I enjoy her perspective and think her insight is valuable towards exposing Nora's darker side. While it's definitely a loss to lose her, she deserves to life her own life. I'm very curious to see where the story takes her!

The Pay-Off, The Sex, The Blood, Oh My!

Naughty girl... I swear it's all want want want with Nora...

What an interesting name for a chapter! 

I can see how Nora would have some of the qualities of the two-faced Janus.  She does have a duality to her nature - on one hand she may seem civil and understanding (for example her conversation with Fina) but on the other it doesn't seem like she's willing to let go and will simply find other ways to get what, or who, she wants (as is shown with her asking Thomas to interfere).  At the same time we are also getting a bit of potential deceit coming from Thomas himself.  He was rather insistent on pointing out that the caravan has been destroyed by ferals and not a vampire and also completely unwilling to let anyone accompany him. That is rather suspicious.

Part of me wonders if it is somehow related to his sister. ?

Oh, I didn't get a chance to comment on your previous entry, the " Terminus".  It was a great arc and even though we knew that things wouldn't work out for Nora (since the events shown were from the past) it was still a bit sad to see everything she's been planning out so carefully to blow up in her face.  She thought she was crafty and played the manipulation game rather well only to discover that she's been outplayed.  I guess no matter how smart and old Nora is, there are always those who are smarter, older, more powerful and who would easily use her just as much as she uses others.

By the way, I still love your scenery shots.  Like the one in the spoiler - it's so simple, yet so atmospheric! ?

This was a wonderful chapter with a lot of potential intrigue brewing. Awaiting to see what happens next!

As always, thank you for sharing your work with us! ?

Nice chapter, love how you managed to orchestrate the beginning with the pure silence. The effect was quite stunning for me as reader. 

But ehm... Fina has to go back to her mistress! =O

Not that I'm rooting for someone, but as you already know, she is one of my favs too

Oh damn, that's great!
But I don't quite understand Fina and her line of behavior, but that's from where I standing...
Anyway, thats a great entry and a great sex scene as always, Alter ^_^

21 hours ago, Jayomms said:

 I feel like I read this chapter before... deja vu I guess 

  Reveal hidden contents

Jay-omms: Oh Nora! I've come to join the party! 

Thomas: No!!! GO HOME JAY!!! I'll HAVE HER ALL TO MYSELF!!!! I WILL NOT HAVE OUR BALLS TOUCHING!!!

 

Love it! He's indeed like this. She'd be open to much more than him.

19 hours ago, Collygon said:

Ah, Fina, the voice of reason. I enjoy her perspective and think her insight is valuable towards exposing Nora's darker side. While it's definitely a loss to lose her, she deserves to life her own life. I'm very curious to see where the story takes her!

Yeah you definitely have a point. Usually I have the characters story planned ahead several chapters, but I'm seriously considering changing Fina's story.

I'm not sure I want to miss her from my story.

19 hours ago, bluepigeon said:

The Pay-Off, The Sex, The Blood, Oh My!

Maybe there will be a morning after in the next entry  

13 hours ago, xGHoSTx said:

Naughty girl... I swear it's all want want want with Nora...

You're right and we saw how that ended the last time in the hammerfell story.

2 hours ago, Alter Native said:

Love it! He's indeed like this. She'd be open to much more than him.

I'm working on a follower mod pack of my own with All my characters so far should be fun. I hope all goes well. 

14 hours ago, Devianna said:

What an interesting name for a chapter! 

I can see how Nora would have some of the qualities of the two-faced Janus.  She does have a duality to her nature - on one hand she may seem civil and understanding (for example her conversation with Fina) but on the other it doesn't seem like she's willing to let go and will simply find other ways to get what, or who, she wants (as is shown with her asking Thomas to interfere). 

Thanks, I knew you'd understand the meaning of the section name. It's one of the rare section where we see her interacting with her boyfriend, general people her former servant Fina, Amelie with a very special relationship and Valentina who's also a vampire and we see how her general tone and behaviour changes between the characters.

14 hours ago, Devianna said:

At the same time we are also getting a bit of potential deceit coming from Thomas himself.  He was rather insistent on pointing out that the caravan has been destroyed by ferals and not a vampire and also completely unwilling to let anyone accompany him. That is rather suspicious.

Part of me wonders if it is somehow related to his sister. ?

We'll see... maybe in section 12.

14 hours ago, Devianna said:

Oh, I didn't get a chance to comment on your previous entry, the " Terminus".  It was a great arc and even though we knew that things wouldn't work out for Nora (since the events shown were from the past) it was still a bit sad to see everything she's been planning out so carefully to blow up in her face.  She thought she was crafty and played the manipulation game rather well only to discover that she's been outplayed.

I wouldn't call it outplayed, there were just too many lose pieces on the board she had no influence on so thing could have gone wrong very easily and this is exactly what happend. She kind of outplayed Ahtar's father, even though he got what he wanted to and Ahtar is now married to Sena.

14 hours ago, Devianna said:

I guess no matter how smart and old Nora is, there are always those who are smarter, older, more powerful and who would easily use her just as much as she uses others.

 

By the way, I still love your scenery shots.  Like the one in the spoiler - it's so simple, yet so atmospheric! ?

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was a wonderful chapter with a lot of potential intrigue brewing. Awaiting to see what happens next!

As always, thank you for sharing your work with us! ?

Thank you very much for these kind words.

7 hours ago, Kin Tsuchi said:

Nice chapter, love how you managed to orchestrate the beginning with the pure silence. The effect was quite stunning for me as reader. 

 

But ehm... Fina has to go back to her mistress! =O

Not that I'm rooting for someone, but as you already know, she is one of my favs too

Thank you!

Technically Fina does not belong to Nora, she just serves her for money. Even though Nora freed her during Chapter 5 from some bandits.

I haven't decided on what I want to do with her and her story yet.

6 hours ago, Crw said:

Oh damn, that's great!
But I don't quite understand Fina and her line of behavior, but that's from where I standing...
Anyway, thats a great entry and a great sex scene as always, Alter ^_^

Thanks, Fina is just unconfutable having a 400 year old vampire around, especially when taking care of a newborn. 

-I admit, the way things ended from section 9, I thought this would start a new chapter - especially with the title Janus. 

-Stubborn Nora is cute   

-Love how manipulative Nora can be with people. Based on how I read Section 10, Nora is even manipulating even herself thinking her concern for Fina’s safety is just another reason of Nora’s need to feel a sense of control of things around her life (since her previous attempts blew up in her face in Section 9)

-I also forgot to mention back in section 9 comments you do an awesome job shooting Nora in the most extravagant outfits. To see her in plain clothes was jarring visually and in a thematic way as she recounts how she lost everything.  

Catching up, Like others, I do like the atmospheric ambiance shots that you do at the start of most scenes, it's very movie like, and it's one of those where your wish of untainted screens can be done without hurting the narration. On the contrary, the amount of dialogues afterwards has definitely increased. Yet you're getting good at playing with the stakes, Nora being in her usual poised stance while simultaneously embodying a threat just by herself. It's in that way that I'd interpret the Janus ; even if Devianna was probably more spot-on than I am.

Yet from that point of view, I found Fina quite daring to contest, and even insult her mistress, knowing what she's capable of. She must think Nora needs her badly to talk back to her that way. Even if she wishes to raise her child far from the vampires, it's a dangerous game she plays.

And visually, though the grain/contrast sometimes feels pushed too much on certain skins (like the peasant one at the start), the outfits, lighting, posing, background and expressions make it a treat. To the point the final sex scene could just feel as an added feature.

Good job ! ?

Malicia : « Nora said that Amelie is stupid, but that's very not true. She just isn't the most intelligent girl of her time, otherwise, she'd have very left, yes.

               Also she agreed the dress was very too tight when she talked... but she'd very dead, so she shouldn't breath when she talks, you see ? 

              So I say she's not any smarter than Amelie, no.  »

On 1/3/2021 at 7:30 PM, devious-Drunna said:

-I admit, the way things ended from section 9, I thought this would start a new chapter - especially with the title Janus. 

Yeah that kind of was the intention, but I have some more stuff to set up before starting chapter 10, which will have a different focus.

On 1/3/2021 at 7:30 PM, devious-Drunna said:

-Love how manipulative Nora can be with people. Based on how I read Section 10, Nora is even manipulating even herself thinking her concern for Fina’s safety is just another reason of Nora’s need to feel a sense of control of things around her life (since her previous attempts blew up in her face in Section 9)

 

-I also forgot to mention back in section 9 comments you do an awesome job shooting Nora in the most extravagant outfits. To see her in plain clothes was jarring visually and in a thematic way as she recounts how she lost everything.  

Thank you very much!

On 1/5/2021 at 8:55 PM, Tirloque said:

Catching up, Like others, I do like the atmospheric ambiance shots that you do at the start of most scenes, it's very movie like, and it's one of those where your wish of untainted screens can be done without hurting the narration. On the contrary, the amount of dialogues afterwards has definitely increased. Yet you're getting good at playing with the stakes, Nora being in her usual poised stance while simultaneously embodying a threat just by herself. It's in that way that I'd interpret the Janus ; even if Devianna was probably more spot-on than I am.

Thank you, (and sorry for the very late reply ?). Glad working on a story for years shows some fruits eventually. 

On 1/5/2021 at 8:55 PM, Tirloque said:

Yet from that point of view, I found Fina quite daring to contest, and even insult her mistress, knowing what she's capable of. She must think Nora needs her badly to talk back to her that way. Even if she wishes to raise her child far from the vampires, it's a dangerous game she plays.

At that point she's probably trying to cut ties to her. She probably knows that Nora wouldn't kill her in the middle of the village surrounded by humans. 

On 1/5/2021 at 8:55 PM, Tirloque said:

And visually, though the grain/contrast sometimes feels pushed too much on certain skins (like the peasant one at the start), the outfits, lighting, posing, background and expressions make it a treat. To the point the final sex scene could just feel as an added feature.

Good job ! ?

Thank you very much!

On 1/5/2021 at 8:55 PM, Tirloque said:

Malicia : « Nora said that Amelie is stupid, but that's very not true. She just isn't the most intelligent girl of her time, otherwise, she'd have very left, yes.

               Also she agreed the dress was very too tight when she talked... but she'd very dead, so she shouldn't breath when she talks, you see ? 

              So I say she's not any smarter than Amelie, no.  »

She even agreed with Amelie once she talked to Thomas, but she couldn't admit to Amelie that Amelie was right all along... ?

Cause you know she always wants to be right.