The Nightcrawler
Always a bad influence on me.
Not Kurt Wagner, not Marvel's X-Men, whom I loved dearly as a teen-ager and always wanted to meet. Partly to see him fence, partly to run my hands through the fur. (Which always embarrassed me as teen; now I suspect that, if real, he'd probably laugh and let me because don't you know he's used to people having that reaction?)
Anyway. No. Not Kurt Wagner. Lucius Divius, Lucien LaCroix, Nigel Bennett's character on Forever Knight. A Roman era vampire who did late night radio soliloquies in a voice like velvet corduroy. Even when I didn't agree with him, he could make me *think*. Superb writing sometimes on that show.
Which means, of course, that in the dark recesses of my mind, there's a LaCroix muse... lurking. Sitting there, pale and sharp eyed, seemingly relaxed with his hands folded on his chest, fingers steepled as he looks over them at me and... smiles. The fangs never show and it doesn't really *matter*. He's still dangerous. He's *always* dangerous.
It's part of what I like about him, apparently.
That and the voice. And the mind, sharp as his teeth, and the possessive nature, strong as his hands. He's always, to me, an old Roman paterfamilias which doesn't mean quite what the English cognates might imply. He was the head of his family, back when family included your kin, their spouse, and every household possession down to the slaves. Even when he was domineering, and dominating, (both coming, incidentally, from the Latin domus, or house), he was also acting towards what he considered the overall best interests. You don't damage your own property, after all. Not Lucius.
So. Fascinating. Unnerving.
And much, much easier to write...after dark.
Perhaps I will tonight.
If only to unnerve the Spike muse.
Not Kurt Wagner, not Marvel's X-Men, whom I loved dearly as a teen-ager and always wanted to meet. Partly to see him fence, partly to run my hands through the fur. (Which always embarrassed me as teen; now I suspect that, if real, he'd probably laugh and let me because don't you know he's used to people having that reaction?)
Anyway. No. Not Kurt Wagner. Lucius Divius, Lucien LaCroix, Nigel Bennett's character on Forever Knight. A Roman era vampire who did late night radio soliloquies in a voice like velvet corduroy. Even when I didn't agree with him, he could make me *think*. Superb writing sometimes on that show.
Which means, of course, that in the dark recesses of my mind, there's a LaCroix muse... lurking. Sitting there, pale and sharp eyed, seemingly relaxed with his hands folded on his chest, fingers steepled as he looks over them at me and... smiles. The fangs never show and it doesn't really *matter*. He's still dangerous. He's *always* dangerous.
It's part of what I like about him, apparently.
That and the voice. And the mind, sharp as his teeth, and the possessive nature, strong as his hands. He's always, to me, an old Roman paterfamilias which doesn't mean quite what the English cognates might imply. He was the head of his family, back when family included your kin, their spouse, and every household possession down to the slaves. Even when he was domineering, and dominating, (both coming, incidentally, from the Latin domus, or house), he was also acting towards what he considered the overall best interests. You don't damage your own property, after all. Not Lucius.
So. Fascinating. Unnerving.
And much, much easier to write...after dark.
Perhaps I will tonight.
If only to unnerve the Spike muse.