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I found him. Quite by accident, but I found him. I bet you didn’t think he existed. That you thought they were first. The missing link. The beginning.
The very first sparkly vampire!
Beef from Phantom of the Paradise
I have no problem with sparkly vampires. It’s perfect for branding. Whenever you hear “sparkly vampires”, you think “Twilight.” (Whether you think “yay Twilight” or “oh god no Twilight” is another issue.)
Photo by Jan Messersmith
A character just said: “[This Creature] doesn’t exist.”
Blink. Gasp.
[This Creature] could be demons or ghosts or leprechaun. I’ll refuse to believe. Okay, I’ll believe leprechaun don’t exist, but anything else is fair game.
The author doesn’t make a character say this to build the tension. Oh no, demons can’t possibly exist — except they do and we have to come to grips with it in time to save everyone. Or a demon can’t possibly do that — except it is doing that right now and it’s killing everyone and can we go and kill it now because it is happening and people are dying.
Nope, the author is drawing the line to build their world. Vampires exist, incubi exist, but demons? Nope. That’s just human superstition.
So I tried to think up a new character, starting with their species. I didn’t want to go with anything too standard… like kitsune. Kitsune has become my standard first-thought creature, even before vampire and catboy. You know me, I always want to try something new.
And I couldn’t think of a darn one. My mind utterly blanked.
Photo by Kittenpuff1
Every culture has it’s superstitions (even the ones that balk at such things). Some of them can be really fun, and others… not so much. With number thirteen for example, you could match it with a low birth rate that year.
And why thirteen? Just because it’s an unlucky number 
Photo by Dave
So what, or rather, who is Tsukiyomi? I’ve named my blog after him and more than a few people visit this blog to learn more about him. I haven’t written about who he is before, even though I’ve wanted to, because he’s just so gosh darn difficult to encapsulate. Since there’s so little (in English) about him, you need to fill in the gaps a little.
Three years after finishing CLAMP’s Tokyo Babylon series, I still feel that Seishiro handicapped his bet. I mean, come on, how could the winner also be the judge? How fair could that be? If you bet someone that you won’t fall in love with them after a year, of course you’re not going to fall in love… or at least, if you’re as heartless as Seishiro, you’d never admit it.
After all that, how could he not love Subaru?
One of the fascinating things about CLAMP’s works like Tokyo Babylon, X/1999 and xxxHolic is the onmyouji, like Subaru. Wizards are fun, but onmyoudo puts a whole new interesting twist on magic.
This past week, I’ve imagined what Torchwood would be like if they a kistune agent (who I named Kaine). Torchwood seriously needs more non-humans on their team – especially some that Jack won’t automatically outlive.
Kaine would be a great weevil hunter, since his foxy aura would scare weevils into submission and his fast legs could hunt them down quicker. He’d also add worth as a supernatural advisor, someone who can help Torchwood with the preternatural creatures born on Earth, like fairies.
He’s quite young for a kitsune so he’d enjoy few powers. He rarely smiles and, as the team would discover, smiles only when Ianto gifts him with a children’s toy. Like temari, a paper ball, which Japanese children used to play with, because Ianto is just awesome like that.
Vampire, werewolf, witch, ghost. All as predictable as urban fantasy revolving around a murder mystery.
If the character is pale and stays in the shade, they’re a vampire. If they disappear on the full moon, they’re a werewolf. If they use magic, they’re some kind of witch/magician. If they’re a paranormal detective, then they’re probably one of the above. If they can’t touch anything, they’re a ghost. Yawn. An author has to be highly imaginative when using these common monsters (and you’ve got to admit, you’d never suspect a vampire to sparkle).
No one ever suspects a character is really a comb.
A comb? No, not just a regular plastic comb. A spirit that used to be a comb. Tsukumogami are Japanese spirits that originate from items or artifacts (such as doors, hinges, swords, heirlooms) that pass 100 years in age.
