Ludolf: Not your best work, but it’ll do. I’ll leave the money on the table.
Leif: Thank you. Do you want to use my shower?
Ludolf: No time. Us job creators have lots of places to be.
[SCRUB SCRUB]
Leif (thinking): It got later than I thought.
Leif: Thorn? Thorn!
Tiernan: Mrrrrowl!
Leif: Thorn’s kitty!
What is it, girl? Did Thorn fall down the old well? . . . and did you get a new color scheme? I like it! Very dark-mode.
[psssshhhh]
Leif: There you are!
Don’t know why I got so worried, but I’m really happy to see —
— uh, did you kill a dog?
Thorn: Not a tame one. A feral beast. You’re safer with it gone.
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11 Comments
In just a few panels, AU Ludolf has been made extremely hateable. What else can you say about him, when Ludolf acts as if he’s a important job creator, when he goes to the graveyard house of an undertaker for sexual services rather than the lounging chambers of a courtesan?
Well it’s a vampire AU, odds are Thorn’ll rip the bastard to shreds and not even drink his blood as an insult.
I kinda feel like the dog is Thorn the Extremely Nice’s not very subtle expression of what he thinks of Leif’s “guest”…
Or of himself—after all, he struggles with his desire for Leif’s blood, and as a vampire hunter, he certainly might think of himself now as a feral beast who puts people in danger just by being around them
Maybe he can’t publicly admit he likes men …
Not sure there are “courtesan lounging chambers” these days in any version of the Leif & Thorn universe…
‘Courtesan’ might not be the right word, but I figured that the Leif & Thorn universe would have unproblematic prostitution, that it would be a career choice which would not be maligned.
There’s a lot of skill in giving this Ludolf rancid vibes without suggesting misconduct. One wouldn’t be surprised if he was a crook but equally plausible that he’s just unpleasant.
Oh, awesome, that’s exactly the impression I was going for.
You’ve succeeded. He’s loathsome.
Personally, the people in power who are not crooks by virtue of manipulating the laws to exclude their misconduct and those others who take advantage of those same “loopholes” are in my opinion worse than crooks. Not sure about Ludolf in *this* AU, but in the main AU, it’s my impression Ludolf fits squarely in the “others who take advantage of those same “loopholes” category.
As such, while I agree that Erin has achieved that ambiguous vibe here, it makes this Ludolf feel potentially not quite as loathsome as the regular Ludolf to me, if only by the potential ambiguity of maybe being just a simple crook or maybe just being a garden variety shady businessman.
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