International Police Organization Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense

MEMORANDUM
From: Director Thomas Manning
To: Vampiric and Lycanthropic Studies Department
Subj: I need a PTA on the Chief's new friend. Yesterday.
Date: Tuesday 28 June 2411

Folks,

It's just come to my attention that the Chief's new ladyfriend (if that's what she is - who can tell with that guy) is a vampire. I would have thought this was a piece of information I should have had sooner than a week after she came to town, but that's a different memo for a different department. What I need from you is a Potential Threat Assessment, and thanks to the unique way in which Intel prioritizes these matters, I need it as fast as you can possibly make it happen.

Also, it'd be nice if someone could elucidate for me what the hell it means that she told Jones she was his "vampire love slave".

Manning

From: Maximilian F.W. Schreck Graf von Orlock
To: Director Thomas Manning
In re: I need a PTA on the Chief's new friend. Yesterday.
Date: Tuesday 28 June 2411

Director Manning:

I confess I'm not sure where you expect me to go with this. If I thought the individual in question had any sort of hostile intent, I would rate her very highly as a threat, but I do not. Therefore, on balance, I would have to say I do not regard her as a potential threat at all.

However. We've worked together long enough that I'm reasonably sure that's not really what you're asking me, so here is what I know.

First, what recognition data we have:

BPRD file photo by Bianca R

ABADEER, Marceline
HEIGHT: 5'11"
WEIGHT: 125 lbs.
EYES: Red
HAIR: Black
DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Blue-grey skin; pronounced (non-retractable) fangs; large pointed ears. Scar from vampire bite on left side of neck. Sometimes affects makeup which makes it appear as if this wound is still bleeding. Hair very long, nearly touches the ground when standing.
NOTES: Subject is a shapeshifter: height, weight, eye color, and presence or absence of hair are variable. Some reports indicate subject's eyes become green or aqua when startled.

Second, what you will most likely consider the bad news:

"The Chief's new ladyfriend" is no mere vampire. Marceline Abadeer is the only daughter of the late Hunson Abadeer, aka Molag Bal, better known to modern paranormalists as the King of Vampires or Lord of Blood - the former Duke of Sheol who created the sanguivorus curse, as occultists will still insist upon calling it. With his destruction (sometime between 1865, his last recorded appearance in the mortal world, and 2406), she took the title of Vampire Queen for herself.

Marceline and her twin brother Marshall were born on Earth sometime around the Standard Year 1000 to a human woman, about whom we know virtually nothing. Though her father was the inventor of what we now regard as true vampirism, and inflicted it upon many victims (willing and unwilling) in the eleventh and twelfth centuries SC, he appears to have had no such designs for his children, and in fact neither one was turned by their father. Marceline's vampiric lineage can be traced to an undistinguished twelfth-century member of the fourth generation, who does not appear to have known that he was turning the Lord of Blood's daughter. Indeed, it is reputed in vampiric circles that he did not survive turning her. (Where and when Marshall, who is also a vampire, received his "initiation" is not known to me.)

This, incidentally, is why Marceline is not a true daywalker in spite of her infernally distinguished parentage. She is much more resistant to sunlight than a vampire of the fifth generation should be - she displays a debilitating vulnerability only to direct, sustained exposure, and in fact can go about in daylight with sufficient care and protective clothing - but it will still harm her. Like all true vampires, she is indifferent to garlic and running water, but can be immobilized by a wooden stake through the heart. Interestingly, she can be photographed, unlike most of our kind (as you see above), but does not appear in mirrors.

The rest of her supernatural abilities can be traced to her half-demon origins, not her vampirism. She is an accomplished shapeshifter, able to assume all the traditional forms (erroneously) attributed to vampires in folklore - bat, wolf, etc. - as well as others not strictly related to... well, anything, really. She can fly, and in fact prefers to do so over walking or using furniture. She can also become invisible at will and is adept at planar travel.

In summary, Marceline Abadeer is an extremely powerful paranormal entity, combining attributes both vampiric and demonic with an agile and creative mind. Unless caught very much off-guard, she would pose a significant challenge to any BPRD tactical team attempting to take action against her.

Third, and most important, the good news:

This is, in my estimation, unlikely ever to become necessary. Contrary to the common perception of both vampires and demons, Marceline is neither aggressive nor cruel. She's a playful and creative soul - an artist. In 1400 years, she has amassed no personal power base, undertaken no reigns of terror - if any one of us can be said to have led a blameless unlife, it is she. She's a bit of a daredevil and doesn't shy away from trouble if it comes calling, but her pleasures come from travel, adventure, and music. It appeals to her somewhat perverse sense of humor to play to the common perception of vampires as capricious and dangerous predators sometimes, but so far as I have ever known, it is only play.

As for her somewhat intimidating title, you need have no worries there either. Long estranged from her father before his death, she never desired nor sought to possess his infernal duchy when he passed, and her arrogation to herself of the title "Vampire Queen" was and is largely a personal joke on her part. We vampires, as you well know, no more have a unified or monolithic culture than do ordinary humans. The idea of a single individual being our monarch in any conventional sense is ludicrous. Many of us do respect her, for her longevity, her creativity, and her integrity to her principles, but you may rest assured that we do not constitute an army-in-waiting.

In summary, my assessment is that Marceline does not constitute a security threat. If anything, she could be considered a potential asset, albeit not a direct or official one. If she has begun keeping regular company with the Chief, it is a virtual certainty that this is because she regards him as a friend, and if the above has made anything plain, I hope it is that the Vampire Queen is a powerful friend to have.

I have, however, nothing for you as to your last query. It's probably one of Marceline's little jokes... but it might also be one of her big ones. There's no telling from here, and frankly I doubt it is any of the Bureau's affair in either case.

Regards,
ORLOCK

MFWSvO/eh
Cc: gfc-l!kanzaki.iy

Is it wrong that I love Manning more and more every time we get these little appearances from him?

Seriously. I know he seems like a stick in the mud, but frankly the IPO could use a few more people who understand the power (and usefulness) of the bureaucracy, and whose first instinct in any given situation is to make sure all the logistics and forms have been properly seen to.

Ahem. Anyway, I love that passage more that it probably deserves. Excellent combination of "harried" and "conscientious."

That's one of my favorite pictures of Marceline as her profile picture; I usually prefer the more stylized Adventure Time art (the beady eyes, the minimalist faces) but some of the more humanized stuff can be really gorgeous. As a side note, you might be interested in Pancake Pancake Pancake, the art blog of Natasha Allegri, one of the lead storyboard artists/writers of Adventure Time, and the woman not only responsible for Marceline, but for fighting tooth, claw, and nail to get Fionna and Cake made and who came within a hairsbreadth of getting shitcanned by getting into Cartoon Network's face after they lowered the hammer following the airing of "What Was Missing."

She's pretty awesome, is what I'm saying. Here, have a Prince Gumball!

>"The Chief's new ladyfriend" is no mere vampire. Marceline Abadeer is
>the only daughter of the late Hunson Abadeer, aka Molag Bal, better
>known to modern paranormalists as the King of Vampires or Lord of
>Blood - the former Duke of Sheol

Oh ho ho ho ho. The Duchy Marceline is heir to is Sheol, is it? Assuming she slid out before Marshall, anyway.

Well THAT'S all kinds of interesting. And may, in fact, represent an oversight on Trigon's part. One of the first rules of usurping a throne is to always, always kill off all the legitimate heirs.

Granted, Marceline doesn't give a flying fuck about her Dad's old digs, aside from the fact that (if it's anything like her tour date in the Nightosphere in "Marceline and the Scream Queens") she can probably fill a stadium there anytime she wants. But that sort of mindset seems like it'd be alien to Trigon.

>Marceline and her twin brother Marshall were born on Earth sometime

Oh man, Marshall Lee is around? That's going to be epic.

Although potentially not pleasant for him, as his mind games might not be appreciated by, you know, people who aren't anywhere near as infatuated with him as Fionna is. Raven in particular would probably peg him (possibly inaccurately, possibly not) as a total d-bag within about three seconds.

>She can also
>become invisible at will and is adept at planar travel.

I like to imagine it was at this point that Orlock debated adding a small paragraph about Marceline's longstanding association with, and frequent extraplanar visits to, one of the more pathetic petty wizard-kings of Niflheim, but then decided some things just aren't any of Manning's goddamn business.

>Regards,
>ORLOCK

I see Orlock has stopped using his entire name as his sig. :)

>MFWSvO/eh
>Cc: gfc-l!kanzaki.iy

Uh... hrm. Who was he CC'ing on this? That's an Ishiyama domain, but I don't recognize the rest of it. I don't think it was the Chief; among other things, that would be a stunningly passive-aggressive way of undermining Manning, which ain't Orlock's style.

-Merc
Keep Rat

Case in point (from the Adventure Time comic):

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

- in which there is a retroactive, in-universe explanation for why you didn't see Marceline in Holiday in the Sun

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.