#<- fear

[lighthouseshepard]

here's a short little thing based off of this disco elysium fanart that ive been turning over in my head ever since i saw it. let that man REST and RECOVER.

You're outside of the old silk mill in a patch of grass that hasn't miraculously been swallowed up by pavement. It's your second day at precinct 41. Much of the time so far has been spent showing you around to get you acclimated to the new procedures and customs. You're unwilling to dampen the eagerness with which they welcome you by informing them you've been studying those procedures and customs for the last two weeks, so you play along with polite interest, like it's all new. 

You haven't had any actual cases yet and probably won't for a while. This is fine. Harry is still reintegrating himself back into the life he forgot, and while you've watched him take to some of it by muscle memory alone the rest is slow going. Some of his colleagues have more patience than others. For those who don't, you've found standing behind him and utilizing the power a single eyebrow raise seems to hold is enough of a reminder. 

The sun's out, vague in its promises of warmth but a herald of spring dawning nonetheless. All around you the last vestiges of winter have all but disappeared as La Revacholiere sheds her white coat. You, sitting cross-legged beside him at the indulgence of his odd request, have already taken your coat off in the hopes to feel at least a glimmer of heat on your skin. It's there, maybe, somewhere deep between muscle and bone. For right now it's enough. 

You cast a glance at him out of the corner of your eye. He sits resting back on his palms, legs spread out in front of him. At ease, you think, staring off into the sky. He's been silent for all of ten minutes now. The dazzling green of his blazer sets an example of color the grass beneath you could only aspire to in a fever dream, and wouldn't want to. 

"Detective," you say. 

"Harry," you say softly. You reach out an arm to put one gloved hand on his knee. "What are you looking at?" 

He doesn't answer. It's nothing new. You're used to it by now, how he'll tune out of the only reality you're aware of for another, like he's having a conversation with himself far away. Voices, he says, and you're still sorry you don't know what to say to him in response. Whether or not you believe him is irrelevant. He believes it. Somewhere in the center of the mind you're in awe of, thoughts which make leaps of logic and lightning instinct you haven't seen with anyone else in the RCM, is a small sad man curled up in on himself trying to rediscover the light. If it's all a consequence of that or merely a quirk to accompany the kind of person who would, and did, lick his finger after he touched the leg of an Insulindian phasmid, it isn't your place to question.

He blinks. It usually takes him a second to come out of it. He smiles over at you, turning fully in your direction a face weathered and worn by the terrible choices people make to survive grief. His facial hair has grown back in from where he shaved it in Martinaise. You like it a lot better this way. It's as inexplicable as the rest of him, and dare you say, cool. 

"Nothing. The clouds are finally parting," he tells you. 

"I've noticed." Your voice is dry, but fond. "I think Revachol has finally decided to wake up from her long sleep." 

"She doesn't really sleep," he says thoughtfully. A small shiver trails down his spine, barely perceptible. You don't ask for clarification. You kind of know, anyways. 

"Are you looking though, Kim," he says after a moment. "Really looking?" 

"I have no idea what that means." You tilt your head up towards the sky, fading bruises from the tribunal which nearly killed you both raw in the fresh air. It's a memory of a bad day, now. "Yes?" 

"What do you see?" 

Maybe he's trying to get you to play along with him, maybe he's serious. It's hard to tell. You study the sky above you, a distant landscape of clouds rolling gently against a foggy-gray backdrop. Brighter blue hides beneath in wait, peeking out in strewn patches. The tops of buildings brush the bottom of the horizon, a seamless blend of distant silhouetted shadow. Suddenly you're back on that swingset watching the tide roll out, except this time your mouth is too dry to whistle and everything is different. You still never told him what your favorite blue thing is. 

"I see a city of promise," you say, allowing yourself to be lost for only a moment. "War torn but recovering. Waking up as we're waking up from the cold, starting something new. She's had her spring before we came along and she will after we're gone, but-"

You look at him again, sidelong, pointed, wondering. "I'm glad I'm here to see it."

"Really? I see a cloud shaped like a horse," he says, and points. 

It's clear he's fully teasing you now. You roll your eyes, catching the way his expression softens as his arm falls. He heard you. 

"I don't think I want to die anymore." He admits it casually, like announcing the weather. The stone of it skips silently until it sinks and slow ripples of understanding come back to you. A frown pulls at your mouth, kept in check only by the remnants of a mask you know is slipping further day by day. 

"Oh?" is all you can say, though it's not really a question. He nods, staring back out at the horizon. 

"I thought I did for a long time. Years. I undertook the prospect of it like a task I was certain I wouldn't see the outcome of, and that itself would have been the reward." He shrugs, shoulders saying more in their slump than he could attempt. When he looks at you again, he's smiling. 

"But I don't. Isn't that wonderful?" 

Your hand tightens on his knee. It never left. "Yes," you say, watching the way his hair blows back in the breeze. You think about how that first week you mostly saw him in the snow and rain, a broken record spinning on pills and glass bottles. The clear light of day suits him. He almost looks younger.

 "That's pretty wonderful, Harry.” 

Something's there, deep between muscle and bone, a feeble and returning warmth. You don't dare dig it up. For now, it's enough. 

[an-na-ko]

Saw it was make a terrible comic day today (June 24 2025) so meet my cats

[wren-kitchens]

happy disability pride month and once again, FUCK lazy subtitles. fuck the [speaks foreign language] instead of actually transcribing the words, fuck shortening sentences and changing whats been said for no reason, fuck censoring swearing in captions but not in audio and fuck anyone who says youre being 'too sensitive' for being upset about a lack of accessibility

[wu-does-art]

the contrast of kris/player relationship between routes is absolutely hilarious

[darcyolsson]

huuuuge fan of little phrases you can add to the end of your sentences just for fun. "if you even care" and "btw" and "I fear" have done sooo much for my vocabulary. if you even care

[jakeperalta]

saw this very [ben affleck depressed smoking image] comment and thought why does blue job / pink job sound like an established concept so I looked it up.....

what's next?? having a bank account is a blue job 💙🏦☺️ not being legally recognised as a person in your own right is a pink job 🩷🥰💅

[mythalism]

i actually need to know people's thoughts on this because at least in my experience the answer to this has drastically changed since i was on tumblr in the 2010s and its driving me fucking insane

*im talking about fandom takes specifically. not someone being horribly evil about a real-life issue or or blatantly factually incorrect. literally just harmless fandom disagreements or differing interpretations of a text/character/etc.

[donnieisaprettyboy]

“what if kids identify with something and it ends up just being a phase-?” good. stop teaching and expecting kids (and adults honestly) to formulate permanent traits and ideas of themselves. everything in life is a phase. that doesn’t make it any less legitimate while you experience it. let people explore themselves and know it’s okay if what you think about yourself changes.

[coleopterabyte]

Part of the reason I'm so adamant about encouraging people to get comfortable with bugs, my own interests aside, is because we cannot have a bright, solarpunk future without them.

A green future is not a bugless future. It is, in fact, a fairly bugful future. If you care about ecological stability, then you need to start with bugs, because they're the most at risk with our current use of pesticides.

[crabussy]

slightly furious reminder that fish do in fact feel pain and do in fact experience fear and distress when in pain since people seem to love spreading the myth that fish don't feel pain. what is it with people assuming a creature is incapable of feeling pain or emotion just because it doesn't have complex facial muscles. come on gang

[stealingpotatoes]

terrible news: the only way to find out if something you create is gonna be good or bad is to actually create it

[houseofmcallister]

Saw a tiktok of a guy saying he doesn’t feel comfortable talking to minors because he’s 19. And it’s just. I’m so fucking tired of this.

And like to be clear, I’m speaking as a victim of pedophilia when I say: We need to get over this collective fear of endangering children. Because holy shit, this stuff is getting out of hand.

The average person is not a threat to a child.

And also!!! It is actually really really good for kids to have friendships with adults that aren’t their family.

Having friendships with adults when you’re younger prepares you for adult life in a better way then only interacting with adults that are family members or teacher as well.

And also if there’s any sort of weird behavior happening with adults or teachers, it’s very helpful to have unrelated adults, you can go to, and also have a model for what normal adults are supposed to look like.

And also! You’re just making it way easier for pedophiles to prey on children when you completely avoid interacting with them as an adult. Because kids are naturally inquisitive and curious. They are going to want to interact with adults and they are going to want to ask questions. And if the only adult adults that are willing to interact and speak with them or adults who have ulterior motivations. Guess what’s gonna happen.

Also on a more general note. Having a model for what a normal healthy adult is supposed to look like makes it way easier for kids to be able to recognize and identify when adults in their personal life are being weird.

[siegecraft]

i know it's hard. but i so firmly believe the strongest antidote to loneliness is reaching out first. and continuing to reach out. again and again and again. excise any scrap of shame you hold about being the person who texts first or pitches the plan or asks to get lunch. everyone is tired and busy and struggling. and afraid of feeling unwanted and unimportant. don't let the people you love feel that way. reach out first. don't be a ghost in your own life.

[duckysprouts]

when ur just a funky little skater punk hedgehog

(idk if u can tell but only his bangs are straightened, he has braids)

[official-boob-posts]

I’ve literally never heard this hello?

Also are horses predators in Christianity??