#(and hurt/comfort. HOW COULD WE NOT)

[ducktracy]

there are a lot of evil people in the world and a lot of darkness in the world and so it’s very important for me to stress that now more than ever is the time to spread kindness and compassion. combat the evil by not only not partaking in it, but actively refuting it. destroy the notion that being compassionate or generous or kind to someone is uncool or embarrassing or even scary. be the change you want to see. start a chain reaction. positivity only breeds more positivity. do an act of kindness for someone so that that person who is too afraid to do it themselves can see you, realize that they’re not alone, and perhaps sheepishly follow your example. and then the next person who is too afraid but sees that person can do the same. when bad news comes out about bad people or horrible atrocities in the world it’s such an easy impulse to despair, and obviously it’s important to feel what you need to feel. grieve. be angry. be sorrowful. be empathetic. but dust off your pants and get up and be a part of a chain reaction that, no matter how small the scale, and spread compassion and love and care. all the reasons why you might not—“it’s hard! it’s scary! people will make fun of me! it’s useless because there’s too much evil!” are all grade A arguments as to why you should. you have no idea how many people you could inspire to do the same. even if it doesn’t get you anyway far, you can at least say you have the nobility of trying. please choose love and please choose life. you are worth loving and you are worth inspiring others to love

[lazylittledragon]

ok i swear i'm not going to talk about my breakup forever but the thing that just keeps bothering me:

i know that not getting what you need in a relationship is a COMPLETELY valid reason to end it but also. i feel like having a very vulnerable moment where i opened up about my struggles with intimacy and being relieved that i didn't have to keep doing things i wasn't comfortable with, then being dumped a YEAR later because of my lack of intimacy. is something i should be allowed to be very hurt by???

[dollya-robinprotector]

I know I have a habit of always keeping things to myself… But why am I still surprised when people don’t know what I know?

[gaylactic-fire]

I still maintain there was (and probably still is) a very weird circlejerk surrounding whump/angst in the LU fandom

[lunatic-pudge]

To be honest, Postal 1 makes me sad cause it really is just the story of a mentally ill man who didn't get the help he needed. And since he didn't get the help, he ended up killing a bunch of innocent people who did nothing to deserve such fate. Then getting put in the mental hospital, where they keep him tied up and even thrown into a room way too small for his tall, lanky form instead of actually treating him for his schizophrenia.

Like, the events of Postal 1 would've never happened if Dude got the help he so desperately needs. And the way it's basically a real-world scenario that happens so often. Man, this one specific game got me spiraling cause of how it could've been so different if Dude just got help.

[paingoes]

Just Kidding ;P

i dont know why i was so determined to do the fake-out ending for some reason i just thought it would be really funny to leave you hanging for a day. destroyer IS technically over but thats only because this is where the story splits in two :)

Rubies is Delta’s post-captivity arc, pretty heavy on comfort and the aftermath of severe abuse/conditioning. light elements of dubious (but very well-intentioned!) caretaking and dehumanization.

Crash-Out is Paris’s post-royal arc. I don’t want to put too fine a point on it or spoil anything but since it’s Paris you can expect there will be a lot of discussion around addiction and abusive behavior. also there will be lady whump! 

i carried over the same taglist from Destroyer because these are continuations of the same story but if the change in content is something that turns you off and you’d like to be removed from either of them please let me know! 

as you know Destroyer had kind of an insane update schedule and i will not be able to maintain that for two stories at once, especially not as summer ends. this will likely be more of a slow burn.

also there will probably be a few more of those bonus chapters for Destroyer just in case you think delta got off too easy. so i guess even thats not really “over”.

anyway! thanks again for all the support <3 !

[wow-an-unfunny-joke]

A 5 +1 fic and its five times dazai breaks into Chuuyas apartment and one time Chuuya visits Dazai’s place

[jeremiahthefroge]

Every appearance of the red-haired menace that is early Laurence forces me to sit here and stew upon how I will fix his introduction in the rewrite. As a coping mechanism. Unfortunately since I can't remember the parts where his character isn't just harassment so I can't cook with the themes the way I'd like to. Like the way he calls Aph "my love" after she very explicitly in the text of the game tells him not to do that... bad vibes. I think I could rock with his character if he'd done the same sort of approach in hitting on Aphmau as heavily, but the moment she lays down an actual boundary, he backs way the hell off. I could even fuck with her trying to be subtle about the boundary and him not getting it and continuing to make her uncomfortable before she snaps at him and he apologizes, saying that he truly didn't mean anything by it, and he respects the boundary she lays like his life depends on it from then on out. It would create some immediate complexity in his need for explicit communication, and backs up the sort of deeper character hinting they seem to try to do when he's talking about Castor and Cadenza, this idea that he deeply cares, if being a bit pushy on accident. It would also make a good detail fueling the conflicts later on with the love triangle that can sort of prevent Laurence from looking like TOO much of a dickhead (him being unaware or misinterpreting situations, and the delicate nature of it making him uncomfortable asking questions, is a compelling reason to see somebody hurting his friends' feelings, and makes him significantly more sympathetic, opening him up for feelings of remorse and guilt).

[wifegideonnav]

tbh when mitski said “you’re my best friend/now i’ve no one to tell/how i lost my best friend”

[heartual]

had such a good experience with surgery today i can’t even fully explain

[bunnihearted]

𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ𐀔

[arrowfleur]

Quinn spoilers:

I actually really like how the Quinn story ended up for a lot of reasons.

Firstly very few people were expecting it to go down this way, there were plenty of theories about Quinn attacking Darlin’ or the mates so this was a cool change/twist.

If Quinn had just gone ahead and attacked Darlin’, they would have felt like their was no point in all the effort they’d put in to get closer with the pack. A big part of their char development was choosing to stay with Sam after finding out Quinn was up North. It would have definitely ended up in a physical fight had Darlin continued to hunt Quinn down, so having Quinn be captured really helps to show that the work they put in wasn’t for nothing in a way.

Similarly if Quinn had attacked the mates/pack it would have driven Darlin’ away and it would again, (at least make them) feel like they should have just gone after him when they had the chance. (Which is an interesting point to explore but so is the one Erik went with!)

We know Darlin’ is good with physical pain and struggles more with being vulnerable so Quinn doing this really drives home just how absolutely EVIL he is. He admits himself that ‘there is no greater pain he can give them’. He knows he doesn’t have any leverage (since the girl was dead already) and even then, when he knows that he has already lost, he still tries to bring them down with him.

Looking at it from the standpoint that it is Boyfriend ASMR it makes a lot of sense to do it this way. 1. Not many people in irl have had fatal fights with their ex partners, so the comfort that Darlin receives from Sam being about emotions and vulnerability is a lot more helpful and personal to a larger base of people. 2. A lot of the fan base aren’t comfortable with watching violence (a lot of people decide not to watch the imperium au or the inversion arc for personal reasons) so having it end in a lot of violence would have meant that a large portion of the fan base wouldn’t have been able to watch it and this has been a long awaited arc centred around a listener character specifically so it makes more sense this way.

And too add on to that, even if the video with Quinn and Darlin’ that we will be receiving some time in the future does turn violent it isn’t necessary to watch to understand what happened!

Anyways I’ll shut up now, thanks for coming to my ted talk /hj

[jaevy]

your room was square

i once noticed from there

in your bed, as you slept

and i held my breath

everything had its own place

and i wondered what space would i take

in the order you kept

[patchwork-crow-writes]

81 - A Heart Unmoored

There's a strange sort of sadness when you first arrive in a new place, don't you find? A moment, perhaps longer, where all the world's weight crashes into you from every direction, you forget how to breathe quite right, and it takes everything in you not to cry.

The dark can be scary, I know, but please don't fret. I'll be right be your side through it all, whatever may happen. Here, hold my hand tightly, listen to my voice, and let me guide you through the shadows, back to the place you most long to be; the place you are meant to be.

There is no shame in admitting it - you've been so strong for such a long time, you've almost forgotten how to let go. But it's okay... it'll all come back to you in time. And when that time comes, I will give you the space that no-one else would ever allow you to have, a space that is truly yours, and no-one else's.

Because home is a feeling above all else, isn't it? I can be your roaring hearth, your cozy blanket, your indulgent hot chocolate... wouldn't you like that, my light? A sleeve to dry your tears upon, and an embrace to melt into at the end of a long day. Tenderness can flower even in the strangest of spaces, with enough time and care.

Let my heart be your home-from-home, and I shall always be with you, no matter how far apart we are.

______________________________

The Dark Menagerie No. 81

<-<-First || <-Prev || Next-> || Index

[luvsavos]

i am once again apologizing for my lack of activity/responsiveness

my childhood cat passed away a few days ago which has just been more stuff on top of everything else for me to deal with to stress me out and upset me

i'll try to get back to stuff. Eventually. as soon as i can</3

[skellowmare]

azula will never cease to fascinate me and make my heart clench. being so much smarter and more skilled than anybody around you that it makes you aspire to impossible levels of perfection. having your own mother think you are a monster and that there is something wrong with you. yes she might have grown to be just as bad or worse than her father but she was still only a child. how would any of that not make you go insane