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[balthazarslostlibrary]

for my love, my darling, my dearest, esther

1-- What memory would your OC rather just forget?

20-- Does your OC have a tendency to get jealous? If so, how does this manifest?

25-- What is your favorite thing about your OC?

Ah, Esther, one of my favourites. I knew that I would have to do some Esther writing since I asked for prompts, and I am happy to oblige.

Also cw for thoughts of worthlessness

1. The winds of the desert howl around Esther as she stumbles through the endless waste of sand and dead ruins. It's just the start of evening, she made sure to wait until the rays of the sun weren't so scorching as to impede her escape into the dunes, leaving the rest of the party sleeping soundly while she quietly slipped away. A newly made ghoul, escaping in the night. How cliché.

Esther curses as she trips on something hidden just underfoot by the sand. For a moment she thinks she sees the charred boot of Paladin Var, the man she played a part in murdering the day before, but a second glance shows it is only a rock. Esther stays staring at it for a long time before trudging onwards.

'I wonder if they will find me.' She thinks as the sand buffets her rag-covered body. After almost two weeks being starved of flesh, the ghoul's thoughts are sluggish and tired, and they swing wildly from the nausea and pain in her stomach, to her many guilty thoughts from the previous day. 'I wonder if they'll even come looking.' She thinks 'I wouldn't.'

20. Esther sits in the temple garden awaiting the two gnolls who are set to be Taralin's traveling companions and honour guard. She is now a high priestess, a far cry from three months before when she first became a ghoul, and she bears that responsibility with a self-assured and confident manner. Esther is now a woman with a lot of social power, and a lot of physical power, two things she needs to remind herself that the gnolls will respond to.

A gasp of surprise from one of the other faithful in the garden signals to Esther that the gnolls, Eats Many Birds and Sand in the Nose, have arrived. Despite what she has told people, many still are shocked at the appearance of the huge hyena-folk that never seem to have their weapons far away from their persons. The pair look strangely awkward in the garden and are clearly lacking in the bolshy swagger they gain when with the rest of their clan. 'Good' Esther thinks as she waves them over, standing as she does.

"Why have you called us here, Taralin-pulûrz?" Eats Many Birds, the larger and more confident of the pair asks bluntly. Esther's mind races to translate the unfamiliar term from Abyssal to common, but keeps her expression and stance confident with her chin sticking out 'Now, ûrz, that's an adjective right? And pul, that's...sex?!' Esther struggles not to show a flicker of surprise before understanding dawns, 'oh, Taralin's mate, that's what he means.'

"Yes, you are to be the Flind's guard on his travels." Esther replies bluntly, rolling her shoulders in what she hopes is the right body language for a mild threat to gnolls. "I know that your people value the powerful as mates, but know this." She steps forward, causing Sand in the Nose to step back in submission slightly; Eats Many Birds however, does not move. "Taralin is mine." Esther bares her teeth and bites the air in front of the male gnoll's snout, challenging him. "Don't even dare to court him, or I will find you and challenge you, and you don't want to take up that challenge." Her words are barely more than a snarl to get the point across to the defiant gnoll.

After a long moment, Eats Many Birds also backs down and looks away "Kultazash, Priestess, so it shall be." He mumbles and stays standing beside Sand in the Nose, who hasn't said anything throughout the entire encounter. "Good." Esther replies, somewhat surprised that it was that easy and momentarily slipping out of gnoll body-langauge. After catching herself once more, she nods, "go now, and tell the others of the clan what I have told you now." She commands. It is only after the pair slink out of sight with tails drooping that Esther relaxes, and she lets out a huge sigh of relief as not having to brawl in the temple gardens. Sitting down once more, the corner of her mouth twitches into a smile. It was maybe a jealous impulse to be so aggressive towards the pair, but after all, Esther thinks, Taralin is mine! And she wouldn't put it past members of the clan to try something. Her only hope now is that the news of the High Priestess willing to challenge a gnoll doesn't put her in the potential pool of powerful and eligible people.

25. Graszha holds onto Esther quietly and tightly in the twilight before dawn as they lay in the soft bed, a mobile of feathers and shiny stones gently spinning above the pair. It has been a hard day, with many people bringing many problems to Esther the High Priestess, that she's barely had any time to be Esther the Person. Fortunately, Graszha the Child has forced her away from her temple duties by virtue of needing to be put to bed.

Laying in the soft silence, Esther thinks of all the duties that she needs to complete tomorrow, until she is brought out of this by Graszha crying out from a bad dream. "Shhhh shhh little one, it's alright, I'm here, it's not real. Yes, try to go to sleep again. No I'm not leaving, don't you worry." The words are almost scripted at this point with how regularly they are said, but it never becomes less fulfilling for Esther to see Graszha settle back down once more and fall asleep. Out of all her roles in life, she likes Esther the Mother most of all.

[ricky-mortis]

TCB/Shipwrecked/Pulp Doodles!

[booigi-boi]

Only adult Scooby Doo that matters 🐶🙏 Solve It Squad beloved

Still thinking how they used Cluebert's body as a tree topper

[yourlocalabomination]

I ain’t afraid of no ghost!

[awnrii]

solve it squad

[starcanwrecked-sexyman-bracket]

[doug-meat]

“ohhhh this is the best christmas carol” “noooo this is” that’s cool but have you considered the fact that. i fuck with christmas??? christmas is my business?? if you wanna hit this?? you can try???

[man-down-in-hatchet-town]

The Solve It Squad as Servants of the Lords in Black

AKA an AU I think about a lot but will probably never write.

Gwen: Blinky. This one's obvious and easy. Gwen's career is all about fame and perception, and she loves to be noticed--her underlying character motivation often boils down to "get as many eyes on me as possible." And she's constantly positioning the others in front of cameras, doing her best to lay them bare to the world, even when they're at their very worst.

Esther: Nibbly. I briefly considered putting Scrags here, but ultimately decided that his relationship with food is far too complex. Esther, on the other hand, doesn't really have that problem. Despite their anarcho leanings and consistent disdain for capitalism, deep-down Esther is all about consumption, and often the pointedly mindless kind. The non-stop intake of substances, the way their brain devours information when they're sober... hell, they even work as a sample person at Costco of all places (no offense to Costco).

Keith: Tinky. Another bastard-and-bastard duo. While T'noy Karaxis is all about the false promise of nostalgia and the dangerous allure of living in the past, connecting him to all of the Squad but Esther, Keith takes it to a whole new level. This man is in his 30s, and he lives in the car he drove in high school, maintains an imaginary relationship with his girlfriend from freshman year, designs and sells merchandise of his high school glory days, and at one point even puts on the clothes he wore when he was probably fifteen. But really seals the deal is his Tinky-esque willingness to trap others in the past with him, going so far as to manipulate and deceive in order to return to a time where he felt he mattered. And what's more Tinky than that?

Scrags: Wiggly. Representing Capitalism, Wiggly is all about the holes that the ravages of time leave in people's souls, and the mad, exploitative rush to find something that fills them. And who feels the wounds of the past more deeply and painfully than Scrags? Unlike Esther, Scrags is forced by diabetes to find something other than straight-up non-stop consumption to deal with his losses, and unlike Keith he operates under the delusion that he's not still living in the past. But he's nonetheless constantly searching for an out. So instead he loses himself in his job, working as basically a cop of all things, and what's more capitalist than that?

BONUS--

Cluebert: Pokey. "Cluebert, you’re the tie that binds us all as ONE." He was their unifier, the thing that kept them working as one unit. Also, let's be real, a talking dog is some Pokey-ass shit.

[ace-and-the-rpg-horrors]

sorry lads, Dead Boy Detectives was ACTUALLY cancelled because Monty got hit with the straight beam. rejected by exactly one boy, and he turned to piracy and heterosexuality. sad!!

[awigglycultist]

Scrags: Say no to drugs

Esther: Say yes to drugs

Keith: It doesn't matter if you say yes or no to drugs. If you're talking to drugs.. then you're on drugs

[romchat]

My Journey to You Ep. 23 visuals: Ravens only belong to winter

Say what you will about this show's writing for the lead characters (particularly Gong Ziyu and Shangguan Qian), but you can't deny MJTY's writing when it comes to its minor characters. I came to care for so many of them with just a few scenes, and I think a lot of that is due to the show's visual storytelling, which is used to reinforce its themes in an almost brutally efficient way.

Nowhere is this truer than with Hanya Si and the show's use of shadow and light to communicate his story.

The death and violent secrecy surrounding Wufeng have been etched so permanently on Hanya's soul that he can't escape its darkness. He no longer sees himself as a man, but as something less than:

"[Ravens] know there are hunters and traps in the dark forest, but they can never fly to the light. They've been eating dirty mice and rotten meat since they were born. Even their screams are fearful and ferocious. They can only live in the dark and beneath the sunset."

This is communicated over and over again with how the show physically positions Hanya either against or away from light for most of his scenes. Whether at the Wufeng headquarters or in the Gong residence, he is placed in the shadows--even as other characters stand in or move toward light.

Interestingly, he's really the only assassin we're officially introduced to who is shot like that. For example, check out the scene below where he, Hanya Qi, and two of the wangs meet. Even though the overall scene is dark, Hanya Si is the darkest as he's positioned furthest away from the overhead light. And in the final showdown at the Gong residence, the other assassins fight during the day (which Hanya Si has never been portrayed as doing until his final scene). Unlike the others who revel in killing their targets in broad daylight, Hanya has become so consumed by his sins that he doesn't believe he's worthy of existing anywhere but the darkness.

(Side Note: I found it telling that the last Wufeng attack that killed Gong Shangjue's mother and brother also happened during the day rather than at nighttime. There's a startling brazenness to Wufeng's violence.)

The exception to this pattern, of course, is when Hanya is shot with either Yun Weishan or Yun Que. Those moments with his protégés are the only times he embraces his own humanity and dares to step out of his self-imposed prison to provide care in whatever misplaced way he can. It's only in those scenes that his face becomes awash in direct light.

So when Hanya decides to help Weishan fight Ziyi, it's fitting that the show commemorates this character-defining moment by drenching the entire screen in sunlight.

I absolutely love this shot with the lens flare. The show rarely uses this camera effect in its outdoor cinematography so you can feel the foreignness Hanya must have felt walking into the early morning light to face his destiny. The blown-out sky is wondrous and almost overwhelming in its brightness.

And it also seals his fate because we know ravens can never fly to the light; they can only live in the dark.

The mirroring of Weishan and Hanya’s first sunset and last sunrise together nearly took me out. Director Edward Guo clearly likes reusing certain compositional elements to establish his characters, and with Hanya's scenes that repetition not only lends itself to a feeling of tragic inevitability but also freeing closure.

"I watched the sunset so many times with you. This time, I can finally watch the sunrise with you."

What a perfect way to send off this character.

[balthazarslostlibrary]

for the oc ask meme... could i perhaps ask about my dearest wife, esther? 9 and 14...

Of course, any new Esther things fill me with joy. 9. Do you have a specific lyric or quote which you associate with your OC? I actually don't really associate her with any lyric or quote, but instead the poem Invictus. She has a fierce determination and has gone through so much to get to where she is now, and she finally has control over her own existence. Throughout everything though, Esther has always done things deliberately, and has always kept a small part of herself that is her that cannot be gotten to or destroyed by anyone or anything. Now that she has security, she shares that small bit of herself with two people, Taralin her wedded partner, and Grazsha their adoptive daughter. But no matter what, she will never give up to make things right. 14. How does your OC want to be seen by other characters? Previously Esther was very concerned about being seen in a particular way by other characters, not just socially but also physically. She wore her mask almost all of the time because she was ashamed of her facial scars, but she also put on an air of cold detachment, of being completely capable and not needing any help. When she became undead, Esther kept this facade up; even though she felt better in her own body, she was still afraid to let others see her transformed physical form for fear of rejection (do you see the trans metaphors I put into her yet?). Now, after finding who she wants to be, who she is, and what she wants to do with her existence, she has shed all her previous wrappings and her mask and stands tall and proud. Out of anything to be seen as, she wants to be seen as kind and fair, because she worries that she isn't. But mostly she just puts herself out there and wants people to see her as she is, without lying.

[exalt1ora]

love of my life

when they said “i don’t spend the night with anyone more than twice” THATS OKAY ESTHER I WILL TREASURE OUR TWO DRUG ADDLED NIGHTS TOGETHER PLEASE PLEASE ONE CHANCE

[booigi-boi]

Are you a depressed dog dad who desperately needs a break, on an unhinged enby who fucks with Christmas? 🐕🎄

Or Cluebert

[missholloween]

Saw the digital ticket of Solve It Squad in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (rent it if you can it's so good) and I must say, they are all so in love with each other

Like, Keith and Gwen it's a given, the own text supports it. But this production made it more two sided, and so cute honestly? Like, Keith still sucks and Gwen still cheats on him, but they go to the other when in need.

But also, Gwen and Scrags!!! Their scene is so cute together!!!! By making Gwen's crush on Scrags almost dissapear, their interactions feel more genuine.

I'm not the biggest Scrags/Keith enjoyer, but I get it now. My favorite part about them was that, during Scrag's monologue, the camera were fix on both Scrags AND Keith. He took it personally even when he was doing it for him <3333 AND THEIR HUGS!!!!

But the best part for me were Scrags and Esther. They have So Much chemistry together since their first scene together!!!! Scrags is always leaning on Esther, and they are fond of him too, in their own way. There's a couple moments where they're so close they could've kissed, and Lauren threw herself without any beat of fear. I'm a little bit sad their final dialogue before the chase was cut off, but it was totally worth it <3

TL; DR sis polycule real, all of them desire the other carnally, and their chemistry was over the moon in this production

[amazingmsme]

A Good Golly Holiday Time

AN: Extremely loosely based on the squealing santa warmup prompt featherflake & basically just my excuse to write for The Solve It Squad/How the Grunch Cribbed Christmas. Ever since I first laid eyes on Scrags I knew he had to get wrecked. Hope you enjoy, merry Christmas & happy holidays to everyone! Really gonna try to pump out one more holiday fic but we’ll see about that won’t we?

Scrags... really wasn't having a good time. He normally tried to avoid the holidays because it only served to remind him of the family that didn't want him, and that fucking Maddie girl in his dad's reserved seat was just rubbing salt in the wound. He tried to keep his glaring to a minimum.

It seems his efforts failed because his friends very easily picked up on his sour mood, and it was obvious that they were walking on eggshells around him. They were in the craft portion of the planned activities, and it felt like his friends were coddling him rather than actually checking in. It was insulting damn it, he was a grown ass man! He didn't need their condescending praise about his crappy snowflake or the pitying looks they cast his way when they thought he wouldn't notice. Well news flash: he notices everything; he's a fucking FBI agent for crying out loud!

He heaved a heavy sigh as he glued a handful of feathers onto his snowflake. Keith walked behind him and off to the side, looking over Ester's shoulder at the iPad in their hands.

"So, what's the chat saying about me?" he asked, sweeping a hand through his hair. Ester rolled their eyes as they continued to scroll through the comments.

"Not much, they're all talking about what a sad sack of coal Scrags is being," they muttered, causing Kieth to furrow his brows.

"What? No way, Scrags is always high strung and snappy, they just don't know him like we do," he tried to justify. He glanced up at Scrags, his playful smirk falling when he saw the way their friend's shoulders sagged. He slapped a handful of feathers onto his snowflake in a messy, haphazard thud onto the table. "Okay yeah, he is being a classic Grunch, but it's not like we can cheer him up." Keith caught sight of a nearby camera and flashed a smile and wink.

Ester rolled their eyes. Keith stepped in front of her to be in the camera's full view and addressed the audience.

"Hey all you beautiful people at home! Our friend Scrags is having a little trouble getting in the holiday spirit, so we're taking suggestions on how to cheer him up!"

"Really Keith? C'mon, we got more important things to do! I need all you fuck nuggets at home to donate in my name, got that?!" Esther yelled, addressing the camera as they shoved Kieth out of the way. "Think of the children, first and foremost, but make sure I fucking win when you do!" they insisted, drawing the attention of Gwen and Scrags with the shrill pitch of their voice.

"Esther, try and keep it down, it's arts and crafts time and I do expect you to use your indoor voice," Gwen said in her classic cheerful tone with a dash of condescension and and a pinch of superiority. Thankfully, neither Esther nor Keith paid her any mind as they searched the comments for ideas.

"Wow you guys really have no sense of humor," Esther muttered as they scrolled past a few particularly bad holiday themed jokes. Keith grabbed their wrist and pointed at the screen.

"Hold up, go back I think I saw something," he said, not waiting for them to comply and snatched the iPad.

"Hey, give that back!"

"In a sec!" he said, scrolling until he found the comment once more. He froze and looked at Esther with an excited, sinister grin. "I think mrsclausgiantjuggs just gave us the solution to our problem."

"Ew, Kieth-"

"No, it's a username! Here look!"

"No I don't wanna-" they stopped mid sentence as they read the comment. A devilish glint flashed in their eyes. "Is Scrags ticklish? You guys should totally tickle him, I bet THAT will cheer him up!" They looked up from the screen and locked eyes with Keith. An evil chuckle slipped out as they slowly crept over to their gloomy friend.

"Gwen, your snowflake is looking picture perfect, just like you," Keith flirted, ever the suck up simp.

She flushed and giggled, "Oh stop!"

"Scrags, buddy! Yours is... coming along," he said, staring at the mess of paper, glitter glue and feathers.

"Gee, thanks. Gwen made me do this so she wouldn't be crafting all by herself," he teased lightly. "But y'know, I think it'd look better if you did it, Esther. Or even you, Keith."

"The hell do you mean "even me?" he asked incredulously. Esther smacked him from behind, reminding him they had a goal to accomplish.

“Scrags, I gotta be honest with you. You’re acting like a Grade A Grunch, and the chat’s picking up on your vibe. Now if you don’t change that, we’re gonna have to take drastic measures,” he warned/threatened. Scrags merely rolled his eyes.

“Sorry that I’m no happy enough to conform to your cheerful holiday standards,” he quipped, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly.

“Well that’s where we come in,” Keith said, sidling up next to him. Scrags looked him up and down skeptically.

“I’m not really in the mood for jokes…”

“Oh but this isn’t a joke!” Esther assured from his other side, making him jump. “If you ask me, this is a sure fire way to get your cheer meter filled all the way to the tippy top!”

Scrags scoffed, returning to his half-assed snowflake. He jerked away with a squeal when he felt something soft and fluffy flutter over his ear. He looked over to see Keith twirling a feather between his fingers, sporting a wicked grin. Scrags held his arms out in front of him as a weak defense.

“Dude, no, we’re live,” he practically pleaded.

“Uh, I know. This was a fan suggestion!” he chirped. Scrags choked on his own spit, sputtering and stumbling to his feet.

“Ex-excuse me? No, I don’t believe you!”

“Oh but it’s true,” Esther spoke up from behind him, making his blood run cold.

He stared at her, completely frozen for a solid few seconds before his brain caught up with himself. “What?” he reacted with his entire body, tossing his head around to look at her, placing his hands on his hips in his iconic sassy dad pose. “Who would want to see that?” he demanded.

“I think a better question is who wouldn’t want to see that,” Gwen joined in on the teasing, walking up behind Scrags and squeezed both his hips, making his twist out of her grip with a choked off giggle. “Great idea Keith!”

“Technically all the credit goes to mrsclausgiantjuggs, but I am the one spearheading this mission,” he bragged on himself, but still gave credit where credit was due. Okay, so maybe he wanted to say that username one more time.

“No, okay, I am shutting this down, it is not happenIIING!” his stern scolding morphed into a shrill squeal when Ester grew tired of waiting and dug their fingers in his armpits. He whipped around just in time to see their sinister grin as they wiggled their fingers in the air, getting ever closer. He desperately tried to fight off the smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Not once up to this point in the livestream had he been so aware of the multiple cameras trained on them. He continued backing away from the threatening fingers… Right into Keith’s outstretched arms.

Strong arms, that immediately trapped him in a very tickly bear hug. “GOTCHA!” he yelled as he pinched and kneaded his sides and ribs, launching him into a full fledged giggle fit. He squirmed around like a fish on a hook, swatting and shoving at his probing hands.

“Aww, I can’t remember the last time you looked so happy, Scrags!” Gwen cooed, placing a hand over her melting heart. She wasn’t even meaning to tease, it was a genuine observation.

“Ihihihit’s fohohorced! Gwen d-don’t just stahahand there, hehehelp me damnit!” he snapped through his laughter. Before she could answer, Esther interjected.

“Uh oh, someone clearly isn’t feeling the holiday spirit!” He shook his head, eyes wide with panic as they lunged for him. Their fingers prodded his soft belly, causing him to double over in Keith’s grip.

“Oh I’ll help you alright! Trust me, when we’re through with you, you’ll feel like a million bucks! Just like when we were kids, right Mr. Giggles?” she asked and okay this time she definitely meant to tease. It had the desired effect and had him turning a rather adorable shade of pink.

“D-dohohon’t call me thahahat!” he cried indignantly, twisting around in his friend’s hold to hide his face from the camera, and hopefully protect at least a few of his tickle spots.

He realized his mistake when Keith took a deep breath and planted a loud, sloppy raspberry on his neck.

“OHOHOHO FUCK KEITH THAHAHAT’S SO GROSS, GEHEHET OHOHOFF!” Scrags’s hysterical laughter nearly blew out his mic before it tapered off into a less earsplitting volume as Keith pulled away, wiping a hand on his mouth.

“Sorry, could’ve sworn you said you liked raspberries,” he said with a shit eating grin. Scrags rolled his eyes, still grinning from ear to ear.

“Yeah, the fruit you dickwahahad!” his insult lost its edge when Esther drilled their thumbs in his hips, sending him back into helpless laughter.

“Hey, this is a charity livestream for children, watch your motherfucking mouth!” Esther yelled over him. Gwen gasped at the outburst.

“Well that’s the pot calling the kettle black!”

Esther smirked, cocking their head to the side. “Sorry Gwen, pretty sure you’re not allowed to say that anymore,” they said, shaking their head with a tsk. Gwen scoffed.

“Oh you are so asking for it!” And with that, she set her sights on a new target.

Needless to say, the chat was going wild, and they were gaining view by the second. It was a rare glimpse of the fun, bright eyed detective group they remembered growing up, and that was the greatest non denominational holiday gift anyone could ask for.