#and it's a bit creepy but that's okay

[lapetitechatonne]

Day Three: Eldritch Entity

i literally can’t believe it’s day three already!!! okay, but this story idea has been bouncing around in my brain for a while and i’m so happy to get an excuse to write it. i’m thinking about turning this one into a series, so if you’re interested let me know!!!

ao3 link!

Kate’s Masterlist here!

Trust Only the Dark - 2.2k words

Dani clutched her stomach as she stumbled down the dark cave system, the only light the greenish glow of the blood dripping between her clenched fingers.

Vlad’s stupid bounty hunters finally got a lucky shot after months of stalking. One she didn’t know if she’d survive.

She stumbled over a rock, her knees hitting the ground hard. The pain in her knees magnified by the ache everywhere else. It hurt. Everything hurt.

She blinked away tears as she watched her blood drip onto the ground.

That’s when she saw it.

The shadows crept around her, moving and stretching around the jagged rocks. A shiver ran down her spine as they started collecting in the dips of the cavern walls, thickening into swirling shapes. It reminded her of Johnny’s shadow or Vlad’s shades.

The pools of darkness slowly slithered together, into a large mass in front of her. She watched in fascination as it began to form a humanoid-like shape, sharp at the edges like static but drifting in and out of view like fog.

At its center, two glowing circles formed. They were pure white balls of gas against the darkness, which made them all the more intimidating.

The creature moved its long spider-like limbs skulking towards her like she was a wounded animal. Logically, she knew she should be afraid, that she should run away as far as she could and never look back.

But as she stared into the burning eyes of the creature, she couldn’t bring herself to run. There was something too. . . familiar.

“What,” its voice was a sound somewhere between tv static and shattering glass, the words barely recognizable, “you?”

It stretched out a long, knifelike finger, pointing at her.

Before she could think any better of it, she reached out too. As she neared its out-stretched extremity it screeched, slicing her hand and pulling back into itself.

She gasped, pulling her hand back into her. The scratch on her hand was deep, deep enough that she could see bone, and the sting was amplified by the pain already pulsing through her body. She hissed as she switched which hand was pressing down on her stomach wound so that way her uninjured one could also press down on this wound.

Soon she was gonna run out of hands.

She looked up at the creature as it shifted uneasily back into the crevices like it was waiting for her to attack it.

“I’m sorry,” her voice was barely more than a whisper, but the shadow tilted its head like it understood, “I didn’t mean to—ahh,” she groaned in pain as her head spun. She panted, taking deep breaths until it subsided a bit. She was losing a lot of blood.

And fast.

When she looked back up, the creature had inched forward a bit, its glowing white eyes almost curious.

“What you?” it asked again, this time keeping its distance.

“I’m. . . I’m nothing,” She bowed her head, tears pricking her eyes, “I’m something that’s not supposed to exist. Something no one cares about.” The words were thick in her throat but they were the truth. "I'm just a phantom," she laughed bitterly.

No one cared about her, whether she lived or died. Not really. Not because they actually cared about her or would miss her. They just because they didn’t like death, even less so when they played a passive part. She understood that after all her travels.

The difference between people caring about you and just not wanting to see you die.

The silhouette shifted, getting closer. This time she stayed still, not wanting to frighten it again. She knew what it was like to lash out because you were scared and you were used to people hurting you, she’d seen it so many times—hell she'd done it before.

“Hurt?” it reached out its finger again, this time slower. It dipped the sharp edge in her blood that was pooling on the ground.

She watched as it examined the slightly glowing substance. It looked curious and cautious, but no longer afraid.

“Yeah,” she laughed humorlessly, “he got a lucky shot in. Real lucky.” She smiled grimly up at the thing. Surely it knew she wasn’t going to make it out of this.

It continued to study her. Circling her. She watched the shadows bend and swirl around her like it was trying to engulf her. She continued to stay still, she was dying here anyways. There wasn’t any point in fighting.

Once it finished. . . whatever it was doing, the shadows gathered in front of her again, this time in a much smaller, almost human-shaped form. This time when it held out its claw-like hand it wasn’t scared. It was sure.

“I help,” it said.

Dani looked from its outstretched hand to its white, glowing gaze. Whatever this thing was, it seemed to think she was worth helping. She didn’t quite understand, but she decided that maybe she didn’t have to.

She slowly reached out and took its hand. It felt more solid than she expected it to. It was cold—which was something coming from her—and clammy like fresh snow melting under her touch. It pulled her to her feet, giving her a moment to catch her balance.

It lead her down the long dark cavern, though it didn’t so much as walk, but glide around the bumps and spikes on the ground. It was oddly fascinating to watch, even as she felt her brain becoming more and more cloudy.

She lost a lot. More than even a halfa should. It wouldn’t be long before she collapsed, leaving only a puddle of goo on the rocky ground. At least she wouldn't be alone.

Maybe that's why she was following the creature. Despite everything, even though she knew this creature didn't care for her, she was too scared to truly die alone.

They took twists and turns Dani didn’t understand, moving from one cavern to the next. Just when she thought she didn’t have it in her to keep going, she saw a soft green light emanating from the entrance of a new cave system.

The creature lead her to the cavern, and Dani couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

There was a small pool of a viscous green liquid, swirling around and around in a familiar pattern.

It was ectoplasm.

Her whole body could feel its presence and it ached to consume it. She moved forward, unable to control the pure need in her core. As she got closer she could tell it wasn’t quite right.

It wasn’t like the ectoplasm she knew, it was. . . wrong. Tainted. It was some kind of darkness he couldn't identify, not beyond the surface level.

Still her body craved it. It needed it. If she didn’t consume it she’d die right here. Right now.

She stepped into the pool, feeling the ectoplasm surrounding her skin. It was like a cool balm on her burning muscles, quieting the persistent pain to a dull ache. With each step deeper, she could feel the foreign emotions flooding her system.

There was so much pain. So much fear. So many people had died in Gotham so suddenly, it made sense that it left a tangible mark on the city, a place where the leftover emotions lingered.

Still, she went deeper. Voices started whispering in her ears, distant and indistinguishable. It didn't matter. She continued until she could let herself fall back into the pit, letting the ectoplasm engulf her.

The ectoplasm rushed to her wounds, stitching the skin back together and mixing into her bloodstream.

The voices got louder. The cries and screams of the dead echoed in her ears, they were so lonely. So scared. They didn’t deserve this pain, all this pain—gods there was so much.

She sank deeper and deeper until her back hit the jagged ground.

There was still fear and pain and anger, but there was something else too. Something warmer. Happier.

There was love.

There was hope.

So many loved this city. Loved it so deeply that a part of them got left behind. Had so much faith in it that they never truly believed in anything else. Had so much hope for it that it continued to live on in the very concrete under their feet.

It was unlike anything Dani had ever felt.

It was tragic. It was kind. It was purpose.

Something she lacked. That's why she was falling apart to begin with—she was a ghost without an obsession. A human without a family. She had nothing. Was nothing.

But Gotham. It was so much. So much it hurt.

Dani pushed off the ground and rose to the surface, feeling the cold night air on her wet skin. She gasped filling her lungs and found that just breathing the Gotham air felt different. It felt sweeter. Tangier.

She tried to orient herself, letting the intense feelings fade to a dull roar in the back of her mind. She didn’t know if she’d ever be free of them after that. She wasn't sure she wanted to.

Here there was purpose. There was love.

How could she go back to a life without it?

She stared out at the cave, and almost missed the creature as it slunk back into the darkness.

“Wait,” she called out to it. The thick liquid swished around her as she tried to get out. “Thank you. For saving me.”

It tilted its head in acknowledgment and began to pull back again.

“Don’t go!” She struggled, trying to move even faster but thankfully it froze, seemingly unsure what to do. As she got closer she could see the marks across its dark form, like it’d been torn apart and stitched back together. She wondered if that's why it was so afraid at first.

She reached out but didn't touch it, “You’re hurt too.”

Her words were quiet, but they seemed so loud in the small space.

If she focused, really focused, she could feel the hurt radiating off the creature. But just like the ectoplasm, past the layers of darkness and anger, at its core there was love. Unbelievable, almost unbearable love. There was so much it hurt.

“I curse,” its form sagged in sadness.

“Curse?” she asked. She'd never known a curse to take form, and she'd certainly never seen one so attached to something.

It raised its finger and tapped the space between her eyes. As it did, her vision blurred and she was thrown into what she could only describe as a premonition.

As rows of women were lined up on the gallows, their broken voices calling out to the skies in harmony.

“Gotham will never know peace. Gotham will never know peace. Even after we're deceased, we will haunt your masterpiece, the blood will run in the streets. Gotham will never know peace.”

The promise cracked over their sobs as the men prepared to pull the boxes out from under them. The singing only faltered for a moment as the women dropped, the crack of their necks sickeningly audible in the moment of silence.

As the lifeless bodies swung in the wind the women behind them continued the haunting melody.

Dani gasped, bile rising into her throat. She wanted to cry, to scream and collapse. Those people, all those poor innocent people—gods.

She looked up into the sad eyes of the creature, the puzzle pieces slowly falling into place.

“You’re Gotham?”

Gotham made a noise she interpreted as agreement and moved back from her again, trying to hide in the dips of the cave. It was. . . ashamed of what it was. Dani could relate.

“It’s not fair,” she smiled at it sadly but didn’t move any closer, “that you got caught in the crossfire. I don’t blame you. Sometimes it’s hard to be anything but what people make you. I’d know.”

She looked down at her hands. She was nothing without Vlad, yet she was nothing with him.

She could feel the voices of Gotham’s people deep inside her wrapping her in warmth like they were comforting her. Huh.

She looked up at Gotham, its cautious white eyes staring back at her.

Gotham saved her. It embraced her. It loved her, and not because it had to, but because it saw something in her worth loving. Worth fighting for.

Dani held her hand out to Gotham, a single thought solidifying in her mind, “Let me help you. We can share the burden.”

She smiled as the Curse crept forward on uneasy limbs, examining her from all angles.

It reached out and wrapped its thick hand around hers, cautious of its claws.

Dani felt a surge of cold power rush through her, like the ocean breeze on a hot day. It settled underneath her skin, pulling at her core until it completely wrapped around it.

She could feel the streets of Gotham carve themselves into her bones. The hopes of its people settle in her chest. It’s pain in her muscles. She could see and feel everything all at once.

Dani opened her eyes, the Curse still stared back at her but it was different. Smaller. Lighter.

The sound of a baby's first laugh rang distantly in her ears as she felt an old woman take her last breath. Her core sang in harmony with the distant church bells.

The Curse smiled back. It took their joint hands and lead her down the cavers into the very heart of the city.

Exactly where they should be.

[lokorum]

so....................i've read unraveled the other day.................... and then ive re-read it.........and now im in the middle of re-reading it again????

honestly cant promise that im not gonna keep coming back to it until someone would steal my phone and then i'll just log in from the pc lets be real here (¬‿¬ ) but!!! what i wanted to say is that its just such a good fic?? so well written? it has all the right words in just the right order and i can and will argue till late night that it healed part of myself that i had no idea existed. these descriptions of hugs??? gonna stay with me untill the very end  (*_ _)人  

and drawing something is the least i can do to show just how much your work means, @2btheanswertothequestion  (/▿＼ )

"unraveled" became my spiderverse canon since the moment ive finished chapter one and it will stay this way!!! thank you so so much for all the long hours and all the hard work you clearly had put into it!! you're amazing!! ♡

[greenko]

Pets are like children............so what if-

[mintmatcha]

Does your f/o like the strip club yes or no?

[aj-lenoire]

THE NEW BOYFRIEND IS THE THERAPIST???

AS IN THE RELATIONSHIP THERAPIST WHO TED EXPLICITLY MENTIONED WAS MICHELLE’S PERSONAL THERAPIST FIRST???

THAT THERAPIST???

HEY ASSHOLE IT’S FUCKING ILLEGAL TO SLEEP WITH YOUR CLIENTS

[marzipanandminutiae]

guys there's a 19th century artist's mannequin on eBay right now that someone painted the head and hands of, presumably to use as a child's doll. and.

I must bring her home you don't understand

[sincerely-sofie]

I'm imagining a scenario where team Skull go to Twig while Opal is on a play date or something, and ask Twig to teach them opal's unique way of talking so they can better understand her.

And Twig is just reveling in getting to teach these 35-40something year olds how to talk old 'english' style. She'd oblige of course, since they're friends at this point. But she would make her enjoyment of this situation abundantly clear.

Although Twig is more familiar than Team Skull is with the outdated, oftentimes obsolete vocabulary that Opal uses, she’d still defer to Ark as a teacher on this subject. Ye Olde Medieval Pokespeak is something she can struggle with and use incorrectly when she jokingly incorporates it into her own speech, and she doesn’t want to accidentally give Opal further trouble than she already has while interacting with people. She could also use some lessons herself— she understands how things work and how most words are used, but not why, and would sit in with Team Skull as Ark quizzes them on vocabulary and grammar, taking extensive notes as she is so fond of doing.

Also, it’s kinda funny to watch Skuntank squirm when interacting with Ark after an interaction where he realized what Ark’s species was.

[darthpastry]

I do think that if the Afton family was less dysfunctional in canon they would’ve given off Addams family vibes. It’s the birthright of an Afton to become a cryptid even if they don’t get undead. Become undead? Idk. Who cares about grammar undysfunctional cryptid fam.

[fictionadventurer]

I thought that it was stupid that Brandon Sanderson had the narrator of Tress of the Emerald Sea call all the unnamed sailors "Dougs" when he could have just called them, you know, sailors. But then I started using the term. Turns out having a word for "yes, we know that realistically all these individuals have unique identities and personalities, but they're not the focus of this story so we're going to treat them as faceless background characters" is surprisingly useful.

[hordeofangrybees]

There is something very funny about the fics that paint Alastor as completely aloof, untouchable, or unbothered. like...

This guy?

This silly little man?

Yeah okay

Sure. Yeah.

[fivewholeminutes]

I've never really thought vessel is faking the crying, i mean. Imagine, for example, reliving what atlantic is about every time you sing it, impossible not to cry. But at the same time i was always happy for him when he managed to go through the set without his voice breaking in any of the songs. Idk, it just gave me a sort of relief that he might've been doing a bit better on that particular day.

[pupstim]

Couldn't help it, thought of what if Bad was made to take the same pills as Forever.

Another way to think of it is I just really wanted to draw him a smile. Figured I'd made him all white too to complete the look. Bet that never has been done before :P and now he's looks a bit like cucurucho. Cucurucho lookin ass

Everything is Peachy. Enjoy the Island :)

[movie-robotnik-positivity]

A new Sonic Frontiers’ trailer was shown off at the Nintendo Direct Mini. We get out first look at the Cyberspace stages. 

[vampyrbutch]

[victorluvsalice]

-->And so the group returned home, where the weather was actually halfway decent. I had Smiler and Victor resume their interrupted flirting, with Smiler getting frisky and going in for the kiss before getting a drink from Victor’s wrist (as they were QUITE thirsty at this point). Alice went and collected some of the wild chrysanthemums growing by the path to the barn while I pulled her photos and her and Victor’s paintings out of their inventories – the paintings went up into the attic rec room, to be framed and put on the wall next to the couch and the microphone, while I ended up selling most of the pictures, keeping just one small one to put in the digital picture frame. Seriously, that thing is useful when it comes to small picture storage... Anyway, I sent her upstairs to look at her own painting while Smiler finished their dinner and Victor went to have his (some more pumpkin spice waffles, as I’d shoved all the food back in the fridge once they got home) –

And then I looked at the back porch, and saw NPC Ericka Wada heading to the grill to do some herbalism. O.o Uh – when did you get here and why are you using the grill? I quickly had Victor send her home, then had him clean up the herbalism pot with his own dishes once he was done with his dinner. The fuck, game – at least require me to invite people in before they start using my grill and nearly burn my house down again!

-->Anyway – Smiler ended up heading to the attic to have a chat with Alice, and I figured while they were up there, that they could practice their comedy and tell a few jokes on the microphone. I had Victor transportalate up there to join them, and he and Alice watched and enjoyed Smiler’s performance (they both got the moodlet “Briefly Amused,” so it wasn’t a real WINNER, but they did laugh, so...). I ended the impromptu comedy hour around 10 PM, after which Smiler went back to their robotics station in the barn to make a computer chip; Alice went to the kitchen to have some more focaccia for dinner; amd Victor went to the second floor blue-and-white bathroom to mop a slime creature before using the toilet. I happened to notice at this point Victor was VERY close to getting a Talent Point from his magic usage, so I had him transportalate down to the greenhouse and cast Floralorial on that troublesome dahlia plant. Which – did actually seem to finally clear the glitch-weeds, when not even shift-clicking would. O.o Fingers crossed people! It also got him the Talent Point, which I promptly spent on “Hexproof” to protect him from all curses. :) I then pulled all of Alice’s super-vitality fertilizers out of her inventory (she didn't notice, she was busy playing laser pointer with Kelly in the back entrance mudroom) and put them into Victor’s so he could sprinkle them on all the oversized crops (though admittedly it looks like they’re all gonna be normal-sized crops this time), before noticing another specter outside the greenhouse and sending him over to give them a Potion of Good Fortune. They appreciated it and left Victor a forbidden candy jar, but as we already have three (one in the kitchen, one on the back porch, and Alice has the third in her inventory), I had Victor just straight-up sell that to an oddity collector. There's only so many oddities these three can collect after all!

-->And then – okay, I didn't get any pictures of this, but you'll see why I didn't in a second. After selling the candy jar, Shadow ran up to Victor whining about a ball – I figured “okay, let’s play fetch with the dog, I already have Alice playing laser pointer with the cats” (she'd moved onto entertaining I think Shock on the front porch by this point) and had Victor grab the ball in his inventory –

Only for Shadow to run away as another NPC showed upon the front porch for no good reason. *sigh* I had Alice send the person on the porch (Maya, I think her name was) away once she was done with the laser pointer, and waited for Shadow to finish her business so I could try to get the game of fetch back on. She headed upstairs and into Smiler’s room and approached their desk –

And then did that horrific glitch thing where pets try to stand up like Sims but their legs get all thin and distorted and their heads end up going backwards. O.o It only lasted for a moment, but as you might imagine, it triggered another MCCC error. (I think the dog was trying to play with one of the chatterbots on Smiler’s desk – maybe the NPC wanted to do that and the game got confused?) And kind of killed my desire for fetch. XD Fortunately, at that point I realized that it was actually after midnight in the game and decided it was a good time to wrap things up with the trio, saving and closing.

And that was the gang's Summer Tuesday! Nice, productive day for them – I’m glad to see that their snack business is doing pretty well. :D And I have to admit, it’s a little more fun to take the food stand around all the different worlds than just do the same thing over and over at the grocery store. But I still want to sell everything in their store before I do anything different with it. :p Next time we hit this save, though, the trio will be heading to Chestnut Ridge for SimCity Founding! We'll see you then!

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

thinking about dream daddy again and god brian makes me so mad