#as said

[annaraebananawriter]

Hi, I'm just about to go to bed but I thought of yet another little fanfic idea I thought I'd share with you all before I forget--

A few centuries ago, in a remote village, there lived two brothers, Dream and Nightmare. Their mother cared for them, and she was the unofficial leader of the village, too. However, when the boys were young, around 6ish, their mom died. The village, feeling lost, looked to them for guidance, though the adults shortly realized they were far too young to lead. The villagers took it upon themselves to teach the young boys and train them.

They quickly found that Dream excelled in making sure everyone was fed and cared for, all the making of a strong and good leader. Meanwhile, Nightmare excelled in any kind of scholarly area, acing tests and flying through books. The villagers discussed the boys frequently, and most of the adults favored Dream over Nightmare, finding his social butterfly personality charming, while his brother’s tendency to stay tucked away in the house reading a bit frustrating. A leader couldn't keep their head in a book and take good care of their village, after all.

So, slowly, they gave the important lessons to Dream, busying Nightmare with test after test, gradually marking lower and lower to make him focus on getting the grades up, all in hopes of keeping from getting suspicious as to why Dreams lessons were far longer than his were. And why did Dream walk out of the lessons with such different homework than his? It looked far more wordy, too complex to be for school. The teachers never gave him much answer when he asked: "Dream simply outgrew the regular schoolwork."

Nightmare, used to being the academic one, grew worried about his place in this village. Mother always said he would be a great person to go to regarding decisions for the villages' problems one day. She taught him to have pride in how smart he was. But these teachers marked him low, made him feel stupid, chiding him on taking too long to answer a question, for getting too excited and rambling on, all because he recognized the subject matter from a book ge read the other day.

At first, he tried hard to get his teachers to see him, to tell that he was smart, too, just like Dream. He deserved the special lessons, too. But the longer this went without notice, the longer the teachers dismissed him, and the more time the manor halls were empty and he was alone, waiting for Dream to get out of lessons, he grew tired of trying. He stopped doing his schoolwork and stopped participating, which only made the teachers madder. The teachers told him to quit acting like a baby and do the work they gave him or waste away into nothingness. Nightmare, angry because they still didn't understand, yelled back about how he didn't see a point to work if he didn't get recognition for it. The teachers didn't take this kindly--in fact, they slapped him for it.

Stunned, Nightmare could only listen as the teacher berated him for being so selfish. From then on, he kept to himself, and he played the part the adults wanted him to play. All while nursing a stirring jealousy and bitterness as he watched Dream step into a position of leadership, hours upon hours of work and work, most of the time away from the manor.

Dream, on the other hand, was shaped for leadership and nothing else. He was taught to put the village above himself, above Nightmare, above anyone he might love. The teachers told him a leader wanted the best for his people, and the best was always everything you could give and more. When he transitioned from schoolwork to village work, he's unsure, but it was not a sudden change; he looked over his work one night and had a slow realization that this was not the schoolwork his brother was getting, no, it was something far more important. And he never got a break from this work, not like his brother did. It just piled on and on, more problems appearing the minute he solved one.

One day, he complained about this workload, saying it made his head spin. He had had so little sleep that the ceiling seemed to dance around his head. This day, the teachers had apparently been in a bad mood, for while they would normally laugh and gently chide him, this day they screamed: "Leaders do not rest until all of their village's problems are satisfied. You do not get to rest until we say you can. You do not deserve to." Needless to say, this woke Dream up well, and he apologized quietly and said he would do better.

Trapping this as a lesson in his head, Dream changed. He accepted his leadership position with no complaints, throwing himself into his workload in hopes of getting done fast enough to still make it home in time to eat supper with Nightmare--he rarely made it. Taught to be selfless, nothing more than a tool used to better the village, Dream lost himself, the lines of who he was and who his teachers wanted him to be blurring.

Dream also hid away a spek of jealousy as he watched him brother lounge on the couch at home, reading all day long. It seemed like he was so free, able to do as he pleased. He was free to be himself and nothing more, not expected to be something untouchable, something immovable, invincible.

Both brothers envied the other; Nightmare for how loved Dream was, Dream for how free Nightmare was.

Eventually, all the time away from home, away from his brother, wore on Dream. He messed up more and more, too distracted by the ache of missing Nightmare, and the villagers noticed. They snapped at him to pay attention. In secret, they planned. Nightmare was distracting their leader, and if this continued, their village would be ruined. They planned to fix this by getting rid of the distraction for good.

Nightmare's sickness started as a cough. It lingered and lingered and drove him mad. He grew feverish, too, barely able to get out of bed some days. And it all came to a head when Drema returned one night to his brother passed out on the floor of his room, blood dripping out of the mouth. The doctors could do nothing, leaving Dream anxious and Nightmare bedridden.

Dream, unable to take the tragic news that his brother could not be helped, searched and searched for his own cure. He came up with nothing--until. He saw in a book, a dusty old thing hidden away in Mother's library, writings about creatures in the woods around the village that are rumored to grant a wish of any kind. Even to cure and uncurable disease.

Hopeful and desperate, forgoing the warnings of the book to not make deals with beings you cannot trust Dream snuk away during the night and pleaded with the creatures to save his brother: "I just want to see him smile, please. I will do anything for you, be anything for you, just please save my brother."

And the creatures did.

But not in the way he wanted.

Nightmare died the next day. And Dream, overwhelmed with grief, shut the manor gates and ignored all attempts the villagers made to fet him out, no matter how much they yelled and threatened. He hoped he might wither away, join his twin in death, but he never did. Even though he did not eat or drink for years. Turning his anger towards the damn creatures that caused this, he stumbled back to the forest after decades of hiding out, and he screamed at them: "This was not the deal!"

"Wasn't it?" The creatures replied, "You said you would be anything. So be someone we can talk to for years to come. We gifted you, you see. You can learn so much from us and us from you."

"I asked you to save my brother. I told you to make me see him again."

"And you will. We just never said when."

Dream heads back to the manor, still shaking from anger. But sure enough, around winter, he finds a small child in the woods, abandoned and about to die of hypothermia. Taking pity, he brings the child home and cares for it until it is well.

When the child wakes up, he asks him his name.

The child blinks. "My name is Nightmare."

(Basically: In this AU, Dream and Nightmare are cursed so that one of them is immortal and the other one reincarnates, and the one who reincarnates always stumbles into the immortal ones life, and yet always dies young.

Dream watches his brother die over and over, having to rebuild their brothership from the ground up because Nightmare doesn't remember him when he comes back.)

[marinah2oblue]

Ghosts 1X3 (See 4X4, also written by Ben Willbond)

Written by: Ben Willbond

Robin reminds me of Rafiki in "The Lion King." Not to mention the Elton John reference in season four. Just saying.  Maybe I am too Millennial.  ...

[blueskittlesart]

i’ve started babysitting for a VERY christian family which is great because they pay me a lot of money but as someone who was raised almost completely agnostic it’s kind of insane. the 2 year old keeps asking me to read her stories from the bible. (why are we reading david and goliath to a 2 year old????) the 5 year old told me today that he was going to bring his legos to heaven with him. he also has repeatedly told me that the lego spaceships he builds are stronger than jesus. (not sure what to say to that. do i deny it??? are things allowed to be stronger than jesus??) had to stop myself mid sentence today because i almost told them im not going to heaven which would DEFINITELY have caused several meltdowns. they’re also both completely fascinated by my nose ring

[dsmsix]

thought I was muted and just had this exchange with a coworker on a zoom call

[bluepsi]

I’ll say it again, please just grit your teeth and vote for Harris…

[alucardsinep]

[sheepydraws]

The secret Dungeon Meshi sauce that's getting people to eat better is that it's so non-judgmental. Senshi and the rest of the gang never talk about what not to eat besides things that taste bad and literal poison. They don't even talk about "health" that much besides the importance of a balanced diet. It's so much easier to eat well when you think of food simply as something your body needs, and that it's often worth the extra effort to make it taste good, especially when you understand how to connect "things your body needs" with "things that taste good"

[stimmingandstruggling]

more good news from tiktok: they’ve started blocking celebrities.

they’re calling it block party 2024. just blocking and ignoring countless celebrities who havent said shit about palestine. influencers, actors, anyone who went to the met gala, whatever, they’re getting blocked. and people keep talking about how cathartic it is, how good it feels, how they never realized they could DO that. there was some kind of subconscious law against blocking famous people, but it’s broken, and people are LOVING it. and it’s WORKING. a social media/digital advertising coordinator was talking about how ad companies are PANICKING, because they can’t accurately target anymore. so many big influencers, including fucking LIZZO started talking about palestine the MOMENT their follower counts started going down. and the best part? no one is forgiving them. lizzo posted a tiktok asking people to donate to palestinian families, and all the comments just said you’re a multimillionaire. put your money where your mouth is. blocked.

i feel like i’m witnessing the downfall of celebrity culture, right here right now. people are waking up.

[annaraebananawriter]

I don't really care about how many people are subscribed to my Ao3, but I noticed today how close to 100 it is, and it's making me really happy!!

So, uh...if you're reading and like my works, or just like Undertale/UTMV and Technoblade and the SBI, then perhaps you could consider subscribing to get notified whenever I drop a new fic?? uwu

[newtid]

in spirit i am a 7th grade boy

[panvatar]

As an autistic monster fucker and a furry (stay with me) I feel confident in saying Laios is not a monster fucker. Laios hyperfixates on monsters like irl people hyperfixate on dinosaurs. Not once have I seen him interested in a monster sexually. He is all about fun facts and recipes.

He is, however, definitely a furry and I'd bet money he's got a fursona and a monstersona.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

[candycatfalls]

the book of bill is great

[great-and-small]

Apparently the local university’s undergraduate entomology course sends students to catch insect specimens at the same place I like to go birdwatching, which explains why I saw three enormous frat looking dudes with tiny bug nets and overheard one emphatically say “bro BRO I told you we already have enough lepidopterans”

[james-p-sullivan]

the older i get and the closer i am to reaching 30, the more the people around me try to deny me my age. it’s a constant ‘oh you’re just turning 29 again teehee 🤭’ or ‘dont tell your SO that, he’ll leave you for a younger model 😉’ and i just???? hate it?????????

i spent my entire teenaged years fighting for my life. i crawled through the deepest pits of my depression to cling to the promise of a life beyond that pain. i was so convinced that i was going to die young, that i would never see the grace of my age starting with a 2, let alone 3.

so im going to turn 30, and there’s not a damn thing anyone can do to stop me from loving it.

[thedreadvampy]

you gotta be able to say "die"

you gotta be able to say "suicide"

you gotta be able to talk about "sex"

they're uncomfortable topics, YEAH for SURE

because LIFE is uncomfortable. Death and suicide and sex and pain are straight up going to happen. not having words for the way it discomforts you doesn't make it more comfortable, it just makes you less able to reach out about it.

even more vital, you gotta be able to say words like "rape", "abuse", "queer" or "racist". cause we fought fucking hard to name those experiences. to identify "rape" as distinct from "sex" and "racism" as distinct from "acceptable behaviour" and "queer" as distinct from "invert"

like the function of communication is not to minimise immediate discomfort. we gotta be able to talk about stuff that's hard or sucks or causes difficult conversations.