#he gets to be big spooky and imposing

[bisque-firedvampire]

You know what would be a fun isekai setup?:

Ok, so a pre-hrt trans lady gets one of those “run over by truck, but gets their heart’s desire in a new world” deals. The new world is just like her favorite video game, which is a castlevaina esq rogue like, and she gets to be the beautiful heroine right from the start! She knows how the game works so she goes right off to the castle. Unfortunately the game is actually a lot harder in person. Every time she dies, she gets mocked by the bbeg vampire lord. She dies so often that she starts to notice that he’s actually quoting other bad guys from different real world media. eventually she fights her way all the way up to his lair to confront him … only to figure out he’s also a previously isekai-ed nerd, just like her! They hit it off once he figures out that she knows his secret. But unfortunately they find out pretty fast that they actually disagree on a lot of nerd stuff… so hilarity ensues.

That all happens in the first episode. But what’s even funnier, and wouldn’t be found out until later on in the season, is that he actually knew her in middle school, and even had a crush on her at the time ! But she doesn’t remember him, because he was just a little trans-masc egg and still presented as a girl when they were in school. Also she didn’t really know what to do with girls at the time, she was very convinced she might be gay (was also an egg at the time) so didn’t pursue any.

So do they still have chemistry? Can they get over their nerdy differences? Will someone please help the poor villagers understand what’s going on?

Call it: “oops, my villain is a fellow nerd?” Or something like that?

It would be comedy, romance, and tragedy (how do you think they both got isekaied? Plus, eventually a vampire has to do what vampires have to do…)

[spotaus]

Thinking about Orchid and her connection to my take on Gender (because this was meant to be about her and the Crew but it just devolved into a character analysis kinda??? More trauma-dumping maybe???) This is very much an oc/personal rant so feel free to ignore it 🫡

So, Orchid started off as a character I didn't really think much of (hear me out this is going to be relevant) because I wanted to add a 'girl' character but didn't know what to *do* with her, y'know? She was always going to be the strongest one there, she had the odds stacked in her favor with her parents. She was always going to be the gloomy side-character to match Reset's energy. But I think she's gone through every stage of Generic Woman I could possibly find.

At first she was angry and abrasive (think Fell!Sans) where every other word was a curse and she was likely to throw the first punch then laugh as she kicks her enemy while they're down. This was when Reset was a cartoonishly self-centered villain whose goal was simply to prove others wrong. Then Orchid became a sort of sisterly figure. This was short-lived, but she was the one comforting people who Reset would torment, but would ultimately follow his orders, because at this point he was actually a danger and sadistic. And then there was the phase where the story mellowed out and she became the token Goth Girl who, yes she was strong, but was heavy on the 'whatever' energy. Then there was her Era of deep self-loathing and anxiety about her worth that held her back and made her a much more timid and meek character who would only lash out on occasion.

Now, Orchid is the best of those iterations I've written yet. She's calm, level-headed, and a natural leader. Her father raised those traits into her. But she's very reactive, and can be silly, and when she's comfortable it's likely that air of importance transforms into something more comfortable and familiar. She laughs loudly and grins wide, she likes loud video-games but loves to read in the quiet. She's extremely disciplined, and normally no one can get through her tough exterior besides her best friend, Reset. She does what she does for her own enjoyment, sure, but she's thought of every angle and makes her choice to help Reset and control the others with her whole chest. She still worries she won't live up to her invisible expectations, and that and her loyalty are her two driving forces.

I know that Orchid is important to me because she's the longest-running female oc I've had. I have a rough relationship with womanhood/girlhood and I know looking back that Orchid recieved every ounce of my distaste for being a woman that I could shovel into her. That never made her less of a character, she was actually always one of my favorites, and rarely was she a 'punching bag oc'. I just... projected onto her a lot. And she's a good sign of how I've learned who I am. I've decided that my own femininity is something I could live without. I'd rather not associate myself with it, and I'd like to leave it in my past, focusing on a future where I'm not tied down with any gender roles or expectations. That won't happen, but I've come to terms with it myself. Orchid though? I figured out through her that I don't have to hate women characters. My own distaste for my circumstances doesn't mean I have to push it onto my characters (on God I've never expressed anything rude to actual people, that'd be rude as hell and uncalled for, but I have a bad habit of disliking fictional women in media). So, Orchid is a well-roubded character finally. She has motivations abd goals and a *lot* more depth than I ever expected her to. She's happy with being a woman, she's content. She's not treated differently for it in unfair ways by those she cares about, so she doesn't mind it. She likes to wear pretty outfits and lets Reset add bows to her ribbons. She doesn't let being a woman hold her back in the slightest.

So, yeah. Orchid is one of my babies. If I ever leave this Fandom behind for good, she's one that's coming with (Ichor, Orchid, and Pretender all have human designs I can use elsewhere lol-) but in the meantime I'll just rotate her around in my brain for a while longer.

If I'm right, she's been with me for nearly 5-6 years and I went through a *lot* with her as an outlet. So, she's kinda just like an old stuffed animal. A lil ripped, matted fur, maybe a stain or two, but there's a story there and that makes it important beyond belief.

[lovelytsunoda]

shadows of the night | oscar piastri

summary: hiding in self-imposed exile after very publicly trashing bill skarsgaard's 'the crow' remake, horror final girl casper coolidge chances finding love, and returning to the spotlight

pairing: oscar piastri x horror final girl! reader

fc: kathryn newton

reader goes by the screen name of casper coolidge, but is referred to as y/n multiple times throughout the fic.

caspercooldige

liked by colesprouse, lianaliberato, jamieleecurtis and 3,871 others

caspercoolidge the void is calling, I must go

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FOUR MONTHS LATER

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CASPER COOLIDGE?

Four months ago, Horror final girl Casper Coolidge published a series of tweets criticizing the summer blockbuster remake of Alex Proyas and Brandon Lee’s 1994 film ‘The Crow’. Following an internet backlash that we won’t deign to publish, Coolidge, who’s real name is YN YLN, posted a series of behind the scenes pictures from her recent films with the caption ‘the void is calling, I must go’. The actress has not been heard from since.

Famous for her roles in ‘Freaky’ and ‘Lisa Frankenstein’, the actress got her start as a teenager in the small-screen adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s ‘Big Little Lies’, for which she was credited under her real name. Coolidge only adopted her screen moniker after fully embracing her change to the horror genre.

mclarenracing just posted!!

liked by oscarpiastri, landonorris and 5,071 others

mclarenracing it’s always a good time in the grand ol’ us of a

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user HOLY FUCK IS THAT CASPER COOLIDGE

user listen I know mclaren had an awesome weekend but all I can see here is my missing scream queen

user casper being a mclaren fan is information I never knew I needed

oscarpiastri posted to his story!

Oscar Piastri on Two Girls One Formula, talking about his favourite films

caspercoolidge just added to her story!

caspercoolidge just made a post!!

liked by oscarpiastri, lizasoberano, landonorris and 4,000 others

caspercoolidge fall 2024 ft sidney and the boyfriend. still haven't seen the crow, probably won't. looking forward to getting back tot he big screen <3

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lizasoberano thank god, i thought i was going to have to keep him a secret forever. i'm happy to see you happy again :)

user shes got a boyfrienddddd and its oscar mf piastriiiii

-> user are we napping on the highway tonight queen?

oscarpiastri happy spooky season, my morticia

-> caspercoolidge happy spooky season, my gomez

landonorris i want a role in your next movie!

-> caspercoolidge as the first victim? (jk lan, i love you dearly)

user WAR IS OVER

colesprouse welcome back yn!

[justmeinatree]

Oh, I Think She Said

Summary : a tooth rotting harryween treat.

Word Count : 1k

A/N : this is the cheesiest thing i’ve ever written, i dont know whether to love it or hate it

“you can’t be scary for shit !” you laugh, playfully smacking harry’s arm. 

you loved halloween, it was by far your favourite holiday. and being able to celebrate it with harryween was the icing on the cake. 

you did have a self imposed rule though, that you needed to have the opportunity for some kind of horror makeup, seeing as your night costume was matching with harry and “this was a family show,” so harry didn’t want to be scary on stage.

so now here you were, spending your day with harry around the stadium, both of you sporting some kind of freaky makeup, as he had insisted that you do something for him as well. 

the opportunities where harry lets you sit down with him and paint his face whichever way you want, are some of your favourite memories with him. he’s so trusting and fun loving, never wanting to know what you have planned, waiting for the surprise reveal, every time. in the end, he’s always so pleasantly surprised. looks himself over, admiring the details you’ve put in. and that’s just one example of when you really see the love he has for you, through the reflection in the mirror.

but right now, you wanted the photo that was being taken to match the vibe of the makeup and well, not a single bit of harry really matches the spookiness that is this makeup. he’s just a giant teddybear with black smeared on his face.

harry laughs, putting his hands up in defence before his strength takes hold over you, arms wrapping around your entire body, pinning you tightly to him.

you wiggle in his grip, trying to break free, but you both absolutely knew you weren’t going anywhere. harry’s much stronger than you are. you feel his lips pressing to your neck, his lips parting for his tongue to poke out, tasting your skin. “not letting you go until you apologize to me,” he murmurs against your ear and you can hear the smirk on his lips.

for a quick moment, you cuddle back into him, eyes closing, focusing on harry’s mouth against your neck. you faintly hear the clicking of a camera, photographer taking a few shots for you both, before someone else comes to whisk you away. the show was nearing, you needed to get into your costumes.

fluttering off hand in hand, you both end up in harry’s dressing room, washing off the dark makeup, going through an endless amount of wipes. your eyes focus through the mirror, on the costumes behind you, a flash of nervousness etching itself on your face. 

harry notices, about to say something before hearing you, “do you think they’re gonna get it ?”

“mine alone ?” harry hums pensively, “maybe not. but it’s planned that the camera will flash to you, remember ? your costume really completes it. s’that why you’re nervous ?”

you shake your head, you had gotten used to the cameras a long time ago. “aren’t you nervous,” you ask quietly, looking up at him. 

“have you seen what i’m wearing ? of course i’m nervous. nervous my prick’s gonna fall out,” he laughs, trying to lighten the mood. and it does work as he managed to pull a breathy laugh from you. but the worry is still present in your eyes.

“you know it’s time sweetheart,” he hums softly, smiling reassuringly at you. “can’t keep wearing this forever,” he nods towards you. “gotta let people know eventually.”

“i know,” you take a big breath, nodding. “i’m excited to tell everyone. i really am. but it’s still a bit scary, you know ?”

harry nods at that, leaning over to kiss the tip of your nose, then your lips, “i understand. and yes, i am a bit nervous too. but it’s a good nervous, yeah ?”

“mhmm,” you nod, kissing him again for a moment before he pulls away.

“right, can’t be late. lets do this baby,” he smiles, getting up with you and bringing you over to the clothes rack. you watch harry strip his robe off, as you do the same, both of you putting on your costumes.

they were fairly simple, but obvious none the less. you do take the time to laugh with harry as he slips on his tiny yellow shorts. christ, you really do hope tonight doesn’t end in a wardrobe malfunction. scary makeup would be far more appropriate for a family show.

fortunately for you, and in the spirit of harryween, the setlist has been altered. seeing as harry thought it to be totally unfair for you to be backstage for the entirety of the show, as the third song was coming up, a few notes from kiwi can be heard blaring through the speakers.

the crowd goes crazy, shocked to be hearing it so quickly in the set. harry’s spotted you, by the barricade, next to the security man you had both arranged this with. 

he makes it through the first verse, chorus, second verse, and as the second round of the chorus comes up, harry changes up the lyrics, belting out, “she’s having my baby !” 

and he’s pointing at you, the camera panning in your direction, as harry’s running up the catwalk to get to you. 

there you are, on the big screen, jumping around and singing along, in your juno costume, and beginnings of a baby bump on full display, having gone with a fairly tight striped tshirt. this was your first opportunity to go out without a sweater in almost a month now, and you were revelling in it. harry’s costume of bleeker now making perfect sense to the crowd. although so far, it wasn’t like anyone minded his little yellow shorts.

the crowd was screaming, absolutely losing their minds, chanting excitedly. the camera panning to some fans with tears in their eyes as harry’s now made it to where you are, smiling wider than you think he ever has, dimples etched deep in his skin, blowing you kisses.

you can see the adoration, excitement, pride, joy, how deep this moment is hitting him as he can hear, can see, can feel almost 100 000 people radiate excitement and pride and joy right back at him.

the song comes to an end and the crowd is screaming so loud, harry doesn’t get the opportunity to address them right away.

as things quiet down just a bit, he chuckles into the mic, “look at my beautiful girl. i’m gonna be a dad !”

……

Masterlist

tags : @gorlsinmultifandoms @cc-horan

[rubykgrant]

A while back I was playing around with designs for my RVB Monster AU; the Blues are (mostly) ghosts and werewolves, and the Reds are (mostly) vampires. I really wanted to re-do Tucker, because honestly, he deserves to look COOL (his deal is, he is unknowingly sort of a "monster slayer chosen one", which makes him mildly immune to certain effects of monsters/supernatural creatures. he can see ghosts all the time, which is why he was totally just used to Church. he gets hit with a "werewolf curse" at some point, but it doesn't do much. my first version had Tucker leaning into a "romance cover model" look, with the werewolf vibe adding to longer hair... which was sort of OK, but then I hated it. I didn't want it to look like the "oh he's a werewolf, he has less clothing, he's more wild" trope. that just sucks. Tucker is a pretty boy, and the "chosen one monster slayer" angle needed to be the emphasis, so I gave him a wolf pauldron/clawed gauntlet, and I like how this very serious armor is just right on top of his fancy club outfit; even though roses are red, roses are also very romantic, and there is the Beauty and the Beast symbolism, so his shirt is two-toned shades of aqua/teal, with a swirling pattern of golden roses in shiny thread on one side. his hair is still a bit more full, and I kept the wolf ears. in general, he's got all the extra senses and strength boosts of werewolves, but none of the weaknesses)

Church is a ghost (because he ALWAYS is). Normally, he manifests looking more "alive", and thanks to his trademark memory loss, he forgot he was a ghost at all. When he does remember, and figures out his own spooky powers, he visually looks more haunted (shades of blue and white, with a semi-transparent skeleton). Tex is a dullahan (and hes, she's a little inspired by Durarara!!). Some jerk was trying to use weird magic to bring his dead wife back to life, and instead, Tex happened. Usually, she hides the lack of physical head by wearing her biker helmet. Caboose is a born werewolf, so he's very comfortable with it (sometimes he forgets other people aren't used to it, though). Most of the others can only partially transform, but if he wants, Caboose can turn into a BIG, imposing wolf (mostly, he's chill staying in his fluffy boof form). Because he's so used to going back-and-forth, Caboose doesn't get disoriented during full moons (he doesn't get why everybody else seems to struggle with that. it's not a big deal guys!). Wash was part of a group that was trying to create even more powerful monsters through lab experiments... which turned out just GREAT (no. no it didn't). He's a werewolf, but... kind of reversed. He can only transform during the day, but his powers are weaker at night. He does still get a big strength boost during a full moon, but it is hard to control. He usually compensates the disadvantage at night with lots of skills using various tools and studying other monster weaknesses. He's got his training outfit as a default, which is why it looks more sci-fi than the others

[agirlwithachakram]

dracula cast but everyone's like twenty years older because I think that's interesting, why didn't mina and lucy get married yet, and jonathan is rebooting his life as a lawyer, etc.

Mina: Laura Donnelly. give Mina PRESENCE. she walks into a room and only Van Helsing has the gall to act like she's not up for anything

Jonathan: Tom Hardy. HEAR ME OUT OKAY? I know he's all buff normally but just ask him to cut the protein shakes and pushups for a couple months and he'll be wearing period clothing anyway. he can look like an elegant victorian fellow as needed but more importantly he can scramble and he's not a big imposing dude and we already know he can pull off "mark me down as scared AND horny" when pursued by an obsessive monster. also i want to see him climb out the window, lizard fashion, and be deathly ill and terrified and cling to Mina's arm scandalously.

Quincey: Pedro Pascal. I just think it would be fun

Arthur: John Boyega. he and Lucy can be the youngsters in the Gang.

Lucy: Anna Popplewell. I haven't seen her in anything since Narnia and I want to. I think she'd make a spooky bloofer lady

Seward: Sendhil Ramamurthy. i know, Seward is kind of a tool and SR deserves better. But consider this: i want him in the movie so here he is.

Renfield: Daniel Craig, he would kill it.

VH: Now this I struggled with. I don't know enough Dutch (or Flemish?) actors. anyone got an idea?

Drac: yeah I don't know abt this one. The low hanging fruit is Mads Mikkelsen, but I think we can get more interesting. i almost want Sebastian Stan, because he is actually Romanian, i want to see him terrorize and eyefuck a stressed out Tom Hardy, he has charisma, he always gives everything he has. okay yeah. I convinced myself. Sebastian Stan for Drac. but none of this "mina's in love with drac" bullshit!

[funkyspacealien]

Rabbit of the Night He'll suck the orange out of your carrots (Sketches n' processes under the break! It's a REAAAAAL long one)

I've been meaning to draw a piece that actually includes a background instead of a character standing in the void. The issue that arises is that... I just didn't have any good ideas for backgrounds, lol. Partially the issue is that I tend to design the character first, which makes it challenging to draw stuff around them. Since around the time that I made this piece was October and the big holiday was Halloween, I figured I could do something within the theme. I've been meaning to draw my character, Nosferatu, again since they have always been one of my lowkey favorites of mine.

An older piece of the character, which you can see with the others here The character was quite macabre, which made it perfect for doing something slightly spooky. The cape also gave me a great idea for making something more visually striking, as well.

My first attempt. As you can see, I tried to do a thumbnail this time so I can have a better understanding of the amount of space I have to work with. I highly recommend that you do something similar if you struggle with doing backgrounds. Though, I think I ought to make it a bit more square, lol. I had to tweak some things to fit within the standard square shape since I drew everything at a wonky angle. I was inspired by Soul Eater and Majora's Mask when it comes to the background design, especially with the moon having a prominent appearance. I knew that was a consistent thing I wanted to keep throughout the iterations. The flowing cape was heavily inspired by Spawn and the artwork of Lelouch from Code Geass

I always found it to be such a striking iconography for the characters. Despite being an inanimate piece of clothing, it adds a lot to the design. Spawn was always an intimidating dude, but having that cape overwhelms the viewer and takes up so much screen space every time he wears it helps give him more of an otherworldliness. You may not truly understand who or what is he, but you may get the vibe that he's someone with great power and importance. It's befitting of someone who is viewed as the best spawn of the devil. I find it also interesting for a character like Lelouch. Now, I never watched the show he came from, only understood the basic premise from various sources throughout my life. Pardon if my read on the character is incorrect, but to me, he's quite the scrawny guy and perhaps lacks power of his own. Despite this, he runs a rebellion and goes under the alias of "Zero". He dresses up as Zero, including the cape. With it on, his form became much more imposing yet concealed. It gives him a sense of royalty, which you might attribute to the likes of Kings or Queens. Someone with power. Sorry for that brief character analysis tangent, lol. It's just something that I thought about when creating the character of Nosferatu. I find it interesting that something so simple as a cape can help give a feeling of power. It's something that I feel everyone subconsciously think of and not realize. Back on topic, the rest of the composition I wasn't super satisfied with. I sorta lean into the "Dracula" look the character had by having the castle in the background, but I think it came off as very flat. I also thought it made things visually unclear. A bunch of things off in their own corner instead of organic guiding the viewer's eyes. I scrapped the first idea and tried to go in another direction.

I had the idea of being underneath an overpass and having buildings being lit by the moon. I don't think it was too bad of an idea, but I had trouble refining it and making it more "full", if that makes sense? This had a weird sense of emptiness and dragged the composition down for me. Perhaps if I drew the character differently and played more with the perspective, it would've been better. I went back to my original idea and checked if I could improve some things on a base level.

Originally, I had the cape go off-screen but checking my original inspiration, like various art pieces of Spawn, I noticed that the cape "ends" tend to curve back into the frame. I decided to do something similar which I think helped give the piece a sense of "flow" to it. I found that it also gives a composition more layers of depth and fills in any "empty" spaces that I had worried about before. I tilted Nosf's head a bit so they weren't just standing there stiffly as well. Sometimes it's the little things that help improve the piece than having to redo it all over again.

Finally, I just decided to make the background more on the simple side. I think I had the issue of really wanting to prove myself that I could do backgrounds that I made it way more complicated than it needed to be. It gave me the chance to make the moon much bigger, which I always meant to be a striking aspect of the piece. When drawing, I decided to forgo the "ground" that the cliffs are on since I felt it cluttered up the piece with too many colors. Now, I just got to finish it!

I should be done, right? Well, not exactly. While I think it looks nice (I'm personally proud of my use of noise filters), it just still lacks the depth that I'm looking for. Something about it is too bright and clear. I went back and experimented some more until I found a solution that made me feel stupid not realizing it before, lol. So initially, I tried to use this photo editing program called "Picsart". I used to use it a lot when I was doing digital art since I like the added filters. I eventually stopped because it would ruin the image quality. I thought they fixed that issue, but it's still the same.

It's a bit subtle in this picture, but I like to use the "vintage" filter since I like the added shadows on the sides of the images. The problem is that the quality got ruined and I'm very stubborn about keeping it in the nicest resolution possible. I decided to see if I could replicate it in my own art program. What I discovered is that I can and the solution was very simple, lol. First I drew a square with a solid color on a new layer-

Then I used the "Gaussian Blur" Filter-

I turned down the opacity, set the blending to "burn" and overlaid it on the artwork, which gave the depth I was looking for!

I gave the head some slight shading too since the filter unintentionally gave it to their ears. Good call since I think that helped with the Halloween atmosphere I was intending.

[jungle-angel]

Taking a trip to New Orleans for Halloween with jake!

Rachel.....Rachel my dahling.....you always know how to make me an offer I can't refuse (lol).

You and Jake couldn't get enough of the Big Easy during Halloween. Not only were the late night revelers out, crawling all over Bourbon street with some spiced alcoholic drink in their hands, but everything really truly spoke of Halloween, the whole city covered over in a spooky, shadowiness that could have only existed in your imaginations.

"Whaddaya think (y/n)?" he asked, pulling the car down the little side road. "Think you're gonna wanna stay here for a while?"

"Depends," you said. "Think we'll encounter some ghosts?"

Jake laughed. "C'mon hon, you've been reading way too many Anne Rice novels."

"You could stand to read one or two," you reminded him.

At long last, you and Jake turned down the long, dirt road that a friend of yours had described. Everywhere you looked there were long lines of willow, cypress and shags of spanish mosses that hung from the trees and brushed against the ground. Some of the trees were completely bare, their fingers looming like the long crooked fingers of a hag's hands while the full moon lurked above.

This was certainly a part of New Orleans that you didn't see every day. At every turn, you wondered if some creature of darkness would come bolting across your path and charge at the car. Though your husband had been a bit of a skeptic, you could see in his face the little traces of worry and fear as you kept going down that long drive.

In the dim glow of the headlights and the dusky blue of the encroaching night, you could see it, a looming, southern gothic monstrosity that peered eerily above the willow canopies. Truly, it was something straight from an Anne Rice novel, the lacy iron on the balconies, the Greek pillars that held up both levels of the imposing house.

"Whaddaya think (y/n)?" Jake asked nervously.

"I'm thinking that we're in for more on this trip than we initially thought," you answered.

The hairs on the back of your neck stood pin straight as the lacy iron gate swung open, creaking on its hinges as the leaves blew off the path, parting like the walls of the red sea as you and Jake drove up the long path once again.

[doctorho]

Holy darkness pt. 2

hi guys!!!! soooo this was supposed to be a fall/spooky times fic but you know what we can bring that vampire energy into january. i have permission (i can do whatever i want forever) Vampire!Viktor x gender neutral reader, 1.5k words part 1

In addition to packing your favorite book, you take a few extras too, just in case. You’d made plans to go back to the library the next day, with a pie and a book, as agreed, and the whole day you feel like your skin is tingling. It might be the stupidest thing you’ve ever done, knowingly going to spend time with a strange man that was possibly a vampire, at night, in the dark, on the outskirts of town.

But man were you excited. 

It was the first interesting thing that had happened in a long, long time. And...you couldn't really bring yourself to truly be afraid enough to stay away.

So you pack your books, pick up a fresh strawberry pie from the bakey, and get on your way, walking through the darkening streets. It had gotten colder recently, and the wind was howling in the trees, and for all intents and purposes, the whole night felt like a cheap copy of something that starts with it was a dark and stormy night…

You ignore this. And the quiet gnawing nerves at the back of your head. 

When you get to the library, for the first time ever you don’t stay in the shadows on the street. 

You walk in. It feels weird – you could vaguely remember when the library was in use, but it had been like this for years now, dark and quiet and certainly with no regular foot traffic. So just…walking through the front yard, to the big, old doors, it felt…out of place. Like you were being watched. There were tall, ancient trees lining the path, there was even a fountain with some old statue in the middle, but that hadn’t seen running water in years, except when it rained.

The doors all tall, dark and imposing. You’re not really sure what to do; you hadn’t discussed the specifics with him. Typically one didn’t knock when entering a library, but in this case…it was his home. It felt rude to just walk in.

But then again, if he had some sort of supernatural powers, there was a good chance he already knew you were there, having heard you approaching. 

You still weren’t sure if he could hear your heartbeat. Which, at the moment, was thundering in your ears. So, probably. It was probably loud enough at this point that even a normal human could have heard it if they tried hard enough. 

You knock on the door. The sound is dull and quiet, your knuckles not having a big impact on the heavy wood door softened by years of rain. 

He hears it anyway. Of course he does. It doesn’t take long for him to open the door for you, and – you have to take a moment to orient yourself after you see him. He’s all smooth skin and sharp edges and intense eyes, focused and burning on you. 

Someone could tell you he’s carved from marble and you would believe them. He looked like he’s dropped here straight from the pages of some fairytale. 

(At this, your train of thought staggers a little bit, and with it, your heart. Yes, he looked like he’s straight from a fairytale – but which side? You didn’t know him. And…in some stories the beautiful things turn out to be the most dangerous ones).

And then he smiles at you, and you find that you don’t really care all that much. 

He smiles, and something in your heart settles.

You’re not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

Probably not. 

“Hello,” he says, voice calm and pleasant, “come in.”

You thank him as he steps aside from the doorway, letting you in. 

The library foyer is dark, like you’d expected, big and empty. Hollow, somehow, without all the people that it was built for. He’s clearly done some redecorating, moving things around, stacking books and turning shelves, but it was still a big, empty space. 

He nods towards an open doorway and you follow him. It leads to a slightly more cozy room, with dark wooden book shelves and warm-lit candles lighting the space. You had no idea what the space had been originally, but he’d managed to make it look like a living room; there was a fireplace, and a set of dark red velvet chairs. Tall windows lined the walls, and they had tall velvet curtains, draping all the way from the high ceiling to the floor. 

There’s a dark wooden table, and you set down the pie. You’d been careful carrying it, trying not to mush it up, and you were hoping you’d been successful in that. Gifting someone with a pie probably worked better when it still looked like a pie.

He hums appreciatively, looking at it, and you peel it out of its packaging. 

“Do you drink tea?” He asks, and for some reason, that takes you by surprise.

Not a totally outrageous question to ask from a guest, but for some reason you hadn’t expected it from him. 

“Uh…yeah. Sure.” You answer, and he nods a little. And then, he disappears into an adjacent room. 

You just stay there, not sure if you should have followed him or not. He hadn’t asked you to, so it felt safer not to. But staying in the room felt awkward, too. You try to suspend the awkwardness by studying your surroundings, and it works, for a while. 

The room isn’t as dusty as you were expecting. He’d clearly been taking care of the books. And – if you hadn’t heard the rumors of him being a vampire that should be avoided at all costs, the room might even be comfortable. 

But, for now, you stay on your toes. Figuratively speaking. 

When he comes back, he is carrying a silver tray with a steaming teapot and clinking porcelain cups. 

“It’s black tea,” he says, “I hope that’s okay. I don’t have…the widest selection.”

He sets out the tray on the table too, and glances at you. 

“That’s fine.” You answer, then sit down on the closest velvet-covered chair and lean back to study him. “Where do you get this stuff?”

He pours you a cup, and then offers it to you, smiling. “I have my connections.”

“But they don’t bring you tea blends,” you continue, “or pies.”

You take the tea cup, and wait for him to answer. Stir in some sugar. 

“No.” He says after a moment, making his own cup.

“And you don’t go out to get them on your own?”

“...No.” 

“Why not?”

He lifts an eyebrow. Looks at you. 

“I am well aware that the people in town don’t exactly…appreciate my presence.”

“Doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to go outside.”

He takes a breath, and stirs his tea. 

“No,” he agrees, “but it does make going outside…unpleasant.” He exhales a small sigh and looks down at his hands. “I keep to myself most of the time. It’s…easier that way.”

You nod slowly. His words sound heavy, serious. He’s fidgeting with his fingers, and he hasn’t mentioned the pie, yet. 

“Have you got any plates?” You ask, “Forks?” 

He meets your gaze, you nod towards the pie, and his eyes follow.. 

He opens his mouth, and then closes it. Then looks at you again. “Yes.” He then says after a moment, “I…haven’t shared dessert with anyone in a long time.”

“Well, now’s your chance.” You smile at him, and he smiles back, but it looks a little hollow. 

He gets up again, and soon, returns with small delicate porcelain plates – mismatching – and a dull-looking knife. 

“No forks,” he says apologetically, “but I suppose we can use the tea spoons?”

“Sure,” you answer, and then wait for him to get settled down again. He looks at the pie for a moment before starting to cut it. 

“So how’d you end up here?” You ask, while he scoops out a piece of the pie to one of the plates. 

“Long story.” He answers, without looking at you.

“I’ve got time.”

He takes a deep breath, and then for a moment, focuses on cutting the pie again, scooping out a piece to the other plate, carefully setting aside the knife and then placing one of the plates in front of you. 

“I was homeless,” he starts, simply, factually, “and wandered around for a long time, didn’t really have anywhere to go.” He stirs his tea, and watches it swirl. Licks his lips. “I ran into a man that used to work here. He told me it was empty, so I just…thought I’d stay here for a while.” He shrugs with one shoulder, “And ended up staying.”

“And you’ve been here,” you say slowly, “alone. Ever since?”

He doesn’t answer.

“Doing what?” 

“Reading, mostly.”

“And you haven’t gone insane yet?”

His lips quirk up in a small smile. “I think that’s still up for debate.” 

You look at him for a moment. “Doesn’t it get lonely?” 

You couldn’t imagine being cooped up inside one place, alone, for that long, without really…going anywhere, or seeing anyone. 

Now, he looks up. Meets your eyes, carefully. 

“Sometimes.” 

[feline-evil]

I PROMISED I'D DO IT, IT'S TIME FOR REALS

HOTEL POD CHARACTER ROLLERCOASTER ASSIGNS!! BUCKLE UP!

Auditor- The Swarm.

Listen this ride is post apocalyptic alien bugs, if that doesn’t give you the reason i’ve picked it for good ol’ Aud i don’t know what will. I think she’d enjoy the aesthetic of the giant metal big-aliens that have destroyed the entire surrounding area by flying through it and slicing it up; I think she’d fly alongside the coaster train going YEAAAAH, WHOOOOO!!!

The Hotel Herself- Nemesis.

LOOK AT NEMESIS. LOOK AT HER. Metal bent around pulsing flesh and warped bone, she shoots laser beams out of her eyes in her original promotional advert, the water runs pink with blood around her. This is the Hotel Herself as a ride. Now, i think you could argue that The Hotel Herself could more accurately be a space themed ride, but Space Mountain just isn’t frightening enough to capture the cosmic horror of all that she is; so she gets my favorite of all time Nemesis assigned to her. Nemesis even had a themed hotel room at one point, it looked like rust and flesh! Perfect honeymoon suite if you ask me.

Lobby Boy- Saw The Ride.

Our little freak is out here building his grody little rooms so I think it’s only fair he gets the ride themed to another little freak who builds rooms of deadly traps! (He is drinking out the corpse fountain on the ride's first inversion out the station…. oh dear, can he get diseases from that? Maybe..)

The Owner- Gatekeeper.

While we’ve mainly stuck to rather dark and horror themed rides thus far i don’t think we solely need to be married to only picking scary rides when there’s only so many rollercoasters with a spooky feel; so i’ve gone gatekeeper here for The Owner, as i feel this soaring flying coaster that zooms not only over but THROUGH the main gate of it’s home park has the authoritative feeling that reminds me of him! He’s watching you enter, he’s in charge here this is his domain (in his eyes at least). Plus its logo has a bird on it, yayyy!!

(Sidenote: a runner up for The Owner was Oblivion!) The Concierge- The Wickerman.

Why The Wickerman, I hear you ask, fire and wood doesn’t really feel like the Concierge’s vibe! But while it may not on the surface feel thematic let me tell you this ride is gorgeous, it is slick, it is a smooth, powerful ride and it is IMPOSING in the most breathtaking way; it feels claaaaaaassy and that’s the Concierge to me! Powerful, dangerous, but slick and classy and cool; walking through the queue line on a rainy day I could smell the rich wood, and I thought to myself damn. This is a coaster that would pair nicely with a glass of cognac. And the Concierge, to me, is a man that pairs well with a glass of cognac too. Also the first time i rode The Wickerman i screamed the entire layout including out of the station, jesus christ that thing whips round the course when it’s warmed up, it’s like it’s ANGRY at you.

The Manager- Manta.

We weren’t going to be able to go the entire list without assigning at least ONE character one of my favorite types of rollercoaster, the B&M flying coaster! Now, while i am more familiar with Galactica, i don’t think ‘the world's most relaxing coaster’ really fits as a theme for the manager; but sea life? Well, she’s a deep sea kinda gal i think! Manta is a shoal (flock? swarm??) of manta rays that swoop and soar, and while yes aesthetically and in description this sounds quite relaxing, these manta rays are blasting high speed through loops you’ll take ON YOUR BACK which is an incredibly unique and fairly intense feeling at times! I think The Manager likes to keep up her appearances, keep up looking and feeling calm, cool and in control, so i think a flying coaster fits her well; elegant but not without any bite! This ride also has a water fountain fly-by effect, get sprayed!!

The Bellhop- Th13teen.

The Bellhop to me has such a mischievous streak, a little smirk that lets you know you can’t quite trust what she might do next; and without giving TOO much away about Th13teen (as i feel this is a ride WORTH not spoiling 'till you see the pov/ride it) it’s a ride that is much the same! Meticulously themed as some abandoned old structure in the accursed woods, overgrown and dark and impossible to see until you are on it, this ride will lure you into a false sense of security and then pull off some TRICKS you just won’t see coming!! When I rode this for the first time I genuinely yelled ‘Oh don’t you dare you are KIDDING me!!’ when it pulled one such trick lol.

There we go, this concludes my list; i do not claim to be the biggest expert nor the best at this, i really love coasters but my knowledge isn’t a complete encyclopedia of every single ride, my main expertise is the park i've been to (Alton Towers) as i don't get to go to too many in person and don't live in the states where some of the more well known rides are- so of course if you have others you think are better suited feel free to make your own assigns!! This was just for funsies, thank you for coming along with me to talk about some coasters! :]

[masterqwertster]

Bells Hells C2 Class Swap AU

Basically just giving the Hells the same class as their player's Campaign 2 characters and getting a bit different approaches to the plot beats.

Orym: School of Divination Wizard

Divination goes with Orym's ridiculous perception

He specifically chose to learn divination magic in order try to foresee and forewarn if an attack against Zephrah is coming

He's also very upset that his divinations have had trouble turning up anything about Will and Derrig's killers

Fearne: Path of the Storm Herald Barbarian

Obviously her Storm Aura is desert, because that's the fire barbarian

She uses a great sickle like Deni$e since she does have a Moon Sickle in canon

Fearne is probably a bit more like Lionel in that she's a happy, excited barbarian most of the time. Of course her "always got for the kill" policy means she gets vicious when serious.

Probably also prone to a lot more headbutting as an attack given her goat-like nature as a faun and melee fighter class

Laudna: Way of Shadow Monk

She's always had an affinity for shadows and spookiness, so this subclass fits.

Also Witchy Bitches magic through ki ability

Delilah is still around, but definitely more as a haunting spirit and unwanted advisor, since there's no warlock multi-class. Maybe she grants Way of the Long Death abilities because of the whole necromancer patron thing, though a multi-subclass is probably overpowered

Imogen: Order Domain Cleric

Obviously, Imogen has no clue where her divine gifts come from (it's Predathos/being Ruidusborn)

Order Domain because it's whole deal is mind fuckery to bring people into your sense of order (which also matches with Ruby Vanguard cult shit)

Maybe a slight reflavor that it's not a sense of order she's imposing, but a sense of blackmail from mindreading

Chetney: Hexblade Warlock/Oath of the Ancients Paladin

Oath is about toymaking and bringing joy and light to children (so his god is the All Hammer since that's the crafting god)

Also not that great at Kindle the Light because he's a bitter, crotchety old man. Mercy and forgiveness have sort of fallen off the menu

Fighting Style is Dueling, 'cause he wants to shank a bitch with bonus damage

Definitely looking forward to the day he gets powerful enough to not suffer the drawbacks of old age (Level 15) 😝

Look, the little man uses carving tools as his weapon of choice, it had to be Hexblade

His patron is some sort of wolf-ish Krampus-equivalent, for punishing the Naughty. It just goes with his Christmas Special origins

Pact of the Chain for a wolf familiar. Though it's probably not a normal wolf...

FCG: Mastermind Rogue/School of Enchantment Wizard

Mastermind rogue could actually be used for therapy, if your intent is to manipulate someone into being their better self instead of doing whatever you want them to do

Also the mimic speech patterns is how FCG ended up with their accent in canon, so...

Plus ability to spam the Help action as a bonus action, and this bot wants to be helpful!

Honestly, School of Enchantment is more support and mind fuckery skills for them

This version is just very magic-enhanced therapy focused

Which also kind of lines up with the Care and the Culling background of manipulatively helpful to get in close before driving in the knife

Ashton: Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter (reflavor)/Forge Domain Cleric/ Phantom Rogue (reflavor)

Taliesin technically has 3 character from C2: Mollymauk, Caduceus, and Kingsley, bringing 3 different classes to the table between them, so options to mix and match for multi-class or just go straight

Order of the Lycan is the blood hunter subclass closest to barbarian. Though I'd give it the dunamancy reflavor of amplifying Ashton's elemental power/heritage/potential, so the hybrid form is basically going earth elemental, while the heightened senses maybe get replaced with a Blind Sight or an earth vibration Perception check ability with advantage

Fighting Style is Dueling, because their hybrid elemental form is big/strong enough to wield the hammer one-handed. Play whack-a-mole for bonus damage! 😂

Honestly considered War Domain because they're a fighter, but found I liked Forge Domain for being a bit more elemental. Dash of dunamancy is that he's an earth genasi with growing potential for fire magic, thus crossing an elemental boundary. Basically, they're going from pure earth to volcano.

Also, Forge Domain fits his love for punk handicrafts, and is definitely a domain that can be picked up in Bassuras

God would probably be the All-Hammer because he's the crafting god.

Though an argument could be made for unwitting Luxon follower, as it reaches through time for its galaxy brain chosen one. Ashton just thinks they believe in the light of the stars or some shit

Phantom rogues draw on the souls of the dead, so I reflavor this as drawing on their other possible lives in the galaxy brain. There's always a version that knows something relevant when they're infinite possibilities 😉

I recommend cleric and one of the other two classes if you want multi-class. Just rogue or blood hunter for a singular class as the cleric-dunamancy connection I cooked up is a bit weak

Some Events/Points of Interest

Chet actually was a werewolf, once upon a time. But he got cured of it, and that led him to one of his classes, depending on if it was a kind savior (paladin) or making deal to lift the curse (warlock). And he respects and remembers that time of his life with his Pact familiar

Thanks to his divination skills, Orym probably had a good feeling about what was coming the day he met the Crown Keepers, and the day he met the rest of Bells Hells. And a bad feeling the day Bertrand died, and the day he faced Otohan (both in Zephrah and Bassuras)

If Ashton is a blood hunter, Orym definitely has thoughts and extreme curiosity about their hybrid form. Which he can't be blamed for because he's Ashari

Imogen was considered a useful problem in Gelvaan, because her psychic/mindreading abilities were off-putting, but her healing abilities as a cleric are, well, "god-sent." Smaller towns are always grateful to have magic healing available and all

FCG is more pushy about his therapy attempts. And more subtle in execution, as they feel the need. He just really wants to help everyone's mental state, and is too inexperienced to quite understand when he needs to back off for a while

Laudna takes advantage of her oddly pliable body to move in strange ways for her dope monk shit. Like, she's very flexible to the point of accidental joint dislocation, so people aren't always ready for the ways she can move

And Laudna can fit herself into some tiny spaces because of the way she can fold herself up. Sometimes Imogen would sneak her into town in a large bag while it was just the two of them

Fearne takes protecting Orym very seriously (because he's a squishy wizard in this AU), but it can be tricky in a fight given her area-of-effect Storm Aura damage. There were definitely a few times Orym got singed pretty good at the beginning of their relationship

[omg-im-such-a-masochist]

SPOOKY SEASON IS UPON US! How about some Vampire headcannons? Choose a babe at will

I LOVE Vampires 🤤 Let’s consider this a warm up to our Halloweek 😏

Tag: @theworldofotps , @writtingrose , @letsgivethisonemoreshot , @aerynscrichton , @daddyhausen , @damnnhausen , @starwithaheart, @unoficialy-married-to-ace-austin , @sophiewolfheart-blog , @sultryfandoms , @new-zealand-chic , @crowleysqueenofhell , @thealliasylum , @legit9thlunaticwarrior , @baysexuality , @josiewrites , @seeingstarks , @sldghmmr , @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch , @whenimakeitshine1234 , @blaquekittycat

Ever since it opened, Sacer Sanguis managed to become the hottest club in L.A.

Whether it be for its gothic architecture, exclusive menu drinks, pole dancers or the most desired man of California being its owner, you didn’t know.

The hype was high and you decided to draw your own conclusion tonight.

“How does one get dressed to a place like that?” You wondered while staring into your wardrobe and settling for a basic combo of black flare jeans, an emerald green lace bodysuit and a pair of faux leather high heel boots.

Once you arrived in the club, the first thing that caught your eyes were the low red lights, the black gothic style furniture and an unfamiliar sweet musky scent that instantly made you feel inebriated.

From where you stood you could see a group of people surrounding a big throne. Curiosity aroused from its depths and you took careful steps towards the imposing leather chair.

The crowd of people split open like the red sea, and your eyes spotted the male figure sitting on the throne.

His brown eyes were warm and stared into your soul. A knowing smirk was plastered on his lips and sharp, white fangs seemed to glisten under the red lights.

A black cross dangled from his ear and made a matching set with the black cross around his neck.

Even though the music was loud, his speaking voice could be heard perfectly as he spoke:

“Well well well, what have we here? A lost little dove” The stranger laughed and offered his hand to you.

Your feet had a mind of their own and soon you found yourself in front of the handsome stranger.

“That’s not my name” You spat, trying to give yourself some sense of control even if by pretending

“Beautiful, sexy AND a smart mouth? Looks like I hit the jackpot” His laugh for some reason made you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside

His hand caught your wrist and the pad of his thumb caressed the pulsing vein that beated frantically underneath the thin skin.

The fast rhythm didn’t go unnoticed by him, who grinned widely “The main reasons that cause a human heart to beat faster are adrenaline, anxiety, fear and excitement. They all have their particular tastes but the latter is the most delicious one. It dances on your tongue like the most rich Swiss chocolate. It’s addicting and so powerful..it makes you feel like a god. Although I could say sex offers the same experience” He chuckled and pulled you down to seat on his lap.

“But sex with a vampire, while he drinks your blood…well, that’s a whole new experience” His free hand wrapped around your neck, softly tilting your head back to expose your neck. “You smell like a chocolate factory, little dove. A nice fang virgin” The tip of his nose brushed against the meeting point of your neck and collarbone.

“One I can’t wait to taste. I bet you’ll taste so sweet and innocent but that mouth will give that nice bite to it. Like a hint of pepper to spice things up”

Warm hands caressed the tops of your breasts before he whispered in your ear “Why don’t we go to my office so I can show you how alive a vampire can make you feel?”

[cylentcorvoid]

Cylent! My spooky guy! He's still undergoing refinements but this is what i had for Artfight! They are my main sona. They a a crow/dragon/void creature - crow skull, keeled sternum and crow limbs, dragon wings (sometimes partially feathered), dragon horns, belly and tail, and void eyes and a void in their chest (they store some things in there, and their aroace heart). It doesn't talk but will make clicking sounds or clack their beak. He can come off as imposing or intimidating and can't express emotions facially cause of bone face but they're really a big softie who gets excited about lots of little things like rocks, bugs, games, and animations. But it will express with its hands, flapping them when its happy, flexing claws when angry or frustrated or otherwise just be dramatic with them. Sometimes he will stick things like blush lines or star eyes to his face for extra flair. When at rest they tend to keep their arms up in raptor position.

[signalwatch]

Norse Watch: The Northman (2022)

Watched:  04/30/2023

Format:  Amazon Prime

Viewing:  First

Director:  Robert Eggers

Well.

So, I just finished listening to the audiobook of the translated Völsunga Saga, and then some pals asked if I'd yet seen The Northman (2022), and while those events were unrelated, they did dovetail.  I hadn't quite gotten to the movie despite liking the prior Eggers film I had seen and a general interest in the content.  I was aware of middling opinions of folks on the street (it's got a 64% audience reaction on RT) - with some folks also camping out in the deep like and dislike camps.  But it was a bit of a critical darling.  So, it seemed it was probably doing *something* of interest, even if it wasn't for me.

The movie does it's best to recreate a world that seems almost impossible in its brutality and viciousness, that believes in fates, and the best fate is to die (valiantly) in battle and be swept off to Valhalla by a Valkyrie.  It's a culture that sees sacking and pillaging as a vocation, and vengeance as a noble right.  And everyone is kind of aware that being a king also means being a target.  Kind of hard to believe these same people a few hundred years later would be living in countries now deemed to be some of the chillest places you can go.

But every scene in the film is cold, wet, or both.  This is the Northern European sea-faring people eking out a living in inhospitable climates kept at bay with stone houses and fires.

I will say - I am glad I had some actual Old Norse poetry under my belt.  The narrative is not pulled from anything in the Saga, I don't believe.  But given what the characters in the poems value and how they see the world deeply informed my understanding of what unspooled on screen - so, good timing, me.  

Eggers and writer Sjón were working to tell an ur-Hamlet (which really only hit me across the face when Nicole Kidman, playing the lead's mother calls him "Amleth" and the particular way she hit the name).  But, yes, it's a story about a prince whose father is killed by his uncle who then marries his mother and claims the kingdom and that prince being told by a phantom to finally deal with his need for vengeance, though it will doom everyone.  And this is not the Volsungs, but this is a different saga and based on an actual person in some way.

In this case, a 13-ish Amleth heads out to sea and allies himself with berserkers, becoming a fierce warrior (in the imposing form of a jacked Alexander Skarsgård).  He has not followed up on his plans for vengeance, but learning his mother and uncle have taken to Iceland after losing their kingdom to an invader (this stuff is like every five pages in the saga) he boards a slave ship headed to Iceland, posing as a slave. 

Oh, and did I mention he's given a vision by a witch in the form of a very spooky ghost-Norn-witch Björk?  Because that shit absolutely happens and I think all movies could use Björk showing up and doling out fates.  Heck, I wish Björk would show up and tell me what to do with myself.

Along the way he meets a fellow slave, this one a Slav in the form of Anya Taylor-Joy, who is clearly a wee bit witchy herself, and unnerving to her captors who can't quite their finger on why this woman sets them off.  

As mentioned, Kidman plays Amleth's mother, Queen Gudrún, and at first I thought "this is some odd casting.  Always happy to see Kidman, but...  why would she take this?."  And then she got her big scene, an equivalent of the Hamlet/ Gertrude scene, but fit for killer-take-all world of kings and chieftans living in stone houses in the shadow of a living volcano.  

Willem Defoe pops up as a Yorick-like character from Amleth's youth, but as much shaman as anything.  Ethan Hawke appears as the father who falls beneath his brother's sword, and Danish actor Claes Bang plays the uncle (very well, indeed, and I would hope this gets him more high profile roles in English-language film, although you may have seen him as Dracula in the Netflix limited series).  

I imagine the film is not for everyone.  This isn't a clear story of heroes and villains.  It's not clear Amleth is just or right, and an eye-for-an-eye truly leaves the whole world blind by the film's end.  He's a "hero" in the pre-20th Century version of the word - a challenged man capable of great and terrible deeds as he deals with fates doled out by gods larger than himself.  He's a near mindless, brutal killer when we catch up with him as an adult, murdering and destroying for want of any better way to work through the rage that defines him.  Life and death are fairly cheap commodities, and the virtues of this world barely align with our own.  The world of the film is cruel and literally barbaric.  

There's certainly CGI, color-grading, etc... employed here, but it's not a movie about the FX.  It relies on performance and story to move it along, and hats off to the DP who managed to light the thing in abysmal conditions and make it work.  So, it's  beautifully shot, well-performed and - if you give it room - moving.  But not in a "the real Northman was the friends we made along the way" sort of way.  It's much more of the hollowed out feeling you may have had at the end of Branagh's Hamlet.  

Anyway - I am not sure I recommend the film broadly, but I'm in the camp of "this is an  interesting movie, I liked it, and I'm glad it exists".  And I would be surprised if I didn't watch it again.

https://ift.tt/b0l3V2E

from The Signal Watch https://ift.tt/Qztc4wU

[darknetneopets]

I wonder, if my oc, William, would meet Eden, how would that go? Especially since both are kinda inspired by Chernabog-

OOOOOHHH that would be interesting!! William is so cool btw!!

I mean- funny answer: Spider-Man pointing meme asshjgks but for real ooogh I feel like they could have some interesting interactions since they’re both kind of mysterious but in very different ways,,,

I find the relationship William has to Yuu super interesting and can totally imagine it with Eden (since he’s my version of Yuu) I’m excited to see what you do with your fanfic idea for William!

It might depend on how William chooses to behave towards Eden. He seems very cool and imposing- but unless he gets super aggressive or standoffish that won’t bother Eden ‘beast tamer’ Grey much. We are talking about a person (fresh from another dimension) who had no problem scruffing a fire breathing cat monster, sharing a dorm with ghosts, or befriending the ominous horned dragon man lurking around the Ramshackle grounds at night!

I like to imagine Eden as having a curious ‘charm’ affect on others, especially monsters and other supernatural beings as a nod to Chernabog’s ability to seemingly summon ghosts and demons etc. So there’s the possibility William might find him similarly soothing to be around (depending on if you think his charm would affect William or not of course!)

It seems like William is very good at getting people to trust him if he wants to and he certainly would have no trouble with Eden. Seven help William if he decides to be openly friendly or supportive towards Eden (congratulations, William, you are now an adoptive big brother figure! Have fun with your new magicless sidekick and their talking cat :3 )

Once you’ve befriended Eden there’s no shaking them, outside of actively choosing to hurt or betray him (even then maybe not, he forgives a bit too easily) and while he can’t do much to retaliate against being wronged, his distress might summon a very displeased dragon prince…

Obviously William is the much cooler and more powerful Chernabog figure and kinda makes Eden look like a disappointing descendant- like a tiger shaking his head while he watches a domesticated cat run around askgjks,,,

I totally think Eden would love William and find himself drawn to him the same way he is with Malleus and Lillia. Eden has a thing for anything old, spooky, and eccentric!

Also Eden would absolutely affectionately shorten his name to ‘Will’ unless William voiced a strong dislike for it. I can also picture William calling Eden ‘lil devil’ like Lillia dose for some reason, just vibes I guess <3

[as for my dorm leader au Eden,,, he would avoid William at all costs. He's only a house warden by technicality and is trying not to draw any attention to himself his first year on NRC’s infamous campus- especially when it comes to powerful seeming guys like William! But they would probably bond over both having a soft spot for Yuu and become cordial at the very least.

ACTUALLY with William in that au I could see him being the Chernabog dorm leader and maybe Eden as his new vice warden!! Maybe I should draw William in the Chernabog dorm uniform when I finish designing it! :3 ]

Anyway asdjghks this was a lot but this ask made my day!!! Also William is officially one of my blorbos and will be rotting my brain from now on,,, <3

[talenlee]

Tricks Month 2024!

I love tricks.

I love magic, I love dice and cards and all the other things Mr. Mistoffelees gets credit for being into, but he’s a cat, who cares what he can do. I guess it is impressive to do card tricks with paws, but also, Jellicle cats make a point of avoiding being seen, which that says just a true lack of showmanship. The point isn’t the trick, it’s the trick being seen.

Anyway,

I don’t know how much of this blog being a do-it-yourself project comes through. I’m not consulting with people, as a thing, about how to do blogs. There are a thousand blogs about blogs out there, countless spilled out mealy-mouthed mushvibes that are about how to Maximise Engagement and the Science of Listener Attention and all sorts of things in that space. They range from the comprehensive and unuseful to the brief and unuseful, because I’m not reading them. Doesn’t matter how good they are at what they say they do, if I don’t engage with them, and I don’t engage with them because overwhelmingly, they are a boring kind of sludge that hasn’t convinced me to look at them, so how good can they be about making good blogs? Why would I take advice on how to make my blog engaging from people who are making their blogs incredibly boring?

This isn’t to say principles like column width or text presence on screen or paragraph depth are bad ideas to understand. I just tend to get that information from people who are experts in the space rather than reading a Content Pipe that wants to produce a new article every day about a new thing, like turning a conventional and sensible manual into a series of daily posts.

These digressions though, they’re about conveying my ideas in a spoken style. It’s deliberate, dad. Haha, big joke, my dad would never read what I wrote.

Anyway, that means that any time you see a feature or pattern in this blog, it is inevitably something that I imposed on myself for myself. I picked the theme months on even months because it seemed to me to be a tidy way to do things, and the symmetry of it appealed to me. January, an odd month, could be all sorts of accumulated detritus from the year before I didn’t get around to, wrapup lists, whatever happened tin the whole of December, that kinda thing. Then the theme months spilled out from there — my birthday is in April, Pride Month is June, well established, and October is spooky season on the internet mostly, which sort of fenced out three of the six even months. February having both the start of Easter (I know) and Valentines’ Day in it gave me options and I knew I didn’t spend a lot of time watching romance media, which pushed it into place there.

I think it’s healthy to broaden your horizons however you can and the wiggling I’ve done to get around the restrictions of Smooch Month — a restriction that I imposed and that nobody has ever complained about — has certanly taught me that. Pride Month also represents a challenge because I’m always struggling around how to handle Game Piles — what do I do about games made by indie creators that are full of queer content but suck in some way that’s the most interesting thing I can see to say about them? These months are the ones with a challenge to them, the months where I spend my time looking around desperately for ways to make things that work together and don’t leave me feeling like I’m cheating on the theme.

Tricks month?

Tricks month is so much easier.

Conspiracies! Magic tricks! The stories of our history of absolute fucking weirdoes! The way that I feel about having to live deceitfully! Things that people do to fool themselves! Game mechanisms for duping you! Themes around spies lies and disguise! Twist endings! Controlling attention! There’s so much stuff in this space that I love!

Where most months there’s some scraping for the theme space, Tricks month feels like every month I’m going to run into a wall and go ‘oh well I have to save this for next time,’ or maybe even stitch together two articles on a similar theme so I don’t have to wait a year to talk about it again.

My love of magic is one of those things that still surprises people when they find out about it. It’s like my love of rollercoasters. Yeah, that’s a weird thing to know, I know. It’s partly because we just don’t have many of them in this country and I haven’t been to one in decades but I still deeply love the whole experience of a rollercoaster and find watching videos about how they work and the ways they’re designed, that’s very exciting. Uh where was I. Oh yes, misdirection about my friends’ lack of interest in my ability to do magic.

Somehow it’s a thing that people who have known me for decades can go without ever discovering about me, which is probably as much a thing I need to beat myself up for as anything. It’s also because the idea of being interested in magic, and showing people magic tricks is itself, social poison. I wonder at times if I’m actually a very shy person – despite my day job involving standing up in front of a room full of people and trying to command their attention. That’s a different situation, that’s where I’m imparting expertise and trying to communicate to people something they’re paying to see. When it’s a magic trick I’m doing something to you, I’m showing you, the audience something, but I’m doing it in order to do something to you.

Practice makes perfect, and no matter how much I practice, no matter how confident I am in the technique, I’m always showing something of myself. I’m trying to do something impressive and I’m trying to make you feel like I’m doing something cool.

And that’s why my friends don’t see me do magic.

Weird.

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