#i think when the ferryman finds sleep

[muzzleroars]

helloo I also go feral whenever you post I love how much thought you put into everything .. auuuoaua it's so good,,

I am curious, what are your thoughts on the ferryman?

aaaa thank you!!! speculating on lore and creating headcanons is one of my favorite things to do with media i love, so i'm glad you all like listening to my thoughts ;o; and double thank you for letting me talk about the ferryman!!!!

the ferryman is one of my favorite enemies in the game, but i think it makes sense considering how much the character has going on. they're a being that sits at odds to everyone else in hell, save for perhaps those in limbo - they are ashamed of what they were and long so much more for heaven than others seem to on the lower layers, while they also maintain a loyal love to gabriel when otherwise he is viewed with hatred for what he's done to the citizens of hell. so central to the ferryman is their loneliness, appropriate for a sailor on an endless ocean, who only has their faith to sustain them in an unforgiving storm.

however, there's a dichotomy to the ferryman - they stand apart from all the other sinners, yet they take massive amounts of pride in their work and it benefits those very sinners. i find it quite interesting that they develop their ships, they incorporate new technologies into them, but most of all, they make them comfortable. the interior of their ship is almost welcoming, a place where new and terrified souls could possibly relax if there is such a thing to the freshly damned. love is worked in, a care for those that are afraid because they understand that fear too and perhaps that's inherent to them, perhaps it's what gabriel did for them, perhaps it's both. so while it’s true that the ferryman is alone, they show an aching sort of love in all of their work from their idols to their ships. they are totally detached from all others, set apart from the sinners they still show thoughtful kindness toward through their work and separated impossibly from gabriel who they sculpt forever for in his long absence.

and their devotion to gabriel has to be discussed given how central it is to their character and what we know about them, how their ship is decorated to honor him with paintings, with sculpture, with his hologram. it's. utterly tragic, it stacks onto their isolation and their love and ultimately crystallizes it. they carefully craft the idols in his honor, the image of the virgin and child as tribute most likely to gabriel's role in the annunciation. to them, he is the gentle messenger written of in the bible, he guides with words of comfort and he is their unwavering faith in a world so desolate and broken. the ferryman knows they will never be saved, at least deep down even if they can't consciously admit it - they are an ailing sailor forever lost at sea and they know they did it to themselves, they chose their fate long ago, but gabriel's care is enough to see them through, to carry them forward in sin so heavy it made them tear their flesh from their bodies. they have mortified their physical form to its destruction and i have to imagine it carries heavy consequences, an agony and ever-present ache in their bones, a rattling cough from phantom lungs when they have nothing to protect them from the driving rain. there is a sickness to them, but still they write in their journal of gabriel, they painstakingly carve another idol of the holy mother, and they work, they work, they can never forgive what they were but he is there even if he never returns. love and loneliness. the ferryman only has themself, and so they hate their only company.

by the events of the game, i do wonder what the ferryman must be feeling, how they were nearly drowned in the souls that poured in from man's demise but since have no longer had any sinners to ferry. and for me, it means they have nearly totally withdrawn into themself, into the memory they have of love and are now forever looking inward. in my version of events, i do have the ferryman live without confronting v1, but it's honestly a complete accident - since my v1 is always flipping a coin, it does so when boarding the ferryman's ship and so they take it as payment. the action does surprise and fascinate v1 briefly, leading it to produce another coin in front of the ferryman to see if they'll take a second (an attempt to establish a pattern). but when they indicate that they need no more, v1 simply moves on and largely places them out of its mind, especially considering the rest of its passage. for the ferryman, they are as detached as ever, knowing not where v1 came from nor willing to wonder at this point. they are wholly within themself by now, totally isolated in their love for their idea of gabriel with so little else on their infinite ocean. they feel their illness working itself impossibly deep, yet know they will never succumb.

("small" side note to end things, i’m so TORN about whether or not I want them to have had any additional contact with gabriel after he saved them. i do think him coming to them once and never again has a distinct melancholy in it, one that suits someone at sea forever thinking of the one they love and knowing they will never come home to see them. and it sort of goes both ways in a sense, that the ferryman is both the sailor and the lover waiting, so it’s in line with their character. BUT in terms of gabriel’s character, i do like him attempting to keep some connection to the ferryman due to his increasing fear that he’s failing them, that he’s failing all the sinners of hell. with every crime he commits against them all, he feels that weight growing on his back and so he wants to have one sinner he could protect, one that he could save from heaven’s punishments. and so he sees them, very rarely, usually briefly, but always with words of comfort, of understanding, of affection. he knows their feelings for him and he can’t know how to respond, he wonders often if his visits do more harm than good...but they have nothing else, no one in that freezing rain. so i just. MAYBE i’m soft and sometimes i want him to give them a little warmth, a brief window where they stop working and their cough lightens. AUGH)

[niko-sasaki-dbd]

A detail I love about Episode 4, is the symbol that appears in the music ball Charles finds and the meaning it has when it comes to his own story.

The relief in the ball, is a lyre, Orpheus' symbol. It was the musical instrument that he received as a gift from the god Apollo, who was considered his father in some versions of the original myth.

Note: In The Sandman Universe, Morpheus and the Muse Calliope are Orpheus' parents.

CHARLES: I found one of those at a maritime museum once. The Case of the Drowned Diver, wasn't it, Edwin? Superstitious sailors would use them to calm the seas.

Orpheus was well known as a talented musician; his music could intrigue people's minds with supernatural ideas and had the power to broaden their thinking to new and unusual theories.

When he joined the expedition of the Argonauts, he saved them from the Sirens' music by playing his own, more powerful and beautiful melodies. Later, it was also his music that allowed Jason to accomplish the purpose of his journey.

It makes sense that sailors used his symbol on an object designed to calm the seas and guarantee their safety while navigating.

When it comes to Charles, in particular, the way he ends up using the music ball (in the absence of a more technical name for that object) is both literal and metaphorical.

On one hand, he uses the music ball to put Angie, a sea monster, to sleep, thereby solving the case of The Lighthouse Leapers. On the other hand, he uses the instrument to save Edwin and himself from The Night Nurse—not just by literally pushing her into Angie's mouth with the ball in her hands, but by causing her to meet Kashina. This meeting prompts her to remember Kashi's words later, when Charles tried to save Edwin from returning to hell by pointing out it was a mistake, and again when he asked her to open a portal to hell so he could bring Edwin back.

In Orpheus' story, when Eurydice died from a snakebite, he charmed the ferryman Charon and Cerberus, the guardians of the River Styx, by playing the lyre and singing. By doing so, he also softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone, which gave him the chance to bring Eurydice back to the world of the living.

It's curious that the lyre symbolizes the power of persuasion for Orpheus, as this is a quality in which Charles takes great pride (he is indeed very convincing). Still, I hope that's where the coincidences end.

That's all for now. To everyone who knows about Orpheus' myth and the different versions of his story, I apologize for not quoting specific authors here.

[chorusofkhonshu]

Noone was going to die.

Mostly I made this because I guess people on some platforms were saying Noone was wrong for going with the Ferryman or that she should have stayed with Otto. So I guess I made this to inform that, no, she could not have stayed with Otto. Well she could have, maybe, but she would have died shortly after. She made the best possible choice to survive when she didn't know it at the time, and here's why. In the first episode she is already ill, she survived the water sickness but still has these lingering headaches. We even get told that the flower that she got from her parents died that morning as well. Get to that soon. Following the first episode Noone's condition slowly deteriorates more and more. The headaches get stronger, she starts to scratch behind her ear. The EEG machines hurt her head as well, she doesn't like the way they feel, a burning sensation in her head growing stronger and stronger. Then along comes episode 4 where near the end of the episode she starts to react violently to whatever happened to her at the end of the nightmare. Episode 5, back to that flower I mentioned earlier. Otto gets her an exact replacement to the one her parents got her. This is where we find out what kind of flower was given to her by her parents. That flower being a Chrysanthemum. In different parts of the world these flowers have many different meanings depending on their color. However it seems to be in Europe for the most part that these flowers are for gravesides or mourning the dead regardless of color. If this wasn't important they wouldn't have bothered mentioning the type of flower. Finally the last episode. There is a time jump of 2 or 3 days. Otto says so. Noone vanished again, this time a whole night, reappearing at sunrise in the south wing of the institute. She was then confined for two days. When Otto goes to see her, I can only assume she is in a haggard state because A. her illness has progress further and B. While she is scared to sleep, she still wants to and has presumably been trying to sleep, she says the nurse keeps interrupting her, the fire in her head hurting now more than ever. She's been kept awake for two days and nights, not allowed to sleep. Her stomach is also hurting yet Otto forces her to eat the sleep inducing candy. He does not want to wait for her to sleep and needs her to be in a deep sleep. You know the rest, she goes to Nowhere. My conclusion? Everyone one knew she was going to die. Her parents, probably other doctors before coming to Otto, he's a psychologist I guess so it makes sense for him not to find out until he sent her up for radiology. This is why her parents come to see her even once! They are bad parents, this is why her disappearance will be swept under the rug. Everyone expects her to die! They used to live in a crappy apartment but moved into a rich house, probably because of money they got when Noone was pronounced a survivor of the "water sickness" as she was paraded around on television to show the world there is a cure. How do you think that would look if the kid you paraded around as cured just up and died? That the cure was a lie? If the water sickness is a huge pandemic if could even be the case that the government is involved, silencing everything to prevent the truth that no cure exists. Her going to Nowhere was the only choice she had. I don't think Otto knew she was dying, mostly because he is blinded by the pursuit of the Ferryman. But this was her only chance to continue living. Listen, if it was me and I had the choice between staying in our world and going to Nowhere, I'd stay here. Now if I'm dying? You best believe I'm taking my chances in Nowhere.

[littlenighttales]

Spoilers for The Sounds of Nightmares (E3).

Okay

Spoiler warning over

The Theater of the Mind

(Live typing as I listen here, will keep later edits in parenthesis)

The nightmares are a reality.

Guys. Fellas. Friends. Amigos.

The very first few seconds basically says we are all right. The nightmares are both real and nightmares. Noone just straight up gets vanquished into the shadow realm as she sleeps.

Seems that the Signal Tower’s corruption has tunneled across time and space into the real world, growing strong enough to teleport kids into it. Maybe adults are doomed to become residents?

This means Six, Mono, everyone else probably had a happy life, and that unholy abomination took it from them. But then, what are the odds that this would happen to siblings? We see siblings in the LN comics.

Also Noone thinks Otto is her friend ;w;

Oh. The innocence….

It’s going to be really bad if (when) Otto turns out to be a baddie.

Noone’s dreams are… kind of depressing. Imagine that. Nightmares. Depressing.

The idea of growing up makes her sad (this comes up more than once) after she plays with one of those potty training dolls. She got bored fast. Fear of growing up is a bit common in kids that are traumatized. Noone is under 10, I figured most likely around 6-8.

Speaking of dolls, I’m pretty sure that doll is a demon.

Noone’s seemingly interested in jewelry. She kind of abandoned the doll in favor of jewelry and it up and dipped while she was gone.

Sounding like the dolls are kids, kind of like the Nest. (This part was wrong, which is good considering the one Noone played with started leaking what sounded like blood from the audio.)

She goes to see a movie in her dream. One with unicorns. She seems to like those, meaning Noone would get along with my Frisk for sure!

The audience in this theater, she realizes, aren’t people, but mannequins. (Might be worth mentioning the hospital mannequins and the old LN2 cut concept art of Mono and Six sneaking by an army of distracted ones?)

Then the Ferryman appears with the scent of the sea.

Noone doesn’t really remember much more about the Ferryman, so Otto just flips the heck out- definitely a bad therapist at a minimum. They’ve got to pause for a second, I think a break happens here. After that break, Otto apologizes and Noone continues.

Also demonic PA and an Eye. So a theater/mall version of the Eye Tower, sounding like?

Noone- which is pronounced Noon- is nicknamed “No One” which is how I first pronounced it when I first saw it written.

The Theater seems lonely? That’s kind of sad. But it seems a bit concerned for Noone? Forgot to mention, the theater is in a mall. So it’s really an Eye Mall. It’s lonely. Kind of reminds me of Mono… maybe the Signal Tower is lonely, too? (Oh… oh no. Guys, what if this WAS Mono talking? Somehow controlling the eyes in the Mall as an extension of himself? Could explain the arguing that it did with itself. Excuse me while I go cry all of the tears at this idea regardless.)

The Mall seems to want to protect Noone from the Ferryman.

Noone’s not a fan of the fame from being cured, which I mentioned before (I think in my E2 review.)

At the end, Noone asks “do I have to go back to my room?”

So, she’s still in a hospital maybe? Mental institute? If this is the case, could all the kids in LN have some mental health/nightmare issues?

(Otto does seem to have some personal motives. Like… he wants to protect Noone (“This time I will protect you”), maybe he sees her as a daughter figure? Projecting CiCi onto her? But it also feels like he’s using her to find his own daughter- which is entirely understandable! Knowing your child was kidnapped by a lovecraftian horror would be devastating emotionally and mentally.)

(I’ve also begun to wonder, could Six be CiCi? Could Six be sharing these “nightmares” with other kids? Maybe the Maw, the Nest, and the City, etc aren’t her dreams, but Mono’s, RK’s, and Rain’s? If Six is CiCi, then perhaps six was just her patient number? All she remembered being called? Mono could be a similar case. That is, assuming they were all put into a similar ward.)

[random-ln-stuff]

NEW THEORY ON THE PODCAST:

[Previous Theory Post (Recommended since this theory uses information from it)] (adding links later so Tumblr doesn’t eat the post)

(Under a readmore because spoilers for Episode 3)

So in ep 3 it’s revealed that:

Noone is physically travelling between the real world and Nowhere when she sleeps, disproving my Prophecy Theory and the other Dream Theory at the same time. (Also there seems to be heavy time distortion because Noone was gone for a moment in our world and an entire dream in Nowhere.

The Ferryman speaks. “Faraway drifts near. Tread long, then, sink deep. Two flows from one, and here, is whole again”

Some other stuff I’ll get into later.

First, the dream.

Noone starts the dream experiencing someone letting go of her hand and letting her fall, and she then ends up stumbling across a mall.

In the mall, she finds herself practically showered with gifts and other things to keep her busy and happy in the various stores across the mall. Dolls that she’s always wanted, a red pendant, dresses (including the one she first wore to the Institution) and a movie that she claims to have seen “a hundred times”, so she obviously really likes it.

However, she also hears voices speaking to her from the PDA System. Telling her not to leave and arguing with each other over how to keep her happy. Things are also ever so slightly off in the entire mall as well, as if it can’t quite replicate reality, but is trying its best.

The floor tiles of the mall are also mentioned to somewhat resemble veins (hint hint.).

Eventually, Noone stumbles across the thing speaking to her over the PDA. A mass of flesh using an eye as a movie projector, with the entire mall actually being this mass of flesh. She runs out of the mall as it begs her to stay and argues with itself over how it lost her, and finally sees the Ferryman waiting with an outstretched hand as she runs out, with the Flesh yelling “Don’t take her! Not this one, too…” before everything goes dark and she wakes up.

This. Dream. Is. important.

Where the previous two dreams were symbolic representations of The Lady, the Maw and Guests. This dream isn’t symbolic at all. The entity in here is none other than the ACTUAL SIGNAL TOWER FLESH WALLS. or at least the thing (things?) that will eventually become the Signal Tower.

For proof:

Noone starts this dream with an unseen person letting go of her hand, and she falls into the actual dream. In other words, she experienced Six dropping Mono into the Signal Tower from Mono’s perspective. She fell (or was more accurately dropped) into the Flesh Wall’s domain just like how Mono was (or more accurately, will be.).

The entire dream has a theme of distraction and escapism. The Mall constantly gives Noone anything that it believes she wants, so she’ll become distracted and stay, hopefully forever. These themes are the core themes of the Signal Tower and Little Nightmares 2 as a whole.

Both the Mall and The Signal Tower have warping effects on time. Not only did Noone disappear for only an instant in the real world before reappearing, experiencing more time in the dream than in reality, but even inside the dream time doesn’t work properly. Noone describes that in the mall, the toys range from both old and new (and by new I mean like 1948-1950-ish).

The Mall and the Signal Tower are basically the same thing. A building that’s actually organic, with veins running through the tiles.

The Mall’s head(? Main mass? Brain?) IS A SINGLE EYE BEING USED AS A PROJECTOR, ESSENTIALLY BEING A PRECURSOR TO THE SIGNAL TOWER’S CONNECTION TO TVS AND FILM.

But there’s more. The Mall (which I’m just going to call “The Flesh Walls” for now) is the only entity in any dream that’s actually acknowledged the Ferryman’s existence.

None of the Shadow Workers or The Lady In Chains saw him. Jester and the Not-Guests also didn’t see him or react to his presence. But the Flesh Walls did. I think this implies that the Flesh Walls are a being similar to the Ferryman. Fully aware entities existing in this dream world and possibly being able to drag people into their domain, which may explain why Noone experienced a Signal Tower-esque Entrance into the dream this time. The Ferryman didn’t bring her here this time. The Flesh Walls did, and the Ferryman came to find her.

For another piece of evidence there, the Flesh Wall’s reaction to the Ferryman and the Ferryman’s final action in the dream of reaching out a hand towards Noone heavily reminds me of a certain scene from the comics:

The Ferryman taking the Refugee Boy away from the North Wind.

The Ferryman encounters a child on the run from another powerful entity and he reaches out a hand as an offer. He’ll take the child away and give them safety from the entity, but at a heavy cost of the child now being claimed by another, equally powerful entity.

The Entity cries out as the Ferryman does this: “No I was so close! This isn’t fair!”/“Don’t take her! Not this one, too…”

It’s probably a very good thing that Noone doesn’t get the chance to take the Ferryman’s hand.

So with this new information, we have new questions:

Why are the first two dreams symbolic when this one isn’t?

What’s the deal with the Flesh Wall?

How is Nowhere a different place and how does it work?

So here’s my new theory, that I have named:

Cipher Theory:

The theory goes that the Nowhere acts a lot like the Nightmare Dimension from Gravity Falls.

You have the real world on one side, with real people and Noone and Otto and then you have the Nightmare World on the other side, which is essentially a chaotic soup of eldritch horror and madness.

The dreams that Noone (and presumably some other children like Otto’s presumably missing (and also presumably a child because we still know nothing about her) Ceci) are having are them temporarily crossing over into the nightmare world or even more likely, to a place somewhat between the two, where dreams and reality meet.

The Eye, The Ferryman, the Flesh Walls and The North Wind (because you just KNOW he’s going to appear any episode now) originate from this Nightmare World, and appear to all be aware of each other, but the Lady, Thin Man and other characters we’ve seen in the games DONT originate from here. I’ll get into them later.

My theory goes that this Nightmare World, being a “chaotic soup of eldritch horror” is just that, horribly distorted and filled with stuff that just doesn’t make sense. The things in Noone’s dreams, especially the Stone Giant with an endless snowy field on top of it filled with clockwork, shadows, a Lady wearing chains and thousands of tortured souls, just can’t exist even in the Nowhere we see in the games, as even the Maw had to conform to physical space and the Signal Tower gets a pass, plus it’s all too symbolic of things we see in the game to be coincidental.

But then where do the games happen if the Real World is the Real World and The Nightmare World is too nonsensical?

This is where the second part of my theory comes into place:

Tell me. In the 2012-2016 TV show Gravity Falls, what is Bill Cipher’s plan with HIS nightmare dimension?

A full crossover. The two dimensions opening up to each other and forming a Nightmarish Hellscape.

The Real World and the Eye’s Nightmare Dimension will combine to create the Nowhere, and that’s where all the games happen.

In the Nowhere, The Real World is turned into a nightmare hellscape, while the Nightmare Dimension is somewhat restrained and tempered by the Real World’s “Reality” and “Physics” unless you deliberately seek out areas where reality is particularly fucked (The Nest’s Weird Gravity) or you go inside the Signal Tower, where time becomes a liquid thanks to the Flesh Walls that actually make it up.

Explaining some other things using the Lady:

Think about this: The Lady in Chains is a product of the Nightmare Dimension. She somewhat resembles the Lady we know, but she’s different, with different powers, different methods of remaining young, and she controls a giant Stone Giant powered by clockwork filled to the brim with tortured souls. She’s essentially the Proto-Lady, and is basically just a representation of several ideas (mostly the heavy symbolism of eternal youth or the fear of aging), given a tangible form.

Meanwhile, we know that the real Lady used to be a citizen of the Pale City, but she left once the signal tower showed up to find the Maw and possibly the Nest. We also know that when she originally left, she already had her shadow powers and was using a mask to hide her age. But think about that for a second. The Lady was a citizen of the Pale City, PRE-SIGNAL TOWER, meaning before the Flesh Walls showed up and therefore BEFORE the world went to shit and created the Nowhere.

In other words, during the Events of The Sound Of Nightmares, The Lady is split across two entities: the Lady in Chains in the Nightmare Dimension, and a human woman living in the Pale City (if that even is it’s name in the real world) in the Real World.

When the Nightmare and Real Worlds finally collide and merge, Entities like the Lady In Chains will also merge or possess or empower or just generally add to real world Entities that best fit their ideas and what they represent. The Lady In Chains will find this Woman in the Pale City who best represents what she is and the ideas that make her up (someone desperate to remain young and alive no matter the cost) and do Something (Warp, Empower, Become, Possess, Merge, it’s all on the table here) that gives this woman her magic and creates The Lady.

The same presumably goes for Monsters like the Hunter, Teacher or Doctor, but the Lady In Chains and therefore The Lady seem to be particularly powerful. Especially once you consider that The Lady didn’t create or originally own the Maw. She took it over by force and banished its original owner to the depths.

The Flesh Walls, Ferryman and North Wind are all different though. While the other denizens of the Nightmare World seem to be just like living ideas or symbolic concepts with little else to them (which is probably why they’re forced to change themselves or do something to certain human beings once the Nowhere is made), these three seem to be especially powerful and aware, not really being ideas or concepts given form like the rest. Maybe they were created by the Eye personally while the rest just sort of.. Exist alongside it.

Finally, I want to look at the Ferryman’s words:

“Faraway drifts near. Tread long, then, sink deep. Two flows from one, and here, is whole again”

Tread long, then, sink deep: Possibly instructions? Either on how to enter the Nightmare World or how Noone will get stuck inside or something along those lines.

Two flows from one, and here, is whole again: This line is why I think Noone and The Ferryman (and The Flesh Walls) are entering a point between their two worlds instead of crossing over outright. Two Worlds flow from one, but here, they’re whole again. It’s a point where Reality and Nightmares overlap ever so slightly, where the Ferryman and Noone can both exist in the same place.

But Finally:

Faraway drifts near.

This quote just makes me believe more in the Real World and The Eye eventually crossing over. A Faraway World (presumably the Nightmare World) is drifting near. The faraway Nightmare World is approaching reality, and it’s only getting closer.

[weatheredpileoftomes]

a sequence of calamities

For FFXIVWrite Day 18, “a fish out of water”. Temimi, early A Realm Reborn, spoilers for Tonberry lore (and warnings for Tonberry lore), ~700 words. A little canon-divergent in places.

It’s been…some time.

The lesser moon is gone. In the night sky Menphina wanders alone, her hound lost.

Temimi travels by day, and keeps the curtains drawn at night.

*

People have a tendency of explaining things to Temimi as if she doesn’t know them; she ought to be offended, maybe, except…she doesn’t.

A ferryman tells her about the Sahagin, and about Admiral Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn, and about something called the Thalassocracy that runs Limsa Lominsa. Temimi, clutching her stolen robe tighter around her with her mittened hands, nods with interest.

There are twins on the ferry with her, bored to sleep by the ferryman’s ramblings. Temimi makes careful mental notes instead. She would be expected to know about the Admiral, most likely. She would certainly be expected to know about the Sahagin.

“Thank you,” she says, when they reach the docks of Limsa Lominsa safely, after all.

“Hey,” he says. “If you don’t mind, where are you from? I’ve never heard an accent quite like yours, and I’ve ferried an awful lot of travelers.”

Temimi swallows. Her mouth is dry, but she can’t lick her lips to moisten them before she speaks; she has none to lick. “Nowhere I’m going back to,” she says.

He nods, and asks no more questions. She would go back, if she could. But it does all right as a deflection.

*

Baderon Tenfingers, the man who runs the Adventurers’ Guild, doesn’t just tell Temimi how to find the markets; he sends her to people who will make sure she understands what a fair price is, and where to look for one. It might be a courtesy for any newcomer.

Temimi has never seen the funny little coins they call gil before. It’s a relief when she sees people trading Allagan-stamped metals for larger purchases—that much, at least, hasn’t changed.

She wonders if the Allagans really stamped that many metal pieces, that they can still be used even now, or if people have made more since then. The value of a coin is what people give it; the value of a robe, or a meal, is certain. And the Allagans were ancient even in her time.

*

She meets a cheerful and bespectacled man in a library—a little shorter than her, she thinks, though maybe not shorter than she was before. She thinks she grew.

“Oh, hello!” he says. “Are you interested in Ancient Nym too?”

I was born in Nym, Temimi doesn’t say. I am ancient.

“How old is it?” she asks.

“The Sixth Umbral Calamity happened one thousand, four hundred twenty-three years ago,” he says. It isn’t casually; he’s proud of his knowledge.

That’s…so many years. So many. Temimi wants to ask— “And how long,” she asks carefully instead, “how long was the Fifth Astral Era?”

Her fellow student’s eyes and lips work as he calculates silently. “Fifteen hundred…seventy-seven years, roughly.”

“Ah,” Temimi says, or hopes she says. People she knew who were not stricken by the Green Death died in the Sixth Umbral Calamity, then. She wants to ask what it was, and doesn’t dare.

*

“There was a Calamity five years ago,” Baderon tells her. Temimi can see a few of the other people around shaking their heads impatiently. Someone scoffs. She looks up at Baderon with polite interest, not that he can see her expression behind her veil—not that he could read her expression even if he could see it—and waits for him to continue.

He tells her about a Garlean invasion—she has no idea who the Garleans are, but gets the impression they fancy themselves a new Allag, and resolves to act accordingly—and a battle at a place called Carteneau. Dalamud was no moon, but a cage for a primal, unleashed upon the world.

She nods, storing all this away too.

There were heroes to save much of the world. She wonders if there were heroes in the Sixth Umbral Calamity as well, if aught of Nym, or Amdapor, or even Mhach survived, and doesn’t ask. A simple adventurer wouldn’t care, and that’s all she is now—an odd-jobber, a willing hand, a last resort. That Baderon keeps finding her work to do means things are worse than they should be.

Well, she’ll do what she can. What else could she do?

[jenny-dreadful]

actually, for funsies, lemme rattle off as many of otgw’s subtextual death symbols etc. as i can think of off the top of my head

(understanding that the bulk of this is probably well-trod territory if you’ve sought out much discussion on it, and that some of it is inarguably half-baked ideas that i’m interested in bringing up nonetheless)

Beatrice, in the Divine Comedy, is the name of Dante’s lost love. Also, there is a traditional folk belief (having trouble finding its origin) regarding bluebirds as a sign or incarnation of a deceased loved one

“Pottsfield” as a corruption of “potter’s field,” a type of burial place for the unclaimed dead (How nice, then, that all those skeletons seem to get such a joyful welcome!)

(Addendum: I love all those cheeky little lines there, like “Aren’t you a little too…early?” and “Folks don’t tend to leave Pottsfield.” gtfoh)

(DOUBLE ADDENDUM: Reference to this village event as a “harvest” functions at two ends, sort of. Death is commonly compared to a sort of harvest, as with the Grim Reaper; also, the Pottsfield idea of “harvesting” people who are already dead and buried, rather than living people, serves as perhaps the series’s first glimmering hint into the idea that the titular “garden” is a graveyard

The tavern crowd is satisfied to identify Wirt as “the pilgrim;” The Pilgrim’s Progress famously depicts an allegorical journey through death

Endicott—definitely well-trod that his name appears on a headstone in the real world later on, which is more text than subtext. But I wanna mention it anyway bc (while one may conclude that everyone lingering in the Unknown has died) Endicott is the only one it gets so explicit about, and here too is a graveyard-garden synapse crackle: Where can you find him? Well—in the real world, it’s the cemetery, but in the Unknown he’s prospering in his garden

The search for two pennies for ferry fare (presumably, one each for Wirt and Greg, with Fred and Beatrice planning to play dumb and board for free), ending in the sort of left-field thing where Greg sullenly throws them away? cracks me up because I can only imagine the whole episode being written before someone in the room went, “Shit, wait, they can’t actually pay the ferryman— How do we get out of this?”

(Add.: A ferry typically crosses a body of water rather than traveling along it, doesn’t it? Usually, a vessel like the one depicted would be called a “riverboat;” the decision to consistently call it a “ferry” instead is deliberate as hell.)

Beatrice’s initial endeavor is in bringing the boys to “Adelaide of the pasture”—or, in only slightly different terms, putting them “out to pasture”

Some more small ones, but when they encounter the other frogs and realize they’re all clothed, Greg kind of oddly makes a particular point of noting their unclothed frog’s “cold feets;” bare feet are sometimes used in art to suggest death, and separately, going barefoot is a part of proper mourning in some traditions. Also—there’s something to those frogs burying themselves in the mud to sleep, and to our party going on instead of staying with them, isn’t there?

Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for…thee, ultimately, if you get eaten? I’m gonna be tbh with you, I don’t see a strong connection here, but it feels weird to not mention it when there IS a strong (if general) association of bells as announcers of death. Maybe I’m missing something.

Greg sure does visit (and choose to return from) what can only be described as someplace resembling a child’s heaven. Traditionally, only one way to achieve this.

Oh, man, no big surprise with, like, “Come Wayward Souls”’ moody ass, but “Patient Is the Night” is such a cool instance of a particular old-fashioned, folkish flavor, poetically obfuscating the topic of death to present it as welcoming and restful (couldn’t work out a less pretentious or clunky way to say that).

And last, for now: Hey, shit, I’m pretty sure this doesn’t quite add up to anything, it’s just… It’s kinda weird that Greg’s big crime is revealed as the theft of a stone (painted to represent a person) from somebody’s garden, when this poetic interpretation of a graveyard as a “garden” (lined with stones, each carved to represent a person, in a different way) is established pretty thoroughly. Like, I won’t pretend that’s not kinda a reach. But it’s not nothing nothing, right?

[delightful-to-be-read]

The Passage - Justin Cronin

I bought this because I enjoyed The Ferryman so much. This is a much harsher, more unrelenting read, but it’s just as beautifully written. I do love dystopian novels, but this involves a type of apocalypse I really dislike so it had to be great for me to keep reading.

It starts off with Carter, a man on Death Row for the crime of being Black in an unfortunate situation. Amy, the clever six-year-old child of a down-on-her-luck teenager. And Wolgast, an FBI agent charged with collecting thirteen subjects for a military medical trial. He is charged to collect both Carter and Amy.

Things I liked:

It’s a challenge for such a long book to be so easy to read. I often read books as close to in-one-go as I can because I find it difficult to re-engage but you’d have to go days without sleep to do that with this book and I never had any trouble re-engaging.

Considering Cronin says he developed it in a role play exercise with his 8 year old daughter, it’s not self-indulgent at all.

Things I noticed:

There’s an assumption that we would return to more strongly defined gender roles in the event of a crisis. There’s never any real explanation as to why. I can think of some reasonable arguments why that would be the case, but it feels more like someone going “oh, come on, we don’t have time to pretend women can do what men can do”. Having said that, the female characters are well fleshed out and explicitly frustrated.

Similarly there’s an emphasis on pairing up, but they are repopulating and the book was written in 2005, when it was pretty rare for a fictional population to be in any way representative of the world’s LGBTQIA+ population.

[wraith-of-thiodolf]

tell us a story!

Once upon a time there was an evil king, and on a week of two fridays his seers and astrologers came to him and told him that a luck child had been born, the seventh son of a seventh son, who would one day be king. The king wouldn’t stand for that, and so he and his chancellor disguised themselves as hermit and holy men, and went out to find this child. Soon they found him, and they offered the poor peasant parents a sack of gold for the child, saying that they would raise him well as their apprentice. At first the parents refused, but they overheard the king mention summoning his soldiers to kill the lot of them, and so they reluctantly gave over the luck child. They took the baby to a mighty cliff over-looking the cold sea, to drop the baby over. ‘even now he smiles,’ said the king. ‘id smile too if I were destined to wear your crown,’ said the chancellor. The greedy king didn’t like the sound of that, and so pushed both chancellor and baby off the cliff. The king soon put the whole affair behind him. he had his own child, a daughter, the only person he loved in all the world. And as the years went by he allowed none to wed her, though there were many suitors.

But the babe, he was a luck child, and his blanket caught some branches and let him down to shore gentle as could be. He was found the next morn by a miller couple, who had no child of their own. Calling him ‘lucky’ for surviving, they adopted him. years passed and one day the king arrived, to make sure all was in order for the royal tithes and taxes. He saw the boy, fair and handsome, unlike the millers. When asked, they told him that he was found, washed up at the base of the cliff seventeen years ago. How lucky, thought the king. The king said he had use at court for such a smart lad, and gave the boy a decree to be delivered to the queen, who would see that all his needs were met.

As lucky went through the woods to deliver his message to the queen, he fell into a cave. Twas a robbers cave, with robbers within! The boy spoke of his mission to the palace, and the robbers shared some food with him, all friendly as could be. But of course the food was drugged, and lucky fell to sleep. Before they robbed him and slit his throat, the robbers found the kings letter, and indeed it was nothing like what the king said. It told the queen he was a traitor and a dangerous felon, to be cut into a hundred pieces on the spot. The robbers thought this unkind and fairly cruel, so one of their number, a skilled forger, wrote a new letter. So on the morn lucky awakes near the castle, and thinking nothing of it, continues his journey. He takes the letter to the queen, who was with the princess, and indeed lucky and she fell to love at first sight.

The king was just coming to the palace, thinking very highly of his low deeds, when he heard the sound of celebration and bells. Whats this? Twas a wedding. A royal wedding. His dear daughter to the luck child! He demanded answers from the queen his wife, and she gave him the letter. His handwriting, his seal, but it said that the boy should marry the princess. The queen protested, saying she thought he might have spoken to some oracle or other. The king thought of a new plan. He said that there was meant to be a challenge. On an isle in a fishless lake at the end of the world  there was a terrible gryphon, who ate every man woman and child it found. Upon the back of this beast was a single golden feather. The king said that only a man who brought back the feather was worthy to marry his daughter. The queen protested, the daughter protested, but lucky agreed.

Lucky found the lake, and hailed the lone ferryman. Many sought the isle of the gryphon, for all its shores glittered with gold and jewels. The ferryman warned that none ever returned, but lucky was confident. The ferryman asked the boy to find out when he might cease his ceasless crossings, for it was said the gryphon knew. he got onto the isle, and in the ruins the gryphon called home eho should he encounter but the forger! The gryphon had eaten the other robbers, but the forger was also a fine cook, and so the gryphon kept him, to make him meals, and to give him scritches in those hard to reach spots. Lucky told him of his mission, and the robber was quick to hide him, for soon the beast would return. Lucky hid, and as the cook made the beasts stew, he asked after the ferryman. The gryphon knew that the ferryman could be released if another took his place. After the gryphons meal he fell to napping, curled about the thief, who managed to get the golden feather off during his scratching. He handed it to lucky, who bolted to the shore, only stopping to fill his pockets with glittering gems and jewels, and then to the ferryman, who was astonished to see him. as they made their way across the lake, the ferryman learned he needed another to take his place.

Lucky arrived back at the palace with feather in hand, and the king could no longer gainsay him. but then lucky produced the treasure of the gryphons isle, and spoke of how many riches were heaped there. The king may have lost a daughter he thought, but he may have more riches than ever before. So he followed the directions of lucky, and came to the lake, and took the ferry. The king, impatient as ever to see this treasure, berated the old ferryman for going too slow. The ferryman then offered the tiller to the king, who took it. And lo! The king was now cursed to those endless crossings until another might come, and the old ferryman was free at last. So as the king spent his eternity crossing the lake, the boy and the princess lived happily to the end of their days. for indeed, he was lucky

[youreyeslookliketheocean]

youreyeslookliketheocean’s DSMP Fic Recs!!

Figured it was about time for one of these... :)

Mostly SBI-centric because they’re my favorite dynamic. I’ll probably add to this list as time goes on, and I also want to go back through my ao3 history and find some lesser-known fics I really enjoyed to rec them all. But for now...

* oneshot  ** unfinished work

** the lights go out (my heart goes still) by curseworm

With his old home unwelcoming and his new one gone, Tommy is alone. After hours of staggering through the freezing snow, he finds a cabin.

Technoblade’s cabin.

He hides himself away in the deepest corner he can find, taking only what he needs to survive, wasting away in the cold and the dark. He’s petrified at the thought of being found out, terrified of what he thinks Techno would do to him.

When Techno finds his injured teenage brother huddled in a filthy little cave beneath his basement, the rage he feels is immeasurable. The voices demand blood, and blood he will give them. Dream won’t be getting away with this one.

(On the other side of the world, in a country that floats on a man-made lake, Philza gets himself in a bit of a pickle.) 

** The hearth down under by Crystalquill

A tiny change gives Tommy the courage to flee to the Nether instead of the cold tundra, finding an unlikely ally in the midst of a fiery hellscape.

But tiny changes can alter the course of history. The SMP will never be the same.

(Lots of cool Nether worldbuilding in this one!!)

to be a wanderer, wandering by hydrangeasheart

Tommy's feet drag in the snow.

It's so, so cold. He's so cold. His toes are freezing. His exposed shins feel like they’ve been cut open-- even the one that’s bandaged. His wings have gone numb, which is almost, almost good, because now he can’t feel the shifting, broken bones inside of the left one, just under feathers and muscle.

He doesn’t know why he’s still walking.

-

Or, Tommy leaves the exploded ruins of Logstedshire behind, and walks until he finds somewhere safe.

And things keep going from there.

(A canon-divergent AU, splitting off somewhere around when Tommy started hiding out below Techno's house.)

that’s, like, a hundred miles by No_one_you_know (and then “as long as i’m here”, and “he’s my brother, i just raise him”)

Dream would kill him. Dream was going to kill him- he was going to- no, he wouldn’t. Dream was his friend- friends don’t hit each other- Dream was supposed to take care of him- Dream /was/ taking care of him.

It hurt to breathe. It hurt to think. He couldn’t clear his thoughts as he stumbled to the family computer, pulling up a tab on google and frantically typing the name into the search bar.

The words Technoblade Watson stared back at him, the little black bar at the end of the letters blinking slowly, mocking him.

Why, of all people, did it have to be Technoblade?

in short: the one where dream sucks as a parental figure, tommy runs away, and visits his least favorite family member technoblade.

passerine by thcscus(blujamas)

Do I really need to put the summary here? Pretty much everyone knows this fic. Also, though, if you enjoy this one you should totally read thcscus’ connected fic, “shrike”!! It’s only at 2 chapters right now but it’s already really good and has this dark, foresty aesthetic I love...

not with a bang but with a whimper by dip_dyed_ghost

He knows Tubbo doesn’t care about him anymore. He knows that. He’s been shown that. But it doesn’t stop Tommy from caring about him. He brushes the pads of his fingers over the compass’s glass and wonders how he’s doing, if he’s tired of it all yet, if he needs help. He watches the way it points strongly in the direction over the ocean. He hopes he’s alright.

Even after everything, he hopes he’s alright.

During his exile, Tommy finds a drugged and hurt Tubbo on his doorstep. He can’t not help him.  

(This one has a neat take on potions, in my opinion. Also it’s only 4 chapters so it’s a quick read!)

take this compass, follow it home by lightning_anon

Tommy's a fuck up, he can't pay attention, and never sits still. He taps his hands, pushes people away, and has never had a best friend. He's a screwed up, forgotten kid lost in the foster system. He's also just been placed with a new family. Tommy knows how this goes, he never ends up staying long. After all, no one wants a fuck up like him.

Why would this house be any different?

Or: the obligatory sleepy bois foster fic, but with a focus on the neurodivergent kids that inevitably get lost in the system.

(Genuinely want to see more books like this in original fiction. It’s part of what inspired my newest og wip, “To Build a Home.” So sweet and I feel like I had my eyes opened to some neurodivergent tendencies I never knew existed. I read this in a day and can’t rec it enough.)

bloodlines by youreyeslookliketheocean

Tommy’s an orphan on the run from his previous guardian. Philza’s a king who prides himself on keeping his kingdom in an era of peace. Wilbur’s the crown prince, and Techno’s right beside him as his adopted brother. When Phil’s kingdom of Pogtopia is threatened by the bloodvines—a strange, brainwashing plant infecting many of the surrounding kingdoms—the four must work together to keep the kingdom, and their family, safe. --- A royal au sbi fic... + the bloodvines, for spice.

(Yes I’m self-promoting. But, in my defense, I’m very proud of it. If you checked it out it would mean the world to me :’))

Heat Waves by tbhyourelame

Dream has always held a gentle admiration for George, but when their nuanced friendship trickles into his sleeping mind, he awakens to a new world of conflicting emotions and longing. Lost in the midst of a heat wave, he continuously listens to a song that works itself in to the very core of his heartache. Floridian nights, unsent messages, spiraling infatuation, and terrible, terrible weather.

Another fic I think pretty much everyone knows about. Listen, listen... I was once an idiot who said “Oh no, I’ll never read Heat Waves. It’s irl, not characters, and it’s probably cringe”... No. I was so wrong. This fic is wonderfully written, with a pretty quick moving plot and great characterizations. You do need an ao3 account to access it, though. Just to let you know. (Also read “Helium”, unfinished and hasn’t updated in awhile, but it’s the continuation). 

Guitar Strings and Keyrings are What it Takes to Build a Home by Anonymous

Techno was adopted by Phil when he was 12 years old.

He'd been enjoying his morning before Phil came to him asking if he would mind them taking in another kid. Against his better judgement, Techno agrees and ends up with two new foster brothers who he was determined to not get attached to, no matter what.

Tommyinnit’s unbeatable method of avoiding sudden death by eneliii

“I uh,” Tommy starts, not knowing how to break this to the hero lightly. He hates to be the bearer of bad news. “I think your powers are broken? It’s not a bad thing of course, but like, I swear you tried to mind control me and it like, totally failed. Which is fine, honestly, don’t feel insecure. Everyone’s power stop working sometimes… I think.”

Sheesh, this is very awkward. Why is no one else talking? Why is Philza looking at him like he grew three heads? Why is the Blade staring at him so intensely? Why is Willow still frozen?

“Did I, did I hit a nerve? Yikes,” Tommy hisses, “Well um,” He steps back, bracing his legs and bending his knees, “This was like super fun, but I’m - I’mma head out.”

or,

in which Tommy manages to annoy the hell out of Phil, Techno and Wilbur by being both impossible to catch and irritatingly endearing.

or or,

a crack fic where Tommy is a vigilante and Phil, Techno and Wilbur are the heroes hunting him down.

(Feel like I am obligated to say how incredibly funny this fic is. Seriously. I have a distinct memory of sitting on my neighborhood park’s swing, giggling hysterically, while reading this. Well...until the end... but we won’t get into that...)

** bones in the ocean by bunflower

“Your reputation precedes you, y’know.”

“Does it, now?” Philza watches him coyly from where he’s now leaning against the wall, arms folded around his chains and gaze half-lidded, his lips curled in an arrogant, cat-like smirk.

“The Angel of Death, the ferryman of the Styx, the terror of the western seas. One of the most feared captains ever to sail, and yet, I have to wonder… how did a man like you end up all on his own? We searched the area where you were found—not another soul in sight. So,” He fixes him with a long look, allowing the silence to hover like a dark cloud, the words rolling off of his tongue with all the venom and smugness he can muster, “—tell me, Philza. Where is your crew?”

OR: Technoblade is a naval captain, and Phil his unwilling prisoner. Somehow, they manage to come out of it as friends in the end.

(Is this fic considered popular like passerine/Heat Waves now? Cause I feel like it’s reputation precedes itself, at this point... Pirate au.)

****

Okay! That’s it for now. Like I said, though, I want to add to this over time and also dig back for some older things I’ve read. Also, if you have any recs feel free to send them in! I’m about to go back to school and therefore might not have time for reading fun stuff, but whenever I get the chance I’d love to check them out!!!

Happy Reading!!

[gnocchighoul]

The boys (+undateables?) reactions when they discover MC is actually a vampire?

....so I’m a dingus and didn’t realize that this was also for the undateables and just wrote it for the brothers, my bad 😅 Part two maybe? 👀

WARNING: as this is about vampires, it’s a little bit morbid. I strayed away from being too graphic, but y’know. Vampires. There’s death and blood and such. 

Enjoy! :D

~

Lucifer

In hindsight, he really should have figured it out on his own.

But it’s not like he’s been around enough humans lately to know what Normal human behavior is. 

So he just kinda took your... quirks at face value.

So what if you’re far too comfortable with the Devildom’s constant state of nighttime? Solomon doesn’t seem to mind it either, so maybe humans are just more nocturnal now.

And perhaps your Very Strong aversion to garlic is a little odd, but Mammon wouldn't eat it either for the first 600 years of his life, so it’s not that weird.

You’re also not phased by constantly being surrounded by demons and monsters, which is a little strange, but maybe you’re just like the ancient greeks. A monster fucker.

You feeling right at home in the Devildom is auspicious for the exchange program, so he doesn’t bother dwelling on it.

Though maybe he does find it a little bit weird when you really insist that he start drinking cranberry juice.

(It’s just for health benefits of course, totally has nothing to do with you prepping your next meal)

So what, you may ask, triggers his big lightbulb moment?

You fall off the roof.

And you just get right back up.

Now he knows that humans aren’t supposed to be THAT durable, so he stops you from scaling the side of the fucking house with your bare hands, and very eloquently asks you, “What the fuck?” 

You shake him off. “What? Mammon and I are playing roof-ball.” 

Lucifer stares. “You fell. I saw how hard you hit the ground. You should be dead.”

You laugh. “Dead? Just from a little fall like that? Are you serio-ohhh wait. You don’t know, do you?” 

You give him your biggest, cheesiest grin and—oh. 

Fangs.

...And now he understands why you want him to drink cranberry juice.

Mammon

You are, by far, the weirdest human he’s ever met. 

Which is saying something, because Solomon is literally just a few blocks away.

Seriously, despite camping out in your room nearly every single night, Mammon has never seen you sleep, he’s pretty fucking sure that sometimes you don’t even breathe, you won’t step foot into the House of Lamentation unless someone invites you in, and who the hell hates garlic that much?? 

But you’ve also expressed your intense dislike for crosses, so he supposes that you’re not unredeemable. 

Just weird.

But it’s incredibly annoying how you wont sleep. Your tossin’ and turnin’ is killing him, why the fuck can’t you just settle down? You need to just put your DDD down and sleep already, dammit.

He sits up, ready to tear you a new one—and pauses. 

“Um,” his voice is high, somewhat uncertain, and your eyes snap over to look at him. “Why are you looking at coffins for sale?” 

You sigh, a bit wistfully. “I just can’t stand sleeping in a bed anymore. I didn’t want to be rude, so I really did try, but it's been a couple hundred years since I last had one and it’s just murder on my back. I think I’m gonna just have to get a coffin. They’re so much more comfortable.” 

Briefly, Mammon considers running. 

Instead, he says, “What the fuck?” 

You quirk an eyebrow at him. “You do know I’m a vampire, right?” 

...What the fuck—

Mammon lays back down—crosses his arms over his chest with a huff and pretends that he isn’t totally freaked the fuck out. “‘Course I do, don’t be stupid. Now go to sleep already.” 

So that he can escape before you try to eat him.

“Mammon,” you sing, leaning over the bed to loom over him. He swallows hard—can’t look away from your sharp, toothy grin. 

You coo, “I can hear the scared little pitter patter of your heart, darling.”

He squeaks.

Levi

Honestly, Levi is so so happy to have another irl friend who’s into video games that he looks past your strangeness.

You like to stay indoors and play games!! That’s something he has in common with you that his brothers don’t, and that’s all that matters!

...Though he does find it a little weird how sometimes you just kinda sniff him. 

The first dozen times he nearly had a heart attack, and when he asked why you were doing it, he Really wasn't expecting you to shrug and say “I dunno, you just smell tasty” 

Seriously. Tasty? Are you Beel or something, what’s that supposed to mean?!

He’s not entirely sure why you’re a bit of a shut in gamer though, because despite your, ah, quirks, you’re still so much cooler than he is, so what’s the deal with that?

When he asks, you just shrug and say, “Old habits die hard, I guess. Real sunshine hurts, but virtual doesn’t, so I just got kinda used to living through games and staying indoors.”

“Oh.” Levi’s a bit surprised, but sympathetic. “So, you sunburn easily?” 

He’s not entirely sure why you’re laughing now, since that wasn’t a joke. He was just trying to be friendly :(

But then you hug him and he’s too flustered to be offended anymore jndcks

So, when does it finally click for Levi that you’re a vampire?

You guys are having a game night in his room.

He accidentally takes a sip of your caprisun and realizes, very quickly, that it is not the refreshing juice of a caprisun pouch.

He throws up a little bit.

And screams.

And maybe blacks out for a few seconds.

But when he finally calms down and lets you explain, he’s pretty damn enchanted, because this is just like Help, My Roommate Is A Vampire And I Didn’t Know Until A Vampire-Hunter Mistook Me For Them And Attacked Me!! :D 

Satan

Satan considers himself to be somewhat of a detective, y’know. His brain is just filled to the brim with Big Smarts

Naturally, he puts that jelly thicc thought tank of his to good use and realizes very quickly that you aren’t totally human. 

At first, he isn’t totally sure what you are.

And then a coffin gets delivered to the house, which upon seeing you cheer “Oh sweet, my new bed!!” aaaand he puts the pieces together.

You become somewhat of a case study to him. You’re the first vampire he’s ever encountered and he just wants to know everything and anything about your life.

He’s so intrigued by you.

But you frustrate him SO much.

He wants to know about how you were turned!! It’s not like he has any other vampires that he can ask about their experience!! And you fucking tell him a different story every day!!

“A cat jumped over my deceased body!”

“I was stabbed and the wound wasn’t treated with boiling water!” 

“On a dark and stormy night, I came across a palace and the owner, a hospitable gentleman, let me take refuge there. But then, I quickly realized that I was actually a hostage, and when I tried to escape, that fucker turned me!”

“Nobody put an obolus in my mouth to pay the toll of the Styx, so Charon the ferryman sent me back! What a great guy.” 

“A chupacabra bit me!”

Needless to say, he considers breaking the wooden leg off one of the dining room chairs and stabbing you with it, but the lecture he would get from Lucifer just isn’t worth the effort. 

He’s gonna pull the truth out of you one of these days.

Asmo

“My my, darling, what sharp teeth you have~” Asmo purrs, lifting a finger to brush against them, doe-eyes wide and curious. “The better to eat me with, hopefully?” 

You smile. “Something like that.”

And you fuckin’ bite his finger.

His scream is fantastic. If you actually draw blood next time, maybe he’ll even shatter the windows! 

He swats your leg sharply with a silk folding fan and cries, “What if you had broken my skin!? Do you have any idea how much time and effort goes into maintaining this soft, supple skin?! What’s wrong with you, you psychopath?”

“Don’t hit me,” you pout, scooting away from him. “I couldn’t help it! You just smell so sweet and I haven’t had any blood in a while, so—”

“Huh?” Asmo blinks, looking a bit confused. Then recovers far too quickly and waggles his eyebrows at you. “Oh, so that’s what you’re into! What a pleasant surprise~” 

You thunk him on the back of the head. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you not to tease a vampire?”

Asmo’s grin could rival the sun.

“A vampire?! Well why didn’t you say so sooner?” 

He’s already taking off his shirt.

“Get over here already and take a bite out of me~”

Beel

When he finds out that you’re a vampire, his first thought is to worry over if you can eat normal food or not.

He’s very relieved when you tell him that you can, so long as you’ve had enough blood, but that garlic is a very big no-no.

Naturally, you two bond over how both of you never quite feel full. 

It’s not uncommon for the other house members to find you two laying face down on the floor, tummies rumbling, whining about how you’re staaaaarving

You carry around snacks for him, and Beel makes sure that you’ve always got access to blood (whether that means stashing blood bags, letting you feed from him, or a combo of both ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) )

He’s probably going to be the least weirded out by your ~undead tendencies~

Honestly, he’s a bit relieved by how strong you are. The last thing he ever wants to do is hurt you or see you get hurt, and it gives him peace of mind when he realizes that you’re actually pretty durable!

But it does give him a fucking heart attack the first time he sees you yeet yourself out a second story window to crush poor, poor unassuming Mammon.

He also really loves how your body temperature naturally runs cold. He’s a space heater, you’re an icicle—it just works. Snuggle time is good :)

He totally compares the size of your incisors with his jkdcnkj

He just thinks you’re really neat!!!

But he is very sympathetic about how you cant eat good garlic bread :(

Belphie

Listen.

We all know this emo boy is a vampire fucker, probably even more so than Asmo.

(He read Twilight. He saw all the movies. He had merch.)

(Fuck Edward and Jacob though, he was Team Alice all the way.)

(If he can stay awake long enough, he reads really shitty vampire romance novels.)

He just thinks vampires are hot, okay? He can’t help that his soul longs to be a vampire fucker.

Just accept it into your heart. Belphie already has.

So needless to say, he’s THRILLED when he finds out that you’re a vampire. He tries to play it cool though and pretends that he isn’t immediately trying to jump your bones dfghjkjh

He overheard you telling Satan that you got bitten by a Chupacabra, and they’re known for going after cows right? 

He is a cowboy, y’know, guess you’re just gonna have to go to him now when you’re thirsty, y’know, since you were bitten by a Chupacabra. it just makes sense, really ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(No it doesn’t)

(But let’s be real, are you gonna pass up the chance to snuggle the shit out of him AND get a snack out of it? No. No you’re not.)

(He totally makes you arm wrestle Beel to recreate the “Iconic” twilight scene with Emmett and Bella.)

(When he realizes that you’re strong, he’s gonna make you give him piggyback rides, just like Edward and Bella :) and no he doesn’t care how ridiculous you both look)

[redhoodssweetheart]

Life and Death

Genre: Mythology AU (Orpheus and Eurydice)

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader

Requested: Yes (This is apart of my 1.5K follower celebration, please see post for details.)

Word Count: 2.3K

Warnings: Angst with a happy ending, character death

Description:  Natasha and you were happy, but a month after your wedding you are killed by a snake.  Natasha will do anything to get you back, even if it means she has to go into the Underworld to retrieve you.

It’s funny how one moment you can be blissfully happy and then in another moment that happiness is slipping through your fingers like grains of sand.  Natasha and Y/N had been married for nearly a month, their union had been celebrated throughout their small town.  But there were rumors that that love and happiness would only last but a short while.  Some claimed their union was doomed.  There was a prophecy that said that their love would be doomed, that their love, while great, wouldn’t last.

You had worried that the prophecy would come true, but Natasha didn’t put stock into the words from someone she had considered a fraud.  She knew that there would be those who didn’t want her to be happy.  They were jealous of her and wanted to see her fail.  She wouldn’t let anyone hurt you.

But it wasn’t a someone that would take you from her. 

“Natasha!”  Steve’s voice sounded from outside.  “Natasha,” her door flung open.  “Come quick, it’s Y/N.”

She dropped the cloth she had been drying her dishes with and followed Steve to the fields where a crowd had gathered.  Soft sobs could be heard coming from several of the people you were closest too.  Wanda was clinging to her husband, her brother stoic beside her.  Then there was Bucky holding onto his wife Sarah.  Sam was knelt by a body on the ground and that was when it hit Natasha that it was you.

“Y/N!”  She cried, landing in the dirt beside you, but you didn’t respond.  You appeared to be asleep and Sam looked at Natasha, tears swimming in his eyes.

“Natasha, I’m sorry… she’s gone,” his voice was hoarse.  “It was snakes, she didn’t see them until it was too late, there was nothing we could do.”

Natasha didn’t want to believe it.  This couldn’t be happening.  This couldn’t be true.  

But a few days later your body was burned on the funeral pyre, a gold coin placed under your tongue for the ferryman.  Natasha clung to Clint, not trusting herself to be able to stand on her own as she watched the fire consume your final resting place.  When it was over she went home alone, collapsing onto the floor and crying there for hours.  The home felt cold without you, your light and happiness seeming to have seeped out of the space.

“I warned you,” she jumped at the sound of the voice and turned to find Stephen sitting on the couch, a cup of tea in his hands.  “I warned you that this would happen, but neither one of you listened.”

Natasha was on him in a moment her hand wrapped around his throat.  “You did this,” she hissed.  “You took away my happiness!”

Stephen looked bored and unbothered by her, “I did nothing of the sort.  I wished no ill will on you or your beloved.  I am merely a messenger for the gods and they told me that this union would only end in tragedy.  Lady Hera did not bless this union.”

“I didn’t ask for a blessing, I just wanted happiness.  A lifetime of misery and she was the one thing that made me happy.  Why must we be punished for a single, stupid blessing?”  Her hand tightened and still he seemed so unbothered by the fact that she was moments away from killing him.  All her old training coming back, she had been bred for war and though she hadn’t taken a life in years she wasn’t opposed to taking one more.

“Do you want to know how to get her back?”  Stephen arched an eyebrow.

Her grip loosened, “How?”

“You must travel to the Underworld, make a bargain with Lord Hades.  His wife is with him, he tends to be softer when she’s around.  He may grant you your wish of getting your wife back,” Stephen maneuvered out from under her, a sheet of paper in his hands.  “This is the closest entrance to the Underworld.  Sleep on it.”  

She clutched the map in her hands, she knew where the entrance was, and when she looked up to ask him if she could truly trust him, he was gone.  Glancing back at the map she felt determination set into her bones and she began to pack.

Steve appeared at Natasha’s home the following morning to see how she was doing and discovered that she was packing.  “Nat, what on earth are you doing?”

She didn’t even look up as she wrapped her bread in a cloth, “I’m getting Y/N back.”

There was a moment of silence, and then, “That’s not possible.”

She held up the map to the Underworld, “I’m going to go and make a bargain with Hades himself.”  She turned and faced her friend, “I have to try this Steve, I love her.  We got one month together when we deserved a lifetime.  She deserved more than what she got.  I have to try and give her the second chance at life.”

Steve thought that this was the craziest idea that he had ever heard but he walked over and helped her finish packing.  When she went to leave, he kissed her cheek and wished her good luck.  He didn’t know if she would succeed or fail, but he hoped that she would be all right either way.

It took several days for Natasha to reach the entrance to the Underworld.  She passed through several villages and replenished her supplies before reaching the cavern that would lead her down into the place where mortals were not allowed.  She had heard of one other that had attempted this.  His name had been Hercules and he had been trying to pay off his sins for murdering his entire family.

She dove into the darkness and headed down, down, down.  When she emerged from the darkness she found herself on the banks of a river.  Souls were milling around hoping for someone to give them a way across.  They eyed Natasha warily and she made her way toward the docks.  A ferry was waiting and Charon knew instantly that she was not one of the dead.

“I only ferry souls, mortal,” his tone relayed that he was bored.

She produced a coin, “Please, I have payment.”

Charon eyed the coin and motioned for her to board.  As they sailed he said, “Lord Hades will not be pleased to see yet another mortal show up on his doorstep.”

“I have no other choice,” her voice was soft.

The rest of the ride was silent and he dropped her off at the other side of the river.  His final words to her were the directions to the palace.  Along the way she ran into Cerberus and managed to charm him into letting her pass.  Then she saw the palace of the Lord of the Underworld looming before her.  It appeared to be carved out of the very rock that the walls of the Underworld were made of.  It was grand and exactly how she had imagined it would be.

She pushed the doors open and headed down the long halls, crystal chandeliers casting colorful rainbows along the walls and floors, paintings of fields and wildlife decorated the walls, and a plush wine colored rug was beneath her feet.

Several spirits eyed her as she moved through the halls looking for the throne room.  She wasn’t sure how, but she knew instinctively where to go.  It was almost as if an invisible force was pulling her in that direction.  When she arrived the doors were open and before her Hades and Persephone sat on their thrones.  She paused before them, staring at them.  She had never been before a god before, let alone two.

“What brings a mortal to my realm before her time is up?”  His voice was deep and commanding.

Natasha squared her shoulders and said, “I’ve come to retrieve my wife Y/N.  She died too soon.”

“Too soon?”  Hades questioned.  “It is my belief that her thread of life had been cut?  Are you a Fate?  Did you make a mistake?  Tell me, mortal, how do you know that her life ended too soon?”

“She didn’t deserve to die like that,” Natasha said.  “We had our whole lives ahead of us, she was good and kind, and I can’t live my life without her beside me.”

Persephone put a hand on her husband’s arm, “What would you do to get me back, my love?”

He looked toward her and Natasha felt hope blooming inside her.  “Please,” she begged, pulling the gods’ attention back to her.  “I have done many terrible things in my life, but Y/N was the one thing that I did do right.  If she was punished because she chose me then she shouldn’t have been.  Give me one chance.”

Hades contemplated her words, “All right, I will give you a chance to be reunited with your mortal love.  But you have to prove to me that you are worthy of this.  When she takes your hand you may not look upon her face until the both of you are out of the Underworld.  Trust that she will follow you home to the realm above.  Only then can you have her back.”

“Thank you, my Lord,” she sighed.  “Thank you.”

A hand took hers and she jumped, fighting the urge to look back to see your face again.  She squeezed your hand and began to lead you away from the palace and the Underworld.

Persephone looked at her husband and asked, “Do you think they will make it?”

Hades watched the door where the two of them had disappeared, “I do not know my love, but she will not get this chance again if she fails.”

Meanwhile you followed Natasha, you did not know of the deal she had made with Hades.  You did not know that she was not allowed to look at you until you both reached the mortal realm.  You wondered why she would not speak, why she was so quiet.  You did not ask and you did not falter in your steps.  She led you up and up and you realized where you were going.

Home.

She was taking you back home.

The two of you climbed higher and higher, you could see the light from the world of the living before you.  Natasha still hadn’t turned and you held onto her tighter.  Her feet crossed over the threshold of the Underworld and she began to turn, but you were still in the darkness, still in the cave.

When her eyes beheld yours she smiled widely, she had made it, you were home.  But then your fingers melted through hers as if you weren’t really there and your soul went flying back into the darkness below.  Natasha let out a scream and lunged forward only to be met with solid rock.  She had been so close.  She thought that you had both made it out, but she should have gone farther just to be sure.

She let out a sob, there would be no second chances this time.

Hades sighed, he had felt your soul return.  “She was so close,” he murmured.

Persephone kissed her husband’s cheek, “They will find their way back to one another someday, my love.  As they always have.”

He looked at your soul, waiting at the edge of Elysium for Natasha to return, patient as always.

Many Years Later

Natasha exited the coffee shop, the hustle and bustle of New York City filling her ears.  She checked her phone and saw that she had a missed message from Steve telling her to get to the Tower as quickly as she could.  Sighing, she slipped her phone back into her pocket and headed down the street.  Her cup of coffee keeping her hands warm, fall had just arrived and things were beginning to cool down.

She felt her phone buzz again and cursed Steve.  She was on her way.  As she reached for it she glanced down for merely a moment and bumped into someone.  Her coffee landed on the ground, steaming as it poured from the cup.  “I’m so sorry!”  A new voice said.  “I’ll buy you a new one.”

Natasha looked up to find you standing there looking at her with an anxious look.  You weren’t sure if she was going to yell at you or not.  “It’s all right, accidents happen.”

“At least let me buy you a new one,” you offered.  “I’ll feel bad the entire day if I don’t.”

The offer was tempting, but her phone was buzzing again alerting her to yet another message from Steve.  “I can’t right now, I’m late for something, but maybe some other time.”  She pulled a scrap piece of paper from her bag and scrawled her name and number on it.  “Text me and give me a date and time.”

You smiled at her and she felt as though her breath had been taken, “All right, Natasha.  It’s a date.”

You moved past her and she was just staring at you when she felt her phone begin to ring, “God damnit, Steve, I’m on my way!”  She snapped as she tore her eyes away from you and began heading toward the tower.

Nearby at a little bistro two people sat watching the interaction, “I told you so.”  Persephone grinned at her husband and he sighed.

“As you always are, my dear,” he gave her a fond look and her cheeks heated just a bit.  “What do I owe you this time?”

“Dinner,” she said.  “Someplace nice.  Maybe we could make a vacation out of it.”

He leaned in and kissed her lips, “Your wish is my command.”

A year later Natasha proposed to you and you happily agreed.  This time your marriage didn’t end in tragedy, but you lived out the rest of your days together at last.

[redwinterroses]

RIIIIIIIIIGHT SO.

I just finished chapter 13 of Dog At The Door and holy hot cross buns batman if you're not reading this fic you NEED to. It's literally one of the best written fics I have ever read in my life and I've been reading fanfiction for over 15 years, lol.

I went back and reread the entire fic to lead up to chapter 13 and I decided to treat it like I used to treat things I had to read in college so I took notes as I went and please I am warning you this post is incredibly long. Almost 3k words. PLEASE do not hit that "read more" button unless you're good with having to scroll past it all and also spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution.

~*~

Rereading Dog at the Door reactions (spoilers, obviously):

· Doc finding Ren’s body to be cold and for a second thinking he’s actually dead—my heart

· “That’s Ren, alive and kicking.” Oh…no, Doc. No it’s not.

· The first “Where is my hand?” hits different the second time through

· Gah the ice and winter imagery ALL over the place—my English degree brain wants to watch and see if that shifts to warmth at any point as we go? Thoughts for future Red to think.

· It’s fascinating to me to see Doc constantly thrust into the prey role. This is a guy who is very much not that person normally, but something about the Red King is beyond anything he’s really encountered before—or at least not since Dinnerbone—and it pushes him into an entirely new role that he clearly chafes in

· “I should get back to work on your new arm soon,” he says, making a mental note to add claws to the fingertips. Honestly Doc why tho. XD

· “It feels like something Ren would want him to do.” </3

· Side note: I just watched Doc’s freaking hour long shulker farm vid, and that’s making it a lot easier to hear his voice in this fic

· I’m more curious about the hand.” New Ren laughs a bit at his own words, as though there’s something funny about that phrasing. I MISSED THIS LINE THE FIRST TIME THROUGH

· The bead curtain being cursed hippie treasure XD

· The fact that Doc just so quickly accepts that Ren is gone—maybe not permanently, but at least for now—is kind of heartbreaking. Because you know he hasn’t really accepted it, he’s just… deciding not to feel anything about it. Just nod and move on and pretend you don’t need to stop and cope with the possible/probable death of your best friend and the fact that Someone Else is wearing his skin. That’s so sad.

· “high-fiving the finished hand with his own metal hand.” Aww… Doccy.

· “He shoos away the images of New Ren holding him up by the throat supervillain-style and turns around.” Hmmmmmmm want that fanart. Scary New Ren/RK is good stuff. (post-chapter-13 Red popping in with a WHAT THE HECK)

· “that makes him seem like a ghost in Ren’s body.” YA KNOW. LIKE HE IS.

· Okay side note time: why is the Red King here? Ya know? Like – in 3rdLife the idea of a possessing spirit of bloodlust makes some sense. But why stick around? Was RK trying to escape the 3L server, or was this not deliberate? At what point did he take over from Ren—at Black Heart Altar? In which case, was the whole idea Ren’s to begin with, or was he influenced? Maybe it happened the first time Ren died? The Red King took over then—or at least started to? Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts, thoughts…

· Wait more theories—what if RK is connected to the ????? entity that spoke to Martyn when he died? In which case, cMartyn said he was considering making that canonically a Watcher (he ended up not doing it, but he also didn’t do anything that contradicted it either). I’m not saying RK is a Watcher… but boy he sure does stare a lot, don’t he.

· Holding the screwdriver like a dagger—mmmm

· Okay funny thought: all this frost, RK’s gonna need to be real careful about rust lol. And straining the metal, tbh, all that freezing and thawing is going to have an effect but the rust idea is making me laugh

· Until I realized it would look like blood and it’s not funny anymore

· “Renbob is in the beanbag stuffed next to the driver’s seat” right so is this where Renbob sleeps because I have been wondering—

· “something about having two people look like Ren when neither of them are makes Doc stop to take a shaky breath” *sob*

· “Renbob clears his throat, looking up at Doc with a smile that is so obviously fake that it hurts.” Ugh the LOT of you stop repressing everything you’ll give yourselves a collective hernia

· “he’ll probably have to break the news to the other hermits, too, Iskall and False and all the others.” All these painful lines I somehow missed the first time through

· Awww warm air comes in when Renbob opens the door—with the flowers and everything, Renbob is so easily associated with spring, I love this contrast.

· Aaand there it is, yup, RK is shocked to see his face on Renbob, and Renbob is shocked to see that this is so clearly Not Ren.

· They both recover pretty quickly, though. Survivors, both of them.

· RK calls Renbob their “ferryman” and I’m not sure if I was supposed to get “crossing the river Styx” vibes from that But I Did. (does RK think he’s dead? That they’re all dead?) (post-chapter-13 Red here with a little bit of wordless screaming.) (and also a bit of pride that I picked up on this.)

· “And what a help you’ve been! Fixing me up, replacing my hand.” Hi yes, 911? there’s a dagger stabbed into my feels.

· “he’d rather remember rage than see another person’s heart break.” Dang that’s such a raw line. Oof.

· ”the Red King says, his voice hoarse with tears.” Really interesting that this blood deity can feel such emotions—like, anger or even fear, I can get. But to see this entity upset to the point of tears is fascinating.

· “There is a crown on Doc’s workbench.” Right, yeah so like—is RK unwillingly manifesting these artifacts? Because that’s wild, man. …how long before he manifests an “enchanter”?

· “I’ve never seen it [the crown] clean before.” Okay that definitely implies that maybe RK didn’t come around until after Black Heart Altar?

· “The Red King has the crown in his lap when Doc turns back around, claws gently tracing over the engravings, leaving frost patterns behind.” I really wish I had art skills because there’s this image in my head of a drawing of the crown held in RK’s hands, with his face (one eye glowing, one in shadow) reflected in the surface, and frost patterns following behind a claw that’s daintily tracing the surface. But I can’t draw so—

· RK asks for a change of clothes. What was he wearing when they rescued him, I wonder? The Red King outfit with the fur capelet? Or Ren’s Stargazer outfit? Which begs the question: where does Stargazer fit into all this? Was Ren’s return to Hermitcraft RK free, but when he came so close to dying to Sith, RK found that as a gateway to take over? (Post-13 Red here, Looking Intently at this note.)

· Awww… the image of a one-legged RK clutching new clothes to his chest and hopping down to change in the bathroom… That’s weirdly endearing. He’s less menacing when he stands up somehow. Less lurking, maybe.

· Oooohhhhh he messed up his back sleeping on the floor. Gotcha.

· Doc keeps telling himself (and RK) that saving him and working on these parts is “the right thing to do” and while he’s not WRONG I just want to see him realize that it’s not only the right thing, it’s realistically the only thing, because if he didn’t, then he’d have to deal with the fact that he’s lost his best friend and we can’t have that.

· “I don’t need to eat” ummmmmm no hold on this definitely implies that RK is possessing a dead body and I’m not okay with that where is Ren

· LOLOL “I can’t stand to see [you do] this” is such a raw line to be about watching Doc eat cereal with his hands

· “The voice doesn’t belong to who he thinks it does.” Ugh, Doc. This isn’t the first time he’s lost a close friend to Something Else, something otherworldly.

· “All of them are waiting for him, waiting for him to do something more, something better—” aaand there it is. Doc’s characterization in this fic in a single sentence.

· Doc waking up and thinking he’s seeing Ren and RK’s hesitation and the gentle “I’m not Ren”—OH MY HEART

· RK’s coffee = Renbob’s friendship bracelets

· Randomly can I just say that I love how RK’s dialog is all in italics? It concerned me at first because I thought it was going to keep pulling me out of the narrative, but instead it really just feels right. Also I’m looking forward to the moment when he says something and it’s not in italics because it’s REN and oh my lands please give this to me I beg you (post-13 Red here with a bit more mindless screaming)

· “watch your tongue with me, Atlas, because I’m the one person you can pass the sky to.” Okay okay okay—English studies brain coming out. This suggests that there is a burden RK and Doc can share: something Doc is currently struggling against that only RK can help him with. In the moment, I don’t know if this is really fair of RK to say—after all, Doc does technically have Renbob too, if we’re just talking about Doc’s unhealthy coping mechanisms. In fact, if that’s the context, then Renbob is a much better fellow-Atlas because he and Doc have known each other much longer and they’re both dealing with the loss of Ren. BUT, knowing about the upcoming conversation where Doc and RK both realize that they’ve lost someone (Ren for Doc, Martyn for RK) this line suddenly has a lot more weight. Again, I don’t think that in that moment RK quite has the right to pull this zinger. But in later context, it turns out to be true after all. They are the only two with this particular shared pain.

· Doc upset with himself because he can’t get over his “stupid hang-ups” DOC MY LAD. “I’ve lost my best friend, you’re in his body, and I don’t know how to process any of these emotions” is not a “stupid hang-up” PLEASE stop blaming yourself for everything!?

· “I’m so tired” in the middle of his nightmare—oh my gosh. That hurts so much for some reason.

· I also very much wish I had the ability to draw the image of Doc with tears on his face, staring dead-eyed down at his workbench while RK looms over from behind, pinning his wrists to the table with one metal arm and one frost-bitten one, a look of exasperation and concern on his face. Why can’t I draw the things

· “How do you know Etho” “I watched him die.” OW ow ow ow ow

· Doc takes this as calmly as only someone used to living in a world where death has low consequences can. Oh. Oh—that means… huh. Doc isn’t used to losing people permanently on any basis, especially not death. So no wonder he doesn’t know how to process Ren being gone (I can’t bear to write “dead” there). He literally doesn’t have context for it… and what context he DOES have is like—I mean, Etho and Bdubs came back. Ouch.

· “Twenty-five.” The Red King makes the number sound like a threat. Yet another banger line I missed the first time through. Imagine waking up and thinking you’re in 3rd Life again but instead of 14 players there’s almost twice that many and you think you don’t know any of them.

· I still don’t quite understand the “when was etho added/should have known there was something different” bit or why RK is so emotional about it… but I have trust that it’ll make sense at some point. (post-13 Red: ...is this something about the fact that he thinks he's dead...so he thinks Etho has died before? Like, that 3rd Life wasn't Etho's first hardcore? ...I feel like I'm almost grasping this but I'm missing an element somewhere.)

· And now a sword. RK. My man. You need to stop manifesting things—especially when they scare the ever-living daylights out of you.

· I absolutely adore the in-universe lore that Fire Aspect is a PvP enchantment because it threatens dropped loot, and yeah I very well might steal that. (Along with something I read at one point who-even-knows-where that Knockback is a coward’s enchantment, because I love that too.)

· He really shouldn’t. / Doc picks up the sword by the scabbard and hands it to him, hilt extended. Doc you already trust this guy so much and you don’t even know it—but is it just because you still subconsciously trust the face he wears? Or is it something deeper?

· Ugh, the “I was supposed to kill someone for him” conversation/scene is SO FREAKING GOOD

· “I don’t want it. Not like the crown.” Why, though? Why doesn’t he want it? Because it’s more to do with death than kingship? OH. Oh, I hadn’t even considered that. I’ve been thinking of RK as this like, god of blood and vengeance but maybe he’s not. Maybe he hates the bloodshed (“the blood! It’s drippin’ in me eyes… I’ve been blinded by the violence…”) just as much—more?—than Ren did/would have. Huh. That’s a new facet.

· Oh my heart the “have you ever lost someone and it was your fault” line. Dagger to the feels. Dagger to the feels.

· This like… “I’m on a roll and even though I know I should stop I really don’t want to” mode? Man. That’s relatable. Especially when you’re working to avoid dealing with something else.

· “Not making it for you—it’s for Ren” oh ouch ouch ouch the denial suddenly breaks through it’s okay, Doc I’m with you on this

· The second time reading through it’s far clearer that Doc has a blind panic attack here—when he starts rambling that Ren’s coming back, he’ll be there for season eight and RK goes to…do whatever he was going to do and Doc just blanks out. The manic productivity should have been a warning sign, the poor guy is crumbling.

· “Doctor” and “he’s not sure he deserves that title right now” UGH Doc needs a hug someone please hug him and tell him it’s all going to be okay. Someone please hug me and tell me it’s all going to be okay.

· “his hand on his throat” over the scar from the Red Winter axe? </3

· “I did do that. I have done that.” RK admitting to it actually having been him in Doc’s nightmares?

· Okay sorry the conversation about beating Dinnerbone will never not be funny to me

· RK mentions that people used to call him m’lord or Ren, and then mere minutes later you have “Ren. You couldn’t save him because of me, could you?” He knows exactly what’s going on here. Not maliciously, but he’s no dense-head, he’s put the pieces together. (post-13 Red: MOST of the pieces. Most of them.)

· Watching Doc slowly stop fighting his nightmares—like, the first time, he fights. The second time, he accepts it but still struggles. And this time… this time he gives up before it even starts. That hurts, man.

· Good grief the whole “get my head chopped off” / “you really don’t want that” bit. O.O I’m not sure what emotion I’m feeling but I’m Feeling An Emotion.

· “Snow’s new. Dream’s not.” </3

· …Doc’s not gonna be a fan of snowier-snow after this trip…

· "Dr. M77" Actually he’s Doc Monster, RK, but we’ll let it go. XD

· OKAY BUT THIS EXCHANGE? The “how are you feeling” / “better” / “you’re a bad liar” / “I said better not great” that’s such a good exchange and I don’t know why every other time I’ve ever seen it used they stop at the lying accusation? Doc with the snappy comebacks, man.

· Aaah, Doc and RK, two establishment bros bonding over a shared disdain for hippies.

· The bit about the fella who wore an iron helmet and called it a powdered wig—fear is in my heart. *shoves Scar into an obsidian box and blocks it closed*

· “Who was Ren to you?” </3

· Doc is more than willing to spread the flames, to sear his loss into RK’s bones. / The king’s face stops him. Ren’s face stops him. Holy CRAP is that a good set of lines. So much going on there, and ALL of it good.

· Again. I wish I could draw. I would draw RK sitting on the edge of the bed, gently hugging a collapsed-in-on-himself Doc. </3

· “And I hate the devil that forced us apart, that mixed my blood with his.” *adds another layer to Scar’s obsidian fort*

· OKAY STARTING CHAPTER THIRTEEN I made the mistake of logging into Tumblr earlier and saw people screaming so I’m sure I’m not ready for this but here we go

· Oh no RK has been hippie-ified

· “You started a paramilitary organization because you have hay fever?” *dies laughing*

· Ugh I need to go back and watch s6 I’ve only seen the tail end of Mumbo’s side of things and there’s so much I don’t know.

· HAHAHAHAH I do know the trident bit though—

· Wait he said Scar

· PANIC

· “Kingslayer. bloodthirsty. Time King. The coward. And the mastermind behind it all, the loyal soldier to the very end, the whole damn reason either of us are in this mess.”

· HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP HOLY—

· “Is this the afterlife I deserve? After everything, this is the hell I’m going to endure?” I AM SCREAMING

· Doc pinned to the wall with ice, struggling to breathe—I CAN’T WHAT IS HAPPENING

· ((You know I’d get through this a lot faster if I stopped pausing to write reactions—))

· “A break in the ice. A whisper of spring.” Symbolism. Symbolism.

· “Ren was dead when I found him again,” NO I REFUSE TO READ THIS

· “don’t use the hand I built you to hurt yourself” DOC. SIR. MY HEART.

· RK don't run, RK get back here—what are you—

·

·

· I

· JUST

· ACTUALLY

· SCREAMED

· AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

· *several long moments of just breathing*

·

·

·

· *rereads*

· Holy crap on a garbage cracker with an extra serving of what-the-heck sauce

· REN

· REN

· Okay lol okay hahaha calming down

· I literally threw myself back in my chair away from the computer reading that last paragraph. I don't usually... physically react to things I read. LOL. Heh. I’m. Ah. I’m not emotionally invested in this or anything.

· Holy crap.

· Okay. Okay. Okay.

· Um.

· Great chapter, guys. Awesome stuff. Really good. I’m absolutely okay right now and it’s all totally fine.

· …please enjoy your break and get lots of rest and I very much look forward to the return of this fic you have no idea.

· I need to go breathe for a little bit.

EDIT: no, you know what--I'm not going to be a nice polite fangirl over here and quietly hope y'all see this I'm straight up tagging you, @fluffy-papaya and @betweenlands. THANK YOU but also how dare.

[nanamismoonchild]

chapter 3- entrance

pairing: god!namjoon x goddess!reader

genre: fluff, angst, smut , greek god based au

warnings: this chapter is chill :D

wc; ~1.6k

Summary:   You’re a beauty. He is handsome. You’re Life. He is Death. You love him. But does he love you? There’s only one way to found out. And it’s by being the Queen.  

A/N: ngl im starting to love oc/reader persephone. what do yall think?

prev/next

The journey to the Underworld was quicker than you had imagined it would be. Possibly because of Jungkook rowing quickly across the Styx in a hurry to meet your demand. The ferryman was afraid of going any slower than he usually did in case you decided to feed him the other drachma that hung from your ear.  It was not as pleasant as you expected it to be. You could hear the agonizing moans of the Wraiths who lurked around the river Styx. They were doomed to be there for at least one hundred years as a result of not being able to pay the dreaded fee. 

The boat rocked back and forth, some of the water sloshing onto your feet. It was cramped and you could feel your backside begin to hurt from falling and from sitting on the bare floor of the dingy boat. 

Thankfully, the ride was over soon. The blue man helped you off of the boat while Jungkook was forced to glance at everything but you.  Probably because you were now wet and naked, something you hoped to remedy soon. 

“The entrance to the Underworld is just beyond the hill. I’m afraid your friend will meet Hecate as soon as he crosses the threshold. I am very ashamed of how I treated you Persephone. I beg your forgiveness,” Jungkook’s hoarse voice pleaded. He knelt down in front of you and kissed your feet. 

How sweet. 

“I will think about it. I still have to meet your ruler. Where would he be located?”

“In the throne room. He’s usually always there. I-I will escort you there.”

“There are too many dead people waiting to be taken across. I will guide myself. A throne room should not be hard to find. Consider yourself dismissed.”

You took the blue man’s hand and marched towards the entrance to the Underworld. It was strikingly brighter than the rest of the domain. The symbol of Namjoon, a large cornucopia that spilled its bountiful contents while a scepter was embedded into it, was the golden highlight of the door.  It was most definitely the only welcoming sight you had seen thus far. 

You could hear growling on the other side. 

Your mother had told you many stories of the land of the dead. They had been as dull as a well-used sword. The sheer boredom from listening to your mother tell the tales had put you to sleep as a child. Hearing the growls of the multiheaded dog named Cerberus, who guarded the entrance into the Underworld, made you wish you paid more attention to them. You had no idea how to pass the guard. Killing it was surely not an option. You had no plans to upset the God of the Underworld with any of your reckless behavior.

Unless it was in self-defense. 

Cerberus’s growling became louder as you neared the golden door. The energy from the door was making the Blue Man shake with nervousness. You were shaking as well, but it was mostly from the cold air that wrapped around your naked body. Hopefully, someone in the castle would offer you something to wear. That or you’d simply just steal the clothes off of the nearest servant.  

“How do you even open this door? It’s huge!” You exclaimed as the both of you stared at the door. 

The Blue Man shrugged and gestured a pushing motion.  He hadn’t spoken since the two of you dropped down into the Underworld. Perhaps he was afraid of you after the stunt with the ferryman. Good. 

“You want me to push the door? By myself?” The Blue Man shook his head quickly.  “That’s what I thought. We’ll push together on the count of three and once it opens, even a little, I want you to peek over and see if the guard is near. I do not have the time for running for my life in the Underworld.”

The Blue Man nodded again and placed his hands on the door, putting himself into a lunging position, prepared to push on the door with all of his ghostly might. You mirrored his stance. 

“On three, one, two, three, push!”

Both of you pushed and immediately fell faces first into the threshold of the entrance. The door might have seemed heavy, but it was the entrance to the underworld. It was as light as a door to a home.  

Groaning, you sat up on your knees and took a peek at your surroundings. Cerberus was nowhere to be seen but his growling could still be heard in the distance. 

The door had spilled you and the blue man onto a pathway that forked into two paths. The ferryman had mentioned Hecate, and if you remembered correctly, the goddess ruled over crossroads among other things.  The fork was obviously a crossroad but where was the goddess?

“Dear Persephone.  There are many crossroads here in the Underworld. This is the one your little friend is supposed to see,” the goddess’s voice echoed as she appeared behind you. 

You startled and swiftly spun around to face her. Hecate had a knowledgeable smile on her face. 

“He knows what he must do. I have set up a nice set of decisions for him. He can choose to live and be reborn in Elysium. He has done many good things in his life. Or the other option is to live as a servant to Namjoon. Perfect right?”

“I do believe that is as fair as it comes. You are very generous.”

You turned towards the man who was turning a lot less blue. You could just make out his facial features. He was handsome for someone who lived poorly. His hair was nicely combed into a fashion that men wore these days-a side part that showcased his broad forehead.   His jaw was set in thought as he pondered his decision. This was his fate. 

He took a hesitant step towards the path as if he were weighing the benefits and outcomes of each path. You could only imagine what he could be thinking about. 

He could be reborn, but what if his new life was even harder than the last. He wouldn’t remember his old family, his children, his wife. He would have to create new memories, good or bad,  if the new life let him. 

On the other hand, who knew what the ruler of the Underworld would have him do. He could live out his eternity behind in the castle walls, bowing to every command. He had possibly about the kindness  Namjoon showed his servants and the freedom they were allowed. He only requested they complete their duties.

 Could he live with that? Could he live with knowing that he would be allowed to remember his old family, and possibly see them in the future when they grew old or died an early death such as he did?

The man took several more steps before he was bounding towards the path that led to the right. And then he was gone. 

“What a wonderful choice he made,” Hecate sighed dreamily at your side. She was holding a torch that had manifested in her hand as the blue man’s light disappeared.

“What choice did he make?”

“I cannot tell you, Persephone. But I do think you’ll find out soon. The throne room is just beyond that same path. I’m sure Namjoon is waiting for you. Goodbye.”

After answering and not answering your question, Hecate disappeared leaving only a white mist in her wake. Fortunately, she did leave the torch that floated in her place. Grabbing it, you straighten your shoulders and step into the same path the man had taken only moments ago. 

The man had simply vanished but the path before you seemed to stretch on for the gods know how long. 

“Of course, it would be hard for me. It isn’t my crossroad to walk on,” you muttered to yourself and continued on. 

You were beginning to regret not turning around (a first for you) before you heard the murmuring of voices. You started running in the direction of the voices.

Please, please, please, let there be a fire or something. My body is on the verge of hypothermia.  

The murmurs were becoming louder and you could make out a faint glow. 

Finally. Finally. 

You burst out into a crowded room. The murmurs had been coming from the servants who were surrounding something in the middle of the room.  They were all dressed in a mix of black, white, and grey clothing. There was a fire near where you had come from, so you snuck over to get a little warmth and to eavesdrop.

“Oh wow. Someone new!”

“He could take over my extra duties.”

“No mine!”

“Why did someone so handsome choose to become a servant?”

“Everyone, shush! Our King is coming.”

The crowd quieted down as loud but calculated footsteps resounded through the room. Everyone was holding their breath, including you. You had never met Namjoon in person as he preferred to stay in his domain.  

Nothing prepared you for the man in front of you. Your mother had always made it sound as if he were the most average man alive. 

He was nothing like that. Namjoon was exceptionally darker than the proposed pale that your mother had told. He held himself with an aura of royalty.

Namjoon made his way up to his throne where he stood tall and proud in front of his audience. 

“We have a newcomer today,” his deep tenor resonated through the room, “Please come up and introduce yourself to me before I sit.”

The man who you had journeyed with kneeled before Namjoon. He was dressed in the servant’s clothing and his brown hair was pulled back into a bun. 

“My name is Kim Seokjin. And it was an honor to serve you today, by leading the woman who you have been desiring to you.”

[queen0fm0nsterz]

🧸 and/or 🕯!!!

Cute/fun headcanon: OKAY OMG!!! I have quite a few to make you all happy🤗🤗🤗

- As previously stated, I like to think Roger and the Lady are good friends. He's oftenly invited in her quarters to drink tea and have a nice chat. Being blind, he doesn't need lights on, so the Lasy lets the Shadow Children roam free. Roger likes the little guys and the feeling is mutual. They always climb on his arms when he comes by.

- Pretender calls the Butler "dad" accidentally when she's really sleepy. Makes him smile every single time.

- When Six was held captive, before locking her down in the basement, Hunter kept her with him at all times. She would just be sitting on his shoulders and silently observe as he goes about his day.

- Mono has an habit of talking a lot when he's nervous. Six doesn't find this to be a problem since she doesn't really talk a lot. Listening to him ramble is comforting.

- Thin Man's favorite color is yellow.

- The Runaway is one of the oldest children on the Maw. The reason why he's so good with the Nomes is because he's used to being the "cool reliable older brother".

- Sometimes Six lends Mono her raincoat when they're sleeping outside.

- Ferryman comes to check on the children every once in a while. He remembers all their names and counts them each time to see who's still there and who left.

- The Lady has an habit of calling the Chefs "children". Neither of them really minds since she's seen them grow up 'n all.

Favorite minor character: Definetely Lollipop Boy! I love the Bullies too tho ngl

[spinchip]

Like a Wretched Little Beast

A/n: Zane is not in a good headspace in this, his thoughts reflect his self hatred over ns11. heed the warnings please

Warnings: Suicidal thoughts, nightmares, mentions of blood + decapitation (imagined, not any ninjago characters, not detailed), not a happy piece. ask to tag?

Pixal won’t sleep in the same bed as you anymore, she says you struggle and lash out in your sleep. It’s fine, things have changed between you anyway. Your piece of the puzzle doesn’t fit right anymore. you’ve been the odd one out before but they’ve found a place for you anyway- not your edges are jagged. is there a spot for a piece like you?

(You fit perfectly on the throne, didn’t you? do you miss it?)

You have this recurring dream where your friends hold you down and tear your wires out one by one, until you die.

You sleep less and more because of it, the threat of it leaving you restless and twitchy. The promise of it is nearly a comfort. Do you love your nightmare because it’s familiar in a world that isn’t, anymore? Do you love your nightmare because it feels like punishment?

(what do you deserve?)

You’re outside because you think you might like it out here. You’re outside mostly because it’s where no one else is. When Lloyd pats your shoulder you can’t help but think of the anger on his face, in your dream, and the oil on his hands.

The stars are out because it’s night time and you should be in bed asleep, but you can’t fall asleep because your friends are waiting for you there, and you're not prepared to reap what you’ve sowed. The harvest is not a kind thing, but neither was the planting of the seeds. You used blood instead of water, didn’t you?

Footsteps, pausing and stumbling, checking rooms. Who’s looking for you?

It’s cold out here, and you know that because of the temperature gauge on your HUD, not because you can feel it. You can’t. The cold had never touched you in any way that stung, not like it stings kai now, who had to squint at the blast of chilly air, who coughs at the roughness of it. It’s too cold for him to be out here, but he’s stupid.

(He’s not stupid, of course, but you find sometimes that words that used to come easy don’t anymore. You can’t remember a word that describes him better, at this moment.)

You’re laying in the middle of the courtyard on the grass, staring up at the sky, when he shivers and stumbles his way out to find you. You have to turn your head to see him, but you don’t do that. He hisses, sighs, and out of the corner of your eye he scrubs at his face. You think if you look at him now he’ll have that sickeningly familiar look of frustration on his face- maybe you’ve hastened the inevitability of your nightmares along, and he’ll strike you down here and now. There’s nothing saying it was only a dream, and not a vision.

(which would you prefer? That’s a loaded question, don’t answer that.)

He doesn’t lay a hand on you. Are you disappointed?

(do you want him to touch you? are you starving?)

He settles on the earth next to you, grumbling and griping the whole way down, curling up as much as he can in his threadbare robe and tank top to keep out the chill. It stings his skin. You can’t even feel it. What do you feel? Anything at all? No tears threaten your eyes even as your thoughts spiral. Kai is staring at the side of your face, waiting for you to look at him. Probably. You can’t read him like you used to, you’re not sure what he wants from you anymore. You’re out of place.

Can he still read you? Or is it like flipping to the end of a book after you’d only read the first chapter?

(Do you consider this the end?)

“What are you thinking about?” Kai whispers as if afraid to break the silence. How long has he been watching you? Time slips through your fingers like sand.

You glance at him, and you were right- he’s frustrated, but it's a miniscule part of his expression. The most prominent, pressing thing you see after that frustration is the tears, and the worry. Kai has always been comfortable in anger when vulnerability eats at his skin, but here, underneath the weight of the sky, he’s lost that piece of armor. He’s crying over you. Does that make you feel something? He cares. Does that make you happy? You’re hurting him. Does that make you sad? Maybe it's that same weight sitting across your chest that makes you tell him the truth. Maybe it’s the tears in his eyes. Maybe it’s nothing at all.

“Dreams.” you tell him, because the truth is slippery and malleable and you can adjust it to suit your needs.

(didn’t you learn that in the Never realm? Didn’t he teach you that? Did the lessons sink it? Did it hurt?)

You don’t need to tell him outright that you were thinking about dying, about that relief. This is close enough.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he’s understanding, but you can’t accept that.

“No.” you answer too quickly, too harshly. There is no room for gentleness in your tone, there is no room for mercy in your heart. blood on your hands. oil coating your friends fingers. your death is a cycle of violence you started coming to it’s thematic end, or maybe it’s just penance. would the Ferryman’s boat be able to carry the weight of your soul?

The stars spin in the sky above your head in the mockery of a dance, a performance just for you on the largest stage in ninjago. You imagine the orchestra backing it all, swelling and sharp and sad as the ballet reaches it’s peak. They twist above your head and if you squint you can almost pretend you see the form of the Nutcracker, his sword bloody and the severed head of the rat king held aloft in triumph.

“I wish I knew how to help you.” His fingers curl in the dirt of the courtyard, nails catching on the grain. He wants to reach out, but decided against it.

(can anyone help you now? are you too far gone? is the chasm you’re made up of too big a wound to bridge?)

He scoots closer, pleading, but you won’t look at him, “What can I do?” he asks, he begs.

You stare up at the sky, the lifeless eyes of the rat king twinkling back at you. It’s cold and it should sting but you don’t feel anything anymore.

“Go back inside.” You tell him, because it’s too chilly for him out here. Because inside is where you aren’t.

There’s a long silence, overflowing with disbelief. The dismissal is more frigid than the night air- but he goes, because you asked it of him, and he cares, you think. Maybe. It’s getting harder to tell. He’s not crying anymore.

After he’s gone, you close your eyes.

(you know what’s waiting for you behind your eyelids. Do you deserve to watch it?)

You have this recurring dream where your friends hold you down and tear your wires out one by one, until you die.

In the blissful moment between the familiar embrace of death and the cold-shock of being thrust back into the waking world-

You’re completely at peace.