#i’m kinda obsessed with it

[vacantgodling]

worthless war

You never learn his name.

Your thoughts have already devolved into the most basic of actions to sustain you along. Eat. Sleep. Forward. Retreat. Swing. Parry. Kill.

There is a reason generals do not wear helmets. Their matted, blood soaked hair used to be windswept and glorious. They bark orders and their pawns follow; the matted grass of stinking, rotting corpses, the board of a most convoluted game of chess. In the beginning, how foolish your company thought, should you make it behind enemy lines that you would become kings. It didn’t take long to realize it didn’t work that way. That eyes cast up to the heavens stayed that way, glassy and unseeing in their swift death.

Your eyes weren’t adept at seeing anymore. Your helmet made the world dark and despairing, a fitful mirror to the fruitlessness of this Worthless War. It was a war of pride, not a war of glory. By the time you entered the fray, any semblance of morality had long fled; back to the homeland where praises were sung of a warrior’s valor and the duty of the sword. There was no honor in this place.

Except.

You met him when a stab to the side, under the chink of your chain mail made you kneel. In the centre of the battlefield, you knelt there, statuesque and unseeing. Was it your time to die? Maybe. You were so tired. This war has taken everything from you. You could still see the face of your dear sweet Lucasta*, rosy faced and bright, cheerful and kind. You had not kissed for she was chaste, but you held her hands tender as a newborn babe and bid her farewell.

I will return a hero! You said—what a fool you had been! Young and suckling like a calf to a teat; you knew not what awaited you, young lamb to the slaughter. You knew not of how this war would betray you.

But you felt an arm raise you up.

No words were spoken, only the gleam of his sword in his hand in the sunlight. His helmet was impasse, but his arm that held you felt like warmth, felt like summer, felt like the joy of a child. You leant heavily into him, and he supported you, and took you far away from the battlefield.

It was the first thought you’d had since your mind fell away some time ago. Where are we going? You could ask. Are we advancing? Retreating? How else would you know your place in line? Are you God? If perhaps, you were religious. You weren’t. But maybe you were—if only for the way he sat you squarely down on a rock in some remote and desolate field in some forgotten daydream. Even if the war raged, the clashes of swords and armor not too far off on the horizon, it was a muted murmur this far away. The war but a distant night terror. Your body felt lighter than air, your head clear yet clouded, perhaps it was the dizziness from blood loss.

He didn’t speak, but his hands were verbose. He left your helmet fast to your skull, but pulled you out of your armor, piece by piece. What an intimate ritual—you oft used to think of undressing Lucasta when the two of you were finally wed should you make it back from this war. From her corset and over skirts, to her chemise, her stockings; to unearth what bounty lay beneath cotton coverings, just the same as he unlatched your breastplate. Cool hands spread across your collar and chest, then came to the side just underneath your arm where blood, thick and viscous, stuck like molasses to your skin.

Where he retrieved water when rations were low, you didn’t know. For so long you have just been some spectral floating thing; only manifesting as a sword for your general to wield. But now you felt horribly human; your mouth dry with thirst and caked with dirt and grime and the sins of taking life after life. Heaven knew no prayers would wash you clean, but he did. He washed your wound and dressed it as best he could. He ripped pieces and pieces of his own spare shirt and wrapped them round and round your body, pressing until the blood stopped. Until the blood rushed from your head south at the novelty of another’s touch, never mind the touch was a man. This was the touch of your savior; your holiness, your shining grace given from Lucasta’s Lord above.

“W…” You managed to croak, and he stopped his ministrations. If you had hydration enough for tears, perhaps you would’ve shed them. Don’t stop. You wanted to say. Those glorious touches that reminded you that you were alive and a soul and part of this world. “Why…” Your voice was no louder than a field mouse.

Behind his helmet, he didn’t say a thing. Not a grunt, not a hum, not a word. He only kept dressing your wound. Round and round he twirled those makeshift bandages, and you imagined Lucasta on your long awaited wedding day, twirling in your arms as the blushing bride she ought to be. But here, and bare, and carnal, you felt you ought to be the bride. Why shouldn’t you receive such tenderness of a strong hand to your lips or touch to your brow? Why shouldn’t you linger in this comforting daydream where you were just a man, and the knight dressing you was another, and in the hay of this little barn of innocence you sullied it with passions that Lucasta’s God would blush at?

You gripped his hands, hissing as he bade you stand. It was always easier to suit standing. When he returned the chinks of your breastplate and tightened it fast, it was every deceleration of love you could ever hear. It was a proposal, a wedding, devotion divine. You took his hand. He gave you your sword. He led you back to the battlefield. Your thoughts returned lifeless, but when he took his place next to you in formation, your mind bloomed with flowers; roses and daffodils and forget-me-nots; an endless springtime where he knew your scars and perhaps, you knew his.

And as all evils do, the Worthless War drew to a close.

There was no grand finale. No heroes of lore or legend were born out of this war. You stood at the foothills of your hometown, with nothing but a small ration, and a few bits of coins for the trouble of it all.

You returned to Lucasta. She knew the light in your eyes dimmed. She spoke to you of the wedding, of babies, of summertime—but your life was paused; ever stuck and transfixed at that moment he took you aside to patch your wound. Suspended in that one shred of humanity that you felt in that moment, and the lingering warmth that you felt after, for the days and weeks until the war came to an end. He never spoke, but he was always by your side, and you fastly to his.

Your head was bare, but your soul never took off its helmet. At night, you lay awake with Lucasta’s head pressed delicately to your chest, dreaming of the metallic hiss of his breath in and out as he undressed your soul.

some footnotes:

* = the name Lucasta i lifted from the 17th century poet Richard Lovelace as the meaning is “pure light”. in this piece Lucasta serves two roles: as the bride to be the protagonist has waiting back home, but also represents his innocence that the war has taken from him. how even though he’s returned home and has his former life waiting for him how he can never truly regain that innocence.

[jamieaiken919]

oh yeah I have a spacehey account now if anybody wants to add me :3

[puhpandas]

i don’t think people talk about how The Mimics costume is supposed to be a Gregory disguise

(elaboration under cut)

[shepscapades]

[dbhc flavored] Hermit a Day May: Day 14 — Doc!

Featuring both a current-day s10 doc and a verrry early s8 post-deviant doc! :]

[mercurymoths]

The colours as little paper chain guys was an idea I couldn’t get out of my head, so I drew not one but two versions! (Cuz I’m a sucker for shadow >:))

[potato-lord-but-not]

someone asked how the boyfriends would be with Faroe after Kayne brings her back, and sorry for being a downer but I’m on the “Arthur doesn’t get Faroe back” hill so I initially wasn’t gonna ponder about it.

And then I started pondering. weeks later. and decided I can indulge just this once because tbh I need more adorable Faroe in my life (we all do). I indulged a little too much tho and decided to make an actual post instead of answering the ask so HERE WE ARE

[hollytree33]

Knowledge begets a hunger for more

Drink from the Well of Sorrows, Inquisitor.

[inkyrainstorms]

ngl, i think the most facinating part of Billford, not as a ship (because there’s a general understanding that it was really toxic and they were terrible for each other) (i get that that part of why it’s so fun to explore for so many- not the point), but just in general, is that Bill was ABSOLUTELY as obsessed with Ford as Ford was with Bill. it’s just… so interesting to recontextualize their dynamic as mutually destructive and obsessive instead of Bill just manipulating Ford. Like, yes there was definitely manipulation, but the dynamic jsut has so many more layers when the obsession is mutual.

They’re both egotistical and believe that they deserve more than what the world gave them, and they are terrible for each other and it’s kinda funny and all sorts of facinating to study

[silvykinesis]

Some Kingdom Hearts sketchbook stuff!!!

(Don’t mind all the soriku I have brain rot and they’re so in love)

[basmentdwealer]

“IM NOT CALLING YOU ‘GOOD GIRL’ ,MC. THIS MEETING WAS SHIT!!”

This is so dumb…. Why did I spend so much time on this..

Anyway Bela Dimitrescu from hit game Resident Lover, I’m severely in love with you <333333

Link to og tweet is here! (Labru is so real)

[plathski]

LET ME IN NOOOOOOW

AND IT CAN BE NIIIICE

MAKE ME LEAVE NOOOOOOW

AND I HAVE TO COME BACK NOT ONCE

NOT TWIIIIICE

BUT AS MANY TIMES AS I LIIIIIIIIKE

[sappy-detective]

my boys..

[briseise]

hiii for secret life requests… maybe tangskizz on their date with bdubs? owo

i would like to also apply for secret life love island

[kalofi]

happy pride month here’s my contribution of trans nanami who didn’t transition until after he left jjtech and so when he comes back a brick shithouse it throws everyone for a loop. the group chat and i have dubbed this pre-t version of him nananiña. naniña for short

[antiquepearlss]

My sweetie. My love. My darling. My sunshine. My field of flowers. My spring morning rain. My ethereal sunrise. My kiss of wind on a hot summers day, that brings the scent of flowers and fruit. My lovely-

[pondslime]

Kurt Russell as R.J. MacReady THE THING (1982) dir. John Carpenter