#it's also (kind of) like this in blue mountain mystery and legend of the lost treasure. just put the boy somewhere for the movie

[ryan1014n2]

Traintober Day 24: Odd Jobs

I love how Thomas is just sent to do whatever miscellaneous work needs to be done whenever his branch line is down for repair. Like in Tale of the Brave! So Timothy's here!

[anueutsuhos-touhou-profiles]

Suika Ibuki:

Many translations of Japanese works localize the term "youkai" to "demon". Personally I'd disagree with most of them on this, since none of them are from Hell, and many aren't inherently evil. However, oni are the closest youkai to demons, right down to looking like red-skinned horned, fanged men (they're this emoji 👹). They're huge, strong brutes who occasionally form raider gangs and pillage human villages. They love fighting and getting drunk above all else. That said, they're usually very honest, unlike most demons. They also have many wacky weaknesses like how vampires do. They hate roasted soybeans, and olive branches, among other things, which are thrown around every Setsubun (February 3rd).

Suika Ibuki is an oni, one of only three two oni who live in Gensokyo. Many more used to live in Gensokyo, ruling Youkai Mountain with an iron fist over the tengu, until they were defeated and banished to Hell (or, Jigoku, the Buddhist version). How Suika stayed is a mystery, though it likely has to do with being one of Yukari Yakumo's drinking buddies. She has the power to manipulate density, and is able to alter her body in all kinds of ways, though she's normally rather short for an oni. She's able to split into multiple tiny copies, grow to colossal size, or even assume the form of a dense fog with this power.

She was the main villain and final boss of Touhou 7.5: Immaterial and Missing Power. It's 7.5 because all decimal games are spinoffs of some sort. This is the first of 7 so far fighting games made by the doujin circle Twilight Frontier, working with ZUN. While the previous two games had semi-serious incidents of the sky being blocked out and an endless winter... this one's an endless party. Suika was apparently mad that the endless winter of last year led to the cancellation of a party she was really looking forward to, so she spread her mist form all around Gensokyo, using her powers to sort of gather people from all over the past two games to have parties every few days. Eventually Reimu noticed that something was up, and challenged Yukari about it. Yukari quickly deduced her pal was behind it and brought Reimu to her, whereupon she was fought by her and many others. She was never actually beaten, though, as the methods for exterminating oni were lost to time, but eventually she just quit the incident on her own because she lost interest.

Suika, like many oni, enjoys a good fight. Still, she's quite easy to hang out with, especially since spellcard rules mean she'll never kill any of her opponents. She does, however, sometimes go on wanton rampages beating up anyone in her way for no reason other than to bully them. She's very rough in her talking, no politeness or anything like that.

Suika loves her alcohol, like, a lot. She even has a magic drinking gourd that produces infinite sake for her to drink. Apparently it's crap, but it's strong enough to get even an oni like her drunk, which is what matters. Legend has it nobody has ever truly seen her sober. Despite this, she's quite clever (you really can't be too stupid if you want to be genuine friends with a chessmaster like Yukari), and can often point out things about people they themselves didn't realize.

In battle, Suika ignores the beautiful and ornate patterns made by everyone else in favor of raw, brute strength. Don't let her small size fool you; she's strong enough to lift up entire mountains and throw them at people. If no mountain is available, she can gather a whole bunch of small rocks together to make one. She can even suck in her opponent while she's doing this and throw them as part of the newly made boulder! She can also vomit fire at people (yes, vomit), and shoot massive balls of lava. When she does use lasers, they're almost all blue in color. She can use her mist to disorient her opponents. She can even create miniature black holes (and white holes)! And of course, she can throw a mean punch, hard enough to launch people all the way across the room. Or she can jump high enough to cause massive shockwaves when she lands. And she can grow to giant size to increase the effect of all this!

Suika is heavily implied to not just be any oni, but Shuten-douji, the most feared and powerful oni in all of Japanese folklore. He (yes he. You'll see a lot of male mythological figures as girls in Touhou) had amassed a huge army of oni and other youkai along with his Elite Four. Two of them are the other oni seen in Touhou so far. However, he was eventually defeated at the Massacre of Mount Ooe, when he was decapitated while drunk. Even then, his head survived and nipped at his slayers, until they decided to just bury it alive. Evidently she broke free and generated a new body.

[murasakispace]

Adam/Shindo Ainosuke X Male Reader

Author's note : Adam needs a bit of love, don't you think? A little love that doesn't imply to hurt Tadashi. It doesn't prevent that it is certainly crap. English is not my main language and it must be awful.

Warnings : NSFW, spanking, degradation and all the BDSM pack.

You were a newcomer, a rookie here. In S. You had the time to watch the local legends fall from their safe sky on the large screens. The most incredible was the race against Langa. Well... You were still wondering if his name was really Langa. Maybe you misunderstood, hidden in your shadows. First Joe, then Cherry and finally Adam. You had to admit their style was eclectic. Even them had to learn again. They were believing themselves as gods because they were the founders of a clandestin course. It made you shrug a little while you were observing them.

People were people. Here, in S, freedom was at its most powerful. A place were no one could say, order to someone something he doesn't want to do. Everything was ruled by skateboard and the people's talent. You were quite happy of that. Because of an accident years ago in mountains with your motorbike while you were heading to the summit so as to practice snowboard. You had the ambition to reach the Winter Olympic Games in half-pipe. You fell from a cliff and you miraculously landed meters below with broken ribs instead of your backbone.

During years you suffered and your dream of medals in the Olympic Games was gone, vanished into the air. Your well-known recklessness almost hurried you in your grave. In the hospital, you spent the last three years to reeducate with an omnipresent pain in your back, anger against the people who had forgotten you when you would have given them your soul if they asked for it an ended alone. You nearly lost your mind when you woke up from coma and nothing appeared in front of you. You weren't able to see anymore. Time went by and you found yourself offered the chance to remedy to your blindness. But it doomed you to wear particular sunglasses every day of your life. A little cost considering what you've been through.

You suffered. You were still aching but less than these last month. Moreover you felt better each day passing. Only eternal scars remain. And to be here in S got you like you were free as much as before your accident. And you would thank Adam for this. Yet, you meant nothing, watching the same scenes which were playing in front of your eyes.

You were sitting on your motorbike far behind the last people composing the crowds ahead of you. Actually, the last time you came at S was when Adam had been defeated. Since then, you weren't coming as often as you should now. Everything was more peaceful and Adam abandoned this bad habit to smash people in the face with his own skateboard. Of course, the blue-haired show-off would never stop to make his little shows and big entrances. You don't think that one day his "hey bitches and bros and non-binary hoes" would leave your mind so easily.

Yet, even if you admired Adam as an remarkable skater, you wouldn't prevent yourself to hate him for everything he was aside all of it. He was "in love" as he told to anyone who would like to hear it with his partners of race. It was nothing like love. You didn't know how you manage to not go through the crowds to slap him right in the face. He didn't understand. He wouldn't anyway. Love is sweet, a fluttering sentiment which set upside-down your guts and your soul. It wasn't how you remembered this wonderful thing.

Anyways, Adam had been defeated by a rookie that you had the power to crush on a snowboard. Even if he was talented, had he the talent of someone able to go in the Olympic Games? You didn't think so. You had yourself a modified board. And right now before the attended race between two opponents, you were as if you were playing on the half-pipe near the start of the race.

You were jumping even higher than this little rookie and executing figures in air that were turning sick some of the people gathered in your audience. You were hearing the slight gasps of awe coming from several girls watching them. Even Langa applaused you in the distance with an annoying smile. That little group comprehending Shadow, Reki, Langa, Miya and the others was sincerely uselessly noisy. Though, they were sometimes giving you back a smile you had long forgotten it was existing. But you didn't care anymore. You were busy with your "switched back flip with nose grab" and to make people applause even louder around you.

They were kind and cute because even if the trick wasn't so hard, doing it on a skateboard was something else. And it earned you the nickname of Eagle in S. You were impressive to say the least and people were clearly stunned. What you didn't expect was to attract the boss' attention here. Adam. Actually, his little grieves left you as if you were like marble.

Not only was he sticking to you but he also was quite insisting in his behavior. You didn't like him at all. It may have been the second or the third night that you came on the half-pipe of S. No one challenged you that time. You just shrugged your shoulders and were going on the way to leave this place. The pressure, the people gathered here, the races and the clear lack of delicacy from them made you get away from here. A sort of repulsion ordered you to go away. A skatepark would be big enough to allow you to do the same show for any passerby. After all what was the point of tiring yourself by skating if no one could applause for your demonstration of pure talent. And today, several nights after Adam's defeat, you were leaving S for good this time. It has no point for you to stay.

Yet, Adam didn't want the same. He was observing you before Langa. So he caught you up while lights were dancing around him.

"Mmh... What a wonderful little bird I see here. Don't be scared my dove, I'm not going to bite you." Adam said both loudly and sensually, thus it made crowds look in the same moment towards you.

A heavy silence has just fallen onto the crowds. You have heard the wheels of Adam's skateboard behind you. And he came, leaving his hand on your hips, getting you closer and closer to him. You could feel his hands roaming and doing delicate circles on the fabric of your clothes. Such an intimate action while you could almost feel his head rest on your shoulder. He made a little comment about your scent. Does this man have really no shame ?

"Aren't you tired of your own bullshit, Adam? Losing once wasn't enough to bring humility in you?" you snapped back while the man gazed at you.

"Never, my sweet, stubborn little dove" Ainosuke whispered in your ear while his hands were circling around your waists.

His sweet, gentle, poisonous tone was near to give you shivers. You weren't able to discern within yourself if it was a sort of trespassing desire that was boiling in you or a fire of rage and the deep will to smash him with your skateboard. Probably both. Let's agree on the fact that this man was a living invitation to luxury and rough love. You were just a little smaller than him but strong enough to make him comply and kneel in front of you like a slut. You clicked your tongue and forcefully escaped from Adam's treacherous embrace.

"Alright Eagle. I challenge you into a beef" Adam called behind you.

"Carry on" You answered back while the crowds become immediately silent were watching you with great interest.

"A race. You and me. Right now. The loser become the slave of his opponent." Adam added with his usual disturbing smile.

For one of the first times since you were coming in S, it was one of your first beefs. Moreover, with the boss of all that mess. And finally, it involved something hidden behind all of this display. And you liked it. Why not enjoying fully the race and the aftermath. You used the back extremity of your skateboard you hit Adam in the belly and making him move backwards. You were almost ecstatic. You walked calmly until the start line, put lightly your skateboard on the ground and set your foot on the deck while you were waiting for Adam to come. Obviously, he made his way towards you.

"Mmh... I'll enjoy to turn you upside down after this race" Adam sensually whispered.

"Your self-confidence will kill you one day, filthy man" you replied with a dry tone.

"Let's say that now that I've lost my Eve, the only person in S having my attention is you my little dove. Be ready, I'm not going to be easy on you"

These last sentences would the death of you. His magma-like voice was burning your insides. How can someone warm you up so efficiently? That was a mystery. But you liked it. Adam was well-known to be kinky. You hated a little yourself at that time. You were falling for an insane guy who is now targeting you. Obviously, it was not in a romantic way. Yet, Adam remained a reachable fanstasm. And you were apparently one of his. The green fire came rapidly, thus the start of the race.

Adam became fastly the first. You forgot about everything and just tried to have fun. You were skating as if your board was a part of yourself, dodging rocks and Adam's attack. You knew very well that he didn't change that much after his first defeat here. He even did his little thing of holding you close to him with the sort of horns on his skateboard.

" I love the movement of your hips, so agile, so smooth, I can't prevent myself to wonder what it will feel like to love you fully until you will ache for attention under my touch. You are a snowboarder too, right?" Adam asked more or less.

"You could say that. But I'm not like that kid. I prefer half-pipes. Besides, you have really no shame, haven't you? Anyways, goodbye."

You increased your speed and left Adam behind. You were jumping the cliffs where the turns formed the shape of a snake with the lights in the night. While you were flying, you were shining with more and more complicated figures and graceful landings, making you significantly ahead of the blue-haired holy creature named Adam. He managed very quickly to catch you up. A little smile was playing on your lips. That was funny to see him a little bit in difficulty.

You were provoking him. That was unbelievable and remarkably bold of you to do so. You annoying smile was allowing to build desire and longing in Adam's heart. He was the king and yet, a little dove was playing with him shamelessly. Adam was so mesmerized by your own race that he barely realized he was in the factory. The screams of the people gathered in there dragged him from his thoughts. He saw you fly until the finish line and cross it. You win against him. A huge silent welcomed him.

"One of the first things you have not to lose when you run is your own concentration. I don't know what happened to you but it doesn't prevent that you weren't really skating. So for the beef, I cancel the slave thing." You declared when Adam went towards you.

You turned your back to him and headed to your motorbike followed by the blue-haired man. You didn't want to stay any longer. Adam's footsteps were soft behind yours.

"How can you cancel the slave thing, as you called it?" Adam demanded.

Seeing that he didn't have any answer, Adam reached you to catch your shoulder and make you turn to look at him.

"Because I'm the winner" you responded with a threatening tone.

"So having me doesn't interest you?" Adam questioned with a spark of deception.

"I didn't say that" you replied with a playful half-smile crossing your lips.

You were surrounded by darkness and no one cared anymore about you. For the people, you were remedying with your little issues about the beef. Nothing very interesting for them. Your hand climbed Adam's tensed thigh before going backwards to his ass and caressing it shamelessly. You heard the man getting a heavier breath and mumbling sinner sentences in your ear. You didn't even move when he came closer to enjoy the caress.

"Adam... You are such a slut... Look at you, you sound like a virgin discovering sex" You told with an incredible amount of heat on your voice.

You left your fingers coming down on his half-hard dick and rub it lightly. Just enough to give shivers to the man.

"Horny, aren't we?" you carried on while Adam was melting under your touch.

It was only simple caresses yet the man in front of you was letting himself go as if you were escaping and he won't have anymore opportunities to have you so close.

"More" demanded Adam while he has finally what he wanted so hard.

But you stopped here, creating frustration in the man.

"There's a love hotel down Crazy Rock. Come with your Grim Reaper costume." You requested with an overbearing tone.

Adam ordered to Tadashi who wasn't present in S that night to bring him to this place and the black clothes he was wearing against Langa. Once arrived in the building, he headed towards the receptionist who led him until the room. The space was dark and very classical for a love hotel but it was enough to arouse Adam. He felt as if your hands were still on him while he was changing his red costume. The memory of your hands trailing down his back to reach his ass and caressing it shamelessly was still unbelievably strong in his mind. Then he felt the touch join his cock, gently but still enough to make surrender to your touch. He desired you so much right now. Once he wore his Grim Reaper clothes, he laid down the mattress. He let himself go to the warmth he was feeling. He already wanted you so hard. He thought he was still dreaming when he felt the sudden touch of your hand on his neck.

"Ready to cum due to a shameless imagination. What a dirty little pet we have here. Were you planning to touch while you would wait for me? " You whispered in Adam's ear, getting him to have goosebumps.

Your fingers went down along his spine then reached the start of his ass. You were riding him from behind, each of your legs apart Ainosuke's body. You spanked his cheeks violently when you see you wouldn't get your answer, making the man moaning of both pain and pleasure.

"Use your tongue. You still have one, right?" you picked up after this unwanted silence.

"Yes" mumbled the submitted man.

"Louder. I don't hear you."you commanded.

"Yes"

He was speaking at the volume you wanted to listen. Loudly but not enough to disturb people out there.

"Better" you acknowledged with a neutral tone.

You got away from the position you have over Ainosuke. You were looking for the bad you brought with you. In the corner of your eye, you remarked the presence of a mirror. It could be useful but not now. You were secretly impatient to play with the king of S. You glanced at him and couldn't prevent a half-smile on your face. His hips were slightly higher than what would be normal. The blue-haired man was aching for your touch. Unhappily, it seemed sometimes you weren't as mean as some of masters with their human pet when it comes to tough, rough and painful but delicious sex. Well... It didn't matter actually. Your beautiful puppy lying on the mattress would love it anyway. You sincerely enjoyed the fact that this natural dominant male was completely under your control.

"Get up and kneel. Be rid of your clothes and keep your eyes on the wall. If you look at me I leave you here, tied and with a toy in your ass until you faint. Is that clear?" You ordered with a severe voice.

You didn't get any answer immediately.

"Yes". You heard behind you.

"Yes who?" You added.

"Yes Master" Adam ended while he just worked to be in his knees over the blankets.

The man got rid of his suit not so quickly. The fabric was comfortable and smooth, suiting perfectly his body. The memory of your touch was almost disappearing with him leaving aside all the clothes. He ended naked on the bed, his pale skin revealed to the air. He kept his eyes locked on the wall and he didn't have any access to the mirror to watch what you were doing. He only heard some noises somewhere behind him. Adam was shivering litghtly because of anticipation. He didn't want you to be kind with him. The rougher the better. Anyways, love and pain were both the faces of a coin, right? He submits but you serve.

Ainosuke felt your hand climbing along his leg and rest a few seconds on his thigh. You slided a lubed toy in his hole. You went as deeply as you could without bruising you pet and without leaving without any sensations. His insides were slightly stretched enough to emphasize the rubbing which you started from a few feets away.

You had the time to change in a black leathery pants and high boots, all black, with an open shirt lazily flying along your sides. After that, you were just watching Ainosuke's nakedness from behind. He was well-shaped. You couldn't say more. And this beautiful insane man was craving for your attention. You knew the effect the toy had. The more Adam was holding back his moan, the more the toy is going to make him lose his mind. You knew very well that the man had a certain endurance. Yet, it had no effect when the right points within his body were touched and loved.

You were still gentle. You could be more cruel and less careful about your little pet. Adam knew it very well. He was sure he looked like a little virgin taking pleasure for the first time but the thing inside of him suppressed all of his strength. He was grunting and moaning like a whore and he loved it. But it wasn't enough. It wasn't you.

"More..." Breathed the man while his whole body was totally shaking.

"More? Really?" you asked while you were enjoying the frustration on Adam's face and the red hue on his cheeks.

"Inside me... Touch me..."you went to caress Ainosuke's naked ass before spanking it another time.

"You have no permission to cum, dirty pet. I'll punish you otherwise."you warned with a threatening tone in your voice.

The heat was slightly consuming the blue-haired man and pleasure was way too heavy for him, almost choking sometimes. You would be the death of him if it carried on.

"Please..."Adam silently begged while you were heading to an armchair not far away from the display in front of you.

Were you sadistic? Probably. You had one of your legs hanging on the side of your seat and watching Ainosuke fighting the destroying pleasure inside of him. You were so desirable. No one would ever say the contrary. It was only the start for your adorable pet. But it wasn't enough for you.

"Come here." You commanded with a monotonous but commanding tone in your voice.

You saw Adam moving to reach you. He stumbled on the few meters he had to make to come at you. He knelt in front of you but it sounded more like he wasn't able to carry his own weigh. He was looking up at you with eyes tainted of pleasure. He caressed your legs as any good cat would do to please his master and get some food or any touch. Your hand reached his chin and you lift it without any delicacy. A few more and Adam was going to surrender and leaving himself being overwhelmed by pleasure. His red eyes were blurry and full of lust and you locked yours on his. Your hand went in his hair and you brought him closer to you.

"Take it. And do it well, slut" you requested with an overbearing tone.

You felt shaking hands roaming over your leather pants and undo the belts resting on your hips. His fingers freed your half-hard dick but he was too slow.

"Faster" you ordered.

Adam put his finger on the skin of your shaft, then his lips. You hardly held back a grunt of pleasure while you were feeling his hot mouth around your cock. That was divine but not enough. You settled your fingers in Ainosuke's hair and pulled it closer.

"Come on, slut"

The blue-haired man wasn't slow but it wasn't fast enough and it frustrated you. You ordered him for more speed and he did it. Adam was all focus on your pleasure, worshipping you with his tongue and his lips. It was warm inside his mouth. You wanted to dirty your sub with your seeds and make him feel like a doll in your hands. Besides, you increased the speed of the toy inside Adam's ass. He was fighting tou bring you pleasure and not to cum. His whole body must ache but you didn't really care. You wanted more. You helped a little Ainosuke with his movements. His tongue was caressing you shamelessly, and he was all focused on you. You were almost fucking his throat.

"You are really a whore my pet. Worse than a dog in heat. Loot at you"

You led his eyes to the mirror not far from you. Adam moaned when he saw the image of himself. The red hue on his cheeks while he was taking your cock into his mouth. The sight was mesmerizing. Then, lower, the pre-sperm was dripping from his own sex. Adam wasn't able to suffer it anymore and the last image had been the death of his limits and he cummed lankily on the ground. His muscles all tensed relaxed in a few seconds. He spilled his white liquid everywhere at the bottom of the armchair while he was moaning with your shaft still in his throat.

You raised your hand and gave him an echoing slap which made the blue-haired man fall on his back, covered of his dirty sperm. You perceived Adam hard cock raising between his legs.

"Kinky whore. You are not even able to handle it, right? Such a disobedient little puppy. You'll be punished, you know that, aren't you?" you threatened with a sweet voice, penetrating under Ainosuke's flesh.

You were watching your pet getting up from his position on the ground.

"Be happy that I'm not going to order you to lick it, silly kitten. On the bed, now. Twenty whiplash, and if you are not obedient, I'll double that number. Understood?"

"Please Master, no!" Adam surprisingly begged with and hoarse voice to you.

"This is the cost for your insolence and disobedience. It could be a hundred so take what I allow you" You replied without any softness.

You gave the order to your dog to be astride on the bed, on all four. Adam settled over the blankets and stayed still. The man heard you get the tool in your hand. And without telling him, he felt a painful burn on his ass, followed by your hand which rubbed it. Ainosuke heard himself grunt to the sudden soothing caress.

"It was the first. I won't be that kind after. Count them. At any mistake, It'll be thirty"

You blowed him again and your sub was counting but it was painful and red traces were appearing on his skin. You weren't soft with him and appreciated his delicious reactions of suffering and adoration. The toy was still in his ass, driving him crazy from both inside and outside. Adam wasn't able to keep up anymore and at the end on the punishment, he fell over the blankets, naked, full of shame, pleasure and love. He was crying due to the overwhelming amount of feelings. His shaft was so hard that it was painful and he wanted freedom from you. His pants were perceptible in the silence of the room. The blue-haired man felt your hand on his ribcage and forcefully turn him on his back.

He saw climb over the mattress and settle near him. Your finger roamed over your pet's belly and touch his nipples, making him shiver and grunt. Your softness was welcome for Adam. His body was aching due to tension and slaps but pleasure was still present in his blood and adrenaline was keeping him conscious. Suddenly, the toy Ainosuke had in his ass had a different movement, more intense, more rubbing and making him moan loudly.

"Did you seriously think it was ended?" you questioned with a playful tone. "No. Of course not".

You got up and put yourself in a riding way. You pushed your shaft inside Adam's mouth and start to fuck his throat again. Fingers curling down the sheets and becoming white. Your sub was testifying of this pleasure. And you were too. Your hips were getting faster and faster and Adam's eyes were rolling backwards while pleasure was burning him. You were silently moaning and keeping your features still but it was hard when your little pet's tongue was that agile and smart to find the areas able to make you shudder. It felt like eternity till you finally cummed inside of Ainosuke's mouth. Your sub swallowed everything and as a reward you ordered him to change of position and to rest on his belly. You removed the toy from his ass and caressed it softly.

"Master..." called quietly Adam.

"Mmh?" you responded with distance in your behavior towards him.

"Please. Fuck me." begged silently the man.

Where was Adam, the king of S, almost undefeated? Where was the show-off, the insane guy? You knew very well where he was. He was subdued to every of your desire now, drunken by pain and pleasure, knocked by envy. He wanted you in the simplest way. The incubus became the innocent virgin and you were his master. Nothing was left from the skater man that you met at the nightfall. He was just a body aching for softness after a hardship, pleading for quietness now. And more sincere than he never had been until tonight. He needed you.

"Please Master..." whispered again Adam.

But his begging stopped when Adam felt your dick against his hole. A slight moan escaped from him and you started to bury yourself in him. His insides were warm and comfortable but so tight. The rubbing was divine and you could help yourself but start to fuck his ass very slowly to push him to worship you. Adam had his hips hanging a little in air as you were thrusting to give you both an amazing amount of pleasure.

"P-Please Master... More..." moaned Adam while you were almost hitting his ass.

It was so nice to see the man so submitted to his needs coming from you. You couldn't help yourself but started to thrust more and more quickly and fastly. The sound of your flesh against each other was echoing in the room and you liked it. You got rougher and rougher but it was still nice and finally, you let yourself be. You felt Adam's hole tightening around your shaft for the second time. Your hands slide down his hips to find his own sex so as to apply languid caresses. It was too much for him and his muscled yet thin body sank on the bed and you followed him in his climax not long after him.

You were panting heavily and your pet was actually nearly fainting. You took him into a warm embrace and rubbed his skin to soothe him. You didn't have the time for a real aftercare because he fell asleep immediately. You would wait him to take a needed shower. For the time that you had, you left him be.

Adam had been a wonderful sub. You were happy. But you didn't have the intention to stay with him. If he wanted you, then maybe you should have a more serious and deeper conversation. But now, it wasn't what you wanted.

[aion-rsa]

Streaming on Plex: Best Movies and TV Shows You Can Watch for FREE in September

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DEN OF GEEK CRITICS’ PICKS

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

They’re the world’s most fearsome fightin’ team. They’re heroes in a half-shell and they’re green. I mean, what more do we need to say? 2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is no Citizen Kane, but comic book movie fans flock to it like the four titular turtles to pizza. The film knows exactly what it is, providing cheesy one-liners, silly action, and unpretentious fun. Throwing in Will Arnett as a sidekick for April O’Neil was an inspired choice that paid dividends in laughs and whoever tapped Tony Shaloub to voice Splinter should get a pay raise. Produced by Nickelodeon Pictures, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles wasn’t only the highest grossing film in the series, but also the highest grossing Nickelodeon film of all-time. This reboot of the classic ninja team helped spawn further films, new TV series, and a renewed interest in one of the most beloved comic book properties ever. Cowabunga, dude!

Noah

This isn’t your Sunday School’s Noah. Darren Aronofsky’s adaptation of the story of the biblical figure Noah is an awe-inspiring epic that takes the bones of the famous story and infuses themes about environmentalism, self-doubt, and yes, faith. Pulling liberally from texts like the Book of Enoch, the film has far more action than just leading animals onto a boat and a storm. Shot by Matthew Libatique, the movie looks absolutely gorgeous and at times can be genuinely breath-taking, but it’s not just about the visuals. Russell Crowe stuns in the title role, but the entire ensemble is great, including a post-Potter Emma Watson and a ferocious Ray Winstone. No one expected Noah to be more akin to a thought-provoking art house film than a straight-forward epic, but that’s the sort of genius you get from Aronofsky, one of the most exciting and inventive filmmakers working today. 

Shine a Light

Even if we hadn’t just lost the immortal, suave Charlie Watts, the heartbeat of rock and roll’s longest institution, The Rolling Stones, we’d still be recommending Martin Scorsese’s Shine a Light. Capturing the legendary band during their A Bigger Bang Tour in 2006, Scorsese spends a lot of the time rightfully focusing on Watts. With the camera fixated on Watts, you witness his unflappability; the way that he can make such raucous playing look so effortless. You also catch the man’s unique, jazz-influenced technique, like how he rarely hits the center of his snare, or how he changes his grip whenever he hits a cymbal. Even in their old age, the Stones are still one of the tightest, most electrifying live acts, and Shine a Light puts you right on stage with them as they barrel through one of the deepest catalogs in recorded music. It’s simply a masterful concert film.

The Virgin Suicides

Sofia Coppola likely has to deal with accusations about nepotism to this day, but anyone who saw her directorial debut The Virgin Suicides knows that Francis’ daughter would have made it as a filmmaker even without her famous last name. This haunting adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides’ novel of the same name taps into the melancholy of childhood, the dreamlike haze of memory, and the mystery that lurks inside suburban homes. Coppola expertly captures the pull that an ethereal group of sisters have on the imaginative group of boys that pine for them in a way that is relatable for anyone that had an unrequited crush in high school. As a coming-of-age movie, it is one of a kind. As an exploration of trauma and grief, it is crushingly effective. The original score by the band Air only adds to its hypnagogic vibe. 

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School

Punk rock music and Roger Corman pictures are some of the core tenants that Den of Geek was founded on, so of course we’re going to recommend 1979’s Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, which features possibly the coolest band of all-time, The Ramones. Let our resident punk rock movie expert Jim Knipfel break it down for you:

“After producing so many dozens of teen rebellion films over the years, Corman finally hit the pinnacle, the ultimate teen rebellion picture, with the cartoon antics ratcheted up more than a few notches. There are so many bad jokes flying around, so many visual gags and film references packed into every scene, so many overwrought teen film clichés pushed way past absurd, it’s a film that demands multiple viewings. Even if “Riff Randall, rock ’n’ roller” (P.J. Soles) doesn’t look much like any punk chick I ever knew, I’m perfectly willing to accept it. And in historical terms, it really was this film more than the 4 albums they had out at the time that spread the word about The Ramones to mainstream America, and that’s worth something. Old as I am I still get a thrill every time the students and the Ramones blow up Vince Lombardi High, and anyone who doesn’t must be wrong in the head somehow.”

New on Plex in September:  

1000 Times Good Night 

13 

13 Assassins 

The Accidental Husband 

All Good Things 

Assassination of a High School President 

Awake 

Bent 

Bordertown 

Brain Dead 

Cold Mountain  

The Descent 

The Descent Part 2  

Even Money 

Fear City 

First Snow 

Freedom Writers  

Gray Matters  

The Jesus Rolls 

Johnny Was  

Keys to Tulsa  

The Legend of Bagger Vance  

Mad Money 

Marrowbone 

Murder on the Orient Express 

The Ninth Gate 

Nothing but the Truth  

Ordinary People 

Rememory  

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School  

Sanctuary  

Shine a Light  

Soul Survivors  

Taboo  

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles  

The TV Set  

The Virgin Suicides  

What Doesn’t Kill You  

Winter Passing  

World Trade Center  

Catch before it leaves in September: 

31 

Absolution  

Accident Man  

Aeon Flux 

After.Life 

Angel of Death 

Answer Man 

The Bang Bang Club 

Battle Royale 

Blood and Bone 

The Broken 

Cashmere Mafia  

Child 44 

Cleaner 

Cold Comes the Night 

Coming Soon 

The Connection 

Conspiracy  

The Cookout  

Critical Condition  

Dark Crimes  

The Death and Life of Bobby Z 

Death Proof 

Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star 

Downhill Racer 

Dragged Across Concrete  

The Dresser  

The Duel 

Dummy 

Flight of Fury 

Flirting with Disaster  

The Foreigner  

Goat  

Gutshot Straight  

Halloween III: Season of the Witch  

The Hard Corps  

Hesher  

High Right 

Honeymoon  

The Hunt 

I Saw the Devil 

In the Mix 

Jason and the Argonauts 

Jeff, Who Lives at Home 

Jiri Dreams of Sushi  

Joe 

Journey to the West  

Kill ‘Em All 

A Kind of Murder 

The Kite Runner 

Lake Placid 2 

Lake Placid 3 

Last Resort 

The Lazarus Project 

Misconduct 

Mr. Church 

Mutant Chronicles 

Mythica: The Godslayer 

Mythica: The Iron Clown  

Never Back Down: No Surrender 

News Radio  

Noah 

Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior  

Ong Bak: The Beginning  

The Order 

Out for a Kill 

The Outcasts  

Phantoms 

Pistol Whipped 

The Protector 

Pulse (2001) 

Reprisal  

Return to the Blue Lagoon 

The River Murders  

The Romantics 

Second in Command 

Shadow Man 

Shattered  

The Shepherd 

Southside with You 

Space Station 76 

Square Pegs 

Standoff 

Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation  

Starship Troopers 3: Marauder 

Steel Dawn 

Substitute  

The Super  

SWAT: Under Siege 

The Terminal  

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada  

Touchy Feely  

Trollhunter 

UFO 

Universal Solider: Day of Reckoning  

Vamps  

Vicky Cristina Barcelona  

Walking Tall: Lone Justice 

Warlock 

What Planet are You From?  

World’s Fastest Indian 

World’s Greatest Dad  

The Yellow Handkerchief  

Still streaming on Plex: 

2:22 

2 Days in New York 

21 Jump Street  

22 Bullets  

24 Hours to Live  

3rd Rock from the Sun 

6 Bullets  

99 Homes 

A Little Bit of Heaven 

A Walk in the Woods 

The Air I Breathe  

Alan Partridge 

ALF  

Alone in the Dark 

Amelie 

American Pastoral  

And Soon the Darkness 

Andromeda  

Are You Here 

Arthur and the Invisibles  

Awake 

Battle in Seattle 

Bernie 

Better Watch Out 

Black Death  

Blade of the Immortal 

Blitz 

The Brass Teapot 

Bronson 

The Brothers Bloom 

The Burning Plain 

But I’m a Cheerleader 

Cake  

Candy  

Catch .44 

Cell  

The Choice 

Clerks II 

Coherence  

The Collector  

Colonia  

Congo  

Cooties 

The Core 

The Cotton Club 

Crossing Lines  

Croupier  

Cube  

Cube 2 

Cube Zero 

Cyrano de Bergerac  

Death and the Maiden 

The Deep Blue Sea 

Deep Red 

Derailed 

Detachment 

The Devil’s Rejects  

Diary of the Dead 

District B13 

DOA: Dead or Alive 

Dr. T and the Women  

Eden Lake 

The Edge of Love  

The post Streaming on Plex: Best Movies and TV Shows You Can Watch for FREE in September appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3DV4bW5

[fortheloveoflizards]

Headcanons

Wings of Fire Dragon Culture - Myths and Legends

Darkstalker – Darkstalker has obviously become one of the most infamous legends in Pyrrhia, thanks to his actions both in the past and present. Being an Icewing/Nightwing hybrid gifted with prophecy, mind-reading and animus powers made him formidable and terrifying even to this day. So much so, in fact, that his story is still used as a cautionary tale for young Nightwings. The story goes that Darkstalker’s parents, Foeslayer of the Nightwings and Prince Arctic of the Icewings, fell in love and eloped, though for many years it was believed that the prince had been kidnapped as part of a Nightwing scheme. The most famous part of his story is when he used his magical artefact to force his father to kill himself in a way so gruesome that almost the entirety of the Nightwing tribe fled to a faraway, volcanic island. His downfall came about when his then girlfriend, Clearsight of the Nightwings, worked in secret with his mentor, Fathom of the Seawings, to trap Darkstalker under a mountain forever. Forever, of course, only lasting about 2000 years. The rest of the story is, I assume, pretty well known by the majority of the Wings of Fire fan-base, so details are unnecessary.

Spectre – Not much is known nowadays about the old Icewing legend of a ghostly dragon prowling the Frozen Coast, with piercing white eyes, accompanied by a single scavenger. The basic story tells of an Icewing dragonet disappearing during a particularly dark winter. The dragonet had hatched sickly and weak, and no one had been expecting it to survive. Nor had they been expecting for said dragonet to disappear mysteriously without a trace. It was quickly concluded that the dragonet had been killed, presumably by it’s mother. As the murder of any dragonet, even weak ones, is strictly taboo unless it’s the result of a challenge, the mother of the missing dragonet was promptly persecuted by the rest of the tribe, stripped of her rank in all but official terms, and eventually disappeared, herself. Things died down for an indeterminate amount of time, until rumours among the border guards began to spread inland of a strange, moon pale, translucent dragon appearing and disappearing out of the fog, sometimes even luring guards out to sea. For the most part, the tribe brushed off the stories as outlandish gossip amongst the low ranked in order to amuse themselves. It was only when, on a dark night, during the largest blizzard the tribe had ever seen, an entire platoon of guards went missing, without so much as a talon print or scale left in the snow the next morning. Many Icewings claimed it was a hoax, but enough believed that it was a spirit, come to reap justice upon those that it felt had offended it, for the story to rapidly gain infamy in the tribe. As for whether the spirit was of the missing dragonet, the mother, or something else entirely, well, that changes depending on who’s telling the story. The only things that remain constant throughout all versions, are the pale white eyes and scavenger bodyguard. Although uncommon, it is said that one could tell if Spectre was about to appear upon spotting it’s scavenger; often it would be standing stock still on an iceberg, or half submerged in the surf, but sightings were rarely reported without it’s inclusion.

Hydra – This is a myth that can be found consistently throughout the history and culture of almost every Pyrrhian tribe, as the Hydra was thought to be the creature from which every tribe originated. This belief was only very recently countered, as it was found that many of the tribes did not share common ancestors. Regardless, the story of the Hydra is a beloved one among scholars and students alike. The basic premise was a large dragon with seven head – one for each tribe – who constantly fought for control of the body. The story typically concludes with each of the heads being separated from the body in some way, with a single head being left to control the body. Which head is left, metaphorically, standing changes from tribe to tribe; as does the order in which the other heads were separated. The Hydra is a common sight during festivals of all kinds, and is still viewed mostly as proof that the tribes can’t coexist in peace. Although, since the founding of the Jade Mountain Academy, it’s use as an example of the similarities between the tribes has increased.

Amphithere – As Peril explained in her book, Skywings believe in a form of reincarnation. Through the act of leaving the body of the deceased in a chamber open to the sky, the belief is that the soul of the dragon will then be able to come back as a Skywing rather than any other dragon. The task of ferrying souls to their new life is that of Amphitheres. These are often portrayed as invisible dragon-like creatures lacking legs that are rumoured to guard the wind currents in and around the Sky Kingdom, using their massive wings to stir up gales and tornadoes. Amphitheres are another prominent character in Pyrrhian mythology, although their significance is pretty much completely lost on most other tribes.

Wail/Whalewings – These colossal Seawing monsters are believed to roam the deepest parts of the ocean, luring prey (including dragons) down to their doom by making distressed whale noises. Their description (and the spelling of the word, itself) varies from story to story. The most common draws from angler-fish and other deep sea creatures; translucent glowing white, with the undigested remains of previous meals still visible in it’s gut. The myth presumably originated as a way for Seawing parents to deter dragonets from venturing too deep without their protection. Of course, there is still much of the ocean that remains unexplored, so there’s a possibility of creatures larger than dragons existing. Wailwings aren’t as heavily featured in art as other creatures, as Seawings prefer to keep things bright and happy rather than mysterious. Dark water places scary.

Aura – Icewings don’t seem to have much imagination for the benevolent side of mythology, and tend to be pretty suspicious of just about everything. There are, however, a few exceptions. One such example being Aura; spirits of the Aurora Borealis that appear to worthy dragons in times of darkness to provide guidance and bestow gifts/knowledge. The tribe remains adamant that Aura bear no correlation with the Nightwing myth, Moon Sprites. Icewings will often leave tributes for Aura during coronation and wedding ceremonies. These consist of prey, animal skins, treasure and a special type of candle made from blubber. These candles are used exclusively for Aura tributes, and being found burning one outside of the ceremonies is punishable by exile and even death.

Moon Sprites – As with the Icewings, Nightwings insist that Moon Sprites are nothing like Aura, despite the similar mythology. Nightwings believe Moon Sprites are messengers sent by the moons to grant wishes and deliver prophecies, and supposedly gave Nightwings their powers. Similar tributes are left for Moon Sprites, typically just before times of harvest or the changing from autumn to winter. Nightwings believe that the moons themselves are cognisant, and have long worshipped them as what you might call Gods. As such, it would be fair to liken Moon Sprites to angels.

Dragonflies – Most tribes believe a dragon is either turned into a dragonfly or, in the case of the Skywings, reincarnated as one, as punishment for a varying list of crimes for each tribe (E.g Rainwings believe they are tasked to assist the changing of the seasons and once a certain number of springs has passed their debt is considered repaid, while Mudwings believe they are given a number of “deaths” as a dragonfly, meaning they must die as a dragonfly for that number of times before returning as a dragon, and Sandwings believe they mark when an oasis contains hidden treasure). Despite this mythology, dragonflies are often depicted as symbols of rebirth, justice and second chances.

SeaDragonets(Seahorses) – Seawings believe these creatures embody the spirits of dragonets taken by the sea. Many Seawings believe they watch over dragonets to protect them from meeting the same fate, as SeaDragonets are drawn to the warm water of Seawing hatcheries. Hatchery guards are also in charge of tending to the SeaDragonets, as they give a reliable warning regarding sharks and intruders – swimming around in flurries, causing mini bubble whirlpools. There are two common varieties of SeaDragonets in the ocean surrounding Pyrrhia; the most common, smaller species, which can also be referred to as “Seahorses”, which come in a range of browns, creams and generally more “bland” colours, and the rarer Reef Dwelling SeaDragonets, which are larger and typically white, pink or blue. These Reef Dwelling SeaDragonets are revered among aristocratic Seawings, and kept mostly in the palace gardens and Royal Hatchery.

WyndWyrms – Sandwings and Skywings believe these serpent-like creatures push the sun across the sky, anchored to it by great chains of stars, while Seawing myths say they control the tides. WyndWyrms heavily feature in Sandwing tapestries and Seawing murals. Skywings have a lot of songs about them, and they typically work in tandem with Amphitheres. While not inherently dragon-like, WyndWyrms are usually described as having dragon faces and snake bodies, sometimes even with fur, like legless otters.

The Grand Nightwing – The legend of a massive Nightwing that holds the sky within her wings has long since been written out of almost every history scroll, as it was found to be a story spread by the Nightwings themselves in order to appear more powerful. She was said to have three eyes (the moons) in order to watch over all of dragon-kind. Thunderstorms were her announcement that crimes had been committed, with lightning being her fire, aimed at the offender. Murals of her still endure, mostly on the walls of the old Night Kingdom, though some murals have been uncovered in the desert. While a widely disapproved of story, Nightwings and Sandwings still share the myth with their dragonets.

Pre-Scorching Stories – These are mostly about the foundations of modern dragon society and the early wars that determined the longstanding tribe borders, however there are more than a few stories heavily featuring scavengers. These cast a rather grim light on the many strange metal things found on the ocean floor, in the rainforest and in the desert, covered in strange markings and numbers. Most of these artefacts are all twisted and warped by time and fire, but scholars believe they hint to the existence of advanced scavenger societies, all but exterminated by the Scorching.

Honeysuckle – A Rainwing animus from before the Scorching who supposedly gave the Rainwings their venom. Paintings of her can be found in the old rainforest caves that appear to have been used as shelter. Her most commonly depicted appearance is lavender purple with gold and lime green accents. It is believed that her descendants survive to this day within the tribe.

Cliffhanger – A legendary Skywing warrior said to have successfully fought off 30 enemy squadrons by himself while simultaneously protecting his Queen and wounded comrades. He features heavily in Skywing art, and occasionally in Sandwing tapestries as well (presumably the battle that made him famous was between Sandwings and Skywings), with large, dark red wings and long black horns. The spear that he supposedly stopped from killing the Queen with his own body is kept in the Skywing treasury.

Bullroarer – During the infamous battle between the Mudwings and Seawings over control of Crescent Bay*, the Seawings planned a surprise attack by infiltrating the Mud Kingdom border under cover of darkness. This plan would have worked had it not been for the lowly border guard, Bullroarer, who’s dying roar alerted the entire Mud Kingdom in time for the army to organise. While Bullroarer did perish, his sibs were lorded and moved to the rich inner Kingdom to be part of the Queen’s official guard.

*The bay between the Mud Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Sea on the map of Pyrrhia

[beesatthedisco]

How does this even work...

Okay, so I’ve been on tumblr since before the first time they very slightly changed the shade of blue and I hope that in and of itself is enough to help y’all know... I’m ancient. (I’m 27, and will only rp with ppl 18+, sorry friendos)

Somehow, despite being on tumblr and despite having made about a million accounts for various things in my day, I’ve not made an RP account, and don’t really know how to get started. I guess I’m just gonna put down what I know about myself and what I’m looking for here and hope for the best, but I’d be open to any kind of protips from those of you who have been using tumblr to find rp for much longer.

RIP to your eyes ahead of time, this is a long post. If you want to skip to the part where I share my Original plots, pairings, and fandom cravings, please just scroll to the end and accept my humble apologies. (Highkey I copied this out of my google doc, don’t shoot me.)

I enjoy writing both original plots and fandom stuff. When RPing within a fandom setting, I'm open to playing as canons, as ocs, or any combination of both. I'm open to co-creating settings inspired but not based in fandoms, and open to playing AU or canon settings as well. When originals are involved, I prefer co-creating our worlds together, so we're both invested in the landscape that our characters inhabit. Speaking of characters- I'll play as any gender and in any pairing type- I hope that this is the same for you. I love writing a broad spectrum of characters to keep things interesting for myself and to practice viewing the world through different perspectives. I feel it's difficult to do this when being forced or pigeonholed into writing as a gender you DEMAND of me. However... I can be flexible, and if your ideas are interesting enough, I may just give you what you ask for anyways, haha. I'm perfectly open to playing multiple characters, whether it's a broad interactive cast of mains and background characters, a system of noninteracting or separate sets of doubles, triples, you name it, or whatever other configuration of multiple-character-playing you prefer.

I'm not too terribly concerned about post lengths and am open to writing with people who might be new to the RP scene. I'm pretty flexible about how much I'll write. A good rule of thumb for myself is that I tend to respond with more when I have more to work with. That doesn't always mean that there are more words on your post for me to respond to; instead, I mean that if your post has enough ideas, inspiration, and momentum, I can go buckwild with my posts. My comfort zone seems to be around 4-6 paragraphs per post, but I've been known to write either a lot more in particularly thrilling rps. If I'm writing a huge post- don't feel daunted or expected to match length. I love all sized posts!!! I'm just overly enthusiastic and get carried away sometimes. (This means you can also at any time tell me to chill out on how much I'm writing. ) When it comes to writing style, I only have a few hard expectations of you- I do not engage in roleplay featuring the 'would' style of writing. (For example: "She would pick up the rock and inspect it closely.") I don't exactly know why I dislike this tense so much, but it pulls me right out of the immersion of writing/reading and tends to entirely destroy my interest in the story. I'm sorry. Next, I care at least a little about punctuation and spellchecking. If you're roleplaying online, you have access to ways to make sure that you're not just submitting gibberish. If you need help finding those resources... feel free to ask!

I'm open to the idea of making profiles for our characters, but I'm okay without making them too. I'm also vaguely ambivalent to 'beautifying' our posts, should we do them somewhere that allows that sort of thing. I'm fine with any style of reference images, or with not using them at all. I can't promise I won't send you songs and images and memes that remind me of our story, though! Also- I'm super down for dice systems if we decide to go that route (and prefer dice systems if we include combat of any variety in our story.) I love romance, but it doesn't necessarily have to be the drive of our plot if that's not your style. My favorite genres to write in are science fiction, any variety of fantasy, horror, drama, historical settings, wild western settings, and mysteries.

Last but not least, I tend to like making friends with my writing partners. I prefer writing with people I actually get along with, so for me, the plotting phase is the most important. It helps me get to know your personality a bit more, and you mine, so we both know whether or not it's a good match to write long term! I'll write on most platforms, so let's discuss what makes the most sense for us. Finally, I generally only write with folks 18+, for the safety of everyone involved. Thanks for understanding.

Well, as I said, I've got a big ol list of ideas, if any of this strikes you as 'good writing friend' material, so send me a DM and I'll get back to you asap! Feel free to share your ideas too!!!

Original Ideas

- There's something dire down in the mines to the east of this old Western town. Folks keep goin' in to investigate, disappearin' for days at a time, then comin' back all different-like with the lights gone from their eyes. What could be happenin' out there, sheriff? (horror/western)

- A high-fantasy world's balance is shattered when the source of magic is destroyed. How will the people of this mystical land navigate a now mundane life, and how can they survive when so many magical devices go defunct and awry?

- A no-magic world is suddenly spun into chaos: an apocalyptic event leads to the sudden introduction of magic into a world that had previously never known it. In the post-apocalyptic (and mystically-charged) ashes of a world that once was, how do the survivors compete for resources and control?

- A star falls from the sky! They're rare, and it's dangerous to be one. Are you the star, hunted and lost? Or are you someone who finds a star?

- A lich (my character) is rumored to live in the castle at the foot of the mountains, only a mile or so from your town. It's said they're a true villain, the worst of the worst... but what is the truth?

-Arranged Marriages between physical embodiments of the seasons or planets

- There's something dire down in the mines to the east of this old Western town. Folks keep goin' in to investigate, disappearin' for days at a time, then comin' back all different-like with the lights gone from their eyes. What could be happenin' out there, sheriff? (horror/western)

-A sailor, pirate, or other seafarer keeps noticing the same shape in the waters near their ship. After a terrible storm, the ship wrecks… now, one’s a mermaid, one’s a sailor, and they’re both idiots trying to find their way back home.

-Disaster has struck! A grisly assassination attempt leads a bodyguard to quickly usher their liege to safety. Drama ensues!

-Stowaways, and the people who catch 'em!

- Androids and more androids! Or... androids and non-androids!

-In a dwindling-magic world, those who cling to the olde magicks and the old way of living struggle against the new capitalist society and its nonmagic technology. In one still-magickal neighborhood where our story takes place, shopkeepers fight against nonmagickal gentrification in an effort to keep their businesses, communities, and traditions alive.

- A wandering traveler gets caught in a storm and chances upon an abandoned home, castle, or manor.... oh no!

- A train hopping crust punk encounters the ghost of a fellow train-hopper who fell under the rails and died.

- A living person's computer, gaming device, or phone is inhabited by a flirty ghost!

- There's a friendly but sad ghost living in a living person's new home! (Can you tell I like ghosts?)

Original (and corny) pairing ideas

fairy or elf / vampire or other dark creature

vampire / human

god / mortal

demon / angel or other dark/light archetypical pairings

dragon / humanoid

naval captain / stowaway

mob boss / citizen

superhero / supervillain

serial killer / investigator

serial killer / citizen

Bounty hunter/outlaw

outlaw/sherriff

outlaw/outlaw

farmhand/outlaw

Current Fandom Interests/Cravings

Pokemon - preferably with ocs and in a custom setting ft. all the ‘mons/us playing as humans

Elder Scrolls - pls, i’m craving this almost more than anything, and have been for years

Red Dead Redemption - it is cowboy time now

Legend of Zelda - i have a couple of cute ideas for this!

Avatar/Legend of Korra

Labyrinth - please please please someone play jareth for me, ill give you my firstborn in exchange

Star Wars - currently a little burned out on playing as kylo for everyone, so please don’t ask me to be him dlfkjdslfj

Game of Thrones

Lord of the Rings

Night in the Woods

Brutal Legend - does anyone but me remember this??? Omfg lets rp in this setting PLS

The Dragon Prince

[ruthoakenshield]

The Last Sanddancer (chapter 3)

The Last Sanddancer (Chapter 1)

The Last Sanddancer (Chapter 2)

Thorin and Dwalin head to the Healing Hall and leave Elora with Oin and his healers. They tell him to let them know the moment she is awake and coherent. Then they head to their rooms to change and freshen up.

They walk into the Blue meeting room and find Lord Elrond talking with Balin quietly. He turns to Thorin and give him an head nod. "Thorin! I understand you returned with a mystery woman." he says with a raised eyebrow. 

Thorin nods. "Yes, she was in a glen fighting off goblins, alone and using some strange kind of weapons I have never seen before. It was mesmerizing to watch her fight with them." Thorin replies. 

Elrond frowns. "What did this lass and weapons look like, Thorin?" he asks.

Thorin and Dwalin describe Elora and her weapons. Thorin pulls one of the weapons out from behind his back and shows it to Elrond, who's eyes get wide. "Where is she? Take me to see her immediately!" Elrond says obviously concerned.

"She is with the healers in the Healing Hall, Lord Elrond. Why do you wish to see her?" Balin asks.

"She is the last Sanddancer in existance and a VERY good friend of mine! I made her those weapons! Now hurry, please, take me to her!" he insists.

Thorin and Dwalin look over at Balin. "Sanddancer? What is a Sanddancer?" they ask Balin. 

"I will tell you about them if you take me to her." Elrond says as he heads for the door. The dwarves follow quickly and lead him to the Healing Hall.

Along the way Elrond explains the history of the Sanddancers.      "They are an ancient line of dwarves who lived along the mountains on the eastern edge of Middle Earth. Their homes were destroyed when the floods came and very few survived. Of those who did, were the king and his family as well as his dancers who were performing for him at the time the flood hit. After the flood, they wandered for a time, and were slowly picked off by the Orcs and goblins.

Most humans think they were legends, but the elves remember them and their history, as we traded and were friends with them. The dwarves must have forgotten about them if you do not know who they are.

Elora descends from both the King's line as well as the dancers'. Her great-great-grandfather was a favourite dancer of the King. He married the King's daughter after they were exiled and he kept her safe. Elora's grand-mother was their only child. They ended up in Lothlorian and one of the Elves of Lothlorian fell in love with her and married her when she grew up and was of age. Their only two children were a son and a daughter.

The daughter was Elora's mother. She traveled Middle Earth like Elora does, and would dance in the courts of the human kings to earn a living. At Rohan, she met and married one of their Rohirrim warriors and Elora was born of that marriage. She is very special, because she carries the blood of all the pure races of middle earth: Dwarf, Elf and Man. Her mother taught her the dances when Elora was a youngling, she now does these dances to preserve their memory along with their history.

Because of that she is welcome anywhere she goes. During one of the Rohirrim's patrols, they were ambushed by Orcs and her parents were killed. She was found under her mother as a youngling. Her mother had died protecting her.

Thengil sent her to Rivendel to be raised there for a time, and to be kept safe. She followed the Dunedian after she became of age and wandered with them for a time, learning to fight and hunt and take care of herself. Then one night she broke off from them and disappeared. The Dunedain searched for her but never found her. No one knew what became of her.

Several years later she appeared dancing in Lothlorian at a festival I had attended and she shared with me her tales of wandering. She had gone east looking for any remnants of her kin, but found none. She wandered the eastern shores and lived there in the mountains for a time, mastering her dances that her mother had taught her. They had been passed down through the generations.

She is now the Last of her kind, as far as we know. I met her again on her first crossing of the Land of Middle Earth many decades ago, and made her the weapons you saw her using as a means to defend herself." Elrond explains as they reach the doors to the Healing hall.

The Dwarves stared at him astonished. "She carries a bloodline of all three races?" Thorin asked, unsure he heard Elrond correctly.

Elrond looks down at him and nods. "Yes, Master Dwarf. That is correct. She is a rare being. She is a skilled dancer and hunter. She is short and strong like the dwarves, lithe and nimble like the elves and has the features of a human. It is unknown how long she will live since she has the blood of all three races in her. She most likely will live longer than any human or Dunedain, and most likely will live at least as long as the Dwarves or may have some immortality like the elves. No one can say for certain." he explains as they enter the Hall. 

Oin looks up and runs over. "Lord Elrond! Oh, praise Mahal, you're here! She is burning up with fever, which I am unable to get down. Her wound on her side seems infected despite everything we've tried. Yarrow normally works and it isn't seeming to phase her! What should I do?" he asks. 

Elrond frowns and quickly heads over to Elora. She is ghostly white and her wound on her side is seeping black ooze. "She has been poisoned." he says. Oin, bring me a chair." he replies.

Balin, Dwalin and Thorin stand at the foot of the bed watching as Elrond hovers his hands over Elora's chest and sides and head. Oin brings a chair for Elrond, who sits and holds his hands over her wound. He closes his eyes for a moment. "Thorin, how long ago did you find her? How old is this wound?" he asks.

Thorin tells him it was two and a half days ago. Elrond hums. "The yarrow staved off the poison long enough for you to get her here. Another day and she would've been lost to us." he says quietly. "Oin, do you have any Kingsfoil, also known as Athelas?" Elrond asks without opening his eyes. 

Oin thinks for a moment. "No, but it is a weed. I believe the people of Dale feed it to their pigs." he says. Elrond looks up surprised. "They what?!?" he asks incredulous. 

"They feed it to the pigs. Like I said, it's considered a weed here." Oin tells him.  "Send someone to find me some. I will need as much as you can find. Elora is quite ill from this poison and will need it!" he says quietly. "Hurry!" he urges. 

Thorin looks at Dwalin and Dwalin nods and races out of the Hall. He almost runs into Bofur at the gate of Erebor. 

"Dwalin! What's the hurry? Where are you off to so fast!?!?" he says.  "A very important Lass to Elrond is gravely ill and he needs as much Kingsfoil as we can find!" Dwalin calls out as he runs out of the gate and down the causeway.

Bofur takes off after him. "I know where a patch grows nearby, Dwalin! Follow me!" he calls out.

@fizzyxcustard​ @dabisburntnut​ @dumbassunderthemountain​ @thorinthehottotty​ @queenofmankind​ @rachel1959 @deepestfirefun​ @thetherianthropydaily​ @deminiccheese83 @tschrist1​

[echoeternally]

If There Are No Survivors...

Should no winner arise from the poll, or if the highest vote tally falls to the option against the heroes, then the scenes that follow will fill the story as the rest of the cast continues to move on without their allies.

Unlike other moments from other pages, these scenes may occur regardless of the winner, but will carry heavier weights should none of the characters return.

Brief descriptions and scene titles will be included below!

Fair warning: There is some content dealing with death below as well.

Second warning: This post is long to depict several developing scenes!

... ... ...

Tantalizing Roses

A stream of conscious as Chesnaught reflects on his fallen friends before the dark blue roses that haunt him months later.

...

My eyes fell onto the gelid blue roses, set next to the vase with bluebells. Tightening my fist, I strode over to them, and my body twitched as I approached. Greninja had wanted them together like that, pairing off the joy from our flowers, when I first publicly declared my feelings for him...and the roses in memory of our friends.

According to the legends that we were told, these roses were meant to bloom only for a couple that attained an impossible love, one that was strong and enduring. Though mostly a myth to many, since you’d have to be out in the Frozen Fields of the Iceberg Empire to witness their growth, we were around for their emergence between us and our friends, Machamp and Alakazam.

For Greninja and I, they had grown out a bit, but...they wouldn’t emerge outright. With Machamp and Alakazam, they practically commanded the roses to rise up whenever they desired, first discovering them upon a reunion, and then gathering them when we had time off every so often.

While they aren’t the first flowers that I’ve grown to dislike, they are perhaps the cruelest that I know of.

Closing my eyes, I can only see the joy and laughter of my friends that were kings of the roses. Their eyes were bright and smiling whenever they gifted bouquets to one another. Machamp and Alakazam. Friends that were near and dear to us, and two that we lost during the war.

Forcing my tearing eyes open, I glared at the blue roses, a symbol meant for love, but one that’s constantly marred by death.

And I wonder if that is their true purpose.

Some stories that I’ve read, ones that I don’t tell Greninja that I’ve uncovered; they are stated as strictly that: blue roses of mystery that rise up for those marked by death. Flowers that weren’t a gift of love and longing from a lover separated, but instead one that sought to caution others that could fall for a similar fate...one where love doesn’t triumph, but instead anguish does.

Neither sides of the story are treated seriously, of course. But, since we’re directly connected to these flowers...I do wonder...

... ... ...

If Only

Arriving to the Mountains Monarchy, Greninja and his allies assess the daunting cluster of mountains that they’ll be climbing.

...

“Looks like that will be a steep climb up the mountain for us.” Typhlosion snorted. “Fantastic. I’m sure we’re all looking forward to that.”

“Several mountains to ascend and explore,” corrected Samurott. He smirked to Typhlosion, who turned away from him, and he did the same. “Um. It does sound a bit tedious, I suppose.”

“We’ll do what’s required of us,” insisted Rhydon. “We are guests, but we also need to prove ourselves.”

“Shame that we can’t just Teleport up there.” Hypno rolled his eyes as he folded his arms back. “You happen to know that one, Gardevoir?”

“No.” She glared at him, but he merely shrugged.

“Too bad. That certainly would’ve been useful here.”

Though I know he didn’t mean it, suggesting that was like a punch to my gut. I wanted to proudly tell him about my best friend from the Iceberg Empire that would have made short work of that. But there’s little point.

“Greninja?” I blinked and jerked my head up. Gardevoir had turned her attention to me and softened up. “Are you all right?”

Blinking, I hadn’t even noticed the tears that slipped out. I brushed them away and nodded.

... ... ...

Unexplored Reunion

Mienshao meets with someone from Quagsire’s past, as they lament him.

...

“You’re...Feraligatr, correct?”

“Hm?” He blinked and tilted his head at Mienshao, who slowly approached him. “Yeah, that’s me. I don’t think we’ve met before.”

“We haven’t. But, someone that I knew, he...” Mienshao glanced down at the paper in his hand. “When you were younger, there was once a Wooper you might have encountered.” His hand trembled as he gripped the letter. “You were with a rather rude pair back in Grass Fields. Back then, when they were picking on him and a Budew--”

“Wait a second.” Feraligatr blinked and rubbed his chin. “Wooper from Grass Fields...” He snapped his fingers. “Oh my gods! I think...I think I remember that!” He grinned and laughed. “Those two were terrible! That poor Wooper tried to defend Budew, but...” Feraligatr shook his head. “Anyway, I wasn’t much better for being around them, but I didn’t want to do any harm.”

“Yes, that was part of the story.”

“Wow, that’s crazy!” Placing his hands on his hips, Feraligatr grinned to Mienshao. “Do you know about that Wooper kid then?”

“I knew him as Quagsire,” reminisced Mienshao. “Kind, gentle, a love for food...quiet...”

“Wow, he evolved and went up to the Iceberg Empire to join the Emperor’s ranks? That’s great!” He laughed. “That’s such a long way for him to have climbed up. Hey, do you think you could give him a message? I’ve always wanted to apologize about that day.” He sighed and deflated a bit. “I wish I had done more, and I wish I could’ve reached out after.”

“Standing up to your friends was admirable enough for him.”

“Really?”

“He actually wanted to tell you that himself.” Mienshao relaxed his grip and stared down at the letter. “I only recently learned that he had looked into you, but he wanted to find the right words to reach out to you with...” A tear slipped from his eye. “He was planning on asking me for help, and I never knew.”

“That’s ok,” soothed Feraligatr. He patted Mienshao’s shoulder. “We can just talk after things are sorted out here, and maybe that can help with the Monarchy’s relationship to the Empire!”

“I’m afraid he can’t.”

“Huh?”

“Back home, with our war...he didn’t...”

Mienshao swallowed hard and brushed at his eyes. Feraligatr leaned back and his cheery demeanor, his hope, faded. Unable to continue, Mienshao lifted the letter to him.

“Oh.” Feraligatr slowly took the paper and stared at it. “I understand.” He exhaled slowly as he sank down. “So he wanted to reach out...and I...” His arm dropped as Feraligatr’s head fell. “I won’t even get to apologize. Or really know him for who he is...”

... ... ...

Otherworldly Offerings

Speaking with Dusknoir, Greninja is offered some comforts from the priest.

...

“There are a number of spirits that linger associated with you.”

“Yeah, I...I gathered.” How many I actually wanted to talk to would be a different question.

Dusknoir drifted over and leaned closer to me. His red eye settled on me as his hand fell onto my shoulder. There was already a glow from around his head; I don’t think it was really up to me to choose who we’d commune with.

“You expect only pain from this?”

“Talking with spirits that know me, yes.” I glanced behind me, at the dark woods beyond the ruined cathedral. “For someone that’s killed, several times...what am I supposed to expect?”

“Comfort, closure perhaps.”

“That’s doubtful, but thank you.”

“There are many vengeful spirits that reside in the world beyond, I assure you of such,” admitted Dusknoir. “But, you can perhaps find others that remain behind because they seek to help those they left behind. Their unfinished business is to help, not harm.”

“Except I don’t have that from anyone.” I gazed up to him. “Those that died only blame me.”

“Perhaps it may surprise you to learn this, but that is far from the truth.” He spiraled back and held his arms out, a bright blue mist forming around him. “In fact, I have two such souls that are begging to speak with you, because they know you need to hear it from them.”

“Hear what?”

“That it’s not your fault.”

Bowing to me and drifting behind the mist that surrounded my space, I twisted around to look for the others. As I faced back where Dusknoir had been, though, I didn’t find him, but two other ghosts that stood in his place.

Poliwrath and Politoed’s shapes formed in the space of the mist, and I choked on my breath.

... ... ...

Stolen Souls

For the climactic journey’s end, Chesnaught battles against Gengar...and her twisted choice of allies. 

...

“If I’m being entirely honest, I am curious.” Gengar grinned as I tightened my fist. “What’s it like, to have that kind of raw power residing within you?” She drifted back and snapped her fingers. “How about I test it from a Shade of mine?”

Before her rose a shadow from the ground, and my jaw dropped from its shape. Four arms, no mistaking it: she summoned Machamp. Or...his spirit...essence...whatever, that was my friend.

“Let him go!”

“Eeheehee...why would I do that?” Gengar’s eyes widened. “This power...it’s magnificent!”

Orange energy lit up the dark shadowy form, and Gengar snapped her fingers again. Chi rose from Machamp’s Shade, and drifted to Gengar’s hands. She focused them together and aimed at me.

“Let’s see which of you two is truly stronger, shall we?”

Her focused energy blasted from her hands and I dove aside to evade it. Rolling around, I lifted my blade, but my hands shook at sight of Machamp’s figure. Even if he’s not doing anything, even if it’s not entirely him, I can’t just...

“Not quite as entertaining as making you fight your friend,” mocked Gengar. “But, it does come quite close, don’t you think?” The witch cackled as she danced through the air, swaying her shadowy hands around. She can’t get away with this. “Which of the others should I call upon next? One of the frogs? That oaf salamander?”

“Stop!”

“Oh, no. I know the perfect one next...”

... ... ... ... ...

(Remember, these are scenes in development. However, this is what you can look forward to, should there be no winner of the poll. Perhaps that’s what kind of drama the readers might prefer!)

(Head back to the poll here!)

(Still not sure or want to read more? Check back here!)

[tmarauder101]

From one to another (Sometimes one piece is all it takes) ~ Drarry Oneshot

Books have always saved Draco time and time again

HUGE THANKS TO @xx-thedarklord-xx​ for beta-ing <3<3<3<3 

When Draco was younger, he used to read.

Mountains worth of books adorned the Malfoy family library, and Draco sat, reading them for hours and hours on end. 

The house-elves would attempt to retrieve him for food and general health-related things, but he would whine, grabbing books to take with him, no matter how guilty he felt. 

Draco never liked taking books out of the library. He supposed it must be a childish thing, feeling guilty over keeping books with him instead of letting them be with their ‘family’. 

‘But what if they’re being bullied?’

It could just be the aura of the library. With its high ceilings that seemed reachable due to the bookshelves that ran from top to bottom. The windows that never caught the sun’s set or rise, because that would cast shadows and shine annoyingly in your eyes, but yet still managed to catch a warm glow that made the books seem enchanted. The chairs were the most comfortable in the manor, chosen by his mother herself when they had been refurbishing for the first time in generations. 

Draco ran circles around his parents as they personalized the manor to their tastes, giggles filling the household. The kind only an innocent child who hadn’t been touched with the hardships of reality could share, the ones that made even the toughest of adults crack a fond smile. One with warmth.

Yes, the library was Draco’s favorite place in the world. 

Draco read all the books he could—not including the boring music theory books that his private tutor tries to make him read, he hates those—soon he craved more.

All these books- about knowledge and history and theories- were fascinating, no lie! He loves each and every topic, never bored- unless it’s politics because those adults were frustrating! Just have a civil conversation for Merlin's sake, not a civil war!- and bloodlines or arithmetic, but honestly who does enjoy them?

One day, Draco had found a novel. It was his father’s, surprisingly, but he would never tell - or, at least, never tell and live. One about a—really really bad and sappy, ew—romance.

He didn’t like it, the plot was...weird. Why would the girl want a vampire? And there was a werewolf? 

Muggles were odd. 

But Draco was terrified that his father would find out, so he put the book back. 

After that he weaned off muggle fictions, opting for wizard fantasy. Things like Lockhart, because everyone with more than half a brain cell would know those books were obviously fiction. Stories of sappy—and frankly disgusting—love, A.K.A really bad romance novels—emphasis on bad—and honestly terrible mystery novels. 

He hated it.

Wizards are ironically not creative, not one bit. All the great potion masters and spell creators are ones with imagination, but for the average wizard why would they dream? They have magic, and all they want is money, want validation. 

It wasn’t what Draco was looking for. 

Draco yearned for a tale that would make him fall in love once more, having already done so twice (*cough* golden boy *cough*) before. Stories similar, not exactly like that other book, but similar. 

Muggles have such an active imagination, and their writing reflects that with metaphors and extensive vocabulary. They brought their tale to life. Much different than the bland ink on parchment the wizarding world had to offer. 

At least in the Britsh Wizarding World. Other countries are more imaginative, the East for one, with their magic carpets and extensive Divination. But he doubts Father would allow him imported books on ‘studies’, let alone novels. 

Draco wanted something that would make him feel. Make him forget. 

Stories similar to the folktales and legends, but beyond the Wizarding world. Tales to make him lost in them rather in his overactive imagination. 

He wanted something that would break him, make him hurt in all the good ways. Make him cry out internally in frustration and pain for the characters. Ones that would leave wounds and shatter the pieces left, before sticking a flimsy little plaster on it, calling it a day. 

Ones that took him to the far corners of the earth. That had him running and jumping, and diving with the fish in the deep deep sea. Chasing after criminals and crying over those lost as though they were his own. 

And one day he found them. 

~📚*📖*📚~

Honestly, it really hadn’t been his fault. He was so so very bored—he also couldn’t find that book of Father’s again, he suspected it had been burned, good riddance—waiting for mother and father to finish whatever business he pretended to care about and dragged him along for. 

Truly, he hadn’t meant to. Deep down though, he had desired to be back in the library. 

But that girl caught his eye.

Or, more specifically, the book did. 

It was worn down, very obviously one that had been used for years.

Many might believe he would find that revolting. On the contrary, Draco found it rather endearing. 

The girl had long white-blonde hair—rather similar to his actually—and an odd pair of—were those radishes?—earrings. But Draco only had eyes for the torn paperback in her hands. 

“Pardon me, what book is that?” 

She turned, large eyes as blue as the summer sky. They were soft and wise, even though she appeared to be younger than Draco himself. 

“It’s a novel, about a demon and an angel.” Her voice sounded like distant jingle bells on a snowy winter’s night.

“Oh?” he asked, eager and intrigued.

15 minutes later, they left the business party, a list of muggle novels hastily written in curly letters of sparkly mint green ink for Dobby to fetch for him, keeping a bookmark where he last left off in the worn paperback novel hidden on his person. 

~📚*📖*📚~

The leaves bled from green to red as the seasons changed. Leaving behind the warm summer breezes and long days, and replacing them with crisp autumn air and early sunsets. The years went by, times changed rapidly and as did the people. 

Draco losing to everything, to school and everything else that happened in those somewhat hellish seven years.  

But after the war, Draco lost himself, and he needed to ground himself, that little boy in a library crying out after being repressed for so long. 

So, robotically, Draco dug through his closet. In a small box, among his niffler plush—that definitely didn’t have little handmade round glasses, what do you mean?—a handmade badge from fourth year—that made him scoff and shake his head fondly—and other nicknacks from the years, carrying memories new and old, lay his most prized possession—the book that had saved him time and time again. 

Good Omens by Niel Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

But would it save him again? Only time would tell. 

~📚*📖*📚~

Years after the war left him a criminal, Draco Malfoy-Potter is now one of the Wizarding World’s famous fantasy novelists.

Draco found love in the form of one raven haired boy, just a mere 6 months after his first book. 

Not many knew how or why, at least not for a long time. 

Their love could be a story all on its own—now there's an idea.

~FIN~

[jadespeedster17]

Sanders Sides Card Universe AU - Character Profiles Spades 

This is going to go into detail of the most used characters in the Spade Kingdom of my Sanders Sides Card Verse AU. Getting a look at the heroes and the villain's and the anti heroes. 

Name: Logan Lolis Berry

Card Type: King of Spades

Info - Logan is the youngest of the 4 Kings in the Spade Kingdom, and is the only King without a Queen. - This means to the Spades people he has yet to find his ‘Soulmate’ which is common the most among the Kings/Queens of the Kingdom.  - Logan himself is a stuff bird boy, having long feathers along his arms like most of the Spade people, that are dark blue and speckled in white like the stars.  - He is content with not having a ‘Queen’ as it means he can teach both aspects of the Spades Magic without having to focus on one.  - Logan was born a King between a cousin bloodline of the middle King, Aventus, and his wife Arianna.  - Logan has an alright relationship with them, but his relation with the other Kings and their Queens isn’t great. - Logan feels the eldest King, Damien, is war hungry, and looking too much into the myths of the Star Tower’s supposed Powers. And Damien’s Queen, Jonathan, isn’t any better to Logan, preferring to make his students learn through harsher methods to ‘make the Spades strong’. For what, Logan can only guess for the battle they want to start.  - Then there is the King, Rudy, they are impassive to this war but sees nothing wrong in Damien’s obsession's and Jonathan’s war mongering tactics. They mostly keep to their studies and run the kingdom quietly. There is also Rudy’s queen, Karla, who is just like, if not infuriatingly more passive, than their lover!   - Logan knows that while the Star Tower has risen, this is no time to start another war after just going for a peace treaty. The Gods must have a plan for their peace treaty to be disrupted by the tower rising from the earth. - But for the life of him Logan can’t find an answer as all things on the Star Kingdom were lost to time, burned away in the first Suits War, or other kingdoms have them. - The Spades don’t have too relations with the other Suits thanks to the impassive and hard assed ‘care’ of the other Kings. But, Logan might have no choice but to leave his home to go to the Clubs for assistant. - If he is to take Damien’s words at value, another Suit War is on the horizon, and this time what’s at stake in the very power of the world itself. Something Logan doesn’t think will end well in the eyes of Destruction and Creation.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Name: Damien Daring Starr and Jonathan Snows Starr

Card Type: King and Queen

Info: - The eldest of the group of Kings and Queens in the Spade Kingdom. They have ruled for the longest and are old enough to have seen the end of the first Suits War.  - Damien was born between a first blood line of a brother to the last King, thus he feels he has a strong claim to being the higher leader for the Spades. Even if the Spades have long had 4 Kings to share the power. After all, he is the eldest, and thus this Kingdom has long since been under his rein. - His father taught him there was strength in power over others, as a Spade they had the hoards of knowledge away from the other Kingdoms, thus were much smarter and suited to lead.  - Many Spades do feel this way, their Library is the strongest out there, and the others with their squabbles about how Love should be and how the Seasons work are just trivial things compared to the mystery and powers of the Plain of Gods.  - Damien uses this fact that the people believe in to rally then together and not question his ruling or thoughts. The first Treaty was a flop when the Star Tower rose from the earth, proof that the Gods didn’t want it in his mind. - Seeing the tower rise, Damien sees his chance, another war, and the Spades will become Gods, just as the legends state. They will have the power of the Stars - Jonathan is Damien’s soulmate, the the demons of the Unther World couldn’t have made a better match. Jonathan grew up a cold hearted 10 in the Spade Kingdom. Never content in worshiping Flow and Fall like his mother and father were. - He wanted more, he wanted glory to his name, a history, a legacy for his Children to take and expand.  - Hungry for battles, for power, for knowledge that was just out of his reach. He knew that while the Spades have it all, he thinks the other Kingdoms are hiding knowledge from them. And he can’t stand this thought. - When he found his soulmate in the King Damien, he saw his chance, and became Damien’s personal message for stirring the people into pushing against the treaty.  - And now, Jonathan speaks to the children he teaches of glory and the power of the gods hidden in the Star Tower. How it was meant for the Spades due to their superior knowledge and kingdom in the clouds.  - These two are ready to take down either the Clubs of the Forest or the Diamonds of the Canyons. They just need a good excuse, but they are sure in the favor the powers have of them it will come. 

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Name: Aventus and Arianna 

Card Type: King and Queen 

Info: - Logan’s only friends in the high system are these two, though they are only slightly younger than Damien and Jonathan. - Aventus is kind, caring, and careful. He’s well aware of what his older brother, Damien, is planning.  - Having grown up with their father’s words of how the Spades were better, Aventus for a time thought this was true. Until he met Arianna.  - She was a Two of Hearts, and they met during a meeting between the Spades and Hearts that ended on tense notes. And they found they were Soulmates. - Though his father was upset by this, Aventus found he didn’t care. He loved her with all his heart and soul. And she taught him of the world behind the snow mountains and clouds.  - His brother, while Aventus loves Damien, he worries he is becoming too focused on the myths of becoming Gods. But, as there is no system to get rid of the King, and the people seem to like his brother, Aventus can only clean up the messes Damien makes with the other Kingdoms.  - When Logan was younger, Aventus taught him everything where Rudy failed to do so and Damien cared not to bother. He became like a second father to Logan, and Logan confides alot in Aventus for guidance.  - Arianna is gentle, calm, easy going, and attentive. She takes her role as Queen Spade seriously, and never forgets her roots as a Heart.  - She is often sneered at by Damien for her cat like features that most Hearts have. Though the ceremony she could have asked the Goddess to make her more Spade like, she preferred to remain a cat, just fluffier.  - She is shorter than her husband and rounder too with alot of neck floof that keeps her body warm. (Think a fluffy Khaijt from ES).  - She’s the only reason the Hearts have yet to turn their back on the Spades like the other kingdoms have. And she’s well aware of this.  - This paints a target on her by Damien and Jonathan she is sure of it. As if she were to die, the Hearts would want blood for hers being spilt. She is alert to any threat, and only prepares her own food and tests is well before eating it. - She was trained to fight and to be ready for anything by her father, and the Hearts aren’t just soft people. They are warriors first and foremost, gifted cunning and strength by their Gods.  - These two know somethings coming, and they are ready to see where it leads them. And with Logan’s plan to leave and find a way to stop it, and they can only pray to the gods for him to find something.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Name: Nico Floras 

Card Type: Ace

Info: - Nico was born as an Ace between a 10 and a 3, who he never met. - Aces are taken away as a baby to be trained with Aces around the world to learn what God they are connected to, and work as their priest.  - He is a Ace of Spades and is the only one of his kind, he’s very powerful too and prized by his Kingdom. Even if he doesn’t like the attention he gets from the Kings and Queens and Jacks, or the 10′s.  - He is the Priest for Nalia, the Owl Goddess of the Spades. - After years of training with many Aces he found his calling in her the most. which was upsetting as they hoped he’d be chosen by Destruction or Creation like the last Ace of Spades. - Nico tries not to think of this disappointment, and works to spread wisdom and Kindness in the name of Nalia.  - However lately Nalia has gone silent, and Nico fears that something is coming for him to loose connection. He’s not the only one, the other Aces have reported their Gods and Goddesses have gone quiet.  - Damien pushes him to make up things for the ‘peoples’ sake. And wants Nico to push for a sign to say they must take the Star Tower. It’s the only way to get their Gods back. - Nico isn’t sure about this, and fears the worst is coming. He knows Nalia doesn’t want a war, but, against the might of a King without his Goddesses protection, what can he do? - He is set to accompany Logan to the Clubs, maybe he can talk with their Aces to find an answer. He only hopes this distraction will keep Damien at bay.

[ryan1014n2]

Do you have any other ships besides Rusty x Duncan, and would you care explaining some of them if you're comfortable. :>

Oh boy, ships! Yeah there's uhhh quite a lot of others that I enjoy. I'll list some of them out, but I don't think there's much explanation to be found honestly 😅 (excluding the two I have written little essays for)

(Haphazard bullet point list below cut)

Thomas x Ryan!!! Have you seen Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure??? I don't talk about it a lot because I'm living that Skarloey life but I love them!!!

I've given some thought towards Thomas x Luke because they have the sweetest little friendship in Blue Mountain Mystery. That movie just makes my heart melt.

I can see Thomas x Percy but it depends on my mood honestly.

I'm a Luke x Millie enjoyer! Tiny bf and gf. The Switch is a good episode. I don't know why I like this pair only that I very much do. Oh and they seem so excited to see each other at the start of Runaway Engine too! They're just very cute.

Stephen x Glynn. I don't know how to explain this other than to say just watch them interact with each other. How could I not ship them?

Toby x Henrietta since it's like, practically canon already? No super strong feelings on them, it just makes sense.

I've seen Peter Sam x Rusty mentioned a couple of times and while I probably never would've considered it myself, I think they're nice together. 💖

Okay. Uh. Skarloey x Culdee. I forget when I first considered this (I just checked and it was January apparently) or even why, but I wrote a little personal essay that is not at all compatible with canon (I wrote it before I read Mountian Engines) but I was quite entertained by the idea? Essentially how it went was that they met when they were both in for repairs at the same time. "While they’re in for repairs, they get to chatting and are soon good friends. When Skarloey is back on his home railway, he ends up talking endlessly to Rheneas about Culdee. It’s Rheneas who puts the idea in his head that he’s in love (it goes exactly like this)." He receives a "brutal bout of teasing" from Rheneas. (Also, while not exactly relevant, I NEED to share this paragraph because it delighted me to re-read: "Rheneas, in his hubris, repeatedly said things along the lines of “you’ll never see me falling in love,” and indeed to this day he hasn’t. Skarloey remembers this very well and is ready to turn his words back on him if the day should ever come.") Pretty much how this ends is just with Skarloey being a complete mess when it comes to Feelings and kinda dreading the day they interact one-on-one again.

*sighs and buries my head in my hands* next on the list is Rheneas x Culdee. LISTEN. Some of us have favorite characters and would like them to fall in love with other characters, okay? This post is what did it for me for this ship and you know what? I wrote a thing for this too. Let me pull it out of the archives real quick. "I think that Rheneas and Culdee having a little letter correspondence through their crews (which at first felt a bit odd, but now the crews find it very sweet and like to help them write the letters) is quite nice. Rheneas would like to meet Cathrine because of how highly Culdee speaks of her (he loves his coach of course ❤). She sometimes writes, but finds the thing a bit silly. She loves how fond Culdee is of his little pen pal though."

Oh yeah and Culdee x Cathrine for the same reasons as Toby x Henrietta.

Also Harvey x Daisy. Because dangit I really like A Most Singular Engine (even though I admittedly don't actually know that much about Harvey 😅).

I like the idea of Thomas x Ashima and I don't know how controversial that is (if at all)? He acts like he's got a crush on her in some parts if The Great Race and I find that very entertaining.

I'm almost certainly leaving some out but I think this post is long enough as is. Most ships I'm just kind of indifferent on? I'll see stuff like Percy x Harold, Edward x Henry, and James x Gordon and such and just go "yeah sounds great you guys have fun and keep doing what you're doing 👍."

There's also the fact that there's honestly quite a bit of the show that I don't remember seeing (and need to get around to) so some haven't even occurred to me because I haven't really met the characters yet.

[doomedandstoned]

Papa Paul’s Groovy Reviews!

Our resident retroist is back to finish the year with a hot handful of hits for the tune toking delight of Doomers and Stoners alike!   Give ear...

PAGAN ALTAR

The Room of Shadows by Pagan Altar (Official)

One of the many surprises wrought by the year 2017 was a new album from legendary English doomers PAGAN ALTAR, who fittingly saved their best for last. You may ask why I say "their last"? Well, sadly, their vocalist Terry Jones has passed away since recording this album. I say "fittingly," because everything the band had done to this day has been outstanding. The abstruse history of the band is a story in and of itself. I don't fully understand it, so I won't go too far down that rabbit trail. Suffice it to say, I've been following Pagan Altar from the moment their first album was pirated by an infamous bootlegger. I heard it was from the '70s, I heard it was from 1982. I always struggled with what to believe. One thing for sure, their official releases on shadow Kingdom Records are top notch and I recommend them to you highly, along with the rest of their catalog, which has (as the band's clippings rightly proclaim) influenced "a whole generation of doom-obsessed fanatics."

Pagan Altar are considered both a doom and NWOBHM band. I won't argue with either, as elements of both are surely alive in their music. What interests me most are the ever present elements of progressive hard rock strongly rooted in the band's genesis, circa 1978. Pagan Altar is often compared to Jethro Tull, owing to Terry's vocals sounding eerily similar at times to Ian Anderson and also to the boundary-pushing complexity of their songs. It is here, in 'The Room of Shadows' (2017 - Temple of Mystery Records), that those seeds of Jethro Tull sprout to life in a series of seven weird and wonderful creations. Truth be told, this is the kind of album I wished Jethro Tull recorded. I always wanted the band to be a mite heavier, overall (don't get me wrong, I loved them as they were). As I listen to The Room of Shadows, I can almost see Ian Anderson dancing around, flute in hand and posing on one leg, his knee held high. The only thing lacking is the flute! Pagan Altar achieve their progressive majesty with a happy marriage of guitar, bass, and drum.

Photo by Temple of Mystery

Apart from Jethro Tull, it's hard to find an apt comparison. At times, I hear hints of Tales of Creation era Candlemass, elements of Cirith Ungol in some of the heavier riffs, and plenty of Celtic folk music and poetry throughout, transporting the listener clear back to the early Renaissance. Such is the depth of writing and musicianship on display. If you only give this a casual listen, you will miss most of the album. The Room of Shadows should be -- nay, must be -- savored like a fine wine or, in my case, a deftly crafted beer. Let me tell you, friends, there are some meaty rifts just waiting for you to sink your teeth into (or your ears, as it were), but the riffs rightfully serve as foundation for the band's tell-tale melodies and harmonies, which are, as always, haunting.

Fans of newer bands like Beelzefuzz and Blues Funeral need to give Pagan Altar a spin. Maybe it's because the new Blues Funeral album was released just a day before this that I'm thinking of them. Though the two albums are separated by a span of 13 years, both conjure a similar vibe. You might say that Blues Funeral is America's belated answer to Britain's Pagan Altar. All comparisons aside, Pagan Altar's last record is a masterpiece, crowned with cover art that in a single frame so aptly pictures the artistic mood of the album and the band. I thought it might have been a repurposed painting from some classic English painting. No, this, as it so happens, is another stunning masterwork by Portland artist and doom metal musician Adam Burke.

One last note: the album was once slated for release under the title Never Quite Dead. Indeed, Pagan Altar's sound and legacy lives on, loud and proud, in The Room Full of Shadows.

Get It.

PANTANUM

Purple Blaze by Pantanum

Anyone in the mood for some Italian doom by way of South America? That's what we have with 'Purple Blaze' (2017), the latest EP from Curitiba, Brazil trio PANTANUM. Old farts like me will recognize this right away. The artwork confirms that this is, indeed, a tribute to legendary Italian doomer Paul Chain -- more specifically, a nod to his great album, 'Violet Art of Improvisation' (1989). Pantanum make a play on "violet" with the word "purple" and use a similar layout for the album art. It's a great to see a young band paying tribute to an old school legend, one that I'm sure is a new name for fans of doom who came here by way of bands like Sleep or Electric Wizard.

The two songs on the 7" are from the horror-style doom playbook the Italians were so famous for in the ‘80s and ‘90s. In fact, the 8-minute bonus track sounds like something you’d hear on a horror movie soundtrack, which is also the mood lit by Violet Art of Improvisation. If Pantanum got my attention with their first album, ‘Volume 1’ (2015), their follow-up EP has me all ears!

Get It.

THE SHELTER PEOPLE

The Shelter People -EP by The Shelter People

Fans of '70s acid rock are in for a real treat with this release. I give this a confidence rating of 100% on the authenticity scale for sounding like something from a lost FM radio transmission. THE SHELTER PEOPLE are from Tulsa, Oklahoma, but do a fine job of channeling the vibe of legendary blues-soaked acid rock bands from Japan, like Flower Travellin' Band, Blues Creation, Chinki Chen, Too Much, etc. I'm sure a good number of our readers don't know these bands I've mentioned, so a more accessible description of The Shelter People would be Black Sabbath meets Jimi Hendrix, heavy on the Jimi. This band is, in a word, tight -- excellent guitar work, riffs that are downright funky, and passionate vocals. This is the trip you're searching for.

Get It.

THE SONIC DAWN

Into the Long Night by The Sonic Dawn

I have to thank Billy for his allowing me to stretch what used to be normal strictly a stoner-doom webzine. I appreciate his wisdom and ability to see the correlation between the retro scene that was emerging a few years ago and that of the still evolving stoner-doom scene. I recognized this movement early on and have been feverishly documenting this return to roots movement ever since.

Fast-forward to present day and the retro sound is as fresh and vibrant as ever, with bands like Denmark's SONIC DAWN now carrying the baton. Their beauty of a record, 'Into The Long Night' (2017), landed #16 on the Doom Charts in April. I can't tell you how happy this made me. In all actuality, this isn't doom at all. No resemblance to Black Sabbath, no downtuned guitars, no thundering pounding of the drums. No, this is laid back, seventies-style psychedelic rock. The look, the feel, the attitude -- it's all there. Make no mistake, Sonic Dawn have captured something very special here, capturing the essence of the scene in psychedelic rhythms, swirling leads, and ethereal vocals. I personally find this music enjoyable in the early morning or late at night. If laid back psychedelia is normally your thing, consider that. This has probably been my most played album since its release.

Get It.

WATCHER'S GUARD

Watcher's Guard by Watcher's Guard

Riding over the hills of Glasgow, comes WATCHER'S GUARD armed with a doom-laden three song battering ram of a debut. I was blown away at first listen, so you can imagine there's some retro, old school, traditional doom action to be had here, with a slight touch of NWOBHM for good measure. Watcher's Guard are the doom masters. This EP covers just about every early subgenre of doom you can think of: biker doom, epic doom, slow doom, you name it. If you pinned me down to one band it most sounds like, I would have to say Revelation from Baltimore. But Watcher's guard is a bit more uptempo over all. The clear standout for me is track two, "The Ruiner." An epic just shy of 12 minutes long, this one is destined to be crowned a classic. It's easy to make the Candlemass comparison, but Watcher's Guard bring so much more to the table. The complexity of their songcraft, with psychedelic twists and turns, take you along for an heroic journey that runs you through the gauntlet of emotions. What will these four dark knights have instore for us in the future? Time and fate will tell. For now, the path to oblivion has been lit. Let's follow and enjoy the apocalyptic fireworks.

Get It.

WITCHERS CREED

Depths of the black void... by Witchers Creed

Earlier in the year, I introduced you to WITCHERS CREED, a doom-touched acid rock band from Katrineholm. We've been audience to the band's creative output with a pair two-trackers released months apart. With four superbly recorded songs to their name, I think have a pretty good read on the band now and have this suspicious feeling that they are trying to become my favorite band! That's no small statement, as you know how many killer bands I've reviewed and raved about in these pages over the years. Regulars know I am vigilantly scouring the globe in search of that authentic psychedelic sound that stole away my heart as a teenager and reporting on the unfolding saga of the retro revival in these pages. Witchers Creed are have been apparently drinking freely of the magical stream flowing through Sweden, from which springs one magical musical act after another. Nay, they are baptizing themselves in it. Even their instruments and gear bear the vintage stamp of the glory days.

I have been told I nailed down the Witchers Creed sound my review of their March release when I said they sounded like Mountain meets Sabbath meets your favorite underground seventies band. You can pick the loudest and heaviest of them, Witchers Creed is right up there with the best. They have perfected their craft with a powerful rhythm section, notable for its thundering basslines. The guitar leads are no less mind-blowing -- more than just short bursts, this soloing goes on and on, soaked with fuzz and venturing into Dave Chandler territory. You know, the master of feedback from Saint Vitus. These demented leads are brought sailing over the top by one groovy rhythm machine, accompanied by dual harmonized vocals. Imagine Leslie West of Mountain harmonizing with Gregg Allman of the Allman Brothers with wild occult lyrics, when suddenly the music stops and you hear the words: "You're all doomed!" Now that you have a visual idea of this band's irresistible charm, it's time for you to get plugged in yourself and give it a listen.

Get It.

ZEREMONY

Soul of the Zeremony by Zeremony

We're down to the last lap of 2017 and, suitably, also at the last letter of the alphabet. I think I can count just about all the "Z" bands I know on two hands. To call ZEREMONY a grower is not quite adequate, more like instantly addictive. 'Soul of the Zeremony' (2017) blew me away first listen. Yet it keeps growing on me every listen .

Photo Credit: Umsonst-und-Draussen Festival/Würzburg

You may remember hearing them as the captsone to That Seventies Compilation, which I organized last year. I heaped high praise on the the authenticity of their sound when they released that wonderful organ-driven demo that same year. Two of those three songs were deemed worthy of joining the fold of seven in this album of obscure, dark, and heavy organ-driven rock. Zeremony fit right in with my treasured favs.

Hailing from Würzburg, Zeremony seem to bear the influence of the Krautrock scene, which was erupted in the late '60s and early '70s and remains a stylistic pillar to this day. One band I hear as I listen to Zeremony is a band called Irish Coffee, just a few doors down from Germany in Belgium. They are similar in the heavy use of organ and gruff vocals. For modern comparison, try Golden Grass or Siena Root.

Listen for "She Sang a Song To Me." It is gloomy, yet earnest number with a sing-along chorus that would have all the makings of a hit single in the seventies. I've been raving about authenticity a lot in this piece and bands like Zeremony are setting a very high bar.

Get It.

[diversegaminglists]

Eldrich/Cosmic Horror/Lovecraftian Themed Games

Still a WIP and not everything has been sorted yet.

Major Theme (Serious/Horror):

Alan Wake

Alone in the Dark Franchise

Alpha Polaris : A Horror Adventure Game

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs

Anchorhead

Aquaria

Arcane Mystery Serial (Link goes to the first episode, the rest of the series can be found in the sidebar)

Arkham Nightmares

Astray

At the Mountains of Madness (Early Access)

Ayumi: Enhanced Edition

Bayonetta (The creator the angels keep going on about isn’t an Abrahamic god...)

Blackbay Asylum

Bloodborne

Bloodrayne 1 & 2

The Breach

Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game (Upcoming game due 2018)

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (Basically an adaptation of the Shadow Over Insmouth with slightly less racism, the PC port is very buggy because it was made by literally one person after studio closures, but there are fan patches to help.)

Call of Cthulhu: Prisoner of Ice

Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet

Cards of Cthulhu

Cata Cthulhu

Chronicle of Innsmouth

Chrono Trigger & Chrono Cross

Chzo Mythos (Yahtzee’s adventure series)

Clive Barker’s Jerico

Clive Barker’s The Undying

Clockwork Express

Conarium

The Consuming Shadow

Crawl

Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason

Crysis Franchise

CTHON

CthulhuMud

cthulhu fhtagn

Cthulhu Realms

Cult of Cthulhu (Mod for Plague Inc. Evolved)

Daily Chthonical

Dark Scavenger

Darkwood (Early Access)

The Dark Stone from Mebara

Darkest Dungeon

The Darkness Within Franchise

Dark Souls Franchise

Dawn of War

Dead Space Franchise

Deadly Premonition

Demon’s Souls

Dead by Daylight

Deathstate

Demonbane Franchise

Demon’s Souls

Discworld: Noir

Doorways: Holy Mountains of Flesh

Downwell

Earnest Evans Franchise (Hastur)

The Elder Scrolls Franchise (Most obviously with House Dagoth in Morrowind and Skyrim’s Dragonborn DLC)

Elder Sign: Omens

Elder Sign: Portents

Eldrich (Roguelike where you explore a library and enter worlds inside several Lovecraft books)

Eldritch Hunter

Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem

Euclidean

Eversion

The Evil Within

Evolve

Fallen London

Fallout 3: Point Lookout (DLC)

FEAR Franchise (Alma herself)

Ghostbusters: The Video Game

Gloom (2017, not to be confused with the 90s Amiga Doom clone)

Green Mirror

Grim Dawn

Half-Life Franchise

Haunted Hotel 4

The Hound of Shadow (Text Adventure)

The Hunt for the Red Cthulhu

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker

Inner Voices

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

The King of Shreds and Patches (Text Adventure)

Kingdom Hearts (The Heartless, The Nobodies and Kingdom Hearts itself)

Kingdom of Loathing

The Last Door Franchise

Layers of Fear (This is really up to interpretation of the game’s plot but it uses many of the traditional story devices associated with “lovecraftian” horror and there are rats in the walls.)

LIMBO

Lobotomy Corporation (Early Access)

Lost Souls (MUD)

The Lurking Horror (Text Adventure)

Lusternia (free 2 play MMO)

Magrunner: Dark Pulse

The Majesty of Colors

Mansions of Madness (free steam version of the board game)

Marathon Franchise

The Moaning Words

Monria (MMO)

Mystery Of Mortlake Mansion

Mystery Stories: Mountains of Madness

Mythos: The Beginning

Muv-Luv Franchise

Nasuverse Franchise (This includes games like Fate/stay night and Tsukihime)

Necronomicon (An old Japanese game, haven’t found an English translation yet, but including for completeness)

Necronomicon: The Dawning of Darkness

The Necronomicon & Necronomicon - Book of Dead Names

Nexus War (defunct) & Nexus Clash

Nightmare on Azathoth

The Nightmare from Beyond

NoseBound

Oracle of Tao

Oxenfree

Pandora's Tower

Parasite Eve Franchise

The Park (Set in the same universe as The Secret World)

Path of Exile

Pathways into Darkness

Penumbra Franchise (From the same developer as Amnesia: The Dark Descent)

Phantasmal: Survival Horror Roguelike aka Phantasmal: City of Darkness

Phoenix Point (Upcoming 2018)

Poacher

Pony Island (It’s the Devil rather than a Lovecraftian style monster, but it features many of the usual devices)

Prey (2006)

Prey (2017)

Prototype Franchise

Quake (Shub-Niggurath)

Quest Fantasy

Red Haze

Resident Evil 4 (others in the franchise may qualify but 4 is the most obvious)

Reveal the Deep

The Rise of Cthulhu: Demo

Robert D. Anderson and the Legacy of Cthulhu

Rogue Stormers

Sanity: Aiken's Artifact

Saya no Uta (A man has an accident that makes him perceive normal people as horrendous eldrich monstrosities and then he meets a girl who... looks like a pretty girl. Rape and sexual assault warnings.)

SCP Foundation Games

The Secret World (MMO)

Secret World Legends

Shadow Hearts Franchise

Shadow Over Isolation

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened

Shikkoku No Sharnoth (Looking at screenshots I think this one might involve tentacles. Possible sexual assault warning.)

Shin Megami Tensei Franchise (including Persona 1, 2, and 3)

Shoggoth Rising

Shrouded In Sanity

The Shrouded Isle

Silent Hill Franchise (The town itself is alive even before you consider all the other thingies)

The Sinking City (upcoming game)

Siren (aka Forbiden Siren) Franchise

Skullgirls

Sons of Uruzime

South of Real

Splatterhouse

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Franchise

Strife

The Suffering Franchise

Sunless Sea

System Shock 2 (The Many)

Tales From the Void

Tattletail

The Terrible Old Man

They Bleed Pixels

They Breathe

This Book Is A Dungeon

Tormentum - Dark Sorrow

Transistor

Twisted Lands: Shadow Town

Undertale

Utawarerumono Franchise

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

VHS

Wait - Extended

We Need to Go Deeper

The Whisperer in Darkness

The Worry of Newport (Mod for Crysis 1)

X-COM: Terror From the Deep

Themed but Comedy/Non-Horror:

Army of Tentacles Franchise

Baobabs Mausoleum Ep. 1 Ovnifagos Don´t Eat Flamingos

The Bizarre Adventures Of Woodruff And The Schnibble

Cthulhu Saves the World

Flappy Monsters of Lovecraft

Hearthstone: Whispers Of The Old Gods

Howard Phillips Lovecar (Early Access)

Leave Cthulhu Alone

Lovecraft Word Search

Magicka: The Stars Are Left (DLC)

Mormonoids from the Deep

Pray For Death (Playable Cthulhu)

Project Starship

The Rapture Is Here And You Will Be Forcibly Removed From Your Home

Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse

Tesla vs Lovecraft

Where is the Lovecraft?

Wynken, Blynken, Cthulhu, and Nod

Minor appearances:

Age of Decadence

Ancient Domains of Mystery aka ADOM

Baldur’s Gate 2 (Planar travel, the Demogorgon, and probably the final boss)

Battleborn

Beyond Good and Evil

The Binding of Isaac Franchise

Blood Franchise

Borderlands Franchise (Some of the vaults have big nasties in them, some of the raid bosses also qualify)

Bravely Default

Breath of Fire IV

Castlevania Franchise

Cookie Clicker

Copy Kitty

Crusader Kings II (Yes, really)

Cultist Simulator

Deadly Rooms of Death aka DROD Franchise

Destiny (The Vex and The Darkness)

Destiny: The Taken King (Raid bosses)

Dishonored Franchise

Defense of the Ancients aka DotA Franchise

Dragon Age Franchise

Drakengard Franchise

Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun

Dwarf Fortress

Pikmin Franchise (Final bosses)

Elona

Epic Mickey

Etrian Odyssey Franchise

Everlong

Fable (Jack of All Blades)

Fable III (The Crawler)

Fable: The Journey

Fatal Frame 2 (An optional boss in Survival Mode is the malice from the hellgates made manifest, rather than a ghost)

Final Fantasy Franchise (It would be easier to list which games don’t have some kind of cosmic horror eldritch abomination things in them. The most obvious ones are Jenova, Sin, and The Cloud of Darkness)

Five Nights At Freddy’s Franchise

Grey Goo

Guild Wars Franchise

Half-Life Franchise

Halo Franchise

Hatoful Boyfriend Franchise

Homeworld: Cataclysm

Immortal Defense

Jak 3: Wastelander

Knights and Dragons

La-Mulana

Legacy of Kain Franchise

League of Legends

The Legend of Spyro: Dawn Of The Dragon

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

LittleBigPlanet 2

Lunar: Eternal Blue aka Lunar 2

Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis

Mass Effect Franchise

Metroid Franchise

Minecraft: Story Mode

Mother Franchise

Mugen Souls Franchise

NeverWinter Nights 2

Paradigm

Pathologic

Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium

Pokemon Platinum

Return to Krondor (The God of Evil)

Rift (MMO)

RuneScape

SaGa 3 aka Final Fantasy Legend III

Scribblenauts Franchise (You can summon Cthulhu and Shogoths)

Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator

Shadow of the Colossus (becomes more and more obvious towards the end of the game)

Slash Em Extended

SMITE

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

SoulCalibur Franchise (The Soul Edge and SoulCalibur themselves)

Stories Untold

Terraria

Thief: The Dark Project & Thief: Deadly Shadows

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines

Warcraft 3

The Witcher (Dagon)

World of Warcraft

Xenogears

Xenosaga Franchise

Easter Eggs only:

Civilisation VI (A steam achievement)

PAYDAY 2 (A Cthulhu mask)

Dating Eldrich Monsters (both serious and non-serious):

Cthulhu Saves the World

Demonbane Franchise

Dra+Koi

Saya no Uta (A man has an accident that makes him perceive normal people as horrendous eldrich monstrosities and then he meets a girl who... looks like a pretty girl. Rape and sexual assault warnings.)

Unsorted:                                                                                                                 

Sonic Adventure

Sonic: Unleashed

Space Station 13

Spectrobes Franchise

The Stanley Parable

Star Control Franchise

Starbound

StarCraft

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Stellaris

Sundered

Sword of the Stars Franchise

Tales of Vesperia

Tentacult!

Turok Franchise

Touhou Franchise

UFO Afterblank

Warcraft Franchise

Warframe

Warriors Orochi

We Know the Devil

Ys Franchise

[calmdownad]

A Children’s Story - by yours truly

The elders of our village say that once upon a time, long ago, there lived a group of seven famed mercenaries. Each man was special in his own way. They were famous for roaming the ancient kingdom of Caedes and slaying the evil that inhabited it.

The first man was named Dumbsy. He was known for his brawns, though he was not the smartest of them all. Then there was Mumsy. He was nearly identical to Dumbsy in brawn and brain, but had a strange affinity for older women. Then there was Clumsy, who was tall and lanky. Plumpsy was the fourth man. He was a pot-bellied glutton. The fifth mercenary was Funsy, who was known for his joyous disposition and an inability to stop talking. Then there was Trusty, a humble man who was valued for his trustworthiness. Finally, there was Rupert: the leader of the companions. He was a man of great strength and was the most courageous of them all. Rupert had a magical great sword that had the weight of a feather and was the size of three regular swords. It was rumored that Rupert’s magical great sword was the source of the group’s power and longevity.

One day, the King had wished that Rupert and his mercenaries investigated a series of disappearances that occurred on the outskirts of Caedes, past the deep dark caves of Periculum. This distant land had an ill omen. So, Rupert and his clan traveled to Periculum and ventured through this immense cave. Only a few slivers of the sun shone into the cave’s depths, making it hard to see. Trusty alerted his companions that there might be another being within these walls. Sure enough, as Rupert and his clan were creeping down the cave’s corridors, Rupert saw a light at the end of a tunnel. The light was a fire, and standing by the fire’s side was an old witch. She was very old, very ugly, and had a mole on her forehead. Slowly Rupert and his companions gathered round the witch and she partook in the telling of a legend that supposedly haunted the land beyond. This is what she said:

“Once upon a time, there lived a King and a Queen and their seven daughters. According to the townsfolk, the King and Queen were the most benevolent man and woman ever to walk the earth. Unfortunately, the King and Queen and their seven daughters were extremely ugly. It was rumored that only after a short period observing the family, you would you have to look away in overwhelming disgust. In raising their daughters, the King and Queen tried to teach them compassion and kindness, but their teachings failed. All seven daughters grew up to be full of malice. They were ugly and filled with hate toward everyone around them. One day, the seven daughters schemed to take over the kingdom. Their plan was to secretly murder their father and mother and frame the thieves of the town for the murder. Then, one night, the seven daughters crept into their parents’ bedroom and pierced them in the heart with a knife. In doing so, the seven daughters had made a commotion and alerted several guards. The daughters realized that their plans were foiled and they fled into the distant forest. All at once, a fairy appeared to the seven daughters. The fairy cast a curse upon them all as a punishment for murdering their parents. The fairy gave the daughters a village nearly identical to that of their parents. The village was to be placed at the precipice of a mountain, leagues away from any human contact. The fairy also gave the seven daughters the most beautiful appearances imaginable: the kind of beauty capable of captivating any man. However, if the daughters ever managed to charm a man, he would instantly perish and the man’s distressed spirit would forever haunt the village. Finally, the seven daughters would be eternally recognizable by a scar on their hearts identical to the stab wound of their parents”.

After the companions heard this story, they immediately ushered themselves out of the cave.

Months passed. Rupert and his companions got lost in the forest beyond and had yet to find any evidence of a mysterious force in the land. One day, at a late hour, they stumbled upon a beautiful village located on the top of a snowy mountain. Oddly enough, no one was to be found in the village. In the distance, however, the companions heard the echoes of crying that seemed to originate from the top of a monstrous castle located in the center of the village. The companions agreed to climb the circular staircase. The crying did not cease nor did it get louder as they ascended the castle. Trusty voiced his concern that danger was ahead, since the village seemed eerily similar to that of the legend. Rupert dismissed his queries, because that story was only a legend. At the top of the castle, they found six women, yet no one was crying. These women were beautiful. They were dressed in the most alluring silk, and they were wonderfully decorated with iridescent jewelry. The aura of these women blinded every man except Mumsy. These women were far too young for Mumsy’s liking. Mumsy only liked older women. At this point, Rupert and the rest of companions stripped themselves of their belongings and sat down with the women. Rupert abandoned his great sword on the floor, and some say at that moment, he let go of his strength. One by one, the six men were charmed. Each man followed a woman into a private bedroom. A woman with long blond hair and blue eyes led Rupert into the master bedroom. The last thing seen by Rupert and the other five men in the other five rooms was a distinct scar along the womens’ hearts. At that moment, they all realized the legend was true. On the other side of the wooden doors, Mumsy heard was the final throes of his comrades. Being the coward he was, he urgently fled the castle.

Months later, Mumsy arrived back at the caves of Periculum and encountered the old ugly witch. Through his sobs, Mumsy told her that the legend was true. This village was peculiar though, because in the legend there were seven women, but at the village there were only six. The witch revealed that she had been the seventh daughter. In forgiving herself and her sisters, the seventh daughter had been relieved of the curse. She was magically reverted to her original appearance and was granted a joyous demeanor. With her new disposition, she decided to retire to the caves of Periculum in peaceful reflection. Mumsy was ecstatic at the news of her actual identity. In the end, Mumsy and the seventh daughter fell in love and spent the rest of their lives in the caves of Periculum happily ever after.

THE END

AFTERWORD

Thanks for reading (at least some of it)

[sophiescarlet]

My reviews of all the Nancy Drew games

I was writing this up for a friend who’s just getting started on the games, but here you all go. My favorites are bolded. Sincerest apologies to anyone on mobile if they haven’t fixed the read-more bug.

1. Secrets Can Kill – Nancy goes to a high school to investigate a murder. It’s a bit more simplistic than later games, but still enjoyable. Plus Aunt Eloise is a librarian! She doesn’t actually appear in the game, but Nancy does go to the library to do research. I actually think the original version’s storyline (which sticks more closely to the book) makes more sense, but imo the “remastered” version’s gameplay makes more sense and is more fun. (NB: The original version no longer works on current computers.)

2. Stay Tuned for Danger – Nancy investigates sabotage on a soap opera set. I’ve only played this once and don’t see myself returning to it. The storyline is good, but the mechanics are reeeeally hard to figure out. It’s probably my least favorite actually.

3. Message in a Haunted Mansion – Nancy investigates supposed hauntings in a San Francisco Victorian. There are elements of the occult and Prohibition era. It was pretty fun; I ought to play it again.

4. Treasure in the Royal Tower – Nancy goes to a ski resort or some such thing and searches for Marie Antoinette’s stolen jewels, I think? It’s one of the biiiiiig fan favorites, but not one of mine; I just didn’t enjoy the mystery. Points for introducing the series’ best character, Prof. Beatrice Hotchkiss, though.

5. The Final Scene – Nancy has to rescue someone being held captive in a historic theatre that’s about to be torn down. Appropriately claustrophobic and atmospheric; I need to play this one again too.

6. Secret of the Scarlet Hand – Nancy investigates thefts from an exhibit of Mexican artifacts at a museum. Interesting but kind of eh. Guess it’s just not quite my cup of tea, topic-wise.

7. Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake – Ghost dogs haunt a rural cabin. Prohibition-era elements again. Also not one of my favorites because of tedious mechanics, and just a weak storyline.

8. The Haunted Carousel – Nancy investigates a New Jersey amusement park with strange happenings, like a carousel that operates by itself. Admittedly this is totally my bag as far as plot/setting because I love amusement parks, but I think the setting is a great mix of “old-fashioned” nostalgia and modernisation, and it has one of the most appealing sets of secondary characters in any of the games. Plus it has a MacGuffin, which I think is a large part of the key to the best Nancy Drew books (and games).

9. Danger on Deception Island – I don’t actually fully remember the setting/plot but it’s something on the ocean in the Pacific Northwest, I think. I remember the setting being very Murder, She Wrote, in a good way, but the game as a whole didn’t really make an impression on me, obviously.

10. The Secret of Shadow Ranch – I’ve played this twice and still struggle to remember it, so you can probably take that as an indication of quality. It’s not bad, just, all the pieces seem a bit disconnected, from what I recall? Also, I found the love interest character very annoying. At least Daryl from Secrets Can Kill was cute and gentlemanly.

11. The Curse of Blackmoor Manor – So this is actually the only one I’ve never played. It’s the fan favorite, though. I read the book it was allegedly based on – though past The Final Scene the extent to which the games are truly drawn from the books is hit-or-miss, and past Secret of the Old Clock it’s a total joke – and it was pretty shit, so I guess, can only go up from here?

12. Secret of the Old Clock – This was an interesting concept, to try to place a game in the 30s when the original ND books were set, and it works fairly well, though inevitably sometimes comes off as gimmicky (the phone system and gramophone being good examples). Trying to combine elements of all of the first four books was certainly a choice, particularly after adding in the new element of spiritualism, but the story actually turned out really well imo, even though it ultimately can’t be reconciled with the book universe. It’s also I think the last game where the puzzles integrate pretty directly with the plot, rather than just being random-ass mini-games thrown in to make the gameplay longer.

13. Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon – The first full appearance of the Hardy Boys, though they appeared fleetingly as far back as The Final Scene iirc. It’s also (veeeeery loosely) based on the first Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys SuperMystery I ever read: they’re invited on a newly-restored train trip by a Paris Hilton lookie-likey who wants them to solve the decades-old disappearance of a miner. It wasn’t bad, but it was hardly a gem. I don’t see myself playing it a second time.

14. Danger by Design – Nancy investigates why a Parisian fashion designer seems to be losing her mind. It was okay, though it took me two tries to get into it, but somehow it just seemed kind of half-assed.

15. The Creature of Kapu Cave – The second and last full appearance of the Hardy Boys. Pretty much universally considered one of the three worst games in the series, and I’d call it the worst. The plot is iffy and the gameplay not very entertaining, though at least you do switch between playing as Nancy and playing as the Hardy Boys, which is a neat twist. It’s also more linear than the other games, and ... yeah, the plot is just crap.

16. The White Wolf of Icicle Creek – Nancy investigates sabotage at a Rocky Mountain lodge and yes this setting is in fact Royal Tower revisited but without the cool castle. It also has the most notoriously difficult puzzle in the series. I might play it again at some point, but I wouldn’t count on it.

17. Legend of the Crystal Skull – Nancy investigates a murder in New Orleans. This is known for being one of the creepiest ND games, and I liked some of the characters, but it still falls flat for me. I guess I don’t think the plot is rich enough, especially given the very rich setting. You do get to play as Bess, though.

18. The Phantom of Venice – Nancy investigates a series of thefts in Venice. I’d say this is the best rendered of the more exotic locations, and though most of the secondary characters are just okay, Margherita and Enrico are absolute joys. Admittedly the plot doesn’t make much sense, and the different elements of the game can seem disconnected at times, but I find all the puzzles so much fun. I think this and The Captive Curse are the ones I’ve played the most, at least if the two versions of SCK are counted separately.

19. The Haunting of Castle Malloy – Nancy investigates something (I forget what) at an Irish castle. What I remember about this more than anything is how fucking tedious it was and how much fun I didn’t have. The bartending puzzle was the absolute highlight, which is kind of sad really. I don’t remember the plot being bad, but I don’t actually remember the plot at all, so it sure wasn’t good either.

20. Ransom of the Seven Ships – This is one of the three widely reviled games, but I didn’t think it was that bad. Nancy and George are marooned on a tropical island and have to find a kidnapped Bess. Yes, the plot is weak, but it’s still fun. Certainly not my favorite, but certainly not bad imo.

21. Warnings at Waverly Academy – Nancy investigates threats and sabotage at a girls’ boarding school. Yeah, SCK teas for sure. Personally, I found the supporting characters a bit of a letdown; it seems like this should have one of the best casts of characters of the ND games, but Rachel is the only one I really liked, and even she’s pretty milquetoast. The plot is a bit weak too.

22. Trail of the Twister – Not one of the more popular games, and for good reason. Nancy joins a tornado tracking team (alliteration entirely unintentional). I didn’t enjoy most of the characters or most of the puzzles, and I found the gameplay tedious at times. But mostly the plot just wasn’t engaging enough.

23. Shadow at the Water’s Edge – Along with Crystal Skull, one of the big “creepy” games. Nancy stays at a Japanese inn that seems to be haunted. I felt that the secondary characters were stereotypes and kind of racist, and one of the puzzles is stupidly frustrating, but the plot is actually really good, and the gameplay is fun (though traveling on the subway can be tiresome).

24. The Captive’s Curse – Yesssssss, this has to be my favorite in the series. Nancy goes to a German castle supposedly under attack from a monster. The supporting characters are excellent, for sure my favorites in the series, and the puzzles are pretty fun too. The setting is great as well, though it has the same frustrating “navigating the woods” thing as Castle Malloy.

25. Alibi in Ashes – Nancy is accused of arson in River Heights and has to prove her innocence, then catch the actual arsonist. This is the last game that involves playing as other characters: in this case, Bess, George, and Ned. I haven’t had a chance to play it a second time, but I’m sure I will, because it was pretty fun. Plus, Deirdre Shannon is a total gem of a character: “Nedward” is instantly iconic.

26. Tomb of the Lost Queen – Nancy goes to an archaeological dig in Egypt. Which should totally be my bag, but the plot here feels very superficial, and the gameplay seems disconnected.

27. The Deadly Device – Nancy investigates a death at a high-tech scientific facility. The mechanics can be tough to figure out, but I enjoyed the story and the characters. I’ve seen at least a couple people say they enjoyed this more than they expected to, and I concur. Joe Hardy is at his comic best too.

28. Ghost of Thornton Hall – Nancy investigates a haunted Southern mansion. The last of the creepy game trio (interesting that two of them are set in the South), and in some ways a throwback to MHM. It got a lot of acclaim at the time, but it was pretty average for me. I’ll probably replay it at some point, but it’s not what I call a priority.

29. The Silent Spy – Nancy goes to Scotland to learn about her mom’s past as a spy. Yeaaaah... That basic idea is pretty out-there and really not in keeping with the franchise as a whole. I don’t really know where it came from, honestly. The parts where Nancy has to come to terms with her mom’s life and death are good, but overall, it’s not that great.

30. The Shattered Medallion – Another pretty widely reviled entry, and again for good reason. Nancy and Bess go to New Zealand to compete on an Amazing Race-type reality show. There is little to no mystery here; it’s evident that the whole game was just an excuse to bring Sonny Joon, a long-running off-screen character, into the series, and damn, they did not do Sonny justice. I probably won’t play this a second time.

31. Labyrinth of Lies – Nancy investigates thefts from a museum in Greece, tied to an upcoming theatre production. I didn’t like most of the secondary characters, and the plot was weak, though the setting is good. Definitely in the bottom third or so of Nancy Drew games.

32. Sea of Darkness – Nancy goes to Iceland to search for a missing man and ends up getting involved investigating his girlfriend’s family history. An appropriate finale to the series (or at least it would have been if Her had managed to end things gracefully instead of dragging them out so painfully). The secondary characters are appealing, and the setting is great. Plus, points for having the only two canonically queer characters in the series.

Dossier #1: Lights, Camera, Curses! – Nancy investigates problems on the set of a remake of an Egypt-themed Old Hollywood movie. Pretty fun, though it really could have used a hint button like every other hidden object game I’ve ever played.

Dossier #2: Resorting to Danger – Nancy investigates bomb threats at a spa. Pretty generic setting, but they do make the most of it.

[antlerface]

they

1

I always told myself I could never tell a story. I never knew of any event worth telling outside of the books that have already been written. Why would I tell anyone anything? I’m still not sure, but I’m going to try. They never liked phone calls. There’s always a they. There’s always another. Our souls inherently crave to be their lovers’ favorite color. We spend so much time trying to frame ourselves well enough to be enticing without being vulnerable. The world walks chin up with a stranger’s posture but I’ve always slouched. They have a way of reminding me that’s okay. They have the countenance that makes you think they’ve salvaged a bit more solace from the dehydrated memories we let bother us. They smile longer after saying hello than most people. They only curse quietly. They look like they probably go to work early at the sandwich shop figuring they could get the tomatoes chopped sooner. It’s things like that that are never boastful but always pure like children. Those were the things that everyone knew. I was lucky enough to discover they were even better than they seemed.

“I’m sorry I’m messy,” they said. “I like a messy room,” I replied and smiled. I had just melodramatically shaved my head and was hiding beneath my hood. They called in the middle of a very foggy night asking me to pick them up. They drove into a barrier on a backroad and had paraphernalia. It seemed like a pretty substantial favor but truthfully I was grateful to help them. They’re a canyon flower that doesn’t need anyone’s shade and for that, I hardly see them. I had just taken my sleep medicine and they had just smoked so I guess we were both high enough to drive mostly in silence. We complained about the fog a bit. They had been gentle when I’d previously confessed the kind of love that only shows up when you’re scared and vulnerable from the loss of another. They knew I thought it was more. They knew it wasn’t but didn’t avoid me. They let me feel it until I felt better months later and could settle back into the sanctity of our untarnished friendship. I was the clenched up mess and they handled me gracefully. They were never messy. “I love you, you know.” They looked at me long enough to see all my hair was gone. I was glad they knew me well enough not to say anything. They probably figured I’d talk about it when I wanted to. I lit up a cigarette and hoped I looked half as nice as they do when the cherry illuminates the soft edges of their features. I was timid about looking them in the eye. I was self conscious of my head looking like it belongs to the neo nazis you see downtown sometimes. Buzz cuts are brave but I wasn’t. “I love you, you definitely know.” I wryly smiled. After a pause long enough to diffuse the painfully honest memory of how I was convinced for a second we’d get married and buy a dog and never be unhappy ever again, we laughed. Self deprecation supplies my best humor and I lucked out to have someone around that tolerates it, even if I don’t see them often. My hair has grown back now and I’m aware that we won’t grow old together nursing a shared box of cigarettes, but for what it’s worth, I think it would be a beautiful life. “You’re not allowed to have darker lungs than me.” They opened the door and stepped out slowly making sure I had plenty of time to come up with a smartass thing to say back, but I just handed them the rest of the cigarette and with quiet surrender said “okay”. I’m sure we said goodnight but all I remember is imagining the fog courteously moving out of their way when they walked up the front steps. I stayed up too late wondering about how many cigarettes life had left for us to share and called in sick the next morning.

Stomach flu.

2

They were the dark blue morning that knew something everyone else didn’t. Their walk was tremulous but I quickly discovered an endearing intrepidness when I asked them if I could sit in the vacant spot beside them. “Hmm. Well who would I be sitting by?” They pushed the rusting metal patio chair towards me with their foot signifying I could sit by them regardless of who I was. I wanted to tell them “some whiny shithead” because that’s what I felt like after playing at a dive bar people came for smiling and dancing and not listening to the delicately written banes of my existence. “Paul for now.” “Don’t go changin’… ” they effortlessly crooned and waited with a raised eye-browed smile that beckoned me to finish the song. I gripped the edges of my seat in defiance and matched their stare. We raised our eyebrows higher and higher for each other until we gasped for air with fat laughter realizing we had been holding our breath the whole time. “We just gave the trees a break, didn’t we? Somewhere there is an extra 15 second’s-worth pocket of air they made just floating around because we didn’t use it,” they said. “But what if we breathed just as much as we would have- maybe even more?.” I wanted to know more about the way they thought. We methodically fiddled with the edges of our denim jackets as if the answer could be found in the resilient fabric. “Huh. Yeah.” I could hear the shrug in their voice as they pulled up their duckling yellow sock. The length of their socks made them look like a little kid. Their eyes were big and animated but concealed by feathery eyelashes. You really had to be looking at them to see the full extent of them. It was quiet like cold asphalt for a few minutes but I didn’t mind. “I hope you got all your air back,” I accidentally confessed. “If I had an oxygen tank keeping me alive, I’d lend you some just for saying that,” they said cheerfully.

“…to try and please me?”

3

We sat in my grandfather’s pickup truck in a vacant field on somewhat of a plateau. Once the headlights were off, there really was no chance anyone could know we were there. Someone would’ve had to watch us turn down the bumpy dirt road to get there from the highway to see us. The grass was taller than our younger siblings. The wind was brisk but the moon came to comfort and join us within an hour of being there. It gave silver presence and a celestial, futuristic quality to the windmills loyally spinning at the mouth of the canyon. The mountains were dark and giant. Their towering ominousness felt like a gentle admonishment for being far gone enough to make legends about their shapes. “You know how that one looks, don’t you?” They pointed far left enough that I had to lean forward with the help of them pulling my shoulder towards it. “Take your seatbelt off dingbat. It looks like the body profile of a beautiful woman laying down. See it?” “How do you know she was beautiful?” I said guessing this was an invitation to know the preface of the mountain woman. “Well, she lost the love of a man and became a part of the the land. The land is beautiful and she is the land.” I let them revel in their mysterious tact. They were a damn good story teller and the setting only perpetuated their skill to captivate. I let them go to that place they go when they’re telling one. They stare off at invisible images projected onto the stream of air molecules we can’t see either. “It was in the time where the tribes here were more prominent and uh.. around, I guess. Utahna was known as the Indian princess of the Ute tribe and fell in love with a man called Red Eagle. Her infatuation was persistent and compelling enough that this warrior could have been supposedly been a god to her. They quickly became conspicuous lovers and garnered many admirers for their devotion and youth. This also brought a bunch of jealous assholes to pursue them. The asshole clan chased Red Eagle to the edge of the cliff and actually ran him off.” Their eyes widened and they nodded to confirm that they indeed ran him off the cliff and that it was insane. “Legend says emerald lake is where he landed. Utahna was completely beside herself when she got the news. Her grief was so great that she laid down and passed away exactly in the shape of how we see her.”

“Can you imagine doing that for someone?” I rolled down the window enough to see if I could stand the breeze. I couldn’t.

“No. But I’d die young for a love like that.”

In the moon’s gaze they looked like queen Salacia. The light and shadows bring out Greek faces of deity within all of us. Theirs was nothing like anything I’d ever seen. I soon realized that no one is like anything we’ve ever seen, but it could never deemphasize the moment we really take a moment to meticulously site the intricacies of each face. Theirs held the comfort of a jar of peaches in the middle of the night with milk and sugar.

“I think I’d die young for you to have a love like that.”

“You’d leave just like you arrived, Paul.”

“Yeah?”

“Soft and sweet.”

4

They always moved in scurry. They brought me aspirin and milk. Their helplessness once resulted in getting me a glass of milk was when I was having the nasty sustained panic attacks. It happened and just stuck. Most of the time it was just that I was too sad to get up and drive home. They sat on the edge of the secondhand couch where I lay and dressed it to feel motherly. They looked at the brick as if they could see what was on the other side. “What if some day we just wake up and know none of it’s true?” I sat up in an achy, cold sweat and looked them in their century-old eyes. “None of what?” “Eternal families and salvation and everything else we’ve been raised to believe. I can’t be away from my people forever after a measly death within the next several decades or so.” I looked at my lamp in hopes I’d articulate better without losing focus in their knowing gaze. “That’ll never happen. It’s impossible to truly know something because there’ll always be evidence that counters what you think is true. If it makes you feel better, it doesn’t really matter if it was true anyway, right?” They didn’t look comforted. “We’ll have just lived this life in accordance with a strict false pretense. We’ll have lived a lie.” My sheets were balled up in their worried grip. I had never before seen such existentialism in them before. I figured it was the accumulation of so many years spent quietly suffering and whitewashing their struggles with circumstantial excuses. They just told everyone they were tired. They were always freezing. They wore worry on their face and let it drain their youth until they had wrinkles on their forehead. They fretted about all the right things and I loved them dearly for it. They desperately needed days of interrupted sleep and I wished I could give them mine. Their exhaustion was beautiful in a way I didn’t understand. Maybe in the way a swan rests their wings. Sometimes I’m convinced they know everything.

“It doesn’t make a difference by the time we’re gone. I promise.”

5

I watched them twitch and whimper in sporadic fits on the sofa. “It was back when we were tender with one another.” They cried until the tears hit their icy jawline. I listened hard. I quickly learned that their submissiveness was like a child’s failure to keep from smiling while pretending to be asleep. They were so scared they wouldn’t be part of each other that they pulled some of their own hair out and left it in their lover’s house. “I was masochistically devoted and they made me feel like a little tart.” They sobbed. They wiped their eyes frustratedly and sighed with exasperation. “Paul you know those drawings you like- the ones where the artist doesn’t look while they’re drawing and never lifts the pencil from the paper? I looked it up and finally found out what they’re called: blind contour.”

“I could never do that. The chaos and uncertainty of what I’m possessedly drawing would freak me out. I’m not brave like you. Go on with what you were saying.” I shook my hands as if I was trying to dry the water off of them. I even felt bashful. “Bravery is for those wanting to die in battle or the rare person that have no fear in crashing nose to nose with invalidation and rejection.. Anyway, I was thinking..Providence was drawing a blind contour. We were one line and vaguely resembled what we were supposed to be.”

Your melancholy is to die for but you should sleep. You know I love you. This sucks and will suck for a while but it won’t always. It’s just like letting water quietly boil in your stomach until it all evaporates. Dance until you aren’t uncomfortable. You’ll forget their blinds and the shaped slivers of the streetlights’ interrupted, orange glow on the wall you memorized while they slept. You won’t care if they slept well. You’ll be okay soon. Sleep.“ They were barely conscious enough to release little sobs while I undressed them and tucked them in. This is the departure from youth where you discover very few breaks are clean. You love someone enough to want to forget you’re significant altogether just so they have more room to sweet talk the world with quiet loveliness. It’ll happen more than once and it’ll burn like hell. You won’t be treated deservingly and the collateral damage is enough to want to exist through something else. It’s enough to get this shitfaced on a Thursday night and hope your pal doesn’t let you drown in your own puke. What are friends for?