#justice for blankie!

[thetarttfuldickhead]

Don’t know about you lot, but in my world, Coach Beard took the opportunity to covertly grab Blankie out the oil bin while they were bringing it outside. He gave it back to Roy after training the next day, looking at him like don’t be a idiot, man, you don’t burn the blankie your dead grandfather gave you! Roy (who’s had the whole night and day to regret being such a fucking moron) doesn’t say anything, not even thanks, but he holds the blanket close to his chest, for a moment imagining he can still smell his grandfather on it, and he brings it home and never, ever lets anyone convince him to part with it again. (Unless, one day, he wraps it tight around Phoebe’s child, to keep them warm and safe as they go off on their first big journey from home.)

(Beard might also have had words with Ted at some point, I can’t believe you were going to let him burn his blankie for a fake ghost exorcism!)

[lunar-years]

From what Brett has said, they only really wrote out a few people's like things they threw in the fire, and the rest of the cast brought in something, and they all cared about bringing in something. Jamie and Roy's things were written in to be very serious, Isaac and Sam's were less serious because they came up with them. It's WILD to me that they had him burn that blanket though

I didn't know that but the cast members did a great job then comedically because most of the items are soooo funny lol.

It's just wild watching the scene because the disparity between the stories and items Roy and Jamie bring to the table compared to... literally everyone else on the team... goes NUTS.

Ted definitely should've made Roy remove that blanket before the burning I'm so serious. someone needed to help that man!! save him from himself!!!!

[blorb-el]

happy pride as a present here is a non-exhaustive compilation of ways precrisis clark has carted bruce around from the 50s to the 80s. sources and artists under readmore

[row 1] it's the early days, perhaps they're not comfortable yet with pda: wf 108, 1960, pencils dick sprang, inks sheldon moldoff well they sure got over that fast: wf 118, 1961, artists same as prev strong arms to show off husband and son: wf 135, 1963, artists same as prev

[row 2] belt hold: wf 80, 1956, pencils dick sprang, inks stan kaye cheek to cheek: wf 251, 1978, pencils george tuska, inks vince colletta, colors jerry serpe burrito: wf 172, 1967, pencils curt swan, inks george klein

[row 3] kitten scruffed: justice league of america 144, 1977, pencils dick dillin, inks frank mclaughlin, colors anthony tollin third wheeling: justice league of america 144, same as above like a sack of groceries: wf 257, 1979, pencils dick dillin, inks frank mclaughlin, colors gene d'angelo

[row 4] bridal, manila bruce style: wf 128, 1962, pencils and ink by jim mooney bridal batman style: wf 281, 1982, pencils irv novick, inks frank chiaramonte, colors carl gafford instinctive bridal catch: wf 266, 1981, pencils rich buckler, inks bob smith, colors gene d'angelo

[row 5] clarks hand is Where: wf 267, 1981, pencils rich buckler, inks dick giordano, colors gene d'angelo bruce has been mind controlled and given superpowers and they're.....'wrestling': wf 109, 1960, pencils curt swan, inks stan kaye piggyback ride: wf 224, 1974, pencils dick dillin, inks vince colletta [should be noted that this one is in an elseworlds...kind of, however this is indeed bruce and clark, as opposed to bruce jr. and clark jr., their sons who look exactly like them]

[row 6] this is just like picking up a kitty cat: wf 253, 1978, kurt schaffenberger, inks frank chiaramonte, colors gene d'angelo disgruntled burrito: wf 251, 1978, pencils george tuska, inks vince colletta, colors jerry serpe i have to hold you closely it's aerodynamic: wf 277, 1982, pencils don heck, inks romeo tanghal, colors gene d'angelo

[row 7] their toesies are in sync: wf 266, 1981, same as row 4 picture 3 kinda gone beyond burritoing into kidnapping: wf 272, 1981, pencils rich buckler, inks joe giella, colors gene d'angelo clark kneeing bruce: wf 266, same as the first one in this row

[row 8] bruce rolling over midflight in order to look clark in the eyes as he talks about running away from a mysterious ~feeling: wf 285, pencils rich buckler, inks sam de la rosa, colors gene d'angelo wrapping up his disgruntled husband in his cape like a blankie: wf 245, 1977, pencils curt swan, inks murphy anderson, colors jerry serpe

[row 9] actually this is a costume swap and bruce is carrying clark: wf 71, 1954, pencils curt swan, inks stan kaye carting off his civilian husband and son: wf 243, 1977, pencils curt swan, inks al milgrom, colors jerry serpe

bonus for clicking on the readmore; depowered clark getting... carried??? by bruce. they have beards because they are in caveman times but also they're on an alien planet don't worry about it. wf 138, 1963, pencils and inks by jim mooney

[sirazaroff]

Faunus that are just... more, is my favourite part about your work. Cannon faunus while okay, people are so fucking afraid to give them better justice in fanart and writing. Faunus deserve fluff too

Hello!

Ye the single trait is rather sparse and fur is def something I don’t see often in fan interpretations (which is a shame cause it’s fun! It’s a built in blankie) but I guess to each their own.

I didn’t have much thoughts about canon Faunus until we started seeing more of them in the series, and sometimes I just could not tell who they were based on. It just made me want to explore and I’m glad you guys are enjoying it! I got some future ideas.

I’ve mentioned wanting to draw some of the other characters like neon. Also something with Blake and Vel that has to do about fur and learning to be comfortable with being a Faunus. And there’s a silly winter themed hc I wanna post about soon that I’m excited to share with you guys :D Here’s a totally not surreal preview:

More to come but ye!

Thanks for your kind words friend!

[ghosstkid]

pls tell us about evil jcr in fury beach 🤲

I have been sitting on this idea for almost a year and I still don’t have a plot at the moment, just vibes. I can try to explain the vibes.

1. First, listen to Cassandra (or daffodil) by Florence and the Machine (its jcr’s dance fever era)

2. It’s not so much that it would be evil Jcr but more like angry, corrupted, desperate, daddy-issues jcr. It would probably get out of character very quickly but I am really interested in this angry side of Jcr (i love soft jcr he’s delightful i just like to put my blorbos in horrible situations) It’d really centre around the power conflict jcr had with his uncle during that expedition where he thought because of his experience he should have command. So… add power-hungry to the list too…..

3. And Blanky would just be Jcr’s enabler. I don’t have a lot of scenes planned (i don’t even have a plot) but one of them would be blanky being the one to put in jcr’s head the idea of the boat axe and his uncle’s skull. (This is really just that one meme thats like “aren’t you tired of being nice? don’t you just want to go apeshit?”)

4. It would just be a very dark and weird fic but the whole victory expedition was weird….

I just have no idea how to turn these vibes into an actual fic. I’m not sure if i can make that kind of grunge-y, nasty jcr believable. I think it would have to be earned and that takes time. I don’t want to drag it out (like i think i did with my rossier exchange fic :( ) and i also don’t know if im even a good enough writer to do it any justice so for now im just rotating angry boat axe wielding jcr in my mind lol

[lonesomedotmp3]

ok it's 2am that film was longer than I thought it was... anyway tomorrow I think I'll be watching the secret tubi movie 🫶 or something with lesbians in it if I can find it anywhere I might have to spend more money on a non physical copy of a movie 🤮🤮🤮🤮 disgusting but necessary unfortch. the 🏴‍☠️ community is crumbling. kind of. not really I just like watching movies that are old and apparently extremely niche. at least I have an amazon giftcard so it's not MY money and amazon would get it anyway... what was this post about. oh tomorrow's movie! it's basically between those two and maybe also the rocky horror remake is on the table. I'm sure it will be bad but it intrigues me... like victoria justice what are you doing here girl!!! anyway good night time for beddy bye gonna take a hit of pillow and blanky etc etc

[metal-caregiver]

Oh goodness time flies !! Happy new years lovelies ! I cant believe its already been a year. It feels like yesterday we were in high school, struggling and just starting quarantine. Thank you so much for all the well wishes <3 Mamas been doing their best to make sure their body and system are healthy and I hope everyone else is too! I know first hand how hard the winter can be on mental health. But like all the pretty flowers, you too are in rest and deserve lots of love and extra warm blankies. Remember to drink lots of water, rest and do some easy stretches! Take care x ~ Justice

[katsuki-king-of-twinks]

Currently very seriously contemplating what constitutes the difference between villainous characters that I..

1) adore and call my babies, whom I want to give a big blankie and a snuggle and tell I love them and they didn't deserve the trauma they endured, and on god sweetie we're gonna get you some fucking therapy and everything's gonna be okay..

.. and those that I..

2) honestly still do adore, but only as fascinating and well written characters whom I believe make the story better by being in it; but within the narrative I genuinely loathe and constantly curse and am ecstatic to see when they face justice/the merciless consequences of their actions...

Like, generally, both kinds of characters have committed unforgivable atrocities, often (but not always) both have pretty fucked up back stories that explain why they are the way they are.... what is the difference? Why do I love and adore and give my whole heart to and pray for mercy or redemption for Type 1, and enjoy but despise and abhor, and pray for and celebrate the downfall of Type 2???

[casuallyimagining]

You sure had a blast at the concert ..I am so glad 😊❤️... But I am bugging you with another question 😃😸... Up close how does Yoongi actually look? I mean IRL.....😅 ...

He is an insanely beautiful human 😍 but do the cameras actually do him justice? What were your thoughts Courtney when you saw him up close for the first time? I am so so curious to know!

Sorry for bugging you again!

Love M

how to not bother courtney: ask her to talk about min yoongi at length

lol trust me, my friend, you aren't bothering me

obviously yoongi is very handsome, both in photos and irl. I would say that photos and video of him are actually pretty accurate--for me there wasn't a real moment of like "woah he's so much more" (which might have been because we were just far enough away for it to not be apparent), but it's more like his energy is so much more palpable. like, he projects his energy so well around him, which makes his stage presence so magnetic. like, I usually don't stop looking at him in videos and the online concerts anyway, but at the concert, it was like impossible to not be watching him, either onstage or on the big screen.

he's also taller in person! he and I are the same height, and seeing him live was really the first time I've ever been like "oh yeah. he tall!" like don't get me wrong. he is still smol and I would take any opportunity to wrap him in a blankie and kiss his forehead. but it's nice to be reminded that he's actually 5'9"

[ananinidraws]

I saw a bunch of people try their hand at redesigning the Links and Zeldas of the franchise, so i gave it a try as well! This is part 1. Part 2 is right here

Descriptions for each (as well as some extras) under the cut:

Sky:

- Love interest: Plume

- Chubby and asthmatic, therefore the stamina bar

- Loves cuddles and hugs. Soft and sleepy boi

- Dark skin cuz of the skyloftian’s exposure to the sun (also have vitiligo that sorta looks like clouds!)

- Much more laid-back than a lot of the other Links

- Fully vocal

Plume:

- Love interest: Sky

- Has dark skin cuz of the same reason as Sky

- Absolute ball of energy

- Often drags Sky arround to do something fun (is mindful of his boundries, though)

- After days spend running arround with Sky, likes to spend a quieter afternoon in a blanky fort reading books with him

- Sweet, but don’t test her. Will not hesitate to stand up for those she cares

Mini:

- Aro Ace

- Small and angry

- Blacksmith. Actually wears an apron instead of a tunic

- Mute. Knows sign language

- Uses said sign language a lot for swears

- BFFs with Pebble

- Can still see the Picori! Cuz he’s still a child! Also cuz i said so

- Often visits the Minish Village and Ezlo

- Can still turn mini-sized whenever he wants, thanks to an artifact the Picori gave him

Pebble:

- Knows sign language as well so that she can speak with Mini

- Loves to tease him

- But isn’t very good at it. Doesn’t have a single mean bone in her body, she’s a sweetheart

- Is also a bit dramatic

- Gets more time to goof arround, since she’s younger than most Zeldas

- Though, after the events of MC, she isn’t allowed out of the castle unless she has an escort. Doesn’t stop her from sneaking out

Unity:

- Genderfluid, goes by he/him, she/her and they/them

- Happier after their adventure

- The 4 counterparts are a lot more similar to each other, compared to Discord (the Link from FSA)

- Unity’s separated counterparts:

- Green and Purple both use they/them, Red uses he/him and Blue uses she/her

- Green is the confident leader

- Red is the serious fighter

- Blue is the shy sweetheart

- Purple is the relaxed funny one

- Overall, the counterparts are not that diferent from the original Link

Colour:

- Takes her role as the princess very seriously

- Doesn’t change the fact that she’s a very kind and caring person, though

- The Mom Friend™

- Though she might be a very focused ruler, she is a bit guilable

- Loves spending time with Unity, they always know the right thing to say after an exhausting day of work

- Loves styling their hair

Time:

- Love interest: Malon

- Has gone through a lot. Often has a forced smile on his face

- ALWAYS smiling, though. It’s actually a little creepy, given how his facial expressions often don’t match with what he says

- Creepy child vibes (even though he’s an adult at this point)

- Fully vocal

- Lost his eye in the fight against Majora

- The Fierce Diety mask left some suction-like marks in his face. They sorta fade over with time

- Wished he could spend more time with Malon, is at his genuinly happiest when spending time with her

- Gave up on searching for Navi. Misses her so much, he feels lost without her guidance

- Actually, gets attached to anyone who he considers to be his guiding light (Malon and Sheik)

- His main job is to help out Sheik in their rogue missions. He’s also a knight for hire

Sheik:

- Genderfluid, preffers they/them and he/him

- Embraced the sheikah identity so that they can practice justice on their own (along with Time)

- Has all the memories from the Adult Timeline. Missed being Sheik, the time they were in disguise felt the most right to them

- Convinced Impa to train them

- Serious and methodical, will not let what happened in the other timeline happen again. Even if they have to take matters into their own hands

- Is still the ruler of Hyrule, but is more dedicated to their sheikah persona

BONUS CHILD VERSIONS:

Light:

- Has also been through a lot, but shows it, unlike Time

- Pink hair because yes

- So, so tired of everything

- Spent all his time after his adventures trying to bring back/re find Koholint (spending time with Marin has been the happiest he has been, he desperatly wants that back)

- Has pretty much gone MIA

- Fully vocal, but does not speak much

- Has a very strained relationship with Crystal. Honestly not very fond of her

- Can still turn into a bunny, but in the most inconvenient of times and not by his own will. It’s a curse at this point

- Has the moon pearl ready when this happens

Crystal:

- Has strong magical powers (like telekenisis)

- Is not in good therms with Light. He has abandoned her so suddently, and she resents him for it

- Is convinced he’s dead at this point

- Also very tired

- Barelly speaks when she doesn’t need to

- Overworked. Rarelly leaves her royal duties. Doesn’t mind this, being drowned in work is just what she needs to keep her from drowning in sorrow

- She was actually quite fond of Light before he left. He never really cared much about her, though

Paint:

- Love interest: Ravio. Very gay

- Somehow found a way to establish a connection between Hyrule and Lorule (along with Canvas)

- Vitiligo-like markings, from being merged in walls so much

- Assumes a fake name when visiting Hytopia (Orchid)

- Kinda shy

- Loves cute things. Colects things like plushies and cute clothing (from his time in Hytopia)

- Semi vocal, very soft spoken

- Makes his clothes from scratch! Loves to sew

- Opened a clothing shop along with Ravio, Peony and Aster! Is the tailor

Canvas:

- Love interest: Hilda. Bi

- Sweet and shy. Is one of the reasons she gets along with Paint

- Sometimes, they like to spend time together in confortable silence, each doing their own thing

- Vitiligo caused by being trapped in a painting

- Is the sponsor and main material provider of Paint’s shop

- Has taken painting as a hobby. Is not the best at it, but the motion of the brush against the canvas soothes her

Ravio:

- Love interest: Paint. Bi

- Still his sorta shady merchant self. Also still cowardly, but thanks to Paint has been able to gain a bit more courage

- Has gotten a bit more cocky as a result as well

- Manages the income in Paint’s shop

- His new atire was made by Paint! He LOVES the tiny little bunny ears on the hood, and because of it he barelly takes off the hood

- Actually wears his hair in a bun under the hood!

Hilda:

- Love interest: Canvas. Big lesbian energy

- Working really hard to get Lorule back in shape. Canvas helps her a lot

- Resting bitch face desease

- Has gotten considerably softer (thanks to Canvas)

- Snarky and sarcastic. Drops the atitude arround those she trusts, though

- Very easilly flustered. Canvas takes full advantage of this

Peony:

- Love interest: Aster

- Nonbinary! Goes exclusivly by they/them

- Has distant Gerudo ancestors, but they don’t exist/are missing in this part of the timeline. So they have no idea of this connection

- Feral™. Complete and utter buffoon. Aster holds the braincells in their relationship

- Loud. Does not have an indoor voice

- Works at the counter in Paint’s shop

- Them and Aster joined the quest in Triforce Heroes after seeing the advertisement like Paint did. Neither are related to Paint in any other way (sorta like how other people would join you online in TFH)

Aster:

- Love interest: Peony

- Very calm and relaxed. Has a soft voice. Not quiet, just soft and smooth

- Has an ATROCIOUS taste in fashion. Has that cowboy prince aesthetic (Peony both hates and loves how ridiculous it is)

- Is very smart, but is also very modest and polite

- Peony did rub off on him, though, so every now and then he gets a bit snarky and sarcastic

- Him and Peony have been together before TFH

[zuffer-weird-girl]

Prepare for trouble, and make it double!

My attempt of making a writing colab along with @thotsforvillainrights and her beautiful baby Kaishi! Hope I made justice for your cute little one!

"Boreeeeeeed....." the kid whined, upside down besides his fatger on the couch as he read a book without much caring it in the first place.

With a huff, Kaito raised himself up and kneeled right besides his dad, leaning his hubby cheek against his shoulder.

"Papaaaa?" The boy almost whined as Kai only flipped a page of his book. The five year's old pouted as he stood up and started to make noises with his mouth, knowing how much Kai was bothered by them.

"For crying out loud, what?" The older malr snapped as Kaito stopped making noises and just stared blanky back at him "Well?"

"I'm bored."

"... do I look like an amusement park to you brat?" Kai sighed before driving his attention to his book "Go play with your toys or read something. "

"You are the most boring dad in the world papa." Kaito pointed out with a frown and before Kai could come back with some smart ass reply they heard door's noises and Kaito immediately brighten up.

"Mama!" The boy shouted in goee as he climbed off the sofa as Kai immediately thanked God or whoever was above for you to finally be home.

"Woah hey bub!" You giggled with a few packs on your hands as the child hugged onto your lev with all the strenght he had.

"I missed you! Being with papa alone is boring." You tried to prevent a snort to come before you just giggled and carresed both of your son's checks lovingly.

"Guess what? There is a surprise on the hallway and maybe you womt be just as bored."

"But papa said we cant have a dog." The kid pouted as your heart clenched a little... you were still fighting over Kai to at least get a puppy.

"Is not a puppy sweetie. But is your cousin Kaishi!" You smiled brightly as your son's (e/c) shined a bit even if his face didn't changed at all "Go say hi to him and be nice!"

"Ok." The kid nodded and went pass you as you picked the bags and soon heard shrieks of gless coming from the hallway and a very fearfull looking Chisaki Kai almost drop himself on his way as he found you with wide eyes.

"I heard screaming. From two kids. We have only one. What did you do?!" He almost exclaimed as you arched an eyebrow and giggled.

"You already forgot hon? Our nephew Kaishi is here to spend the day with us. Isn't adorable? Kaito will have a playdate almost!" You stopped giggling when your husband's face went as pale as it could get "oh my god Kai you're okay?!"

"T-Two... brats... Two little demonic pests... in the same house... in my house..." his golden eye twitched as he brought one of his hands to scretch his forearm.

"Aren't you being a little overdramatic?" You tried to coax him to relax until you both froze at the sounds of devilsh giggles, pots falling and surely Rappa and Mimic's screams of anger.

"I am not." If you didn't knew your husband, you surely would've tell by his tone of voice that he was actually terrified.

.

.

.

"This drink will make everyone's who drink it into a rat!" Kaishi exclaimed while adding dead leafs into the pot as kaito nodded with a determined and concentrated face.

"Rats like cheese... I guess maybe a bit of spoiled cheese?" Kaito offered while pointing at to the trash can.

"Yeah! That will work!" Kaishi smiled as Kaito quickly picked with his already dirty hlittle hands the before saftely wrapped spoiped cheese and dropped onto the pot.

"Now what?" The boys looked at each other before Kaishi picked a bit of mud nearby, silently suggesting to put as Kaito smiled and nodded.

The... substance, was indeed something. Not only the appearance of it was terryfing but the smell of it almost made the two young boys puke.

"We will have to drink that?" Kaishi spoked, his little voice all funny due to him covering his nose as Kaito immediately shocked his head in disaproval of the idea "So who will?"

"..."

"..."

"Papaaaa!!!!" "Uncle Kaiii!"

He froze aat the voices of the boys as he was trying to play shogi in peace with Pops as the elder only chuckled when the two energetic boys opened the door's room, Kaito carrying a cup of God's know why.

"What now?" He arched an eyebrow from his place of the couch at Kaito covered in mud and dirt offering him a cup.

"Drink it!" Kaito told simply as Kaishi covered his mouth to prevent a giggle to escape.

"Why on hell I would do something like that?" He stared at the two before he felt his hives appearing on high speed "You both. Bath. Now."

"Drink this first papa!!" Kaito stoomped his foot down, not getting a tad bit scared when Kai just stood up with a glare.

"Kaito Chisaki."

"Drink it!" The boy accidentaly tripped and it sended the mixture right on Kai's necj and some of it on his mask... thankfully.

"Oh geez." Pops chuckled while grabbing his cup of tea as he saw in question of minutes Kaishi grabbing his cousin's hand and yelling to run as Kai ran after them with a pissed offf shout.

.

.

.

You finishedd making the snacks for the kids until you saw your husband on the doorway, eye twitching, sleeves rolled back, from head to waist all dripping wet as the two boys greeted you like little angels... and to notify, they were sparkling almost.

"Uh... I heard some shouting but I thought you three were playing so.." you smiled awkwardly as you picked Kaishi up as he nuzzled on your neck as Kaito pouted as the jelly little mommy's boy he was.

"Those pests..." your husband muttered in a murdeful tone of voice before sighing and going straight to the bathroom.

"What did you two do to your poor uncle and father huh?" You asked as the two boys stared at you back before both replying in the same time.

"We tried to turn him into a rat."

Oh dear...

.

.

.

You soon notice that the boys were handfull even to yourself together so you quickly offered a movie to put on as you saw the look of your husband's face as he tried to just eat his dinner in peace but alas, his son and nephew had other plans on just asking ever type of question possible and if not answered right away they poked him, not caring about his mysophobia anymore.

"You're an angel you know that..." you smiled in sympathy as your Kai rested his head on your shoulder, completely drained from having to deal with two versions of hyperative children of the same gene.

"You deserve to rest my poor baby." You murmured while kissing his temple as he grumbled something.

"Gross." Kaito commented as Kaishi nodded in aproval.

"Disgusting." Kaishi tried to imitate Kai's voice only to end up laughing along with Kaito.

"... tell me is already the time to bed for those..." your husband almost begged until Kaito got up to fist your clothes on his tiny fists and rest his head on your lap.

"Can Kaishi stay the night mama? Pretty please?" He asked with the puppy dog eyes you just couldn't refuse.

"Absolutely no-" "of course honey." Kai got his face up from your neck only to glare daggers at you as the children cheered.

"You traitor..." he spoke in utter disdust as you could only giggle.

.

.

.

"The boy are sleep. The extra cushion did came in handy." You smiled as your husband immediately fell into the bed with a groan.

"They're quite... handfull." You laughed at his mumbling and went to do your night routine... as soon as you finished you got out of the bathroom to met Kai already on his back staring at the ceiling before those amber eyes fell on you.

"They did drain your energy out today huh?" You sit down close to him and softly started to comb your fingers into his hair as he sighed in relief.

"... Lay down.. is getting cold and I dont want you to get sick." He mumbled sleepy as you smiled in utter love for usual anti social germophobic man, giving excuses only for you to lay down and touch him.

"Needy arent we?" You teased, face front to him as he opened one eye lazily before testing the waters and giving you a kiss that soon turned heated.

"I will show you needy."he growled lowly as you felt already heat coming down there and also a tad bit of hardness on his part as he hover over you to attack your neck only for-"

"We can't sleep." Kaito opened the door, carrying his plushie as Kaishi yawned wlazily and opened one eye.

"Auntie? Uncle?"

You just patted your husband's back when he just dropped on you and screamed in frustation on the crook of your neck.

Tough day for daddy Kai.

[s-aint-elmo]

anon how does it feel to have made my week

i’ve been holding on to these asks for DAYS waiting to carve out some free time so i could do them justice because they are absolutely wonderful. resident rich kids getting left alone for five minutes and wrecking the kitchen?? resident rich kids and their friends who they love very much setting out to study all together on the living room floor but accidentally making the study pile too comfy and ending up sleeping instead?? fantastic. perfect. inspired.

(riz will crash and knock himself out in a few and adaine will be grappled into the cuddle pile eventually just you wait. it’s inevitable. fuck the exams)

finally, i've been really loving this influx of fantasy high asks lately, but also! go send some my friend @supercantaloupe's way!! she's had a hand in a couple of these and she is fantastic.  

(image description under the cut bc i had some time!)

[ ID: a screenshot of two asks sent one after another. they say: "I have a HC that Fabian and Adaine cannot cook and so the bad kids spend Friday nights trying to teach them/ Also bad kids studying together/falling asleep in a pile." what follows are two drawn images in response to them. 

 one: an overboiling pot on a food-covered stove sits in the foreground over a roaring flame, while the disheveled pair of fabian and adaine take cover behind a kitchen counter in the background, framed by stylized billowing smoke from the pot. on our left, fabian brandishes a wooden spoon at the pot in an en garde position. fabian is a half-elf with wavy, messy hair and an eyepatch over his right eye. he is wearing an apron over a tank top and a panicked grimace. on our right, adaine wields a ladle in the manner of a baseball player coming up to bat, squinting at the pot. adaine is a high-elf with a similarly messy bob of wavy hair and long ears pinned back in distress. she is also wearing an apron over her shirt; it's tied into a small bow at her back, partially obscured by the smoke. on adaine's head sits her familiar, boggy the froggy, a perfectly spherical frog wearing a collar. boggy glares at the pot, firmly in his "i don't like this" setting. the background is a solid peachy orange.

two: all six bad kids curled around each other in a sleepy, mid-study pile. each bad kid is filled in with an identifying colour in order to distinguish them from each other. fabian, a half-elf with wavy, slicked back hair wearing an eyepatch and a letterman jacket, is pale red. adaine, a high elf with wavy, bobbed hair wearing a wool-lined denim jacket, is pale blue. fig, a tiefling in a studded leather jacket with slightly curved horns and long, braided hair, is purple. riz, a small goblin in a newsboy cap, vest, slacks, dress shoes and dress shirt with rolled up sleeves, is yellow green. kristen, a human girl in a t-shirt with curly hair pulled back in a ponytail, is golden yellow. gorgug, a half-orc in a big hoodie with headphones slung around his neck, is pale green. they are all wearing matching woven friendship bracelets.

from left to right: gorgug is curled on his side, one arm pillowing his head and the other resting on the floor beside him. from where we stand we can see the top of his head and his shoulders. fabian hangs over gorgug, his head laid on his arms, which are laid on gorgug's waist and hip. his hands partially obscure his sleeping face. adaine is fully awake, seeming to be the only one left interested in studying. she looks down with an expression of mild annoyance on her face at fig, who is using her lap as a pillow. fig sleepily swats at adaine's book, a gesture meant to tell her to join the rest of them in napping. adaine only holds it up and away from her hand. riz sits against fig's torso, his knees pulled up to his chest and hands cradling a mug of coffee. his eyes are large and staring blanky into the depths of his mug; he is clearly on a caffeine high. kristen, fully asleep on her stomach, has one arm curled under her chin to support her head, the other extended to rest on her crystal, which buzzes slightly with a notification. an open book lays partially over her extended arm. her body is curved in such a way that she closes the loose circle of half-asleep kids. at the very center of them all sits boggy the froggy, a very spherical frog. his face is the picture of contentment. the background is a light shade of peach.]

[aconissa]

Top 5 The Terror dynamics?

please know that in the process of answering this ask I got EXTREMELY emotional about the polar boys (and gal), so you now owe me reparations for almost making me cry

crozier and fitzjames – of course, a shock to no one at all. rival bitchy colleagues to sad friends to tragic lovers (in my heart), what could be better? sometimes I just think of how fitzjames looked at crozier as he said ‘more than god loves them’ and start tearing up. their final scenes together are seared into my brain as some of my favourite moments in television

crozier and blanky – grumpy best buds!! there’s so much love and respect there, from many years of friendship. there’s a good reason why I wrote my fitzier fic from blanky’s best-friend-POV

bridgens and peglar – their relationship is so gentle and beautiful in the show, and equally so in the book (where you get more backstory about them meeting on darwin’s beagle voyage, how bridgens taught peglar to read, how they became lovers, etc). totally unsurprising that I’d gravitate to the gays who bond over books and classical history (and also wrote a fic about them)

goodsir and silna – I rarely trust any period drama that tries to portray a relationship between a white european and an indigenous person too positively, but I think they gave these characters enough space and complexity to do them justice. I prefer the platonic reading of their relationship to a romantic one (which I don’t think is there in the story anyway, and is much better without it), but the tenderness and openness that they build between them is so beautiful. it’s also really important that the show makes a person like goodsir (i.e. a scientist who appears uninterested in the imperial goals of the mission, who many people would perceive as somehow an ‘exception’ to the british colonial apparatus) try to reach out to silna and in doing so recognise his own complicity in the racism of the mission and thus challenge his past naiveté

goodsir and gore – this is my rare pair love coming out, but I adore the moments they have together, however short. gore is one of the first people who shows goodsir the respect and kindness that he deserves. goodsir was owed a hot dashing lieutenant bf who went around telling everyone he’s a doctor and naturalist and basically did the will smith red carpet moment every single day

also shout out to jopson and crozier’s father-son dynamic, hickey and gibson’s bitchy rat boyfriends dynamic, and bridgen’s deep respect for fitzjames. ‘there will be poems’ was one of the BEST moments on the show, hands down

[phantomrose96]

new episode

the fact that Tanjiro gets his sword - literally is only weapon - snapped like a shitty piece of plastic cutlery and still gets right back up to fight Rui is, if nothing else, respectable.

one single attack destroyed the only thing in Tanjiro’s possession capable of killing demons and Tanjiro’s over here like “maybe I can bop him on the head with this hilt”

Inosuke, inches from death, encountering someone really cool he admires a lot “hey fucking fight me”

oh inosuke same

absolutely worth mentioning they literally shut off all the music and sound for the last panel. just a pop noise to Giyuu’s face and silence. 

the rope scene is just. top notch visual gag.

like we see Giyuu getting out this big-ass rope with no explanation while Inosuke challenges him to fight. And then it’s 7 seconds of the camera zoomed in on Inosuke’s face as he yells about Tanjiro being wrong. THEN pan out and we see Inosuke’s been tied up in the tree in the meantime. without Inosuke realizing. I’m living.

Giyuu “probably thinks child leashes are a great invention” Tomioka.

both Giyuu and Tanjiro are the Protective friends just polar opposites of the spectrum

Tanjiro - responsible dad friend: looks out for all his friends. gently but firmly scolds them for misbehaving. will put own happiness aside for the happiness of his friends. Giyuu - callous granddad friend: WILL protect his friends, but as curmudgeonly as possible, with no hint he has any emotional investment. "back in my day corporeal punishment was normal and i turned out alright". would probably let children play with swords unsupervised.

the first (and only) sensible person to appear in this entire arc.

the Rescue Squad’s just fucking... wrapping up spiders to bring back to base. Like I KNOW the spiders are the transformed demon hunters who got infected. but still the sight of them like... swaddling spiders up in blankies for transport is. um. 

EXTRA respect to Tanjiro for never just Putting The Damn Box Down even while he’s getting his ass kicked in this fight. like he’s been carrying his Entire Sister on his back this entire time. Boy’s got the strongest shoulders in anime history

poor Nezuko tho is getting jostled around a shit ton in that box.

OH. YO. BRO

SO WE ARE NOT FU CK I NG AROUND THIS EPISODE ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT

I really do like how ANYONE, regardless of whether they are human or demon, is always shocked when they realize Nezuko (a demon) would protect Tanjiro (a human), and vice versa

Rui: is she... is this girl... your sister? Tanjiro: well she WAS before you turned her into mince meat, fucker

Rui slicing his own “older sister” into pieces is really... wow, yikes

me: -clutches heart at the above frame-

Tanjiro, screaming at the top of his lungs, covered in blood and pointing a broken sword at a demon monster 10 times stronger than him: “OH IM GONNA FUCK YOU UP” Rui:

I just realized Rui sounds like Shiggy Tomura

oh. oh fuck

bro

BRO

listen if i screen-capped this fight every time it threw me for a fucking loop then this live blog would be 10 miles of screenshots i gotta chill back on that but holy FUCK

he fucking LET Tanjiro get him SQUARE IN THE JUGULAR just to show off that Tanjiro’s blade doesnt have the strength to kill him FUCK.

the animation for this fight is SOMETHING. THE FUCK. ELSE.

not so fun fact: every member of the MadLad trio has said this exact line at least once this arc

GOD theyre hitting with the.... precious family flashbacks... the gentle and haunting music... the dead father in Tanjiro’s memory... oh we’re hitting on something big

Shinobu’s line earlier about “we see our life flash before our eyes because its our brain’s last desperate attempt to pull on some past knowledge to save ourselves” is.... VERY RELEVANT. 

the swelling music... theyre gonna use that to seamlessly cut from flashback back into the realtime fight arent they. FUCK. WOW FUCK ITS CHILLS TIME

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I CANNOT DO THIS JUSTICE WITH SCREENCAPS. 

I REALLY CANT.

THE ANIMATION IS GODDAMN BREATH TAKING. THE MUSIC IS PUTTING MY HEART IN MY THROAT.

THIS IS ART.

He’s still

willing to die in this fight

in order to save Nezuko

fuck....

oh

oh

oh

OH

SHE SPOKE

SHE FUCKING SPOKE

SHE FUCKING SPOKE

GUYS

GUYS

THEY BLED THE FINAL FIGHT MUSIC RIGHT INTO THE CREDITS

RIGHT INTO THE MONTAGE OF HIS FAMILY

I CAN’T EMPHASIZE ENOUGH HOW GOOD THE MUSIC IS. JUST. PERFECTLY COMPOSED. PERFECTLY TIMED.

NEZUKO SPOKE

SHE FUCKING SPOKE

AND IM A WRECK

[zipegs]

i’ve been toying around with the idea of posting a fic rec list for a while, and finally decided that if i do, it might be nice to focus on newer and/or underrated fics in the fandom! some of my absolute favorites are on this list, and i highly suggest checking them out (and leaving the lovely authors some comments and kudos!)

this got pretty long, but it’s organized alphabetically by ship name (including gen) and then by length inside each ship!

blanky/little

Trysails by saltstreets  /  2k, t

“I know I can’t do much,” Blanky said, “but you can always talk to me. If you’re so inclined.”

A (very late!) offering for Tender Tuesday, "a friend in need".

okay!!!!!! okay!!!!! hear me out on this one!! this fic is wonderful. i’m a sucker for fics dealing with edward’s suffering during the worst of crozier’s captaincy, and this one is so good. blanky is so wonderful in this; i feel like his tender, kind side frequently gets overlooked in favor of his bigger, bolder attributes, and this fic truly delivers on everything i’ve been missing! it’s really gentle and sweet and i urge you to give it a read!!!!

bridglar

in the low lamplight by stelleri  /  338, g

It’s endless freezing rain outside, but the house is comfortably warm.

short and sweet! a really lovely little slice-of-life modern au

state of grace by aes3plex  /  860, m

He doesn’t mean to see it. He never does.

bridglar may be the most featured pairing, but this is told from irving’s pov and also contains irving/little and references to hickey/gibson. really sad, conflicted little peek into irving’s mind (and some nice, soft bridglar as well!)

passer iagoensis by greenery  /  3k, g

Night falls on the Beagle and Henry Peglar has just finished reading his very first novel.

Set in 1832.

this piece is so good!! it has some really beautiful (sad) foreshadowing of the franklin expedition, and is just... so soft, with some wonderful romantic tension!! and it’s funny! darwin and fitzroy are wonderful in this, and i’m always here for fic that deals with peglar learning to read (which this does!!!).

cracroft/crozier

the beggar’s opera by pyotr  /  990, e

for all of his usual anger and surliness it was almost fun to fluster francis, to rile him where he could not retaliate. sophia had spent all her life under the thumb of some man or another; she loved francis in part because she always had the upper hand.

sophia is my queen and that’s all i’ll say about that. seriously though, this piece is just... *chef’s kiss*

fitzconte

A Cheetah Never Changes His Spots by onstraysod  /  1.2k, m

Being the particular friend of James Fitzjames has its drawbacks, as Henry Le Vesconte learns during the expedition's first carnivale. But it also has its advantages, as Henry learns once the carnivale is over.

Written for Day 1 (A Special Disguise) of the 12 Days of Carnivale.

on beechey island, fitzjames reveals clio’s cheetah to the men. or... something like it! this piece is really a blast; fitzjames is in rare form, francis is glaring form the sidelines, and le vesconte is an absolute champ. and the ending is wonderfully witty and racy!

fitzier

wake me up, wake me up my darling by norvegiae  /  1.4k, g  /  mcd

James Fitzjames feels like a new man.

The old James Fitzjames lies on the cot in front of him, cradled by the man he wishes he could have had more time with.

set during 1.09, this fic is a really poignant, heartwrenching piece in which james comes to terms with the reality of his death, and of his life, as he watches francis grieve. very sad, and wonderfully written!

what the stars give us by WetSammyWinchester  /  1.7k, t  /  implied death

"They may know space, James, but you know what it means to truly fly."

70s scifi (space program!!!) au. really great translation of the terror; the mood in this is so good!!! and the little flashbacks are fantastic. it’s pretty sad, but it hurts in a good way.

fitzrossier

Take Your Turn, Take A Ride by courfairyac  /  7.5k, e

Francis agrees to accompany his friend to a masquerade, and stumbles onto something quite unexpected.

In short: Festivities! Voyeurism! James in a dress!

listen... fitzrossier is my new weakness, and this is a really fun, hot, canon-universe (pre-expedition) au.

gen

salvation by scribomania  /  250, t

The Concordia brings them survival, but not salvation.

featuring hodgson and little, and jopson. for a survival au, this little piece hurts!!! it’s so short, but it packs a punch. really, really good.

but no one remembers yet by disastermovie  / 885, t

“From the mutilated state of many of the corpses and the contents of the kettles, it is evident that our wretched countrymen had been driven to the last resource—cannibalism—as a means of prolonging existence.”

—excerpt from Dr. John Rae’s report on the fate of the Franklin Expedition to the Secretary of the Admiralty (written from Repulse Bay on July 29, 1854)

sad little epilogue concerning sophia and lady jane dealing with their grief

the weary world rejoices by disastermovie  /  1.3k, t

Fitzjames goes to his first Christmas party after the survivors are rescued. It doesn't go well.

this!!!! fic!!! i can’t even do it justice, it’s just so good. the slow build of james’s panic, the caroling and gaiety as a backdrop... it’s just so painful in the best way. i’m incoherent; pls just read it,

la belle dame sans merci by drowninglovers  /  1.7k, g

Nobody is quite sure who the first one to start making her clothing is, but one day she scampers over the shoulders of the ABs as they line up for lunch wearing a tiny shirt to match her pants. It’s nothing special, no fancy detail, navy blue like most everything else they wear. Whoever made it must have cared a great deal, to make sure it fit her perfectly.

this is incredibly fun!!! just some good, wholesome fic about boys dressing up their favorite lady. 10000/10 would recommend.

Come Here, Fellow Servant by whipstitch  /  1.9k, t

The sea is dangerous, but so too is the open sky. And in that case, Cornelius determines, a friend is an unexpected boon.

okay, i made a rule that i wasn’t going to include wips on this rec list,  but i had to put this guy on here. it could be read as a stand-alone, actually, which is what i used to convince myself to include it. peglar realizes that hickey has no fucking idea what he’s doing, and tries to help him, kind, caring sweetheart that he is. this is a really, really nice little piece—i love everything about it.

lie alone by greenery  /  2k, g

He turns the page. And maybe this is it. Maybe writing a letter to young Tom Hartnell is reason enough to leave the berth.

really nice oneshot featuring two good boys (hodgson & hartnell) and their wholesome status as pen pals

the crooked kind by darrenjolras  /  2.3k, m  /  non-consensual voyeurism

“You and I, Jopson,” Hickey says, and Jopson startles at those words alone, turns an affronted gaze his way. Hickey bathes in the glacial blue of it. Like being thrown overboard. “You and I aren’t so different, you know.”

Based on that Hickey/Jopson scene. You know the one.

the terror bingo fill: court martial

not totally gen, but also not really hickey/jopson? twisted, but very much in character; hickey is his delightful self in this, and his verbal sparring with jopson is very well done and quite fun to read!

gibson/hickey

Touch Her Not Scornfully by skazka  /  2k, e

Stolen moments down below.

this fic is just... really fucking good!!! it’s a fantastic look at the very early days of gibson & hickey’s relationship, and an intriguing little venture into billy’s head.

goodsir/mcdonald

And That is How it Starts by Intrepid_Inkweaver  /  1.2k, g

It starts with a handshake and a warm smile at their introduction at Greenhithe.

a really sweet, lovely canon-divergent piece. written in 2nd person pov. these two are just such a good, wholesome pairing and this fic really does them justice!!

hartving

let loss reveal it by disastermovie  /  1.6k, t  /  mcd

Tom could never quite see himself taking a wife.

this shit fucking hurts!!!!!!! it’s a beautiful glimpse at irving & hartnell’s relationship, told through hartnell’s introspection, and is written really, really well. also did i mention that it fucking hurts???

Lookout Blues by ClockworkCourier  /  2.1k, g

John and Tom Hartnell talk about the future while they wait on a new shipment.

hello??? 1920s au??????? the world-building is so tangible in this, even in such a relatively short piece. it’s a really lovely little conversation between the brothers, and i absolutely loved their little discussion of irving.

we’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet by drowninglovers  /  6.3k, g

If this is to be the last time they interact (and it likely will), Tom wants it to be memorable.

survival au survival au!! tartnell runs into irving at john’s grave, and convinces him to stay with his family until new year’s. it’s kind of bittersweet, with some really great flashbacks (and discussions of said scenes!), and oh man is it soft!! just! really beautiful and tender, and the ending is just so cute!!!!!

hodgson/hickey

the chaos moves by itself by bluebacchus  /  1.3k, e  /  violence, mcd

Hodgson's mind cracks and the heavens flow in.

(Written for Day 7 of Halloween TerrorFest: A disquieting metamorphosis and posted separately because I don't want to taint my main post with borderline vore)

fair warning... this fic is fucked up, but in the best possible way! the religious imagery!!!! the philosophy!!!! just!! god.

hodgson/little

Allegro, B Flat Major by whalersandsailors  /  5.3k, g

George is freshly moved from his childhood home, ready to tackle the school year and his newfound independence all at once.

Too bad he's lonely, miserable, and homesick.

He turns to music when adulthood becomes unbearable, and when someone knocks at his door and leaves an anonymous note, George discovers another music lover not too far away.

have i mentioned i love george hodgson? because i love george hodgson. this fic is a beautiful modern au featuring our own georgie playing his way through his feelings (literally). the buildup to the reveal of george’s secret admirer is wonderful, and had me rooting for them from the start! really sweet, stunning fic for a pairing i’d never considered before!

joplittle

get out of the wind by Cicadaemon  /  1.6k, e

Edward Little is smitten with a certain bartender.

modern au. really lovely, wholesome, and happy; just what these boys deserve!

The Thylacine by Gigi_Sinclair  / 1.7k, t 

"Thylacines. That's what Sophia called them, all those years ago in Van Diemen's Land. Dogs with tiger stripes, cats with pouches. They stretch their jaws at him, as Francis struggles to sit. The movement makes his head spin. He pushes the discomfort aside. He has no time to entertain it; he must escape."

also features cracroft/crozier. this is a really clever, funny piece set during francis’s withdrawal; poor francis is a bit muddled in the throes of his fever, and gets caught up in a memory from van diemen’s land. i absolutely loved little and jopson’s reactions in this, and especially jopson and crozier’s conversation the next morning.

Prelude in D Major by scribomania  /  2.7k, t

Hodgson is very fond of the musical apparatus in Terror's great cabin; Edward is not.

For the Terror Bingo square "denial".

i’m a big big lover of terror lieutenant nonsense, and this fic absolutely delivers! just absolutely delightful.

When the Lights Go On Again by Gigi_Sinclair  /  4.1k, t

"Edward Little's ancestors were Naval officers, almost to a man. Nevertheless, from a young age, Edward's eyes turned to the sky rather than the sea.

He longed to fly, as high and as frequently as possible. In the Royal Air Force, he got his wish. He was happy there, thriving, rising in the ranks apace and doing what he always wanted to do. Then came the first of September, 1939."

wwii au. edward is a squadron leader in the royal air force, and jopson is a corporal working for group captain crozier. i’m weak for wwi and wwii aus to begin with, and this one is done beautifully. while it doesn’t hand-wave the trauma and heartbreak of war, it doesn’t hit you over the head with it either, and the result is a really soft, bittersweet, hopeful piece.

lozer

a lily for my love by whalersandsailors  /  3.7k, m

Solomon never thought that soul-signs were real, and the stories he heard about them made soulmates sound more like a prison sentence than any fairy tale romance. It is not until he finds a soul-sign on the skin of a very dear friend that he realizes their importance, as well as their undoing.

this piece is!!! beautiful!!! very poignant, and really had me feeling for solomon. i love what’s been done with the soulmark conceit—it’s not just a simple “we have soulmarks, we’re soulmates!!!’ au (which i’ll admit to enjoying too), but a really thoughtful take on the trope. the slow way tozer puzzles everything out is wonderful, and i love the glimpses we get into several of his friendships & relationships. 

morfin/weekes

to help you remember by whalersandsailors  /  1.2k, g

An anniversary, during which Weekes presents Morfin with a gift, and Morfin struggles to remember why.

do you ever just get clotheslined by a pairing you’d never even considered before? because that’s what this fic did to me

[annecoulmanross]

Bridgens/Peglar Egyptology AU

(for the @theterrorbingo square “modern AU” | word count: 1k fic + 1.5k AU details | rating: T | warnings: mild spooky; talk of mummies; description of a panic attack)

The Terrors are all members of the Classics (Greek & Roman Studies) department. The Erebites are all members of the Egyptology department. These two departments share the beautiful Barrow Hall building on the campus of their university, but they do NOT get along….

….until Henry Peglar, a first-year graduate student in Classics, decides that he wants to learn how to read Egyptian hieroglyphs. 

(Drabbles and AU info below the cut!) 

It turns out that most students who want to study hieroglyphs have already finished the introductory course, however, because Henry ends up in a tiny winter-term class with only two other students. The three “hieroglyph 101s” all show up a bit early to their first day of class, fumbling into a dimly-lit classroom in the basement of Barrow Hall, across from the archaeological store-rooms.

They exchange quick introductions while waiting for the instructor to arrive. Both of Henry’s classmates are undergraduate Egyptology majors: Tom Hartnell is a bright young freshman with a passion for Egyptian mummies (and, admittedly, a slightly spotty undergraduate record), and Henry Collins is a terribly anxious junior who recently switched majors from Engineering (“Please call me Collins,” he says, after Henry begins to comment that they share a name. “Everyone else already calls me Collins.”)

The moment of revelation for Henry Peglar, though, is when he first sets eyes on their instructor: a senior graduate student named John Bridgens, who walks in just a minute after the hour, with a thermos of what smells like mint tea.

John Bridgens looks almost mournful for a moment, his dark eyes soulful, a thick pea-coat sitting heavy on his shoulders (which he quickly shrugs off; it may be a chilly January outside, but Barrow Hall is toasty and warm). When John looks over to his students, though, he smiles, and his face is transformed: Henry feels like the sun has suddenly come out from behind the blustery clouds.

Henry quickly realizes that learning Egyptian won’t be like learning Greek or Latin, but fortunately John is a very good teacher. Even though John holds office hours at an ungodly hour of the morning, Henry shows up to every office hour with a bright smile and a long list of questions.

What Henry doesn’t yet know is that he’s in for the most exciting semester of his life…

(Featuring such hijinks as: John and his students Henry, Tom, and Collins get locked into the archaeological store-room with the mummies, in the dark! Henry and Tom Hartnell uncover a secret that could overturn the Egyptology department! Henry develops an unfortunate crush on his instructor! What could go wrong!)

+ 

“We’re Trapped in Here, Aren’t We?” (Bonus Drabble)

The four of them have now been locked in the basement, in the dark, for over an hour.

Collins is quietly freaking out, sitting on a storage crate in the corner of the main room of the museum storage space. Henry watches Tom Hartnell deftly trying to help Collins regulate his breathing to a pace approaching normal, with some success; Henry decides not to intervene.

“We’re trapped in here, aren’t we?” Collins asks. He doesn’t sound panicked anymore, just stressed; it’s an improvement.

Tom rubs Collins’s shoulder reassuringly, and says, “I don’t know for certain, but I’m not going to let it worry me – we’re going to be okay, alright?” Tom then turns to Henry Peglar and tilts his head, adding: “Eddie Hoar told me that there used to be a secret passage that ran between Barrow Hall and the library, and that the door opened up somewhere here in the storage-rooms. Maybe we can find it?”

Henry nods, flashes a grin that feels fake but must seem genuine in the low light of the storage-rooms’ emergency lighting, because Tom smiles back at him. “I’ll go check on John,” Henry says. “See if he doesn’t know anything about a tunnel.”

Slipping in between the shelves of Greek ceramics, Henry winds his way toward the back workroom where he left John Bridgens, who had been convinced that there must be an extra key somewhere in the workroom desk drawers.

Henry is so caught up in thoughts of tunnels that fails to notice the packing box sitting next to the shelves and he manages to trip right over it. He takes the fall hard, feeling the chilly linoleum under his now-aching arm, his eyes squeezed shut against the pain. When he opens his eyes, though, Henry feels a bolt of fear run though him – for a moment he thinks he’s gone blind, because he sees nothing but darkness. A moment later, the ancient emergency lights flicker back on, and that’s worse because Henry is face-to-face with the mummy.

Henry had forgotten that she was stored here, under the shelves of Egyptian faience. He distantly remembers Dr. Blanky pointing out “the Egyptian girl, our princess,” in her lovely painted coffin, on a tour through the storage rooms last year when he had been a prospective student – but the fact that she was down here (trapped with us, his mind whispers) had escaped his mind.

Shuddering, Henry pushes himself up from the cold floor and backs up against the wall as the lights keep flickering. He knows, he knows, that there’s nothing to fear here, but the sight of the girl’s skin, drawn tight against her skin, her eerie grimace, had shaken him.

“Henry?”

Henry jumps about a foot in the air, but it’s just John, peering out from the workroom door.

“Henry, are you okay?” John continues, his brow furrowed with worry.

Henry swallows. “Yup, yeah, just took a tumble.” He straightens up, tries to collect himself. “Did you find an extra key?” he asks John.

But John isn’t so easily dissuaded. “Are you sure you’re alright?” He steps up next to Henry, a hand hovering over the arm that Henry’s cradling to his chest (Henry’s certain it isn’t broken, but he knows it’ll be bruised a bit).

Henry looks up into John’s eyes and exhales softly to see the loving concern written there. John’s so close now, lifting a hand toward Henry’s cheek, and Henry wants this, wants to reach out and embrace; he finally feels his limbs stop shaking now that John’s here, even as his heart races and his face tilts up…

…. and that’s the moment when the emergency lights finally flicker their last, and the corridor goes dark as a tomb.

+

Some Background on the Humanities Departments of Barrow Hall

The Department of Classics

The Classics program at Barrow Hall is small but powerful. Most of the faculty get along well with each other, professionally, although they don’t socialize much. There aren’t many graduate students in the program, but most of the grad students they do have are quite active on the university campus.

Classics Faculty

Dr. Crozier is the department chair of the Classics program. He teaches early Roman history, with a focus on land surveying, and he takes a very scientific approach to his material.

Dr. Little is an associate professor who teaches Greek military history and gets very excited about ancient weapons. (“Like the shot that killed Leonidas at Thermopylae!”)

Dr. Hodgson is an associate professor who teaches Greek drama; he’s particularly obsessed with the tragedies of Euripides – the more ritualistic violence the better.

Dr. Irving is an assistant professor who teaches later Roman history, and can turn any conversation into a debate about the early history of Christianity. His most recent book was titled “Coming Out Christian in the Roman World: How the Followers of Jesus Made a Place in Caesar's Empire.” * Despite Irving’s own Christian faith and his social justice outreach work with the campus Queer Interfaith club, Irving’s a bit of a chronological traditionalist when it comes to academic research, and tends to dismiss any literature written after Augustine.

Drs. Peddie and MacDonald are actually part of the History Department, but because they teach Medieval Latin, they’re considered honorary members of the classics faculty. (MacDonald teaches a wildly popular undergraduate seminar – cross-listed with Classics and History – called “Witches, Ghosts, and Potions: Medical Mysteries in Medieval Europe.”)

Dr. Blanky is the exception to the “we hate the Egyptologists” rule – Thomas gets along quite well with a certain Dr. Reid, both of whom have a passion for film studies, and together they’ve organized a weekly historical film series for the undergrads. Dr. Reid’s top picks are old-school classics like Cleopatra (1963) and Julius Caesar (1953); Blanky, on the other hand, is partial to Gladiator (2000). He’s also the exception to the “this department doesn’t socialize rule,” being, himself, a long-time best friend of department chair Dr. Crozier.

Classics Grad Students

Thomas Jopson is an older graduate student – he’s just a breath away from receiving his PhD: Dr. Crozier, who has been supervising his thesis on the systems of enslavement in the Roman Republic and the lived experiences of Roman slaves, is extremely proud of Thomas’s sensitive eye for historical evidence. Thomas also works for the campus mental health office, leading a therapy group for adult children of those suffering from addiction.

Billie Gibson, another grad student, is part-way through writing his dissertation on the reception of Greek ideas about homosexuality in the Victorian period, under the supervision of a confused but supportive Dr. Irving. (“Isn’t this more of a History department topic?”)

“Hickey” started the PhD program at the same time as Billie, and he’s begun writing his thesis on cannibalistic imagery in Greek poetry with Dr. Hodgson. Everyone just calls him Hickey, and Henry Peglar hasn’t been able to figure out his full name (or whether “Hickey” is a first name or a last name, or even whether “Hickey” is part of his real name at all) because no one ever updates the Classics department website. Hickey is part of a student organization called the Dionysians, but they’re not listed on the university’s roster of sanctioned clubs, and no one seems to know what it is that they do, exactly.

Henry Peglar is the newest member of the department, a first-year grad student. He’s planning on studying depictions of ancient history in modern fiction, hopefully with Dr. Blanky, who also happens to be his first-year advisor.

The Department of Egyptology

The Egyptology program at Barrow Hall has been having some hiring problems in recent years. Not only did several older professors retire, but the young Dr. Gore decided to move into museum-work full-time and Dr. Fairholme was ‘poached’ by the rival Egyptology program at another university. As a result, the Department of Egyptology has been under-staffed, with too many grad students and too few professors, resulting in two controversial recent faculty hires.

Egyptology Faculty

Dr. John is the department chair of the Egyptology program. He teaches ancient Egyptian literature and has a rather old-fashioned perspective on middle Egyptian grammar.

Dr. Reid teaches courses on the history of archaeological discoveries in Egypt, and the culture of artifact (mis-)handling by European excavators. He’s friendly with Dr. Blanky in the Classics program, and he lovingly crafts discussion questions for the film-showings that he and Blanky run. (He’ll never admit it, but he secretly loves the 1999 Mummy movie.)

Dr. Stanley teaches classes on ancient Egyptian medicine. He’s known for his severe grading policies and for his impressive ability to ruin the fun of topic that involves things like magic spells and fever-demons and having sex with crocodiles.

Dr. Fitzjames is one of the two new faculty members, a dashing archaeologist with an impressive résumé of excavation in Egypt – although, as Dr. Crozier has wryly observed, some of his funding sources for those digs haven’t always been completely above-board.

Dr. Le Vesconte is the other new faculty member, an associate professor with an equally flashy history of excavation and publication. Rumor is that he and Dr. Fitzjames once found a live cheetah in an Egyptian tomb and tried to keep it as the excavation’s mascot.

Egyptology Grad Students

Edmund “Eddie” Hoar is a senior doctoral candidate, working dedicatedly on a massive dissertation about Egyptian stamps and seals. He’s been working with Dr. John because his old advisor recently retired, and with Eddie’s advisor gone, Eddie’s pretty much the only person on campus who knows his way around the dusty archaeological collection in the basement of Barrow Hall.

John Bridgens has been with the program about as long as Eddie, but he’s closer to finishing his thesis, a sprawling dissertation on Egyptian poetry under Dr. John’s supervision.

Charles “Freddie” Des Voeux is part-way through writing a thesis on Napoleon’s excavations in Egypt; his advisor is Dr. Reid. (He’s also roommates with Eddie Hoar, and the two of them are known as “(Fr)eddie” in the grad student group chat.)

Harry Goodsir is a first-year PhD student, who entered the program at the same time Henry Peglar started in Classics; the two of them met at the university-wide graduate student orientation, and Harry encouraged Henry to take hieroglyphs, which Harry had learned himself while he was an undergraduate, while volunteering with his siblings at an Egyptian museum in their hometown. Harry’s interested in Egyptian archaeology, hoping to study with Dr. Fitzjames and Dr. Le Vesconte, but there was a paperwork mix-up that placed Dr. Stanley as Harry’s first-year advisor (Harry is unhappy about it; Dr. Stanley is even more unhappy about it).

Members of Associated Departments in Nearby Ross Hall (& Their Drama)

Dr. James C. Ross is the co-chair of the anthropology program and a dear friend of Dr. Crozier in classics. Though he does have a complicated legacy with the university – being a descendent of the famous (if problematic) explorer, Sir John Ross, for whom Ross Hall is named – Dr. James is well-liked by his students and forward-thinking about his discipline.

Ross’s co-chair, Dr. Silna Kamookak, thinks Ross could stand to apply his anthropology to real-world problems a bit more intensively. Dr. Kamookak is a rising star in applied archaeology and she publishes on issues of museum collection ethics and heritage management; the graduate seminar she teaches on Inuit oral history documentation is known to be one of the best courses in the department.

Dr. Jane Franklin is the chair of English Literature; her research interests revolve around the writings of Charles Dickens. All the students in Barrow Hall call her “Dr. Jane,” and call her husband “Dr. John,” because neither would agree to let the other be called “Dr. Franklin.” A memo was circulated. It was messy.

Dr. Sophia Cracroft is an assistant professor in the History of Science department, and a frequent collaborator with Dr. Crozier in an ongoing interdisciplinary project about ancient cartography; although Dr. Cracroft has often tried to get Dr. John Franklin to permit a collaboration with the Egyptology department, Dr. John has always refused. Cracroft’s grad students say that it’s because Dr. John heard something “unsavory” about the relationship between Dr. Cracroft and Dr. Crozier. None of the grad students know what this “unsavory” thing is, but gossip ranges from the vanilla (an affair) to the bizarre (a papyrus smuggling ring).

Other Details

Goldner’s is a purveyor of textbooks of dubious quality. For some reason, all of the introductory language classes in both the Classics and Egyptology departments are always assigned Goldner’s textbooks, much to the students’ and instructors’ displeasure.

* “Coming Out Christian in the Roman World: How the Followers of Jesus Made a Place in Caesar's Empire,” is a real book! (It was not, however, written by John Irving.) I had a fantastic time reading it a few years ago – go check it out.