#like I know not everyone in those projects aren’t horrible people | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ghoulodont · 10 months

Text

Alveolar Bone

Rain needs to have his wisdom teeth extracted — an uncommon predicament for a ghoul. Dewdrop is there for him in the days that follow, showing a similarly uncommon side of himself.

Relationship: Raindrop Characters: Dewdrop, Rain, Swiss Tags: Surgery, Caretaking, Hurt/Comfort Words: 4384

Read below or on AO3

Six months or so after he’s summoned, Rain attends his first dentist appointment. It’s horrible.

Dewdrop told him they were going to scrape his teeth with a metal spike, which did not make him feel better in the slightest, but that’s really all it was, and it was fine — a mildly unpleasant sensation. He marveled at how clean his teeth felt after. Overall, that part was acceptable. No, the real issue was what the dentist told him, which is that he has too many teeth. Apparently some people have more teeth than others, and each person only has enough room in their mouth for a certain number of teeth. Lucky him, he has extra.

He didn’t even know they existed, all the way in the back, tucked up inside his skull and his jaw bone, hidden away but causing trouble. The dentist knew, though, and had asked him sneaky little questions about them, like if he ever had pain in the side of his face. He asked it while pressing his gloved fingers against a surprisingly tender area in front of his ear.

Yes, of course he did. Everyone gets headaches, right?

Apparently not, or not like that. He had given a dangerously wrong answer to this question and revealed that his secret teeth were dysfunctional, and thus needed to be removed. The dentist tells him it’s a procedure much more common for humans. Humans are born without any teeth, and grow them in one at a time, so things can go wrong or something like that. Ghouls get all their teeth at once, during summoning, and generally only make as many as they have room for. His body must have miscalculated.

So Rain is an outlier among ghouls in this way, and now has a very human problem. It’s seen as something of a rite of passage, growing those teeth and having them removed, for young humans. It’s not something he could have ever anticipated dealing with as a young ghoul.

Back in the common room, he tells Dew of his plight. Dew doesn’t have any extra teeth. He never had those ones in the first place.

“Hey,” Dew projects across the room at Swiss, “how many molars do you have?”

“Molars?”

“Yeah, two or three? On each side.”

“Uh, I think three?” Swiss’ jaw drops slightly as his tongue explores the back of his mouth. “There’s three.”

“See,” Dew elbows Rain, “he’s like you.”

“He’s not though, because his aren’t stuck. They’re in his mouth.”

Dew hums. “Guess you’re extra special, then.”

—

Less than a week later, Rain is back in the strange and sterile dentist’s chair again.

There’s a lot more stuff in the room this time, spread out over the counter and on the little tray table. He spots something that looks suspiciously like pliers and then he stops looking.

The dentist’s assistant dotes over him, attaching the same funny paper bib from last time plus all sorts of other equipment. She clips something on his finger that makes a machine nearby beep in time with his heartbeat. He briefly wonders if it’s really that serious — why do they need to know about his heartbeat? But somehow it feels too late to be worried. He’s already here.

The dentist comes in and explains the procedure. He will be given some medicine “to relax,” and then something to make his mouth numb, and then the dentist will remove his teeth. With pliers, probably. Fine, it’s a plan.

The prerequisite for relaxation is apparently to put a big needle into his arm. He turns his head the other way. He sees the pliers again. He looks up at the ceiling. Whatever liquid begins to trickle into his vein makes a chill seep up towards his shoulder.

The dentist starts talking to him about the procedure again, reiterating the steps. At least that’s what he thinks is happening. It’s hard to tell because right in the middle of a sentence the world suddenly becomes hazy, distant, underwater. His body feels warm, and so, so heavy, or maybe it’s actually merged with the chair he’s sitting in. When he moves his eyes they glide over his surroundings like sliding on ice. The whole situation feels surreal, and it strikes him as amusing, just inherently funny to be in this room, experiencing this, waiting for someone to remove his teeth.

The dentist asks him how he’s feeling. He opens his mouth to explain that it’s like he’s had one drink too many, and a giggle comes out instead. He tries again, but words are too slippery. He gives up.

The chair tilts back. He blinks. He’s opening his mouth, because he was asked to — he doesn’t even have to think about it. He watches as the dentist approaches with an enormous, horror-movie syringe. Oddly, he doesn’t really mind. He closes his eyes.

The world becomes a blur of fingers and instruments in his mouth. There’s pressure, vibration, more and more sound. They’re doing road work inside his head, jackhammering asphalt and shoveling gravel. He can clearly picture the people in hard hats and high-visibility vests, tiny, inside his mouth, working away.

At some point the pressure becomes intense, close to unbearable. Bulldozers roll in, and big, heavy steamrollers. He reaches up to bat them away. A hand places his arm back on the chair.

The pressure eases. He opens his eyes a tiny sliver and watches an off-white chunk of something covered in red leave his mouth. His eyes slide closed again. The assistant says he’s doing a good job. He wonders what he’s doing. He’s doing nothing. The pressure returns.

Sensations swirl around him. Time feels wrong — dense, but also infinite. How long has it been? Minutes, hours? Days? It’s impossible for him to know, and he’s not sure he could even guess. When the dentist tells him they’re done, he feels surprised, or some attenuated version of it, mildly puzzled. He closes his eyes and lets himself drift, the construction crew having finally gone home.

When he wakes up — he was asleep? — the world is solid again. He’s alone in the room. The entire lower half of his face is numb. The comfortable, sleepy distance from before is replaced with a different kind of tiredness. He’s not heavy anymore but simply exhausted, like his body is registering the fierce battle — a catastrophic defeat, really — that just occurred in his mouth despite being completely unable to feel it, a sort of painless hit-by-a-truck feeling.

The assistant comes back in and coaxes him to slobber a huge wad of blood-soaked gauze into a bowl. She whisks it away, off to some other place. He’s alone in the room again. He closes his eyes.

The next time the assistant comes back, she stands him up on wobbly legs and walks him towards the entrance. He bumps awkwardly against the doorframe when they exit the room.

Dew is waiting by the entrance for him. Rain lets himself be handed off, passed into Dew’s guardianship. Dew hooks an arm around Rain’s waist and guides him down the hall.

“They took my teeth out,” he explains to Dew, but also to himself.

“They did,” Dew affirms.

The dentist’s office is in the infirmary, which now feels miles and miles away from the ghoul dorm. When they finally arrive in Rain’s room, Dew directs him to sit on the edge of the bed.

Dew says he’ll be right back. “Stay right there,” he instructs.

Rain complies. He lets his eyes fall closed. He doesn’t realize Dew is back until he hears him placing something on the bedside table with a quiet clunk.

“Here.” Dew holds out a plastic cup of applesauce and a spoon in one hand.

Rain eyes it, apprehensive. He’s pretty sure his mouth doesn’t work right now.

“You need to eat something before you can take this.” Dew holds up a silver blister pack of pills and flicks it gently with one finger, making its contents rattle. There’s only three little perforated squares.

“What is that.”

“Painkillers. You’re supposed to take one before the numbing wears off.”

Right, of course. He had been so relieved that the procedure itself was over that this part, everything else, slipped his mind. He groans.

“Do you want to eat something different?”

He considers it. The entire concept of food seems unappealing right now, so no, not really, nothing in particular. He’s sort of hungry, though, he suddenly realizes. He hasn’t eaten since yesterday. He shakes his head.

Dew peels the foil top off the applesauce and hands it to him. Rain takes the applesauce. Dew hands him the spoon. Rain takes the spoon.

Rain lifts a spoonful of applesauce to his mouth and it runs into something. He feels around with his other hand to figure out what it is. It’s his lower lip. His mouth is barely open. He recalibrates. He feels sloppy, childish. Dew could tease him, but he doesn’t.

It’s slow going but eventually he hands Dew a mostly empty cup and Dew hands him a glass of water, and then a white tablet.

This is a new challenge. Putting the pill in his mouth is simple enough but when he tries to drink from the glass a small waterfall rushes over his chin and onto his chest. He ends up tilting his head back and aiming carefully, which gets the job done. Dew brings him a dry shirt.

Dew sets the two of them up on the bed in front of his laptop and turns on some docuseries about the ocean. Rain is content to zone out in front of the pleasant colors and shapes of coral reef biota, of rippling anemones and waving grasses and drifting jellyfish.

Half an hour or so into the episode, Dew interrupts the narrator, who is explaining something about snails. “Hey,” he prompts.

“Hey,” Rain echoes.

“Are you doing okay?”

“Yeah?”

“Will you be okay by yourself for a little bit? I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Sure.”

“Okay, let me know if you need something?” Dew holds up his phone. The screen lights up right at that moment, awoken by a notification appearing.

“I will.”

Dew climbs out of the bed and heads into the hallway. He turns and takes one last look at Rain, checking on him one more time, before he disappears out of sight.

Rain can’t imagine what Dew thinks might happen to him, alone in the middle of his bed. He feels babysat, maybe, just a little bit. He continues to observe the coral reef.

A school of fish undulates across the screen and the entire world moves with it.

He splays his fingers against the bed, bracing himself. He turns his head away from the suddenly overwhelming visuals on the screen. Every motion of his head ricochets off the edge of his field of vision and makes everything else go the opposite way. Being upright feels precarious, like standing at the edge of a cliff. He slides down the headboard, scared that if he breaks contact with it he might float away completely.

He curls up into a ball on top of the sheets. The bed rocks like a ship in a storm.

He oozes off the bed and onto the floor, willing it to be firmer, more stable. The motion feels like doing somersaults. He closes his eyes and spreads out over the floor like a starfish. The solidity of the hardwood does make him feel a little better, at least.

Actually, everything is almost okay as long as he stays completely still. He imagines calm, stable things. A sturdy rock formation. The glassy, perfectly smooth surface of a quiet pond.

He’s not sure how much time passes before he hears footsteps in the hallway, then coming through the door, then rushing over to him.

“Whoa, what happened?” Dew paws at his shoulders like he’s trying to peel him off the floor. The world tilts. The rock formation topples and a standing wave forms in the pond.

“No, wait— Stop—” He doesn’t know how to explain what’s happening.

“Sorry, sorry, what’s wrong?” Dew brushes hair out of his face that he hadn’t realized was there.

“Everything is moving.” He doesn’t dare open his eyes right now but he can feel Dew looking at him, the weight of his concern pressing into his skin.

“Okay, um—”

For a second, Rain can’t figure out what’s happening, but then Dew is lying down on the ground next to him. Dew’s fingers brush over the back of his palm. Rain takes a leap of faith and flips his hand over, giving up one of his points of contact with the solid ground in favor of something else, contact of a different kind. Dew intertwines their fingers and squeezes their palms against each other. He slides closer, pressing their sides together. His body is solid, a rock in the stormy sea.

They lie together like that until Swiss walks by the open door. He stops in his tracks when he sees the scene inside. Rain squints at him, scared to open his eyes all the way.

“What’s happening here?” He tilts his head to the side to align his gaze with the two of them, horizontal on the floor.

“He’s too high,” Dew explains. Rain hadn’t thought about it that way, but it’s exactly what’s happening.

“Wouldn’t it be nicer to be on the bed?” Swiss walks through the door and stands over them, hands in his pockets.

“The bed is moving.”

Swiss glances up at it. “I don’t know, looks alright to me.”

Rain frowns.

“Come on, you can’t be comfortable there.”

Rain is feeling blessedly little pain at the moment, actually. He could be lying on hot coals and he wouldn’t care, as long as it didn’t make him dizzy. He wonders if he’s going to feel sore later after lying on the hard ground, muscles tensed up, holding himself together, or if he’s just going to be perpetually drugged up enough to not feel it. He wonders how Dew is feeling right now. “Okay,” he concedes.

“Okay? Can we get you up on the bed?”

Rain nods, forgetting that it will make the world wobble. He presses his eyes closed.

Swiss and Dew guide him first into a sitting position, and then pull him up until he’s standing. Rain keeps his eyes shut as tight as possible. He holds onto Dew’s hand for dear life. Dew sits down on the edge of the bed with him. From the other side of the bed, Swiss helps him turn and lie back into the same position he started in, lounging against the headboard. Dew scoots up next to him. Swiss sits against his other side.

The spinning settles. Rain opens his eyes. Dew is kneading the back of his neck with one hand. The show is still playing on the laptop, the narrator’s calm voice describing the vital ecological role of algae to whoever will listen.

Wedged between the two of them like this, the bed isn’t so bad. He places his head on Swiss’ chest, rising and falling with his inhale and exhale. The world rocks in a steady, comforting way.

Once he’s a bit more settled, Dew gets up and brings him ice cream. It’s plain vanilla — a perfectly acceptable flavor in its own right, but a disappointment knowing that his options are limited, that he’s not allowed to have one with anything exciting in it. It feels like eating cookie dough ice cream after someone else already systematically ate all the cookie dough pieces out of it.

He can feel his face now, though — well, sort of, as much as he can feel any of his body, a tenuous claim — which is a small win for his dignity. He is able to skillfully operate a spoon.

It’s hard work. Every action seems to have twice as many steps as normal. The ice cream melts into a growing puddle at the bottom of the bowl. He imagines his body might be doing the same.

At some point he falls asleep, but not completely. He has strange, vivid dreams about watching a nature documentary on his bed. On the screen, Dew swims through a school of fish and catches one in his teeth. Swiss paddles by in scuba gear, clad in a wetsuit, with big flippers on his feet, and gives a thumbs-up. The camera rushes to the surface and he jolts awake.

In the real world, Swiss isn’t there anymore. Dew is still pressed against his side, tucked slightly underneath him, his chin hooked over Rain’s shoulder. The ice cream bowl is on the bedside table now, its contents fully liquid. There are no more coral reefs or schools of fish on the laptop screen — it’s showing whales now, a group of them swimming together, breaching the surface and blowing big clouds into the air. A calf nestles against its mother.

The next episode is about turtles. Babies hatch from eggs and scoot their way over the sand, dragging themselves with tiny flippers, down the beach into the breaking waves.

Dew brings him dinner — soup, another exciting, no-chew food option. They run out of episodes of the ocean show and switch to a documentary about the African savanna, with elephants and zebras and lions.

Halfway through, Dew pauses it and gets up to grab something.

“You’re supposed to take more of this.” He holds up the blister pack from earlier. One of the wells is broken open and empty now.

“Do I have to?” He knows he should. His face is already starting to ache more and more.

“No, I can get you something else, hold on.” He heads into the bathroom but returns quickly, holding a small bottle. He opens it and shakes something into his hand.

Dew hands him two pills, little clear blue ovals — ibuprofen. It’s what he took for his headaches, and the same dose. To take the same thing after having the source of said headaches violently excised from his face? There’s no way it would be enough.

“I want more than that.”

“I don’t think you can have more, you’ll hurt your organs or something.” Dew lifts the bottle and squints at the text on it. “You should take the prescription one if it’s bad.”

“No,” he whines, drawn out. He’s almost embarrassed to hear the sound coming out of his mouth. “I’ll fly away, seriously.”

“I’ll be right here with you, I won’t let you fly away.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Okay, well, you can take these for now and if it’s bad you can take the other one?” Dew offers the ibuprofen again.

Rain nods. He holds out his hand and Dew places the pills on his palm. Maybe it’s enough; ibuprofen hasn’t ever failed him before. How bad can it be?

—

It’s bad.

The pain itself is bearable but it’s loud somehow, persistent and intense. He’s sweating.

“I should have made you take this one, I’m sorry,” Dew frets. He hands Rain a familiar white tablet and a glass of water.

Rain moans in response. He’s as sober as he’s been in a while now, but he still feels addled, in a brand new way this time, like he can’t hear his own thoughts.

It sort of crept up on him, starting out mild. Dew brought him ice packs, two clear plastic pillows full of something blue and slushy, to press against either side of his face. It helped, at first, but it just kept getting worse and worse. Dew was the one who noticed something was wrong, that he was becoming increasingly fidgety, bordering on agitated.

Well, it wasn’t that Rain didn’t notice, more that he didn’t know where to draw the line. He was trying to ignore the problem. He was prepared to endure it. Dew wasn’t willing to watch him do that.

Somehow it took Dew pointing it out, the worry in his face like a mirror for Rain’s own distress, for it to sink in — the pain, and the acceptance.

“Maybe if you go to bed now you’ll sleep through the side effects?”

Rain nods. He places the pill carefully between slightly parted lips. The water feels scalding hot in the back of his mouth, like it might sizzle into steam there.

He shuffles to the bathroom and, after asking Dew — who seems to have memorized the care instructions he was sent home with — if he’s allowed to, he brushes his teeth very, very carefully.

He returns to his bed and crawls under the covers, too overwhelmed to do anything else. He feels the mattress dip under Dew’s weight.

—

He’s roused by someone shaking his shoulder. He opens his eyes, just slightly, and the room is dim. The light through the curtains is yellow, like it’s early in the morning. He blinks.

The hand is on his shoulder again. They’re being gentle, like he’s fragile. He wonders how long they’ve been standing here, trying to wake him from a painkiller-enhanced slumber with light little touches. He rolls over and Dew is there, in sweatpants and one of the oversized t-shirts he likes to sleep in.

“Good morning.” Dew’s voice is soft, gentle like the hand on his shoulder. He reaches his other hand out, and he’s holding something — four pills, four little blue ibuprofen pills like beautiful, shining gemstones. “I asked the dentist and he says you can have four,” he says.

Rain’s heart swoops. “You did that for me?” For a moment he feels like he’s going to cry, so overwhelmed by this gesture. He holds out his hand to accept them.

“Of course.” Dew hands him a glass of water.

He sits up. The world threatens to spin, but ultimately remains correctly oriented. He can still barely open his jaw, so he has to direct the pills individually past his front teeth. The inside of his mouth tastes absolutely horrendous. He drinks all the water.

“You can go back to sleep,” Dew says as he takes the empty glass from him.

There are so many things he wants to say — there’s thank you, of course, but also how are you so thoughtful, and what did I do to deserve this, and, most of all, I love you so much, but he can’t figure out how to say any of it right now.

Instead he reaches out and grasps Dew’s hand — more like his wrist, because he overshoots a bit — in his sleepy, floppy grip and tugs it closer. Dew understands, and crawls into the bed next to him. Rain dozes off again with Dew’s head tucked against his shoulder.

When he wakes up again, Dew is sitting up, looking at his phone, which he holds in one hand, and absentmindedly stroking the other up and down Rain’s arm. He looks up from his phone when Rain stirs.

He frowns, his eyebrows raising and pulling together, and reaches out and brushes his fingertips over Rain’s cheek. “Are you hurting?”

Rain shakes his head.

“I’ll be right back.”

Dew has been saying that a lot recently. The thought makes Rain’s chest tighten. Dew is a rather independent person, not really one to announce his intentions like that. But recently he’s been so careful, so considerate. Rain feels like he’s seeing a secret part of him, a hidden side, something precious.

When Dew comes back, he hands him the two ice packs from yesterday, refreshed by an overnight stint in the freezer. “For the swelling.”

Rain presses them to his cheeks. It feels like they’re easing some kind of pressure inside his head.

“Are you hungry?”

He nods between the ice packs. He’s been subsisting on slop since yesterday.

“What do you want to eat?”

It’s been barely twenty-four hours of soft foods only and he desperately wants something crunchy. “Cereal,” he requests. It’s a truthful answer to the question but he knows what Dew is going to say.

“...No.”

“Potato chips.”

“Also no.”

He tries to think softer. “Strawberries.”

“Probably not a good idea.”

He whines wordlessly.

“Is it okay if I just bring you something?”

Rain resigns himself to a mushy world devoid of substance. He nods.

“I’ll be right back,” Dew says, and he slips out the door.

Rain rolls over onto his side. He makes a sandwich of his head between the two ice packs. The one on top slides off his face when he removes his hand from it, flopping onto the bed with a sad, wet sound. Instead of replacing it, he presses his fingers against his cheek, probing, curious. His skin is cold, but so are his fingers. There’s a huge lump underneath, solid and radiating heat, like a golf ball embedded in his jaw.

He rolls off the bed, leaving the ice packs on the pillow, and pads to the bathroom, where he stands in front of the sink. His reflection in the mirror above it has puffy, round cheeks, like a chipmunk. He leans forward and brings his hands to his face in an inadvertent imitation of a shocked expression.

He returns to the bed and flops back onto it, face down, maybe a little harder than advisable, his abused head bouncing against the pillow. He feels blindly for the ice packs and replaces them on his cheeks, holding them there with quickly cooling hands.

He lies there, motionless, until he hears Dew’s footsteps again. He rolls over laboriously, still holding the ice packs to his face, to see Dew standing over him.

“Here.” Dew hands him mashed potatoes. When Rain takes the bowl from him, eschewing one ice pack, he immediately turns back around and goes right back out the door without another word.

Rain marvels at how thoughtful this menu selection is. When he puts some in his mouth he nibbles with his front teeth, completely unnecessarily, pretending he’s eating chips. It’s not very convincing, but it makes him feel better.

Dew returns a few minutes later, holding a glass of something pink. A smoothie. Rain feels like he could cry, which is quickly becoming a theme.

“Strawberries?” Rain asks.

“Strawberries,” Dew confirms, casual, matter of fact, like there was no other possibility, like he never considered bringing him anything else.

#ghost band fanfic #dewdrop ghoul #rain ghoul #what tags do people use?#and which of those are socially acceptable #ibuprofen lovers join me #fic i wrote

80 notes · View notes

pommunist · 21 days

Note

Going off of this one anon that said something about never working in a real environment... first of all, that anon spoke nothing but truths and I totally agree with everything they said. Now what I wanted to say was to your response, line by line.

"Fact is that we’re almost two months after things went public and these signs are nowhere to be seen." Firstly, multiple CCs have said changes have been done behind the scenes and trust in the process. We won't see these changes, because we aren't working internally. This makes sense.

"I think it’s not abnormal to want to be sure these things aren’t happening anymore before they continue supporting it" There is no proof of things being this way. As a matter of fact, the admins that we know of that are still on the project, are enjoying their time and making changes of going back to normal. Most of the statements of mistreatment come from people who worked months ago, before this was made public. Currently, the fact that things are slowly returning to normal, is a very good sign. This means that things are stabilizing behind the scenes.

"Voicing criticism can also be a way to try to avoid problems being swept under the rug as it had been until Léa shared her experience" This is also true, you are correct. However, there is nothing new to be talked about. This is like beating a dead horse. We know the treatment was bad. We know the conditions were horrible. However, now it's being fixed and worked upon. This we know is the case now. Therefore, talking about old subjects eventually gets tiring for everyone involved and stops being productive. At this point, it's just public venting.

"as long as it’s with respect of everyone involved." This is entirely true. Except nobody respects Q in all of this. Nobody extends this respect to Q, who also got taken advantage of. It is unfair for him as well and nobody is defending him. If people do defend him, then suddenly they're harassed, they don't care about workers rights, etc. and it's what's causing this divide now. Nobody can defend Q -not even CCs, anymore - without getting treated like shit. Look what happened with Tubbo, who gets treated like a child who doesn't know anything. Look at Missa, who felt personally hurt by attacks made on Q. He wasn't even involved and he felt horrible about it all. Everyone who says "respect everyone involved" ends up not extending that respect to Q. I am not implying that you personally attack Q, but I have seen several people who say this exact line, then go to attack Q. Tweets calling Q white, posting his address, his phone number, full name, etc. get thousands of likes. And people saying "hey this is weird" end up getting swarmed.

"And people keep being angry because they keep hoping for the project to improve, without getting signs it will." The issue here is that we have gotten signs. From the admins making their projects on the QSMP, from CCs talking about their good experiences, those are all good signs. But nobody takes those good signs as truth, for some reason. We have been getting these good signs but they're brushed off as "they don't know everything" or "this isn't what I wanted to see" which is parasocial as hell. I don't know how to put it any other way but it's insanely parasocial to demand to see such specific changes from the QSMP. It doesn't align with what you think should be done. You don't even know what's going on behind the scenes, like, at all. Anyone on Twitter making "new" statements are all from people who aren't even in the project anymore. Because these are coming out now, people have this false impression that nothing changes. When in reality, nobody knows what's going on right now except those still involved. Like Pierre, like Phil. Who both know more than you or I ever will. And it should stay that way. I don't want to know the extent of what either of them know. Because it should stay confidential. I, as a viewer, shouldn't even know half of this. I shouldn't ever know this unless I am a worker there. This wasn't even intended to be made public, it never should have been. This was going to be handled already. Pierre and Q both said that they were planning on dealing with this. This was made public for zero reason. The truth is, complaining isn't going to get anyone anywhere. It's like trying to clean up a mess and you have someone in your ear complaining about how long it's taking you to clean despite you trying your damn hardest to clean.

To end this statement off, I do not intend for this to be some kind of attack on you personally. It isn't an attack at all, to be quite frank, this is moreso to the arguments you presented that I have seen splayed across Twitter, Tumblr, anywhere. I truly think this constant complaining and constant detail-orientation is getting nobody anywhere. All this is doing is just distracting from the big picture:

Q put someone in charge of a project, whom he falsely trusted.

As a result of this, for about a year, this person created horrible working conditions and used their position of power to hide most of this (or the full gravity of the situation) from Q.

Q was made aware of this, and was planning the proper steps to deal with this privately.

However, this was made public for no real reason, and now he has to deal with this while dealing with the public eye, misinformation, and also privately too.

Due to people leaving and leaking certain details, he cannot be as transparent as he wants to be.

He is also dealing with legal cases which prohibit how much he can say, also limiting which people can get the information he can say.

Although the operations within QSMP are slightly turbulent, things are being done slowly to stabilize them, which includes garnering funds to pay back the people who were exploited and insufficiently paid.

That's the entire story. People are so wrapped up in details that they forget everything that led to this. Again, this wasn't directed specifically towards you, I have nothing against you. But some arguments you presented have their counterarguments as well and I wanted to present them.

man what an ask to wake up to after opening tumblr at 7am uh

First link to the post you’re referring to anon because I still stand with everything I said AND might repeat some of it here :

-I’m glad some ccs have said things are moving behind the scenes, I’m not doubting their words. However I don’t make my personal opinion based on what a cc says. There is nothing wrong with withholding support to a project until there is any concrete indication that things are solved. Already pissed I did so for almost a year, won’t make the mistake twice !

-There was no proof of things being bad for 10 months before admins came out with their stories, we trusted that they were being treated fairly because there was no reason to think otherwise, look where that got us. "Most of the statements of mistreatment come from people who worked months ago" well not only do we know that there are admins who are still within the project that are not being communicated with, but maybe the reason most statements come from people who used to work for Qstudios is because since then at least 50 people have been fired/had to quit ?

-"At this point it’s just public venting" Yes, maybe, and ? People who are angry about this don’t owe patience, productivity or anything to the QSMP. I would argue that Qstudios could fix everything perfectly overnight and people would still be allowed to be angry that it even happened.

-About Quackity I’m not sure I see your point here because obviously it’s stupid to go harass, insult, threaten him or anything close to that. It’s different from actual criticism about his actions and negligence. I can have no respect towards his work as a company owner while also believe he deserves basic human decency ?

Let’s not forget that yes, he might have been fucked over by that One admin, but also the repeated mistreatments over months was made possible because neither Quackity nor anyone else was keeping an eye on what was going on behind the scenes.

-Once again, ccs talked positively about it before, admins were doing projects before, and yet things were shit. When I say signs of things improving I mean ex admins being contacted, statements that those still working are doing so with an actual legal framing and protection.

It is not parasocial to ask that a company upholds workers rights and have something to show they’re doing so. Wouldn’t that make the goddamn union parasocial ? 😭

And I’m glad if some of the admins still currently working are able to do so in the right conditions, obviously not wishing for more people to be mistreated. Doesn’t change the fact that those who have been have not seen any improvement of their situation. Plus we know that even before everything came out, not everyone was treated the same.

Again, this was not made public for zero reason. It was made public as attempts from the admins at solving it internally had been met with silence.

Complaining does get you somewhere. Admins complaining and people using their voices to shine light on their statements and the issues they raised got that Quackity talked about it and started to make changes. Complaining about and withholding support from a company do hold them accountable to a certain extent, and push them to improve the work conditions. Workplace abuse thrives under silence and people keeping their mouth shut.

To reuse your metaphor about cleaning : If you break a glass and start cleaning the shards, people can still point that the glass is broken, and they can still complain about the cleaning if you’re doing a sloppy job at it.

About your recap of events, I have already talked about some points but also :

-The "leak" argument just has to stop for real. Not only it is incredibly inaccurate to use that word to talk about admins sharing what they went through, if you truly want to fix stuff you shouldn’t care first about your actions being revealed.

-Any admins who are to ask about fair payment shouldn’t have to wait until enough merch is sold or whatever. As a victim you shouldn’t have to be patient with the company and wait for them to get their shit together before you start getting some consideration.

tldr i guess : Cool that you’re able to fully trust a company that is responsible for unlawful treatment of their workers for months based on Quackity saying "don’t worry guys things are changing", but not me tho !

#quack crit #qsmp crit #is there a medal for getting the longest anon asks if yes where is mine #never doubt the sacred art of complaining in front of me !!! 😤🫵

18 notes · View notes

unhappy-day-in-hell · 4 months

Text

The Dissection of Hazbin Hotel, Episode One: part 1

Hazbin Hotel is finally coming out and I want to talk about it!

Seems unreal, doesn’t it!? After four years it’s here, and it’s one of the biggest train wrecks I've ever seen with my own two eyes!

Like many people, I used to be a fan. I got into Hazbin at the end of 2021, and stayed with it until mid-2023, when I woke up to the series’ flaws and saw how horrible Vivziepop was as a person. But for that time, Hazbin gave me something to look forward to during a dark time in my life. I was excited for it. I liked the idea it would be a complex, dark, and nuanced look into some dark topics. I was convinced Angel’s trauma would be handled with care, because Addict handled it with care. I was convinced Hazbin would be a show that said “no one is beyond becoming a better person if they just make the decision to try, no matter how much bad they’ve done.” Being set in Hell, where the UNIVERSE ITSELF has given up on the souls damned there (the furthest extreme you can possibly get to), was a good way to exaggerate this conflict.

Spoilers: It wasn’t that! Apparently it was never meant to be that in the first place!

Vivziepop threw out the original premise that everyone loved in favor of a Heaven war! She ripped off the “Rose Quartz = Pink Diamond” reveal with Rosie-Lilith-Eve. By extension, they de-clawed Alastor by making him Rosie’s pawn. (I loved Alastor. I wanted to see more of his deranged self; I wanted to see what he would do when he was proven wrong when redemption was possible.)

When I watched Episode One, I started writing my thoughts down. Then I tripped and wrote 13,000 words.

So I’m gonna post them here as a review! It’s long, so I’m going to break it into four parts.

I can be very forgiving of flawed projects, but in regards to Hazbin, I’m petty. No nitpick is too small. I will compare it to the pilot (because it’s in that Viv-canon-limbo where you need to have seen it but she pretends it’s not canon), and I’ll have tangents and rewrite ideas.

The story-crafting for this show is one of the more important elements to me, so I give a lot of attention to that.

And there will be SPOILERS, including all leaks! So just be careful if you don’t want spoilers or leaks!

Let’s go!

Part 1: //

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

--Hazbin Hotel opens with a huge exposition dump about the supposed creation of Hell.

And IMMEDIATELY, we’ve run into a problem.

Sometimes, stories will open with lore dumps like this. They can be useful in giving the audience important knowledge, or setting the stage for the world. However, this lore dump provides us with neither of those things.

Even for people who aren’t religious (me), the story of Eden is really well known (even just the pop culture version of it.) That means you don’t need to tell us the creation story at this moment-- What we NEED right now is to understand what this version of Hell is like.

What info do we need in order to understand the setting of Hell that Charlie lives in?

Important stuff like this: Hell functions like a big city with laws, and isn’t like the pop-culture fire and brimstone image we might have; dead sinners manifest with new bodies and are exclusively in the Pride Ring, which makes them the property of Lucifer, and they’re immortal unless killed by angels; angels come down once a year to erase them to keep them from becoming too numerous. Emphasize that it’s like a shitty country, with shitty jobs and leaders, Lucifer at the tippy-top. Emphasize the Sinners’ fear of the annual exterminations -- emphasize that Charlie feels helpless but wants to save them.

Your job as a storyteller is to tell us what we need to know, when we need to know it.

Right now, we don’t need to know why Hell was created – we need to know how Hell WORKS in the present. That’s your goal, to bring us into the world.

The only necessary information this narration gives us is that “exterminations exist." Everything else about the deeper lore can be shown to us later, after we’ve had some time to get to know the world.

(Have this be a fairytale Charlie tells during an emotional, quiet moment; or in a flashback, Lilith tells this to a baby Charlie. Or it can be a musical number Lilith or Lucifer sings for her, trying to make themselves look better than they actually were.)

--“Angels are beings made of pure light who worshipped good and shielded all from evil.” WE’RE FIVE SECONDS INTO THIS AND ALREADY WE HAVE A HUGE THING TO UNPACK. Buckle up.

So Hazbin's lore goes like this: the Angels already exist, and they worship a vague figure of “Good” (who isn’t God), and defend people from “Evil” (who isn’t the devil, because Lucifer hasn’t rebelled yet.) Since Lucifer hasn’t rebelled yet, evil really shouldn’t exist yet. Where is this evil coming from?

(I have a bad feeling it’s Roo -- the Root of Evil, that character Viv drew years ago and said is a looming presence in the distance. Is Roo some kind of “eldritch abomination”, who existed before the angels? Sadly, I think that’s very likely, at this point.)

Either way: Good and Evil are forces that already existed at the start of creation, before Adam and Eve and everything else, and Lucifer and the Fallen Angels had nothing to do with it. Which just doesn’t mesh, if you’re going to have a Christian base for the lore.

Also: It says the angels defend people from Evil. But who are the angels defending? They explicitly show that humanity hasn’t been created at this point, because we see the birth of Adam in a few moments; so who the heck needed defending during this period of time!?

…

Alright, to get this out of the way: Hazbin Hotel won’t use God as a character, apparently because they don’t want to offend anyone, or so I heard. It’s something to debate; was this a good idea on their part, or is it cowardice? For me, I personally feel like it’s the latter. The show has already taken many other incredibly sacred figures and stories, and jumbled them up and tweaked them for the show’s awful lore -- and Viv has never cared about offending anyone before so why would she care now -- which is why it feels spineless to me, for them to NOT go all the way and just use the Capital G himself. Plenty of other stories have used the Christian God as a character just fine.

If they’re worried about doing it tactfully, the solution is to just… NOT write God as an asshole? Maybe try for some genuine sincerity in the writing for once? Make him the single character in the cast who is never played for a joke, and whose personality has no stupid quirks. Have him be very distant, maybe even locked in Heaven’s Palace, that way you don’t have to show him more than a handful of times, but the audience will know he exists; and use his limited screentime to make him display wisdom and warmth.

Maybe he acts like a distant observer of the Universe, and he clearly knows something we don’t; he tut-tuts at the bad things, but “This, You See, is how it Must Be. And by the end of the show he’s right because everything works out for the good. Or... something.

My point is, they already used all this other sacred stuff from the bible, they might as well go all the way. (Viv certainly didn’t have a problem using Lilith or vodou symbols, did she?)

--Lucifer was a dreamer who was deemed dangerous to the order of Heaven. Then he fell in love with Lilith for her fierce independence and they wanted to share free will with humanity.

This story. This rewriting of the usual biblical tale to make Lucifer sympathetic.

It just doesn’t work.

It also ties back to their refusal to use God as a character. The character of God was an INTEGRAL piece of this mythological story, and God and Lucifer were inseparably intertwined figures in it. Lucifer’s entire rebellion and “Pride” sin was against God. You could say... Lucifer has major fucking "Daddy Issues." (That's a phrase Alastor will say later!) To take away his Daddy Issues is just so lame.

Even worse, this story is trying to paint Lucifer as a misunderstood artist who cared about creation. (He's so different from the actual mythological figure, it makes you wonder what the point of even using these figures as characters is.)

…There are two possibilities.

Possibility One: I wonder if this is a “sanitized” version of the story that Lucifer tells Charlie to make himself look better. (This feels very much like one of those “history lessons” that a fantasy world will introduce to the characters early on, only for that history lesson to be shown as a lie later on.) But if that’s the case, it’s WEIRD for Hazbin Hotel to do that with the story of the Garden of Eden?? Everyone/most everyone in the audience will already know the gist of how the Eden story goes, so they'll know this retelling isn’t right -- so what, are we expected to wait for Charlie to gormlessly stumble into the truth, ~as a twist~ that GASP D:> her father INTENTIONALLY fucked humanity over!?!?!? HE DID IT ON PURPOSE AND ALL THE SUFFERING OF HELL WAS HIS GOAL!?!?!? DAD HOW COULD YOU. That’ll be a shitty twist. The audience already knows this, so it’ll just be pounding our heads into the wall waiting for Charlie to get there.

(And also, it’s very suspicious they don’t actually SAY what Lucifer’s “ideas and dreams” were for creation. So that could be a lie by omission that he uses for his fairytale. In reality, he might have had awful, shitty, malicious ideas, which Heaven stopped him from doing, and Lucifer’s been a big baby about it ever since.)

Possibility two: This is legitimately the retelling of the Eden story in the Hazbin Universe. Which just suuuuuuucks! If Lucifer was a kind, caring individual, why would he let his Hell Kingdom become a total SHITHOLE of suffering? Wouldn’t he be a kind ruler? Wouldn’t he try to run the ship better?

And it’s a horrible decision to woobify him in general. You’re seriously going to de-claw THE DEVIL? You’re gonna rip out his teeth and make him soggy!? You’re gonna make the King Of Evil, The Father of All Lies, LUCIFER, EMBODIMENT OF PRIDE, a wet meow-meow sadboy who did nothing wrong?? COME ON!! What makes Lucifer an interesting character IS THAT HE MADE THE CHOICE to fuck everything up on purpose! He’s interesting BECAUSE of how he, to this day, wants to ruin the Earth to stick it to God! You can’t just take that away from him!

It’s incredible that these two possibilities are on opposite ends of the spectrum, but both are unsalvageable. There is NO winning with this backstory. They fucked up.

--Ah wait there it is. The apple is the same color as the Vague Evil’s eye from above.

Yep….

Man, making Eve the twist villain of the story (before or after Roo shows up? Is Roo inside of Eve controlling her? It doesn’t matter). You couldn’t write a worst twist.

I ask you: Why is it Eve, and not Adam who is the secret twist villain? Or, why isn’t it Adam+Eve TOGETHER who are the twist villains?

If this were the only instance of female characters being demonized, I wouldn’t think anything of it -- but there is a clear pattern across all of Viv’s writing. Viv is a known misogynist, and this feels like an extension of her misogyny. Of course the twist villain is female. Of course Roo The Secret Eldritch Abomination is female. The male characters get sympathy, or stuff handed to them. Lucifer is a good lad who did nothing wrong! Alastor isn’t evil, he was hired to protect the Hotel and is a father figure to Charlie! ADAM got to go to Heaven and Eve didn’t!

I have absolutely no doubt that the blame will be put on Eve, and Adam will be given a pass because Eve tricked him to eat the fruit of knowledge, or something.

--Yep, this thing is animated like a Root. It’s totally Roo.

--Eyes… just like Roo’s root tongue. Yep.

--Heaven only allowed Lucifer to see the bad of humanity, never the good.

They really ARE trying to woobify him, aren’t they? At this point, the only way they could salvage any of this is by making this a sanitized bedtime story (which again wouldn’t work in itself.)

This is the fucking DEVIL we’re talking about.

He is the King of Hell, and therefore, he is the ruler of the Princes of Sin, the Ars Goetia, and the legions of Hell that are trying to corrupt the Earth! We see in Helluva Boss that demons do actually go to make Earth worse. If Lucifer is King and didn’t want this to happen, he has the power to stop at.

Plus: there are portals to go to Earth, and magic to watch the Earth as seen on Helluva Boss. So Lucifer has every means to look at the Earth any way he wants, and could see the good the Earth has to offer…… and it's because he’s the one bringing evil to the Earth in the first place in order to destroy good (technically to fight against God, but God ain't here, so "Good" it is.) That’s still Hell’s MO in this world. We’ve seen this on Helluva Boss, which is canon to this universe. And you cannot convince me that the King of Hell was “oblivious to it” or "the other royal demons have their own power and Lucy can't stop them" or some excuse like that, as if the Princes of Sin and the Ars Goetia are doing it secretly under Lucifer’s nose and Lucifer doesn’t know it’s going on. You cannot convince me of this.

Plus even then -- if Lucifer were still a sadboy who WANTS to see the good of the Earth (even if all he sees is the bad), that means… in theory, he has a “good heart”. So why isn’t he a kinder King?

Because this is either a fake fairytale or Viv is a bad writer who doesn’t think anything through. (It’s both.)

--Lucifer lost his spark, huh? What does that actually mean? Does it mean his title as King is only symbolic and he doesn’t do any ruling? (This can’t be right – we see later in the episode Lucifer still has some authority over various things, like meeting with Adam but foisting that responsibility on Charlie.) Does losing his spark just mean he gave up trying to be good, and now just revels in evil?

And, as the embodiment of Pride, shouldn’t Lucifer of all people be the most stubborn, unshakable person in existence? Instead of losing his SPARK, he should just grow jaded and bitter but still have that fire to prove he's better than everyone. He’s the King of Hell for a reason.

(And if Lilith thrives, why isn’t she the ruling Queen of Hell?)

--So Lilith uses her powers to Empower Demons…

This wording is VERY suspicious, and once again, feels like a sanitized bedtime story for Charlie.

What does empowering demons actually MEAN? Huh? It sounds very good in this fairytale, but look at the evidence presented to us. We see what Hell is like (...eventually.) It’s a shithole where everyone is suffering and constantly beating and killing each other. For all we know, her “empowering demons” actually means she encourages everyone’s worst behavior, gives sinners powers and weapons that they can use against each other, and is the reason why Hell is so awful.

…Oh god, if LILITH is the cause of Hell being bad, and Lucifer is a Good Boy who sits back and doesn’t do anything, then it’s another female character being written to fuck everything up!

(We don’t know when Eve takes Lilith’s spot, but I don’t think it’s quite at this point in history. So Eve doesn’t get the blame here just yet. Hopefully?)

--Overpopulation was always a bad motivation for Hazbin Hotel. I thought that even when I was a fan. Because: if Hell is a finite space where you can run out of room… then so is Heaven? If you start redeeming sinners for the sake of giving Hell more room… theeeeeen eventually HEAVEN is going to get overpopulated and run out of room. What then?

Hell also has other Rings the sinners are not allowed to go to. Are we going to mention the other Rings’ existence at any point? Will the idea of opening the other Rings up to sinners even be presented as an option at any point?

How much of Hazbin’s lore is going to be locked in Helluva Boss, unable to be shown in the series proper? Will the Princes of Sins, the Hellborn demons, the Ars Goetia ever make an appearance, or are they not allowed to? Will Charlie ever have to deal with the fact there is an entire slave caste in Hell, the Hellhounds? Is she going to free the Hellhounds? Imps are also oppressed, will the show ever explicitly TALK about that? Will the worldbuilding show us how imps, hellhounds, and Sinners intermingle in Pentagram City?

CAN HELLBORN DEMONS BE REDEEMED AND GO TO HEAVEN?

So many questions. And knowing Viv’s style, I highly doubt we’ll ever get any answers.

--So Charlie inherited her mother’s dream. But they completely neglected to mention what Lilith’s dream actually was. Do they mean she wants Charlie to “empowering sinners,” in general? Or did Lilith, specifically, want the exterminations to end?

They use such vague words, when this is one moment they should just give us a clear answer. This whole backstory was a mistake and a waste of time, but if you are going to use it to set up Charlie inheriting something from Lilith, you have to make it clear what she’s inheriting.

And also, while it’s not ENTIRELY a Chosen One scenario, in the pilot we got the sense that Charlie was the one who made the choice to try and help sinners, on her own. Now though, Charlie was GIVEN this dream by someone else, because she can’t have agency. It would be one thing if Lilith just taught Charlie to feel compassion (that would be fine, parents teach their kids morals all the time), but Charlie still came to the redemption conclusion on her own – it’s another for her to be said to have “inherited this from Lilith” or is carrying on Lilith’s legacy.

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

With the opening monologue over, the only thing we know is that the lore is very messy. It has a Christian basis, but it's been fucked up so badly that it makes you wonder what the point even is.

Good and Evil are living eldritch forces that existed before creation and have nothing to do with God, Lucifer, or anything else like that.

There is no God, (who is the ENTIRE CENTRAL POINT for the biblical-inspired stuff in Hazbin); instead a whole Council of Elder Angels rules the universe.

Roo has no basis in anything.

I think in some tellings, Lucifer was the first Angel? Even if not, he was one of the highest. So Lucifer should be one of the ruling angels. They have to severely weaken him as a figure in order to make him under the control of the other angels. (After all, in Christian mythology, it's God who made Lucifer fall. Another way his absence fucks the story.)

And my final takeaway from combing over this lore is: why didn't Viv just make her own fantasy world? Everything in this show is only passingly similar to the stuff it's based on. If you're gonna take these aspects from religions and fuck with them so much, just make your own fantasy world where you can do whatever you want.

That was only the opening monologue. This is gonna be a long ride guys!

#Hazbin Hotel Critical #Vivziepop Critical #The Dissection of Hazbin Hotel #Episode 1

38 notes · View notes

cabinofimagines · 1 year

Text

Lighter (Coming out as Non-Binary)

Midway of writing this fic I realized I was projecting but also I realized to my friends I have never had much of a hard time coming out. One day I just told them to use my name to refer to me esp. when I was there and they did, and this was months before I got the guts to pick a label. Anyways....

Pairing: Alex Fierro x reader (platonic), Sam, Magnus, Blitzen and Hearthstone are there too! Request: i heard your requests were open ? could you do a coming out as non binary to alex fierro(and other characters if you’d like) no pressure though !! hcs / fanfic ? Words: ~850 Warnings: Discussions of coming out and mostly fluff. Writing the fic made me weirdly emotional but again I think I am projecting-

-Asnyox

You wondered why there was no guide to any of this and you were nervous. You wondered if maybe it would be better to try to write it down instead of tell people out loud but that seemed weird. It did not help that you felt like you were lying, or unsure for now- what if it will pass, what if next week you change your mind, what if – what if?

What if you never try and live a lie.

After careful consideration you decided that perhaps you should start with one of the few people you know who could openly be himself proud and loud, every day.

“You wanted to talk?” Alex raised his eyebrow as you nervously sat across from him. You wanted advice- and you figured that Alex would be the best source to ask advice on this topic. However, you only realized after you asked him for help that you would first need to come out to him. It’s not that you thought he would not accept you, but it being the first time you told him- you told anyone that you were non-binary made you nervous. You rubbed your hands together unconsciously, and Alex noticed your behaviour. Last time he checked you were never nervous around him- so he wondered what was going on. He was about to ask when you took a deep breath.

“I need your advice on coming out- ” you had a painful smile on your face, “I- I think I am non-binary and I want to tell our friends but I don’t know how,”

Alex schooled his expression of surprise and smiled, putting a hand on your shoulder.

“Thanks for telling me.” He smiled and your nervousness subdued a little, “now first take a deep breath and we can come up with a game plan,” Alex guided you to a calmer state of mind. You still felt a little jittery, but he managed to assure you little by little that of your own confidence.

“The worst part,” Alex had told you, “Is the learning to say it to people. But you can pick – either do it in a get together, or whenever you see someone.” “But aren’t you nervous?” You sighed, “I felt like vomiting just now.” “At first it was horrible- I used to suck it up, especially when I was not sure about the people around me. But little by little I learned to get over that. Why would I care about the opinion of those that would not accept me?” Alex laughed, “Of course, it helps that in the meantime I found a group of people that accepted me and that makes it a lot easier.” Alex sided eyed you, before he offered you a smile, “It won’t ever be the easiest to come out, you never know how people will react, but with the right people behind you and a little self-worth you can get far. Remember, you do this for yourself and because you are worthy to be respected and known for who you are. You do not own anyone your coming out except for yourself, (Y/n).”

───────────

One afternoon you were just sitting on the balcony of the Chase place with some of your friends. Sam, Magnus, Blitzen and Hearthstone were all in their separate conversations. You looked around and figured that right now was just as well as any other time. You felt slightly nervous, but Alex was sitting next to you, trying to subtly reassure you that you could do it.

“Do you want to?” She asked and you nodded, “Should I get everyone’s attention, or will you?” “I don’t know, Alex.” You took a deep breath, “Could you…?” “With pleasure,” Alex smiled, “Hey listen up you fucks!”

Everyone turned to look at Alex, and after Blitzen point Hearthstone int her direction all eyes were on the girl sitting next to you, and in turn this meant that all eyes were on you. The silence was deafening, but as Alex nudged you, you knew there was no backing down anymore. No more lying to yourself.

“Pronoun update!” You did jazz hands, after which you resumed signing your words as you spoke, “I think I’m nonbinary so if you could refer to me with they slash them?” you just announced and your friends nodded. “Any name changes or?” Magnus asked and you shook your head. “Not yet, am thinking about it.” You shrugged. “Cool. Tell us when there are more updates,” Magnus said and as you nodded everyone slowly returned to their conversations. You took a deep breath, returning the thumbs up Blitzen was sending you from where he was standing, before he started conversing with Hearthstone again.

“And? How do you feel?” Alex asked. “Somehow not really different,” you rubbed your hand over your heart, “but lighter. I definitely feel lighter.” “Good,” Alex elbowed you rather roughly, “I’m proud of you, (Y/n).”

#request #requests #alex fierro x reader #pjo x reader #mcga x reader #platonic x reader #magnus chase x reader #he has speaking lines i swear #coming out fic #riordanverse x reader #xreader #reader instert #xyou #magnus chase and the gods of asgard #cabinofimagines #coi #admin asja #admin asnyox

63 notes · View notes

illegallyexisting · 2 months

Text

First Visit

(To the Geiermann Asylum)

This was an incredibly long project that i started sometime in the midst of January. I hope you all enjoy!!

Sweet, sweet word count: 8,111

The air was strikingly cold with dead trees lining the perimeters of the asylum; in bold gothic letters the front read “The Geiermann Asylum.” The building loomed over them, watching as they walked towards it. The bricks were old and worn with vines and plants entangling them, two large, dark wood doors adorned the top of the crooked steps.

The man that was touring (is that the right word?) them finally broke the silence, “I don’t think this place was touched in a long, long time. My dad just entrusted me to the place, said he got it from an old friend of his and that she wanted to make sure that it would be in safe hands.” They all made it up the creaking stairs and the man opened the door for us; Elliot – a newly adult with a slender build and pumpkin themed sweater on – was first to peak their head through.

“It's very... Dark. And even colder in here then out there!” Her voice echoed slightly from inside the asylum.

“Well, the lights aren’t even on in there yet, though I don’t even know if those work anymore, last they were changed was probably in the ‘60s...” The man gave them a polite smile and ushered them all inside. Inside the asylum was, well, cold, but particularly massive. In front there was a long hallway stretching for who knows how long, on their left was a regular wall with what was a torn-up photo (or perhaps a painting) and table sitting underneath it with a wilted vase of flowers on top. As they walked in further, it was apparent that leading upstairs was a dilapidated staircase on their right, and next to it a staircase leading to another abyss. The man turned on the lights and they came flickering to life, very dimly to say the least.

“I don’t think there's anything else to mention, you’se can all just look around, I’ll be outside walking if you need me.” He gave them another polite smile and left the asylum. Everyone went to their little corners of the entrance way, Vixen to a nearby couch slightly covered by cobwebs, Elliott to the mysterious staircases, Jesse looking at the different paintings and photos (about all of them horribly damaged by time), and Laysha was taking in the entire abandoned asylum. She looked all around, hopping from place to place seeing what her friends were doing, studying all of the entry room. As she was doing so, thoughts popped into her mind, “Who were the people here?” “What were they like?” “What were they here for?” but her thoughts were interrupted.

“Hey, you alright?” It was just Jesse standing next to her now.

“Oh, yes, yes. Say, what if we looked around some more? Obviously, the place is huge, so what if we split into groups of two? We could cover more ground,” She turned around looking at the rest of her friends, “And call each other if anything happens!” Laysha smiled, clapping her hands together thrice to get Vixen and Elliott’s attention. They lifted their heads up from where they were standing (and sitting).

“Alright, so, here’s how this is gonna go. Jesse and Vixen, you two go together and explore the upstairs and me and Elliott will explore down here. Any questions? No, good!” Laysha gave the group a beaming smile as the others left and beckoned Elliott to come to her.

“So, where exactly do we go now? I mean we could go in that weird basement thing-” And Laysha immediately interjected.

“What about just down the hallway and search there? I don’t want to go down there yet, and plus I said that we were gonna explore here.” Elliott tilted his head, but sighed and gave her a reassuring look.

“Alright fine, you lead the way then!”

Laysha laughed and began walking down the hallway, looking at everything in awe. Elliott followed in pursuit, looking around with her. The walls were littered with cobwebs and pictures hung up on the walls, along with the occasional shelf of books or years dead plants. Eventually, they made their way to what seemed to be another corridor but filled with rooms upon rooms, each with small windows – barely enough room to stick your head through – on the sides of the doors and on them. Some doors were open, some stayed shut, as with some of the windows being destroyed. They were both looking down at each side of the hallway with simultaneous confusion and awe, until something caught Elliott’s eye. It seemed to be coming from an open door some ways off, and it looked like someone was staring straight back at him. He squinted his eyes, but just as he noticed the supposed person, they went straight back into the room. He took a few steps back until they accidentally bumped into Laysha.

“Woah, everything all right?”

“I- Well- No. Look, I’m, fairly sure I saw someone, they had like- Shoulder length black hair and they were completely like-” Elliott continued to stumble his way through his words, confusing Laysha that such a person like them could even be stammering this much.

“Alright, just calm down! Maybe it was just a trick of the light? Aren’t you needing to get new glasses soon, too, right?”

He started to calm down, lowering his voice, “Right, you’re right. Trick of the light, or eyes, or something.” They both chuckled lightly and continued as Elliott tried to shake off what he might have seen. Laysha went down the left side of the hallway and Elliott went down the right side, albeit nervous. As Laysha went forward, she looked inside every nook and cranny of the doors, seeing what was in them and what was left there. Practically every room held nothing but multiple, horrifically dirtied bunk beds, the occasional glass on the floor, and spider webs everywhere. There appeared to be nothing more than just the same thing over and over, stretching on for God knows how long. On the right side of the hallway was Elliott, doing the same as Laysha, but looking more carefully and wondering if what they saw wasn’t a trick of the eyes. What if it was someone else? What if it isn’t just the four of them in the asylum? Was it a bad idea? They are already in the asylum, too late to back out now.

Meanwhile, Vixen and Jesse were doing the exact same thing, looking through the rooms. Although eventually they had found a rubber room, it was less a bright white room and more so a grayed and deadened space.

Jesse spoke, making Vixen jump, “You would guess that there would be more, I dunno, things here?”

“Well, these are just normal rooms you would see at a place like this,” They both exited the room, “You think we’re looking in the wrong place?”

“Could be, I guess we’ll have to walk around more and see!” Jesse smiled, giving Vixen a vague sense of reassurance. Jesse started to walk off in another direction, but Vixen stayed back just for a few seconds. He spun and looked around, down the hallways, through other rooms. Then he had a strange feeling, like he was being looked at, stalked. He noticed a slight bluish, colored glow, his mind went on full speed, and he hurled around behind him to see where it was coming from, catching a glimpse of what looked like an eye, but as he turned it was too late. The light disappeared. He shrieked, and immediately ran back over to Jesse, promptly pretending that nothing had happened, but Jesse turned towards Vixen with a mix of confusion and shock on his face.

“Did you just scream?” But he was cut off by Vixen.

“There was something watching me.” Vixen’s voice quiet and he looked petrified, eyes wide and arms close to his body.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, Jesse! I saw some weird light and I turned around, and then it was gone!”

Jesse stopped and fully turned to Vixen, grabbing him by the shoulders.

“Look, it was probably just the sun casting by,” Jesse was cut off again.

“Listen to me, it was blue! There is something here with us,” Vixen wasn’t as scared anymore, but now annoyed that his friend won’t listen to him. His voice became more strained, “I don’t know what it was, but I know there was definitely something!”

“Alright, alright, I believe you, just stick close to me for now.” He took his hands off Vixen’s shoulders and nodded his head to follow, and Vixen followed suit.

Downstairs, Laysha, and Elliott found their way out of the twisting hallways and back somewhere near the main entrance. Elliott had gone over to what seemed to be a storage room, investigating whatever could be in there. Laysha had wandered down another, shorter hallway with only a few paintings and photographs lining the left side of the wall and on the right was a dark, wooden door. There was nothing too intriguing about it, but it drew Laysha in; another place to explore! She walked towards the door in effortless steps and opened it up.

Inside the room was an old, dusty wood desk with a chair slid into it- An office, perhaps? The walls were a deep maroon with entirely black floorboards. To the sides of the centered desk were two bookshelves, both partially filled with varying books. On the back wall was a window covered with curtains and underneath it was two strange, square objects both covered in a white sheet. Laysha fully walked in and was hit with a strange aroma, an odd smell of iron. She realized that on the desk layer a large book and she went over to investigate. Opening it up to a random page near the end, she soon discovered that it was all full of names; names of the patients and their reasons for stay. The names read as Ruby Di Amore, Ethel Wisconsin, Sherwood Sappington, Oscar Quinlan, Edwin Forester, Dorothy Falk… The list seemed to stretch on and on. The book seemed to hold upon hundreds of pages as she flipped through, skimming through the names of all these people, at a certain point the names had stopped being written down with the last name being recorded in 1922. She started reading before the last date, but a strange presence irked her, something that told her to look around, be more alert, but she continued and carefully read the names.

Elliott had searched around the storage room but found nothing of interest. Most of the boxes were full of old clothes or straightjackets, trinkets, and other odds, destroyed paintings beyond repair. So, he exited the room in a huff, slightly let down by the unexcited boxes. Instead, they decided to put their focus on the stairways and started towards them. Obviously, there was no way that they could walk up the dilapidated staircase, so why not downwards? He took one look and was met with a curious darkness staring right back at her. She took a deep breath and prepared herself, then took the plunge and started their walk down.

The stairway was long and did not seem to get much brighter, but eventually Elliott made his way to the bottom. He was met with not a destroyed, old basement, but what seemed to be a recreated speakeasy bar, decorated with nice warm colors. A bar was on the left, all stocked with alcoholic beverages and glasses and on the right were booths, accompanied by tables situated throughout the makeshift speakeasy. He took a closer look and led himself through.

Laysha was still listing off names from the patient book. Soaking in all their names, histories, and entries. It was about 2 pages back that she decided to stop and remembered her surroundings. The iron smell, the dull room. She sighed, standing up and scooting out of the chair, only to bump right into someone. She yelped, apologizing, before standing back and looking at the person in front of her.

Who she was met with was a man fully decked in red towering over her. Against his greying hair, he was wearing a stark top hat – almost reaching the ceiling in height – and a frock coat littered with stitched up patterns across his stomach. A silver pocket watch shined against his dark red pants, but Laysha was quickly drawn back up to his face; an annoyed look turned to anger.

“About time,” His deep voice bellowed across the room – what seemed like wisps coming up from his shoulders alighting his face, “What you think you are doing here and why are you here?” The man had a thick French accent, although that should not matter to her right now, she was entirely impressed.

“Oh, me and my friends were just- Uhm, looking around here,” Laysha stumbled over her words, giving out a nervous smile and slowly scooted away from the man before having a late realization, “Wait are you-”

“Friends? There are more?” He watched her carefully as she moved away, charily inspecting her movements.

“Well, yes, there is. There’s four of us, I don’t know where the rest of them are, sir,” She stopped in front of the left bookshelf, glancing around before holding her hand out for a handshake, “I’m Laysha, and you?” She kept her voice as calm and approachable as she could. All he did was turn, look down at her hand, then back up at her, raising a brow.

“Dr. Geiermann,” He rubbed his face and sighed. He glanced around the room in thought, wondering what move to make next, “I cannot bother doing this, I will let Vincent find the rest of you...” He bowed his head whilst mumbling words underneath his breath, before walking forward and disappearing into the wall. Laysha stood there in complete shock. Did she witness a ghost for herself? An actual dead person, standing in front of her? I mean there was no doubt about it, he looked human, but his eyes were black and hollow save for two pink pupils in the middle. And the wisps coming off his shoulders! He was dressed in what could it have been- the Victorian era at least. He did not seem happy to see her at all, or to hear that her friends came along with her, but his name... Dr. Geiermann! Of all the people, could she have just met the past owner?

Back downstairs, Elliott was still in awe. Looking around and studying the place.

He thought aloud, “But how could this even be here? It couldn’t be that old, half of this stuff is new...”

They looked behind the bar and picked up a bottle of whiskey, checking everywhere on it to see if he could find a date. After turning it around quite a few times, she managed to find a due date on the back of it.

January 30th, 2021, that's only a few days away.

Thinking aloud again, she spoke, “Now who in God’s name would have a place like this underneath an asylum of all things and even keep it stocked!”

“Well, well, can’t a few ghosts have a good time as well?” The voice appeared behind her, giggling as she stood completely frozen. A bluish light materialized from behind, complimented with reds and purples. Elliott slowly turned to face the mysterious voice, the liquid quaking in her grasp.

“What, a little chicken-hearted?” She fully turned around, now in front of them was a half-faced man. A grin was spread across his face, his pupils large and glowing behind his red tinted glasses.

Holding his hand out to shake, he spoke once more, “Hello.”

Back up in the second story, Vixen and Jesse stuck close to each other. The grey light shined through the cracked and broken windows of the asylum, lightening the already dim glow of the lightbulbs. Across both hallways, were the same rooms, repeatedly. Holding the same things; bunkbeds, dirtied floors, chipped off walls, and cobwebs. Despite this, they thought that if they still peaked in, there would be something different. Maybe not. At a certain point, the hallway broke off into two once more.

“Do you think it would be worth going down there?” Jesse questioned as he turned his head to his friend.

Vixen tilted his head, shifted a bit then responded in a wary tone, “No, I don’t think it would be worth it. What's to say that it isn’t the same thing again like the time before,”

“True, true.” Jesse responded, but something diverted their attention. In the corner of their eye, they saw a shadow walk by and what sounded like insults being thrown each and every way.

‘Idiot.’

‘Could not bother to stay put.’

‘But he is always like that, isn’t it?’

They kept going until the man passed their view and Jesse went chasing after the man. By the time Vixen even registered what had happened, Jesse turned the corner and was gone.

When Jesse turned, there was no one there, the man was completely gone. He couldn’t hear the person anymore, like he had vanished out of thin air. Vixen came running back up to him, startled and out of breath.

“Jesse, what do you think you’re doing?” He was huffing, trying to catch his breath.

“I was trying to see who that was,”

“Let me guess, they weren’t there anymore?”

“No, they weren’t. All I could make out is that he might have been wearing some sort of, I don’t know, top hat?”

Vixen’s eyes widened and he started to tug on Jesse’s shirt, visibly shaken, “Come on, Jesse, there’s clearly other people here and I don’t know if we should be staying any longer. I swear, there was someone watching me before, and I don’t want to experience that again!”

“Well, what’s to say that the others didn’t see anything, too? Maybe Laysha saw something or someone – this is more her specialty.”

As soon as Jesse finished speaking, both heard a yelp from downstairs. They both looked at each other before agreeing in silence to rush down to see what had happened.

It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the first story, and they were met with Elliott, looking entirely disheveled.

Jesse ran up to her, desperately inquiring, “What in the world happened down there, are you okay?”

Elliott took a step back, catching herself and looking at her friend confused, “You only just heard me?”

“What do you mean, were you yelling beforehand?”

“Of course I was! There was this, like, blue light behind me and then someone said something, and I turned around and he was inches away from my face!”

“Alright well who was this he?”

“Why do you think I know?”

“I don’t know, describe him then!”

“He was all in fancy clothes, top hat and all; he even had a cane! I think he was wearing some type of tailcoat?” She paused to catch her breath, trying to run her mind back up to speed with the rest of her body.

Vixen crossed his arms – more so hugging himself, “Great, completely great, this place is actually haunted! What are we supposed to do now?”

Jesse huffed, upset at Vixen’s remark, “We just wait for Laysha, Elliott where exactly is she?”

“I’m fairly sure she went to the office last I was with her,”

“What do you mean ‘last I was with her?”

“Well, we split up to cover more ground on the first floor, but I am fairly certain she did go there. Do we go get her, or?”

“Unless she comes to us herself, we’ll go and find her then.”

Back in the office with Laysha, she was still reeling from her encounter with an actual ghost! How cool is that? She was already tapping away on her phone, writing down what the man looked like and what she thought of him, so she remembered. Now she has to tell her friends. Quickly putting her phone back in her pocket, she rushed outside of the office. She booked it outside only to meet right with her friends, waiting for her. They all looked different degrees of shocked.

She tilted her head, confused, “Did something happen, what’s wrong?”

Jesse was the first to tell her, “Look, all of us are pretty sure this place is haunted, me and Vixen saw some guy walking down the hallway, along with something glowing, watching Vixen, and Jesse had someone right up to their face!”

“Oh, yeah, it is,” She gave Jesse a wide smile, “You just realized that?”

“What do you mean? Did you know that beforehand?”

“Well, not really,” she crossed her arm, holding up her hand to her chin, “I came across one when I was in that office. So, you found more?”

“Yes, we found more!” He was more aggressive in his tone now, very much upset about the fact that she didn’t tell any of that to him sooner.

“Sweet! Where are they?”

“We don’t know, they’re all gone now,” Jesse put his hands on his hip, “How would you suggest we find them? Seems like they’re all spread out around this maze of a place,” He appeared to be more levelheaded now, softening his voice.

Laysha made a quiet “Hm” sound, “What if we just go searching from where they came from? Didn’t Elliott say that they came from the speakeasy, did you respond to the ghost in any way, or did you just run?”

Elliott promptly piped up, “No, I just ran,” He clasped his hands and shuffled in his spot a little bit, “The guy seemed creepy either way.”

Laysha had a bright, encouraging smile on her face, “Well then maybe he’s still there, I say we go check.”

Without giving any of her friends a choice, she hastily made her way down the winding hallways all the way to the makeshift speakeasy.

The entrance to the speakeasy was as dark as ever; like it was sucking in the surrounding light for itself. Laysha swiftly made her way down the stairs, intaking every little detail (about as much as her eyes could let her). The oldened floorboards creaked beneath her shoes until she finally made it down. As she stepped down, she immediately went in a sprint to look for the supposed ghost. She booked it straight towards the bar, looking down behind it but alas, found nothing. Rapidly jumping up and over from the bar, she looked past the nearby corner of the room, but there was still nothing in sight. The entire speakeasy was flat and open and there were no ghosts to be seen.

Laysha sighed and moped to the center of the room, “Well, so much for that.”

“Well, I wouldn’t give up so easily now!”

She jumped and instantly turned around, abruptly met with a man smiling only mere inches from her face. As she turned away, he floated backwards and held his hand out to shake. Laysha shook it and promptly had a horrible, painfully cold sensation going up through her hand and into her arm.

“Hello, hello! The name’s Vincent, Dr. Vincent Geiermann and you are?” He rapidly shook her hand up and down, not even letting go for just a second.

She barely understood what he was saying, sounding like a slur of vowels and breaths strung together and barely pronounced consonants. Laysha quickly pieced together that he was asking what her name is.

Talking with a steady voice, she responded, “Oh, my name is Laysha, Laysha Boyer. Those are my, uh, friends over there.” She gestured with her head and saw Elliott giving her a disapproving shake of the head.

With an unnatural turn of the neck, the doctor stared at her friends with an even wider half-faced grin. They all stared at Dr. Vincent with large eyes. The man was dressed from head to toe in shades of blue and green; save for his circular, bright red glasses and a top hat taking up most of his height. His tailcoat was spread out as he floated, and underneath it seemed to be a tie and a green button-up. Most notable of all was the mask covering the left side of his face.

He floated over to the group, kicking his feet and giggling. Scanning over the group, his cyan pupil began to widen.

“Say, what exactly brought you’se four here?” He turned upside down and proceeded to float over them, “Its a rarity to see anyone that's here and not around to mess up the place or whatnot; but you’se seem like a good bunch!”

The ghost chuckled after finishing his sentence and the group all took turns glancing and nervously looking at each other. Suddenly, he flipped back upwards and twirled his cane, setting it right back on the ground. His legs continued to float as he rested his arms on the cane.

Jesse was the one to pipe up first, “Well, the gist is that we kind of... Hunt ghosts? And we were here to see if there were any to, uh...” He trailed off, still baffled about everything that is occurring.

Elliott finished for him, “We were coming to see if we could buy it and use it as a haunted place attraction.” She was completely unmoving from her spot, letting her monotone voice do all the work. Dr. Vincents eye widened as his smile managed to creep up through his face.

He let out a sinister laugh before responding, “Oh, how lovely, lovely! Also, also, did you happen to see any other ghosts on your little tour?” Dr. Vincent seemed entirely unphased by the whole “buying the asylum” bit and instead indulged in his own conversation.

“I found a ghost in the office-” Laysha was cut off in an instant by the ghost.

“Oh, that was my father, don’t worry about him!” He giggled and joked, not having a care in the world (I guess you wouldn’t if you’d been on Earth for that long).

Vixen made a small gasping noise before questioning, “Wait so you are-”

Dr. Vincent cut him off immediately; already knowing the question and answer, “Yes, yes, second – and last, heir to the throne of the asylum! I thought, I thought I gave it away with the whole introducing myself as doctor and Geiermann, not the brightest of the bunch, eh?”

“Well, I-”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” He appeared over to Vixen in less than a second, “You even lose a bit of that smartness when you’ve been staring at the daisy roots for how long!” He laughed and leaned his head on Vixen’s shoulder until the boy rapidly stammered away from the ghost. Dr. Vincent promptly reappeared back to his original standing point and continued their little conversation.

“So, you’se were saying about possibly buying the place; turn it into those haunted house ‘tractions, yeah? How much we talking here?” Not being able to stay still, he started floating and roaming around the group; making zig zags between them. Patiently (or not so) waiting for a response.

Laysha started walking towards her friends, watching the ghost drift mesmerizingly above, “Well, I think- I guess it would depend on how much you would like it to be.”

She returned to her friend group, but Elliott leaned in and asked her, “Do you not think it would matter more if we asked the guy that owns the place?”

“Well, considering that there are also other people that live here, I think we should ask them too!”

Elliott sighed, not wishing to pursue the conversation, so he let Laysha and Dr. Vincent continue with their bargaining.

She crossed her arms, “Exactly how old is this place?”

The ghost paused, tapping the bottom of his chin with a quizzical look, and making a ‘Hm’ sound. Without warning, a large puff of red smoke appeared right next to Dr. Vincent. As it dissipated, a figure took form and revealed that it was the same ghost from the office; Dr. Geiermann himself.

He spoke in a low, annoyed voice, “One hundred and thirty-seven years old. I thought you would do better, Vincent,” He turned to the group and raised a brow, “You are the others I presume?”

Vincent answered right away for them, “Yes, yes, they’re visitors, visitors!”

“Trespassers, imbécile,” He shot his head over to his son and frowned, “You are seriously giving the asylum away to children?”

Laysha argued, “We are not children! We have a whole job to do, that’s why we want to buy this asylum in the first place!”

“I do not want this place to be the next dernier cri, so do not bother-”

Vincent rapidly flew over to Laysha and held his hand out with a malicious smile, “How does 5 grand sound?”

Dr. Geiermann sputtered and stammered for a second before gathering himself together, but by that time Laysha had made her choice.

“It’s a deal.” She shook his hand and started giggling as his smile grew, unnaturally stretching up to his eye.

“And how! So wonderful, wonderful!”

“No, Vincent, not wonderful,” Dr. Geiermann grabbed his son by the shoulders, moving him away from Laysha. Vincent stared up at his dad with a confused and frankly annoyed expression, “You do know what you are doing, right? You are seriously giving it away that easily? You did not even think!”

“First of all, I thought it all the way through.”

“En cinq secondes, sérieusement?”

“Yes, I know, shocking. I think it would be nice to have more visitors, wouldn’t you say?”

Dr. Geiermann sighed and rolled his eyes, exhausted, “Tu me donnes mal à la tête...”

Vixen leaned into Laysha and whispered to her, “What is he saying?”

“I have no clue,” She replied in a similar subtle tone.

Vincent exclaimed once more as he whipped his head around to the group; his pupils a wide blue, “We have come to an agreement!”

Dr. Geiermann chipped in an immediate, “No we did not,” he scooted his son away and stiffly approached the friends. He stopped just in front of them, staring them down; he finally replied, “If you go through with buying this place, I have rules. You touch not a thing, you change nothing, you add nothing; is this go to be a paid tour?”

Laysha panicked for a moment before responding, “Oh, uh, yes?”

“Then you can put a box next the front entrance. That will be the only thing you add. You will add caution tape to the front of the stairs,” he walked over to the end of the staircase and pointed to the top of it, leading back to the main hall, “None of us want anyone else down here. You tell people, stay together, no one go to upstairs near the main entrance. Only the first and second floors. Do you understand?”

Laysha shook her head in slight confusion, but he had a point, it was his asylum after all, “Alright, we’ll follow your rules.”

Vincent responded an unnecessary and drawn out, “Boring,” he made a yawning motion with his hand. His father shot him a sharp glare, narrowing his eyes, but Vincent did not seem to care nor notice, “So many rules,” He tilted his head backwards to where his father was standing, “You’re a real pill, you know that?”

“And you think of yourself as better?” Dr. Geiermann started walking his way back to the group, looking down at his son, “You were about to let them do qui sait quoi!”

“Oh, boohoo, at least it would’ve brightened the place up a bit,” He stuck his tongue out nonchalantly, “But I’m guessing you wouldn’t want that, eh?” He started giggling at his own joke.

His father rolled his eyes, but took his attention back to the friend group, “So, you understand what you can and cannot do?”

Laysha nodded, “Yes, we do,” she glanced over to her friends with a desperate look in her eyes. The group nodded with murmurs of yes’s and yeah’s.

Dr. Vincent swiftly turned his head up and in an unnatural pattern, he swiftly floated over back to Laysha and shook her hand once more.

“Another deal then!” He rapidly shook her hand up and down before moving onto the rest of the friend group. The ghost swapped his hands, turning them over on one another, almost looking like a pretzel in comparison. Vixen had jumped back slightly at the sheer freezing cold of Dr. Vincent’s hand. Elliott and Jesse just nodded and shook, exchanging distressed looks to each other.

He finally let go, sparing everyone of a frostbitten hand. The ghost ascended upwards, suddenly stopping just before the ceiling and he looked down at the newfound owners in an aplomb pose. Dr. Geiermann watched his son with skepticism and uncertainty.

“So, any more questions or anything for me at all?” Dr. Vincent smiled as he scanned the group. He checked their mannerisms, any minute details. The way they looked; the way they stared in absolute awestruck.

Seemingly with no questions asked, he was just about to continue until Vixen impulsively asked, “What’s with the half a mask?”

The ghost snapped his attention abnormally over to the young man, his smile unwavering. He immediately flitted down to him, only mere inches away from his face, close enough to feel the icy chill. Then he spoke, “Wouldn’t you like to know,” Vixen was astonished and creeped out, the color seemingly draining from his face. His lips quaked, but all the ghost did was chuckle at his sheer fear until it turned into a boisterous laugh, swinging his arm around Vixen, “Oh, I’m just messing with ya!” Dr. Vincent took his arm away from Vixen, still continuing his giggling spree.

Dr. Geiermann looked at his son, his pupils visibly only a slit now, and turned to Vixen, “This is what you will deal with now,” Vixen nodded slowly while giving out a nervous chuckle.

Laysha had been in thought for quite some time, and decided, “If you have rules, then I have some as well,”

“For my own asylum?”

“Yes, actually. First of all, don’t interfere much,” She got cut off in an instant.

“Again, in my own asylum?” The ghost took a menacing step forward, narrowing his eyes.

Laysha confidently continued, “Let me finish, do not interfere much while we are working. Like doing tours and stuff.”

Dr. Vincent floated over to his father with his arms drooping downwards, seemingly sliding over to him without a single real movement, “Didn’t you say that the whole deal of buying this place was to turn into a, y’know, haunted tour?”

“I mean, yes, obviously, then there would be no fun! But just maybe keep the whole...” Laysha trailed off, trying to think of the correct words to use to not make anyone upset, “Everything to a minimum.”

“By everything do you mean him?” Dr. Geiermann nodded his head towards his son, and he seemed entirely unfazed about the fact they were now talking about him. He was just fiddling with his gloves.

Laysha nodded slowly in agreement, “Yes, and whoever else is here in the asylum, like the past patients, I’m assuming.”

“I saw someone staring me down in one of the hallways thirty or so minutes ago,” Elliott piped up from the midst of the group, walking forward slightly, “Was that one of them or?”

The ghosts both promptly answered, “Ruth,” Dr. Vincent snapped his head up and Dr. Geiermann stood taut as he stared at Elliott. Dr. Geiermann spoke normally, “Do not worry about her, she just likes staring on occasion.”

“Not like she can do much either way with how balled up she normally is!” Dr. Vincent started to shake in laughter, nudging his dad by the side with his elbow to see if he thought his, quite frankly, mean-spirited joke was. All Dr. Geiermann did was look down at him, and stare at him with completely dead eyes and no sign nor even a flinch of joy within this man.

“Well alright then,” Dr. Vincent rolled his eyes and gave out a dramatic sigh.

Laysha continued her list of rules, ignoring (well doing her best to ignore) what happened, “Do not fiddle with the money box and...” Now she completely forgot what she was going to say. Laysha frantically darted her eyes to her friends, hoping they could at least think of something to help her with ground rules or anything!

Jesse had stepped up to help Laysha, and spoke for her, “How about no picking up objects, so it isn’t too obvious that you guys are actually there,”

“Oh, and no making too much noise.”

Dr. Vincent tilted his head, “Exactly what counts as too much noise?”

Geiermann added on, “Can I even be allowed a walk?”

“Well, yes, obviously! Just don’t go around causing a ruckus,” Laysha quickly rebutted, “Like smashing stuff or arguing to each other.”

The ghost made a snide remark to his son, “Do you hear that, Vincent?”

“Yeah, did you?” He snapped back, crossing his arms in defiance, “With how much of a bluenose you already are, I never woulda’ thunk you do anything to begin with!”

“How many idiotic insults will you make until you stop your wake snakes spree?”

“Till the death of the universe, dearest father!” He leaned up close to Dr. Geiermann’s shoulder before breaking down in a laughing fit from how funny he thought he was.

“You are a complete lunkhead!” Dr. Geiermann shoved his son away from him.

The friend group simply watched on as the two ghosts started to go back and forth with each other. They kept spouting out different insults, annoying and taunting one another. Getting louder and louder, Dr. Vincent started shouting out profanities now, and he started getting physical. He shoved and poked his father, his gestures becoming increasingly varied and wild. Dr. Geiermann only stood his ground and continued to verbally reprimand his son.

“Well, you never close your head, so that’s on you!” Dr. Vincent blurted out.

Dr. Geiermann defiantly acquitted himself, “On me? C’est vous qui ne vous taisez jamais!”

“Est-ce que je ne me tais jamais ? C’est parce que vous ne vous taisez jamais et que vous vous plaignez toujours!” Dr. Vincent quickly snapped back at him over and over, now very rarely even giving his father a chance to react.

Laysha shuffled backwards to her friends and whispered, “Still don’t understand what they’re saying?”

Vixen mumbled back a measly, “Nope.”

The argument had now become a full on shouting match. The ghosts were screaming at each other, and so loud that Elliott noticed something just out of the corner of her eye. She leaned over to see up the stairs and saw three other ghosts staring down at them; two to the right and one to the left. Elliott immediately recognized one of the ghosts coming from the right- Ruth. The one that was staring him down at the hallway, but the other two he had no clue of.

The shorter one, seemingly only a child, was of a magenta hue. Her hair was shaped almost like a bowl cut, and she was wearing an oversized simple dress. From what he could see, random dark splotches dotted her arms. The ghost to the left had his entire head covered in bandages. His was of a tan and blue colors, sporting a simple t-shirt and pants. Although, when Elliott looked closer, she noticed that his head was floating instead if being attached to any neck. Elliott nudged Laysha by the shoulder, tilting and gesturing with their head to look up towards the stairs. As she did, her eyes widened in realization.

“Visitors?” Laysha said a bit too loudly for her liking.

Dr. Geiermann and Dr. Vincent shot their heads over to the friends, then turning their attention too the staring ghosts upstairs.

Without missing a beat, Dr. Vincent’s face grew in anger, and he flew to the end of the stairs and yelled, “SCRAM!”

They all disappeared in an instant, although the child lingered for slightly longer before slowly moving out of view. Dr. Vincent put back his façade as soon as they left, and calmly floated back down in front of the group. Dr. Geiermann still looked like he was fuming from the argument but didn’t want to engage any more than he had to.

“So, what were we discussing again?” Quizzed Dr. Vincent.

The group was still visibly reeling from the shouting match, all of them having wide eyes. But Laysha once again took hold of the answer.

“We were, uh, talking about rules… But I think that was it, right guys?” She looked back and forth between her friends with a desperate look in her face and a nervous smile. All four of them nodded and gave different variations of yes; yup’s, yeah’s, and ‘mhm’ littered the air.

“And how! That was a lovely conversation- though excuse my father for the disturbance.” Dr. Vincent pointed back to his dad as he was about to blow a fuse.

Instead, Dr. Geiermann angerly stated, “You know what? No!” And just in a flash, he disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

“Well thankfully, he’s gone now, so we have nothing to worry about!” He chuckled mid-sentence before calming back down, resting to his unnatural grin. He floated over in front of the group and rapidly looked between them.

“So, anything else you’se guy’s wanna know? Any other questions?” He was currently floating upside down now, putting his cane horizontally up to his chest and spinning it, waiting for any response.

Laysha spoke up in an instant, “How long did you run this place? When did you start working here?”

Dr. Vincent started giggling, “Oh, sometime after my father had died! I only lasted about 20 years before I kicked the bucket, but it happens to the best of us,” He tossed and turned in a fit of laughter. Smiling maniacally, he continued on, “And it paid some good clams from my last job as well! But that’s all.”

“Oh, thank you for the insight then.”

Dr. Vincent shook her hand rapidly, again sending multiple waves of freezing shock up in her arms, “Of course, of course!”

She nodded and pulled away from him as soon as he let go, “So, that was all we needed, actually.”

“Oh, seriously? Well, thank you for stopping by,” He seemed to switch tones, seemingly threatening, “Better get the money here soon.”

Laysha chuckled nervously, “Yup.”

He swiftly floated over to the end of the staircase and beckoned the group to follow him. They all promptly followed him back up the stairs. He started talking as they walked up the stairs, but most of the conversation was filled with his giggling and vaguely audible sentences. The friends just nodded along with him as they went along, not understanding his fast pace. After the trek upstairs, they said their goodbyes to each other.

“I’ll make sure that this place is in tip top shape when you come back to check in in a week,” Dr. Vincent floated upright (finally), “Certainly a pleasant time meeting you’se four!”

“And to you as well-” Before Laysha could finish, he grabbed her hand and shook it for the umpteenth time.

“Well, goodbye, goodbye. Have a wonderful day!” He cheerfully exclaimed.

The group, one by one, exited the asylum, but were stopped for a few seconds to receive Dr. Vincent’s chilling shake. They all left down the steps, and he yelled to them, “Au revoir!” before he slammed the door without giving them a second to respond.

After they had left, they all joked about what had happened. The strange asylum, the eccentric ghost and his father (among the others they didn’t even get to meet).

“How many others do you bet were in there?” Jesse larked.

“Do you see how big that place is?” Elliott gestured to the massive asylum, “There has to be at least two-hundred ghosts.”

“Two hundred, seriously?”

Laysha laughed at their antics, deciding to walk around the asylum for a bit. She stared at the cracked bricks, littered with vines and plants. The entire building seemed to be taken back by nature now that she looked at it. She carried on walking to the right of the building, breathing in every detail, but she still wished that she questioned them more. What’s the history of this place? What about the ghosts that were sentenced to the asylum? Drowning in her thoughts, she made her way to one end of the building and peeking out from around the corner seemed to be a cemetery. Laysha tilted her head, above it read “The Geiermann Cemetery.” Could it have been for the past patients? Vixen interrupted her thoughts by appearing behind her, tapping her on the shoulder and giving her a bit of a scare.

“What are you doing over here?” Vixen quizzed.

“Just wanted to walk around the place, what about you?”

“We were looking for you,” He chuckled lightly, “Isn’t the guy supposed to pick us back up soon?”

“Oh, right, right! I completely forgot,” She glanced over back to the cemetery.

“What are you staring at?” Vixen leaned over to see what she was looking at.

“I don’t know, must have been an old graveyard or cemetery thing to keep the past patients. I mean, you heard what Elliott said,” Laysha gave him a polite smile, “About time we get going, I don’t want Jesse gnawing at my throat for being late.”

Vixen laughed and they went on their way.

They walked back, greeted their friends but Laysha had not told them about what she saw, and Vixen already seemingly forgot. After about a minute or so, the man arrived to pick them back up. He asked how they liked the place and if anything happened, but they had a silent agreement not to say anything about the ghosts just yet. They just joked about certain things that had happened (or changed them for the story) and went on with their lives. Laysha had told the man that she would like to buy it for the five thousand agreed before. He expressed a bit of shock but complied. They arrived back at the car and said their goodbyes to the man and drove off, discussing what to do next.

Epilogue…

Around 2 hours later...

Dr. Geiermann was looking outside a window on the far right of the asylum. The sun had started to set, and lay harsh shadows against the dead forest. Leaves were brushing around in the wind, dancing and swirling until the gushing wind had stopped. The sun was bright as it sunk down past the Earth from his view. No one else was roaming the hallways and no other sounds were being made. He was all alone with his thoughts. Up until a blue flume of smoke appeared behind him, and a familiar tricolor glow was seen. Dr. Geiermann let out an annoyed sigh before turning to look at his son.

“Have you come to apologize yet?” His face grew dark.

“For what?”

Dr. Geiermann groaned before responding, “Never mind.”

His son giggled and promptly rested his arm on his father’s shoulder, “But that wasn’t what I wanted to talk to you about.”

His father turned back around to the window, “What do you want of me, Vincent?”

“Oh, nothing, nothing! Just about those kids. So when they come back around and buy the place, who’s gonna look out for the tourists?”

“What exactly are you to get at here? Such as…” Dr. Geiermann trailed off, flitting and turning his hand about to get the right words, “Vous cherchez les touristes pour qu’ils ne nous voient pas?”

“Exactly!” Dr. Vincent snapped his fingers and moved his head away. He started floating around, tapping his finger on his chin, wondering, “So, who exactly do you think would be good for that?”

“Why are you asking me?” His son cut him off in a flash.

“Of course, you would be perfect, perfect! Thank you, thank you!” He gave his father a swift hug, and just as he appeared, he was gone once more.

Dr. Geiermann was left there to ponder what had just happened to him (again) and question what his son had gotten them all into. All he could for now, is stare back out into the now nightly dark woods, and wait until next week.

#boring days #ghost #ghost oc #writing #fiction #fiction writing #humor writing #character writing #ghost ocs #writers on tumblr #supernatural writing #ghost writing #ghosts #screams #I AM SO HAPPY I FINISHED THIS #FINALLY #IT TOOK ME HOW MANY MONTHS #BUT I FINISHED IT #YAYYYY

15 notes · View notes

rpmemesbyarat · 10 months

Text

RP Memes from Reddit Topic “What is a sad truth you’ve come to accept?”

“It's OK to be lonely. But if you are lonely and act like it, it can be one of the most potent social repellents.” “I’m willing to settle for things rather than hurt anyone’s feelings.” “Greed is the underlying cause of a lot of the world's suffering as it allows people to justify doing horrible things” “Why do we need to have multi-billionaires at the same time we have people living in horrible poverty? Why would anyone need four or five houses when so many people are homeless?” “Hard work does not equal success.” “I’m gonna die” “The average human has died more than once” “You can do everything right and still fail.” “Love can destroy your life just as much as it can brighten your life” “ You can go from waking up to the love of your life to waking up to the despair that they’re gone.” “People are stupid.” “Nobody cares about you unless they really know you, and even then it’s a toss up.” “The success of your future relationships is usually decided years before you get into them, by your current actions.” “People don’t love you the same way you love them.” “I can never have another drink of alcohol.” “Life is suffering” “Love isn’t enough to make a relationship work.” “People think love sustains a relationship, but it's the relationship that sustains love.” “I'll most likely never own a house.” “Can’t keep people around they either use me or want me around cause they’re bored” “The overwhelming majority of people you meet only care about what you can provide or do for them and will have no problem with abandoning or upgrading from you once you can’t provide those things for them anymore. Very few people on this world will like you for you.” “I botched it. The whole life thing.” “Like a good third of adults are still essentially children in grown up bodies.” “Being unable to handle getting dumped or initiating a break-up yourself can potentially doom you to the worst things relationships can bring to your life.” “It's becoming more and more clear that I'll be working low end jobs until I'm dead.” “Why do so many people love to tell men that it's okay to show emotions, but then turn right around any time that we do and make it clear that they'd just prefer for us to suffer in silence?” “Every year, one more idiot is elected into an office.” “It doesn't how much you do for someone, they can and will walk out of your life. Let them.” “You really can’t trust anyone.” “You never stop worrying about your kids, no matter how grown up they are.” “If you're looking for a relationship to solve your problems you are going to end-up either being someone's project or taking on one of your own.” “You can really only count on yourself. Sometimes the people you love and trust the most just aren't going to be there for you.” “I’ll never be out of debt.” “I am responsible for all of my problems.” “Life is unfair.” “Humanity is never getting better.” “Pretty much everything is a competition- friends, relationship, jobs, schools.” “You’re never going to be good enough for some people.” “Love always ends with sadness.” “I’m not special nor talented.”

“Sometimes you’re the annoying person everyone hates” “You can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped.” “Just because someone is family doesn't mean they have your best interest in heart.” “Life is unfair sometimes for no reason.” “The biggest pieces of shit will usually get away with it.” “I did what they wanted but now I'm unhappy with my life.” “Very few people in life will ever give a shit about you.” “Friendships are like plants that have to be watered in order to stay alive. Sometimes we forget to water the plant or choose not to.”

#rp meme #rp memes #roleplay meme #roleplay memes #roleplay starter #roleplay starters #rp starters #reddit

23 notes · View notes

miaushii · 7 months

Note

Love your art

Im new here, do you have any posts talking about those ocs you posted? Would love to hear about them

oh my god now that someone asked there isn’t a single person on this planet that’s gonna be able to make me shut up about my imaginary lesbians,,,

first off, introducing them!!! (also thank you sm<3)

(disclaimer, their lore is pretty fluid based on my mood or if i have a certain idea for a drawing for them)

Their names are Esther and Aisha!! They grew up together in a small town probably somewhere around Washington! Think gravity falls, very foresty and nature-y, but still a cozy small town where everyone knows everyone. Said town may or may not have suspicious cult activity. They met each other in like kindergarten and have been bffs since!! They’re both typically 16 in most of my drawings, but sometimes I draw them in their early 20’s. If it’s important to the context of a drawing i’ll put their ages in the tags!! They spend all their free time together and are superrrr inseparable :3

Before I get to the actual plot of their story i’ll introduce them individually ^_^

This is Esther!!

(i shouldve chosen a different facial expression for her introduction bc it doesn’t really represent her personality but i liked this drawing)

She’s somewhat popular, came from a family with some generational wealth (they aren’t rich rich but theyre still rich for their town) and her family is kindaaa involved in the weird cult but she doesn’t really know. She lives with her parents and older sister!! Her favorite class is math and english, but she hates history. She’s well liked by her peers and the others in the town because she’s nice and very pretty! They do think she’s a little off-putting though. She’s good at drawing, she loves doing landscapes!! She loves girly things and will give anyone a makeover any chance she gets. I’ll explain the rest once i get to explaining the real plot ^_^

This is Aisha!!

She’s honestly my favorite between the two I love her so much… She’s mixed south asian and white, her mom being Indian and her dad white. People see her as a pretty cool and aloof person, which is pretty accurate!! She loves music and her favorite bands are bôa, the cranberries, and the sundays!! possibly me projecting She plays the guitar!! Poorly, but still!!! She does well in science and not so much in math, but that’s okay though cause Esther always helps her. Aisha’s mother died in mysterious circumstances when she was young, a little bit before she met Esther, so she just lives with her dad and two little sisters.

Finally, the actual plot!!

here’s how it goes down:

One day when hanging out, Aisha tells Esther more about her mother’s death (something Aisha rarely talked about) and Esther recognizes some things relating to her family. She doesn’t tell Aisha this, though, and decides to start investigating it herself. She finds more about her parent’s cult activities, and once they know she knows, the cult invites her to join. She declines and, knowing the horrible things they’ve done, tries to run to Aisha’s house. she’s running through the forest to Aisha’s house when they catch her. Her own mother is the one to catch her, and with her father’s convincing, her mom kills her.

They buried her, and buried the carcass of a white doe on top to mislead anyone who dug it up.

The day after, a white doe rose from the dirt, healed wounds in the same places that took out Esther. Over the next month, the deer would hang out around Aisha’s house. Aisha had been super worried because Esther had gone missing and they were best friends. She was in her back yard when an injured white doe came up to her, and it was weirdly familiar??? she went to pet it and it turned into her bff Esther (woah) Esther’s memories are super foggy but she tells Bea what she remembers (she doesn’t really remember that her own parents were in the cult) and she can also morph from a deer to a human and back.

Aisha has to keep Esther hidden from the town because of the cult and that Esther was literally killed, and together they figure out the cult stuff while trying not to be killed!! And while this is going on, they figure out their feelings for each other!! (theyve been in love for years and never realized it)

I do eventually want to write a comic with these characters but i’m awful at writing, and that’s a biiiiig commitment im not sure im ready for!!

as an treat here are their original designs from before they were recurring characters in my art :3

#i also have a spider-man AU for them in my head that i haven’t drawn yet #art #drawing #ocs #original character art #original character #original story #oc art #oc lore #original character lore #lore dump #info dump #i love lesbians #lesbian oc #story writing #writing #star lake

7 notes · View notes

yallcantread · 1 year

Note

The difference is, South Park is good at satire. Matty is not good at it. South Park makes fun of Cartman and other racists to show they are in the wrong, Matty does not. The podcast is a good example of bad satire where everyone is just laughing at horrible jokes, not calling them out.

Matty himself said art isn't worth hurting people, and that's what he's done. Are you POC? Are you a member of one of the communities his satire has effected? Stop acting like you know everything when you are nothing more than an obsessed stan that can't admit maybe he isn't a great guy.

Could you provide specific instances of satire from Matty Healy that go beyond his appearance on a podcast known for its controversial content? Furthermore, when it comes to shows like South Park, which often uses accents and stereotypes for comedic effect, how do you differentiate those jokes from the episode featuring Matty Healy on ‘The Adam Friedland Show’? While you may personally believe he falls short in his attempts at satire, that is subjective. I, for one, don’t place much importance on your dislike for him based on what I consider to be trivial reasons.

Matty Healy has not caused harm to anyone. If you find yourself ‘hurt’ by his comments, it may be worth considering seeking support or assistance. As for your question about my ethnicity, whether I am a person of color or not is irrelevant to our discussion. The validity of my opinions or beliefs should not be determined by my minority status. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, regardless of their background. But you obviously didn’t read my blog post where I talked about my race just to avoid questions like this one but clearly people like you don’t read. Which is why we are here right now.

Let’s move away from identity politics for a moment. It’s important to recognize that personal experiences shape our perspectives. However, claiming to be hurt by sarcastic comments made months ago can sometimes seem like an attempt to show concern based on others’ expectations rather than genuine personal impact. ‘South Park’ is known for satirizing a wide range of individuals and groups, including both conservatives and liberals. It’s worth noting that the show has criticized people with viewpoints similar to yours in numerous episodes. If you’d like, I can provide you with a list of ten episodes that may challenge your perspective, PC Baby.

Why would they call out the jokes if they are intentionally bad and offensive? As for your assumption that I think I know everything, that’s not true. I’m just here to provide a perspective and engage in a discussion. It’s ironic that you’re trying to pick a fight with someone you don’t know, projecting your own frustrations. Some of us normal people can simply like artists without “stanning” them. Try it out sometime!

“Maybe he isn’t a great guy” to who? I don’t know him. Your reasons for why you believe he isn’t a “great guy”aren’t valid considering you don’t know him either. And the things you do know about him are pretty limited. 8 My opinions like everyone else are based off of what I’ve personally seen and have heard about through interviews, music and colleagues. I have worked with people in the music industry that have also worked with both the 1975 and Taylor Swift on individual occasions. Those individuals have told me that Matty and the band and Taylor Swift are wonderful individuals to be around. I have no reason to assume that his or her intentions are harmful. Thanks!

#matty healy #matty healy icons #taylor and matty #taylor swift #the 1975 #celebrities

8 notes · View notes

marisramblings · 2 years

Text

Revolutionary Girl Utena and its Complexities

Disclaimers: Spoilers for the anime. My thoughts aren’t organized. I am still reeling.

I finished my first watch of RGU. “Complexities” is an understatement for the layers of symbolism and meaning in this anime. I see a rewatch in the near future, but I want to let this sit for a while. My brain is still chewing things over and I want to put some of these musings to text.

I applaud the show for allowing the perspective to shift from Utena. Every side character has multiple points of development that truly flesh out the story. The show is meta from the start which makes the philosophical and symbolic aspects not only tolerable, but welcome. What is the power to revolutionize the world? Did Mikage actually exist? Why can swords be pulled from people’s chests? Who cares! Symbolism!

39 episodes are a slog to get through, but there are impact moments that make a full watch worth the time. When Utena lost to Touga, I actually teared up for her. She had a false view of her relationship with Anthy, something that did not sink in until the final arc. Utena reclaiming herself was not for Anthy’s benefit. She knows that Anthy will leave at a moment’s notice but lives in the illusion of them being friends. Utena speaks on behalf of her bride/princess like every other prince. This illusion is why she gets stabbed. Utena became a cog in the system (Othori, cycle of abuse/sexism) and perpetuates the cycle. You can’t reform the system, it must be destroyed or in this case, revolutionized. Utena may have been nicer but she was still acting like a prince. As they say,” better the devil you know than the one you don’t.” Anthy was used to Akio. She can predict him. Though it takes being literally run through with a sword, Utena finally acts as herself. She’s not a prince nor does she need to be one, she loves Anthy and wants her happy. She opened the coffin with that pure desire. She reaches out her hand as an offer not a command.

Is the power to revolutionize the world real? What would happen if any of the other duelists had won? I don’t think it actually exists in the manner everyone hoped it did. They already had the power within them. Utena revolutionized the lives of those around her. They became friends and supported each other. They learned and grew from their fears and traumas. A certain quotes comes to mind:

"Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.”

Utena saved Anthy with love. She showed the “witch” that there was more beyond her cage, that nothing justified Akio’s horrible treatment. Utena changed the world, even if it was just a few people.

Akio doesn’t understand what this power he’s searching for is. Akio was born into the system, the cycle of abuse and trauma that proliferates in perpetuity. He never changed. Akio held onto Dios. He did not grow. He was blinded by an illusion as the world changed around him. Akio was never going to win. Neither was Utena, until she threw away her dream, her illusion of being a prince, and stood as herself. Holding on too tightly to what used to be prevents us from growing (up). Juri held onto Shiori. Miki held onto Kozue and even projected her onto Anthy.

RGU is a story of growing up, of illusions and cycles of tragedies, and love.

#revolutionary girl utena #utena tenjou #anthy himemiya #akio ohtori #miki kaoru #juri arisugawa #mari’s rambles #tv review

76 notes · View notes

sc0tters · 6 months

Note

are you okay with the girls rn? you like NEVER interact anymore

I think I know who you are talking about as in the girls but in general last I checked I was good with everyone, nobody has an issue with me either (if you do I’m sorry and let’s chat about it!)

The last few weeks have been hectic though with studying for big projects to my brother coming to visit. So I haven’t interacted with posts because I’ve been so busy I don’t have the time to read.

When I do though living in Europe puts me in a different time zone to most of you and honestly trying to keep up with what people are posting can get kind of overwhelming so I’m currently sticking to what I see on my dashboard.

Beyond posts though I’ve been horrible with interacting with people in the way I usually do. I promise I haven’t forgotten about you, I’m just horrible at starting conversations and most days feel like I don’t have my footing properly on here which makes me all the more hesitant to try sometimes.

Y’all all do need to realise that the inbox or reblogging peoples posts aren’t the only way to interact with others…

Love you all though, and to those who celebrate happy thanksgiving!

#amber rambles #amber gets emotional

3 notes · View notes

sxugaryx · 6 months

Text

New Year, New Journey (Fanfic)

New Chapter from my main series <3

The new year was here, it was December 31st and although the scars of the disaster still linger in the minds of everyone, life must move on, by now, it was official to say, that everything had gone back to normal, it was, a strange feeling, seeing the world fall apart, just for it to rebuild the pieces so soon, almost as if nothing had happened, Pinocchio found it odd, how people could move on so fast, for something so horrible, he couldn’t really understand, because even if he now had a somewhat normal life, he could never forget everything he went through, everything his loved ones went through.

“My dear, awful things happen, all the time, things like war or natural disasters, and many people die, but we all have to move on, picking up the pieces, but that’s how life is” His mother was talking with him, he had joined her and Polendina to drink some coffee in the morning, his father was still in bed, “Let your father rest, for once, he deserves to oversleep a bit”

Pinocchio was drinking his coffee, he didn’t like black coffee so he added milk and a ridiculous amount of sugar, Antonia found it amusing, her boy was so adorable when it came to trying to act formal like her, he tried to hold the cup, just like she was doing, and it almost slipped his hands.

“Hopefully this new year will bring prosperity towards Krat, the people here deserve only the best” Antonia was an important figure in Krat, for her many years of life, she had seen Krat grow into the place it had become now, and she saw the destruction that rampaged the place, she was very proud of the people of Krat, after events like this, it takes years for people to go back to their new “normal” although after situations like this happen, there is never a normal, it’s before and after the catastrophe happened, yet the people of Krat rallied together, they wouldn’t let the situation take them down, all those deaths were not in vain, we all had to work together to make Krat a better place.

“I must say, it’s honorable how far we all have come, specially you Pinocchio, you have come so far, you aren’t the same boy as the one that awoke in the train station”

“Really?” Pinocchio had asked sincerely, a lot of people told him how much he had changed, yet he always felt those were all nice compliments.

“Well, you are still very polite, and a very good boy, but look at you now, you could barely hold a conversation, Gemini had to do all the talking on your part, you were always so quiet, and I don’t think it was just because you didn’t know what to say, you were…” Antonia paused, she had never had a conversation like this with him before, “A very sad boy, to be frank, I could tell, that a lot of the time, your smile, was just for us not to worry about you”

Pinocchio put his cup down, he couldn’t deny that it wasn’t true, over time, he gained skills, he became stronger, and he had always deeply cared about his loved ones, but it was only until everything was finally over, that he felt he was actually allowed to be himself, the trauma of the event had never left him, Pinocchio still has nightmares, he still has doubts about it all, yet he feels at peace with himself, emotions are complicated, and he finally feels like he truly belongs, that he isn’t just a tool, a means to an end, he isn’t Carlo either, he is his own, and he has no doubts about it.

“I’m happy now, with all of you, happy to be with you Mother”

Antonia took her son’s hand, “You never know what life it’s going to give you next, my sweet boy, know that no matter what, I will always be there for you, may this new year bring you only the best”

Pinocchio was feeling overwhelmed, he felt lucky, so lucky, he had imagined before, what life would be like without the fighting, and it was even better than what he envisioned, he began to cry, Pinocchio got out of his chair and kneeled next to his mother, his head was on her lap, hugging her while kneeling down, Antonia played her son’s hair “There, there” her boy is so sensitive.

“Polendina my love, would you mind leaving us alone for a moment?”

“Yes, of course, it’s time for me to attend the counter as well”

Polendina left the two of them alone, it was best for them to have their privacy, and he is proud of Pinocchio as well, for everything he has overcome, once on the counter, it didn’t take long for a man to appear in the front door, and make his way the reception desk.

“Excuse me, is Giuseppe Geppetto here at this hotel?”

———

After some time, they all meet each other in the garden, everyone but Geppetto was there, Polendina told Pinocchio that a business partner was speaking with his father, they were making small talk while together, it was nice, to be able to spend so much time with each family.

“Is it too early to say new year, new me?” Eugéne felt like shifting the conversation into something more fun.

“Depends, what’s your New Year’s resolution Miss Eugéne?” Pulcinella asked, playing along.

“Improve my craft obviously, maybe lose some weight” Eugéne was sure that she could do the first one, the second one on the other hand.

“Oh please, you don’t need to lose weight at all, you are okay how you are Eugéne, don’t feel pressured by others to change your appearance, besides, no one actually loses weight as a New Year’s resolution,” Venigni said, too confident in his words as usual.

“Please, ignore Master Venigni he only says that because he has never actually lost weight when he has wished for it on New Year’s” Pulcinella was teasing Venigni, he gave him a look, maybe his face wasn’t that expressive but Venigni could see a smile on his face.

“Hey, Pulcinella, don’t out my secrets like that”

“No no no, please continue Pulcinella” Eugéne was now excited to hear more.

“Did you know that Master Venigni used to wet the bed until-“

“Pulcinella stop it!” Venigni grabbed at his friend's shoulders, shaking him a bit.

Everyone laughed, Gemini thought it would be a good idea to tease Pinocchio a bit, “I know that it isn’t news that Pinocchio cries a lot, but did you guys know that the first time ever that Geppetto arrived home late, Pinocchio cried for two hours straight?”

“Gemini, I was just worried!”

It was the first and only time his father had arrived late, not only because he didn’t want to make the same mistake he did in the past, but because also it took Geppetto another hour to console Pinocchio and reassure him it would never happen again.

“He just accidentally missed his ride close to home, and you were acting as if he had died”

“Well at least I’m not a bug magnet, you know it’s annoying to get all those bugs out of your cage when we are outside at night right?”

“Shut up! The bugs just… think I’m too handsome, that’s why they flock over me”

Since everyone was playing along, Polendina decided that it was his turn this time.

“Speaking of bugs, I’m surprised Antonia is so fond of you Gemini, since she is so terrified of them after all”

“What? I’m not afraid of simple creatures such as bugs” Antonia was flustered.

“Why I remember you screaming like a maniac two weeks ago when a small moth had entered your room, begging me to take it outside”

“That thing wasn’t small at all!” In Antonia’s mind, that moth was the size of Jupiter.

They all laughed, and Eugéne was happy no one knew any of her embarrassing secrets, then again, aside from a few embarrassing memories she had as a child, nothing really came to mind.

“Sooo, Eugéne what are you hiding from us?” Shoot, Pinocchio had read her mind.

“Nothing, nothing at all”

“Come on… we won’t tell anyone”

Very soon, everyone started to list possible things that could be embarrassing, yet triumphantly, no one of them had happened to her, Eugéne had won this competition, and she had the bragging rights about it.

————

At the Hotel lobby, Geppetto was speaking with the man who had asked for him, a fellow engineer he went to school with, they had known each other for a long time, yet they didn’t see each other often, his friend lived in London after all, it had been years since they last saw each other.

“So, Alexander, what brings you here to Krat?”

“Am I not allowed to say hi to an old friend?” Alexander had a playful tone, but then he took a serious one.

“I’m going to be real Geppetto, for a long time, I thought you were dead, I haven’t heard from you in so long, the last time we spoke was when Carlo was born, and when Krat was under attack, all contact was lost, I was sure you had perished in the conflict”

Geppetto was mostly recognized in his home country, he could see that news of his survival wouldn’t have reached London, and although he still worked, nowhere near as much as he did before, in fact, he worked fewer hours than the average man, not only for his age, but for Pinocchio’s sake as well, and he still had a good amount of money saved up from all the years of working, he didn’t need to work so many hours.

“Well, I guess I’m full of surprises”

“Geppetto, on my way to Krat I have heard some rumors” Alexander took a deep breath “Is it true? That Carlo is now gone?”

“Yes, it’s true” For a long time, every time people would ask, Geppetto would shut down, but Geppetto had grown, he had to finally move on, it didn’t make the pain of saying that he had lost his son any easier, but he could now say it, without breaking into tears, without deluding himself that he could bring Carlo back.

“I see, and is it also true that you have another son? One who is a puppet? I heard he is the one who supposedly saved Krat as well” Alexander didn’t want to sound rude, it was just that the entire situation seemed too hard to believe.

“Pinocchio is more than just a puppet, but to answer your question without a long explanation, yes, and he truly was the one to save us from the disaster”

Alexander smiled, “Then you really are full of surprises” he really couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but he could tell Geppetto was at least content about his situation, he didn’t know that Geppetto was actually very happy about how his life currently was, but their friendship had died down over time, and Alexander felt uncomfortable asking more details.

“Let me be honest again Geppetto, I’ve come here to ask for your help in a project I’m working on”

Straight to the point, Alexander was always like that, Geppetto actually liked that about him, no tip towing around the issue, and he was always direct with his communication, something that is very much appreciated when it came to that work environment.

“What sort of project?”

———-

It had been hours since Pinocchio last saw his father, he wondered what was going on, but he thought it best not to interrupt his talk. Everyone kept with their chat, although Polendina eventually went back to the front desk, and Venigni and Pulcinella were talking about Venigni’s agenda, he would go back to work on the second of January.

“Hey, buddy would you like to one day visit somewhere that isn’t Krat?” Gemini asked Pinocchio, he liked Krat, but Gemini would be lying if he said he didn’t want to explore the world a bit.

“I mean yeah, I would but, I don’t want to leave everyone behind”

Antonia gave out a small chuckle, “My boy, it’s okay for you to wish to leave, everyone deserves a vacation now and then, and visiting other places is always a great experience”

“Really? But…”

“Don’t worry too much about it Pinocchio, I’m sure all of us would love to leave Krat more, and visit somewhere else” Eugéne had her business now, and she hoped for one day to save enough, close the shop for some time and visit the home where her family came from.

“I’ve visited quite a few places in my youth, I would love to bring you to some of the locations I’ve been to” Antonia was a powerful woman, she had traveled around many parts of Europe. Mmm now that the thought was in her mind, maybe she and Polendina should plan a special vacation, just for the two of them.

“Ah traveling is so fun, your uncle Venigni can take you to so many places” Venigni said.

“And let me do all the planning right?” Pulcinella knows Venigni too well, he deeply cares for him, but he knows that his planning skills are atrocious, and sometimes he wonders how he would do without him to plan all of his work events.

“Oh Pulcinella, of course! What would I do without you?”

Pinocchio was excited now, “Then, I would love to travel somewhere someday!”

Geppetto had just entered the garden, and he smiled, “Then I have good news for you son”

————

They said their congratulations and welcomed the new year together, but the celebration always has to come to an end, by the second, everyone was back to their normal routine, except for Geppetto and Pinocchio, as they were planning to leave on the 6th of the month, and return on the 20th, the work trip would last 2 weeks in total, Geppetto reassured his son that he wouldn’t spend all of his time working, that they would have plenty of time to visit and tour around, the first 3 days of the trip would take most of his work time, but after that, they could do anything he wanted.

As Pinocchio was packing his bags, he felt an aura inside his heart.

“Pinocchio there is something I must tell you”

It was Sophia.

“In my travels, I had planned to go to London as well, I have my tickets ready, and I would arrive there by the 18th”

Pinocchio’s heart skipped a beat “Then those days, we can spend it together!”

Pinocchio could feel Sophia’s warm smile.

“I promise you, I’ll be there”

“And I promise to spend time with you!”

Days later at the station, they all had gathered to say their goodbyes and to wish them luck on their trip.

Inside the train, the train, they all made it to their reserved seats, Pinocchio had a big smile on his face.

“Are you happy to see London buddy?” Gemini asked, seeing how excited he was.

“Yes! I’m so excited to see it!” He is excited to see what people he will meet, and the time he will spend with his father and Gemini.

And he is excited to see Sophia as well.

#lies of p #lop #liesofp #lies of p game #lies of p pinocchio #lies of p fanfic #lies of p geppetto #lies of p venigni #lies of p antonia #lies of p pulcinella #lies of p polendina #lies of p eugene #ao3 link #this is in ao3 too

5 notes · View notes