#lots of fun symbolism and dreams and nightmares!!!! there's a vision...

[merakiui]

fighting the urge to write yet another prompt with the fish, but i genuinely think this one could fit jade (and his monstrous appetite) so well. orz once more, i would like to know what everyone thinks in the poll below. :D

[parachutingkitten]

Okay, this has been bothering me, and I'm gonna go into it, cuz I feel like being mad that the fandom didn't get better is friggin valid, so imma get negative here at some serious missed potential, if that's not your jam, 100% get it, please scroll past.

We have a season with 20 episodes, each of which are 20 minutes long. That is an unprecedented amount of time for a ninjago season- I would argue maybe too much time, but that's not what we're getting into here. Even just the first half is the length of your standard ninjago season back in the day. There is no excuse for not taking your time with ideas that deserve time. You've got time. You've got too much time.

If you're gonna do a mystical mind prison that traps you in your worst fears, you gotta do it! You can't do this wimpy half commit thing you're doing here. What is this cop out that's like three minutes long? This is a top tier trope! Loads of stories do this- for a good reason, it's a great way to get lots of new insight into your characters, not to mention have fun with environments, hypotheticals, bend logic, and do some creative filmmaking. And here you are, inventing a whole weird fictional animal to facilitate your nightmare state, and it legitimately takes up so little screen time that it hurts! What? Did you not have enough to say about your characters to fill out a full subplot? You thinking that surface level about things? Or was the basketball tournament fake out with the dragons so important to the story that you couldn't cut it out for some character introspection?

It's so short and pointless, it doesn't functionally do anything except tell us very directly "Here's what this character fears, and will have to get past this season!" No looking into why or making some progress/losing progress on the issue in the dream state. We don't even get to see everyone's visions, let alone see any interconnectivity between them. It's just such a waste of a classically exciting set up. And why on earth would you place this concept at the beginning of the season? Put it at the turning point man! That's what this scenario is made for! Literalizing characters overcoming mental challenges so that it's interesting to watch! Using the nightmare dream sphere for exposition in the most boring possible version of the trope is just dumbfounding.

I mean seriously? The black void? That's all you've got? You gonna go the Cars 2 route and set our supposedly deep nightmare sequence in a black void? No symbolism to the void even? No distorting of visuals within the void? Nothing? Can you get any more basic? Did you really put that little creativity into this? Like, the whole point of the nightmare dreamscape is to get creative! So much symbolism and messaging that you can easily tie into things! the possibilities are literally endless! But yeah, I guess Arin running in place is pretty meaningful too, I'm sure it took you a while to come up with something so profound.

There's a reason this story beat usually makes up at least half the plot of any given episode it's in! There's so much room to explore. The potential for crosscutting between nightmares is so high, drawing parallels between characters. Maybe they're all interconnected, and the mentally strongest of the team breaks free to help the others in their nightmares. Maybe it's a revelation point for the rest of the team as they see a dark past of another character they didn't know about. Or maybe it's just the audience who gets new insight into a sheltered corner of a character's mind, or a way to reveal to them a dark secret someone is hiding. You can also have fun subverting expectations, maybe one of the nightmares is just objectively pretty funny. And, the best thing about any dream environment you're creating, you can have the characters get involved in insanely creative fights and action scenes where they literally beat up their mental roadblocks with cool looking and symbolically important powers or tools.

Like, I know the fandom is losing their mind over this scene because 'omg Nya's gonna be so sad cuz of the memory loss(that hasn't even been revealed in narrative yet, so the irony doesn't even really work)' but I just need you to understand that the full fledged angst, character growth, and introspection y'all are speculating could have theoretically happened in Kai's plot is what we could have had for everyone. For a full episode. Like it deserved to be. And it would have been really cool, and really satisfying, and beautifully and symbolically stunning, because countless other people have done it, it's honestly not too difficult. Stop freaking out like they did a good job with this- they didn't do a good job with this. They couldn't even bother to give everyone a vision, they just gave up on the concept halfway through.

Not to mention how accessible and valuable this type of storytelling is to kids! Literalizing some of the big abstract issues these characters are supposedly battling this season would be a great way to get kids to grasp these ideas, but instead it's literally like two and a half minutes of slightly ominous stuff to bate us before we move on.

Stop teasing us with interesting stuff and then not actually following through! This is not how you do storytelling!

[meganwasbored]

The Dragon Prince Thoughts Season 2 Episodes 8 and 9

Random thought that has nothing to do with anything: Was Viren ever married because I made fun of him last episode reaction because he’s not married but then I remembered that he has two kids but I’ve never heard any mention of their mother do we just assume that she died?

Episode 8

-“how may I serve you” he says in a tone that screams ‘I’m more powerful than you and you know it’

-so the trapping-people-inside-coins spell makes you look like a zombie, and the turning chains-into-snakes spell apparently makes you look like a ghost that hasn’t slept in a month

-“what are you doing”

“I’m pinching you, Soren”

“Well that’s just rude”

When you’re probably totally paralyzed but talking back to your sister is much more important

-“that was really pretty! But I still can’t move”

-The guy in Callum’s nightmare (vision?) doesn’t look like anyone we’ve seen before, are we really about to add a third(?) villain

-also I know nothing about anything what symbol was the one that was lighting up?

-“I’m not lying, I never lie” he says in the most untrustworthy tone I’ve ever heard

-finally he’s bandaging his hand, there should be blood literally all over his arm right now

-I know Aaravos’ name but I am very tempted just to keep calling him sparkly hands

-dream dude has Callum’s gloves, I think I know what’s about to go down

-if he’s about to tell Ezran about his dad I swear let him stay ignorant as long as he can please I can’t do this rn

-booooooo

-ik Soren is gonna walk again that’s not what I’m worried about, what I’m worried about is how much it will hurt to watch when he finds out

-well now look what you’ve done, this poor little boy

-the first thing he was worried about was Callum my heart

-he’s handling it SO WELL

-Hahahah Callum’s face when he sees dream Callum

-seriously what symbol is that supposed to be am I supposed to just know

-SOR-SOR DOES SHE ACTUALLY CALL HIM THAT THATS SO CUTE

-VIREN IM GONNA KILL YOU YOUR SON IS LITERALLY GLAD THAT HES PARALYZED BECAUSE NOW HE DOESNT HAVE TO DO THE TERRIBLE THING YOU MANIPULATED HIM INTO AGREEING TO ARE YOU HAPPY RIGHT NOW??? ARE YOU???

-we’re really bringing Harrow into this y’all are torturing him beyond the grave

-but also that fact that there are so many people Callum probably talked to much more than Harrow but he was the one to snap him out of it says a lot

-“Destiny is a book you write yourself” adding this to my possible senior quotes list

-the cube just fell into hell??? And dream Callum turned to dust??? Does this happen to everyone the first time they use dark magic???

-not Corvus blaming Rayla for letting Ezran go when she was literally the one to try to convince him to let her go with him while Corvus just stepped out of his way

-Soren being so chill about this is both incredibly heartbreaking but also kinda funny ngl

-he literally just had to lie there and watch as his sister trashed his hospital room and got dragged out

-this dream started super deep but now Callum is… a sail???

-this whole episode had been a fever dream honestly the only way this could get worse is if someone dies

-“you’re making this easy for me, young king!” Dude… his dad just died?? And you’re more focused on beating him at hide and seek?? Show some respect??

-Aaravos’ expression looks super shady no matter what he’s doing or saying if they’re trying to hide that he’s a villain they’re doing a very bad job

-imagine thinking you just got the king of Katolis killed very shortly after the last king got killed and when you tell his friend (who just happens to be an elf, in fact, she’s one of the elves who was on the mission that killed the first king) she laughs in your face and tells you that your king (who is like 9 years old) can talk to animals and is now riding away on a banther, oh and also his brother the prince has been lying on the ground with two black eyes and yelling out random delirious things since you found them and you still have no idea what happened to him, like what would you even do

-me too man, me too

-“you big, dumb human” she says while looking at him with extreme concern in her eyes

-this dream is the most chaotic masterpiece I have ever seen

-YOURE JUST GONNA LEAVE ME LIKE THAT???

-I have school tomorrow and it’s 12:45 am, I have school tomorrow and it’s 12:45 am, I have school tomorrow and it’s 12:45 am, I have school tomorrow and it’s 12:45 am, I have school tomorrow and it’s 12:45 am

-screw it I’m watching the next one

Episode 9

-I just realized that we haven’t seen Claudia and Ezran interact one on one until now this is adorable

-the fact that they’re telling jokes while both of them are in horrible mental states

-so mom left and it was probably definitely because of Viren, but she’s the one that left her children with him so they’re both awful

-also why do I always just randomly remember stuff that seems totally unrelated but then it always gets brought up an episode later

-that phrase being passed down to the next person every time they have to talk about hard stuff

-is this thing with his mom made up because he was like 5-6 when she died but here he’s his current age???

-Now THAT symbol I know

-“I understand the sky arcanum” that’s it? That’s all you had to hear? …I don’t get it but cool ig

-also how does he know it’s the sky arcanum? Like it is because the primal stone was a storm? Like we know it’s the sky arcanum because the sky symbol lit up but I didn’t see a single thing in that dream that pointed to sky

-girl what the heck are you about to do to those deer that you need to send Ezran away for it

-ooooooh ok I totally get it now it took me a second

-this is awesome but doesn’t he only know like two spells

-oh shoot there’s always at least one person who needs catching up, oh boy

-very thankful that they didn’t show what she did to the poor deer nobody needs to see that

-oh no Claudia’s punishment for whatever she did was turning her hair into e-girl hair during the bleached front pieces trend

-STOP THIS IS TOO MUCH FOR A LITTLE BOY JUST LET HIM GO ON HIS FUN QUEST WITH HIS FRIEND AND HIS BROTHER AND HIS DRAGON

-DO THEY HAVE TO MAKE ZYM SOUND LIKE A WHIMPERING PUPPY THIS IS AWFUL

-are they still looking for Viren because they’re not doing a very good job he’s literally on top of a tower in plain sight

-oh great he’s a zombie again

-ok they zoomed in on the rocks sinking and I’m taking that as a bad sign

-the butterfly thing Viren has is giving hawkmoth

-I’m sorry but whatever Aaravos was doing in the mirror just looked like a bunch of Tik Tok dances

-the fact that Aaravos is inside Viren’s head, both figuratively and literally

-and Opeli of course wins because she’s the best

-why weren’t they running the whole time?

-ok so not only can Ezran suddenly see through Zym’s eyes but also Corvus just let him go on his shoulders and flap around without a second thought

-DRAGON DRAGON DRAGON

[seb-owns-these-tatas]

Witcher Of The Night (Chapter 1)

WITCHER OF THE NIGHT MASTERLIST

Characters: Geralt of Rivia x small!Naive!Reader

Summary: You've woken up being hunted by an Alghoul. You were in a death race and hollered for help. Though, it seems like the human you've first seen didn't exactly appeared to look human all through out as his eyes glowed beneath the moon light. You've talked to him but he didn't seem friendly at all except for his awakened friend. The words coming out of their mouth seemed baffling because they were acting like they didn't live in earth, and deep inside you were in denial because they really weren't.

Warnings: Monsters? The word 'whores' and cusses? Blood? A lot of modern references because reader lives in modern day era in earth.

Words: 3,800+

A/N: Hello! Yes, this is my first Geralt fic! There will be eventual smut in the future chapters. I can just tell. LMAO. I ain't good with medieval things but I'm trying! I hope this isn't a failure nor a disappointment, spuds! 😅 Reader lives in modern day earth in this fic but magically woke up in The Witcher’s dimension, alright? This turned to be comedic because of the modern references from the reader. 😂🤣🤣 I had fun writing this! FOR REAL! 

TAGLIST IS OPEN FOR THIS ONE! Heehee! Don’t forget to REBLOG, COMMENT OR GIVE FEEDBACK IF YOU DID LOVE THIS FIRST PART! IT’LL MAKE ME SMILE!

Taglist: @alyxkbrl @himarisolace @barkingbullfrog​

Disclaimer: PNG's used in edits are not mine even the GIF's too. However, the edits and oneshots are definitely from moi. Characters and said monsters aren't from moi as well. (GIF taken from Tumblr!)

MY WORKS ARE NOT TO BE POSTED ON ANY OTHER WEBSITES. My official username in Wattpad is “TATATHEPOTATO” and that’s the only other site I have aside from Tumblr. Thank you, Tater tots!

Tweaks of branches echoed around the unspecified woodland. The satisfying crack of the frail wood felt on the soles of your feet which wore some nasty pink Havaianas slippers as the night sky became colder than from what you were accustomed with.

You were running away from god knows what as you've heard a loud thud beside the tree you've woken up with. Taking a trip down the memory lane, your forgetful mind could only recall a lake in which you were drowning in and the sudden flash of lightning occurred above you as the water rested upon your face.

Then after that terrifying nightmare, you suddenly woke up in the middle of nowhere. A slightly dead looking forest before you've heard the rustle of some twigs and leaves beside you.

Having a vacation in the forest of Switzerland has never been a dream and considering how God smacked you in the head unconscious and teleported you in Switzerland was entirely bewildering from the start.

Your heart was hurriedly pounding out of your chest as you sprinted as fast as you can. Abnormal shrills whistled with the wind that made you mewl as you ran for your life. There has been cuts and bruises across your knee from how you've stumbled upon a large log that hid beneath the earth-like soil. No pain has been sent to your nerves yet because of the adrenaline rush rising in every part of your veins with the need for the hushed voices to stop.

"Ah!" Another loss of one's footing, you've tripped over a large rock and fell face flat. Face now covered in grime and soot as you've heard the intangible whisper of words for the tenth time.

"Leave me the fuck alone! If this is a prank, it's not funny because I'm hurt!" you shrieked in the night and no one in particular. Limbs were turning feeble and shaky, but you've offered all your will power to survive in the damn forest if you were about to get murdered and be found after a year where your body has already been eaten by some wild animal.

The hushed voices were coming closer to a definite scare that took your heart out of your chest. You've pushed yourself up and began sprinting with a limp as you saw the end of the forest; like a meadow was waiting for your damn demise as you won't be outrunning the murderers behind you.

You stood in the middle of a grass field. So, this was the end for you. The voices inside your head spoke as you've scanned the whole area and saw a peculiar wooden house in the middle of the vast area.

The wooden house seemed to be made of Hazel twigs, daub and wattle. Its whole structure was darn weird to be seen in the era you knew you were in. Year 2020. It looked medieval, old and superannuated. The house's structure had a timber frame with a light glowing inside the open panels of its windows.

Human. Someone can help you. Based on the clothes that hung on the sides of a wooden fence in logs, you knew there was someone living inside the peculiar looking house.

Then, you've heard a loud roar. It was enough for you to spun on your heels and see who had been chasing you like a wild boar.

Yet, it wasn't a normal wild boar that could calm you down just a slight because it was just an animal.

The one chasing you didn't seem a murderer nor an animal. Its body appeared to live on the ground, like a zombie who came to life and had no lower body. Though, it had a large stomach and uses his burly arms to chase you down the forest. With Bright cardinal eyes wrathfully staring you down as you stood rooted on the ground in the middle of the field; your heart seeming to run out of oxygen because of what you were witnessing.

You didn't know if it was an alien or a zombie. Proper thinking thrown out of the window as you were running away from the nightmare that was bound to kill you in your sleep, if you were even sleeping.

Your feet ran a trek to the house; looking behind. Focal point completely at the fast carcass crawling to where you were, tons of disgusting looking saliva dripping out of its eroding jaw and you were screaming for help as you skedaddle away.

Until your head hit a hard wall, but not enough for you to fall unconscious.

Vision falling like a kaleidoscope world, you blinked repeatedly and squinted you eyes up at the wall. Though, you were met with a clothed robust chest and a strong warmth he radiated through the crispy, cold Autumn wind. You've scanned him from chest to face and noticed a coin-like silver necklace just a meter away from your face that had a symbol of a wolf.

You didn't know if you were just still dizzy from your newly awakened-self but it was as if your world spun around you as the brawny, marvelous man towered over you like a lion over a mouse. His jawline impressively great enough to cut a bitch; a prominent, cleft chin that can be quite tempting to poke at and eyes that were glowing in Aurum like a star in the night sky or a pot of gold in the other end of the rainbow, with majestic half-tied hair that ended below his shoulders tinted in ivory that stood upon the Tartarean night.

Though, despite of how dashing, grimy and haggard he appeared before you. The scowl on his face was enough to take you to step back from how disturbed he looked like.

You've seen him somewhere. In the movies back in your laptop when you were having a marathon of something.

Lord of the rings. Right, you were dreaming about it in the middle of being chased in your nightmare. That explains why he appeared.

You clapped excitedly as you lifted your chin to stare into his beautiful blazing gold eyes. The grumpy looking man cocked his head to the side as he scrutinized and studied your filth-filled face and you couldn't help but notice the concealed scrunch of his nose if you weren't staring a little bit too closely.

"Hmm," it was the first word you've heard from this intimidating man standing in front of you and hearing such an impossible, low timbre of a hum that vibrated from his chest could get your knees weak from such a tone because you didn't know if it was scaring you or telling you to run for the hills instead.

"Legolas?" your voice croaked out loud, voice turning small when you've received only a grimace that wouldn't be considered as a fake smile, much to your dismay. Your scrutinizing eyes noticed something different from one of the Lord of the Rings character and it was the maturity of his face, "--a middle aged Legolas! Help me! Use your arrow thingy--" he pushed your shoulders to stay behind him, making you stumble from the impact but not enough to ignite another bruise to your knees. Your eyes staring weirdly at his back as you studied the long metal knightly looking steel wrapped around his thick, large, powerful looking palms.

"---Oh, a sword would suffice." you muttered, suddenly uninmpressed because you wanted him to have an arrow instead of a sword to live in your fantasies and continued to hid behind the large build of his body, taking a peek as you saw the bizarre looking creature who screeched so loud that it echoed all over the meadow. You've unconsciously held onto the hem of the wool sweater behind the first human you've ever encountered other than the creature who planned to eat you alive.

"There's a zombie!"

Geralt felt the hand tugging at his sweater. He was close to jumping from the sudden physical touch because of how sudden you've reach out for him regardless of meeting him just tonight. His eyebrows in a tough knot and expression unreadable as he eyed the Alghoul running towards you. The hand holding the hem of his clothing was instantly right out of your hands as he prepared his stance and tread towards the critter like he was confident enough he could eliminate him.

He swung the sword, aiming for the head using just one hand as he lifted it with no trouble; like it was his own weapon and you couldn't help but watch the whole scene unfold before you. The Alghoul jumped using its arms but he was stronger, faster, braver and definitely had no sweat with the upswing of his sword as he slashed the head off the creature with one blow.

Well, he was great. Too great with the sword indeed.

Black blood spurt as he'd cut his head off with no remorse, some of its blood flying off to your grimy sleeveless top and face as you winced from the gore and stared at the head rolling on the ground till it hit your toes.

You just wanted to scream out loud but it seems like your jaw has been stuck and you had no voice to start.

The man seemed to be unruffled at the fact that he just cut the creature's head off with his sword, turning his back at face front that you saw black fluids on the smooth wrinkle of his forehead and cheeks.

"It's an Alghoul," he abnormally grumbled so deep that you mistaken it as a growl. You could feel your tongue stuck in your throat and heard his heavy footsteps coming close. Your eyes still focused at the monster's head scratching your feet that you haven't realized that the man who saved you was actually in front of you already, grabbing its head and throwing it away to save you from another nightmare.

Faded set of footsteps came echoing in. Lighting up a startle from you as you heard a door swish out loud in the open. Until, a budding pitch of a man has said the name of your gory savior in the middle of the night.

"Geralt?" Jaskier hesitantly stepped on the creaking, wooden porch. Eyes still weary of sleep and fatigue as he blinked to the both of you who stood at each other in just an arm reach.

Your savior mumbled another distasteful hum as he observed the short woman before him who seemed to be in total shock; staring at the ground where he'd took the head of the Alghoul away before sighing and taking a step back and away from you to take a look at his bloody sword. "Why, who is this adorable, small grimy lady here in the middle of the night?" the light tone of the man's voice made you blink twice; snapping you out of your reverie.

You turned your head and studied the somnolent man standing outside of the porch, hair disheveled like he'd been disrupted by such a beauty sleep. He looked younger, like he was in his 20's and had a youthful beam with lean muscles beneath the white undershirt wore under a Tunic. Jaskier placed both hands on his hips before pointing a finger at you, sending you a bright smile other than the moue you've received from the man named 'Geralt,' "You came here for Geralt, I suppose? One of your..midnight sashays with him?"

Geralt didn't need to look at his friend and ignored everything he said by walking towards a beautiful brown horse, "Jaskier," he lowly reprimanded as he eyed his horse with an indecipherable expression of his.

Jaskier deeply sighed, his shoulders going up and down from how he did and you eyed him with a baffling twist of your eyebrows.

"First and foremost, you ruined his nap and now he can be as grumpy as an--an Alghoul! An amputated Alghoul!" he blinked in surprise, peeking behind you to see the creature who had its head cut-off laying on the muddy ground.

Geralt continued to pet his horse as your eyes snapped to him, his back on you as you heard his horse neigh, the man named Jaskier still rambling about the creature who laid dead on the ground.

"Alghouls appear in old necropolises and crypts," he scratched his temple with a finger, walking down the path till he was studying the corpse on his foot, "It's a miracle that they've hunted you down. They seldom appear in the forest! Also, they knock down their victims and eat them alive. Right, Geralt? You've taught me these!"

Geralt ignored him and continued petting his horse.

You eyed the man named named Jaskier and watched him walk back to you, a solemn smile on his face because of your unfortunate experience with the forest. Suddenly, realizing about the information he'd uttered, you were sure it was just like those creatures in the movies like Resident Evil or The Walking Dead.

"So, it's basically a zombie!"

Jaskier stared at you like you've eaten a dead mouse. Forehead creasing as he tried mouthing the word you've said, giving his friend a once over as he does, "A zom--what? please do enlighten me, Geralt as to what is a Sombre when I can see with my own splendiferous eyes that the monster he'd killed is an Alghoul--"

You've huffed and bit the insides of your cheeks, fists tightening on either side as you stubbornly bantered, "Z O M B I E. Zombie."

Thus, at the retort; Jaskier had his hands on his hips with his chest puffed out like he was trying to intimidate you. But, it was a failure because he never looked intimidating from the start, "A zombie. Alright. I understood you but not entirely, dirty maiden. Geralt--" he looked over his friend who was now already on the side of you, startling the both of you and sky-scraping from your side as you lifted your chin to see him oddly closing his eyes, breathing you in.

Was he smelling you?

You eyed Jaskier like you were finding it peculiar and he just gave you a shrug, "Your scent..It's...It's...otherworldly, " Geralt uttered, completely resonant and low-pitched that vibrated your calming nerves, "It attracted the Alghoul," he continued with a frown and another sniff before humming in disdain.

"Very out of the ordinary," the latter muttered beneath his chest, a snarl coming out of his mouth as you swallowed the butterflies wanting to come out of your mouth by how monumental he was and you feel so small, "Who sent you?"

You took a step away from the man, eyeing him weirdly as he stubbornly took a step close like personal space wasn't known to the world you are in, "Uhm, no--no one?" a pathetic stutter came out of your lips and felt the tremble of your fingers because of a thought running in your mind that he was also as dangerous as the Alghoul they were saying; maybe even more treacherous, "I came out from my mother’s reproductive organ? You know what, Geralt--"

Jaskier suddenly cut you off, crossing his arms behind him as he watched his friend tower over you, an amused grin etched on his face because you were actually crumbling like a rat before the ginormous cat, "Geralt. A letter G. Not a J. G E R A L T---"

"---Alright, GERALT!" you stopped taking steps back and declared out loud, mocking their accent that you couldn't distinguish. Your palms were outstretched in front of you, ceasing Geralt from pushing you away but not enough to be touching his torso. A pleading look in your eyes that made him breath out of his nose, "---Just please tell me where the airport is and I'm off to my country,"

The man in front of you stared you down, completely uncanny at what you were voicing out. You winced and realized you wouldn't get an answer from him and tried to ask help from his friend instead, but Jaskier was fast to distract you and criticize the clothes you wore, "What even is that clothing?"

You blew out air out of your mouth loudly, not believing their words. They were acting like they weren't actually living in earth at all, "It's casual! Don't judge!"

Jaskier also gave a huff, not believing the outlandish behavior from a lady and continued complaining to the Witcher who seemed to never have the decency to give you space, "Cas--what? Geralt, this woman is foolish. Don't even attempt to ravish her in any way. Utterly not worth it! She's a cuckoo with that flimsy short trousers, an odd looking footwear and a thin top like the Alghoul has taken all of her silk. Unless, this woman is actually your type, well--I wouldn't judge you for your taste in women because most of the time it is utmost round the bend--"

His spouts were cut short as you managed to get a proper look at the strangely, beautifully rugged man before you, giving him one of those tired, puppy eyes that made his frown much less more like it as he waited, "I just wanna go home," your voice sounded so vindicated and you were sure his eyes were really glowing under the night sky, "---please tell me where the airport is and I'll go, or you can probably help me with my wounds first before you shoo me away,"

You've felt the burns from your wounds and ungracefully tried to avoid those glowing eyes that seem to suddenly make your heart pound. Damn you and your horrid types, "Do you...have a car?" you asked no one in particular as you watched the stars that also seemed to be peculiar because of how many they were.

His horse neighed from a distance which gave you an idea that their house didn't have a garage nor do they have a car. You peeked behind Geralt and saw his horse standing behind the stables, "Oh, you have a horse. A beautiful brown horse, I take it we're in a province, I see."

Again, no response from him other than Jaskier's sighs. It was like taking to the wind, but actually talking to a corpse.

You could feel the heat of his stare and it was making you conscious of how you actually looked like, so you continued to avoid his eyes and looked at anywhere but him, "We're in Switzerland right? Or in a province in the U.K, Scotland or Australia considering your accents?"

The only response you've gotten from him was a mere seven word that made you scrunch your nose by how weirder they get, "You aren't from here, I can tell."

"Way to tell her that she's a woman and not a man, Geralt. Stop stating the obvious,"

You ignored their utterance as they've also ignored your question. All you needed was an airplane to get you back to where you came from and escape from this madness. Yet, they seem like to be beating around the bush which began to slightly irritate you because you were sounding like a broken record, "So where's the airport, gentlemen? I still need to feed my cat at home and I'll tell the entire universe that its the end of the world with the zombies. Gotta' tell them a zombie apocalypse is happening--my phone!" you patted the pockets of your shorts and felt your Android phone inside. You've fished it out and pressed the home button, the bright light gleaming beneath the night and both men couldn't help but stare at you in oddity.

"Your what?" was the only thing Jaskier has muttered, looking at what you were holding. Geralt  observed the unfamiliar looking thing in your hand and squinted his eyes shut at the bright light, "It's--there's no signal! Where are we?" you tapped on your phone repeatedly and found the GPS not working as the results were indefinite.

Jaskier marched till he was beside his friend, clasping a cold hand on his burly shoulders, cocking his head to the side and clasping his other on his own hip as he gave you a look, "Not just simply absurd but also a strange one, Geralt. You definitely pick the best ladies, First was Renfri; the rebel princess, second is Yennefer; that cunning beautiful mage in which you’ve been in love with and the other hundred are your whores--"

Geralt cocked his head to the side, an unexpected small smile lifting his lips as he continued laying his golden eyes on you, "Year 1268. In the far north kingdom of Kaedwen,"

You nervously nodded, crossing your arms at how exposed you feel from the man before you especially that your clothes were also thin for a weather you were in. Fingers were feeling like ice and you couldn't help but shiver, "Kaedwen? Padawan? Star wars references, I see. Okay, okay, this is getting out of hand and I know you're still in character but please tell me that this is a prank and you're just fond of cosplay,"

"Hmm," His smile was quick to fall, like it has only been a hallucination of your imaginations. Geralt studied you from head to toe. Your breath catching in your throat at how barren you felt with just a simple scan of his eyes and also by how beautiful he looked. Such a pain but soothing for the eyes. He caught the bruises and wounds all over your body and heavily sighed another one before turning his back away from you and letting Jaskier lightly stumble on his feet after giving him a manly tap on the shoulder.

"He's letting her in," Jaskier mumbled to himself and watched Geralt walk away, completely amused as he couldn't believe it, "He really is!"

He scratched his disheveled bed-head and huffed another one, pointing at the retreating man who entered their wooden cavern. "Based on how long I've been a friend with this grumpy Witcher, that answer was either a yes, or a no."

"---Unfortunately, it seems like a no because he took off without a word," he gestured with a finger and used his other to welcome you like a humble gentleman giving way for a princess, "---but also an approval that you can stay in our humble abode to cure that wounds you have which is oddly strange because he never lets anyone in, yet here you are. A grubby ground breaker,"

He eyed the Alghoul's blood on your top and face, his face morphing into disgust as he pointed a playful finger at you, "---And you, small rat. Need a bath," before waggling them around to tell you his point, "---However, you don't get to take my bed,"

The hopes of having your sleep or tightly shutting your eyes, repeatedly wishing inside your head to wake up on your mattress back at your apartment would definitely be a difficult task especially from what you've witnessed. Though, maybe closing your eyes shut and having a nap was the only cure to the nightmare you were living in; taking note at how long this dream of yours have been occurring. It was technically a nightmare full of magical creatures and magic that promised you would only be a mere dream of yours.

That is, when you've opened your eyes after repeatedly wishing up at the sky to wake you up in your dream and saw Jaskier walking in, leaving the door open for you to make yourself at home completely answered your questions.

You weren't dreaming and it appears to be like you were in a different dimension.

"Oh, I'll be damned,"

A PART 2? YES? Y’ALL WANT THIS TO HAVE A SECOND CHAPTER? HEEEHEE!! TELL ME WHAT YA THINK ABOUT THIS! 

[jane-d-ankh-veos]

The Nocturnal Nostalgist & figures/factions of the Neath and beyond: Masters Adversaries, obviously, as is anyone who serves the Bazaar. But somewhere deep inside, underneath hostility, she almost pities them. Aren’t they slaves to it? Aren’t they simply unable to understand humans? Are they to blame for being predators by nature? No, this nature itself is the guilty one: the Great Chain and the cosmic order of the Judgements. Those are the true enemies. Fingerkings Similar in a way: she can’t really reproach them – they wouldn’t have to possess people if they were allowed to exist. And the right to exist is one of the sacred principles that she stands up for. So more than often they come to be allies, and Parabolan arts are hers to learn and employ. The Red-Handed Queen She can’t resist someone who feeds her knightly delusions. Especially when it’s an embodiment of desire and wrath, the very feelings that burn within her. She serves the Queen in the same sense as she lets herself be driven by them – and such an attitude, of course, is far from loyal. But they have a common enemy in the White King, and their Orders cover for each other, so the crimson power condones this fickleness, if not secretly encourages it as yet another of her own aspects. The Manager Her mentor, rival, ally, liege and nightmare. An unpredictable mixture, boiled on fire of deep fierce adoration – for saving her from insanity, for giving her home, for being a living symbol of everything she fights for. Maybe he tolerates it only because she’ll go to the edge of the world to bring what he desires... or maybe because the wish to be loved is no less tempting. The Bishop of St. Fiacre’s Gambling, wine, conspiracies, masked balls of Hallowmas... This friendship sounds a bit too decadent for priests, isn’t it? And yes, they argue about theology a lot and try to poach each other’s parishioners. But when they’ll go South, they’ll go together. The Bishop of Southwark She ("that cursed heretic!") is too fond of decorating everything with Hellish black roses which he can’t stand. Her social circle and notorious residence motivates him to quote the Apocalypse ("Whore of Babylon, arrayed in scarlet, decked with gold and precious stones!"). Her Parabolan reflection reminds him too much of a Catholic crusader. And, worst of all, she refuses to wrestle to settle these matters like proper forgiving christians. But she is so flattered by his wrathful scorn that she sends him boxes of angel-shaped chocolates every holiday. The Jovial Contrarian Oh, doesn’t he just love fanatics. They’re way more fun to provoke than anyone. And what a victory it would be to manage to mentally slap some sense into one of May’s darling household pets. If only she didn’t treat disappearing into mirrors like a legitimate final argument... The Honey-Addled Detective He still thinks that the nightmarish armoured rider who finds him when he wanders dangerously far into dreams is but a drugged vision. It may look suspiciously like the charming lady from the antique pawnshop where he sometimes looks for case-related evidence, but such are the tricks of the mind. The Halved "An enemy of my enemy is my friend". Such alliances are unreliable, of course. She doesn’t trust them. She doesn’t trust any Judgement, for that matter, dark or not. But it seems that they like this defiance. And Eleutheria inspires her and makes her feel at home. So she doesn’t mind being watched closely and included in schemes towards mutual goals. The Sapphir'd King Some say it’s wise to focus on simpler tasks and weaker foes first. But she isn’t wise. And her hatred burns no fainter than the Azure’s blazing light. No matter how insane and heretical her prophecies are, hopeful whispers repeat them: "the tyrant who dictates that all things must end shall succumb to his own law".

[coloursfalllikesnow]

What do you think Jace dreams about? Not as in goals, but literally dreams while he's asleep? I'm sure it's changed throughout his life.

Oh man this is a fun question... I've done kind of a lot of thinking on this subject to be perfectly honest so hopefully I can get the thoughts together in a way that makes sense.

First up: the "lost memory" dreams. Basically, just that kind of dream that doesn't make a lot of sense but just sort of is a lot of sensation and disconnected ideas/thoughts. In Jace's case, made of up the remaining fragments of his lost memories, kind of all jumbled together into a blurry mess. Probably doesn't have these anymore since the Flood, though.

Next: Nightmares. He probably has these a lot, either replaying memories (being tortured by Tezzeret comes to mind) or fabricated ones (possibly his mind coming up with "bad futures" such as him and his friends dying to the Eldrazi and so on). Poor guy has been through some shit, so PTSD derived nightmares are likely extremely common.

Third: bizarre symbolism. These are my favourite, I would need to write them down in a coherent way but I've speculated at people about intensely symbolic dreams about things, especially his connection to Ravnica as the Guildpact. Stuff like the Soul of the plane speaking to him, or visions the plane herself gives him, though they're weird and don't make too much logical sense.

Last: dreams made up of things he's "experienced" in others' minds, and dream projecting. Just regular dreama but cobbled from the thoughts of others instead of his own. Probably more common when he was more direct about reading minds, but constant. Semi related, I bet he can "project" his dreams unconsciously, sharing them with other sleepers in the vicinity if they're particularly intense or resonant. Probably weirds out people like Ral, Vraska, or Kallist, though someone like Chandra would be less bothered, imo.

[picturejasper20]

Steven universe future: "In Dreams" analysis

Despite having a simple premise, don't let this episode fool you. It has a lot to say about Steven's character and his loss of identity in era 3. The dreams have a lot of interesting symbolism both for Steven and the main theme of Future.

The episode starts with Steven dreaming about his friends having a party inside his house, he really wants to be with them but when he tries to open the door.. it dissapears.

"No one needs your help, so why are you still here?"

I have talked before about how Steven feels he has no place in Era 3. He has no one to "help", no problem to fix, and everyone is moving on while he isn't. He lacks identity in this new era in which no one needs him, he can't be "useful" as he used to be.

Steven wakes up from his nightmare and hears Peridot calling him. They both are going to watch the new reboot of "Camping hearts"... which turns out to be a horrible reboot.

The two find out that Steven can proyect his dreams on the TV. They decide to use this to their advantage and rewrite the Reboot.

While dreaming, Steven keeps getting these visions of his family and friends leaving him, much like in the first dream. I think this represents his fear of loneliness, that now that no one "needs" him, they are not going to care about him.

Peridot takes note that her friend is getting very agitated, so she tells him she is going back to Little Homeworld.

But Steven doesn't want her to leave just yet.

He tells her that he's going to try one more time and follow the script that Peridot wrote.

And the nightmares return

He wakes up in his room... except it doesn't look like his room.. he tries talking to Peridot..

She opens the door, Steven follows her. Suddenly the house from the first dream appears again.. Peridot is about to enter and Steven in desperation begs for her to stay.

"We've always had something to fix together! The Cluster, the Diamonds, or Spinel! I don't think I know how to be friend without something to fix! But I just can't do it anymore! I'm so tired. Now I'm even doing it in my dreams! I'm sorry I can't do this for you! Please don't leave...! Don't... Leave..."

He's has been so used in having to "fix" everyone he doesn't know how "be a friend without having something to fix". He has always been so busy saving the world that he forgot how to have fun like he used to.

Peridot quickly wakes Steven up and gives him a hug.

"It's fine! We don't have to do this anymore. I don't care about the show, and I definitely don't care about Rodrigo! Ugh, I'm such a clod!"

"But I really wanted to spend time with you! I just wanted an excuse to hang out."

"We don't need an excuse to hang out."

This so small yet so important. He needs to know he doesn't have to be "useful" to hang out with his friends.

The episode ends with the two watching the show together and having fun.

"In dreams" it's really such a wondeful episode. The ending scene it's one of the most emotional scenes in the series (both SU and SU future). It's intense to watch Steven breaking down like this.

It's serves as a good conclusion for Peridot's arc and the unique friendship she shares with Steven.

It's great.

[whumpqin]

Day 9: Nightmares

Just realized today that I’ve officially gone past the number of days I went in the past challenge! Yay milestones!

Taglist: @faewhump @imagination1reality0 @galaxywhump @castielamigos-whump-side-blog @insanitywishes @whump-story-prompts @burtlederp @whumpasaurus101

CW: Knives, glass, nightmare, noncon kiss, torture, blood, panic attack, touch aversion, whumpee becoming the whumper, immobilization, monster whumper intimate/creepy/sadistic, vaguely referenced consensual sex (blink and you’ll miss it), ~symbolism~, pet whump, dehumanization, inhuman whumpee, and perhaps others! Please let me know if something should be tagged.

Word Count: 1,381

“I love you,” he said, drawing another clean cut across his chest. Not deep enough to mortally wound, but enough to sting.

It’s clear he didn’t want to kill him. It’s clear that he wanted to hurt him.

“Please, Caleb,” Omri begged. Tears fell from his eyes as he drew in heavy gasps, trying to scream, only to have his voice fade and echo into nothing. “Please, don’t let them do this, please, help me…”

Caleb smiled, unmoved by the blood splatters across his face, or the knife-shaped glass in his hands. The cool expression read as nothing beyond completely empty. Drained of anything that could make him a person.

He fiddled with the collar around his neck, plucking at the metal tag that hung from it. Like he was a dog.

“It’s Elisha. Didn’t you hear?” He almost… giggles. Purposefully childish. Like they were playing a game. Caleb-Elisha leaned forward, half-lidding his one present eye while he hovered over Omri. “Maybe you weren’t listening. Guess I should start over again, huh?”

Elisha pressed a slow, painfully passionate kiss to Omri’s lips, before pulling away to look him in the eye.

“I love you. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Another cut was drawn across his stomach, deeper this time, and Omri could feel the welling blood dripping off of his torso. He screamed through his nose, the only sound he could that he could actually hear, as his head pressed back into the pillow. Omri heard Elisha laugh again, delighted in feeling him struggle.

He couldn’t move. Like a weight pressed on his limbs as they were outstretched, allowing him to move his head back and forth in agony but always preventing his escape. It didn’t help that Elisha was straddling him, pressing him further into the suffocating bed that Omri so desperately wanted away from.

“Caleb! Caleb please, stop, you’re-you’re hurting me, please! Don’t let them get away with this, please don’t, please…” Omri sobbed into the crook of his elbow, all of the painful cuts and stings singing to his song, rippling outwards in pain every time he gasped for air.

“Aw, diamond… I think you’ve done a bit much, don’t you? Look at the poor thing…” Another voice crooned, honey sweet and sinister at the same time. Then, there was a whistle. “Hey, up here boy! Look at me.”

Omri forced his eyes open, and they drifted over to a solid red figure with too wide of a smile staring back at him, glittering like the garnet he had held in his hands just today. The smile somehow grew wider at the command being obeyed.

“You look like you could use a drink. Want some tea? Come on Elisha, get up off of him.” The figure only needed to crook their fingers back for Elisha to move. For a moment Omri lamented him going away, but then realized it was for the better. “Go on then. Get up.”

Omri tried to move his limbs, whining as they still were completely useless.

“I said get up, Omri. What, is this some sort of fun game to you? I’m offering tea out of the kindness of my heart, and you’re just rejecting me? How impolite.” The finger reached forward, grabbing one of Omri’s pointed ears with a clawed hand and tugging. “Maybe you’re not really a fairy at all?”

“I am, I am!” he cried. “Please, help me, I can’t move. Don’t leave me like this, please!”

“What a damn shame. I think he’s broken,” the red figure said, as if Omri wasn’t begging for his life. “I’m sorry Elisha, but I don’t think we can take this one with us. We’ll find you another chewtoy to play with, okay?”

“Oh… oka-”

A knock at the door made all of their heads turn. Omri’s breath caught in his throat.

Salvation.

“HE- mmmphmph!” Omri’s mouth was covered quickly by the red figure.

“Oh no you don’t. Listen to me, Omri. Hey, listen!” the figure hissed, shaking him lightly to get his attention. Omri whined through his nose, pleading desperately with them to let him go. “I think it’s time you got up, don’t you think?”

He whimpered. He couldn’t get up, that’s what he’s been trying to do. Why couldn’t they understand that?

They sighed, tilted their head as the knocking grew more intense. Like a pounding in Omri’s head, it started to ache.

“Come on, love. Do I have to do all the work around here? Here, let me show you…” They reached over, pulling a sharp, knife-like glass piece from the nightstand. They positioned it straight over Omri’s heart. Tears wept from his widened eyes with an increased fervor as the fear and anticipation in his heart built up. “You line up where you want to go, right?”

They smiled, sharp-toothed.

“Then you push.”

--

Omri awoke with a sharp gasp. Two hands were grabbing onto his shoulders, shaking him awake. He didn’t even check to see who it was before he pushed them to the side, leaping up off of wherever he was laying to stand straight up. His foot caught on an errant blanket, and he fell backwards into the floor with a loud thud.

In the darkness, a red figure scrambled off of the bed too, kneeling down beside Omri. Their hand reached out to press against his chest, and Omri screamed.

“No, get away from me! Don’t touch me! Please, please, it hurts, no more, please…” His screams readily devolved into sobs, as he curled inwards on himself to protect the cuts across his chest.

“Om, hey, Ommy! Look at me, hon, you’re okay, it’s alright,” the figure soothed, holding up defensive hands. Fiery eyes glinted in the darkness, horns stuck out in the figure’s silhouette and branched out into antlers, and a large tail swept across the floor. “That’s it, who am I? Tell me.”

“Qui…” Omri wiped his eyes quickly to get rid of the blurriness in his vision. “Quinn? Please… please tell me it’s you…”

“Yeah, yeah it is, hon. Look, I’m gonna just move on over here and turn the lights on, okay?”

When Omri nodded, the figure shifted over to his left, reaching to the nightstand. His breath hitched, for just a moment, until the lights flashed on, blinding him for a moment.

When he was able to finally blink his eyes open, he saw the full figure of Quinn staring down at him. Deep reddish skin marked with several scars and all the normal features of a Cambion- 

And totally naked. He forgot about that part.

“See? Just me. It’s just us here, Ommy. No one else,” Quinn said, smiling faintly at the recognition he must have seen in Omri’s eyes.

“No one else,” Omri repeated in a breathy tone. Relieved.

His eyes drifted downwards to his bare chest, where he had been clutching his supposed wounds, to see… nothing. Nothing beyond the faint, white scars where a knife had been so long ago. Omri breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing against the ground he had fallen onto.

“I saw him. In my dream.” Omri’s voice was raw, like he’d been screaming for a lot longer than it felt. He wondered, briefly, if those echoed screams found their way to real life. Maybe that’s why Quinn woke him up. He turned his gaze over to his, well, his friend for now, who stared at him in worry. “I saw him.”

It sounded like a confession. Maybe it was.

Quinn’s mouth parted in shock, in horror, then finally closed as his brow furrowed. He crouched low to meet eyes with Omri, fiery gaze darting over every feature on his bare form to ensure that he really was alright. “Omri…” he started, weariness making his accent thicker, drawing out the last vowel in Omri’s name.

Omri looked away. “I saw him, Quinn,” he repeated. Tears welled in his eyes and his lip quivered. Like his mind could barely understand what it had just seen. “I saw him, and… and I couldn’t… I-I...

The tears began to run rivers down his face as Omri grimaced and covered his face in shame. Grief again swelled in his heart at remembering the last words he heard from Caleb’s mouth.

I’m sorry.

I love you.

[animebw]

Binge-Watching: Mononoke, Episodes 3-7

In which I praise the merits of Agathe Christie, the mysteries get too tangled for their own good, and I consider how this show is hurt by its impersonal writing style.

And Then There Were None

It’s been a while since we’ve had a good old-fashioned mystery show on this blog. Considering my first ever TABW binge-watch was Higurashi back in May 2018, I have a bit of nostalgic fondness for the genre as a whole. At heart, Mononoke is a mystery horror show as well, though as opposed to Higurashi’s endless puzzle box of interlocking narratives, this show is a much more serialized affair. Every arc, the medicine seller gets involved with a new cast of colorful characters in a new location, some new spirit starts causing mischief, and the seller must plumb the depths of the location and the characters’ psyches alike to uncover what’s going on. It’s classic Agatha Christie murder-in-a-closed-location detective stuff, only without the murder and with oodles more outright horror elements. And as a whole, I think this show is at its best when it’s leaning into that sensibility. The clashing eccentric personalities keep things from getting too dour and intense (the woman in the Sea Monk arc’s my favorite: ”Do you know?” “I don’t. That’s why I’m asking.”) There’s a lot of fun to be had watching the medicine seller puzzle out the spirits’ ambiguous mechanics, fighting back with magic scales and literal flashbombs. Plus, the designs of all the creatures and locations are flipping amazing. The ship almost feels like the Spirited Away bathhouse, all crossing staircases and ornate square balconies overlooking each other. That upside-down barnacle castle in the sky, the leggy fish floating on the ceiling, the multi-eyed fish guitar player who speaks with his mouth pointed squarely up, and especially the wooden coffin with something inside scratching to get out all make for effective nightmare fuel stepped in Japanese folklore. This show is certainly a visual feast if nothing else.

Lost at Sea

All that said, I admit that I’m having trouble connecting with the actual stories the show is telling. And I think a big part of the reason is that the mysteries are kind of too confusing for their own good. The more gets revealed about what’s actually going on, the murkier the actual events get and the harder it becomes to parse exactly what happened when. I guess the Sea Monk stuff makes enough sense when it’s all sorted out: the monk developed a split personality after his sister sacrificed himself for her sake, and his demonic side roamed free to churn up the waters of the sea for decades, leaving him with crippling guilt and shame. But what the hell was going on with the faceless spirit stuff? At first it seems like Ocho killed her awful family, but then the spirit talks like she didn’t and people only think it was her fault, but then Ocho talks like she did kill them, but then the medicine seller drags her down a vision quest where it’s revealed that she... killed herself? Like, the way it’s presented, her own face is plastered over the corpse of everyone else who died, and I think it’s supposed to be a metaphor for how she symbolically murdered herself by giving into her mother’s desires and swallowing her own needs, but then who actually killed her family? Why is she imprisoned? And what’s with that final scene where she repeats the purgatory of staring out the barred window, only this time she flies free like a bird? Is that supposed to be what really happened? A vision? A dream as she’s dying? Who exactly is dead and alive here? Who did the killing? Who’s responsible for what? No matter what angle I look at it from, I’m left with too many questions.

Hidden Faces

To some extent, I suppose I’m not supposed to worry to much about the actual logic at play. These are fables, and the point of fables is the lesson they preach, not the full picture of what literally happened. But that’s actually another big issue I have with Mononoke: I’m not all that fond of its fables. And it’s not like I’m immune to folkloric storytelling on principle. Mushishi is another show that’s nothing but disconnected episodic encounters with meddlesome spirits in ancient Japan, and it’s one of my favorite anime ever. I love the way that show sweeps me up in its mysticism and gentle preaching. But there’s a crucial difference: Mushishi was an incredibly kind show. It had sympathy for every character however misguided or led astray, and every spirit however dangerous. It sought to capture the balance of life and nature, not shying away from its darkness, but acknowledging it and offering ways to cope with it. So many episodes dealt with people who lost something they could never get back, with Ginko serving as a therapist to help them recover a semblance of normalcy and happiness despite the rotten hand they’d been dealt. It made you care about its world and the people within it, simple and archetypical as they were. It made you feel connected to every last wandering soul as part of the same vast, interconnected web of existence. And every story, no matter how small-scale, felt so incredibly meaningful as a result.

Mononoke, on the other hand? For all its visual panache, there’s something implacably... inhuman about it. It doesn’t seem to care for its characters beyond as vessels for delivering horrifying situations and dark lessons on how humanity can be led astray. It doesn’t find the same intimacy that Mushishi did with its episodic journeys. In Mushishi, the horrors were horrifying because of the ways they crept into the private corners of everyday lives and scarred people in places we so often take for granted. They reached you on such a primal level because they made you feel how nightmarish it must be to live under such curses. In Mononoke, the horrors are merely horrifying because, well, they’re horrors. They allude to deep emotional issues and pain, but they don’t embody them. The closest we get is the gut-wrenching backstory Ocho gets where we see how deeply she buried herself for the sake of living up to her mother’s expectations, how she became so trapped by wanting to please her that her marriage became a prison she couldn’t let herself break free from. But there, the confusing explanation of what’s even happened to her keeps it from landing. And then you have the Sea Monk arc, which turns into a fable about mutual incestuous desires and has yet another moment of using evil pregnancy imagery for shock value, and at some point, I have to wonder if there’s really a point to trading in all this dark subject matter beyond thinking it’s meaningful just by virtue of being dark. Mushishi ripped my heart out with a simple story of sleep paralysis far more effectively than anything in this show so far.

And then there’s the medicine seller himself, who’s far from the kindly observer Ginko was. This guy happily takes out spirits, but he barely seems to care for the people affected by them. Hell, he’s even called out on acting above-it-all and refusing to engage with those he sees as unworthy of his attention. Honestly, I was rooting for him to lose during the faceless monster arc, because honestly, that spirit seemed like a genuinely nice dude. He gave her a nice wedding, made her laugh, entertained her, valued her in the way her real husband never did, and honestly seemed like a totally chill guy. But no, medicine man just had to rip them apart and take Ocho through a traumatizing vision quest reliving the worst parts of her life. This in itself I don’t mind as much; some traveling fix-it types are just assholes, and the medicine seller certainly doesn’t have to be a saint for the show to work. But combined with the lack of empathy elsewhere, the absence of the emotionally grounding presence Ginko provided starts to wear on me. If I can’t rely on this guy for emotional support, and most of the people he meets aren’t really allowed to be points of empathy, then where am I supposed to connect to this show? Just to the dark moral lessons? Because sister, that’s not enough reason for me to stick around. Moral lessons come cheap without a reason to care about them.

Odds and Ends

-Okay but this literally is just using a tatami wall for storytelling, good lord.

-akshasdkha come on kid don’t spoil the story

-”Umibozu” When suddenly, Gintama.

-Wow, I didn’t know Japan had their own version of the Bermuda Triangle legend. Nice.

-Oh god, imagine a detective story where the detective is the criminal. That would be something.

-Is that Daisuke Yamaguchi as the samurai? Nice!

-FUCKING JESUS. Welp, rip Shinpachi again.

-”Don’t rush me!” Alright, mouthing off to an angry fish spirit is a power move

-was it actually steamed buns what the shit

-WOW WHAT A LIGHTNING FLASH

-I guess the samurai’s become the new evil eye? Hm.

-”I have little patience for those who rely on medicine to get better.” I... huh?

-The claustrophobia of all these close-up shots is chilling. Definitely a prison cell.

On to the next tale. See you then!

[neoyi]

I hope your okay with another ask! “:D I hope this is a simple enough ask; Any general headcannons for all the knights? (or at least your favorites?)

Simple ask indeed, but general enough for me to fill a textbook. Admittedly a lot of my headcanon is centered on either Propeller or Specter Knight because I’m not nearly as invested in the rest as I am those two. But still, what headcanons do I have? Okay, I’ll try and write one headcanon for each knight so I don’t go overboard.

1.) King Knight: ...is smarter and cleverer than he looks and acts, but has a problem of not applying himself because he’s so delusional and one-tracked in his goals. King Knight is very determined and we see in spite of a doting mother, he doesn’t lack independence. Look in his room and you can get an idea of what he does. He works out, he draws, and he’s handy with tools. He cares for his rats! They may be his subjects, but if his pets aren’t kept in good condition, then they’d be dead weight to him, so he knows how to properly care for his animals. It’s possible he likes animals; he shows more affection to spinwulves than he does anyone else. And of course, if you should choose, he can Joustus, a game that generally requires strategy. King Knight is kind of like that guy who has a degree in like engineering or something/ It he could just utilize it properly, he could get him a very good job, and a cushy life, but he rampantly chooses not to because he’s that much of a BONEHEAD. He’s dumb in a different way and it’s holding him back.

2.) Plague Knight: ....and Mona does not want children. They knew right off the bat and decided then and there once they were officially dating. They aren’t the type of people to be parents and kids are...well, little things running around ruining science experiments and throwing shit around. Besides, Plague and Mona already throw shit around, why should those little bastards have all the fun?

The closest the two come to having “kids” is creating imperfect clones of themselves as they get older. Most of them were merely tasked to finish what they themselves started and keep mad science alive. As centuries pass, the clones would keep creating more clones to continue their work. Each clones were a little less perfect than the other, and in time, they’ve more or less reduced to Blorbs. Specter Knight, still around centuries later, occasionally would check on them (if not at first to keep them away from the public since they carried Plague and Mona’s chaotic desire to raise Hell), but soon decided they were now harmless enough to be left alone to their own device.

3.) Treasure Knight... and Propeller Knight are rivals and they both haaaaaaaaaate the other’s occupations in the pettiest of ways. They’re pirates, so they automatically have a rapport, but Treasure Knight finds it insulting that Sky Pirates are A Thing. Pirates belong in the SEA. They fight giant squids and bury treasures deep in the heart of lost lagoons and islands. SKY Pirates? What the heck is even a SKY pirate? What does a SKY Pirate even do? Where’s the big ocean with all the Mystery and Scary Ass Sea Creatures? They fly with birds???? There’s Mountains?????????? They don’t even have GIANT squids, just medium-sized Sky Squids. And Floating Islands? That’s just cheating.

Every single one of their meeting inevitability end with the two having a pirate match to secure the most gold or engage in a duel. Sometimes Treasure would win some, other times Propeller would. They would keep this fierce competition  until they died.

But

That doesn’t mean neither one disrespected each other. From Treasure’s personal perspective, Propeller Knight is many things - frivolous, fancy, and shallow - but he is still a PIRATE. Sky Pirates are Dumb, but they’re still PIRATES. Propeller Knight goes by his own code that Treasure personally doesn’t get, but he respects the hell out of him because Propeller sticks by it and uses his piracy to achieve his goals. When push comes to shove, they can, have, and will shake hands through mutual kinship.

There is one thing both Treasure and Propeller can 100% agree on though: Subterranean Pirates are the WORST. Why is that even a THING?!

4.) Mole Knight: ...is not just digging in the Lost City because he “claimed it” as his own nor because it’s a good place to practice his superb digging skills, Mole legitimately and genuinely is curious about the history behind it. He’s an archeologist; a man thirsty for knowledge. He knows a lot about history in general, but his expertise lies in the Lost City.

Post-Shovel of Hope, he learns to share his findings with others. His obsessive need to keep the ruins for himself dissipates over time and he learns the value of teamwork. There are others like him who shares his love for knowledge and past civilizations; Mole is incredulous to know there are other working theories he never considered! In the end, it is not his pride that mattered most to him, but his passion to uncover and preserve this beautiful, ancient world. After all, he has ancestral ties to the Lost City and the best way to keep that alive is by sharing his knowledge with others.

6.) Tinker Knight: ...once invited his friend Propeller Knight over to show him something he invented. It would be handy because he needed a way to record his many inventions. He shows off a projectile that displays a moving image on a screen. He calls it...”Moving Pictures!” Propeller is amazed; this could, indeed, store information in ways the written word cannot.

Propeller asks him after, “Tinker, my good friend, have you considered using this Moving Picture for purposes other than recording?”

Tinker is puzzled, “What more could I use it for?”

Propeller chuckled, “Perhaps you can devise a story out of it. Like a stage play, only using these, er, what did you call them? “Celluloid”, to capture a story. We could have words written on the screen after a person speaks since it’s silent.”Tinker is flabbergasted. No, he only intended it to be used to archive his inventions and ideas. Why would anyone want to make a story through his Moving Pictures?Propeller, not listening (of course) sighs, “And you cannot call it Moving Picture, it’s too mouthful. Come on, Tinker, you who speak so pragmatically, would know to shorten it. Perhaps we can call it “Movers.” Or “Mov ‘ems.” Oh! I know, “movies.”

“That is a bad idea. I do not like it at all.” Tinker scoffed.

“Well, it was worth a shot, “Propeller shrugged, “How goes that rocket blueprint of yours? When will my dreams come true; that I shall one day reach the Moon?”

7.) Polar Knight: ...My headcanon is that he is too secretive to have a past that could be told... Also I haven’t really thought too much about this guy. Get back to me when I play his story mode in Showdown.

I do personally believe he is NOT related to Shield Knight though. He likely knew her, but only through proxy from Shovel and Black Knight.

8.) Propeller Knight: ...has always had a beautiful face. He takes great care to ensure it looks nothing less than perfect. But living a life as a pirate comes with drawbacks. One day, during a time of great grievance in his life, Propeller Knight comes face-to-face with a foe most personal. The battle is horribly one-sided for Propeller was at his lowest. He lost concentration and with it, an eye.

The first few days wearing that unsightly eye patch was too much to bare. He had to readjust to his newfound vision for one, but his face - no longer perfect. He questions so many things in his life; he’s made so many sacrifices, so many enemies, and lost a few good people in his life under various circumstances. Him losing an eye seemed paltry in comparison, but it symbolized the decisions he’s made and he has to live with it. Who is he? A Pirate? A Prince? Neither or Both? Does he fight against the corrupted nature of the Rich and Powerful even though he once lived among them?

He can’t answer them now. All he can do is slowly let the scars heal. He will not take for granted the friends, family, and love he has in his current life. They will be his rock and he will carry them to the winds. Propeller puts on his eye patch and stands up. He can still look at the setting sun.

9.) Shovel Knight: ...I don’t think he’s a fish person. But I’m boring and think all the knights are human.

10.) Shield Knight: ....spent some time suffering nightmares. She would wake up and remember that she hasn’t been trapped for a while. The Enchantress is a distant memory, but the events are still recent that she still endures these horrid flashbacks. Shield Knight imagines she’ll never really get over them, but her determination is strong and she knows little by little, the nightmares are becoming less and less of a occurrence.

Recently, she’s been taken to gardening. Shovel introduced it to her. They don’t really have a home since the two are always on the go, but that little farm house Shovel vanished off to years back still remain. So they often return and plant new crops. Shield found it patronizing and difficult at first, unsure what Shovel saw in it and how it could help her. Now she finds it therapeutic.

Nowadays she can go alone and pick out fresh carrots and potatoes without Shovel at her beck and call (so she lets him sleep in a bit.) It feels good. It feels peaceful. She could get used to this.

11.) Black Knight: ....I imagine he’d be the type to sacrifice himself so Shovel and Shield can be happy. Maybe one day he does exactly that. It also meant saving the world as well. Black Knight regrets a lot of things, but this he does not...

12.) Specter Knight: ...”You will not remember me centuries from now,” He proclaimed one day. For one who was always sure of their relationship, this was a particularly alarming moment of vulnerability from Propeller.

“What?” Specter Knight tilted his head in confusion.

“You once told me you shall always carry me in your heart; that way you will remember me long after I’ve passed on,” Propeller elaborated, “But be real. Undead immortal or not, you cannot think to remember who I am thousands of years from now. It will be so long and you will have done so much by then.”

“Propeller...” Specter was incredulous and frankly, kind of hurt. Why would Propeller assume this of him?

“It is alright, you are not obligated to do so. I want you very much to live a wonderful life long after I am gone,” Propeller smiles, “Make friends, have adventures, help people....fall in love again. It is alright if you forget me because you will have a life fulfilled.”

Specter is silent and for a while, it seemed believable what Propeller said would be true. He lowered his head, then remembered he was sick of it, sick of feeling sad when it took years to learn how to be happy. He stared intensely at Propeller and sternly told him, “No.”“ Excusez-Moi?”

“I will help people, I will make friends, I’ll go on grand adventures, and yes, maybe I will fall for another centuries down the line, but you are a damn fool if you think I will forget you,” Specter clutched his chest, “Thousands of years from now, if I am still wandering this strange planet, I will still remember you.”

Propeller looks at his lover, stunned. He is touched. This is the kind of grand romantic gesture he lives for, but he tears up not out of joy, but somberness, “...I appreciate the thought, Donovan, but it’s alright if you cannot keep this promise. I’m just saying.” Specter sighs and wraps an arm around his husband.

                                                          ~*~

Ten thousand years, the sun is red and the planet drying. Very little life exists, and Death walks collecting the last remaining souls. He eyes the massive star, forever looking like a malicious red sunset (he loved the sunset...) Soon, it would go supernova and perhaps, perhaps he can finally rest for good. Then he can be with his loved ones.

Wind is rare nowadays, but whenever he feels a breeze his way, Death knows who is watching him.

He has not forgotten him...

[ceciliasheplin]

Master post for all my fics so far

I’ve put here most of the tags but not all, so please read them. My recurring themes are: Reylo is madly in love, Happy ending, Redemption/Healing of some sort. Let me know what you guys think!

Morpho Menelaus

Rated M, 1189 words, One-shot

📎https://archiveofourown.org/works/24635509

🏷 Modern AU, Grief/Mourning, Pinned Insects, Swearing, Butterflies, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst

Rey works at an insectarium and notices a recurring visitor at the butterfly exhibit.

This fic is the ao3 version of a twitter fic that I wrote for this prompt by @reylo_prompts:

"Ben and Rey work at a zoo Rey always finds Ben in the butterfly exhibit, he likes to go there when he’s sad."

Ever since the Roll-out came out, I’ve been in love with the butterflies, like many fellow Reylos, and couldn’t wait for them to show up in the fics. My headcanon is that the butterflies are a symbol of the love between father and son, so tragically broken apart (by cruel writers). I love this little fic. It makes me happy. It gives me closure and hope.

🦋🦋🦋

***

A Quick Death

Rated M, 2293 words, One-shot

📎https://archiveofourown.org/works/24563752

🏷 Canon Divergence, Post TLJ, Wounds, animal blood, Mention of death penalty, Forgiveness, Redemption

This is my contribution to a Prompt Gangbang event: “Rey finds Ben tied to a tree.”

I can’t write fix-it fics because TROS made canon so bad, there is no fixing it other than ignoring that piece of shit of a movie completely, in my opinion. So I divorced myself from that and live in denial ever since, never missing an opportunity of writing about what it should have been.

🌳🌳🌳

***

What Am I Here For?

Rated E, 25577 words, 16 chapters

📎https://archiveofourown.org/works/23903074/chapters/57471235

🏷 Modern AU, Breylo, Polyamory, Heavy Angst, Grief/Mourning, No Incest, Skywalker Family Drama, Loss of appetite, Consensual Infidelity, Internalized Prejudices, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Threesome - F/M/M, Everyone Is Alive, No Pregnancy, No Kids

This is the Breylo version of this old prompt by @reylo_prompts: "When Ben is declared missing, and then presumed dead, his fiance, Rey, is heartbroken. He returns years later, only to find she didn't wait for him as she'd promised she would."

This is my favourite fic that I wrote. It features smut but it’s not a smut fic, I wanted to write something different this time. Also, I had a lot of grief to let out and needed to find a way for these characters to heal and find a happy ending, even after all they’ve been through. I poured my heart out writing this one. I’m still in love with my poly babies Rey, Ben and Kylo and always will be.

❤️💛💙

***

Smitten

Rated M, 16065 words, 8 Chapters

📎https://archiveofourown.org/works/23306047/chapters/55821535

🏷 Modern Setting, Angel Rey, Human Ben, Mild Smut, Loss of Virginity, Protected Sex, Family Drama, Fluff

Rey is an angel who falls to protect human Ben from demon Snoke. They fall in love while figuring out the truth about Ben's family.

Inspired by Diablo (the video game) mythos, but this fic is super fluffy. Listen, I just wanted a feral angel girl to protect SoftBoi Ben, okay? And fall in love and bone him along the way...

😇😇😇

***

Macrolepidoptera

Rated E, 3215 words, One-shot

📎https://archiveofourown.org/works/23588158

🏷 Modern, Mothlo, Porn with Feelings, Hurt/Comfort, Monsterfucking, Body Worship, Biting, Blood Play, Fluff and Angst, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dark fic

Rey runs after her Mothman to show him how much she loves him

MOTHLOOOO!!! I fell in love with Mothlo and had the urge to let the whole fandom know, haha. Really, this is about Kylo believing he’s worthy of love and Rey being true to herself. Another favourite, because I will always love those sweet monsters who are better than so many ‘nice guys’ we meet out there.

🖤🦋🖤 

***

Ash & Blood

Rated E, 6596 words, One-shot

📎https://archiveofourown.org/works/22568317

🏷 Medieval, Dark fic, Murderous Lovers, Minor Character Death, Betrayal between friends, Violence, Kylo Ren is Not Nice, Rey is not nice, but they love each other

Bloodthirsty warrior Kylo Ren is betrayed by his men and must flee. He is helped by a mysterious woman and her friends. He joins forces with them to get his revenge.

My first dark fic. It was a gift for my wonderful friend. It was a lot of fun to write people being bad.

🗡🖤🔥

***

Heal

Rated T, 4379 words, One-shot

📎https://archiveofourown.org/works/22537060

🏷 Canon Divergence, Angst, Fluff, Kyber Crystals, Force Bond, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Sharing a Bed, Visions

A few weeks after the Battle of Crait, the Force connects Rey and Ben again on several occasions as she is trying to heal the legacy saber's Kyber crystal.

Another gift for a Valentine’s Day exchange. When my giftee asked for soft romance and Rey touching Ben’s hair I rubbed my hands together and gave an evil laugh because it’s what I do best, haha. This is my first T rated fic and it’s very soft and cute.

💎💎💎

***

High Seas

Rated E, 19923, 10 chapters

📎https://archiveofourown.org/works/21640174/chapters/51602203

🏷 Pirate AU, Porn With Plot, Mention of Reyux, Infidelity Kink, Praise Kink, Light Dom/sub, Dom Kylo Ren, Sub Rey, Betrayal, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Name-Calling, Dirty Talk, Rough Sex, Period-Typical Sexism, Slut Shaming, Revenge Sex, Pirate Rey, Lovers to enemies to lovers, Mention of pregnancy at the very end of the epilogue

Rey is stuck in a loveless and sexless marriage. So she turns to the alluring Commander Kylo Ren to quench her thirst.

This is my dirtiest fic and I love it to death. I’m not the best smut writer in the world, but this porn was liberating to write. Also, I wanted to write Ben as not a Softboi this time, and Rey as someone a little more flawed than what I usually do. Horny Reylo at their best.

🏴‍☠️ 🌊

***

The Tide

Rated E, 14949 words, 6 chapters

📎https://archiveofourown.org/works/20658665/chapters/49060343

🏷 Canon Divergence, Slow Burn, Hurt/Comfort, Domestic Fluff, Angst, Eventual Smut, Mention of abuse, Kylo Ren Needs a Hug, Gardening, Spoiler for Kylo Ren comic, No Pregnancy, No Kids

This fic was based on a prompt from @reylo_prompts: “The Resistance catches Supreme Leader and decides on his execution. Rey promises that if they do that, the Jedi won't support their cause any longer. Nevertheless, they proceed. She leaves. Several years later, Palpatine's return prompts the Resistance to seek Rey out. They are shocked to find her peacefully living with very much alive Kylo in a cute cottage on an outer rim planet.”

In sharp contrast to the latter, this is mostly plot driven. I wanted to write about them falling in love gradually, facing who they really are and what happened in canon (I wrote this before TROS came out so some of my lines sound kinda funny now). Also, Leia and Ben have a chance to make things right here, something that will forever be missing in my heart.

🏡🌻🌏

***

The Dark Prince

Rated E, 38471 words, 17 chapters

📎https://archiveofourown.org/works/20739284/chapters/49274468

🏷 Fantasy AU, Slow Burn, Curses, Demons, Angst, Fluff, Smut, Attempt Self-Sacrifice, Battles

In a fantasy land, Rey, a Jedi Monk, travels across the land in the winter to end the war the First Order has been waging. There, she finds their great power being challenged by a small but brave group of dissidents, the Resistance, and also by something else. A demon who haunts the woods nearby and attacks those who dare to cross the forest.

This was my RFFA fic. I tried to create a world where the heroes would be able to fight and win by not fighting what they hate but saving what they love.

***

Something Beautiful

Rated E, 6186 words, One-shot

📎https://archiveofourown.org/works/20263963

🏷 Medieval AU, Arranged Marriage, Fluff, Angst, Smut, Loss of Virginity, Virgin Rey, Virgin Ben Solo, Gentle Sex

Rey begrudgingly agrees to marry her greatest enemy and fears her wedding night.

This fic was inspired by a prompt from @reylo_prompts: “Lord Ren forces orphan Rey to marry him. On their wedding night he refuses to take her because he wants her to be willing. Rey is both enraged and frustrated. She may hate him but she isn’t exactly opposed to being ravished by her husband.”

This is my most successful fic. I loved the idea of a character being so sure of something and then be proven wrong. It’s basically two dumb virgins figuring it all out, connecting deeply in the process. And I could never have a fic where Rey is a passive onlooker in her own life. She knows what she wants and she’s going to get it.

🏰🌕💞

***

The Balance

Rated E, 70382 words, 21 chapters

📎https://archiveofourown.org/works/17664236/chapters/41660696

🏷 Canonverse, Slow Burn, Eventual Smut, The Force Ships It, Softboi Ben, Rey is confident, Lightsabers, Force Bond, Kylo Ren Redemption

It has been a few months since the battle of Crait. Both sides are rushing to rebuild. Rey is getting stronger as a Jedi. Ben, however, is feeling unsure. They cannot forget about each other as dreams haunt them both. A series of events brings them together again.

Okay, this is my first fic... It’s bad... Like, really bad... I’m not disowning it but this is cringeworthy, even if I still love it and stand by some of my ideas. We all gotta start somewhere, right? Also, it’s better than TROS... 😘

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Big thanks to @leofgyth​, @reylotrash711​, @thehobbem​ and starcrossreylo for the betas and moodboards. I love you guys!

[chaoticxcipher]

Get to know BILL CIPHER who’s THIRTY-ONE years old and works as a POLITICIAN in town. He is from CORONA and is often times mistaken for DANE DEHAAN while others say he reminds them of BILL CIPHER from GRAVITY FALLS

TW: Drugs, alcohol, violence, self harm, cults, religion talk(?), murder (implied), animal death  

So let’s start with his cult.

This cult is generations old. And the Cipher’s have always been at its forefront. They believed that one day the other dimensions—dimensions of chaos and magic and nightmares— would collide with this one and bring about an Armageddon like state to the world. However, there would also be a person that could control and bend these chaotic happenings and twist the nightmares away. But of course, this person couldn’t protect the whole world, so only those who followed this religion would be protected when this savior—who was often described in almost demonic or horrific ways— showed up. And not only would these members be safe but they would be the people who were also granted powers and rule over what was left of the world when chaos reigned. Some people were put off when they realized this was a cult bordering on a type of satanic cult. But the descriptions were to be expected. You wouldn’t expect someone completely sound of mind to be able to manipulate nightmares and control and command chaos. But for decades, this person—this savior— hadn’t come around. There was a member of the Cipher family way back at the second generation of the cult who seemed likely to be this messiah, but she did end up dying before her powers ever developed. Then, decades later, two devout members and members of the Cipher family believed that they had found this person who would be their leader. Who would save them all and help them regain their rightful powers and lead them through the end of days when time dies and reality feels more like an illusion. They believed that this person would be their grandson, Bill.

Bill was only six when his grandparents introduced him to the cult. And it wasn’t this introduction that led him to be the person he is today. They felt like he was meant for this power because when he was only four, he had found a dead bird while visiting his grandparents. But after his parents had scolded him and told him he needed to get the bird out of the house and wash his hands for even touching it, his grandfather asked him where he found the dead bird, and Bill replied, “I found it in the yard. But it wasn’t dead.” And this mixed with other behaviors such as him never being an emotional child and always seeming far more fascinated with death and darker subjects, his grandparents decided to introduce him to the cult. They hadn’t even told their own child—Bill’s father— about the cult. And Bill became the youngest member to ever be initiated into the cult. Because after just meeting him, and seeing him not even wince as his grandparents marked him with the cult’s symbol of an eye, they slowly started to believe them. 

It was when Bill was seventeen that he became the leader of the cult. Because he was always very charismatic, always very powerful. And because people believed that he was the person that would protect them in the end of time. But of course there were skeptics that didn’t believe in him yet. They wanted proof that he had these powers and that he had this connection to these nightmare and chaos realms and to the magic of Corona. And Bill told them that he had a vision in one of his dreams that his grandmother would die in three days in a house fire and his grandfather would die five days later of complications from the smoke that filled his lungs in the fire. His grandparents of course were shocked to hear this revelation. Because as far as they knew, Bill hadn’t developed his power. And he hadn’t developed his powers. Bill was just a person; he hadn’t ascended to his position of power yet that he knew he was destined for. But, three days later, his grandparents—who went to their son’s house because they assumed in Bill’s “premonition” he meant their house would burn down—both ended up in the hospital. His grandmother was severely burned and in critical condition, and his grandfather in less serious condition but still pretty bad. Bill’s parent’s didn’t even make it out of the house. Bill was also burned, but not as bad because he had gotten home to see the smoke, and went in to get his grandparents out. He was burned enough to not ask questions. They determined the cause of the fire was a faulty gas line. His grandmother died in the emergency room and three days later, though he seemed like he was doing better, Bill’s grandfather died in his hospital bed. And this was proof enough to all the members of the Cult that Bill truly did have these powers.

He kept up this act by mentioning visiting people in their dreams and making up other ways of showing off his powers without really showing them—like taking a little more than a microdose of lsd during some meetings or special ceremonies such as initiations or rituals to the demons in the other dimensions— and people continued to believe that he had some of these powers. But Bill wanted true powers. He wanted magic and to take hold of his destiny of being practically a god of chaos and nightmares. And he knows that one day it will happen and when it does, he will happily ascend to this position.

Things the cult does include rituals—some of which are sacrifices of personal objects, or blood or hair, or sometimes like on special occasions, an animal. Nobody in the cult will talk about or confirm if there have ever been human sacrifices and new initiates never ask.

All members get a tattoo or a brand of an eye on the back of their neck. Members will also be asked to complete some trials and sacrifices to join and prove they are willing to join and devote themself to this cause and religion. One of these trials is staying in a completely dark room with nothing in it for 12-24 hours. If. You can last the 24 hours, you are welcomed into Bill’s more inner circle of people he trusts more. People who will essentially be his council both in the cult and when the Armageddon they were preparing for inevitably came. 

Bill doesn’t do the recruiting because he’s currently trying to rise in political power, and if people knew he was a cult leader well… that’s just bad for approval ratings. People are advised to only invite those who they know would be willing to endure the initiation trials because if they cannot, it will be unfortunate for them if they try to tell the police or anyone about what’s going on. 

Most of the cult’s meetings take place in the basement of his grandparent’s home (which is now Bill’s home.) It’s a huge room built at least two stories down into the earth. It has intricate stonework and hand carved altars and sigils burned into the floor. There are braziers that line the room, all burning with a lining of copper and some metal salts—which definitely cause some hallucinations to those around, but Bill will explain it away as just them seeing into these other realms— so the flames burn blue. There are the texts of the religion written in Latin which Bill can read because his parents forced him to go to Catholic school and because his grandparents would teach it to him. 

Like most cult leaders, Bill will sleep with members of his cult. He never forces it and anyone is welcome to say no to any of his advances, however these are people who believe he’s destined to become a god so…. And it’s not everyone, and people have said no, but we’re going to be honest this is definitely slightly an abuse of his power. 

Bill will hold seances to talk to the other side and the nightmare realms and just make up bullshit about what he hears or he’ll be high and just will describe whatever trip he’s on. Because it’s close enough.

I will talk about more in detail parts of ceremonies and initiation trials if you ask me, but some of the ideas I’m just not writing them down here. Just know they involve things such as self harm for the purpose of blood sacrifices and proving willingness to follow orders, drugs—ones people know they are taking and ones that are either said to be something else and are laced with drugs or ones they’re not even aware of such as the toxins from the pyres Bill burns— and animal death because of making a sacrifice (These are usually only for big ceremonies and on special occasions like eclipses and solstices.) This is a cult people. This isn’t a walk in the park to join. And people who get halfway through the initiation process or who decide to leave the cult often have experiences with extremely bad luck afterwards because while Bill might not have any actual magic yet, he has plenty of members who do, and a few he trusts far more than anyone else in the world. (And honestly having Eris to just give them back luck until they either swear silence or until they rejoin is a great help because before she came around people would just mysteriously go missing)

ANYWAY! On to Bill specifically.

Headcanons

His grandparents always had his back. When there were times his parents would actually pay attention to him and his behavior and they thought about sending him somewhere or taking him to get tested, his grandparents would insist that it was because of his parent’s fighting and that Bill wasn’t doing anything wrong.

 He’s a gambler; Bill loves making deals.

While he’s not always honest about the deals he makes or the way he wins, he’ll usually fulfill his end of the deal. Just not always in the way you may be hoping.

Bill definitely has some anger management he needs to work on. But he doesn’t really have any interest in that.

Bill is a bit of a pyromaniac. Just one of the many, many ways he likes to create a little chaos and destruction.

A lot of his chaos isn’t such to him. He thinks it’s just more fun. More interesting. 

He learned how to lucid dream when he was young. All his dreams are twisted and would be seen as nightmarish, Bill loves. Because they’re his dreams and he’s in control of every aspect of them. 

Being a politician definitely helps him get information on others he wouldn’t normally be able to obtain. And helps him reach a bigger audience, helps him to convince his followers that he has more knowledge and powers and connections to magic than he really does. Helps that it pays well, too.

Has probably committed many felonies, but he will never admit to that.

He sees and hears whispers about people getting powers, and he’s impatiently waiting for his own. And getting a little frustrated that it hasn’t happened yet. Though he’s doing his best to pretend like he has (Think ‘The Wizard of Oz’)

He keeps an eye out for other people who are trying to figure out the mysteries of the island. Not that he thinks any of them could possibly be a threat to him. Just because he’s curious and because you never know when you might find some potential followers. 

He’s got eyes and ears in a lot of places. He’s never short of information. 

He has symbols tattooed on him. Either from his cult or other satanic religions or demonic symbols. I’ll talk about this more in a bit.. 

He’s a bit of a sadomasochist. He enjoys the pain and enjoys other people's pain. But in the past—before he figured out, let’s say, other types of pain—he would cut himself just to feel anything.

When he was younger, one hundred percent wrote illuminati conspiracy theories and would tell urban legends to little kids just to freak them out and make them upset.

Has a very dark sense of humor

Even though he does a lot of shady things, he does his best to keep that away from the mainstream media. It’s easier to manipulate people when they don’t have an already negative opinion of you. 

He’s still figuring out how he feels about the new people coming to corona. On one hand, this is more people to manipulate; more people he can convince to follow him; more people to rule over someday. On the other, he doesn’t want some nobody coming in here and putting everything he’s working towards at risk. Not that he thinks there’s somebody capable of stopping him or taking his place. Just… a precautionary concern. 

He’s charismatic in the way that most psychopaths are. 

Also kind of a jerk. He’ll definitely use your insecurities and weaknesses against you.

He’s not going to let anyone stop him. He doesn’t care what he might have to do or who he might have to hurt to get where he’s going. None of that is going to stop him. 

You might say he’s cocky and overconfident. 

Has not only taken classes studying demonology, but will also do a lot of research on it in his free time.

Bill has definitely dabbled in Satanism and other such practicings, but he wouldn’t say he’s religious in any sense. Well, other than his own.

When he’s fully enraged, he does become more chaotic. He thinks less about his actions, and any reason to what he does is gone.

Is well off from both his career and money left to him by his grandparents. 

He’s not an alcoholic, he just likes to drink. A lot. 

Same with some drugs. He’s not only here to be a powerful ruler, he’s also here for a good time. 

While he doesn’t act like it, he is aware of mortality and the fact that he’s (not yet) invincible or immortal. And that’s definitely one of the first things he wants to figure out how to fix about himself

Has never been in a serious committed relationship. Any time he was in a “long term relationship” it was purely so he could get something from the other person, whether it was information or as a cover to make himself seem more “relatable to the public”. 

Any real emotions he has are buried under several layers of just being mostly insane. 

There are definitely those who see him for who he is and he doesn’t care. He knows he’s unstable and insane. He thinks it’s more fun that way. 

When he was younger, Bill would get in trouble in school for bullying other kids by scaring them, and the counselors were often concerned with the odd symbols he’d draw on himself and his papers. They suggested therapy or medication, but his parents never followed through. And even when they tried to, Bill would just not go to the sessions or take his meds and sell them to some older kids outside the high school. 

He enjoys the company of other people who are eccentric and wild and just straight up weird.

Yes, he’s smart, but he definitely always thinks he’s the smartest in the room. He’s conceited and self absorbed. 

Despite his odd behaviors and how he behaved, he did very well in school, getting mostly A’s

As wild as he may have been, he wasn’t a fan of partying in high school or college. The only benefit of parties being a bunch of dumb drunk idiots all together in one place. He often liked watching the chaos.

Fun Facts

Would sell his soul to the devil if he thought he had one.

He’s read the lesser key of solomon more times than he can recall.

He’s Pansexual

He listens to a lot of older music because it’s what his grandparents listened to. He doesn’t really have a favorite genre or a favorite anything

His birthday is June 6th.

Bill plays the piano. His grandparents had one and he liked to practice on it when he was at their house before he was really old enough to witness all their meetings. 

Tattoos

Also known as “It’s a miracle Poppy didn’t question if he was insane while they were hooking up”. Anyway let’s do this shit.

His arms and back are covered in symbols. Few are done in dark ink, most are done in a lighter ink so they appear less prominent or a redder ink so they appear more like scars or burns. (Some of the images my have repeat symbols but some pictures had more than others.)

Eye on the back of his neck (The Cult symbol)

Symbols on his arms (literally covering them. The symbols don’t overlap but there are very few spots they don’t cover.) 1 2 3 4 5

Symbols on his back (Same again, most of his back is covered. Most of these are the sigils of different demons) 1 2 3 4 5

His one of his larger tattoos on the back of his left forearm.

Largest tattoo on his back in between his shoulder blades. done in dark ink

Chest tattoo

Connections

Poppy Pink - A fling he had a while back that ended up with her being the mother of his child. There are no feelings between the two of them anymore. Not that there were any on Bill’s side in the first place. But they’re friendly enough now. Poppy wanted him in their daughter’s life and Bill was happy to be a part of it.

Eris Pratten - Probably his favorite of his members and definitely one of his favorite people who has come to Corona. They have an odd relationship of getting on each other’s nerves just for the sake of making up for it. And Bill, who isn’t as subtle as he hopes, is definitely infatuated with Eris because of everything about her. And he’s very grateful for all she does to help cover up the cult and keep people from spreading information about it that he doesn’t want to spread (especially information about him being the leader.) He relies on her for more than he’d like to admit and would be maybe a little heartbroken if she ever truly hated him in a way more than their playful banter way of it all.

Lily Rose Cipher - Bill and Poppy’s daughter that Bill thinks the world of. He used to not like children, but he realized he loved his own children because that meant that she was an extension of him. She would carry on his legacy when he ascended to godhood. Because she had his DNA and she was surely meant to be special as well. Because that’s how children worked, right? They just became whatever you wanted them to be? But regardless of these more insanity driven reasons for caring for his daughter, Bill does genuinely care about her and fears the day Poppy finds out more about his bad habits or god forbid that he runs a cult. Because he really doesn’t want to lose visiting rights to her. 

Branch Grey - Poppy’s boyfriend who’s the most paranoid person Bill has ever met. He doesn’t like or trust Bill, which is honestly fair and Bill gets it, but being his overconfident self, he doesn’t care and tells him to deal with the fact that he’s stuck with him in his life.

Stan Pines - Is definitely onto Bill in some way, and he knows it. He thinks it has something to do with his twin brother that went missing a while back. But Bill was barely in charge when that had happened. Though he does remember Ford. Interesting guy. Very gullible. 

Dipper Pines - A conspiracy theorist that Bill wants to get to know better because he hopes he can convince him to trust him like his great uncle had. Not only to throw him off Bill’s trail for all that he does, but also to try and gather what information he’s gathered about the magic of Corona and its people.

Mabel Pines - Dipper’s sister who is definitely gullible enough to share her brother's information. He’d like to build up a trust with her so that she’ll give him information Dipper is too smart to share.

Wanted Connections

Friends? - Definitely people who don’t trust each other deep down. Friends for power; friends out of necessity. Friends that all are shitty people we love that.

Weird kids - People who know he’s into some weird and perhaps have theories that he runs the cult and just sort of… are interested? He doesn’t love young people so if they mess with him and annoy him that’s a good thing. Or on the other hand, people who feel lost and Bill can manipulate to his side and cause.

Exes - Bill doesn’t really do relationships so people he has been with have probably realized he didn’t care about them at all or that he had ulterior motives for dating them. They could still have feelings for him or they could hate him now. He honestly couldn’t care less either way.

Flings -  Bill is all for one night stands and casual hookups. Friends with Benefits also welcomed.

Anything - People who like him, people who hate him, people who are suspicious of him, literally anything. If you need an asshole for one of your plots, he’s good for it, just hit me up.

[roksanas]

ROKSANA SIRSK -  CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT QUESTIONNAIRE

BASICS -

1. Height?

Roksana is 5’4.

2. Eye colour?

Dark brown.

3. Do they need glasses?

Nah baby this human has 20/20 vision and can see in regular and magical darkness for 120 feet. It’s an invocation, but she will claim she’s just more evolved than most humans.

4. Scars and birthmark?

She has quite a few prominent scars on her hands from burns and cuts when she was training as a blacksmith. She also has a long, vertical scar beneath her ribs from a job that went sideways. She almost died before getting to a cleric; she doesn’t talk about it.

5. Tattoos and piercings?

On her right ear she has 3 lobe piercings, an industrial and a forward helix, and on her left she has a helix, a tragus, and 3 lobe piercings. As for tattoos, she has the symbols of Dol Arrah, Milil, Lathander, and the Raven Queen down her left forearm, and the symbols of Dol Dorn, Tymora, Malar, Sune down her right forearm.

6. Right or left handed?

Sana does most things with her right hand, but she’s trained herself to be useful with both in battle.

7. Any disabilities? Physical or mental.

Sana has lost most of the hearing in her left ear, and as such is hard of hearing.

8. Do they have any allergies?

Roksana is allergic to dogs and NO ONE is allowed to talk to her about it. 

9. Favourite colour?

Black, or navy blue. 

10. Typical outfits?

Sana likes well-made clothing, and most of her spending is on clothes. She wears mostly black and white. A lot of her tops are blouses, often sporting either lace, embroidery, or flowy sleeves. She loves elaborate dresses, corsets worn in untraditional ways, and interesting belt buckles. If she’s on a job, she wears a breastplate underneath a cloak or a powerful-looking coat. She’s also a fan of leather gloves.

11. Do they wear any makeup?

Sana rarely wears makeup, but she can’t resist a bit of eyeliner here and there.

12. What weapon do they use, if any?

She almost exclusively uses Obit, which is both her pact blade and her spellcasting focus. Obit likes to call itself Darthranok, and speaks to her telepathically. 

PERSONALITY -

13. Are they more optimistic or pessimistic?

Sana considers herself a realist, which is to say...she’s mostly pessimistic. If she has any optimism left, it resides in Zari, who does her best to see the light in every situation when Sana is focusing on solutions. She doesn’t waste a lot of time on pessimism, but she certainly doesn’t expect anything good from others or from any situation she walks into.

14. Are they introverted or extroverted?

Introverted. Definitely charismatic and a skilled socializer, but she only gains energy when she’s alone or only around people who are close to her.

15. What are their pet peeves?

Most of Sana’s pet peeves are exhibited by her clients. She hates when people explain things slowly when she didn’t ask them to, she hates when people aren’t punctual - particularly with their payments - and she hates when people act like they know her. Above all, she hates being pitied, and even annoys herself when she gets caught up in the habit of self-pitying. Some smaller pet peeves include loud chewers, Zari wearing her clothes, and people standing too close to her.

16. What bad habits do they have?

She picks at her nails, leans back in pretty much every chair she sits in, and leaves loose strands of hair littered about the house. She always thinks she’s right, she consistently asks too much for the jobs she undertakes, and she tries to get to know people without letting them know her.

17. Do they have any phobias?

The most constant fear she has, the one that gives her the most nightmares, is losing Zari. When she’s away from Khaggon, it often keeps her up at night and she’s considering bringing her sister along on all her jobs again.

18. How do they display affection?

Acts of service all the way. She doesn’t get close with many people, but when she does choose to let someone in she’s very all-or-nothing. She will go out of her way to get that person what they need, and loves to provide for the people she loves. She’s not especially physically affectionate, but when she’s exhausted she can’t deny that she likes to cuddle.

19. How competitive are they?

Oh, god. You don’t wanna know. If she gets even the slightest idea that someone’s coming for her job or for her money, she will go to extreme lengths to make sure they never try that again. She also tends to swear and yell a bit too much when playing card games.

20. If they could change one thing about themselves, what would it be?

She’d like to be a bit softer, a bit more trusting, a bit more open-hearted - if she could manage.

21. Do they have any obscure hobbies or routines?

She loves making her own knives, especially ones that are just for display with elaborate handles. For the past five years, she’s had an omelette for breakfast every morning that she hasn’t been in the wild or otherwise incapacitated. She reorganizes her closet and jewelry once or twice a month, just for kicks. She likes to gamble.

BACKSTORY -

22. What are the names and ages of their close family members? Parents, siblings, etc.

Zari, her sister, is thirteen. Esfir, her mother, would be fifty-two, and her father, Ashkin, would be fifty-one. Roksana was also close to her maternal grandmother, Shirin, who would be eighty-five now.

23. Is their family alive and are they still in contact with them?

Esfir and Ashkin have been dead for almost three and thirteen years respectively, and Shirin has been dead for eight years. Her sister is very much alive, and very much in contact with her.

24. Where are they from? City, nation?

Runswick born-and-raised, though she currently lives in Khaggon. 

25. Did they have a childhood best friend?

Ever since she can remember, Sana’s best friend has been a girl named Evangeline. She’s a wealthy merchant’s daughter, and has recently started a family in Runswick. They rarely see each other anymore, but they do still write to each other.

26. Have they had any pets?

The only pet she had growing up was a cat named Stinky. She found him as a stray when she was ten, and he had an incredibly pungent smell. Since then, she always wanted a dog, but their fur gives her hives and their dandruff stuffs her up - so, instead, she got Zari a gray tabby. (Zari’s always liked cats better, anyway.) Her sister named him Quincy, and though Sana is sure he’ll never be as great as Stinky, she is glad that Zari has company when she’s away. 

27. Did they grow up rich or poor? What were their living conditions like?

Sana lived in a small home, and had very little excess in her upbringing. Her parents were both righteous and honorable, and usually found that justice was all the payment they needed for their adventures. They did, however, provide Sana and Zari with what they needed, though some months were pretty tight.

28. What is their educational background?

Sana was taught by Evangeline’s governess until she was fifteen.

29. As a child, what did they want to be when they grew up?

Until her father died, she thought perhaps she would be a paladin just like her parents. Then she wanted to be a blacksmith, of course.

30. What advice would they give to their younger self?

Honestly, she’d probably try to dash her hopes earlier in life. She’d tell herself to get used to things not going right. She’d probably be a badder bitch if she let go of childish dreams earlier on. This, however, is far from any advice she’d ever give to Zari.

31. Growing up, were they ever bullied or were they the bully?

She probably made fun of a boy here and there, but she was never bullied. In fact, after her father died, she was treated with so much pity that it makes her gag thinking about it. Even the children in her neighborhood acted like she was fragile.

32. Who do they look up to/who is their role model?

Herself, tbh. But also Zari, because she’s extremely emotionally intelligent and good at a lot of things that she struggles with.

PRESENT -

33. Do they currently have a place of residence?

Yes, she has a small home in Khaggon that she paid for in coin.

34. What is their most treasured possession?

If not Obit, then this particularly sharp and rad dagger that she made herself with a raven’s head as the hilt.

35. What is their drink of choice?

Any sort of liquor. She likes shots.

36. Which king/queen are they loyal to, if any?

Rolland, if she has to choose. She surely doesn’t trust him, but Hegaehend is her home, and she won’t side with anyone who’s trying to invade it.

37. Have they ever killed anyone?

Oh, yeah. She’d never call herself an assassin, but she has been paid to kill specific marks, or paid to finish jobs that had no restrictions on who was left dead or alive. Her sword also feeds on life force, and she doesn’t want to know what will happen if it gets too hungry.

38. What was their last promise and did they keep it?

She promises Zari that she’ll be safe every time she leaves, and she hasn’t died yet, so she considers that a promise kept.

LOVE -

39. What was their first kiss like, if they’ve had one?

Sloppy, gross. She was thirteen and had a crush on the guy for an entire year, and then everything good she’d ever thought about him disappeared when he shoved his tongue down her throat. He tasted like ham.

40. Are they in a relationship/have a love interest?

Nope. She has friends with benefits scattered here and there, but she wouldn’t consider them love interests.

41. Have they ever been in love?

Yes. When Sana was twenty-one, she fell head-over-heels with a half-elf named Mikas. They’d grown up in the same social circle, and he had a tendency to flirt with everyone in that social circle. But after a long night out and a talk under the stars, things were different between them. They were inseparable for a year, and it was a good year, but after that year came two more years that were much less enjoyable.

42. Have they ever had their heart broken?

Of course. She gave her all in the relationship with Mikas. It was the most vulnerable she’d ever been with someone, and he probably still knows her better than anyone. But he still didn’t want to be with her. After that one good year, he stopped trying. He stopped finding time to spend with her, stopped making her feel heard, and then he left her for some girl he hardly knew. Now, she won’t accept anything less than 100% effort from a romantic partner - not that she particularly wants one.

SPIRITUALITY -

43. Do they follow a god, if so who?

Nope! She has those religious symbols tattooed on her mostly as a joke. Probably insensitive, but she likes to keep people guessing about what her religious background is. She’s also still pretty bitter about gods and what they expect of their champions.

44. What do they think happens to them after death?

Regardless of her religious beliefs, she likes to believe in an afterlife. She’s seen ghosts and other kinds of spirits, and she likes to believe that if someone deserves to live on past their mortal life, then they will. It helps her sleep at night to think that the people she kills will live on if they deserve to, and that if they don’t deserve to, then she did the world a service.

45. What is their spirit animal?

Listen I know I said lion for Avi, but she’s a Leo so how can I not say lion…….otherwise maybe a raven or smth.

[morbidoptimisim]

Some Teen Titan Headcanons:

Raven:

The first time she had a loose tooth, she worried it with her tongue until it fell loose, and crunched it without thinking; as a half-demon it turns out she sheds a lot of teeth, and she nonchalantly eats/swallows most of them. 

She is incredibly smart, and incredibly bored. Always. She will teach herself new things, show them off just to get a reaction out of her friends, then never touch that thing again if pressed to use it for any reason. It drives Robin bonkers, as he’s had to replan missions around that. Such skills usually pertain to her love of languages, such as types of dances and knitting.    

As a half-demon, Raven’s body is really good at digesting meat, but not so good at digesting most types of breads and plants; she loves sweet things, and prefers hard candies such as rock candy, over chocolates. She refuses to ‘give into her demonic nature’ however, and readily eats things like pizza and sandwiches, despite them not really sitting well with her. 

As a half-demon, she is actually stronger than most humans, but, as her magic is usually more effective & her pacifist upbringing still influences her, she tends to opt out of physical situations where she can.  

Sometimes she’ll stare at a spot on a wall or near the ceiling, and ‘track’ movement from that spot much like a cat; when questioned about it, her focus will shift blanky to whoever is talking to her and you can visibly see her blink back into ‘normalcy’. Her answer is always a shrug. It’s concerning.

She has a form of shapeshifting that’s caused by her power changing her body to better house the energies contained within; it was a conscious decision to change her childhood appearance to look more human. In her childhood she had several sets of red eyes and redder skin that terrified everyone around her, causing a deep-seated self-loathing and anxiety.  

She sometimes wears heelys and shoes that light up under her cloak.

When she moves objects, she puts a little of her soul into the object to manipulate, same for people; she can trace the ‘imprint’ or ‘impression’ of that action, and is really good at navigating the places she’s been for having used her powers to become parts of the surroundings.  

She can also ‘hone in” on people she’s used her powers on more quickly the those she hasn’t. She can still find those she’s never interacted with before, by following the emotional trail given off by the people who do know them.  

Places with stronger emotional residue call to her, and it’s not uncommon for her to shudder while walking with her friends, as a wave of the past washes over her.

She has a unique brand of humor; she’ll mix memes from Earth and Azarath, and use what sporadic knowledge she has of each to get her friend’s goats. She’s especially fond of giving Robin (Grayson) near incomprehensible riddles that usually end in the punchline, ‘and doves’.

Doves were the only animal she’d seen on Azarath, as they were the holy symbols of Azar. It was essentially illegal to take Azar or the bird’s names in vain. Raven had a complicated set of not-quite-feelings about them, as she did with the rest of Azarath’s purity based culture. 

The first time she saw a flock of pigeons, Raven stopped and stared at them, confusing her friends. After staring for a few moments, she whispered, “Stupid doves” just to test fate if she’d be smited for it, and Beast Boy spent the rest of the afternoon explaining the differences between all the birds that he knew. She never stopped calling pigeons ‘stupid doves’ much to her friends confusion. 

Horror movies scare her because they push into her face what she thinks other people may come to see her as, and what she may become if she doesn’t remain vigilant. Also, because there wasn’t t.v. or movies on Azarath and a complete lack of anything resembling a fantasy genre, so most forms of entertaining media were completely new to her, and she has little desensitization towards them.

Her music is a massive unseparated playlist of all her music, plus the playlists of all her friends, so most of her friends become terribly surprised they listen to anything with her when a track switches from something like a guided meditation narration to a deathmetal polka ballad.

Raven is an amature musisian. She messes around with writing wordless songs and playing them on keyboard; she has a small dedicated following on the internet, though nobody knows who she is since she never uses any bios or discernable names. She sometimes works on the music at the open mic night cafes she goes to, if the place is rather empty. 

She continues to mentor the Tot Titans Melvin the Magnificent, Timmy Tantrum, and Teether, and gradually adopts them as her own. Or rather, when they start calling her “mom”, she accepts the role, feeling both flattered and frantic over doing a good enough job of being a loving guiding force that she never grew up with until her friends came along. 

As a half-demon, her body is never happy with the temperature around her. Her skin gets overheated easily, but internally, she always feels freezing. This leads to her wearing outfits like her infamous leotard without pants while also sporting her iconic heavy cloak.   

She doesn’t sleep. She’s afraid to let her control slip for that long. Instead, she spends the time meditating; the calming rest-like trance allowing her body and mind to decompress while she maintains control. Or that was the theory she was raised by, at least. She also mediates for several hours during the day, as a go-to thing to do. It’s both her coping mechanism and bad habit. 

When she does sleep, she has terrible nightmares and visions, as well as a few instances of sleep paralysis. She’s also never certain if her father or her own demonic nature is the cause of such things. 

At sleepovers, she’s content to cuddle when everyone is sleeping, as she enjoys feeling the happy emotions of her friends as they dream. She’ll rest her eyes and do light mediation until someone inevitably starts up a 3am conversation with her, or drift into deep meditation until someone prods her to come to breakfast, if she’s trying to block out everyone’s emotions if they’re too strong for her to comfortably deal with. 

She can hear the whispers of the unseen, and hear the screams of the damned frequently. She forgets that isn't normal sometimes, but never speaks of it, and goes quiet if someone catches her mumbling to herself about it. 

There wasn’t any sort of mental health resources on Azarath; everything was her demons. Since coming to Earth, she’s made a couple of crude google searches of mental health topics, but never really dug into it. She is convinced that most things she deals with, are a direct result of her demonic heritage, and doesn’t normally share such things unless they’re directly impact the lives of her friends in a dangerous way.  

She steals her friends’ clothes. Robins jackets. Cyborg’s hoodies. Starfire’s shorts. Beast Boy’s shirts. Anything Jinx doesn’t nail to her closet. Raven wears them until they don’t ‘feel’ like her friends anymore, and then she returns them by abandoning them in the laundry room. If her friends start wearing them again, they run the risk of her stealing them again, if they were terribly comfy. She likes them for the emotional imprints of her friends, much the same way an animal like the smell of their favorite person’s sweater. 

She will binge-read wikipedia, putting every link in a new tab. she has hundreds of tabs  open at any given time. She never gets to what she wants to read because she stops to read each new page linked in the article ad nauseum. 

Raven often gets overwhelmed at grocery stores; not only are there usually a lot of people in bad moods with kids throwing tantrums, which grate against her empathy powers, the repeating arrays of small colorful items on every shelf actually make her slightly nauseous and disoriented rather easily. When shopping with her friends, shell tend to stay near the cart pusher, and focus on blocking everything out, leaving her distant, snippy, and dismissive.   

She sometimes humors Beast Boy by guesting on his gamer channel. She’s incredibly sarcastic, but is genuinely curious to see what happens when he messes with the game in ways that he shouldn’t, and lowkey urges him to break them from the inside out. One time, she actually took over for Beast Boy and played the game for herself; the playtime lasting for around five hours. That game was Sims City. She constructed a nearly perfect recreation of Azarath, (though no one knew it as such) and then wordlessly deleted it without warning. Fans were horrified at the loss.   

Raven is a fan of Vampire the Bloodlines, both table top and the pc game. In her first tabletop rpg before the death of her father, she played a Lasombra anti-tribune who diablerised their sire for their freedom. Since then, she’s played Termere, Catiff, and Salubri characters. As a playstyle, she prefers stealth and conversation over reactionary violence, but her characters are usually quite liberal about using force when necessary, if given any reason to. Sometimes, she lets herself/her characters have a bit of fun; on a whim, she once seduced one of her sessions main villains with a nat 20, surprising the party and their players, and then killed them for accepting her offer. 

Raven’s favorite video game is “Getting Over It With Bennette Foddy”; as a person who for the most part, does not play games, she was unused to the concept of ‘shitty controls’ and assumed her lack of experience was the culprit for the lack of progression and felt that the narrator’s words were heartfelt and reasonable. She spent most of the game zoning out and thinking over philosophies brought up by the narrator, and for the most part had a good time as she didn’t actually care about winning or not since she was put up to playing the game by Beast Boy as a gag. 

Her favorite game in general is chess, and she is quite good at it, though she has odd self-sabotaging tendencies that versed opponents can take note of. 

She isn’t allowed to play most rhythm games, as she runs the risk of going into a trance-like state and getting caught “in the loop”.  

Raven keeps everything her friends give her; most of her room was furnished and decorated by such gifts. She has a stuffed animal collection that starfire and Cyborg add to & Jinx has given her quite a collection of dead things, and other raw materials that she uses for spell work. Because of Jinx’s habit, Roven jokingly refers to the girl as her ‘familiar’ from time to time. She gives all the skulls Jinx gives her their own names and personalities. 

Raven rarely talks about Azarath; most assume its because it’s too painful for her to do so, but in truth, she simply doesn't know that much about its culture or history, as she had been heavily isolated in her society for her specialized upbringing. 

Thinking about Azarath also is painful, because a part of her resents her people for her lack of a childhood, even as most of her insists they were right and good in their actions and discretion over her.  

She had QUITE an adjustment period after arriving on Earth, though hers was more of a quiet integration than Star’s. Azarath ran on magic not technology, and she found it abstractly fascinating. She found Earth’s people to be extraordinarily sinful by Azarathian standards. Witch was equal measures a relief and nightmare for her to reconcile with. She secretly feels much of humanity is downright debased, but also feels that she has no right to judge anyone, as a half-demon makes her the literal worst of the worst there could be, according to her upbringing.  

Raven didn’t know what money actually was until she asked Jinx why she robbed banks so often, assuming the girl and her team had just wanted to disrupt civil services. Azarath didn’t have money, and the Raven had no idea how anything for the Titans was funded as neither Cyborg nor Robin ever thought to talk to her about it.   

Raven feels some resentment of normal people, for their ability to take their afterlives and emotions for granted, and resents herself for feeling that way. She doesn’t wish she was normal herself however, as the vain part of her, in some cruel self degrading way, likes having been such denstinedly important and resultantly steadfastly resilient in her aversion of it. She’s proud of her ability to resist her nature, and her father’s will.  

She would have 100% stayed on the planet where she was worshipped by the tiny bird like aliens inhabiting it, if Starfire and Robin hadn’t insisted they all return to Earth. 

She is terrible at most maths, but extremely keen on their uses, as she’s quite good at “guesstimation”, and many magic and social situations have some tendencies towards equations. 

College professors love her for her philosophy debates. She can talk tails around anyone, about anything, at any time; her mind is almost constantly wondering downs paths of philosophical quandaries. Her friends are often concerned whenever her mumbled anecdotes reflect too nihilistic of a thought process.  

Wild animals tend to be extremely wary of Raven, as they can sense her demonic heritage; most will simply avoid getting too close and will wander away if they get close enough to her general location to sense her. In close quarters, most animals will cower in front of her, and whine, though many animals will turn vicious, if the situation around their encounter is chaotic. 

While Raven has no pets, wild birds, more notably ravens and crows, tend to flock around her whenever she steps outside. Though she insists she’s indifferent towards them, she’ll feed hand them at times, and often pets a particularly plump corvid she named “Mr. Chubby Beak”. 

As an empath, she can tell implicitly if someone is lying to her, as she can feel the emotion of it in the person speaking to her, but as its not a mind-reading function, she can’t usually tell what the person talking to her is specifically lying about. 

While Raven can feel her father’s genuine desire for family, his cruelty and Azarathian constructed evil are so abhorrent to her, that she wouldn’t ever allow herself to join his side, no matter how tragic or tempting the situations between them might feel.   

*Trigon:

As he was created by the Azarathian monks magically ripping out their unwanted feelings and instincts taking form as their evil incarnate, Trigon is not a normal “Earthly’ demon. Though he has desires and opinions, he has very little in feeling of emotions, and most of his opinions on matters come across as really potent binary switches for himself. He wants a family, but is incapable of feeling ‘humanly’ love, though he recognises it’s importance, and even banks on Raven’s ability to love, wishing for her to use her abilities that he lacks to unite his kingdoms for him. 

He considers Raven much as a toddler caught in their terrible twos; though he’s confident in her abilities and proud of her accomplishments to some extent, he’s ultimately waiting and prodding Raven’s path from afar to force her self-growth. 

As Raven is his only female human child, and is by far the most powerful of his children, he considers her an indispensable resource, and will run though most other alternatives before resigning himself to killing her.

While he feels compelled to commit atrocities and do evil, he feels no enjoyment from it. He’s a secret philosopher, and his views are morbidly nihilistic, as his nature is inescapable. His overall apathy to the suffering of others and his overwhelming burden of perpetual boredom allow him to disregard or rationalize downright sickening acts of horror. 

With his demonic sets of eyes, he can see an entire planet’s worth of people at one time in their heat-vision like capabilities, though he sees the people’s potential for his purposes, rather any actual heat of sensory data. He has no issues using this and his other abilities for his own gain.   

He doesn’t really know how humans, women, or children work, and it was because of this, that Raven’s mother, his bride, Arella, was able to convince him to give Raven certain leeways that she otherwise would not have had. 

He doesn’t understand Raven’s fashion tastes and is often confused point blank about her choices and terms of expressions. 

Robin:

He has an almost uncanny ability to show up with the exact snack or food you didn’t know you were craving; especially when you’re upset or sick. Starfire is usually the recipient of such gestures, especially during her pregnancy (with M’ari), but occasionally he’ll bring food for his friends when they’re feeling down/under the weather.  

Spends several nights in frustration, sleep-deprived tears iminent, over Raven’s strange leading questions, as his paronoia insists she’s testing him to see if he’s really as capable of a leader and a detective as he’s been groomed to be. He doesn’t know if her riddles are pure curiosity, references to her homeworld dimension, jibes at his expense, or an effort to adapt to Earthy mainstream comedy. Or all of the above. 

Robin is actually not particularly bothered by Raven’s demonic aura, as he grew accustomed to weird and uncomfortable atmospheres in Gotham. He doesn’t know much about magic, or try to understand much about it, as he feels it isn't his place, but hopes his support and steadfast nature helps comfort Raven somewhat. 

After seeing a few vines of that one dude who makes holiday pole dancing videos, Robin learned how to pole dance, and sometimes makes similar videos for mundane occasions. Lacking a clarinet, he substitutes a recorder. His recorder playing is terrible. 

He’s terrible at dancing with Starfire, because she’s beautiful and he’s in love, and he can’t even. Starfire doesn’t mind though, and is content to lead her boyfriend as he bumbles his way along with her. half the time, Starfire forfeits the dance altogether, to float around in the air and sway a bit, which he thinks is divine.  

He enjoys learning new dances with Raven, as she’s one of the few who opts to take the extracurricular training sessions with him; he enjoyed their swing dancing practices the most, as it was one of the few times he’d seen Raven look a little more carefree than usual. They weren’t very good at swing dancing, but he’s the first to admit that he and Raven make a mean waltzing pair, and entered more than one dancing competition with her.  

He considers Raven something of a twin and a little sister, and then something of his first child by the time he grows into Nightwing, and will makes jokes to such effects on occasion, especially if Raven and Starfire are present. Similarly, he considers himself an uncle when Raven takes in the Tot Titans under her wing.   

He often forgets that the rest of his family, his Batfamily, doesn’t know Raven, and often brings her up during phone calls, leading to more than one occasion where he’s had to explain to his estranged relations that yes,Starfire was still his girlfriend, and no, Raven wasn’t his girlfriend, but was essentially his sister, and no, he would never date more than one girl at a time.   

He loves games like Portal, Fruit Ninja, and I Expect You To Die. 

By the time Robin (Damien) joins the Titans, he’s already heard quite a bit about all of the Titans from Robin’s (Grayson’s) phone calls, and beelines towards Raven, whom he expects to have the best dirt & embarrassing stories about his brother. (She does.)

Damien warms up to Raven perhaps the most, out of all the Titans he meets, though their conversations are so seemingly biting with each other, that the other Titans often think the pair actively dislike one another.  Damien enjoys the aura of calming Raven projects around her, and Raven distantly empathises with being raised to be weapon, and not really fitting into the definitions of what a “kid” is supposed to act like.  

*Jinx:

Is convinced that most, if not half, of Raven’s problems are actually mental health based, and is horrified by the thought of Raven having lived this long without getting any sort of help for any of it that she thinks the girl probably needs. Therefore, Jinx spends quite a lot of time diving around the internet, looking things up and trying to find answers and solutions to hand to her for testing. 

Jinx finds things. a lot. Feathers. Bones. Tiny weird and neat looking rocks. She collects them and will offer deceased prizes as objects of affection, much like a cat bring their catch to a communal pile. But with less mushy parts. Most of the Hive and the Titans are unsettled by the bones, though they appreciate the thought.

Jinx is half really flattered and proud, that Raven often steals her clothes, seeing it as a sign of respect from an admired ex-adversary, and is half upset that Raven looks better in her clothes than she does, in her opinion. 

Her favorite type of music is anything resembling ‘rebellious female’, and introduces Raven to the witch house genre.  

Fucking LOVES watermelon, strawberries, and blueberries. 

She collects knives. She has dozens. She also has holsters for most of them, and wears servel of them at times, as a lingering impression of her Hive training. 

She likes to talk strategies with Robin; as a team leader herself, she has quite a lot of insight and ideas & feels comfortable talking to him about that she can’t bring up around Titans East, as she doesn’t want to accidently usurp Bumble Bee, during her time with them. After joining the main team, she continues to talk to robin about such things, as it's a comfortable go-to topic to discuss by that point. 

Fumes over the fact that the Titans don’t take her past leadership role seriously, or her past Hive team seriously, but bites her tongue because she refuses to give up the information that her team was always used as a diversion unit for some of the Hive’s other operations.

Secretly used Kid Flash as an in to the Titans, as meeting Madame Rogue broke her last thread of loyalty to the Hive way of life. She dated him until his promiscuous flirtations provided a strong enough out to respectful end things between them without risking her new position as a Titan. She found him a good enough friend, but was annoyed at how he, like her Hive friends, disregarded the parts of her that were ‘uncomfortable’ and focused on her ‘rehabilitated aspects’. 

She secretly has a few feelings of resentment for Bumble Bee, as the girl lied to her for years as an undercover agent, though Jinx understands and respects it of her. As much as she’s upset at her friend for lying to her, she’s also impressed by Bee’s resolve and dedication for never letting anything slip.

Considers Mammoth her BFF for life, her brother from another mother, her best chum and right hand man. Gizmo, she feels, is her snarky little brother whom she loves, but detests in equal measure. Her other relationships with the Hive students vary. She was actually good friends with Kitten and Angel. 

She knew vaguely about the cult portions of the Hive, but was never privy to much of it, for her use in other areas. 

She can play the guitar well enough to please a diner’s worth of people on open mic night or pop a smile on anyones face at a slumber party. Her bad luck breaks a lot of strings, however. 

Her bad luck builds up over time when not in use. Jinx has to discharge it frequently in small to medium doses in order to prevent serious harm to those around her; such accident have included burst pacemakers, car accidents, and buildings breaking down, and people, animals, and plants spontaneously combusting.  

Being next to her for long lengths of time greatly increases the chance of catching a sickness, be it something like a common cold, or cancer. 

She has many scars; the ones on her body are largely from her stints heisting and training, and the ones on her face are from the many torn and botches piercings she’s given herself over the years. Due to luck and proclivities, her piercings never stay in longer than a week or two before getting ripped out, and she simply pierces over the scars that form from her healing factor. She also has a body spreading scar from where she was struck by lightning as a child. 

Her lightning scar faintly glows whenever she flares up her powers. 

The back of her shoulders say “Bad Luck”, which she feels is ample warning for anyone she comes into contact with under any circumstances. She also has a stylized tattoo of a black cat on her inner wrist that she gave herself during a class once. 

She has a pet sphynx cat named Hex, and loves him dearly, even though he’s a scamp and prefers sitting in Raven’s lap instead of hers. (He enjoys Raven’s hotter-than-an-average-person’s body temperature, as he has no fur and chills easily.)

Jinx is morbidly fascinated with Raven, having looked up to her when they were adversaries; when they were on opposites sides, Jinx even entertained the idea of choosing Raven as her arch nemesis, which is a conceptual relationship she took very seriously, as all of the arch villains she looked up to growing up held their arch nemeses to high importances. This made becoming friends with Raven very awkward, when she switched sides, as there is no same-side sort of rivalry that an arch nemesis could easily translate into, especially as they had never actually reached the point of being official nemeses. Jinx tried to explain it all to Bumble Bee once, who considers the matter the equivalent of being “ex- almost-dysfunctional-girlfriends”.  

Since befriending Raven, they essentially became best friends, over shared bonds of magic, their unfortunate natures, the unfortunate consequences of their actions or not-actions, the way people regard them for being different, their shared interests in media and music, ect. Without meaning to, they starting hanging out all the time, and it becomes common enough to always find one of them by looking for the other. 

Jinx feels that even though she’s in over her head with helping Raven sort out herself out, she the best suited for the job and is determined to help Raven learn about herself and accept herself as best she can.    

Cyborg: 

Proudly plays Raven’s songs snippets in his car, when she shares her samples with him.  

Nicknamed the Tower’s mainframe ‘Karen’ after watching spongebob with Beast Boy; the name stuck and since the mainframe runs throughout the Tower itself, the entire Tower is technically named Karen, and it’s become a running gag. 

He’s the go-to Titan that the others ask about Earthly matters. Raven tends to ask him about technology, while Starfire tends to ask him about societal norms; as the resident Tower physician, he’s also the Titan to go to for ‘the talks’, which he gave to Raven (as she grew up in a monastery and was not expected to live past Trigon’s invasion) and Beast Boy, as for most of his crime fighting career, was considered ‘too young” by the Doom Patrol to be informed.  

Cyborg is Beast-Boy’s most frequent game channel guest, as he usually helps with any co-op or multiplayer games; he loves vehicle based games the most, such as racing games, truck simulators, and Rocket League. He also loves the God of War series and Skyrim. He has over 500 hours logged into Skyrim. He holds no regrets, and will happily tell anyone about any of his playthroughs and characters. 

Cyborg’s processors sometimes get overloaded trying to “load in” every item on the shelves when getting groceries. To compensate, he usually turns down his other senses to make more “processing power” for his visuals; which usually means he has a genunaily harder time hearing his friends at stores then when he’s at home with them.  

Starfire:

Listens to really obscure music genres and adds them to the Tower’s communal music files. 

It’s not only through lip contact that her species can learn information, though language is most commonly transferred through kissing; her species is actually as good at fighting as it is, because their bodies literally learn the movements their opponents use against them. This means theortically, a Tamaranian will get stronger every time they fight an opponent, especially if they are already familiar with it in a way that’s passively terrifying. 

She loves arts and crafts, to the point where she’s almost always doing two or three different kinds at any given time. There’s usually craft supplies strewn about anywhere she’s been, through any supplies she’s not using are usually sorted and in their proper places. She loves going to stores and picking up kits for different kinds of crafts for all sorts of odds and ends. 

She loves gardening. She loves her flowers with an intense passion, and messing up her garden is one of the only ways you can actually make her seriously upset. 

She considers Raven the sister she always wished Blackfire could have been; she considers Raven her closest friend and her bond of loyalty with her is practically incapable of being broken, to the point where Raven fears that if she should ever turns evil, Starfire would simply cease fighting and forgivingly allow Raven to do as she would without resistance, unable to terminate her if the need arouse. Starfire considers this an improbable situation to arise, and has vowed to ensure that such a future could never come to pass to begin with. 

When Starfire and Nightwing’s daughter Mar’i Grayson is born, Starfire names Raven her daughter’s godmother. 

Beast Boy:

He loves rhythm games; DDR, Audiosurf, Beat Saber, ect. He puts in the practise to be really good at them, but it is possible to beat him. 

He will not stop collecting stray animals. He can’t stop. He won’t ever stop. He at least, manages to find good homes for most of them, though there is still an overabundance at the Tower he refuses to part with at any given time. 

He loves music that references the ever changing trends and memes of the time, and loves introducing such songs to his friends even when they dont him to, or when he’s already played the song for them several times before. 

Out of all the Titans, Beast Boy is the one most affected by Raven’s demonic aura. He can smell in in her body & it sets the animal instincts off within him to be exceedingly wary around her, which he feels guilty about, and is why he tries so hard to come across to Raven as though it doesn’t actually bother him, and like he’s completely fine with her. Even with the ‘creepy’ bits; not knowing that his denial and good intentions, actually make it harder for Raven to trust him & feel comfortable around him, as it sets off her empathic warning bells. There isn’t much either one of them can do about the state of things however, so they try to ignore it best they can, though Beast Boy feels like Raven’s biting sarcasm and passive aggression is a silent challenge for him to work harder around her.    

*Terra:

She loves memes, but the more deadpannedly-absurd ones. She’s the one who would #Mood, #Relatable, #Same on images of pictures with really bizzare energy. 

She resents Raven ,as she feels Raven was given “special treatment” while having even “worse” issues controlling herself and her powers then Terra did; feeling that it wasn’t fair for Raven’s bursts of temper tantrums were simply brushed under the rug, while Terra’s unstable powers had always been shoved back in her face. 

She hates schoolwork and the drudgery of civilian life with a passion. She committed to keeping it up, however. 

She refuses to leave Jump City, under her anxiety fueled hope that if her powers get the better of her again, the Titan’s won't have far to go to set things right. 

Along with apple pie, Terra loves candied yams. 

While she isn’t exactly fond of gardening by any means, she has a rather impressive collection of tiny succulents in small brightly colored pots. 

She doesn’t have any favorite games, in terms of sentimental value, but her two most played games are the Sims and Overwatch. 

She can and has, poured energy drinks into coffee and made peace with the concept of her demise.

She can and will fight god behind a denny’s dumpster at 3am on a tuesday. She gives no fucks. 

Owns like 6 snuggies.

She fucking HATES dirt inside a house. She can and WILL clean anything dusty, as she can sense the particles and it aggravates her skin after sitting with it for too long.  

*Tot Titans:

Melvin takes the full hero name “Melvin the Magnificent” when she gets older, which was Raven’s pet name for her. 

Tommy Tantrum, like Black Canary can shatter ear drums. 

Teether refuses to eat real food, and can and WILL eat anything non-edible if he can get his mouth on it. This makes him an effective garbage disposal of sorts, but he’s been banned from testing out weather or not nuclear & chemical waste would be harmful for him or not. 

Tommy likes firetrucks, and wants to be one when he grows up. 

Tommy, as a kid, is afraid of the Snuggle Bear, the Smokey the Bear, and other commercial type animated bears on TV, because they seem like soulless imitations of Bobby. 

Tommy was the hardest child for Raven to mentor/raise, as his tantrums were, well, spectacularly awful, but after learning how to properly teach him that tantrums weren’t the best way to communicate and steadily working with him, Tommy took to Raven’s guidance with great intensity. 

Melvin is the most distant, as her younger brothers had an easier time growing up with Raven as their new “mom”, but she idolizes Raven quietly, in her own way, and wants to live up to whatever expectations she thinks Raven has of her. 

Melvin never “outgrows” Bobby, but reinvents him from time to time, to give him better edges and abilities in tricky situations. 

Most of Melvin’s imagination-creations are heavily influenced by Raven and the other Titans., though they remain loyal to her genuine interests and aesthetics.   

Melvin is quite fond of tea-parties. 

Teether loves trains & starts building models sets as he gets bigger. 

Teether’s first cuss word is “fuck”, and Raven will never forgive Beast Boy for it. 

Tommy and Melvin’s first cuss word is “shit”, and it was actually something Melvin picked up from crimefighting, as Robin sighed it under his breath after a villain made a run for it. The older teens didn’t know Melvin heard it however, so it was quite a shock to them when Jinx reported it to the dinner table after giving the two Tots a time out. 

Melvin gets away with cussing the most as she grows up, as she tends to use them the way Raven and Jinx do, making it harder for them to catch her at it. 

When assisting with tasks, Melvin takes the role very seriously, and usually involves a clipboard into the mix to keep track of things in an “official” manner. 

To stop the fighting, Raven gives Teether his own blanket, so Tommy can keep his.  

Tommy loves camping with a passion. 

Because of his suit, villains usually first assume that Tommy has fire-based powers and generally get knocked out by his super sonic screams. 

Because of the nature of her powers, Melvin is HIGHLY discouraged from watching horror movies, to keep any “Raven-Tower-Haunting” scenarios from recurring.  

[quilloftheclouds]

2, 15, and 24 from the ask game for Colin if you’re doing it?

[Let’s develop some characters–shoot me a number!]

Holy heckin’ stars this ask game had been up for five minutes and I already had five asks for it. o.o What. Answering a day late because I fell asleep almost right after, but seriously, thank you folks for all of the questions! ^^

Also, @sunlight-and-starskies has a fave OSS character, I see! Wonderful~

2. Does your oc have dreams or nightmares? What are they like? Is there a recurring one?

Colin lucid dreams, actually! I don’t think he has any recurring ones, although most of them have to do with places he’s been and odd random pieces of memories stitching themselves together in incomprehensible chaos. But it’s fun, because he can basically do exactly what he wants in those mismatched settings~

Unfortunately, his nightmares are too real to realize they’re not real, which means he can’t lucidly control them and he ends up waking up in the middle of the night in a panic. Most common for those is visions of the ship being under attack, particularly in the middle of the night, when everyone is asleep and not expecting it. He also tends to see images of previous fellow crew, blaming him for their demises.

That said, he doesn’t get nightmares very much at all.

15. If you had to choose a single object to act as a symbol for your oc, what would it be? Why?

I put that question on there fully prepared. Colin’s a skeleton key. Specifically, one to a cell door. For many, many reasons. With a lot of spoilers.

In short, without massive spoilers: Colin found his own freedom. He found his way out of a bad situation, and with the help of friends who are now family, he’s free.

He’s got a fair amount of skeletons in the closet that people don’t know about. Skeleton keys are also pretty much synonymous with master keys. They can open more than just one lock. Colin’s always about finding another way. And if there’s not another open door, open one yourself.

And, uh. He’s also far more important to the plot of OSS than you might think.

24. What smells bring back specific memories to your oc? What are those memories like?

Colin’s memory is absolutely wild. He can remember specific things all the way back from when he was a smol child, in almost perfect detail, which is frankly ridiculous. So when combined with the extra vivid memories given by specific scents? Yeah.

For example: Though the last time he saw his mother was when he was about 3 or 4, any hint of rose or sandalwood instantly reminds him of her.

A very specific memory is of her guiding his hand to light the incense she set up. The feel of her gentle touch on his wrist, the slight burn on his fingers when he let the match go for too long. Maybe a flash of a softened smile. The smile that slips into her eyes. His eyes.

The incense would fill the house with a light pleasant scent of either rose or sandalwood depending on what his mother could find, and on colder days when the windows were closed, a smoky haze would build up in the room it was left smoldering in. Another memory related to this is of playing with the rays the sun let through this smoke, a little Colin using his little hands to form shafts of shadows.

The scents leave a bittersweet feeling on their own, but if Colin is left to mull over the memories, it ends up hurting more than anything.

Some believe his memory is a gift. He thinks of it more as a curse.

[cosmicallynightmarish]

The Mirror, Object of the Oceanic Truth

Finally, clarity. I give to you this rather impromptu collection of my understanding of the Mirror, a fundamental concept in both Bloodborne lore and in Oceanic spirituality, or Bloodborne-based PC paganism, at least in my own opinion. 

Two notes before beginning: 1- Capitalised words refer to encompassing concepts, that is to say, for example, the Eye is both the eye as an idea representing ascension, the Truth, the Great Ones - or whatever it may mean to you - and the physical eye itself as ‘one’ thing.  2- The terms “reality”, “self”, and so on are purposely left vague. There are too many ideas based on spirituality and culture and such to include them all, but an intuitive, seemingly-mutual understanding of the word in different contexts works fine.

   Introduction

The Mirror (one of what I have labelled the “three understandings” of Nightmares; a manifestation of Nightmarish speak; a tool of ascension) is perhaps one of the most potent concepts in Nightmarish symbolism. By that, I mean it is a potent physical Key and Nightmarish word, even more so than the Eye, arguably, which is another potent symbol. I would almost say the eye is akin to a loanword or calque-esque translation, though the exact language of origin of that ‘word’ is as debatable as the question of what race first spoke it, where the Mirror is seemingly drawn directly from the Nightmares. Regardless, the eye is a ‘Key’ to the ‘Gate’ of the Truth primarily and a Gate secondarily, whereas the Mirror is more so a Gate while also being a Key.. Both require the metaphorical turning in the lock in the right direction, but one can gain eyes without ascending, whereas it would be rather strange to wander through a mirror without ascension. Similar, very similar; I suppose I can best put it this way: In a world where symbols are the building blocks of reality, the Eye is a symbol of the Truth in the human mind amongst other things, and its potency was bestowed upon it, whereas the Mirror is a deep symbol of everything the Eye represents and is the Eye itself, and more, with its potency great and inherent. The Eye is an image of the Mirror. 

The Mirror can also be seen as an idol of the overarching Nightmare itself, and it becomes especially potent in Oceanic spirituality - that is to say to PC Pagans involved in the world from Earth - as a symbol of the entire Ocean itself.

Now is as appropriate a time as ever to mention this: As time passes, I grow more and more suspicious of the origins of FromSoftware’s creativity in regards to the profoundly complex spiritual webs woven in Nightmarish spirituality and cosmology. Not to say the Ocean - specifically the astral version - existed first, and especially not to discredit the inherent abilities of the developers in developing games, but it is to say that there is something awfully transcendental written in the code of the game, something that continues to unravel rather beautifully as one digs deeper, and deeper, like sacred geometry. 

To finish this introductory part: the Mirror’s symbolism is both directly understandable and translatable, and completely intuitive and unspeakable. I believe that latter part is what I was struggling with. One can stand in front of a mirror all they like and try to reason the glass away, but it takes the subconscious, detached acceptance to step through it without caution. Two sides of the brain, two sides of the mirror, two sides of learned knowledge and the abstract state of understanding. 

   Translations

The Mirror consists of three base things: The truth or reality, the lens or medium, and the lie or unreality. There would be no mirror without reality to reflect, hence why it is included in the concept of the Mirror. These three things change depending on what the mirror represents in each particular form, though as the Mirror as a whole, it is all of these forms and things - and specifically the relationship between those things - simultaneously.  

Some of the translations for “mirror” and its parts are direct comparisons, some are metaphorical, and some involve distortion; after all, not all mirrors in reality are clear and polished, some are twisted, some are even simply pools of dark water, and so on. To give but a few examples for translations of the Nightmarish ‘mirror’..

To note: these are pulled fresh from intuitive understanding. They may not necessarily be the best explanations (nor necessarily in the right order, not to mention necessarily correct), so please feel free to come to your own conclusions. I provide these more as an explanation of the Mirror, not as inherently viable translations. Also, some of these are quite similar, but the distinction is, in my opinion, worth noting.

(reality/light  -  glass, metal  -  image)

‘Human’ Reality: ‘Objective’ reality  -  the senses, the self, so on (glass), the brain (metal)  -  subjective/perceived reality Nightmares seem to be of Pthumerians and.. Smaller humans, but also of the Great Ones, and perhaps of beasts and such. “‘Human’” simply simplifies “conscious beings above a certain perceived level of awareness or “thinking” into one neat word. “’Human’ reality” is memories, emotions, as well as impacts on creatures and on the land, and likely the swelling of spiritual energy at different points of time and space in the ‘objective’ reality. Its importance solidifying it as a form of the Mirror comes directly from its importance to the creation of Nightmares.

The Formed Nightmares: Reality, the already formed (Earth; Pthumerian cities; so on)  -  the dreaming body/mind (the glass, that through which it is seen), the Unformed Nightmare (the metal upon which the image is formed)  -  the Nightmares (the formed image) Nightmares are directly distorted reflections of reality, and, in this case, ‘reality’ is seemingly the aforementioned “Human Reality”, which is a Mirror in itself - the ‘joining’ of subjective and objective reality through the medium of the ‘human’ self. It may be the individual Nightmare’s consciousness talking/creating its own reality, but they tend to focus on ‘human’ reality regardless.  Alternatively: Reality  -  the Nightmare’s consciousness (the glass, which distorts), the Unformed Nightmare (the metal upon which the image is formed)  -  the physical Nightmares (the formed image) In terms of lore, there isn’t an awful lot to back up the idea of the Nightmares being individual consciousnesses as well as planes, and so if one does not believe it then it is ‘human’ reality which defines a Nightmare.

The Ocean: Earth (reality) - Bloodborne (a distorted lens, the manner/metal through which Earth concepts are reflected) (it is also a product of light, the Moon, through glass, and sound, Lord Oedon, through metal) - the Ocean (the unreality based on Earth, which was distorted through the game) Alternatively, depending on what you believe came first, or for fun: The Ocean (the truth) - Earth (the medium through which Bloodborne was made) - Bloodborne (the false image of the Ocean)

The Eye, Symbolic: The external world  -  the lens, the retina  -  the vision Self-explanatory for the most part, I only add that it is a known symbol of the Cosmos. 

The Eye, Truth: The self  -  Internal Eyes (medium)  -  the Nightmares This works both as written and inverted (the Nightmares - Internal Eyes - the self). It is also less literal as it is a translation of the Truth, and one of the more difficult concepts to put into writing, which I can tell you is certainly saying something. Eyes are a means to heightening ‘vision’ - they allow one to ‘see’ more of their surroundings. They allow one to see more of themselves, or of reality itself, they allow a clearer connection between the two. However, ascension through the internal eye requires a sort of liquefying or dissolution of the glass, which is to say it requires that internal eyes are not only connected to the entity but to reality itself. The internal eye cannot be utilised if it does not connect to reality, as ascension and the Truth require a connection. This would have the wondrously fun side effect of, if spoken in Nightmarish/manifested ‘literally’ in the Nightmare, enabling someone to walk freely through a mirror, especially as an acknowledgement of communion with the overarching Nightmare.

   Conclusions, End

How does one use a mirror? As it has always been used, to examine the self. 

The key is knowledge, just like with eyes; of course, though the Nightmares know, and they remember, without knowledge there is no point. An eye is but an eye without the ability to understand. You need only look at the Boars within the Nightmare of Mensis, the Gardens of Eyes, or even the counter of Insight within the Hunter to see that inherently, there is nothing in them that will push you violently towards ascension. The latter example in the Hunters, however, shows the Nightmares’ knowing in how they react to the Insight, the exact ways in which they do so, though, are speculation for elsewhere. All this is to say: eyes are made into Keys, and symbolism in a Nightmare is of the deepest importance; symbolism is words and words are what the Nightmares are symbolically made of. When we write “eyes on the brain” we say “connection to the Dream”, when we write it phonetically with nary a clue as to what we mean, though the Nightmares may gather what we are trying to say, it comes out a jumbled mess. Mirrors are likely not too far from this, but they do not only enable communion, they also inspire knowledge. They come from a profound calling within humans, the very thing that pushes us to ascend: the desire to know ourselves, our place in the world, who and what we are. The seeking of Truth is not a thing of rich scholars with too much time on their hands, it is inherent within us all. This is the Truth: The world is a great, liquid Dream, and we are the dreamers. That turning of the Key inside the Gate - that ‘click’ of sudden understanding - brings forth Lucidity, apotheosis, ascent to the next plane of thought, and godhood over the world to which we are now deeply connected.

Knowledge is the key. Specifically, knowledge of the self and the external reality are the keys to the Truth - not Keys, but that which is essential in the unlocking of the Gate. Where connecting them together, like fusing the eye (signifying the Cosmos) and the brain (signifying the self) is the connecting of the Key to the Gate, knowledge is what enables us to turn the key. Without knowledge, without understanding, the Key and the Gate are but two strange and foreign metal objects with nary a thing in common, excluding the obscure hint in the shape of the lock. 

There is a key in the Nightmare of Mensis, and an out-of-place gateway to a brain covered in eyes, ascended artificially by the School seeking the Celestial Mirror. Three by two, the number of the Cage, holding the Brain within it: a perfect frame for a perfect Mirror, just outside a winding labyrinth of a library, the most human idol of knowledge.