#not sure if it's good or not

[elesdecroisa]

Untitled short writing

"Why… am I crying…?"

The black rose in my hand emitted a strange, gloomy aura. Tears ran down my face, as if I just witnessed the death of someone I loved dearly.

… But who exactly was that person? Was that the woman whose image appeared when I touched the Forget-Me-Nots? Was that the person in that crumpled drawing, whose face was covered in dried blood? Were all of them the same person?

Did I know this person? Why can’t I recall anything? What happened to her? What happened to me?

What is going on anyway?

* * *

As I ventured deeper and deeper into this place, I met a woman, who was fighting against a tough monster. I watched in silence, as the woman swung her weapon. Her movements were swift and strong, yet still so elegant.

And then, I saw that monster charging towards her at a high speed. As an instinct, I quickly used my power to stop it from moving. The woman paused for a second after that, but then she immediately got back to fighting and defeated that monster.

As the fight ended, she turned her face to where I was hiding.

"You can come out now." - She spoke.

Her voice was as calm as the water surface of a pond. But I didn’t want to get out yet, because I was scared of talking to strangers.

"I will not hurt you, I promise." - The woman continued.

I knew she genuinely meant no harm, but I was still nervous, since I had never been a social type. I slowly peaked out of my hiding spot and then stood up.

It’s been a long time since I last saw a human, not to mention talking to them. And yet I was here, standing in front of this woman. Usually I would just hide, but I just… felt like I shouldn’t.

"Thank you for your help." - She said.

I finally had the chance to look at her more clearly. She was as beautiful as a lotus, with a straight posture of a bamboo.

What should I say, I didn’t know. I couldn’t think of anything. I kept my head low, trying to avoid eye contact.

"You are also not from this place, are you?"

I immediately looked straight into her face in surprise, as my eyes opened wide. Did she just say “also not from this place”? She doesn’t belong here either?

If that’s true, then should I tag along with her? No, even though I did want company, that would still be weird.

The woman continued, as if she could read my mind:

"You can go with me if you want. I am also an outsider, after all."

"Ah… Thank you." - I finally spoke.

"It’s a pleasure to meet you by the way."

* * *

Time passed.

I had been traveling with her for a while, and I had grown closer to her. We hung out in the city, read books in the library, and had fun just by spending time with each other. We fought together, ate together, and rested together.

The more I spent time with this woman, the more I felt like she was the only person that I needed. She was beautiful, she was strong, she was patient, she was understanding…

I think… I had fallen in love with her.

* * *

"I believe… you already know the answer."

Calmly did she speak, yet her voice didn’t soothe me like it always did. Her callused hands held mine, as she let out a slight, gentle smile.

I felt… happy. Happier than ever.

I had never fallen in love with anyone before, and here I was, gathering all the courage to tell her.

She was still the beautiful woman I know, still quiet, still calm, still patient,...

But she had become someone else. My partner, my love, the one I would treasure for life.

We sat on the roof, looking at the city below. I put my head on her shoulder and sighed:

"When we finish this journey, I’d love to go with you."

Time felt like it was standing still.

Even though I didn’t look at her face, I still knew that she was smiling.

* * *

We kept going and going, and our journey got harder and harder. But we had to move on.

We got caught in a tough fight. Even with both of us, everything was difficult.

And then, just as I finished taking care of an enemy, I noticed the other one had disappeared. I turned around…

And just before I could even react to that, it attacked me. The only thing I managed to do was to close my eyes and take the hit.

Slashing sounds were heard. But I didn’t feel anything.

I opened my eyes, and I was shocked by the scene in front of me.

My love was there, in front of me, with the corpse of the enemy behind her. But her chest was bleeding, as if… she had taken the hit for me.

Immediately, she collapsed on the ground.

I ran towards her, with fear in my eyes. I looked at her, her face, her wound, my eyes became watery as I noticed how severe the wound was.

She turned to me, with her usual expression. I knew she was in pain, since her voice was weak:

"At least… you are alive."

I didn’t know what to say, nor what to do. She lifted her hand and touched my face.

"I’m sorry, my dear… Sorry… for leaving you alone…"

I could only feel her breath getting weaker over time. I held her hand tightly, while shaking. Tears started to fall from my eyes.

"No… it can’t be, right? You won’t die like this, right…"

I saw her using the last of her strength, to find something from her belongings. She took out a small cluster of light blue Forget-Me-Nots and handed it to me.

"Please… move on without me…"

Just as soon as I took the flowers, her hand dropped to the ground.

I grabbed her shoulders, shaking them violently. But she didn’t move. I hugged her lifeless corpse, still crying.

"No! Please, please don’t leave me like this!"

I screamed through my tears as her body slowly dissipated in my arms. I couldn’t do anything, I just couldn’t…

If only I were stronger, if only I could react in time… then she wouldn’t have to sacrifice her life to save me like this.

It was painful, but I couldn’t do anything. I could only sit there and cry.

But there was something, in the middle of the blood pool. A sprout. It grew, then bloomed into a single black rose.

My red, swollen eyes opened wide upon the sight of the rose. And before I even knew it, I had already taken it with me.

* * *

I missed her.

I kept seeing images of her whenever I looked at the flowers she gave me, or the one that grew from her blood. Tears would run down my face every single time. I even imagined her still being here with me, and pretended to speak with her.

But I felt… numb. Towards everything around.

I just mindlessly fought whenever I met those enemies. I couldn’t think, and I just let my body act on its own.

After the fight, I sat on the ground and took out a pen and a piece of paper. I drew her, mindlessly. I didn’t even notice that my bloody fingers had smudged her face on the paper.

I crumpled the drawing and threw it away.

I had no motivation to keep going. Everything felt meaningless without her.

I covered my face and cried.

She was dead, and it was all my fault.

She told me to move on, but I just couldn’t. I couldn’t let go.

I just sat there, crying.

I just wanted to see her again.

What's the point of living, when she wasn’t here with me?

Then, what if I die too? Would I be able to see her again?

I held my weapon tightly, as those thoughts came across my mind.

…

…

…

[sanguinifex]

You gotta read and watch some old books and films that aren’t 100% modern politically correct. I’m not saying you should agree with everything in them but you need to learn where genres came from to understand what those genres are doing today and where media deconstructing old tropes is coming from.

Also, more often than you might think, they’re not actually promoting bigotry so much as “didn’t consider all the implications of something” or just used words that were polite then but considered offensive now.

Kill the censor in your head.

[kochei0]

I turn to Ares.

Thanks to Tyler Miles Lockett who allowed me to draw inspiration from his ARES piece for page 2! Look at his etsy page it's SICK

⚔️ If you want to read some queer retelling of arturian legends have a look at my webtoon

[skrunksthatwunk]

see 0 note flop posts aren't that bad when they're personal but 0 note fandom posts feel literally so bad. like if you don't wanna play toys with me anymore just say that. i'll pack up my super cool awesome things and go and i'll sit on the other side of the playground by myself and i won't even look at you. fuck

[liquidstar]

If my mom sees a significant amount of blood she gets lightheaded, and has fainted on some occasions. Once it happened when we were kids, I wasn't there to witness it but I heard the story from my dad. Basically my brothers, around 7 or 8 at the time, were playing outside while my mom was making their lunch, and she accidentally cut her finger. It wasn't anything serious, but it drew a fair bit of blood and she passed out. My dad saw this and rushed over, but he didn't really know what to do so he just sort of started slapping her to wake her up (not recommended, but he had no idea and panicked)

At that exact moment my brothers both came in from playing, and all they saw was our mom unconscious on the floor and our dad slapping her. So, like, without even saying a word to each other they both just INSTANTLY start whaling on him, like, full blown attack mode to defend our mom. Which obviously didn't help the situation, but she did wake up and everything was fine.

Now our dad says that he's actually really glad they attacked him over what they thought was going on, because it means he raised good boys. And I still think that's true, they're very good boys.

[nekophy]

AdamsApple? 👏

[daincrediblegg]

OK THIS IS NOT A FUCKING DRILL EVERYONE FUCKING REPEAT AFTER ME. THIS IS WHAT YOU WILL DO WHEN YOU WATCH MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL THIS YEAR:

You will navigate to the page on disney plus (and it has to be here. Unless someone has actually uploaded the REAL movie anywhere else you cannot get it elsewhere)

BUT YOU WILL NOT HIT PLAY. You won’t do it. Because it’s NOT THE REAL VERSION OF THE FILM AND DISNEY IS FUCKING LYING TO YOU AS IT ALWAYS DOES

You will scroll down HERE. To EXTRAS instead. You MUST GO HERE. This is non -negotiable

THEN YOU WILL SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE EXTRAS AND YOU WILL THEN HIT PLAY ON THIS BAD BOY: THE FULL LENGTH VERSION

And you will watch it. And you will thank me for having been so blind and led astray by that stupid fucking mouse. You’re welcome.

[langernameohnebedeutung]

Lae'zel's character and her entire situation at the beginning of the game becomes so much more funny when you find out she's 22. It makes so much sense. Imagine you're 22 and you're exposed to this dangerous toxin or chemical or something - but not to worry, you learnt that this can be easily fixed, you just need to dial 911 real quick. Common knowledge. Everyone knows that. You learnt that in kindergarten, it's up there with fire alarm drills.

But the people you're stuck with have no concept of modern medicine and when you say "let's go to the hospital" they will say shit like "i think they kill people at the hospital" and "we should ask this swamp lady" or "this guy over there told me about this homoeopathic healer kind of guy but he got abducted" or "this random bard wants to help" and "I'm not going to dial 911 because I don't want the government to know my home address" or "maybe we should consider a deal with Satan". And then a bunch of them KEEP consuming the chemical because it makes them "stronger". One guy might explode for unrelated reasons. You have a few days before this situation is getting critical and suddenly they're solving crime and doing general charity for the community.

And FOR SOME REASON you still try to help these idiots and you STILL want to help them get the cure even though they all keep insisting the "doctors" at the "hospital" might try to "kill them" and they don't have insurance. And you keep telling them to just. go. to. the. hospital. before the time runs out and you all die very horribly of a very treatable condition.

And also you're 22 in a foreign country and you're responsible for shepherding this gaggle of idiots who are all ranging anywhere from 24 to 240 years old.

[lesbian-disaster-academic]

i used to be so good at writing strong, thoroughly-researched, thoroughly-edited essays.

as a kid in hs, my teacher literally came up to me, holding my 40 page essay on the intersection of the European witch hunts and capitalism/exploitation/gender roles (it was supposed to be 7 pages...whoops) and went like "this is literally a master's-degree level thesis. what are you doing?? you could literally use this as your final dissertation in a master's program, what the fuck."

NOW??? NOW?? you'd think I'd be oh so skilled. but alas. i can barely piece together two ideas. adhd skill-regression is so so real. im SOBBING

[arinmoss]

Chappell Roan :3

[majubengel]

One Piece final battle

poorly drawn extra:

[elodieunderglass]

changes and trends in horror-genre films are linked to the anxieties of the culture in its time and place. Vampires are the manifestation of grappling with sexuality; aliens, of foreign influence. Horror from the Cold War is about apathy and annihilation; classic Japanese horror is characterised by “nature’s revenge”; psychological horror plays with anxieties that absorbed its audience, like pregnancy/abortion, mental illness, femininity. Some horror presses on the bruise of being trapped in a situation with upsetting tasks to complete, especially ones that compromise you as a person - reflecting the horrors and anxieties of capitalism etc etc etc. Cosmic horror is slightly out of fashion because our culture is more comfortable with, even wistful for, “the unknown.” Monster horror now has to be aware of itself, as a contingent of people now live in the freedom and comfort of saying “I would willingly, gladly, even preferentially fuck that monster.” But I don’t know much about films or genres: that ground has been covered by cleverer people.

I don’t actually like horror or movies. What interests me at the moment is how horror of the 2020s has an element of perception and paying attention.

Multiple movies in one year discussed monsters that killed you if you perceived them. There are monsters you can’t look at; monsters that kill you instantly if you get their attention. Monsters where you have to be silent, look down, hold still: pray that they pass over you. M Zombies have changed from a hand-waved virus that covers extras in splashy gore, to insidious spores. A disaster film is called Don’t Look Up, a horror film is called Nope. Even trashy nun horror sets up strange premises of keeping your eyes fixed on something as the devil GETS you.

No idea if this is anything. (I haven’t seen any of these things because, unfortunately, I hate them.) Someone who understands better than me could say something clever here, and I hope they do.

But the thing I’m thinking about is what this will look like to the future, as the Victorian sex vampires and Cold War anxieties look to us. I think they’ll have a little sympathy, but they probably won’t. You poor little prey animals, the kids will say, you were awfully afraid of facing up to things, weren’t you?

[ditzybat]

jason: what’s your darkest secret?

tim: i wrote the most kudos’d superbat fanfic on ao3

damian: i was his beta reader

jason: first you steal my costume, now you steal my spot as most kudos’d fic?!

[elesketchii]

as both a good omens and red dead enthusiast i feel robbed

[christadeguchi]

the h in nhl stands for homoerotic

bonus intricate rituals: