#or at the very least sarah from labyrinth

[blujayonthewing]

good evening I am once again looking up 18th century men's shirt tutorials online

[donna-rinascimentale]

hiya! hope you doing well.

would you elaborate on the interpretation you were talking about in your Labyrinth post tags? what you said was really interesting and I never thought about it that way! 👀

also, hope you had fun watching! ✨✨✨

certainly.

i’d always been subscribed to the interpretation that the labyrinth is a metaphor for navigating coming of age, that the end of sarah’s hero’s journey is a means of balancing adult maturity with never losing a child’s sense of wonder and imagination. the fandom has thought up tons of explanations for where jareth falls in this scenario. is he a tangible antagonist, actively trying to get sarah to slip back into her old childish ways? a metaphor for adulthood, all that sarah is and isn’t ready for?

i think he’s all sarah’s creation. so does jim henson.

“He represents a lot of things that are a part of Sarah's world, what she's trying to figure out and what she's going through. … [Jareth] has no reality except what Sarah gives him, which she can constantly change.”

sarah seems to be very genre-savvy. she reads lines from a play titled the labyrinth, and she recognizes the puzzle of the two guards and implies she’s practiced it before in case she’d happen to encounter it. here, the labyrinth is a product of sarah’s fantasy, by which she navigates her adolescence and her parents’ divorce and her perceived lack of autonomy in a manner typical of a seasoned fantasy reader.

sarah is well aware that every fantasy hero needs a villain. the likeness she gives hers is that of her mother’s costar—as the former mrs. williams is a stage actress, shown in the photo on sarah’s vanity of her posing with a fellow actor who looks just like this jareth. sarah made jareth, made him as beautiful and dangerous as she believed he should be.

sarah made jareth.

to jareth, god is a sixteen-year-old girl.

imagine god, calling you by name, crowning you a king and giving you beauty and power. you were quite literally born for this. all you know is this role, building yourself and your kingdom just the way god wishes it.

then, god turns herself away from you.

you may feel betrayed. hollow, like you’ve been stripped of everything that makes you you. “you made me this way,” you might say.

Everything! Everything that you wanted, I have done. You ask the child to be taken, I took him. You cowered before me, I was frightening. I have reordered time, I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it all for you.

“i was playing the role you put me in. what was i made for, if not you?

i can’t live within you.”

Just fear me, love me, do as I say

“let me play the role of villain, the role you made me to fill.”

and I would be your slave.

“your will be done.”

god is a sixteen-year-old girl who hasn’t yet figured out the way she wants to be worshipped. it’s a heavy burden, trying to satisfy someone who doesn’t know what she wants.

but there is hope for jareth.

fandom rarely debates on how to interpret the barn owl at the beginning of the film. we’re pretty much in consensus that it’s a manifestation of jareth, but that’s never given much thought.

when sarah asserts her power and escapes the labyrinth, jareth has once again taken the form of the owl. in the final scene, when sarah celebrates with her friends from the labyrinth, reconciling her love of fantasy with her maturity and self-growth, jareth flies away, smaller and smaller until he’s gone. here we turn to the age-old metaphor of flight as freedom.

in moving away from escapism and becoming an active participant in her own life, sarah has freed jareth from the role of villain. none of the friends in her room are human. be reminded again that jareth bears the likeness of a man present (at least tangentially) in sarah’s real life, who would likely feel disheartened knowing he’s blamed for something beyond his control.

because sarah has no more need for a jareth, there is no more jareth. and that’s arguably best for both of them.

(p.s.: i go to the theater tomorrow! i have a sarah-esque outfit put together and everything. thanks for wishing me well & know tomorrow can’t come soon enough for me… this film has been among my favorites for many many many years and each watch makes me find more to love. best cult i’ve ever joined)

[bloody-wonder]

mid-year book tag

1. Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2024? i have read so many good ones this year but no particular one stands out to me as The Best so i'll name top 5 instead (in the order i read them in): a thousand stitches, doctrine of labyrinths, in other lands, big swiss, my brilliant friend - so, quite a range of genres and tones, as usual :)

2. Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far in 2024? the virtu is definitely my favorite part of doctrine of labyrinths and the tropic of serpents, the second book in the memoirs of lady trent, was just a perfect historical fantasy adventure novel - it's like if jane austen wrote indiana jones except it's also a nature documentary about dragons. last but not least, empire of the damned which came out in march solidified jay kristoff's empire of the vampire as my favorite vampire book series. you might have heard me screaming about it from the rooftops. all three of these sequels, i find, are even better than the previous book in their respective series.

3. New Release You Haven’t Read Yet, But Want To? i'm saving kj charles' death in the spires for the fall since it's a spooky campus murder mystery (i think?) and i also want to read apostles of mercy and so finish lindsay ellis' sci fi series (which i have lost interest in somewhat tbh but i'm nothing if not a completionist lol). i was curious about the familiar but the reviews i've seen don't look too promising so i'm probably not going to prioritize it.

4. Most Anticipated Release For Second Half of 2024? i'm looking forward to kj charles' new romance book, the duke at hazard, as well as the new evander mills mystery, rough pages, but the piece of fiction i'm anticipating the most is actually the radioapple southern gothic au by my favorite fanfic author reminiscentbells. she's going to write the whole thing this summer and start posting in september - i'm so excitedddd😱

5. Biggest Disappointment? emily wilde's encyclopaedia of faeries is the book equivalent of a ghoul wearing the skin of your beloved. i wasn't a fan of a deadly education either😒 was very excited to read gaywyck but the expectations of "jane eyre but gay" which the cover of that book gave me were unfortunately not met🤷‍♀️

6. Biggest Surprise? i didn't think i might be into extreme horror and neither did i fancy myself a sally rooney girlie so i was quite surprised that i liked her conversations with friends as well as the sluts by dennis cooper. will definitely read more from both authors next year. an even bigger surprise however was solitaire which i picked up on a whim after tori came out as ace in the last heartstopper volume. i have a complicated relationship with alice oseman's books mostly due to the fact that i'm years past the target demographic age but still feel compelled to read them bc it seems they're the only mainstream books with prominent aro/ace rep out there. so i didn't expect much and was astonished to discover that tori spring is like looking at a mirror reflection of my 18yo self - uncanny in a fun way. ig i shouldn't be so surprised this turned out to be my favorite oseman book since it's the one with the most mixed reviews lol people like to hate a depressed teenage girl😬

7. Favorite New Author? i have devoured doctrine of labyrinths and the cemeteries of amalo in february so now i can safely say sarah monette aka katherine addison is one of my favorite authors. each of her series has a different tone but there are consistent themes of real or magical disability and non amatonormative relationships which are explored in creative ways throughout her stories. i also like her worldbuilding quite a bit, especially the naming systems and fantasy terminology. i read more books by celeste ng as well as by vale aida - both are likely to become favorite authors too. in the latter's case - provided she writes a sequel to hostis. if not, i shall never forgive her😅

8. Newest Favorite Character? okay this is just impossible to narrow down! first of all, liathe from empire of the damned bc i want her Gender: wearing a porcelain mask and a splendid crimson coat, formally bowing to her adversaries before she beats the shit out of them with her blood sword, referring to herself by the royal we and hissing every time she speaks - character of all time material right there. behold my beautiful girl who has done nothing wrong!🥰

(official illustrations by bon orthwick)

secondly, elliot schafer bc he's the most obnoxious prickly boy in other lands and yet everyone wants him carnally lol. i adore his internal monologue - probably the best i've read in ya. his dialogue too tbh - his cutting repartee game is off the charts. honestly, he's just my favorite type of character: a mean bisexual gremlin who scolds people so creatively that they fall in love with him on the spot. what more can you ask.

finally, i have to mention that to my great surprise i liked mildmay more than felix harrowgate🤯 idk felix is this cunty traumatized savant which is a character archetype i'm used to liking so it was a safe bet. the opposites attract sidekick or love interest of such a character is usually not my cup of tea but mildmay is the exception that proves the rule ig. mostly it's bc of his unusual manner of speaking with those funny slang turns of phrase and just generally the contrast between his expressive internal monologue and his reserved demeanor. as a result, he easily rivals felix as the most interesting guy in the book. such excellent character work! taking my hat off to monette🎩

9. Newest Fictional Crush? i reserve this question for that special kind of obsession only a very particular character can inspire and this year it's alastor from hazbin hotel. which, i know, is not a book but i have read so much alastor fanfic in the last few months that he's basically like a book character to me at this point lol

💕Best Ship💕 elliot schafer and luke sunborn are very cute. i don't usually go for cute but here we are. especially after reading that short story from luke's pov i realized i just need more of these two together😌 felix and mildmay with their unholy magic bdsm union - need i say more? forbidden ship that watered my crops. last but not least, i'm currently trudging through the realm of the elderings bc of fitz and the fool and as of assassin's quest it finally started paying off: i'm being queerbaited and asking for more🥲

10. Book That Made You Cry? a thousand stitches is such a wholesome cozy book and it made me cry multiple times the way that a nostalgic movie from childhood can make you cry sometimes. especially the pug scene😭 the scenes of thara celehar walking the corn maze in the cemeteries of amalo made me cry a lot too. the symbolic depths addison is able to achieve with the labyrinth motif, the exploration of grief and forgiveness and letting go - unparalleled🤌

11. Book That Made You Happy? a thousand stitches made me happy! especially the pug scene!!😅 honestly it was like watching a disney movie back when they were good except also more relatable bc atwater's characters read neurodivergent and aspec-coded to me. love how she maintains that the kiss of true love that breaks the faerie curse doesn't have to be romantic. re-reading the three musketeers made me very happy too - it's one of my top 10 favorite books of all time and i was kinda nervous i might not like it as much as an adult. well the joke's on me bc now i can confirm it's one of the best books ever written😊 reading in other lands and big swiss cheered me up a lot too bc they're just so damn funney😄

12. Favorite Book Adaptation You Saw This Year? haven't seen a lot of adaptations so ig dune part two wins by default. twas a fine movie. the wheel of time is also a nice show in my opinion but i didn't read the source material so idk how good it is adaptation-wise🤷‍♀️

13. Favorite Review You’ve Written This Year? my favorite ones are probably the ones i wrote about the three musketeers and in other lands but i think i also wrote some good critical/negative reviews of the mask of mirrors and of the vorkosigan books i read this year (1 2 3)

14. Most Beautiful Cover? behold the cover of the voyage of the basilisk!🤩 i want to frame it and hang it on my wall so that i can gaze at it adoringly and connect with my inner ishmael

(art by todd lockwood)

i also like this vintage romance cover of gaywyck and the uk covers of the farseer trilogy. it's a shame that the books are not as good as the covers led me to believe. especially in the case of gaywyck - this cover is Such A Vibe! but alas

15. What Books Do You Need To Read By The End of The Year? in terms of series i want to finish the memoirs of lady trent, read one more witcher book, at least a couple vampire chronicles and then reread swordspoint and hopefully complete that series too. other fantasy i want to get to at last is fire & blood and the hands of the emperor - both are big and intimidating tho. for my classics challenge i need to finish a couple of tomes i'm reading slowly throughout the year and then also read the name of the rose. american psycho and mona awad's bunny have been on my tbr for ages - maybe i'll finally read them this fall. and i also want to finish reading kj charles' backlist bc the completionism drive is stronger than the fear of having no kj charles to read lol

i never do things a normal amount - every time i take up new media i go all in. so i had a musicals phase, a movies phase, a tv show phase - each lasting a few years and then i barely watched any of these once the phase ended. which is why i've been wondering if my current Book Phase is about to wrap up soon but, given how many books i managed to read since january, it sure doesn't seem that way. instead, it feels like the more i read the better i am at finding books that i'm likely to enjoy - which leads to more reading. and i cannot complain about that tbh😁📚

tagging @magpiefngrl @doh-rae-me @oliviermiraarmstrongs @fugitoidkry @pinkasrenzo @counterwiddershins @figuringthengsout @sugarbabywenkexing @fandomreferencepending @venndaai @weirdsociology @sixappleseeds @theodoradove

please tell me what you've been reading this year (if you want)! one can't have too many book recs👀

goodreads │ old mid year tags 2020 2021 2022 2023

[crying-fantasies]

Within you

Masterlist

If Sideswipe relationship with his human is based on "Take my breath away" then Sunstreaker's part of the story is based on this song (I still don't remember who started the whole "Streaker likes David Bowie" but the first blog I found talking about that was @rocksinmuffin if my memory is correct).

Within you and the whole Labyrinth movie was created before I was even born, first time watching it as almost a baby gave me the impression this song was centered in how the goblin king was mad at Sarah, maybe even hated her, again, I was a child, one very messed up by Disney and the idea of "married happily ever after", so imagine Amy flabbergasted face when my cousins translated the son for me, like "so he hated her this whole time and still wanted to marry her?".

Just to then hear him say "How you turn my world, you precious thing".

I didn't get it, nor David Bowie's acting, but then I watched it again as an adult after realizing my love for Henson's work back again, just to be smacked in the face by the whole deep meaning of a suffering man as Jareth, while not telling her that he loves her, still does tell how much it hurts him to love and court her (incorrectly, mind you because it's obvious Jareth is suffering to give the message) but don't have the very same love back for him.

Creativity crashed onto me while my niece was watching the labyrinth, asking myself if the brothers each should've a different lover, but with the fact of split sparks gave another deep meaning, of course everyone can love someone different, but the idea of twins courting the same interest seemed more interesting for me as many others did before (and also, two boyfriends).

Within you was the right decision for Sunny.

Sunstreaker affection for his human partner started from disgust because organic, of course, but Sunny, no matter what he says or how he acts, loves his brother, so if we want Sunstreaker to interact with a human then Sides needs to be in the picture.

It starts small, a little "oh, now he is bringing strays, great" that soon morphed to him smacking Sideswipe's helm when he almost dropped you "Do you want to clean organic insides from the floor?!" but still being very gentle by his own standard to grip your clothes and put you on a safe enough place, cleaning his digits afterwards as if you carried some disease, what an idiot.

Taking time he gets familiar with your presence, but then there is this itchy thing on his spark when he sees you, the itch keeps going, silent like a mouse surrounded by cats, but growing like mold, like a forgotten seed trying to catch a glimpse of sunlight, when it does, he makes double takes, going through the many levels of grief (because how could such a perfect being like him feel even an ounce of affection for a fleshie?) and currently in the stage of depression before noticing the way Sideswipe looks at you while scoping you away from your old computer for things to finally connect and make sense.

Also sending him back to the stage of anger morphed into rage (directed mostly to you due to his own reason of not really hating his own brother).

Sunstreaker anger reaches new levels that has everyone looking twice when his usual sour but accepting EM field twisted to such hatred, Ironhide almost got to the decision of getting the human away, "just let him deal with whatever is his problem" he said while trying to make you go with Ratchet's group of humans but choosing not to interfere when Sideswipe gave him the most woeful optics he has ever see once noticed what he was trying to do.

Later on the thing gets worse and Sunny is splashed in the face in the same way Blurr did (the world doesn't move around me FUCK) Just tht he did when he was finally separated from Hunter and got a very needed moment with his own thinking.

Does he get a very hard moment on it? Yeah, it's even pointed that he suffered from it since he feels bad for Hunter and not having the strength to at least say goodbye, tell him "hey, we did it", and dealing with his feelings on that matter, Sunstreaker couldn't, and that makes the fact of him trying to put himself straight the most painful as every other autobot, while not saying out loud, still can't easily trust in him again.

Sunstreaker is trying, but only time will tell if it's even worthy to try and heal a wound that is sure to leave a permanent scar.

Sideswipe loves Sunstreaker, they're brothers, they'll forever have one another, and Sideswipe has you, if only for a bit, and Sunstreaker also has to make amends with you, maybe to at least talk like decent people in company of one another, he will take whatever you throw at him because he knows Sideswipe liked you, just to realize his brother now loves you, Sunstreaker doesn't only see it, he feels it, near enough to his brother again to feel that tingle now tremor inside the bond.

He knows it's great, he feels it and his own spark resonates with the same feeling, he is happy for Sideswipe even when the idiot has yet to talk to you directly about the courting, but no matter how much Sideswipe tries, Sunstreaker doesn't know how to have a normal chat with you, or at least have you not reacting like you are about to kill him.

"You look great today"

"As if"

Your story with Sunstreaker is full of hatred directed to you for things you never did to him, the brothers fear such feeling will never fade away as Sunstreaker tries to seat beside you, looking at his pedes, trying to make small talk, say things he knows would rock the world for anyone, when words just don't work because Sunstreaker is always the one being fanned over and not the other way around, actions fade easy as all you center on him is that he is doing it a certain purpose to make you cry like before.

"I move the stars for no one", Sunstreaker could be showing you the beauty of late Cybertron's most intricate pieces of art and you would be thinking if he is going to make an offhand comment for you at any moment, not realizing he is letting you see them through his own databank, displayed for you to see in one of the most intimate displays of affection a cybertronian can do for a loved one, free vision to his precious memories, Sunny would try to give you ride once the war is over, trying to sound as soft as he can push his vocalizer and too close to imitate a purr with his engines, door open and inviting, he knows you had a long day shift, you're slow and the strange coloration under your eyes is too evident, he hates it, as it shows you're exhausted, but no matter, you keep walking, in any other occasion Sunstreaker would have abandoned you there for make him look like a fool, whatever, but he can't, he wants to, all he does is get into root mode and walk slowly next to you, commenting that Sides will never stop pestering him if something happened due to your foolishness and he was near the place.

"Your eyes can be so cruel", Sunstreaker, being like he is, guided by your rejection continuously, returns your hatred if only to protect himself, because how could you do this to him, "just as I can be so cruel", but he does understand, his anger more similar to a sad mech that is just a click away from scoping and shout at you to stop it, because you're hurting him.

Within you is a song about love, longing, but also heartbreak, Sunstreaker fits good in here.

"I can't live within you".

It will take time, a very good amount he hates with all of his being because every moment you stay in your stupid bubble of self-preservation the brothers have a day less to cherish due to your stupidly short lifespan, but apparently all has it's own reward for him, as one day he does shout at you, this time, however, is to tell you, he may have needed real psychological help with all of his trauma, but while pouring his inner hell to he last person he wanted to see him like that, he finds your gift in front of him again, patched up, offered more than a peace symbol, more like a proposition.

"I, I can't live within you"

[firstelevens]

sambucky (bake off AU mayhaps?? 👀) + “bloom” 🪷

“Okay, but why did bodyslamming the dough seem like a good idea?”

Sam scowls at the phone. “I didn’t bodyslam the dough, Bucky. I just applied extra pressure so it would roll out.”

“You threw your entire body weight behind that rolling pin and fucked up your neck and shoulder, Sam; I think that’s a little more than extra pressure.”

“I had to get five dozen danishes shaped, what was I supposed to do?”

“You could have waited literally any amount of time for the dough to warm up.”

There’s no video on the call, but Sam can perfectly picture the look on Bucky’s face anyway, frustration mingled with fondness, and he would call the feeling that blooms in his chest homesickness if he wasn’t already smack in the middle of Delacroix.

“Put Alpine on,” he says, instead of I miss you or thank you for worrying about me. “She’s much more sympathetic than you are.”

“Can’t,” says Bucky. “She’s at my parents’ place.”

“And where are you, exactly? You left her all alone?”

Bucky snorts. “I dropped her off a while ago. She’s busy hanging out with my parents while they set up for the party; I just needed to make a quick stop.”

That, at least, explains why Sam thought he heard a GPS earlier in the call. The neighborhood that Bucky’s parents live in might as well be a labyrinth, and for all George and Winnie’s well-intentioned directions, one visit was enough to put Sam firmly on Bucky’s side of the ‘this is why no one should live in New Jersey’ debate. 

(Not that Bucky ever needs to know that. During his last visit to the city, Sam had shamelessly baited Bucky by praising a bagel spot in New Brunswick, and the resulting angry makeout session had absolutely been worth listening to Bucky’s rant about the superiority of New York tap water.)

Sam doesn’t realize that he’s gone silent until Bucky’s voice breaks through his thoughts. “I didn’t interrupt you setting up at the truck, did I? Tell me you’re not there right now.”

“You’re worse than my Mama, you know that?”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” says Bucky, and it’s actually stupid, the way a corny line like that makes Sam’s heart stutter.

“I’m not at the truck,” says Sam. “Freddie said he could cover the lunch rush, and Naya has practice after school today, so we’ll just close things up early.”

“Sorry, sweetheart. I know you were looking forward to seeing everyone before tonight.”

He sighs. “It’s fine; I’m just glad we didn’t have to shut down completely. I should’ve been more careful.”

“You think I could have that last thing in writing? Get it notarized, maybe?”

It’s very obviously a ploy to make Sam laugh, but it works anyway. “Shut up, Barnes. I’m always careful.”

“Oh, did you get rid of Redwing and just forget to tell me? That tiny little plane that you flew during a storm the other day, because you live to stress me out?”

“I live for other things; raising your heart rate is just a bonus.”

Bucky snorts. “You’re impossible, you know that?”

“So I’ve been told,” says Sam. He starts to ask something else, but cuts himself off as the doorbell rings.

“Sam Wilson,” Bucky says, faux-scandalized, “did you just call me to kill time while you were waiting for company to arrive?”

“Not this time,” says Sam, as he pushes away from his desk. “I’m not even expecting anyone; Sarah and Freddie already took the truck.”

“Maybe they forgot something.”

“I think I’d have noticed eight batches of croissants lying around.”

“Maybe they just really wanted to see you again.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it’s that one,” laughs Sam. “Hang on a second, let me just see who it is.”

He’s still got the phone pressed to his ear as he pulls the door open, which is maybe why he’s so confused to find his boyfriend standing on his porch and not a thousand miles away in New Jersey.

“Like I said,” Bucky says, grinning crookedly at Sam, “I just wanted to see you again.”

[tj-dragonblade]

*knock knock knock* ❄️☃️🎄 Asking for 24 for the Spotify Wrapped!!!

24 - Dance With the Dragon by Dark Sarah

Congratulations, you've landed on one of the songs that's officially on my list of Songs That Would Make Great Dreamling Fics (That I'll Never Write)! Based entirely on the video linked above and the story that it's part of, this would be a fantasy AU where the vibes are 'Labyrinth meets Alice in Wonderland' with hints of Phantom of the Opera, Beauty and the Beast, and Hades and Persephone sprinkled over for flavor.

The basic idea is that Hob is trapped in some alternate reality and trying to collect a key from each realm he passes through to be able to get back to his own reality. No idea at this juncture what the first realm/key would be - maybe something with the fae, maybe hell, idk. The second realm is Dream's. Do I want to keep to the source and make him a dragon who lost his wings for hubris and arrogance and got banished from the 'upper world' to rule this dark 'underworld'? Maybe, but that's also very Lucifer-ish. So maybe I'd blend in something closer to his canon. In any case. Hob tries to sneak into Dream's castle, get the key, sneak out. He does not succeed and is taken before Dream. There is antagonistic chemistry. There is sneering haughty-in-my-superiority taunting and 'let's be reasonable' demands. There is at least one challenge set, there is Hob as a 'guest' of Dream's until he completes the challenge ('So I'm a prisoner, then.' 'Oh no, you may leave any time you like, but you will gain no key until you complete my challenge.' 'But what good is leaving without the key, when I'll just be stuck here forever??' 'I fail to see how that is my problem'), there is continued verbal fencing and sparring and building UST as Hob struggles with the challenge, there is an elaborate ball (masquerade?) held, there is a waltz charged with so much tension and raging attraction it's a wonder the room doesn't spontaneously combust. There is at least one moment of 'Oh no under different circumstances this could be More™️' and genuine understanding/connection between them. In the end, Hob finally succeeds at the challenge, earns the key and departs on a note of uneasy flirtation - Dream bowing and kissing his hand in farewell as he acknowledges his defeat, lingering intense smirky eye-contact as Hob goes, that kind of thing.

Potentially this can go on, if I continue the thread of the source storyline but lean on Dream's canon for details. Perhaps collecting the three keys would give him the means to restore Orpheus/free Orpheus/something to do with Orpheus, and he's never had the means to collect the other two keys on his own, but now that Hob has collected the first and second, if Dream accompanies him while he collects the third, they can both use the keys to achieve their ends - Hob to go back to his own world and Dream to restore Orpheus. So Dream leaves Lucienne in charge of the realm and follows after Hob, catches up to him, proposes they cooperate etc; they quest for the third key and finally resolve that UST in the process. When they get the third key, and present it to let's say the Fates, they're told they cannot both claim reward - and they put the choice to Dream, his lover or his son. Let Hob go back to his world/his regular life, or be 'selfish' and choose to cash in for his own goal instead. It could end here with Dream choosing to let Hob go, which could be passing a test by the Fates and as reward for passing he still gets to save/restore Orpheus. Or, the longer and angstier version, he chooses Orpheus and thereby casts Hob into yet another alternate realm, and the next leg of the story is Dream's quest to find Hob again and seek his forgiveness, and find a way to get him home. Hob can't exactly fault Dream for choosing his son over this outsider human that he's started sleeping with, but it still hurts, still feels on some level like betrayal, and while he might like to freely offer forgiveness it's more plausible that there will have to be some earning done. Eventually of course they reconcile and find a way to get Hob home and then of course establish a means by which they can continue to cross worlds to see each other.

Anyway this is far more a mental exercise in mapping one story to another and seeing where they might translate than it is a viable fic idea; it's far too grand in scope and not nearly detailed enough for me to realistically take it on. Mostly I just want the enemies-to-lovers fraught-with-tension ballroom dancing scene.

Spotify Wrapped Askmeme Post

[pants-magic-pants]

✧⊹JARETH BALLROOM COAT⊹✧

[This post is part of a series about constructing Jareth's entire masquerade ball costume. Visit the master post here.]

Fabric Selection [Part 2 of 2] The Drama of the Lining

Hello all you fine goblins, goblinettes, masqueraders, bog creatures(?)... I'm back to ramble a lot, and unless you are really into sewing or want to make this coat, this post will probably bore the hell out of you but by all means here it is.

Firstly I want to say that I'm part of a Labyrinth cosplay group now, have a beautiful Sarah waiting for me in just a state above, a masquerade dancer who is already my good friend, and we'd love to do a dreamy photoshoot for everyone at a ballroom or wedding venue somewhere between us. However, I'm financially strained. I'm working extra shifts, offering commissions, etc, but it's only doing so much. If you've made it this far and have been appreciating any of my content, please consider tipping the blog. All the posts have a button that looks like this ($). Please help us unite. Please please, throw a dollar into my guitar case, won't you?

ANYHOO! I'm not good at lining, as I think I've mentioned. There's a lot more I need to learn to get it looking good and structured, and in this case there was so much gravity working against it too. I also am sure you notice that there are ghastly black stitches across the middle of the pleats on the inside... had thought that wouldn't be showing... whoops.

・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・☆ ・・・・

We’ll start with the creamy, slightly sparkly, crimped(?) fabric that lines the tail first. It doesn’t appear to be lurex/foiled silk or satin, as it seems to be even lighter weight than those fabrics. That’s the first thing that I would say is important about picking this lining: it needs to be something SUPER LIGHTWEIGHT.

The reason being that, at least for the way I did the pleats, there was as much of it needed as the velvet, as it all got folded together. Even if you didn't do it this way, you would only want to add the least amount of extra weight as possible, using something that is still durable and isn't going to blow every which way.

That made the search pretty limiting, as did the fact that it needed to be opaque, flowy, and non-stretchy. Originally when I began searching, I was looking for things like organza or chiffon with crimps/ridges, which looked very pretty, but they were too sheer unless layered, and layering would have made them too stiff. 

After doing further research post-completion of the coat, viscose seems like it would have looked and behaved correctly, since it's soft, light, non-stretchy and not sheer, but apparently it isn't the most environmentally friendly fabric, so it’s something to consider. There's also cupro, though I've never gotten my hands on either of these so it's hard to say that definitively. It’s supposed to have a similar appearance and drape as silk, but it's not quite as shiny. It's opaque, and unless it's mixed with elastane or rayon it's not supposed to be very stretchy either, which leads me to…

What not to use: a stretchy fabric, like for any lining on any project. I already made that clear, but did I follow my own advice? Not this time. I got fed up with fabric drama and settled for a very pretty but stretchy foiled fabric, hell if I know what it was because it was late one evening at Jo-Ann Fabric, and I was Over That Shit™ and suffered a lapse in judgment. The result was slight warping from over-handling, and the entire seam between it and the inner facing was bubbly. I’m still kicking myself. Shoulda’ gone home. Shoulda’ said “no, Jo-Ann.”

Here's what I used. Yeah, it's pretty right? But that's all it is.

Another thing to note is that there are subtle ridges in the bottom lining. Not pleats, but like, crimping? It’s a very similar texture to Sarah’s dress. Searching for terms related to ridges would help find something similar, and as for colors, I searched for mainly creams, or borderline beige. Sometimes “champagne” also yielded good results. It’s definitely not white or even ivory, as white will turn the color scheme of the coat way too cold, stark, and sterile. Ivory (while warm-toned) may have the same effect. 

It helped me to look at a color wheel and decide the most complimentary combination based on the exact shade of blue that my velvet was. The ballroom coat’s actual shade of blue may seem to vary based on the photograph, but after seeing a lot of reference photos, I started to be able to tell which ones had been, em, tweaked, enhanced, etc. and that tended to be the ones that presented it as electric blue or leaning towards turquoise. The true shade seems to be like one shade cooler than true-blue. Am I making sense?

Given that, the lining’s shade of cream would need to be basically a pure cream color, not leaning towards rosy/orange NOR towards green on the color wheel, in order to be complimentary. However, for anyone who’s making the coat who wants to use a warmer shade of blue for the velvet, this is perfectly fine, it just will change just about every other color choice that you make, down to the color of the jewels and buttons. You may find that all your other blues need to be warmer shades, and that a rosier cream lining (champagne) looks best. 

Before moving on to the top lining, I want to mention that there is - strangely – a piece of cream colored tulle in the back? Not sure how that looks if you were to open the coat and look in, and since I couldn’t think of a way to make that look good, I didn’t include it. 

・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・☆ ・・・・

The top lining! We can’t see what’s in there, so this comes down to intuition and preference. I wanted a fully lined coat that looked good and had an aesthetically pleasing transition from one fabric to another, so I pretty much lined the top as if it was its own mini jacket, and I chose satin in a slightly lighter shade of cool blue. A little too light to be called navy but I’m sure people still would call it that.

I wouldn’t recommend using the same fabric used on the tail for the top because the fabric for the tail seems too textured to be smooth enough to get in and out of without issues. Best to stick with classic lining: silk or satin, in blue or a neutral that would match something else on the coat. Black, cream, maybe even dark/metallic grey or silver? The extra challenge of using a shade of blue is that you’d have to be very discerning about whether or not it matched. I had to take the velvet with me everywhere when making my decisions.

Almost nothing featured here is what I used, but here's me being diligant and bringing my swatches everywhere.

Not only did the color have to match, but the texture and amount of shimmer also mattered. Super matte silks/satins seemed to anchor down the splendor of the sparkling velvet too much. The really shiny fabrics looked best. I settled for something a little more subdued, but okay. It was okayyyy. Again, I was Over It™. 

Well, was that super interesting, or what?

[depizan]

Labyrinth is a somewhat unusual kids movie, and not just because it's one of very few movies I saw as a kid where I actually related to a female protagonist.

It's probably not a surprise that young Mac liked a story about a fantasy loving kid who goes on adventure and collects friends along the way. And doesn't have a romance plot (despite the movie being a sexual awakening to at least some other viewers).

But there are two things that make Labyrinth different--one of which seems clearly intended, one of which probably wasn't.

The intended difference: Sarah doesn't have to give up her love of fantasy or the friends she made in the goblin kingdom. She can become more grown up without abandoning who she is. It looks like it's going to go with the usual give up fantasy to grow up ending, but then her friends start appearing in her mirror and she is allowed to need them. Allowed keep them. Allowed to stay who she is. Having a fantasy life is not incompatible with growing up.

She doesn't actually need to put away her childish things and start dating. She can accept her little brother (and presumably go on to have a better relationship with her dad and step mom) without becoming who her step mom thinks she should be.

(Both the adults and the child protagonists being, in some ways, wrong is nice, too. Sure, Sarah's wrong for treating her step mom like "a wicked stepmother in a fairy story." But said step mom's dialogue makes it clear that she's not really engaging with actual Sarah, either.)

Which brings us to the probably unintended difference: it's entirely possible to read Sarah as some flavor of aro/ace. She's not dating, despite being of an age where her step mom thinks she should be. And while her fantasies include things like "goblin king fell in love with girl," she doesn't really respond to her situation as if that means something outside of being part of fairy stories. Members of the audience may have reacted to Jareth's tight pants, but Sarah...doesn't. There's a moment where she seems intrigued by his magic, but, even in the dream sequence, she never really seems drawn to him. Like, the magic keeps putting him in her path until she dances with him, but that's not the same thing.

And, again, we don't get an ending where she gives up on fantasy and discovers boys. She gets to keep her fantasy and her friends.

Do I think they were trying to make a protagonist who can be read as aro/ace? No. Do I think she can also be read as just a normal teenage girl who isn't ready for that kind of thing yet? Of course. But she can be read as aro/ace and that's...really damn unusual for a story about a teenage girl.

(And, yes, I think Sarah grew up to be a successful fantasy writer, is the cool aunt to Toby's kids, and Hoggle and Ludo and the rest still visit her from time to time.)

[jadeylovesmarvelxo]

Halloween Party 🎃 👻

Eddie would love Labyrinth the movie and I’m not saying couples Halloween outfit from the ball scene but I’m absolutely saying that.

Eddie is like “damn I’m looking like a legend.” And reader comes out telling him “Kay sweetie I’m ready.” And eddie has to spend the rest of the night trying to resist taking her home and going to town on her.

He fails that mission hard.

Anon request, had two requests for the Labyrinth ball scene. I hope you both like this ❤🎃

Warnings; None really, fluff, tiny bits of smut, 18+ hints of Dom Eddie.

I do not give permission for work to be copied or posted elsewhere ❤

🎃🍁

🎃🍁

Eddie had to admit he looked good. He was dressed as Jareth the Goblin King from Labyrinth and y/n was going as Sarah for Steve's Halloween party.

He couldn't wait to see her outfit, she was insistent that he couldn't see it until she was ready.

He goes back to doing last-minute checks on his outfit. The ruffled white shirt was a bit hard to find, he didn't have anything like it in his wardrobe but he found a good one for the costume.

His long suit jacket was decorated with help from the Hellfire boys who had added blue glitter, and cut the sleeves to Jareth's style in the movie, silver gems were also added to it and he paired it with dark jeans, and his boots and silver gloves.

He bought the Jareth wig and had added blue eyeshadow lightly to his eyes and silver highlighter on his cheeks.

"Looking like a legend Munson". He nods approvingly.

The reason for the couple's outfit was for Steve's Halloween party yes but he also loved the movie. He and y/n had decided on Jareth and Sarah for a couples outfit straight away.

"Kay sweetie I'm ready".

She comes out in a full ball gown style dress, the bodice has an iridescent quality as well as the full skirt, the arms of the dress are similar to the movie, full, puffy and with the same iridescent quality as the skirt and she has tiny little yellow flowers decorated at the front of her bodice with a large silver gem in the middle matching the one on his.

Her hair is backcombed with organic vein-like garlands at the sides of her hair that look like melted silver and silver ribbons interweaved in her hair too.

It's all lace, tulle, beads and glitter and it looks like she stepped off the movie set.

Nancy helped her with the design of the dress and he knows she stitched most of the design herself onto the dress herself.

"You like?" she twirls around and giggles, Eddie is just staring for a full minute and then he moans.

"Princess, there's no way I'm going to be able to keep my hands off you tonight". She smirks. What else was new?

"You look so handsome yourself Eddie". She kisses his cheek.

They are going to fucking rock the couple's outfits tonight.

❤

She knew Eddie was having trouble keeping his hands off her but she wanted to stay at the party for a little while at least.

Everyone loved her and Eddie's outfits, drinks were flowing and they didn't have to worry about getting drunk as Steve had offered them the guest bedroom.

She was very tempted just to follow Eddie into the room and let him have his wicked way with her, her lower stomach filled with arousal at the possibilities.

Still, as much as she wanted that she wanted to enjoy the party first.

"You two look so good". Nancy tells her approvingly, she has come as Daphne from Scooby Doo and the red wig that she has picked was fierce. It was a really good look and she had managed to convince Robin to come as Velma.

Steve was Maverick from Top Gun and he looked so cool.

Eddie couldn't stop touching and kissing her and she teased him right back knowing what will happen because of the teasing, her whole body tingles with possibilities and she can't wait.

As the party slowly begins to die down he sneaks her upstairs and she giggles following him into Steve's spare room and locking the door.

He kisses her fiercely and his lips travel to his neck as he unzips her dress and lets it fall to the floor, he palms her breasts groaning at the feel of them in his hands.

So perfect, his.

"Naughty girl, enticing me all night looking so fucking good. Get on the bed and spread yourself wide for me princess".

Desire rages through her and she obeys him looking at him with unconcealed excitement as he unbuckles his jeans.

"What do I tell you about teasing me sweetheart?". She grins mischievously and his dark look softens a fraction.

"Princess...

"Not to tease you because it's bad? Sorry Dungeon Master". She wasn't sorry at all and Eddie knows it and smirks.

"Hmm what will I do with you, my queen?". With the whole night ahead of them she couldn't wait to find out.

🎃🍁

[jiliansky-blog]

Labirynth of dreams. Chapter 2. King of nightmares

Pairing: Morpheus x FemaleReader

Rating: PG

Words: 2700

Elisabeth I appeared in the castle right away. What the magic! I looked around. Mother mentioned it correctly. Pillows, white walls. The throne. And goblins. They were more strange than ugly. And they were waiting for their king’s command. “Don’t mind them”, he said. “They are harmless and stupid”. “Mother said otherwise”, I admitted. “You are the guest of honor here”, he said. “Our future queen. They won’t do you anything. Tell me, Elisabeth, what Sarah told you about me?”

“That you are arrogant and evil”, I said. “You stole her brother”. “She asked to take him”, Jareth smiled. “And I did”. “Then why do you make obstacles for her?” I asked. “To make this more interesting”, the King of Goblins replied. “She has begun to value her brother and her life after her little adventure. Think about it. Would she have you if not for me?” “You couldn’t be my father, couldn’t you?” I asked terrified. My mother divorced my father and I saw him sometimes. I didn’t want Jareth to be my father. It would be…weird.

“No”, he laughed. “Otherwise everything would be different. And you supposed would be older. Or not, if you stay here”. “But you said…”, I started. “Challenging makes her look through priorities”, he replied. “Or so you did all of that to make her change her mind?” I smirked. “Perhaps, and then to make her my queen”, he said. “Now I can’t visit her. Or anyone while you are awake”. “What do you mean?” I asked.

“You are dreaming right now, Elisabeth”, he replied. “Oh”, I said. “And I’m captured here, bound by this place”, he continued. “I can only visit dreams. I need your help with something”. “With what?” I asked. “To defeat the king of nightmares and dreams”, he said. “Or to charm him”. “Why?” I asked. “He is arrogant and cruel”, Jareth replied. “He doesn’t want to let me go of this place. He is just terrible, you will see”.

“You know, the funny thing is that Mother told me the same about you”, I said. “Is he your brother or father?” “He can be my…father, but it’s not what you can think”, he said carefully. “He put me here and he can take my life”. “I see”, I nodded. “And how I can help you with him if he is that powerful and dangerous?”

“He has a weakness”, he said. “You know, everyone has a weakness. I’m sure you can talk to him and find his weakness”. “You can also talk to him”, I replied and looked at him. “Why do you think I can find his weakness better than you? I don’t even know him”. “He will be aware of me”, he smiled charmingly. “He is already suspicious”. “So you want me to win his trust”, I said. “Indeed”, he smiled and stepped close to me. His eyes were grey as a cloudy sky. At least one of them second was white. His hair was white and messy. He touched my chin and I looked at him. His fingers were cold.

“If we can win him, then no one can stop us”, he said. I imagined a monster. Well, how can look for someone, who even the king of goblins was afraid? What else I can imagine? “So are you going to help me?” he asked. “I can try”, I said. “But I’m not sure that I can charm your king. If he is so dangerous as you said, what should I do?” “Just talk to him maybe”, he said and kissed my cheek briefly. “I believe in you”. Well, mother has her own quest for finding her place and so have I now. Perhaps, nothing terrible won’t happen if I tried to talk to this king. Maybe, I can banish him, like my mother won over the King of goblins?

Morpheus Even after I visited Jareth in his Labyrinth, I had some unsettling feelings. He was too…silent. Too cooperative. He reminds me of Corinthian. Rebellion nightmare. Maybe, I need to visit his lair more subtly. “I need to visit Labyrinth once again”, I said to Lucienne. “Don’t you think he can notice you?” she asked. “I should be subtle”, I said. “You can send Matthew to watch him from afar”, Lucienne suggested. “He can be subtle”.

“Very well”, he said. “Matthew, you will tell me about everything you see. But be cautious. I don’t want him to notice you”. “Alright, boss”, he said and flew away. Just a few hours later Matthew returned and I frowned. “What?” I asked. “There is a girl in the Labyrinth”, the raven said. “Perhaps, she is lost; she tries to find her way out. Are you going to check?” “He did this again, lure the human here”, I sighed. “Thank you, Matthew, I will check”. I put up my helm to see where the girl was and appeared right there in the Labyrinth. She screamed and almost fell out in surprise. She was young and cute.

“Who are you?” she asked. “I’m the king of this realm”, I said. “Oh?” she asked. “You are not surprised”, I admitted. “He told me about you”, the woman said and stood up. “He didn’t tell me that you will be this…scary”. I snorted and took out my helm. Humans always get scared of it. And she was surprised again. “So what did he say?” I asked.

Elisabeth

When I went for a walk, I didn’t expect someone to appear out of nowhere again, and scared me to death. It was a creature in a black robe and with weird eyes and…Wait. Is it the King of nightmares? He looks like a nightmare. He had a deep velvet voice that made my skin covered in goosebumps. And then it appeared to be a helm that he took out.

He was quite handsome surprisingly. Messy black hair, white skin, blue eyes that were shining like stars, and pouty red lips. I forgot what I was about to say. Ethereal beauty. “He said you were dangerous”, I said. “And scary”, he repeated. “Yes”, I nodded.

“Perhaps, I’m scary”, he smirked. “So tell me, who are you and what are you doing in this Labyrinth? Did he kidnap you?” “No”, I said. I shouldn’t mention Jareth. What should I tell him? I didn’t expect to meet him just yet. And he was staring at me. “So?” he cocked his head. “I fell asleep and appeared here”, I said. “He explained to me that this dream. He said that you will come for me. And I wanted to get out of the Labyrinth”.

“Well, I suppose, you shouldn’t see me here and stay long in the Dreaming”, he said. “You are Elisabeth Williams”. “That’s right”, I said. “How do you know?” “I contain all the dreams of humanity”, he said. “And know everyone. You dream of finding this place and escape the Waking world”. «Am I in trouble?” I asked. “Not yet”, he said.

“Can you tell me your name then?” I dared to ask. “If you know mine, it would be just for me to know yours”. “Morpheus”, the man smirked. “Dream of the Endless”. “Morpheus”, I repeated. “Like the god of the dreams?” “Yes”, he nodded. “I have many names”. Well, he didn’t tell me that Morpheus is a god. How can I handle the god? What am I supposed to do now? I can’t fight him. “So can you help me find the way out?” I asked.

“I can wake you up”, he said. “This dream is over”. And I woke up. No, that conversation didn’t go as I expected at all. And now I am in the real world again. Is Jareth going to come for me again? But I couldn’t think about him. My thoughts returned to Morpheus, king of dreams and nightmares. He was cold, yes, but he wasn’t a monster. And should I really get his trust? And how can I get this? While I was having my breakfast and coffee, someone knocked on the door. I sighed and opened it without asking. I was sure who I would see.

“Elisabeth”, said Mother. “Are you alright?” “What?” I asked. “You came to tell me another lie?” ”Can I come in?” she asked. I sighed and let her in. I was still angry with her. But I came to the kitchen a coffee for her. Anyway, I was waiting for her to say why she came.

“Alright, I’m sorry”, she said finally, when I gave the cup to her without saying a word. “I just want to keep you safe”. “I was there”, I confessed. “What?” she asked surprised. “I was in Labyrinth in my dream”, I said. “It’s not a beautiful place, you were right. And as I see I’m fine”. “You shouldn’t go back there”, she replied. “I don’t know”, I shrugged. “What are you afraid of? What you aren’t telling me? What was between you and him?”

“Nothing”, she said. “I’m just afraid that he can use you against me. I know, he can be charming when he wants to”. I remembered. But I thought about Morpheus for some reason. I don’t want to tell her about our conversation. And about our agreement with Goblin King. She just will try to stop me. “I’m safe now”, I said. “You don’t need to worry about it”. “I wouldn’t be so sure”, she replied. “If you appeared there once, you can appear again. He won’t let you go easily”. “Mom, I can defend myself”, I said. “You returned, and so can I”. If I want to, I think. Why did she even choose this reality over a fantasy world? But…what if Jareth was indeed wrong about everything?

“You don’t understand”, she said sadly. “Yes, you are right”, I said. “You were dreaming about fantasy worlds. You were dreaming of being a princess, but then you gave up after one adventure”. “It almost cost me my brother”, she admitted. “I don’t want to lose everything for life in a golden cage”. “You could change it”, I said. “And you think you could?” she asked. “He won’t allow it”. “We will see”, I smiled. “You don’t need to worry about it. Really, I will be fine. I’m here, after all, aren't I?” “Alright”, she sighed. “I trust you”.

“So what else did you see there?” she asked. “Well, I didn’t see much”, I shrugged. “I woke up when I tried to get out of Labyrinth”. It was true, except that Morpheus woke me up. Mother seemed confused. “Why I couldn’t wake up?” she asked. “Because it wasn’t a dream back then”, I said. “But now the thing existed only in dreams”. “It’s unfair!” she said. And I see her like in her story. When Jareth was angry because of these words. And it made everything worse. “Well, I don’t know exactly but his Labyrinth can be the part of the big world”, I said. “The world of dreams”.

“How do you know that?” she asked. “He told me”, I said. “And I woke up here in my bed”. “You know, it was weird, that I appeared in a hall of our house, but Toby was sleeping in his bed. If I appeared in my bed or in my parent’s bedroom, when I was, when Jareth came, I would think that it was my dream”. “I didn’t know how exactly this works”, I said. “Maybe it was all my imagination. If you indeed lied to me”. “You are still angry with me”, she sighed. “You shouldn’t say that”, I noticed. “Now you know I’m fine, I need to prepare some stuff for university”.

“You are not going to look to meet him, aren’t you?” she asked. “I don’t know”, I shrugged. “Maybe I am going to do this in the dream unconsciously. Or he can look for me. He didn’t forget you”. “What?” she looked at me with fear. “Don’t tell me he tried to seduce you to revenge me. Or I am going to end him”. “No, Mom”, I said. “Now, if you let me, I need to study”. She sighed and went to the door. But then stopped and looked at me again.

“I don’t think Jareth is capable of love”, she said. “His love is a possession. Don’t let him trick you into something”. And then she was gone and I relaxed a little bit. Was she right? Her words were too close to the truth. I didn’t see any signs of love or admiration in him. He wanted me to seduce Morpheus, so he could fall in love with me. But I didn’t want to hurt Morpheus. He didn’t look that bad and dangerous after all.

Morpheus So he did it again. The Goblin king tried to kidnap a girl and convince her, that I was the villain of his story. I shouldn’t be surprised. “My lord”, Lucienne found me in the throne room. “Do you mind telling me, what you find in the Labyrinth? What happened?” “He brought another girl there”, I said. “Did you see her?” she asked. “I met her”, I nodded and looked at my stained glass windows. They changed to the image of a girl in a white dress. “She was ready to meet me”.

“Did he tell her about you?” she was confused. “Yes, I think he made me a villain”, I replied. “She expected to see a monster and was scared when she saw my helm”. “And what did you do?” Lucienne asked. “I woke her up”, I looked at her. “She doesn’t deserve to be his tool or plaything. But I suppose he can visit her again”. “What are you going to do with him, my lord?” she said. “I am going to observe him for now”, I said. “He definitely plotting something, but he is just too subtle. I need him to take his guard down”.

“Can I speak honestly, my lord?” asked Lucienne. “Of course, Lucienne”, I said. “You aren’t going to use this girl against him, aren’t you?” she said quietly. “No”, I frowned. “That doesn’t concern mortals”. “Of course, my lord”, she sighed. “You are free to go”, I said. I wanted to think about Jareth’s plan, but somehow I was thinking about her.

@shadowqueen1318 @mypsychoticlove @justathirstyhoe​ @ladymoztaza

[laughableillusions]

My theory about Jareth’s feelings toward Sarah (at least one of my theories) are mostly like…embarrassment and disappointment at himself. I do not think he was in love with her tho, I think because she was so…fascinated by him. Playing on the fae rule of names having power- I think she kind of caught his attention by how much she talked about “The Goblin King” And stuff.

Jareth is a lonely lonely being, an ancient and mostly niche and unknown being. Being called upon and invoked so much by someone caught his attention. He enjoyed how she fawned over him, and because- in a way- Sarah willed it with words, he was compelled to her. He allowed this, mostly because it inflated his ego. But she has a very strong will, and wished and wished for him to help her that it ended up roping Jareth along. So when she actually didn’t want what she said she wanted, he got confused. She said that the goblin king was in love with her, and she said that she wished to be taken away. She wanted that more than anything. Why is she asking for her brother back? Why does she want to solve my Labyrinth?

Jareth as a character makes very strange contradictory promises because Sarah doesn’t even know what she wants from him. That’s not her fault of course, but she did make quite a mistake invoking the fae. Jareth, by the end of course is exhausted, as he says. He’s exhausted because Sarah basically manifested him loving her. But the worst part? That’s not her fault. It wasn’t her fault that the play she rehearsed was actually a sort of magical object to invoke the fae, it wasn’t her fault that she liked the play, and it wasn’t her fault she was fascinated by a fake character in a play that wasn’t supposed to be real.

Afterwards, Jareth of course feels used. The spell is broken now and he’s back to his loneliness and God-like power. Throttling with the fact that he was caught up and totally at the mercy of the overactive imagination of a lonely teenage girl.

[theemptyislost]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Spread the self-love ❤️

Thank you for the tag!

I am going through a patch of "I hate my writing" 😅 But here are the favorites I have currently.

Fair warning, most of these are darker. So heed the tags. 🖤

Bound Blade - Sarah/Jareth roughly 16 years post Labyrinth. Dark, heavy on Celtic and occult lore. I wanted to make a horror fae series with darker undercurrents and more world building in regards to the fall of the Fae. Finally got the self-destructive confidence to start slowly posting it.

Haunt Me - Tav/Haarlep/Raphael. Dark unhinged toxic poly romance where everyone is the villain in their own way. Raphael and Haarlep have Tav in their claws. Astarion is trying to get Tav back. Raphael is mid war in Baator. Multiple contracts and Devil non-sense. Heavy heavy smut.

Ptolemaea - Raphael/Tav Haarlep/Tav and Haarlep/Raphael. Legit evil Raphael locking Cleric Tav down so he can start building a power base. Haarlep is playing all sides. Religious trauma and gaslighting in this one. (I wanted a more canon evil Raph and spy/manipulative Haarlep trying to curb him, after all the Haunt Me fluff...forced my own villain story with that one)

Red Moon - Super dark Vampire Ascendant Astarion/Tav pre Haunt Me. A snippet years post BG3 when Astarion has going full circle and stooped to Cazador level mania with his power and connections. Tav is trying to navigate the duplicity of what she hoped they would have been together vs the reality of what Astarion has actually become. Very much graphic and Dead Dove.

Doomed From the Start - Lucifer/Reader, kinda Samael (Alt-ish version of Lucifer/OC)/Reader. Love Supernatural, not the biggest fans of Dean or Sam, I really enjoy the side characters and this is a chaotic mess of reader from the HunterCorp world getting tossed into canon SPN world by alt-Castiel and its a whole thing. Arch angels vs God, reader vs HunterCorp Winchesters, goetia lore and witch nonsense. will pick this hot mess up after HM and BB are finished

I don't have many fics, but these were core memory ones. I still have the itch to edit the other ao3 ones as those were from back in 2021. Thank you again! 🖤🖤

[magnificent-buckless-butt]

◇ Fly Home to your family for Christmas

This is a short (well, I freaking hope so haha) story for Christmas.

Enjoy the beginning before I write and post the rest later today ~

And merry Christmas!

It was pitch dark in there which was clearly not the best move if you were running, without a light, and away from someone who happened to have all his senses enhanced via the mythical supersoldier serum. And so as Bucky himself barely saw the general direction and walls of Washington's sewers, he was slightly (very, very slightly) impressed by the other man's determination. The man's laugh echoed through the tunnels made of bricks and glistening under the faint moonlight, but Bucky was most certain the Wrecker, as he called himself, wasn't laughing to scare him away but rather to inspire himself. He was, after all, being pursed by the Winter Soldier.

Bucky was not far behind. He could see the silhouette of the Wrecker, a shadow darker than its surrounding, moving (and panting). If he'd run a bit more rapidly, he would reach him. But this is not something he was aiming for.

First, Bucky was jogging - he meant to keep his energy in the case this guy was leading him into a trap with guns and a few dozens other guys. Secondly, he was rather curious where the Wrecker was running to. The highest probability was nowhere - just trying to outrun him or lose him in this labyrinth (either way: what a dumbass). But there was a chance he was leading him to some sort of HQ. All of this explained why Bucky was in no hurry. Well. That was not the whole reason, actually.

Their boots splashed into the smelly and highly muddy water running low in the sewers. Bucky couldn't know for this other guy, but, as for himself, he couldn't care less: he could walk through fifty centimeters of snow during two days and his feet still wouldn't be wet. He also had put his gun back in his holster, freeing his hands. Everything on him was strapped and not moving. Everything except a personal item, a small and thin box that jumped in his pocket alongside his ran

and felt to him as if burning through his clothes. On it, two short texts from Sam, left unanswered.

"If you don't have anything better, you come to Sarah's for Christmas.

The boys and her would be very happy to see you again. Me too. I miss you man."

And the second one, one he received barely one hour ago.

"Offer stills stands, tell me if you'll need a ride from NOLA."

Somewhere in his mind, both fully conscious and unconsciously, Bucky knew that if he didn't catch the Wrecker soon, he'd never have time to fly to Delacroix.

And that, would resolve his issue for him.

The Wrecker stopped, out of breath. He hadn't seen that the tunnel split in two, in the left and right direction, but didn't continue forward. By the time he hit the wall, realised and made up his mind about whether to go right or left, the man behind him had caught up on him and was cocking his gun with a sigh.

"You'll never catch me!" shouted the Wrecker.

"Why? Because your friends are about to join us?"

There was a split second of silence.

"...No?"

The Wrecker thought that next time he should probably ask for a cavalry. Bucky thought that would have, at least, made things a bit interesting. Before he could voice that, however, the Wrecker attacked. The Wrecker had chosen his name because he had encased both in hands in what looked like wrecking balls with metal spikes. Thus he lifted his two hands and let them fall on the man's head with the intention of smashing his skull. But his opponent raised his left arm and simply blocked the two metals balls. That... wasn't supposed to happen. With a swift move, the other man pushed him back, leading him to lose his balance and before he could get back on his feet, he received a punch in the stomach that briefly stopped him from breathing. This man, he concluded, was not playing fair and had put his hand and his whole fricking arm into some kind of armour.

Bucky didn't let the Wrecker catch his breath again. He got his walkie out and pressed his arm against the man's throat, effectively pinning him to the brick wall.

"Barnes here," he said to the walkie, "I got him."

The connection was very bad but he managed to hear something about not letting him get away while the police was on its way. So he shoot the Wrecker in the knee. 

The man screamed in pain.

"Calm down," said the Winter Soldier, "you'll walk again, don't worry."

Bucky didn't release his grip nonetheless. He started thinking about how long it would take the police to come down there, though. As he tried to calculate, the Wrecker's voice come up, all panting and suffering.

"Even if... I didn't succeed tonight... my friends will. And then... you'll have to say goodbye to your friend eheheh."

Bucky frowned. Very obviously, he cocked his gun again and pressed the barrel on the Wrecker's other knee, just hard enough so he could feel it.

"What do you mean?" He hissed. "Speak."

"I ain't gonna tell you anything!"

He shot. The man screamed again and as he couldn't stay on his feet anymore obviously, Bucky let him collapse on the floor.

"Speak."

"Alright, alright!" cried the man. "I'll speak!"

"Which friend?"

"Captain America!"

Bucky's blood froze. His voice became hard as steel.

"What's the plan? Tell me everything!"

"I don't know anything else! They'll just plant a bomb! On the path of Captain America! But I don't know anything else, I swear!"

Bucky gave a dark look at the Wrecker laying pitifully in the puddle of muddy and bloody water. He knew the man was telling the truth. Also, it was clear that now, he wasn't going anywhere - or if he tried, he wouldn't get far.

Bucky turned on his heels and rushed towards the nearest exit.

[bloody-wonder]

starting new series

in order to balance my reading i like to track the progress i'm making with old series vs how many new series i'm starting. my loose goal is usually to finish/catch up on at least five and start at least ten new series in a year - which turns out isn't as difficult as it sounds bc we're not even halfway through the year yet and i already hit the latter mark! here's an overview of what i read and my opinions :)

series that were so good i immediately read all the books available:

doctrine of labyrinths by sarah monette (book one: mélusine). okay so this was life-changing. not sarah monette inventing dark aroace romantasy in 2005! they hated her for her slay so much she had to start writing cozy fantasy under a pen name! this story is so weird and unique i honestly have no idea how to pitch it except to say that fans of books like the locked tomb, mdzs and captive prince will very likely enjoy it too. the fact that it's not a depraved booklr cult classic by now is a travesty. but we can still make it happen so if you fall into this particular reader category (and wouldn't be put off by the fact that someone may or may not want to fuck his brother a little bit) please do yourself a favor and read this series! check the trigger warnings first tho

the cemeteries of amalo by katherine addison (book one: the witness for the dead). i liked the goblin emperor, didn't love it, but after binging doctrine of labyrinths in less than a week i sorely needed a cure for my book hangover so i decided to pick up this spinoff series and wouldn't you know it - i binged it too lol. ig february was my monette/addison era. amalo felt like course correction after the goblin emperor and, while it's set in the same world and written in the same tone as that book, many of its aspects reminded me more of doctrine of labyrinths which is probably why i ended up liking it more - and was surprised by that too since i typically don't like this slow meditative writing style in fantasy but ig sarah monette just brings a certain je ne sais quoi to her books (emotional whump). the third book is coming out next march and i'm very excited to see what the saddest gay priest detective will do next👀

the stolen heir duology by holly black. to be completely honest i don't think these books are necessary. ig it was cool to return to elfhame several years post tfota and see some of my favorite ya fantasy characters from outsider pov but i found the main couple quite bland, especially in the second book where they are predictably overshadowed by jude & cardan in every respect. jude & cardan are simply The Power Couple, i love them and i appreciated the opportunity to revisit them in their 20s. madoc, everyone's favorite worst dad, has some nice scenes too but apart from that this installment was neither adventurous nor action-packed nor particularly romantic. it's clear now that holly black plans to continue writing in the elfhame universe and i sincerely hope she will try to shake things up by going full adult and/or changing the genre (i have this galaxybrain idea of a wwdits style mockumentary about madoc's exile in the human world which i'm trying to telepathically plant in holly black's brain as we speak)

evander mills by lev a. c. rosen (book one: lavender house). lavender house was the first book i read this year - i picked it up on a whim, honestly not expecting much, but ended up liking it a lot. in many respects it's a pretty basic closed circle murder mystery but with an all queer cast, whereas the second book has our gay detective investigating blackmail. the fact that the story takes place in the (homophobic) 50s and the queer victims are not protected by the law whatsoever adds an interesting spin to the whole idea of seeking and serving justice. i never thought i'm a serialized detective story type of person but ig if you make it queer enough i'll read anything lol so now i'm eagerly awaiting the next andy mills mystery which will come out in fall.

series i'm maybe going to continue reading later:

aubrey & maturin by patrick o'brian (book one: master and commander). seeing all the old man yaoi on a boat memes on tumblr rapidly propelled this series to the top of my tbr. now i have finally read the first book and,, liked it? lol idk the prose was very good, aubrey & maturin's friendship was sweet and the reading experience was cozy, with funny moments here and there, but overall i wasn't gripped by the plot nor did i particularly connect to the characters. i'm glad i read it but rn i'm not planning to continue this (extremely long) series any time soon. the book did have a delightful nautical atmosphere tho so there's a chance i might return to aubrey & maturin's adventures one day, if the mood strikes

page & sommers by cat sebastian (book one: hither, page). this one i didn't like at all tbh. i think cat sebastian just isn't the author for me and i should quit trying to read her books. however, i am both blessed and plagued by completionism and this series only has two books so i might read the second one this year just to appease my demons lol

series i'm not going to continue:

adam binder by david r. slayton (book one: white trash warlock). someone on tumblr recced this book to me ages ago and i wanted to read it ever since - purely bc of the title tbh😅 something i failed to consider tho is that urban fantasy is probably my least favorite subgenre of fantasy. and this book unfortunately didn't feature any memorable character moments or mind-blowing plot bits that could have broken through my unimpressedness with the urban fantasy setting🤷‍♀️

rook & rose by m. a. carrick (book one: the mask of mirrors). okay now we're entering the Dislike & Disappoint territory. i got interested in this series bc i heard it being compared to gentleman bastard but the similarities end at the renaissance venice setting and a conperson protagonist. the mask of mirrors completely lacks the rizz and swagger of scott lynch's writing and its characters just don't have the oomph of locke lamora and his team. so that was disappointing. on top of that the book is extremely long and convoluted with a worldbuilding that bothered me a lot and i couldn't put my finger on why until i read the themes section on its wiki page - ah yes, the us politics, again, using a foreign setting as a window dressing, again. listen, ik the us politics are important for the us authors to write about but when i pick up a book inspired by the italian renaissance what i want to get is themes and motifs representative of that time and place, even if we modernize them by (honestly lackluster) queernormativity and gender equality. i was mildly curious about the identity of the rook but now that it's been revealed i see no reason to continue this series.

the masquerade by seth dickinson (book one: the traitor baru cormorant). i intended to finish this book last year and leave it there but it was so unbelievably boring it put me into a reading slump for like two whole weeks and i ended up finishing it in january. i noticed that books about colonialism often try so hard to strike this solemn literary tone and say something profound that characters and plot just get bulldozed over by that dedication to conveying this very serious theme. admittedly, baru isn't as bad as that - i'm just biased bc she was pitched to me as a character in the same category as lymond and tyrion lannister so i was disappointed on that account seeing as it was the only reason i decided to give this book a try. i will say the general concept of the story and the plot twist at the end were indeed good but the overall reading experience was so aggressively meh that they just weren't worth it for me and so when the Big Thing happened i was still underwhelmed.

emily wilde by heather fawcett (book one: emily wilde’s encyclopaedia of faeries). i wrote a long ass goodreads review about why i disliked this book so much but let's see if i can be concise for once (ha, as if). i'm a big fan of olivia atwater's books so based on all the buzz around emily wilde i thought i was picking up a similar faerie story. turns out this was more like an "elevated" cozy fantasy version of ali hazelwood's books featuring howl in leather pants (tweed pants?). where atwater uses faerie tale tropes and fae lore to explore classism, neurodivergence and nuanced romantic and platonic connections, fawcett seems to write from a perspective that is decidedly normative. just like emily wilde, half a soul has a heroine who reads as neurodivergent but the narrative is always firmly on her side, whereas the moral in emily wilde seems to be that she has to smile and socialize more or smth. just like emily wilde, a thousand stitches features a faerie as a love interest but in this case he indeed reads like a whimsical magical being, so similar to humans and yet so different at the same time, whereas mr cheap howl knockoff reads like a quirky human man who is an asshole sometimes and can do magic. atwater's books are fairly popular but emily wilde is the book that has mass appeal and ig i shouldn't really be surprised bc when have the stories that question the status quo ever have been more popular than the ones that reinforce it? so i'm not really surprised but i am bitter. this book left a sour taste in my mouth and made me feel really bad about myself which was something i hadn't reckoned with when i picked up this cozy fantasy. tbh i initially was going to masochistically read the sequel out of morbid curiosity but then i remembered that i can read literally anything else instead lol the hater gods spared me just for once😅

2024 reading updates | goodreads

[ic-napology]

Labyrinth rant because I love it and need to vent it out

So Jim Henson's Labyrinth is my new fixation.

I kinda wish it was one of my childhood movies, I'm sure I would have loved it just like I loved The Neverending Story, but I'm also happy I discovered it now that I can decode the subtext in it.

It speaks a lot to me. I still am very keen on escaping from reality through fantasy as a coping mechanism, just like Sarah. I can't help but see her adventure not as real, but as a dream become physical. For me, what we see is just a manifestation of an internal struggle. That means her own mind is giving herself the chance to understand a lesson. She's actually fighting not to let her own tendency to escapism dominate her this much anymore, at least not to the point of discarding serious responsabilities. That's why Jareth, who embodies that, is a selfish, bullying tyrant and the Labyrinth is in decay. Reminds me of Scar's reign lol

I think it makes sense that Jareth embodies both her love for fantasy since childhood and the ghost of sexuality. Both (would) inspire her the utmost pleasure, just since two different points of her life.

I love Jareth's and Sarah's dynamic, in that sense. I love her struggle against the temptations he represents. I love how perfectly tempting he is. Yet I'm so satisfied by her final decision to let him down. About her love for fantasy, she's too mature. About sexuality, she's still too young. Both things need to be limited.

I also love how the conclusion isn't about getting rid of some part of you in order to grow up, but to balance all you parts. Your seek of happiness and pleasure and what it inspires it don't need to be erased, just not weight too much. It implies that you don't have to have shame and get rid of anything, every part of you is inherently good just because it helps to build you. It's up to you to balance the components.

It's reassuring and empowering.

[looniecartooni]

While I am writing my senior report on the possible art historical significance of the Winchester Mystery House, I realize that while it's hard to find reliable sources of information on Sarah's life or construction of the Mystery House, at least you can find plausible explanations that in reality make sense. I'm talking like the stairs leading "nowhere" being a result of the 1906 earthquake destroying that part of the house and Sarah kind of just not wanting to rebuild what she had spent at that point already over 20 years on.

But what has always just bothered me so much since I first heard about Sarah Winchester that no one seems to talk about is- the stories of the house don't even follow ghost rules!!!

I mean- first of all, a wall can't stop a ghost. They can walk right through it. Sure, if your house was confusing and constantly being built, it might get confusing.

But that brings me to my second point- ghosts tend to haunt where they frequented in life, where they died or got killed, and/or the person that killed them. Often they follow the same routine and routes that they followed in life. Why the heck would a ghost shot by a gun want to go haunt the manufacturing company's owner's wife?

(Fun fact- the reason why those were often the ghosts picked for stories was likely because Winchester rifles were used in the Civil War and to kill Native Americans. Then this lady who got her fortune from that same company decided to move to Santa Clara and build a giant house and hardly let anyone inside- so it would have made people feel less guilty if the deaths from "The Gun that won the West" were put on someone in connection to those guns)

Unless Sarah killed someone or someone died on her property, the only people that should be haunting the manor would most likely be Sarah herself or people that worked on the property. Or ghosts of the original farmhouse property she bought and built off of. And they would have likely continued to do what they would have done in life, regardless of what physical barriers are/were put there. Heck- some'd probably go up the staircases that "lead to nowhere" to the 7-story tower that got lost in the earthquake.

There's a million ways to debunk and explain why Sarah Winchester did not build her house with the intention to confuse spirits. Some people even believe/d that she talked with spirits often which could possibly give some a reason to haunt her or the manor. But also- she didn't do that. What people called her "seance room" was often used as a servant bedroom. And that also doesn't quite align with her constantly being told to build her house because a medium told her to (which is very much debatable and mostly unlikely. Not for the time- but for Sarah. She was raised either Baptist or Episcopalian- jury's out on that one). Some old newspapers claim spirits helped her build her house while researcher Mary Ignoffo's Captive of the Labyrinth might argue that Sarah's father came from a long line of woodworkers and her father after getting his own company invested various popular in Victorian manor decorative styles- but y'know it's hard to really find anything on that because of all the stupid ghost stories!!!!

Sorry- this was supposed to be a sh*tpost about how ghosts don't actually follow ghost rules in the Winchester House and it turned into a brief look into my crumbling, jumbled brain on my Senior Thesis. Welp- hope you are all less believers in the "Winchester Mansion was built for/by ghosts killed by Winchester rifles." Goodbye *slides down stair railing dramatically slow while waving*