#raise up heart

[breesperez139]

Dc x Dp Prompt #6

“I’m a twin”, Damian said one night. He could feel the narrowed eyes of his family drilling holes on his back in disbelief. Not that he could blame them. Damian had never so much as implied being raised with a companion, much less a sibling.

“I had a brother”. Damian paused to recollect himself. He had not said his brother’s name out loud in over 8 years.

“His name was… Danyal”. Damian hated the way his voice wavered, but he could not help it. Danyal was everything to him, his other half. Their heart beat as one and when one heart stopped beating, the other one died with it. At least until his family put his heart on metaphorical life support without ever realizing.

“Where is he now?” His father asked, voice filled with knowing grief and a hint of betrayal. It had in fact been 6 years since Damian first showed up on his doorstep.

“Up there”. All eyes shifted towards the specific star he was pointing to. “Right before he died, he promised me he’d guide me from the stars. Unfortunately, the stars are not visible in Gotham, so my brother is unable to be of much help unless I leave the city.”

“Your brother is Polaris, the North Star?” Tim questioned warily, most likely in attempts to not offend him. Damian was aware of how stupid it sounded, but Danyal had promised, and his brother never broke his promises.

“Yes. Danyal is with the stars now, just as he always wanted”

[booksandwords]

Raise Up, Heart by Leta Blake

Read Time: 4 Days (Intermittent) Rating: 4/5

The quote: Poe can speak to you of hearts: the ticking of them, the secrets within; he knows their ferocious strength. Poe understands. Hearts can’t be tucked beneath the floorboard of a house. They will not rest there, complicit and quiet. He knows they are stronger than that, louder, greedier— vengeful. He knows that a heart can come back for you, take you over, take you apart. It only has to beat. Ba-boom. Ba-boom. And within that sound there is infinity, and within infinity there resides the untold and unspeakable. These stories of Poe’s, you’ll never believe them, though they may chill you through. Yet they are true all the same. True like a darling heart is true blue. — Alex

Warnings: death, murder (???)

Raise up, Heart is a story with gothic themes, some might say ideal for the 👻spoopy season🎃. In the gothic tradition, there is a dark romance involved. In this case, the relationship involves Cole Hart, Damon Black and Alex, though there are only two bodies involved. It is a decidedly strange, intriguing and at times disturbing novella. I wanted to like it much more than I did, unfortunately. What keeps it from being three stars is the way Leta Blake writes. She draws the reader into her world and characters bringing them to life.

The whole story takes place over only a week, the exception being the prologue set two years before the main plot. It is written in two perspectives, Cole's and Damon's. Cole is written in the third person and Damon (also Alex) is written in the second person. It's rare to see the second person used at all, but it does work well in this context, it drags the reader in and makes them wonder the extent of the truth. Damon is the character that Leta Blake wants the reader to attempt to empathise with, using the language is the best way to force the reader to try that.

While the second person didn't work for creating empathy for Damon for me it definitely did for Alex. While I say the relationship essentially involves three people, Alex is dead, more than dead just gone, his soul and spirit consumed by Damon, by the force of Damon and Cole's love. I wanted to cry for Alex. I was reading this on the train on a commute. I skipped the smut that was happening around the same time but read intently the Alex moments. It was a struggle to weep. His voice destroyed me. "The fourth journal is very short. Only about twelve pages, and then there are five pages with two words written over and over. Help Me Help Me Help Me Help Me Help Me There’s no punctuation; each plea is scrawled any which way across the page, sometimes overlapping with others. Cole knows that it wasn’t written as a chant but as an intermittent plea in the midst of a sea of great pain and horror." (Cole and Alex) But that is the sign of good writing, something Leta Blake does.

I liked Cole well enough he had a sort of innocence about him that leads to him developing a backbone throughout the story. Cole has a past and secrets and I like the slow reveal of his background. His desperation for Damon makes sense and I don't dislike it. But he seems to lose a part of himself to Damon, potentially not knowingly. Cole and Damon's chemistry was explosive and executed in a way that makes it feel like a gut punch at times when they both remember the cost. I did not like Damon. I understand the point of him, I see why we are supposed to like him but I don't. His is supposed to be a love that even death couldn't kill but he just comes across as wrong, broken. Like Leta has written a monster but without the consequences of that. Some of his actions are just... wait, what, no.

My wish for this book is that it had been less smut and more conversation or angst. I just couldn't deal with Cole and Damon jumping into bed that fast and that consistently. I struggle with it because they almost use it to put off the requisite conversations and pressing issues. This could have something to do with my personal reading preferences too, I have always preferred plot or character-driven stories rather than smut. The balance here just feels off. I think I'd even have been a be happier if this ended without a HEA or HFN, not a cliffhanger just a moment of reason. I like Frankenstein for that ending, that doesn't give you that, it feels more final. I know this is mm romance and we don't go there as a rule. But you know a girl can dream.

I did read this in three sittings, over two days, with a gap in the middle for a library book on ghosts. One thing I will add, this is one of Leta's favourite works (or it was when she wrote it). I get the feeling this was a true passion piece for her. It just didn't work for me. Ugh this review is a total mess but whatever. Sorry Leta

Read for @godzilla-reads​ Simple Reading Challenge. Filling the October prompt: "Halloween/Samhain Book!! or Spoooooooky Poetry"

I wasn't going to use Rise Up, Heart for this then I read it. Let me add the last paragraph from the blurb... "Rise Up, Heart, is a stand-alone, second chance gay romance, inspired by the famous gothic, short stories of yore. With head nods to Edgar Allen Poe and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Rise Up, Heart, is dark, epic, consuming, and dreamlike." If that doesn't sound like Halloween what does? It's haunting and dark and a perfect ode to two of the greats of gothic literature.

[turtleblogatlast]

Every day I’m haunted by the fact the boys happily swim in sewer water

Even if it’s filtered somehow there’s no way it’s not still nasty 😭 Bet they can defeat any of their villains just by accidentally giving them diseases I swear

[justaz]

somehow some time magic goes wrong and young arthurs from different points in time are pulled into king arthur era. everyone kinda has this back and forth of who is going to watch the literal 8 month old. gwen and lancelot are pretty good at taking care of him, so is percival but he doesnt seem comfortable with it so no one forces him. elyan tried to hold him but baby!arthur started wailing after three seconds. leon is sorta good but he has like no idea how babies work or what they need so when baby!arthur found his sword and almost lobbed his own head off, leon was forbidden from taking care of the child. gaius is too old and busy researching how to reverse the issue. who the HELL would trust gwaine with a child? arthur has this Odd aversion to the child but no one pushes him on it. ofc merlin, magic incarnate, has this like aura or energy that draws all these innocent woodland creatures to him so obviously little arthur is also drawn to him. in fact, merlin seems to be the person he likes the most. and merlins a natural w kids apparently so hes often the one that baby!arthur is handed off to.

he complains about it at first but when baby!arthur breaks into a fit of giggles after merlin calls adult!arthur a clotpole, he has merlin wrapped around his little finger. merlin stops complaining but does let arthur know that the one thing he Will Not Do is change his diaper. arthur laughs and walks away. merlin talks to baby!arthur like they’ve been friends for years (bc they have). arthur points out that baby!arthur cant understand him and merlin retorts that its like how it normally is. merlin gets to perform magic in front of baby!arthur and he LOVES it

my point to this was merlin dotting on little versions of arthur is a way that no one ever really did for him growing up and adult!arthur seeing it and healing little pieces of his inner child as he watches merlin play games with baby!arthur and make sure he’s taken care of. it especially hits him when gaius finally finds a way to send baby!arthur back and while everyone seems torn between upset they have to say bye, they’re also relieved to get the baby back where hes supposed to be,, merlin is like choking back fat tears. everyone backs off to give them privacy and merlin just kisses baby!arthur’s forehead and whispers some encouraging and heartachingly sincere words that have adult!arthur choking back tears.

then BOOM the spell also backfires and while yes baby!arthur got back to where hes supposed to be, now theres toddler!arthur. he has this gravitational pull to gaius (can recognize him) and merlin (magic soulmates ofc he has an innate trust in the man). merlin is happy to have his little friend back and gaius goes back to the drawing board. now they have this little 2-3 year old toddling after them and blabbering something that sounds like english if you’re patient enough

(merlin makes another comment about how little arthur has changed over the years)

the cycle repeats, merlin and toddler!arthur get attached and adult!arthur watches and heals a bit more of his inner child. gaius finds another cure that falls through the same way and now they have child!arthur. he has a bit more of uther’s influence in him but hes still a child. he gets hurt and tries to fight back tears but merlin sees he’s in pain and tells him it’s okay to be hurt, to feel pain, to cry. child!arthur says in that stutter cry children do when they’re fighting back tears that his father says boys shouldn’t cry. merlin wipes a tear that slips down child!arthur’s face and whispers about how he cries and lets himself feel his sadness before picking himself back up and dusting himself off before getting back to it, that it doesn’t make him weak but stronger. adult!arthur hears this and this may not be the beginning of his deconstruction but it makes a tremendous amount of progress in him rewiring his brain away from his father’s toxic ways of thinking.

idk if they’d get a teen!arthur since gaius probably would’ve learned his lesson by then but if they did, we’d get to watch Merlin vs Arthur Showdown 2.0 as merlin humbles the young prince and i think that’d be funny. especially for gwaine since he didn’t get to see it happen the first time.

[shardkn1ght]

Leo, despite going by a different name and being raised by Hueso, still has his mystic powers. I imagine this as how they found out about it.

Sorry if updates are slow! Both my finals are due soon!

[ialwaysknewyouwerepunk]

the loneliness and sadness that creeps into you in a way that only growing up queer can cause. your parents can accept you and still make you feel like an outsider. your parents can love you and still reject parts of you. that old-fashioned kind of love where they think trying to mold you, make you tough, is better for you. or that quiet status quo where you just don't talk. and where everyone is accepted, though some are more than others. generations and generations it's just been easier to let it slide. to let it be. not cause a fuss. but then we sit there with a knot in our chests all our lives wondering how it got there

[bonefall]

Did Brambleclaw actually disown the Three when the secret is revealed? I don't remember this happening (then again, it's been a while) but it does bug me how all three go "Poor brambleclaw :(( He was such a good dad to us and he has to learn we're not even his biokits :(((( poor guy" while simultaneously shitting on Leafpool and Squirrelflight despite them showing them more care and affection before AND after the reveal. If he does disown them, then.... WOW is the double standard real here.

In-canon? It's something you have to approximate. They don't seem to have a concept of ""disowning"" because blood relation is taken as such an insurmountable, FUNDAMENTAL fact of life. He doesn't write them out of his little kitty will and testament, but his actions ARE disowning.

It's as if the fact he is not their biological father is an automatic disowning. From the reveal onwards, he is immediately cold, distant, and the "betrayal" is mentioned often. The Three also explicitly don't blame him for his behavior, like it's just to be expected that he's Not Their Dad anymore.

Lionblaze in particular stares longingly at him several times, really missing him. And like... that's kinda what gets my goat so much

I do believe Brambleclaw is entitled to his feelings of betrayal. I believe Squilf was ultimately in the right to lie, actually, but he's still allowed to be upset and angry that she didn't trust him enough to tell him something so important. THAT SAID, YOU ARE NEVER ENTITLED TO TREAT OTHERS POORLY.

And that's what GETS me. He isn't upset that it was all revealed in such a painful and embarassing way when this could have been avoided, or that his lover struggled with this lie for so long without him, or that he feels he's lost his children. Squilf points it out in The Last Hope-- He's so ANGRY at Squilf that he will THROW HIS FAMILY AWAY

Lionblaze seems desperate to be his son again. Hollyleaf is gone for months, and Brambleclaw is still huffing about the secret when she comes back from the dead. Squilf is fawning in the hopes it makes him talk to her again. Doesn't matter. Brambleclaw Is Upsetti Spaghetti so the narrative will never examine his role in hurting this family he apparently loved so much.

(Narrative seems to understand full well that when Squilf lies for a good reason, that doesn't invalidate the hurt Brambleclaw felt... but when Brambleclaw is upset for a good reason, it actually DOES validate what he put her and his kids through)

In BB it is explicitly a disowning. He cuts them off as his children, and they reciprocate. BB!Lionblaze does so in a ball of fury, vowing that he has ONLY a mother.

[padmestrilogy]

bravery

bent knee / florence + the machine / ethel cain / judith herman / mitski / mountain goats

[mother-of-houseplants-2]

fiona gallagher // the angry man in the house

[ificanthaveloveiwantpower]

sweet, mourning lamb.

ptolemaea - ethel cain, rabbit heart (raise it up) - florence + the machine, experiment on me - halsey & little lamb - jazmin bean.

📸- easter lamb by fee schlapper (1955)

[lillymakesart]

my new OC: cempaka!

she is based on the story/universe that my friend @haydardotjpg's OCs indra and yuwei exist in! pls go checkout haydar's art he is amazing!! his ocs can be found more easily on his ig but if you're lazy this is his oc indra (cempaka's one-sided love interest) and yuwei (indra's fated lover)

also, cempaka means "magnolia" in malay!! (she gets a flower name bc my name is lilly which is also flower c:)

bonus first iteration under the cut!

i accidentally had "poinsettia" flower in mind when i did this iteration instead of an actual magnolia, hence the color scheme. but yeah, this is as self-insert as it gets LOL like she's literally MEEEEEE but still very different and i love her as she is <3

[milflaszlo]

The heart of a man is a simple one Small and soft, flesh and blood... 📹: @medium-observation

[daylighteclipsed]

killing mnyseld

[turtleblogatlast]

Mikey and Leo episode centered around Mikey wanting to push Leo and Draxum together since Leo’s the most reluctant to give Draxum any grace (for good reason!) But, thinking on the spot, Leo says he’s gotta go do something for Hueso and “just can’t hang out right now 😔” (yes, he says the emoji out loud.)

Mikey calls his bluff and now the three of them (Mikey having grabbed a weary Draxum along) go to Hueso’s to find that yes, he actually does have a job for him. Said job asks for Leo to go with Hueso to deliver multiple pizzas to this giant yokai quite a distance away, and Hueso figured it would probably go better with Leo’s help (emphasis on probably.)

Well, Mikey decides that this would be a great bonding opportunity for them and basically invites he and Draxum along. Unfortunately for Leo, Hueso doesn’t care enough to wave away more help, though he does side-eye the wanted criminal Baron Draxum coming with them. But who is he to judge? (This choice has consequences.)

The journey goes about as terribly as you’d expect, but at least the pizzas get delivered on time.

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts 2 - Twilight Town - Mansion Basement

[mlobsters]

supernatural s1e16 shadow (w. eric kripke)

aka the first time i had a full-tilt meltdown over this show.