#tales from lucifer's hollow

[ramblingoak]

Picking Out Tulips

~ Tales From Lucifer's Hollow ~

This can be directly blamed on @forlorn-crows and their encouragement for this silly story 💙

Mountain x Rain ~ this is just a random little snippet from a future fic called Petal For Your Thoughts.

Warnings: Rain being head over heels for Mountain and his freckles, sfw, about 900 words

Rain smashed into the door, groaning and immediately feeling like the biggest idiot alive.

“What’d you do?”

“Ugh, nothing.  I’m fine.”  Rain tried to swat at Mountain’s hands but the big ghoul easily pushed them away.  He couldn’t help but sigh when Mountain gently pushed some of his hair back, his fingers running along his forehead and over the small bump that was already forming.  He opened his eyes, squinting up at the tall ghoul but when he saw Mountain grinning down at him he immediately closed them again.  “Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You were thinking about it though.”  He let Mountain lead him back into the bathroom, pouting when he looked in the mirror and saw the red mark on his forehead.  “This is your fault by the way.”

“My fault?  What did I do?”

Rain barely suppressed a shriek when Mountain’s big hands gripped his waist, easily lifting him up so he was sitting on the counter.  Their faces were level now and Rain couldn’t help but get lost in Mountain’s green eyes.  The little flecks of gold sparkling in the bathroom lights.  There was a smattering of freckles across his cheeks and nose.  They appeared again along the earth ghoul’s shoulders and even further down on his che–  

“You’re doing it again.”

“I’m literally standing here.”  

Rain huffed, doing his best to look at a point on the wall behind Mountain.  There was too much of him on display.  Too much skin and hair and horns and oh, was that his tail slipping up his le–

“I thought we agreed no,”  He gestured vaguely between them both, his frustration growing as Mountain’s smirk got bigger.  Rain groaned in defeat, leaning forward until his head was resting against Mountain’s warm chest.  A soft ‘ow’ left him at the pressure against the bump on his head.  “You’re being too sexy.”

Mountain’s chest vibrated under his head, the ghoul apparently finding great amusement in Rain’s predicament.  When Rain leaned back with a raised eyebrow Mountain shook his head, following him back so he could press a kiss on the tip of Rain’s nose.

“I’ll try to tone it down.”  He winked, grinning when Rain sighed again.  “Seriously though, how did you hit your head?”

“I came out to ask if you had a spare toothbrush and got uh, distracted.”  Rain couldn’t help but pout when Mountain just stared at him, knowing there was more to the story.  “It was the glasses.”

“Glasses?  Wait, my reading glasses?”

“Yes, you big idiot.  You were just sitting there in bed with your stupid glasses and your stupid tulip catalog.  It was hot.  Sue me.”

“So the sight of me in glasses, picking tulip bulbs out, was too much for you huh?”  Rain nodded primly, choosing to count the freckles on Mountain’s shoulders instead of meeting his eyes.  “Well, I’ll have to warn you next time I’m going to wear them.”

“All the skin didn’t help either.”

“I like sleeping in the nude, you’re lucky I’m wearing shorts.”  

Rain fell forward again, although this time he hooked an arm around Mountain’s shoulders and pushed his nose against the earth ghoul’s neck.  He smelled so good, like the woods and moss.  Like a garden of wildflowers basking in the sun.  It took all of his self control not to slip his tongue out and taste Mountain’s skin.

“Can we go to bed now?”  Mountain didn’t answer, but he wrapped an arm around Rain’s back and then hooked his other one under the water ghoul’s knees.  He easily lifted him up off the counter and carried back into the bedroom, smiling down at Rain’s pout.  “Show off.”

He yelped when Mountain dropped him onto the bed but quickly moved under the covers, burrowing down under the warm sheet and soft quilt.  Mountain climbed in after him, sliding an arm under Rain and tugging him close.  Rain watched him reach over to the side table to grab his discarded catalog but he hesitated at the last moment and looked back towards him.

“Are you going to be ok if I put my glasses back on?”

“I hate you.  Take me home.”

“Help me pick out some tulips first.”

Rain sighed, doing his best to focus on the pictures of flowers and not his extremely attractive boyfriend.  Mountain was almost too good to be true but Rain could see himself getting used to this.  To nights snuggled up in this big bed next to his big earth ghoul.  He spread his hand along the quilt, turning from the catalog to admire the design.

“This is nice, where did you get it?”

“I made it.”

Rain couldn’t help it, he started laughing.  His whole body was shaking with it.  When he managed to look up at Mountain, he started laughing harder.  The poor ghoul look bewildered, probably wondering what the hell was wrong with him.  Rain grabbed the catalog and tossed it onto the floor as he moved to straddle him.  Mountain’s hands quickly grabbed his waist, moving under Rain’s shirt and spreading up his back.  

With delicate fingers Rain took his glasses off and set them onto the table before reaching up to bury his fingers in Mountain’s thick hair.

“Of course you did.”

Mountain’s mouth tasted like tea and toothpaste and a hundred other things Rain never wanted to forget.

Read two other snippets: here and here

Tales From Lucifer's Hollow will be an au series centering around a small town and the daily lives of the ghouls and humans that live there.

If you'd like to be added/removed from the tag list (or if I accidentally left your name off) of this fic or any of my others please leave a comment or send me a dm! Thank you 💙

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[devdirt]

Hollow Knight vs. Vivziepop character design language

I know it's kind of a wildcard comparison but Vivziepop is a fan of Hollow Knight and its designs. I wanted to explore how shape language, color usage and storytelling in design are used in both properties.

NPC designs do a great job at telling you the character's personality or occupation without being overly detailed. One well placed trait does wonders, like Cornifer with his bundles of maps or Tuk and her hoarding, scrap salvaging hobbies. Paired with the world it tells two people doing their best to survive their dying realm, one by mapping out the twists and turns and the other by scraping up whatever she can find from abandoned civilization.

Now when we look at visual storytelling in Hazbin there are some good details! Alastor's outfit design and trademark microphone give you old timey host vibes right away. Niffty (my angel) sports a poodle skirt, kerchief around her neck and apron, also telling you her occupation and time period she's likely from. Everyone in this show has a big toothy grin but hers plays well into her hyperactive and always happy personality.

But there are also really poor moments of character storytelling. Everything about Beelzebub has already been said. She doesn't read as gluttony, she doesn't read as a bee, and she doesn't read as an animal tamer. When I look at her I see every other wolf character Viv has ever done. If Jayjay is party wolf and Loona is goth wolf then Beelzebub is lava lamp wolf.

The sins are mostly misses for me. They don't read as their sins or their circus related occupations. Asmodeus has fire powers but doesn't read as fire spinner. Mammon doesn't give off greed at ALL but the jester look works (which is also wrong because he's a CLOWN apparently, not a jester.) And don't get me started on this one.

This is not Lucifer.

Nothing about this reads angel, devil or even pride. This design goes all in on the ringmaster design, which is great for the circus theme! But the apple on the hat is the closest we get to this being Lucifer. I didn't even notice the snake on his hat because it looks like a worm for the apple, and they both cover the crown.

Add a second apple on the cane. Okay, so we know for sure this is supposed to be Lucifer but...why? It's another Beelzebub moment where you're left wondering why the design went in this direction. "Apple" shouldn't be the only giveaway here for the most important man in the world these stories are being told in.

Now let's see the celestial leader of Hollow Knight.

That is a god.

Removing all story context, this is incredibly quick to read. Large wings, all white, glowing yellow eyes and a crown. It looks celestial and it doesn't even need color, which is the point!

Now lets view them both within their stories. Is there visual storytelling when compared to other characters and the world around then?

Hollownest is a dark world where every character is dully colored. The Radiance and her power stick out with a glow, juxtaposing themselves with the dark as the light.

Lucifer does not look any different than most of the Hazbin cast. He has all the red, the same sharp toothed grin, the same body type as 90% of the cast of both Hazbin and Helluva Boss. If you lined him up with everyone else somebody like Asmodeus would be chosen as the obvious leader of Hell with his stature and power in the design alone.

Simplicity can tell an entire story while overextending your designs can muddy it.

Hollow Knight relies on few details and minimal storytelling yet it weaves a tale of an usurped kingdom and a god fighting for revenge. You are void, the world is dull, and god is bright and beautiful and terrifying to your way of life.

Vivziepop wants to weave a complex tale but utterly fails to do so with her designs. I purposely did not bring up Cherri Bomb, Sir Pentious or Stolas' designs since they have elements that were taken from other people and properties. I wanted to focus on what she made with her own hands, and when I narrow it down I do not see the story being told or even what side some characters are supposed to be on. Adam and the exterminators look the same as any demon. The leaders of Hell mostly sink into the ocean of overdone details. When everybody is trying so hard to stand out nobody stands out.

[darklyndivinely]

Two | Fall From Grace • L.M

Fandom - Obey Me!

Pairings - Lucifer x gn!Diavolo's sibling!reader

Warnings - None

Wordcount - 500+

A/N - If you want to be tagged in future updates, comment or fill the Taglist Form.

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“Last time we were making this, you entertained us with a song,” you said.

Moira rolled her pretty eyes, orbs of soft lavender that gleamed in the dark when she used her magic. Like now, in the gloom of her cave with only the muted glow of the poison lightening the walls, her eyes appeared twinkling mauve as they flicked to you. “Last time you had Barbatos along with you.”

“Oho!” you exclaimed, setting the bottle of her preferred scent back on the mounted stone alcoves. “I see how things are. I’m not worthy of a song! Is that it?”

She rolled her eyes again. The last time when you’d visited her, Barbatos had tagged along. It had been two weeks since Halloween and the influx of chaos and excitement had settled. Convincing him for a day of relaxation with no sights of royal duties and annoying brothers had proven to be surprisingly easy. You had sat on matted furs out under the shade of the blue gum trees that ringed Moira’s cave and had chugged bitter human beer from crude glasses. Browning leaves had littered the ground, the setting sun by the west with the wind whistling a gentle tune. Moira had sung along then, a melody of affection blossomed between a maiden and her beloved and the tale of their coupling.

Later as dusk had passed, you had kindled a fire using the human trick of striking rocks together (which had proven more difficult than you’d first assumed) and supped on roasted fish and salted mushrooms.

A sharp cry echoed through the hollow of the cave. Moira lifted her brows questioningly. “A raven,” you answered, raising an arm for the bird to tether itself to. The shadows on the pebbled ground writhed, twisting upon themselves till a blurry silhouette shot out and landed, wings flapping, onto your forearm.

“Hey there, darling.” You tickled the underside of the raven. “What is that you have for me?”

Wrapped around its third leg was a sliver of Barbatos’ magic. You pinched it out and rolled the tendril into your flesh. The connection was familiar, as was his voice in your head.

Lucifer the Archangel has fallen.

Oh. You had missed his arrival then.

‘When?’

Thirty minutes ago. Diavolo has charged me to arrange lodgings for them. I require your help.

You walked over to Aurora, your sweet pet owl, resting in one of the vacant shelves. When you grazed the ivory fur of her wings, her large eyes peeled open to set upon you.

‘There are six of them, correct?’

Seven.

“I have to go,” you said to her, tracing the circle of her head. “Moira will lace the poison on you. When you’re done, come to me, hmm?”

She hooted softly in response, solemn with drowsiness, nuzzling into your touch. You pressed a kiss to her crown.

‘I’ll arrange something.’

You turned to Moira to hug a farewell. “We’ll meet again soon.” You gestured to the bubbling poison. “Be careful with that.”

Moira smiled. “Always.”

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[twistedtummies2]

Top 7 Portrayals of Ichabod Crane

Recently, I made a list of my Top 5 Favorite Versions of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” I’m still on a Sleepy Hollow kick, so I decided it was time to revisit the story again by looking at a couple of its classic characters. We’ll start by looking at the main character: Ichabod Crane.

In the book, Ichabod is an…unconventional protagonist, to say the least. The interesting thing about Irving’s original story is that nobody in the story is really a fully, purely good person: all of them have flaws, faults, and vices. Brom Bones is a trickster and a bit of a bully; Katrina Van Tassel can politely be termed a coquette; Ichabod himself is arguably the worst of the bunch. He’s a glutton, he’s greedy, he only wants Katrina for her money and her looks, and he’s way too full of himself. He has his good sides to keep him likeable, but at the end of the day, he’s a bit of a jerk.

As we shall see here, many versions of Ichabod tend to soften up his rough edges, to make him a more sympathetic and pleasant character. A select few versions actually vilify him completely, making him even more nasty. Only a few really stick to the source and depict the human Ichabod Crane that is presented in the story. Which of these portrayals do I enjoy most? Read on to find out. These are My Top 7 Portrayals of Ichabod Crane! Why Top 7? Well, why not? Let’s go!

7. Rene Auberjonois, from Once Upon a Midnight Scary.

“Once Upon a Midnight Scary” was a TV special from 1979, hosted by the inimitable Vincent Price. The special featured an anthology of short adaptations of classic horror tales, among them “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” The Sleepy Hollow segment only covers the latter part of the tale, starting immediately at the Halloween Party at the Van Tassel Manor, so there isn’t much time for Ichabod or the other characters to really develop to their fullest potential. However, the segment benefits greatly from its casting of Rene Auberjonois - best known for his work on Star Trek - as Ichabod. Auberjonois is one of the best casting choices for Crane in live-action I’ve ever seen, in terms of adapting the original character from the book. However, because the segment is so criminally short, I don’t think he’s deserving of a spot in the Top 5.

6. Roger L. Jackson, from The Wolf Among Us.

“The Wolf Among Us” - based on the comic series “Fables” - is a combo of fantasy and film noir. The game focuses on Sheriff Bigby Wolf, the Big Bad Wolf himself, as he tries to solve a series of baffling beheadings. His investigation ultimately uncovers a vast conspiracy at work in the city he protects. (I get the feeling this basic concept is a recurring thing for anything even peripherally related to Sleepy Hollow…huh.) Ichabod appears in this story as the acting mayor of the area. He’s depicted true to the source: Ichabod is not a truly good person, and as the story goes on his many darker qualities come more and more to the surface. However, he’s got some good sides to him, too, although none of them excuse his less savory elements. What I find most interesting about this version of Ichabod (aside from the fact he’s voiced by flipping Ghostface, how ironic is THAT casting?) is that it’s a version of Crane totally removed from the original story. He never faces the Headless Horseman, Brom Bones and Katrina are never brought up, etc. As a result, he stands up all the more as his own unique character, and fits surprisingly well with the role he plays in this twisted mystery of madness.

5. Tom Mison, from the FOX TV Series.

FOX’s “Sleepy Hollow” TV show was a supernatural crime/mystery series, similar to things like “The X Files” or “Lucifer.” In this version, Ichabod is depicted not as a selfish schoolteacher, but a dashing Revolutionary War hero, who worked personally with George Washington to try and take down a dangerous force that threatened not only the American Colonies, but the entire world. After being wounded on the battle fighting a monstrous foe (three guesses who), Katrina - Ichabod’s wife, and a witch, in this version - casts a spell on him, placing him in a state of suspended animation. He wakes up two-and-a-half centuries later in modern day Sleepy Hollow, joins forces with the local police department, and helps them with solving various baffling crimes. Throughout the show, he combats demons, witches, figures of myth…and, of course, his old arch-nemesis, the Headless Horseman. While Mison’s actual character owes almost nothing to the one from the original story, I think the actor, himself, manages to bring a feeling to the role that recalls the classic character to mind. Mison’s tall, sharp, dashing countenance mixes the attractive aspects we would expect a heroic figure of his caliber to have, while still lending itself to the rakish description Irving gives. He also conveys a sort of nervous, eccentric energy, which fits well with the quirks of the typical Ichabod Crane. They even make reference to his schoolmaster roots, as Ichabod actually was a professor at Oxford in his past life before the war. He uses that same identity as a cover story in the modern day. While incredibly changed from the source, the DNA of Ichabod Crane is still somewhere in there, and it makes the character all the more admirable.

4. Andy Mientus, from Tarrytown.

Andy Mientus is likely known to most people unfamiliar with the musical theatre scene as the Pied Piper from The Flash (pictured above). While Mientus has not (to my knowledge) actively played the role onstage yet (which he should, for the record), I still feel that his performance in the official Cast Recording for this musical warrants him high marks. “Tarrytown,” for those who don’t know, is a modern reimagining of the original story, with the big twist (aside from the present-day setting) being that Ichabod is depicted as a homosexual, who longs for Brom instead of Katrina. Aside from this, though, he’s basically still Ichabod Crane. The character is depicted as a bit more sympathetic than the Irving version, but ONLY a BIT more. He’s still got vices and faults: instead of being a glutton for food, he is a recovering drug addict who is easily swayed back into the habit. While he claims to be friends with Katrina, he shows some signs of that friendship being false, such as calling her a “babbling hyena” while fantasizing under the influence. (It should be added that he then catches himself and adds, “I exaggerate.”) It’s also hard to tell how much of his attraction to Brom is real, genuine love, and how much of it is simply lust. Nevertheless, the character is depicted as more of a victim than a villain: much more lonely and naive than the character from the story, and also much more kindhearted. There’s a sweetness and a sadness to this Ichabod that makes him infinitely more tragic than the character in the original book, while still keeping the heart of the source intact.

3. Johnny Depp, from Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow.

Much like Tom Mison, Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Ichabod is a very different character from the original legend. In Tim Burton’s chilling, Gothic reimagining, Ichabod is depicted as a detective, who comes to Sleepy Hollow to solve a mysterious series of slayings. He believes, at first, that they are the work of a mortal man who is emulating the legendary Horseman. It turns out Ichabod is only half-right: the Horseman, he learns, is indeed real, but the murdering ghost is being controlled by a mortal monster. Ichabod soon uncovers a vast conspiracy at work in the town of Sleepy Hollow, and works quickly to uncover its tangled ends, all while dealing with his budding romantic interest in the wealthy Katrina Van Tassel. While both the character and the story of the film take MASSIVE liberties with the source, when I recently revisited the picture, I was surprised at how much of the original tale actually still remained intact. Depp’s Ichabod is no exception: while Depp is by no means the definitive actor to play Ichabod, on face value, both his costume and his overall demeanor keep the ideals of Washington Irving in mind. Ichabod is much more virtuous and less superstitious than the Crane from the original story, but he’s still a quirky, panicky coward who is easily spooked, and a great deal of the humor in the film comes from Monk-like portrayal of the character. Ichabod is somehow both a complete pansy and a daring hero at the same time; a Cowardly Lion, who is scared to death of all the horror around him, but perseveres nonetheless. It’s an interesting reinterpretation, and a performance of Depp’s I’ve come to appreciate more and more over time. Depp - and I’m paraphrasing slightly, I must confess - described his Ichabod as what you would get if Basil Rathbone’s Sherlock Holmes was played by Roddy McDowall. If that’s not a great couple of inspirations, I don’t know what could be better.

2. The Disney Version.

Originally appearing in the Sleepy Hollow segment of the film “The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad,” Disney’s Crane is interesting to me because, unlike all the other versions I’ve talked about here so far, he’s actually NOT that drastically changed from the original story. His appearance is a perfect caricature based on Irving’s illustrative, exaggerative descriptions in the book, and his personality is perfectly in line with that character. Disney’s Ichabod is toonishly humorous and a little eccentric, but he’s also got all of the issues the one from the story has. In fact, the Disney version sticks REMARKABLY close to the source material. It doesn’t water down anything, and in some places expands on elements to make the characters and story come to life more than ever before. While Ichabod never really speaks in this version, so much is garnered from the animation that he still has a decided personality and character all his own. Unlike some other short versions of Sleepy Hollow that came since, which were really just tellings of the story with animation over them, so to speak, this one really works hard to bring the tale to a new level. The best example I can give is something like Tom & Jerry: the characters are silent, but they are still true, full, believable characters. The Disney take on the story is my favorite, so it stands to reason their magnificently animated Ichabod ranks highly…but he’s only second place on my list. So…who could top Disney?

1. Brent Carver, from the 1999 Hallmark Film.

While this TV Movie version of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” certainly has its flaws - the pacing being a bit slow is probably its most noteworthy issue - it still has, in my opinion, the single greatest Ichabod Crane of any adaptation of the book. While the Disney version is absolutely marvelous, it’s still a pantomime performance from an animated character. Carver, however, truly feels like Ichabod Crane in the flesh: everything about him is EXACTLY what I would imagine Ichabod Crane to be like. His voice, his personality, and even his appearance! If one were to meet Ichabod Crane in real life, and he DIDN’T look like Carver’s version, I would be shocked. Carver almost single-handedly makes this version work; the main draw to this film really is his performance as Ichabod, who is once again depicted true to the story. He’s got likeable qualities, but he’s also hypocritical and arrogant. These elements make him in equal parts humorous and deserving of the fate he faces at the end of the story. There’s really not much to say: Carver just IS Ichabod Crane, plain and simple. When I think of the story of Sleepy Hollow, I typically think of the Disney version…but when I think of Ichabod Crane, specifically, as a character, this is who I think of. There is no doubt that Brent Carver is My Favorite Ichabod Crane.

[hauntingsoundtracks]

List of titles

To make the search on the blog easier, I've compiled a list of the movies, shows, etc that have at least one music here. I'll do my best to keep it updated as I add more.

Unfortunately tumblr won't let me publish a post with so many links, so I'm unable to add a link to each corresponding tag.

See the list under the cut :

List of movies / animated movies : 12 Monkeys 28 Days Later 2001: A Space Odyssey A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night Alien Aliens American Beauty A Nightmare On Elm Street Arizona Dream A Series of Unfortunate Events Babe Baby Driver Basic Instinct Batman Returns Beetlejuice Black Swan Blade Runner Blood Simple Bram Stoker's Dracula Brazil Candyman Carrie Casper Clockwork Orange Conan The Barbarian Coraline Corpse Bride Crash Crimes Of The Future Dancer In The Dark Dark City Darkman Death Proof Devdas Die Hard Dirty Dancing Divine Intervention Donnie Darko Don't Worry I'm Fine Dune (1984) Dr. Strangelove Dune (2021) Edward Scissorhands Escaflowne Escape From New-York Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind Excalibur Eyes Without A Face Fargo Firestarter For A Few Dollars More From Dusk Till Dawn From Hell Full Metal Jacket Gattaca Get Out Ghost Ghostbusters Ghost In The Shell Gremlins Groundhog Day Halloween Hellraiser Hereditary Home Alone Howl's Moving Castle Interstellar Interview With A Vampire In The Mood For Love Jane Eyre (1996) Jane Eyre (2011) Jurassic Park La Belle et la Bête / Beauty And The Beast (1946) Legend Leon Le Père Noël est une ordure / Santa Claus is a Stinker Lisa Frankenstein Little Miss Sunshine Little Women (1994) Mad Max Fury Road Mandy Melancholia Microcosmos Midnight Express Midsommar Moonrise Kingdom Moulin Rouge! Mulholland Drive Near Dark Nikita Nope O Brother, Where Art Thou? Oldboy Once Upon A Time In The West Only Lovers Left Alive Oppenheimer Out Of Rosenheim / Bagdad Café Perfect Blue Perfume : The Story Of A Murderer Portrait Of A Lady On Fire Ravenous Re-Animator Romeo + Juliet Pan's Labyrinth Phantom Of The Paradise Phenomena Philadelphia Pi Pink Floyd The Wall Platoon Poltergeist Practical Magic Predator Pride And Prejudice Princess Mononoke Queen Of The Damned Requiem For A Dream Robocop Rosemary’s Baby Scanners Scream Sleepwalkers Sleepy Hollow Starship Troopers Star Wars Episode IV Star Wars Episode V Star Wars Episode VI Strictly Ballroom Suspiria (1977) Suspiria (2018) Tacones Lejanos / High Heels Terminator 2 : Judgement Day The Abyss The Addams Family The City Of Lost Children The Company Of Wolves The Craft The Crow The Dark Crystal The Elephant Man The Exorcist The Fifth Element The Fly The Frighteners The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey The Hunger Games The Hunger Games : Catching Fire The Hunger Games : Mockingjay Part 1 The Hunger Games : Mockingjay Part 2 The Innocents The King And The Mockingbird The Land Before Time The Lord Of The Rings : The Fellowship Of The Ring The Lord Of The Rings : The Two Towers The Lord Of The Rings : The Return Of The King The Lost Boys The Lovely Bones The Matrix The Mission The Neverending Story The Nightmare Before Christmas The Omen The Others The Piano The Prestige The Rocky Horror Picture Show The Shining The Sixth Sense The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya The Terminator The Thing The Thin Red Line The Virgin Suicides The Witch The Witches Of Eastwick Time Of The Gypsy Titane Tommy Total Recall Tron Legacy Under The Skin Us Whiplash Willow Wings Of Desire / Der Himmel über Berlin

List of series / miniseries / animated series : Battlestar Galactica Berserk Buffy The Vampire Slayer Cowboy Bebop Dark Dragon Ball Z Elfen Lied Game Of Thrones Lost Lucifer Misfits Our Flag Means Death Over The Garden Wall Record Of Lodoss War : Chronicles Of The Heroic Knight Serial Experiments Lain Stephen King's IT Stranger Things Teen Wolf The Dark Crystal : Age Of Resistance The Haunting of Bly Manor The Haunting of Hill House The Vision Of Escaflowne True Blood Twin Peaks Westworld What We Do In The Shadows Yellowjackets

List of games : Bad Dream : Coma Final Fantasy VII Stardew Valley

List of podcasts : The Magnus Archives The Magnus Protocol

[xaracosmia]

ꕥ — WELCOME TO NEFE COSMIA, SINGER. 🌓

ꕥ  — OOC INFORMATION;

name / alias: billie age: 24 pronouns: they/them ooc contact: tenaclty on tumblr other characters in xc: nefja (the dark urge)

ꕥ  — IC INFORMATION;

name: Singer age: older than humans (adult) pronouns: she/her, it/its series: original character canon point: n/a app triggers: catholic religious themes

personality: 

Mercurial and intense, Singer can come off any number of ways depending on who and where you are. She can, when needed, play the role of nearly anyone, from a bombast to a recluse, and that control means her demeanor at rest can seem almost lifeless. Inside, though, she’s always a maelstrom of emotion, feeling every hope and heartbreak to its fullest. Her mood changes quickly, and is easily influenced by the moods of others; bottling her feelings while she’s acting often means she ends up exploding later, for better or for worse. Life is rarely boring when Singer is around.

something your muse struggles with: Singer is needy. She thrives on positive attention, and wilts when she doesn’t get enough of it. 

your muse’s greatest strength: Singer has so much love in her that she almost can’t bear it. She loves the world and everyone in it so much that it’s hard to keep her down.

history / background: 

Singer was born before the dawn of time--or, perhaps, outside of time itself--as an angel of the order of cherubim. Placed beneath the throne of God, the voice He gave her was a fragment of His own divinity, a gift and a grave responsibility. She would sing for all eternity, her melodies weaving order into the fabric of Heaven itself. Like any angel, she was a tool much more than she was a creature. She was not meant to hear, or see, or think much of anything at all.

…but it’s hard not to hear, when one is stationed at the foot of the Most High. God knows everything, but all the hosts and powers of Heaven report the goings-on beyond the kingdom anyway. Hiding behind her perfect voice, Singer listened to strange and lovely tales of the world her God had created, of the light and dark and everything that sprung up between them. Uncaring as she was supposed to be, she still hung on every word, especially those concerning the funny little animals the other angels called “humans”. Those two beasts were the fascination of the Father--and soon, it seemed, the envy of Heaven.

Sin was a thing she knew of, of course, but not about. Singer could acknowledge such a thing, perhaps even know its perversity, but she could not understand. Still, when the brightest angel in Heaven began to frequent the throne--begging first, and then demanding--she listened just as closely as she did to the reports. The Morning Star was full of desire, it seemed, another idea she could just barely grasp. He needed love, attention, importance, power, more than God would give him, and Singer could not imagine why. How could Lucifer find Heaven wanting? How could the Lord not make it right? It made her… something. A change had occurred inside, one that she was sure she did not like.

And that was enough. The war that swirled in Heaven lasted only a moment, it seemed. In the aftermath, God swept away everything that had been touched by it, everything that had been corrupted. One moment, Singer was beneath the throne. The next, her entire world was pain. 

It was inside of her. Where Singer’s perfect voice had bloomed, there was just a yawning hollow, an agonizing void she could scarcely comprehend. She fell in the blink of an eye, and for what felt like an eternity, and landed hard in the depths of the pit. Fortunately for her, a particular angel had already been cast down.

A few had, as it happened. The newly-made legions of Hell took her in without hesitation, helped her make sense of her broken, finite body and its strange new rules. Singer had, it seemed, more freedom to change than many of her new comrades, and when it came time to sneak out of the abyss and into the world that God had created for His humans she found she had a greater tolerance for that plane, too. Though her voice was gone, Singer could become nearly anything alive. That was a skill that would prove invaluable to the newly-appointed king of Hell.

powers / abilities: 

SHAPESHIFTER: Singer can become basically anything--with some rules. On Earth she must appear as a living thing, and finds it easiest to be about the size of a human being. She can take the form of any creature with up to eight limbs, a torso, a head, and a tail, and can choose to hide limbs she doesn’t currently need in an extradimensional space. Her body parts work as expected--she could fly, swim natively, breathe water, or survive sub-zero temperatures, if she so chose.

SHAPECHANGER: Singer can also change the forms of other creatures--also with some rules. The creature must be willing, they are restricted to the same body plan limitations as she is… and she has no control over what they become! A subject with enough composure might be able to choose their new form, but more often than not their whims and desires come to the forefront. (She can also change you back to how you were before, if for some reason you don’t like whatever-it-is you became.)

SECRET SEEKER: Singer can detect when something is being hidden from her. This can be a physical effect (for instance, she’d be able to tell where exactly on a beach a treasure is buried) or a social effect (she’d be able to tell if someone is withholding information she’s looking for). She can’t tell  when people are lying--as long as they’re not lying in order to hide something, and she can’t find anything anywhere. The better of an idea of what area she should start looking in, the more successful she is at finding her target.

LUCK BRINGER: Singer, as a spirit of the lunar mansions, can grant good fortune to a mortal that calls on her. Certain rituals must be performed, and certain materials must be expended, but she can offer a temporary boon toward safe travel, hunting, or seeking knowledge. This boon isn’t a guarantee that the mortal in question will get what they want, only one force that contributes to their success.

WAYFINDER: Singer can move in unnatural ways through reality, allowing her to teleport. Technically, she can teleport anywhere, but she’s liable to miss if she’s trying to get somewhere she’s never been before, so she tends only to do so between locations she frequents. She can, of course, always appear when summoned by her sigil, no matter where it calls her from.

CACOPHONOUS: Singer’s voice, once an instrument of pure harmony, is now a bleeding hole in reality. When she speaks, entropy follows. Whispers might just leave the listener with an uneasy, itchy feeling, but the louder she raises her voice the worse the effect gets. A conversational tone can make plants wilt, glass crack, or skin bruise, and anything louder risks permanent damage to her surroundings. If she chooses to sing, the effect is amplified and somewhat targeted, but her lack of real control over this ability means she usually chooses to remain completely silent.

inherent abilities:

APOCRYPHAL: Singer is bound by her true name, like any (former) angel. A human who knows both her true name and the sigil that corresponds to it can bind her to themself. This allows them to summon her, and to avail themselves of her otherworldly powers for their own ends. Needless to say, she keeps her true name very secret.

UNALIVE: Singer isn’t technically a living thing--she’s a sapient idea masquerading as a cloud of matter. While her physical form behaves as though it’s alive in order to follow the rules of consensus reality, killing it won’t actually kill her. She can ignore, or use her shapeshifting to rapidly heal, most mundane injuries, and can over a matter of days reattach limbs or regenerate more grievous wounds. If dealt a lot of damage all at once, she will simply transition temporarily into an idea pretending to be a dead body, slowly regenerate, and then get back up.

UNHOLY: Singer’s very being is allergic to divine energy. The religion fueling the divinity doesn’t matter. In addition to making her lose control of her powers, holy weapons are the only thing that can truly kill her (by way of scattering her essence beyond repair). Divine healing has an inverse effect on her, and in general any power that comes from a lawful god or spirit will cause her harm. 

items / weapons: n/a

starting ability: cacophonous

starting item: n/a

extra: 

can you tell i went to catholic school

discord id: with_one_voice

[afairybear]

The Element of Air, Knowledge, and the East (Part 2: Who the Faeries Could Be)

A very modern theory of the origins of fae are that they are actually visitors from another celestial body, aliens. Believers of this propose that before the days of science fiction, moon landings, and television the only explanation people could think of for lights in the sky and strange looking people with unusual garb was that they were a race of magickal beings, i.e., fairies.

There are several parallels. Crop circles are associated with dancing faeries and UFO landings. Descriptions of alien sightings often fit exactly with certain kinds of faeries, from slender, delicate, almond eyes to huge and hairy. There is also the frequently reported "loss of time" phenomenon, a well-known symptom of faery contact and of course abduction, which is a huge part of both ancient faery folklore and modern folklore of alien visitation. Since faeries often take their appearance from the human mind's interpretation of energy beings, its likely that in times of technology and popular science fiction, a faery can be interpreted as an alien visit.

The Dogon people of Mali in Western Africa claim to have been visited in ancient times by tribes from among the stars, who taught them a lot about mathematics and movements of the stars and planets. Early accounts of the Tuatha de Danaan's arrival in Ireland talk of them arriving in flying ships or great clouds, so if you believe in alien visitation it's not such a wild theory. The idea that the faery race has cosmic origins is a very ancient one with its roots in Celtic folklore.

Celtic folklore also tells us that the faeries are angels who were pulled down with Lucifer when he left heaven and were unable to return, the doors to heaven being shut to prevent any more angels from following. Since they did not wish to live in hell either, they made a home in Earth's hollow places. Since this lore is passed down through obviously biased Christian priests to whom the faery race were for the most part devils and at best to be pities, it is easy to dismiss this origin theory as being anti-pagan propaganda. It is interesting to note that there is a very similar tale within Muslim culture of the origin of the djinn, a race of fiery, airy beings who were the Arabic equivalent of the faerie race and the origin of the wish-granting genie that we're all familiar with. When God orders the angels in heaven to bow down and worship the newly created man, the leader of the angels, Iblis (the Islamic equivalent of Lucifer), refuses and is cast out to become the leader of the Shaytan, the race of fallen djinn from whom the name Satan derives.

There are undeniable connections between angels, demons, and faery races. If we can free ourselves from prejudice and preconceptions and approach the subject with an open mind we can learn a lot. On the most obvious level, the parallels are clear. Both faeries and angels are powerful, shining beings possessed of their own inner source of luminescence. Both are credited as being sources of inspiration and are associated particularly with inhumanly beautiful music and dance, and they are often portrayed as winged beings. Angels and faeries have a resonance with the light of the stars, though the angels are seen to dwell there whereas the faeries dance beneath the stars and sing to them, and bring some of that stellar power into our green world. This takes us to a deeper level and adds some credence to the fallen angel theory.

Looking past Judeo-Christian and Islamic religious framework and seeing the faery and angelic races as beings of cosmic energy far older than any human concept, if angels are agents of cosmic energies and messengers of a spiritual source from above, then faeries can be seen as angels of the inner earth having brought that energy down into the center of the earth, breathing spiritual life into it and radiating that energy outward, connecting the earth to the web of the universe.

The name Lucifer means "light bringer" so returning to the folklore with the added dimension gained by looking beyond it, we can see the wisdom hidden behind the dogma. If "God" is in fact the source of spiritual light, then Lucifer is the agent of this light sent to Earth. There are also parallels therefore between Jesus (as the son of God sent to Earth to redeem humankind) and the fall of Lucifer which straying from the subject of faery gives food for thought. When we consider Lucifer's connection to the apple of the Tree of Knowledge which first brought wisdom to humanity, and how the primal beauty of faery can be compared to the Garden of Eden.

The reverend Robert Kirk was both a man of God and one who loved faeries observed in his indispensible The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies that they "are said to be of a middle nature betwixt man and angel." By there very nature as spirits connected to earth, they are indeed closer to us than the cosmic energy of angels. Within the same work he also observed the great sadness that is an undeniable part of the nature of faery, which is the shadow that lives alongside the light of their abundant joy: "Some say that their continual sadness is because of their pendulous state, as uncertain what at the last revolution will become of them."

By the last revolution, he means the day of the Last Judgment, when it is said that the sidhe are expecting salvation, at last able to return to their celestial origins at the end of days. In the context of faeries being spiritual forces of inner earth, this makes sense as if life on earth did end, they would return to the source. In The Sidhe: Wisdom from the Celtic Otherworld, John Matthews receives an insight from the sidhe that hints at this possibility. "We believe that a new era may be about to dawn in which the people of the sidhe will come forth again and be seen by all. If you listen to this while thinking of alien visitation or the fallen angels of heaven, we can find a possible connection there.

The ideas discussed here of faery as being originally cosmic energy that now radiates from inner earth have direct and fascinating parallels with the ancient concept of the world soul, which exists in a number of ancient worldviews in slightly varied forms and still resonates today as a cosmic truth. The phrase world soul originates from the Greek philosopher Plato, but similar concepts that predate his writings can be found across the world in ancient Egypt, the beliefs of ancient Semitic tribes, Hindu teachings, and the Chaldean Oracles, mysterious fragments of a collection of writings thought to date back to ancient Babylon.

These ancient philosophies essentially tell us that all living things are imbued with spirit that radiates from one source at the center of the earth, which in turn was placed there by a creator god at the beginning of his time. The world soul is usually referred to as female and is the common origin of many wisdom goddesses throughout history, including Judeo-Christian goddess known as the Shekinah more referred to as the Holy Spirit. Earliest origins of this wisdom goddess can be traced to Sumerian myths of the goddess Inana for some four thousand years prior to the birth of Christianity.

In a fascinating parallel to the tale of the fall of Lucifer, Inanna, also known as the Queen of Heaven, flees from her father's heavenly realm to bring wisdom to humanity. It is also extremely interesting to not that both Inanna and her Semitic equivalent Astarte are worshipped as the Morning Star, the title of planet Venus, which is also attributed to Lucifer. Both goddesses are associated with the septagram that has been linked to faery known as the "elven star."

Later manifestations of the wisdom goddess, most notable the Gnostic Sophia also strongly feature the theme of light that "falls" into the world to bring wisdom to the earthly realm. David Rankine and Sorita D'Este point out in their study The Cosmic Shekina, "The Shekinah is the primordial light of creation, the heavenly glory of divine wisdom, and the inspiration for prophecy." And this certainly seems relevant to the exploration of faery, especially the parallel of the gift of prophecy.

Is it a coincidence that the goddess Hekate, in British folklore counts "faery queen" among her many titles, is also a light bringer and ancient wisdom goddess? Hekate is worshipped as the World Soul as Hekate Soteira (Savior), so this opens up new areas of study and contemplation. Another fascinating aspect of the Shekinah is that she's said to manifest as the Garden of Eden herself. There is another direct connection, for not only does thier ageless realm resemble all descriptions of the perfection of Eden, but a tale from Icelandic folklore says that the faeries were in fact the children of Eve whom she hid from the eyes of God out of shame, who were then forever cursed by God to remain hidden from sight, gaining the name Huldufólk, or "hidden folk." This has obvious similarities to Celtic tales of faeries as fallen angels and similarly compelling implications when we look at the spiritual truths behind the dogma.

When we work with faeries and visit their realm, we are collaborating with agents of this "primordial light" in order to strengthen the much-needed link between their wisdom and our material world. If we perceive angels as intermediaries between ourselves and the divine source above, it follows that faery beings, as "fallen angels" are the intermediaries between ourselves and the divine source below, or in the world of nature. In a parallel with the loss of the Divine Feminine through mainstream patriarchal religion, our ability to recognise the inherent spirit and wisdom in the world of nature has been weakened. That very light that dwells within the inner world and realm of faery as intermediaries is the source of the same divine spark that dwells within each of us and every living thing. Through this light we are all connected.

[duftvonregen]

Meine Vergangenheit nimmt zu und meine Zukunft ab

Filme und Serien, die ich wieder schauen würde:

2 Broke Girls, American Horror Story, Atypical, Better call Saul, Breaking Bad, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Californication, Chernobyl, Dahmer, Die Sopranos, Euphoria, Family Guy, Fargo, Game of Thrones, Goliath, King of Queens, Little Britain, Lucifer, Modern Family, New Girl, Scrubs, Sex Education, Sex & the City, Shameless, Suits, Supernatural, The Americans, The Big Bang Theory, The Boys, The good doctor, The house of the dragon, The rookie, The Umbrella Academy, This is us, Two & a half Men, What we do in the shadows

21 Gramm, 21+22 Jump Street, 5 Zimmer Küche Sarg, Alice im Wunderland + hinter den Spiegeln, American animals, American History X, Beim Leben meiner Schwester, Blow, Captain Fantastic, Charlie & die Schokoladenfabrik, Clockwork Orange, Das geheime Fenster, Das Schicksal ist ein mieser Verräter, Das wandelnde Schloss, Deadpool, Der Grinch, Die Addams Familie, Die Eiskönigin, Die letzten Glühwürmchen, Drachenzähmen leicht gemacht, Drecksau, Durchgeknallt, Edward mit den Scherenhänden, Fargo, Feuer im Kopf, Fight Club, Fluch der Karibik, From Hell, Gone Girl, Hachiko, Hangover, Hard Candy, Her, Hotel Transsilvanien, Ich einfach Unverbesserlich, Idiocracy, Im Auftrag des Teufels, Im Himmel trägt man hohe Schuhe, In China essen sie Hunde, Inception, Inglourious Basterds, Interstellar, Into the wild, Joker, Labor day, Léon, Little Miss Sunshine, Lucy, Mad Max Fury Road, Meine Braut ihr Vater und Ich-Reihe, Monster AG + Uni, Nightmare before Christmas, Nur ein kleiner Gefallen, Only Lovers Left Alive, Passengers, Prinzessin Mononoke, Reine Nervensache, Rendezvous mit dem Leben, Schloss aus Glas, Shutter Island, Sinister, Sleepy Hollow, Spotlight, Split, Stichtag, The Big Lebowksi, The Big Short, The Crow, The Equalizer, The lost boys, The peanut butter flacon, The Place Beyond the Pines, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Zero Theorem, Titanic, Trainspotting, True Grit, Umweg nach Hause, V wie Vendetta, Vergiss mein nicht, Voyagers, Wie ein einziger Tag, Wild Tales

[danger-noodle-uwu]

This is a pretty graphic idea I had but I understand if you don’t want to do it or find it too triggering.

I want to request hc’s of the Brothers + Datables (but if you do the Brothers and Datables separately than just the Brothers please) reacting to MC being summoned but MC’s covered in blood and holding a weapon like a bat or knife, because they massacred their abusive family and they don’t feel bad about it at all. Mc’s pretty emotionally hollow and they don’t show much reaction or fear to dangerous situations either since the Bros do start off threatening and rude but they relate to Mammon since he’s emotionally abused by his Bros and physically punished by Lucifer.

This is only if you feel comfy doing it and I apologize if I broke the rules and making you find it very triggering and disturbing

Trigger warning!

Mentions of blood/murder/abuse

Do not proceed if sensitive

Lucifer

At the summoning part, Lucifer would be merely worried about what type of student has diavolo choosen, pitying his taste. Though he was but a demon, weary and skittish around you.

The Avatar of pride scared of mere human?

(Though he kinda was)

Blood being spilled on the floor was common in devildom yet he was unfazed.

But now, things are different and he can't help to worry about how this weak creature will influence on his brothers.

the fallen-morningstar tried to keep you away from the entire of his brothers including himself.

He also made sure that never was anything that could be used as a potential weapon surround you.

Often the man would receive rather harsh words from you and get somewhat hurt. Yet , not a single cry reach your ears.

(Que enemies to lovers dynamic)

When the pair started dating, the raven-haired demon had already known the past and what it once held for mc...

Oh how much he wishes, he helped you instead of interrogating every movement, to regain the 'you' that your parents killed. So, he will find a solution. To find those rascals in the realm of spirits or demons and put them once again at your mercy.

Prepare yourself Mc. For a whole month of pampering and love as he will never dare repeat the mistake he made.

Mammon

As the story is, Mammon didn't encounter you first but only heard melody of your voice.

The first meet was unforgettable, he was petrified to see the blood dripping off your slender bruised figure.

One thought that he was scared however, No he was anything but scared. He had thought you were the one hurt like--you know h-how Lucifer hurts him.

He rushed towards you but was stopped by the eldest saying " They aren't hurt." And this was the first person tried who befriend you.

When your words were sweetly aimed at him and just HIM. He'd feel his heart beat racing like crazy which made him believe he thought you found him special.

He was never honest with anyone, until you showed up. His biggest fear was snapping because of the mean comments his brothers pass and you had probably done something similar.

He wanted to know. Though dense he may seem, he hoped you'd tell him.

Was it scary? Do you feared this before? Is it still scary? Do you feel emotions after this?

Yet he never asked...

When the greedy Boi and mc started dating, they told everything about their condition. Of how they snapped.

He was the most understanding of his brothers and promised to never let another one harm you. Not even you.

He loved even more since that day. Not to mention 1323433454455686 'I love you's per day.

Leviathan

Blabbering lord knows what, Leviathan had stepped out of his room even if that was to scold mammon and get his money back.

He obviously knew about the exchange program but what he didn't know was that bloody murderer would be part of it!!!

He wasn't moving when he saw the numb expression you wore and the bloody knife you had held.

Inside, he was scared shitless but he didn't know how to show it.

A mere-human had terrified The great admiral of hell's navy. What shame he was.

"Oi cut it out!" Yelled the scummy yet kind demon protectively moving between the two.

In the beginning, he felt unsafe only by your gaze and refusing to make eye contact.

And then, a good day to exit to his room. The true reason being the pearly raindrops that had littered the gardens of HOL.

He saw you... soaking wet smiling and hurting... shining brightly though it felt dim.

That day. That dammed day. He found out who truly were. A beautiful person who was just hurting and breaking.

Since then, he has been a mix of a nagging mother but also shy as if a touch-me-not.

Dating him was heavenly, he wasn't shy with touch yet words were a whole another thing to him.

He always left 'Love you's in the chats and reminders on your phone that were just a bunch of 'eat healthy' 'stay safe', etc.

And this was certain that his love will never end.

Satan

Snatching the bat from your hands, the blonde-man threatened to kill you with your own weapon if you dared to move.

And that's exactly what you wanted... to die... to end the suffering...

And he saw it.

Saw how horribly you were hurting, he knew what it felt however, he couldn't lose his composure not in front of his brothers.

Wrath is a storm which is followed by pain. He knew this. Same in your case except pain knocked the doors first.

He knew it was too early for asking. So, he kept his mouth shut. Not wishing to hurt you any further though he didn't know why he felt this way.

When you finally finished your 2nd month in your new home, things had changed as the Avatar of wrath often talked to you not about how bloody you arrived or you had killed but are you okay now?

His words were soft. So sweet.

Each time he would offer you his shoulder to cry on, you would feel your heart slowly warm up. Slightly more each-time.

Soon enough you started dating the green-eyed pact demon of yours, recalling the long lost feeling of warmth and love.

The knowledgeable one loved to show physical affection especially in front of his brothers.

Oh~ the smell of their burning envy, when he kissed the nape of your neck and complimented you.

Post-its were his favorite though.

He would often write 'Love you, kitten' 'take break,love' 'you look amazing today',etc.

Asmodues

He yelped when he saw a bloodied figure emerge from the purple haze. Are they okay?

He was concerned only till a knife was spotted next your seemingly heartless figure. Now, he was somewhat hiding behind satan in disgusted yet anxious way.

You gaze deeply disturbed him to an extent he even had nightmares of you ripping him open with same knife and had that soul-less expression.

He much like Leviathan refused to see you after the encounter but what was different, was the course of events...

He saw you arguing with Lucifer, for you refused let him hurt Mammon who curled behind you.

Asmo felt pity for you as he knew the outcome of an argument with the eldest.

"Lucifer don't hurt him, please. He already has enough bruises" Asmo says giving his sweet brother Luci the puppy eyes, hoping they would work. (Yeah they didn't)

But nonetheless Luci~ still backed out and left the hallway.

You rush for the poor injured demon, he is crying while thanking you for the save.

And there for one moment, The lustful blond saw emotion in those glassy eyes of yours. It was beautiful and aching at the same time.

Making him greedy for more...

Later the very same day, he approached you finally asking the questions his head was haunted by.

What was weird? He didn't blame you for breaking instead he complimented you for being a survivor of such harsh tortures.

Accepting his confession was the best thing you ever did.

He is open with affection especially when you both are in public to show he is yours. You are his. You belong together.

for his hunger to see those pretty eyes shine with joy is endless, he makes Mc smile with happiness and love

Beelzebub

Famished as always was the sixth born. Especially after smelling human blood.

Little did he know the blood of the now dead parents of mc, the exchange student.

He wasn't even fazed unlike his brothers. He couldn't care any less than he did nor about the blood neither about the weapon clutched in your hands.

Even if you passed insults, he wouldn't mind. Sometimes, he asks why you dislike him? And is fine even if the answer is illogical. (Don't fuckin hate him)

Numb eyes. Tears flowing freely. Cuts. Bruises. Hurting. Dying inside.

The glutton wipes the sweat off his forehead remembering the condition of yours in that horrendous nightmare.

You looked awfully similar to belphi when- when s-she died. He blamed himself and hurt himself for being so useless. Just like you do.

And then realization hits--

YOU ARE HURTING!!

He now knew why your rude words didn't hurt him because you were like belphegor trying to protect your fragile heart.

Why you look numb? because you're trying to hide the pain. Push people away so you don't get hurt when they go away.

The following day, you were gently woken by the huge teddy bear. He held a hand out for you before taking you to his room for the special breakfast.

You teared upon the sight instantly realizing that he recognized your suffering. He apologized for not noticing earlier and from now, he will be there for you.

Never in the three realms did he think he'd fall for you? Maybe he had all along just didn't notice....

Once you begin dating the orange-head, he was ecstasic and cheerful all the time. Encouraging words followed you everywhere.

He would often eat the entire fridge out. So as apology, a cupcake with sorry written on it was placed on the kitchen counter. Other days, when he won't go such extreme, carrot chips or a poison apple etc. Waited for you.

Beely is the opposite of possessive. Protective. He is Protective and supports you through the ups and downs in life. He was your true savior. A savior who never judged you for your past.

His Love is the sky, you learned to fly in.

Belphegor

He had heard the tale of how the human exchange student had shown up covered in blood with a bat in hand.

Never did he believe that it was true until seeing the monotone figure of them.

The way they spoke made them like Lucifer. Emotionless. Heartless. Ruthless. Monster.

He wanted to strangle them on spot but he was stuck within the confines of the attic.

The sloth couldn't help passing comment making mc slowly reveal the aching heart of their own-self.

Expression faultered and he saw it--No, no more like felt it. The way their tears were swallowed. The way their voice turned monotone once again to cover what had already been seen.

However, the seventh born didn't say a word, he just showed affection through body language as they couldn't touch each other yet.

After he was free from the prison of an attic, he ran to you. His star. The one that guided him out to freedom.

It felt weird dating the lazy demon. Afterall, he was doing nothing other than shoving compliments in your face and dozing off here and there.

Few months pass and things become smoother than how they were.

Now, he always compliments you but softly and sweetly. Always willing to listen to whatever you wanna rant about.

"You are my true love, Mc. The star that guides to where I belong when I'm lost."

-------------------------------------------------------

Welp! That was long as hell. Anyway, thank you for the request. It kinda feels like you and my sister share the same brain cell cuz she said the same thing but like- mc ate their organs and more messy. God I hope you like it...

Good day!

[ramblingoak]

Mountain uses reading glasses and the first time Rain stays over and sees him in them he walks into a door.

Edit: oops I wrote it: Picking Out Tulips

[ladyhindsight]

I had no effing clue what the story was going to be about. Went in absolutely blind this time, and I find it really difficult to come up with a cohesive order to discuss this book. After I finished reading it, the story just felt weird and hollow, untied and all over the place. I can’t find a purpose other than to set up the Biggest, Baddest, Never-Before-Seen Evil in The Wicked Powers. After finishing the book, it really seems pretty evident that Lucifer and the Princes of Hell are the biggest enemy the Shadowhunters are going to face.

Unlike in The Red Scrolls of Magic, flaws in continuity didn’t straight up punch you in the face. I didn’t really detect much anything as to continuity errors, although I haven’t read Ghost of the Shadow Market yet so that might change things, of course. There was one tiny detail that bugged me to no end though. The book begins with a prologue that takes place during City of Glass, right before the moment Clary and Sebastian arrive at Ragnor’s house. Last paragraph (that is one sentence) reads “From the window he watched the steady footfalls of Clary Fairchild’s and Sebastian Verlac’s horses as they descended into the clearing to meet him.”

HORSES.

There was ONE horse and ITS NAME was WAYFARER.

Additionally the prologue does a fairly nice job patching up the whole weirdness in City of Glass where Magnus doesn’t seem all that sad over Ragnor’s death. Retconning Ragnor’s death fits well in the overall story in the series, and I at least don’t notice it bothering the continuity. I didn’t lose serotonin over this is all I’m saying.

It was rather surprising that the chapter titles were actually relevant and tied to the content in their respective chapters, not just some obscure references to poems, quotes, or classical literature. The writing was good in some parts, okay in some, and in some parts just the same atrocious telling, exposition-vomiting, and filtering the events through the characters. The usual. Compared to the The Red Scrolls of Magic I did notice more variance in the writing style however, but again, I haven’t read anything from Chu so I don’t know who to attribute this.

The plot was just plain weird, wacky, and disjointed. If Magnus and Alec both having being stabbed with the Svefnthorn is without consequence, what was the whole point? You can’t read this book without having read The Mortal Instruments, because nothing would make sense. The characters are lifted straight from TMI, and you’d have no idea who these people even are or what they’re like without reading TMI. On the other hand, the book relies heavily on the main series and the events in it, but at the same time feels the need to explain the Dark War, the Cold Peace, or anything relevant relating to the main events. Events which readers of TMI would already know, rendering all this dumb exposition useless.

The story also rides on the coattails of Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy when it tries to deal with Simon’s trauma but does it so heavy-handedly that it feels shoehorned in for the sake of having it addressed at least somewhere.

There is no cohesive story structure. I fucking missed the climax because I didn’t believe that the culmination of the story would end up with the main antagonists just walking away. When the gang returned back to Shanghai from Diyu, I had to stop and realize that yeah, that was it, like a moron.

I liked some of the humor in the book. I’m also glad that there was a double twist with Tian because I was about to roll my eyes out of my skull when he was first revealed as a “traitor.” Tian’s character, however, didn’t really have any distinct personality which was pretty unfortunate. He’s main role was to be an exposition machine and a tour guide to the other characters.

There were few surprisingly conscious observations made about the characters:

Jace being rash and self-sacrificing, thinking that he is only ever risking himself, and then Alec, Magnus, and Clary reminding Jace that him doing that will always affect the people who care about him

Jace being the only one having a realistic view of his own ability to run an Institute while others are trying to justify this eventual turn of events by saying, nah, you can totally do it

Alec noting how few years back he would’ve found the idea of Isabelle and Simon finding reassurance in each other ridiculous

Magnus noting how few years ago Clary would’ve been brash and has now grown up to be more considerate, which is cool because I like this Clary more than the one in TMI, but her character didn’t really experience that growth in the main series

Alec knowing he is sometimes ridiculed by Jace and Isabelle for wanting to have a solid plan whereas the latter ones tend to act on a hunch

Jace telling his plans once he’s already running towards the danger

These ones I can see in The Mortal Instruments and are somewhat in accordance to their characters. It’s just these observations should be in the main series, not in a companion book where all is said and done already years ago. The consciousness of the writing here does really nothing in the end when weighed against the thoughtless and Clace-centric writing in TMI.

I really think this is the extent of any cohesive thought I have about this book, so here some general notes on things:

i. In the first chapter Magnus thinks about Ragnor. “Ragnor, who had disappeared three years ago. Who had reassured Magnus he would be in touch soon.” The prologue takes place in 2007, it is told. The story takes place in 2010, which is also told. I am sure readers can do basic math that “three years ago” is such an unnecessary reminder immediately after the prologue.

ii. When Alec arrives to the scene where Shinyun and Ragnor are leaving their apartment, Magnus thinks about the fact that Alec thinks he might be too ordinary for Magnus, but as Alec stands there with his bow and arrow, Magnus “did not think Alec understood what it was like to behold, up close, a Shadowhunter in full warrior mode.”

iii. A Shadowhunter, which just sounds like jerking off to all the Nephilim. “the Shadowhunter” would mean just Alec, that Alec is not at all ordinary.

iv. When discussing backup for Shanghai, Alec brings up the fact that what if he needs runes as one of the reasons they need said backup. Like, you can draw them yourself?

v. I love that we have gone from “Angels probably do not exist, no one has ever seen an angel” to “Archangel Michael himself totally obliterated Sammael eons ago.”

vi. Alec is worried because Jace has not told him about Maryse asking Jace to take her place as the head of the New York Institute. “Why hadn’t Jace mentioned it? Even if he had doubts, who else be better to talk about them with than his parabatai?” I don’t know what to tell you Alec, Jace barely told you anything in The Mortal Instruments either.

vii. It’s ridiculous that the gang left Magnus alone in the hotel when they know Shinyun was after him. What were you expecting to happen?

viii. “Magnus and Jem had so much shared history, their relationship was so long and complex” Alec thinks, but I feel like I am being told stuff again.

ix. Magnus is experiencing side-effects from being thorned and Alec is concerned about him, but not enough to not to start lusting after him in the middle of it.

x. I feel like the go-to way of showing affection is always kissing, whereas embracing and leaning foreheads against each other would be far more intimate and far less constantly horny.

xi. I loved Elyaas making an appearance. I guessed it right from the part “A second tentacle joined the first, then a third. They shifted around on the desktop, leaving bits of slime.” And I got really excited after guessing correctly. Good god.

xii. Alec being total badass is being totally watered down. ““Michael,” he said, and as the sword blazed up with holy flame, Sammael visibly flinched at the sound of the archangel’s name.” Which is then followed by, “Magnus felt a wave of pride. Not everyone could diss a Prince of Hell so artfully.” Which is like patting yourself on the back for coming up with this. Alec’s spite is absolutely diluted.

xiii. I liked and enjoyed the integration of Chinese mythos. Diyu was more interesting and different than Edom (which was plain boring like Thule).

xiv. I don’t know what the hell is going on with people talking about Tessa and Jem’s wedding? There is apparently a bonus story, but my copy doesn’t have one. Nor does the PDF I found, so I’m really out of the loop. (Except that I have now found it and read it. What is it with all Clare’s characters having a prolonged make out session before everyone else? Also it was a blurb of names doing this and that, way too over-crowded for such a short piece. I see people complaining about Tessa and Jem’s wedding being a dream, but I honestly couldn’t care less whether people remember their wedding or not.)

xv. Why does Ke Liqin have to be Australian at all? Why is it always some English colony?

xvi. For a story taking place in China, it has very few Chinese characters in it.

xvii. Magnus and Alec’s relationship felt really flat and I enjoyed more the scenes where there was interaction between the whole gang, but it was also the kind of interaction that should’ve happened far earlier and in the main series. Alas, Jace’s torment and deep-as-hell love for Clary made no room for such niceties.

xviii. The Alliance rune makes a long-waited comeback and somehow is the reason the day is saved, but the story fails to explain why Alec didn’t get hurt and how he had the power to save Magnus? The writing just shrugs it off by saying “even we don’t know how!” This better go somewhere sometime because otherwise it means nothing and is just a cheap trick to solve an unsolvable problem.

xix. “All the stories are true” also makes a comeback. As if we needed more flashbacks to TMI.

xx. It’s weird that Sammael’s return has not been noted in The Dark Artifices. Oh, right. No one had come up with it yet.

xxi. I don’t know where to stand with Sammael as a villain. He was such a caricature but sometimes I found him funny. Then his villainess was explained by Alec, that Sammael is sooo powerful he has nothing to prove. I don’t really know what to make of it.

xxii. Clary and Isabelle’s friendship was refreshing after the bullshit in TMI, but because of the bullshit in TMI it was emphasized just a tad too much how they care about and love one another. It comes across as making up for their relationship in the main series.

xxiii. At this rate Isabelle is going to need her own series because even this book that she was in did absolutely nothing with her.

xxiv. Despite all the positive things I found in the characters in this book, they were rather simplified and underutilized. It was like all else was just filler and the point was to explain Ragnor’s “death” and prepare for The Wicked Powers since the last installment of this series will take place during that.

[anarchyforcanon]

anarchyforcanon masterlist

will keep this updated as much as possible. prioritized fics are marked with *

Finished:

Hollow Star

Summary: Gadreel had not been created with revolution in mind, he knew this well. He was created to become an example, and maybe that’s all he’ll ever be.

(Character Study, Oneshot)

Burning House

Summary: Heaven was never a home and the angels were never a family, but this doesn't stop Abner missing what once was even after he moved on.

(Implied Abner x Gadreel - Character Study, Oneshot)

Living the Dream

Summary: Balthazar is just spending time with Castiel in Heaven, ignoring the raging war that is brewing below them. But everything just isn't as it seems.

(Implied Balthazar x Castiel - Oneshot)

No Dawn Shall Come

Summary: War is a cruel things, to make brothers fight, but it's what must be done.

(Character Study, Oneshot)

Immolate

Summary: Michael allowed himself the dim light in the distance, the comfort of his faith that had been ingrained into him.

(Character Study, Oneshot)

Current:

The Purgatorian Florist and Their Adventures in Justifiable Homicide (Being Rewritten) *

Summary: Even monsters deserve their pleasantries: hobbies, peace, love. What happens when Cas and Dean take away another's happiness in turn for their own?

(OC x OC - Canon compliant between seasons 7-8 inside Purgatory. Multi-Chapter.)

Planned:

Build Me a Castle of Memories (To Have Somewhere to Go) *

Summary: Every choice she made was controlled by her fear, whether from her haunting past or the threat of the future. How long can she run from it all while paired with the present day atrocities of demons, angels and Apocalypses?

(Lucifer x OC - Mainly canon compliant in early seasons, diverges in later ones. Long Fic across all 15 seasons.)

Hope I Live to Tell

Summary: There was no need for Gabriel to be suspicious of his new neighbor. And there wasn't any need for Eloysia to suspicious of the janitor across the hall. How long till they find out they were more wrong then they ever could have imagined?

(Gabriel x OC - Set a few years before the Winchesters ever meet Gabriel in 2x15, Tall Tales. Medium Fic.)

Let This Be a Sermon

Summary: Tragedies are defined by the faults of humans, but they weren't the first to befall to their own flaws of greed, ambition and boundless love. It began in Heaven, with the not so graceful fall of Lucifer.

Inspired by my post here and here. (Prequel placed after the war with Amara, following Lucifer's corruption from the Mark and his rebellion. Medium to Long Fic)

O Satan, Have Pity

Summary: There's no other choice is all Sam could say to himself as he watched his big brother become possessed by the Devil himself.

Based on my post here. (Season 13 Finale Alternate Ending Oneshot with Dean!Lucifer)

[twistedtummies2]

Top 12 Characters from FOX’s Sleepy Hollow

Halloween may have ended the day before yesterday, but I wanted to give the spooky season one last hurrah! I recently did a couple of lists related to characters from Washington Irving’s classic tale “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” I’ve been on a Sleepy Hollow kick lately, for a few reasons…and due to this “kick,” I decided it was time to revisit the somewhat controversial FOX TV Series simply called “Sleepy Hollow.” When the show first came out, I actually only got part of the way through Season One before I stopped watching it; at the time, I had a lot of other things eating up my attention, and I think I was also a little more closed-minded towards the drastic reinventions this series put forth.

After revisiting the show in the past couple months, I found a new sort of love and respect for it. It’s not a perfect series, mind you, but I think the mixture of my love of the source material and the excellent performances from the actors, above all else, pull it through. The show is a supernatural crime drama, similar to things like “Supernatural,” “Lucifer,” or “The X-Files.” The series focuses on Ichabod Crane - a dashing Revolutionary War hero, in this version of the story - solving a variety of strange crimes in the modern day. From witches to demons to figures from mythology - and, of course, the Headless Horseman - the show had a lot of really wonderful characters and creatures on display. I decided it would be fun to count down some of my favorite characters from the series overall, in honor of All Hallows Eve (or, given today’s date, Dia de los Muertos; take your pick). Because not only did this show have great reimaginings of the characters from the Washington Irving legend, but also a fine array of original characters unique to this interpretation. They all deserve to be recognized. So, without further ado…here are my personal Top 12 Characters from FOX’s Sleepy Hollow.

12. Jake Wells & Alex Norwood.

These two characters debuted in the show’s fourth and final season. I’m just going to state outright: in my opinion, Season 4 was the worst season of the show. On its own terms, it wasn’t necessarily all that bad, but I think it tried to do a few too many things at once, and changed up the formula of the series in a few too many ways. When you compare to the prior three seasons, it stands out as the weakest link, in my opinion. One of the issues this season had was that it had a whole new cast of major characters we’d never met before, which meant a whole new set of relationships, personalities, and performances for the audience to get used to. Thankfully, most of these characters were pretty strong. Case in point: Jake Wells and Alex Norwood, two eccentric history buffs who work as the chief operatives for Agency 355: a secretive part of the FBI that investigates supernatural phenomenon. Jake and Alex I always saw as a duo, first and foremost, hence why I decided to include them together here. Jake is a dorky, geeky fellow who has read more books on history, and done more research into the paranormal, than almost anyone else; his knowledge on both subjects almost rivals that of Ichabod himself, and he is eager to prove his worth as a hero when he realizes his true calling. Alex, meanwhile, is a snarky, sneaky weapons expert fascinated with ancient technology and cursed objects; she’s actually a bit more skeptical than Jake, but she goes along for the ride. Alex also has a hidden crush on Jake, who naturally remains totally oblivious. These two were just a fun pair to watch in action, and many of the funniest moments in the final season came from their interactions.

11. Jobe.

While Season 4 may have had a lot of problems, one thing I almost unconditionally loved about it was its villains; most notably its two main antagonists. One of those antagonists is Jobe. It’s unclear if “Jobe” is actually his true name or not, but regardless, Jobe is a Mephistophelean sort of figure: a high-ranking demon who has become the personal bodyguard and assistant of the season’s main villain, Malcolm Dreyfuss. Dreyfuss made a deal with the devil years ago, part of that bargain being that Jobe would faithfully serve him until Dreyfuss’ death. However, Dreyfuss’ plans to gain immortality put that exact bargain at risk, and Jobe is thus in danger of potentially becoming a pawn in the mortal man’s game forever. There’s an interesting contrast with Jobe’s relationship with Dreyfuss; Malcolm relies on the demon constantly, and goes to great lengths to help him out, and Jobe will do just about anything Malcolm demands. At times, one could almost believe the two were friendly with each other…but it eventually becomes clear that Jobe is NOT Malcolm’s friend. He’s simply fulfilling the contract’s stipulations to the letter. While he does not approve of the loophole being used, there’s nothing he can really do about it…aside from finding his own loopholes to try and sabotage the scheme.

10. Katrina Van Tassel.

A.k.a. Katrina Crane. In this version, she and Ichabod actually get married, so which surname you use can be interchangeable. I call her “Van Tassel” simply because that’s the character’s name in the original story. ANYWAY: Katrina was a major figure in the first two seasons of the show; in many ways, she is the catalyst for a lot of the action that goes on in the series. It’s revealed that Katrina is a witch who was secretly working with American Revolutionaries. It was partially due to her influence that Ichabod defected from the British side of the conflict, and the two were eventually wed. For the first season and a half, Katrina is one of the main protagonists…but, in the latter part of season two - for various reasons - the character falls to the dark side, going from a good and noble enchantress to a truly wicked witch. I’ve always felt sort of conflicted about this portrayal of Katrina; my biggest issue is that, for that first season and a half, the writers couldn’t seem to make up their minds if Katrina was meant to be a strong, independent, powerful woman and role model…or a rather silly damsel in distress. On the one hand, she’s quite literally got a ton of power as a witch, and she’s a skilled manipulator in her own way…but on the other hand, most of her time before we get to her descending arc is spent with Ichabod trying to save her, and it gets old fast. Having said that, I honestly think she became a much more interesting character in the second half of season two, with her descent into darkness story arc; the tension of love and anger between herself and Ichabod, not to mention the other characters, made for some dramatic moments, and her motivations and goals as an antagonist were really quite interesting. She got more chances to actually SHOW her strength as a character, helping Ichabod on cases in the early parts of Season 2B, and then shifting and turning her coat as the arc went on. Actress Katia Winter really helps sell the character, and while I may have some issues with the way she’s written, she’s still an important and iconic figure in the series.

9. Diana Thomas.

Yet another character from Season 4. Played by Janina Gavankar, Diana had a really tough gig to follow: for the first three seasons, the two main characters of the show had been Ichabod Crane and “Leftenant” Abbie Mills. However, due to issues with the creative team behind the scenes, Nicole Baharie - Abbie’s actress - decided it was time to leave the show. Rather than end the series with Abbie’s death, however, the writers decided to provide Ichabod with a new modern detective to join forces with, and invent a new “Second Witness” as well. This is where Agent Diana Thomas of the FBI comes in: much like Abbie, she meets Ichabod when her own partner and her boss end up killed by a demonic entity. From that point on, the two become entangled, as Ichabod helps Agent Thomas with a variety of cases not in Sleepy Hollow, but in Washington D.C. itself. At first, we believe that Diana must be the new Second Witness…but instead, it’s revealed that Diana is a mother, and it’s her ten year old daughter, Molly, who is the Second Witness. Diana effectively tries to become a crusader for her own offspring, fighting the battles Molly is too young to fight, and trying to find some way to balance her duties as a mother, a member of law enforcement, and part of a secret war against Hell itself all together. While following on the heels of “The Leftenant” wasn’t exactly an easy task, I actually think Diana pulls it off: her own relationship with Ichabod hits some of the same beats, but her character and setup is unique enough to make her interesting and fun in her own right. The way things develop between herself, Molly, and Ichabod is also quite engaging; if the show had gone on longer, she might have ranked more highly here.

8. Nick Hawley.

It’s weird that this character ranks so highly for me, because - much like the Season 4 cast - this was a character who only appeared for a single season. And unlike most of the S4 cast I’m covering here, he WASN’T a series main during his tenure. I guess one could just argue that character is simply that strong. Nick Hawley, a.k.a. “The Privateer” (as Ichabod likes to call him), is a self-proclaimed treasure hunter. He seeks out rare and mysterious artifacts and items, which usually have some kind of supernatural or mythological tale behind them, and then sells them off either to private buyers or simply to the highest bidder he can find. Hawley is a modern-day pirate: while not completely without scruples, he cares most chiefly about his own health and finances, which makes him an unpredictable, anti-heroic figure for the season. He’s smart, he’s capable, and he’s a great ally to have when you have him…but he’s not above leaving people behind in the lurch when it suits him best, and he even acted as an enemy once or twice to the main heroes, whenever his clients weren’t exactly friendly souls. He was a major figure in Season 2, and he got richer and richer as the season went on…but unfortunately, this was the only season Hawley appeared in. His story effectively remains unfinished, since his departure from the show saw him planning to actively hunt down his own adoptive mother (who had become a demon…it happens). We never saw Hawley again, so we have no idea how his adventures on that front turned out. I had a feeling they MIGHT have been considering using the character in future seasons, but for one reason or another that never happened, either because the show was canceled before such a thing could occur, or because the actor just wasn’t available. Whatever the case, he was a fun figure who brought a sense of mercenary chaos to the program, and his time in the series, while short, was truly unforgettable.

7. Malcolm Dreyfuss.

Like I said, in my opinion, the best part of Season 4 had to be the villains. Chiefest among them is Malcolm Dreyfuss, the main antagonist for the show’s final season arc. Dreyfuss is a character who feels like something straight out of a comic book, and I mean that in the best possible way: he’s an eccentric, half-mad tech mogul, with a flamboyant, sleazy sort of personality. He feels like he’s somewhere between a mad scientist and a used car salesman. It was a unique personality for a main villain in the show to have; most of the main villains before were more serious, stoic, sinister characters; hyper-powerful beings who controlled legions of Hellspawn and could kill you with a look. Dreyfuss is the exact opposite: he’s just a guy. A very, VERY bad guy with a lot of ambition and a lot of money. In fact, at times Dreyfuss is quite pathetic; one of my favorite elements of this character is that, despite all his theatricality and high-flying schemes of grandeur, there are so many times where the vulnerability and fearful status of Dreyfuss’ position comes into play. Whenever someone sees right through him, so to speak, he goes from a criminal mastermind to a whimpering child, and it’s equal parts funny and kind of sad to see this character fall so low. While he’s an awful creature, he’s also highly entertaining, and his reasons for his evil deeds are actually somewhat sympathetic: this is a man who lived his life in the shadows for so long, and desires to finally be in the spotlight. I think that’s a concept we can all relate to. The season as a whole may not have been the best, but Dreyfuss is a great villain who made for some of the most memorable moments in the final arc of the show.

6. Frank Irving.

Played by the inimitable Orlando Jones, Captain Frank Irving was one of the main characters in the first two seasons; I can’t help but wonder whether or not it’s merely coincidence that, in my opinion, the latter two seasons - where he was NOT present - were the least grand of the series as a whole. In any case, Irving, for the first half of season one, starts off as a pretty standard sort of “doubting police official” character. While he isn’t a bad person, he doubts in all of the supernatural and fantastical explanations Ichabod and Abbie try to give him for the various crimes they face. It isn’t until his own close encounter with the Headless Horseman that Captain Irving becomes a more active member of the team, as he realizes the war with evil is very real, and far more bizarre than he ever gave it credit. That war hits close to home when a demon actually possesses his daughter; an event that causes endless dismay for Irving, and sets in motion many of the struggles he faces for the rest of his time in the show. Seeing Captain Irving’s transition from a tough-as-nails doubter to an increasingly more tragic and complex character entangled in a web of danger made for an interesting story arc. The lengths he’ll go to in order to keep his family safe are only matched by his tenacity on the battlefield, and the many twists and turns his own private side of the story faced made for some of the most intense parts of the show. It’s really a shame that, after Season 2, we never saw him again, or even got much mention of where he was and what was going on in his life.

5. Henry Parrish.

Played by the Scarecrow himself, John Noble (or Denethor himself, for you Lord of the Rings fans), Henry Parrish was one of the main antagonists in the first two seasons of Sleepy Hollow. In fact, in Season 2, he basically acted as the main villain, outranking even the Headless Horseman himself! When we first meet Henry, he is a somewhat neurotic, mild-mannered fellow, suffering under a great burden: Henry is a Sin Eater, someone who can physically absorb people’s sins into his own body, a fact that seems to torment him constantly. As the series goes on, he comes out more and more as a worthy ally to the main team…but it’s ultimately revealed that Henry is actually the master manipulator behind many of the things that have gone wrong in the season up to that point. Henry, you see, is actually Ichabod’s own son, Jeremy Crane; abandoned by his mother as a child while Ichabod was still in the crane, Jeremy grew up hated and feared, and was eventually - like Ichabod himself - buried in a state of suspended animation, only to be reawakened years later, and years before his father (hence why the son is physically older than the father; he’s had more time to age). But while Ichabod rose from the dead as a force for good, Jeremy - renaming himself “Henry Parrish” - has become a force for evil: he is the Horseman of War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and a servant of the arch-demon Moloch, whom he sees as his “real” father. John Noble plays the character to perfection, and despite his ultimate defeat in Season 2, Henry would actually be one of the few characters to see the show to the end: he returned a few times in Season 4, first in a nightmare Ichabod has while under the influence of a monster, and then for real in the last couple episodes of the show, teaming up with Malcolm Dreyfuss, as well as hiss old compatriot, the Headless Horseman. Speaking of…

4. The Headless Horseman.

I mean…it’s Sleepy Hollow. So of COURSE the Headless Horseman is going to be in the Top 5 here. In fact, some of you are probably wondering why the Horseman isn’t in the Top Three! How could the HEADLESS HORSEMAN not make the top three in SLEEPY HOLLOW?! Well…I’ll get to that in a bit, but first, let’s go over the positives. In this series, the Horseman is revealed to be another of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: specifically, he is the Horseman of Death. And, being the Horseman of Death, he cannot truly die, no matter what happens. As a result of this, even as other villains came and went throughout the show, the Horseman stuck around: alongside Ichabod and Jenny Mills (more on them later), the Headless Horseman is the ONLY major character in the series who appears in all three seasons. While he didn’t show up in every single episode, every time the Horseman DID appear, it was a big deal, which made his appearances all the more special; you knew bad stuff was going down in the Hollow when Death rode into town. I also appreciate that the series actually went out of its way to make the Horseman a real character, with a proper true identity, backstory, and personality…at least at first. This is where the problem with the Horseman, and why he isn’t in the top three, comes into play: in the first two seasons, the Horseman is handled EXTREMELY well…but in Season 3, the character only appeared twice. First in a cameo in the opening…and then in a more prominent part in the season finale. That’s it! We never see or even get much reference to him anywhere else! In a show called SLEEPY HOLLOW, it was kind of shocking that such an iconic figure was almost nowhere to be found, especially after his huge level of importance in the prior two seasons. In Season 4, the character had a more prominent role - acting as a tertiary antagonist after Malcolm and Jobe, with at least as many appearances as he had in Season 1 - but the actual character took a HUGE step back. He basically just became a faceless monster; that’s not necessarily a bad thing, since most versions of the Horseman are that, but a big part of what made the first two seasons and their handling of the Horseman so great was that they DID give him more real character and development. Season 4 really watered down the character, and felt like a missed opportunity as a result. There were lots of places where all that established lore and personality could have been utilized, and it just never really was. Having said all that…it was still really cool to see the Horseman anytime he appeared, and the fact he lasted till the end is definitely a credit to the ghost’s power. Also, I guess one CAN technically say he was in EVERY episode, since the opening titles for every season featured the Horseman…but I think that’s pushing it a bit. Anyway, great version of this classic horror icon, and easily my favorite villain from the series…but not great enough, within the show’s own setup, to make the top three.

3. Abbie Mills.

Abbie Mills, a.k.a. “The Leftenant,” was the secondary protagonist of Sleepy Hollow for the first three seasons. And unlike with Captain Irving, it’s no coincidence at all that the show’s biggest decline happened courtesy of her departure. Abbie is an ambitious police officer at the start of the show, with a checkered past; as a child, she encountered supernatural evil at a young age, something she has tried to deny all her life. Tragic events in her past led Abbie to becoming a petty thief, but - with the help of her mentor, Sheriff August Corbin - she eventually found her calling in law enforcement. In Season 3, Abbie went from being a simple police lieutenant to an agent of the FBI, stationed in New York, which kept her close to home, so to speak, while still allowing the character to advance and shake up the formula a bit. Abbie was a fun character; her relationship with Ichabod was one of purest friendship. There is no romance between them, yet they are as close as two human beings can be; as Ichabod describes in the “Bones” crossover episode (yes, that was a thing), they are a relationship of pure opposites. Ichabod is a quirky, theatrical, grandiose figure out of place and out of time, given to grandiloquent phrases and speeches and constantly prattling off trivia about a past he lived; Abbie is a more down-to-Earth, grounded person who takes things more easily in her stride, but is still open to having her horizons broadened. Both often feel alone in the world, due to various personal tragedies they’ve faced and mysteries they have yet to figure out, but at the end of the day, they always have each other. At times they may bicker and banter, but the chemistry between them is pure gold. When “The Leftenant” finally did leave the show, she went out like a hero - sacrificing everything to save her friends, her family, and the world itself - which was just the proper sendoff her character deserved. One only wishes she never had to leave at all.

2. Jenny Mills.

While Jenny Mills was never the secondary protagonist in ANY season, she was, effectively, the tertiary protagonist of EVERY season. Like I said before, she was one of only three major characters in the show to appear in every single season, practically from start to finish. (The only other two were Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman, and…let’s face it, in a show called “Sleepy Hollow,” it would have been more amazing if those two DIDN’T show up every single season.) At the start of the show, Jenny is Abbie’s estranged sister; a notorious delinquent who has spent much of her life in-and-out of the local mental hospital. It’s later revealed that all that time “out” of the hospital was spent with Jenny running various secret missions for Sheriff Corbin, who knew all along that the Apocalypse was night, and helped Jenny out when she was possessed by a demon during her adventures. As the show goes on, Jenny became a more and more interesting and important character, and even after Abbie and so many other characters who had played such a big part in the series for the first three seasons disappeared, Jenny stayed on right to the last episode. Jenny is just a bad@$$, plain and simple: she’s not as straight-laced as her sister, much more trigger-happy and far less lawful. She’s essentially a treasure hunter; a low-budget Indiana Jones who works from a trailer rather than a university. In many ways, she is a lot like Nick Hawley; but while Hawley fights for himself above all other things, Jenny believes in a bigger plan, and is simply trying to find her place in it. Because she lasted so long in the series, we got to see Jenny interact with more characters and form more relationships than almost any other in the show, barring Ichabod himself; and as the show progressed, and her role increased, we saw Jenny mature and become more and more independent. The final season indicated that she was actually planning to leave “Team Witness” and go off on her own, no doubt preluding the actress’ departure; I’m actually sort of glad this DIDN’T happen, only because it meant that the character did remain a firm anchor all the way to the end of the ride. Having said that, it would have been interesting to see how Jenny and the show would have fared if this had; this is a character so strong that I actually would have loved to see an entire series JUST about her, and that’s high praise indeed.

1. Ichabod Crane.

For some, it’s probably an obvious no brainer to put the main character at the top of the ranks. However, in all honesty, I would argue it’s more surprising to do so, since - as we all know - the MAIN character of any series isn’t necessarily one’s FAVORITE, nor the BEST. But in the case of “Sleepy Hollow”...there is no question, this is just a case where the central protagonist is my favorite. I think a lot of the credit goes to the actor, Tom Mison: while the character he plays owes precious little to Washington Irving’s spindly schoolmaster, something about the personality he gives Ichabod, and the way Mison looks, in general, just feels so much like it captures the basic DNA of the character we all know and love, while adding something brand new and utterly fascinating to the mix. Much of the humor from the series comes from Ichabod’s “fish out of water” status - a man from a past long-misunderstood, stuck in a future-present he is still struggling to fully understand. At the same time, much of the pathos for the character comes from the same place: a constant theme in the series is Ichabod constantly battling between the sense of being alone in the universe, and realizing that maybe he isn’t AS alone as he really thinks. Throughout the series, he loses allies, friends, family, and even loved ones…but through it all, he perseveres, and finds new people to assist him, as well as new enemies to combat. There is never a dull moment when Ichabod is onscreen, and that’s thankfully most of the show’s runtime, given his status as the main character. He is by no means my definitive take on the classic character, but he is a strong and interesting protagonist in his own right, and it’s easy to see why, when all else failed, you could count on Ichabod to keep people coming back to the show, over and over again. It’s really not a shock at all that Ichabod Crane is My Favorite Character from FOX’s Sleepy Hollow.

Honorable Mentions…

Sheriff August Corbin. (He’s played by Clancy Brown. ‘Nuff said.)

George Washington.

Benjamin Franklin.

Andy Brooks.

Betsy Ross.

[thenightling]

Show and movie recommendations for people who like Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman

This morning someone asked me for some movie recommendations that are like Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.  There’s really nothing quite like The Sandman but I will list similar films and shows here.

1.   Over The Garden Wall.  

Over the Garden Wall was an animated mini-series that aired on Cartoon Network in 2014.  It is a very unique mini-series that was shown as ten minute shorts. When compiled together the shorts tell a full length movie about two brothers lost in a surreal forest known as The Unknown.  Most of the visuals are inspired by early twentieth century Hallowe’en greeting cards.   This is a very, very underrated mini-series.  I actually consider it my comfort food of media.  I watch it when I’m not feeling well and it makes me feel better.   

2.   Tim Burton’s The Nightmare before Christmas.

I know a lot of people might think of this one as overrated and far too common place but when I was eleven-years-old I felt like I was the only one in the world who loved it.  I saw Nightmare before Christmas in the threatre in 1993 and was fast obsessed.  The King of Halloween is weary of his routine and feels like something is missing from his life so he discovers and attempts to do Christmas.  It has a beautiful score by Danny Elfman and many surreal and wonderful imagery.  

3.    Jim Henson’s Labyrinth.

Labyrinth is a fantasy film from 1986 featuring David Bowie as The Goblin King.  A young girl named Sarah wishes away her half-brother.  After the baby is actually abducted by goblins Sarah must solve an intricate maze within thirteen hours to save him before he is transformed into a goblin. The film is full of goblin creatures created by Jim Henson and you can see how it had some influence on certain aspects of The Sandman including Barbie’s dream world in the A Game of you story arc.   

4.   The Company of Wolves.

The Company of wolves is a horror film based on the short story collection The Bloody Chamber and other stories by Angela Carter.  It was directed by Neil Jordan, director of Interview with The Vampire.  Most of the film is set in the mind of a sleeping pubescent girl who is apparently having her first period.  In her dream world she is Little Red Riding Hood.  And her grandmother tells her various stories about werewolves.  Werewolves fast become a metaphor for puberty, masculinity, and sexual awakening and all those confusing and frightening emotions that come with them.  For all its symbolism and subtle beauty this is still very much a horror film.   

5.   Clive Barker’s Nightbreed   

Sometimes sold as Night Breed or Nightbreed I strongly recommend tracking down the Cabal cut or director’s cut of this movie.  It’s not just longer.  Some scenes are entirely different from the theatrical release. It even has a different ending.   The plot deals with a man named Boon who has been having strange dreams of a place called Midian.  An underground city entirely inhabited by monsters.  He yearns to be a part of that world.   Meanwhile Boon’s own therapist frames him for murder and manages to even convince Boon that he might be the killer. But things get even more strange when Boon discovers that Midian and it’s monstrous inhabitants are, in fact, real.  This film is based on the book Cabal by Clive Barker.  This one is very much a horror film.   

6.   Pan’s Labyrinth. 

 Not to be confused with Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, Pan’s Labyrinth is a Spanish language film about a young girl in a very unpleasant situation so she escapes into a fantasy world where she is a lost princess.  Beautiful, surreal, and very well made.  Pretty much any film by Guillermo del Tor can fit on this list.    My only complaint about this movie is that it is ONLY available with subtitles with no dub option.  I understand that Guillermo del Toro does not like badly dubbed movies but this is very inconsiderate for the visually impaired.  I am visually impaired and have to sit very close to read those subtitles.  Either that or learn Spanish...

7.   The Dark Crystal and it’s one season prequel series: Dark Crystal / Age of Resistance.  

Similar to Labyrinth only with a surprisingly more serious tone and no song numbers, The Dark Crystal is a movie that takes you into a surreal fantasy world inhabited entirely by puppet creatures. The prequel series recently aired on Netflix and has the same charm and beauty as the original.

8.   Swamp Thing.  

The 2019 Swamp Thing series for DC Universe (now on HBO Max) only got one season but it features a character you might recognize from The Sandman.   Matthew Cable.  After Matthew’s death he becomes Morpheus’ raven in The Sandman. There’s actually a lot of atmosphere in this show and it is very underrated.  

9.   Lucifer.

Though not faithful to the comics the premise of Lucifer is based on events from The Sandman: Season of Mists and The Sandman: The Kindly Ones where Lucifer quits ruling Hell, moves to Earth, opens Lux and takes up playing piano. 

10.   Justice League: Action episodes Trick or Threat and Supernatural Adventures in babysitting. 

The Justice League: Action episode Trick or threat features the first TV animated appearance of Cain and his House of Mystery as they appear in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.  The Supernatural Adventures in Babysitting episode features the Magdalene grimoire. This is the spell book that was used to summon Morpheus in the very first issue of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.  

Bonus mentions:

MirrorMask Stardust Howl’s Moving Castle Princess Mononoke The Wizard of Oz Return to Oz (features a character Jack Pumpkinhead who helped inspire Mervyn Pumpkinhead on a superficial level) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (animated or TV mini-series)

10th Kingdom (TV mini-series)

Gulliver’s Travel’s TV mini-series (features a young Tom Sturridge)  Rise of the Guardians  Maleficent 

Faust (1926 silent film) Tales from the Crypt (TV series) Tales from the Cryptkeeper (animated series)  Carnival Row (TV series) Sleepy Hollow (1999 film) Neverwhere Good Omens  @sex-and-games-in-new-york-city​​

[virginwhoredichotomy]

alright here’s the wikihow article i’ve been threatening to write on how to brainwash yourself into not entirely hating 15x20, or: castiel’s absence is a good thing, actually.

disclaimers:

- i do not claim that this is the intended interpretation

- i am watching the show with my destiel/dean coded cas girl goggles stapled on

- i do not enjoy being bitter about things i like and therefore probably jumped through a lot of hoops to arrive at this conclusion

i know there were a LOT of things people hated about the episode and this will not address all of them. my main issues with the finale were 1) the manner of dean’s death, 2) the unresolved dean/cas arc, 3) sam’s extremely emotionally hollow happy ending, and 4) cas’ complete absence. the production quality/editing/pacing was terrible as well but that’s nothing out of the ordinary on supernatural rip

1. the bad guy (spn writers room) won

my correct opinion is that this was, in fact, one of chuck’s endings (though i don’t think they made it bad on purpose). on a meta level it makes a lot of sense for this to have been chuck’s ending since he is the meta stand-in for the writers. as long as they are the ones telling this story, EVERY ending will be a chuck ending.

some supporting evidence:

from 14x20 moriah

chuck loves circular storytelling: sam and dean as cain and abel as michael and lucifer, or dean and jack as sam and john as abraham and isaac. we know that chuck’s ideal ending would have the brothers regress back to their brodependent s1 selves and then have them meet a tragic end (15x04 atomic monsters). and something that really stood out about 15x20 is the way it just... completely erased 15 years of sam and dean’s character development. someone said you could watch the pilot and then the finale and understand everything and that’s completely true and extremely frustrating to any viewer with a brain. it’s also a trademark of chuck’s writing.

if you watch it with that in mind, 15x20 is so reminiscent of season 1 that if you pulled jarpad’s hairline back across his forehead and slapped on a grunge filter it might actually be the walmart version of an alternate s1 ending:

- jenny the vampire returns

- complete absence of any characters that aren’t sam and dean

- motw, specifically working one of john’s unfinished jobs

- sam happily leaving his hunter’s life behind and living a normal picket fence life with his blurry spouse, the way he dreamed in s1 and has repeatedly stated is not what he wants for himself anymore

- dean dying as daddy’s blunt instrument

- i hate to say it but the borderline romantic framing of dean’s death scene also counts as a kripke era callback considering how many romantic tropes sam and dean played into during the earlier seasons. erotically codependet etc etc

- probably more but i watched the finale exactly once and am not planning on doing it ever again in my life

tl;dr the 15x20/s1 parallels aren’t just parallels, it’s sam and dean actually regressing to their past selves because they are once again living chuck’s story (or on a meta level: still living the writers’ story). they don’t notice it and neither does the viewer because the framing of the episode suggests that god is defeated and sam and dean are living life the way they want. and yet their endgames are anything but what they would choose for themselves.

(if you watch the back half of s15 through this lense you can also suddenly excuse dean’s character assassination in 15x17/dean failing to break the cycle and being a bad father to jack just as john was a bad father to dean. running in circles is kind of chuck's Thing. god made them do it is a god tier coping mechanism for everything i’m mad at supernatural about.)

it all comes down to what cas said: freedom is a length of rope and sam and dean hung themselves with it. imo it’s still a dissatisfying ending after fifteen years of character development but it is narratively sound. the reason the story set up all these endgames and then didn’t pull through is that the antagonist won. 15x20 is a depressing tale on the dangers of hubris.

OR IS IT.

2. castiel’s absence is a good thing, actually

alright so this is where i’m probably REALLY going against authorial intent. here’s the thing about cas: he is the only character in the show that possesses true free will, both within the story (”you never did what you were told”, god himself in 15x17 unity) and outside the story (the showrunners kept trying to kill him and he kept coming back, cas falling in love with dean despite writers, actors and network actively trying to prohibit it). so if cas as the representative of free will had been in 15x20 my whole argument would collapse because his presence would mean it either WAS the ending sam and dean chose for themselves, or that cas no longer possessed free will.

but what did cas do instead? he rebuilt heaven for them. heaven is now a paradise of his own making, a place free of chuck’s influence and it’s where sam and dean will finally get to choose their ending. off-screen. post canon. across 50 ao3 pages. dean and cas are shyly linking pinkie fingers as we speak. because the ending the characters choose for themselves is not the writer’s ending to tell.

3. on destiel

i've already talked about my feelings on deancas in dabbnatural/15x20 so i'll just link those posts:

- i think they handled dean and cas’ relationship very well given the circumstances (my post and another very good analysis)

- textual reciprocation or not, destihellers won

- supernatural = queerbait is discussed with like zero nuance on this website and it's annoying as hell

i wrote this at 2 am, i hope i've managed to make my point. again, i'm not saying that this is what the writers were going for. but i do think it's a valid interpretation for the most part and i hope it helped someone feel a little less bitter about the finale!

[thepteryx]

The list of movies and tv-shows (Multifandom Mashup 2020)

Movies:

7500

#jesuislà

A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting

A Fall from Grace

After We Collided

All the Bright Places

Alone

Antebellum

Artemis Fowl

Ava

Bad Boys for Life

Bad Hair

Bill & Ted Face the Music

Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn

Bloodshot

Books of Blood

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Cadaver

Capone

Clouds

Come Play

Da 5 Bloods

Dolittle

Druk

Emma.

Enola Holmes

Escape from Pretoria

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga

Extraction

Follow Me

Freaky

Greenland

Gretel & Hansel

Greyhound

Hamilton

Happiest Season

Hillbilly Elegy

His House

Holidate

Holly Slept Over

Honest Thief

Horse Girl

Host

Hubie Halloween

I Still Believe

I'm Thinking of Ending Things

Inheritance

Inheritance

Kajillionaire

Let Him Go

Life in a Year

Lost Girls and Love Hotels

LOVE AND MONSTERS

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Mank

Minari

Misbehaviour

Miss Juneteenth

Monster Hunter

Mortal

Mulan

My Spy

Never Rarely Sometimes Always

On the Rocks

Project Power

Proxima

RADIOACTIVE

Rebecca

Relic

Save Yourselves!

Shirley

Sonic the Hedgehog

Spell

Spenser Confidential

Stardust

Tenet

Tesla

The Banker

The Boys in the Band

The Broken Hearts Gallery

The Call of the Wild

The Devil All the Time

The Empty Man

The Forty-Year-Old Version

The Grudge

The Hunt

The Invisible Man

The King of Staten Island

The Midnight Sky

The New Mutants

The Night Clerk

The Old Guard

The Outpost

The Postcard Killings

The Prom

The Secret Garden

The Trial of the Chicago 7

The War with Grandpa

The Way Back

The Witches

The Wolf of Snow Hollow

To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You

Train to Busan 2 (반도)

Underwater

Unhinged

Vampires vs. the Bronx

W lesie dzis nie zasnie nikt

Wonder Woman 1984

Tv-shows:

13 Reasons Why

Agents of SHIELD

American Horror Story

Arrow

Blood and Water

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Crash Landing on You (사랑의 불시착)

Dark

Defending Jacob

Doctor Who

Elite

Euphoria

Hanna

Hi Bye Mama (하이바이마마)

How to Get Away with Murder

I Am Not Okay with This

It's Okay to Not Be Okay (사이코지만 괜찮아)

Itaewon Class (이태원 클라쓰)

Killing Eve

Legacies

Locke & Key

Love Lasts Forever (恋はつづくよどこまでも)

Love, Victor

Lucifer

Mystic Pop-up Bar (쌍갑포차)

Outlander 

Penny Dreadful: City of Angels

Riverdale

Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker

Sex Education

Spinning Out

Startup (스타트업)

Supergirl

Supernatural

Tale of Gumiho(구미호뎐)

The 100

The Boys

The Flash

The Great

The King: Eternal Monarch (더 킹: 영원의 군주)

The Mandalorian

The Penthouse: War in Life (펜트하우스)

The Queen’s Gambit

The Umbrella Academy

Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard (30歳まで童貞だと魔法使いになれるらしい)

Vikings

Warrior Nun

Animation:

A Whisker Away

Altered Carbon: Resleeved

Attack on Titan (進撃の巨人)

Haikyu!! (ハイキュー!!)

Heaven Official's Blessing (天官赐福)

Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge

Onward

Over the Moon

Scoob!

Superman: Red Son

The Founder of Diabolism Q (魔道祖师Q)

The King's Avatar (全职高手)

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run

The Willoughbys

Tower of God (神之塔)

Trolls World Tour

Wolfwalkers