#Classic Horror Oracle

[amerwitchmagics]

Cards of the Day:  Reversed 8 of Cups, Face, and Harvest witch.

Be queer and spread the fucking fear.

Link in bio to buy a card reading!

[we-will-swallow-your-soul]

[cauldronsandcoffins]

Daily Tarot - 1.04.2024

Deck: Classic Horror Oracle

Water (Creature from the Black Lagoon), Upright - focus on your established routines

Neighbors (Rosemary's baby), Upright - embrace your role in the community

Combination (The Fly), Upright - we help each other be human

[witchyfashion]

Classic Horror Oracle

https://amzn.to/3XZrKsT

[loregoddess]

Barnes & Noble cracks me up, I decided to see if they had this one book and the price ranges from paperback $7 to paperback but it's $55 for some reason that nothing on the website dares to elucidate me on

[failbettergames]

any games you'd recommend? could be for any reason! (similarity to fallen london, you know the people who made it, you just think it's neat, etc.) besides your own, of course, I already own all of those :)

Yes, here's a list of all of the games we talked about in our newsletter last year:

Birth: an adventure puzzle game about constructing a creature from spare bones & organs.

Scarlet Hollow: an immersive, episodic horror-mystery.

Egypt: Old Kingdom: a strategy simulator of the Great Pyramids period.

The Past Within is a fun, eerie way to spend an hour with a friend.

The Pale Beyond: high stakes on the frozen wastes, Sunless Sea feelings. 

King of the Castle: medieval monarch party game.

Stray Gods: an urban fantasy, musical visual novel featuring the gods of Greek myth.

Vampire Survivors: so moreish.

Knotwords: extremely satisfying crossword-anagram-puzzle game.

The Banished Vault: so gorgeous it actually makes us a bit cross.

Astronaut the Best: an anarchic comedy about assembling a team of hapless astronauts. 

El Paso, Elsewhere: supernatural neo-noir shooter, in which you must destroy the villain you loved - even if it means dying yourself.

Thank Goodness You're Here: may be the only game that’s more British than the ones we make.

The Fabulous Fear Machine: pulpy horror narrative strategy.

WORLD OF HORROR: Junji Ito-adjacent roguelike.

Lies of P: tickles your Fromsoft fancy. 

The Lamplighters League: essentially 1930s supernatural XCOM 

Tails Noir (formerly known as Backbone): gorgeous, bleak, compelling and unsatisfying in equal measure. 

Mediterrea Inferno: a spicy story about finding yourself after isolation.

DotAGE: manage a village where the Village Elder has helpfully precise visions of the future.

Slay the Princess: the princess is very bad and you have to kill her. 

VR remake of The 7th Guest: very fun, silly and far less punishing than the original. 

Astrea: Six-sided Oracles: interesting dice-and-deckbuilding system. 

Return of the Obra Dinn: truly a modern classic.

[onnahu]

Batkids as AO3 users

Dick - I don't think he'd be a writer. He just don't give me the vibes, ya know? He would, however, read fics about people he knows. And himself. He's deep in superhero fandom, and at some moment he gets super invested in some rarepair and actually menages to set them up. I also think as a teenager he would stumble upon some E rated fic for someone he knows, then promise himself he'd never touch it again, and then a few years later he reads them a lot, is just super secretive and guilty about it. He does not, however, touch Batman E rated fics with a ten foot pole.

Tim - you'd think he'd write Hero RPF, huh? No. He's deep into Formula 1 RPF. He writes, he reads, he's just very active in fandom. Most of his works are some kind of Formula 1 murder mystery.

Jason - he is the one from Hero RPF. He doesn't read it, he just writes it. In various AU's, ranging from some inspired by his crazy adventures to those from classic literature. When he was still Robin, he wrote Pride and Prejudice Superbat fic, that became crazy popular. After ressurection he sweared he wouldn't touch it, but after checking it out once and realising how tragic his writing style was, he rewrites the whole thing. He reads fics from fandoms he does not know the original works of. He finds a fic he likes, and learns things from it. Then he spirals deep into fandom. Like many of Batfam fans I imagine. That's why he doesn't write, because he feels he can't without knowing the original, and he sure as hell ain't watching some kids show called Ben 10.

Babs - I think her beginnings were in something like Twilight of DCU. She would regret it forever. Currently she's involved in some shows she watches when on break from work and Oracle. I'm not really into TV series but maybe something like Bridgertons or The Boys or something like that. She writes only one-shots and is active on Tumblr. She has like a thousand bookmarks and she posts fic recs with the most wild analysis of writing style, plot consistency and just vibes. She stays away from any RPF's, but esoecially Superhero RPF. She's got it enough on day to day basis thank you very much.

Steph - that girl post Robin writes the most sick gore body horror fics change my mind. And she does it in fandom's you would least expected. She also writes Spoiler/Batgirl fics, that are really fluffy but also full of action and actually made the pairing wildly known.

Cass - she reads everything Steph writes for Spoiler/Batgirl. Steph does not know Cass knows she writes them. Cass is really charmed. She tried writing one, but it came out really dark and she didn't like how clumsy it was and gave up on trying to be an author. She reads heavy angst, crack, or Steph's Spoiler/Batgirl fics, nothing else. She's the person that leaves very short but very sweet comments on literally averything she likes.

Duke - that boy is in the same circles as both Tim and Dick. He actually finds out it's Tim that writes his favourite Formula 1 fics as Tim finds out it's Duke that leaves those super insightful comments on them that start's conversations with author and other readers. They have one talk about it and then forcefully forgets about it and continues as it was. He writes Batman and Robin and Robin Gang fics. He's really good at it, and that's how he found Duck Grayson. Not that any of them knows that's the other on the other side of the screen. And yes, he's Steph's beta reader, and she's his. They don't talk about it, it's just how it is.

Damian - he reads Batman and Robin fics but only about himself. He also draws fanart and makes comics about Batman and Robin (himself). Later he gets involved in Teen Titans fandom, then the Justice League one, and suddenly he's a wildly known fanartist in the whole Hero RPF community. And he did draw a fanart for Jason's fic ones. They both don't know it's the other. He also gives aby superhero an emotional support fictional pet. Dick think it's adorable. (He was the one that introduced Damian to fandom.)

[mask131]

The myth of Apollo (2)

This is a loose translation of Alain Moreau's article "The Antique Apollo: Shadow and Light".

II/ The ambiguous god

The mystery that shrouds Apollo’s origins, this enigma that disconcerts the scholars, had the advantage to allow the artists a freedom of imagination: since the shape of the primitive character of the god is drowned and blurred, he can be depicted as either a god of light, or a god of shadow and death; However, even within the most clear-cut portraits, his complexity remains. Apollo is never a god entirely just and good ; but he is never fully aligned with malevolent powers.

According to the beginning of the Iliad, Homer chose to depict the dreaded aspect of the go. Apollo, angered against Agamemnon’s army, hits them with a terrible disaster, (nousos, loimos), the plague: “A terrible sound came out of the silver bow. He first attacked the horses, like fast dogs. Then, it is men that are hit by his sharp arrow, and the funeral pyres burn hundreds ceaselessly.” Fervent enemy of the Greeks, it is Apollo that throws against the Achaean wall all the rivers of the Mount Ida ; it is also him that hits Patroclus in the back and offers him unarmed to the spear of Hector. And yet, this terrible god is also the one that brings a painless death, and then the cruel arrows become the “soft arrows”. He is hostile to the Achaeans, but he brings a tireless protection to the Trojans. Aeneas, Glaucos, Hector are all helped by him. He constantly assists them, recomforts them, stimulates them, saves them. If his shot brings death, it can also repel evil. Apollo is “the one that preserves” (hekaergos). Throughout the centuries, many epiclesis will attest this trait: alexikakos, apotropaios, epikourios…

In a reverse way, the “Homeric Hymn”, which is all about the glory of this conquering god who is eternally young and beautiful, oes not hide his “boundless pride”, and he is shown easily tricked. Young Apollo does not have the same temperance and moderation that will become the fundamentals of the Delphi wisdom, engraved on his very temple (“Know thyself”, “Never too much”) ; and young Apollo also lacks the omniscience of his father Zeus.

But with Pindar, at the beginning of the Classical age (5th century), he gains omniscience: in the “Pythics” he is described as “knowing the fatal term of all things and all the paths they take”, as “being able to count the leaves the earth grows during spring, and the grains of sand that roll under the waves of the sea or the river, and the flows of the wind” ; and as “you who sees clearly the future and its origin”…  As a generous god, he also offers to humanity benevolent gifts, and maintains peace: “It is him that gives to men and to women the remedies that heal cruel diseases ; he gave us the cithara ; the Muse inspires those that please him ; he places in the hearts the love for concord and the horror of civil war. He rules the prophetic sanctuary.” As a son of Zeus, he himself becomes the embodiment of the divine, of the unnamed, of the celebrated “theos”. But Pindar didn’t go as far as to erase the other Apollo, the cruel god of destruction. Apollo takes his revenge over an unfaithful Coronis by sending Artemis, a merciless and blind executioner, to kill her with a brutal death – and so will perish numerous innocents whose sole crime was to live near the culprit.

Aeschylus’ Apollo, contemporary to the one of Pindar, brings a halt to the evolution of the god – and even a regression. In his tragedies, we have a bloodthirsty god that massacres with his arrows all of Niobe’s sons: his wrath is unflinching. Laios disobeyed the oracle: at the seventh door, the god will cause the fratricide of his grandsons Eteocle and Polynice (The Seven Against Thebes). Cassandra did not keep her promise: she will be mocked, captured and murdered. But the god, just like the perjury girl, does not hold his promises: after predicting to Thetis that all the gods will protect her bloodline with all of their love, he kills her son Achilles (The Judgement of Weapons). He is a god that scares people: “Phoibos” is close to “phobos”, fear and scare (The Persians). “Apollon” is close to “apollôn”, “he who destroys” (Agamemnon). The justice Apollo offers is an archaic justice, a vendetta logic: kill the one that killed. When he fights the Erynies within the play “The Eumenids”, he is not above them in any way: they have the same violence, the same bad faith, the same contradictions. And yet… this god is invoked by the messenger of Argos as the savior and the healer (Agamemnon). This imperfect god is the ambassador of Zeus, as it is highlighted many times during “The Eumenids”. This conquering god settles with pacifism on the ancient throne of Delphi: within “The Eumenids”, no murder of any dragon is mentioned. The god of darkness keeps some traits from the god of light.

The regression of Apollo within Aeschylus’ plays is explained by the turmoil of a world that was building: the Greek city was being born among a set of social and political tensions that impacted the way the thinkers saw the cosmos. Euripides’ own regression of Apollo can be explained by a world that is falling apart. The cities are fighting with each other, beliefs are weakening, the gods are falling from their pedestal and are lowered to the same level as mankind. It is the Dioscuri that absolve Orestes of the death of Clytemnestra. And the culprit of the crime is designated as Apollo, which gave “an unwise order” (Electra). A god full of grudges, he never forgives any offense. It is within his own sanctuary, in a treacherous way, by the arms of a thousand men, that he takes his revenge upon Pyrrhus, right as the latter was coming to make amends: “Here is how the Lord that gives oracles, the arbitrator of the law for all humankind, treats the son of Achilles as he was offering reparation! Just like a wicked man, he remembered old feuds. How could he then be wise?” (Andromache). Another proof of his lack of wisdom: he rapes Creusa. “Ah! Do not act in such a way ; if you have the power, practice the virtue! Because anyone who is wicked is punished by the gods. Then, how can we stand that yourselves, that make laws for the humans, be recognized of violating those laws? (Ion).

And yet, the Apollo of Euripides can also be as shining as the god of Pindar and of the Homeric Hymn: “How beautiful are the children of Leto, that she of Delos birthed in the fecund vales of the Isle – the golden-haired god, knowledgeable lyre-player, and the goddess proud in her talent at shooting with a bow!” (Iphigenia in Taurid). The bloodthirsty god can preach for peace: “Go you way, and may the most beautiful goddess, Peace, be in your home with honor.” (Orestes). And, while the poet is very critical of the god’s actions during “Ion”, he still sings the luminous and cosmic beauty of Delphi which, according to him, would have never been as great as it is if it wasn’t for the grace of its god: “Here is the brilliant four-horse chariot: Helios, already, sheds light upon the earth. And the stars flee the ether that is enflamed among the sacred night. The untouched peaks of the Parnassus, drowned in light, welcome for mankind the disc of the day.”

The ambiguity of the god, tied to his origins, is maintained as much within the works of those that criticized him, as in the texts of those that admired and respected him.

[amerwitchmagics]

Cards of the Day: 3 of Wands, Ice, and Cranberries.

By focusing on the good today, we can tap into our power.

Link in bio to buy a card reading!

[oceanlipgloss]

MILK

BELPHEGOR.

+ warnings: angst, strong language.

+ my mc is the heroine, so the pronouns are feminine.

Milk helps put souls to sleep. Mouths like to drink it hot. White that once clouded clear glass with twists of steam slithers down throats and pours into stomachs. It’s been that way since old times and the dawn of history, perhaps—a tradition in many households.

As a general rule, children love their nightly pint of hot milk. As grown-ups, many of them cherish it. The liquid had followed them, after all, flowing behind them into good ol’ dull adulthood.

Now he, normally he never needed silly methods like that. No ‘sleep-helpers’ for him, thanks. His organic chemistry championed the slumber department.

Just not that night.

In those star-flecked hours, he just couldn’t sleep.

Dry flakes of milk dotted the glass to his right. Under the lamp’s light they had looked like a blueberry mix: violet freckles, lavender stars, purple planets.

Even with his head in her soft lap, her fingers in his uncombed hair, and the exhaustion slowly glazing the inner chambers of his veins, he couldn’t make himself doze off and away.

Maybe his body would not surrender to sloth because of her presence.

He wasn’t thinking about anything in particular, but his brain was as alive as an electric wire is: a curly leech pulsing with its own sort of glimmering currents and glistening life. There was an entire galaxy in his mind. A milky way.

Something was flicking blurry nightmares at his soul.

His tired eyes watched. Fake planets moved lazily above him, in a perfect circle, almost as though they were doing their own ritual. The ringed one in the middle had to be the oracle. No one knew anything about the little magical meeting. It was amusing; even still objects can do things they want.

He thought of fairy dust.

His head was spinning. He felt dizzy. Not physically. Something inside him was twirling around itself, spiralling. Would anyone understand? If he tried explaining. Would they know what he meant?

One hour, two hours, three. After each other they passed. He could hear her soft breaths. His fingertips pressed against her cheek. Pillow-soft. Someone else would’ve compared it to a marshmallow. A dent formed between her brows. His skin was cold.

Counting stars was too romantic. Rosy. He was in a black mood. Back to the classics: he began to count sheep.

One pink sheep, two pink sheep, three...

Everywhere in the universe, creatures resort to many of the same things, it seems.

It wasn’t that late when the answer came to him. He hadn’t ever lost it, not really. He hadn’t even needed to look. It had been there all along, the thing nagging at him. It crawled to him by itself, on its own hands and feet. It was a fear.

Again he remembered that, years from now—hopefully many, many years from now—on a sleepless night like this, he would be yet another insomniac lying in his bed or on the floors.

Alone.

That night he just couldn’t sleep well. He dreamt of fading stars and planet collisions.

Hot milk helps put souls to sleep, does it? Fuck hot milk. It didn’t do shit, did it?

+notes: I honestly didn't want to log in, but I like to post fics the day I write them on 'cause I don't write dates down next in my notes and instead use Tumblr as a sort of accurate timeline to keep track of when I wrote something/last wrote anything at all my AO3 dates have mostly not heard of accuracy (transl.: since I'm somewhat writing again now, this may very well be repeated). Anyways *quietly sneaks u 100mg of existential horrors*

+ MASTERLIST

+ AO3 POST

©𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙨

[havendance]

New Comics Time!

The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #4 -- I didn't really like the art as much for this issue at first, but this continues to be so fun that I didn't really care by the end. What can I say? I am a sucker for good old fashioned gags like this:

Freddy: Everybody stay calm. Don't panic. I'm a trained professional, and I know what to do. Oh. It's not a mask. Shaggy: Like, now can we panic?

Anyway, the mystery was fun and Oracle and Robin were there and I think we've already gone over the fact that I'm easy to please with these comics.

DC Horror Presents: Creature Commandos #1 -- Read this because it was on DCUI and I was like why not? It was fine, I suppose. I wasn’t really familiar with the creature commandos coming into this but there’s some interesting characters here. I think my big issue with this was that it felt like a generic ‘assemble the team’ issue when I was really expecting more horror from something titled ‘DC Horror Presents’. Not sure why this was labeled 17+ either because so far it’s just really pretty tame imo.

I Know What You Did Last Crisis #1

For an anthology comic, I thought that this was pretty solid. To go through the stories:

"What Kind of Hero" -- This was fun. I liked the classic Batgirl Barbara and I liked how Killer Croc was used. The art was also a good fit--there were details like the way the lips were shaded that reminded me of that more classic comic art style.

"A Constant State of Healing" -- Another story I would classify as fun, but not standout. I liked seeing Dr. Light.

"Dearly Departed" -- Best story in here hands down! I loved the classic Babs and Dinah Birds of Prey team-up in here. Short hair Dinah? *Chef's kiss* Anyway, putting her up against Banshee was really fun and the scarecrow fear toxin brought it to the next level. Also, her hallucinating dead a Oliver Queen was just perfect.

"At the Point of Vanishing" -- Eh, this one didn't do much for me. I didn't really have that much tie to the characters. It wasn't bad, it just felt kind of meh.

"Crisis Obscura" -- I just think it's hilarious that every other story in this anthology is a normal, canon-compliant type event tie in while this one is just Didio killing Nightwing with extreme prejudice. I can't even take it seriously. Made me laugh out loud because of that.

"Jump Scare" -- This was a perfectly fine scarecrow story, but it felt only tenuously connected to Darkest Night which I felt weakened it.

"God's Chosen Man" --This was the other standout story to me. I did not read most of Final Crisis (only some of the tie-ins) but this look into Lex Luthor's head was so interesting. Especially in terms of Superman and Lex.

"Violent Tendencies" -- This one was also more meh to me. I didn't read Flashpoint so I was lost some there and also I don't like Professor Pyg in general and don't like Midnighter enough to made up for it.

[seethestarsalittlecloser]

Some facts:

in 2018 while studying for my BA in Classics I wrote a short story about Helen of Troy and the oracle Cassandra falling in love during the Trojan War

It sat on my hard drive for 3 years because I didn't know what to do with it

I eventually went "fuck it" and posted it on AO3 under the original fiction + greek mythology tags. This is the only place it can be accessed by anyone other than me.

For my screenwriting degree this semester I had to do a project where I wrote the first act of an original screenplay

I pitched a film adaptation of my Helen/Cassandra short story which was well received.

wrote the screenplay

I have to write an essay about how I wrote the screenplay

my bibliography now has an entry that looks like this:

The visceral horror of having to cite my own AO3 account in an essay has short-circuited my brain

[extraordinaryhistories]

#16 – 'Jason' (A Sun Came, 1998)

‘Jason’ is the other half of the A Sun Came diptych that begins with ‘The Oracle Said Wander’: two songs that function as vague retellings of classical Greek narratives favoured by Sufjan. ‘The Oracle Said Wander’ centres itself around Cadmus, but ‘Jason’ takes as its subject the Argonaut of the same name, whose quest for the Golden Fleece is an enduring staple of Greek mythology that finds adaptation and re-adaptation today.

This tale needs little introduction compared to that of Cadmus, and the song benefits from it, because ‘Jason’, despite the glut of words present across its six minutes, remains wilfully obtuse. Motifs from the tale are present: there is mention of an Argon, of brave knights, and of the dragon guarding the fleece. But the rest remains glibly indirect. It seems to be written as an ode of sorts, Sufjan being front and centre of the hero’s cheer squad; the core refrain is ‘Jason, you’re the only one / Jason, like a steady son,’ placing the narrator at a remove from the thrust of the plot. This will soon become an incredibly important feature of Sufjan’s storytelling manner. Sufjan almost never places himself in the narratorial perspective of his subjects. He has intimate knowledge of them, but he remains ever deferential, always the supportive bystander but never the centre itself. It’s what gives his lyrics their charming humility. (And also what makes it all the more astoundingly subversive in the rare occasions when, on a song like ‘Saturn’, he speaks to you with all the horror-inspiring authority of God himself. But that’s for a later entry.)

This aside, not much else can be divined from these lyrics. ‘Jason’ is a song about Jason, news at 11.

The musical elements of ‘Jason’ are of greater repute. This song is A Sun Came’s last rock offering, and as such, one of the last true ‘heavy’ songs – in the 90s guitar-and-drum freakout sense – on a Sufjan album. Perhaps the very last, depending on how one defines the style. Any definition of heaviness would certainly encompass ‘Jason’, anchored around a charging, drum machine-led beat and a three-chord guitar line that keeps climbing up and up and up, like Hercules ascending a great mountain. It never quite peaks; it gets around 80% there and then decides to turn back, content with its progress (and likely mindful of its length – this song is six minutes, largely consisting of the same motif, ‘you’re the only one’ repeating in chorus for a good portion of the track’s duration.)

We also get multiple of Sufjan’s vocal styles here, some of which would largely be consigned to the past following this album. Whisper-sung Sufjan appears in the sunny, optimistic ‘you’re the only one’ hook, but is at points overpowered by screaming, distorted Sufjan, singing countermelodies over the hook and creating a hodgepodge of vocal noise that never really jells in the way that (I assume) Sufjan intended to. But it certainly creates a great racket along the way. When the guitar fades out towards the end, all that’s left is the vocal, the motorik drum groove and an abundance of odd keyboard detritus that one never quite registers during the main portion of the song. It’s a dense song – this much it succeeds at. It ain’t no ‘Demetrius’.

I always thought that ‘Jason’ would work very well as a live track, aided by a smoother, more tasteful arrangement. I’m confident that the noise it creates could whip up a fervour from a crowd. It never did get that treatment, unfortunately. Or not unfortunately. It’s not really so important.

[theladyoracle]

✧ How Are the Creeps Celebrating Halloween? ✧

𖦹⭒°｡⋆𖦹 The Lady Oracle's AU/Headcanons 𖦹⋆°｡⭒𖦹

Jeff the Killer

Jeff always has plans for Halloween, however they aren't the most elaborate

He for sure gets in a kill or two, soaking up the adrenaline of murdering on such a staple holiday

Probably so delusional that he feels like the holiday was created just for him

Will always tell people that Halloween is 'for babies' and that he doesn't celebrate it

It would just be a complete WASTE if he didn't take this opportunity to mess with kids

He would definitely plot this out weeks in advance, finding all the neighborhoods with the best candy

The kids would be all "nice mask!" and he'd show them it isn't one

He would then immediately loot their candy and take it back to the manor and brag to BEN that he got so much more than him and Sally (even tho BEN really couldn't care less)

Doesn't dress up unless he can convince himself it's ironic - will always choose a classic horror or slasher inspired costume

Avid pumpkin smasher

BEN Drowned

Tries to ignore Jeff's taunts that he can 'get more candy than he can even dream of without even dressing up'

Spends the better part of the day doing nothing (as usual)

Plays his usual competitive games, will maybe play a horror game or two

Since he's practically useless 100% of the time, he's forced to take Sally and the other youngins Trick 'r Treatin'

He hates this job, and somehow gets stuck with it every year (Sally manipulates him to go, or begs Slenderman to make him go)

He uses his shifting abilities to his advantage, both by posing as a kiddo to go Trick 'r Treating and to shift back into his default form to scare off any jerks that might be fucking with Sally and the others

At least he likes dressing up

Always goes as Link. Loves the attention if and when people compliment his costume (everyone in the manor always makes fun of his costume)

This is the most walking he does all year

Starts off pretending that he's grumpy and hates it, and then ends up getting way too into it

Actually enjoys the candy - and appreciates that Sally shares with him

If you offer to go with him to watch the kids he'll probably just shrug it off and tell you you'll have more fun staying home

This is probably because he 1. doesn't want you to see him actually having fun with the kids and 2. he doesn't want you taking his share of the candy

Jane the Killer

Nina makes her dress up. Every. Fucking. Year.

Always tries to reuse items she already has in her closet to make a costume (vampire, victorian widow, etc)

Everyone always tells her she's not dressing up, but she doesn't really care because it appeases Nina

Will usually make plans to arrange a little something-something for the creeps to do for the occasion (pumpkin carving activity, scary movie night, etc)

No one really attends, but it makes her feel productive

Usually ends up watching a scary movie alone or with a couple of others if they offer

Always pokes holes in the plot, the acting, the effects

She likes to laugh at horror movies, and has a special interest in the super old ones

Nina the Killer

LOVES Halloween!

Always comes up with elaborate costumes every year

Spends the better half of the year accumulating articles of clothing, props, and DIY stuff

The crafting almost always goes horribly wrong and she needs help pulling it all together in the end

Dresses creepy cute! Makes it a point to go around the whole manor and ask if they like her costume

Always begs Jane to help her throw a crazy party for the manor, in which Jane and Slenderman always say no to

Usually just ends up being satisfied with a little Halloween treat, a little Halloween movie and getting absolutely shitfaced

Definitely BEGS to watch some Halloween movies as opposed to horror movies (The Night Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, Edward Scissorhands, Hocus Pocus, etc)

Falls asleep after like, two movies

Clockwork

Hates Halloween, but plays along for Nina's sake

Lets Nina dress her however she wants, just to appease her

Usually just goes along with whatever, just so long as she can drink

Will spend the entire night going along with whatever Nina wants to do

Shares looks with Jane throughout the whole night - looks of 'i can't believe we're actually doing this' and 'is she serious?' and 'it's okay though because we love her'

Always ends up having to gut the pumpkins for Nina when they carve them

Stays up late with Jane to watch real horror movies, and makes fun of them with her

Tim/Masky

Since his life is already a living breathing nightmare, he doesn't see much appeal in Halloween

Then again, he's not the keenest on any holiday

Doesn't really even think about holidays anymore, let alone one designed for children to get free candy

Is usually convinced by Brian to participate in pumpkin carving

Or will go for walks in the woods before the weather gets too unbearable

Sometimes its nice because they can walk around society in their masks and not feel so detached from everyone, but it also fucks him up a little to do that

Likes to keep himself busy

One year he managed to string some lights up on the beat up Proxy Cabin, but the generator he found barely kept them lit for a day or so

Can be convinced to tell a scary story around the fire, but only after constant egging from Brian

Brian/Hoodie

Given their circumstances, there's not a lot of opportunity to celebrate any holiday

Proxies don't keep calendars, so sometimes the holiday sneaks up on them or passes by without much of a second thought

Convinces Tim to carve pumpkins with him

It's a nice domestic thing that they can do in the comfort of the Proxy Cabin, and it doesn't take that much work at all

Likes to dress up, but isn't really allowed to given his role in the woods

Tries to keep the Proxies in good spirits around any holiday - wants to hold on to their humanity

Surprises the Proxies with shoplifted chocolate

Attempts to put together small "boo baskets" for everyone. This is mostly trash, shoplifted items, and small whittling projects he's been working on throughout the month

(Ticci) Toby Rogers

Has spent countless Halloweens getting into all sorts of reckless shenanigans

Is 100% down to smash pumpkins in the woods

I'm talking like he goes around stealing them from people's stoops and just brings them back to the woods to absolutely destroy

Will TP strangers' houses

Tries to drown himself with errand tasks for the Operator, so that he can be out and about and see the activities

Always misses Lyra around this time of year, as he can recall a few memories when she would take him out to Trick or Treat

He'd definitely chase some kids just to loot their candy

Or find a group of teenagers that were already scaring kids, and freak them out just for the hell of it

Usually gets high and vandalizes something

Has a very select taste when it comes to horror movies

Really likes the Scream franchise, because its so meta and more of a funny/thrilling 'whodunnit' than scary

One year he crashed a sorority party - he came back home absolutely crossed and threw up over everything (Tim has never let him live this down)

[stainlesssteellocust]

Ok. Where should I start with the 40K novels?

I tried one like 15 years ago and it was bad, no memory of which. Generic space marine stuff. I like the setting and many games, though much of the fandom can be exhausting.

I trust your tastes!

Hmm. There are unfortunately rather more bad or mediocre ones than good, but let’s see. Hopefully your trust will not be misplaced!

Possibly my favourite is The Infinite and the Divine, by Robert Rath. It’s a tale of two Necrons, mad historian and archaeologist Trazyn the Infinite and his rival, oracle and time-wizard Orikan the Diviner, as they squabble over an artifact that could change the destiny of their people. A tale of petty scheming and Tom & Jerry nonsense that stretches for thousands of years. I’m currently reading Rath’s Siege of Cadia, and while it isn’t quite as good, more grand battles and the like, it’s still a good read so far.

Also about the Necrons is Severed by Nate Crowley, a lovely little novella about a Necron general who thinks he’s still flesh and blood, and his long-suffering assistant. The same author also has a few books out, called The Twice Dead King, and I’ve tried the first one. Found it slow going and got distracted, but maybe I wasn’t in the mood at the time. I’ve heard good things about it from others.

There’s the Cain series, which is considered a classic. It’s framed as the private memoirs of celebrated Imperial hero Ciaphas Cain, with asides from an Inquisitor he had a close relationship with. The joke is that, to hear Cain tell it, his reputation is a lie: He’s an utter coward who somehow manages to come out smelling of roses every time, is rewarded by being sent into ever nastier wars and situations, and ends up having to act like his false heroic persona in order to lever his reputation to survive.

It’s a slightly more comedic take on the setting than most, with an undercurrent of unreliable narration: It’s suggested that while Cain isn’t the square-jawed hero propaganda says he is, he’s a lot more heroic than he gives himself credit for, and the extend to which he’s really a coward as opposed to a brave man riddled with self loathing and imposter syndrome is left up in the air. Been a while but the ones I read tended to be fun, if slightly formulaic after a while.

I remember enjoying the old Sisters of Battle books by James Swallow, but I haven’t read them in many years so I’m not sure if they hold up. Same with the Eisenhorn series; both are due a reread and I’ll get back to you on whether they’re worth it.

Blades of Damocles is bolter porn but it’s relatively fun bolter porn, and watching the culture clash of the Imperium and the Tau is nice.

I originally got into 40k novels via William King’s stuff; his Ragnar stories are the usual Space Marine fare (star Viking flavour) but he’s more skilled with it than most. He also wrote the most iconic books for Warhammer Fantasy: The original run of Gotrek and Felix, about a dwarf who wishes to atone for an unnamed sin via dying in battle and the human poet who drunkenly agreed to write his death saga, and to his horror now finds himself dragged to the ends of the earth as Gotrek seeks a worthy death. According to fannish lore, their books were the most profitable part of the WHF IP when Games Workshop nuked that setting (a decision they appear to be rolling back).

And speaking of Fantasy, I personally liked the story Drachenfels, which begins in media res as a party of adventurers battles a dark lord…then cuts to years later as their leader, now a powerful politician, reunites his old party members. By putting on a play of their victory over the dark lord. In the dark lord’s castle. On the eve of his defeat. Which of course cannot possibly go wrong. No siree.

I’ll also throw in a couple of fanfics if you’re into that: Breaker of Chains and its two sequels (third instalment not finished) feature the Primarch Angron, in canon a servant of the Chaos god Khorne and leader of the berserk World Eater space marines. In canon Angron landed on the planet Nuceria as a child and led a slave rebellion against its masters only for the Emperor to snatch him away at the last moment to serve him, resulting in his comrades dying and Angron’s mind breaking, leading him to Chaos. In this story his Legion finds him first, his rebellion wins and he enters the wider galaxy relatively more well adjusted.

Relatively.

Whereas Suffer Not is the tale of an Inquisitor doing her best to actually make the galaxy a better place. Shockingly. Completed, has a sequel, got some negative fan attention because of its take on the setting but I rather liked it.

(Both of the above make the unusual choice of using second person, because they were interactive works: Readers would vote on the character’s next action, and the author would weave the result into the next update.)

I’m sure there’s a lot more stuff I’m missing, but that should be a good start.

[lakesbian]

“By the book, our lives will be turned upside down,” the man said. He was… Louise couldn’t place the name. He worked at the tackle and hunting shop. Friendly, easygoing. Twenty-something, broad shouldered with a rounded jawline that made him look slightly overweight, even though he wasn’t. The short beard he’d cultivated to suggest a jawline didn’t really do the trick.

[leaping over the table and strangling]

that's not a behaim but for a second i instinctively took it for one because of the weight comment

never gets old how practitioners sound like the classic ominous horror movie oracles when you dont know whats going on with them and if you Do know theyre just like. regular guys having a really bad time usually