#I hope they make sense for each Horseman

[imagine-darksiders]

Me waking up in a cold sweat:

Would the horsemen enjoy carving pumpkins?

[Me going to sleep in a hot sweat]

oh my god.

Strife would be so so SO keen to play this strange but fun human game of 'mutilate a gourd until it looks scary.' He hounds you for ages until you agree to take him to a pumpkin-picking farm, and there he proceeds to get WAY too many pumpkins [all of which you have to pay for, despite Strife trying to intimidate the clerk into giving them to you for free] You think he's showing off by carrying as many as possible but you don't call him out on it. He makes an absolute mess of your kitchen, and when he's finished, he's immensely proud of the absolute dogsh!t pumpkin he's carved. It earns pride of place on the windowsill. Teenagers laugh at it when they pass by.

Fury would initially scoff and roll her eyes at the childishness of the act... However, once she sees you 'gutting' the pumpkin, literally scooping out its innards and gouging holes for eyes with a look of glee on your face, she wonders if that's as satisfying as it looks. It is. You tell her if she makes her pumpkin scary enough, it'll frighten the local children, and suddenly, she's all in.

War wouldn't be impressed. It seems a waste of perfectly good food to him. Those pumpkins aren't scary. He's seen scarier things just last week. You tell him carving pumpkins is usually just meant to be a bit of fun, but he's a practical Horseman who wouldn't know fun if it punched him in the nose. You then try to explain the practical/superstitious purpose of carving a scary Jack o'lantern to scare away evil spirits on Halloween. War instantly becomes offended, thinking you've just admitted that you'd trust a gourd to protect you when he is standing right here.

Death supposes, if he squints, he can see the appeal of trying to carve something artistic from the flesh of a large, round fruit. However, he's largely content to sit back and watch you get your own hands sticky and messy at first, but what he doesn't realise is that Fury told you how much of a craftsman her eldest brother truly is. You set his own pumpkin in front of him, alongside a knife and say 'What? Are you intimidated by a blank canvas?' Death knows good and well what you're doing.... Alright then, human. If you want a scary pumpkin to frighten away your 'evil spirits,' then he's about to carve something that would make Satan himself run for the hills.

[reylokisses]

I read online that Vivienne Medrano cited Beatrice Horseman from Bojack Horseman as inspiration for Stella Goetia in Helluva Boss.

That makes sense, as Beatrice Horseman was a victim (of her father/mother/Butterscotch/society in general) and an abuser (of Bojack/Henrietta/Hollyhock), while Stella is a victim of forced marriage, forced pregnancy and a victim of her revolting brother, Andrealphus:

While also being Stolas’ abuser (and indirectly abusing Octavia by abusing Stolas in front of her)*

Speaking of Beatrice Horseman being an abuser, I was completely baffled when I read someone applaud Beatrice for being by Henrietta’s side while Henrietta was in labour with Hollyhock, and calling it an example of women supporting women.

Are you kidding me?!!!

The only reason why Beatrice was with Henrietta while she gave birth, was so that Beatrice could remove Hollyhock from Henrietta the second she was born!

The show even frames Beatrice’s actions as despicable- the scene switches from the traumatic memory of Joseph Sugarman, Beatrice’s father, burning little-girl-Beatrice’s beloved baby doll while she screams and begs him to stop, to adult Beatrice taking the newborn Hollyhock away to be given up for adoption, and refusing to let Henrietta hold her own baby.

Beatrice has just done one of the most evil things a person can do to another, and some people think she was justified?!

Even if viewers somehow think Beatrice was doing the right thing here, the show clearly doesn’t want us to think so. Henrietta’s face is scratched out, meaning that Beatrice is so ashamed of what she did to Henrietta, that she can’t bear to think about her.

The writers also make it clear that Beatrice was motivated by selfish reasons:

Beatrice wants to live vicariously through Henrietta and make her do what Beatrice wishes she herself had done - if Beatrice had had an abortion, or placed Bojack for adoption, then Beatrice would never have married Butterscotch and be stuck in a life that she hated.

However, one of the themes of Bojack Horseman is that “you’re responsible for your own happiness”. Beatrice and Butterscotch could have gotten a divorce and been free of one another- Beatrice came from a wealthy family, so she wasn’t trapped financially with Butterscotch. Blaming Bojack for their misery was cruel and unjust.

Butterscotch was being irresponsible and selfish with Henrietta- he could have paid child support for Hollyhock and then Henrietta could have afforded childcare while she finished her studies and qualified as a nurse. Henrietta didn’t have to sacrifice her dreams for her baby. Beatrice and Butterscotch had the 1950s misogynistic mindset that a woman who slept with a married man was a fallen person who wasn’t fit to raise a baby, and so Henrietta “had to” give up her firstborn.

It’s a pity that the viewers couldn’t see Hollyhock and Henrietta’s reunion, since Bojack is the main character and we could only see plot points that involved him. I’m glad that mother and daughter finally found each other again - Beatrice stealing Hollyhock from Henrietta remains the most harrowing scene in the whole show for me.

*Stella is shown screaming at Stolas in front of Octavia in Loo Loo Land, so I don’t agree that Octavia was somehow completely oblivious to how much of an abuser Stella was and how miserable her parents were in the marriage.

In the same episode, Octavia has a line about when she was a kid and “[her] parents didn’t hate each other”, so Stella must have toned down her cruelty at the beginning. I just hope the writers don’t retcon that and victim-blame Octavia for not knowing how much abuse Stolas endured.

I don’t want to end this post on a sad note, so here’s one of my favourite scenes in Loo Loo Land 🥰

[darkdemeter]

I'm sorta new to this blog, but can I request Death with a male reader who knows how to fight? Like martial arts or fencing or something like that? I always wondered how Death would react to something like that. Thank you!

A SPARRING PARTNER

◤✘DARKSIDERS REQUESTS | CATALOGUE Death x Male Reader

NOTES ↳ New, sort of new or been around since post one, I welcome you to the blog anyhow! WARNINGS❕ ↳ just general fluffy content — a brief mention of a past relative (mother) — I think that's it

✎ 2.6k

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You often recall the lessons of your past with fondness. It had been your mother’s passion to indulge you in your hobbies, gifting you a membership for your twelfth birthday to pursue the art of fencing. A prestigious hall of astute students and though humble and nervous, you persevered; even surpassing through the ranks. 

But whoever said it was a sport dedicated to elegance never understood the sheer brutality of such calculations beneath the glamorous form each opponent took. 

But Death saw the intermingle of both aspects in the way you portrayed your skill. Yes, New Haven was a luscious and serene sanctuary but safety was not a complete guarantee. Not with all the forces that conspire against them and it was best to be prepared. In your opinion, being able to wield and have a sense of combat was better than none at all. 

And so, when you could find time, you continue to exercise the lengths of your skill in hopes to keep the memory of it alive and to ensure you would not grow sloppy.

And the reaper himself grew to become fascinated in watching your self-appointed training. A strapping young man armed with a regal rapier, your mother had often said. How you miss her dearly. Perhaps it was to also ensure her memory prevailed that you kept at it. You can almost hear the way she clapped and cheered you on during your exams and presentations, making sure every other parent knew you were her son. 

But of course, when the apocalypse happened you all but lost your relic of an epee rapier. A gift for your nineteenth birthday and from that day forward you treasured it. You wish you could somehow find it, reclaim it. But alas, it is a forgotten dream. A hopeless wish you and your poor mother’s memory would never see achieved. 

Taking form as if you stood before your opponent, you calmed yourself once again. The air is a welcomed breeze in comparison to the beating heat of the sun. It takes time to repeat and commit movesets, to focus the harness of its second nature deep into your bones. Something Death can relate to, almost yet guiltily recalling his younger terms when he began to wield his blade. Absalom had taught him all he needed to and more, somehow surpassing the rest of his firstborn ilk and placing only second to Absalom. 

He wonders if you had any predecessors that you were to succeed. Death often watched you at a distance, speaking with you only so little. What information he gained about you was passing conversation with the other humans, his brother Strife who’d been present in his disguise as Jones when you were present at Haven and that of the maker, Ulthane. 

It’s like you kept this distance between yourself and the reaper for some unknown reason. The rare times you both managed to come face to face and talk it had been only a brief conversation before one of you were off on your business. 

So when treated to this seemingly hidden, other side of you, Death in fact took a curious intrigue over it. Silently he’d watch you, your footwork and try to imagine what your foe would be doing, how you would evade the next imaginary attack. Maybe it was his old mind at play but he may have foreseen a few stumbles that could benefit from improvement. 

Indeed as everyone had said about you, you were an able young man with an uncanny prowess in the art of fencing. By no means a Horseman or Maker, but for a human it was impressive; no matter how abashed you became and humbly dismissed the praise of your fellow survivors. 

The glow of his amber eyes shrink and beam, widening. His mind calculates your moves. You lunge forward with a hearted strike, grunting with the motion. You pull back, weight balanced and loosely held. You swing your makeshift blade with another grunted cry, swiping across before taking several steps back, swerving and evading the imagined offense of your attacker. 

Suddenly your attack does something unexpected, it only just catches you unawares. You sharply pivot your body, twirling on your heel and arching your back while simultaneously catching your blade against your target’s, Death can practically hear the ring of metal grinding metal piercing through the veil of the rolling pastures. A song he knows all too well. An orchestra of the fight, a melody to warfare. 

Huffing to yourself you continue on. It was good to always throw an odd attack into the mix to keep your senses sharp. 

Dust prances back and forth on the paled, sunken curve of Death’s shoulder, pecking and fluffing a portion of his hair between his beak. A pushing warble vibrating in his gullet. With a rumbled tsk, Death beats a dismissive hand at Dust.

“Quit it.”

Alerted by a louder, monotone caw, Death shoos Dust from his place with a growl. Now aware that you have stopped and turned to face towards his direction, the pale rider freezes before his hand slowly lowers to his side. 

Now he feels like he’s the abashed one. Caught spying on you. 

He expects you to scowl at him and bluntly ask why he’s watching you, to confront his guilty… ‘hobby’. However, instead you flash him a toothy smile and a nervous laugh bubbles up from your throat. 

“Death,” you greet and let your body relax, “I didn’t notice you there.”

That’s what he was hoping for. To remain unnoticed. A creeping shadow, the revered and masked invisible presence unseen by you. 

Now that’s gone all out the window. You can’t identify the way his eyes dart back and forth in a nervous flutter, the cumbersome burn of amber hiding it well at this distance or the way his heart he thought dead and unbeating lively rapped hard against his chest. When did Death himself get startled like this?

It’s your turn to watch him as he walks down the slight slope of the hillside he took spying refuge upon, the swaying lake of grass hiding the small drag of his footfall on his way down. 

“Y/N. I wasn’t—”

“Spying on me?” You chuckle with a shake of your head, waving it off. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me, I’m not bothered. Honestly, I‘m surprised you decided to stay around and watch.”

His eyes follow you as you move around him, notably to ruffle through your satchel. Procuring a waterskin, you take a few gulps from it with a relieved sigh, grateful for the cool water to run over your tongue and cool you down from the inside. A refreshing feeling. 

“Why’s that?” he asks above a huff. He crosses his arms over his chest, turning his body somewhat to face you but a part of him keeps himself at a distance and thus, it’s reflected in the defensive manner in which he stands before you. 

With a shrug, you answer, “Because you’re busy doing… well, whatever it is you and your siblings do for us. Things that wouldn’t occupy your attention for so long just to watch me flail around a uh… stick.”

As if to match your disappointed gaze, Death’s eyes lower to the long, sturdy stick you held in hand, allowing the shortened end that acted as your hilt beating dully against your wrist. 

“I see.” His voice is rough as it always is but you want to believe you hear an ounce of remorse in his curt reply. 

“So why exactly were you watching me?” You raise a brow, skeptical of the rider’s motivations but not in a hostile way. You’re rather flattered he stuck around. 

“Well, you’re an interesting character I wish to observe. You seem to know how to handle yourself.”

Dare the brooding reaper admit it, you’re impressive in what you do. It’s what kept his interest. How you would always twiddle the stick you use now in your grasp as you went about your business, twirling it in elaborate yet half-minded action, involuntarily demonstrating your skill. 

“You’re rather good, If I do say.”

The sun suddenly sinks a pit of heat deep into your skin and your eyes bow, shrinking away from his gaze. “Thanks. I think I’ve lost the proper motivation though, ever since I lost my epee rapier.”

Daring to meet Death’s eyes again, you breathe deeply through your nose. You see the question in his eyes before he can even allow his voice to speak. 

“My mom’s present to me some time ago. I lost it when the whole world ended and such. It’s gone now for sure, sadly. And with it, the only thing I had left of my mom.”

You always try to not let your mourning betray you and show on your face, but some days it feels harder to hide. And Death himself can peer into the depth of your soul’s grief, acquainted well with the hollowing feeling of loss. 

“You held the weapon in high regard?” His question doesn’t pose any real alert. In true reality, all you think is that he’s curious to know why you’re sad over a piece of your past. Even he’s not above of harbouring certain aspects, keeping to hold them instead of letting them go.

Eventually he did but it was a great sacrifice to prove War’s innocence. Yet for the longest time, he didn’t have it in himself to let go. 

You nod with a small hum as you roll your shoulders back. “Yeah. It was something very special to me. Made me feel close to my mom.”

Blinking, you now realise that this is the longest held conversation you’ve had with Death and with a shy grin, you pack away your stick and waterskin. “I should probably head back and help around the camp.”

With your bag in hand you offer a kind wave to the reaper and bow of your head. “See you around, yeah?”

“Hm.” He merely nods in return and then watches as you walk off. Dust lands atop his shoulder again, a curious and low caw in his throat as though to ask Death what he’s thinking with that curious tilt of his head. The one that drapes the blackened tendrils of his hair over his shoulder and collarbone. 

Of course it had to be on Earth. Where else would it be? Wait, where else would you have been if it wasn’t here?

Baffling questions. Irrelevant. If humans were useful for anything, it was gossip. Yes, he could have asked you for more details — hell, he could have just offered to recover your rapier — but you’ve proven to be the sort to either get things yourself or to leave it be. 

The powerful slug of a bullet penetrating a meaty carcass echoes through the remains of the city where Death currently scouted through, Strife taking a lesser Nephilim’s path in being careless of the enemies that still roam. 

So long as he got to kill something, he was happy. 

Still, Death would very much rather—

POW!

“Would you cease your aimless antics and help me for once!” He made it sound more of an order than a poseable question able to be answered at the gunslinger’s whim, to which the dated folds of his scarf rumple with a shrugged motion. 

Firing at another bat flying overhead, Death sighs aloud with a sunken fall of his chest. He continues to sift through the abandoned remains of humanity until finally, his search is over. 

He does well to hide the giddiness that his more private quest his complete, but it’s all in the eyes as Strife has come to learn. 

Whistling over the older brother’s shoulder, Strife chuckles to himself. “Is that for that human you were talking to the other day?”

Death doesn’t answer him. Simply he lets out a grumble and storms away from his brother, summoning Despair with a beckoning whistle and will to manifest the mount of decay. Strife too summons Mayhem to his side, easily pulling himself into the saddle to pursue after Death. 

Death feels his body tense under the laugh that chases him through the wind that whips through his hair. “It totally is!”

There you are again, practicing in the small dirt field some distance away from the camp. Despair slows down considerably until his reins are tugged back and his hoof counts at the ground, his body strained with a shifting tremble. 

It’s endearing to watch you despite what he now understands are the lacking foundations. With your precious rapier restored, he wonders to himself. Dismounting his steed, he then wanders down the small hill towards you, aware but not cautious of you hitting him. It was a stick after all, what damage could it possibly do to—

THWACK!

He seethes with a hiss, eyes thinned into a scornful glare at the dull sting against his masked cheek.

You gasp and let the stick drop to the ground with your eyes as wide as the bulbous, full moon he’s seen a plethora of times. “Death I— I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

“Nothing? Death, I could have poked your eye out!” All pain that resided with the incident is forgotten when he chuckles deeply, his chest bouncing when you fret over him, remorseful and frightful that you assaulted him; even by accident. 

“As I said before: you’re good.”

Unsure whether the compliment is still suited after beating Death with your stick, you grimace still, cringing as the event played over and over in your head like a broken record.

“Still… I’m sorry.”

Death brings something between you, wrapped in a sheet of leather and bound in a securing thread of rope. In awe of its mystery, you wait with bated breath as he unravels it before your very eyes. 

“You…”

“I found it.”

“I… I thought it was lost all this time.” You move hesitantly to take the rapier from him, scared that he’ll seize you and steal your soul right there and then. Nestled in your grasp is the familiar tingle in your fingers, your eyes taking in the details you thought only were to remain as distant memories, but here it is, in your hands once again and with it the memories you held dearly to your heart. Delivered unto you by Death no less, funnily enough, giving life again to your passion. 

With a bright and genuine smile, you don’t let fear consume you as you look up at him. “Thank you, Death. This… means everything to me.”

There’s a silence between you for a moment. You see the minute flutter of his eyes flicker away, at least you believe so, before he nods with a hum. “You’re welcome.”

Deeply does breath pass through your nose, inhaling and exhaling. With the rapier balanced in your palms, you can hear the affectionate octave of your mother’s voice applauding you, telling you how proud she is of you and how far you’ve come. That she misses and loves you, watching over you from wherever she is now. 

With a cock of his head, Death begins to wander not away from you but instead takes his place on the opposite side of the dirt field. With the power of his will, he manifests Harvester to take the form of that of a rapier itself, its form not one he’s familiar with but it is a warrior’s trade to become accustomed to new instruments of combat. 

And perhaps learn a new, graceful technique that he can show off to his siblings. “You now have your weapon again. Now, how about a sparring partner?”

He enjoys the wide grin that spreads over your lips then and eagerly nod, taking your stance and aiming your rapier at him pointedly. “I’d like that.”

At closer distance, Death has a chance to admire how you fight. No longer will you or he have to imagine your opponent, but instead a friendly sparring partner. 

[emmalovesfitzloved]

Tell me a few things you love about Wessa!

Ahhh another ask from my fav Shadowhunter blogger! Wohoo! These are the first two things that comes to my head. But there are MORE ;)

Their dark academia aesthetic

The Dark academia aesthetic of their relationship. Now while this may come across as superficial, its more then just "loving books". It's the chaise and adventure they find in books that they then live by in their real lives. How they challenge each other in a conversation and insider jokes they share tethered in the novels they consume. Let the other rant about their favourite things and celebrate novels that invite the reader into more journeys beyond just their own. And the way they talk about characters, morals and plots as experiences and people they know almost intimately. How their choice of words matters, and they are economical about their feelings. Dark over light academia bc London is a dank dark city ahaha. And they feel well deep rather than feather light.

Their timeless love

Somewhat still related to novels, but I feel like what Cassandra Clare did with Wessa was the melting pot of all our favourite literary tropes/heroines in classical literature. Which gives it a sense of timelessness and makes them feel like they are 'endgame'.

I wrote previously that Tessa is the perfect blend between Jane Eyre and Elizabeth Bennet. She retains Jane Eyre’s contemplativeness, slight shyness, physical features, dry sarcasm and strong sense of self-actualisation. But also Elizabeth’s wildness, snappiness, boldness, passionate love and will for happiness, all without the arrogance that came with Austen’s heroine.

Meanwhile Will's darker side reminds me of Mr. Darcy in how he pushes those he loves away. John Thornton from North and South who is set in his ways slightly stalkerish (i'm a sucker for the stalker trope sorry not sorry) Will retains the mystery of Edward Rochester, where there is more depth to him that meets the eye and heck even Tessa says at one point that his mood swings remind him of the treacherous Heathcliff. Most of all he reminds me of Alexander from The Bronze Horseman (which only came out in the 90's but technically it came out before TID and is already considered a classic). Alexander and Will overlap in how they sacrifice their love and longing for a greater peace (War and to not upset a family) all for the love of their other one. They are deeply flawed and challenge the reader on their tolerance for forgiveness .

“I love you. I’m blind for you, wild for you. Sick with you. I told you that our first night together when I asked you to marry me, I am telling you now. Everything that’s happened to us, everything, is because I crossed the street for you. I worship you. You know that through and through…” (The Bronze Horseman)

“Alexander, you broke my heart. But for carrying me on your back, for pulling my dying sled, for giving me your last bread, for the body you destroyed for me, for the son you have given me, for the twenty-nine days we lived like Red Birds of Paradise, for all our Naples sands and Napa wines, for all the days you have been my first and last breath, for Orbeli- I will forgive you. ” (The Summer Garden).

And you find you can, because their love and longing for their partner is almost holy and like a religion to them. Those we love the most, hurt us the most, but in turn, they are also those who deserve the most grace and Mercy. If not for them, then for who?

"You are not the last dream of my soul. You are the first dream, the only dream I ever was unable to stop myself from dreaming. You are the first dream of my soul, and from that dream I hope will come all other dreams, a lifetime’s worth." (Clockwork Prince).

This, coupled with the stakes of their relationship then as a unite (and also separately) echos a timber that reminds me of the setting we find in 19th century Russian literature (but with an HEA tysm CC my heart can't take it). This tragic longing we see in Anna Karenina where any choice Tessa makes she looses something in the same breath. The high apocalyptic war torn feel of War and Peace alongside the feeling of doom you get right at Chapter 1 in Clockwork Angel like we did in Crime and Punishment, when Raskolnikov kills a man, and it's all downhill from there.

Conclusion

CC wrote these two with the aim that they remain true to the history of their time, but blended it in with fresh modern air for us to be able to relate to and TRULY succeed. Who knew a historical romance about two book lovers could escalate so highly in the ranks? Now while they are so high up in the ranks of GOAT-ed couples in literature, they aren't without their flaws. Mainly not bc of the narrative or the character's choices but more to do with CC's discontinuation of their story linearly past TID. But that's a different ask for another time and tbh, that's where I seek out lovely fanfictions like the ones you create in order to fill in the blind spots CC didn't fill.

Thank you for this ask! I hope this was worth the read ILY @ibrushmyteeth-donttellanyone♡

Artistic Credit: Cassandra Jean

[drawingpad-studios]

Anyways, a few posts after my past sprite edits of the final designs for As Thin As Paper. Here's more.

Content warning for blood and such, which y'all probably already know if you've been keeping up with my As Thin As Paper posts

Tretone:

Basically yeah, sense Tretone had 2-3 stages(if you count being fucking dead as a stage) of appearance, I thought it would be interesting if the bugs and glitches would mix up the sprites. Resulting in a painful sensation of being ripped apart, limp from limb. Since he's a Crevon and those are basically just demons, I would like to think he would survive this. Keeping a spell on his heart, which is the whole note on fire on the concept art, to keep it going and trying to keep his body together so that he could survive and potentially overcome the corruption. With his design, it's pretty obvious it didn't work. And that's pretty much the effect the bugs and glitches had on him. It was pretty fun to draw.

Here's the 6th chapter boss, with the idea of by the end of chapter 5, you would have been chased down to Sphaiano Spire. He would really have one of the least appearances in his particular chapter, mainly because of his size compared to the doors and such of the spire. Maybe being able to send down a spell or two, or maybe trying to grab at you. Basically this chapter will be like those early gen pokemon gyms before the gym leader, especially the gyms that have more than the members as obstacles in the maze.

Antagon:

This boy has EMOTIONAL DAMAGE.

Okay jokes aside, this is technically idea 2 for Antagon and Antagamom. Originally I had it where Antagamom was the one alive, with her flames turning her into a bear because she's like a "mama bear" in the original game, and the one grieving the other's death with her holding her son's heart and crown(?) thing. The whole idea of them was just "Why don't I make this family grieve". But sense I didn't really like the design I did for Antagamom, I decided to swap them and make Antagon the alive one. Taking inspiration from Onion Cookie from the game Cookie Run Kingdom, where he has a plushie(that looks like the fire element on the cards) that's possessed(by his mom) and his tears make him cry more.

Practically what happened to him was that, since he and his mom are Torchkin, I would imagine the bugs and glitches would change their fire into real fire. With his mom being burned to ashes, and Antagon almost fully burning away until Duskkar "helped" him by somehow stabilizing the flame and his body. It didn't take away the pain of the flames though. Now, under the belief that Duskkar could help his mom, he's basically just wandering around looking for her(either for each piece of ash or maybe in his hopeful heart maybe her actual body that he hopes there is a slight chance of not having been burned up fully). Sad shit times.

Sense he isn't really aggressive, with unintentionally hurting others with his tears and fire, chapter 7 isn't really that dangerous. In fact Antagon is gonna be a part of your party while you're in this chapter, since he thinks you're gonna help him find his mom, with a small random chance of him accidentally hurting you and your "party" during the random encounters. It's kinda like one of those "Bring something somewhere" missions(I forgot the actual term ATM). By the end of Chapter 7, you will find Duskkar, who will scare Antagon to not be around you and use Antagon to battle you. From inspiration of a drawing I rebloged by @theothergueck , Duskkar would basically use Antagon as a flamethrower; covering one of your options during random times, hurting Antagon to get more flames, etc and etc. to end this battle, you got to attack Duskkar until he's at half health, Kill Antagon(if you're going for a genocide route), or "passify" Duskkar somehow.

Lanter:

Basically, I had no idea better than this design. Had the thought of a sort of headless horseman, with his head being able to come off, along with being chained like "The One Who Waits" from The Cult of Lamb. Yeah this is definitely one of the designs where it's obvious I was losing steam for the concept arts.

Basically, he and Duskkar were some of the first people that the Bugs and Glitches targeted. Seeing his cousin being turned into a monster with the bugs and glitches amplifying his shown negative traits, Lanter tried to stop Duskkar. This led to a battle, where; Duskkar won, took Lanter's light in his pumpkin head, and chained his cousin to the room where you originally saw 1x/Tess in the original game. After a while of pulling and tugging at the chains, the chains still held but the ground that the chains were connected to pooped off. Once freed, while Duskkar's "help" to the others had no care in it, Lanter at least tried to make things better whenever he tried to help the others. Like when he Sewed Back together an orange haired girl that was torn to shreds.

While he does have a chapter, which is like chapter 10, he will appear throughout the game as a harmless merchant. Where you can buy some cards, weapons, tips, and healing items, and you can sell him some stuff too. By the time you get to his chapter, his chapter will be adorned with certain stuff you sold to him. Especially his battle. Practically, you're setting the difficulty of his chapter when selling certain items. Not every item, but specific items like certain weapons or something.

[dizzybojack]

what’s ur favorite friendship in bjhm?

For a fun friendship, it's honestly any friendship involving Todd. I am like Kelsey Jannings when I see Todd. What a great little genius idiot guy. I want to shove him in a laundry dryer. The whole arc with him and Mr. Peanutbutter and their stupid business ventures is always one of my favourites because their friendship just works so well. Just two idiot guys with a bunch of resources using it to make the dumbest shit ever. To me, their friendship just felt very natural and like it clicked immediately. They talk about deep feelings sometimes and they understand each other in some unspoken way. And they're also two dumbasses who are actually very smart so what's not to love?

And for a sad painful friendship that makes me cry it's Diane and Bojack. Their friendship is so nuanced and painful and toxic and it makes me so goddamn sad. Not to be a swiftie (she said, being a swiftie) but their friendship to me is this one line from "the 1": "and if you wanted me, you really should've showed and if you never bleed, you're never gonna grow but it's alright now. but we were something, don't you think so?" like ??!???!?!?! GOD. i'm so sorry to everyone for drawing taylor swift parallels to bojack horseman but come on. to me, it perfectly encapsulates their friendship and its bittersweet end. "if you wanted me, you really should have shown. you should have been better. you need to grow and be better and change and it's going to hurt. but it has to. i hope it does. i hope you get better. i'm sorry. but it's alright, now. but, god, we were something, weren't we?" im gonna throw up :))) and diane supporting bojack when he didn't support her back. and bojack being the only thing that makes sense to her. and them sitting on the roof, and diane taking bojack to rehab, and bojack cleaning diane's house. i will cry. im so incredibly normal about them actually i think about them a regular average amount so yeah

thank you so much for the ask!!! i'm trying to get to all of them while i procrastinate lol

[8-evil-annoying-catboys]

ik the hunger games trilogy is about war first and foremost but when you think about it it’s also very much about fame, particularly focusing on child stars and the adults they grow into. that’s why no one really “wins” the hunger games, because fame is a hell on earth that people get trapped into.

much like real life famous people, the victors are separated from their community, and some of the community is proud of them, sure, but there must be some resentment of them each time—even in districts 1, 2, and 4–because now they’re so rich and lead a lavish life that their former peers could never hope to achieve (at least, not without risking their lives). the capitol citizens objectify them and have intense parasocial relationships with them, often going as far as “buying” them, like with finnick, and if they can’t afford to do that, it’s not much of a stretch to think they’d harass them if they have the chance. many of the victors develop debilitating addictions, mirroring what happens to former child stars in particular, but lots of famous people besides.

and this makes sense, right? given that suzanne collins was involved in children’s TV in the 90s and early 2000s, of course her novel is a satirical portrayal of what goes on behind the scenes there. collins worked on both live-action and animated kids’ shows, and she clearly reflects what child actors in live-action television go through on set, during filming (to an extent—the titular games in the books are clearly ‘what if war was also a game show’ and so it can’t exactly be a 1:1 mirror of actual kids’ TV, at least not in the content), and afterwards, if they “make it big.”

since the real meat of the books is the second revolution, and not the games themselves, we only get a short glimpse into this reflection of the cruelty of child labor in the form of acting irl and the hell of fame they live in afterwards, but it’s still intriguing, especially when you’ve watched other media that dissects fame and the ethics of child actors more directly (for example, bojack horseman) or you keep up with what’s happening to famous people in real life, like what’s happening to chappell roan now and how many other celebrities feel for and agree with her, and are supporting her in speaking out.

i can only hope that we’ll get a bit more of a glimpse into the lives of victors in sunrise on the reaping, when it releases in march.

[cljordan-imperium]

Nightshade: How would the story change if it was told from the antagonist's pov?

Thank you for asking this <3  I apologize for taking so long to answer this.  Thank you for your patience.  You were not forgotten, the answer was just delayed.

Since there are currently multiple antagonists, I have listed how each one would see things. I hope that it makes sense this way. It seemed wrong to try and pick just one.

I’m going to take these one at a time, because I have more than one antagonist for more than one person within the story because of how it is oriented.

Leviathan – Abriella would be seen as deceitful and evasive in the way that she is treating him.  Her actions in getting back her soul, which he feels he fairly obtained would be seen as nefarious and underhanded.  Any future romances she might have would definitely be looked upon very negatively and her character referenced disparagingly for this.

Magdala – She still feels wronged all these years later by Leandre and feels her betrayal of him is justified.  When they meet again, any actions would be seen by her to be completely normal and within the realm of reason because his loyalty in the past should not have been to Abbadon, but to Apep.  She feels it is he who committed the betrayal, not she, so it would be presented completely from that viewpoint.

Gabriel – this one would be hard to stomach as Gabriel is hard to stomach on a good day to begin with.  His actions towards Yael would all have been justified and her removal from his purview would have been an afront to his control and a devious plot by those jealous of what he had accomplished in bringing about her submission to him.  He would believe Abriella jealous of Yael having been desired by him, Div and Michael jealous of him having her, and so all of their actions would have been cast in that light rather than in the reality of what they are.

Damien – Damien believes that Asher has turned his daughter against him, so he would see events from the past in the light of a wronged father and a betrayed King.  Asher would be shown as a treasonous agent of his rivals. I’m not sure how he would see Kaylin before she was caught with Asher in her bed, but afterwards, she would also see as a traitor to the Crown.  Eventually Abriella and Lucifer, and their actions would be cast in this light as well. 

Abbadon – Abriella would be seen as influenced by her Royal Guard, possibly Adriel, and definitely the other Horsemen to turn against him.  He would see her as a victim, diminishing her inner strength and her character as a Queen and as the Horseman of Death.  While at one time he saw her as a strong woman with a mind of her own, the binding of The Source has caused him to no longer be who he once was and his reasoning and mind as a whole to become muddled.  The way he sees everything is distorted and he would be the worst narrator on the face of the planet because nothing would be as he sees it. 

Azmodeus – As the Prince of Lust, he is going to see every male who has managed to find a female to have a relationship with as someone who has stolen something from him.  Whether that female would have been interested in him or not is immaterial to him.  All females should be his according to him.  He also has a deep hatred of Lucifer due to the fall, which he accepts no responsibility for, and also because Lucifer now has accepted back into Imperium.  So, everything Lucifer does would be seen as victimizing Asmodeus further causing him problems that he had done nothing to deserve.

[bojackhorsemanobviously]

YO ERIC BEING A GOOD FRIEND

@ccartman

Eric Cartman had been on the run for weeks, avoiding anyone who might recognize him from his past life. He had stolen a car and was driving down a desolate highway in the middle of nowhere when he saw something that made him slam on the brakes. There, on the side of the road, was a familiar figure - BoJack Horseman.

Cartman and BoJack had never been friends, but they had crossed paths a few times over the years. BoJack was always in a bad place, struggling with addiction and depression, but this was different. He was bound and gagged, barely alive, and had clearly been beaten pretty badly.

Cartman approached cautiously, not sure what to expect. He could see the fear in BoJack's eyes as he got closer, but he tried to reassure him as best he could. "It's okay, BoJack. It's me, Eric. I'm not going to hurt you."

BoJack's eyes widened as he recognized Cartman. He struggled to speak through the gag, but it was clear he was trying to say something. Cartman quickly pulled out his knife and cut the ropes that bound BoJack, removing the gag as gently as he could.

BoJack was a mess. He had a broken nose, a black eye, and bruises all over his body. Cartman couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy for him. He had been in some pretty dark places himself, and he knew how hard it was to climb out of them.

As he helped BoJack to his feet, Cartman couldn't help but wonder who could have done this to him. He knew BoJack had made a lot of enemies over the years, but this seemed like something more personal. Cartman made the decision to take BoJack with him, at least until they could figure out what had happened.

They drove for hours in silence, BoJack barely conscious in the passenger seat. Cartman couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. He kept looking in the rearview mirror, half-expecting to see someone following them.

When they finally pulled into a motel for the night, Cartman knew they needed to talk. He sat BoJack down on the bed and tried to get him to open up. "Who did this to you, BoJack? We need to know who we're dealing with."

BoJack shook his head weakly. "I can't say," he croaked. "It's too dangerous. You need to get out of here, Eric. You're in way over your head."

But Cartman wasn't about to leave BoJack alone in his condition. He made a promise to himself to find out who had done this and make them pay.

Over the next few days, Cartman did some digging. He talked to some of BoJack's old acquaintances and followed some leads that led him to a seedy bar on the outskirts of town. It was there that he finally found the person responsible - a low-level drug dealer who had a score to settle with BoJack.

Cartman didn't hesitate. He took out his knife and confronted the dealer, demanding to know why he had hurt BoJack. The dealer sneered at him and pulled out a gun, but Cartman was faster. He plunged the knife into the dealer's gut and watched as he fell to the ground, gasping for breath.

It was a brutal act, but Cartman felt a sense of satisfaction that he hadn't felt in a long time. He had protected BoJack, and that was all that mattered.

When he returned to the motel, he found BoJack sitting up in bed, looking a little better than he had before. "I did it," Cartman said, holding up his blood-stained knife. "

I found the guy who did this to you, and I took care of him."

BoJack looked at Cartman with a mix of gratitude and fear. "I don't know how to thank you," he said. "But you need to understand, Eric. You don't know what you're getting yourself into by getting involved with me."

Cartman shrugged. "I don't care," he said. "I made a promise to protect you, and I intend to keep it."

BoJack nodded slowly, still clearly unsure of what to make of the situation. But Cartman could see a glimmer of hope in his eyes, and he knew that maybe, just maybe, they could help each other out of their respective dark places.

As they sat in silence, Cartman couldn't help but wonder where their unlikely partnership would lead them. But for the first time in a long time, he felt like he had a purpose. And that was a feeling he was determined to hold onto.

[newhumantype]

this is weird but i saw your tags on an old post abt darryl and white josh from cxg "#their breakup leaves a bad fucking taste in my mouth#i could go off about cxg's lazy self-righteous and hypocritical treatment of romantic narratives#but i won't :)" and listen i would LOVE to hear

not weird at all! hope you like essay-length responses lmao.

the tl;dr is that i feel like the anti-narrative ethos driving the latter half of craxy ex-girlfriend was extremely unsuccessful and made the show kind of eat its own arm off.

"life doesn't make narrative sense" is a great message, and I do see where they were going with it and how it applies to rebecca's life. however, the problem is that, no matter how much the show switched up traditional storytelling methods, cxg began as and remained a fictional serialized television show with its own defined narrative.

take darryl and white josh's breakup. i fully believe that if people had felt as neutral about darryl x whiJo as they did about, say, heather x hector, they would've been endgame lol. but since fans shipped them and wanted them to stay together, the writers had them break up to make sure that they knew that "life doesn't make narrative sense." A really well-written and beloved romantic couple was unrealistic, but couples like heather and hector (i don't mean to pick on them because i like them fine!) and, far worse, darryl and the woman he met at the end of the show, ARE realistic specifically because they aren't fun or narratively well-developed?

the last season is even worse. they spent 17 EPISODES (some of my favorite shows barely have 17 episodes total) actively trying their hardest to entice the audience to take a "side" regarding rebecca's romantic life with the clear intention of going "psych" at the end. I can't help but feel that they must have wanted 1) people to genuinely pick a side so they could sucker punch them with their message at the end, AND/OR 2) make people feel silly for ever having picked a side previously.

that all just feels so disingenuous to me because, over the years, the show really made the connections between rebecca and each of her boyfriends seem (to varying degrees) genuine at certain times, so for them to then be like "lol isn't this whole tv show romance thing a ridiculous notion?" feels like a bit of a reductive take, you know? I really liked rebecca's boyfriends as characters, i became invested in them and their journeys. i was never invested in shipping her with any of them, but would it really be so bad if someone was? after all, they literally wrote them as genuine love interests.

plus there were just sooo many missed opportunities in that last season. I didn't particularly enjoy seeing the guys manipulated into rebecca-obsessed robots who would do anything to earn her love to serve the season arc. instead, imagine if the writers had pulled a bojack horseman and started focusing on josh and nathaniel (and other characters) moving on from her and having their own stories. what if we'd seen Josh meet/fall for his girlfriend or seen nathaniel starting out at the zoo?

Why make everything in a season be about romance when the ultimate message is that romance isn't everything? why tell us using this really silly love quadrangle plot when they could have just shown us?

and don't even get me started on greg. i want to preface this next statement with the caveat that i admittedly watched cxg years after it finished airing. by myself. and didn't discuss it with anyone. so maybe it's just me. however, from the first second greg came back in s4, i got extremely strong vibes that the writers felt he was the best romantic fit for rebecca. every scene he was in just seemed to have more weight to it, and he was the one who'd done the most to work on himself of the three guys. and there's just something so hypocritical about making such a strong point about her not picking someone only to - in my opinion - quite prominently hint at her best/most likely choice while also refusing to definitively make that choice. like if you're going to say that it was never about the individual guys but about rebecca choosing herself, don't show a preference for one of them! and if you have a preference for one because he's bettered himself/matured more than the others, be brave enough to come out and say so directly!

this comes back to the narrative thing. i believe they didn't want to take a side on her romantic life not only because they wanted to end with her choosing herself (which is a really nice message that fits well with the show overall) but also because no matter which one they picked, some fans would be happy. some group of people would have a cute, idyllic romantic story with the happy ending they'd always wanted. and that would directly go against the "life doesn't make narrative sense" ethos. because they felt that anything with a clean narrative - like a fan favorite couple being endgame - would defy this notion, they simply couldn't do it.

this is why i say they ate their own arm off. they created interesting characters and stories only to eventually unceremoniously snuff them out out or take a bizarre left turn with them rather than take them to an interesting and organic place. it really felt like the writers came to interpret "life doesn't make narrative sense" as "only the least developed and worst written narratives make sense", which made for a frustrating and ultimately unsatisfying viewing experience.

[plus-size-reader]

Trust

Jack Wilder x Plus size!reader

Word Count: 1477 words

Warnings: none 

Summary: The others not telling you about the plan to keep it from coming out and you have to deal with finding out he's not dead until after

——————————————————————————————————

Someone should have told you.

They should have told you the truth about what they were planning, but evidently, that didn’t cross any of their minds as you jumped into that shoot, with Jack staying behind.

You barely got to say goodbye to him, only giving him a quick kiss on your way out, before the FBI headed up the staircase. You thought you knew what was going on, thought you had a plan, but you were wrong.

The crash could have been heard down the block, and when the car exploded, it was a miracle you missed it.

However, it was only a matter of time before the news of Jack’s death could reach your ears, and once it did, everything else came crashing down around you.

When you agreed to be a part of this whole thing, to be a horseman, you didn’t hear a thing about something like this. This wasn’t supposed to happen, but now that it had, nothing else mattered to you. The magic meant nothing if you didn’t have him.

Nothing mattered if you didn’t have him.

“Why did we leave him? Why did it have to be him?!” you yelled, gingerly grabbing ahold of Daniel’s shoulders as you tried to understand how it had gotten this out of hand.

This was never part of the plan, he wasn’t supposed to get hurt.

“You just have to trust me” he whispered, but you didn’t care for any of that. All you wanted to do was get out of this cab and go do something, but there was nothing you could do.

Jack was dead, nothing was going to change that.

“Trust you? You want me to trust you? Trusting people got Jack killed, I’m not doing that anymore”

There were no words for what you were feeling, nothing you could do to change what you were going through, and you made up your mind. At this very moment, you were over it.

You didn’t care about the eye, you didn’t care about the magic, you didn’t care about any of it. Without Jack, even making magic wasn’t going to even be what it was.

Everything was ruined.

All you could do now was sit here and wait for this whole nightmare to be over. Maybe then, you’d be able to finally catch your breath and just do what normal people did. Maybe then, you’d be able to mourn the man you loved.

It was the least you could do for him, after everything.

~

It was Daniel’s idea for you to stay behind with the armored truck, tucked away behind a pane of glass that would keep it hidden from the peering eyes of any guards or feds that happened upon it.

They would see the second truck, the decoy, and just assume that it was the one with all the money in it. Then, when Henley, Merritt, and Danny finally finished up the big finale, they would come get you and all the money.

All you had to do now was wait, and really, you had no problem with that.

After the day you’d had, the last thing you wanted was to have to put on your stage persona and make it all okay again. You were more than happy to just wait here, until it was all over.

It wouldn’t hurt anything if you just sat it out.

Besides, this way, you could personally oversee the cash and make sure that nothing happened to it.

In the plans you’d been given, every single detail was perfectly laid out, so that if you followed them blindly, it would go off without a hitch.

Keeping you in the dark had been Daniel’s idea. He didn’t want to risk Jack’s death not looking real, and having his girlfriend perfectly fine after he burned to death would be a definite problem.

You had to think it was real so the public would too.

They all knew how close the two of you were, and as much as it hurt the other horseman to lie to you, it just had to happen that way.

This was all bigger than each of you individually, after all.

That was all you had to keep in mind.

You had been sitting on the floor, cross legged and ignoring the outside world when you heard it.

There was talking on the other side of the glass.

...but that wasn’t possible.

You were the only one who knew the glass was here, so for anyone to be here already meant that something had gone wrong.

Atlas was supposed to page you if things like this happened, but you didn’t get anything. Whatever this was, you were just going to have to deal with it yourself.

Though, when you realized what it was behind that thin pane of glass, dealing with it seemed to be the furthest thing from your mind.

“Step back. I’m gonna break it”

It was nothing more than a command from the other side, something you knew better than to argue with.

However, even if you wanted to, you weren’t sure that you could have. That voice, it wasn’t just one you recognized, it was one you never thought you’d hear again.

It was Jack.

Even thinking about it, you felt like you were out of your mind, because it wasn’t possible.

Crazy or not though, you would’ve known that voice anywhere. It had to be him.

You had no idea what was going on, and your head was spinning, but you didn’t have much time to mull it over before the glass was shattered all around you. It didn’t pose any danger to you from where you were behind the armored truck, but you heard it break from where you were.

...and standing there, in the midst of all that broken glass, was Jack.

You weren’t crazy.

It didn’t make any sense, and you couldn’t have ever seen it coming, but you knew it was him. In your heart of hearts, you just knew.

He was alive.

Jack was alive.

You wanted more than anything to go to him, to say something, to do something, but there was nothing to do.

Ten minutes ago, you thought that he was dead. Seeing as that wasn’t the case, you weren’t really sure where to go from here. It wasn’t something you could have planned for.

“Holy shit”

It was all he could muster up in the moment, but in his defense, he hadn’t been expecting you. When Daniel told him what his role would be in this whole thing, he initially thought he would be alone.

“I know” you shrugged, hoping that this would somehow make you hate this less. You had been blindsided this whole time, mourning the death of a man you loved when he wasn’t dead to begin with.

You felt like an idiot.

Not only that but now that he was here and you had a second chance to tell him all the things you wanted to tell him, you were coming up blank. You had no idea where to go from here.

There just weren’t words for situations like this. It wasn’t like you had an instruction manual for this kind of thing.

“I thought you were dead, you aren’t dead? How are you not dead? I saw you explode” you asked, each question coming faster than the last. You had no idea what was going on, and you felt like your head was spinning.

This was too much.

“I was all part of the plan, did they not tell you?” Jack questioned this time, making that decision from the second he saw your face. He was going to kill Daniel as soon as he saw him.

What would the point of lying to you be? From where he was sitting, you never should have been in this position. You were the love of his life, but for some reason, no one told you that he was alive.

It didn’t make any sense.

“No. Evidently, I’m out of the loop” you huffed, doing your best not to lose your mind over this. You had only been crying your eyes out for days, and planning your life without him.

It wasn’t something you wouldn't just be able to get over, that would be insane.

“I’m so sorry baby, I should have told you” he sighed, gingerly wrapping you up in his arms, pressing a small kiss to your forehead and then another to your lips. If he’d known they weren’t going to tell you, he could have been prepared for this and you wouldn’t have been so blind sighted.

Right now, he couldn’t make it up to you but as soon as this whole thing was over with, it would be like it never happened. Besides, maybe you’d feel better after you kicked Danny’s ass.

[ncityrave]

Adore You

Pairing: Mark Lee x Gender Neutral Reader

Genre: College!AU, College Student!Mark, College Student!Reader, established relationship, fluff, angst if you squint, inspired by Harry's Styles's song Adore You (highly recommend listening to the song while reading the fic!)

Synopsis: Finals week, stress, listening to Harry Styles, and a very loving and supportive (and lonely) Mark Lee.

Warnings: None that I could think of except this may make you wish this happened in real life. Y/N and Mark laugh a lot.

Word Count: 2.2k

Masterlist

Whoever said college would be the best four years of your life needed a wake up call - and fast.

For the past month, you had been struggling with the demands of your multiple classes. Finals week had brought in school work upon school work; your color-coded agenda was starting to look like a unicorn had regurgitated all over your planner and you could no longer count on your hands - and feet! - the amount of cups of coffee you had consumed just to get stuff done and passed on time. You were a wreck, to say the least. Summer break was just around the corner and this was the last stretch, but you wanted to get a chance to not have your life revolve around school for at least an entire day.

On top of it all, you hadn’t been able to spend any time with Mark, who was equally busy dealing with his own set of final requirements. Of course you understood that your busy schedules meant very limited time with each other, or to do any leisure activity for that matter, but that didn’t mean you didn't miss having him by your side.

As you enter your dorm room, a feeling of comfort and familiarity fills your mind and body. After an entire day of lectures and studying, the room you had called your home for the last 3 years provided some degree of refuge from the demands and tasks you had left on campus. Placing your shoes neatly on your rack and setting your heavy backpack at the side of the cabinet, you take in the quietness of your dorm. Hoping that even for 5 minutes, you could pretend that you weren't a student who still had a long list of tasks to complete.

Treading to your kitchen to make yourself a serving of ramen - the go-to dinner choice given your lack of time to come up with anything that could even be considered a culinary masterpiece - you start making a mental list of all the things you’re excited for when you finally get extra time on your hands.

Going home. Café trips that don’t involve working. Trying out some graphic design classes. Re-watching Bojack Horseman.

While searching through your stack of pans and pots, a sudden ringing resonates from your phone. Looking over at the screen, you see that Mark was phoning you.

Weird, you think to yourself. He’s supposed to be working on a project right now.

“Hello?” You hear Mark gasp, at that your senses heighten.

“Y/N, I need...I need you to come here. It’s an emergency.”

At the mention of “emergency”, you bolted to your door. Rushing to take all the essentials with you - your keys, wallet, I.D. Were you missing something?

“Why? What’s wrong?” you exclaim into the phone.

He lets out a groan - was he in pain? Worries started filling your head, every possible worst case scenario found itself at the forefront of your mind. This week couldn't possibly get any worse.

“It’s just that I’m really really really really lonely.”

Lonely. That made you pause on the spot.

“You made me worry!” you all but scream into the phone. Out of frustration, you drop all the things you had gathered into your arms onto the floor. Pinching the bridge of your nose and letting out an exasperated sigh, you say to him, “Don’t do that!”

“I’m not lying though!” he whines back and even if you can’t see him you know he’s pouting the way he always does when he’s trying to get on your good side.

“Come on, please. I’m really lonely and I miss you and we literally live 5 minutes away from each other but I haven’t seen you in almost a week. Is it too much to ask my lovely partner to just come over and spend time with me,” he replies, voice slightly hushing in fear that he might have pissed you off. “Or! I could come over, whichever you like.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be working on something right now?” you ask him.

“The project conveniently got pushed back by a week. Promise! You can stay here for at most an hour. I need to be surrounded by something other than assignments and take-home tests. Pleeeeease.”

Looking back at the pile of textbooks and notebooks on your desk, you ponder over the idea. Right now, you knew you weren’t in the right headspace to face all of that head-on; maybe spending some time off with Mark would help. Your lips purse in contemplation. An hour off wouldn't hurt

“So...what is it?” Mark says into the phone.

“Okay,” you sigh. “I’ll be there in 10 minutes.”

“Yoo!” he squeals back. “I cleaned up, don’t worry. I felt really bad giving you that old blanket the last time you were here.”

“There were at least 15 different types of undiscovered viruses on that blanket, so thank you for the effort,” you retort. He gasps at your comment, feigning offense.

“Hey, not cool. I said old blanket - not contagious.”

Making your way to Mark’s apartment, you couldn’t help but notice all the other students who were either rushing to the library in hopes of securing a corner to study in or were just coming back from a lecture. It made you anxious, but you had to remind yourself that a short break wasn’t something you needed to be guilty over.

Quickly finding your way at the doors of Mark’s complex, you text him a quick “I’m here” before entering the building and making your way to his unit. The old, creaky staircase wobbled and groaned under your feet. Climbing up the flight of stairs to the fourth floor, you catch a multitude of sounds emanating from the other tenants’ rooms. The walls here really were thin.

As you reach his unit, you hear the faint sound of music seeping through the slit under the door and smell - garlic?

Since when did Mark cook?

You knock on the door, calling out a faint “I’m here.”

“Hold on!” you hear from inside. Clanging and banging sounds follow-suit. You couldn’t help but giggle, knowing very well that he was struggling in the kitchen as we speak. The door swings open and Mark appears - apron skewed, sweaty and panting with what seemed like tomato sauce smudged on his eyebrow.

“I didn’t know you were interested in applying for Worst Cooks in America.” His eyes follow you as you step inside.

“Cooking isn’t my strong suit, okay, and you know it,” he huffs back.

“You called me over here to hang out. If you wanted to eat, I could’ve always stopped by that Filipino restaurant you like before coming here,” you smile up at him, setting down your bag on his couch.

“I mean, yeah. But that wouldn’t be romantic now, would it?” he replies, making his way towards your frame, slowly starting to wrap his arms around your shoulders.

“You’re saying that Tito Emmanuel’s empanadas and maruyas aren’t romantic?” you mumble into his chest.

“Listen, do you want to try what I made for you or not?” he mumbles into your hair. Looking up at him, you see him fashioning a stern expression on his face, attempting to guilt-trip you. Wiggling around his hold, you wrap your own arms around him.

“Okay, yeah. I bet it’s better than Tito’s empanadas.” At your comment, Mark couldn’t help but laugh.

“I asked you if you wanted to try out the food I made, I never said anything about it being that good, though. That’s on you.” Mark starts shuffling your intertwined bodies into the kitchen and your nose is immediately hit with the smell of garlic, onions, and whatever ingredients he decided to include in his concoction. The low hum from his speakers fills the room with music and you can’t help but hum along.

“I found this recipe off of BuzzFeed. The article read ‘32 Recipes So Easy Even Mark Lee Could Do It’.”

“That sounds oddly specific,” you laugh out loud.

“When I told you that conspiracy theory that Google spies on us through our phones, I wasn’t lying,” he replies defensively, and you couldn't help but laugh even louder

“You’re so weird,” you say, slightly pushing him away from you.

“No, no, no, come back. I asked Jaemin to help me with this,” he says, pulling you back into him. With one hand over your shoulder and another slowly stirring at the noodles he had just started cooking, the two of you simply fold into each other. ‘At peace’ was an understatement to how you were feeling at the moment.

For a while, you two stay like that - arms around each other, silent, and content. It was moments like this that made you happy to have found someone like Mark in your life; someone who managed to make even your worst days feel a little more bearable.

Through the speakers, you can hear the instrumentals to Adore You, and start swaying along to the rhythm. His body joins yours, still stirring the noodles around.

“Walk in your rainbow paradise,” you sing along.

“Paradise,” Mark sings back in an exaggerated, high-pitched voice. His eyes crinkle as he hears you let out yet another laugh. The two of you start swaying along to the song and in that moment you thought of nothing but the moment, the song, the ambience, and him. Your beloved, Mark.

“You don't have to say you love me,” you sing along.

“I love you,” Mark replies, eyes on you.

“You don't have to say nothing.” Mark sets down the wooden spoon, hands coming down to hold onto your waist, pulling you in even closer to him.

“Nothing.” At that, you couldn't help but smile even wider up at him.

“You don't have to say you're mine,” you hum.

It's low, but you hear the faintest “I’m yours” slip from his lips as he lifts you by your waist and into the air. The last thing you were expecting was to be flung over his shoulder as he carried you around his kitchen. A combination of a shriek and booming laugh erupts from your chest at the sudden position you found yourself in.

“Honey!”

“Mark!”

You two say simultaneously. While he’s busy trying not to drop you, you were laughing uncontrollably at how your boyfriend had just suddenly launched you into the air and was now carrying you around his small kitchen. Mark gently places you back down, taking your hand in his and spinning you around before dramatically dipping you. The giggles coming from you would not stop as he continued at his attempt to engage you in what could only be called a sorry excuse for a ballroom dance routine.

“You don't have to say you love me, I just wanna tell you something. Lately you've been on my mind,” he sings along. A hand had found its way to your hip, another lifting your arm as the two of you danced around the kitchen island. As the two of you make your way to where the speakers were placed, he reaches down to turn up the volume and the room fills with the sound of Harry Styles’s voice.

“I’d walk through fire for you, just let me adore you like it's the only thing I'll ever do,” he continues as he looks down at you, admiring how beautiful you look smiling up at him with so much adoration, affection, and love. In that moment, he couldn't express how lucky he felt to have found someone like you in his brief lifetime. To him, your presence was a true testament to the existence of Heaven. The creation of someone like you couldn't just be a mere coincidence in the workings of the universe, there had to be some divine intervention involved.

For the rest of the song, you two find yourself wrapped around each other. Allowing the music, aroma of the food, and each other’s company to overtake your senses. There was no school tomorrow, no exams for the next week, no lectures, no hours of studying. Just you and Mark - and, well, Harry Styles.

As the song comes to an end, you pull back from Mark and snuggle closely into his chest.

“Thank you.” He moves back slightly to cup your cheeks in both hands, tilting your head slightly to rub his nose against yours.

“Thank you.”

“For what?” you ask.

“Nothing, just wanted to be cheesy.”

A chuckle bursts through your lips as you lean in to gently leave a peck on his soft, red ones. “You smell like garlic,” you tell him.

He moves back away from you, cupping a hand over his mouth to check if he did indeed smell like garlic. “Way to ruin the moment, dude,” he whines. You make your way back to him and continue cuddling into his chest. Another random song starts playing over the speakers, the food remains cooking on the stove, and this precious moment may come to an end very soon - but you could care less about that now that you were finally able to spend some time with Mark.

© NCITYRAVE. All rights reserved.

[thecreaturecodex]

Lerajie

Image © Konami, accessed at the Myths and Folklore Wiki here

[Commissioned by @annotaremonstrorum​, based on a Castlevania monster. A fairly obscure one, too. Despite being a monster girl, and the internet loves monster girls, there’s exactly eight pieces of fanart I was able to find of Lerajie. The name comes from Leraie, one of the Goetic demons, who is said to be a hunter dressed in green, an excellent archer, and able to create festering wounds. I went with a monstrous humanoid rather than a fiend here, because the design doesn’t suggest any of the typical Paizo fiend types, but I wanted to keep them tied to the lower planes through flavor text.]

Lerajie CR 8 NE Monstrous Humanoid This lean, leggy humanoid has pointed ears and green skin covered in small scales. Their feet are oversized and end in reptilian talons. They carry a finely crafted gun.

Lerajies are members of an engineered species, created by a now dead Horseman of War to be snipers and scouts. They are creatures of the Material Plane, but their home world is unknown, and they have been credited with introducing firearms to a number of planets that they have expanded to. Lerajies are trained to clean, assemble and wield guns from childhood, and each one is a deadly marksman.

A lerajie prefers to attack from hiding, sniping in the hopes of taking out a foe before it can close the distance or even find them. They can climb sheer surfaces or even hang upside-down from ceilings, and prefer inaccessible perches from which to take their shots. It can cause bullets to ricochet, turning a miss into a hit, and creatures struck by their bullets can develop debilitating or deadly diseases from infected wounds. If cornered, a lerajie will fight in melee with a simple weapon or their large back claws, but they would prefer to reposition themselves and continue the battle at range. Although they are cruel, most lerajies are not stupid, and will flee or surrender if they are beaten.

Lerajies are often religious, with most of them serving one of the Four Horsemen. Others branch out to various archfiends of war, death, technology, and the intersection of all three. They are tall and lean, standing more than six feet tall but rarely topping 150 pounds. Most have somewhat androgynous features from a human perspective. Their lifespans are equivalent to those of dwarves.

Lerajie                      CR 8 XP 4,800 NE Medium monstrous humanoid Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, Perception +11 Defense AC 21, touch 15, flat-footed 21 (+5 Dex, +4 natural, +2 armor) hp 93 (11d10+33) Fort +6, Ref +12, Will +9 Defensive Abilities uncanny dodge Offense Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft. Melee 2 talons +12 (1d6+1) or heavy mace +12/+7/+2 (1d8+1), 2 talons +7 (1d6) Ranged masterwork musket +17 (1d12+5/x4) Special Attacks festering shot, ricochet Statistics Str 13, Dex 20, Con 17, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 16 Base Atk +11; CMB +11; CMD 26 Feats Deadly Aim, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms) (B), Far Shot, Gunsmithing (B), Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Reload (musket), Vital Strike Skills Acrobatics +17, Climb +26, Craft (guns) +10, Heal +10, Perception +11, Sense Motive +10, Stealth +15, Survival +11; Racial Modifiers +4 Acrobatics Languages Abyssal, Common, Infernal SQ expert climber, gun training, stealthy sniper Ecology Environment warm and temperate hills Organization solitary or patrol (2-6) Treasure double standard (masterwork musket, 20 bullets, powder horn, 10 alchemical paper cartridges, heavy mace, masterwork leather armor, other treasure) Special Abilities Expert Climber (Ex) A lerajie can climb sheer surfaces and upside-down using only their feet. This functions as a non-magical version of spider climb, and doubles the usual bonus on Climb checks for having a climb speed to +16. A lerajie cannot make talon attacks while climbing in this fashion. Festering Shot (Su) Three times per day as a swift action, a lerajie can cause a creature it has just hit with a firearm attack to succeed a DC 18 Fortitude save or suffer the effects of a contagion spell. The save DC is Charisma based. Gun Training (Ex) A lerajie gains Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms) and Gunsmithing as bonus feats. In addition, it can add its Dexterity bonus to damage to attacks made with a single type of firearm. Ricochet (Su) If a lerajie misses with a firearm attack, it can bounce the bullet in such a way that it strikes another creature. The lerajie makes another attack roll, at a -5 penalty, against a second target within the range increment of that firearm. If it succeeds on this second attack, it deals normal damage. If it fails, it may not ricochet the same shot again. A lerajie can use this ability a number of times a day equal to its Dexterity modifier (5/day for the average specimen). Stealthy Sniper (Ex) A lerajie only takes a -10 penalty when using the Stealth skill to shoot from hiding.

[trashlie]

Q-tip gets more on my nerves the more I think about it. It would be funny when q-tip learns it’s not Nolan who collabed on the article that’ll likely sabotage yui. It’s rand who collaborated with yujing. And it would be funny how once yui’s out of the picture that rand voices his true words to q-tip. Like his disappointment in how he’s used Nolan’s original name to feel like garbage, especially considering why said name’s chosen. I don’t know, I just anticipate q-tips comupoance in a way he falls as hard as bojack horseman. Seriously, the jerk needs to really make up for what he’s done. It’s as though he believes he’s playing game of thrones. Actually, it would be frustrating or amusing to see how much he’s grown or changed once he becomes an uncle.

To be fair, I think it would be incredibly rich of Rand to lay in to Kousuke over that when he himself contributed to making Nol feel worthless and miserable. Like he's not out here sending Nol mixed signals, making him feel like he's not valued as much as Kousuke, squashing everything that brings him joy. Rand is VERY much part of Nol's misery.

And that brings us to the same conundrum of Kousuke: both Rand and Kousuke, effectively, have been put into particular roles by Yui. On the one hand, Kousuke has no real idea of it - but Rand does. We know this because he's literally at war with his wife, from who he once was separated.

Like, I DO like to believe that if Yui was out of the picture, that Rand would tell Nol all the things he couldn't - but at that point it's still too little, too late. And the same for him to Kousuke. He was unable to raise him in a healthy way, unable to be frank with him. In his own ways, Rand tried to undo the Yui in him, trying to convince him he didn't need to follow in his footsteps, but Kousuke was all but programmed to do just that.

In a dream world they'd have family counseling with each other but lol I don't think that's bound to happen - nor do I think Yui will be out of the picture any time soon. I ruminate a lot on what Yujing's expose will do, because the timing of it sounds like it will be slated to come out around the time Shinae graduates and Nol finishes up his jail time. That's only halfway into our story, so I don't suspect Yui will be rendered powerless at that time. Funny enough, I think it will do a lot to tarnish the Hirarhara name - which Rand would also take a hit from, through the company?

I'm really intensely curious about that, tbh.

Anyway, Kousuke does deserve some retribution but I don't think retribution alone is what he needs. He NEEDS to listen to Hansuke and get some help, because there's a lot going on with him that just facing your own demons alone isn't enough to undo. I've been thinking about ILY a lot in terms of the cycles of abuse, and how sometimes abused people go on to perpetuate abuse themselves, because all they know are these unhealthy, internalized things. And the more I see Kousuke - and the more he lol makes me doubt whether he cares about Nol or not lol - the more it demonstrates how deeply entrenched some of this worse traits are, and how difficult it will be to undo them. The way Yui raised him with this inflated sense of self-importance and took advantage of his reaction to his father's affair to plant the seeds of competition and paranoia in him screwed this man up for life. Not having friends and interactions with other kids messed him up for life!

There are times where I think if I squint I think I can see something in there, under this intricately woven fabric of who he is - this absolute need to win the approval that Rand has never given him. And you know what? Rand is just as responsible for Kousuke as Yui is. Could he not validate him when he was younger or something? Was he hoping that if he was harsh Kousuke would give up his dreams? Because all that happened was, like Nol, he internalized it further.

It’s as though he believes he’s playing game of thrones.

That's the thing though, isn't it? That's one of those things that he internalized via Yui, in not so many words. I don't think she ever directly came out and said "you must be better than Nol" but she certainly pit them against each other by letting Kousuke over hear about Rand's infidel, let him learn that "a mistake" exists who has "ruined the family", all things that we know Kousuke never unlearned and let go of because that night he got drunk and Nol called him, he said these very things. Otherwise, why else would he have gotten so paranoid when Nol started working at the company - and was doing better than anyone expected? He was so paranoid he sent Nol home early. He took advantage of everyone talking bad about Nol at work to try to make him stay home for a while (which also was tied into their image~).

For Kousuke it IS a game of thrones, except I think there's two thrones. There's the heir thing, sure, but the most important throne is Rand's attention and approval. Ironically, I think both of them have been competing for that so long that they didn't realize it: Nol can deny it all he wants, but I think he also wanted to feel like he belongs, that Rand loves him the way his mom did, his mom who had spoken so highly of Rand and brought young Nol to him. Both of them have been twisted up by Yui, though, to such a point, that it's hard for them to see that all along they've wanted the same thing - Nol believes everything Kousuke does is for Rand, and Kousuke believes the same of Nol lol. Like they LITERALLY are never on the same page.

Anyway this is all to say I don't this his comeuppance will be exactly the way people want it to be, because like Nol, Kousuke has some complexly woven issues to address that I think only therapy can help him on. THAT SAID, something i desperately hope of Yujing's article is that it sheds enough uncomfortable truth for him to see things exposed in himself that he has been able to ignore. I badly want it to wake him up to how she raised him. I also think Yujing is right and that Kousuke is not ready for the CFO position, and we will see him buckle and fold under pressure as he's prone to do. This, combined with the expose, will hopefully start to shed light for Kousuke that everything he denies - that he chose this career that everything he's done was his own choice, that he's earned everything from his hard work alone - was a lie and it will lead him to start questioning himself.

Because Kousuke is just as much a main character as Nol, I am inclined to believe that Kouske is one of the characters who will break his cycle and finally take accountability for his faults. Maybe he and Nol will never be on good terms, but I really like to hope that one day (again, maybe with therapy and a fall from grace lol) he'll be able to acknowledge the way he treated Nol, the things he held against a kid who was never at fault for any of them, in a time when what he needed was help. And that's the thing, isn't it? If Yui hadn't been Yui and Kousuke had had therapy to work through his father's affair, he could have learned that Nol never had anything to do with his family falling apart. Kousuke hasn't mentally matured enough to embrace that and like good LORD he's incredibly stunted and it causes problems.

I really want to see his fall from grace either coincide with Yujing's expose or just shed some light on his reality - who he really is rather than who he believes himself to be. (I do, though, fear that the expose would create a rift, because for Kousuke to acknowledge the awful things his mother has done, he has to acknowledge that he was a part of that, and it involves facing all those things he lies to himself about and I don't know if he's ready. But at the same time, doing that kind of sets us back and makes me wonder what would actually be a catalyst for Kousuke to take responsibility for the damage he's done.) So yes, ultimately I want the expose to expose not only Yui, but expose Kousuke to himself so that he can begin a freaking process of not being such a frustrating, awful jackass because man! I don't know what to think with him lately! Every time I think I have a grasp on him, he's squirreling back to old habits and UGH.

Also tbh I don't think becoming an uncle would have any affect on Kousuke LMAO like supposing he continues on this trajectory and doesn't have a humbling fall from grace or get the help he needs. Kousuke just.... lmao he doesn't strike me as someone good with kids, does he? Look who HE was as a kid lmao. Nothing about him screams strong paternal instincts and the way he treated Nol is all based on internalized issues he's YET TO LET GO OF LMAO ugh my dude.... he would be an abysmal uncle at this point lmao.

I do strongly believe he will have a fall from grace, though, and eventually get the help he needs, because again, this story is just as much about Kousuke as it is about Nol and I just canNOT imagine the story will end without them reconciling in some form. Reconciliation, in my mind, doesn't mean they become like a family, but just that they make peace and Kousuke accepts responsibility for the things he's done and IDEALLY atones in some fashion. That Nol can find the peace to let the past go and move to a much better future, even if it means walking away from everyone. So much of this story is about generational cycles and cycles of abuse and the lingering effects it has on people, so I have to believe Kousuke getting therapy and figuring out WHO he is and what he REALLY wants and how to unlearn the way he treats people is also part of that, you know?

But man, at this point fuck Rand LMAO I'M FOREVER ANGRY AT THAT MAN UGH /UGH/ RANDULF YOU GIANT OAF!!!!!!!!! I swear to god I will wring him out lmao that's a post for later though!

tl;dr i do think Kousuke's comeuppance will come, though maybe not in the way everyone hopes, but more importantly i think he WILL finally acknowledge his role in how Nol turned out and the damage he caused.

[lightsonparkave]

HAPPY TWO-YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO LIGHTS ON PARK AVE! 🎂🎉 In celebration of LoPA’s birthday (August 22, to be exact), all of the prompts from the previous year are up for grabs.

Round 24 will end on August 31, 11:59 PM ET (what time is that for me?).

As always, you’re free to jump in whenever you’d like during the round, a wide variety of work types is accepted, and there are no minimum work requirements. Unfinished works and works for other fandom events are allowed. You can find more information about Lights on Park Ave and the participation guidelines here.

Here are all 149 prompts. Go crazy and have fun! 🎈

ROUND 13: TIME

A quote about being infinite in the present moment from The Perks of Being a Wallflower

“Vellichor,” the the strange wistfulness of used bookstores

“How long is forever?” dialogue from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

“Time” - Hans Zimmer (Inception OST)

A quote and gifset from Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival (2016) about the nonlinear structure of time

Agnès Varda’s portraits when she was 20, 36, and 80 years old

A John Irving quote about what time does to the people who matter to us

Ten traveling back to see Rose on New Year’s Day in 2005 before he dies and reincarnates in Doctor Who

Future inventions in 2015 as seen in Robert Zemeckis’s Back to the Future Part II (1989)

A quote about what time does for wounds

ROUND 14: LIMINALITY

A photoset of various liminal spaces

Illustration of a black cat in front of a red-lit house with the caption, “They say no one is living here—but the lights come on, once every year”

A photoset of Victorian-era spirit photography, an art form that attempted to capture the ghost of a deceased loved one

Information on the famous Mojave phone booth, a lone telephone booth in the middle of the desert that received calls from all over the world

Rosemary Ellen Guiley’s The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits Third Edition’s definition of “witching hour”

Illustration of a ghost train on an abandoned trestle bridge in the Pacific Northwest

A quote by Isabel Allende about spirits coming out at night in the library

Gifset of the spirit world in Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away (2001)

Illustration of a neon roadside sign of a motel that only appears at night by a long-forgotten highway

“Pacific Coast Highway” - Kavinsky

A gifset quote from The Twilight Zone (1959)

Scenery from Twin Peaks season 1 (1990)

A quote about something shifting into a strange, new place inside of a person from Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

ROUND 15: LOSS

A quote about being lost and found by someone special by Sue Zhao

A photo of the Mildred, wrecked off Gurnard’s Head, Cornwall in 1912

A quote about ephemerality and the beauty of it from Troy (2004)

Two paintings of people visiting ruins by Caspar David Friedrich

A quote about desire and loss by Lara Mimosa Montes

A photo of an overgrown, abandoned conservatory

A passage about what disappears and what remains in ruins from Suicide by Édouard Levé

Dialogue about gratitude for people who aren’t meant to stay in your life but shape who you are from BoJack Horseman

A scene from Fleabag where the Priest chooses God over Fleabag and gently tells Fleabag that her love for him will pass before they part ways

A prayer to St. Anthony, patron saint of lost things, people, and souls

Oscar Wilde’s tomb in Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, covered in lipstick kisses from admirers

Photos of a cemetery statue in Austria, wrapped in branches and dead leaves, holding a single flower

ROUND 16: DEVOTION/SERVICE

A gifset of Kevin on the phone, telling Chiron he’ll cook food for him from Barry Jenkin’s Moonlight (2016)

Buttercup’s monologue to Westley about how she would do anything for him from The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Gifs of Merlin saying that he was born to serve Arthur from BBC’s Merlin

An excerpt about giving all of oneself to someone despite what it costs from House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

A gifset of various times Jaime and Brienne demonstrate their loyalty to and love for each other in Game of Thrones

A gifset of all the different ways Cliff is there for Rick in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

A gifset of Nadia deciding to be by Alan’s side no matter what in Russian Doll

“Devotion” - Ocean Vuong

A gifset of Bond comforting a traumatized Vesper in the shower in Casino Royale (2006)

A gifset of Sookhee refusing to leave Hideko, saying her job is to look after her in Park Chanwook’s The Handmaiden (2016)

ROUND 17: DREAMS

A dreamscape gifset and quote about repressed thoughts in dreams and the Internet from Satoshi Kon’s Paprika (2006)

A gifset of Mitsuha and Taki finally meeting in their own bodies in a dream from Shinkai Makoto’s Kimi no Na wa (Your Name) (2016)

A quote by Tinker Bell telling Peter Pan where he can find her and where she’ll always love him in Steven Spielberg’s Hook (1991)

The scene where Keating tells his students that poetry, beauty, romance, and love give life meaning in Peter Weir’s Dead Poets Society (1989)

An animated illustration of a storefront called “Hauntings” with a flickering “99¢ dreams” neon sign

Various dreamscape scenes and a quote about ideas being the most resilient parasite from Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2010)

A quote about how all living beings must dream to survive reality from The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

A comic about people we love taking turns to visit us in dreams every night

Lovers and Sleeping Couple, two drawings by Egon Schiele

A quote about belief in a better world by Robert Frobisher to his lover, Rufus Sixsmith, in Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

A quote about the feeling of falling in love lingering when you wake up from a dream in Alexis Dos Santos’s Unmade Beds (2009)

A photo of subway graffiti by an unknown author insisting that they’ll never give up making the world a better place to live in

ROUND 18: PHYSICAL TOUCH

A scene about how to return a stolen kiss from Daniel Ribeiro’s The Way He Looks (2014)

A line about kissing someone the way a flower opens from “I Know Someone” by Mary Oliver

A gifset focusing on showing affection and care through hands from Park Chanwook’s The Handmaiden (2016)

A passage about two people leaving invisible marks on each other through the accumulation of touches over the years from A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood

Two conversations about never being touched before and only being touched by one person from Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight (2016)

Going from yearning to touch someone but stopping oneself to being allowed to touch them from Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy

Moving art of two bodies made of stars and the cosmos embracing

A quote about maintaining sanity by touching someone but being separated despite proximity from The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

A line about proving that one still exists and is real through touch from On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

Different touches between Villanelle and Eve expressing violence, threat, sexual tension, comfort, and companionship in Killing Eve

A juxtaposition of two scenes from Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love (2000) of Su Li-zhen rejecting and accepting Chow Mo-wan’s hand

A compilation of marble sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Syd (Chris Evans) trailing kisses down London’s back in London (2005)

ROUND 19: IMMORTALITY

James Baldwin talking about how art helps you discover that people before you have experienced the same thing as you and you are not alone

Dr. Brand saying that love transcends time and space in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (2014)

Nadia and Alan meeting for the first time as they’re about to die and relive the same day again in Russian Doll

The loneliness of losing everyone by having a long life as expressed by Ten in Doctor Who

The doomed eternal time loop romance of Simon and Alisha from Misfits

A quote by Edvard Munch about becoming eternal through the flowers that grow from his body after death

Nagai Kei recalling the traffic accident that killed him and triggered his immortality, making him one of the rare persecuted humans to possess the power, in Ajin

A collection of moments from Jay Russell’s Tuck Everlasting (2002)

A quote by Mary Wollstonecraft hoping for something that lasts inside the heart

Various scenes with Jack Harkness from Doctor Who

Aya telling Asou-kun to live on and live forever as she nears the end of her life in 1 Litre of Tears

An excerpt about the immortalization of the self through love from “Love of the Wolf” in Hélène Cixous’s Stigmata

A collection of scenes from the Black Mirror episode “San Junipero”

Naoko telling Toru to always remember her and remember that she existed in Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Dom explaining to Ariadne that he uses the PASIV to dream as it’s the only way that he can be with his wife and children in Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2010)

ROUND 20: POETRY

“I’m Going Back to Minnesota Where Sadness Makes Sense” - Danez Smith

A line about wanting to forget how much you loved someone and then actually forgetting from Bluets by Maggie Nelson

“Perhaps the World Ends Here” - Joy Harjo

“In Time” - W. S. Merwin

“By Small and Small: Midnight to Four A.M.” - Jack Gilbert

“Magdalene: The Addict” - Marie Howe

“Wild Geese” - Mary Oliver

“Morphology 2″ - CJ Scruton

“20″ from Moscow in the Plague Year by Marina Tsvetaeva

“To Hold” - Li-Young Lee

ROUND 21: LONGING

“I Loved You Before I Was Born” - Li-Young Lee

A poem about longing for someone through worlds by Izumi Shikibu

A gifset of Marianne and Héloïse falling in love from Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

“Make Me Feel” - Janelle Monáe

A quote about living in longing being better than realizing that longing from 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

“I Want You” - Mitski

Orpheus and Eurydice in Hades - Friedrich Heinrich Füger

Long definition of the word “saudade”

Definition of the word “hiraeth”

“Something About Us” - Daft Punk

Two lines about burning quietly from the poem “The Pillowcase” by Annelyse Gelman

A conversation about wanting each other after decades of separation from Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory (2019)

A Hanahaki disease mood board

“Shrike” - Hozier

Two lines about wanting someone to return from Herakles by Euripides

“Love of My Life” - Queen

“Eyes, Nose, Lips” - Taeyang

A screenshot of Kathy and Tommy holding onto each other desperately from Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go (2010) and a quote from Kazuo Ishiguro’s eponymous novel

ROUND 22: YOUTH

“Perfect Places” - Lorde

A piece about realizing you’ll never be this young again, but it’s the first time you’re this old by Kalyn Roseanne Livernois

A conversation between Neil and Mr. Keating about Neil feeling trapped and unable to live the life he wants because of his father from Peter Weir’s Dead Poets Society (1989)

An excerpt about being too young to know how to love properly from Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” - Arctic Monkeys

Elio’s father telling Elio not to try to rid himself of his sorrow and pain—and with that joy—which he feels so strongly because he’s so young from Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman

A quote about how everything feels final to young people because they’re experiencing it for the first time from Middlemarch by George Eliot

Lara Jean telling Peter that she had to make it seem like she liked him to deal with her love letter fiasco in Susan Johnson’s To All the Boys I Loved Before (2018)

Rue and Jules dancing together and partying it up in Euphoria

“Le Plongeoir” by Laurent Roch

A quote about being pushed into adulthood and not being ready from Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

A photo of a roller rink illuminated by pink and purple lights

Pastel photo series of Coney Island by Mijoo Kim and Minjin Kang

“Hips Don’t Lie” - Shakira feat. Wyclef Jean

“Young Dumb & Broke” - Khalid

Different moments accompanied by the letter to Mr. Vernon at the end of detention from John Hughes’s The Breakfast Club (1985)

Various scenes and a quote about growing up and realizing life isn’t like a fairy tale from Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Stills of the young lesbian couple in love from the music video of “You Know” - Jaurim

Lines by Effy about her emotional and mental struggles from Skins

Nathan chiding the group for not taking advantage of their superpowers as young offenders from Misfits

ROUND 23: HEDONISM

A passage about giving into passion and losing control from The Secret History by Donna Tartt

“Thot Shit” - Megan Thee Stallion

An aesthetic photoset of the Greek god Dionysus

A quote about living for ecstasy rather than balance from From a Journal of Love by Anaïs Nin

A photo of an anonymous person in nothing but a silk robe and lingerie

A photo of Donatella Versace lounging in a chair, surrounded by shirtless, muscular men sunbathing around her in Capri, Italy in 1994

An aesthetic photoset based on The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The music video for “Heartless” by The Weeknd

A plea for summer to never end from Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman

“Plastic Love” - Mariya Takeuchi

A gifset from the music video of “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd, a continuation of the “Heartless” music video

“XS” - Rina Sawayama

A gifset from the music video of “Body” by Mino

Photos of people dancing at the legendary Studio 54

Photos and a description of the party scene at Studio 54

Chris Evans and Evan Rachel Wood hooking up in a car in the “Gucci Guilty Black” commercial

[landonkirbyappreciation]

I’m getting real tired of the show so often contradicting itself. I’m sick of the writers making statements within the show about characters when there’s no evidence to back them up. And this has happened a lot, with multiple characters, but they do it all the time with Landon. Say stuff about him that’s not even true, as if they ignore their own work and instead take stuff that Landon antis say on Twitter and put it in the script. Like in the last episode, when they had the Necromancer say that Landon always waits to be saved? That he always just relies on Hope to save him? When? Whenever he’s been in trouble, he still tries to do what he can to get out of it.

In 1x08, he called Hope for help, but didn’t necessarily expect it, because when she shows up, he says “that’s never happened to me before.” He wasn’t just waiting around, he was drugged. And when he woke up, he was tied up, but was still trying to talk to Seylah and get out of the situation, and it ended up fine. He worked to help Hope throughout 1x09 and was actually the one who figured out the monster. And he also helped get rid of the slugs in 1x11. He wasn’t waiting to be saved in 1x13, that all happened very quickly and suddenly. And when he was kidnapped by Clarke, he left clues for Hope, but he was still dealing with Clarke on his own and he was still trying to fight the headless horseman on his own, and again, figured out how to defeat it. He didn’t even remember Hope for the first several episodes of season 2, and didn’t even know or expect her to save him. 2x10, he was helping to figure out the monster the entire time and also tried to fight it and helped Wade to defeat it. 2x11, he knew nothing about prison worlds, so while he did leave that to Hope, he was trying to deal with Pothos and did save Hope from him. And he was still trying to help and support Hope in 2x13, and then Dorian and Landon both saved each other in that episode. The only time I can think of when he was waiting for Hope to save the day without being more involved was in 3x02 when he was with Raf. And I don’t even want to count that because that was one of the most poorly written episodes where literally everyone was ooc. But then in 3x04, he once again was trying to help Hope and was the one who went to the Necromancer at the school. And now he’s been stuck in Malivore, which is impossible for anyone to get out of unless Malivore allows them to get out, so of course all he can really do is hope that Hope will find a way to save him. So please tell me when (besides 3x02 and being trapped in Malivore) Landon has ever sat around waiting for Hope to save him without making any effort and doing his best to do whatever he can?

Yes, he’s always been very confident that Hope will come through and save the day because she always has and he knows how powerful she is. But that doesn’t mean he just sits and waits for her to do that. From the beginning, Landon has never expected Hope to do everything on her own. And we’ve seen that through his actions, in the way he has always tried to help her and has never wanted her to deal with everything alone. But everyone has said the opposite so many times and for so long, that now Landon himself is saying it when it’s not even true. Because if you actually watch the show, without any outside influence from the fandom, what’s been said about Landon really doesn’t make sense. I just don’t understand where this perception of him is coming from. People forget that Landon is a survivor, which has been emphasized in the show before. He had to survive on his own throughout his life, so for anyone to say that he is always needing to be saved and waits for other people to help him contradicts his entire past and what he’s been through and how he has always fought to survive.