#I know most of you are here for monsters and maybe surrealism but I also just really like drawing people

[chriskotiesen]

Sometimes I like to take note of people I pass on the sidewalk and then try to sketch them from memory when I get back to my apartment.

Here are some Toronto summer 2023 fashions

[outtoshatter]

Author spotlight for today is @sugareey-makes-stuff ! They joined the sterek/teen wolf fandom in 2022 and already have so much stuff to choose from!!

Bite sized stories:

Dancing Shadows from Behind | T | 500 tags: urban legends, demons, spark Stiles, alpha Derek Summary: Derek pulls Stiles closer to his chest as more shadows appear. Stalking, taunting and dancing around them. Ready to strike again at any moment.

[Or: Derek has no idea what to do when the Pack is trapped by daevas. But something ignites a Spark, and that's enough.]

Pink Lemonade | T | 600 tags: road trips, adventure, slice of life, established relationship Summary: “Stiles?” Derek murmurs, watching him closely. Almost hesitantly, as if Stiles might bolt at any second.

“Holy fucking—oh my God,” Stiles blurts out instead. He most definitely flails while staring at Derek in awe. “Why have you never told me about this place before?”

[Or: Derek surprises Stiles by taking him to one of his favorite spots for an early morning picnic.]

Memories Bring Back You | G | 200 tags: developing relationship, reunions, fix-it, post-movie Summary: It’s surreal to see Stiles flipping through the pages of his precious journal, soaking in every single word and drawing he’s documented over the years.

“You’re a dumbass, Derek,” Stiles declares plainly.

[Or: Derek tells Stiles how he really feels about him after all these years apart from each other. Because it's written down on paper now, and it's about damn time.]

It's Enough for Now | G | 300 tags: autumn, cold weather, sharing body heat, monster of the week Summary: “You know, I could get another blanket,” Stiles points out, breaking the silence. “Or let me grab my hoodie from the couch—”

“It’s fine,” Derek interjects in a low voice. He tugs the blanket gently, pulling Stiles closer. “Stiles…”

[Or, Stiles and Derek end up sharing a blanket after coming back from the pack's latest supernatural adventure.]

Over 1k:

[Art]Molten | E | 27K with Wolfspurr tags: friends to lovers, canon divergence, mutual pining Summary: "Stiles, is that you?"

He recognizes that voice. He doesn’t know why he’s hearing it here though, in whatever cold, dark cave he’s found himself in. The owner of that voice is supposed to be miles away, back home in Beacon Hills. Unless Stiles is the one that’s ended up further from home than he could possibly have predicted.

"Derek?!"

[Art]Brewin' up Love | E | 30k with wanderingeyre tags: alternating POV, getting together, fluff & angst, the pack ships it Summary: The Pack runs Moon Tower Fermentarium, a popular brewery in Beacon Hills, and they are a refuge for supernaturals that need it. Stiles is happy to be Scott's Emissary and loves being the head brewer. His life is great. If only he could get over his feelings for Derek.

Derek finally feels like the Pack is settled and he is proud of what they've built. He doesn't need anything else. He has Stiles in his life as his friend and that's more than he deserves. If he wishes for more in the dark of night, that is between him and the moon.

OR The one where the Pack owns a brewery and Stiles is on fire with the puns. Also, there is angst.

The Walls Came Crashing Down | T | 4k tags: canon divergence, hurt Stiles Stilinski, hopeful ending Summary: “Stop thinking so hard, or you’re going to bleed.”

Surely it couldn’t be—wasn’t his Pack supposed to be duking things out with vampires right now? But a very solid and reassuring hand squeezed his own. Grounding him. Holding on, as if to drain away his pain.

There was only one person who always did this whenever he got hurt.

“Derek?” Stiles whispered, his voice raw and scratchy.

*

[Or: A mission goes horribly wrong, and Stiles finally figures out where he stands with Derek.]

Feel You Breathing | E | 8k | 3 chapters tags: porn with feelings, unresolved sexual tension, writer Derek, bartender Stiles Summary: Derek: So, you need a distraction.

Stiles: Maybe Stiles: It’d be better if you were here to help me with that. Stiles: ;D

[Or: Sexy things start late one night when Derek gets a text from Stiles and escalate from there. A few secrets are revealed along the way.]

Made from Scratch | T | 2k tags: alpha Derek, spark Stiles, family feels, fluff & angst, teasing Summary: Derek missed Stiles. He hadn’t realized how much…until now. Something had to change. But where did he even start?

[Or: That one time Derek makes dinner for Stiles, thanks to inspiration from a family recipe and some nudging from Cora.]

Go check out all of sugareey's fics on their AO3 page! Don't forget to mind the tags, leave a kudos, and maybe even drop a comment!

[yanderes-galore]

If you still do prompts can you Xenomorph queen prompt 43.)

I know only Xenomorph Queen Mothers are psychic but... I'll alter things for this fic. My prompts were used. Sorry if the plot felt everywhere :( Here's some more Xenomorph content <3

Yandere! Xenomorph Queen Prompt 43

"Won't you be a good pet for me?"

Pairing: Romantic/Animal/Pet-Like

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Xenomorph/Human, Telepathy, Dream manipulation, Manipulation, Violence, Murder, Forced "relationship", Mind control.

"Queens are physically and even telepathically capable... They can also penetrate the minds of humans, using emotional attachments and promises of love and affection to lure them to their dooms."

---

You shoot out of your makeshift bed, breathing deep and heavy. Sweat drips down your back like you've just had a nightmare. You look around, only to see fellow marines staring at you.

"Another nightmare?" One asks. You give them a wary look before nodding.

"It's the strangest thing... I hear this voice- I never hear who it's coming from but it's always calling out to me...." You try to recall the dream, hearing another marine laugh.

"What? Is this some sort of prophecy dream? Get ahold of yourself." They mutter.

"You may just be jumpy from having to fight all these Xenomorphs. Speaking of which, we have an expedition into a nest today." Another marine agrees, passing your stuff to you. "Enough rest, we have people to save."

"I hope you're right..." You sigh. You weren't sure what all these dreams were meaning yet you were growing more and more scared. At first... things were small.

You'd go to sleep, then you'd hear a voice. It's always a voice of someone familiar yet foreign, mimicking those you know. It's female... yet fluctuates in pitch. You never quite see who... or what... is talking to you.

It all sounds so surreal when it happens.

First it was just voices. Then it was monsters, all depictions of aliens and the foreign creatures you fight. Then you'd see depictions of... unsavory dreams of pleasure. Deep down... you feel something is messing with your head.

Whatever it is wants to make you feel fear... yet pleasure. It likes to play with your dreams, your thoughts, your mind. Despite not knowing exactly what it is... it strikes fear within you.

Dreams are just dreams... aren't they?

If that's the case, there's no need to worry. Carefully, you get up, suit up, and gather your supplies.

As you prepare yourself for yet another bug hunt, you can't help but think back to your strange dreams...

Maybe it was something more sinister... maybe soon you'd find out what you truly should be scared of.

---

The human mind is fragile. It's easy to mold and influence with just a little psychic ability. This Xenomorph Queen is rather skilled in the field. Manipulating prey aided her nest.

All she had to do was promise them love. Humans follow affection and positive stimuli. Deep down they truly were primal like her.

Her drones had told her that a group of humans were breaching the nest. This had driven the Queen to manipulate the mind of one of them. At first it was just to draw you in closer, to make you a new host for one of her many children.

Then... the Queen got "word" of you from another drone. You're fierce, yet submissive when cornered like most humans. Her abilities had influenced you carefully.

If she lured you in... she'd get the other humans easily.

She influenced your thoughts in many ways. Fear... pleasure... a deep yearning for the voice in your head. She found it amusing to play with a human's mind.

While she mostly plagued your thoughts for manipulation... she could see your own thoughts and memories. That's how the Queen learned of your appearance and personality. Your were an interesting human... yet her thoughts still thought of you as prey.

Cute prey, but prey nonetheless.

The Queen kept a close eye on you to determine where your group is in her nest. One by one... she planned to pick you all off. She'd send drone after drone towards you... taking you humans in deep to her nest.

Although... she wants to keep you for last.

You're the best human out of the group... a pet following her carefully place instructions deep in your mind...

You should be honored to meet her once the rest fade away.

---

Your head did nothing but hurt. It wasn't just when you were sleeping anymore, now you always felt like you heard whispers in your head. Not only that but the xenomorphs were relentless.

Any inch of progress you made with your group into the nest was beat down multiple times. You kept losing person after person to the never-ending alien menace. Soon you wondered if there would be anyone left?

There was only two other people on the team except you now.

"Aren't you scared?" The voice in your head whispers. You're either insane... or this is some new phenomenon. "Those who've died aren't worth it. They're weak. Unlike you...."

You want the voice to stop, It isn't real, is it? As if to answer, the voice replies.

"I chose you for a reason. I want to give you a chance at a new life. Just follow my instructions and I'll make it worth your while."

'No.' You say mentally.

"Really? I promise if you give in you'll be treated to nothing but love. You'll love it here."

'What are you?' You think, were you asking yourself or it?

"A superior being." The voice responds. You hear its voice exude confidence, it's teasing. "You'll join me... I can promise you that, human."

For once, the voice the grows silent. You try to think on what the voice means. A distant thought clicks in your head... could it be?

Xenomorphs didn't have this power, did they?

You shake the thought from your head and continue deep into the hive with your remaining crew. This was not a loss yet.... The Queen heard your thoughts loud and clear, but said nothing.

She only grinned with a hiss.

You humans catch on quick, don't you?

---

It was going to happen at some point. You were bound to run out of ammo. Your partners, maybe even you, were bound to die. All you wanted to do was look for an exit.

But you're so far in.

Everyone's dead but don't you want to go in deeper?

Did you have a choice? You either died here, or you died there. The voice lures you closer... encouraging you to be brave. You couldn't trust it...

But there wasn't much else you could do.

You thought the lack of hostility from the aliens around you was strange. Just earlier you were blasting through them and you'd think if they knew you were out of ammo they'd pounce? Yet nothing happens... there's only chittering and the occasional skittering of the creatures.

Your legs didn't feel like your own when you walked. You kept walking further, getting deeper and deeper. You even cast aside your gun... it's empty anyway.

Confused chitters greet your ears. The voice coos to you and reassures you they aren't hostile. How would it know?

How else would it know unless it was a Xenomorph itself?

Your were doomed from the start. The moment you got on this expedition, the moment you heard the voice, your fate was here. You were meant to be deep in this nest. You were meant to give yourself to the voice.

You were meant to meet the hulking monster deep in the hive, towering over you with a hissing mouth.

You feel fear. You see this creature, a Queen, and want to run. You know you shouldn't be here... yet at the same time you feel you should be. At the same time you tell yourself to run, the voice tells you to stay.

Its voice... the creature's voice... deep down in your mind.

The hulking creature beckons you closer. The voice feels grating against your mind and you follow. When you stand in front of the Queen...

You swear it smiles at you. In response to your fear, the voice only says one thing.

"Won't you be a good pet for me?"

[novemberthorne]

When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let's spread the self-love 💞

Thank you so much for the ask! 💕 What a fun idea! I'd love to share some of my favorites! 🥰

Something Lost, Something Found (90k, rated E)

I've obviously gotta include this one, because wow, what an absolutely amazing experience it was to write and post this and to get to see everyone's thoughts and comments through the whole story!! ❤️

"I'm…" Steve starts, like he's actually about to tell him. Oh God. He's about to tell him. Eddie's staring, and Steve sees how his hand is searching the seat behind himself for the remote, probably to kill the movie, because Steve's being so weird it's making him worried. He sighs again, breath trembling from stress and he buries his face in his hands. Leg still bouncing in place. The TV gets turned off and the room fills with silence, and he hears Eddie shuffling around next to him. "Steve—" "I have a pussy now."

The Train Fic (23k, rated E)

This story was written as a birthday gift for my beloved partner ❤️ I worked on it for every single day for over two months. I was completely immersed in it, and despite the experience being very different than most my other fics, it's one of my favorite writing experiences ✨ever!✨

“Just… hang out together on the train?” Steve asks to clarify, because it was a strange idea. "Yeah. Let's indulge in a little escapism together, and I'll show you what the journey is all about. Okay?" Steve feels baffled. “Are you… high?” Eddie just laughs. “No, that’s not—” “Your thing?” “Exactly. Clever boy.” And Steve might just be the most naive guy on the planet, but he believes him. “It’s your choice, though. Trust your gut, alright?” “Right,” Steve says carefully, looking at Eddie with a careful look. At least he doesn’t look offended by Steve’s blatant hesitation. “It’s not a no, I’m just…” Eddie leans in a little, and he gives Steve’s arm a friendly nudge. “You don’t have to make excuses or explanations for being cautious, Steve. Think about it over the day, okay? You know where to find me.”

Who Embraces The Monsters (10k, rated M)

I love monster stories, and for some strange reason, this is the only one I've ever written! I need to change that...

"I'll never fucking forget you," Steve tells Eddie genuinely, letting himself feel all those vulnerable things he usually just swallows down. Eddie just looks. The black ink under his skin has spread into his face, and it's pulsing, shifting under the surface, moving like a living thing. It's seeped into his eyes, black bleeding into the white of them and starting to take over. Then Eddie smiles, and it's a monster's smile. "Go," he just says. And despite every cell in his body rioting against it, Steve leaves.

All I Do Is Want (11k, rated E)

The first fic I ever posted in the fandom 💕 and it got such a beautiful reception, it definitely sealed the deal for me to keep going!

"Eddie," he says quietly, because he doesn't trust his voice not to break right now. "Mhmm?" "Maybe we shouldn't. Tonight." He says carefully, and despite himself he shifts his hips back, depriving them both of the contact. It felt so nice, and he wants it so bad, but he thinks it would be a bad idea to have sex here. At least right now.

Secret Smile, Wistful Eyes (30k, rated M)

This fic was such an educational writing experience for me, and also such a personal, emotional journey. It was also my first chaptered fic I ever posted, very exciting!

"Seriously? You never even, like, suspected it?" "No?" Eddie says, feeling kind of like he's floating, maybe even dreaming. He's usually good at subtext, he can read between lines well enough to confidently put most things together. But this was something else entirely, another thing that would rock his entire understanding of the world, surreal to the point where he knows it's not actually going to sink in until Steve says it out loud.

[a-dumbass-jester]

Witch’s heart x The Magnus archives au!!!

Claire - Vast

Ashe - Spiral

Wilardo - End/Hunt

Sirius - Eye

Noel - Flesh

Charlotte - Slaughter

Zizel - Stranger

Lime - Desolation

Rouge - Web

!!Also quick disclaimer it’s been a hot minute since I’ve been into wh so some things might be incorrect!!

First off idk if this is just wh but with the entities of if it’s entirely tma’s world. It’s probably going to be the first tho

Also all the demons are human(or at least used to be)

Also for non tma meowtuals here is a chart of the entities and here is a video essays for them(it’s unfinished, there’s still two entities to cover) i also linked the wiki pages for the entities mentioned, if anyone is interested (I’d recommend listening to the actual thing but if you don’t wanna watch 200 episodes to understand this, here you go)

- Vast!claire was actually the second to last one I came up with. If Wilardo’s still immortal/ 500 years old she realizes that in a few hundred years no one will remember her and that she doesn’t matter in the big picture. And while initially it scares her later she instead finds comfort in it. She becomes a lot like Simon. Becoming a very “live in the moment” kind of person. “I don’t matter in the long run why not have some fun”. I can also she her having fun with the falling thing. There’s a hc I remember seeing for the vast avatars (specifically Simon) where their eyes changed depending on the sky. Claire already has blue eyes, just add clouds or stars!!

- Spiral!Ashe because they have a lot if similar themes. Spiraling mental health, hallucinations, fake friends, manipulation. I can see him trying to bring his family back and accidentally sacrificing himself to it instead. Also it’s avatars are typically very tall and thin(and colorful). I also like the idea of Ashe being a surreally tall, thin and colorful hallucinatory headache. The spiral has a fake place called “Sannikov Land” and I can imagine him saying he’s from there

- End/Hunt!Wilardo. Idk witch one to pick so I’ll explore both. The end is mainly if he’s still immortal. If he is, he finds comfort in it and that the end will take all eventually. It might be centuries but it will take him and he will finally get to rest. I also rlly like him with the ends powers. Like the dreams of peoples deaths, THE ROOTS (That show how people DIE!!!)

For the hunt, it’s mainly if gramps is alive (and their both mortal) mainly because I’m assigning them to Julia and Trevor. At some point them meet probably dealing with the end or another entity and end up sticking with each other in a similar was Julia and Trevor did (idk how they met I just assume that’s what happened), and both of them end up becoming part of the hunt

- Eye!Sirius, idk how he got marked but I assume maybe messing with Dorothy’s stuff or a leitner. I think the wanting to know, see and understand thing fits with Sirius very well. I can see him using it to call bs on some stuff Ashe says. Like going back to “Sannikov Land”, Ashe says he’s from there and Sirius is like “no your not. That’s not a real place.”

- Flesh!Noel is the last and most difficult one I came up with. It’s also a bit weak but it fits the best. Originally I chose it because of the flesh monster he becomes. But the rest of it kinda fits as well. The flesh is strongly associated with dysphoria, and even if you don’t hc him as trans that would still be a lot of dysphoria he would of had as a kid. I also rlly like Noel having a more animalistic fear. He became an avatar when he was cursed in cannon

- Slaughter!Charlotte. It seems a bit easy giving the war criminal the war and (sudden) violence one but anyway. She’s probably still (mostly) human. just a bit more (openly) violent, and quick to do so. The slaughter is also strongly associated with music, specifically air(?) instruments so I like to picture her walking onto a battlefield (especially no man’s land) in an actual war/military uniform playing the flute or something.

- Stranger!Zizel. This one was kinda a bias because the stranger’s my favorite(and I love Zizel) but I also LOVE uncanny valley doll Zizel. Idk if she was ever human because the stranger seems to prefer manifestations over human avatars. And either would work so idk. I feel like it adds to the lack of identity tbh. But anyways uncanny valley doll Zizel <3<3

- Desolation!Lime. This one was probably one of, it not the easiest to assign. From the fire themes, to the destruction of others and their lives. I can see her with a similar role to Jude Perry. She encounters the cult of the lightless flame sometime in her 20s (specifically 25 because that’s when she becomes a demon in cannon) and falling in love with their beliefs. I can see Lime following Jude’s story in general. She joins the lightless flame in the 80s/90s and after becoming an avatar she becomes made of wax. I like to imagine her and Sirius as that one scene where Jude and Jon meet. They make a deal where Lime would tell Sirius (pre eye) something important but they have to shake hands, lime, made of wax, burns his hand.

I can also see Matty being part of the lightless flame. Like the burning down Ashes house and destroying his life is something they would do

- Web!Rouge. I feel like control theming fits well with Rouge. If anyone were to create structured plans on how things could go I feel like I would be her. The web also has stong themes of addiction, puppets, and that your actions aren’t rlly yours, which I can see fitting. I also rlly like a spider like Rouge. Like her with multiple spider like eyes and arms. The web is also called “the mother of puppets” which I can see fitting her. I also sometimes see people draw her with a web on her jacket so

Other side stuff (world building kinda)

I’m rlly glad I assigned Web and Desolation to Rouge and Lime because their known to not get along. They constantly clash because of the Web’s intricate plans and the Desolation’s destructive chaos

I feel like do to how close Noel is with Rouge, he was also marked by the web. Not a very strong mark but still a mark.

Dorothy plays a similar role to Gertrude because she deserves to be an absolute badass. She’s spent a good majority of her life fighting the entities, stoping rituals, etc.

Fiona and Sirius’s parents were still accused of being “witchs” and burned but this time the main motivator was that Nicholas would accuse people of serving an entity

Speaking of Fiona Elford I’m giving her Fiona Law’s role because they share a name

(Also I would link Fiona Law’s wiki page but she doesn’t have one apparently)

Fiona would pass out when she got scared which helped her survive against the entities. She would be unconscious so they couldn’t feed off of her fear, and left her alone

Giving more to the role Gramps is going to play, Trevor is a vampire hunter, so Gramps would probably take that role, and and fell victim to the hunt first and later finds Wilardo.

That’s basically it!!

I don’t have much for plot. It’s jut wh characters in tma so I assume it’s like just that plot

Wait actually they still meet in the mansion but it’s connected to the entities

There’s no murder or timelines but it was genuinely the rain!

The entities mess with them for a bit and are let out a bit later either before the change or as it’s happening

The five of them wonder a apocalyptic world where the entities have taken over (and maybe meet the “demons” again)

That’s genuinely it!!! If anyone has any ideas, please say something, I’d love to talk more about this

Thank you for reading!!

[ennaku-sirri-da]

Well it's clear I'm a LITTLE ( /j) biased to certain characters but I don't wanna leave everyone else out! So here's some Tiff stuff. We don't really have so much backstory for any of the Habiticians so I MADE Stuff UP. 🫢( surprised hand over mouth emote) GASPPPPPP

[ ID: Ingame PNG sprite of Tiff Webber. She stands with her hands behind her back with a neutral face. End ID]

Hmm well OK I think she and I share a certain trait and that is absolutely LOVING Monsters!!! ALL kinds...the ones who are almost comprehensible, the piles of goop, the birdlike ones, the ones as old as the Sun, claws, scales, pulsating, thousand-eyed, hidden in broad daylight, cute ones, mimics..... SOOO MANY

She has something of an interest in coding as well, so she's made a like. You know those online games where you make a creature, grow it up, interact with other people's creatures and make friends and stuff. Yeah, she codes one of those..and keeps adding to it over time! It has so many features now. Kamal's followed it since his college days atleast as a stressbusting thing and I think he'd be pretty excited if he met her later at the Habitat and Knew ! If I remember right Tiffs a humble sort so maybe she kept herself anonymous.

And luckily, during her teen years or such she does meet someone who has an interest in "monsters" like she does. Meet...online. On a chatroom. However this stranger's goals are different(in a way that draws her in), instead of just a passing fancy, she believes in them with the same intensity as Tiff ..and she wants to go out there and find them. ( there's something about the family business being at stake ). Her conviction is ...shaky, and she's clearly going through a rough patch( in regards to obtaining basic necessities, even) but with time as their friendship blossoms, this stranger grows clearer and stronger and Tiff begins to feel more confident and happy, letting her wildly colorful, surreal imagination run free, sharing her ideas and input too to someone who actually listens. Soon, she is stranger no more. Mirphy Fotoparat, certainly not forgettable...

They end up becoming quite close later on. Enough to live together in a space cramped with memorabilia. Not married, just very close friends. They're both each other's space to wind down and relax-- Also Mirphy is always keeping life exciting with new endeavoring for Tiff, is patient enough to let her feel out her many hard-to-understand-even-for-her emotions-- and Tiff ensures that she doesn't get too in over her head doing all on her own sometimes, as responsible as Mirphy is herself.

And just for the funnies I like to think Tiff is like RIDICULOUSLY calm. UN- FAZED. ( Not always!) She will get miffed at the Mothman for trailing mud into their house. Yup, you thought she was the most relatively normal one in the Habitat but she's a weird girl too /hj

[foreternitysblog]

Percy hadn’t asked for this life… in fact more often than not he simply wanted to be left alone. The gods never caved, though. Not even after the second war with the Titans had been won. The one good thing Percy got out of the deal? He finally managed to go to college with his beautiful and intelligent girlfriend Annabeth Chase. For the most part the two were finally enjoying being a normal couple… well as normal as a demigod couple can get after all.

After constantly saving the world the gods were all too happy to give him every quest that came up, including this one where both he and Annabeth were bringing a half blood back to camp. How he wished they could have a break finally, maybe even hit Paris? They hadn’t been able to do so yet not with college classes and questing in the small free time they had.

As he followed Annabeth, Percy lightly rolled his eyes. He had a gut feeling he was going to run into yet another gorgon even with Annabeth telling him not every teacher automatically was a monster, he just had that feeling. Nothing was ever easy in this world and with him around it felt all too surreal that monsters would try to make a snack out of them both. “Do you really think this will be that easy, Wise Girl? Nothing usually is.” Percy replied looking at the girl, Liz, that they were supposed to help. This girl was probably going to think they were crazy people. He sighed a little.

Annabeth went first. By now Percy had learned to always listen to her. After all she had done for him and how many times he had relied on her solely… his girlfriend was truly his anchor. She had barely time to tell both him and Liz to duck before the fight broke out. Percy stood up, uncapping riptide in all its glory. The gorgon let out a hiss of disapproval but Percy acted like it didn’t even happen. At this point he had faced much worse. What was a stupid snake going to do to him that a titan couldn’t? That’s both a stupid and sad thought, he mentally said to himself before charging the gorgon. “I was close enough though wasn’t I?” Percy told her sassily.

Percy kept the Gorgon at bay as Annabeth tried to explain to Liz about why they were here. At the girls comment about calling the cops, Percy laughed. She definitely thinks we’re crazy, he thought to himself. Annabeth went in for a stab but only managed to slow the creature down.

It never failed to amaze Percy how in sync the two of them were in battle together, as Annabeth tried to reason with Liz she was also dodging Gorgon attacks. Gods she’s truly something, Percy thought, before holding the monster down for Annabeth to cut its head off.

Dust floated through the air and Percy brushed the hair out of his face, capping riptide and putting it in his pocket. He lightly glanced over Annabeth as if making sure there were no wounds or injuries. When he saw nothing major he nodded to himself before directing his attention to Liz. If anyone knew what the girl felt it was him. “I know this can all seem scary and too much but you’re in good hands here I promise. Let’s get you somewhere safe now, yeah?” Making the girl nod a little as she followed them. She seemed a bit sulky still but he had to give it to her, she lightened up a little. As they all walked Percy scanned the distance always keeping a careful watch for any more monsters that could be lurking. He tucked a strand of hair back into Annabeth’s Yankees cap where it fell into her face earlier. “I know I say everytime how much I hate them giving us all the quests… and yes I mean all of them because that’s what they do- but I guess it’s as close to Paris as we’re getting anytime soon.”

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

The Ever-Changing DreamWorks Slate

In my last post, I took a look at how Disney Animation and Pixar announced these long-term movie slates - years and years ago - and how they really changed over time. There were movies that didn't make it (KING OF THE ELVES, NEWT), others that got delayed (THE GOOD DINOSAUR), etc.

I wanted to cover DreamWorks as well, considering their rather sparse "official" slate right now. A slate that has two sequels with concrete releases dates ending at spring 2024, but there's a semi-confirmed movie called MEET THE GILLMANS that should be arriving on June 30, 2023, only five months from now... And we know next to nothing about it... Or anything else that's set in stone, on the horizon... And maybe that's for a good reason...

Much like Disney Animation and Pixar, who unveiled long-term slates going back to 2008, DreamWorks has announced their fair share of long-term movie plans. Unlike WDAS and Pixar, though, I'll be starting at roughly fall 2005... And trying to scrounge up what I can, because it's a long series of convoluted slates with ever-changing dates and cancellations, many of which I chronicled - as they were happening - on my old defunct "Kyle's Animated World" blog...

Soooo... September 2005... DreamWorks had collected an all-timer gross off of the recently-released MADAGASCAR. Can you believe that MADAGASCAR was, at the time of its mid-2005 release, the fifth highest grossing animated movie? With a then-robust $542m global gross, it only stood behind... DreamWorks' own SHREK 2, FINDING NEMO, THE LION KING, and THE INCREDIBLES? Quite surreal to think, in a day and age where much different animated franchises and such dominate the Top 10 in terms of gross... But yes, MADAGASCAR was a winning combo for DreamWorks and audiences flocked to see it...

With this, and now SHARK TALE and SHREK 2 from the previous year behind them, and four 2006-07 releases booked (OVER THE HEDGE, FLUSHED AWAY, SHREK 3, and BEE MOVIE)... They were confident, and thus they announced a long-term plan that went to 2009 and beyond...

Slated for 2008 was KUNG FU PANDA, already sharing the year with an already-announced MADAGASCAR 2.

2009 and beyond included a strange and curious batch of titles... There was HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, a much earlier version of the movie set to be directed by Lorna Cook and David Soren. Then there was REX HAVOC, a comic book adaptation that Conrad Vernon and Rob Letterman were attached to direct. That was about a scientist putting together a team of sci-fi B-flick like monsters to fight an alien invasion. IT CAME FROM EARTH! was another, it did not have a director, but it was the flip side of REX HAVOC: It was to be about humans invading Mars, and how the Martians react to that. The most bizarre of the bunch was ROUTE 66, a road comedy about a living kitschy golf ball statue next to a store on the historic route that came to life and went on a journey to find the love of his life... A living blueberry statue. A little later, DreamWorks would also announce that they working on a children's book adaptation called PUNK FARM. That was pretty much a known thing at the end of 2005.

Now of course, ROUTE 66 didn't last very long. Perhaps they feared comparisons to Pixar's CARS, which was just around the corner and was all about Route 66? Maybe they feared another "ANTZ vs. A BUG'S LIFE" scenario? Who knows, but ROUTE 66 didn't take off. Does REX HAVOC sound familiar to you? Well, both ideas from HAVOC and CAME FROM EARTH were later combined to form the studio's 2009 feature MONSTERS VS. ALIENS, so it all originated here. HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON would of course shuffle through directors. Peter Hastings was supposed to direct at one point, roughly around 2008, until Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois were brought on board.

Speaking of Sanders... Aardman at the time, still partnered with DreamWorks, were at work on a caveman comedy called CROOD AWAKENING. Aardman split from DreamWorks after the unsuccessful FLUSHED AWAY, in early 2007. DreamWorks got to keep CROOD AWAKENING, and rechristened it to THE CROODS. Sanders, arriving to DreamWorks after leaving John Lasseter's Disney Animation (following his firing from AMERICAN DOG/BOLT), took on THE CROODS first. He was rerouted to DRAGON by the end of 2008. The picture came out in March 2010.

So... Most of these films happened. KUNG FU PANDA happened, MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA obviously happened (fun fact: a working title for this was THE CRATE ESCAPE), the two sci-fi comedy projects got combined into MONSTERS VS. ALIENS, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON happened... CROOD AWAKENING eventually became THE CROODS and released much later than these movies did, in March 2013. Only ROUTE 66 didn't make it, and funnily enough, Aardman eventually made a stop-motion caveman movie of their own, EARLY MAN, in 2018.

We'll jump ahead, now... At the end of 2008 - following MADAGASCAR 2's release and box office success, more movies were on the horizon. In addition to MONSTERS VS. ALIENS, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, a fourth SHREK movie, a PUSS IN BOOTS prequel, and a KUNG FU PANDA sequel... You had a supervillain picture called MASTER MIND. I think we all know what this picture became, right? It clearly became RISE OF THE GUARDIANS!

By mid-2009, DreamWorks had a big slate going forward once more. Jeffrey Katzenberg, founder and former CEO, proudly stated that there'd be five films from the studio every two calendar years... Three pictures in one year being one of the game plans... A bit unprecedented for a studio of this size. Disney Animation themselves did it once in 2000, if you count the Secret Lab picture DINOSAUR as a WDAS "canon" movie...

So, this slate...

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON - 3/26/2010

SHREK FOREVER AFTER - 5/21/2010

OOBERMIND - 11/5/2010

KUNG FU PANDA: THE KABOOM OF DOOM - 6/3/2011

THE GUARDIANS - 11/4/2011

PUSS IN BOOTS - 3/30/2012

MADAGASCAR 3 - 5/25/2012

UNTITLED ORIGINAL - 11/2/2012

The untitled original was announced as "one of three projects" currently in production. The candidates were THE CROODS, a "Super Secret Ghost Project" (later known as BOO U, and then B.O.O.: BUREAU OF OTHERWORLDLY OPERATIONS), and TRUCKERS, the latter an adaptation of a Terry Pratchett novel...

Flash-forward to about mid-2010... SHREK FOREVER AFTER is out in theaters, things have changed, but the films remain the same...

MEGAMIND - 11/5/2010

KUNG FU PANDA: THE KABOOM OF DOOM - 5/27/2011

PUSS IN BOOTS - 11/4/2011

THE CROODS - Q1 2012

MADAGASCAR 3 - Q2 2012

THE GUARDIANS - Q4 2012

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 - 2013

TROLLS - TBD

TRUCKERS - TBD

BOO U - TBD

OOBERMIND is now MEGAMIND and is making its intended release date. KUNG FU PANDA 2, still with that silly subtitle that was dropped shortly before its teaser release, is opening a week early. PUSS IN BOOTS takes THE GUARDIANS' original slot, as the fall 2011 title. THE CROODS is now in play with a firm release date, and HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 is on the boards... Everything else is rather up in the air.

Things changed a bit more as time went by... THE CROODS went to March 2013, THE GUARDIANS was retitled to RISE OF THE GUARDIANS. A movie about a supersonic snail called TURBO would be dated for summer 2013, and Jay Ward adaptation MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN for fall 2013... A CG/hand-drawn hybrid called ME AND MY SHADOW is on the boards for spring 2014, with HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 following in the summer...

Then in September of 2012, hot on the heels of MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPE'S MOST WANTED, DreamWorks dropped this monster slate... I believe it was the first one I "reported" on back in the day! This was right around the time their distribution deal with Paramount was ending, and their next pact with 20th Century Fox was to kick off with THE CROODS in spring 2013.

RISE OF THE GUARDIANS - 11/21/2012

THE CROODS - 3/22/2013

TURBO - 7/17/2013

MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN - 11/1/2013

ME AND MY SHADOW - 3/14/2014

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 - 6/20/2014

HAPPY SMEKDAY! - 11/26/2014

PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR - 3/17/2015

TROLLS - 6/5/2015

B.O.O.: BUREAU OF OTHERWORLDLY OPERATION - 11/6/2015

UNTITLED MUMBAI MUSICAL - 12/19/2015

KUNG FU PANDA 3 - 3/18/2016

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3 - 6/17/2016

That is a pretty jam-packed slate for its time... Four pictures in a calendar year?? DreamWorks was ambitious enough to aim for that, perhaps in an Icirian manner... Sadly, in a way, it turned out that way... Already, holes in the dam were evident not even a few months later, when RISE OF THE GUARDIANS lost money at the box office...

ME AND MY SHADOW, in a shocking blow, was cancelled. Removed from the slate completely, and MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN would be pushed to its date. (Later, it'd debut a week earlier.)

The next change came about swiftly... KUNG FU PANDA 3 traded places with MUMBAI MUSICAL. The December date would be modified to the 23rd for the third panda adventure.

Little else changes for the time being. Disney unveils a massive animation slate in May 2013, 20th Century Fox fires back with one of their own that goes out to 2018 much like the Disney one does: It encompasses everything they have in animation at the time, from DreamWorks to Blue Sky to several other projects... Nothing is set in stone, though. It's only the dates themselves that are locked... HAPPY SMEKDAY!, if you're wondering what *that* movie is... That was retitled to HOME.

By May 2013, DreamWorks' slate now looks like this. Plenty of switcheroos here...

TURBO - 7/17/2013

MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN - 3/7/2014

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 - 6/20/2014

HAPPY SMEKDAY! - 11/26/2014

PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR - 3/27/2015

B.O.O.: BUREAU OF OTHERWORLDLY OPERATIONS - 6/5/2015

KUNG FU PANDA 3 - 12/23/2015

MUMBAI MUSICAL - 3/18/2016

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3 - 6/17/2016

TROLLS - 11/4/2016

Keep in mind, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3 is slated to open the same day as a then-untitled Pixar feature...

By early 2014, HOME and PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR traded places... And ahead of HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2's summer debut, DreamWorks dropped a massive schedule...

PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR - 11/26/2014

HOME - 3/27/2015

B.O.O.: BUREAU OF OTHERWORLDLY OPERATIONS - 6/5/2015

KUNG FU PANDA 3 - 12/23/2015

THE BOSS BABY - 3/18/2016

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3 - 6/17/2016

TROLLS - 11/4/2016

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS - 1/13/2017

UNTITLED BOLLYWOOD MUSICAL - 3/10/2017

THE CROODS 2 - 11/3/2017

LARRIKINS - 2/16/2018

MADAGASCAR 4 - 5/18/2018

PUSS IN BOOTS 2: NINE LIVES & 40 THIEVES - 11/2/2018

Hot damn... As one can see, BOSS BABY swooped in out of nowhere kicked the MUMBAI MUSICAL a year back, while some expected sequels finally made their way to the slate...

Later that year, CROODS 2 and PUSS IN BOOTS 2 slightly move... They are now both Christmastime releases in their respective years. HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3 fled the summer 2016 spot and landed at 6/9/2017... A week before a then-undetermined Pixar film.

But then... A disastrous day comes about in January 2015...

Following the "disappointing" box office results of PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR, which came off of a string of flops that included RISE OF THE GUARDIANS, TURBO, and MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN, DreamWorks was in financial trouble... And so a dramatic downsizing ensued, with several cuts and the slate completely rearranged... Many pictures would get the axe on this fateful week...

HOME - 3/27/2015

KUNG FU PANDA 3 - 3/18/2016

TROLLS - 11/4/2016

THE BOSS BABY - 1/13/2017

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS - 3/10/2017

THE CROODS 2 - 12/22/2017

LARRIKINS - 2/16/2018

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3 - 6/29/2018

Cancelled completely were B.O.O. (which was near completion) and the BOLLYWOOD MUSICAL, never to be resumed or picked back up. PUSS IN BOOTS 2 was removed from the slate and put in limbo, as was MADAGASCAR 4. The plan going forward is to do two mainline movies a year, with an outsourced smaller project every now and then: This of course explains CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS sharing 2017 with BOSS BABY and CROODS 2. A film made at their former Chinese arm was also on the boards, but no date was confirmed at that time. Later in the spring, KUNG FU PANDA 3 moved up to 1/29/2016... It opens on that date...

Then in September 2015, DreamWorks decides to put BOSS BABY in March 2017, and CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS is off the slate for whatever reason, even though it's well into production by this point. It is put back on in the slate in April 2016, for a 6/2/2017 release. The Shanghai-based arm breaks away from them this month, too, but the co-production is still on for an approximate 2018 release.

Then at the end of April 2016... Comcast bought DreamWorks...

Many changes are to follow, from leadership to the release schedule...

They slowly happen...

In mid-June, a time when HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3 was supposed to open... The film, then dated for 6/29/2018, moved up to 5/18/2018. It is still to be distributed by 20th Century Fox. In August, Fox then makes THE CROODS 2 a 2018 release, with no concrete date. Just a TBD 2018 release... Fox gives its old slot to Blue Sky's FERDINAND... Days later, THE CROODS 2 is no longer a Fox release, it is now to be released by Universal... Then the movie is to be rewritten...

In September 2016, DreamWorks lays off 200 more employees. Universal then finally gets LARRIKINS and HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3 in October. The release dates remain the same, with THE CROODS 2 still in limbo... Rumors then swirl in November of LARRIKINS being "pulled back into story", and HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3 being pushed back, in addition to the shutdown of DreamWorks' India unit and more layoffs. Then THE CROODS 2 was completely canned and removed from the slate... All of this, while TROLLS is proving to be a box office success.

December comes... Major changes are finally made public:

THE BOSS BABY - 3/31/2017 (Fox)

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS - 6/2/2017 (Fox)

LARRIKINS - 2/16/2018 (Universal)

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3 - 3/1/2019 (Universal)

EVEREST - 9/27/2019 (Universal)

Big, big changes... HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3 gets pushed back *yet* again, and EVEREST is the name of the Shanghai picture from the former "Oriental DreamWorks" (now Pearl Studio, operating independently of them). Possible future films beyond 2019 are SHREK 5 and SHADOWS (a reworked version of ME AND MY SHADOW). Of course, as we all know, EVEREST would later be retitled to ABOMINABLE...

The cap the tumultuous transitional year off, DreamWorks co-president Mireille Soria, who was installed as president a year prior with Bonnie Arnold, leaves the studio...

In January 2017, Chris DeFaria is now head of DreamWorks Animation... One month into his run, a sequel to TROLLS is announced for 4/10/2020. Then in March, an in-production LARRIKINS is completely cancelled, much to the shock of many animation fans who were anticipating it. Oriental DreamWorks is in the final stages of being exed from the company. The success of THE BOSS BABY immediately leads to a BOSS BABY 2 announcement, the sequel is scheduled for 3/26/2021.

Outside of the release of CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS, all is quiet in the summer... Until August, DeFaria's DreamWorks announces a collaboration with Blumhouse called SPOOKY JACK.

In September 2017, out of nowhere, THE CROODS 2 is back on track and gets a new release date, as does SPOOKY JACK.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3 - 3/1/2019

EVEREST - 9/27/2019

TROLLS 2 - 4/10/2020

THE CROODS 2 - 9/18/2020

THE BOSS BABY 2 - 3/26/2021

SPOOKY JACK - 9/17/2021

Spring and early autumn seem to be their go-to's now at this point... A month later, TROLLS 2 moved up to 2/14/2020. The HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON threequel drops the "3" and adds a subtitle: THE HIDDEN WORLD. In May 2018, EVEREST gets renamed to ABOMINABLE...

Chris DeFaria is replaced by Margie Cohn as head of DreamWorks by early 2019...

I'll stop here, because outside of the cancellation of SPOOKY JACK, things played out almost as expected from 2019 to 2021. HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD opened a week early, and ABOMINABLE opened when expected to. THE BAD GUYS took the shuttered SPOOKY JACK's fall 2021 spot, and at one point PUSS IN BOOTS 2 - back from limbo - was scheduled for April 2022. An unprecedented semi-sequel to the studio's 2002 hand-drawn animated feature SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON that was also a follow-up to the movie's Netflix series spinoff (SPIRIT RIDING FREE) was slated for spring 2021. Titled SPIRIT UNTAMED, of course.

TROLLS WORLD TOUR eventually went back to April 2020, and remained there even after COVID-19 had broke out in the U.S. It went straight to On-Demand that week and played at drive-in theaters. THE CROODS: A NEW AGE opened in theaters proper on 11/25/2020, with an immediate On-Demand release afterwards. THE BOSS BABY: FAMILY BUSINESS had briefly migrated to fall 2021, pushing THE BAD GUYS to April 2022 (subsequently pushing PUSS IN BOOTS 2 to September 2022), but FAMILY BUSINESS moved up to 7/2/2021 as a day-and-date release. SPIRIT: UNTAMED came out 6/4/2021, as a theaters-only release... And as expected, THE BAD GUYS came out 4/22/2022. PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH leapt from 9/23/2022 to 12/21/2022.

So now, all is a bit quiet other than the current release dates for TROLLS BAND TOGETHER and KUNG FU PANDA 4... After all of that changing and rearranging in the last few pre-COVID years alone, I can see why DreamWorks/Universal are waiting to announce release dates for features... Even if they're cutting it kind of close with MEET THE GILLMANS.

[wroteonedad]

I Luv Alternate Bazaar Art

Squashy. Bright. Fluffy. Slimy. Rubber. Latex. Thing. Balloon. Squishy noises. Bouncy. Gravity defying. Weightless. Flying. Slime monster. Surreal. These are all things that come to mind after delving into the content of Jacksonville, Florida based animator Alternate Bazaar Art. There is no public information on the Internet about them, other than they animate some crazy stuff through Blender and that they also run an Etsy store selling some other fun stuff. I came across the stuff by complete accident, it was one of those days where you’ve spent 20 minutes too long scrolling through your TikTok and watching your feed change up because you’ve interacted with something slightly different to what you usually do, then wham bam, I see this one video.

Slimy ginger and white cat completely defies gravity as it falls and bounces down a set of furry pink stairs. The staircase is narrow, the walls are wooden but also plastic looking and the wall is coated with the same image of the pink slimy cat, framed of course. The body of the cat falls in itself as Home by Smash Mouth plays quietly in the background, but not so quiet that you can’t hear the squashing and bouncing noises of the cat. As it hits the floor, the cat folds into itself and becomes a Ditto. The best or worst Pokémon, you decide,

The creator helps to take us to alternate realities and place ourselves into a world with jelly creatures that exist, but don't exist. Perhaps something wacky that we would see in our dreams. Looped into similar surroundings and liminal spaces, it takes you onto a mini adventure that you will either be infatuated by or slightly terrified of.

Whales bounce around under sultry neon pink lights, folding into themselves and once again defying gravity the way in which the pack jump together. Other times, you are taken into what feels like a workshop room or an empty doctors office. You are waiting for your appointment, taking in all of the health and safety posters that surround you. There is a window to your left and you look. A coral reef, a very rare sight to see. A whale pops like a balloon into the room, starts to slide and jump around a bit before disappearing into another hole right in the centre of the room. This just so happens to be that same coral reef, but from a different angle. Wet frogs jump through similar spaces and then back out again through the same centred realm. The stories stay consistent, but so different all at the same time. Next thing you know, you've spent two hours scrolling through this TikTok and you feel as if you've seen every development of every character that has been created, and maybe you have until there is more.

This week, I would like to use this text to just have a sit back and become hypnotised by my favourite artist that I have accidentally stumbled upon, and I hope you all love it too.

I wanted to post so many of their TikTok videos on here, but this platform only allows me to add one video from my camera roll per post. However, if you'd like to check out the whole collection, their most active on TikTok or you can see them all on their YouTube Shorts as well.

[samstree]

44 with geraskier for the dialogue prompts?? if you feel like it 💜💜

In Plain Sight

44. "Tell me you love me one more time."

(1.2k, geralt pines and it’s becoming a theme)

AO3

“Jaskier.”

“Yes, dear husband?”

Geralt pinches the bridge of his nose. “Stop it. It’s over now.”

“Why I don’t know what you mean,” Jaskier says cheekily, cupping Geralt’s cheeks with both hands, squeezing gently. “Light of my life, heart of my songs, fire of my—”

“Don’t finish the thought.” Geralt is so very close to begging and, by some miracle, Jaskier relents. The bard releases him with a slight pout and picks up the scissors again for the futile endeavor of recreating his old haircut.

It turns out one tends to forget how their short hair is styled after keeping it long for too long. Jaskier is determined to shed his false persona, but Geralt only gives a contemplative hum.

Shame, he really liked the long hair.

“Alright, I’ll stop.” Jaskier presses his face close to the mirror to trim the fringe above his brows. “What did you want?”

“Now what?”

“You mean now that the mission is over and you don’t need to play the doting husband anymore, what will we do?”

Geralt simply crosses his arms in answer.

“You won’t need to do anything, darling witcher.” Jaskier winks at him through the mirror. “I’ll write a letter, make up some excuses or a breakup. Maybe some horrible accident that took my husband from me way too early? Which one do you prefer? Know that I’d make the most convincing widow. Heartbreak does come so naturally at this point. Practice makes perfect, am I right? Anyway, it’s only my mission, so you can be on your merry way by this evening.”

“Just like that?” Geralt frowns.

Somehow, it seems surreal that their little farce is already over. Just a month, Jaskier said at the time, a month of wine and food and dancing with your best friend, and oh, we need to pretend to be hopelessly in love. Also, it’s kind of a life-and-death situation, so…act for your life. Well, my life.

And it was so easy to pretend to be in love with Jaskier, to hold his hand in the public eye and murmur sweet nothings into his ear.

Too easy, because Geralt has done it in his dreams a million times.

And now he’s waking up.

“Still,” Geralt clears his throat, “where will you go?”

“Novigrad, I’m sure. Report duty to Dijkstra. Urgh, that’ll go well.” Jaskier puts down the scissors with a thud, grimacing. “The man has never approved of my method, and now he’ll say I’ve drawn too much attention, with a fake husband so less. Will a spy master ever understand the merit of hiding in plain sight? Well, he’s no boss of me.”

“He literally is, Jaskier.” Worry churns in Geralt’s stomach. This whole spying business always leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. It’s dangerous in a way that makes Geralt feel wrong-footed. Monsters he can deal with, but Jaskier being involved in the political upheaval of the North…

He’s just a bard, for fuck’s sake.

“You’re sure you can handle it on your own?” Geralt asks again, hiding the uncertainty in his voice. He must be doing a terrible job because Jaskier’s eyes widen in understanding.

“Oh,” he breathes, “Geralt, it’s sweet that you worry, but I know how to stay out of trouble.”

“History may suggest otherwise.”

“History suggests,” Jaskier deadpans, placing a hand on Geralt’s forearm, “that I’ve survived this far, and I can take care of myself. Yes, even when you’re not there, darling.”

The endearment manages to make Geralt’s heart flutter, despite having heard it every day in the past month. It’s because this is real, he knows. It’s Jaskier’s words to him, and only him. No one else is listening.

“I could go to Redania. Take the long way home,” Geralt offers, knowing that one word from Jaskier and he’ll go anywhere on the continent.

But Jaskier smiles that smile only reserved for him, his eyes crinkling with warmth.

“And here it goes, all the façade of your grunts and scowls. I know you are soft for me, somewhere deep down, and all the pretense can’t hide it.”

“Wasn’t trying to.” It slips out too easily, hitting too close to home, so Geralt amends, “I’m playing your husband, remember?”

“Hmm. It’s hard not to.”

The tiny smile widens, and Jaskier’s happy scent is so overwhelming Geralt has to will his face not to flush. He fails.

“Well, husband,” Jaskier adds, mischief gleaming in his eyes, “if you are truly dismayed to part with me, perhaps I can keep something of yours. After all, the road is full of danger. Who knows what kind of beasts are out there?”

Jaskier is standing too close and Geralt’s voice comes out a bit too hoarse for his liking.

“What will you keep?”

“Why don’t you…tell me you love me,” Jaskier swallows, eyes drifting down a smidge, “one more time. For our short-lived marriage.”

“I—”

Geralt opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. He steps back, the most horrible thought crossing his mind—

If he says it out loud, it’ll be real.

“Jaskier, I—” he winces as the bard snaps out of his stupor. “I can’t—”

Jaskier retreats, his hands returning to his side and smoothing his doublet nervously.

“No, of course not.” The bard shakes his head as if to berate himself. “We are not acting anymore, and there’s no one here, so… I shouldn’t have.”

The distance between them is too great for Geralt’s heart to handle, but he stays where he is as Jaskier packs away his things and sling the lute onto his back, his head ducked low the entire time.

“Anyway, see you around,” Jaskier exhales, and passes Geralt, still not meeting his gaze.

Geralt flexes his fists a few times awkwardly as Jaskier walks away, before instinct takes over and he calls out.

“Wait.”

“Wha—oomph!”

Before Jaskier can react, Geralt has turned around and pulled him into a hug—a surprise to the both of them—their bodies slamming into each other with unexpected force, their arms winding tightly. Geralt burrows into Jaskier’s neck so the broken look on his face can never be seen.

“Don’t die in Redania,” he says eventually, letting out a shuddering breath.

“You too. Don’t forget—don’t let Roach forget me.”

Geralt’s hand ends up at Jaskier’s nape, touching the freshly trimmed stubbles there. He misses when he could thread his fingers through Jaskier’s long hair. He misses playing with it as countless eyes watch.

He wishes he could do it still, with no one watching.

“Okay.”

And then Jaskier is gone, rounding a corner to disappear into the hallway in no time. His strides are way too quick for Geralt to discern the falter in his steps, his face turned away the whole time.

Jaskier never looks back once.

For the first time in a month, the space between Geralt’s arms is truly empty, just like the bard-shaped hole in his chest, carved out by years worth of longing.

And it won’t be filled for a while yet.

~~

Tagging: @rockysstupidity @flowercrown-bard​ @alllthequeenshorses @mothmanismyuncle @percy-jackson-is-sexy- @constantlytiredpigeon @behonesthowsmysinging @kitcatkim3 @endless-whump @rey-a-nonbinary-bisexual @llamasdumpsterfire @dapandapod @kuripon @holymotherwolf @theamazingdevilgivesmehope @julek @glows-n-the-dark @jemmasimmons @daisyyydaisyyydaisyyy

I now keep seperate lists for non-smut and smut content, so feel free to tell me which one, or adding and removing in general.

[aftgficrec]

Helloooo

How are yall I hope you're fine and stuff

So, can you give me your best childhood friends to lovers/best friends to lovers andreil fics

Shyxyxydjd

Thank you

Oh, these two with the pining and obliviousness…sigh. This is andreil friends to lovers; check out the previous recs for more + childhood and high school ftl and also enemies to lovers.  On a different note, also try our strangers to lovers tag, because friendship often nestles quietly in between. -A

most recent previous recs:

andreil childhood friends to lovers here

andreil high school friends to lovers here

andreil enemies to lovers 2 here

also see: 

new andreil friends to lovers here

Andreil roommates/pining here

BFFs Andreil with pining here

internet friends here

fics like ‘A Different Matter’ here 

andreil roommates + pining here

friends/enemies with benefits here

friends with benefits to lovers here

we’ve been dating all along?! here

long cute fake dating here

‘lightning rod’ and ‘you are my morphine…’ here 

‘Tales from a Quirky Small Town’ series here

‘Tonight (I Wish I Was Your Boy)’ here

‘Revelation’  here

‘Maybe you’ll be coming over again’ series here

‘definitely something’ here

‘Nine Weddings and No Funerals,’ ‘we're just strangers,’ and ‘The Bokeh Effect’ here

‘pull me closer (and hold me in your arms),’ ‘christmas in a place called home,’ ‘tis the season to be folly,’ and ‘hard candy christmas’ here

‘Take This Heart (Put Yourself In It)’ here

‘cape anywhere’ and ‘Friday Night Big Screen’ here 

‘bloom (just for you)’ here

‘monsters at night’ and ‘band aid on a broken heart’ here

‘every kind of way’ here

‘playing dead’ here

‘corresponding shapes’ here

‘Cutting Ties’ (updated) here

‘does the dog die at the end?’ here (completed)

‘The Game is True Columbia,’ ‘never stood a chance,’ ‘Bad Habits,’ and ‘You've Begun to Feel Like Home’ here

‘Now I See Daylight’ here (updated)

‘12 Ways to Woo a Minyard’ here

‘Pinch of Salt.’ and ‘under the kitchen lights (you still look like dynamite)’ here

‘dirty little secret’ series here

‘Foxhole Paper Company’ series here

‘better than nothing,’ ‘Just learning how to know your mind,’ and ‘He's such a surreal Phenomenon’ here

‘hold on to let go’ here

‘quicksand’ and ‘A world alone’ here

‘Flavors of Fall’ here

‘Haunted: Not Clickbait’ here

‘Here Comes the Sun’ and ‘Lately I been, I been losing sleep’ here

‘Eighteen Wheels And Three Beating Hearts’ here

‘Die Young’ here

You are in love by freshtaylorswiftduck [Rated G, 5199 Words, Complete, 2022]

Getting drunk, as it turns out, was a horrible idea.

The plan was never for Neil to realize he's completely and utterly in love with his best friend.

or: Neil wants to get drunk for the first time in his life, and realizes his true feelings.

tw: alcohol

“Mis-match“ (Jigsaw Puzzle Remix) by JostenlovesMinyard [Rated T, 1980 Words, Complete, AFTG Remix 2022]

Andrew and Neil become friends after a chance meeting on the roof.

Their friends seem to think it’s their right to be involved in their lives whether they like it or not.

NB: Based on ‘Mis-Match’ by doodlingstuff, recced here

It is useless to curse the wind. by gives_you_hell [Rated T, 13526 Words, Incomplete, Updated May 2022]

Looking back, his escape was like fifty percent luck, not that he usually had much of a plan, since things never went the way he wanted; but this time luck played in his favor. And apparently now he has run out of it. It had been too good for too long. He found himself in some back road, honestly he wasn’t really sure where, the spell was done with desperation and not much thought.

-

In which Neil is his chaotic self, Andrew is in love and Kevin just wants to practice in peace. And everyone has magic for some reason.

tw: implied/referenced child abuse

Confusion, my middle name. by voidsdivine [Rated T, 3009 Words, Complete, 2022]

Andrew’s jaw clenches tight with annoyance every time he glances at Kevin. Neil is too -unsurprisingly- injured to ask why. He just wants to be with Andrew.

Wait.

He wants to be with Andrew.

Shit.

-Or-

Five times Andrew thinks Kevin is not a very good boyfriend, plus one time he finds out why.

It's You by 100SleeplessNights [Rated G, 1189 Words, Complete, 2022, Locked]

Andrew asks Neil if he can kiss him and Neil can't say yes because he doesn't just have feelings for Andrew but also for someone he is talking to online.

Take me home to you series by 5a5b5p5 [Rated T/M, Collection, Updated Aug 2021]

Part 1: Take Me Home [T, 9289 Words, Complete, Aftg Mixtape]

Neil and Andrew are online best friends who have never progressed past talking in voice calls. Despite being an ocean apart, Neil wants nothing more than to go home to Andrew.

tw: implied/referenced abuse

Part 2: To You [M, 4555 Words, Complete]

Finally, after so many years of pining and waiting and sleepless nights, Neil had finally gotten to hug Andrew at the airport.

-

Or: Neil finally arrives home to Andrew, and is having trouble processing the fact that he’s not just a screen anymore.

you lay me down by capsize (copenhagenborn) [Rated T, 3554 Words, Complete, 2021]

Andew and Neil go on a date.

You're hot, Neil by neilstriker [Rated T, 3127 Words, Complete, AFTG Summer Exchange 2021]

Neil has a crush on his roommate/best friend Andrew but he is stupid and thinks Andrew isn't interested. Yall know exactly how this is going to go.

better together by melopeya [Rated T, 7774 Words, Complete, 2020]

Andrew Minyard was content building up his fashion TikTok (@ajm, to you) and silently lurking on exy TikTokker @njexy33’s page until their paths unexpectedly crossed. One collaboration turned into a friendship that Andrew never saw coming… and maybe even more.

Or, a TikTok AU that has very little to do with TikTok and a lot more to do with two boys falling in love, as per usual.

Of Stars and Stories by loveandwarandmagick [Not Rated, 5514 Words, Complete, 2020]

Andrew is an English major coming down from his drugs, spending his nights on the rooftop while everyone's asleep. What he suspected was a hallucination, a side-effect, follows him up there, and doesn't disappear even after he gets sober.

This is troubling. It's even more troubling that Neil wants to listen to him. The worst part is probably that Andrew finds himself wanting - the truth, to give his own, to see if Neil wants more than that.

Or, the non-mafia au where the only impending doom is the height of the roof, and the fact that talking to Neil makes him feel like he's standing at the edge of the drop.

tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced child abuse

Survivor by 6_impossiblethings [Rated G, 18868 Words, Complete, 2020]

Outwit. Outplay. Outlast.

Neil and his other castaway mates have spent 20 days competing so far the become the sole survivor. Finally joining up with the other competitors, Neil has to rely on his alliance with Andrew now more than ever before. With new players wanting to make deals, will Neil stay loyal to the Monster Alliance? Or will he go on his own to be the sole survivor?

tw: implied/referenced abuse

[yandere-sins]

Hello! Can i request a yandere bully! Bakugou, locking a darling in the locker? I may leave You there for a while, and comfort you when the reader is begging you to

Continuation of this one here! Thanks for requesting ^-^

»»———————— ♡ ————————««

You couldn’t deny that the feeling wasn’t new.

Being roughly shoved into the barely big enough locker, you both felt scared and, at the same time, knew what to do. Braking your fall with your back, you kept your head forward so you wouldn’t hit it again, the mild concussion you had last time having been learn-experience enough. You had closed your eyes out of instinct when Bakugou gripped your shirt, but they snapped open immediately, trying to help you. However, Bakugou, too, had honed his skills, slamming the door close before you could squeeze your fingers in its way.

You’d rather have a broken finger than suffer this ordeal again if you were honest.

“No!” you screamed at the top of your lungs, knowing it was futile since no one else was around. Still, a part of you hoped that you might be able to intimidate Bakugou to think this over. “Shut. Up,” was his angry reply, his fist hammering into the locker door with every word. You had to fear he might actually break through the door by force, but it would have been in your favor.

It was so damn frustrating. You always thought you had done something to Bakugou, apologized over and over to him, so maybe he’d stop his bullying. But after finally talking to someone about it, you had decided that you wouldn’t engage with him anymore, and well... it just so happened you found comfort in the arms of the new student who finally treated you well as the only person ever since you came to UA. Everyone had always been too scared of Bakugou once he started targeting you. Of course, you couldn’t blame them either...

You and the new student started to hang out at any time, so you could avoid being targeted, and you spent some of the most wonderful hours by his side. The bullying did seem to stop now that a witness was always around, and you were so sure it was finally over, and you could move on. What could have caused Bakugou to explode the way he did? Not only did he punch your new boyfriend - and possibly broke his nose - no, he also carried you off without permission, bringing you to your most hated place on planet earth.

The annex had always been sparsely visited by students and teachers alike. There were just some clubrooms around, but since it was already late in the afternoon and a sunny day, most members were out in the fields or back in the dorms already. But strangely enough, even the weirdo Bakugou had a locker here; one big enough to fit a person in it.

“You can’t-- Ah, damnit, Bakugou! Stop locking me in this damn locker! It’s not funny anymore! What did I ever do to you?!”

Perhaps you were feeling especially feisty that day. You never had screamed at him like this, except if you were pleading for mercy. But ever since your boyfriend convinced you to see the guidance counselor, you had started to come out of your shell. Everything had been so good. Why was it coming back to bite you in the ass now?

Bakugou didn’t respond. No mocking comment, no snide remarks. Not even threats or insults belittling you, even as you started hammering your fists against the door. Out of experience, you knew someone would come. You were sure your boyfriend already contacted the teachers and people were searching for you, and latest when someone passed by, you could reach out and ask for help. But were you really going to fall back into old behavior and just sit it out? Wait for the time to pass and life to go on like before?

“... like you,” you suddenly heard from outside, a tiny voice compared to the usual boom and vibrato that Bakugou had. “What?!” you hissed, annoyed that once ‘his majesty’ decided to talk, he did it so you couldn’t understand. A long groan escaped him, furious and raging. “Just listen, you idiot! I said I like you!”

This time, the ‘What’ echoing in your head was left silent. Your mouth hung open as you stared at the blonde tuft of hair through the slits in the locker, Bakugou standing there with his back turned towards you. “... the fuck...” you finished your thought, accidentally saying it out loud and quickly realizing it, but it was already too late.

“What’s your problem,” Bakugou grumbled, annoyed, and part of you was glad not being able to see his face. You wouldn’t have known how to come to terms with him blushing or nervously fidgeting around like someone who just confessed usually would. “Just tell me what your fucking answer is.”

“No,” you replied instantly, without even a moment of hesitation. Perhaps it would have been a good idea to think it over before blurting it out but never. You could never imagine yourself at the side of your bully, the person who made your life a living hell. Someone who’d lock you in a locker to confess to you. What kind of joke was this?

“No?” he mumbled, suddenly turning around, you two staring eye to eye through the slits. “What do you mean ‘no’?!”

“Is this a joke?!” you barked back. “Tell me it’s a joke, ’cause there’s no way I could be together with you!”

Bakugou opened his mouth to say something, but instead, his eyes only grew redder, expression growing mad and furious, and you heard the unexpected crashing of fists against the metal, making you flinch back. The whole situation seemed so surreal, but it was very, very real. Standing up for yourself made you feel strong, but when uncomfortable silence befell you two, you started to overthink again.

“Bakugou...” you mumbled, placing your hand against the door. You were back to only seeing his hair, but you knew he was leaning forward, probably starring daggers into the ground. Maybe not everything was too late. Perhaps you could fix this, appeal to him one more time. “Just let me out, okay? You and I... that doesn’t work, but we can stop being children and scream at each other and just go our separate ways.”

You couldn’t think of a better way to talk to him. After all, you couldn’t understand what was going on inside of him at all. He had been bullying for god-knows-how-long, yet, he thought he liked you? Couldn’t he see the contradiction in his statement and actions? But this cruelty had to end at some point and now was as good as any. Going different ways would help him too, you were sure.

“Children?” he whispered, finally snapping upwards again to stare at you with a mocking expression. “Do you think my feelings aren’t real?”

Weirded out by his behavior, you only shook your head.

“I don’t think you know your position in this. There is no ‘no’ when I ask you if you like me.”

“Bakugou...”

“It’s that guy, isn’t it? He’s in the way, right? He’s been stealing you from me, taking up all your time that you should spend with me, isn’t he?”

“Bakugou, please, we’re never spending time together--”

“He’s making you say no because you’re guilty, am I right? I can take care of that, you know?”

“Wait!” you interrupted his speech, sudden panic rising inside of you. You were well aware of Bakugou’s strength, but attacking your boyfriend wouldn’t make any of you happy! “If you go, I’ll scream! They’ll find me, and I’ll tell them what you’re doing! That’s criminal! Aren’t you studying to be a hero?!”

Your appeals were met with a cocky grin, his eyes shining as if you just challenged him. “Who says I can’t be a hero and still beat the shit out of that bastard?”

“Everyone! Everyone will know what they did! I will tell them!”

“Try it,” he hissed before pushing away from the locker. You threw yourself against it, but the door must have jammed when he kept bashing into it. Slapping your palm and hammering your fists didn’t help as you had to watch him walk away after looking at you in this typical, belittling way he used, always looking down on you. “You can have some time to think about your answer while I’m taking care of some business. Remember what day it is?” Bakugou yelled back over his shoulder, and you could hear the smug grin on his lips.

“What day...? Friday?” Your eyes widened suddenly as you realized that there were no clubs on the weekend due to the new regulations for safety, and you began to panic and scream Bakugou’s name after him. If you’d just have to spend the night, that would be manageable, but with the strange mood he was in, you couldn’t bring yourself to trust him to come let you out anytime soon. A whole weekend inside the locker would kill you for sure, and tears rolled down your cheeks as his footsteps slowly faded.

What a monster.

How could you ever like him back?

What more would you have to endure because of him?

But truth be told, what else could you do but tell him you liked him? You just wanted to get out of the hell that was this locker. Save yourself from the embarrassment and torture.

"I like you! Bakugou, I like you!" you screamed.

But the footsteps didn't come running back.

[ayamturd]

end│dreamwastaken

summary: dream was once your everything that you would do anything for; what happens when you finally confront the reality of his manipulation and sadistic destruction?

prompt: “we’re both at fault here, and now we both have to pay the price.” 

warnings: descriptive manipulation, a single curse word, angst

pairing: in-game c!dream

a/n: this is my entry for @sleepysoupi​‘s 1.8k event! it goes without saying how late i am considering she’s currently working on her 2.0k event, but still a huge congratulatory to her amazing success and obvious, well deserved recognition <33 we love soupi in this household, nothing less of the fact *^*

also i know the prison doesn’t work exactly like how i wrote it, but let’s pretend for the sake of this fic

wc: (1.6k) - m.list

“Don’t do this, y/n.”

The air was sticky and heavy. As the lava bubbled behind you, it felt as if the heat could reach out and smother you entirely; the subtle warmth that felt insufferably suffocating in the tight space was a large contrast to the dark, opaque walls. 

Although you stood in front of him by your own desire, habits quickly fell to place as he stood proudly above you. Chin raised, Dream’s shoulders were relaxed while he spoke to you. His words were firm, and with clenched fists, you swallowed harshly from his mocking tone. 

You could practically hear his condescending grin without looking in how belittling he addressed you, and you hated how familiar the speech was. 

“After all I’ve done for you, and you want to throw it all away?”

Despite all attempts, you unconsciously bowed your head down. Whether in unjustified guilt or the internal rage from his lies, you couldn’t say yourself. He noticed nonetheless, and played into your vulnerability further. 

He was the one defenseless in this scenario, yet he held all the power in the small cage between the two of you. 

“We made promises! ‘Till the very end, right?!” He began to raise his voice and feigned some form of heartbreak, taking a step dangerously closer to you while you stood there in frozen fear.

Staring harshly down at your feet, the weight of gravity pulled at your tears as they trickled down sparsely. This was different than when you originally confronted him mere hours ago. Here, you were alone and with no backing, no one to reassure you that you did the right thing. That he was a monster that had you blinded for so long.

That you were justified for betraying Dream. 

“Don’t play stupid with me now. You can’t act like I did this all alone. That I’m not the only sick fuck in the room who enjoys the-”

“Stop it,” you whispered with closed eyes. While your voice was small, it echoed so loudly and threw Dream off guard. He shook his head and with a dark chuckle, sneered disparagingly. 

“You really th-”

Your eyes opened as you unexpectedly interrupted him.

“No. For once in my life, I mean it. Shut your egotistical mouth for one goddamn second.”

Everything was in a frozen stand still as you snapped. 

Course tears ran steadily down your cheeks, yet your eyes held more strength than Dream could had ever perceived in that moment. It had been so long since you had lost your voice. Lost your confidence, your fire that drew him in in the first place. It had been so long since you felt like yourself again, the person you once were before he teared you down completely to his mercy. 

You swallowed sternly in exposed anxiety; when was the last time you saw his face like this? Saw his face at all, at that. 

The molten lava radiated the room, it being the main source of light in contrast to the faint glow of the lanterns built into the walls. When you had originally requested to see him one final time before he was officially locked away for good, you had no idea what you expected to see. You didn’t see anything, actually, since you couldn’t bring yourself to try and meet his eye line the entire time. 

Until now. 

As the magma shaded the room in a warm shine, his dull eyes gleamed a faded hue of ash green. His dirty blond hair was visible without his signature hoodie, his previous clothes stripped away and replaced with an attired uniform instead. He hid behind a mask for so long, it was surreal to see him as something so mundane and human.

Your mouth felt so dry from seeing him again. He almost looked like when you first laid eyes on him, that beautiful day when you thought you had fallen in love. How nice the sun felt, and how crisp the wind blew. The summer day was fresh and the sweet smell of honey pervaded the air. To think it was by mere chance he approached you in the white flower field, hidden in the depths of the forest with a charming smile and gentle hand.

How cruel reality liked to play with you and give you false hope that such love could truly exist. 

The memory brought a smoldering rage that made your heart race in return. Back straight, you dared a step towards him with a quiet, yet firm declaration. 

“I’m done making excuses for your lies. For your actions, for the hurt you cause, for you.”

Dream could barely register your words as you continued in growing fury. It was like the floodgates were open and you felt free to speak your truth. 

You were riding this new found wave and would hold nothing back anymore. 

“I let you get away with so much because I truly believed that I loved you. That my love could fix you, or change what you are.”

You stepped forward again, your finger shakily pointed at him. His mouth opened to respond but you spoke before he could try. You weren’t going to give him anything, you thought, he doesn’t deserve your silence.

“I went against everything I believed!” you suddenly yelled, “everything I stood for, everything I thought because of you!”

Your vision was a blur as your raw emotions came loose. You screamed from the top of your lungs to the point where your voice cracked with a head lifted high. 

“I let people get hurt! People I love and care for because I prioritized you over everything I had!”

Another step forward, your voice shook with quivered lips as a result of an ached and long scorned heart.

“To think I used to be so proud to say it, to say you were my everything and my world.” With a trembled exhale, you gathered yourself before finishing your thought. “Maybe I am stupid, but trust me when I say my ignorance was your freedom and my considered love a blind devotion.”

Dream’s face softened considerably, for he was at a loss for words and didn’t have anything to probe at anymore. It was his turn to suffer in a lost acceptance.

“I…”

Shaking your head, you scoffed with your head tilted in disbelief. Smiling darkly, you knew then and there you regained the power of the room and your self-assurance over him. How the turn tables.

“Funny how things change when you have no where to run. When you’re the one helpless and reliant.”

Standing strong with your arms crossed, you stared at him with such distaste. Dream’s brows furrowed with a clench jaw as he stepped even closer to you. He was now mere inches away and glared down at you from his given height. Even then, you wouldn’t back down any longer.

“I do love you, y/n. Everything I did, I did for us. You can’t leave me like this.” He gazed down with such intensity that your past you would have wanted to say something just to appease him entirely; you weren’t that person anymore, and you wouldn’t let him drag you down more than he already has. 

Dropping yours arms before stepping back, you messaged Sam without wavering your eye contact from him. 

“We’re both at fault here, and now we both have to pay the price of it alone.”

The sounded mechanics from outside the box indicated the lava dropping, signifying the end of your visit. Dream grew agitated at the thought of you leaving and dropped his eyes down in resent, a huge contrast to your relaxed and calm state. 

You moved backwards until your back threatened to be burned by the heat. 

“Here’s to loosing all those attachments you mentioned.”

Dream’s head snapped up from your words, but before he could attempt anything further, the Netherite divider rose and separated you both. The lava parted as you approached the platform, Sam visible from across the entrapping moat. He watched closely in regard to your safety and anything Dream might try with your back currently turned. 

Approaching the stone platform once deemed safe, you turned to face him a final time as the contraption slowly pulled you away. Your chin was raised, and your tears were dry in satisfaction to your found closure.

“You were right,” you affirmed, “we did make promises, and this is our end.”

Bonus:

Tommy had been tormenting Dream for the past few minutes or so, his obnoxious taunts a sign of recovery from all the trauma he had dealt with from his young age. He hid behind his humor, but was strong when confronting his abuser with no uncertainty then. 

“Who do you miss the most?”

Dream paused from fiddling with the leather of the book covers from the simple question. His hand began to curl around the thick material, and he drowned out Tommy’s rambling from behind him.

A familiar scent filled his senses, an old and precious memory uncovered from the oppressed depths of his mind. He pulled the book in hand open to a random, but intentional page, his callous fingers tracing over the stained ink.

He wasn’t an artist, and it easily would have been passed for messy, nonsense doodles, yet the drawing practically burned the paper as a reminder of his failed objectives.

The innocent azure bluets insulted him despite being his own creation.

Dream was done playing into Tommy’s confidence, and spoke lowly as his head turned further away from the boy.

“… I think you should go, Tommy."

[hum-my-name]

Within and Without

Written for @whataboutthebard!!

Title: Within and Without

Prompt: Voyeurism

Pairing: Geralt/Jaskier

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: None

Also available on AO3! Please leave a comment or kudos, there if you have the time!

<>

Crashes of silver against a naturally armored body. Fire traveling across dirt, catching at wriggling legs but never reaching the intended target. The beast disappearing beneath the ground— emerging too close, too sudden.

The bitter taste of swallow down the back of his throat, followed by the sweeter burst of cat as the giant centipede leads him farther into the trees. His body stings with each movement as though being branded, muscles twitching against the toxins— he’d had thunderbolt and petri’s philter before approaching the site of the attacks, and they’ve barely worn off. Too many potions, too soon.

But there’s only one centipede left from the bunch, and he’ll be damned if he’s struck down by a bug tonight.

At last, a burst of igni catches the monster between its mandibles, stopping its spew of acid with a small explosion and providing enough distraction for Geralt to bury his blade in its underside. Geralt rolls out of the way, avoiding the writhing body as it collapses beside him. He remains kneeled, watching the life drain from the bug. His mind ticks through Vesemir’s lessons, the alchemy ingredients he should collect and store before they rot in their own toxicity.

His hands, though, tremble against his knees. He still tastes potions on his tongue and teeth and gums and cheeks.

Too many potions. Too soon.

He stands slowly, wincing as even the small action overwhelms his senses. It’s a nasty side effect, heightening his senses until the slightest breeze through the grass could make him vomit, and it’s been a while since he’s been so stupid. Dirt crunches beneath his boots as he walks, the sound aching against his head.

Still— one foot after the other. He breathes deeply through his nose, hoping to ignore the taste of dead centipede stuck in the air.

As he inhales, though, another scent hits him in the guts.

Jaskier

Geralt stumbles to a stop, nearly dropping to his knees once more as the distant tones of plum and wine drift across the wind. Of course, he knows Jaskier is near, knows that he left him safely at camp— it’s a warm night, after all, and Jaskier refused to watch the centipede fight after the last one ripped his doublet—  and Jaskier likes to compose when Geralt’s gone, likes to practice and hum and talk to Roach but—

But Geralt shuts his eyes and breathes in again. His hands fold into fists.

Sweat and the sound of Jaskier’s panting breaths, small whining and whimpering beneath each gasp. The smell of precum and the vial of Jaskier’s favorite oil.

Potions don’t let Geralt view so far into the night but, when he opens his eyes, he imagines he can see the scene before him— Jaskier spread across the lush Toussaint grasses, cheeks flushed and hair a mess as he reaches between his legs to touch and feel, his voice wrapping around Geralt’s name in that way it does when it’s Geralt above him, touching and feeling like he owns what his fingers find.

“Jaskier,” Geralt growls. With the sting from his potions still in his throat, it sounds more animalistic than he means.

Geralt’s body pulls towards Jaskier’s sound and scent, lust hanging in the air like a crumb trail for Geralt to follow. The world and its horrors of too much too much too much weaken until it’s only Jaskier, only a bard and the soft sounds he makes in the dark. Geralt’s hands twist at his sides as though they can feel Jaskier from here— and, with witcher potions in his system, who’s to say he can’t? Maybe the breeze scraping over his palms like a cat’s rough tongue is the same wind that brushed through Jaskier’s fingers as he undid the fastenings of his trousers. Maybe the subtle taste of dirt in the air comes from the dust that lifts from the camp as Jaskier twists against the ground.

Geralt’s breath trips hazardously into his throat at the thought, nearly stopping as his senses, once again, expand to include everything. The birds crying on the other side of the forest, the starlight burning against his eyes.

Above all, he feels Jaskier the most— breathing painlessly doesn’t seem too important, then, when it’s still Jaskier he’s sensing.

<><><> <><><> <><><>

Geralt arrives at camp a few moments later— a handful of moments but the potions make it hard to tell time, make it hard to say if he’s been walking for days or seconds. All he knows is that he followed Jaskier here.

And all he knows is that he found him as expected, nakedly tossed upon the ground with his cock in his hand.

Jaskier doesn’t move when he spots Geralt, though a slow flush deepens across his chest and cheeks. This close, standing on the edge of their camp, Geralt picks through the floral soaps and perfumes always clinging to Jaskier’s skin, breathing heavily until these, too, become nothing more than distractions to cast aside. Geralt’s chest grows tight as he locates Jaskier beneath them, his arousal and his pretty plum-wine smell.

He’s never been so near to Jaskier like this, body thrumming with potions that make everything feel imminent and bigger. Like this, he can see Jaskier’s pulse jumping in his throat. He can see each bead of sweat stretching across his skin like a caress. Geralt lets himself stare— if he looks away, he’ll be faced with a world that’s still too fucking much.

And, he thinks, if he looks away, he doesn’t know if he’ll ever have the chance to see Jaskier like this again— so vivid and surreal, like a painting whose colors have shifted into reality.

A quiet whisper of his name and the brush of the bedroll against the grass jars Geralt from his thoughts. Jaskier sits, shifting onto his knees. As Jaskier moves, though, the air around him changes, the very threads of the world twisting and tightening, rearranging around the blurry shape of Jaskier as Geralt stutters over a breath. He’s torn between wanting Jaskier pressed against him, breathing him in until there’s nothing left, or simply keeping him in place— keeping him still and hard, a pretty thing for Geralt to look at until anything else becomes bearable again. His head hurts and he doesn’t know what he’ll say if Jaskier reaches for him, if the pain of his touch is worth the pleasure of knowing it's Jaskier touching him.

But Jaskier, somehow, keeps quiet. His eyes study Geralt’s face— and Geralt knows he sees black eyes, dark veins, pale skin and tremors in each breath. Jaskier’s own inhale slides towards an understanding sound— and, even that, Jaskier tries to keep quiet.

The realization of Jaskier’s realization causes affection to curl warmly against Geralt’s skin— an affection that slips into arousal when Jaskier wraps a hand around his cock again.

“I know the world’s a lot right now,” Jaskier whispers— without witcher hearing, there’d be no way for Geralt to know he’s spoken. “So just focus on me until it all wears off.”

Geralt feels Jaskier’s voice as it travels through the air, the whispers like hands against his skin that bring him to his knees, mimicking Jaskier's position with his legs spread in an obscene V. He leans forward as Jaskier leans back, the bard stroking himself with gentle flicks of his wrist. Geralt's cock twitches in his pants but he makes no move to touch, knowing how the sensation would only ache as the potions make him sensitive to everything— everything, including the way Jaskier’s breath shudders out from between his lips, the taste of berries and sugar twisting through the air and onto Geralt’s tongue. Gods, he can taste Jaskier’s breath.

Geralt’s gasp hitches in time with Jaskier’s as nimble fingers pinch the head of Jaskier’s cock. Jaskier runs his thumb across the slit, gathering a drop of precum before circling up and down his length. Something between a whimper and moan echoes in the night, and Geralt doesn’t know which of them the sound belongs to. His eyes stray from Jaskier’s face to his hands, unsure of where to stick, unsure of what the prettier sight is. Jaskier makes the decision for him, blue eyes catching Geralt’s with a hot light within them— a gaze that burns into Geralt’s very core before guiding him down.

“Slowly,” Jaskier breathes. “Don’t rush yourself. I want you to see everything.”

Does Jaskier think he doesn’t? That he doesn’t see the way his cock twitches in his hand, or feel how his voice rasps against his throat? He furrows his brows and tries to form words to explain what he sees, what he knows— but then Jaskier bites his lip and raises his other hand to rub at his nipples, and Geralt only groans.

Jaskier’s arousal spikes as he circles a thumb across a nipple before pinching the pink nub, hips jerking even as his hand stills around his cock— teasing himself, torturing himself, face collapsing into nothing but desperation and need. He begs softly with each breath— no words, only small sounds that rock through Geralt’s very being, sounds that Geralt feels inside and around him—

Geralt doesn't forget the world-- it's just that world is simply Jaskier.

Jaskier’s body tenses and Geralt can see how much he wants to let go, how hungry he is for his release— though, perhaps, it’s more than seeing. In this moment, with all his senses as intensified as they can be, he and Jaskier feel like one and the same. Jaskier’s lust and need wrap around Geralt’s throat, choking those same wanting sounds out of him, scratching down his chest and back like Jaskier’s nails when they fuck. His hips move with the same aborted thrusts that Jaskier’s fighting so hard to keep back, building his climax with his eyes always on Geralt’s face.

I want you to see everything , Jaskier had said— and Geralt wonders, for a moment, if Jaskier knew that he's always everything to Geralt

“Geralt,” Jaskier gasps, back arching as he finally starts to stroke himself again— no pattern or rhythm, nothing more than a chase for the pleasure he’s denied himself.

“I can feel you,” Geralt finally says, feeling disconnected from his own voice. The world spins in colors that can’t exist, colors of Jaskier’s breaths and desires, the shades of every sense Jaskier fills.

Jaskier gasps as though he's used the last of his words on Geralt's name, as though nothing else matters more than the senseless and desperate sounds he makes. Geralt's voice growls and Jaskier shudders as though he, too, can feel things he shouldn't.

“It’s like—” Like Jaskier’s touching him, like Jaskier’s beside him, like Jaskier’s controlling each of Geralt’s senses. “Like you’re within me and around me. Even as far as you are, you're still right next to me.”

Geralt drags his gaze back to Jaskier’s eyes— he doesn’t need to see Jaskier’s cock to know how close he is to coming; he can sense it in the way Jaskier’s whimpers shape the space around him them, carving through Geralt's skin like a wound aiming for his core. He feels Jaskier’s gaze upon him as his hips jerk against that phantom touch, but all Geralt does is spread his knees further apart, incapable of hiding from Jaskier when their mutual desire has trapped them here together, some almost tangible thing that separates them from whatever is left of the world.

Jaskier’s orgasm hits them both at once— their voices colliding until it’s just one sound, one cry, one release as the scent of their climaxes fills the air.

For a moment, Geralt doesn’t move, doubled over as his cum absorbs into his trousers. He watches Jaskier, fascinated by the softening cock in his hand. The orgasm helped with the potion's effects but he can still see the smaller details, can still sense Jaskier’s feelings as strongly as though they’re his own. He shuts his eyes and breathes deeply, collecting air in his lungs before letting it out in a huff.

When he feels like he can move again, he shifts closer on his knees, half-crawling until he sits before Jaskier. Jaskier blinks at him, eyes glimmering from the satisfaction of his release— but, then, he smiles. Tiredly, lazily— fondly.

Geralt leans into him, all potion pain and toxicity forgotten as he takes Jaskier in his hands and pulls him into a tender kiss. It’s not long and it’s not much, but it sends sparks up and down Geralt’s skin in a way magic and potions never could.

Jaskier still smiles when they pull apart, a hand resting against Geralt’s chest.

“It wasn’t too much, was it?” He asks, eyes checking over Geralt’s face.

Geralt hums softly at the slight tone of concern in Jaskier’s voice. The last of the side effects fade away, bringing the world back into a manageable state. He rests his hand over Jaskier’s wrist— even without the potions, he can feel Jaskier’s pulse against his touch. Jaskier’s fingers— not quite nervous but never still— tap against his armor as though finding the right chords on his lute, trailing down until they rest against Geralt’s thigh. Jaskier drops his gaze only to bring it back up when Geralt leans forward to rest their foreheads together, tired from the hunt and the potions and his own messy orgasm.

“Perfect,” he says, meaning it as more than an answer to Jaskier’s question.

Geralt smiles when Jaskier’s hand twitches against his thigh, settling with a soft breath that brushes Geralt’s lips. He’s close enough he can still taste what lingers there but it’s not like it was before, not all encapsulating and demanding.

Instead, it’s just nice.

Just right.

Just enough for Geralt to press his lips to Jaskier’s again, the two leaning into each other— until they once again feel as though they’re one and the same.

[girlindelusionn]

not even close, robin x you

summary:

you hate mornings, but robin knows how to make everything better

details:

stablished relationship cause i'm that lazy, no tws (please correct me if i'm wrong) and obviously fem reader, it's just fluff, also the reader is hispanic/knows spanish, cause i'm hispanic and i say so

okay so i'm back? i guess. i wrote this crap in an hour, while avoiding studying for finals i'm definitely gonna fail, so don't have much expectations

i also wanna start taking requests! specifically for robin, cause as you see i'm obsessed, but maybe ill get around to write another character.

so if you have any prompts please send them my way!

She knew how much you hated waking up.

She had listened to you complaining about it relentlessly ("it just… absurdly difficult for such a simple task!! And I always promise myself, today i'mma do it right but then it my bed is so warm and my dreams are so interesting and the other option is having to come here to this school and– you see where i'm going with this?") She had watched you come in late to math class every Thursday and Tuesday of the year. Five month in, you stopped apologizing and the teacher stopped complaining. At least after starting to work in Scoops Ahoy (yes, you had to wear the stupid outfit, but your way out of this hell hole isnt gonna pay itself), you had Robin. Who always saved you a seat beside her and offered you her notebook to copy the first twenty minutes of notes.

But something had changed that summer. And it was not the fact that you made enemies with evil russians (which um, was still surreal) and neither the fact that you had escaped that monster, as you and Robin liked to call it, of highschool. Or, you know, actual monsters. Of course that helped, leaving high school was always good for people like you, but finally getting around to confess your forbidden crush on your best friend just felt a liiitle more significant. (Yes, more than the russians. You're still a teenager after all.)

It hadn't been pretty. There were tears and cursing and dramatic rain, cause life liked to fuck with you sometimes, but you got passed all the hatred youve been taught since birth and figured it out. You have been dating for almost six months.

Now summer is long gone, but you don't have classes to get late anymore. The only goal now was to get as much cash as shitty jobs could give to get as far as possible. You both were thinking about France, but neither had explicitly said it. It still felt delusional, the idea of leaving. But maybe it was closer than you both thought.

Either way, for now, being out to her parents and feeling like her house was more of a home than yours ever was, was enough. Robin managed to make everything better. For example, your most evil enemy (still not the russians): early mornings.

Now, when the sun hits your face, first hour in the morning, the first thing you notice isn't how cold you are or how good was the dream you were having, cause you feel her warm body beneath you and who cares about a dream when life is this good anyway?

So the first thing you do, as you're laying on her chest, is smile like an idiot. Cause, again, you're still a teenager and love does that sometimes. She must feel the gesture on her chest, because she hums and whispers "good morning, sweetie" with the cutest voice you could ever imagine.

"Good morning, linda" you reply, ready to get your morning "no!!! my breath stinks!!!" kiss. Instead, she pulls away just enough so you can see her confused face.

"Who the hell is Linda?" she almost looks mad. You chuckle.

"Lets see, miss 'fluent in four languages', how do you say pretty in spanish?"

"Oh…" she blushes, you laugh harder.

"Idiot"

She frowns jokingly, now pulling away to the point your bodies aren't touching anymore.

"Um… excuse me?" You shiver a bit, rolling your eyes with affection when you see her keep the fake offended face.

"Come baaack…" you ask. But she manages to escape your embrace. You knew getting a bigger bed was going to be a problem.

"No, I'm deeply hurt. I didn't think you capable to do such hurt" You try to hug her again, she moves a little further to the left. "I feel betrayed"

"But i'm coldddd…" You finally trap her, she doesn't have more space behind her. It's either you or the floor. You like those odds.

"So you're using me as a human heater?" she doesn't let go of the character, in fact your last sentence 'offends' her even more, but at least now you can hug her.

"Like you don't have the coldest hands in the universe?"

She doesn't avoid your eyes anymore, instead she looks at your "uhh i fucked up" smile and you swear she almost breaks, but she keeps it together. Very committed to her performance.

"You think you're funny?" she asks. You nodd, shamelessly, and again she wants to smile but doesn't. You see mischief inside her eyes and frown, what is she planning?

You find out sooner than later, when said cold hands end up in your secretly ticklish places.

"No!" you say, moving further to the right, freeing Robin from her trap in the left corner. When she's certain there's room for her, she stops and lays on her back, arms crossing across her chest. You roll your eyes again.

"Alright…" you surrender "I'm sorry"

You swear you can see the tiniest liiitle smile trying to escape, but she doesn't move.

"Not enough" she sentences in the most dramatic voice you've ever heard.

"Rooobing…" you ask, saying her name just how she likes it as you get up and straddle her hips.

"No!" She says nervously, as she looks to the side, refusing eye contact. She isnt strong enough to resist it right now, one look into your eyes and her whole performance goes down. " I'm afraid my prices for forgiveness are way too high for you to pay!" My god she was the biggest dork ever.

"All I have to do is kiss you, right?" you say, inches away from her face.

"...Yeah" she's says in defeat, as you pull her in for a much needed kiss.

After a couple minutes you leave your spot at her hips and sit beside her on the bed. You could not be late to work again this week, so you kiss her one last time and start to make your way to the bathroom.

"Where are you going?" she whines.

"To call Linda!"

And you could not see her, but you know she rolled her eyes.

"Fuck you!" she sings still from the bed.

You go back, toothpaste still on your face, crazy bed hair still unfixed, and kiss her once more.

"Love you too, idiot"

Yeah, fuck your dreams. They're not even close.

[franki-lew-yo]

The Romantic (2009, R, Gothic Fantasy/Horror), aka the most forgotten animated film in the world

What if I told you there was a movie under serious threat of becoming lost media with no clear reason as to WHY it's been lost other than no one has apparently watched it besides me and a few people on Reddit? What if I told you that movie wasn't half bad and would no doubt have some interest peeked if anyone DID know about it?

The name of that movie is The Romantic.

It was released in 2009 and it's Rated R for nudity and sex scenes [insert Robbie Rotten meme here], though none of it too graphic. It was a pet project created by animator Michael P. Heneghan, originally starting as a flash project for his animation class before he expanded it into a feature film. The film was inspired by movies such as The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, but what I see every time I look at it is a touch of Jhonen Vasquez, Tim Burton, and Roman Dirge- the guy behind Lenore the Cute Little Dead Girl. It's flash animation especially remind me of the puppet-rigged toons of the 2000s (again like Salad Fingers or Lenore). It's not bad, it's just not inherently 'feature film' quality flash, nor is it exceptionally artistic like Sita Sings the Blues in it's simplicity. Like, really, if you happen to find this thing it's not the worst animated project at all it's just amateur for a professional production. I've seen worse flash movies. Heck, if The Romantic were released in separate parts on youtube or Newgrounds as a series (ala Homestuck) I'm sure it would have been really successful and totally in it's element. But it wasn't.

Because next to no one has seen it and I'm lucky to have not only ever seen it when it was available for free but have also found it recently (hush hush, I ain't telling you how) I'm going to actually give you all a plot synopsis under the cut. There will be some details I leave out and I think I've spelled some characters names wrong. It's a bit of a surrealist film as well, so you might need some things explained.

Spoilers ahead:

The Romantic is set in an autumnal, surrealist world inhabited by humans and monsters and ruled by three gods; Po the goddess of love; Pik the god of Hate; and Pjorrc the god of time though Pjorrc was made to live inside a pumpkin moon as everything he touched rabidly aged and died.

((Tapestry art featuring the main three gods of the film.))

A young man (called “Romance” or “The Romantic” by the other characters) performs a bull sacrifice in order to summon Abbledepopa, the unseen creator of the other gods and ‘storyteller’ of the world. The sacrifice does not conjure Abbledepopa but, when Romance spares a monster that was ready to eat him, the monster tells him of a profit named Patience. Patience is a foul-mouthed dwarf living alone with an army of babies who points Romance in the direction of Po.

((Romance outside of Patience's house.))

Romance wants the god’s help because he has fallen out of love with his girlfriend. Po grants him his desire and restores his love only for Romance to return home and find his girlfriend with another man. Blinded by heartache and rage, Romance kills her. He then swears vengeance on the gods for ‘making’ him do it. In the midst of this vow, a corrupt prophet called Fat Daddy kills the queen of Vauxhaul (Romance's home) and her guards, and forges a new body for his newborn son with their bodies. Fat Daddy rallies the townsfolk behind him in supposedly finding the Queen’s murder into follow a new religion called "The Poetic End".

((Romance (right) besides the monster he spared at the beginning of the movie.))

Patience accompanies Romance on his quest and tells him to take Po’s mask, which hides her true face, once he kills her. Romance buys Po’s trust by weaving her a tapestry that tells her story: in the dawn of time Po and Pjorrc were in love. However, Pjorrc gradually became distant and Po became resentful when their daughter, Love, earned Po's original title as the god of romance and love.

In the present day, Romance sleeps with Po for over a year before finally killing her and taking her mask. He and Patience return to his home of Vauxhul only to be chased out by Fat Daddy’s personal army. They flee to Marshallton, the town nearest to the god Pik.

((Romance's hometown of Vauxhul. ))

The king of Marshallton, King Crookie, tells Romance of a prophecy he, Patience, Fat Daddy and all the gods are a part of and that the world is soon to change. Romance then fights and successfully kills Pik when he shows the god of hate his reflection in a mirror King Crookie gave him, but not before losing his hand to Pik.

When Romance comes down the mountain he learns from Patience that nine years have passed since his fight with Pik began. Patience reveals to Romance what Pik saw in the mirror that allowed Romance to take the killing blow; after Love had grown up and married, Po asked Pik to tell her where her husband was always running off to. Pik reluctantly revealed Pjorrc was disguising himself as a human and married a mortal woman. Po found Pjorrc and his pregnant second wife, forcing Pjorrc to leave his human family behind, but not before asking his wife to name their son “Patience”. In retaliation for his treachery, Po proceeded to sleep with fifty men and produce the fifty bastard children in Patience’s house.

((Fat Daddy, the main villain.))

Marshallton and the entire rest of the world has fallen to the rule of Fat Daddy, who captures Romance and Patience. Fat Daddy tortures Patience into telling him how to get to Pjorrc but is unable to convince Romance to take part in his ‘new world’ or give him Po’s mask. Romance and Patience escape and leave the village to be torn apart by the fifty babies Po had, now transformed into veracious monsters after Patience didn’t feed them for the past ten years. Romance confronts Patience when he realizes the latter is Pjorrc’s son. Patience calls Romance out on his mantra of vengeance and points out that all his decisions are his own, not the gods, and instructs him to seek Love herself in Po’s basement. Patience then attempts to confront Pjorrc but is cornered and killed by Fat Daddy before he can do so.

In Po’s basement, Romance finds Love nailed to a wall, her face torn off and half eaten by her deformed husband. Love tells Romance that Po ripped off her daughter’s face in rage over Pjorrc’s infidelity and Pjorrc did not intervene fast enough. Po then threw Love into her basement, turned Love’s husband into a monster, and wore her daughter’s face as a mask - which Romance had broken into pieces moments ago after Patience had shown him his face in King Crookie’s mirror. Romance then finds Pjorrc hanging himself. As he dies, Pjorrc tells Romance to take the hand Fat Daddy had cut off and sew it onto himself, which will in turn help Romance defeat Abbledepopa.

Romance traverses the wasteland and does not find Abbledepopa, but instead a golden loom. Having seen all the destruction he and others had caused, Romance sits upon the loom and accepts his fate as the new ‘storyteller’ of the world, as he begins weaving a new one...

---

I mentioned before the animation quality of the film and why maybe that caused people to overlook it. The only other thing I could complain about on a technical level with The Romantic is it's sound design. Some of the voices and music is a little too quiet and so all these key details I had to go through the film a few times to really piece together. But that leads me to the thing I like about this movie and I'm sure others would to: the lore.

It's very hard to create a new fantasy world w it's own customs, religions, history and rules out of the blue as any YA Harry Potter/Hunger Games ripoff book could tell you. The Romantic is so unique in how it handles the pantheon and culture of these three gods and their kin; really only four or five characters throughout the entire story aren't connected to the gods or prophecy in some way, as there's the main three gods, Abbeldepappa, and the prophets Patience, Love and Fat Daddy, who make up your main cast besides Romance. There's a lot that's intentionally left unexplained and other info that must be explained, like Pjorrc and Po's marriage and Romance's feelings towards the gods, if we want to understand the former. The movie is paced pretty well and knows when to follow up on what, it's just that again some of those animation and editting shortcomings might make it hard to understand...but I don't think THAT hard. Look, if someone can enjoy Starchaser: The Legend of Orin or even better surrealist world-building films ((Fantastic Planet comes to mind)), then I say there's no reason The Romantic wouldn't have a following. There's no other way I can articulate why and what doesn't work about the story except just to recommend you watch it yourselves, but before I get into that I want to talk themes...because I love the themes and tone of The Romantic.

I revisited The Romantic a week before I made myself watch Centaurworld and The Owl House for the first time...and what a week that was~! The Romantic has the vibe of those kinds of shows along with Adventure Time and Infinity Train ((so I hear, I haven't watched the latter)). It's surreal and you'll only marvel at 'woooah wut an acid trip' for so long before you get into the vibe of the universe. It also reminded me substantially of the Broadway musical Hadestown and not just because this movie is also a self-contained, somewhat self aware fable about the relationships between humans and gods - it's very raw in how the characters talk. It's very emotional and blunt in how kind and how cruel they can be, and it doesn't make excuses or really worships any one of them. Romance himself is the world's most likable Incel: he murders a woman he thought he needed to love and blames his emotions on the gods of those passions...except the gods AREN'T the manifestations of love, time, and hate - they simply dictate and oversee it in the lives of men. It's a dynamic I really like in religious works where Gods are powerful but not all knowing or puppet masters to everyone's design- they have morality too and there is only so much you can blame and get from them.

"You made your gods into excuses and your excuses into gods!"

-Patience. This here is a cool quote. I like this quote.

No matter what, The Romantic is not gonna be a film for everyone. We all have our tastes - I think I'm drawn to it and accepting because I've come to love these kind of worlds that used to keep me up at night - these trippy 70s inspired fantasy landscapes given a whole Avatar: The Last Airbender degree of worldbuilding and character worth. It also doesn't feel exploitive in it's violence, it's sexuality, it's grimmness - it doesn't feel like it's trying to hard or going over the top because it happens to be an adult animated film, something that I love in movies like 9 or Hair High but really turns me off in stuff like Sausage Party or Wizards. Whatever go watch The Romantic...

if you can.

-----

When I first saw this film in 2016 it was actually very accessible and was even uploaded to youtube by the creator himself. I don't know WHAT happened to Michael P. Heneghan, but simply put, the man's disappeared...like...REALLY disappeared.

Lookit his IMDB. He has The Romantic and a wapping two other projects to his name. His Twitter isn't very helpful either. He last updated in early 2020 and he says next to nothing about The Romantic. It's so odd that he would one day be happy with the film enough to host it on Vimeo and Youtube but then just cop out.

According to a Reddit user: "On Valentines Day 2011, Heneghan released the film for free online through all kinds of platforms including direct download, bittorrent, Vimeo, and even directly through Archive.org. He even joked about releasing a 300 gig uncompressed version.

I know I watched it on Vimeo probably as recently as 2016. Now I can't find it anywhere. The website is dead, the Vimeo video went private, even the archive.org version has been taken down. It really looks like he wanted to wipe it off the face of the internet. His newer website mentions it, but again, the Vimeo link is dead and even that website is closed for business."

It's weeeird. What happened Michael?

And yes, obviously, other people worked on the movie.

No - I can't find out anything about them either.

I'm betting on three theories at the moment: 1) this film is an SCP or some Candle Cove weirdness with only me and a handful of people ANYWHERE remembering it, 2) something weird is going on w Michael Heneghan and it involves too something about this film. It was a scam or a scheme or a hidden agenda weirdness, 3) Heneghan's doing okay he just doesn't like this film anymore and wants it hidden while he takes a break.

Look, I get it Michael! What was once our life's worth can become cringe as you improve as an artist - you're not the person making the stuff you were ten years ago...but you should still have the film kept alive somehow. Someway.

I'm seriously the only person to have ever made fan art of this movie on the internet. That just doesn't happen, and I don't think I like being in a fandom of one. The Romantic is a testament to the power of design and storytelling > animation quality itself. Too often I see people equate good animation with smooth animation, with a budget with squash and stretch. These animations are good but art is diverse and there's so many kinds of films out there, the value of the medium can't just be in one style/form. There's a lot of honestly wonderful pieces of art out there if you know where to look and you're willing to see where it leads you.

Don't let The Romantic be the most forgotten movie of all time. Reblog this post. Show it to your friends. PM the animation community reviewer people like Saberspark and someone who isn't Saberspark and smuggle them a copy.

Keep telling the story...