#Nightmare is hiding his Animal and it's a deer

[flooffydergen]

AHHHHHH I FINALLY FINISHED THE ENITIYTALE BAD AND STAR SANS!!!

ENITIYTALE!Star sans

And ENITIYTALE! Bad sans

Yes I used fuckin gacha. I'm lazy ok! 😭

I have more tags but there's a limit

[gremlingottoosilly]

what would happen to innocent deer reader after being taken from the forest (literally got dragged out of her home) by Price and his boys to their base?

non-con, prey kink, monster fucking You're bounded like their newest catch, just a meal to be shared among cruel monsters. You shake and tremble in the tight ropes bounding your legs and arms - they didn't let you turn into your other form, knowing how fast scared deers can be, especially when as despaired as you are. You're certain they are going to eat you, eventually. Yes, their sergeant - Soap, you hear, which is funny because the man reeks of an unruly dog who needs to be put in his place - was panting and drooling all over your lower body, almost feral from the fertile smell that your body, no doubt, was leaking. You hate this part of your mind, of your body - the nature of a prey animal in the monster world makes you not fight for your life, but to present yourself, eyes wide open and legs spread for anyone to take. Your instincts tell you to freeze in place, to hope that they would just need a quick lay - that maybe if they both are satisfied enough, they would leave you alone. Or at least kill you mercifully. The captain is worse, somehow. When Soap started to lick on your leaking cunt and making you drool all over yourself, not even capable to wipe your face since your hands are gagged, bear hybrid only watched. Pushed a finger in your open mouth, checked your biting reflex - thank god you aren't a rabbit or a domestic cat. Thank god the only thing you know about the use of your teeth is that you have to hide them when Price pushes his dick past your lips, your throat bulging from the sheer girth.

You trash in their hold, gagging and choking - god, you feel too fucking hot, pressed tight between two monsters, using you like the prey you are. You hate it, you hate it, you hate it - you want to say so, just so they would stop, but your core is throbbing around Johnny's tongue and, eventually, his cock - forcing your lower lips to open as wide as your higher ones. You're sobbing by the time they are done with you, covered in sweat and tears. They coo at you, laughing at the little prey that stumbled across their territory - and you smile because you think that the nightmare is over, that they brought you to their base just so they could kill you, preferably as fast and painless as possible. You only notice others when sharp claws are tugging on your flesh of your ass, when shadows tendrils are swirling around your midriff, making you sob from the sudden cold. They brought you to their den not because they wanted to eat you - but because they wanted to share you. You don't know which is worse.

[solargeist]

What the relationships between different Hermits and Kid Xelqua are like:

POSITIVE!

Mumbo - Pretty positive all things considered. He manages to entertain him, and generally is a good uncle figure.

Scar - The favourite. Scar gives him unlimited access to snacks and all sorts of unhealthy food (much to Grian’s chagrin). Once gave him so much sugar, Xelqua entered a 5 hour long sugar rush. Grian still hasn’t forgiven him yet because it was an absolute nightmare.

Doc - Surprisingly positive. Despite Doc’s turbulent relationship with Grian, Doc has a soft spot for kids. He’ll drop any kind of tension when Xelqua’s around to not worry him. He’ll still absolutely body Grian, but usually when Xelqua isn’t looking.

Pearl - Due to her leniency, Xelqua likes her. He can get away with anything when she’s around and generally doesn’t impose any harsh rule of punishment on him

Etho - He just thinks Etho is cool (usually because he keeps maple candies in his pockets). An Ethogirl in the making.

NEUTRAL!

Joe Hills - He’s a living Sesame Street styled puppet and Xelqua keeps mistaking him for a normal puppet toy. He once nearly suffocated poor Joe by hugging him a little too tight around his neck.

Xisuma - Barely sees him and for good reason. Xisuma has enough on his plate as admin, he doesn’t need to have to add “babysitting a god” on his plate as well.

Impulse & Skizz - They help Grian out occasionally to watch over Xelqua. Typical fun uncles you can find, but Xelqua doesn’t know much about them or why Skizz gives him the heebie jeebies when he unfurls his Angel wings or when Impulse reveals his full demon form.

Gem - Like Impulse and Skizz, generally friendly with Xelqua, but he’s unsettled by her, but he doesn’t know why. Maybe he senses that Gem isn’t truly a deer satyr and something to do with the rustling in the forests and night and the lingering smell of blood on her.

NEGATIVE…

Cleo - She’s scary to him. Like how you would be scared of the principal when you were a kid in elementary school.

Cub - All the fireworks he uses this season are too loud for him. He has to cover his ears everytime he has to go near the shop.

Joel - Xelqua keeps walking in in Joel in the most embarrassing moments. Like seeing him cry in front of the statue of his wife because she isn’t in the server, falling down an entire flight of stairs, reading Iskall’s creepy Yandere letters, etc. There were several moments where Joel had to cover Xelqua’s mouth because he was about to air all his dirty laundry.

AKDNDJSKAK

of course Scar is the favourite, Xelqua would love his builds, he’d like the animals and Scars silly voices and rambles. He’d also love Scar’s off road wheelchair/ATV, it’s so fast ! He’d absolutely eat all of Scar’s snacks, he’d be talking a mile a minute when Grian shows to pick him up, he just silently glares at Scar.

I love when people draw Doc with Doccy on the server, just a big scary goat and his little goat kid, it’s why he has a soft spot around Xelqua, he’s so tiny. Tho I can only see them interacting if Xelqua accidentally ends up in his base area, got lost maybe. I think Xelqua wouldn’t be scared of Doc despite his looks bc 1) he looks like Scar’s zoo animals (big Goat) and 2) Doc has a kid too, so he’s gotta be safe. Grian is very confused when he sees Doc calling him.

The Joe Hills part almost made me choke AKDNDKSK Joe being a puppet is my favourite design it’s so silly. Xelqua watches a lot of TV, he’d be in awe… so happy to see a real life puppet… Grian has to grab his hands to stop him from choking Joe out.

I think Xelqua would just be intimidated by Cleo at first, he’d warm up to her ! Him being scared of Cub bc of the fireworks is so true tho, Xelqua very much hates the noise and is actively afraid of thunder, he’ll wake Grian up if a storm rolls in at night, and probably hide behind him if a firework went off and no one told him it’d be so loud !

poor Joel 😭😭⁉️⁉️ tho if Joel grabbed Xelqua and covered his mouth like that, Grian is immediately there, he crosses the room so quickly man Watchers don’t play around abt their kids 😭💥 Grian doesn’t even realize he moved or separated them, for a split second his brain didn’t see this as a joke or playing around. Joel gets to see those purple eyes up closeeee and shouts

this was very cute and silly to read ehehehe, also for some reason I think Xelqua would think that Xisuma is Grian’s uncle, no idea how he came to this conclusion.

[autisticalastor]

LATE wip wednesday CRIES— once again working on another radioapple fic bc i simply love writing multiple things at once instead of finishing one first lol

tagged by @the-flaming-nightmare tyyy <3

Lucifer watches patiently as he waits for Alastor to wake up. He's already been up himself for about an hour now, and he'd be lying if he said the only reason he was even able to get any sleep at all last night wasn't because Alastor was there, curling up into Lucifer's wings and playing jazz through the radio, occasionally even indulging him in a bit of pillow talk. Something about falling into what's become their usual rhythm for ending the day actually had helped him wind down, despite what he knew was coming in the morning.

As he waits for Alastor to wake up, Lucifer finds his mind whirling through a million possibilities for how this conversation could go. What if he gets upset? What if he shuts off completely? What if I've been misreading every sign I think I've been seeing? What if he goes back to hating me?

The only thing that manages to pull him from his thoughts is Alastor finally waking. The steady ebb and flow of radio static slowly quieting completely, the little ear twitch that shows he's alert if nothing else does, one glowing red eye just barely cracking open to see if he can get away with pretending to be asleep for a while. He's adorable.

Lucifer smiles softly. "Good morning."

Alastor hides his face in Lucifer's feathers, grumbling a bit. "What time is it?"

"You don't have to be up yet if you don't want to."

"Good."

"Uh, if you are gonna be awake, though, there's... something I wanted to talk to you about."

One of Alastor's ears flicks, but he doesn't say anything back. Lucifer rests a hand next to one of Alastor's. It's close enough, he's sure they'd be touching if one of them so much as breathed too sharply, but still not actually touching. Yet.

Lucifer generally tries his best to let Alastor take the lead on things. He doesn't ever want to push too far and screw everything up, but sometimes all the waiting feels more like hell than, well, actually being in Hell. If things were fully in Alastor's hands, Lucifer's pretty sure they wouldn't even have made it this far. As is, they still hadn't progressed to dropping the "hands off" rule, but they'd definitely made progress, seeing as Alastor has recently stopped pulling away when Lucifer does try to get a little more in his space.

Even now, Alastor is looking at Lucifer curiously, ears cocked like a somewhat perplexed animal. But he hasn't pulled his hand away. Progress.

"What is it? You look like you're going to ask me something I won't want to answer."

"Um, well—" Lucifer's face flushes golden and he looks away, suddenly feeling too much like he put himself on the spot. Somehow, avoiding eye contact still doesn't stop him stumbling over his words. "I, uh— It's just that— I think— Well, I think we've gotten fairly, um, close over the past few months and, uh, I just— I wanted to see if maybe you'd um—" his voice lowers, as if saying it more quietly will somehow make this less daunting— "wanna go out with me sometime?"

Lucifer chances a quick glance back at Alastor's face and, ironically enough, he looks like a deer in headlights.

ok im not tagging anyone this time bc i was late but NEXT TIME ILL BE ON TIME TRUST

[rapturemctro]

Some notes about Elysium cause I’ve been working on their profile for Artfight!

Taken from their family at a young age, like most Beast men was originally created to be a soldier however never fulfilled that purpose, deer features made them fast but too skittish for the frontlines. 

Instead used for entertainment in some sort of circus or arena where they were heavily mistreated 

Eventually sold to an extremely wealthy but mentally unstable individual who collected unique beast men for his own personal Zoo

Elysium’s collar is from the individual who bought them, all the other members of his collection have one.

Collar is imbued with a type of magic that makes it impossible to remove and the bell acts as a sort of tracking device. It will ring whenever the original caster is nearby and get louder the closer they get.

Dungeons somehow tamper with the effects of the tracking similar to how compasses freak out near magnetic fields, leading Elysium to take refuge in the dungeon after they escape.

No one is quite sure how they managed to survive so long in the dungeon by themself.

Is extremely malnourished by the time The Touden party manages to find them, Senshi dotes on them and gives them extra food in the beginning of them traveling together

Isn’t picky when it comes to food but does have issues with certain textures. They try to tough it out because they like Senshi’s cooking so much, but sometimes it’s hard.

Magic User, specializes in plant magic, almost Druid-like just without the ability to turn into animals. It’s not very refined due to having no professional training but it’s still handy

Hides trauma behind a happy-go-lucky facade, doesn’t like to dwell on the bad stuff and is just happy they’re still alive and free. 

Struggles with sleep, the nightmares keep them awake. Runs themself ragged until their body essentially collapses. Senshi gets on to them a bunch about taking better care of themself. 

Found Family heals the soul. The Touden party ends up being the first real family they’ve ever known, and Elysium clings to each and every one of them.

Loves the rain, but unfortunately doesn’t get to see it anymore due to residing in the dungeon. Would probably cry if they got to experience the feeling of a summer rain again

[things-arent-what-they-seem66]

BG3

✨️Adam- Astarion ☆ Lucifer- Tav✨️

After a long day of being kidnapped by squid aliens, making allies, and lying through his teeth, Adam is finally able to rest. And at night time, something he hasn't done for over two hundred years.

Moments after closing his eyes, Adam opens them and finds himself in a thick, dark forest. He instantly felt like he was being watched.

Adam stood and walked forward cautiously.

Adam: Hello?

The air felt thick, and mist suddenly surrounded him. An airy, familiar voice echoed through the trees.

Sera: First. Thou shall not drink the blood of thinking creatures.

Adam looked around the forest, trying to find his master.

Sera: Second. Thou shall obey me in all things.

If Adam had a beating heart, it would be beating out of his chest. He could still feel the fear and anxiety creeping up his spine and into every one of his nerves.

Adam: A-Absolutely! It's just that I was kidnapped-.

Sera: Third. Thou shall not leave my side unless directed.

He can feel the coldness of the forest dig into his bones. His every fiber was shaking with fear, but he forced himself to smile.

Sera: Fourth. Thou shall know that thou are mine.

Adam backed away as in a flash of red mist, his master appeared before him. Her red eyes pierced his very soul.

Sera smiled: Pathetic. As always. But at least you know your place.

Adam bowed his head. To show respect and to hide his fear.

Sera: You are mine. Forever.

Adam wakes and bolts up out of his bed next to the fire. Looking around, he could almost still feel her presence. He needed to get back before he's punished.

But then it dawns on him. If he's free to walk in the daylight, can he be free from Sera? Free from her rule?

Adam looked around the small camp at the three other sleeping bodies. He could test it if he's truly free from her influence. He could feed on a thinking creature.

Lucifer tosses and turns. He doesn't sleep well. His mind slips between nightmares and restless sleep.

His eyes slowly start to open. He doesn't know why he woke up so in the middle of the night. Maybe something was wrong or maybe, he just got lucky.

Lucifer's eyes widened as he saw Adam crouching over him, mouth open as if he's about to bite him.

Adams red eyes suddenly lock with Lucifer's, making him stumble back.

Adam: Uh- shit.

Lucifer stands up, tense and ready to fight.

Adam: No, wait! It's not what it looks like! I swear.

Lucifer glares at Adam, and folds his arms.

Adam: I wasn't going to hurt you! I... I just... I just needed-! Well... blood.

Finally, Lucifer takes a closer look at Adam. In the firelight, he could see every detail he missed when they first met. When Adam held that blade to his neck. The sharp teeth, the blood red eyes. A vampire. A slave to sanguine hunger.

Lucifer: A vampire. How long has it been since you killed someone? Days? Hours?

Adam smirked: I've never killed anyone. Well...

Adam looked away: Not for food... I feed on animals. Boars, deer, kolbolds. Whatever I can get. But it's not enough- not if I have to fight. I feel so... weak...

Lucifer watched Adam as he swayed, clearly drained and exhausted.

Adam put on his best puppy dog eyes. They always worked. Unless it was Sera.

Asam: But... if I had a little blood, I could think clearer. Fight better. Please?

Lucifer: You're a vampire? Why didn't you tell me?

Adam: I was sure you would say no... or likely ram a stake through my ribs. No. I needed you to trust me- and you can trust me.

Lucifer was silent for a moment: Fine- but not a drop more than you need, Adam. Or I will fucking stake you.

Adam blinked in surprise: Really? I mean- of course. Not a drop more~.

Lucifer glared as Adam put on a more flirty tone.

Adam: Now, how about we get more comfortable, shall we~?

Lucifer laid back down on his bedroll and watched as Adam kneeled next to him. He wasted no time in burying his fangs into Lucifer's neck.

He thought this would feel more pleasurable, but it was anything but. Adam's fangs felt cold, sending sharp shock waves through his neck.

But soon, the pain fades. There's a throbbing numbness, making his heart rate quicken and his breath hitch.

Adam almost moans, feeling the blood rush into his mouth. He can finally feel that deep, empty hole inside him being filled. The whites of his eyes turn red, filling with the blood he greedily sucks out of Lucifer.

Lucifer could feel his heart slowing, his mind going blank. He was losing himself.

With as much willpower, Lucifer could muster, he forced Adam off.

Lucifer: A-Adam! Stop- you're taking too much!

Adam reluctantly removes himself from Lucifer's neck.

Adam: O-Of course! That-.

Lucifer covers his neck, applying pressure to his new wound. He looked over Adam. He looked blissful, dabbing at a string of blood that ran from his flushed lip to his chin with his finger, he quickly licks the blood off his finger.

Adam smiles: That was amazing... my mind feels clearer. I feel stronger! I'll definitely be of use to you now~.

Lucifer: You better, asshole... I look forward to seeing you fight... this better have been worth it.

Adam smirked, and put his hand on his hip.

Adam: Hm. Shouldn't take long. So many people need killing after all~. Now, if you'll excuse me. You're invigilating~. But I need something more... filling~.

Lucifer weakly watches as Adam stalks away towards the forest, looking a lot more confident and stronger than before. Ready to hunt.

This gives God Adam Au meets Vampire Adam Au with some aliens thrown into the mix lol

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

Let death be kinder than man

Title and final sentence from this poem

It was a few weeks into his stay at Lotus Pier that Wei Wuxian discovered a large, water spider resting into a dark corner of his new room. It had a large, lanky body, as if made up of long threads of black silk, thin legs holding up a disproportionately small body. It appeared giant to Wei Wuxian’s frightened eyes, a terrible monster that would feast upon him much like the dogs that he had grown to fear.

The otherwise harmless insect had most likely snuck inside the room in search for warmth during the chilly spring evening, scurrying through the open window at dawn, when the air reminded of the icy middle of winter rather than the lukewarm evenings of late March.

Frozen in his spot by the door, Wei Wuxian did not know what to do, afraid the creature might run off to hide somewhere he could not see it – or worse, attack him. He had heard of poisonous spiders, of the pain that consumed their victims, and he could only be afraid of this fate befalling him as well. So, with wide, tearful eyes fixated onto the odd creature, his little shaking body struggled to come up with a solution.

“It’s just as scared of you as you are of it, if not more so.” Jiang Yanli had said, calmly, as she trapped the little creature between an upturned cup and a piece of paper. She had come to see whether Wei Wuxian had gone to bed – his nightmares had kept him from sleeping lately �� and she came across the scene of the resting spider and the frightened boy staring at it from the opposite end of the room, so she immediately intervened, without disgust or fear.

“These spiders are harmless.” She further explained as she opened the window again, “It did nothing wrong and did not hurt you, in fact it must have been terrified as well.”

As she lifted the cup off the spider, the creature scurried down the windowsill and into the night, unharmed. Jiang Yanli closed the window again, and leaned down to pat at Wei Wuxian’s head, his eyes still wide – not with fear, but rather surprise and admiration. His shijie had not been afraid of the spider, in fact she had not even killed it!

“It is not a sin to seek warmth and safety.” She said, her voice warm, “So why should we kill something just because it lives in a way we don’t understand? It is not a sin to be alive.”

--

For all he bragged about it, Wei Wuxian had never killed anything – not with his hands, not up close. Surely, it was amusing to watch Lan Zhan fluster over the idea of roasting the bunnies he had painstakingly hunted for him in the back mountains of the Cloud Recesses, but in truth, he could never find it within himself to do such a thing. He could hunt pheasants all day long, but that was different – shooting an arrow from a distance made the kill seem less impactful. By the time he picked up the game, it was already dead.

But the mere thought of having to kill a living thing with his hands, drive a knife into soft tissue and hold onto a quivering body – it terrified Wei Wuxian in a way that he could not even fathom the thought. It was why he had never joined uncle Jiang in his hunts in the deep forests of Yunmeng, a task that Jiang Cheng seemed to enjoy alongside his father.

Jiang Cheng had not appeared bothered at all by the sacrifice, finding Wei Wuxian’s reluctamce rather ridiculous.

“There is an order to things.” He had said one day as he returned from a hunting party with his father, proudly displaying a large deer, “Some are hunters, and some are the hunted.”

Wei Wuxian stared at the lifeless carcass, eyes wide with fear and still wet with tears and blood. Its throat had been slit, as the arrows had only served to incapacitate it. A humane kill – or so they believed it to be.

“Who gets to decide who’s the prey and who is the hunter?” He asked, voice distant as he stared into the dead animal’s eyes, as if seeking to understand, to apologize.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Jiang Cheng snapped, “Some things live just to die.”

The servants took the deer to be skinned and cooked, a large feast afoot that evening. Wei Wuxian stared at it until it disappeared from his sight.

“Why are you so attached to a deer? You won’t care when you eat it.” Jiang Cheng tried again, somewhat comforting. The hand he placed on Wei Wuxian’s shoulder was meant to reassure him, but it did little more than remind him he was alive while the deer was not. What made him different than it? Had it not been him running for his life in the streets of Yiling years ago, hunted for food as well? Helpless prey?

“Don’t let shijie see it.”

--

“Why did you save us?” Wen Qing asked one evening as she tended to old, festering wounds on Wei Wuxian’s body, faint candlelight and shoddy supplies as her only guides in the vast cave. “Was it only your debt to Wen Ning and I?”

“No.” came the quiet, but confident reply. “It was not fair for you all to suffer. I would have saved you anyway.”

Shadows danced on the cave walls, but Wei Wuxian knew they weren’t just shadows, the formless dance of resentment equal parts mocking and enticing, whispering contradicting promises of comfort and revenge all the same. They wound more and more violently, enveloping the rocks in a thick, black mist.

“Why risk so much for a bunch of strangers bearing the name of your sect’s murderers?”

Wei Wuxian’s eyes flickered red and the shadows on the wall returned to the cracks in the rock, writhing with anger upon being restrained.

“It is not a sin to be alive.”

--

He had a nightmare, the night before it happened. A premonition. He had dreamt himself the deer Jiang Cheng caught in the forest near Lotus Pier, running for his life from a death that kept closing in no matter how desperately he tried to flee.

He had awoken with a racing heart and a bloodied hand that should not have been cut – and so, he rushed in the middle of the night to save the only one in the camp that had a chance to run away from the slaughter, the only one that did not deserve to become prey to hunters that sought blood for no reason other than a false pretense of righteousness.

A-Yuan had slept through it, through Wei Wuxian’s sprint through the Burial Mounds, alive with hatred and bloodthirst under the full moon, and hid him, wrapping his body in a robe he knew was too torn up to keep any warmth.

Prey always hides its young.

--

As he stares up at the breaking dawn, feeling himself slowly succumb to an unforgiving fate, Wei Wuxian cannot help but think over his life. Over the many spiders he had not killed, freeing them in the grass instead, the rabbits he had set free from hunting traps, the children he had defended from bullies, the Wen remnants he had saved only for them to be slaughtered anyway.

It is with kindness that he had treated the rest of the world – and he had perhaps expected that kindness to win him over at least some mercy, if not the same kindness in return. But now, as far as his eyes can see, there has not been a single ounce of either of those things granted to him.

And perhaps he wonders if it had been worth it – to be so good and loving to a world that had been so eager to contribute to his demise.

But as he feels his body dissolve into resentment, he cannot find it in himself to regret it.

He thinks of the deer, of the spider, of A-Yuan.

If I am killed for simply living…

[cryptids-of-spielzeit]

Sundae

Part 2: One Scoop Chocolate

(A Sun Dog Story)

It had been a week since he had met the kit. Over that week, the two had formed an inseperable bond. They helped each other out, she would scout the area and alert him of any dangers. She was so good he couldn't count how many run ins with the little ones he had already avoided. In return, all she wanted was his love. And food, but mainly love.

"Hey guys, I think our new friend is lightening up a bit!"

That day, it had been awfully quiet. No birds singing, no crickets chirping, not even the buzzing of flies. All the two heard were the shuffling of leaves and twigs as he crawled around. He suddenly stopped, setting the kit down right in front of him. He looked in the distance, almost as though he was in a trance. When all of a sudden, he spoke.

"You know, it's a bit sad. You've been by my side for a bit, possibly will be there til we both reach our end. And I still haven't given you a name."

She tilted her head in confusion.

"Oh, you know, a name....who am I kidding, you wouldn't know, you"re just a pup. Have I even told you my name?"

They both stood in silence before she tilted her head the other way. He chuckled a bit.

"Well then, I'll give each other introductions then. My name is......Dogday. And you...hmm, let's see. You're small, you're red....Bobby? No, no, you aren't a bear, but you've got the smile down. Hmm...I'll have to think about tha-"

BANG!

A gunshot destroyed the silence, the fox and the hound were both startled. But he knew there shouldn't be any gunshots, not in these woods. Signs were plastered everywhere, "NO HUNTING." Someone was out there, and they weren't following the rules.

Suddenly, they heard a rustling in the distance. The little ones, yet again? No, this sounded bigger, faster. Closer. Closer. And there it was, running their way, a young deer, couldn't be anymore than 5 months old. It didn't notice the two canines as it ran past, hiding itself behind a tree, and they followed suit.

Not far behind it was the culprit. Older fellow, very well kept. But he had that look in his eyes, he wasn't all there. He kept giggling, like this was a game, like it was fun. But come on, he couldn't be that depraved, right?

"Come on out, you little coward! If I get you that'll make my count 13, and that's just today's tally!"

(Fun fact: narrators hate it when they're wrong)

Dogday could hear every psychotic thing this man had to say. He was making this forest a waking nightmare for every creature here. And he despised that.

"Stay here, please. I'm about to teach him a lesson."

He crawled as silently as he could, just until he could get right behind the hunter. And then, when the moment was right....YANK! He pulled him to the ground, right at his level. The hunter was shocked, what did that to him? His answer was right there, inches away from his face. He couldn't even muster a scream.

"Leave. Never come back. Or I will do to you...what was done to me."

The hunter sat there in a mixture of fear and confusion, even after the dog had gotten off of his lap. He took one quick glimpse at his torso. The buttons clicked.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

He ran off like a scared animal. Good.

He crawled his way over to the tree to see if the deer was still there. Lo and behold, there it was, laying next to the kit. Seeing as they were all stressed, he knew what he had to do. He took one deep breath in, and one, long, relaxing breath out. It was at that moment, in the vanilla clouds, that he had an epiphany.

"So, it looks like we have another one joining us, huh kid? Well, lucky for the both of you, I've figured out what I'm going to call the both of you!"

He picked up the kit, "I think Strawberry's a good name for you, you sweet, red little thing." She yipped and barked in glee.

He then crawled over to the deer, slowly and gently placing his hand on its head, "As for you, I'm calling you Chocolate." It put its head on his, its tail slowly wagging.

It was getting late, but where they were was comfortable as is. They all huddled together in front of a makeshift fire, and another night went by. A safe night, all together.

"Oh, hey you! Come on, there's always more than enough room for another friend!"

[loudblonde]

Simon "Ghost" Riley x Male!Reader Mafia AU (Chapter 5) Friendship and New Beginnings

Simon and (Y/N) talk things through and agree on something that is totally friendly, right guys? Physical touch guys, we have hand-holding. Hurt/comfort but very mild, Simon talks about having nightmares but no details given, as usual expect canon typical violence as something like that is mentioned. A bit of fluff and soft Simon.

Day 2

Edit: word count: 1.5 K

Warnings; Mentions of nightmares and canon typical violence. Simon kinda spiralling but not really, (Y/N) is there to bring him back down before anything is happening.

(Y/N) felt a strange sense of joy as he had been permitted to use Simon's name, even though he knew Simon was mostly never Simon. That the Ghost part of Simon was far too deeply rooted in his entire foundation to ever change or shift. He was never going to try, though perhaps getting Simons’ friendship?…. (Y/N) liked the idea of that. It was a nice thought, a fantasy worth exploring. Friendship with one of the most terrifying men in all of Europe?

He had barely known this man for more than two days and yet… thinking back to the time they trained, to getting permission to use his name. It somehow felt far too intimate for how little time they spent together. (Y/N) smiled softly at the fleeting idea of Simons’ friendship. Them training together, drinking together, having long discussions into the night, hugs… cooking or attempting to cook together, Simons’ lips on his- (Y/N) shook his head and looked away. He couldn’t be thinking like that, not when he was stuck here for another 28 days. Not when he was only able to see Simon.

He glanced up and looked over as Simon entered, a quick glance (Y/N)’s way. Something seemed to shift inside Simon as he quickly left. (Y/N) simply shrugged and went back to mindlessly sketching. His mind went blank as he just drew the scenery outside, the lake and Simon standing in the water for that one-second while (Y/N) had a headstart as they ran back from having fought. (Y/N) smiled softly without ever realising it, he just kept drawing, shading it in all the right places.

(Y/N) found his muse, someone who made him want to draw more and more. Simon made him wish to draw him anywhere in the world. Perhaps they could travel together one day, go see the world? Get away from everything and everyone. A food adventure?

(Y/N) shook his head. Simon didn’t seem like that type. Maybe, if they go to eastern Europe they could go hiking together? Then (Y/N) could draw Simon in various places in the forest.

(Y/N) flipped a page as he started drawing Simon lighting a fire, his smile softened as the idea was further cemented in his brain. He needed to take Simon camping one day. Maybe they could go hunting too. (Y/N) quite enjoyed it. He usually sold the animal hide to the nearest person or in the nearest village, depending on where he went. He had a bear hide in a safe house, from a black bear that tried to kill him despite (Y/N) doing everything to escape it.

It was nice and warm, especially when you cuddled up close to the fire. He flipped another page over just as Ghost came back in. “Are you allergic to anything?” (Y/N) asked, unsure if he had asked before.

Ghost sat down on the couch on the other end of (Y/N). “No, not that I know, why?”

“Hmm, plotting some fun. Do you like camping and or hunting?” (Y/N) started sketching Simon as he sat down on the other end, it took him about 4 looks before he realised that Simon wasn’t wearing his mask. His eyes widened briefly as he took him in, but he didn’t make any comments on any scar, the tired look on his face or the dark heavy bags under his eyes.

“Yeah, I shoot wolves to manage the population in some areas where it's needed, or else I just hunt for food, deer or on occasion when the opportunity presents itself, I like to hunt alligators, it’s… I like the adrenaline I get from it. It’s fun.” Simon said, looking at (Y/N), he brought one leg up and rested it on his other, without crossing his legs. “Or I hunt small game.”

“Fantastic. We should go hunting some time, I like shooting big game, possibly also elk if we can.” He said, not looking up from his drawing for more than half a second, but he didn’t miss the ghost of a smile on Simon's lips. It made him bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from smiling like a little schoolboy.

Simon raised an eyebrow. “What? You are looking at me all funny.” He said, feeling self-conscious. He regretted taking his mask off.

“You are really pretty, but by god you look like you haven’t had a good night's rest in 30 years.” (Y/N) said.

Simon’s eyes widened as he looked away, a light rose blush covered his cheeks. “Oh… I have never been called pretty before.” He said before clearing his throat. “I would be honoured to go hunting with you sometime, it may be fun.” Ghost said.

“It would be… do you get nightmares?” (Y/N) asked, placing his drawing block down in his lap. “I know I do, sometimes.”

Simon nodded and looked to (Y/N). “Yeah, I get nightmares, most nights.”

(Y/N) thought about it as he moved the drawing block away and onto the table. He looked at Simon. “How can I help?”

Simon tilted his head slightly. “You are offering help?”

(Y/N) nodded. “Yes, we are to be working together and we are stuck with each other for 28 more days. So, Simon, tell me how I can help, please.”

“I..” Simon looked at him for ten seconds, being fully silent. His breath was caught in his throat as his heart hammered so fast he thought it would leap out of his chest. He knew not why, or how, but (Y/N) with his magical ways and charming smile, had broken down almost all of Simon’s walls, made him vulnerable and opened his whole world up without ever even trying and without knowing it himself, the kindness that Simon had been shown in these past few days were very much so a rarity, something Simon had never expected. He had even taken off his mask, feeling far too vulnerable and exposed. But now, with (Y/N) asking that and Simon knowing the answer he was gonna get, he dreaded what he was going to say.

“I don’t like sleeping in a bed alone, it leaves me feeling too exposed, so whether it be the nightmares or waking up twenty times a night, I rarely get a good night's sleep,” Simon said and averted his eyes down in his lip, he didn’t fiddle with his own hands. No. He was frozen at that moment, awaiting the inevitable rejection and dismissal of his problems. After all, Simon and Ghost was nothing if not just a living breathing meat shield for the Price’s and Simon was completely fine with dying for either of them, John Price had given him a family, a strict family, but still a family nonetheless and (Y/N), god forbid, had opened Simon up and gotten him attached in ways Simon didn’t understand or rather, didn’t want to understand.

(Y/N) nodded a bit to himself, while he didn’t get those problems when sleeping alone rather than with someone else, the idea of sharing a bed and of being close wasn’t all that bad. He… wanted it? No? He wasn’t sure or certain of anything. “Then we will share a bed, just cuddling or whatever you are comfortable with, I don’t mind and I do sleep better knowing there is someone there, plus, it’s a lot safer, if someone were to break in, we would be gathered in the same place.” He said.

Simon looked up, eyes wide and questionable. “You don’t… mind?” He asked, voice devoid of emotions on purpose, he didn’t want his uncertainty betraying him or showing weakness to (Y/N) who trusted him enough to share a bed.

(Y/N) shook his head and moved over, sitting next to Simon but facing him. “No, I would like a friendship with you, I don’t know why and it most certainly isn’t my fathers doing, but I trust you with my life… the scars… that boundary is… it’s something I am not proud of, something I hide even from people I care about, I am not angry at you for that or hurt by it, I just, never expected someone who I am starting to care about would see them and think me unworthy or ugly.”

Simon shook his head and did something he never in a million years would have done to someone else. He reached forward and took one of (Y/N)’s hands. Their hands seemed a perfect match but Simon pushed that far far out of his mind. “I trust you too, I don’t know why and as for the scars… I don’t think I am one to talk about scars.” He said. “My Glasgow smile is an eye-catcher for all the wrong reasons… thank you.” The always so quiet, man of few words, Simon, spoke more in a single sentence of emotional vulnerability than he had ever done before.

(Y/N) smiled and looked down at their hands, he too pushed the idea of how well their hands fit together. “To friendships and new beginnings.” He said.

Simon smiled and let go of his hand. “To friendship and new beginnings.”

Tag list:

@rasberry-jupiter @one-green-frog

[ivyprism]

Despite everything... (Verbena x Dusk: Short Story)

Warning: Nightmare Sans, wounds, etc.

Dusk walks, sighing. Long walks are beneficial after a hectic week. He'd had to deal with his brothers' nonsense all week, and now he could rest. He was walking when he heard the sounds of others nearby. He rolls and rubs his eyes. Of course, his lovely nighttime walk was marred by humans. When he was about to turn in a different way, there came a high-pitched, yet distorted sound of... an animal...? A terribly twisted-up monster? He couldn't tell.

In any case, leaving whatever was there alone felt wrong. It made his bones crawl and sent shivers down his spine as if beckoning him to... assist. Though the very thought made him cringe a little. But he felt his feet move all by themselves before he noticed them. A group of heroes, adventurers from a close look, attacking a beast he couldn't quite identify with magic, swords, and whatever else they could throw at it.

"What are you doing?!" Dusk hardly had time to contemplate before demanding it in his loudest, resounding voice. This caused all of the adventurers to look at him with wide eyes, like deer in headlights. The creature backed off somewhat. His gaze focused on the creature's piercing purple eyes.

"We were just..." "It's not like it...." "Please, man, we're just doing..."

The words were barely reaching his ears. His gaze was totally on the monster. It resembled a dragon with huge, molting, and damaged feathered wings. It had a scar above its left eye, and he could hear a faint sizzling from its talons as negativity began to creep onto the ground and kill the grass surrounding it. That was obviously not his type of negativity, but he didn't have time to squander. He promptly withdrew the adventurers without killing them, even though they deserved it. Then he turned his attention back to the creature.

When he looked back, it stiffened up. It expanded its wings slightly and began to snarl. Its eyes expanded in panic, and this was clearly a feigned threat. He stared at it quietly before deciding he didn't want to say too much. It's not like the thing would comprehend him. He snapped, and the thing was instantly tied down by his magical negativity. It roared in surprise and thrashed a little, but he walked over slowly.

Dusk murmured, "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you," despite the fact that the words were completely foreign to him. It snarled, but he pushed his hand on its neck and turned its head slightly so he wouldn't be bitten by it. He ran his palm along the side; it was scaley but fluffy. When he noticed the scars and fresh sores on its hide, he brushed some of the fur away. When he touched her talons, it burned his hands. He guessed that the negativity was not natural.

He sighed as he rummaged through his suitcase, which contained the first-aid kit Bliss had packed for him despite his reservations. He huffed softly; of course, Bliss would repack everything without his knowing for a simple moonlit walk. He exhaled, relieved that it was finally useful, as he began to cure the creature's wounds. It flinched and shifted, but eventually remained still. He was combing through all of the wounds and checking for old scars.

"Why...?" Dusk flinched when a feminine and distorted voice beckoned to him. He glances up, surprised. His gaze focused on the creature's purple eyes.

"Did you just...?" Dusk asked. The creature blinks slowly before lowering her head towards him.

"Why?" Her voice appeared again, twisted and feminine, and hoarse from lack of usage. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He did not expect this creature to speak. Instead, since he couldn't formulate proper words, he began to treat her wounds again. She adjusted her wing slightly, and he trailed his hand down her waist. She looked away while staring. The moon illuminated her, and he focused on her.

"You're beautiful." As the words tumbled out of his tongue, Dusk's common sense failed him. The monster promptly turned her head toward him. Her eyes were huge, her mouth agape. She turned her face away as soft blush covered her face. She leans her head down before he finally finishes wrapping her wounds. When his criticism subsides, she quickly turns and flees. He didn't have enough time to discover anything about her. He sighs before continuing along his starry route.

If he had known this moment would draw him back to that mysterious creature, he'd have called you liar.

--------

[roanofarcc]

PROJECT SUNSHINE CHAPTER EIGHT → A BLINDING LIGHT

summary: steve harrington x oc | on Ao3

when another product of Hawkins National Laboratory escaped a long-survived nightmare alongside her sister, she crashed into one unsuspecting teenage boy and dragged him deeper into the dark mysteries that made up their hometown. 

word count. 4.3k | masterlist

warnings: cannon typical violence, child-abuse, horror, gore, and depictions of mental illness. parts of this story were written pre-season 4 release. slight canon divergence. 

a/n: I hope you guys are enjoying this story! Feedback is always appreciated <3

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Two beams of light illuminated the path through the woods. They created long shadows along the ground of three figures and made it easier to step over the fallen branches and avoid the piles of rotting leaves. 

Sunshine held her arms folded tightly across her chest as she concentrated on their surroundings, expecting to see something terrible roaming right alongside them. She knew she should’ve paid a bit more mind to the strangers who she walked with, but the possibility of what or who lingered in the woods was a more pressing issue in her mind. She focused on the silence, listening for any breaks in it in the form of growls or footsteps. 

However, the first break came from the girl beside her. 

“Why were you at Steve’s?” Nancy asked, glancing to the side at Sunshine’s profile. “I mean, how do you know him if you’re not a family friend?” 

“I don’t know him.” She still didn’t know why Steve lied to his friends. At first, he pretended to know her to get her away from the man at the convenience store, but after that, he had no real reason to lie for her. Nevertheless, he did. 

Sunshine hoped that the men from the Lab didn’t uncover that he helped her. At least with her gone from his home, he stood a better chance at getting off without the wrath of Dr. Brenner. Maybe he’d play it off just right and paint Sunshine out to be the kind of monster the Lab liked to paint her as. Then Steve would be in their good graces, and nothing would happen to him. She just hoped he didn’t lie for her again, or she hoped he lied well enough not to get caught in it by the Lab. 

“Right,” Nancy muttered. “Then how did you end up at his house?” 

“I was hiding.” 

“Hiding from the thing in the woods?” Jonathan asked. 

Sunshine shook her head. “No. Hiding from…from someone. Bad people.” 

“Bad people?” Nancy repeated, her voice laced with confusion. “What are you-” 

“Shh,” Jonathan said suddenly, stopping in his tracks. The two girls followed his lead, shooting him curious glances. “Do you hear that?” 

They stayed still and as quiet as they could. Sunshine could feel her heartbeat rattle inside her chest, but she tried to focus on external noises. 

Both Jonathan and Nancy shined their lights around the immediate area they stood in until they could the source of the noise. 

A quiet yet pained cry rang out as an injured animal came into view. It was bloodied and its legs mangled underneath it, making it unable to stand or run away. The deer whimpered in pain, and it filled the air with a metallic scent that made Sunshine's stomach roll uncomfortably. 

She wasn’t the only one nauseated by the poor state of the animal. Beside Sunshine, Nancy whispered, “Oh, God.” Her chin trembled and one hand came out over her mouth. “It’s been hit by a car. We can’t leave it.” 

Neither Jonathan nor Sunshine objected to that, but no one moved except for Nancy. She raised her gun with trembling hands and bit down hard on her lower lip. 

Sunshine closed her eyes in anticipation of the shot, but it didn’t come. Nancy let out a heavy breath before she dropped her hands and closed her eyes like she was trying to work herself up to pulling the trigger. 

Something about her hesitation to kill a half-dead animal eased a little of Sunshine’s fear of the weapon and the girl. She was used to being surrounded by people who had no hesitation when it came to hurting someone or something else, adults and children alike. Of course, with the children, it was a means of survival, not a move to demonstrate power. Nevertheless, it was hard to stomach violence of any kind, even when she was the one committing it; it wasn’t in her nature. 

It didn’t seem to be in Nancy’s either. 

“I’ll do it,” Jonathan said, reaching for the gun. He carefully took it from Nancy’s hand, though, his too trembled when the weapon was in his grasp. 

“I thought you said-” Nancy started, but he stopped her by aiming the gun at the deer. 

“I’m not nine anymore.” There was an edge to his voice, one that sounded more pained than out of anger, leftover from a conversation Sunshine must have missed. 

Sunshine watched as he fingered the trigger before she closed her eyes once more. Her fingernails dug into the center of her palm, waiting. 

But once again, no shot was fired. 

Instead, a loud growl cracked across the air like lightning, startling the group. Just as Sunshine re-opened her eyes, the deer was forcefully dragged out of their sight and into the darkness. 

All three teens let out a series of gasps and short screams before they stumbled backward, away from where the animal just was. All that was left was soaked dirt and leaves with blood. 

Reflexively, Sunshine’s hands shot out in front of her, ready to use her abilities if something emerged from where the deer was dragged away. 

“W-What happened?” she sputtered out, looking all around them. 

Nancy heaved out frantically, “Where did it do? Where is it!?” 

“I don’t know.” Jonathan kept his flashlight pointed in the direction the growl came from and started following the trail of blood left behind by the deer. It moved around a cluster of trees, staining the ground until the trail suddenly stopped cold. There weren’t so much as drops to indicate where the animal was dragged to; it was gone, vanished into thin air. 

“Do you see any more blood?” Jonathan asked with his voice wavering in fear. 

The girls both shook their heads, and after a moment of quiet contemplation, they split up and searched the small area where the trees broke up a little. 

Sunshine stayed close to Nancy, keeping her within arm's length. They stomped through the tension-filled air, looking with a single ray of light and expanding darkness. 

Her heart raced wildly inside her chest and nervousness gripped her with a cold hand. The growl sounded familiar; it was reminiscent of the one she heard a couple of nights ago when she escaped. They were treading in a monster’s territory, and Sunshine felt the bad decision wrap its way around her. None of them had fully seen the creature they were after; they were at an outstanding disadvantage, even with Sunshine's abilities that the other two had no clue she was hiding. 

The events that led her to that moment caught up with her all at once. Her feet ached and her ad hurt. Fatigue and hunger gnawed at her entire body. It was enough to stop her from walking. She let out a quiet sigh and brushed two nearly numb hands down the length of her face.  

Her gaze drifted over to Nancy, who sat on her knees at the base of a tree. Furrowing her brows, Sunshine watched as she poked a finger into an odd film that covered an illuminated hole at the base. Nancy’s finger fell right through the film, swallowing her hand entirely. When she pulled it out, strings of some liquid-y substance clung to her hand. 

Kneeling beside Nancy, Sunshine stared at the hole. It pulsed like a heartbeat. 

While she knew very little about nature, she could judge by the look on Nancy's face that what they were seeing was out of the ordinary. 

With a shaky breath, Nancy lifted her slimy hand and pushed past the film again. In a low, voice, she said, “I think there’s something on the other side.” 

They both stared at it, unsure if they were thinking the same thing. Sunshine repeated what Nancy had done, sticking her hand through the hole. The film broke with a disgusting squelching sound. Leaving her hand in for a moment, something did feel different. There was a breeze that touched her hand; it felt unnatural. 

“You want to…to see what’s on the other side?” 

Nancy hesitated before she nodded, pieces of her ponytails falling against her face. She brushed them away with her non-slimy hand and positioned herself fully in front of the hole. Sunshine watched as the teen pushed her hand through until the film encased her entire arm. They shared one last look before Nancy held her breath and crawled through. 

Once her foot disappeared there was nothing left of Nancy. Sunshine swallowed down the fear that bubbled in her throat and followed the stranger. 

Slime clung to her body; it was a terrible feeling. She was engulfed in darkness as she crawled, and the second she touched the other side, goosebumps erupted on her skin from a sudden drop in temperature. Despite the darkness, Sunshine continued to crawl and hoped she didn’t follow Nancy to her ultimate doom. 

Cold fingers wrapped around her wrist and tugged on it harshly. Sunshine landed on the ground with a thud and a groan. 

The fingers slipped down from her wrist and grasped her hand. Nancy helped Sunshine to her feet, but she didn’t let go. 

Looking around at their new surroundings, they looked to still be in the woods, but it felt different. Trees still towered overhead, but the darkness of the night was more menacing, somehow. There wasn’t a single star or sliver of moonlight that peak out behind the clouds. There was no light at all; everything was drenched in darkness that made Sunshine’s skin crawl. In the air floated particles that resembled ash, and the whole place smelled rotten. 

It all reeked of darkness and death. It was unlike anything she had saw or felt before. Each breath she inhaled caused her lungs to scream. Each tree and plant looked more dead than they had a moment ago. There were no leaves on the branches that hung on for dear life or fallen, colorful ones that littered the ground. There were no leaves at all. Instead, along the ground were black vine-looking plants. 

They were somewhere else. Sunshine didn’t know where, though. 

“Where…” Nancy trailed off, scanning the area before her movements halted and her entire body tensed up. She was still holding Sunshine’s hand, but her grip became tighter and her eyes impossibly wide. 

Following her line of sight, Sunshine saw was caused Nancy to freeze up. Between the trees, off in the distance was a figure. Not just any figure, but the very thing Nancy and Jonathan had set out to find and Sunshine had tried to avoid during her stay in the woods. 

The creature was hunched over the ripped-apart carcass of a deer. Its teeth sunk into the animal’s flesh, tearing into it with both its mouth and its hands. The monster looked slick with a similar slime that coated the girls’ clothing and skin. Its skin glistened even in the absence of light, making it look all that more horrifying. 

The sight invoked a different kind of horror than what Sunshine had grown accustomed to. There was a startling difference between monsters in the human form and monsters in, well, monster form. Her palms were slick with sweat and her heart raced so quickly she feared it would crack her chest in half. 

It was Nancy who snapped out of the daze first. She tugged on Sunshine’s hand and started to pull her in the opposite direction of where the creature was feasting. Quickly, they began to move away from the monster. They managed to get a few feet away before Nancy’s boot got hooked on one of the vines and crunched loud enough for the creature to hear. 

Whipping its faceless head around, the monster peeled back its flower-petal-shaped mouth and flashed rows and rows of bloodstained teeth as it roared. It stood up, showing the girls just how tall it was before it charged toward them. 

Sunshine and Nancy let out matching screams as they scrambled to get as far away from the monster as they could. Neither one had any clue as to where they were running to, but they weaved between the dead trees in hope of losing the monster. 

Hand in hand, in a fit of labored breaths, the girls desperately tried to find an exit, but the monster was fast, and it gained on them quickly. 

“Jonathan! Jonathan, where are you?” Nancy cried, tightening her grip on Sunshine’s hand to the point where it was painful, but Sunshine was too petrified to let go. 

“Nancy?” Jonathan’s voice yelled back. It sounded both close and distant at the same time like he was right in front of them but nowhere to be seen. 

Their eyes were so focused on looking for the hole they had crawled through in the first place, they hadn’t noticed the way the vines along the ground slithered and moved toward them. One of them rose off the ground and wrapped around Sunshine’s ankle, forcing her to the ground with a scream. 

She dragged Nancy down with her. They both landed on the ground with a pained groan. 

The monster sprinted closer as Sunshine tried to shake the vine from where it attached itself around her ankle. Breaking free from Nancy’s grasp. Sunshine reached down and sunk her fingernails into the vines, trying to pry it off of her. With a frightened cry, Nancy crawled beside her and tried to help too, but the monster was nearly to them, and the fear was debilitating. 

Tears pricked the corners of Sunshine's eyes as the monster roared and Nancy screamed out. The ear-splitting noise was enough to jolt Sunshine’s instincts. She gritted her teeth and grabbed a hold of Nancy’s arm, all but dragging the girl behind her. 

Inside the Lab, fear made you look weak and if you looked weak, every move you made was scrutinized by the doctors and judged to see if you were even capable of doing what they wanted. Sunshine learned to shove all of her fear into a little box in the far back corner of her mind, locking it away from any prying eyes. Nearly face-to-face with the monster, she did the same thing.  

She mustered up all of the remaining strength inside her and extended her arms outward with her fingers flexed. Her eyes screwed shut for a beat as a familiar buzz started in the back of her head, moved down her spine, over her shoulders, and into the palms of her hands. A white glow flickered in the darkness before it bloomed under her intense focus. Pain swelled behind her eyes, but she didn’t break her concentration as she thrust her hands toward the monster that closed in on them.

The shadow-filled woods were suddenly illuminated by Sunshine’s brilliant glow. It struck the creature with enough force to stop it in its tracks. The light pierced its skin and caused it to roar out in pain and anguish. The light seared the monster’s skin, preventing it from moving from its spot. Its claws slashed through the air in an attempt to stop the beam of light, but it only caused its arms to take the heat instead of his body. 

From behind her, a gasp sounded from the parted lips of Nancy Wheeler. 

Sunshine was only able to hold the stream of brutal light for a moment before her focus was sliced by a deeper pain that clouded the entirety of her brain. She fell backward against the ground and watched as the world around her became swarmed with little black dots. 

The urge to fall asleep right there compelled her, but not before a pair of hands latched onto her shoulders and hastily tried to haul her upwards. Sunshine fought her own body to stay awake. 

A wide-eyed and extraordinarily confused Nancy managed to get Sunshine standing before she once again took her hand and dragged her in the direction of a tree with a similar hole to the one they crawled through before.

Their sets were clumsy until they fell to their knees. There was no hesitation before they crawled through it for the second time; they couldn’t afford to hesitate. Sunshine had only wounded the monster and it was recovering quickly, much angrier than it was a minute before. 

Nancy crawled through first, but Sunshine wasted no time following. 

Each movement made her head throb with more pain and her vision was blurry. Slime coated her hands and clung to her clothing, and blood dripped from her nose. 

She crawled until she broke through the film on the other side and collapsed against the rotting leaves with uneven breaths. 

The moon once again hung in the sky, and the stars returned. 

Heavy sobs came from Nancy as she wrapped her arms around Jonathan and buried her head in the crook of his neck. He held onto her, and shot a frightful look at Sunshine, silently asking her what had happened. 

All she could do was stare at the hole in the base of the tree; it knitted itself back together, disappearing from their sight like it had never been there at all. 

Sunshine knew was it was like to be scared; she had been scared for as long as she could remember. It was rooted in white walls smeared with the blood of forgotten children, needles pressed into her skin, and the rough hands of scientists and doctors. But the fear she felt at that moment was something else entirely. The image of a monster, a real monster, in its cold and dark world, unlocked a new kind of fear within her; one that she didn’t know how to cope with. 

The three teenagers escaped the woods in a silent blur that Sunshine didn’t remember. One moment she was sitting on the ground of the woods, the next she was in another house with a new set of clothes in her hands. 

Nancy let her use the shower to rid her skin of the blood on her face and slime on her limbs. When she stood underneath the warm water, all Sunshine saw was the monster's bloodied rows of teeth ready to rip them apart. 

Being all alone inside another locked bathroom set her on edge, but she knew the second he returned to Nancy’s bedroom where the other two were, she’d have to answer their questions about what happened. 

She used her abilities in front of Nancy; there was no way she could lie her way out of it. Nancy saw her; Nancy helped her. Maybe the truth wouldn’t make things worse for all of them. Maybe it would help. 

She couldn’t roam the woods in Hawkins anymore. She needed help, and maybe the only way for her to get that was to tell someone the truth. Since Nancy had watched her use her abilities and saw a real-life monster, maybe the truth wouldn’t be so shocking or frightening. 

However, that didn’t mean Nancy and Jonathan wouldn’t look at her the same way the soldiers inside the Lab had. 

Once her skin was rubbed raw and she smelled like the flower-scented soap Nancy had in her bathroom, Sunshine put on a fresh change of clothes. They fit better than the pajamas Steve had let her borrow, which she ended up technically stealing. They also were pink, light pink, and covered in a flower pattern. 

Sunshine combed her finger through her short hair and studied the newly formed bruises that mingled with the old ones in different stages of healing. 

Deciding she couldn’t hide in the bathroom any longer, she wandered back into Nancy’s room as quietly as she could, remembering that Nancy had a family who all were home and could not know she nor Jonathan were there. 

When she entered the girl’s bedroom, Nancy and Jonathan stopped their conversation. There was a tense moment of silence that followed. Sunshine stood in front of the closed door and folded her arms protectively over her chest. 

Nancy’s eyes were bloodshot and her whole face puffy from crying. Her wet hair hung down her back and she too was in a set of floral pajamas, only hers were blue. Wiping the tears from her eyes, Nancy sat up a little straighter and peered at Sunshine with an unreadable gaze. 

“How did you do that?” she croaked out, sniffling. “T-The thing, in the woods. How did you…?” 

Fear crawled up Sunshine’s throat and her gaze fell onto the carpeted floor. A part of her wanted to run away, right out the door and somewhere else where she could hide again. But her options dwindled. She couldn’t leave Hawkins without her sister, and she couldn’t hide in the woods even if there wasn’t a monster. She was cold, tired, hungry, and scared. She needed help. 

Slowly, she took a step toward the two strangers and rolled up the sleeve of her right arm. With the monster, maybe she wasn’t the strangest thing in Hawkins anymore. 

Both Nancy and Jonathan leaned forward, getting a better look at the tattoo on her wrist. 

They studied it for a moment, before Jonathan asked, “Double-oh-seven, what does it mean? Beside a James Bond reference.”

Sunshine tapped on the tattoo with her other hand, then tapped the center of her chest. “Seven. I-It’s me. It’s the number they gave me,” she tried to explain. “It’s the number they gave me. The number experiment I am.” 

“Experiment?” Nancy repeated, furrowing her brows. 

There weren’t words that could explain perfectly what Sunshine was or where she came from; it was too complicated, and she wasn’t ready to talk about what happened in there. Sunshine wasn’t sure she’d ever be ready to talk about it. 

So, she simply nodded and hoped that the teens put together enough pieces to satisfy some of their burning questions. 

Sunshine saw it in Nancy’s eyes, the wheels in her head turned even in her distressed state. Clearing her throat, she tore her eyes away from the tattoo and turned them back onto Sunshine. 

“You said you were hiding. That’s how you ended up at Steve’s. But you weren’t hiding from that thing we saw, you were hiding from people, right?” she nodded. “Did they do that to you?”

The three-digit tattoo on her wrist was a little faded, and it was covered in healed scars from the times she sunk her nails into her skin, hoping to tear the numbers out. It was a constant reminder of what she was, what she’d done, and what had been done to her; she hated the tattoo more than anything. She could run away from the Lab, and she could avoid using her powers, but she couldn’t get rid of the tattoo. It was like a stain she’d never wash out. 

“Yes,” Sunshine answered, her voice no louder than a faint whisper. She met Nancy’s eyes, which were filled with a million more questions. There was something else in her gaze as well, pity. It made Sunshine squirm. 

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Nancy said. “How is…how does that even…how?” 

There was no answer to how or why. It just was. It didn’t matter if she or anyone understood any of it. 

“There’s a monster in Hawkins you two disappeared into a tree. Nothing about anything makes sense,” Jonathan sighed. 

Covering her tattoo with her sleeve, Sunshine nervously looked between the two teens. “You can’t tell anyone I’m here. It’s not safe. Nor for me and not for you.” 

Nancy’s frown deepened and her gaze wandered to the far side of her bedroom. There were a series of photographs pinned on the wall. They all were bright and held smiling faces. Nancy’s whole room was bright, decorated with countless things that Sunshine assumed most normal girls had in their bedrooms. Everything was a shade of light pink or blue or yellow. It was nice. 

“That thing in the woods has to be what took Barb and Will. W-We can’t let it take anyone else, any more kids. We can’t.” Nancy’s voice was thick with emotion. “Can you help us get them back?” 

She had no idea if she could, but she knew that whether or not she said yes, the two were going after the monster again. And there was a good chance they’d hurt themselves in the process. 

Sunshine wasn’t really a fighter, not a good one, but her abilities did maim the monster. She didn’t kill it, but maybe she could. If she had food in her stomach and a night’s sleep somewhere other than the woods, maybe she’d have enough energy to do some real damage to it. 

If she helped them get their friend and brother back, maybe they could help her get Eleven back. 

“Yes,” she said. 

Nancy’s shoulders relaxed just slightly. “Your secret is safe with us, right?” she nudged Jonathan’s shoulder with her own. 

The boy still looked confused about, well, everything considering he hadn’t seen any of it. But he nodded anyway and replied, “Yeah.” 

And that was it. There were no more questions and Sunshine felt like she could breathe for the first time in days, even if the horrible images of that monster stained her eyes. 

“You guys can stay here tonight.” Nancy’s words were more so aimed at Jonathan since it was apparent that Sunshine had nowhere else to stay. 

“I…I don’t want to be alone,” Nancy admitted. “Is that okay?” 

Jonathan’s cheeks looked flushed under the low light of Nancy’s bedroom. “Y-Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good.” 

Blankets and pillows were placed on both sides of Nancy’s bed for Sunshine and Jonathan. 

Sunshine lied down and wrapped herself tightly in the warm blanket, but her body still shook from the events of that night. Nancy kept the light on; they were too scared to be left in the dark. 

None of them would get much sleep that night, no matter how badly they wanted it. Sunshine was beyond exhausted, but each time she closed her eyes she saw the monster flash its teeth and leap toward him. Every single bump in the night sent her spiraling. 

Yet, there was some sense of comfort that came from knowing she wasn’t alone in the room. The quiet breaths of Nancy and Jonathan provided some peace. But peace always escaped her; she couldn’t hold onto it for long.

Tagged → @thearcher-winchester-version @sattlersquarry @suniloli

[fireemblems24]

Golden Wildfire Ch 8

Spoilers for GW up to Ch 8 below.

STORY

Shahid may as well have been called "plot tool" lol.

Are Claude and Edelgard going to make some kind of Alliance now? I hope he's not stupid about it.

Claude's like maybe attacking the larger, richer country with more soldiers and resources wasn't a good idea, lamo. As much as I loved punching the Empire for once rather than just always fighting defensively, Claude really picked up the stupid stick.

It hurts every time I see Judith.

Man, I don't like how they retconned Gloucester. He's getting treated like a saint now. It's so weird. I feel like they softened up a lot of people, and I'm not sure i like it.

Haha, at least he called the Empire foolish for starting a two-front war.

CAMP

Oh, wow, no side missions. I have two paralogues unlocked though, so I'll probably do those.

Honestly, I'm a bit relieved. These levels take forever and I'm not even putting time into plotting builds or anything. I def want to replay AG one day where I put more time into just building out all my favs.

Honestly, part of me is tempted to drop AG and speed run SB and GW (which are both really boring so far, sorry) so that way I can just blow through them and take my time with AG, but I can't imagine not going back to AG to keep me going lol.

I'll just do an indulgent, S-Rank everything, unlock all the everything AG type run later.

MARIANNE & BERNADETTA B SUPPORT

Not who I would've picked to support Marianne, but I can see it.

Yep, this is as awkward as you would've guessed with neither sure what to say and lots of just "..." and "ums."

Bernie finally breaks the silence talking about pretty bugs. Marianne is into the conversation since she's a Disney princess animal lover. And Bernie just like creepy things.

Then it dies. And Marianne struggles to find another topic and talks about the sunrise.

In the end they had a successful conversation. Since I support Marianne having friends, I support this.

LORENZ & BALTHUS C SUPPORT

So why does Balthus get a support with Lorenz, but not Hilda?

Balthus asked Lorenz about a Claude investigation, but Lorenz doesn't know much about it.

Lorenz thinks Balthus' father is behind the questions. Balthus is doing it for money, unsurprisingly.

Lorenz puts down Balthus as a corrupt commoner, but Balthus is secretly a commoner, which doesn't surprise me since Hilda and Holst are his buddies.

Lamo, Balthus said Lorenz says whatever just pops into his head. Doesn't sound like a compliment.

BALTHUS, HOLST, & HILDA PARALOGUE

I'm using two of the three, so this shouldn't be too bad. I can make Balthus an adjunct.

Balthus is hiding from someone, then turns around and asks Hilda and Shez for money. Hilda encourages him to pay them back. Then Balthus leaves.

Holst arrives and bothers Shez about bothering Hilda. Then they catch him up about Balthus.

Balthus sounds like an absolute nightmare and asshole of a person, ngl. He steals from people, fights, and drinks. Hilda and Holst can do better.

Oh, shit. The goal is to rescue Balthus, so I can't just rescue him? But the Golden Deer are basically broke, so IDK if I can level him up enough to survive.

So his stepmother sent assassins after him because she wants her younger son to lead instead. Honestly, don't blame her for that last half, but big yikes.

Ok, that wasn't too bad since I got to control Balthus pretty quickly.

Balthus seem wholly unbothered by his step-mother trying to kill him. He talks about it like she's throwing a tantrum, lol.

Did Balthus' real mom raise Shez?

LEONIE & SHAMIR PARALOGUE

Welp, they didn't get a support this time, but they got this at least. Feels bad Shamir didn't get one with Cyril, but I don't think the poor dude is even playable this time around.

Shamir is trying to pull a mysterious vanishing act and Shez can guess what she's up too including romantic rendezvous, fighting, or drinking. See, this is why Catherine and Shamir are meant for each other.

Ohhh, Shamir is breaking up with someone.

Not a former lover, though. A noble who has an infatuation with her and is threatening her if she doesn't come back. Shamir plans on just dealing with it herself.

Lamo, Shamir doesn't mind killing them.

Leonie is leveled up, but not Shamir, so Leonie will just tout her around.

Shamir burned the captain bad - "You're still alive. I guess it's true only the good die young." Like, damn, woman.

They sent a whole army against Shamir lol.

Cool to see three mercenary women all talking mercenary stuff.

Wait, WHAT? A WOMAN is the one after Shamir. Go off, Fire Emblem.

Leonie, my sweet summer child, has no idea what Shamir was alluding to. That's Caspar/Hilda support levels of naive, except Leonie's older lamo.

MAIN BATTLE/STORY

Short chapter this time around, which is nice. I saw it's the same for Scarlet Blaze in chapter 9. I'm assuming Azure Gleam will get a chapter like this too, except that time I'll be bummed.

Shahid has no personality outside of bloodthirsty idiot.

So Shahid has no clue that Claude is in the army he's attacking. So Edelgard is the only one the writers don't make kill their own family. Claude and Dimitri are just built for angst.

Yep, here's a cut scene where poor Claude gets to kill family now. He should've just let Shez do it. Cool cut scene though.

Claude thought he wouldn't feel bad about it, but he does. That's just being human, Claude.

Lorenz is like a whole ass 10 levels ahead of everyone else. Dude is a monster in this game.

Will the Golden Deer actually learn Claude is from Almyra this time? Claude lied again, saying he just went there for political stuff and that's why he meant Nader. Ah, well, maybe later on.

Shahid really was just a plot tool in the end. He had no personality and was just the evil prince from Almyra that makes it easy to wrap that up with a nice bow.

Lamo, Raphael gets closer to figuring it out about Claude than anyone else. Perfect.

Arval is like ugh, why are they celebrating? There's still a war going on. Arval is a party pooper, confirmed.

Claude feeling bad because he killed Shahid, which would have more weight if Shahid was an actual character.

Arval doesn't trust Claude, but I swear if I hear the word "scheme" in a Claude route one more time, I'm going to scream.

xxx

[deputygonebye]

@wexarethewalkingxdead asked: ❛ you hit me! ❜

Toxic Relationships Sentence Starters || Rick Grimes

Fact broke the silence; the crackle of burned trees, the lift of dark smoke over clouds. Hushed the calls and chirps of birds, the songs of crickets hidden within the grasses, the frolic of wild deer between bush and briar. Dried pine leaves crushed underfoot, boots that had carried beyond the outskirts of a family farm, the boarder of fence and woodlands. Hershel's farm was no more. A memory more than a home, its barn burnt down but the road just near it still standing. Stable and secure - separated by small cracks to the gravel - safer than what waited back at the empty farm. A horde unlike any other; scattered bone and frayed flesh, persons considered family and friend. A graveyard that had yet to have its holes dug, rather above the dirt than six feet beneath, the exact place that Shane knew he would've ended up. Should've, would've, the tides turned in his favor for mercy but not quite finished. Judas not free; Cain unmarked.

Rick shattered the quiet. Louder than his steps did, his voice a growl, an animal wounded beyond the physical. More than just tattered clothes, the stains upon pants and the muck clung to old shoes. Conversation meant to be saved for later, recent events changed the entire game, the plan that had been enacted unsaid. Away from the rest of the group - surrounded by a fire that slowly dimmed - just the two of them, Shane and Rick. Features contorted into something hideous, bared teeth and snarl made Rick appear almost monstrous. A horrible picture for a beloved brother; obscene amongst shadows. A sight that was comparable to a nightmare. Powerful enough to turn Shane cold, his breath stolen from his lungs, the wind knocked out.

Protected by trees alone, their overhanging branches, Shane backed himself up further, kept as much space between himself and Rick as nature would allow. Elders Mill Road painted on a sign faded in white, several paces back from the way the group came, cars lined up. There was nowhere to run; all places to hide either charred or broken. Left temple colored still in purple bruises, shaped to Rick's fist, nose and the bridge were hued red. Fallen from chin to neck also, a stream colored crimson noted Shane as murderer. Akin to a rabid mutt, lips curled, unsure of the next move to be played either against or for him. Scared, afraid, suffocated upon the hatred; terrified for what had become of them. Brothers torn apart - Shane and Rick stranded at the edge of agony, apart but not so together.

"What the hell do you call what you did then, man?" Shane snapped, baritone a mangled cry, a wounded beast's wail. "You busted my damn teeth in!"

Shane sobbed, choked by the tension, tired of the unease. "What? You come back to finish what you started? You gonna punch me again, Rick, huh? Ain't no Randall to get in your way now. Come on. You wanna hit me? You wanna beat me like a dog? Come do it! Ain't got no farm to worry about. That's long passed. You got some shit you wanna get off your chest? Bring it on. Let's go! Just get it over with, Rick. I... I can't stand this. Just do it. Just fucking do it!"

[death-and-other-myths]

The Raven King Deadass Book Review

By Maggie Stiefvater

Alright, here we go. The final book in the series!! AHUAGUAGH

This is an unhinged book review/recap of The Raven King, and I am not okay.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

We kick things off with a prologue about our king (Gansey). And why he is the way he is. And how he’s obsessed with Glendower because he’s never quite been able to wrap his mind around why he was saved. What are the odds that while he was lying there covered in hornets, at the same exact moment, Noah was being murdered, and the leyline decided to save Gansey. We also learn that he has more or less put together what was going on in that voice recording from Book 1. He knows that spirits appear on the leyline on St. Mark’s Eve. And he knows that hearing his voice announcing his name probably means he’s fated to die. 

OH GOD BABY. HE KNOWS!!

Chapter 1 gives us this great scene with all of the women in 300 Fox Way crowded around the table drinking. They decide to do a group reading. So they retrieve Artemus from the closet lol. Apparently he has some REAL BAD PTSD and has been hiding there since they got out of the cave, and he’s super jumpy around Gwenllian. She’s pissed at him for locking her in the cave for 600 years. The psychics all sit in a circle and pull a single card – the Tower. Which basically means the stability of their world is about to come under attack. Then they do this neat thing where they reshuffle and lay ALL of their cards out, and it tells them a story. It tells them that these 4 kids have to work together and use all of their various magical abilities. 

They mention that Blue ran away some time last year and had to be brought back by the police. They’re trying to find a way to save Gansey, too. But so far it’s not looking good. Maura says some cryptic stuff like “Does this mean she’s still alive? Does this mean she’s going to leave? Does this mean she’s coming back?” pointing to various cards. Calla says “Probably” to all of this. (I think she’s talking about Neeve). This chapter ends with Maura asking Artemius “Man what’s up with you? Why are you so jumpy?” (but like, in a nicer way)

MEANWHILE, at school, Gansey is pissed because Ronan is skipping class again. Something is going on with Gansey and the principal. It started in the last book. They’re having secret meetings and when Adam asks about it, Gansey just says he doesn’t want to fight. I think he’s going some Gansey shit he’s not proud of and bargaining to keep Ronan from being expelled. Adam, who has a tendency to fade in and out of psychic states, feels a little woozy for a second– and he knows it’s because someone is pulling energy from the leyline. He has a pretty good idea of what Ronan is up to.

Ronan… is a Disney princess. Lol He LOVES going out to the barns and doing farm stuff and dream stuff. He hangs out with DEER and woodland creatures and checks them for ticks and wounds. Like half the animals on the property are dream animals, including this really beautiful stag that is on the cover of the dang book so I’m sure he’s significant in some way. 

Alright so he’s dreaming with a mission. He wants to try to dream up some object to keep Gansey safe (so sweet how protective he is). I guess Adam told him about the St. Mark’s Day thing? Or maybe he’s still looking for a solution to the hornet thing. Alright so he’s dreaming, and he’s dreaming up a suit of armor that is invisible and feather light (like cloth) but before he can reach it, a nightmare is coming on. The little Orphan Girl is there and throws herself on him just before the nightmare can get him, and just before he wakes up. 

Meanwhile, Blue is home because she got kicked out of school lol. We don’t yet know the specifics, but she emptied a boy’s backpack over the hood of his car. The last time a boy tried to ask her out, she just stared at him until he walked away. So Blue is going through some stuff. She’s in love with a boy who is going to die soon. Her Dad came back, but won’t stop hiding in the pantry. And one of her aunts passed away. 

Quick sidebar? I love how no one gives a shit that Kavinsky died. I mean I don’t love it. It’s actually kind of sad. He was a tragic, broken person. But it reminds me of Valerian in the Cruel Prince. Everyone is just like “Hey remember that guy that threw the 4th of July party? Wonder what happened to him. OH WELL!”

Noah shows up while she’s sulking and is SUPER HYPER. Talking a mile a minute about nonsense. They’re interrupted by Gwen who is in the tree, and she says some hurtful shit to Noah calling him “dead thing”. Noah says he needs to show Blue something, and he stands up, and stops pulling energy from her. So we see what he ACTUALLY looks like. The actual state of his soul. And he looks like a decaying corpse. He says he’s scared. We get the feeling he’s not ready to move on to the afterlife, and Blue continues to be a supportive friend even though he’s FUCKING terrifying.

Well the boys come pick Blue up and Gansey is in full on Mom mode, pissed at Ronan for skipping school. But Gansey is also all wound up and excited. Adam is there, in a good mood and wearing the really cute combo of a white shirt and rolled down overalls. I think it’s a cute detail how he turns in the front seat so his hearing ear faces the back. They pass Henry Cheng, who is out with a few other boys protesting Aglionby lol. Before they drive off, Henry tells Gansey that his “tail light is showing” and Ronan turns to the furthest most back seat and goes “stay down!” — that’s at this point that we discover there is a tiny child hiding in the back seat. And she has hooves for feet. Orphan Girl!!

So they decide to take her to Cabeswater. These teens. I swear. We’re resurrecting witches. Framing people. Burying bodies. Birthing small children into existence. These kids are 17 going on 52.

There is a CUTE fucking scene with the gang walking through Cabeswater. The orphan girl starts a song with the birds, and then the whole forest sings along with them. When Gansey puts his hands in the air to catch falling leaves, they turn into fish that swim around them to the music. Each person adds another layer of sound to the song, not with their mouths, but with their thoughts, and the forest amplifies it. There is a super cute part where Adam is feeling the crushing weight of sad Adam thoughts. And the forest is in his brain, so it’s trying to cheer him up. It shows him how other people see him, and how much they care about him and love him and think his smile is the best. He gives in and lets himself feel happy, and when he does, a thundering bass is added to the song. It sounds exactly like Ronan’s car. Everyone is looking around, laughing, like “Who did that? RONAN!” And Ronan goes “It’s not me!” And looks at Adam, who has a little smile on his face. And Ronan pauses for a moment and then smirks the most genuine, appreciative smile. 

Adam and Ronan are into each other and it is the cutest fucking…. I can’t. I just can’t. 

Orphan girl is scared despite being in the real world like she wanted and meeting Aurora who is an actual, actual Disney Princess. Aurora says she wants to show them all something. And that something is a tree that has some kind of disease. Like black sap. Ronan, earlier, was telling his mom that the nightmare he felt in his dream was unlike any other nightmare he’d ever experienced. He said it felt dead. Like decaying. This tree gives everyone the heebie jeebies. 

Then out of fucking NOWHERE the three identical witch-Blues from the tapestry start walking through the forest and chanting “Make way for the raven king.”

Adam is like “Ah sorry, my bad. It was a nightmare I had and I accidentally thought about it and Cabeswater made it real.” — Adam asks Cabeswater to take the scary women away. Everything they touch is dying. Ronan tries. Then Blue runs to grab Gansey’s hand and he knows what he’s supposed to do. When Gansey orders them to go away, they do. Gansey’s magical ability is speaking/wishing things into reality. But he really doesn’t understand it yet. 

There’s a few things going on: The Gansey’s are planning some sort of fundraiser at the school. And I think orphan girl is going to stay with Aurora. SOME fucking evil force is messing with Cabeswater, but we don’t know what it is yet (probably whatever Neeve and Piper woke up in the cave). Oh also, Blue and Adam talked about meeting up to discuss the Gansey situation. Adam isn’t sure if this means she’s going to confess she loves him or if she means talking about his imminent death.

And I’m going to copy and paste this adorable part because I love it:

[they’re looking at the tree and how fucking dead it is]

“It reminds me of Noah,” Blue said. “Decaying.” 

Her voice was so melancholy that Gansey was struck all at once by what he and Blue really lost by keeping their relationship a secret. Blue radiated psychic energy for others, but touch was where she gained hers back. She was always hugging her mother or holding Noah’s hand or linking her elbow in Adam’s or resting her boots on Ronan’s legs as they sat on the sofa. Touching Gansey’s neck just between his hair and his collar. This worry in her tone demanded fingers braided together, arms on shoulders, cheeks rested against chests. 

But because Gansey was too cowardly to tell Adam about falling in love with her, she had to stand there with her sadness by herself. Aurora took Blue’s hand. Shame diffused through him, black as the tree sap. 

Is this really how you want to spend the rest of your time?

Blue comes home and yells at her Dad in the closet for a little bit. She calls him a coward. Then she goes upstairs to find Calla, Maura, and Orla in the bathtub together, fully clothed, with Jimi on the toilet with a candle. The talk with her mom and aunties is really cute. They talk about Gansey. And how Blue loves him. And how she’s going to have to come to grips with his death, and plan for her life beyond that moment, and have an open heart to travel and be in love with a new person some day. Blue insists she’s never going to kiss Gansey, so maybe that’ll help. 

Alright, so in the next chapter we meet THIS book’s villian(s) and as usual, they are delightful and multidimensional. They are 3 triplets named Laumonier, guys. Older. But very rich. And they all go by Laumonier because they’re kind of like a hive mind. And they hate their rival, Colin Greenmantle. They’re standing around Boston when one of them gets POSSESSED by Piper of all people. It’s here we discover that one of the Laumonier triplets is Piper’s FATHER and she reveals that she’s tangled up in some dark shit that will make everyone rich, and she hates Colin now and wants to take him down. Laumonier is both horrified by her newfound ability to possess people and delighted that she found something magical in Henrietta. She says tell all our rich friends to get over here. 

Gansey can’t sleep, so he drives to Aglionby and does laps in the dark. I love how Maggie describes the weightlessness of swimming. It’s exactly how it is. I couldn’t imagine doing it in the DARK though. Noah stands on the edge of the pool and watches him. 

Adam is at work plagued by thoughts of the orphan girl and the fear in her eyes. He relates to it so much. When he gets in his car something WEIRD happens and his hand moves by itself. It skitters across the wheel without him telling it to. He asks Cabeswater if that was it, and it doesn’t reply. 

Meanwhile, Ronan is having a dream. It’s a memory of being a kid with long curly hair and playing with Gansey in the sprinkler. But the dream goes south pretty fast and turns into a nightmare that is basically about everyone he loves dying horrific deaths and he wakes up SOBBING. He calls his brother Matthew in the dorms just to hear his voice.

This chapter ends with a freaky paragraph about a dark force bubbling outside of Henriette, getting excited thinking “I’m awake. I’m awake. I’m awake” — OH GOD NO LEAVE OUR BOYS ALONE!!!!!

The next day is RAVEN DAY at Aglionby which I think is like a field day. The boys split up into teams and have war games and eat food and have fun. There’s a brief speech from Noah’s SISTER about how NOAH CZERNCY actually founded Raven day because of a dream he had about thousands of colorful flying ravens?? (Another part of the day is each class makes a ton of paper ravens and… throws them around I guess lol) Noah’s sister describes him as hyper. Adam and Gansey are working as “ushers” for this portion of the event, and Gansey notices Adam messing with his eye. He excuses himself to go to the bathroom to look at it, and Gansey joins the crowd out on the lawn. 

The Aglionby band is playing. Some kind of game is happening. We get this beautiful but TERRIFYING scene where Gansey is kind of swallowed up by the chaos. He’s having a waking nightmare, like a panic attack. Among the shoulders bumping around him and little paper ravens and noise, he keeps thinking insects are buzzing by his face and he can feel hornets on his skin. He’s trying to keep it together because this is a fundraiser that his family helped organize and it’s not a good look to have a panic attack in the middle of it. Henry Cheng saves him with a cup of ice water, which brings him back to reality. Then he invites him to his toga party that night. 

ADAM. MEANWHILE. Okay fuck this scene. MEANWHILE Adam is in the bathroom by the theater which is extra old and spooky and dark. And there is something SUPER WRONG WITH HIS EYE. It is moving on its own, independently from the other, and when it quits doing that and looks at him, this dark shadow starts swallowing the room. He asks Cabeswater to help him, but the forest is slow to respond. It tells him to turn on the sinks and when the water hits the floor, it cuts through the darkness. Adam is like, literally on the sink scared as shit. 

OH FUCK THIS DEMON!!

Blue is at work when Adam comes by looking like shit and soaked in water. He tells her something is wrong with Cabeswater and asks if she wants to go to the forest with him later. She says she’s going to that toga party and asks if he and Ronan are going. He says no. And they totally get into a fight, because Adam is like “You and Gansey are together, aren’t you? And you didn’t tell me cause you thought I’d freak out.” And I mean… that’s true. They kind of got together when Adam was slowly going insane. But it’s hard to say that. Adam’s mad about that, but he’s also mad about Blue’s cursed lips and he doesn’t want Gansey to die lol. Bad fight. Doesn’t end well. 

We get a flashback to how Maura, Calla, and Persephone met, which is that they were all hitchhiking. Maura is driving around with Gray because she has a bad feeling. They make their way to Colin and Piper’s rental house, which is SUPER CREEPY. Everything feels dark and haunted. They find Noah in the bathroom all crumpled up and freaky and… Piper is written on the mirror in lipstick and there’s a scrying bowl. Maura takes Noah home to the psychics and everyone is generally horrified and impressed that his soul is still here, and looks like shit. Noah doesn’t remember how he got in that house and the psychics think he could be a “Portent” (an omen/messenger). 

Noah says he’s a mirror. That’s also what Gwen and Blue call themselves. Is he also an amplifier?? Calla says he can stay with them. 

Blue and Gansey arrive at the Toga party and it’s not going well. Henry is pretty cute and amicable but she’s in a terrible mood and is pretty judgmental of these rich boys. Come on Blue, loosen up!! 

Next chapter starts with Ronan going to see Adam and Maggie gives us this heartstopping nonsense:

Adam lived in an apartment located above the office of St. Agnes Catholic Church, a fortuitous combination that focused most of the objects of Ronan’s worship into one downtown block.

Yep Chapter 18 is basically the Adam and Ronan show and I fucking love it. Look at this!!

When he pulls up, Adam is in front of his car headlights looking at tarot cards on the ground and kind of zonked out. He’s present enough to hold a hand up to Ronan as if to say “wait” though.

Ronan crossed his arms to wait, just looking. At Adam’s fine cheekbones, his furrowed fair eyebrows, his beautiful hands, everything washed out by the furious light. He had memorized the shape of Adam’s hands in particular: the way his thumb jutted awkwardly, boyishly; the roads of the prominent veins; the large knuckles that punctuated his long fingers. In dreams Ronan put them to his mouth. His feelings for Adam were an oil spill; he’d let them overflow and now there wasn’t a damn place in the ocean that wouldn’t catch fire if he dropped a match.

Adam stands and Ronan is like “What’s up with your eyes?” — his pupils are still the size of pin drops. And Adam says “It takes me a while to come back.” And Ronan goes “Creepy fucker.”

Adam tells him the story of his eye and hand going nuts.

He allowed Ronan to lean in to compare his eyes — close enough that Ronan felt his breath on his cheek — and he allowed Ronan to study the palm of his hand. The latter was not strictly necessary, and they both knew it, but Adam watched Ronan closely as he lightly traced the lines there.

They hatch a plan to let Adam scry while Ronan drives  and he’s going to try to stay present enough to direct him. Cabeswater is holding him at an arm’s length, so they’re going to try to see what’s wrong. Fucking great chapter. 

19 is great too, honestly. We’re with Adam drifting through the ether, and the way Maggie describes it is like accurately describing a dream. Just disjointed and rambling. One word keeps coming up, and that is DEMON. Adam figures out there’s some relationship between that word and Cabeswater, and the demon is inside. Adam is whispering directions to Ronan while he drifts, and Ronan finally wakes him up to reveal that he’s led them to his old trailer. Robert Parrish is on the porch and they have themselves a stare down. Apparently Robert didn’t have to go to jail, but he is on probation. Adam says let’s get out of here. I want to find the orphan girl.

Back to the toga party! Blue loosens up and totally gets along with the Vancouver boys in their bougie Victorian house. They get along well enough that they agree to put on togas and change in a bedroom (and Blue may or may not have peeked). Gansey is really enjoying himself, and the fact he can openly flirt with Blue because Ronan and Adam aren’t there. 

Here, he could play his fingers over her fingers as they stood close, she could lean her cheek on his bare shoulder, he could hook his ankle playfully in hers, she could catch herself with an arm around his waist. Here he was unbelievably greedy for that laugh.

Aughahahghgh me sobbing. This party is so cute. They have a great time. And then there’s THIS:

It was Gansey stepping aside to let her pass, but changing his mind. He caught her arm and then the rest of her. She was warm, alive, vibrant beneath the thin cotton; he was warm, alive, vibrant beneath his. Blue slid her hand over his bare shoulder and then onto his chest, her palm spread out flat on his breastbone, her fingers pressed curiously into his skin. 

I thought you would be hairier, she whispered. 

Sorry to disappoint. The legs have a bit more going on. 

Mine too. 

It was this: laughing senselessly into each other’s skin, playing, until it was abruptly no longer play, and Gansey stopped himself with his mouth perilously close to hers, and Blue stopped herself with her belly pressed close to his. It was this: Gansey saying, “I like you an awful lot, Blue Sargent.”

And the chapter ends with Gansey saying he’s never felt so known, and so present, in his entire life. Sweet. Baby. Boy.

Back in Cabeswater, we get several huge revelations. First of all, the forest is definitely sick. Everything is gloomy and dark and haunted. Secondly, Adam deduces that Ronan DREAMED Cabeswater. But it’s complicated. He didn’t invent it. It really did exist long ago, but it got destroyed. So he brought it back. There really were once magical leyline forests, Ronan just gave this one shape.

They find Orphan Girl and everything is just off. The forest is possessed and it’s getting worse. 

Adam keeps feeling massive drops in energy, so much so at one point it feels like his heart stops. Orphan Girl falls into a pool and Ronan goes in after her, only once he’s in the water, he realizes it’s FUCKING ACID from a nightmare he had once. SO. GREAT. He dives down to get the girl, and they’re both thinking they’re going to die, but then a bunch of branches and vines push them out safely onto shore. They look back and realize that it wasn’t Cabeswater that saved them. It’s Adam. He’s arranged some rocks on the edge of the pool and is trapped in some kind of psychic state until the girl kicks the rocks away. He’s able to snap out of it, but is not looking good. Orphan Girl says we need to get him out of here. 

There’s something about the time 6:21. It keeps coming up. 

Blue and Gansey get home to 300 Fox Way and it’s like a horror show. The darkness is in the house. All the psychics are suspended in some kind of nightmare. Just being in the space makes Blue and Gansey feel terrified. Noah is being piloted by something and he keeps fighting through it to tell them to run, but then goes back to whatever evil thing is inside of him. He attacks Blue and CLAWS AT HER FACE until Gansey pulls her away and asks for her energy. I think she’s bleeding. She slams her hand into his and he uses whatever mysterious king magic he has to say “BE. NOAH.” And he stops.

Meanwhile, in Boston, Piper appears with black eyes in a mirror and murders her husband with black wasps. So. Okay, that’s horrible. 

Next chapter. WELL FUCK. THE THIRD SLEEPER WAS A DEMON AND THE DEMON LOOKS LIKE A HORNET SO….. GREAT! JUST FUCKING GREAT. Piper and Neeve are partners and want to help the demon hornet destroy Cabeswater so they can get their wish: to be famous and successful. Assholes.

When Ronan and Adam get to the urgent care center, Gansey is covered in blood and has his face in his hands. The painting above him is leaking water, but literally no one cares. That would have been a major plot point in book one. We have way bigger fish to fry, people. 

Okay but in all seriousness, is this Gansey’s magic making that happen? If so, it’s both cool and sweet. 

Blue comes out and she has 2 stitches on her eyebrow and three huge scars over her eye down to her cheek. Gansey and the boys get into an argument. He’s pissed that they went to Cabeswater without telling him when shit is all corrupted and dangerous. He’s terrified that they could have been hurt (and I guess they were). And while everyone is getting everything out on the table, he confesses that he and Blue are seeing each other and want to continue seeing each other. And after airing out the truth, everyone is totally cool. Ronan is even really sweet and tells Blue that her stitches look badass. Adam is fine with their relationship (probably because he’s falling for Ronan haha). The gang is back together!!!

We check in on Declan and learn that Nial Lynch built his fortune by dreaming up magical objects and selling them to Greenmantle, the Lemonieurs, and another Korean lady dealer named Seondeok. Seondeok gives Declan a call to say “Hey word on the street is there’s something hella magical in Henrietta and Greenmantle is out of the picture so tons of ‘wolves’ are coming your way.” — I think it’s cool that Ronan’s Dad built a business off dreaming up crazy shit, then selling it to buyers who THINK they’re getting some ancient, magical sword that bleeds… but it’s just… dream stuff. Pretty cool. Anyway Declan is like “oh shit i need to get my brothers out of there”

HENRY. Okay. WHO THE FUCK IS HENRY? First of all… he’s interesting because he speaks a lot like Gansey. They both talk like old men. Or poets. They both radiate positivity and have a lot more going on than their surface-level perfection. Henry pulls Gansey aside at school and is like “Hey wanna see something cool before lunch?” And takes him to the basement where there’s a little hole in the ground. Barely big enough for both of them to stand in. 

And it’s in said hole that Henry tells Gansey the sad story of the time he was kidnapped when he was 10 and his mom didn’t want to negotiate with terrorists or something, so he spent a couple days in a hole like this and has been dealing with it ever since. Gansey is like whoa dude… I’m sorry that happened, but why are you telling me this? And Henry asks how old Gansey was when he got stung by all those bees. He says he was 10 too. He’s like “I’ve waited my whole life to be strong enough to face this fear. Do you trust me? Hold out your hand.” And he puts… a fucking… insect…into Gansey’s hand. And that’s the end of the chapter. My heart stopped.

Henry gives this truly beautiful speech about how… fear is just fear. Think about what’s on the other side of it. Gansey’s heart is about to explode. Then it’s revealed that the bee is a ROBO BEE. Henry shows him the app that controls it and everything. Gansey is sharp enough to know that technology like that doesn’t actually exist… and Henry reveals that this is a dream object that his MOTHER purchased from Declan Lynch. Gansey gains a new ally in a weird hole that speaks like he does and knows magic when he sees it. Henry knows about the Lynch family’s dream powers. He noticed the orphan girl in the car. And he saw the way Adam exploded that concrete with his thoughts. Henry doesn’t want anything, he just wants to be friends and help.

Ronan goes to school and hates it. Declan is trying to call him. Blah blah. Look at this cute fucking part:

Ronan wrenched his tie loose. “You working after school?” 

“With a dreamer.” He held Ronan’s gaze over his locker door. 

School had improved. 

Adam gently closed his locker. “I’m done at four thirty. If you’re up for brainstorming some repair of your dream forest. Unless you have homework.” 

“Asshole,” Ronan said. 

Adam smiled cheerily. Ronan would start wars and burn cities for that true smile, elastic and amiable.

Holy shit it’s true. Adam very rarely smiles in these books. Oh my god I love these two.

Well Declan shows up after school and has Matthew in the car. Asks Ronan to join them. Tells him the whole truth about their father, how he was dealing with some really shady people and was the one to tell them about the Greywaren. His arrogance got him killed, building up this hype about a magical object that was actually him. Declan begs Ronan to run away with him and Matthew. Burn down the barns and start a new life. Ronan just says to take Matthew and run, because this is his home. 

Blue is at school realizing she has mixed feelings about relating to no one in her actual high school, and only making friends with Aglionby boys who used to be her sworn enemies. So it’s the perfect time for Henry to roll up in his crazy car. Some of her classmates give her a hard time, so Henry is like “I’m serious about going to Venezuela with you. If you want, you can yell at me and make a big scene so they don’t think we’re dating.” — which is cute. She takes him up on that and Henry sells the rebuked rich boy a little too well. He leaves theatrically. Her reputation is restored. 

So next, Gansey pulls up and is like “Ronan actually used a phone and says he needs us. We gotta go.” Blue is like “Oh shit.”

I was worried. Turns out Ronan just wanted everyone out at the barns for a going away party. He wanted one last friend/family gathering in the place he loves before he sends Declan and Matthew off to another city and fights a demon that may or may not kill him. 

I love this chapter. It is chapter 33. There’s a little bit of Ronan and Adam staring at each other pointedly. But mostly everyone just being happy. Playing with balloons. Eating cupcakes. Grilling out. Ronan and Declan actually getting along now that the truth of their past has come out. Ronan asks Adam to look in Matthew’s room for tin foil, and Adam meanders upstairs, getting lost in his thoughts like he always does. 

He finds a photo of Nial and Aurora and is struck by how much young Nial looks like Ronan. 

He finds Ronan’s room and finds a little model car and recalls a painful memory from his childhood. Where he used $10 his grandma gifted him to buy a similar toy for himself, and he was playing with it when he heard his father in the other room say he regretted having Adam. And his mom fucking agreed. GOD, FUCK THESE PEOPLE. Ronan comes in and sits on the bed beside him. OKAY JUST READ IT:

They sat like that for a few minutes, as Ronan examined the car and turned each wheel to play a different tune. Adam watched how intently Ronan studied the seams, his eyelashes low over his light eyes. Ronan let out a breath, put the model down on the bed beside him, and kissed Adam.

Then there’s a beautiful scene with Adam remembering a time when he was mowing the lawn and he saw a rainstorm coming from far away. And he didn’t go inside, he just let the wall of water hit him.

That was this kiss. They kissed again. Adam felt it in more than his lips. 

Ronan sat back, his eyes closed, swallowing. Adam watched his chest rise and fall, his eyebrows furrow. He felt as bright and dreamy and imaginary as the light through the window. He did not understand anything. 

It was a long moment before Ronan opened his eyes, and when he did, his expression was complicated. He stood up. He was still looking at Adam, and Adam was looking back, but neither said anything. Probably Ronan wanted something from him, but Adam didn’t know what to say. He was a magician, Persephone had said, and his magic was making connections between disparate things. 

Only now he was too full of white, fuzzy light to make any sort of logical connections. He knew that of all the options in the world, Ronan Lynch was the most difficult version of any of them. He knew that Ronan was not a thing to be experimented with. He knew his mouth still felt warm. He knew he had started his entire time at Aglionby certain that all he wanted to do was get as far away from this state and everything in it as possible. He was pretty sure he had just been Ronan’s first kiss. 

“I’m gonna go downstairs,” Ronan said.

I was NOT expecting this. I didn’t see any spoilers about this at all (actually, I’ve avoided all Raven King spoilers). I am GUT PUNCHED by how beautiful this is. Holy heck. These two are just amazing. Ronan loves Adam soooooo much. Adam, who has been love starved, his entire life, has someone that literally worships him. I am so, so happy for him. AUGHAUGHUAGH I read this late at night, so I couldn’t scream. But I wanted to scream. 

Later that night, Declan and Ronan have a moment on the roof. It’s really sweet and I’m glad they patched things up. Declan was only ever trying to protect Ronan from the hole their father dug for them. Ronan gifts him with a dream artifact that shoots harmless fireworks and light. 

Neeve regrets getting tangled up with Piper and the demon in the pursuit of power. Piper is totally nuts and thinks she can sell this demon like any other magical artifact to the hoard of people coming to Henrietta. Neeve scries to try to warn Maura and the psychics, and is able to get the message out before Piper tells the demon to kill her. 

Declan and Matthew hit the road, so now it’s the main gang in the living room at the Barns hatching a plan for how to take down the demon. Also there’s lots of cute bits with Gansey and Blue acting like a proper couple (her head on his lap. Him touching her hair). Everything is out in the open!! Well. Almost everything lol. Ronan reveals that he dreamed Cabeswater. Gansey is like “Any other geographical locations you want to tell us about?” And Ronan goes “No, but I dreamed Matthew.” And Gansey is like “Welp.”

Like ya’ll. Ronan is basically a god lol. This is insane. 

He also explains the spirit tree, and how it’s a nightmare tree. It doesn’t show you the future. It shows you the worst possible scenario. Everyone is nodding, but Gansey is confused because in one vision he found Glendower and in another he was about to kiss Blue. Adam, on the other hand, is immensely relieved.

Chapter 36. Just all of it. All of it is so fucking cute. Ronan and Blue are messing around in the kitchen, so Adam takes a minute to ask Gansey about love. And Blue’s curse. And how he knows he’s in love. It becomes apparent that he’s talking about something other than Blue, so Adam spills the beans that Ronan kissed him. And he kissed Ronan. And Gansey’s reaction is “Jesus Christ.” — Oh this is so cute. Gansey says sweet stuff like “Be careful with him Adam. He’s more fragile than you think” and Adam is like “I know that..” he’s still figuring himself out. They have a good talk and Gansey tells him to just be honest with himself. And then they resolve to find Glendower. 

Henry is taking out the trash in his underwear when Mr. Gray kidnaps him lol. Actually, he doesn’t kidnap him. He just wants to talk and ask who is coming to town and gather information, but Henry of course has some issues around being taken against his will. He summons his RoboBee and is holding it. But then Gray gets a phone call and it’s Gansey.

They meet at a super market. Henry is part of the gang now. Tells them everything he knows about his mom (Seondeok) being a magic artifact dealer. Laumonier shows up and Gray tells them to escape through the back door while he distracts them. There’s some really cute bits of Gansey and Blue being an actual couple, like him wrapping his overcoat around her and putting his hand over her eye, because he knows it hurts. They’re all PDA and it’s precious. 

OKAY BACK AT THE BARNS. CHAPTER 39. Just all of chapter 39. Shut up while I copy and paste this whole fucking thing. 

That night, Ronan didn’t dream. After Gansey and Blue had left the Barns, he leaned against one of the front porch pillars and looked out at his fireflies winking in the chilly darkness. He was so raw and electric that it was hard to believe that he was awake. Normally it took sleep to strip him to this naked energy. But this was not a dream. This was his life, his home, his night. 

After a few moments, he heard the door ease open behind him and Adam joined him. Silently they looked over the dancing lights in the fields. It was not difficult to see that Adam was working intensely with his own thoughts. Words kept rising up inside Ronan and bursting before they ever escaped. He felt he’d already asked the question; he couldn’t also give the answer. Three deer appeared at the tree line, just at the edge of the porch light’s reach. One of them was the beautiful pale buck, his antlers like branches or roots. He watched them, and they watched him, and then Ronan could not stand it. “Adam?” 

When Adam kissed him, it was every mile per hour Ronan had ever gone over the speed limit. It was every window-down, goose-bumps-on-skin, teeth-chattering-cold night drive. It was Adam’s ribs under Ronan’s hands and Adam’s mouth on his mouth, again and again and again. It was stubble on lips and Ronan having to stop, to get his breath, to restart his heart. They were both hungry animals, but Adam had been starving for longer.

Inside, they pretended they would dream, but they did not. They sprawled on the living room sofa and Adam studied the tattoo that covered Ronan’s back: all the sharp edges that hooked wondrously and fearfully into each other. “Unguibus et rostro,” Adam said. Ronan put Adam’s fingers to his mouth. He was never sleeping again.

AUAUGAUAUAUGUAGHUAUHH they’re so beautifuuuullll. I’m freaking ooooouuuttt!!!

Back in Cabeswater, the demon is being a complete asshole and killing all the trees. It’s very sad and written like murder. There’s one tree in particular that has been there for a very long time, and is considered the oldest and the strongest. And “she” dies, terrifying the younger trees.

Back in 300 Fox Way, Gwenllian wakes up with the psychic revelation that her mother has been killed by the demon. I think her mother was that tree in Cabeswater (??). She hilariously goes downstairs and rips Artemus from the closet. Chases him up the beech tree out back. Blue and Noah show up to be like “Heyy… you two..cut it out please.” But Artemus is being such a little bitch. Gwen demands he tell her where her father is. But he chickens out and… INSERTS HIS SOUL INTO THE TREE?? To hide? Gwen tells Blue “Didn’t you know? Don’t you feel it. This is your father. You have roots in your veins. The demon is coming and we’re all going to die.”

Um. Is Artemus a tree? Is BLUE HALF TREE?? MIRROR TREE?

…..is Cabeswater a bunch of tree people?? Does this have something to do with the corpse road and human souls walking along the leyline?

Adam wakes up in Ronan’s home and everything is beautiful and morning and foggy and serene and he finds Ronan in the field doing farm stuff and Orphan Girl is there being adorable and holding Adam’s hand and Chainsaw is flying overhead and the boys look at each other with unbridled, unbidden admiration and they fucking love each other and they’re a family and I can’t breathe. I can’t…  *GASP*

Chapter 43 is just smart. Smart writing. I see you, Maggie. The Gansey family is in town for the Aglionby slash political campaign fundraiser where all hell is going to break loose I’m sure. They make lunch for Henry and Blue in a renovated schoolhouse (?) that they own and rent out for events and stuff. Anyhoo, Helen is pissed, and pulls Gansey aside for a private conversation where she BERATES him for bribing headmaster Childs in exchange for allowing Ronan to graduate. So the truth comes out. Gansey gave Childs the Monmouth factory. If news gets out, it could affect their mother’s political campaign (bribery isn’t a good look). Gansey is feeling a little lost. He can’t tell his family that he might DIE soon, so that’s why he’s been doing crazy things like this. He just wants Ronan to be okay. He doesn’t care about the factory, he’s going to be dead anyway. He’s more upset about the possibility of never finding Glendower. 

Helen: “What then? What if you do find him?” 

Gansey: “That’s all there is.”

GASP he said the thing. Fuck, he said the thing. This chapter ends with Helen joking about them making it out of this weekend alive and I’m over here just like… sobbing with Gansey like AUGHAHAHAUGH MEE TOO. 

Ronan attempts to dream and Adam scries while he does so to act as backup. Orphan Girl comes too, somehow. They see the forest hanging by a thread. Everything is super fucked up and dead. Right as they’re like “Yep. Nah. No way. We’re waking up now.” But before they go, they find Aurora. And i think she’s dead. Fuck.

Jesus CHRIST things are escalating. So the Gray man and Maura pull up to the Barns. They find Adam and Ronan in the living room unresponsive and the orphan girl is fine. Maura scries to go bring Adam back, and when he does he’s like “Get Ronan get Ronan don’t leave him!” And Orphan Girl wakes Ronan up. We see what it looks like when Ronan brings something back. He’s paralyzed but slowly gets covered in blood and gore (from his mom omg). Gray tugs on Maura to bring her back. Maura is instantly like “what the fuck is that? The demon?! That was awful!” And then. AND THEN BECKY. Laumonier steps out from nowhere and shoots at Gray!! They hit the deck. And Gray fires back, killing this Laumonier. And thus, starting a war.

Alright so Gray heads out. He says he’ll handle the Laumondiers if Maura and the kids can slay the demon. No biggy. Blue and Gansey arrive and Adam has Chainsaw on his shoulder. She knows her new other Dad. 

And Ronan is basically like… disassociating in his car. Augh poor baby. Just totally shell shocked from seeing his Mom in what I can assume was a really gory state. Gansey is so sweet here. Like a comforting Dad. Noah is there too and looks so guilty about Blue’s eye but she tells him it’s not his fault. Ronan says “Say the word, Gansey. You know how to defeat this thing. Your commands are powerful. So command me, and I will go wherever you say to go.”

Blue goes to have a talk with her father who is still inside the Beech tree, but agrees to come out, and he tells her that he is a “Tree Light” (A person that can either look human or just decide to be a tree if they want to). Dang, Blue. And you thought you weren’t special! Artemus drops some bombs on us like Glendower and the tree people were allies (he was all about magic). Ya’ll. I think Glendower fucked one of those trees. (Aka Gwen’s mom)

They also talk about how the only way to kill the demon is for someone to willingly die on the leyline. Gansey and Adam are within earshot listening to this. Well fuck. 

It’s late though, so everyone tries to get some sleep.

Ronan refuses to leave his car, so Adam is like “WELP then I’m sleeping here. I don’t leave you.” And curls up in the passenger’s seat of his car. Orphan Girl is in the back. 

Meanwhile Gansey is on the couch, when he sees Noah. Noah leads him upstairs to Gwen, who is sitting on the roof. She tells him she is Owen Glendower’s daughter, and also the daughter of a Tree Light. He asks her how she had the strength to stab Artemus to prevent a war and she’s like “Whatever, I just did it because it needed to be done” and she kisses him on the cheek and says “Godspeed King.” Her weird little pep talk gives him the courage he needed to finally WANT to find Glendower. 

Gansey uses whatever magic it is he has to command stuff and is like “Tell me where to find Glendower.”

Like he hadn’t been able to find him up until now because he wasn’t ready. He didn’t want to find him, yet. Not really. Then it would all be over (“That’s all there is”). But now he’s ready and he’s fucking off. Nature is heeding his command to show him where Glendower is.

A big group of ravens and birds cluster at his command, ducking and swooping and flying (Just like in Noah’s dream! Just like on Raven Day!) and Gansey follows them. He gets in his car and chases them because they’re not waiting. And also probably because he doesn’t want anyone to get hurt. 

Meanwhile, Ronan is still in the car kind of like… staring off into space. He’s not asleep (because sleep means going to nightmare Cabeswater), but he’s not awake either. Blue comes and knocks on the window and Maura, Calla, and Gwen are there too. (Everyone else was sent away for safety). Blue says Gansey’s run off on his own. So Ronan says he’ll dream one last time and dream up something to help them locate Gansey. Adam, boyfriend of the year, is like I got you babe I’ll scry and protect you. And the psychics are like yeah yeah let’s do this thing. We’ll work together.

MEANWHILE. The fucking car breaks down lol. The birds keep going and Gansey is just like fuck fuck fuck. Then Henry shows up! RoboBee has been instructed to let him know if Gansey is ever in trouble or needs him, so there he is. Henry is a sweet lil cinnamon roll. Gansey drives Henry’s car and they race off together to where the birds are leading them. … Which is the massive old mansion Gansey DIED AT when he was 10. It’s all run down now, though. 

There are so many amazing introspective parts in these chapters. Gansey knows this is it. This is the night he finds Glendower, kills the demon, and probably dies. He has a moment to himself over the spot where he stepped on the hornet’s nest and reorients himself with the idea of death. Then Henry comes to find him and says he found a cave opening in the basement. It’s not natural. The cave looks like it just appeared and broke everything when Gansey commanded the way to be shown to him. 

So Gansey is like “I’m going on” and he doesn’t ask Henry to join him because he knows how Henry feels about being in underground dark places. Gansey’s not stoked about it either, and misses having his friends around to talk him down from panic attacks and literally transform hornets into birds for him. But there he is. In the dark. Feeling time slipping around him. Henry gifted him with his Aglionby sweater to keep him warm and he feels water on his shoulders from the cave (EEEKK!! This is what he was wearing on St. Mark’s day!!). His cell phone light goes off. And he hears the sound of hornets in the cave — building and building and building. Like thousands of them. IN THE DARK. 

Then his friends show up!!! YAYYYY!!! Ronan, Adam, Blue, Henry— and they’re all like “Dust!” “Wind!” “Leaves!” And the hornets turn into dust and wind and leaves. AUGH I love these kids. 

Ronan dreamed a firefly that is a Gansey tracker (AWW!) and Henry has RoboBee. So he asks RoboBee to help them find Glendower, and after a few more hours or minutes of walking around in the cave with Gansey’s court, they fucking FIND IT!

And the vibes are totally different. When they found Gwen’s fake tomb, Gansey was all  scared and didn’t want the ride to end. Ronan kicked the door down lol. THIS time, the tomb is real humble. Not decorated at all. And everyone is approaching it with a sort of reverence. In fact, Glendower isn’t even in a tomb. He’s literally just laying on a slab in a full suit of armor, unprotected. There’s also a skeleton in the corner with a sword through it?? (And the skeleton is wearing clothing/armor from Glendower’s time. So. I dunno what went down there.)

Okay so here’s the big moment. Gansey goes to remove Glendower’s helmet and wake him up… tension builds… and when he removes the helmet he finds just……. Dust and bones. Glendower is HELLA DEAD and has been for a VERY LONG TIME! 

I am devastated. Gansey is devastated. Everyone is standing around like “What the fuck?” And they try their “waking bones” magic, like they pulled off in the other cave, but it doesn’t work. Glendower is just too fucking dead. 

I’m so confused then!! So how did Gansey have the vision where he SAW Glendower and saw him waking up?? I guess it was in Ronan’s nightmare tree that didn’t show the future, but just worst possible scenarios. Maybe it was just a reflection of Gansey’s innermost wish or …. Maybe if they DID wake up Glendower, something bad would happen. 

I kept waiting for the magic to happen, but it doesn’t. Glendower is not happening, Gretchen. 

There’s a really cute part when they’re driving home where Henry abruptly pulls over and says to Gansey “Get out. I know you need to. Just get out.” And Gansey steps over to a picnic table away from everyone and has himself a good cry. Sweet thing. And SWEET HENRY for realizing he needed this. Gansey is feeling a lot. And for the first time, he understands Adam’s pride and doesn’t want them to see him like this. But he accepts Blue when she comes to check on him. Soon, the others join. And they have to come up with a new plan. 

So Gansey is like… well. If we don’t have a favor from Glendower, the only other option to get rid of this demon is a sacrifice. 

(Was that why the skeleton was in Glendower’s tomb? Was that a sacrifice to seal the demon away?? Am I thinking too hard about this??)

Anyway. Sacrifice. And it’s going to be Gansey. Ronan is like “No.” and Gansey says “It has to be. Blue already saw my spirit on the corpse road a year ago. It’s going to be me and it has always been me.” And Ronan is like “WHAT THE FUCK EVERYONE? When were you going to tell me this??!” And they say “Never because you’re the most EMOTIONAL PERSON HERE!”

Gansey says “For what it’s worth, I’d rather not die? I’m terrified? So if anyone has any other ideas I’m super open to them.” — Adam proposes a shaky plan that maybe they go to Cabeswater? Like maybe if he dies there, Adam could scry and bring his soul back to his body before it gets too far away. Everyone says “COOL! Worth a try!” And they’re walking back to the cars…

WHEN ADAM ATTACKS RONAN. 

Omg omg his eyes and hands belong to the demon now. Because the demon is in Cabeswater. This is heartbreaking. Adam is fucking GOING AFTER Ronan. Strangling him. Clawing at his face. He nearly breaks his own hand on a tree. The worst part is Adam is still conscious and shouting at everyone “Stop me! Stop me! Hit me! Knock me out! Whatever you need to do!”

This line from Ronan, who is not fighting back at all:

The choice was death or hurting Adam, which wasn’t much of a choice at all.

Eventually, between all of them, they get Adam pinned. He hurts everyone though. Tears open Blue’s stitches. He’s absolutely freaked out and terrified and Gansey’s like “We got you bud. Don’t worry.” And they tie his arms behind his back and blindfold him. Henry is oddly enough, the only person who knows how to bind arms properly lol. Thank you traumatic childhood hostage situation!

God there’s this sad bit where Adam is finally tied up, and collapses into Ronan’s chest, out of breath. And Ronan whispers in his ear in Latin “Someday even this will be something we look back on fondly.” And Adam says “You asshole” but sounds close to tears. 

Everyone is bloody. Adam is like “I might as well be the sacrifice, I’m corrupted.” And Henry delivers this great line:

“Let’s not get carried away just because you tried to kill someone,”

Hah. If we thought Gansey speaks like an over-educated 50 year old teen, Henry is like… up in the stratosphere. I love his sense of humor. 

Meanwhile, at Aglionby, Gansey’s family is freaking out because they haven’t heard from him. They’re scared, but then they’re pissed at him for missing the fundraiser. Seonduk is there, who is Henry’s Mom, and we learn that she got into magical artifact sales because she had a nervous breakdown a few years ago and developed psychic powers. So. NEAT! But she really does love her kids, and seems like a good person even though she put Henry through a little hell being a mob boss, basically. 

She has a nice chat with Gray who tells her he wants Henrietta to be safe territory and wants her help to do so. She’s like yeah okay fine. 

Then Piper arrives… ON A BLACK CARPET MADE OF BLACK WASPS. Wearing crazy clothing. And a GIANT BLACK WASP on her arm. This girl lol. I love to hate her. She’s like “What up everybody! I’m Piper. This is my demon. He’s my bitch and not the other way around. Bidding starts at a million bazillion dollars, who wants to start?”

And Laumonier is like “Piper… honey… put the demon down.”

“Shut up Dad! I can control it. It made me these pumps and did my makeup. Let me sell this demon and then we can all go have breakfast.”

(I’m paraphrasing and being funny, but the actual dialogue is not really that far off)

When Piper starts controlling people with the demon (not allowing them to run away since everyone is being bombarded by negative thoughts from this thing), Laumonier SHOOTS HIS OWN DAUGHTER. Shoots her. And everyone fucking scatters. Gray and Seonduk are like “Yeah we’ll be in touch. Nobody wants anything to do with Henrietta anymore. Fucking bye.” And the wasp like… bathes in Piper’s blood and gets even stronger. 

Chapter 61 is amazing. It’s so well written. I love how Maggie did this. So the entire thing is told from the perspective of Adam, who is bound and blindfolded, and doing his usual Adam thing of wallowing in his thoughts. He can’t believe he almost killed Ronan. And really hurt everyone else. Blue puts her head on his shoulder even though he’s like “Don’t” and comforts him. His fingers are still twitching. 

The car stops because there’s blood on the road. It’s raining. And they notice there’s Blue flower petals floating in the blood. (Remember how Ronan’s Dad said the day Ronan was born, the cows cried blood and it rained blue petals?) 

Ronan’s driving. There’s a thunderstorm. They are trying to decide whether or not to ford the damn blood river, when Ronan says “Do you ever feel like things come full circle?” And then there’s silence. Then Gansey is like “Ronan? RONAN?” And Adam hears the gas pedal slam even though the car is out of gear. 

Everyone is panicking and shouting Ronan’s name. All the while Adam is like “What’s happening?!” And we’re right there with him reading… going “WHAT’S HAPPENING?!”

Basically, Ronan keeps passing out. The demon is pulling him into unconsciousness, into the dream world to UNMAKE HIM. And he is fighting hard. He keeps waking up, gasping for air, and bringing back dream objects to hold on to life. At one point, we get these disconcerting lines??’

Blue: “Can we pick it off him?” 

“Don’t,” Ronan gasped. “Don’t touch it — don’t —”

Like, we never find out what is on Ronan. I think it’s either a dream thing he brought back or maybe a wasp? Blue is screaming at Ronan not to close his eyes, and Henry is like “WHAT IS HAPPENING?” And Adam is like “I thought being possessed was bad. This is worse. Listening to my boyfriend die and being tied up and blind.”

So Adam decides to scry. He knows it’s risky, but he does it anyway. And in his psychic state, he sees Persephone, who is cool as a cucumber and tells him “You made a deal with Cabeswater, not this demon. Don’t let it push you around.” And that’s enough for Adam to regain control of his hands and eyes. He comes back to his body, pushes the blindfold off with his shoulder, and watches in horror with everyone else while Ronan is bleeding black from his nose, passing out and waking up over and over again, each time with some random object. One random object is scrolls of paper with “claws and beaks” written on them, which is what Adam said to him while making out by the fire. Gawd. 

This whole time, Ronan’s cell is blowing up, and it’s Declan probably calling because Matthew is bleeding black from his nose and ears (the same thing is happening to the little girl). 

Ronan is dying. 

Gansey says “This is it. We have to kill this demon now or it’s going to unmake Ronan. We have to make the sacrifice right now.”

They’re nowhere near Cabeswater, but they are on the leyline. So it’ll work. 

Henry unties Adam so he can fist bump with Gansey one last time. Hah I love how Maggie writes that. “It was stupid and inadequate.” But they’re best buds, so there you have it. And then we get the moment that Blue saw in the vision tree. Gansey holds the sides of her face and tells her “It’s going to be okay Blue.” And they kiss. AUGH MY HEART.

Yep, copying and pasting this whole thing:

Blue said, “I hate this.” 

It was right, though. Gansey felt the feeling of time slipping — one last time. The sense of having done this before. He gently laid the backs of his hands on her cheeks. He whispered, “It’ll be okay. I’m ready. Blue, kiss me.” 

The rain spattered about them, kicking up splashes of red-black, making the petals around them twitch. Dream things from Ronan’s newly healed imagination piled around their feet. In the rain, everything smelled of these mountains in fall: oak leaves and hay fields, ozone and dirt turned over. It was beautiful here, and Gansey loved it. It had taken a long time, but he’d ended up where he wanted after all. 

Blue kissed him. He had dreamt of it often enough, and here it was, willed into life. In another world, it would just be this: a girl softly pressing her lips to a boy’s. But in this one, Gansey felt the effects of it at once. Blue, a mirror, an amplifier, a strange half-tree soul with ley line magic running through her. And Gansey, restored once by the ley line’s power, given a ley line heart, another kind of mirror. And when they were pointed at each other, the weaker one gave. Gansey’s ley line heart had been gifted, not grown. He pulled back from her. Out loud, with intention, with the voice that left no room for doubt, he said, “Let it be to kill the demon.” 

Right after he spoke, Blue threw her arms tightly around his neck. Right after he spoke, she pressed her face into the side of his. Right after he spoke, she held him like a shouted word. Love, love, love. He fell quietly from her arms. He was a king.

GOD NOOOOOOO!!!!!

So it took me a minute to figure out what was happening. I always thought Blue and Gansey kissing was a catalyst to some other event that was going to kill Gansey. (I honestly thought the demon was going to sting him). But the mirror thing is what’s important here. You know what? I’ll come back to this. All we need to know right now is that Blue’s kiss killed Gansey. Because she’s a mirror.

The demon is dead.

Chapter 65 is great. It’s all from Noah’s perspective. This poor sweet boy. The thing about being dead is that you exist in loops. So Noah just kind of drifts around periodically reliving his murder. Or hanging out with the guys in Monmouth before they realized he was dead. Or shoving plants off the shelf in a fit of anger, when he himself realized he was dead. Over and over again he relives these moments, because that’s what ghosts do. Noah goes back to the moment he died. Then he goes back to the moment Gansey died from hornets. 

We learn that NOAH was the voice that Gansey heard that day!!

Noah crouched over Gansey’s body. He said, for the last time, “You will live because of Glendower. Someone else on the ley line is dying when they should not, and so you will live when you should not.” Gansey died. “Good-bye,” Noah said. “Don’t throw it away.”

And then Noah dissapears. That was his last loop. MY HEART!!!

And it makes sense, right? “You will live because of Glendower” — not taken literally, but like.. “You’re going to press on in life and have this purpose for yourself because you’ll be obsessed with finding Glendower. This mission is going to introduce you to all of your friends. And you’ll change the world.”

Chapter 66, everyone is just reeling. Especially Ronan, who hasn’t had as much time as everyone else to sit with this. He curses out Gansey’s dead body and is crying. Adam just collapses. Blue is of course, devastated. HENRY has had even less time to process what’s going on, and he kind of yells at them, “You’re magicians aren’t you? What good is magic if it can’t save him!”

And Adam proposes taking Gansey’s body to Cabeswater. Maybe they can beg the forest to save him. Maybe they can beg the forest to sacrifice itself for Gansey. (Which seems like a lot to ask but I also love Gansey, so I’m fine with this.)

Cabeswater is probably like “Um, you just got done saving me, and you want to what now?”

So Cabeswater, in its limited tree vocabulary, is trying to explain to the kids that this is not as simple as it dying and Gansey living. I’m just imaging Adam and the forest speaking frantically in psychic over this lol. Cabeswater can only MAKE things. So it makes itself into life. Into Gansey’s life. And when all the trees are done falling, Blue tells Gansey “Wake Up.” And that ends the chapter. 

Okay. 

Several things going on here. Let me see if I got this.

At this moment, Gansey becomes infused with the life force of Cabeswater. And because Cabeswater does funny things with time, he has actually been Cabeswater for this whole book series. Possibly since he died when he was 10, and this loop started. The one Noah has been drifting around for years. That’s why he’s constantly had this feeling of time slipping. And like he’s done this before. And everyone has this uncanny feeling that Gansey is all ages at once. 

Gansey was the first one to demonstrate a strange control over this place. (Turning fish colors, etc.). And his commands are some kind of magic. He’s constantly referred to as a king.

And that’s why Blue’s kiss killed him instantly. She’s a mirror. When she kissed him, he was already Cabeswater. Because time is a loop. And he has been a type of mirror this whole time.

QUESTIONS:

Why is Glendower dead? When did he die?

Who is the skeleton in the tomb with him and why is it stabbed?

What is the significance of the shield and Camaro tire they found at the bottom of the lake?

Glendower must have also fallen in love with a tree person, because Gwen states that her mother is a tree. (Her and Blue are the same? Half human half Tree Light?)

I’m still kind of wrapping my mind around this?? Because Ronan dreamed Cabeswater… (or, more pointedly, the leyline magic memory of a forest was there, but he gave it shape). And I’m not sure how that fits into the narrative…. You know, I was really relieved to find so many memes on tumblr about how no one understands this book lol. BUT I WANT TO!!!!

I’m pretty sure Cabeswater was full of… people trees. Like old souls that had been around since Glendower times. 

And there’s this whole OTHER layer of things about the 3 sleepers. And who is who. Demon is definitely one. Gwen might be one, but not really because she never slept. Adam might be one, because there’s a line when he understands his psychic ability that says “I’m awake”. Glendower we thought was one, but probably wasn’t because he was super dead this whole time. Then, I think Gansey is one. He wakes up from being dead and is now some magical time god disguised as a seventeen year old.

EPILOGUE

Adam drives Ronan’s BMW to his parents’ trailer and confronts them. I love that he does this, because he has a car, but him driving around in Ronan’s just solidifies… EVERYTHING. I love this scene because Adam is so cool and confident. These people can’t hurt him anymore. And he tells them as much, in the most mature way possible. 

Ronan gifted Henry, Gansey, and Blue with a scavenger hunt for graduation. The gift is the location of Kavinsky’s car graveyard, only they find the first version of the dream Camaro that runs with no engine. Blue loves it because it’s the most green car ever. They love it because they’re going to go on a threesome road trip around the country in a car that doesn’t need gas. 

Ronan is hanging out with Orphan Girl in the woods where Cabeswater used to be. It’s just a regular forest now. Oh, she has a name now, by the way. And it’s Opal. Ronan gets to thinking about how he’d imagine Cabeswater differently. How he’d design it, if he had to design it again. 

And the book ends with him settling down to dream. 

HE’S GONNA DREAM THAT FOREST BACK. And … start the cycle over I dunno.

So... Trees are people. Ancient people forest that used to exist. But now no longer does (like a ghost on the leyline). Book ends with Ronan making trees. Time is loop. Trees become life for Gansey. Ronan make trees. Ronan make... Gansey life?

This book series is a MIND BENDER.

It did not go how I thought it would. It avoided tropes left and right. All of the climaxes of the books left me very confused, but not in a bad way. They just never ended how you thought they would. For instance, I thought this whole thing was going to end with the kids literally slaying a demon. But it was more about sacrifice. That’s a theme that comes up a lot. 

And things making and unmaking. And changing. Exchanges. 

My brain hurts. But I loved it. I love these characters. This found family. I love that everyone lives in the end and is happy and okay. I know there are epilogue books that focus on Opal and Ronan. I’ve seen some spoilers that it’s slightly in the future where Adam is going to college and Ronan is part of some kind of…dreamers… squad I dunno. I’ve also heard they’re sad, so I think I’ll save those for some other time hahaha. But Ronan and Adam ARE together in those books, so that’s nice hahaha

Oh shit, what happened to Aurora? I think she just...dies. I’m assuming Matthew is okay because Opal is okay. I saw a meme on Tumblr that other people were asking about the comet, so I’m glad I’m not the only one lol. (No one knows. It just goes away haha).

Alright. Time to say goodbye. This one is going to leave a big hole in my heart. I finished this book 2 weeks ago and I keep coming back to this document trying to figure it out hahaha Thank you Raven Cycle! You were a RIDE!!!! 

Deadass Rating: 8.5/10

Unofficial theme song: “Mum” by Luke Hemings

[fairyhaven13]

I rewatched Rise of the Guardians a couple months ago and it made me revisit my story I had been working on. I did a ton of research for my idea of Mary, Jack’s sister, becoming a Deer Woman and a Guardian, but it just... wouldn’t stick. I still like the idea and plan to use it eventually, but not as the main story. It just felt weird. I’m white and Mary’s white and I don’t feel right using Native American culture as her cryptid role. It needs reworking to make it usable.

Luckily, soon after watching the movie, I had this funky dream where Pitch Black got stuck in a nightmare he couldn’t control and had to work with some humans to escape. I woke up going, Whoa, That was Fun! So, I’m working on that idea instead. I really like it so far. I’ll put more about it and this character pictured here under the cut. For those who don’t want to read all that, Lace is my Guardian OC, the Guardian of Comfort! She’s a Naiad. :)

The concept so far is that after the movie, some other cryptids who feed on fear--in this case, Rakshasa--yoink a weakened Pitch into their nightmare pocket dimension. His whole fiasco launched a new wave of fear in humans that made the Rakshasa more powerful, and with him in their clutches, they can up the ante on their own nightmares to feed more.

The pocket dimension works as a trap pulling humans in and keeping them afraid. When Pitch realizes there’s no reasoning with the Rakshasa, he’s forced to work with the humans trapped there to break the nightmarescape and get out. The girl here is Lace Solaris, an OC I’m extremely proud of the design for. She was the first human to accept working with Pitch, and in fact rescued him when they first met, leading him to think having backup might not be such a bad idea. He’s scornful of how genuinely kindhearted she is and mostly sees her as canon fodder at this point. She knows he’s the Boogeyman; he’s clearly not human, and all the other nightmares in that dimension give her no reason not to believe in him, so she sees him. But, she also knows he’s not her enemy at the moment.

Lace is good with puzzles, a patient thinker, and most of all, bent on soothing and comforting everyone. When she rescued Pitch the first time, he woke to her trying to sooth him like a cornered animal to keep him from flipping out, which was just baffling to him. She’s constantly hiding her own struggles to make others feel better and it takes a toll on her. Eventually, Pitch realizes that she’s not helping him as efficiently because she’s breaking down herself, and he’s forced to be more considerate just to try and get her to keep up with him. Being forced to make her honest about her feelings and--ugh--talk about them makes him also forced to slowly actually care about her. Especially since she won’t share her own feelings unless he does first. It makes for a lot of bonding time between running from horrors.

I have several ideas for them escaping the Rakshasa. First, the pocket dimension won’t have proper access to moonlight, or else Manny would easily break it open. So, they need to open up access to the sky; cause “sunrise,” for lack of a better term, since the moon also tends to be out during the day. Second, Pitch has no idea how to work with a team, and so Lace eventually finds an artifact (a necklace or something?) that gives them brief access to talking with the Guardians when charged with moonlight. Pitch hates it, but acknowledges they need the help, and the Guardians hate him, but want to help the humans, so they reluctantly work together.

Third, in order for Lace to become a Guardian, she needs to die to her Guardian Core. In this case, comfort. I’m thinking at some point there’s a monster that sniffs out fear to eat and so Lace needs to keep Pitch and the group calm. She shuts them in a walk in closet or something and says comforting and soothing things through the door. Pitch realizes that the monster isn’t going away after a minute, but has no choice but to wait, since reacting would make the monster attack everyone, including him. When Lace eventually says to open the door, he finds her bleeding out from the monster’s attack. He has to take her to the safe spot they use to charge the moonlight token (to talk with the Guardians) in order for Manny to have a chance to revive her. That’s when she becomes a Naiad and gains the title of Solace, Guardian of Comfort.

Pitch also gradually realizes that his working with her out of efficiency becomes more than that. Their teamwork becomes banter and philosophical questions, Lace’s calm focus and quiet grace are sweet to be around, and on top of that she’s hilarious with a dry wit that shocks anyone unprepared. She’s kind, but not naive, and is well aware that Pitch has done awful things, but keeps saying that moving forward is what matters. She’s so comfortable with him and he doesn’t know what to do with himself when he unwillingly falls in love with her. Ultimately, when they find the key to escaping the pocket dimension, he sacrifices himself to give them time and Manny revives him as the next Guardian: Guardian of Bravery.

Together, he and Lace are the protectors of lost, neglected, abused, or mentally unwell children. His lair becomes more of a sanctuary, still with soothing shadows, but also with a waterfall and lagoon for Lace, and plenty of safe nooks to hide and rest in.

[sugarcoateddreamsau]

🌟 Inscribed Nightmares 🌟

Stat Card - Orian Artimes The Hunter

Tw for mentions of murder

Also, ignore that I changed the au name. Little Inscribed Nightmares sounded like a mouthful.

[EDIT: THIS IS OUTDATED AND WILL NO LONGER BE USED FOR THE AU AS I'M REDOING THE BIOGRAPHY]

⭐️ - Star sign

💫 - Orbit Sign

✨️ - Nova Sign

AGE - 43

HEIGHT - 7'1"

BORN: - August 1st

NAME - Orian Artimus

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

STAMINA: ⭐⭐️⭐️⭐️

PROFICIENCY: 💫💫💫💫⭐

CREATIVITY: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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

EPITHET - Mundie(none)

ANIMAL - Deer

FAV FOOD - Rations

Likes: ...sowing, patching up other's wounds, hunting humans, biology, autopsy, researching land life, pets.

About him:

Oriam is a normal wildlife, zoo biologist, and a taxidermy specialist. He originally lived in Island country, but moved into Taiga country to see the beautiful snow. Sure, his progression in his biology career was set back due to moving to a different country, but with his immense knowledge and experience, he would be able to quickly catch back up!

Murders in the deepest parts of Redwood run has increased exponentially. An incident in the woods led three Sweet Jazz police officers to investigate. Everything was assumed to have gone well. They were out longer than usual, but they were most likely busy. Not too long after that, a message was sent to the station.

"We're being hunted-the hunter-Please-"

That was the last we heard from any of those officers that went out. When investigated, one body was missing, the other two were dead. There are currently no leads on who this hunter is as they appeared to have hidden their tracks well. It's advised to not go too deep into the woods at night, and if required, to bring a group no smaller than five.

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

The Hunter's Moveset:

Invisible Camouflage:

Camouflage is a skill that only comes naturally to some animals. Humans can use this skill, but wildlife is normally more skilled & adapted to the art than mere humans. The hunter is an extreme exception and outlier to this. His level of camouflage dwarfs anything most animals can do on instinct. In fact, he has perfected the art of hiding his presence so much that he can almost go completely invisible while moving at the same time. The effectiveness of the camouflage decreases the more he moves around. Standing completely still would make him invisible to the naked eye and hide him from heat signatures, and walking would still leave him with an effective camouflage, but running would completely nullify the Camouflage This ability by itself sounds decently powerful, but its true strength comes from the secondary ability of this

Invisible Camouflage - Items

He can apply his Camouflage ability to nonliving items to make them blend in completely with the environment. This can be used for a variety of items like bear traps, mines, cages, ropes, etc. Speaking of weaponry

Orbital Tool kit

All of his weapons are extremely powerful, much more effective than normal weapons. Unlike those, his weapons in particular are designed for one purpose 

To kill

His shotguns can blast through trees, concrete, metal, and most importantly: People. The blasts are powerful enough to where most would mistake them for Real-Ass-Goddamn weapons, the blades(which are actually Real-Ass-Goddamn weapons) can cut through wood and people like butter, even his traps can tear through flesh like paper.

Hunting instincts

All of his senses are amplified far beyond a normal human being’s level by a factor of five. Only fitting of a proper hunter. Sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch, they’re all amplified to ludicrous degrees

Ilfra-red:

As a special skill of his, if he focuses his eyes enough, he can see heat signatures. While this is a neat skill, this can easily be circumvented if someone has enough time to learn he has it and can work around it.

Bladed mastery

The hunter is extremely skilled at using even the weakest of blades and knives to the point where challenging him to close quarters combat is a death sentence.