#Postal Mysterious Stranger | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

tllgrrl · 3 months ago

Text

Grimes 68 by @tllgrrl aka nefertiri jones

Summary: After almost 8 years apart, Michonne finds Rick Grimes, the love of her life and father of their children, and he brings her into the Civic Republic Military. For the time being: 1) She has to pretend to be someone else to avoid being seen as a threat; 2) He has to figure out a plan for the two of them to get out; and 3) They have to try and act like they’re strangers to each other instead of reunited lovers.

(The key word is “try”.)

* * * * *

*CLANK…CLANK…CLANK…*

The steel kill sticks striking against the brick wall rang in the parking lot of what was left of a post office.

A former postal service semi that now had protective grills over the windows led the next herd of the dead, or what the CRM called “deltas”— “delts” for short—into the large space on the one side of the harvest wall.

The shuffling hoard was drawn by the noise and flashing lights mounted on the truck.

*CLANK…CLANK…CLANK…CLANK…*

The consignees readied themselves on the other side, and as the delts shambled to open spaces in the wall, each one was met with a blow that drove a sharp, prong-ended spear (“kill stick”) into its skull, followed by a twist of the wrist that destroyed its brain, effectively and finally killing it.

It was a repetitive, bloody, mind-numbing grind, and some said that it was brutal for the workers because it wasn’t easy to completely forget that the delts were once living human beings too.

Grimes had done his time at The Wall. He’d even become a legend with the number of kills he could rack up in a shift.

It was painted in big letters on the side of a nearby building, for all to see:

GRIMES 68.

He was also well-known for the number of attempts he’d made to do something no one else in the City wanted to do: Escape. Wanting to leave the safety and security of the CR so badly that he actually cut off his own shackled hand at the wrist, only to fail again and be brought back to the Wall.

Time and time again an officer in the Civic Republic Military gave him a chance to join up, and he refused each offer, preferring to be at the culling facility, killing the dead and planning his next escape attempt.

Then one day, he accepted the offer. He traded his Consignee jacket for a CRM uniform. Instead of using a kill stick, he got a fancy, deadly prosthetic hand with a retractable blade. He got all kinds of specialized training, all the perks as he rose through the ranks, and he never had to cull delts again.

But now, after having been gone for years, there he was. Back at the Wall. Watching.

Watching her.

The new consignee.

The dark-skinned Black woman with her hair cut short on one side of her head, exposing a beautiful profile; and locs cascading down just past her shoulder in the back and on the other side of her face .

The woman who, after her on-boarding interview, was designated a Type “B”, seeking safety, willing to work, and keeping to herself, but had the carriage and demeanour of an “A” who was always observing, was more than capable of defending herself, and being a provider of safety. A leader.

Word soon got around among the Consignees that the ex-consignee/now military officer known as “the famous Rick Grimes” had not only survived a chopper crash, but he’d started showing up at the harvest wall. Coming back to a place he’d gotten away from years earlier, only to return when a mysterious new consignee was brought into the CRM.

*CLANK…CLANK…CLANK…*

“Hey. Look who just pulled up,” said a consignee who had her red hair tied back with, of all things, a bright pink ribbon that was tied in a bow.

“Holy shit! ‘zat Grimes?” another consignee added, tying a bandana on his head, cholo style, then slipping on his face shield. “He doesn’t have to be here any more. What’s up with that?”

“Bethune’s not-so-secret admirer,” snickered the worker to pink bow’s left, stabbing his kill stick into a delt that sagged and dropped. “She doesn’t see him yet. But she knows he’s there. Watch. In 3..2..1.”

Michonne—known to the other consignees as “Dana Bethune” —stationed at the far end of the wall, continued to methodically dispatch delts.

Then she stopped, looked over her shoulder, and found the tall CRM officer. Standing there, at ease, even with his helmet and face guard on, she knew he was watching her.

It seemed like they stood there, the only people at the wall. 5…10…15 minutes. Watching each other. Breathing the same air. At last…

3 seconds later, she turned her head back to the oncoming delts, and went back to work.

Behind her mask, the other consignees couldn’t see the small smile that graced her lips, or hear her whisper “I found you.”

Behind his mask, no one could see the CRM officer smile as he whispered “You found me.”

*CLANK…CLANK…CLANK…*

“You see that?” drawled the consignee to pink bow’s right, continuing to spear oncoming delts. “Somethin’s up with those two.”

“I know, right? For the past two weeks, he’s here. Same time every day she’s on shift, just before third break. Look at him lookin’. Even wearin’ the consignee jacket, the mask, an’ her hair all tucked in, it only takes him a second to find her. And a second for her to know he’s here. Like they’re—”

“Might could be that ass is imprinted on his brain!” laughed a big man nearby with a bushy black beard.

“Maybe it’s because she saved his life out there.”

“Peterson said somethin’ about that. It’s true?”

“‘parently so. His chopper went down. Got blown right outta the sky and crashed.”

“You serious?!”

“Word is it was a scrub with some kinda RPG an’ shit,” a consignee added to the story while wiping a splatter of brains and blood off of his face guard.

“Stop lyin’! How’d they even get that? After the Fall, CRM took over most of the bases out there with a quickness.”

“There was military stuff out in the wild even before everything went to shit. All kinds o’ stuff is still out there,” bushy beard opined. “Shouldn’t be a surprise all these years later somebody has a bazooka or some ordinance hidden away. There’s jeeps, even tanks here and there. I lived in one for a couple o’ months before I got found and brought here. CRM scoops ‘em up quick as they can, but—”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. So anyway, the scuttlebut’s that Sargent Major Loverboy there, an’ the other troopers jumped out of the wrecked chopper an’ the scrub starts firein’ on ‘em. The ones he could catch, he slit their throats…with a sword.”

“A what?” bandana scoffed, stabbing into what was left of the next delt’s face. “Get outta here with that BS, man!”

“I’m just tellin’ you what I heard! Grimes was about ta get got, when Bethune comes runnin’ outta the woods, grabs one of the dead trooper’s weapons and shoots the scrub!”

“Wow. Maybe that’s why he’s here all the time,” pink bow chuckled. “Hell, I’d be in love with her too.”

“Get in line,” beard snarked. “You really think those two know each other?”

“Know each other?” the woman laughed, stabbed a delt and shook its eyeball off of her kill stick. “I think they’re fuckin’.”

“No way!” bandana exclaimed. “She just got here!”

<<<Good work, Section 5 and 6 Consignees. Bethune and Clifton, please report to post-shift health check before boarding transport.>>>

“Think about it,” pink bow explained. “Grimes is an officer on the inside now and doesn’t need to be at the Harvest Wall any more. Who’d come back to this shit after their 6 years of consignment is up? Now, all of a sudden, he’s back. Out here almost every day. Why?”

She tipped her head toward the driveway and they watched Grimes remove his helmet and turn completely around to watch “why” aka “Dana Bethune” walk past, avoiding his eyes.

*CLANK…CLANK…CLANK…*

“Oh, yeah…” pink bow grinned. “They’re fuckin’.”

* * * * *

This bit of nonsense was inspired by The Walking Dead spin-off, The Ones Who Live - Episode 3: “Bye”.

Click HERE for the AO3 version.

Thank you for reading!

#original characters #OCs #consignee chatter #main characters gossiped about #richonne #rick grimes #michonne grimes #rick and michonne #the ones who live #twd towl #the walking dead the ones who live #fan art #fan fiction #by tllgrrl aka nefertiri jones #it’s me splashing around in another pool

75 notes · View notes

boombox-fuckboy · 1 year ago

Text

Hey, @t0tally-n0t-3m0, figured this might be easier to read as a post. Here's 24 pods with nonbinary lead characters to get you started. There's more out there, so if anyone wants to add on, go for it.

Additional Postage Required: (Sci-Fi) Adventures of an interstellar courier who starts to get glimpses of the past from their packages.

Anamnesis (on the Tin Can Audio feed): (Mystery, Weird Fiction) Someone wakes in a temple in an empty town with no memory. Short, really nice sound design.

Badlands Cola: (Mystery, Supernatural & Horror elements) big city PI Sunny is hired to find information on a rural cult leader, and is drawn into a world of strange radio, horse enthusiasts, and dinosaur bones.

The Dead Letter Office of Somewhere, Ohio (one of two leads, you'll meet them halfway in): (Supernatural, Weird) Two workers for an Ohio dead letter office read the strange confiscated mail their organisation collects, and do some follow up investigation.

either: (Weird Fiction, Sci-Fi, Romance) An explosion at a duck factory sends a pet robot to another reality, connecting two very different (but both lonely) people.

Hello From The Hallowoods: (Supernatural Horror) A dramatic entity beyond your comprehension visits your nightmares to tell stories of the people (in varying degrees of human and alive) that inhabit the strange, deadly, and beautiful Hallowoods.

Inn Between: (Fantasy, Adventure) Ever wondered what the party gets up to at the tavern between D&D sessions? (Not a tabletop).

Jar of Rebuke: (Supernatural, Horror elements) An unkillable amnesiac scientist (they die, just have a hard time staying dead) investigates weird entities, makes friends, and eats a lot of tasty food in the strange town he lives in.

Khôra Podcast: (Sci-Fi, Adventure) Somewhere between inspired by and adapted from greek mythology, a space adventure following four mythological figures on their search for the golden fleece.

Less is Morgue: (Comedy, Horror elements) A ghoul and a ghost host a podcast about whatever they please in the ghoul's mom's basement, and manage to get off topic anyway.

Light Hearts: (Slice-of-Life, Supernatural elements) Three friends run a lightly haunted queer café. Upbeat and wholesome.

The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity, and Mortality: (Weird Fiction, Supernatural, Horror elements) A friendly AI tour guide leads you on a tour of the Mistholme Museum, explaining the strange and often alternatural story behind each item. (To be clear, the nb lead is an AI with no concept of gender, but the creator is NB also and it is far from the only nb character.)

Monstrous Agonies: (Advice, Supernatural) An interpersonal advice show for supernatural entities and other people living liminally in the modern world.

ROGUEMAKER: (Sci-fi, Whodunnit) A commercial space flight explodes and passengers are left isolated in the escape pods, only connected for minutes at a time and unsure what happened, or why.

Second Star to the Left: (Sci-Fi) Audio logs of a colonist sent to a new world and her communications with the minder in charge of keeping her alive.

Sidequesting: (Fantasy) A wholesome podcast following Rion, an adventurer with a difference: they only do sidequests.

SINKHOLE: (Sci-fi, Weird Fiction) Forum posts from a data restoration community in a near future where the human brain is its own computer and one city hosts a massive void.

Skyjacks: Courier's Call: (Tabletop, Fantasy) Three young postal workers aboard a skyship go on various adventures. Kid-friendly but enjoyable for all ages.

The Starport Inn: (Supernatural, Mystery) An FBI agent sent to a rural town to solve a disappearance finds they've walked into something much stranger.

The Supernatural Protection Agency: (Supernatural) Call logs for a helpline that aims to solve the supernatural problems plaguing your life.

Tell No Tales: (Supernatural, Horror elements) Leo Quinn, secretary to the man in charge of the world's leading ghost removal service, interviews various ghosts in an attempt to create a device capable of actually recording them, in the hopes of taking down the company they work for.

Trial and Error: (Sci-Fi) Interviews with various AI as a scientist attempts to make sense of spontaneous machine sentience.

Under the Electric Stars: (Sci-Fi) A courier's failed heist to help their AI friend/navigator pulls them into a world of crime organisations and unethical science.

The Weird: (Tabletop, Supernatural, Comedy, Horror elements) The two staff members at The Department of the Weird travel America in their shitty Ford Fiesta to investigate various strange happenings

#audio drama #recommendations

369 notes · View notes

couchtaro · 2 years ago

Note

from the OC introduction ask! (Sorry followers this is long but its worth it i prommy there are even pictures)

This is my little dötter Basil, a D&D PC of mine! She only saw 3 sessions of play 3 years ago but she is getting a second chance at life because @eaudecrow picked her up from the shelter and gave her a lovely yard to run around in.

Basil is a little tiefling girl whose large family runs an apothecary and surgery in a tiny little backwater town called Tarnygee. Basil’s brilliant mother developed a strain of magical herb that when processed can cast (without spell slots or prior magical ability) Lesser Restoration, thereby curing any disease instantly.

While traveling to heal a local noble, Basil’s mother disappeared and a bigshot inventor came forward claiming her panacea as his own. When Basil’s oldest brother tried to confront him and wound up dead, it became clear there was nothing they could do to get justice on their own. So, fueled by grief and rage, Basil took a job as a part-time warlock at Seelie Corp., a fey megacorporation with mysterious motives. In return for her working as their errand girl, Basil gets to be distinctly less killable and more tricky as she tries to find the inventor and extort him for the good of her destitute family.

Things aren’t working as well as she would like though: due to being basically a middle schooler, she’s got to keep her work under 40 hours a week and gets limited pact benefits. Her supervisor (a weasely pseudodragon named Keith) is dismissive and unhelpful, and her small town upbringing has kept her deeply unprepared for taking on the wild world of men and magic on her own.

Luckily, she’s found some unexpected help! While submitting her weekly report through the postal system of Fey portals, Basil’s paperwork went awry and found its way to another world: specifically a bunker in a war torn parallel version of the material plane. This bunker is the home and prison of Crow’s Aaren D’Cannith.

As a youth, Aaren invented a mechanical race called warforged, but seeing their potential for war and servitude, his family seized his blueprints (AND HIS ROBOT DAUGHTER) and disowned him as soon as he came of age. Aaren spent a few years as a vigilante trying to free his creations, but was trapped in his secret library when a magical-chemical fallout steeped his homeland in a volatile and toxic arcane gas. There he stayed, trapped and utterly alone, for three years.

Until Basil.

The two are corresponding via letters that we actually write each other, and it’s SUCH a fun and interesting method of storytelling to me aah. Despite being little more than strangers separated by a barely permeable divide, and despite Aaren struggling to believe Basil was even real at first, the two have formed a very sweet bond that makes me so unwell, you would not believe.

Both are grieved by how much of their own misfortune they see in the other. Through Basil’s letters, Aaren can tell that she is young, inexperienced, lacking support, and actively in danger as she allows herself to be used in exchange for power. He sees her situation with the eyes of someone who has been there and thus liberally (almost desperately) shares what little he can: his own arcane study materials, what he’s learned about survival and avoiding arrest, and, not the least, assurance that despite her perceptions, Basil is clever and kind and she matters.

Basil in turn is Aaren’s one connection to other people, and to a world that, while imperfect, is not ravaged and desolate like his own. After years of incarceration and tedium, he now has the exhilarating privilege of small talk and an audience for the terrible, terrible jokes he’s cooked up in isolation. He has a way to not only talk to someone outside of himself, but to help. He has something productive to do, and a reason to do it, not to mention the interesting puzzles of how their letters are finding each other and what else might be going on with Basil’s work. Basil is truly grateful to him, and returns his kindness in what little ways she can—most recently by interdimensionally mailing him his first real food in years.

Currently, Aaren and Basil are working to craft a pair of sending stones for daily artificer/botany jokes and (real reason) so that Basil can have some sort of emergency contact if she needs urgent advice. 25 words once per day is frightfully little if she ever runs into real trouble, and the limitations of their contact are never more haunting than when one considers how little Aaren could truly do in an emergency. I’m sure this frustration is only worsened by the unfortunate atrophy of his knowledge and skill caused by fog exposure. But he’s a clever man, and Crow had some ideas that seized my brain for weeks. Goodness.

Anyway in conclusion

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk

#my OC #blorbos in law #Basil D’Pothecary #Aaren D’Cannith #Basil #answered asks #art: Basil #my art #TENDERNESS MAKES ME BONKERS AND THERE IS SO MUCH TO HE HAD WITH THESE TWO #thanks crow…. 😭💐🥺

73 notes · View notes

flowersandbirdsflyingfree · 1 month ago

Note

Heya! Saw the little match up post and was very curious!! Just like the last person, my current interest is Postal since its the only one I rlly know (have been getting into Blood and Duke Nukem stuff recently tho) but this is ultimately up to you and who best you think I match up with!

I'm 19 years old and I'm a transmasc person. I have blonde hair, long and curly, that I tend to dye a lot. I also have dark brown eyes, that people in my life often describe as very off-putting because I have a tendency to intensely stare at people. My facial features are soft but apparently very pretty, I have plump lips and a button nose and a soft jawline. I also have a lot of piercings and a few tattoos. I'm short and thin too ig but also have an hourglass figure. Like I'm naturally just very thin, my hands are smaller than average and I have never worked out a day in my life. But I am working towards changing that since I want to be buff one day! I am a fetish goth so I wear a lot of latex, PVC, tight stuff, and bondage gear just like as a fashion statement. I'm a very laid back person, quite literally nothing can bother me and I'm not emotional at all. But I also present myself as a caring person and like to behave motherly towards those around me, taking care of their every need and supporting them. I also have very obsessive tendencies when I get genuinely attached to a person, I am always completely obsessed with any person I am romantically involved with. My obsession is like fanatic religious worship.

My strengths is hard to say, I guess it would be that I am highly adaptable. Nothing bothers me at all and I am constantly rolling with the punches, I've been put through the ringer my whole life so I'm just chill about everything. I just constantly adjust to every situation and am super optimistic, no matter what. I always give myself something to look forward to, however small it may be because the smallest experiences are worth the most in my mind. I am also very creative and imaginative, I am constantly making something and it's mostly just me either writing horror stories or drawing. But that also causes me to get trapped in my head all the time and I get a bit restless when I can't daydream.

Weaknesses is also a hard one, I would have to say my inability to feel certain emotions and my forgetfulness. I can't feel things like guilt or anger, I can barely even really experience romantic love. The only time I can experience love is through obsession. And then I am also constantly forgetting things all the time, my days are very foggy in my head. I also get very depressed at times and struggle to get things done, but I always manage to beat it in the end. I also find it hard to communicate with people, especially my own needs and wants.

I don't look for much in a partner, just someone who I find interesting and who I can feel I am forming an obsession over. I typically like gruff people, assholes with a soft spot for me. I also like nerdy people and I find crudeness very attractive. I actually mainly look for people with obsessive tendencies like me.

My hobbies include anything involving art but especially writing horror stories, taxidermy, vulture culture. I also collect knives. I like fashion too, and the history behind alternative subcultures. I play video games all the time and like getting really into shows and movies I watch.

I am an INFP, got the same result years back and got it again now so ig it's very true lol.

I hope this is all sufficient! I felt like such a mary sue or something just describing myself lol

HELLO!!!! You are not a mary sue! You’re an amazing wonderful person who’s gonna get A TWO FOR ONE SPECIAL!💥💥💥

That’s right!

For Boomer Shooters, I match you with:

Caleb from Blood

You want gruff? You got it! Caleb is the definition of a mysterious stranger in the shadows. He does what he wants. He has a tendency to have a dark sense of humor and makes horror movie references every at opportunity, so I hope you’re prepared for that. Like he dips you over and goes “Wanna suck face?” before kissing you.

Caleb really loves your style. He’s basically lives a goth lifestyle and has a love for the dark beauty found in it. I think he’d buy you a special collar for your outfits, possibly with your name engraved somewhere. Caleb also wants to know if you’d be a dear and taxidermy something for him as keepsake.

Considering the plot of Blood is to rescue his love, I’d say he has the same level of deep devotion as you do (probably obsessive too). But you have many qualities about you that make you more of a perfect match than Ophelia ever was. She was but a taste of the love that’d truly fulfill his soul. He certainly has a soft spot for you alone.

Your optimism is refreshing yet you have a lot bearing down on your soul. He’s no prince charming, but let him take care of you. This man would burn the world down for you if anything happened. Prepared to be spoiled because Caleb will stop at nothing if it means you know just how special you really are.

For Postal Dudes, I match you with:

Postal 1 Dude

Dude loves how you also indulge in dark media and similar hobbies. He’d look at your knife collection in awe. He has a gun collection if you’d like to see.

Maybe, with enough time, he’d show you his own horror writings. It’s usually chicken scratched poetry, but it comes from a raw part of his soul. I can see you two laying down next to each other and letting both your creative ideas unravel into a collective of storytelling together.

He feels at home with how nurturing you can be. Dude often gets stuck in his own delusions to the point of paranoia. Whenever you ground him, be it holding him through an episode or infodumping to help him forget, it truly makes a difference. He believes God sent you as an angel disguised as a human.

Because of this, he will do the same for you. His advice is a bit direct, but you can at least count on him. He won’t ever be hard on you for forgetfulness or any flaw of yours because it completes you to a perfectly real person to love. “Keep strong. Every hardship is a brick that builds you stronger.”

#postal #postal dude #postal 1997 #postal dude x reader #postal 1 dude #postal 1 #caleb blood #blood #caleb blood x reader #boomer shooter matchups #postal matchups

3 notes · View notes

patronsaint-prometheus · 1 year ago

Text

«This is GOD’S Country, Why set it on FIRE and make it look like HELL»

Howdy and Привет! I’m Marley, and If this is your first run in with my blog, strap in cuz it’s a weird one.

Most of my personal identity can be found in my bio, but to reiterate I am an adult and will likely post and reblog things that are nsfw in nature. Most of these are joking text posts and so I do not have a strict policy against under 18 blogs. I do block liberally in general though, so try not to get all parasocial all up on me. I'm also a queer trans man. I identify with the term butch because of my lived experience as a queer woman before realizing I was trans as well as the historic overlap of the butch lesbian and FTM communities and it’s use as a term to describe inherently queer masculinity across the lgbt spectrum. Lastly the “Native Mainer” term I use for myself does not mean Native American. My intention is not to claim an identity I am not. It is simply an important term used in the area and stems from the local culture built against things like classism. Too much nuance goes into it for this pinned post. So remember that my dms and ask box is ALWAYS open. I pride myself on being very open and civil in debate and discussion. So please strike up a conversation if you are confused/concerned!

Less about me. Back to the blog! This is my dumping ground for my strange mix of hyper specific interests. Most important things you can expect me to be exceedingly normal about are Maine history/culture (northern woodsmen >> southern cowboys), Slavic heritage/culture (mostly in the forms of Russian language and literature), Bible fanfics (Paradise Lost/Regained, The Devine Comedy, The Mysterious Stranger and etc), Queer history/culture (including things like kink and reclaimed slurs) and finally a general Interest in gore and surgery. If those topics are not your thing than this blog probably isn’t either !!

BUT THATS NOT ALL!

Under the cut you can find a list of fandoms I’m in as well as my Carrd (WIP)

«CARRD»

Currently under construction :)

MY FANDOMS

System Of A Down

Scars On Broadway

Hop Along / Frances Quinlan

Dallon weekes

Chonny Jash

Fallout (3 is a GOOD GAME. I don’t care what you people say.)

Postal

Portal

Resident Evil (prefer the horror leaning games of the series)

Telltale Batman

Undertale / Deltarune

Five Nights at Freddy’s

The Walten Files

Monument Mythos (and other internet horror series that I’m behind on)

Metalocalypse

Taleblr

HLVRAI

Digimon

Drag (MAINLY KATYA I WONT LIE)

Hockey (GO BRUINS!)

…AND MORE !

#old pinned

11 notes · View notes

longeyelashedtragedy · 10 months ago

Text

unreal unearth first impressions

i was also unemployed 5 years ago when wasteland, baby! first came out (Patterns!) and listened to it in full and wrote down my first impressions--it's fun to see what i still agree with then and what i don't. i've never actually listened to this album in full so wanted to give it a try! (the wasteland, baby day was extremely aesthetic though--it was very early in the morning and snowing outside!)

de selby (part 1): very mysterious sounding and soft, though i don't love soft songs, when he starts singing in the irish language~ all of a sudden i was like !!!!!!, that was perfect and much needed, and i'm a wild enya stan so am no stranger to this language in music, but this sounded SO BEAUTIFUL. i like how after this moment of Beauty it then transitions to a "darker" sound which goes right into:

de selby (part 2): this was the first of the songs that disconcerted me a little because they sound so "pop" compared to a lot of his other sounds, but the chorus really goes hard. is this a famous song off the album? i feel like i've heard it in places.

first time: i do think this sounds overly produced? i don't like anything with random choruses of violins in the back lol. BUT, the lyrics! the first verse had me:

Remember once I told you about/How before I heard it from your mouth/My name would always hit my ears as such an awful sound?/And the soul, if that’s what you’d call it/Uneasy ally of the body, it felt nameless as a river/Undiscovered underground

francesca: ohh, dante's inferno lol. this is as good as i figured it'd be (very good). just...solid and very good. xhakarteta may 2023 type lyrics, but i knew that already (bestie might have showed me that back in the day? or someone else?). it's actually just so solid all around that i don't have much commentary 😂 i don't think this is the track i'd listen to the most frequently at the moment, but i also should be grabbing my best pair of headphones for this...hold on lol. ok good headphones on now

i, carrion (icarian): coming after francesca makes me think this album was very well designed. this is like the sorbet that rich people eat as palate cleansers between courses in their 184294 course meals. again, a little overproduced? something is reminding me of "recycled air" by the postal service (not a bad thing!) this is very pretty and i feel like it's the kind of thing i will like more in the future.

eat your young: oh, this was a song on the EP lol. weird that the best song (in my opinion!) on the EP (through me) is the only one not on the album proper. uh, i have the same reaction as i did when i first heard it, which is: not sure how to feel about it.

damage gets done: oh this has brandi carlile? who girlies are always talking about but i have no idea who she is and i always confuse her with belinda carlisle from the go-gos. well, she sounds good on this song! this is another song that i'd call "solid." it feels really good to listen to. there's a little bit of an "everybody wants to rule the world" vibe in the instrumentals, and something reminding me of the graceland album--not sure what though. great song! but. part of me is just anticipating:

who we are: omg. the best song on the album. i heard this independently of the rest of the album last week and was INSTANTLY in love. the gorgeous voice, the HUGE chorus, the HUGER ending, the lyrics expressing something important. the chorus made me cry recently because...i relate so hard to them :'( this song is so stupid beautiful guys...also, there's a very fine line between "huge song" and "overproduced" and i'd say this song highlights the difference. i say again, omg! it is also versatile, which not all songs are--works just as well in the coffee shop, in the car, with headphones.

son of nyx: woo hard to focus on anything after who we are. this almost feels like the "as it was" coming after all those upbeat songs on wasteland baby! ok--i do like the backing violins here which is like. Very rare. ohhh it's an instrumental! oh this is nice. i do like the ghost of lyrics coming in and out. wait this was really good and it's getting creepy at the end--i love him playing with these effects.

all things end: woo! i strongly dislike this song lol, to the extent that when i heard it on the EP i've been thinking about it since then because of how much i Don't like it. i mean, lyrically it's fine, it just sounds like a cheesy 90s r&b song. i do think it makes more sense in the context of the album and its sounds, but...it's still a no, largely because of the chorus. sorry tungelr!!!!!

to someone from a warm climate (uiscefhuarithe): the title sounds like a poem i'd try to write about someone lol. this song hits real hard lyrically-- "the awful things we do to make the head go quiet" "As natural as another leg around you in the bed frame" - i'm not one to listen to a song just for lyrics, but i'd do that for this.

butchered tongue: i like the way hozier talks about mouths and tongues. he does that a lot but it's always in a cool way. another slow song, but so pretty. looking through the lyrics (i process things better through reading)--wow, what a topic to write about, and what a beautiful way to word it 😭

anything but: it felt like a more "upbeat" song was coming, and here it is! i was really enjoying this till the chorus drums came in, so let's not think about those. (it felt as jarring as that fuckin BANG! on the chorus of the boxer, lol.) i like the rhyme of "mississippi/liffey"--classic! this is really great except for the drum thing on the chorus, so i can probably forgive it.

abstract (psychopomp): i'm running out of steam lol, i am rarely a "listen to albums in full" person. ohhh this chorus is nice though, really picked me up. this album has A+ post-choruses and like...what do you call it when you sing without words or syllables? it has a lot of that.

unknown/nth: sort of musically neutral, but the lyrics are really great. the "being unknown," what a great concept! i think i'll have to come back to these two lol. i like the slow, pretty outro...there's this sound underneath it that sounds a lot like the end of the "wasteland baby" song which is...one of the best songs, so i like that.

first light: last song! i like the pleasant optimism here, and these lines are really meaningful to me:

Like I lived my whole life Before the first light

this is another Nice Big Hozier Song that doesn't sound over the top. i would definitely listen to this often!

ok so, first impressions: this wasn't as weird as i thought it was going to be. there's definitely a Theme in this album but i haven't figured out what it is. i think in terms of the sound, it's actually more cohesive than wasteland, baby! and it's "bigger," but this isn't good or bad to me, just different. i definitely can't wait to give some of these songs more chances!!!

#bateman blogging #i am highly amateur as a critic lol

1 note · View note

springvaletales · 2 years ago

Text

((Session 53 is here! Actually it was here last week but a lot’s been going on IRL so I only got it all typed up today.))

We’re all kind of braindead, Sir Carl Jaeger’s player can’t attend, and I’m fresh off an interview, so today is going to be all about Shenanigans and little else.

The party woke up at the Whitescale Inn, and Bagelby immediately offered to disguise Lex as an old lady so they could hustle strangers by challenging them to arm wrestle for coin.

Their first victim was Kwara, the pompous human leader of a group of surly teenagers who I described as “an antagonist from an 80’s fighting anime who starts as an enemy but ends the season as your ride-or-die best friend”

Bagelby had so much fun messing with Kwara that he forgot to pick the gang’s pockets.

Ena had planned on setting up her proposal to Asahi today, but Asahi now won’t leave her side, and she’s growing increasingly desperate to ditch her soon-to-be wife in an unsuspicious way so she can set up her proposal.

Thiori went off to find a library and some books about jewelry making, and found a small local library run by three overworked Kobolds who only just took over the library from an elf who had used a long and complicated organizational system that no-one else understood.

Somewhere in all this chaos, Sir Carl went off on his own.

“Are you supposed to tip your librarian?”

I underestimated how much Thiori’s Player loves Kobolds. He gave them all of his gold. Like, ALL of it.

Me: “Was that a ‘sad’ yeah? Or a ‘his mind expanded SO far that day ‘ yeah?”

Thiori’s Player: “Yeah.”

The party met up for lunch (Lex paid with all of the gold she and Bagelby, uh, ‘found’) and Lex was the only one who rolled high enough to spot a mysterious figure armored in white watching them from the rooftops across the square.

The figure shook his head at her like a disappointed parent, and then vanished in a blinding flash of white light.

Lex doesn’t know anything about the local history, but Thiori - who was given the customer service experience of a lifetime by his new Kobold worshipers - knows that the figure matches the description of Whitescale, a folk hero from the era of the Dark King’s fall.

The party decided to get to the bottom of the Whitescale Incident by talking directly to the Mayor....whose house is attached to the local Whitescale museum.

Mayor Twillhopper’s Tortle receptionist is from New Jersey bc that’s the accent I panic-chose and now I’m stuck with it.

Bagelby, excited: “Asahi, didn’t I do good? I didn’t even tell her what we did to the last mayor we met!”

Asahi, screaming inside: “That’s great, Bagel! Please do not utter any more words!”

Thiori wandered into a museum dedicated to the folk hero Whitescale, and met the Tabaxi Postal worker/museum guard Geli (who was more interested in a nap than collecting admission) and a 14yo anime protagonist.

“I refUSE to let Geli get fired.”

Meanwhile, Lex managed to lure the figure she’d seen into a dead-end alley before confronting him, and found him to be a 7ft suit of armor who told her to stop scamming people because it A) wasn’t nice and B) was going to cause more problems for him after she and her party left town.

Whitescale 2.0 clocked for Lawful Stupid.

Whitescale 2.0 also clocked for a ‘Robin, despite me using a DxD image as his reference.

Lex asked him about the Sunfell Cult, and Whitescale 2.0 admitted that the cult has been a growing problem in the town for over a year.

Whitescale 2.0 told Lex to meet him on the roof of the Lightbell Bell Tower after sunset, and vanished when her back was turned.

Back at the Mayor’s house/museum, Mayor Twillhopper is now “Disheveled Bowtie Daddy” (I never should have described him as ‘Bruce-Wayne-but-in-party-mode’).

Mayor Twillhopper has a custom-made wine glass that can hold an entire keg’s worth of liquid,

He and Sir Carl Jaeger have been drinking together almost the entire day. They are both very drunk.

He also has a built-in magical dispenser bar that slides out of the wall of his sitting room and can dispense just about any beverage you can imagine.

Bagelby tried to claim he was over 21, but failed his deception roll, and the Mayor (claiming that he knew what a teenaged boy looked like because he had one) offered him slug juice instead.

Asahi straight up asked the Mayor if he was Whitescale, which he denied.

She also straight up asked him how old he was, as he expressed surprise in hearing that Velenna had taken on a new student (Bagelby), and was told to mind her manners.

The Mayor’s adopted human son, Twyl Twillhopper (14), walked in in through a hallway to the attached museum, and tried to sneak past his father’s guests. He was unsuccessful, and his father called him over to brag about his budding magical prowess.

Bagelby and Twyl got into a magical pissing contest of seeing who could best imitate the Mayor’s appearance using Disguise Self (Bagelby) and Minor Illusion (Twyl).

The Mayor’s secretary walked in to try and get him to sign some paperwork, saw three Twillhoppers, and immediately left again.

They have already figured out half of my plot twist god damnit.

Asahi used a magical acorn to call Ena to join them at the Mayor’s house, but Ena misunderstood the context, thought Asahi was in danger, and broke in through a window instead of using the front door.

This window happened to lead into the bedroom of the Mayor’s son, who freaked out upon finding a strange horned woman in his room.

Asahi ran upstairs when the screaming started, and both she and Ena had to be escorted back downstairs by two very underpaid guards.

At the same time, Thiori found the attached hallway and came over from the museum, and casually asked what he’d missed.

Lex filled him in, startling everyone else, who hadn’t noticed her coming in behind the secretary earlier.

We left off there with the party together at the Mayor’s house, with Lex still to tell everyone about meeting Whitescale 2.0 on the Bell Tower roof.

#OOC #Quarantine D&D

0 notes

schlock-luster-video · 3 years ago

Text

Today in mystery thriller / horror movie history: on August 24, 1979 When A Stranger Calls premiered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Here's some Carol Kane fan art!

8 notes · View notes

cozycreaturescorner · 4 years ago

Text

good night to construction workers, people taking red-eye flights, parents and guardians of newborns, people who need to wear a mask all day, all women, the mysterious stranger that's always in the corner booth at the all night diner, United States Postal Service workers, black trans people, people with disabilities that make them tired, firefighters, and you :)

#emmett is yelling #is this meme dead?#maybe so!#i'll see ig #wholesome version :)#anyway #meme #shitpost #good morning meme #good morning to #good night to

385 notes · View notes

thecursedjazz · 5 months ago

Text

(WIP) Whilst I don't like the implication of Postal 1 being in the same universe as Postal 2/4 as it waters down the horror, i do like the concept of The mysterious stranger being the Demon in the body of Postal 1 dude.

In the rampage mode ending we learn that Postal 1 Dude is now trapped inside his mind so by that case The demon would have full control of his body, specially with the demon laugh being present after the co op gang break him out.

In the Pacifist ending of Postal 4 the Stranger slips up and refers to himself as we which tells us he's two people/ using a host. The use of we is also reminiscent of the Demons diary entries as he often refers to himself/themselves as "we" during the rampage. (E.g "come into the web 'We've' woven")

And this one's loose territory but the inclusion of 'The end' loading screen as P4 Dude drives into the sunset feels symbolic to me, P1 dude being in the centre of the giant eye gives the impression of him being trapped under the gaze of the demon, like his situation in the rampage mode where he's competing against himself for "the judgement of some unknown figure", whilst he's unknowingly trapped in there, fully believing its all real.

#postal dude #postal 1 #postal #postal 1 dude

20 notes · View notes

blackbloodunderthemoonlight · 4 years ago

Photo

16 MOVIES WORTH CHECKING OUT - NORTH AMERICA RELEASES JUNE 2021

All Light, Everywhere (2021) dir. Theo Anthony - A far-ranging look at the biases in how we see things, focusing on the use of police body cameras. - Release Date Jun 4, 2021 - RT

Censor (2021) dir. Prano Bailey-Bond - After viewing a strangely familiar video nasty, Enid, a film censor, sets out to solve the past mystery of her sister’s disappearance. - Release Date Jun 11, 2021 - RT

Holler (2020) dir. Nicole Riegel - To pay for her education, and the chance of a better life, a young woman joins a dangerous scrap metal crew. - Release Date Jun 11, 2021 - RT

Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation (2020) dir. Lisa Immordino Vreeland - The work, lives and personal journeys of two iconic American artists coalesce with creative combustion in this innovative dual-portrait documentary. - Release Date Jun 18, 2021 - RT

A Crime on the Bayou (2020) dir. Nancy Buirski - A Black teenager bravely challenges the most powerful white supremacist in 1960s Louisiana with the help of a young Jewish attorney. - Release Date Jun 18, 2021 - RT

Gaia (2021) dir. Jaco Bouwer - An injured forest ranger on a routine mission is saved by two off-the-grid survivalists. What is initially a welcome rescue grows more suspicious as the son and his renegade father reveal a cultish devotion to the forest. - Release Date Jun 18, 2021 - RT

Sweat (2020) dir. Magnus von Horn - Fitness influencer Sylwia seemingly has it made, but as she starts to share more and more online, the rising pressure from concerned sponsors and increasingly obsessive fans forces her to confront her deepest insecurities and the exhaustive demands of her lifestyle. - Release Date Jun 18, 2021 - RT

Sweet Thing (2020) dir. Alexandre Rockwell - Two siblings struggle to find solid ground in the homes of Adam, their alcoholic father, and Eve, their negligent mother. The children ultimately run away and find a temporary life for themselves around the town of New Bedford, MA. - Release Date Jun 18, 2021 - RT

Take Me Somewhere Nice (2019) dir. Ena Sendijarevic - A young woman travels to Bosnia to see her sick father for the first time. - Release Date Jun 11, 2021 - RT

Against the Current (2020) dir. Oskar Pall Sveinsson - Veiga Grétarsdóttir is the first person in the world to attempt to kayak over 2,000 kilometers around Iceland, counter-clockwise and “against the current.” This achievement has been said to be comparable to climbing the mountain K2. - Release Date Jun 25, 2021 - RT

God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya (2019) dir. Teona Strugar Mitevska - In a small town in Macedonia, every January the local priest throws a wooden cross into the river and hundreds of men dive after it. Good fortune and prosperity are guaranteed to the man who retrieves it. This time, Petrunya dives into the water and manages to grab the cross. Her competitors are furious - how dare a woman take part in their ritual? - Release Date Jun 25, 2021 - RT

I Carry You With Me (2020) Heidi Ewing - Two Mexican men maintain a romantic relationship that spans decades. - Release Date Jun 25, 2021 - RT

My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To (2020) dir. Jonathan Cuartas - Dwight prowls the streets after dark. He searches each night for the lonely and forlorn, looking for people who won’t be missed. Dwight takes no joy in this, but he needs their blood. Without fresh human blood, his fragile young brother Thomas cannot survive. - Release Date Jun 25, 2021 - RT

Sun Children (2020) dir. Majid Majidi - 12-year-old Ali and his three friends work hard to survive and support their families, doing small jobs in a garage and committing petty crimes to make fast money. In a turn of events that seems miraculous, Ali is entrusted to find a hidden treasure underground. To gain access to the tunnel, the children must enroll at the Sun School, a charitable institution that tries to educate street kids and child laborers. - Release Date Jun 25, 2021 - RT

Werewolves Within (2021) dir. Josh Ruben - After a proposed pipeline creates divisions within the small town of Beaverfield, and a snowstorm traps its residents together inside the local inn, newly arrived forest ranger Finn and postal worker Cecily must try to keep the peace and uncover the truth behind a mysterious creature that has begun terrorizing the community. - Release Date Jun 25, 2021 - RT

Zola (2020) dir. Janicza Bravo - “Y'all wanna hear a story about why me & this bitch here fell out? It’s kind of long but full of suspense.” Thus began the odyssey of one A'Ziah King, aka ZOLA. From acclaimed writer/director Janicza Bravo, Zola’s stranger than fiction saga, which she first told in a now iconic series of viral, uproarious tweets, comes to dazzling cinematic life. - Release Date Jun 30, 2021 - RT

22 notes · View notes

apothecarinomicon · 3 years ago

Text

Spring week 3, part 1

I felt much better this morning. I suppose whatever sickness fairy visions impart is strictly transient—or maybe dealing with reagents has given me a good immune system.

When I went outside, I found that I’d somehow managed to plant the foxsocks in the garden. I don’t know how I could have done it in my feverish state and I certainly don’t remember it, but there it is. The foxsocks seem to be thriving already, or at least to have a solid foothold. As I’d hoped, they should be reliably available from here on out.

As I stood there, sleepily puzzling over the garden, I heard a screech from above. Looking up, I saw what at first appeared to be a large bird circling down towards the ground. When she landed, though, I saw she was a woman with wings instead of arms, talons instead of legs, and a feathered tail, wearing a khaki uniform—a postal harpy. She greeted me while balancing on one leg and asked me to confirm my name. I told her and she introduced herself as Liùsaidh. She indicated I ought to retrieve my mail from her talon (it’s polite to wait for their permission). She asked if I might be sticking around and I said I thought I was. She said she’d see me next time I got mail and flew off.

What she’d brought was a letter, with a return address listed as “The Gleoclas J. Ledgerwood Muſeum of Magicke.” It was a single handwritten (actually, impressively calligraphed) page. The spelling and grammar was, shall we say, characteristic. It’s easier to just stick the letter in between the pages than copy it down, so that’s what I’ll do.

To whom it may concern:

It has come to our attentionne at The Friends of The Gleoclas J. Ledgerwood Muſeum of Magicke that ye are a practicing vvitch reſiding in the hamlet of Greanmoore. We would like to congratulate ye on your appointmente and hope you find the positionne both fulfilling and rewarding. We had brief correspondence with your predeceſsor and were glad to learn of yovr presence.

The Gleoclas J. Ledgerwood Muſeum of Magicke is among the premiere magical muſeums in northweſternne High Rannoc. It has one of the moſte exhauſtive collections of magical materials, svbſtances, and hiſtories native to High Rannoc in the vvorld. Academicks, travelers, and school field trips regularly reference and reſearch the Muſeum’s collections in their purſuit of more compleat knowledge.

As The Muſeum of Magicke does not have a repreſentative in Greanmoore or the surrounding areas, we have a requeſte to make of ye if you are willing to fulfill it. We pride ourſelves on the compleatneſs of our Magickal Components collectionne, but we are miſsing many of the species native to Greanmoore and its svrrounding locations. We humbly ask that ye help vs remedy this deficiency. If you are willing to do so, we woulde requeſt that ye send one of each magickal componente available in the area to the Muſeum, at the returnne addreſs listed above. Should you do so, ye will receive compenſationne.

We hope ye will partner with vs in this endeavor. Your contributionne to societal knowledge shall be greatly appreciated by generationnes of reſearchers, thinkers, and touriſts.

Eagerly avvaiting your reſponſe,

The Friends of The Gleoclas J. Ledgerwood Muſeum of Magicke

[A plain text accessible version of this letter is available here.]

Obviously, the spelling is horrendous. This might have been forgivable a few decades ago, but the shape of the ‘s’ (that is, it not being that odd ‘f’ looking thing sometimes) and the distinction between ‘u,’ ‘v,’ and ‘w’ have been standardized since before I was born. Not to mention, the Ledgerwood Museum is associated with the University of Arcbridge—so there must be someone there who knows better.

The thing is, for a long time the only people who could write were those who received higher education, so the vast majority of documents that exist throughout history have to do with academia. So, even as reading and writing became more accessible and spelling and grammar more standardized, that outdated irregular styling retroactively became associated with education, with decorum, with genius.

I’ve never really had much respect for that kind of posturing—I think that if you’re brilliant the content of your writing ought to speak for itself. You shouldn’t have to so explicitly climb on the shoulders of those who came before you, especially not by intentionally making the mistakes they made or using the outdated styles they used.

I sent back a letter inquiring about the specifics of compensation along with a sample of my foxsocks.

I’m going to the library.

────⊱⁜⊰────

The Greenmoor Public Library is near the center of town, not quite in the square but on Market Street directly off of it. It has some interesting architecture: it looks as if it was originally three separate buildings the size of single-family houses, that were all connected up at a later date by a circular addition between them so that the final building looks like a cog with three spokes. Each section of it is made up of a different material—exposed stone, lime render, and brick for the original houses, and cement for the central cylinder—but it all works together in a quirky, oddball way.

There are no internal walls in the library—even where there must have been external walls in the original houses. They must have knocked them down (I don’t envy that job). Every wall is lined with bookshelves from floor to ceiling, and in each of the spokes there are many close-set freestanding shelves besides, with only narrow aisles left between. At the center of the center is a circular desk, and around this are scattered tables with benches and clusters of armchairs for convenience of reading and research.

The library is owned and run by Donella and Saundra Glasford, an older couple. Saundra is actually the schoolteacher, but she helps with reshelving and organization on weekends. I know this because Donella explained it to me in detail. As soon as I walked in the door she stood from behind (within?) the circular desk and approached me, insisting that she give me a tour of the library. In addition to a survey of the entire space and what kinds of books it contained, this ‘tour�� involved a hefty amount of insight into the daily lives and routines of the Glasford family.

They have a kid named Muiredach, who’s very interested in ancient things at the moment—giant skeletons and the like. Donella has lived here her entire life but Saundra moved here forty years ago. Saundra’s expertise is in thaumatology (specifically thaumatozoology, the study of magical animals), in which she has a degree. Meanwhile, Donella has extensive knowledge of literary and epistemological history, though she received no formal schooling past twelve.

After she finished showing me all the different sections and layouts of the library, Donella told me I should feel free to poke around as much as I wanted. She added that I wouldn’t find any secret passages or hidden rooms, and that they had nothing to hide.

I hadn’t realized before she said that what this was all about.

I told her that the rumors weren’t true, that I wasn’t some Government spy or anything like that (I heard Saundra mumble something like “well you’d also deny it if you were a clype, wouldn’t you?”). Donella quickly assured me that she believed me, but then said “better safe than sorry,” so I’m not quite sure she actually did. I told her I didn’t understand where all the suspicion was coming from. Saundra piped up, saying that I was a stranger who came to a small, isolated town I had no prior relation with to fill a position whose previous occupant had mysteriously disappeared, and asked if I understood how that looked (not in quite those words—her accent and dialect was rather strong). I told her I’d been summoned directly by Mòrag McKinney, and had the paper trail to prove it. I asked if she thought Mòrag was involved in some conspiracy, too. She shrugged and said she was just saying how it looked.

Donella said regardless that I should feel free to use the library—it was for the public, after all—and pointed me in the direction of the section on rune magic. Thus, the conversation ended, but my uneasiness didn’t entirely abate. Still, I’d come to the library for a reason.

The rune section was limited, but I didn’t need to know any more than the basics. I’d only ever been taught one way to create runes, and it was clear my predecessor used a different one—all I needed to do was to figure out which and I could reverse engineer the runes’ meanings.

I found that she used a combination of the witches’ circle and magic square methods, which are both apparently very popular. I wonder why I was never taught them. Both systems derive the shape of the sigil directly from the letters of the intentions they’re meant to invoke. It’s traditional to remove the vowels before doing so, but luckily for me my predecessor chose not to do that.

So, with a bit of work I was able to determine that the sigils I copied down meant: life, autonomy, gentleness, congeniality, and empathy respectively. It was clearly built to be a very kind golem. Now that I know that, I’m going to try to create my own sigils and charge them, and see if that helps.

────⊱⁜⊰────

While I was at the library, I also collected a few of the greatest works of modern literature—Lord of the Midges, Beathag’s Choice, To Kill a Gull-Drake, et cetera. The next morning I packed the books into the rucksack I’d used to travel to Greenmoor and set out to take them to Morna, heading to Hero’s Hollow by way of Moonbreaker Mountain.

As I skirted the base of the mountain, I heard a voice call out from above me, crying “hey, you! Groundling!” It was clearly far above me but somehow also quite loud. I looked up and saw, blotting out the sun, a great hot air balloon. I’d heard vague stories but had never seen one in person before. The most striking part of it was the balloon itself, made of canvas patterned beige and blue and larger than a house. The top half of it (as I was informed later) was enclosed by a net, which had metal rings on its edges attaching it to a tangle of myriad ropes and cords. These in turn held aloft the basket, which was not the simple platform I’d seen described in books but rather looked like a small sailing boat, complete with railings, rotors, and a steering wheel.

The voice announced that it hadn’t seen me around before and that I ought to climb aboard. A ladder with metal rungs unfurled over the side of the boat, just low enough that I could reach it if I jumped. I did so after making sure my rucksack was firmly on my back and shut, and climbed up to reach the aircraft.

The man onboard was only slightly taller than me. His white shirt was rumpled and stained with oil, and his left suspender was fraying. The thick goggles on his forehead, held together with large bolts and screws, were the only thing keeping his thick black hair from whipping in all directions with the wind (mine, in contrast, had already become hopelessly tangled). His sleeves were rolled up, but his forearms were covered by brown leather fingerless gloves, with metal studs that flashed in the sunlight as he hauled the ladder back onto the balloon. He wore a mask over the lower half of his face, with a cylindrical chamber marked “O2” sticking out from each cheek. Directly in front of the mouth was a clear window, so that I could see his lips moving when he spoke. He offered me a similar one and I accepted—the air was rather thin so high up. I could see him say something that was drowned out by the wind, and then he beckoned me towards a door. Given the shape of the craft, I wasn’t surprised to discover that it led to a kind of captains’ quarters.

Inside, the wind wasn’t quite so brutally loud and I could actually make out what my host was saying. He introduced himself as Captain Akash Majhi, aviator extraordinaire, and asked if I needed a lift. I said it might have been a bit late to ask since I was already on the balloon, which made him chuckle. I said that since he’d offered, I was headed to Hero’s Hollow, and he replied that that would be no problem. I noticed as we conversed that he only made eye contact when he was speaking—when I spoke, he instead watched my lips.

As Akash turned to pull a lever on the wall, I asked where he was from. He didn’t respond. With the lever pulled, a large strip of the ceiling rotated so that a piece of what had been the floor above—the piece to which the steering wheel was attached—became the ceiling of this room. Akash then tapped what seemed to just be a wooden accent covering a swath of the metal wall above the desk and bed. The wood slid to the side, revealing a bay window through which he could see.

He took his place at the wheel, positioning me in his field of view, so I asked again where he was from. He told me he was a proud resident of the Cloud Isles. I told him I’d never heard of such a place, and he said I really must be new to the area. Belatedly, I told him my name and that I had in fact only moved here a few weeks ago. He told me that the Cloud Isles were just that: islands in the clouds, with wildlife, ecosystems, and culture. At the center was a great city that, yes, was attached to the clouds, but had mostly been built flying between and amongst them by generations of architects, donors, engineers, artists, and aviators like himself.

I asked him where the city was located and he vaguely waved his hands. “Here and there.” He said that as the clouds drifted so did the Isles, but that the city itself never strayed too far from Greenmoor—otherwise, mapping and resource-gathering from the ground below would be difficult or impossible.

I asked him how I might visit the Isles, and he told me I’d need to be able to fly. He said the general ethos of the residents leaned towards mechanical solutions, but he had heard that there were magical ways of flight as well. I said I would have to look into that. He handed me a business card with his name, “balloonist | engineer | aviator extraordinaire,” an address, and a smoke signal pattern to use to contact him. He said if I was ever in the city he’d be happy to show me around. Then, he announced that we’d arrived.

We went back onto the deck and he unfurled the ladder over the edge. I went to hand him the oxygen mask back but he told me to keep it—they were expensive, but he had plenty and I’d be needing it when (and he did say “when”) I visited the city. I thanked him, shook his hand, and started descending the ladder.

────⊱⁜⊰────

I made it back to the ground (the hop down from the ladder was smaller than the hop up had been), and smoothed my hair down before setting off into the Hollow. I’d only barely made it into the skull when my plans for the afternoon abruptly shifted.

It was just around midday, so the guards must have been on break or between shifts. Hurrying out of the dungeon was a group I recognized—it was the Lows, the mining family. Angus was carrying the son in his arms. The boy was clutching his thigh, and even from a distance I could see blood seeping through his fingers.

Crystal spotted me and immediately called out to me, thanking the gods for my arrival. I hurried to them and guided them back to the cottage, where I knew I’d be able to better determine how to treat the issue. Morna would have to wait—I had a patient to tend to.

⇦●〇●⇨

5 notes · View notes

ficsyoumayhavemissed · 5 years ago

Text

beautiful how it all pours out — hazkaban, @hazkabaan

486 words / One Shot / Harry Styles x Louis Tomlinson

after an argument, harry reflects on the things he loves about louis.

Do your heart a favor… take just a few minutes to read this incredibly sweet and soft little fic. Don’t forget to thank the author for the loveliness with a kudo or comment.

guide you home — @nauticalleeds

809 words / One-Shot / Harry Styles x Louis Tomlinson

It’s been a while since Harry’s been able to appreciate the night sky, been a while since his life wasn’t full of hectic schedules and interviews and jet lag. He looks at the sky a little longer, watches the stars blink back at him and thinks about another bright presence he’s been missing.

Taking out his phone from his pocket, he thumbs at his screen to open a new message.

Full moon tonight, he types, and presses send. He keeps the app open, expecting the message to come instantly.

It does.

(based on "such great heights" by the postal service.)

This little ficlet is so sweet and atmospheric and the whole time all I could think about was Canyon Moon! Go and give it a read, I promise it’ll put a smile on your face.

Out of My League — kikikryslee, @flamboyantommo

1.413 words / One-Shot / Harry Styles x Louis Tomlinson

How did I wind up here? Louis thought to herself as Harry stuck her tongue down her throat. Again. The two of them were currently on the beach, cuddled together on their towels. It was nearly two in the morning, so they were actually all alone. It was just them, the sand and the ocean waves. --- Or, the one where Louis and Harry realize that a bachelorette party is the perfect time to start a relationship.

This one is just ridiculously sweet. They’re so honest and vulnerable with each other and the scenery is immersive that it feels like you’re there with them, one of the sand corns on the beach, happily watching along.

Like It’s The Only Thing I’ll Ever Do — cherrylarry, @beelou

4.469 words / One-Shot / Harry Styles x Louis Tomlinson

"Wait," Liam stops. "Harry is proposing to Louis on the same day Louis is proposing to Harry?" "Yes! Isn't that exciting?" Lottie yells. "So! I want you to make sure their plans stay the same and they propose on the same day, at the same time. It would be so romantic, don't you think?"

No matter how many people try to plan the perfect proposal, the only thing perfect about it is how they always do things their way. We, in our own way, propose you go give this fic a read!

If you let me be your man — lightswoodmagic, @lightwoodsmagic

5.129 words / One-Shot / Zayn Malik x Liam Payne / explicit

“Do you need help?” the man asked again, and Zayn brightened. He did need help with his heat, and the fact the man had asked just proved he was supposed to be Zayn’s alpha. Perfect.

“Yes, need to go home,” Zayn sighed, pleased when the man pulled him closer, away from a few alphas watching him with interest. “Need my nest.”

The man pulled back, brow furrowed, but Zayn could see his dilated pupils and the harsh set of his jaw. “Your nest? Okay love, let’s go. What’s your name?”

“Zayn.” He smushed himself against the man’s side as he led Zayn outside with a hand at the small of his back. “You smell good.”

There was a low chuckle that Zayn felt in his toes as they wandered towards his room. “Thank you, so do you."

Or, Zayn can't help but trail after someone's scent when he starts his heat in the middle of their history exam. The man offers to help Zayn get home safely when he literally runs into him, but Zayn mistakenly thinks it's an offer to help with his heat.

This sweet soulmate AU that was written for the ABO Fest is criminally underrated. A quick read and absolutely worth checking out!

I can’t do this alone (sometimes I just need a light) — Only_angel_28, @beau-soleil-louis

7.858 words / One-Shot / Harry Styles x Louis Tomlinson

“Harry,” he says after another contemplative moment, “can I hug you?” It’s been...well, Harry doesn’t actually know how long it’s been. Less than an hour, probably, but already Louis says his name like it’s safe in his mouth, and now he’s opening his arms like Harry could be safe there too. “Please,” Harry nearly sobs, and sinks into him the way butter melts on toast. It’s an apt metaphor, really, because what Louis is giving him is as essential and sustaining as a loaf of bread to a starving man. His basic need for physical affection is as vital as his need for sustenance, for sleep, and he can’t believe he’s allowed himself to ignore it for so long. Or: Harry is having a rough time. Louis is the kind stranger who makes him smile again.

This fic makes you want to go find someone who is having a meltdown in a card aisle and just offer them kindness and human touch because sometimes that’s the most essential need a person can have. The way emotions are described in this fic is so deeply relatable that reading it will make you feel understood on a fundamental level. Don’t deny yourself the warm hug that is this fic!

Secrets of Eden — HappyPrincess, @pattern-pals

31.158 words / One-Shot / Harry Styles x Louis Tomlinson

Trying to lift the secret of her mother's death, a curse that seems to have run in their family line for centuries, Louis has been dealing with bureaucracy, empty ruins in the moors, and a desperate ghost. But when she arrives in a small town that sleeps in the mountain's shadow, and is taken in by four girls and an ageless woman, she realises that nothing could have prepared her for the truth.

This fic gives so much intrigue and has so many wonderful, mysterious and original ideas! The plot is surprising at the right times and comforting at others and the writing just makes you feel like you’re right there with them, uncovering these age-old mysteries alongside the beautiful girls of OT5.

We’re acutely aware of the goings-on in the world right now and want to use the minor reach this blog gives us to support the #blacklivesmatter cause.

One of the many perks of fandom is that you have the option to remain faceless. However, we feel it’s important to support openly Black creators and creators of Colour. @twopoppies has compiled a fantastic list of such creators that we consciously kept in our minds when choosing which fics we were going to read this month and will keep in mind as we go forward.

Another thing we want to bring attention to is this petition to the OTW. Creators are asking ao3 and the OTW to implement stronger anti-racist architecture (for example, making certain issues require major archive warnings) on their site and explicitly state their plans to become a more comfortable space for BIPOC creators. You can read up on it here.

Lastly, we would like to draw your attention to this valuable post by @pattern-pals titled “some easy ways to not white wash Zayn in your fic.”

If you have the means, we encourage you to donate to BLM or similar anti-racist organizations where you live. Here’s a link to split your donation between 70+ different bail funds in the US.

We hope you’re all safe in the midst of this pandemic and the protests around the globe. xx FYMHM

#june 2020 #fic rec #fymhm #sorry for the long post #but everything at the bottom of this rec is deeply important to us #and we will be reblogging the posts we linked as well as individual fic posts #edited after the author reveal of the ABO fest

101 notes · View notes

thathawaiianchick · 5 years ago

Text

my wolfstar fic recc

29 of my favs, plus 2 comics :)

sorted from shortest to longest, series at the bottom

i like long fics, i like raising Harry AUs, i like Lay Low at Lupin’s fics, i like marauder era “we’re 70′s trash fics”, i like angst, but i also love “everybody lives”, kind of a mix of everything but seriously a lot of raising Harry AUs because it fills a need i guess

some super popular, some relative unknowns i think

all fics that characterize wolfstar for me :)

JKR has disappointed me supremely, but fan works will hold my love forever

part 2 because i forgot some

STANDALONES

1. A Day Like Any Other by dustmouth

(a comic, not really a fic, just hosted on AO3)

The one where Sirius keeps receiving unwanted mail, Remus drinks a lot of tea, Peter's out on a hot date, and James is offering unwanted make overs.

(Or the answer to the question of exactly how many cursed letters can you flush down the loo).

2. To Keep a Star by dustmouth

(a comic, not really a fic, just hosted on AO3)

Daily life in the Intergalactic Postal Service. Or the one where Sirius is a postal star and Remus lives on a spaceship.

3. in your bedroom, during the war by lupinely

There’s the bed, there’s the room, and there’s Remus. This, at least, Sirius knows for sure. (4Kish)

4. Home We’ll Go by appalachian_fireflies

"I can't, I don't know how," Remus stuttered as Molly dropped the infant into his arms, who immediately ceased crying and stared up at him with wide eyes.

"Nonsense," Molly said. "Be a dear and keep him from falling while I feed Ginny."

"Ba!" Ron giggled, and slapped Remus in the face.

Molly is the emergency contact for the Order when those listed can no longer be reached. Remus' life finds a different path. (10K)

5. A Store of Happiness by coyotesuspect

Harry spends the summer after his third year living with Sirius and Professor Lupin. (10K)

6. In The Bed by bigblackdog

Left to his own devices the summer after the prank, Sirius crafts an unusual gift to mend his relationship with Remus. (11K)

7. Vigil Strange I Kept by whitmans_kiss

Remus' lycanthropy has caused his body to seriously deteriorate over the years due to the constant stress of the transformations, and by his fifty-sixth birthday, it's certain that he won't live to finish out the year. However, a cure has recently been discovered - but what if the cure is just as bad as the disease? (11K)

8. Elucidation Practice by montparnasse

Christmas, 1978. Remus, wrestling with the mighty problems of gift-giving on a budget, contemplates life, love, London in winter, and falling off the edge of the world with Sirius Black. (21K)

9. On a Windswept Cliff by starfishstar

On the cliff top where the fearsome Lord Black once stalked, an outcast man meets a big black dog, and things are not as they seem.

Or: The Remus/Sirius gothic romance AU. (21K)

10. Lethe and Mnemosyne by montparnasse

Winter '79. Looking to get out from under the black-hole overhang of wartime, Sirius and Remus take off to play house on the Cornish moors. It goes downhill from there. (26K)

11. Purity by FelisA

Sirius resurrection fic. (27K) 12. Common Woodbrown by imochan

Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look there. In 1985, Remus Lupin realizes that Sirius Black is innocent. Now, he just has to prove it. (36K)

13. Wilde and Whimsy by chasing bluefish, obsob

In a world where Dumbledore defeated Voldemort during the first war, the wizarding community is picking up the pieces and getting back to their lives. Remus Lupin becomes a person of interest in a murder at the bookshop where he works and Sirius Black and James Potter, aurors, are sent to investigate. As they navigate the crime itself, Remus and Sirius realize that there is something to their instant chemistry. But they need to keep their newfound attraction under wraps while trying to find the killer and stop them from claiming more victims. (36K)

14. Paper Wings by Krislaughs

(not hosted on ao3)

What if Sirius Black sent a final message from Azkaban? Enter the home of the last Marauder in the days following Voldemort’s downfall. Lost and alone, Remus asks a question of the void, a question whose answer will send him around the world. Meeting puppies, Kneazles, dementors, and nomads, Remus learns more about himself and his friends than he ever thought possible. Learn the secrets of the Marauder’s map and the world’s best chocolate, how various Death Eaters occupied themselves after the fall of their lord, and why you should never leave Remembralls lying around.

15. Uncreated Night by earlybloomingparentheses

Remus can drift through whole worlds in his own mind. Sirius lives in his body, electric, ablaze. In 1979 and 1996 and 1978 and 1981 and in many other years and many different places, they search for the bridges between them and the spaces they can share. Time after time, they fight their way back together, head and heart, mind and body.

And in 1998, Remus stands before the veil, wondering if he should finally stop thinking, and just act. (41.5K)

16. Lemon Chiffon Yellow by Spklvr

An unplanned night between Remus and Tonks ends up changing their lives forever. (42K)

17. The Weather Inside by earlybloomingparentheses

Sirius rides a flying motorbike, and snogs strangers in pubs, and strikes moody poses Remus finds irritatingly attractive. But for Remus, who drinks milky tea and wears flannel pyjamas, there's a chasm cracked right down the fault line between wanting and doing.

How he wants, though. How he wants. (43K)

18. the dogfather by hollimichele

“I’m not a reverse werewolf either,” says the man. “I’m your godfather.” (47K)

19. Domestic Creatures by veeagainst

Growing up is hard to do -- but the journey is better if you take someone with you. (53K)

20. Leave the Children Behind by montparnasse

Bravery, sometimes, is the ending just as much as the beginning. Remus, Sirius, and a series of choices.

Or, a love story—backwards and forwards. (54K)

21. A Series of Sketches Done in Black Ink by mustntgetmy

Non-magic AU. Sirius had always imagined the aftermath of falling in love would mean lightness, and an escape from all the horrors of his childhood. But the past never leaves, and even love can't stop bad memories from resurfacing.

An almost year in the life of Sirius and Remus's first year as a couple replete with art and tangled sheets, and containing the following: filled sketchbook pages from people lost and people found, terrible biscuits from an excellent therapist, mismatched music records, expensive hot chocolate, a lost brother, photographs (some invasive and some invoking terrible memories), a reckoning with the past, a promise of the future, and yet another ridiculously over the top Halloween party. (57K)

22. Alt Ed by NachoDiablo

“Remus? Who the bloody hell is Remus?” James is scrambling to straighten his chair as McGonagall glares at him from the head table.

Mary smiles innocently. “Oh, just a new friend that Lily met over the holidays. He’s homeschooled, just moved into her neighborhood it seems. She says he’s very clever. And I hear he’s quite fit, as well.”

AU where Remus and Lily become friends outside of Hogwarts, setting James and Sirius on a quest to learn more about this mysterious newcomer. (61K)

23. Indiana Lupin and the Search for the Conqueror by nekarose

Remus Lupin is an undercover archaeologist for the British Museum and is sent to Greenland to investigate a Roman shipwreck. In Greenland he meets Sirius Black, makes a real discovery and soon enough the two of them are racing through the world in search of the remains of the Library of Alexandria with Remus’ arch-enemy right at their heels. (66K)

24. Le Mot Vagabond by ironicallyinternational

(It all starts with Peter Pettigrew dying twice.

First, Peter kills Wormtail (discreetly), and then Sirius kills him (less discreetly).

Losing a friend is never easy, even amidst the ravages of war, but losing the last of your childhood alongside him is far worse.)

War is a complicated, messy thing. The Marauders have their fucked up shit to deal with, but they also have each other, and that counts for a lot. (151K)

SERIES:

25. The Hole in the Ground by sostrata

(5 works) A series of fics about Sirius and Remus raising Harry in their home, The Hole in the Ground. (18k)

26. Holding Out by bigblackbog

(works 2)

On Halloween, 1981 Sirius and Remus abscond with Harry despite their recently rocky relationship. (36K)

27. Maddest House by busaikko

(6 works)

old as hell. Another wolfstar raising Harry fic (55K)

28. Lycanthropic Studies by Eiiri

(3 works)

After the Battle of Hogwarts, Remus recognizes something familiar in Draco Malfoy and offers him sanctuary. With nowhere else to turn--his parents in prison, his home a crime scene--Draco reluctantly accepts and becomes a tolerated, if not welcome, member of his schoolyard rivals' and wartime adversaries' family of choice. As pages of the lunar calendar turn and the summer wears on,Draco and the others begin to see each other in a different light. (139K)

29. Stealing Harryverse by copperbadge

(works 12)

On a dark night long ago, Sirius Black took a wrong turn and never found Peter Pettigrew. Instead of Azkaban, Sirius settled down in Little Whinging to keep an eye on his godson, and hired Remus Lupin to run his bookshop for him. Then one day when Harry was eight, Sirius found out how the Dursleys treated him, and stole him away.

Stealing Harry is an alternate universe version of Harry Potter's life before his time at Hogwarts. It is the story of Harry's family: Sirius and Remus, Ted and Andromeda, Nymphadora, Neville Longbottom, and even Severus Snape, all banded together against a newly powerful Peter Pettigrew who is still searching for a way to resurrect Voldemort.

Laocoon's Children follows Harry through his time at Hogwarts as he develops a very different group of friends: Hufflepuff Draco Malfoy, Ravenclaw Padma Patil, and Gryffindor Neville Longbottom, strange companions for a Harry who was sorted into Slytherin -- the house of his beloved Professor Snape.

This universe ends in Harry's third year, and is partially incomplete. As it is not likely to be finished, the last story in the series is a group of notes I made on where the story would have gone and how it would have ended. (443.3K)

30. All the Young Dudes by MsKingBean89

(4 works)

LONG fic charting the marauders' time at Hogwarts (and beyond) from Remus' PoV - diversion from canon in that Remus's father died and he was raised in a children's home, and is a bit rough around the edges. Otherwise canon-compliant. 1971 - 1995 (557K)

31. Crow Rides A Pale Horse by tb_ll57

(4 works)

The note pinned to his collar read 'Harry J Potter - please accept'. The Dursleys had left him with nothing else but a pillow sack with half a sleeve of McVities biscuits, a mealy apple, and ten pounds. (618K)

#hp #harry potter #wolfstar #remus lupin #sirius black #killing sirius was not punk rock jk rowling #nor was killing off remus #this is the barest reason to want to kick jkr #reference for myself #i dont have all of these bookmarked on ao3 even if they're some of my favs #raising harry #fic rec #this only took me an hour to make i can't believe i've been procrastinating this #lolol yes i can #i can believe

356 notes · View notes