#[Verse; Post-12]

[roguetelemetry]

Chinese poster for Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse, using a Journey to the West theme is glorious.

[crystal-verse]

god i want. an au where it dosn't work. where it's just arr g'raha who's woken up, and he doesn't have all these memories and all these people keep looking at him like they're mourning someone. the world has changed and time has changed and all the people he knows have changed, but he hasn't changed, he was just sleeping, just sleeping, and the world nearly ended several times and apparently he helped prevent yet another end but he has no memory of this. they want him to join the scions. he does not know these people. (he barely knows the warrior of light, now, but did he ever truly know them in the first place?) his little sister is alive and well. she looks at him like a ghost. she's changed, and she's older than him now. he acts bratty and loud and brash to cover up the fact that he does not know anything it seems, and he is tired but he was sleeping for so long, so how could he be tired?

he doesn't know these people. they seem to know him. he wonders if he'd killed someone, when it was him and not that exarch who woke up. he wonders if it should have been him who was "killed" in that way, if it is him that lives and not that man who had known and become friends with all these figures from legend. he wonders if he'll always be fated to be a historian one step back from everything, because he simply cannot be a hero.

[deus-ex-mona]

god forbid a woman has hobbies

[definitely-totally-croatia]

✨We got Serbia and Croatia!✨

Now all we need is...:

-Slovenia

-Macedonia

-Montenegro

-Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bonus points if Bosnia and Herzegovina are twins)

Then Yugoslavia can have all his problem children!

The only problem children are Serbia and Montenegro 😤

But that would be fun-

[wiredcapability]

❝ I never told ya this, but I was-- angry. When I found out ya left. Before I knew the whole story, I mean.. ❞

Negan went silent for a long while, thinking on her admittance. He recalled that night well-- when Carol released him from his cell in exchange for his help with ending Alpha.

He remembered how much he HATED not being able to tell Mi- chelle a single thing before getting out of Alexandria. He also remembered MISSING THE SHIT OUT OF HER every single day that he was gone.

❝ Yeah-- I'm sorry about that shit, darlin'. I am. ❞ He finally spoke, his voice filled with absolute sincerity.

❝ It wasn't easy on me either, you know. It was hard as shit re- sisting the urge to come and see you. I had to really stop myself a couple of times. ❞

[allthatwas-moved]

one like and i make a goddess of time verse

[peace-and-light-poetry]

"So, I hear you're ......"

It was a thing they started to do A bit of playful teasing about Each other's ages

There's a year's difference

It started when one turned 20 The younger one going, "So, I hear you're 20!" The older one would retort

"So, I hear you're 19!"

It happened again Five years later This teasing betwixt sisters

So, I hear you're 25!" "So I hear you're 24!"

Five years became ten

"So, I hear you're 35!" "So I hear you're 34!"

And then five again

"So, I hear you're 40!~" "So I hear you're 39!"

This would continue Five years more

"So, I hear you're 45!" "So, I hear you're 44!"

Playful ribbing As the years passed As their hair started to gray

So, I hear you're 60!" "So I hear you're 59!"

Teasing each other About their respective ages With only a year's difference

"So, I hear you're 80!" "So, I hear you're 79!"

Until the very end "Hey, Sis, so, I hear you're…."

She couldn't bring herself to finish Not at first, no, but she could bring herself to smile The memories of their ribbing came back

"Hey, Sis, so, I hear you're 102!" And she heard her sister's voice go "And, so, I hear you're 101!"

[theamazingannie]

One thing I really don’t like about the pjo show is they are very tell not show about EVERYTHING. One thing I loved from the books is them teasing who the monster or god they were meeting was and getting the chance to pull from prior Greek mythology knowledge and figure it out myself. It was like a game and, yeah, most of the time it was someone new and I couldn’t guess but it was still fun having a tease up until a reveal and THEN they would share the story for those who didn’t know. The show just keeps straight up telling the audience who everyone is and instead of unknowingly walking into a trap and building suspense they go in expecting something to happen and then have a less exciting trap happen later (Medusa and the Lotus Hotel being the main ones). It’s like they both want to cut the teasing because the book readers already know and want to explain things simply to show watchers who probably aren’t well versed in Greek mythology but it takes all the whimsy away. One part I loved in the Lotus scenes in the book was Percy figuring out that they were in a time warp because he meets the kid from the 1970s and realizes what’s going on but in the show he notices cuz it’s…dark outside? Like yeah okay it works but going “it’s dark outside even tho it feels like it’s been 20 minutes and that means we are in a time warp and oh yeah the flowers are in the air even tho I’ve given no reason prior to have figured that out” is not NEARLY as compelling as “I lost track of time cuz I was having fun but huh this guy I’m playing with talks weird and dresses weird and oh boy he’s from the 1970s and now that I’m pulled out enough to look around I see that everyone here is wearing period clothes and this is trouble”. I know the extras were wearing period clothes but it never cuts to them long enough to make it seem like it’s anything but a costume that would be typical in a Vegas casino. You can argue that the Hermes scene wasn’t pointless but aside from Grover’s scenes to an extent it just wasn’t compelling and not just in an inaccurate adaptation way

[universestreasures]

Shadow Checkmate (Drabble)

For @shachou

Chess. It was the first game Nii-sama ever taught me, the one that made me really love gaming. I'm not very good at it. Nowhere near as good as my brother. But...when I play it with him, it makes me so happy! It's a lot of fun to try and beat him, even if I always lose.

It used to be something we'd do every day, with other kids at the orphanage watching us. But...we don't play chess anymore. We haven't since we moved into this house.

Our stepfather says Nii-sama has more important things to do than to play with me, something about needing to work hard. That's why I don't see him most days. I only see him at dinner once in a while or at a fancy party I get to go to. Other times, I'm told he's too busy studying with his teachers, even if I ask nicely.

I miss him. I miss him a lot. I miss the days when he read me stories about dragons and wizards. I miss the days when he'd tuck me into bed. I miss the days when we played chess for fun all day. I miss the days we were together.

With him not around, I've gotten lonely and bored. That means I've had to make new ways to have fun, like Nii-sama and I always used to do. That's why I made a new game, a new game I can play that makes me feel like I'm playing it with him.

It's called Shadow Checkmate.

The rules are the same as regular chess, except you don't need a second person to play. All you need is yourself and your shadow. Though, I don't have any chess pieces. I've had to use things in my room, like buttons or pencils, instead. I drew the board out on a piece of paper, one side for the 'white' pieces and one side for the 'black'. I use the black ones like I always do, and my shadow uses the white.

I take my turns, and then I move my shadow's pieces for it. Though, when I play, I don't see or hear my shadow playing with me. I hear and see my brother. For he is always by my side, like a shadow, even if he isn't here.

"Good move, Mokie!" I'd hear him say, my brother's voice echoing in my head.

"Better luck next time, kiddo." He'd tell me after he'd win, like he always does.

"Let's play again!" That is what he'd say after each game, always wanting to play more.

I'd play Shadow Checkmate for hours and hours. I'd play so much to the point I'd fall asleep right there on the floor. It was fun and made me feel like, even just for a while, that I wasn't trapped in this stupid house. When I was back home with Nii-sama, smiling and playing together like we always did.

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

I find myself coming back to that little game I made rather recently, playing it wherever Nii-sama happens to be. In his hospital room. In his bedroom. Even outside in the mansion's garden when the doctors allow me to take him out. Wherever he is, and we'd have a moment, we'd play, just like we used to.

I'd set up the pieces, proper chess pieces his time. His were white, and mine were black. And since I long since memorized all of his moves, I gently guide his hands to the pieces, helping him move them into place. Of course, I always lose. But...unlike the last time I lost a game, I don't get yelled at or punished for losing, even if I somehow always get a little shaken when his voice in my mind echos "checkmate."

It was nice to have him here, not looking at me so coldly, at least physically. For he can't move or can't talk right now. Like this, he really had become my shadow, always there next to me, but unable to react to anything I say, outside of what I make up in my head. The real him was off rebuilding the puzzle of his heart, according to Yugi, whatever that meant.

But I promised to wait for him, and wait for him I did. Each and every day for over half a year. I played many games with him, maybe in hopes that by doing so he'd come back, but nothing had changed. And unlike when I was little, I wasn't smiling as much during these games. It didn't help ease my loneliness. If anything, it made me feel sadder. For my Nii-sama was right in front of me, and yet...it still wasn't who I was waiting for. It wasn't who I wanted to be with more than anything. It wasn't who I wanted to say "I love you, Mokuba" for real instead of in my head.

It wasn't my big brother, the person I wanted to play chess for real with.

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

I played a lot of chess with my friends while I've been at Tasuku's place. All four of them took turns playing with me, me winning against Gao and Akatsuki and me losing to Suzuha and Tasuku. I tried my best to put my all into these games, but...my heart just wasn't in. It was like I was zoning out most of the time, stuck in my own head and unable to focus on what was in front of me.

Whoever I played against, I would always see Nii-sama instead. Instead of their voices, I'd hear his, encouraging me or congratulating me on a win. It was no different than playing Shadow Checkmate all over again, except this time I didn't have to move the other pieces.

The more we played as the weeks went on, the more I kept thinking. Will I get to play chess with the real Nii-sama ever again? Will I get to ever see him again? Will he ever want to see me again? Will he...will he send me back to the orphanage, since I liked it there so much? Will I be forced to play with shadows of him made by my mind, something i did when I had no choice, forever?

My fears engulfed my shadows, transforming the images of my brother I saw during these games now, just like how he appeared in my nightmares. His voice changed too, encouraging words now distorted into the anger-filled rage he experienced that night that had been echoing in my mind since they happened as if they'd never shut up.

"I will not entertain this nonsense any longer!"

"You want no part of this ? Fine. Do as you wish."

" This conversation is over."

I put my hands over my ears as they get louder, dropping my chess pieces in the process as my eyes shut tight and tears start to flow. Tasuku and my friends come to my side to comfort me, but I can't hear them. All I can hear and see is my shadow growing into my brother, towering over me like his dragon, before detaching himself from me and leaving me alone.

All alone.

Forever.

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

Here I am. Sitting alone inside a room in this mansion, this time my brother's room, playing Shadow Checkmate once again with the makeshift pieces I made when I was five. I know I don't have to play this anymore. I had friends I could play with. I had employees I could play with. Hell, if I wanted to, I could make an AI version of my brother to play with.

But...for some reason, I chose this way instead. Maybe it was because it felt nostalgic. Maybe it was because it had worked in the past into fooling myself he was actually here. For unlike all the other times before, my brother isn't here in this dimension. He's off somewhere I can't get to. Somewhere, I don't know if he'll ever return from.

As I move my pieces into place, following suit by moving my shadows, I try to not think so hard. I want to lose myself in my fantasies. I want to escape for even just a moment, to remind myself that everything is okay and that my brother is still with me!

And yet...this time, there was nothing. No voice. No sound. No image. It was just me. Me, myself, and I. The reality of it all was too real to suppress, for no trace of my brother was left in this world other than his cards, his possessions, and my memories and mementos. I wasn't a little kid anymore who could distract myself with self-made images of what I wanted to see.

I had grown up, meaning this game...was no longer what I needed it to be anymore.

I threw all of the game pieces to the side in a swipe, gritting my teeth in frustration as I huffed and puffed. I hate this! Why wasn't it working anymore? Can't I just have a moment, even just a second of peace? The peace I thought would always be there?!

We promised each other we wouldn't ever be separated. We promised we'd always stick together. We promised we'd always be a team. And yet, just like in my visions from the past, he's left my side, my shadow seemingly nonexistent as I turn my back to look.

For there was no light to guide me. No light to warm me. No light to guide me. Nii-sama is my light. He always has been, and without him...I feel...

I feel incomplete, like part of my soul is missing; a part I need to live lest I be cast down back into the sea of despair that had almost drowned me so many times again and again. I feel worthless, knowing I can never fill his shoes. I feel numb, knowing I might never get to play another game with him....ever again.

It was suffocating as I cried my eyes out over him, left in nothing but the rubble of my childhood escape that could no longer stop me from drowning...

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

It was a miracle. A miracle I thought one day might never come. But it did. The light that protects my brother's soul, his dragons, along with a priest who resembled him, led me back to my brother. We were together at last, his light returning my shadow to me after a painful two months of separation.

Naturally, everyone celebrated his return. Kaiba Corporation was glad to have him back, a weight being taken off my shoulders. Despite doing my best, no one ran the company quite like my brother. He had a light that lead everyone to doing their jobs well and to the best of their ability, a light I sadly don't have just yet but that I hope I one day will have!

However, that wasn't what I was concerned about. I was worried about one thing and one thing only: spending time with him, good quality time outside of work. I wasn't about to let him become a workaholic again. At least...not right away. For there was something important I just had to do, a thought that had been on my mind since he first left.

I come into his lab with a box under my arms, one I had to dig around in Seto's room for. My entrance gets his attention, him turning his chair to face me. I greet him with a smile, as I always do, before I do what I have been wanting to do for so long; finally putting a nail in the coffin to my old game

"Niisama...?" I ask, holding up a box containing his personal set of a certain game, a game we haven't played together in ages that I was ready to play with him for real this time.

"Can we...play some chess? I think...I think I'm finally ready to beat you!"

[peapod20001]

You could probably stop my hand from drawing the ocs. But you can’t stop my mind from making the ocs

[msommers]

AM I WALKING TOWARDS SOMETHING I SHOULD BE RUNNING AWAY FROM?

LUCINDA "LUCE" ARMITAGE ↳ MC for The Fernweh Saga by @lacunafiction

[humanmorph]

The Witch in the Glass

by Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt

" MY mother says I must not pass Too near that glass; She is afraid that I will see A little witch that looks like me, With a red, red mouth to whisper low The very thing I should not know! "

PARTIZAN 36: The Witch in the Glass Pt. 2

[hiddenplacx]

Hi ! I was going through your blog, your most recent post about not feeling like God loves you and taking refuge into sin really resonated with me ! I just want to encourage you in saying you’re are not alone in that.

But I know how hard it can be to do this walk alone. We definitely need other people to help keep us on the straight and narrow. Lastly I just want to leave you with Matthew 12:48-50! You are my sister in christ, and I am here !

Thank you so much for this message. It breaks my heart that you have to face this same difficulty, but it also makes me glad to know that we are not alone. It comforts me to know that we recognize the harshness of the journey, but with all the struggle we choose to persevere. Feel free to talk to me whenever you want and need to. I'm here for you too!

“He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”Matthew‬ ‭12‬:‭48‬-‭50‬ ‭

[mythvoiced]

@stillresolved | ♥

Eunjae is not the kind of person who makes others smile. It's not an inability to do so, it's... they simply don't. They don't put in the effort, they don't care to figure out what drags fondness or humour or even derision out of those around them.

That does not mean, however, that they're particularly against the notion of receiving a smile in response to their words. Especially if it's someone like Annie. They consider it a miracle alone, to see those corners turn upwards for once.

"It'd definitely be more interesting," maybe that's why they indulge - a soft, gone as it came, puckering of their lips as their instincts still them from smiling back - as opposed to how quick they are to usually 'hm' their way out of a conversation. Really gets a rise out of people, that non-committal 'hm'.

It's such a shame one of the few people they'd actually grant words to, is someone they can only see on official business.

"If we're lucky... something big and scary is swimming around there, just waiting for us to provoke it into killing us," like a proper revolt.

"... Didn't think you'd still be interested in water."

[lucygraybaird-moved]

❝ serious question, darlin' -- what's your favorite color? ❞ she'll smirk, hardly hiding her expression. ❝ i'm lucy gray, by the way. who're you? ❞ a hand extends for the other to shake, her words and actions rather friendly.

@iworryalotdarling gets a starter!

[liecrafted]

❛  08 .   a  kiss  in  secret  /  a  forbidden  kiss . // @lamiaviridis

most things in loki's life seem to feel... stolen. it's something he's never truly been able to understand, until now of course. it'd always been an odd kind of feeling he just lived with, figured it just came from being the second son, rather than the precious first born. but now of course, now it all makes sense. lies unravelled, the truth of his heritage brought forth. it made sense that he'd felt that way his entire life, when he himself, was a stolen relic meant to be kept, locked away for some kind of safe keeping. ready to be used when the moment was right.

but it's not a feeling he has lingered on in a while now. long gone from asgard. moved on from familial sadness and anger. loki had made peace with who he was, found so much more strength in it really. and his time at the TVA had only gone to solidify that.

it's... unique, in a way, to feel this now. to feel like this moment has been stolen. something shared between only them. heart pounds and loki thinks about how unaccustomed he'd become to such thrilling kinds of moments.

all that time stuck watching the timelines, the branches. dreaming of more life, never imagining a day might come that he'd get to indulge in it again.

but here he was, caught between moments, stealing a deep kiss-- amora against him, the pair of them cramped into the storage closet, taking this moment for themselves before the universes are in need again. before something else has their attention. gasping breath is taken as they part, but loki's eyes are wild as he looks at her, as if committing this moment to memory.

"i have been waiting centuries for that--"