#and adjacent fae entities

[marlynnofmany]

Riddles such as "Where is the wet food?" and "What must one do to get tummy scritches around here?"

domestic animals who would tell me riddles

[deadsetobsessions]

Fae adjacent! Danny, pt. 3

Jason returns to consciousness with a scream trapped before it could come to life. He twisted his neck back and forth and back and forth.

It was the last thing he did before he died. When the Joker left and told him to say hello to the big guy, Jason could not muster up the energy to make a single sound.

But Bruce… Bruce was here this time, heavy head making the mattress by his leg dip.

The scars that ran over his face stretched as he blinked.

“…B?”

Bruce’s head shot up, eyes bloodshot and bags heavier than a Gotham socialite’s solid gold Dior purse.

“Jaylad.”

Jason- Jason was alive now. Bruce’s hug felt warm, the tear spot on his shoulder was damp as his dad cried while hugging him.

And Jason should be happy. He’s alive again. His dad loved him.

But all he could think about was the cold of the coffin, the squelch of mud and dirt, and the unerringly wrong feeling of knowing he came back but he came back wrong.

——

Tim had wandered Gotham in the weeks following Jason’s reawakening. He wasn’t avoiding Bruce Wayne. He wasn’t. But Tim knows he’ll have to answer questions soon. He just wasn’t ready.

Tim looked up at the den of pixies- pixies were real!- and squared his shoulders. He did his research. Tim Drake walks into the den with nothing but foolish hope and Gotham-brand audacity. He’ll get answers about Danny today. He will.

——

Soul-Plucker, they called him. Danny Fenton, the proprietor of Fenton Artifacts. The High King.

“I thought King Oberon was the High King?”

The pixies chittered at the little human that could have been kin. Their wings fluttered at their backs, muffled by cloth. It’s not often they find kindred. It really is too bad that Fenton had his mark on the child. How they would have loved to whisk him away. He would have made entertainment that would last a millennia! Or until the court decided to cut of his tongue, at least. How well he had tricked them!

“Of course! Of course! King Oberon is our king, see?” A younger pixie swirled her drink, a shining red and blue thing. “But he’s the High King of another court!”

“The High King of the Infinite Realms, encompassing far more than King Oberon and Queen Tatianna could ever reach.”

Another pixie chimed in, on their fourth glass of amber colored nectar. “The Soul-Plucker!”

“The Beginning of the End.”

“Afterlife IRS department!”

“He who wanders.”

“Death-Caller.” Another one said, grave and serious.

“The Arbiter.”

“So, he’s like, the boss of bosses?” Tim asked. What kind of entity did he make a deal with? Why was he kind to Tim? What motives did Danny have?

“Uh huh!”

“Then what’s he’s doing here?”

“Who knows? The whims of the most powerful are unknown to us.” The pixies clustered around Tim. “Won’t you play another game with us, Alvin? You’re so good at it! Oh, how about a drink?”

“Can’t. I gotta get home. Also, I’m a minor.” Tim slipped passed their fluttering wings and manic smiles. They move to let him past, waving drinks at him in a tantalizing manner.

“And where is that, sweet one?”

“Somewhere, Liltri. Somewhere.”

Tim Drake was a child of pure will, pure hard headed foolishness, a mind sharper than any blade, and luck more terrifying than the creatures he now dealt with. And so, he stepped out of the Pixie Bar with more questions than answers but he stepped out unharmed.

——

“Who are you?” The shadows shift as Lady Gotham unveiled her knight.

Danny felt his eyes cool, glinting green and blue. Lady Gotham forgets who her liege is.

“Haven’t you done your research? You who walks along the edge of shadows, my shop is not a place to dismiss decorum.”

“You brought… you brought him back. How. Why?”

“You want answers? Then give me something in return.”

Danny gestured to the circle his clients have come to know as the deal-maker. Danny doesn’t ask for much in return. Just… something equal to the request.

“Ah,” Danny pointed up at the sign. “I am legally able to deny you my service, so don’t get any ideas.”

Batman was studied up on myths. But he was not a believer, and that both hindered and helped him. What was a god, in front of the faithless? What was the faithless in front of power?

The vigilante stepped into the circle, unable to see the subtle shimmering of magic but remained unbound by the virtue of his disbelief.

“What do you want for answers?”

“You do not often deal with the occult, do you?” Danny tapped the counter. Batman remained silent.

“I have a soft spot for vigilantes,” Danny continued. “And so I won’t ask for much. Just… your cape.”

“Not my hair? A body part?”

“If you were dealing with the fae, you’d probably would lose something of that value, yes.”

“You aren’t fae.”

Danny merely smiled. “Do we have a deal?”

“My cape in exchange for honest answers to my questions.”

Danny huffed, approval glinting in his eyes.

“Your cape for honest answers to three questions,” Danny pointed at the sign, still hanging above them. “Three questions or nothing.”

Batman grimaced. “Deal.”

“Ask your questions, protector.”

“Why did you bring Jason back to life?”

“I didn’t.” Danny grinned. The Bat should have stipulated that he must answer elaborately. He looked like he realized that. Oh well. His mistake. Well, not like there was actual magic binding Danny, so technically, Danny could lie off his ass.

“…Will Jason stay alive?” Danny had a heart and this man was a much better father than Jack ever was.

“Yes. Barring unnatural causes, his soul is firmly attached to his body and will not shuffle off the mortal coil without warning.”

The lines of Batman’s shoulders slumped. Relief. He paused.

“What are your intentions in this city?”

“To run my shop… and to enjoy retirement.”

Danny laughed at Batman’s stoic face. “Disappointed I am not up to nefarious deeds, little knight?”

“No.”

Danny tapped the table. “My payment?”

Batman shucked off his cape and handed it to Danny.

“Why my cape?”

Danny smiled a fanged little thing. “Because your costume looks stupid without it and I could use a laugh.”

Batman grumbled and turned to leave. Ha paused, eyes catching on the glint of camera lenses.

“How much for that?”

“For the little sparrow’s camera?” Danny sighed, eyes fixed on the form of a vigilante who was more kind than angry for once. “Two thousand dollars.”

“That’s a huge markup.”

“That’s how much it means to me, compared to the rest.” Danny slid beyond the counter, a ghostly air about him. He pinned his newly earned cape up. “My shop, my prices, little knight.”

Batman silently handed him two thousand dollars and left with the little sparrow’s camera.

[cravingpepsimax]

Headcanons for 30s!Stancest?

ohohohoh

so, obviously, 30s stancest isn’t canon compliant at-fucking-all. this means that when discussing it, you kinda have to ask how it’d actually happen.

personally, i’m a fan of “everything’s canon compliant up until the portal incident, which just doesn’t happen”. they fight, but the specific sequence of events that leads to ford being put in the portal just don’t happen. stan starts living with ford — he’s homeless, and ford clearly needs someone to take care of him because goddamn he’s in rough shape. he learns about bill and helps ford actually get sleep, handcuffing him/restraining him to the bed and only letting him out when bill’s not in control.

another 30s stancest headcanon that i LOVE is that ford is REALLY into stan’s mullet. didn’t get the opportunity to appreciate it in canon since he was sleep deprived and promptly sucked through the portal, but in an au without the portal incident, this isn’t a problem. sad that ford has to go through a “oh god i’m attracted to my twin wtfwtfwtf,” a “oh god the guy i’m attracted to has a mullet,” and a “oh god i think the mullet’s hot” crisis at the same time.

stan gets the unicorn hair so that a protective barrier can be made around the shack. could’ve either obtained it from a con or from violence — the latter’s more likely, but i think the former has some stupid looney tunes comedic potential. anyways, this is important so that 1. ford is no longer terrorized without having to install a metal plate into his head, and 2. it allows stan and ford to sleep in the same bed without the fear of bill taking over and fucking everyone’s shit up.

since the research grant’s realistically running out, stan does various odd jobs to bring in an income. though ford is very against using his research as a marketing ploy, stan’s still a con-artist. (though, of course, they still adventure together — it’s just that isn’t a viable career). stan is great at dealing with any kind of fae or fae-adjacent entity.

this is one of those rare instances where i think ford would be the first one to confess. stan doesn’t wanna say shit because he JUST got his brother back, and he doesn’t wanna risk not just losing him again, but being kicked out again and becoming homeless again. hell, i think stan would be so unwilling to risk it despite his feelings that ford would have to be the one to first make any moves or flirt with him, which has its own funny factor since there’s no way in hell he’s good at it.

stan’s pretty into weird supernatural drugs. half the time when they discover a plant stan’s first thought is “hmm… what if i smoked/ate/snorted/shot up this?”. this has ended in a fair share of… Situations. i will leave you to think about what these Situations may be.

i don’t think of either of them as being particularly physically affectionate, but when they sleep in the same bed, they pretty much always wake up cuddling.

[spacedryadkepler]

malevolent episode 46 spoilers

(rambling thoughts)

i didnt really have any predictions about this episode based on the name, but i was not expecting fae-adjacent horrors and sentient forest 2 electric boogaloo

god i just love little casual, normal conversations that arthur and john get to have sometimes

arthur barely awake, telling john to talk about what he was thinking about cause he cares what john has to say!

following along and engaging with john as best he can, even as he sounds like he could fall back to sleep

they are!! friends!!!

“thank you lily for everything you gave my friend” augghhh arthurrrr

they were being too sweet and normal, so naturally the horrors had to happen

it’s kind of fascinating to see both of them get compelled by something, i don’t think that’s ever happened before

i really like the music that plays when they’re being compelled though, definitely invokes that strange and dangerously magical vibe

the faerie circle bit sure was one way to get arthur to open up about his past!

i almost thought it was gonna be some sort of dancing plague situation where the ring would try to make them dance to death

i’m fascinated by horig, i want to know more about them

arthur calling horig “great one” was wild. amongst all his dealings with various entities, i think this is the first time he’s attempted to feign worship or respect to one

horig saying arthur is already carrying what he needs (to spread horig’s influence).

surely nothing bad will come of that and everything is fine

[zappadoodlecat]

a bit of speculation on the risen completely ignoring canon lol. mishmash of my own headcanons and some discussions in chat.

i feel like risen being Traveler SPAWN is something that isn't really explored in the story. the risen that haven't been socialized to humans probably are right out here in weirdness levels as an ahamkara and i think that the possibility of fae-like peoples could be so incredibly interesting.

like age-wise they were probably born old and never aged - or they age out of feeling like they should look older (Shin Malphur looking at all the kids around him and subconsciously going 'ah yes, aging'). risen appearance as something malleable and continually changing or something completely static to the point where you could compare a photo from 50 years ago to the present and see no changes.

risen but they're appropriately eldritch. imagine.

also speculating on why Zavala looked so young in his trailer vs in the game because it's incredibly funny.

risen getting wrinkles and eyebags in seconds flat depending on how exhausted they are. like mood rings but applied to a whole-ass human-adjacent being.

and then expanding further on the idea so we apply it not just to aging but to everything else. risen with no concept of gender, risen with concepts of gender but who change fluidly between genders. risen who transition and stay and risen who change every day.

maybe they even instantly change hair length so that every time they transmat the helmet on, the bigger hairstyles just fit! it'd explain some things.

and not just the outside but also internals as well!

i like to think that when ghosts first rez a risen, the fidelity of their organs remains and it doesn't really change until a risen starts actually thinking about their insides. baby risen die and you get the expected blood and guts and whatnot, typical stuff.

then they get older.

like this guy for example starting off with generally normal human-ish insides(1). then (2) becoming all piss so that they don't have to go to crucible today. after a few years(3), their insides are all weird glittery space themed and that's just the way it's been since.

some risen not caring about their insides but their ghosts do and then you get 1000+ comment space reddit discussions about how to create realistic kidneys.

risen! they're paracausal entities!

(somewhere out there is an old enough risen that has stopped looking entirely human just because they wanted to. possibly they have become their fursona.)

[scrivenger-grimgar]

If Liyue has adepti, and Inazuma has yokai, and Sumeru has the Aranara, and Natlan has saurians, and Fontaine has Melusines and Oceanids… What does Mondstadt have?

My favourite answer is fae, a blanket term used for anyone who’s not quite human. For example:

The Katzlein clan: originated from changelings, not only cat featured ones, but also fox (Sucrose) and wolf (Ororon).

Fair Folk: elves. You know what I mean.

Changelings: Fairy adjacent entities born from humans that are often mistaken as humans (Rosaria, Fischl, and Razor).

Fairies: spirits or elementals. (Venti, Dvalin, Andrius, Hypostases, etc.

Fun fact, Albedo’s origin is hotly debated when he’s not around, people can’t decide whether he’s a changling or a Fairy.

[danthediamondminecart]

Hello, Just a couple questions for you!

Q1: I noticed that your on the Life Series fandom, do you have a specific favorite character there?

Q2: Are there any specific species for the Life Series participants (You can name some but don't name all/You can name all if you want)

Q3: What is your fav Life Series so far and explain why?

Q4: What cool powers do the Avatars get in your RBB Magnus Archives AU?

Q5: Are there any Robloxian who have the ability to fly?

Q6: Can someone technically be revived in a world without respawn? If so, do they have to go through the same process as PinkLeaf or there are alternatives.

Q7: Are most of the Roleplay Youtubers mostly actors and filmmakers?

Q8: Does Leah have the ability to talk to animals? Because I'm generally curious due to Leah Ashe roleplays where she technically can talk to her pet Unicorn and Pet otter Lemon.

Q9: HOW RICH IS LEAH?! I mean girl has a fricking pink castle!

Q10: Does your oc interact with the Youtubers at times?

Q11: Has Bella used her shape-shifting powers at times? If so, has anyone caught her in her true form with that cursed rethro of hers?

Q12: Does any of the RBB contestants or other RB YT'S have pets in your AU?

That's All!

Answers under the cut, as usual!

Q1) I mean, BigB is my favourite because (much like Thinknoodles) I can’t escape him, he is everywhere. But aside from BigB- Jimmy, Joel and Lizzie are my favourites, I’d say.

Q2) I have a few!

- Cleo is a Zombie, obviously.

- Ren is a dog hybrid, also obviously. (Fun fact: When I was tagging Antithesis, I accidentally tagged Ren instead of Booshot.)

- Gem is nature-spirit adjacent. No specific species yet, but nature-spirit esque.

- I’m still deciding whether I want Tango to be a Netherborne/Blaze hybrid or a robot. Both fit him really well and idk which one I prefer.

- Joel is ogre/fae-adjacent.

- Pearl is a night-time cryptid of some kind, I don’t know which one yet. It’s kinda like Steak, where I can’t quite describe what they are, but I can say what they do.

- Grian has cryptid genes, but otherwise is human.

Q3) Last Life - it was the Life series I first got into and the series I had the most fun with - there’s a reason BLSMP has the most inspiration from it! Wild Life is a close second - it was between Secret and Wild for my 2nd favourite for a while, but I think that the ending of Wild Life won me over.

Q4) Depends on the entity, and for some of them…I don’t think their powers are that ‘cool’, more creepy. Oh, and some have extremely heavy drawbacks. They’re all functionally immortal though - they can only be killed by a Hunt avatar (and a Slaughter avatar, I guess?). Hence why DJ and Kreek are such big threats.

Q5) Off the top of my head: DJ can lightly hover (he has a little bit of the Dashers’ power), Albert can straight up fly (bird), Ominous can float a little (starborne). I can’t think of any other airborne people rn, but there’s probably more.

(I have this headcanon, inspired by a Grian headcanon actually, that Albert likes to fly full speed at people and perch on their shoulders. Out of the RBB contestants, the only people who can withstand an Albert missile are Bandites, Jackeryz, Kreek and DJ. Kreek can only do it bc he trained specifically to withstand Albert lol)

Q6) Yes, but it usually needs to be done quickly - there’s a time limit for how long they can be ‘dead’ before their code starts deleting, beyond which an attempt at revival would go terribly wrong. They can be sent to the hospital to get revived the ‘normal’ way, for one. They can also be revived by an admin / dev with playercode. Pink was revived using magic. They can also be taken to a world with respawn and properly killed again there, but that’s risky and doesn’t always work. If you find a recently-dead player in a non-respawn world, the policy is to take them to hospital to be checked over and see if revival is possible.

Q7) Yes. It makes the most sense. Bloxburg and Brookhaven are hotspots for actors and filmmakers to get their starts, especially with how popular entertainment is in Robloxia.

Q8) I guess so! I don’t watch Leah too actively, to be honest. She’s probably similar to Grian where she has non-human blood but is pretty much human.

Q9) Most of the star-creators have pretty big net worths, what with being in-universe celebrities and all. Especially those like Leah, who are artists in the very-popular sector of entertainment, they get a lot of money out of it. Leah just uses her money…interestingly.

Q10) Nah. Surprising, considering he’s a literal clone of DanTDM, but he and his trio (BN and Pyro), aside from their initial formations, try to avoid interacting with their…original selves? Counterparts? Counterparts. They have better things to do and their own lives to make. (Whenever I have a ‘Player’ spot, eg the Battler for RB Battles or the player for Timmeh, I usually just put YanDan there. That’s the extent to which he interacts with creators)

Q11) Yes. But she’s very sneaky, so she’s never been caught using it. She’s not about to let that information get out.

Q12) Yep! Kreek has Theo the dog, Think has Kopi and Kloi, Denis obviously has Sir Meowsalot…a lot of these guys are animal people and have their own pets.

[amphiptere-art]

Hi I'm Amphithere_Art and I love drawing. I'm using this website as motivation to improve my skills.

Asks are open

A link to the discord

Current hyperfiction. The sun and moon show. Below is either things I'll be updating constantly or stuff I look at constantly.

Warning, I am not afraid to swear.

Important refs- RBB, CC, EC, ITTBAG, offshoot references, DH, SMOA, Crimble, SSC, LL, BM, sundown, CE, Ralph, arcade, etc

Everybody's height chart

Everybody's pronouns

Big list of characters/worlds

Here is a link to all my stories, events, and info posts

Crossover Canon

Nicknames

Size chart

Sticks and stones

Magic system

The locked door lore

Dragon culture and history

Demons and fae

Just for convenience more convenience

Doodle ideas

My dumping ground here @amphiptereartdump

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ All my AUs below ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

—————————————————

Lore/story au's

Most of these are heavy in story. Asks concerning the story will be more received. And will be drawn with story in mind. (Might receive written stories)

mechanical medic AU-Ralph the repair dragon works as a moving parts and service. But is haunted by 3 fragmented souls of mechanics that died in the Plex. Sun n Moon struggle to get the medical mechanic animatronic to leave them alone.

Rusty wheels-a apocalypse au were a nanite Afton virus infects the world. It's cyberpunk with a rustic feel. Y/N has a big truck sized motorcycle thing and finds sun n moon. And drags them in their attempts of adventure and survival.

Warehouse AU-after the fire story were the dca, Freddy, DJ, foxy and Bonnie are moved to a big werehouse (owned by a y/n) is modified into a mini Plex (honestly more like a side road arcade that's bigger). And the dca has to relearn how to function with the band.

purrfect thief-you are a shape-shifting cat. You work with The gang Lord Eclipse but live as a house cat with the detectives Sun and Moon. You are an informant with the spiders web. A info company owned by DJ. Life has been simple and happy. But on the horizon a pack of dogs is ready to ruin that simple life.

saving waves-a sun n moon mer story. Were sun n moon were once in our lab/mer fighting facility. They are saved by a rehab facility and have to learn how to be normal Mer again. Also following the other side of the family. Who are trying to get pesky humans to stay out of their wild waters.

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

Ask based au's

These aus are very open to ask. Most of them have no more than a basic story. They will be drawn more frequently with asks.

red, blue, and black-a SAMS AU where suns kill code merge with him and Moon is attempts to control his kill code makes two AI but fails. computer takes over and creates eclipse with those two AI. Eclipse then has to figure out how to keep his family together.

Cryptid eater-a Sun and Moon are Hunters story but you are a creature that eats vampires and werewolves and things like such. And the story takes place with you trying to convince them that you're on their side.

warehouse daycare-a version of the warehouse AU where it's only sun n moon. The werehouse is smaller and they grow a closer relationship with y/n and a emotional support cat.

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Art doodle au's

These a use are mostly created out of the will to draw something fun.

Stop you silly siren-suns a tired Pirate. moons a silly siren. Eclipse is an angry sea captain. Popped in my head. want to see were it leads.

Star foolery-basic place for me to draw the dca in different situations. no major story but has lore. does occur during after and before in dca history

Creature dca-a random look for sun n moon. Has flip floped between being and basic non animatronic form to fey creatures that deal with changelings and guardian God entities.

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Story's ive had since childhood.

Most of these stories occur in the same or adjacent universe and are more likely to get to to get drawn due to my familiarity with it.

Shadow wars-Major wars that occurred in the history of dragons. Particularly wars of Shadow dragons versus light dragons. split up into four.

Outsting of the dark(Shadow dragons being misjudged and cast out),

shadons terror(an evil emperor of Shadow dragons taking revenge only to be beaten by family),

falling twins(a family split by different ideals),

the hybrid(a hybrid child that finally solves the war).

chains-The comic series I started as a kid about a wolf and his companions as they travel. Split into three.

The fallen stars(how chains fell out with his best friend),

fleeing revenge(chains fleeing his old friend now enemy),

God war(chains son and others get in a great war over religion and power).

dreamers musing-various stories that take place on "the a locked door". Occurring from dragons, Kings, knights, dinosaurs, animals. anything that comes to mind that uses the same gods.

moss and car-car -a old spinosaurus and a baby Carcharodontosaurus meet up together and decide to live alongside each other. The Old spinosaurus trying to care for a youngster that is not his kind. And the Young therapod running around trying to figure out how to dinosaur correctly. Shenanigans issue.

[dandyghest]

A quick rundown of who Bramwell and Millie are since I've been posting them a bit lately!

Bramwell Enache is an autistic nonbinary fae-vampire (he/they/any) who spends his time wandering and travelling around looking for people to help out. He founded Deadwood Lodge for misfits and other "monsters" (figurative and literal), a camp in the middle of a forest for long-term guests of his house and others who find their way there.

Millie (Ludmilla) McKay is a preteen (11-12 years old) girl who died by suicide after causing an accidental house fire of her family's home. Since her death, she's been stuck in an in-between state between life and death as a ghost-adjacent entity. She loves sphinx cats and considers any other animal (including other cat breeds) to be inferior. Ever since she was young, she's had a caustic and mistrusting demeanour, mainly developed as a defense mechanism to the neglect and abuse she's faced from a very young age.

Bramwell and Millie met by chance on one of Bramwell's occasional excursions into a town/city. Millie became a permanent resident of his house, the one exception to his rule of sending long-term guests to stay at Deadwood Lodge. On the rare occasions that he visits the fae realm, she stays at DL, much to her chagrin.

Bramwell is a mix between a caregiver and mentor to Millie, and she views him as simultaneously an annoyance and a gift. He isn't interested in parenting, and thus takes a more mentor-like approach to interacting with her. She often tries to start fights with him (partially as a test, but also out of boredom) but he's extremely well-versed in navigating conflict from his upbringing in the fae realm, and easily sidesteps her attempts to stir up trouble. Millie spends most of her time with Bramwell reading, getting into things she isn't supposed to, interacting with and avoiding the house's ever-changing guests in equal measure, and prying into fae business.

[lunarscaled]

poses. okay Im gonna talk about curses and sorcery in Europe like I said I would earlier ✨

a lot of this is personal interpretation / taking an inch and running a mile ( see: the inverted spear of heaven's description being "It has been imbued with a cursed technique powered by a special foreign type of cursed energy that allows it to force the stoppage of any other technique it comes into contact with..." ). it's almost entirely focused on building up the background for Lyric in this verse, but feel free to adapt it as you like

My thoughts about cursed energy, aside from what we know in canon, is that it is almost interchangeable with the word 'magic' in some case. Curses themselves form from negative feelings and fears, but the individual techniques sorcerers use are. basically forms of alchemy and magic, sometimes passed down through family lines, cultivated over centuries and years. Based around that framework, I think "sorcery" is used as a term internationally, and it's just regional differences in how curses themselves manifest and how people treat the ability.

The curses we see in jjk are clearly yokai inspired and adjacent, especially the stronger curses. I would assume the same to be true in somewhere like America ( maybe cryptids? and native myths especially, like the thunderbird ) and also in Europe. Lyric references things like Fae and Demons sometimes when speaking about the curses they've made "Contracts" with---Defanatus is one of them, but they have others such as a Barghest, A Church Grimm, an old fae that smokes from a long pipe and builds its domain from flowers. Persistent old folklore has built up a prolific amount of high-ranking curses based on legend, and any number of smaller curses that spawn from tiny fears, new rumors, new myths. Because a lot of fairies were traditionally spoken of as being sentient, I imagine that's also a common quality found in European curses---not necessarily not single-minded as some of the lower ranked curses we've seen, but they can speak in sentences, and respond accordingly.

The structure of sorcery in Europe in the past was probably built around covens and major families in the past but broken up by the arrival and growth of major religious groups, specifically The Church. While people who have mastered Reverse Cursed Techniques might be considered blessed by god or other divine entities, it could easily be turned against them ( plenty of "witchcraft" in the past which was used to help others was weaponized this way in real life too! ). Sorcerers who didn't willingly work for the church may have been ostracized, if not outright blamed for curses themselves and vilified by communities.

"Witches" and "Sorcerers" are the same thing to Lyric, and the only defining line between those two is if you are or are not authorized by a religious entity to perform exorcisms and healings. Churches likely fund all the major sorcery schools, and adherence to their rules is paramount to an occupation as a sorcerer. Sorcerers who are not apart of an organization or permitted in some kind of way are, in their own circles, likely touted as being more "dangerous" or "untrustworthy" even if that isn't true. Lyric is one such sorcerer, on account of their cursed technique relying on them making "deals" with curses. Their father held them personally accountable for their mother's illness and their brother's death and blamed it on their sorcery ( which wasn't true ) and the church would likely outcast Lyric for similar reasons

some family lines with specific cursed techniques in europe power up their techniques with things like sigils, using certain plants, animal bones, etc. Things like potion making or altars which might be viewed as gimmicky and fake in the modern world have purpose for the families whose powers rely on them, similar to how we know Utahime's technique can be amplified by adding all the elements of a true shrine maiden's dance. Lyric is familiar with a number of materials and plants that make it easier for them to persuade curses to work with them, or which curses in europe prefer, but not much of that knowledge is applicable to the curses in Japan. The energy is also different, so Lyric has to adapt to new types of costs, which is why their own flesh and blood is used as an offering.

basically i feel like magic practices found in europe are the equivalent of cursed techniques, and they're still persistent today, but a lot of families and "bad" techniques have been wiped out or condemned by the church organizations which run the sorcery world there.

[arustysnake]

Meta: What is your biggest inspiration for your character? Has it changed over time? How do you think it might change?

Ollie's a real mishmash that came together on the run, and a totally new character to me, so I'm sure I'll find more inspiration to fold in! But really, the key thing is absolutely this group in general. Everyone's wild creative energy is just beautiful to behold!!! And I was browsing the lovely skeletons our majestic mod squad put together, and thought hey, I haven't written anything like that. Could be fun!

There's a crazy corkboard-with-string collection of things under the cut. We'll see where it all goes!

I actually cobbled Ollie's name together from some Irish folklore, because names are hard and I'm a hack - the Oilliphéist is an Irish water serpent (or serpents), and one of the more famous folktales about these creatures involves a character named Ó Ruairc, so! There you go.

Oilliphéist as a word is drawn from oll (great) and phéist (said something like faysht or paysht depending on dialect?) which seems to be used to describe anything on the wyrm-worm continuum of coiling/crawling creatures, from a "fabulous beast" like a dragon, sea serpent, etc. to a literal snake to a literal (or figurative) worm. Range. Love it.

The Oilliphéist(s) is a vaguely fae entity (or entities) - they have similar weaknesses, for instance - and so I've tried to work a little faeish whimsy and weirdness and unsettling, eerie stuff into his family's whole vibe. Natch, I've stolen some of that whimsy from people and places I've known; the O'Rourke house owes a little to my oma's old farmhouse and workshop, full of seemingly endless shelves of hoarded things and creaky architectural oddness and chaotic gardening.

And now for the snake-adjacent human sacrifice gods!! There's this beautiful Irish animated movie called The Secret of Kells - super recommend - and they imagined Crom Cruach, an ancient deity who's on the mysterious side, as this truly unsettling snake creature coiling endlessly in a dark, watery void. Wicked! Crom was something like "the dark/crooked god of the heap/mound," as in, a heap of offerings, a mound of the dead after battle, etc., and was supposedly defeated by Saint Patrick, who toppled his favourite monument at a place called Magh Slécht - the "plain of prostrations/monuments," a hilly area covered in stone tombs. Supposedly, this is where a historical High King called Tigernmas died mysteriously with many followers during some kind of bloody ritual for Crom. Wild!

Crom Dubh, another uncertain sort of god, seems to be based on Crom Cruach and maybe a pirate or highwayman or local chieftain - he also tangled with Saint Patrick, who supposedly turned Dun Briste, where Crom Dubh lived, into the seastack island it is today. Some stories say that's where Patrick sent those snakes/pagans he supposedly cast out of Ireland. And I just think all of that's pretty neat! What it has to do with Ollie and his family, well, maybe nothing! He's heard some very tall tales, lately...

[twobellsilence]

Thinking about how terrified Vee used to be about the prospect of Adriana learning about their nature. Yes, she knew they're a Shapeshifter type Entity, but nothing specific - for all she knew, they were just something fae-adjacent and their human appearance wasn't far from their true form. How would she react if she knew they're actually a hivemind of flesh-eating alien worms? That their species is classed as a grade A threat because they exterminated most of the crew involved in the first and only human expedition to their planet, not because the humans attacked them first, but because they saw them as interesting prey? That those poor humans were hunted, cruelly lured by creatures that slowly learned to imitate their peers and began to drive the crew mad because anyone could be a monster? That, yes, Vee themself didn't kill anyone - their hive was too fascinated by humans and wanted to learn more about them, not eat them - but they're still capable of the same level of violence, and the mere fact that they walk around as a "human" and roleplay as one as best as they can is already a showcase of the level of deceit they can achieve?

Of course, those worries became even worse when they began to catch feelings for her. Would she be disgusted if she ever saw what they truly are? Would she suspect that their fondness for her is simply some sort of trick, or would she be afraid of them and become too scared to even maintain their friendship? These thoughts ate them alive back then, and they didn't even DARE to even imply they loved her - surely Adriana would Never want to be with something like them, and they'd make sure she never found out.

That was, until they had to revert to their true form to protect her during a mission and she saw Everything, from what they are to what they can do... And they were TERRIFIED, and they thought it was over, that they'd lost the most important person in their life, but no, because Adriana is a badass motherfucker and she also didn't care about What they are, but about Who they are. And now the two are together, and Vee is the happiest Entity in the facility, and the fact that they're a dangerous alien blob that can deceive people isn't all that bad to them anymore because their love is REAL and their family loves them and that's all they need

[outismm]

giggling seeing your tags!!! oh no, the lovely Pat Butcher has caught your eye, has he? 🙈💖 AND the Toymaker too!!! tell me what you love about them, i'm all ears 🥰💖

Star. Star what have you done. Star you've given me an excuse to yell about them now, what have you DONE KJASDKASJ no but <3 oh this is gonna get so long. I am being fueled entirely by Autism and Beginning-of-Winter-Term-Enthusiasm. Star, my beloved moot, this is going to be a thesis. I am so very sorry AKDSJSAKDJASKD

GUH. THE TOYMAKER. AH,,,, <- said while sweating profusely backed into a corner If I had to break it down into understandable words and not 'GKRJGRJG BITE BITE CHEW CHEW GNAW' :

The archetype of 'Very Silly Very Eldritch Man' is perhaps my favourite of all time, so this was inevitable. Like :

THIS!! THIS!! THIS IS THE KINDA STUFF THAT DRIVES ME ABSOLUTELY GONZO AMNDSAMND.

As a character, he falls into a category just adjacent to fae [magic-y, lots of eldritch traits that you only notice out of the corner of your eye, will make you to play silly games for your soul, Odd and Unusual In Nature] which is just. Mwah. my most favouritest of vibes for any character to have. My brain is in shambles.

Toymaker hot, no further notes there.

MANDMAND NO NO BUT. The expressiveness and whimsy that NPH puts into his performance as The Toymkaer makes my head go all spinny <3. Don't even get me started on his hands while he shuffles the cards, I'll collapse like a victorian dying of consumption.

Keep staring at me with those big sparkly blue eyes Magic Man and I will allow you to turn me into a kazoo :)

THE LORE IS SO VERY CRUNCH CAUSE LIKE - ‘entity born, alone, outside the universe itself’ is already such a fun concept, there’s so much to work with there even in the Canon only gently touches on it - But also,, the way he clings to humanity? The way he finds these impermanent little creatures and their games so fascinating? The parallels that creates w/ The Doctor? <- outis is about to go on a tangent

Like <3 that was always one of my favourite things about DW, even as a kid, and specifically The Doctor?

Like The Doctor’s gonna outlast humanity no matter what, that’s inevitable with what they are, but that isn’t the point, and that doesn’t change the interest/adoration/love that they've got for Humanity now :)

Even after they’re all gone, The Doctor’s always gonna have their hope, and The Toymaker’s always gonna have their games :) They both have a certain love for humanity, even if it’s in different ways, and with very, very different motivations attached. <- I don’t know if this makes sense. It is almost 1 am. Runs away like an animal crossing villager. Immortal Beings who find a way to love the Mortal will always make my heart go soupy.

TLDR. he is so particularly silly and tragic in a way that makes my brain. Go goopy. Also he must be so very touch starved and I want him to cling to me like a baby sloth :)

OH GOD AND I HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED ON PAT-

THIS FUCKING GUY >:( how could this happen to me. How can I explain this to anyone. <- the instant I told a few of my friends that I had a crush on a BBC Ghosts character, they went 'oh yeah we thought you'd like Pat' despite me never mentioning his name to anyone. So clearly this was pre-destined KJASDKSADJ

NO BUT <333 AAAAA PATRICK BUTCHER MY LOVE. Where do I even begin with this wonderful wonderful man.

He gave a child a bow and arrow and didn’t see how that’d go wrong. He has the sweetest smile. He misses being able to eat food so much. His voice reaches a pitch that could rival a dog-whistle when he’s angry. He’s the shortest of the cast. He just wanted to say hello. When he was dying and in pain, he made himself stay calm and happy because even worse than dying was the idea of scaring the kids. He’s even autistic.

I have to believe that this man was bred in a lab in Yorkshire to make my brain turn inside out, in some sort of long-term assassination attempt. He calls his wife petal for heavensakes, there was never a hope of me not falling madly in love. that entire flashback scene had me making goosenoises. he is such a delight. Pat do you want a little kiss on your moustache. Pat we could get ghost married. Hey where are you going-

[I’m also realizing now that to anyone who hasn’t experienced Pat as a character, I’m sure this section must look like me going ‘hnrhgrngn I want him so bad’, only to open up my hand to reveal a softboiled egg. but please know that this is also what it feels like on my end MNASDMSNADMN.] TLDR : He's a soft-hearted dad from Yorkshire, what more could you want? Look at that sweet face :)

GHOU I have <3 been rambling for so very long. Thank you for giving me an excuse to yell about my sillies :) it has improved my eveningmorning so very much

[liminaldreamscape]

Night of November 11, 2023

The dream took place inside a mall that was also a hotel. I was with various groups of people for the entirety of the dream. It was as if we had all gathered here for something.

In the dream, I was going to propose to one of two people: Gwen or someone who was perhaps a minor celebrity of some kind. Everyone was excited for the prospect of me proposing to the latter, but I was secretly sad about that because I wanted to propose to Gwen. I was with the celebrity with the intent to propose, but didn't end up doing it.

I'm not sure how I got to this next part of the dream, but I was waiting to be picked up by a group of folks. While I was waiting, Dare commented on the pants I was wearing, which were the blue pants I own with white geometric patterning. She said the pants made me look like a marshmallow. I asked fae if I should change and fae said yes.

At this point, the car of folks picking me up arrived and, at the same time, Alyssa brought me something — perhaps food? — that I had been waiting for. I asked the car to wait and rushed over to get a brown paper bag from Alyssa. I never opened this bag during the rest of my dream and, in fact, didn't even seem to have it on my person.

I went back to the area supposedly near my hotel room to change and Val came to check up on me after the failed proposal.

Again, I'm not sure how I got to this next part of the dream, but I was suddenly with a group of people sans Val and I was talking to a person who was leading us to their hotel room. The person was explaining to me, rather matter-of-factly, that if Death was working with the shadow entities around me, then it's a straightforward kill and there's nothing we can do. They also explained that if Death isn't working with the shadow entities, then we shouldn't delay and should head to this other place. As the person was explaining this to me, I mentally concluded that the logical thing to do was to go to this other place, which was somewhere I was already going to as is. I began to get a little frustrated that this person was delaying us despite what was, to me, an obvious course of action.

The person opened the door to their hotel room, which was dark. Inside the room, I caught a glimpse of Death walking into an adjacent room. Death looked like its classical image of a hooded figure with a scythe. I started screaming in horror and scrambled onto the bed. Once again, I caught a glimpse of Death in the bathroom, moving out of view. I continued to scream.

I then saw, in plain view, a tall and skinny figure move from the bathroom into the closet. It passed the bed as it travelled. I'm unsure if this figure was Death or something else. As I continued to scream, I went to open the closet door. Instead of the figure, I found a member of our group, a tall and skinny man, inside the closet. I screamed and shook him, confused. He didn't seem fazed by this. Instead, he smiled and laughed, confused at my horror.

In fact, no one else in the room seemed to react at all to me. It seems that no one else had seen what I had seen and they almost politely ignored my horrified screaming.

& then I woke up.

[catsconflictscopicsandchamomile]

look when I said "Cas sees Sam & Dean as having a mother-and-son dynamic in SPECIFICALLY THE EARLY MEDIEVAL SENSE", I'm not just talking about the Old English cultural dynamics present with hunters as a whole (though thats a fascinating topic in itself), I mean Cas knows SPECIFICALLY AND EXACTLY WHAT SAM AND DEAN ARE, and therefor exactly What and Who he fell in love with, and acts accordingly.

also can we talk abt how this lore changes Destiel? Like scholars have spent a CENTURY debating what Grendel's Mother is, if she's a monster or a human, if she even exists separate from her son, if she's an abstract concept, personification of revenge, etc

and then an ANGEL FROM HEAVEN finds Grendel's Mother in Hell, in all his/her demonic, Cain-cursed inglory, and goes

"oh- you're made out of love."

and like. EVEN IN A SERIOUS ACADEMIC SENSE. THATS NOT AN INCORRECT TAKE.

AND THEN. AND THEN THIS ANGEL. FALLS SO DEEPLY IN LOVE WITH GRENDELS MOTHER. WHO DOESNT EVEN THINK SHE'S/HE'S A REAL PERSON OUTSIDE OF PROTECTING GRENDEL. THAT THIS ANGEL *LEAVES HEAVEN* TO BE THE AGGRESSIVELY PAGAN-CODED WORSHIPPER/LOVER OF *GRENDEL'S MOTHER*. A CHARACTER WHO UNTIL SPN NEVER EVEN HAD A NAME.

Cas rly went "yes everything you do and everything you are is built from your love and protectiveness from your Giant Cursed Son. that doesn't make you less of a person, it makes you a wonderful, amazing, caring person who deserves to express that love softly instead of by Stabbing Everything All The Time."

and ofc initially Grendel's Mother is like "1) no seriously I'm not an actual 'person' I'm just a character 2) My son and I are EXTREMELY cursed, please do not get close to us" but then slowly, slowwwwwly begins to accept the idea that he is loved exists as an independent entity.

(Eileen, meanwhile, 100% knows Who And What Sam Is due to her background with Fae-adjacent hunts. She's absolutely a monsterfucker. Good for her. Grendel is her boyfriend and invited her over to his Cave Lair Of Lost Knowledge And Ancient Treasure to meet his mom, a biblically-accurate angel and Jack. GOOD FOR HER.)

i hate hate HATE when fics pose cas as a timid wittle baby who doesn’t know anything about the human world. HE’S THOUSANDS OF YEARS OLD AND HAS BEEN OBSERVING EARTH FOR GENERATIONS. sure, he might not understand all the pop culture references, BUT HE’S NOT CLUELESS ABOUT EVERYTHING. STOP BABYING HIS CHARACTER. HE IS MURDEROUS AT POINTS AND CAN KILL W THE FLICK OF HIS WRIST AND WILL COMMAND RESPECT AND PUT DEAN ON HIS KNEES IN AN ALLEYWAY.

[jasper-pagan-witch]

What is pop culture paganism? How can I worship beings from video games?

Simple answer: Pop culture paganism is a type of paganism derived from a work of fiction, music, or occasionally real life.

You can worship beings from video games the same way you worship other beings, such as deities, spirits, heroes, angels, demons, saints, fae, et cetera as applicable.

Some people worship pop culture entities as deities regardless of what they're considered to be in the source. Others worship them as deities only if they're divine/divine-adjacent in their source. Some take a hero worship approach.

I recommend checking out my pop culture magic and paganism masterpost, it's got a lot of resources for you!

~Jasper