#and the description of people trying to kill themselves after the horse demons and not being allowed to die

[varian-ross-horror-author]

Long Goodbye (Goretober 2024)

Whoever designed the afterlife really should have considered that light can cause reflection.

At the moment when the world was supposed to be perfect, I was no longer one of the faithful.

"Do it." Those words, so resigned. Like even the hand of Christ himself was being forced into actions he did not want.

Many had turned away as the pit had opened up, and the unbelievers--goats--it was so much easier to think of them as goats and we as the saved sheep--fell down into eternity. Into darkness. Not outer darkness, as we had been told, but right beneath our feet.

Then the earth closed up, swallowing screams. Was it the dark they feared? The heights? That they had been--

I could not complete the thought. There were two ways for that sentence to end. That they had been damned for all time, or that they had been given every chance in the world and still rejected what we'd been told was the truth beyond measure.

My sister had been in there. She'd been in agony since the horses with their awful stingers had risen out of Hell to punished the wicked.

But what crime warranted that? What had she done that was so great it meant living as a pile of paralyzed inflamed nerve endings after leaping from the roof of our apartment building to escape?

Before the world had ended, she could have died on impact. But she had not. The only reason she stopped screaming, she once slowly spelled into my palm, was because it took too much energy.

We faithful had gone to the sides of those the Almighty had tortured, to give what comfort we could. We had tried to explain. And in the paralyzed silence of my sister, those explanations began to fall apart.

Now as we danced down streets made of gold, I listened to the silence of the earth beneath our feet. As my limbs contorted and bent in a dance I had never been capable of in life, I wondered if my feet would bruise. (There will be no pain.) Would we be dancing until our limbs were stumps, unable to stop even as flesh, blood, and finally bone wore away? Would this perfect new world, given time, be filled with nothing but flopping torsos?

When the plague of darkness fell, my sister became the one sighted person in the communal household her blind friends set up. They needed someone to read the New World Order's junk mail, she would say with a strained smile when I asked why she was there. I thought the strain was from helping those with the worst affliction--I once told her that I would rather die than never see light again.

One day I dropped by for a surprise visit, to find her blindfolded and laughing as she cooked a pot of spaghetti on the stove. I watched as she effortlessly broke the noodles over the boiling water, my heart speeding up as she checked the dial by touch alone. I did not speak, but stood in the doorway until she called her housemates for dinner.

"And Chloe to, I suppose," she had said with a sightless glance towards me. "You tap your foot when you panic" was all she said as she slipped the blindfold off. Her beautiful blue eyes had danced in the candle light ("I lit these for you, I'm fine in the dark.")

Now she was in the dark forever, and I was in the light. Hours had passed, hour of laughter and smiles and songs that were all about the same thing. How wonderful life was now, how amazing our God was. Our. God.

"You asshole of an Old Man," Chloe had said with a fist shaken at the sky.

My heart had leapt--even calling the Father an asshole was a start. It was an acknowledgement of his--

"You melodramatic One-Eyed Bastard," my sister continued as she unloaded the third bag of groceries, clear affection in her voice. "Only found the second food bank because of all the ravens perched on the sign outside."

I could ask, what about those other people and their other gods. But the instant I went to form my question, my throat closed up in the soon to be forgotten echos of grief. I did not feel sad, but it was the recollection of sadness.

"If there's no night, there won't be stars," she had said on the final phone call. "Don't tell me that light is all I need."

"We are called to be light--" I began. I could hear the strange hoof beats on concrete and the hissing of snakes so near.

"Fuck your light. Goodbye."

Those were the last words my sister spoke with a throat that worked. I tell myself that our goodbye began long ago, but that is only a way to console myself.

As I walk the rooms of my heavenly mansion, and find no curtains, I wonder if there will come a day that I would rather die ("There will be no more death.") than never see darkness again.

[thecaffeinebookwarrior]

Monster of the Week: A Writer’s Guide to Vampires!

The Basics: Vampires From Around the World 

Almost every culture has its vampires, and they go way beyond Dracula and Nosferatu. 

There are obviously too many to include in one post, so here are a few especially unique vamps to get you inspired and interested in learning more! 

The Penanggalan, Malaysia - Literally meaning ‘to detach,’ the Penanggalan is an exclusively (apparently) female creature. 

By day, she masquerades as a normal woman (and let’s be real, don’t we all.)  But by night, her head detaches from her body and floats around, entrails hanging like tentacles -- which they nightmarishly use to entangle their victims -- and preys on pregnant woman and babies.  Lovely. 

Creepily, the Penanggalan gravitates towards day jobs such as midwifery, so she can get closer to her prospective prey. 

The Manananggal, Philippines - Much like the Penanggalan, the Manananggal has an unfortunate habit of detaching parts of her body to fly around.  Described as an “ugly, hideous woman” (mood), the Manananggal can detatch her whole-ass torso to fly around like a bat. 

Like the Penanggalan, she preys on pregnant woman and unborn babies, with, creepily, her incredibly long tongue.  Some, however, prefer to seduce and prey on men -- preferable, to be honest -- in which case they appear young and beautiful.

The Upir, Eastern Europe - Ukrainian, Belarusian, Russian, Romanian, and Czech cultures all have mythos around this abnormally bloodthirsty vampire.  Not only do upirs drink the blood of their victims, but they bath and sleep in it.  They eat the flesh of their victims as well, and are especially partial to the heart.  In a uniquely sadistic detail, the Upir is thought to consume the children of a family and then the parents. 

The Alukah, Judaism - Literally meaning “horse-leach,” the Alukah is one of the earliest vampires, originating in the Bible.  

A fixture of Jewish folklore, and sometimes described as a demon or witch, the Alukah is unique in the fact that she is not undead but a living, shapeshifting being (according to the description in Sefer Hasidim.)

She can fly by unfurling her long hair.

The Brahmaparusha, India - This nightmarishly extra vampire will drink the drained blood of its victims from a skull (which it carries around at all times), before noshing on their brains and wearing their intestines as necklaces and crowns.  Worst of all, this vampire has an unusually ravenous appetite, and consumes several victims per night.  

The Callicantzaros, Greece - In Greece, children born between Christmas and Twelfth Night were thought to be bad luck (?) and susceptible to vampirism.  The Callicantzaros was considered to be egregiously unpleasant, equipped with devilish talons with which to tear victims to shreds.  Their first victims, post-transformation, were supposed to be their own siblings.

Unfortunately, this led to a degree of mistreatment and hostility towards children born during this period, as parents watched for signs of their progeny’s prospective vampirism.  In order to ensure that they didn’t become Callicantzaros, the children’s feet were dangled above a fire, like a reverse Achilles.

Vampire weaknesses: 

Garlic - This one’s not just particular to Western mythos.  Southeast and far Eastern vamps like the Manananggal are also vulnerable to garlic. 

Salt - The Manananggal is vulnerable to salt, as are vampires from most cultures in which salt is considered holy or purifying. 

Silver - A holy metal.  The origin of the “vampires can’t see themselves in mirrors” myth is because it used to be a component in mirror-making. 

Vinegar - Again with the Manananggal. 

Daggers/stakes/sharp objects - Especially through the vampire’s heart.  In many cultures, burning the heart is also advisable.  Be careful, though: sometimes, staking an upir will only bring them back to life stronger. 

Dismemberment and fire - Most vamps are susceptible to this, including the Penanggalan.  The only sure way to kill an upir is to decapitate them and burn the remains. 

Counting - Much like the Count of Sesame Street, vamps can’t resist counting things.  If you scatter some small, countable objects on the ground, the vampire will have to stop and count each one. 

The tails of stingrays - in the case of the Manananggal. 

Sunlight - Obviously.  Though not universal, this pops up in vampire mythology around the world, including the Manananggal. 

Detachment - when the Penanggalan and Manananggal detach their heads and torsos, their discarded torsos and lower bodies are vulnerable.  In the case of the Manananggal, sprinkling the discarded legs with garlic and salt.  The Mananggal will not be able to return to its lower body, and will perish with the rising sun. 

Starvation - The Alukah can be starved if she’s prevented from eating for long enough. 

Stupidity - In the case of the Penanggalan.  If you turn the Penanggalan’s body upside down, she’ll re-attach backwards.  I’m not sure what the purpose of this is, except the exhilaration of punking a vampire and making them walk around on their hands all day like a jackass.

Protection: 

Thorns around windows - Thorns will keep the Penanggalan from harassing you or your unborn children. 

Strings of garlic - Just make sure SOME IDIOT doesn’t take them down (RIP Lucy from Dracula.)

Pots of uncooked rice, ash, or salt - Repellent to the Manananggal.

Running away and hiding - Basically the only method of recourse against the Brahmaparasha.

Eating bread infused with an upir’s blood - Sounds kinky, to be honest. 

Stay on sacred ground - I.e. graveyards and churches.  Just be sure you’re not trying to avoid the kind of vampire that dwells in graveyards if you go for the latter.

Holy water, crucifixes, silver, et cetera - Anything sacred or holy.  Varies based on culture.

Imbibing the ash of a supposed vampire’s burnt heart - I’m not even going to joke about this one, since people actually did this during the vampire scare of New England (my homeland.)  I learned about it from a book about local vampire encounters at the Newport Public Library at age twelve, and it scarred me.

Dangle your baby above a fire - Actually, no, PLEASE don’t do that.  But that’s what seventeenth century Greeks did to prevent their kids from turning into Callicantzaros. 

Age of consent laws - Specifically for Edward from Twilight.

Don’t get a welcoming mat - Counts as inviting them in.  Duh.

Ways to Become A Vampire:*

*Ask your doctor if becoming a vampire is right for you.

Biting - Obviously.  Though if you read Dracula and early accounts of vampirism, it was more of a slowly progressing illness than a sudden transformation.

Reject Christianity - In the case of upirs.  More specifically, the church buried non-believers outside of graveyards, leading them to rise as servants of the Devil.  Honestly, I feel like the church kind of brought that on themselves. 

Be born between Christmas and Twelfth Night - At least if you’re in seventeenth century Greece.  

Be influenced by the Devil while dying - Another version of the Upir origin.

Be a demon possessing a corpse - One prospective explanation for the Brahmaparusha.

Making a pact to obtain eternal youth and beauty that involves not eating meat for 40 days and then breaking it like some kind of an IDIOT - One version of the Penanggalan origin myth.  I shouldn’t judge, my self-control isn’t great either.

Get startled by a man while meditating in a bath and jerk your head so hard that it flies off and at the interloper in fury - Another prospective version of the Pennangalan origin. Relatable, honestly. 

Be so bitter and jealous of couples that you go on an insane killing spree of pregnant woman and get publicly executed by being ripped in two - The Pennangalan, again.  She makes the Kardashians look tame. 

Chanting an incantation, anointing yourself with oil, and purchasing a black chick - In the case of the Manananggal.  The black chick reportedly lives inside the Manananggal, eating its innards while also acting as its life source.  Honestly, after all the drama of the Penanggalan’s origins, this seems reasonable.

Other Sources

Video Essays: 

The Power of the Vampire Myth - A superb sociological dive into the cultural significance of vampires. From the post WWI antisemitism of Nosferatu to their ability to subvert the Hays Code, vampires tend to reflect the shadows of every society. 

Dracula: A Brief History of Eternity 

CREEPIEST Vampire Legends from Around the World 

Vampires: Folklore, Fantasy, and Fact

How did Dracula become the world’s most famous vampire?

Vlad the Impaler: The Real Life Dracula

Influential Vampire Fiction:*

*That I’ve read/seen so far.

Dracula - Duh.  The greatest adaptation of which is, obviously, Dracula: Dead and Loving it.  

Nosferatu - It’s good to be aware of its antisemetic overtones, but it’s still revolutionary at evoking dread.

Varney the Vampire - A penny dreadful series that helped popularize vampires in Victorian England.  It gets bonus points for sounding like a children’s show. 

Camilla - The ORIGINAL lesbian vampire, predating Dracula by decades.  Became an adorable webseries and movie, which I recommend even more than the original novel.

‘Salem’s Lot - Serves as a study of what makes vampires scary in the modern era.   

Underworld - Aside from serving as a badass alternative in the Twilight era, it merits inclusion exclusively for causing my Sapphic awakening at age twelve.

What We Do In the Shadows - Has a unique understanding of the cultural significance of vampires, and why they appeal to societal misfits.  Also has vampire “children” who eat p*dophiles. 

Vampires in the Lemon Grove - The titular story is one of the most unique interpretations of vampires that I’ve seen in the modern era.  Beautiful language that evokes a powerful emotional response.

Twilight - Exclusively because it gave us Rosemary clocking shop in a wedding gown.  And the baseball scene.

Nonfiction:

The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters

From Demons to Dracula: The Creation of the Modern Vampire Myth

Vampires and Vampirism: Legends from Around the World

New Orleans Vampires: History and Legend

Mummies, Cannibals, and Vampires: The History of Corpse Medicine

A History of Vampires in New England 

Happy Halloween, and happy writing, everybody! 

[jinjojess]

超高校級の英雄 V3: Danganstuck Classpects V3

Okay, okay. 

Enough waiting around; let’s get this up and ready to go.

These are obviously just my own opinions on things, and as such are very closely tied to my own personal interpretations of both the V3 characters and also of the classpects themselves. For clarity’s sake, I based the aspect rationalizations from the official lore here, and I used the MSPA wiki for direction with the classes.

Just as a quick note, I used some of the FTE info (which is debatable in its veracity) for some of the assignments. Sorry, gotta work with what I have to work with. Also, if anything is expanded on in Homestuck 2, I have no idea, as I haven’t read it (or the epilogues, for that matter).

Akamatsu Kaede Prince(ss) of Time Derse Dreamer The Land of Sharps and Flats

Going off the canon description of Time, it makes perfect sense for Akamatsu. She’s goal-oriented, wants to skip to the credits, and would rather take a leap of faith than wait things out. To say nothing of the strong associations between Time and music. I went with Prince for her as a class since it’s the destroyer class--Akamatsu very literally destroys both Amami and herself (and her goal of getting everyone out alive) thanks to her own impatience in wanting to stop the one responsible for the killing game. I had her sleep on Derse since she’s supposed to be a bit of a protag subversion in that she hatches a literal murder scheme. Her equivalent of the Beat Mesa is a big metronome. 

I also have an alt land name for her in The Land of Ninths and Eighths to reference the time signature of Claire de Lune (which is 9/8). 

Saihara Shuuichi Page of Doom Prospit & Derse Dreamer The Land of Glass and Fingerprints

I considered making Saihara a Rage player at first given how the ultimate conflict is (supposedly going to be) solved in Chapter 6, but the description of Doom players as being commiseraters rather than healers really stuck out to me as appropriate for Saihara. Of all the characters in the game, he’s one of the few that doesn’t actually push anyone to heal, and his ultimate gambit in the 6th trial is to counteract the audience trying to self-medicate with catharsis at their expense. He takes a while to come into his own, which is the signature trait of the Page class, too. As a Doom player, he dreams on both moons, which for reasons I can’t quite articulate just clicks for me. The glass in his land name references not only magnifying glasses but also mirrors, since his is very much a journey of self-reflection.

Amami Rantarou Seer of Breath Prospit Dreamer The Land of Sails and Nail Polish

I really like what I came up with here for Amami. Breath is linked pretty strongly to his FTE reveals about how his desire to explore led his sisters to disappear into the ether (and changed his direction in life), and the angst he feels over wanting to reunite with his sisters hints at his trouble with bonds (the Breath inverse Blood’s territory). I incorporated the boat stuff into the theme with the idea of sailing for his world name, while the nail polish is for his sisters and that extra scene with Akamatsu. I went with Seer as the class since Amami Knows Things, and there’s that bit about Seers “having a strategy guide in their head” that I wanted to be a callback to the special map and the fact that he’s the Shogo Kawada of this operation. Prospit as the dream moon just felt right, so there it is.

Iruma Miu Thief of Space Prospit Dreamer The Land of Caulk and Nuts (and Frogs)

I don’t care if you have to have Frogs somewhere in the Space player’s land name, I will stand by that pun! So Space is all about creation and seeing the bigger picture, and to me that jived with how Iruma is an inventor. While Time is deeply linked to music on a conceptual level, Space is linked to nurturing, including growing plants, raising animals, and parenting. The Space and Motherhood parallels fit well with Iruma’s canon aspirations and goals. I went with Thief because Iruma is very much out for Number One, and wants to hog up all the creation ability for her own ends. Prospit dreamer because she’s the type.

Ouma Kokichi Bard of Heart Derse Dreamer The Land of Kings and Horses

There’s a lot you could do with Ouma, and I’m sure that plenty of people peg him as a Void player because of the lying. For me though, I read Ouma has being primarily concerned with his own identity, and how he’s perceived by others. Fractured senses of self are a Heart concept, after all, and it seems that Ouma likes trying on identities to see which one ultimately fits him best. I made him a Bard because they’re unpredictable and all about helping or hurting a session in random turns, but also because Ouma himself is allowing his own identity to be destroyed thanks to his paranoia and inability to let anyone get close to him. He dreams on Derse with all the other schemers, and I went with a name pun for the planet that can also function as a chess reference (ala his bandana and his 5d chess approach to life).

Kiibo Sylph of Mind Derse Dreamer The Land of Shells and Ghosts

Since Sylphs are healers, I wanted to have Kiibo in that role, since he’s usually trying very hard to smooth things over and fix problems. I went with Mind for him for a few reasons: one is that Kiibo’s self-identity is subsumed by his “inner voice” that later turns out to be audience suggestions, meaning that he’s healing things through the choices of others and doesn’t have as much of a Self as it were. Another reason is because I made Naegi a Mind player and Kiibo is clearly meant to be a bit of a callback to him (up to and including the fact that Naegi very much functions as an audience insert in the first game). I made Kiibo a Derse dreamer because he literally hears the whispers of the audience members telling him what to do. The land name was me having a little fun and poking at his aspect a bit.

Gokuhara Gonta Heir of Light Prospit Dreamer The Land of Pins and Wings

Light is all about knowledge, and Gonta has, while specific, quite a lot of knowledge. He likes learning, and is open to new information to re-evaluate what he knows. I made him an Heir since the speculation is that they are subsumed in their aspect, and Gonta is very passively knowledgable. He often offers helpful suggestions based on things he just happens to know, for instance, and what ultimately undoes him is Ouma showing him the “truth” of things, which Gonta doesn’t even think to question. He’s a Prospit dreamer who’s been awake for awhile, unwittingly watching the clouds for signs, and his land name is a reference to pinning butterflies into a collection.

Shinguuji Korekiyo Mage of Light Derse Dreamer The Land of Scrolls and Masks

Meanwhile, on the other end of knowledge for knowledge’s sake, we have the other scholar, Shinguuji. Unlike Gonta, he’s actively out there seeking knowledge, rather than being drawn to it, and his motives are undeniably selfish in nature, so I wanted him to be an active class (I’m assuming Mage is the active counterpart to Seer, shhh). Shinguuji uses his understanding of his field--humans--to progress his own goals and wants. He’s also smart enough to know what pieces of information to share and which to keep hidden behind a convenient zipper. Made him Derse because shemey as all hell, and I went with some general imagery for folklore for the land name.

Chabashira Tenko Knight of Breath Prospit Dreamer The Land of Sweat and Flipping

I think we can all agree that Chabashira is probably not a Derse dreamer. Meanwhile, I chose her aspect for a couple of reasons: first, because aikido is generally about evading attacks which strikes me as a windy kinda deal, even if Neo Aikido is a bit different; second, because her central conflict in the game is about learning to let go of a bond she desperately wants to forge with Yumeno (which, again, is a Blood-related matter); and third, because flipping somebody would create a gust of air movement and that image made me laugh. I went with Knight for Chabashira, since the most common interpretation of Knight is that it exploits its aspect, and I think that Chabashira is able to exploit the various currents of influence (especially in Chapter 3) to great success. I also think that she exploits The Breeze to nudge Yumeno’s path out of danger by taking her place in the kagonoko ritual. The land name is the sweat of training in martial arts, and the flipping is not just about said martial arts, but also about being flung off a see-saw.

Toujou Kirumi Knight of Life Derse Dreamer The Land of Sticks and Carrots

Life players are generally known to be trying to fix everybody’s problems, whether they want that to happen or not, and if that doesn’t scream Toujou to you, I don’t know what will. I went with Knight again for the exploitation aspect of it, where Toujou uses her position as authority in the group to further what she believes to be the greater good (hedging my bets here since we don’t know if Knight is active or passive). She’s clearly a Derse dreamer, because even if she wasn’t schemey, she’s droll as fuck. Her land references the two main ways to motivate someone: threats and rewards.

Harukawa Maki Knight of Time Prospit Dreamer The Land of Beans and Demons

I know, I know, but really, if you think about it, HaruMaki and Dave do kind of have a lot in common (and not just the fact that they have red eyes). The part about Time that fits well to me is that a Time player’s life is marked by strife and struggle, which HaruMaki has in spades. Like Akamatsu, she’s impatient and often acts rashly, in an attempt to cut out the middle man or advance what she thinks should be happening. She’s the last of our Knight squad, exploiting Time (or more broadly, destruction/entropy) to try and help out, such as trying to off Ouma or attack the Exisals head on. There’s also a bit on the Wiki that’s speculated that Knights often try to conceal their insecurities by acting tough, which is HaruMaki’s M.O. While she doesn’t have the music theme, assassination is very much about timing. I had her dream on Prospit because she’s not really a plans person, deep down, and her land name is a joke about her name/birthday referencing Setsubun.

HaruMaki doesn’t have a Beat Mesa equivalent, but she does have a tool specifically for causing a Scratch: a huge, unwieldy kantana.

Hoshi Ryouma Prince of Blood Prospit Dreamer The Land of Grass and Clay

Here you go, anon, what you were waiting for. I personally peg Hoshi as a Blood player, through and through. He’s stubborn, values bonds with other people, can lead via inspiration rather than direct command, and feels grounded. I think he’s a Prince thanks to the fact that he ended up destroying the very people who meant so much to him, and in the aftermath continued to push people away and pre-emptively destroy any possible future bonds. He’s a Prospit dreamer because he can see flashes of the future, though he often doesn’t read them correctly. His land is a reference to different types of tennis courts.

Momota Kaito Rouge of Hope Prospit Dreamer The Land of Wishes and Stars

The key part of a Hope player is that they can dream up a better world than the one that exists, and that can definitely be said about Momota. Like Jake, he’s a bit in his own head and immersed in his fantasy version of reality, where he plays the hero and is able to save everyone else. He’s somewhat gullible, to a point, and he’s the most superstitious of the bunch, showing how much stock he can put into the thing he believes. The sheer power of Momota’s belief is infectious, hence why I made him a Rogue--he’s out there trying to impart his sense of belief into those around him, for everyone’s benefit. He dreams on Prospit because of course he does, and I made his land name reflect literal space in conjunction with his talent, and to riff on that inspirational poster about shooting for the moon and landing among the stars.

Yumeno Himiko Heir of Doom Prospit & Derse Dreamer The Land of Death and Magic

While most people who played V3 picked up on Saihara being depressed, not everyone has noticed that Yumeno also suffers from the same bleak view of the world. Similarly to Saihara, Yumeno is not a healer, or a doer. She’s here to sigh and complain and tell you that’s rough, buddy. Because of that, I can definitely see her as a Doom player. I made her an Heir, as one who is consumed by their aspect, since Yumeno is very much doom and gloom a lot of the time. She’s also subconsciously drawn to death, as she gets close to both Angie and Chabashira before their untimely demises. It’s through their deaths that she comes more into her own, hence why it’s also part of her land title (I don’t think I have to explain the other part). She dreams on both moons because Doom players are implied to do so.

Yonaga Angie Witch of Hope Derse Dreamer The Land of Prayer and Idols

Like Momota, Angie has intense faith on her side; if Angie thinks it’s true, it’s true. She’s also similarly not looking at the same world as everyone else, instead seeing something slightly different and colored by her own beliefs. However, unlike Momota, Angie is not interested in helping others find their own faith, and would rather use the power of her belief for her own gain. Hence why I made her a Witch, an active class that manipulates its aspect. The other characters may not believe in Angie’s religion, but they sure do believe her when she tells them to sacrifice their autonomy for safety. I put her on Derse since her god could very easily just be a specific horrorterror, and the land name is connected to religion. 

Shirogane Tsumugi Maid of Void Derse Dreamer The Land of Scripts and Swatches

I went through a lot of possible Classpects for Shirogane, including Light, Space, Seer, Heart, etc., but I think that this is what I’m going to settle on. Derse Dreamer because not only is she schemey, she’s listening to whispers of her bosses and the ratings, albeit in a less direct sense than Kiibo (what’s more horrorterror-y than a focus group!). Void as an aspect works well to me, since Shirogane is always going on and on about being plain and forgettable, about how she hides in plain sight, and even her talent is about becoming somebody else rather than herself. She’s also the one who in the end throws the “truth” into question, instead concealing it in favor of ambiguity. I went with Maid since one of the speculated interpretations is one who creates or creates through their aspect: she not only (arguably) erases the casts’ identities and memories, she does this in order to have “blank pages” on which to write the killing game’s drama. Whether Maid is an active or passive class is unknown, but if it’s active it makes sense since she’s using other people for her own gain, and if it’s passive, it could be argued that she’s doing it in service of Team DR or the audience.

Speaking of...

Bonus!

The V3 audience Muse of Space The Land Beyond the 4th Wall

I don’t like assigning Master Classes unless I have a really good reason, and here I think it works. The fans are the epitome of the “wait-and-see” model, and their crime as it were is their general apathy toward the very real subjects of the killing game. They’re all big picture and no important details or nuance. You can’t get much more passive than being an audience member, hence Muse class, yet it’s their desire to recycle the series over and over that leads to the killing game’s very existence (they’re also not too upset about letting the kids’ past lives be sacrificed for this act of creation). The V3 audience is collectively in the real world as opposed to the Medium, hence the “planet” title for them. In the context of an actual Sburb game, they’d likely be Exiles.

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

Yeah, no Rage players in V3. I couldn’t find my notes the other night when I got home, so I just went ahead and reworked all of the classpects from there.

The Aspects were fairly easy to assign, but the Classes really had me scratching my head for a good long while. Maybe it’s because it can recontextualize the Aspect elements depending on what it is, or maybe it’s because we don’t have as much information about how Classes work. 

Anyway, whew, that’s it! Hope you enjoyed!

[neon-junkie]

can i get uhhhhh some willscuella hcs? maybe when (and how?) they understood that dutch is not the leader they want anymore so they ran together and how it all went for them and for their relationship (friends to lovers mb??) idk or just general ones i'll read anything you write about them tbh

ohhhhhhh willscuella, they make my heart melt ;-;  did i get carried away with these? yes. are they a bit scruffy? yes. but you get the gist. 

Just a warning, these hc’s does contain a description of a panic attack and a homophobic slur. its a nice ending tho, promise :) 

Bill was up one night, drinking his sorrows away, trying to shake off the creepy vibe that Beaver Hollow gives out constantly. It's far too late for anybody to be up, apart from those on guard duty and for once, Javier isn't on it.

Bill gets up from his seat and begins wandering off past the horses, heading up to the left so he can empty his bladder. He turns and begins wandering back into camp, only to find Javier sitting down by one of the trees.

Had he been there this whole time? Had he appeared after Bill popped out of the camp? Bill is unsure, but he's definitely sure of the depressing aura that radiates Javier.

"Hey," Bill simply says as he approaches Javier. "You alright?" he asks.

"Bill, hey... yeah... well, no, not really," Javier takes his time responding.

"What's a matter?" Bill questions.

"The gang, Dutch, the usual stuff, you know," Javier tells him with a shrug.

"Yeah, I know," Bill pouts as he sits down beside Javier.

Within time, Javier began to pour his heart out. Ranting to Bill about how much the gang means to him, how they're family, how Dutch took him in when he was ready to die.

He finds himself crying, angry tears as he gets worked up at the situation, the situation that he feels could easily be avoided if everybody would just work together.

"You don't think that maybe... Dutch... he ain't really... with it?" Bill questions. Everybody has noticed how much Dutch has changed, how he's unnecessarily killing, how he's becoming the exact person he swore never to be.

"He isn't. I know he isn't. I guess I just don't want to admit it," Javier sighs. He knows that the man who saved his life is no longer someone he can rely on. He's not the same man who peeled his own coat off his back and wrapped it around Javier, attempting to tell him that he'll be fine, despite the language barrier.

Sooner or later, the gang will break. People have already begun peeling away, one at a time, escaping before the storm can hit. But Javier and Bill are in it till the very end, they've sworn their loyalty to their leader, to the gang, to each other.

"Bill?" Javier questions, lifting his head up and meeting Bills eyes.

"Yeah?" Bill asks, noticing the glistening trails of Javiers tears over his cheeks.

"If anything happens... to the gang I mean, you'll stick by me, Bill, won't you?" Javier questions.

"Of course," Bill nods.

They have each other.

-----

The storm finally came and they were forced to pick a side. But when the Pinkertons showed up, everybody ran.

Javier and Bill noticed the way Dutch didn't bother with them. Dutch didn't even look at them, he didn't check if they were safe or if they were following him to safety. He ran and saved his own ass, Micah trailing behind.

Javier and Bill looked at each other whilst the bullets continued to fly overhead, knowing that now is their chance to escape.

So they left, whistling for their horses and bolting out of there. Dutch was nowhere to be seen nor heard, but this was a blessing in disguise as they could finally escape.

Days became weeks and they found themselves in New Austin, a place they hadn't been for well over the year. They've not missed the blazing sun or the dry earth, but the landscape doesn't seem to bother them. They have bigger demons to face.

A small camp is set up whilst they try and figure things out, where to go, what to do, where to hide, etc. They're sticking together, and even Brown Jack and Boaz seem inseparable, traumatized from how much that fight had startled them.

They're scavenging whatever they can, robbing the odd coach here and there, practically picking up every penny they see in the dirt in order to survive. Every day is heavy, a permanent weight on their shoulders, and they can't remember the last time they've laughed or smiled.

The nights in New Austin are cold and dark, like a vast void. It's the perfect setting for nightmares and they become a regular thing for Javier.

Bill's used to overhearing Javier jolt awake. He's used to stirring in his sleep and seeing Javier sat by the campfire, bags under his eyes with his knees tucked up to his chest.

That well-groomed and confident man that he once knew is gone, leaving behind this started lamb with enough weight on his shoulders to kill a horse.

The nightmares get bad one night, Javier jolting awake but this time, he lets out a cry. He's panting and shaking and he suddenly forgets how to breathe.

"Javier?" Bill calls out as he stirs awake, slowly sitting up to see Javier on the verge of a breakdown. "Shit," Bill swears under his breath, quickly getting to his feet and settling down beside Javier.

The tears begin to fall and Javier goes into a panicked state, shaking and hyperventilating, forgetting how to move his own body.

Bill's unsure what to do so he plays on his instincts, reaching out to gently pull Javier against his chest, softly wrapping his arms around the much smaller man.

Javier melts into him straight away, burying his head into the curve of Bills neck, clinging onto Bills shirt for dear life as he empties out all his bottled emotions through his tears.

Bill cradles Javier, softly cooing him, reminding him to breathe every so often. They stay like that for quite some time; minutes? hours? time blurs when you're in that state.

Once Javier's worn out and stable enough to respond, he sobs out a "thank you," still curled up in Bills lap, still gripping onto his shirt and breathing heavily.

"S'alright. You'd do the same for me," Bill tells him. "C'mon, let's get some rest," Bill says. Javier can only nod in agreement.

Neither of them questions what happens next, they just naturally do it. Bill pulls Javier down with him onto his bedroll, stretching his arm out underneath Javiers head, pulling the smaller man against him. Javiers arms wrap around Bill tightly, gripping onto the bear-sized man as if he was going to slip away.

They're quick to drift off to sleep, exhausted from the turn of events, but the way they've slept doesn't bother either of them.

From then on, literally sleeping together becomes a normal thing. It's comforting, reminding themselves that they still have each other, but only each other.

Javier does try to sleep by himself one night whilst Bill goes for a walk, but he ends up lying awake the whole time. Once Bill is back and settled on his own rollmat, Javier gets up and moves across to Bill, taking his normal position comfortably across Bills chest.

Bill doesn't say a word, he just stretches his arm out and allows Javier to curl up to him. If anything, Bill encourages it from the way he tightly holds Javier, and the way his cheek rests against Javiers head as they sleep.

-----

Their first kiss wasn't surprising. It was a somewhat odd situation, the pair attempting to go into town one evening for a few drinks, over a year after the event.

They'd gotten a lot better since they began finding comfort in each other, and Javier was the one to suggest that they should try and do something normal, especially now they'd earned a fair amount of money and were beginning to get back onto their feet.

Drinks were downed and they were at a comfortable level, sitting by themselves at the table. The saloon was quite busy for a dry, desert town. One that was apparently riddled with cholera but the pair weren't fussed if they catch it. If anything, it'd be a blessing.

They overheard a man make a comment about them, saying he'd "never seen such an odd pair of fags before."

Javier was the one to act impulsively, not Bill, storming to his feet and confronting the stranger.

Bill peeled him away, saying he's not worth it, and managed to drag Javier outside and have him relax as they leaned on the fence surrounding the Saloon.

Bill knew Javier was calm the second he said "that was weird for me, eh? You used to be the one to do things like that," with a soft laugh.

"Maybe you've been around me for too long then," Bill replied.

"Yeah, maybe a little too close to you too," Javier laughs, but Bill picks up on that glisten to his eyes.

"D-do you mind that?" Bill questions. The two had never actually spoken about their sleeping arrangements, naturally doing them to help benefit the other, providing warmth and comfort through their hardest times.

"The cuddling? No," Javier confidently replies.

He said it. Cuddling. They are cuddling, aren't they? Bill feels odd finally hearing it, finally coming to terms with the fact that the pair do enjoy a cuddle every night. And they don't just do it when they're in bed; they've often just lazed about together by the campfire some evenings, or spent a few minutes in each others arms before they get up.

"Do you?" Javier asks, snapping Bill out of his dazed realization.

"What? No," Bill replies.

"Hm," Javier hums in agreement.

They're silent, staring at each other. Javier's always been relaxed about the arrangement, calling it to himself cuddling from the very start, but Bill was a little unsure if it really was cuddling. He's never wanted to cross any boundaries, to hurt Javier in any way, especially not by making him uncomfortable.

Their eyes lock onto each others; Bill's wide and timid, whilst Javiers are relaxed and confident.

But regardless of their current states, they both move in at the same time to finally kiss. It's comforting, like sipping a hot drink at just the right temperature, or watching a rock skim perfectly over the water. It feels like both home and the open road, like two polar opposites finally meeting.

If they would have somehow kissed years ago then it would have never worked; their noses would have bumped too often, Bill would have been too aggressive, and Javier would have probably pushed him away.

But now, it was just right.

Just like that stranger said, they definitely are an odd pair.

[eastonia-blog]

I’m going to do a weird.

I know a whole lot of us are stuck at home due to the COVID19 outbreak and all our respective governments attempting to flatten the curve. So I’m going to break out my VAST library of fanfiction recommendations for you to read! Please bear in mind that my tastes in fics are not necessarily like yours so the following 15 Fandom reccs might be hit or miss. All ships and above T ratings will be tagged with brackets, all crossovers will be mentioned in those same brackets. Also, if I mention it’s part of a series, I’m not just recommending the fic I mentioned, I’m recommending the whole series. I’ve tried to recommend a different author’s fic each time. So! Let’s start with the 3 fandoms I mention in my blog description.

1) ATLA Fate Deferred (Zutara) Aang remains in the iceberg ten years longer. Sozin’s comet comes, the world keeps turning with no Avatar to save it, and by the time he’s finally found by a waterbender and her Fire Nation husband, a lot has changed. [Zutara established relationship full series rewrite; Now on Book II: Earth]  Cheating at Pai Sho (Canon Divergence) “You said you were the Avatar!” “…I lied?” Aang doesn’t get rescued in episode two, and no one’s seen him go glowy yet… so he starts bluffing. Hard. Or: “The Avatar joins Zuko’s quest to find the Avatar.” In which Zuko doesn’t join the Gaang, the Gaang joins Zuko.  The Undying Fire: Blood and Fire (First in the Undying Fire Series, eventual Zutara) Book 1. In which rescuing the Avatar from Pohuai Stronghold doesn’t end so well. It’s a tough life being a banished prince trying to get home, especially when the Avatar just wants to be your friend and keeps making everything confusing. Oh, and did Zuko mention he somehow healed the kid? Yeah, that happened. Stalking Zuko (First in the Stalking Zuko Series, eventual Zutara) Katara has developed a new hobby. At the Western Air Temple she takes to stalking Zuko. Much silliness and shenanigans follow. In chapter 20: Katara and Zuko return home to the others. Katara hates the F word and she comes to a decision regarding Zuko.  Embers (Canon divergence) Dragon’s fire is not so easily extinguished; when Zuko rediscovers a lost firebending technique, shifting flames can shift the world…  2) Percy Jackson and the Olympians The Father (Percabeth in the GFFA, eventual Anidala) It all started with a wish, but because it was Percy Jackson it couldn’t have been a friendly goddess granting him a wish. No, it had to be Nemesis, goddess of revenge and balance. Now Percy and Annabeth are stuck in a strange new galaxy right when an ancient and powerful darkness finally begins to stir.  Glass Figures (MCU Mashup) I lifted my gun, pointing it towards the minefield of shattered fragments, and kicked the small coffee table out of the way.Only to stare down at an awfully familiar face, which split into a somewhat lopsided grin. The intruder raised his hands in a mocking surrender. //“Long time no see, dude.” //I lowered the gun. “What the hell are you doing in South Peru?” //Or in which Clint Barton and Percy Jackson have a long personal history that starts in high school. All Together, Cousins (Canon divergence) When Thalia ran away with her toddler brother, Jason, she slowly gathered her cousins: she and her cousins being Big Three children. As Jason gets older and their motley group expands to six, Thalia resigns herself to the fact that she won’t always be the leader of the pack. As she accepts that, something more is coming, able to challenge even the gods above. A Crown of Golden Leaves (Historical AU) Annabeth, a Lady from the declining polis of Athens, must marry the Heir Apparent of Rome to save the rapidly expanding world from a threat even the gods couldn’t foresee.  Deluge (Percy in the Arrowverse) Barry has to deal with yet another Metahuman that Zoom has pitted against him. But this ‘Metahuman’ is an unwilling pawn in Zoom’s plan and really wants to find a way around killing the Scarlet Speester. But how can he when Zoom is holding something against him? 

3) DC Firework (First in the Sparks in the Dark Series) Orphaned and removed from the only life he’s ever known, Dick feels like there’s no light left for him in the world. His new benefactor, however, still sees something worth saving… Chronological beginning of the Spark in the Dark series.   Iron, Fire, Mirror-Glass After a brutal confrontation with Bane, Bruce comes away with a broken spine and the certainty that his days as Batman are over. An unexpected discovery offers him another chance—but at what price? The story of a man who risks his soul for the sake of his mission, the dangerous creature he names Robin, and the unlikely partnership that will shape the legend of Gotham’s Dark Knight.  Get Back Up There was a mole, one who played a long game. The team was betrayed, crushed. Robin nearly died. What are they going to do now? Only one chirped the answer. Get back up. WARNING: lots of talking, little action, many follow ups  Five Times …Five times Damian thought of Dick Grayson as his father, and the one time Dick thought of Damian as his son. Future-fic. YJ characters will show up later. Batman!Dick and Damian as Robin. With guest appearances from Jason, Tim, Cass, and Steph.  Unveiling the Mystery Series of one-shots about the team learning a little about Robin (Dick Grayson).   With all the fics, I heavily suggest you also read what else these authors have to offer in their archive.

And now here’s the plethora of other fandoms I read fics in under the cut!

4) Harry Potter The Horse (Mature) Looking after a Muggle animal should be easy compared to saving Hogwarts from Voldemort. Harry and Draco might disagree with that. Featuring Luna, Marauders, peppermints and, of course, a tall, black, badtempered horse named Simon. The Potions Master’s Nephew An accident occurs and Professor Snape finds himself trapped in his fifteen-year-old body. Enrolled into Harry Potter’s fifth year, he is forced to hide his true identity. Girls, drama and teenage angst do not bode well with Severus. Keeping Up with the Grangers (Dramione, Mature) Mr. Malfoy, I invite you and your mother to tea next Tuesday, May 25th at 2o’clock to discuss recent events. Dr. Helen Granger //…  …// He glances at the boxy too-uniform numbers flashing on the face of Richard’s radio. It’s nearly noon, and he should be getting ready to leave; but there is still a harsh tension in his shoulders and neck that he wants to work out before Hermione finds him. It is, after all, Tuesday; and while his Tuesdays were designated ‘tea with Helen’ days previously, they are now ‘lunch with Granger’ days, ever since the chance meet-up with the Weasel’s wife and the insufferable swot herself. Faceless (Dramione, Mature) New year. New love. New threat. A powerful enemy is on the rise, and Hermione Granger finds herself intertwined in a relationship with Draco Malfoy – only she doesn’t know it’s him. / / RUNNER-UP: Enchanted Awards Summer 2017 for Best Relationship Development 

5) Devil May Cry And the Rest is Silence (Mature) The destruction of the Saviour wasn’t the end. Too many people had too much invested.  An Uncle’s Thoughts Dante’s thoughts and feelings regarding one particular quarter-demon kid. Vignettes that span from the start of Devil May Cry 4 through Devil May Cry 5, and beyond. Fortuna’s Fool Events after DMC5 with flashbacks to the events we briefly see in DMC4SE only with Vergil telling Dante all about Nero’s mother. Family ties are so complicated, aren’t they? Family of Happenstance Some orphans have happy endings, getting adopted or finding their family. Having a demon slaying half devil for a father tends to throw a tiny monkey wrench in the process. AU Father!Dante, Son!Nero. Rated because hunters don’t exactly have clean mouths.     

6) Power Rangers (Focus on Might Morphin’ and Dino Thunder teams) Of Love and Bunnies Set just after Dino Thunder. When Angel Grove announces another Power Rangers Day, Tommy takes the Dino Rangers to Angel Grove for a reunion with the original team… including Kimberly. TommyKim, JasonTrini, KiraTrent. The Reason (Part 1 of eclyptyk neo‘s Dino Thunder AU) COMPLETED. DT. AU. Years go by as Tommy Oliver becomes accustomed to his job as a teacher. A person from his past returns. The new ranger team grows interested in its outcome. How will these new changes between rangers young and old be? Sequel: Ordinary World Change of Hearts (Wild Force)   PRWF: When Jindrax and Toxica set out to find themselves, they had no idea that their greatest adventure was only beginning. Chronology Conundrum DT/MMPR - After a strange mutation is released in Reefside, the five Dino Thunder Ranges find themselves thrown back into the past, circa 1995 Angel Grove. Somehow, they have to figure out how to make it back to their present without destroying it or themselves. And if they succeed, they must navigate the consequences of their actions in the past, while still protecting Reefside. 7) Merlin (Mergana leaning) The Other Version of Events What if Merlin and Arthur had met when they were children? What if a mysterious illness fell over Ealdor and Merlin was blamed? What if Arthur had actually felt sorry for him? What if destiny was thrown at them in a whole new way? AU, no slash, Bromance, A/G M/M… You get the idea.  Flipping the Coin, Part 2 of Coins (2nd story in the Coins Sage but 1st multichapter) Merlin and Gwaine are sent on an adventure to discover their past and stay one step ahead of Morgana. Fearing for them, Arthur and the other knights set out to find them, but soon discover much more than they bargained for. Alt version Season 5. Sequel to “Two Sides of the Coin” Angst, Adventure, BAMF, Bromance, Redemption, Twists on Arthurian Legends.  The King’s Legacy “I hope you are rolling in your grave brother, I will find your son, and I hope he is like you. I will ruin him and gain a lovely weapon in the process.” Cenred spat on the grave, “I win Balinor.” .Sequel posted.  The Warlock’s Quickening (First in the Albion Cycle) Merlin might have come to Camelot to master his magic, not to end the Purge, but he’s not going to sit idly by while his kin suffer. Oh no. Whether it’s releasing a chained dragon, smuggling sorcerers out of the city, or trying to change Arthur’s mind, he’s fighting back. Now. Series rewrite beginning after 1X02 featuring Proactive!Merlin. AU. 

8) Dragon Ball Under the Radar (Gohan/Videl) Gohan is living life as a secret superhero, but Videl is making it her business to find him out! How will Gohan manage her and Saiyan hormones? Will he fess up? Or will he try to live his life -puts on sunglasses- “Under the Radar”? *applause* Thank you! Thank you! And GOODNIGHT! G/V obviously. Rated T because adult situations and language in later chapters. COMPLETE! Golden God (Mature) To save the lives of millions, Gohan is forced to expose himself as a Super Saiyan, proving that his tricks are indeed very real. And it drives the whole world to insanity. Warning; becomes a little graphic goes as it on. Walking Towards the Sunset Bardock’s curse sends him to a mysterious place where weaklings are abundant and an odd trio claim to be his family. Eventually giving in, he stays with them to discover that Earth is more unlucky than Planet Vegeta. Impatiently waiting for his son’s arrival, Bardock has to survive a new life with his estranged family and a certain girl set on finding the truth. (Saiyaman-Buu Saga) Plus One (Gohan/Videl, Mature) Tired of being pursued by the gold-digging, glory-seeking, Satan obsessed freaks of the world, Videl will resort to the only method open to a celebrity like her to find Mr. Right. 9) Sailor Moon (Mainly SenshiShitennou) The Crystal Age (Rewritten) In an alternate version of Season 1, as a result of Beryl’s curse at the end of the Silver Age, Tuxedo Mask and the reincarnated Shitennou are fighting a losing battle to save the city and find the lost princess. Sailor Moon has disappeared, Sailor V is working on her own, and the other Senshi are still just ordinary girls. Sequel to The Silver Age. MxU, SxS. Please R&R. Hooligans It’s after Galaxia and time for University. The Senshi and Mamoru settle into life in Great Britain and meet some old friends. Inner Senshi x Shitennou and Usagi x Mamoru. Modern Timeline. Strong language, crude humour, hilarity and sexual situations abound, be warned, there will be some heavy angst later on too. Never Gone R A single choice can change the course of Fate: a choice, say, like waking up on time. If that choice were made, Chiba Mamoru would never meet Tsukino Usagi; but, he WOULD meet Unami Seiya and the burden of Terra’s future would fall onto his shoulders. Never Gone AU. The Dinner Hour (Part of The Dinner Series) It can be hard to be patient in the face of eternity. But good things come to those who search and refuse to give up on their dreams. R/J. (Sequels: Dinner And Again, Dinner at Last completed!)

10) Les Miserables (Warning: Enjonine ahead) When Apollo Met Persephone (1st of the 1830s AU) The revolution, or at least the first part of it succeeds. Enjolras confronts political and personal realities. Eponine is suddenly faced with more opportunities than she ever thought. Can they guide each other in a world that needs them as much as they need it? Les Choses Qui Sont Arrivées Après “You must flee Paris at once.” Enjolras and Eponine. The thief and the leader, the marble Apollo and the dark street girl… two wholly different survivors of the Revolution are forced together under a dangerous circumstance. Can they successfully fight their demons as well as each other? Neither of them knows quite what is going on, or what will happen when they figure it out.     Teacher of Man The first time Enjolras and Éponine meet, it is their wedding day. (arranged marriage AU) My Best Friend’s Wedding Éponine Thenardiér always thought that Marius would eventually come back to her, until the wedding invitation came in the mail. Now she is going to do everything that she can to get him back from that blonde tart Cosette. Nothing goes according to plan and even her partner in crime Enjolras is becoming an obstacle. E/E. 11) Naruto Beginnings  Naruto was six years old when he met the man who changed his life. …Now he’s kind of just hoping he survives it.  An Inch of Gold (Part of the Legacy of Fire series) Team 7 is sent on a mission to investigate a disturbance outside of the village, where they encounter an unconscious girl in a crater. The mysterious Sarada insists she’s a shinobi from the Hidden Leaf trying to rescue her teammates. When the team discovers she possesses a Sharingan, things become even more unbelievable. [Part of the Legacy of Fire Series]     Guilt of Innocence Uchiha Sasuke abandoned Konoha in his persute of power to join Orochimaru. However, this was only a cover story. In fact, on Tsunade’s orders, Sasuke is to act as Konoha’s spy within Otogakure. One agreement and his path had changed forever…  Blind (SasuSaku) It was almost time, Orochimaru was going to take his body as a vessel. He hated being used…he refused to be used. With that thought, he took the kunai in his hand and slashed across his eyes.     

12) Legend of Zelda (Zelink) The Conviction to Save The princess is dead. Those are the words being whispered in the streets. A great shudder sweeps across the land of Hyrule as news of its beloved monarch’s passing spreads like wildfire. In the midst of the ensuing chaos, a humble village doctor happens upon the body of a gravely injured young woman on the road. Legend of the Miraculous (Concepts taken from Miraculous Ladybug)   A legend retold through many a tale, but when a darkness resurfaces after so long, Athena and Sheikhan Wolf must return again! Will Link and Zelda be able to combat this threat? and will they figure out each others’ identities? Come inside and take a look! Hit List AU. It all started as a typical day at Ordon High, until a sudden school shooting turns the life of Link Hero upside down. Now, surrounded by enemies, can Link save his friends and escape the school alive? (Edit 10/2015) Counting Stars Link finds himself caught in the middle of an elaborate gang war. Lucky for him, being a B-list superhero makes that predicament a tiny bit easier. / Modern AU ZeLink, inspired by Spider-Man. Under Revision! 13) Hunger Games Vox Libertas Due to things playing out a bit differently in the last few minutes of the Quell, the rescue also goes a bit differently than expected. Now Peeta has the responsibility of representing the Rebellion thrust upon him. No pressure. *AU Mockingjay. Part I of Dandelion in the Storm AU. Mainly Peeta POV.*     Someone To Watch Over Me (Everlark, 1st in the Series) A HG rewrite. What would happen if Peeta was just a little bit bolder, and Katniss a little less emotionally confused? You’d be surprised. Let the Games begin. This is an AU, but I’ve tried to stay as canon as possible. Rated T to be safe.     Enthralled (Everlark, Gadge, Mature) Thrall (þræll), n., a slave or serf in Viking Age Scandinavia. After a successful raid, Gale is rewarded with a slave girl: the Saxon noblewoman Madge. Meanwhile, shieldmaiden Katniss grows closer to captive monk Peeta. Gadge/Everlark historical AU with background Odesta and other pairings.   Katniss, Vampire Slayer (Mature) “Into every generation a slayer is born.” the man droned out slowly, quietly, in a way that made her think he was quoting something. “One girl in all the world. A chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer.” //  Haymitch mocked. “One girl in all the world. Ain’t I just lucky it had to be you.” 14) How To Train Your Dragon Becoming Lífþrasir (Hiccstrid) People often wondered what kept Hiccup going during those early years. When that single, most-treasured thing is taken from him, there is little left to keep him on Berk. The day Stoick returns, and the day before the best recruit is finally chosen, Hiccup leaves Berk; little knowing that he would one day return under … strange circumstances. H/A, R/F, rated for violence.     HTTYD Easter Special Sequel to “The Unholy Offspring,” set after the season finale. When Alvin the Treacherous threatens Asgard with a rogue demigod’s help, Hiccup and Berk’s Dragon Riders must prevent an early Ragnorak. It doesn’t help that Alvin has learned to tame dragons, and that the only god that can help Hiccup is a sullen, suspicious boy named Mud. Happy Eos week, Hiccup!     The Blacksmith’s Apprentice (Hiccstrid) AU. Hiccup never took the shot on that fateful night-and the war continued. Three years later, Berk is beset by dragon raids and hostile tribes while the boy who should have saved the island is merely the assistant in the forge. With only Astrid as his friend, fate gives Hiccup one more chance to end the war and become the hero he was meant to be. Hiccstrid. Snap (Hiccstrid, Mature) He was just supposed to fix her back, and she doubted that at first. She definitely didn’t expect to get dragged into the ethics of a girlish crush. Modern AU. 15) Star Wars Double Agent Vader The one where Vader turned double agent for the Rebellion about three years after ROTS, and Leia is now his primary contact with the Rebellion. Or,  a man attempts to escape slavery by turning into one of his culture heroes, teaching his daughter how to do magic, killing people, and flower arranging. A New History During a heated battle, Dooku escaped into the past! Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker follow to stop him, but discover that Dooku went to the past where Obi-Wan is a young padawan to a very much alive Qui-Gon Jinn. Now, the two must go undercover to stop Dooku’s plans from coming to fruition in order to save not only the future, but also young Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn. Pulse AU for ROTS. As Padme’s life hangs in the balance on Mustafar, a stream of brilliant light causes Anakin to reconsider his choices. Jedi Shmi AU Shmi leaves Tatooine with Anakin and goes to the Jedi Temple.

[gin-and-stardust]

Come to Me, My Lost Brother

There was a heaviness in her chest that Hazel had never felt before. Everyone was relieved, the Breach was no longer spreading and the Herald of Andraste was here to personally deliver them from the demons. Whenever she saw Ally, she saw the heaviness in the woman’s gait. Hazel wanted to help, help Ally who had been nothing but kind to her, but she couldn’t force herself to move from the bench near the window she claimed as her own.

Arthur and the Templar patrol were meant to be back by now. She knew that they likely had run into demons and if anyone was equipped to fight them it was a group of Templars. Still, the fact that they hadn’t made it back in the week since the explosion at the Conclave worried. C’mon Artie, don’t do this to me. Don’t make me tell mom.

Hazel perked up when she heard footsteps echo down the hallway. She turned her head slightly from the window to see Cullen walking towards her. He hesitated slightly before, unaware that she had already spotted him.

Cullen cleared his throat.

“Can I help you?” She mumbles.

“Uh, I,” Cullen coughed, “Leliana’s scouts received reports of a Templar group about a day’s ride away from Haven.”

Hazel sat up straighter.

“Her scouts say that one of the Templars match your brother’s description,” Cullen rubbed the back of his neck.

“You’re sure?” Hazel said slowly.

“The report came in an hour ago,” Cullen replied, “Leliana wouldn’t appreciate me sharing this information, but I thought you deserved to know.”

“Thank you,” Hazel smiled.

Codex Entry: Crumpled Note

Dear Mother and Father,

I regret to inform

I’m sorry I didn’t write to you sooner

After the Conclave

I fear Arthur has

-The ink is smeared making the rest illegible-

Hazel rested her head on her arms staring out of the window once more. The sun was low on the horizon. She’d been waiting anxiously for the group to ride through the doors but as the day progressed her heart sunk lower and lower into her stomach. Leliana’s scouts were rarely wrong, so that meant something must have happened.

When she heard footsteps, she just rolled her head on her arms let out a long sigh.

“I do not know what to say, other than to apologize,” Cullen said slowly.

Hazel furrowed her brows, “why?”

“I gave you the report and it proved inaccurate. It was unfair of me to raise your hopes like that.”

She shook her head, “no, it isn’t your fault.”

Cullen opened his mouth and then closed it but rubbed the back of his neck instead. Hazel turned her gaze away from him and back towards the gates of Haven.

“Do you mind,” Cullen coughed, “do you mind if I sit here for a while?”

Hazel shrugged, “if you want to.”

Outside the low light was making the shadows of the villagers long and she couldn’t make out individual people. Along the wall the, she could make out the guards and one person that seemed to resemble Ally with double daggers peeking out over her shoulders. Next to Hazel, she could hear paper rustling. She sighed and continued to guess at who was walking around the Chantry courtyard.

An hour passed before Hazel noticed in a change in the nighttime atmosphere of Haven. She lifted her head when she heard a guard shouting, but she couldn’t make out the words. A quick glance at Cullen told her he heard the same as he was halfway to his feet already. She nimbly leaped to her feet fearing they were under attack.

Cullen nodded at her before he set off on a brisk pace down the hallway. Hazel went the other direction to grab her bow before running down to the gate. By the time she arrived, Ally was already stationed on a ledge just below the wall, so she could see who was approaching but they likely couldn’t see her. Cullen was more casual, resting with his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“Templars approaching!”

Hazel stilled. Templars?

Cullen quirked an eyebrow but otherwise remained stationary. Ally jumped down from the wall.

“Are you expecting a patrol, Commander?”

“Yes,” Cullen shifted, “but at the moment I don’t know if this is the one we were expecting.”

Ally crossed her arms, “we’ll find out soon, they’re half a mile from the gate.”

The next several minutes were tense. Hazel paced along the back of the group. She wasn’t sure how to react when the guards opened the gate and she could faintly make out a group of riders. Seconds later she could see the Templar sword crest on the front rider.

“Rylen!” Cullen greeted, and the tension evaporated.

The front rider, Rylen evidently, reined in his horse before dismounting.

“Commander,” Rylen pressed a fist to his chest, “I apologize for falling out of contact, but when the sky opened, we weren’t prepared for demons.”

Hazel slowly made her way to the front of the crowd. She glanced at the heads of the still mounted Templars, most had their helmets off but, longer she looked the more unfamiliar faces she saw.

“Hazel?”

She whipped her head to the side and couldn’t help the grin that broke across her face. Arthur’s hair was mussed from wearing a helmet and she could see a recent cut along the side of his head. It would scar, but he was alive. They stared at each other for a second longer before Arthur rushed her and crushed her against him.

His armor was uncomfortable against her body as she was only wearing a cotton tunic She didn’t care as she hugged him tighter. Her brother was alive. It was a good emotional whiplash.

Against her shoulder, she could feel Arthur laughing and she ignored the wetness growing there.

Codex Entry: A Neatly Folded Letter

Dear Mother and Father,

I would have written sooner, but the Templars have kept me busy since the rebellion began. Then demons literally fell from the sky… so that was something that had to be dealt with.

Good news, I’m alive and Hazel hasn’t killed me for worrying her. I’ll count that as a victory.

Bad news, it looks like we’ll be stuck in Ferelden for the time being helping with this Inquisition. Really, the only bad part about that statement is we’ll be stuck in Ferelden. It really does smell like dogs here, and it’s cold.

Hopefully, when this is all over, I’ll be able to visit. Just make sure Kenneth is properly prepared for my arrival.

                                                                                   Wishing you the best,

                                                                                               Arthur

Arthur stretched and groaned as his spine cracked. The beds in the Chantry weren’t comfortable, but they were better than camping in the woods. He rolled over onto his side and squinted his eyes against the early morning light. Hazel was in the bed next to him, blanket pulled over her head, he laughed and swung his legs over the side.

The relief he felt at seeing his sister alive was immeasurable. He’d been watching the temple when it exploded, in his heart, he knew that no one could have survived that, but the faithful part of his mind prayed that out of everyone Hazel would be able to survive. Apparently, Andraste had been listening because Hazel had walked out of the rift with the Herald of Andraste.

Slowly he stood his knees protesting the movement. Hazel shifted slightly, and the blanket was pulled taut over her head. Arthur carefully eased the blanket out from underneath her head and instead settled it high on her neck. Mother’s warning coming to mind, Hazel, if you keep pulling that blanket over your head you’ll suffocate during your sleep. Of course, Hazel didn’t listen, but Arthur had taken it to heart, and since they shared a room had taken to untucking the blanket in the morning.

Hazel grumbled and gripped the blanket but then settled down.

Arthur smiled and quietly moved around the room, pulling on a loaned cotton tunic and a pair of threadbare linen pants. He eyed his armor for a moment before shaking his head, there was no need to put it on yet this morning. It would be too much of a hassle to find someone to help him in the first place. The majority of Haven hadn’t woken up, except for the blacksmith and the guards.

The Chantry should be empty. He preferred doing his prayers in private and not amongst the services.

Arthur stepped into the main hall, the pews were empty, and he walked more confidently until he reached the altar and saw someone kneeling. On closer inspection, he saw that it was the Commander. He hesitated before he shrugged and knelt next to the man.

Maker, my enemies are abundant, he began, but my faith sustains me; I shall not fear the legion, should they set themselves against me.

Cullen shifted next to him preparing to stand. Arthur flicked his eyes back to the ground. In the long hours of the night, when hope has abandoned me, I will see the stars and know, your Light remains.

He stops and instead looks up into the face of Andraste. Had they failed the Maker so horribly? Arthur shifted on his knees to be more comfortable. Cullen was still standing next to him.

“You’re Lady Trevelyan’s brother, are you not?”

Arthur nodded, “I wouldn’t call her that to her face, that’s our mother’s title.”

“I will bear that in mind,” Cullen nodded, “it is a relief to see that the patrol returned alive.”

“It was a near thing,” Arthur replied.

“I believe we’ll have to take our victories where we can,” Cullen adjusted his sword, “perhaps if you have time later you could help me instruct the recruits.”

“I don’t have much patience for teaching, but I can help with demonstrations.”

Cullen dipped his head and turned to leave.

At least there are Templars in the Inquisition.

Now that Cullen left, as minimal of a distraction that he was, Arthur was able to focus more on his morning prayer.

Hazel wandered down to where the troops were training. Arthur had been spending his afternoons helping with them, and this was too good of a chance to get blackmail material. Her brother teaching? Surely something hilarious will come of it, she doubted he had the patience for someone who was not getting it after the fourth or fifth time.

It didn’t hurt that Commander Cullen was usually supervising the troops. She knew she should probably focus on trying to help the inquisition, become a scout of Leliana’s or maybe help Josephine with nobles. Except Hazel wasn’t overly eager to be away from her brother after fearing him dead. Cullen was a magnetic presence, and for the moment while the world was falling apart she would allow herself to indulge in such fantasies.

“Hold that shield up!”

Hazel snickered to herself as the soldier attempted to correct himself and instead his partner’s blade skittered up the shield and into the side of his head. It reminded her a lot Kenneth’s and Arthur’s spars growing up.

Speaking of Arthur, it looked like he was in the middle of an intense battle against a warrior wielding a two-handed sword. Despite the strength in the blows landing on his shield, Arthur brushed them and kept pressing forward.

“He’s quite good,” Cullen remarked as she drew nearer to him.

“It’ll go to his head if you tell him that,” Hazel laughed, “but his instructors have always said his defense was ingenious.”

They watched the fight for several more seconds. Arthur finally caught the blade on the ridge of his shield and shoved it away opening the warrior’s guard which Arthur took advantage of by sliding his leg forward to keep the solider off balance and then swung the hilt of his sword into the soldier’s side.

“Good movement,” Cullen mumbled.

Hazel nodded and glance around at the rest of the soldiers, “they’ve improved.”

Cullen glanced at the solider that he corrected the shield position on, “yes, I hope it is enough for when we seal the Breach.”

“Was it hard for you to leave the order?” Hazel asked suddenly.

“It was not as difficult as I would have thought,” Cullen shrugs, “after Kirkwall, perhaps I was looking for a way to change things.”

“And the Inquisition is that change?”

“Yes. The Chantry lost control of both the Templars and the Mages and now they argue over a new Divine while the Breach remains.”

Hazel raised an eyebrow.

Cullen continued, “the Inquisition can act when the Chantry cannot. Our followers would be a part of that. There’s so much we can-”

He suddenly cut himself off, “I’m sorry, I doubt you came here for a lecture.”

She blinked, surprised to have seen Cullen so impassioned. It was different from his usual no-nonsense manner and it was nice. Very nice.

“No,” she said drawing the word out, “but if you have one prepared I’d love to hear it.”

Cullen chuckled, “another time perhaps.”

She grinned at him.

“I, uh-”

“And she graces us with her presence,” Arthur leaned against her back slowly pushing her down.

“Knock it off, you oaf.”

Cullen’s lips twitched, but his face became neutral once more, “I’ll leave you two to it.”

“You’re just going to let him crush me?” Hazel called after him.

“I know better than to get between the middle of a sibling dispute.”

Arthur finally removes himself from her back, only to place his elbow on her shoulder and prop his head up, “he’s speaking from experience you know, he’s got, siblings. If Cullen already has someone in mind, then you still have hope for settling with his brother.”

Hazel kicked Arthur in the exposed part of his knee causing his balance to falter, he flailed wildly for a few seconds, “why do I care if he’s taken or not?”

“Come, sister,” Arthur chuckled, “you’re positively enthralled.”

“You’ll have yours one day, brother dear.”

[uncheckedtomfoolery]

Some youkai for your consideration

I’ve often thought it’s a bit of a shame that the legions of Touhou OCs out there seem to limit themselves to shrine maidens, outsiders, the occasional god and ‘actually Remilia has another sister’, when there’s such an enormous wealth of as yet unused legends to pick from. While it’s somewhat off-brand for me, I’ve decided to actually try and change this rather than just sit and complain.

Below the cut, you’ll find a bunch of youkai with a mix of descriptions and suggestions plus, where possible, a link to Wiki or another resource. Anyone who doesn’t care for Touhou might still find some interesting/bizarre folklore (but I repeat myself).

Gashadokuro: Starting strong with a gigantic skeleton. Or, depending on the legend, a swarm and/or gestalt of skeletons. The latter is more accurate, but a popular painting depicted on the wiki page has more or less overwritten the popular perception. The Gashadokuro is said to be invulnerable and invisible, though you can hear it (a ringing sound, surprisingly, and not its footsteps); you can probably also tell it’s around if you’re not completely blind. Being formed from the unburied bodies of those either starved or killed in war, it’s mostly grumpy and hungry, and stalks around biting heads off random people to drink the blood, like a really gory and inefficient vampire. You can probably do some kind of ribcage-coat-and-skull-hat deal if you don’t want to outright go with a skeleton, series aesthetic being what it is. A bamboo eyepatch might be a fun nod to the myth often conflated with it, too (as noted on the Wiki page). 

Namahage: Approximately Japanese Krampus with a ridiculously strong northern Japanese accent. They go from house to house brandishing buckets (why? Not a clue) and giant knives or outright machetes, yelling at kids and generally scaring them into behaving. At the request of parents (who give them gifts of mochi), they might throw in a special lesson as well. Then they stomp off to wherever they came from. Originally this was a ‘be good, or...’ kind of myth where the community played into it, but hey, youkai potential. Probably playing the exact same role, which could be funny.

Azukitogi: An old favourite just for being profoundly weird and irrelevant. The Azukitogi is an old man (according to some sources; I’ve always heard the stories casting it as an old woman) who washes their azuki in a river, musing on whether they should keep at it or go eat someone. The latter, to my knowledge, never actually happens, so it’s just a morbid youkai talking to themselves. If you get close, depending on the telling, you will drop into the river. That’s it. It’s just an ugly humanoid youkai sitting around washing beans in the middle of the night, muttering. I feel like it captures the ‘some of them are just kind of there’ spirit of youkai perfectly.

Heikegani: Reaching into animal youkai here, sort of; some do theorise that it’s a kind of haunting. You see, Heikegani have shells that look a bit like scowling samurai masks, and as such, were believed to be the reincarnated souls of Heike clan warriors who died at sea in the sea battle of Dan-no-Ura. Combine that with the whole animal youkai thing and you can easily wrangle up... oh, an extraordinarily (if misleadingly) grumpy-looking, 24/7 armour-wearing crab youkai who has way too many swords. Optionally a ghost. ...What, you don’t think they really look like that? Here you go, then.

Chochin-Obake: Okay, I won’t pretend this is especially innovative. It’s low-hanging fruit, and it’s simple: The archetypical lantern tsukumogami. As such it’s kind of astonishing that I haven’t seen this done more, though?

Todomeki: Literally the ‘demon with hundreds of eyes’, the Todomeki is a towering humanoid woman with countless bird eyes covering her ridiculously long arms. The eyes are, according to several brands of moon logic living in happy coexistence, a symbolic punishment for stealing. No theft occurs in the stories of the Todomeki, and she has a lot of weird powers from somewhere, so this is... weird. Her stories feature her scaring people in a horse graveyard (I did not know this was a thing) for no apparent reason, spouting fire and breathing poison gas, then coming back a long time later to collect the blood and poison gas that she lost so she can recover. I want to further note there was a 400 year delay in between the horse graveyard fight and ‘oh yeah I should go back for my blood and nerve gas’. Possibly for Touhou this gets toned down to a suspicious mess of stolen goods, and eye patterns all over the sleeves of her dress.

Nurikabe: Another in the ‘some Youkai just exist’ brand, the Nurikabe is a living wall of indeterminate origin (depictions make it look kind of dog-like for some reason?) that extends forever. If you knock on it politely, it disappears. Theories on how the myth came about, on the other hand, tend to be either explaining lost travelers... or dietary changes in the lower classes during the Edo period, which led to an outbreak of fatigue and night-blindness. You’d stagger home in the evening, hit a wall you can barely see, and feel like it goes on forever because you’re so tired. Of note, also, is the popular (in Japan, anyhow) Gegege no Kitaro adaptation. Imagine someone buying a figure of this. I don’t understand. To wrap up, the Nurikabe’s motivation is purely to mess with people, as far as anyone can tell. Some theories attribute it to tanuki instead. Oh, and a mountain variety growing out of the mountainside, the Nuribo, also exists.

Ittan-Momen (or here, but there’s not much to be found anywhere): This one provides an interesting counterpoint as an entirely hostile tsukumogami. It’s a roll of cotton that flies on the wind, native to Kagoshima, and either sneaks into houses or bears down on travelers in the middle of the night, wrapping around their face and suffocating them out of sheer spite. It is quite possibly the world’s most hostile blanket, or the ultimate evolution of the sheet ghost.

Inugami (WARNING: Gross and terrible things happen to dogs in the wiki text; do not click if this will upset you greatly): As much a brand of ritual as a creature, the Inugami is the result of one of multiple processes in southern Japan’s distant past that would result in the creation of a vaguely canine spirit. The spirit (described as variations on the theme of a tiny black and white floating thing with a dog’s head) will possess your enemies, bring them to ruin, bring you prosperity, or whatever depending on the telling. It will also haunt your family for generations, so this is kind of a Faustian deal. On the other hand, it has reasons for being angry.

Oboroguruma: A literal monster truck An oxcart, translucent and ghostly, with a giant face on the front. It rattles up to your doorway and makes squeaking noises until you step out and see the cart there, whereupon it appears to do nothing in particular. Youkai. It’s some pretty striking imagery though, which is no surprise since, as the link elaborates, the art came before a story. According to the after-the-fact backstory, it uh, feeds on the petty grumbling of spoiled aristocrats, which seems fairly harmless? Ghost taxi.

Kamaitachi: Another high-profile, if minor youkai. This one has... a thousand origin stories and variations depending on where you go in Japan. I’ll let you hit the link yourself. The core of it is an etymological corruption turned pun. A weasel with sickles for arms, taking the form of a dust devil, whirlwind or just a gale, with the weasel either at the heart of it or invisible outright. The wind cuts people; thus the term Kamaitachi is actually used to this day to refer to any sort of strong wind that feels like it’s cutting/biting into you. I’m going to toss in an excellent drawing by @moominpappa also. Here it is.

Basan: A giant chicken that lives in forests and breathes fire, which as a combination strikes me as a non-survival trait, but what do I know? It... makes bird noises outside but disappears when humans look at it, which strikes me as extremely convenient. I mention it solely because- I mean, click the link. It looks utterly ridiculous. I love it.

Kodama: Alternatively Kotodama, literally ‘tree soul’ or ‘tree spirit’. They’re the spirit of any sacred or spiritually significant tree, a Shinto god of the small-g variety (that is to say, welcome to animism, where everything is a god but not necessarily a high-profile one). You know those little black and white guys from Princess Mononoke? Yeah, those are the ones. They’re basically minor guardian spirits for their tree, and the reason you’ll see trees ringed with braided rope and paper tassels all around Japan. When it’s depicted as anything other than the actual tree, Kodama tend to be pretty small. They’re benevolent unless, of course, you try to cut the tree down, at which point you will pay dearly (but more in the ‘curse your house for seven generations’ sense than ‘whoops, tree ate you’).

Jinmenju (or Ninmenju): The Jinmenju is possibly an extremely displaced Arabic legend about the Waqwaq Tree. It apparently serves no real purpose except to really creep people out, and even that, only by accident. The Jinmenju has fruit shaped like human heads complete with a face (ditto the seeds within), which smiles constantly. If you laugh at it, it will laugh back at you, but laughing too hard will make the fruit fall off. You can eat them, and the tree will not object, nor the fruit. It’s said to be sweet and sour, which carries the horrible implication that someone thought this was a good idea. According to Mizuki Shigeru, there are stories of people who (for some godforsaken reason) planted orchards of these things. They’re mostly found in the south, which probably deserves it for the whole inugami business. Design-wise, you might tone this down by giving the character a green or brown robe with smiling faces drawn all over it (or cut out, Hata no Kokoro-style), and a wooden mask over their actual face (if one exists). Optionally, combine it with the previous youkai so there’s a kodama perched on her shoulder.

That’s about it for now, but I do want to point out that if you want to look further, Yokai.com is a pretty good resource and frequently a more comprehensive one than Wikipedia. Have fun making incredibly weird youkai.

[mediocreronpas]

Izuru, Kiibo, Junko, Korekiyo, Hoshi, Tanaka, Ouma, and Angie with a cuckoolander/SHSL Fantasy Writer S/O

These two were so similar that I decided to combine them, hope you don’t mind.

- Mod Teruteru

Izuru Kamukura

- He feels like you should be less interesting.

- But you kind of aren’t.

- The way you kind of just wander around aimlessly for hours is amusing.

- How you can turn a trip to the mall into an amazing and well detailed fantasy story is a skill that you have that he thinks is cute.

- You start yelling the introduction when you open your front door and search for a piece of paper.

- He would read your stories and piece together what outings they were.

- A story about picking up a queen and king to take them to a safe house when them and their kingdom was being attacked… that time Sonia and Gundam had to get their house gassed due to termites and you let them stay here for the week.

- One about a wood elf and a drow elf being forced to judge an eating contest between two trolls by the human chef the trolls captured to make the food… When Akane and Twogami had an eating competition at Teruteru’s house and Hanamura forced you and Izuru to stay in case something bad happened.

- Keeping you out of trouble while you were in a floaty state was something else he did.

- He basically kept you from doing anything weird.

- Not that you knew what you were doing.

Kiibo

- He’s so confused by you.

- How could you not know any kind of human standards when you started living in the human world from the very beginning?

- He doesn’t know why you think magic exists either.

- There’s been plenty of scientific studies from thousands of years ago that proved magic to be non-existent.

- He’s shown them to you

- But no.

- The chocolate you get in your basket every year is from a rabbit, and the gifts you get that aren’t labeled from anyone is from santa.

- He does like it when you write stories with someone you say was inspired by him.

- Like a steampunk robot boy and his faithful teenage inventor.

- Or an ancient stone guardian in the shape of a teenage boy.

- When doing things weird, Kiibo doesn’t know when to stop you.

- Usually it’s too late.

- But he enjoys learning about regular human life with you.

- So that’s a perk.

Junko Enoshima

- She loves how you just kind of float around the halls.

- You’re never really sure what your next class is, and neither is anyone else.

- Especially since you call them things like scrolling and training.

- You light up when Junko knows that the things you are talking about are english and gym.

- When you walk on the street together you spout descriptions about them as if they were stone roads filled with peasant owned stalls. Then you looked at Junko and described a beautiful pink haired queen being forced to walk the peasants road because her horse carriage was in the shop.

- Then Junko would tap into her queen persona and yell “Bow down peasants! Your queen has graced you with her presents!”

- You love it when she changes personalities, by the way.

- You’ll play along with whatever she pulls with full enthusiasm.

- Even if you both get in trouble.

- Which is an aspect she loves.

Korekiyo Shinguji

- He finds you extremely interesting.

- The way he met you was the first interesting thing.

- You were just sitting in an empty classroom all by yourself, staring at the ceiling.

- He kind of just sat at the opening of the door until he decided to approach you.

- And when he did you snapped out of your little trance and scooted backwards a bit so your back touched the wall.

- “After his long winded observation, the onyx haired vampire decided it was time to introduce himself.”

- Shinguji put a finger to his mask covered mouth.

- “Oh? Am I the onyx haired vampire?”

- “His stance was fierce yet sophisticated. Though it intimidated the elf a bit, it also intrigued them.”

- You stood and looked him in the eye.

- “‘They got up from their resting spot to make themselves look more dangerous.’ My name is F/N L/N. I am a lythari in search for the Glass of the Forgotten. Have you seen it in this area by any chance?”

- You were kind of confusing him, then he realized.

- “You mean this pair of glasses I found in the other room?”

- As soon as your sharp eyes met with the glasses, they became soft and friendly. You had come out of your magical adventure status and into your regular head in the clouds one.

- “Hmm? Can I have those please? A friend of mine lost them. I can’t remember which though…”

- Since your first meeting, you had kept hanging around Shinguji, in search of things that you could turn into fantastical stories.

- This just gave Korekiyo all the more reason to study you and your ‘magical’ antics.

Ryoma Hoshi

- He is constantly pulling you from possible embarrassing situations.

- A lot of face palms are in order.

- You even wrote a book with the two of you as inspired characters.

- “The most deadly sin of all.”

- It’s about a reckless satyr and their intelligent gnome partner in search of the demons of the seven deadly sins, Greed (Togami), Wrath (Nidai), Gluttony (Akane), Lust (Teruteru), Envy (Hajime), Sloth (Himiko), and Pride (Ouma). So they can defeat them, collect the relics they hold and summon the devil king so they can kill them once and for all.

- It’s already a bestseller.

- So much so that you and Hoshi get recognized on the streets and complimented on for the general descriptions of the characters and the lovable arc the gnome goes through as he tries to get over his past as a criminal so he can get closer to the satyr.

- Whenever this happens your imagination explodes and Hoshi has to stop you from yelling some sort of line you would write in a book.

- You love calling Hoshi’s tennis matches battles.

- He sometimes wishes that he was up there to stop you from yelling stuff like, “Go Hoshi! Smite the beast right through the heart!”

- But he appreciates the enthusiasm.

Gundam Tanaka

- At first he thought you were just playing along with his act.

- Then he noticed how you were doing it all the time.

- You always stayed in a floaty state of mind until Gundam went into character.

- Then you became somewhat of a supervillain with a super intense voice.

- You were kind of like, all of what Gundam wanted to be when he was younger.

- You once sang a rock version of “You’re Welcome” from Moana to him while pretending to be a demi god.

- He absolutely loves the things you’re willing to do to prove that you were magic.

- Wait are those his deer?

- Whenever you weren’t in your state of magic and adventures, you barely knew what was going on.

- You’ll just switch from badass relentless supervillain to a little soft rabbit who was dropped off in the middle of who knows where.

- Whenever this happened, you would walk over to Gundam and quietly ask him what you need to do.

- Gundam gets fuzzy feelings when he thinks about this part of your personality.

- But for some reason when he thinks of your villain persona, he feels like he’s getting a burst of adrenaline.

- He can’t decide which one is better.

- So he asks you what you think.

- “‘The high elf scratched their head in confusion. They didn’t really know how to answer this.’ Well how about, ‘They said in a low voice. ‘You love both sides equally instead trying to like one half of a person better than the other.’”

- Gundam thought on this for a bit, then he laughed.

- “You are correct as always S/O. It was foolish of me to ask such a question.”

- Then you went back to your fluffy state.

- “Mm, I don’t know. It was just something I came up with on the spot. You don’t have to take it seriously.”

- Then Gundam laughed some more and caressed your face.

- “Its okay. You’re right. I should love all of you. Not just some of you.”

- “Thank you.”

Kokichi Ouma

- You started off as rivals.

- In your eyes, you began your meeting with him with a duel. He had insulted your mechanical friend and you wanted revenge.

- You constantly referred to him as a black hearted halfling who used his magic to lie and manipulate people.

- While he called you a delusional asylum escapee.

- When he tries to mess with you, you tend to have your head in the clouds and unknowingly ignore him.

- When you do this he starts whining loudly.

- When he did this the first time you snapped out of your trance and glared at him.

- “The mighty high elf angrily stared at her rival for interrupting their peaceful visit to their mind palace. ‘You’re lucky I don’t blink you to the Ethereal Plane.’ They growled. ‘For what reason do you have for interrupting me?’”

- Then Ouma blinked at you and smiled.

- “I was just trying to save you from your own insanity. One more minute inside your own head and you would have gone bananas for real!”

- You continued glaring at him.

- “Or maybe not. Who knows, I am a liar after all.”

- You laughed.

- “‘The opinion of my sanity is my decision and my decision alone.’ Then the high elf smiled. ‘There’s no room for any opinion even close to one made by a shorty like you.’”

- But you both learned to settle your differences.

- You stopped calling each other names. You agreed to stop making fun of Ouma’s height as long as Ouma stopped teasing your soft kitten like side.

- And whenever you went to your soft side, he...sometimes lets you know what’s going on.

- Not always.

- I want to make that clear.

- You would always cross your arms and make a cute huff when he didn’t

- Which is why he didn’t often.

Angie Yonaga

- She always finds your strange mannerisms as a blessing from Atua.

- Whenever you began spouting whatever about two pixies traveling the world together, she would out her hands together and says two or three words in a language you don’t know to thank him.

- She loves and triggers your soft side a lot.

- “Uhh, Agnie, can you please help me write my next book. My fans are getting antsy.”

- “Okay S/O! Do you want to pray with me? Atua may have some good ideas he wants to share!”

- “Ah, okay.”

- Then you and Angie would get into a prayer session.

- Thanks to Angie’s prayers, you have written plenty of amazing books.

- But this was mostly because some of these prayer sessions can last for a long while. And when they end you’ll just sit down and write mindlessly then publish a book without really knowing what it was about.

- As long as Angie had helped you, you thought it was a good book.

- Which she found really cute.

[tyrion4pm]

This "Catspaw" theory is wrong (almost certainly)

To be clear I'm talking about my own theory here, not bad mouthing someone elses. Basically I saw some dots that COULD line up, but after looking around a bit I hadn't seen it before and in the very off chance it turns out to be true wanted to stake my claim on it. Sorry about it being a bit long winded or if it's already out there. It's a different take on the "Catspaw assassin". My theory is he wasn't a random hired killer. He wasn't hired by anyone. It had nothing to do with Brans fall, the weapon wasn't given to him, and not only wasn't Robert's dagger, but wasn't even a "dagger" (originally) So there's already a lot to unpack here before I say I it was Howland Reed, and that's why he's been (seemingly) absent in the story. He's been in it. Just very briefly before dying on Brans floor. So the first obvious problem is why didn't Ned or Catelyn recognize him. This is a broken tormented husk of Howland Reed who's been drinking himself to death for probably over a decade at this point. There was a reference to him being described by his daughter as "having been brave, strong, and smart in his youth". She's describing him like this in the past tense. Other than that his description is pretty much "small like all Crannogmen". The catspaw assassin is described as a small, dirty man in filthy brown clothing that smells of horses. Being small isn't much to go on obviously, but think of the difference in descriptions between when Robert Baratheon rebelled as a handsome young warrior, and what he had become by the time he died. He looked like if a giant bag of hairy laundry could get the booze sweats. He would have been unrecognizable to anyone who hadn't seen him since the end of the war, and that was after living the good life. Howland is said to have not left the neck since the war. Robert became king, Eddard became Warden of the North, and Howland went home to rule the swamp everyone has to troop through to go kill each other in places with dry ground. Although to be clear, I'm not saying it has anything to do with resentment of his position, but the burden of knowledge he's been carrying all these years. Only Ned Stark and Howland Reed survived the fight at the tower of joy. And they both then learned the entire bloody atrocity filled civil war that upended society as they knew it, was based on a lie. Even the men they had killed at the tower were protecting Neds sister, not keeping her captive. Ned swore to keep his sisters secret, so Howland had to keep it also. But I haven't gotten to the bad part yet.  Jojen. "In his childhood Jojen nearly died of greywater fever. While he was near death, he was visited by a three-eyed crow that gave him the gift of greensight causing him to experience prophetic dreams known as greendreams." A lot of this theory is based on the darker take on the three eyed crow that a few people have mentioned before. 3eC is not Brynden Rivers anymore than the ironmen became Starks when they took over winterfell. When faceless men disguise themselves with a face they've taken they experience the deads emotions and memories and when Wargs stay in the mind of an animal too long they etc, you get the idea. (This part I actually do think is accurate) Brynden Rivers didn't become the three-eyed crow. The three-eyed crow warged into and took over Brynden Rivers. Rivers was already thought to be a powerful sorcerer and taking him over probably expanded the crows power. I'll try and hurry this up. Howland had watched Jojen grow up with the 3eyed crows "gifts" and was probably as aware of anything about the future that Jojen is, including when he'll have served his purpose and will die. Howlands past present and future are already a lot of weight to carry, and now he know it's time to send his children off to probably die so a trickster forest demon can move onto its next more powerful host, who the crow will groom until his powers are ready, then invade like a parasite. That host is the child of his friend Ned Stark. That's what he was being "merciful" by preventing. He may have sent his children, he may have believed it was the right thing to do, but he's been struggling and conflicted about everything he knows, and at some point the weight of it all caused his to snap. As for the "dagger", the idea is at some point Howland found his way to the 3eyed crows cave (or the children had) and found "Dark sister". It was built smaller and more slender than a typical sword, so the handle may have been about the right size, maybe a little on the large side but usable for a dagger. The silver he was carrying might have been to pay off the smith who was skilled enough to convert the Valyrian steel blade down to size. But when it came time to pay, something set and already spiraling Howland off, and there may be a carved up smith somewhere out there. Crannogmen use "guerilla tactics"  and he wasn't going to be battling his way through a crowd. He was going to be quickly eliminating one target, whatever happened to him from there didn't matter. But he couldn't blend in walking around with a full length sword.

Why was it important to use that blade? Valyrian steel is good for monster killing. He may not have known if the crow was already in the kid, or what kind of magic things could be protecting the crows next vessel. Turns out a dire wolf was, which again was just awful luck for Howland. Howland was a great fighter in his prime, but not only was he long past that, but this was something he really didn't want to do. As hard as it was already going to be he runs into Catelyn. The boys mother and the wife of his closest friend during the war. But it's kill him or let him be taken over by a demon, so he's dead anyway and this way prevents the crow gaining more power and doing it within the Stark family. But still running into the kids mother is going to throw you off your game no matter what. He may have even spent the week around the castle seeing the life her and Ned had made with their family trying to work up the nerve to follow through, with either letting the crows plan happen, or putting an end to it, as they walked past him for days never so much as making eye contact with him. Unable to recognize him with what the years of drinking and stress had done to him. There's the problem with ownership of the blade already being established, but there's a lot of weird confusion about that. It's a Valyrian steel dagger. Anytime someone see's a Valyrian steel sword, which there are only like a couple hundred or so of in the known world, people freak out like the audience in old footage of a Beatles concert. They name them and pass them down for generations. But apparently that's just swords because the reactions to being asked about the dagger seems to be calling it "plain" which by the nature of what it is, it really can't be. But also most of the people asked never actually see it. The only person who has a clear answer about the dagger is Little finger, and of course he's lying. I think he just saw an opportunity to start a fire and jumped at it. He knew Catelyn was champing at the bit to put the assassination attempt on the Lannisters, and just gave her the answer he knew she was dying to hear. Putting himself in the story lets him be able to speak about the dagger with intimate familiarity so there's no chance it's a misidentification and also doesn't cause the kind of suspicion that just going "It's a Lannister knife, they did it!" would. Even though that's exactly what he's doing.    

Varys see's it and says he doesn't know anything about it. Weapons are an important resource. Valyrian steel is incredibly rare and valuable and this one supposedly changed hands through a bet. Interactions like weapons and things of value being up for contention really should catch his attention. I don't think he's holding information back, I think this isn't the blade people think it is and he's really never seen it. When he sees Little finger make up a story about it, he knows he's lying but doesn't get involved and lets things play out.   When Jamie points out the problem with Little fingers story all he actually confirms is Tyrion wouldn't bet against him. He has some vague idea about Robert having some dagger, but he never see's the blade he's being asked about. He's got sort of a memory, from a drunk party few years ago of something that kinda sounds like what they mean maybe, and everyone takes that as "Ok so now we know Robert actually had it." He's not confirming anything. He's answering like he's under the impression the blade is already known to have come from them and is scanning his memory to give as best an answer as he can, and a book  later (I think that's right) Tywin says "Robert had left a hundred daggers in his armory, but that the only knife the king ever used was a hunting knife he received in his youth from Lord Arryn". This is to Tyrion and the Starks are out of position to do anything about it by that time so he has no reason to lie.

The Lannister brothers decide Joffery hired the assassin, which makes no sense. In the early stories we knew Joffery was bad, but as this point we know he was never patient, calculating or subtle. He was not going to wait a week for an outside peasant assassin to commit a "mercy killing". A Joffery plot would be more like having Clegane kick down the door and Joffery runs in and sets the bed on fire. As the guards rush in Joffery is swinging from the chandelier cackling like the wicked witch screaming "Hey look at that crippled kids I murdered!" And all this is if he hadn't spoiled his plan by telling everyone he was going to do it over and over again at dinner.     Howlands wife Jyana has been running his affairs in his name for years while he's been in a downward spiral and continued to after his death, which she doesn't actually know happened.     I can see why GRRM is taking so long to finish the new books. This was supposed to be about 2 paragraphs long. So I think I got everything. That's not Roberts knife, Joffery wasn't behind it and the 3 eyed crow is evil are all things I actually do think but other people have already talked about them with a lot more clarity. The assassin being Howland Reed and the dagger being Dark sister are possible and no more crazy than a lot of very popular theories, but I doubt it. It's more like a "What if..." idea than an actual theory.  

[hiswordisalamp-blog]

New Post has been published on http://hiswordisalamp.samddavis.com/2017/02/16/johns-trumpet-judgments-resumed/

John's Trumpet Judgments Resumed

Today I will resume considering John’s trumpet judgments.  For my thoughts on the earlier trumpet judgments see my last post.

On page 66 Bewes concedes the fourth trumpet might be,” a piece of futuristic writing?” From a hermeneutical standpoint, Bewes has no justification for making this concession. In order to maintain his interpretive pattern, Bewes needs to make this trumpet about eclipses and meteor showers throughout history.  John does not distinguish this trumpet in any way which justifies the conclusion that this trumpet is final and cataclysmic while the ones before are humdrum.

On page 67, Bewes makes the fifth trumpet [the locusts] about unbelievers opening themselves to general demonic activity through stubbornness and unrepentance.  While unbelievers can make themselves vulnerable in this way, that is not the message of the fifth trumpet.  Other demons in Scripture seem devoted to inciting and enticing people to sin, these demons seem dedicated exclusively for the purpose of tormenting those who are already committed sinners.  The scorpion-locusts make people hurt so bad they seek death [they try to kill themselves] but they cannot die [death flees from them].  What a foretaste of hell: suffering so bad you want to die, and there is no escape.  Other demons in Scripture inhabit people and animals.  Some even disguise themselves as angels of light in order to beguile and deceive.  A locust-monster with lion’s teeth and scorpion tail is ill-equipped to deceive, but well-equipped to torment.  These demons, therefore, are probably not the run-of-the-mill demons mentioned in the rest of the New Testament.  Again Bewes is trivializing the cataclysmic.

Again on page 67, Bewes seems to think the 200,000,000 colorful soldiers riding lion-snake-horses which breathe fire, sulfur, and smoke— that these somehow describe warfare in abstract, or any and every war fought in this era of history [from the unbeliever’s perspective]. Bewes quotes CS Lewis,” everyone has noticed how hard it is to turn our thoughts to God when everything is going well with us.” This is absolutely true, and many passages in the Bible teach us how God uses hardship and persecution to draw the saints closer to Him. Nevertheless, that is not the message of the sixth seal, especially if [as Bewes says] this history is from the perspective of the unbeliever. The message of the sixth seal is that the time for repentance is nearly gone. It certainly is gone for that third of mankind who fall by the plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur. This is not the time of repentance, but of judgment.

On page 68, Bewes describes chapters 10 and 11 as an interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpets. Instead, I contend that these chapters are part of the sixth trumpet, the sixth trumpet being larger and more judgmental than the five which came before it. The Eagle of Revelation 8:13 informs us that trumpets 5, 6, and 7 are three woes. The fifth trumpet [the first woe] is a large trumpet, larger than the first four, and is concluded with the eagle announcing the passing of the first woe. Since the Eagle does not announce the passing of the second woe until Revelation 11:14, I content the sixth trumpet is not finished until Revelation 11:14. If John did not intend us to draw this conclusion he and the eagle could have announced the passing of the second woe in Revelation 9:21 at the end of the description of the colorful army of 200 million soldiers. Precisely because he waits to announce the passing of the second woe, I believe he intends the angel and the little scroll and the two witnesses as part of the sixth trumpet [the second woe].

Bewes resists the idea of the seals happening one after the other; he makes them trends or themes in history.  However Revelation 9:20-21 is an assessment the author can only make after having seen the trumpets completed; this observation must follow the trumpets as an event in time.  Trumpets 5 and 6 are also woes and the Eagle comments, “the first woe has passed…” then “the second woe has passed…”   These last three [the woes] at least must be events in time because the next does not begin until the former has passed.  Before encountering the idealists and parallelists, I looked at the first four trumpets and thought they followed each other in time, because the Bible mentions them one after the other, without clarifying that they happen simultaneously.

Bewes needs these scenes [Revelation 10 and 11] to be interludes, rewinds, or interruptions because his Amillennialism and his idealist perspective force him to a nonlinear reading of the text. I contend the nonlinear reading is unnatural and hermeneutically indefensible.  Nothing in the text tells us to rewind, the seals are not unique to Christian history.  The trumpets are not unique to unbelieving history.  Context requires some of these things to happen one after the other rather than in parallel [as Bewes suggests].

The trumpets carry the idea of God beginning to undo His creation.  A third of the earth, a third of the plants, a third of the sea, a third of the sea creatures, a third of the fresh water, a third of the light, a third of mankind, in summary: a third of every part of creation.

On page 64, if the seals are history from the church’s perspective, and the trumpets are that same history from the unbelievers’ perspective, how then are the seals [warfare, murder, famine, disease, wild beasts, and earthquakes] unique to Christian history and experience?  And how are the trumpets [land storms, sea storms, polluting storms, meteor storms, demonic opposition, and warfare] unique to unbelieving history and experience?  Christians and unbelievers alike have experienced all these things, in seemingly equal measures throughout the history between Christ’s comings.  I think an obstacle of this caliber is the death-blow to Bewes’ interpretation [both as an idealist and an amillennialist as well].

On page 68 Bewes says, “Here is a firm discouragement of those would-be ‘prophets’ who imagine that they have the full run-down of world events at their fingertips. They have not! There is a whole area of knowledge that is kept from us.” I don’t know how to interpret this except as Bewes’ insinuated unkindness toward people who believe they have a solid framework for interpreting prophecy. He calls us ‘would be prophets’, which reminds me of false prophets; a stinging accusation indeed since false-prophets deserved deserved death from God’s law.

Furthermore, I have never read a pre-millennial author [I believe that’s whom Bewes refers to] who thought he had the full rundown of world events, and especially not at his fingertips. As a rule, they approach the book of Revelation, and prophetic interpretations, with fear and trembling, with humility. They present their books and interpretations as possibilities, not as inevitabilities, and even then their interpretations are general pictures of the end of the world, not the complete rundown which Bewes scorns. To say we have these things our fingertips is a further unkindness; premillennials make their presentations after years of study [at least the good ones like Lindsey and LaHaye], after carefully referencing and researching connections between Old Testament prophecy and New Testament prophecy.  We regard the subject with a great weight and sobriety for which Bewes mocks us. I have criticized Bewes and Amillennialism and the idealist perspective, but I try hard to avoid mocking them. Even when I argue that Bewes is using the same hermeneutic as the 1920s Liberals, I am not mocking him, but conveying a truth which grieves me deeply and I don’t know any other way say it.

Sound pre-millennial authors don’t think they’re prophets.  John is the prophet; we are interpreters.

We don’t imagine having a complete rundown.  We give the clearest picture we know how from the pieces as the Bible gives us.

This is not at our fingertips, but something over which we labor in prayer and study, longing to present our brothers and the unbelieving world with some idea of the season in which our Master will return so that we may stay awake and watch for His coming.

The idealist perspective reminds me of an occult fortune teller.  She gives her predictions in such vague terms they are absolutely worthless for predicting the future, and they are so vague that no matter what happens to you, she could have been predicting that.