#and then I twisted it

[tempfrangit]

has someone already pitched a Candyman!Ghost x Reader fic?

Like Reader as a grad student looking into the ghost story of well… Ghost, sure everyone knows he was really named Simon Riley and he’s definitely dead now (right?), but the name still sparks fear in Manchester.

Reader’s whirlwind romance with her former professor hasn’t continued the way she expected, yes he’d left his wife and children and married her, but she feels like he’s distant, so she’s looking for some kind of distraction from the dull colors of her life. When she and her best friend (and hopeful co-author) decide to investigate Ghost’s home — a former butcher shop carcass left to rot. It would likely never reopen in anyway unless it was gutted and flipped, all of the buildings beautiful original designs torn out rather than attempted to save. You couldn’t help yourself from looking around, and there was such a delicious thrill in looking the rooms over.

You don’t know what possess you to look into the smashed mirror in the loo, smile playing at the edges of your lips as you caught sight of the original tiles, still so beautiful despite the time that had passed. The sight of yourself makes you sigh, brows pinching together as you touch that girl’s cheek.

“Simon Riley.”

It’s barely a whisper as you recite the supposed spectre of fear and vengeance.

When you hear your friend call you name, ask what you’d found, you turn to look behind you — and your eyes must have been playing tricks on you, because you swore for a moment a hulking man was just behind you? A shiver shudders through you

[ideologyofone]

Do you think we’re soulmates in another universe?

[theboxfort]

Peace and love

[twinliches]

sometimes it's not even enemies to lovers. sometimes you get handed the leash of a snarling, barking dog against your will and realize with dawning horror that you are now responsible for teaching it not to bite

[lgbtlunaverse]

The world exists in such a baffling state of simultaneous sex-aversion and sex-hegemony. Every social platform on the internet is trying to banish sex workers to the shadow realm but I can't post a tweet without at least two bots replying P U S S Y I N B I O. People are self-censoring sex to seggs and $3× but every other ad you see is still filled with half-naked women. Rightwingers want queer people arrested for so much as existing in the same postal code as a child and are also drumming up a moral panic about how teenage boys aren't getting laid enough. I feel like I'm losing my mind.

[aretarers]

mantra when you fuck up is "i'm in my early 20s it's literally not a big deal"

[musashi]

i want more nuance to be entered into the discussion of the green girl sorority and how differently cynthia plays elphaba in comparison to those who came before her because while a lot of people are rightfully like "why was elphaba not black from the beginning" and celebrating that she is now being played by a black woman, i think we need to be careful in just writing off all the elphabas of the past as Random White Girls when the role was championed (and often followed/succeeded) by a jewish woman

the pop culture archetype of the Wicked Witch has deep roots in antisemitism stretching faaaar far back. there is a level of reclamation happening in casting idina menzel, a jewish woman, to play the Misunderstood and Maligned young girl who is branded as exactly that. and stage!Elphaba is also written and acted with jewish stereotypes in mind--she is loud, aggressive, no-nonsense, blunt. she is quick to advocate for herself and shut down the discrimination she faces. all of this is very intentional! her personality is abrasive from years of abuse, and that makes propagandizing her easy. this is literally the thesis statement of the musical--it's not about aptitude, it's the way you're viewed.

cynthia's performance of elphaba is fucking INSPIRED despite going in a completely different direction. she's much more reserved, analytical, one of her key character traits is how well she can read people (see her calling out Galinda as insecure/putting on airs in their first scene together, clocking that Fiyero is using his party guy persona as a shield for his own depression) elphaba's attempts to blend in and make herself smaller all fail simply because of her existence, if not that then because she feels empathy so strongly she often struggles to hold back from acting, protecting.

personality wise, though, cynthia's elphaba is very quiet and closed-off, not at all the bullet-to-the-face that she is in the stage show, and... she still gets propagandized and maligned. though this seems to contradict the other interpretation, it tells of the other end of the spectrum of propaganda, one that black women watching (and many, MANY other marginalized folks) are sure to identify with--it does not matter how "nice," how reserved, how small a black woman makes herself. a racist society will still scrutinize her every action for a way to parse ill intent from it, brand her as an angry black woman who is dangerous and wicked, and write off any humanity she has in the process.

these two very different interpretations tell of the lie of assimilation. the fact of the matter is, when you are marginalized, there is no way to sand down your edges enough to make the people oppressing you "accept" you. that is why wicked is a tragedy at its core. whether loud and aggressive or quiet and unimposing, there is nothing elphaba could have done to make the people of Oz see her as anything other than a scapegoat to blame all their problems on.

so while i definitely appreciate that people are excited for black girl era elphaba, i would encourage us all to still show appreciation for what came before--that was not white girl era elphaba. that was jewish girl era elphaba. two houses, both alike in dignity, two stories both worth being told.

[egophiliac]

(this one's been getting stolen a lot, so please be aware that if you see this anywhere else (even with credit), it's been reposted against my wishes! please do not use my art in your videos/reupload to pinterest/etc., thanks!)

--

gargoyle Mal is everything I've ever dreamed of and more. his little raincoat! his umbrella! I hope he really does have big ol' stompy rainboots to splash around in puddles in. I hope they have little faces on them.

(Twst please give me Malleus having a rainy day adventure, this is everything I need right now)

[melonsharks]

sketchy but stan probably feels conflicted having them around EVERY summer for fixing-a-dangerous-portal reasons but. strong familial adoration wins every time.

[fisheem4mmal]

Such a surprise omg

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Hey now, Let her cook!

[rdps01]

close enough

[anbaisai]

The Jamil Viper decision tree when he is (most unfortunately) caught off guard (please disregard the fact that he does in fact have a hood in the "object nearby" branch. he is simply panicked.)

[aimapandu]

Heartslabyul going crazy lowkey

[rococogods]

[twisting-in-wonderland]

'Yuu!'