#but there is some flesh in there

[ghostinthegallery]

Okay yeah I finished Genefather and I genuinely enjoyed it (with the disclaimer that's it's very much a 40k book with the common issues that entails and also some frankly uncalled for necron slander) but now I'm feeling unhinged about Belisarius Cawl, our messy jumbo shrimp of a man, so now I'm gonna make it everyone else's problem spoilers to follow.

I love Cawl. I genuinely do. He's one of my favorite 40k characters. I love his design, I love his devotion to his faith and the way he's basically a Mechanicus Jesuit. He's hysterically funny. He's a mad scientist crossed with a carnival huckster. He has one of the biggest egos of any human living or dead and he does not want to be machine Pope.

And he is an absolute monster.

Like obviously the things he did to create the primaris marine are... ethically dubious. So many people dying in agony. So many kidnapped children. People who were lied to about what was going to happen to them and suddenly they wake up hundreds of years later to find themselves something else. There was no informed consent. And yet Cawl loves each of them. He knows them and cares about them. That does not stop him from torturing them nor sending them to their deaths.in combat.

Cawl is so loving and that is one of the most terrifying things about him.

Which brings me to possibly the most monstrous thing about him. He will not let Friedisch die. He is creating copies of his dearest friend, putting them through a terrible existential crisis, ensuring they remember their deaths (all 87 of them!!) and all in service of making the "perfect copy." Of achieving a true resurrection. Something he can never achieve. Even the Dark Mechanicum thinks that is fucked!

I really think Genefather missed the boat here. I don't think the story addresses just how horrifying this is. The narrative acts like because it comes from a place of affection that makes it okay??

Of course Cawl wants Friedisch back. His only friend (or love, could go either way despite how hard the book tries to "no homo" them). The only person who calls him Belisarius. Who calls him on his shit, who knows the core person beneath all the mechanics and devoured consciousnesses. Cawl literally cannot function for five minutes without a Qvo by his side. He loves Qvo so much, but he is tormenting him. Qvo wants to die! And Cawl is too arrogant to see it.

It's terrifying and compelling and so ripe for drama and consequences. Because I do think that's one issue with how Cawl is written. He gets away with...a lot of shit. He thinks he's invincible because he is Belisarius Cawl (TM). Which is really fun! To a point. And I think Qvo should be that consequence. The thing he cannot achieve, cannot get back, and a living testament to the horrors his hubris and love can lead to.

God, Cawl is just a genius egomaniac who wants love and connection so badly. He loves humans and humanity and thinks his own humanity is still in tact but...is it? Is he all that different from the necrons he dunks on?

Food for thought.

[astriiformes]

One hill I will die on is that it's always infinitely funnier for mad scientist characters to have an actual area of expertise, and the narrower it is, the funnier it gets. Like, they're mad scientists. They can branch out from it. But it's a very special thing to be able to point to the person who built a death ray/engineered life in their basement/etc and be able to confidently state what they got their PhD in.

"Doc Brown is a mad scientist" Well yeah, obviously.

"Doc Brown is a mad physicist" Now we're getting somewhere!

"Doc Brown is a mad nuclear physicist" Specifically conjures up images of a guy who spent his PhD doing a million repetitive cyclotron tests and eventually said fuck this, I'm building a time machine instead. Comedy gold.

[ollyrewind]

merlin and arthur hunting ghosts? yes, great, BUT hear me out

[creekfiend]

something that drives me insane on a relatively regular basis as a body jewelry understander is talking to people who have sensitive skin who are like "oh well I just can't wear any earrings without my ears getting inflamed" and I say "well what have you tried" and they say "well I've tried sterling silver and I've tried gold..." and it's like. ok. I don't know how gold and sterling somehow got spun by the jewelry industry as being especially good for sensitive skin but whenever I'm like "well have you tried implant grade titanium" they're always like "no....... but I've tried sterling silver... and it didn't work ..." like. I don't know how this narrative about sterling silver somehow got so strong but when they put pins in your fucking legs when you snap your leg in half are those pins made of sterling silver or are they made of implant grade titanium or surgical steel????????? HELLO. HI. YOU MIGHT BENEFIT FROM TRYING IMPLANT GRADE TITANIUM I AM JUST SAYING

[chalkrub]

smorkin

[heartludwig]

Sinful little noodle wants a snack

Also, lil extra 👇 

[noodles-and-tea]

For the twins in time AU, I genuinely wonder what kind of people the young twins grow up into because of Stan’s/Ford’s influence. Especially if it takes years for the portal to get fixed.

(Sorry if it seems like I already sent this question, I don’t know if it got sent the first time I asked)

I haven’t fully fleshed out how Ford grows up in the past but I do have thoughts on Stan presently

[undead-knick-knack]

It's amazing no one has accidentally stepped on Orym during a fight

[mikewheeler]

I will always look after you, Penelope.

[wanologic]

#besties

[tsuutarr]

You’re not sure how long you’ve been trapped in the water god’s temple, the presence of sunlight absent in the depths of the sea. The only light source comes from the bioluminescent algae, plankton, and animals that decorate the halls.

It’s all very pretty, but… it’s hard to get used to being stripped away from everything you’ve known and loved so suddenly. Not to mention the fact that the water god is adamant about making his presence known to you at every second. He never leaves you alone, constantly having his large hands on you as he carries you around like a trophy.

You’re honestly exhausted, your sense of autonomy fading away as your only sources of comfort are the water god and the aquatic animals that roam the temple’s halls. If it were any other situation, you’d have found the talking turtles and dolphins very cute, but you don’t find much wonder in anything nowadays.

After all, how can you have a sense of wonder when you don’t belong to yourself anymore?

Resigned to your fate, you sit on the water god’s lap as he feeds you your dinner as always. 

“Pretty pet,” he hums as he forces you to chew, his large hand on your jaw. “Are you enjoying your meal?”

The silver lining is that the food here is pretty good. He surprisingly has a variety of fruits and other things you wouldn’t expect to find in the sea, but you’re not going to ask any questions. You don’t think you’ll like his answers.

Instead, you nod as best as you can while his grip is on you.

Pleased, he gives you a toothy grin, his teeth sharp and edged. “Good. Eat up, pet. This meal is my gift to you, after all.”

You blink up at him, confused.

Lowly, he chuckles, before nuzzling your hair. “I’m sure you’re aware of what they say about mermaid meat, no?”

The food in your mouth suddenly feels heavy and stale, too sour for your tongue.

“It’s a great gift, isn’t it? Now, you and I will be together forever.”

If his hand wasn’t on your jaw, you’d have thrown up. But, with him pressed so close to you, you have no choice but to swallow down his unorthodox gift.

[saturnstrays]

Hello ULTRAHUSTLERS please accept this extremely rushed silly comic that I started on Christmas eve have a merry ultrachristmas or just an ultra day!!!

[zevrra]

the night is young ✧.*

biker!geto who had a custom helmet made just for you, spent so much money on it, but wholeheartedly prefers you wearing his. loves seeing you in his helmet as you climb onto the front or the back of his bike.

biker!geto who hasn’t taken his eyes off of you once when you two go out together. he knows other men will look at you but he doesn’t care. you’re his.

biker!geto who kisses you whenever he feels like it, doesn’t matter if you’re in public or not. he’ll tilt your head back in the middle of a conversation and kiss you deeply, mumbling how he wants to leave against your lips.

biker!geto who’s covered in tattoos but wants to get one you specifically pick out so he can cherish it whenever he’s not near you.

biker!geto who can’t keep his hands off of you. loves touching you in every way shape and form. runs his hands against your thighs, your waist, and stomach. gropes you every chance he gets while he breathes your scent in. it’s the only thing that calms him down.

biker!geto who worships you and everything you do. loves you with everything he has and then some.

biker!geto who purposely gives you his shirt or jackets to wear solely so he can fuck you in them later. again, loves seeing you in his clothes. makes him feral knowing you’re his. makes him all to eager to take you right then and there.

biker!geto who knows you tease him when he can’t do anything about it right then and there. until later when he has you bent over his bike, begging for him to slow down.

biker!geto who doesn’t get jealous at all but loves it when you do. even if you know he’d never leave you. he just enjoys seeing that pouty little face of yours when a man or woman dares to flirt with him.

biker!geto who buys you fresh flowers every two weeks and brings you your favorite sweet treat.

biker!geto who absolutely adores everything about you. every detail is perfect in his eyes and he makes sure to show you how beautiful you truly are when he can.

[dreamatduskk]

PARADOX 👁️

[katabay]

earlier this year I started writing a comic about the siege perilous-grail quest situation after finally finishing the didot perceval, and it started circling around kay and perceval. kay as gatekeeper, taboo anxiety vs chivalry, and perceval not doing things "correctly," arthur's enduring affection for kay. that general area. also the horror of the grail quest itself.

this is comic is part of that narrative arc, so with THAT in mind: this is an abridged scene of a longer arc revolving around kay associating camelot with a cage, perceval's associations with jewelry and knighthood and the color red, and arthur's relationship with kay.

[some other scene context: perceval has injured his hand and can't participate in the tournaments, so he's craving some kind of fight. kay is disinterested in replying to this challenge, but he's not above reminding perceval of their first meeting. it's just mean enough in a weird-intimate kind of way that perceval's like, ok so we're doing the antagonistic version of court romance rituals. he picks up hunting because kay can't leave the castle.]

on the subtext of jewelry:

Clothes Make the Man: Parzival Dressed and Undressed, M.D. Amey

on the topic of kay, gatekeeping, and taboo anxiety:

Cei and the Arthurian Legend, Linda Gowans

the whole Red Knight/Perceval Shows Up In A Dead Man's Suit Of Armor transgression-situation (which kay references through red jewelry) mentioned is told in both de Troye's and Wolfram's Perceval narratives :)

anyway! to close out all this out: the transgressions. incredible! what is camelot but a bunch of transgressions stacked on top of each other tbh.

[goryhorroor]

horror sub-genres: southern gothic