#cause it explains the ghoul masks as well

[anotherghoul666]

Oh no :( sleep token seems to have awoken something else in me. What is it about watching masked, menacing figures appreciate each other on stage that’s so addictive? Gahhh

So I'm pretty sure this was a thirst ask which, so valid anon, my own thirst for Vessel has hit me like a truck, and I could leave it at that or answer with a joke, but! I am me, I over-analyze and over-intellectualize shit, and you asked what it was about him that's addictive, so here we are. On today's episode of "AnotherGhoul takes a simple asks and turns it into a whole damn essay": masks, monsterfucking and stage personas, or why Vessel from Sleep Token is hot (with a nod to Ghost). For me*. I'll add, why he captivates me*, because everyone's thought process and erotic sources are different, but maybe you'll recognize yourself in something I describe here! Under a read more because I went WAY OVERBOARD WITH THIS XD

Option 1: the mask kink So, I've had a mask kink for a long time. I've had a name for it for maybe a decade. I got to wear my first full masks in an arousal context maybe around 2014-2015. I acquired my first mask in 2019 for play. I jumped in the puddle with both feet within the past two years or so in terms of wearing masks and making people wear masks. But I can also remember early memories when I was a kid of being very very very drawn to masked characters in cartoons or video games, so I'd say my propensity for them has been there for the vast majority of my life.

Masks do it for me because I highly eroticize the removal of human features or aspects. I find the consensual removal, or giving up, of humanity extremely exciting. Think, removal of speech through a gag or a simple rule, so that one of the main things that make us human, language, cannot be used during play. Or objectification, where a human would be made into an object consensually, or treated like one, be it playing a chair, a foot rest, a table, a decoration, a sex toy, etc. I enjoy the idea of a human, with its dignity and morals, consenting to being used like a mere disposable piece of plastic. The removal, blurring or limitation of core human features turns me on.

So it's easy to see why masks in general do it for me. It erases the human facial features, or replaces them with artificial features, to different degrees depending on which mask is chosen. It makes someone look less human. It separates the human from the object. Inside a mask, any micro-expressions you make don't matter. You may make a face or try to signal an emotion but that's not gonna translate. You cannot appeal to anyone's empathy from within a mask. From the outside, all the other person sees is the flat planes of the mask that don't move or change or adjust with the wearer's emotions. There is no expectation of being able to "read" a face when it's masked. No pressure to figure out the right expression and meaning. Which is probably comforting for me in terms of my neurodivergence and my difficulty with reading facial expressions in the first place. The mask doesn't move. There's nothing to read.

Now, I also know, for neurotypical people specifically, apparently masks are super hot because of the accent on the eyes. Your typical mask will have lessened facial features but slits or openings for the eyes, so the person inside can see. Naturally your gaze will glide on the featureless face and find the eyes. For NTs, whose brains are made to read people's eyes, "the eyes are the window to the soul" and all that jazz, eyes are often a person's most attractive feature. A mask accentuates someone's strongest and most unique trait. I don't subscribe to that. I prefer masks to dehumanize, not draw attention to the humanity under. The masks I find the hottest will have very little sight possible inside (added sensory play aspect here) and from the outside, covered eyes or weird eyes, as long as I don't get to see much of the wearer's eyes, it gets bonus points.

Which leads me to Vessel's mask. Inhuman face shape, check. No mouth (assumed no speech), check. No nose, check. In this case there are eyes, but there are six, not two, which I find very hot because of the monster aspect I'll speak about later, but also, they're covered inside. There's a mesh inside that allows him to see out, but we can't see in. So, no eyes, check. There is nothing for me to grasp there, nothing for me to read. My eyes glide and slide over the smooth surface of the mask with nowhere to grab onto. It's an endless search, so my brain can stop searching for clues, and that's relaxing. He could smile, he could be furious, he could cry, he could be uninterested, I'd never know. All I see is a mysterious face, the erotic appeal of anonymity on full display, the lack of humanity, the removed features. It's a 10/10 mask for me. (I like his stage mask less because of the cut out mouth, but I understand 100% the need for his mouth to be uncovered and unrestrained because the man has PIPES and he couldn't sing to the full extend of his abilities while hindered.)

(All of this applies to the Ghost masks too. Imma dip into Ghost because this remains a Ghost-centric blog. But like, the masks are a huge part of why I write what I write, and why I find the ghouls so hot. The shiny, smooth surface of the masks. The replacement of all the musician's unique features for an ensemble of pre-determined uniform fake features. The lack of individuality. The lack of names. The dehumanization. Some masks show more eyes than others, some masks have more mouth space or show nose more than others, but all the eras still appeals to a degree.)

Option 2: teratophilia Another thing I eroticize a lot is monsters / inhuman monstrous creatures. That would be known as teratophilia, the sexual attraction to monsters, or monsterfucking as it's been popularized online. It can also cross over with exophilia, the sexual attraction to alien or extraterrestrial creatures, for some people. Basically, non-human weird creatures are hot. This is not a new concept at all, look at any historical mythology, people were down to fuck monsters thousands of years ago. It exploded in popularity on the internet within the last decade or so (tho it's been around since the creation of the web), with big movies like The Shape of Water or Marvel's Venom that spawned basically a tsunami of terato online, and the internet was never the same, for the viewing pleasure of us monsterfuckers. (*important note to please Harkness Test all your monsters before moving forward with the monsterfucking. If that test is news to you, please research it first.)

Monstrous, inhuman creatures are hot to me, similarly to masks, because of the removal of the human experience and aspects. Monsters, weirdly enough, are safer than humans. Monsters tend to be direct and instinctual creatures. A monster's level of danger or threat is readily visible and apparant. They may have fangs or claws or be huge or more powerful than a human, that shit tends to be obvious. I can deal with obvious danger. I may even eroticize said obvious danger. A human's level of danger is very difficult to determine. Humans know how to lie, they can manipulate and deceit, they can hide, their form doesn't betray immediate threat like a monster's form does, and so, humans feel unsafe. I'll take a direct, transparent danger over a hidden threat I might never notice any day.

Monsters also tend to not understand or value human concepts. They exist outside of human constructs and that has immense appeal to me. I can't imagine a monster giving much of a fuck about social constructs like gender or the binary; a monster's not gonna assume things about you and force you into boxes based on how you look; a monster's most likely not gonna give a fuck about neurodivergences or about your mental health status, positive or negative; a monster's not gonna give a fuck about physical health or disability. That's the core appeal, for example, of The Shape Of Water and why it made such a big splash in the terato community and converted lots of people over: the human lead character is mute, and a core part of her romance with the amphibian monster in the film is that it loves her for her. It doesn't know she's even disabled, because how would he know that humans talk and "need" a voice to be socially accepted. We shouldn't need a voice, or any other "default" capability to fit in. Everyone should be valued equally, yet in human society we are not, abelism is an unfortunately reality, but in the eyes of a non-human creature, all these social standards are meaningless. Monsters are a door to radical acceptance.

Which, once again, leads me back to Vessel. So, in the lore of the band, and I quote, "Sleep Token are a masked, anonymous collective of musicians united by their worship of an ancient deity crudely dubbed 'Sleep', since no modern tongue can properly express its name. This being once held great power, bestowing ancient civilizations with the gift of dreams, and the curse of nightmares." Now, immediately that makes my brain jump to Lovecraftian horror, the Chtulu mythos, eldritch horror, etc. It conjures images of an immemorial creature with powers far beyond the human brain's conceptualization capabilities, a deity of a thousand eyes and mouths and pure darkness and tentacles, a creature that would corrupt the feeble human mind on first sight and break our psyche to fragments with a blink. This? This is the shit for me. That's my kryptonite. I adore eldritch horror (while being conscious of the extreme ethical and moral problems in the source material, yes I know Lovecraft was a racist piece of shit, I hate it too). Tentacles are deeply, deeply ingrained in my brain and DNA as pure arousal triggers (thank you, random hentai videos from the early 2000s). So like. What more do I need. I'm already in love. Vessel. He's a vessel. He channels this Sleep deity. He receives. He takes in this deity, its unconceivable power. A vessel, the term by itself, the concept by itself, is erotic. A vessel is useless unless filled. It's made to be filled. To receive. To carry. To hold. A vessel can only take. A vessel is always open and ready. A vessel may overflow and make a mess. A vessel is an object. A vessel is intrinsically feminine. So what can Sleep's Vessel do. What power would he hold within, what has he received. With his faceless face and his blackened body, remains of a human, overtaken by a cosmic monster of Sleep and dreams. Made to worship. He dedicates his life to worship. Active worship of ink and voice and energy on stage. Vessel receives and holds. What could be give. Of course I'm gonna think of tentacles and monstrous, unavoidable, mind corrupting sex. It's like, right there. It's in the name. It's in the deep marine biology theme of This Place Will Become Your Tomb. Fall For Me? Please, you give me this visual and this command? I'll fall.

(This also applies to Ghost. The entire "the ghouls are demons" vibe the fandom has given them is in huge part why I'm so attracted to them and write them in erotic scenarios. They are not human. They're demons. They're creatures from hell. I love to play with their lack of understanding of the human form and human social norms in my fics. They don't understand rejection, so they may not reject based on human constructs. They have powers tied to the elements and the void and hell mythology that makes them strong and scary. They have the fangs and claws and horns and devil tails; they can shift their shape and look more demonic with crazy tongues and wings and hands and feet. Nothing about the ghouls is human beyond the general shape of their flesh and that's pure seduction for me.)

Option 3: stage presence Anonymity is a weird beast that radically changes how a person acts and feels. Anonymity allows for a process called disinhibition, where a human's natural behavior inhibitors (eye contact, to read someone's expression, fear of being judged, fear of being seen, fear of getting caught, discomfort with pain, etc.) are diminished or nullified. We all knows disinhibition very well, because we experience it online every day. It's what allows us on tumblr to be thirsty motherfuckers this openly, while we likely wouldn't be as horny on main in person with other people. It's what allows trolls to thrive and cause harm; allows people to send mean asks or comments without feeling bad about it. Through anonymity online, we're allowed to post whatever we want, and not face the consequences of having someone's eyes directly on us, of being observed, of seeing the hurt we may cause on someone's face. If we make someone cry online, we likely will never know and we'll never see the tears, for example, and tears are an evolutionary tool to show emotion and discourage an attacker from causing further harm through a presumed level of empathy. When anonymous, you are invulnerable. Unreachable. You are the ether. You are the void. You are formless. You have no weakness. Nothing can get to you. Anonymity is power. You cannot be judged, for who can prove that it was you. To be anonymous is to be free.

History is chock full of the use of anonymity and masks to justify a change in behavior. Just think back to masquerades or carnivals. Events that often devolved into pure debauchery, because when masked, you could do anything you truly wanted. You could have sex and act wanton, you could drink and overindulge, you could party and be open about who you are inside, because nobody knows it's you, and nobody will know come morning. Masks were a key to freedom, a class eraser, a way for different classes to mingle without consequence. To wear a mask changes how you act. Once protected, once hidden, once safe, a person will act according to their true desires and whims. Masks allow us to be unhinged. And that's what happens on stage with masked performers.

In the mask, Vessel can act as unhinged and inhuman as he wants. He can let music consume him, make him move weirdly, erratically, dance around and contort himself like he does on stage, because it's not him doing it. Whoever is inside the mask (and no, I don't want to know. For now at least.), on stage it's not him. It's Vessel. And Vessel is a conduit for the music and the god. That's why he moves so strangely. Why he's so "creature". He doesn't have to be a human on stage, he's in the mask, in the paint, in the costume, nobody can ever hold anything he does up there against him, nobody knows who he is. The freedom he must feel. That's also why he can feel up on his band mates like he does. He touches them, encircles them, gyrates and grinds against them, appreciates them as you say, because he's not himself, and they're not themselves. This is all fine to do, because it's Vessel and the numbers, it's the characters. He feels his music, and his music is sex. It's so fucking sexy. His voice, the bass, the drones, Sleep Token is incredibly erotically charged music, like music with heavy themes of worship and power and surrender tends to be. Vessel sings lyrics of obsessive love and devotion, of violence, of consumming each other. He feels himself. His bandmates feel themselves. They feel each other. There's so much tension in their stage antics. They sing of sex: "Oh, and my love Did I mistake you for a sign from God Or are you really here to cut me off? Or maybe just to turn me on Cause these days I would be lying if I told you that I didn't wish that I could be your man Or maybe make a good girl bad" Why not act like it.

(I guarantee the anonymity disinhibition is what happens to the Ghost ghouls too. Not that they're anonymous anymore, and they know that, but on stage, in the moment, the disconnect between who they are as a person and who their stage personas are in Ghost is visible to the naked eye. Yes there are tells with how they move, but in Ghost it's like everything is turned up to 11 on the intensity dial. Because they're not *them*, they're the ghouls, so they can have more fun, be more free, more unhinged. They're more silly, they make more jokes, they fuck around with each other more than any of them does in their "real" unmasked bands. The ghoul personas allow them to be a magnified version of themselves, because it's not them, they're behind masks, they can sell the sex more, the tension, they can go theatrical with the jokes, it's characters doing it, not the musicians. I saw Per Eriksson live with Blootbath, I saw him with Ghost. Are there tells it's the same guy? Sure. Did I ever see Per lick his guitar picks and mime jacking off on his audience in Blootbath? No. Would the guy think of doing that shit in his "real" life? I'm sure. Dude's got "Sodomizer" tattooed across his stomach, I bet he goes ham on the sex jokes. But like. Unmasked in person, he's more soft spoken, he's more shy, even on stage, in the absolute blistering agfression of Blootbath's music, covered in fake blood, he still holds back the jokes and the sex. That's allowed for his Ghost character, but not for Per Eriksson the guitarist.)

Option 4: all of the above For me it's the combo. Inhuman masked face + monster undertones + anonymity disinhibition = arousal trigger / fascination for a character.

tl;dr: enjoy Vessel, enjoy the guys appreciating each other, thirst over them, it's all great, as long as you Worship and ideally support them (within your means) with streams or merch or concert tickets if they have earned it in your mind.

[mimpinightmare]

Fandom question aaaaa:

What moment in Supa Strikas & Rookie Season made you fangirl the hardest?

OH??? A Supa Strikas Fandom Question???

FOR MEEEEE????~~~

(Thank you @alsoamalthia for the fandom question! You're like... the first person to ask me, in my 'Ask Me Anything Box'-)

"What moment in Supa Strikas & Rookie Season made you fangirl the hardest?"

OH GOD! WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN TO EXPLAIN MYSELF FOR THIS FRANCHISE?? BECAUSE THERE SO MANY- (So I hope me having multiple answers is fine-)

(Tad bit' Spoilers for Rookie Season in some of the Questions- Nothing grand or anything for the plot, just things mention in Rookie Season)

Well, for starters, one of the things that make FANGIRL, REAL HARD is just seeing the Supa Strikas boys, or any of the Super League team players having tender moments, like just hanging out or having a bro moment together. Multiple times in show makes me 'heart warmed' by just seeing Supa Strikas just being there for each other.

Like, in "Own Ghoul S3E3", where Big Bo was bothered by his past and terrified to tell the guys what went down between him and Spike Dawson, but Dancing Rasta and the others ensured him they're be there for him. Or something like in "Man in the Iron Tank Mask S5E2", where Klaus was insecure being in the roll of a Supa Strikas player, that he thinks he needs to become a Superhero to prove himself to be someone. And the guys were REALLY SUPPORTIVE in that moment! Dancing Rasta saying Klaus is always a hero every time he plays soccer with them, and North making a point that Iron Tank is TERRIFIED of Klaus' skills, that they need to think of a plan to stop him. (When I watched this episode, I was REALLY WORRIED how will it end, because Klaus mostly is the center of the joke in most episodes and I was scared the others might blame his ego or self-doubt for his actions, which Klaus is the episode CLEARLY needs some words of affirmation and support from the guys. I'm glad they Validated him in the end! :D ) And in "The Perfect Match S7E8" when Shakes got dogpiled from the guys and Dancing Rasta says "Teammates are closest of all!". Like, THAT'S CUTE! YOU CAN'T TELL ME THAT DOESN'T MAKE YOU AT LEAST SMILE!!! Sure, the guys sometimes bicker and fight, I'm not denying that, but when they do have a moment, IT'S THE SWEETEST THING!! I SQUEALED INTERNALLY AT THEM BEING BROS!!

There's not alot of 'Bro Moments' when it comes to the other teams (Is mostly either Technicalli or Iron Tank, although Iron Tank's 'Bro Moments' are mostly insulting each other-) But when it happens, it makes me happy. :) Like, pick ANY Technicalli episode around 'Season 3' to 'Rookie Season', there's chances of the guys are supporting each other, despite Toni Vern's treatment towards them. There's also this really short moment in "Dooma's Day S3E13" I really like, where Skarra scored for the team and Automatic, Dingaan and Dooma was celebrating with him. And you can clearly see Skarra wasn't sure how to feel at the moment, by he gives in and joins with them. I know it's short and in the end of the episode, there's havoc ensuing. But when I rewatched the episode, that's the few moments I saw from Skarra actually seems like he feels loved and fits in (without being a 'Bad Boy'). Especially knowing more of the context from 'Rookie Season', he probably never had something endearment in a long time since 'Rookie Season'... It's not much, but I take moments like these to HEART! ✨💜💛💜💛💜💛💜✨

Other than that, I get REALLY excited when there's little scene where you can miss them if you weren't paying close enough intention. And sometimes it cause me to speculate VERY DAMN SCENE IN THE SHOW- (But it's fun! Never regret this mind of mine~)

Like... DID YOU KNOW, in "How To Get a Header, In the Super League S3E8", there's a brief moment where North Shaw has a Barka FC jersey WITH HIM???? When I first notice that back in 2021, I thought to myself:

"BRO, WHO GAVE YOU THAT JERSEY?! WHICH BARKA FC PLAYER GIVE YOU THAT??!! I NEED TO KNOW!"

Like I was feuding with that particular scene in general- 😭😭

Or that short scene in "Broken Record S6E7" where LIQUIDO IS SHAKING SHAKES' HAND???? LIQUIDO IS SHOWING GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP?!?!?! I JUST KNEW THIS LIKE 2 WEEKS AGO?!?!?!?!!?

And this little scene in "Live and Kicking S4E3" where you can briefly see 'Rock Rockin' Howar' (not sure how to spell his name-) the Motivational Trainer back in "Dribbler on the Roof S3E10" where he works for Sheik. Now he's working FOR MS. ALTIVO??!!??!! I guess he's meant to work with powerful people-

Speaking of Speculating, I've been analyzing non-stop with this show- I love just thinking of ideas that would fit into the context it was given to the audience and I just analyze it, piece by piece, like not a sane person-

Like in "Hypno-Test S2E10", where Rasta claims him and 'Old Chuck T. Chipperson go WAY back!' And I NEVER BROUGHT UP AGAIN??!??! So, were they teammates before they join the Super League?? Were they Colleagues??? (YOU CAN'T PUT THAT IN THERE AND NOT TELL US, WRITERS!!! 😭) I've been fixated by that piece of dialogue for AWHILE-

Also, in "Score To Settle RS E6" where it shows Thor being all emotional, singing about his feelings and got angry when he caught off side- So, it's canon then? Thor has been struggling with, not only his anger issues, but also his masculinity. I've always thought that Thor is the softest one out of the buff guys, and was struggling with his gentler side because of the hyper-masculinity environment in Iron Tank. (Hope in the future, if there will be more seasons being made, I like to see Thor embracing his soft side, like the CHAD HE IS! >:D )

And in "Total Replay S5E12" where when Shakes (and then Supa Strikas as a team) was playing against Legendary Football Players in the simulation, every football team (even Colossus FC) have a player to represent them... EXCEPT FOR 'INVINCIBLE UNTED'.

Huh, I WONDER 'WHY'???~

(There's seen Invincible United' flags from the audience in the simulation, but I double checked that there's indeed, no 'Invincible United player' there.)

("COACH! VINCE! You have some EXPLAING to do!")

(This is just an excuse to tell you my thought process~ :)))) )

(OKAY, THIS IS THE LAST ONE, AND I'M DONE RAMBLING-) Other things that make me Fangirl HARDDDD, is Dingaan. Short answer-

LONG ANSWER is that I just LOVE THIS MAN WITH ALL MY HEART!!! When I came back to the fandom this May this year, I really thought Klaus would be my favorite (HE STILL IS, JUST NEXT TO DINGAAN-). But, MAN! That guy grab my attention. I've always have a soft spot for him back in 2021, BUT I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT CAME OVER ME TO HAVE SUCH A FIXIATION OVER HIM NOW-

Maybe is the silliness he brings when he shows up on screen? Maybe is because deep down his a 'Heart of Gold' Guy, who so happens to be in a very antagonistic team.

Or maybe I relate to him in a personal level, where he shows signs of neurodivergence and people around him would take advantage of that and his kindness. And when they're finished with him, they will think he's stupid for following their plans and use his loyalty to gain more benefits for themselves. And will underestimate him because of his "stupidity", when actuality he's more capable than people would realize. And also gets ridiculed for being himself and his interests because they think is "stupid" or "silly". And deep down he is actual a sweet guy and wouldn't hurt a fly, but unfortunately under circumstances, he could only obey under the abusive hierarchy in the system he is in. And the only thing he can show to people is his 'Aggressiveness", that is also been taught to him, under that hierarchy, and is semi-rewards him if he follows it accordingly, next to 'Doing your job Right'. But they won't award his achievements, because the system is meant to make you inferior than the HigherUps. And Dingaan is trap, probably not knowing, he himself is not going to be seen as equal to them because of his status and neurodivergence, and will punish him if he slips once. And when he shows him being himself, he will get punish, because being his neurodivergent self is not the standard in the system and they will "correct" him, like they want him to be.

.... No idea why I like him so much, but HE'S MY BEAUTIFUL BOY, AND I WOULD PROTECT AND DEFEND HIM IN MY HONOUR! (I will one day make a Analysis Post dedicated to Dingaan. YOU'LL SEE!!)

I know I don't talk about him much here, and only show drawings of him here, like 3 times. But behind the scenes, he's the few things when it comes to Supa Strikas is on my mind. And I've grown appreciation for Dingaan as days goes by. He's on my mind SO MUCH, I rewatch episodes of Supa Strikas he's BARELY IN- (NO, LITERALLY!! I rewatched "On Klaus Inspection S6E8" so many times, JUST TO SEE DINGAAN AT THE END- AND IT'S A KLAUS FOCUS EPISODE😭😭😭) (I still see the episode for Klaus, but is MOSTLY for Dingaan- 🏃‍���️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️)

(EDIT, BEFORE I FORGET-) Credit:

(I think I should credit where I got Dingaan's Full name from and the reason I'm full of happiness to know his full name now-)

Credit to @strika-archyvez for finding it out and sharing Dingaan's full name to the world!

As well as @yanxioustrikas for making a dedicated 'Invincible United Headcanon' Post of it, sharing canon names of the players and her Headcanons of them as well. Please CHECKOUT Part 2 of her 'Invincible United Headcanon' Post. As well checkout her other parts of the series! :)

⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑⁓⁑

AND I'M DONE- DEAR GOD, This took 3 hours- Thank you again to @alsoamalthia for the fandom question! It was really FUN writing this!! (AND I'M SOOOO SORRY FOR NOT ANSWERING SOONER FOR 2 WEEKS- 😭😭 I was busy at the time and was working on another Supa Strikas related work that I'm also writing. Was burned out from the writing that I need to find my groove again-)

If you finished reading this far, thank you for the patience to read this LONG post. Maybe, I got ALITTLE carried away with the answers, when it's just a simple question- Regardless, hope you had fun reading this, and hope you have a great day and tomorrow!!

Thank you again for reading!!!

(EDIT: I think I misread the question.... DAMN MY UNDIAGNOSED NEURODIVERGENCE!!!)

- MimpiNightmare

[aestheticpearl]

— 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞

[𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫] phantom ghoul

this new ghoul had something about him that was certainly captivating and you couldn’t quite place your finger on what it was exactly. phantom had stolen your attention from all the other ghouls and everyone seemed to notice except for him.

“you’re staring again.” rain’s voice behind you makes you jump.

“huh? what?” you suddenly straighten up and rain lets out a soft chuckle.

“you know you should just talk to him, he doesn’t bite— well you know what disregard that statement. what i’m saying is i’m sure he’d like to talk to you.”

you give rain a skeptical look.

“he likes talking and you like him, it’s a win-win situation.” rain explains.

you nod and thank the water ghoul as you walk over to where phantom was practicing on his guitar.

“you sound really good phantom, you been practicing hard?”

phantom’s head perks up at the sound of your voice. your heart flutters when you see the outline of a smile underneath his baklava before he pulls it down to reveal said smile.

“thank you for noticing! is it bothering you? cause i can move somewhere else if—”

“no!” you don’t mean to sound so nervous. “i don’t mind at all.” you let out a nervous chuckle and phantom smiles again at you.

“would you like to sit with me?” the question surprises you, you were not expecting it to be this easy to befriend the ghoul. he seems very friendly and trusting so you take a seat next to him.

“i’m trying out a new trick as i play, i’ve seen human play while the guitar is over their head and behind their back so i want to try it out!”

“wouldn’t that be hard with the mask?”

“it is a little, but that’s i’m trying to find a way to make it easier.”

“i see.” you smile at him. “are you adjusting well? is everyone being nice to you here?”

phantom looks at his guitar and focuses while playing a few notes.

“yeah well they’re as nice as they can be i think. you’re really nice though! i like talking to you, you make it seem like you’re actually listening.”

phantom looks back up at you and leans in close to you. heat rises to your cheeks and you look away from him quickly to try and hide your flustered expression.

“oh well, that’s cause i am?” you didn’t mean for it to sound like a question.

“thank you.”

it’s a soft ‘thank you’ that seems genuine, he’s not teasing you.

“for listening to me.” he offers a warm smile instead of his usual grin.

“i like listening to you.” you turn back to face him, staring through his lenses to try and find his eyes.

“we should hang out more than! i think you’d be doing the other ghouls a favor.” he laughs.

“i’d love to hang out with you more.”

“great! seven thirty in the library?”

“i’d love that.” quickly agreeing to his plan for later tonight without thinking.

“it’s a date then!” he stands quickly and starts running back to his room while he turns and waves goodbye.

“it’s a date.” you muttered quietly to yourself, repeating his words. “…wait.”

please reblog to show support ✧·˚ ༘ * ༄

i saw ghost live last night and that silly lil guitarist stole my heart

.love always <3 pearl

.masterlist

[live-love-be-unique]

Man vs Bear

Summary: Poor König is broken-hearted, luckily he has some new friends to help take his mind off things aka drunk König vs a bear.

My submission for @ghouljams King Killer challenge. And when Ghoul asks us to bump off the Austrian in stupid ways, I just had to answer the call!

The prompt I used was 10. Tried to pet a bear with a little bit of 42. “Trust me, I know what I’m doing” thrown in.

Parings: none

Warnings: spicy margaritas to the eyeballs, bear attacks, bad drunken flirting attempted by the large Austrian.

“Would anybody like to tell me why half of Colonel König’s body was found mauled by a bear in a tree outside of a local Hooters?” Laswell said as she stormed into Price’s office at two in the morning.

Price was seated at his desk running a weary hand over his tired face, lit cigar dangling from his mouth, while the rest of the 141 were sitting in a row in front of him, like naughty little boys who had been summoned to the principal’s office. Gaz and Ghost at least had the common sense to look repentant for their actions while Soap was still feeling the effects of the alcohol he’d consumed.

“I guess the bear couldn’t finish such a big meal?” Soap muttered, Ghost smacked the back of his head and Gaz groaned as Price pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “What? He’s huge!”

“One of you is going to explain exactly what happened and maybe I’ll think of shortening the time you’re on latrine duty” Price said through gritted teeth.

“You’re giving us the recruit’s job just because he couldn’t handle his bloody liquor?” Gaz whined.

“Start talking or I’ll make sure the only government job you three can get is as assistant cleaners in a local councilman’s office” Laswell chimed in.

“He said he broke up with his…frau? Isn’t that what he called her?” Soap looked between Ghost and Gaz for assistance.

“We thought a night on the town would take his mind off her” Gaz interrupted.

“I only went along with it because I couldn’t take anymore of his moping” Ghost shrugged, causing everyone to glance his way.

“Well somebody had better start from the beginning, I have a call with Kortac in 20 to explain this…situation” Laswell demanded, glancing at her watch.

…Earlier that night…

“Cheer up lad, plenty of fish in the sea” Soap said happily, pushing a large glass of beer towards König as he stared at the chest of a passing Hooters waitress.

“Drink up mate” Gaz smirked, gesturing towards the larger man with his own glass.

“Perhaps you are right my friends” König lifted his mask and took a large sip of his beer.

“Cause we are lad! Nothing like drowning your sorrows surrounded by such pretty lasses” Soap smirked up the pretty waitress who brought a plate of wings to their table.

As their night progressed, the four men found themselves crowded around a pool table, Gaz and Soap against Ghost and König; the Austrian proving himself to be an apt player “we have a pool table in our break room” he admitted as he sunk another billiard ball.

Raucous laughter flowed around the table “Oi, where’d did the big fella go?” Soap glanced around the room before spotting the larger man, towering over a pretty, curvy little redhead “well would you look at that, old mate’s getting back out there”

“Oh no” Ghost muttered as the very drunken late man fumbled in his efforts at flirting.

“You are very beautiful for a bigger woman” König stumbled out as the woman and her friends looked horrified “tell me, are you a redhead all over?” König asked as he he leaned towards the clearly uncomfortable woman.

The woman angrily threw the contents of her glass into König’s eyes and stormed off.

…“You should have heard the scream he let out! Didn’t realize she was drinking one of those spicy margaritas until it hit him in the face” Gaz interjected.

“What happened to the girl he insulted?” Price questioned.

“Who, Jennifer? Old Gaz here made sure she was well taken care of” Soap smirked and patted Gaz’s shoulder…

“König! König mate! Wait” Soap and Ghost followed after the larger masked man as he stumbled his way through the crowded restaurant, pushing past other patrons of the restaurant until he made his way outside. Gaz lingered behind, apologizing to the pretty redhead, pocketing her number before following his friends chasing the Austrian.

Gaz found them, frozen stiff watching as König stumbled towards the forest line “where’s he off to?”

His answer came soon enough as they watched as König made his way towards a large clump of shrubbery…and towards a large black bear.

“Mate I don’t think you want to be doing that” Ghost warned as König began stumbling towards the bear.

“It is fine, my friend, I know what I am doing, I have seen many bear before” König slurred happily as he reached his hand toward the bear, ready to pat it, like an overgrown puppy.

���In a zoo he means” Soap muttered to his colleagues as the bear raised its large paw and brought it down, scraping a large gash across König’ broad chest “Shit!”

The three men, along with a crowd that had spilled into the parking lot at the sound of screaming, could only watch in horror as the large bear reared up on its hind legs and latched its snarling mouth onto König’s neck.

…“The damn thing started flinging him around like a little girls dolly” Soap interrupted.

“Soap, shut it” Ghost snapped…

They couldn’t say how long it took before someone in the crowd had the idea to fire a rife in the direction of the carnage. At the sound or the gunshot, the bear raised its head from where it had been gnawing on König’s intestines, it gave a snarl as it took hold of the mangled remains and dragged it deeper into the forest.

“Bloody hell, how are we going to explain this to Price?” Gaz finally spoke.

Ghost sighed and pulled out his phone as both Soap and Gaz shouted “not it!” Hoping it would go to voicemail and allow the three of them to at least sober themselves up enough.

Price answered on the second ring.

…Back to the present…

“You’re telling me me he got drunk, insulted a woman he was trying to flirt with, had a…” Laswell looked down at the notebook in her hand “a spicy margarita thrown in his face and then decided to play a game of ‘fuck around and find out’ with a bear?”

“Yeah” Ghost grunted.

“Pretty much” Soap shrugged.

“Yeah, that’s what happened” Gaz nodded.

Laswell reached across the desk, snatching the glass of whiskey from Price’s hand “I need this more than you at the moment” she muttered at Price’s protest before downing the amber liquid in one gulp.

[batcadillac]

"Hey…..hey!"

The voice breaks the Hybrid Ghoul out of his trance, water from his hands sprinkling over the front of his uniform. He turns his chrome masked face to the source of the voice, and blinks and he sees another nameless Ghoul, squatting rather close. So close that the Hybrid really should have noticed him by now.

His pale skin and hair shine in the spring light, as he tilts his head at the Hybrid. "Y-yes?" he asks, voice croaking from disuse. He can't really remember when the last time he talked was.

"I see you out here all the time," the pale Ghoul comments, tilting his head the other direction, very animal like, turquoise eyes on the Hybrid. "Is this your job?"

The Hybrid swallows. Job? Well…..he supposes his duties in the gardens could be considered a job. "Y-yes…." he replies.

The laughter lines that crinkle the other Ghoul's eyes captivate the Hybrid for a moment, and it finally registers that this smaller Ghoul isn't wearing a mask. Honestly, ever since Cardinal Copia had become the front man of the Ghost Project, the restrictions of Abbey attire had gotten quite lax. So much so that most Ghouls hardly ever bothered with wearing the standard uniform and chrome mask while at the Abbey. It still tethered them to their Papa of course, but you didn't need to wear it. The Hybrid wore his because well…….it was more comfortable, simply being another nameless Ghoul among the crowd.

"Is that all you know how to say?" The pale Ghoul asks, and the Hybrid feels his heart rate tick up sharply. Oh no, he's offended the smaller Ghoul. He opens his mouth to apologize, before the other Ghoul waves a dismissive hand. "It's alright, just a joke."

He watches the Hybrid Ghoul for another moment. A joke, another Ghoul was joking with him. So strange. He hardly ever talks to anyone else, or rather, not many others in the Abbey talk to him. So to be crouching in front of his plants, the front of his uniform sprinkled in his element and having this conversation, is strange.

"Don't talk much do you?"

The Hybrid jolts. "S-sorry…." he replies, moving to wring his wet hands together. He frowns softly from behind his mask. Of course, his first real conversation in who knows how long and he's already messing it up.

But instead of getting up and leaving, the smaller Ghoul just smiles, tilting his head and showing his fangs. "It's whatever, man."

More silence and awkward staring, or maybe it's just awkward for the Hybrid. The pale Ghoul before just seems to ooze casual confidence. A fierce pang of jealousy hits the Hybrid before the other Ghoul speaks again. "You a Water Ghoul?"

It would make sense for him to ask, considering the Hybrid was using his magick to water the plants, his wet hands a proof of it, but again, it's strange to hear the question. The Hybrid swallows, afraid suddenly of exposing his status. Some Ghouls are notoriously unkind to Hybrid Ghouls, but this pale Ghoul with his easy smile and pierced face and ears seems to be genuinely curious.

"And Earth…."

Turquoise eyes sparkle. "I knew it!" he leaps up, causing the Hybrid to jolt again. The pale Ghoul offers a hand, and the Hybrid blinks at it.

He want to help him up? Swallowing, the Hybrid takes the hand, and is surprised at the strength of the small body lifting him up to his full height. He's definitely taller than the other Ghoul, but with what the Hybrid has seen of his personality, it makes him feel larger than life. So strange, to see someone so unphased by anything that’s thrown at him. "I knew I could smell it on you," the pale Ghoul laughs. "I'm Earth Air!"

That would explain his skin coloration, and as the taller Hybrid scents the air quickly, he smells it. Like crisp alpine air, almost cold in it's quality.

Satan Below, another Hybrid Ghoul, and one who wanted to talk to him!

"I'm Horizon," the smaller Ghoul says, offering a hand again.

The rather pleasant mood all but shatters as the Hybrid stares at the hand offered to him. He's not so new on Earth that he doesn't understand the human convention of introductions, but a name? He doesn't have anything to offer back. Panic starts to suffuse his body, causing the masked Ghoul to tremble as he stares at the hand. Oh Satan Below, he had only just met this other kind Hybrid Ghoul and he was already messing it up so badly!

Horizon seems to see that he's panicking, however, and easily moves his hand to place it on the Hybrid's shoulder. "Hey, no big deal….." he says softly, giving the meat of the masked Ghoul's shoulder a squeeze.

Soft tears start to fall, and the shameful feeling that always comes with him crying over useless silly things overtakes the Hybrid Ghoul. He nods, unable to find his voice. Horizon offers him a warm, sympathetic smile. "You do really good work out here," he says, seemingly fine with filling the awkward silence with more words.

Does he? The taller Ghoul blinks, sniffing away his tears as softly as he can so as to not be noticeable. There are other Abbey Earth Ghouls who work in the garden, and sometimes even Mountain, when he's back from tour, so it's not all the Hybrid. He's simply a part of a machine to keep the Abbey self-sustaining, but he can't help but feel touched at the comment. This other Hybrid Ghoul is incredibly kind.

"Horizon!"

Another voice breaks their moment, and the masked Ghoul jolts to his full height, Horizon pulling his hand away in shock too. The Hybrid’s eyes flick to the source of the voice, and are met with a pair of piercing blue staring right back at him. A tall Ghoul stands by the gate, his strong arms crossed as he stares at the two of them. The Hybrid feels a chill go down his spine as Horizon clicks his tongue. "Damn, sorry……gotta go."

"Where are you going?" The Hybrid Ghoul suddenly panics, hoping it doesn’t show in his voice, but worry consuming him that he’s going to lose the one good conversation that he's had with another Ghoul for who knows how long.

It's Horizon's turn to blink at him—probably curious to the question—but he smiles easily and throws a thumb over at the other imposing Ghoul. "Tour starts tomorrow, gotta get everything ready."

"Horizon!" The Ghoul shouts again, making Horizon swear and the Hybrid twitch.

"I'm coming, Bo! Gimme a second!"

All the shouting causes the tall Hybrid to sink in on himself, but Horizon turns back to him, rolling his eyes. "Duty calls," he says, then reaches up to clap the taller Ghoul on the bicep. "Keep up the good work!" He adds with a bright smile, before turning and jogging off towards Bo.

The Hybrid Ghoul watches, dumbstruck as Horizon leaves, only subconsciously seeing that he's also not wearing any shoes. Earth Hybrid indeed.

Tour. That means touring, which means the Ghost Project. Which means……

A Ghost Project Hybrid Ghoul just talked to him. The masked Ghoul's eyes refocus long enough to see Horizon throw him a peace sign before he walks with Bo out of sight.

The Hybrid Ghoul can't help a little unbelieving smile that crosses his lips under his mask.

Horizon. Horizon

Text by @arcaneacolyte

[thelampisaflashlight]

Everything Goes On Pt. 6

[Ritual night preparations. Not suitable for younger audiences. Previous part here.] Below the cut.

The shift in the air is palpable as the raging sun of summer draws ever closer to the cloudy gloom of fall.

Not yet here, though already on the minds of so many.

Mountain can feel the shift in his bones, bonded to the Earth as he is, but as he looks to the heavens, he cannot but feel a great sense of unease.

The sky is overcast, heavy storm clouds move at a snail's pace overhead.

An ill omen for a night already destined to be touched by the light of a rare blue moon.

Worse yet...

Mountain watches as the siblings gather for mass, their usual uniforms or casual clothes cast aside in favor of the traditional robes of their forbearers.

...there is to be a summoning tonight.

Turning his gaze to the lake, barely a puddle in his vision, he can already see the groundskeepers placing the lanterns to mark the path to the sunken chapel.

Three ghouls stand guard as they work, wearing the silver masks of a now bygone era, sentinels sent by Sister Imperator to ensure no ill business takes place on this most sacred of occasions.

The guards eye him from a distance, one of them, a smaller, slighter figure than the rest, swishes their tail -a threatening crackle of green energy sparking from the spade- at him irritably, and all Mountain can do is hold up his hands and return to his own duties to show he isn't a threat.

"Everyone's so worked up today..." Swiss comments, striding out of the courtyard holding a rake and a compost bag full of dead leaves, "What do I do with these, big guy?"

Mountain gestures towards a small pile between the greenhouses.

"It's because of the summoning tonight."

"I almost forgot about that." Swiss hums, tossing the bag, "I guess since Sunny's summoning was the only one I've ever gone to, I didn't think, ya know, it was a big deal?"

"Sunny's summoning was kind of an outlier, since it was not safe for the clergy to attend en masse." Mountain says, "Tonight's summoning is also special, because we not only have to contend with the weather, but the moon as well... Papa has already ordered several members of the clergy into seclusion to avoid, uh, unwanted side effects."

"What's the moon got to do with it?" Swiss asks, coming back to stand beside Mountain, looking out over the valley.

"You can't feel it?" Mountain questions, placing a hand over the middle of his chest, "Here?"

"Nope, aside from how warm your hand is." Swiss shakes his head, "I mean, I am half human, so it's probably another one of those things that doesn't affect me the same way it does you guys."

"I suppose so." Mountain nods, "But, to explain it a bit, the moon tugs."

"Tugs?"

"It pulls at us like the tides. Water ghouls are especially effected by it, hence why they make themselves scarce during the full moon, as do members of the clergy afflicted with moon based curses such as lycanthropy." he says, "Hence why Rain isn't able to attend the summoning tonight."

"Cause he'll go feral or something?" Swiss asks.

Mountain thinks back to earlier this morning when he'd encountered the ghoul in question rolling around in a pile of spilled laundry when he came to retrieve his clothes from the dryer, thoroughly out of his gourd, tail slapping on the ground like a pleased puppy.

"...Yes... feral..."

Swiss blinks at him.

"What about Dew? Since he's a hybrid?"

"Dew has a remarkably firm grasp on his water side, so he'll still be in attendance." Mountain says, "He'd likely have to attend in some capacity regardless though."

"Why's that?"

Mountain stares down at Swiss.

"What? What, is there something on my face?" the multi-ghoul questions, patting his cheeks.

"...You really don't know?"

"Know what??"

"Satanas... Well, I won't ruin the surprise."

.

.

.

"Ugh, these robes are so fucking heavy..." Dew grimaces, readjusting his vestments for a third time, "This is such a pain in the ass..."

"You do not get to complain." Copia sighs, coating his face in powder, "Mine are twice as heavy, and I don't have any of your unnatural ghoulish strength to help carry the weight."

Dew's tail swishes trapped between two layers of fabric.

"If I knew becoming a bishop would mean wearing so much clothing, I wouldn't have studied so hard."

"You had your entire deaconship and stint as a priest to consider that, now didn't you?" Copia points out, "Having to dress the part of your role only happens once in a..."

"Don't."

"Once in a blue moon." he chuckles, eliciting a groan from the already agitated ghoul, "Ah, lighten up, once the ceremony is over, you can go back to wearing what you want or nothing at all. Hell, you could even strip naked as soon as the rites are done, but, for now, you need to look presentable for the clergy."

"Half the siblings have seen my bare ass-"

"Sister will be in attendance tonight." Copia says, eyeing him from the mirror, laughing once more seeing the ghoul's conflicted expression.

"-which I will keep covered at all times this evening."

"Very good."

Copia stands back to admire his handiwork, checking his make-up for imperfections, "...Ghoul?"

"Yes, Papa?"

"I've been meaning to ask... How have you been since your packmates' departures?"

Dew clicks his tongue.

"I miss Sunny, it was fun having her around while it lasted." he says, "But I know you're not really asking about her."

"Things are still... complicated." he continues, "But Aether is the furthest thing from my mind tonight."

"That is... good." Copia says, "There's a high likelihood that something may go array during tonight's ritual, so I need you focused to ensure that if things do get out of hand, we can put a stop to it as quickly as possible."

"Yes, Papa."

.

.

.

Cirrus sits in her room getting ready for the evening, she doesn't really need to get too dressed up for the event, after all she'll be sitting amongst the siblings along with the rest of the ghouls.

...Save for Cumulus and Dewdrop that is.

And maybe that's why she's putting the extra effort in to look nice even though it will be impossible to really pick her out of the crowd, it's more so for after the rites are spoken.

After Cumulus is freed of her obligations as a sister of sin and they can fuck off while the actual summoning takes place to have a little fun.

At least, that had been the plan...

"Since Aether left, I have to stay as a witness." the smaller ghoulette had informed Cirrus earlier during breakfast, "You know how it is..."

"I don't, actually." Cirrus had grumbled around her pancakes, "You don't tell me anything about your duties as a sister, or why it's so different from being, I dunno, like the rest of us."

"I have though, Cir, I explained what my role is when I took my oath." Cumulus had frowned, patting her hand, "This is one of my duties as a sister, to attend these summonings and bless the new ghouls in the name of the lord below."

"Yeah, but why does it have to be you?" Cirrus groused, letting her fork drop onto her plate.

"I was requested personally, and you have to understand what an honor it is to be chosen for something like this..." Cumulus said, "I'll be standing beside Papa..."

"We hang out with Copia all the time, Lus, it's not that special."

"...Well it is to me." Cumulus whispered, "Plus, Dew could use the support right now. You know him and Aeth-"

"Oh, so it was Dew who asked." she'd scoffed, "Of course it was."

"Cir... what's that supposed to mean?"

"Ever since Aether left, you've been babying Dew." Cirrus hissed, "You even disagreed with me when I said our relationship wasn't like theirs, but it's not. You and I have been together since the pit, those two were just fucking around the way humans do, it wasn't even serious!"

"Wasn't even... Cir, they were engaged!"

"Engaged, but not bonded!"

"Cir..."

Cirrus looks at herself in the small vanity atop her dresser and frowns.

"It's not the same." she tells herself, "Our relationship isn't..."

"Dew could use the support right now."

Cirrus grabs her mascara and uncaps it.

"I hope he fucking trips and falls in his stupid robes tonight..."

[onedaughterofman]

Untitled vignette #2: Rain ghoul x reader

A/N: Something silly based on a recent experience.

Summary: You sign a contract without reading it. Now you have a personal demon. Also, Satan owns your soul.

Tags/Warnings: this is dumb, silly, stupid even. It's humor and satire, pls don't take it seriously. Rain ghoul is absolutely done with reader, and he's a little shit.

The thing is still there when you flick on the light.

The screech coming from deep within your lungs will definitely hurt your throat and cause some noisy neighbors to complain to the building administrator.

“Don’t do that.”

Well, fuck.

It talks.

At first you thought it was a hallucination. Naturally, waking up in the middle of the night and making eye contact with something standing at the foot of your bed had to be product of a disturbing dream mixed with lack of proper sleep.

However, you realized something was wrong when the creature tilted its head, never averting its gaze from your body. The artificial light sweeping into the room through the corners of the windows, where the curtains don’t completely reach, reflected on its head, emitting a faint glow that looked way too real for your taste.

Then, when the lamp from your bedside table turned on, you saw it clearly.

That’s a fucking demon.

“I mean it. Stop. It.”

And a displeased one, too. Stunned, you struggle to pronounce the right words. Pinching yourself in an effort to wake up from whatever nightmare this is doesn't help. Nothing happens. The creature huffs, jerking its head before moving closer. The bedframe creaks when it plops on the mattress, long nails reaching in your direction.

The demon doesn’t touch you. It does not attempt to steal your soul or slice your throat to silence you. Instead, it remains sat on the bed, waiting for you to shut up.

You do. It feels weird to be the only one screaming.

“Good. Listen, let’s get over this," the demon sighs, musing over its words. "Thank you for signing the contract. The Old One is happy to welcome you as one of His clients. I’m your newly assigned Nameless Ghoul.”

Okay.

You weren't expecting this. “What?”

“Didn’t you read the contract you approved this afternoon?” Even in the dull light and with a mask concealing its face, the creature appears to be completely tired of your bullshit. “No? Is that too hard? Don’t you know how to read?”

“I do!” You yell, after tripping on your words. “I just…”

“Then why are you making me explain this? It’s all in the fucking agreement.”

Those papers, right. The same papers the bank employee handed you along with a pen and a wide smile on their face, urging you to fill in the blanks and then place the date and signature at the bottom.

Of course you didn't read them. There was no time and at that moment you thought there was no reason to do it. “I wanted to open a new bank account.”

“Yes. We remove the bank fees for a year in exchange for your soul. Plus, you get your personal Nameless Ghoul for the same amount of time. After that, if you wish to continue using my services there will be a reasonable fee.”

Services? A Ghoul? No, this can't be happening. This is a bad joke.

"I only wanted a cheap bank account," you whine, allowing your head to fall back into the pillows. Getting under the blankets doesn't work the same as it used to do when you were a scared child, hiding from the monsters that lived in the closet.

The Ghoul is immobile, sitting there when you remerge. The blood runs cold inside your veins as he (Can you even call it a "he"?) nods slowly, before continuing. “It’s cheap. How much do you think your soul is worth?”

Okay. Not only your soul is apparently gone and in the hands of the Devil himself, but also your demon is a mouthy one.

Great.

“Is there a return policy?”

“Not for a year.”

Great, again.

Amazing, even.

“Do I have to pay for the debit card?”

“Only the mailing fee.”

“Well, that’s good at least.”

The silence that fills the room is heavy and oppressing. For a long moment, the Ghoul's unforgiving gaze remains locked in your face. You can sense his annoyance through the mask, burning on your exposed skin. Then, his head moves to the side as he analyzes every corner of the bedroom.

Even if there's not a single change in his appearance, you know he's judging the mess of clothes and shoes, and your choice in decoration. “Are you going to stay there?” You question, beginning to feel as irritated as he is.

The Ghoul merely shrugs. “Where do you want me to go? There’s not much space here.”

“I don’t know. I’m half hoping you’ll be gone in the morning and this will be nothing but a dream.”

“You’re up for a disappointment.”

Once again, the silence becomes unbearable. He doesn't speak much, it's late at night and you want to close your eyes and wish for the best. You're so upset and tired you don't even feel scared anymore.

How do people exorcise demons? Should you call a priest?

No. When was the last time you stepped inside a church or prayed to god? You can't recall it.

Can you exorcise him alone? In the movies, one critical step is to discover the identity of the demon. "Do you have a name?" You inquire, hoping this will be straightforward.

It's not. “No, I don’t need one. You get to pick one for me, as long as it’s not stupid.”

For a few minutes, you think. Your brain is fried and the words come in and out without being registered, nothing but a mess you don't want to clean up right now. After a lot of hesitation, you whisper the sole thing you managed to think of.

The way his head spins to left and right in clear denial makes you jump in place. “Absolutely not. My last human called me Rain, which was stupid but not as much as what you just said.”

“What happened to them?”

The creature replies nonchalantly, voice incredibly soft. It's almost cheerful. “They died.”

Shit.

Something must have reflected on your face, a deep sense of dread and fear, because the Ghoul quickly continues. “Not because of the contract. They were a bit stupid, kind of like you.”

Oh, fuck.

Alright, you have a demon. One that is definitely going to roast you to hell and back, with no hesitation or mercy. This must be some kind of divine karma, of punishment.

Whatever it is, it can be solved in the morning.

“I’ll go to the bank tomorrow,” you whisper, before laying down on the bed. Hopefully, this a hallucination or some sort of bad joke. It is possible you lost your mind. Too much stress, too many horror movies. “And I’ll ask for a copy of that contract.”

“As you wish,” it’s the response. The demon stands up, leaning in your direction. “Do you want me to read it for you? Will that be easier than using your fucking eyes?”

“I only want you to leave my room and shut up.”

The ghost of a tight smile appears in the place where his mouth is. Then, as suddenly, it disappears. “I can do that, well.”

When you wake up the next morning and all your furniture is completely out of place, arranged in the most bizarre way you have ever seen, he is standing in the middle of the mess looking way too pleased.

“Why?” It’s all you can mutter, already dreading the rest of the year.

Somehow, the creature manages to appear even more smug. “You ordered me to get out of the room and shut up. You never said I couldn’t do this.”

“But why, though?”

“I simply don’t like you.”

Great.

Amazing.

Fantastic.

Yes, it’s undoubtedly going to be a fucking long year.

Ps: sorry. In my head, Rain is that type of "silent person who seems very chill but it's actually tired of everybody's bullshit and always screaming inside their minds" mixed with "secretly a little shit if they don't like you".

Wrote this at midnight to fight the horrors. At least it made me laugh a bit. Hopefully it's entertaining.

[childrenofthenightt]

‼️🚨 calling all ghesties 🚨‼️

i would like to propose a theory!!! many ghesties are theorizing that our beloved phantom ghoul is the brother of another ghoul, whether it’s dew, aether, omega or anyone else!!! and i love those so much !!! (tbh especially the aether one. wow) BUT i propose. phantom is ifrit’s little brother. unfortunately i’m delusional and have made up lore to support that. enjoy!!!!

this is going to be so long and so badly written <3

pre-summoning:

before ifrit’s summoning, him and phantom lived in the fire ghoul pits of hell <3

phantom is half quintessence and half fire, so he’s smaller than the rest of the natural fire ghouls (underdeveloped in both quint and fire traits!!!) and ifrit has always been a protector of sorts <3

phantom has vitiligo (which he tends to cover up with his mask, which would explain the name <3) and the majority of the meaner fire ghouls would give him shit for it: phantom can take care of himself of course, but ifrit would jump at the chance to defend him for that especially!! also, ifrit has vitiligo patches as well except they’re mostly on his chest, arms and torso, where most wouldn’t see it <3

they are essentially orphans so they looked out for each other their whole lives, and ifrit promised to write to/contact phantom as much as possible if he gets summoned. cue ifrit getting summoned <3

(sorta unrelated but i do think ifrit was terzo’s personal summoning which is probably fairly rare for a papa as they would simply use the ghouls around the abbey. because terzo summoned ifrit himself they would be especially close and you would almost never see terzo without ifrit (and aether) trailing behind)

mid-summoning

around a year after ifrit had been summoned is when things went to complete and utter shit <3 i have personal hc’s about exactly what happened here that are absolutely for another post BUT. the clergy is very unhappy with terzo, and whisk him offstage for an Early Retirement, and then kill him <33 chopping his head off to make a point i suppose <3

ifrit found out about terzo’s untimely death, and had noticed how fishy sister imperator and papa nihil had seemed. ifrit, being a fire ghoul whose summoner and best friend had been murdered, was understandably raging about it <3 ifrit snaps, and finds seestor and nihil, raving at them about what they had done. ifrit disrespects them to the point that they have to shut him up somehow <3

(i think they either make an example of him n behead him like they did terzo, throw him in jail for years so that nobody ever finds him or they give him the worst jobs known to ghouls and essentially make him nameless with no authority or choice at all. but it’s up to interpretation ofc!!!)

as for what happened to phantom during ifrit’s time at the abbey…. i personally like the interpretation that @sixcrowsbooks posted but the whole backstory is of course up in the air <333 i just like traumatizing these ghouls <3

post-summoning (enter phantom stage left!!!)

ifrit was the big brother. he was the protector. older and bigger and stronger. and ifrit DISAPPEARS after he said he would be BACK and sent him letters whenever possible until they STOPPED. phantom gets summoned and immediately starts to look for his brother.

phantom gets summoned and immediately sees the single white eyes of these two strange men and the stern lady with white hair and other ghouls and just. asks immediately where his brother is. of course nobody Listens and imperator doesn’t know who he’s talking about cause he didn’t get to use the name before being Ushered away but he’s going to find out what happened to his brother or else <3

ifrit was so showy onstage and had so much energy and was a lil cocky too <33 so in this new place without the protection of his older brother and obviously suspected by nihil and seestor (even just at the way he spoke out of turn asking about his brother during his summoning. they don’t even have to know he’s ifrit’s brother) phantom’s just a scared lil guy using his brothers showy tactics to survive <33 been like that since 6 years ago when ifrit came to the abbey and left him alone <3

phantom’s biggest lead towards where is brother could be is one terzo emeritus, who he had talked so so fondly about. when phantom gets there and they’re both gone <3 what’s a ghoul to do!!

dew, mountain and aether (who Started Working At The Abbey Again. he’s the costumer/tailor he told me so) immediately recognize phantom because they were also with ifrit during terzo’s time as papa, and take the little quintessence ghoul under their wings <3 although they can’t tell him anything about what happened to his brother in case seestor and nihil find out and make an example out of them too.

phantom once brings the situation up to copia and he just <3 shuts down <3 because terzo’s his brother and he knows just how phantom is feeling <3 after this, the ghouls and copia make sure phantom is never alone <333

reasons for this theory:

the personalities are so similar i adore it so much <3

ben christo (ifrit) and randy moore (phantom) look. so related it makes me batshit personally <3

fanart mirrors this fact tbh <3

update: GO read my lovely wife @lady-jane3 fic linked here it’s exquisite and so so so good

and that’s a wrap. thank you!! if you made it to the end of this post here is some tea (☕️) and cookies (🍪) ily all <3

[sentientpaperbag]

Also, Ghost?

Oh boy. Ok lemme explain Ghost, sorry, this is about to be a looooooooooong post lmao but this is my current fixation so:

Ghost is a band. A band with fictional characters, and kind of a story.

The frontman is currently Papa Emeritus IV, or Copia. He's my favorite:

this is him.

Before him, there were three other Papas:

This is the first Papa, or Primo as the fans call him. He debuted around 2010

He is a very grumpy, very old looking man. He was the frontman until the next Papa took over in 2012

--

This is Papa II, or Secondo:

This Papa has his fans, a lot of people do think he's hot. He is also an old looking, grumpy looking individual but he's also been seen without the corpse paint

He kinda looks like Pitbull.

Anyway, the next is Terzo. The third Papa.

He's apparently a few months younger than Secondo but he doesn't look it. Also I learned recently that he's like 4'9 to make of that what you will lmao. He was Papa from 2015 to 2017-18 when he was forcibly removed from stage. I think it was because he started to make it about himself instead of the cause (which since this is a Satanic band, they're trying to spread the word of Satan i guess??)

After that, the current Papa, Papa Emeritus IV or Copia, became Papa. But before he was that, he was Cardinal Copia, and he looked like this:

Now when I first found out about this band, I thought these were all different people, but it turned out, they're all the same guy, and you can kinda tell in some of the pictures that he's wearing a mask. He had several made for the different characters.

This is the man behind the mask, and the band, he's the singer and songwriter. His name's Tobias Forge:

He's a dude from Sweden who came up with this elaborate storyline and band and honestly it's super neat. He kept his real appearance hidden for a while but ultimately due to some drama he finally came forward. He seems like a really cool guy from what I've seen

FUN FACT: Today's his birthday actually :D

But back to the storyline of Ghost, so there's one other Papa aside from the four current frontmen, and he's actually NOT played by Tobias.

Papa Nihil:

Primo, Secondo, and Terzo are his sons (and it's heavily implied that Copia is his son as well)

He's kind of the head Papa of all Papas, kind of a more Pope-like Pope I guess? He's a very grumpy man who doesn't like Copia and really didn't like that Copia got to become Papa, despite Copia being a fun character that the fanbase has ended up loving tremendously.

Also Papa Nihil is dead. Sometimes at concerts they bring his "dead body" out and revive it so he can have a saxophone solo in the instrumental song Miasma.

Then there's Sister Imperator

this is her when she was young, she's older now obviously but they've changed her actress several times. Here's some of her different older looks:

She's basically the real brains behind the operation of the Ghost Project, and she and Papa Nihil were in a relationship when they were younger (however, he fucked that up by being a bit of a player)

It's heavily implied she's Copia's mother, hence why Nihil is implied to be his father. She is the reason Copia became Papa, it was her choice.

Other characters include the ghouls! The bandmates for concerts, they usually have masks covering their faces:

this is their current look. Very steampunk-y.

So TLDR: Ghost is a Satanic themed band made by a Swede who was super into metal growing up and made a whole fictional group of characters in the process. They have videos on their youtube that show Copia becoming Papa and stuff. They actually just released a new vid not too long ago that might be implying something is going to be happening to Papa IV soon, cuz the previous Papas were killed.

It's a lot of fun and I don't take it too seriously cuz it's clear they're having fun with this, and the fanbase seems really cool from what I've seen. I'm leaving a lot out but that's cuz there's just... so much. It's really cool tho I recommend them

Someone once said their music sometimes sounds like Scooby Doo chase music, and yeah... Yeah it does.

Some song recommendations!:

Cirice (spelled exactly like that. this song got them a grammy!)

Year Zero (very heavily Satanic inspired but good God the song goes hard)

Mary on a Cross (classic, "the Tiktok song", also the first song I heard by them)

Hunter's Moon (FUN FACT THIS SONG WAS USED IN THE END CREDITS FOR HALLOWEEN KILLS!)

Call Me Little Sunshine (this song is so good holy shit. It almost got a grammy)

Square Hammer (this one has such a cool music video to go along with it tbh)

there's more but I've made this post way too long as it is so I suggest doing some digging by looking at wikis. I'd say look around on tumblr but the Ghost fanbase is kinda horny for the Papas and ghouls so be careful (i'm not kidding the fanbase is very horny for the characters... To be fair, there's lots of sexual humor at the concerts coming directly from Papa Emeritus and the Nameless Ghouls)

oh one last thing!

Copia got to throw the first ball at an MLB game and it's really fucking funny to think about

[elementalladymallorie]

Part two of the referencing other Scooby Doo media in a show. I need something better to call this. Part 1

This part has Ghoul School, Alien Invaders, and Zombie Island.

Lets start with Ghoul School. Shaggy and Scooby intern/volunteer for like extra credit or something at a nearby Girls Academy a few times a week, and Scrappy tags a long for fun. Shaggy and Scooby are constantly making references to the girls at the academy, just off hand comments about things that happened last time they went, the last volleyball match they had, etc. The gang thinks it's similar to Daphne's baby sitting gigs she gets occasionally, and don't really think much about it outside of something they do. Until Shaggy mentions that it was a rough day because Tanis accidentally wrapped Winnie up in her bandages, leading to sprained ankle and they hadn't been able to cheer her up yet. When asked to explain Shaggy mentions the mummy thing. Then a lot of things have a new context. Sibella's garlic allergy, Elsa's stitches popping, Phantasma. Shaggy and Scooby have been around the girls so much the fear wore off and they both completely forgot they hadn't mentioned the girls were monsters. Eventually the gang gets to meet them because something or someone has been messing with the school and they can't let that mystery go unsolved.

Alien Invaders: Honestly this would be a lot of the same to me. Fred gets a call about ufo sightings and aliens, and takes the case. They all think it's a normal case, people in masks cause there's enough clues for it. But there are a few things that just don't match. Shaggy and Scooby meet Amber and Crystal and still hit it off. The reveal happens, the people in masks and the alien reveals. Later they're all driving home, dozing off while Fred takes the home when Velma bolts upright, startling everyone and goes "They were aliens!" Everyone's confused until Velma continues "We could be dealing with aliens now! I don't have any research on aliens!" That has everyone freaking out a bit because what are they gonna do?? But Daphne breaks some of that tension by looking right at Shaggy and Scooby, with a wide grin and good-naturedly adds "You booth smooched an alien!" They're still a little rattled but they'll be fine and make it through.

Zombie Island: Fred plans a trip for him and his friends, because they've been busy with exams, internships, etc. and haven't had a lot of time to hang out. So works out something to get them down to New Orleans since it has enough history and mystery for Daphne and Velma, and is a huge food scene for Shaggy and Scooby. With no planned mysteries outside of the ones in books. Of course it doesn't work out well, and they get invited to a little island out in the bayou. There the gang has to deal with the living undead, curses, and were cats. It's a turning point, things are definitely more serious now and maybe it's the start of a more overarching plot about how they're being lead to these supernatural encounters specifically.

That's all I got for now. Idk if I'll be able to branch out on this more or refine it much but aoifj I'd love if these things got more love in a mainstream series.

[rinwellisathing]

You're Awful, I Love You: Part 51

Enver Gortash/Trans Male Tiefling Durge

A week later, the carriage was being prepared for the trip to Moonrise to bring the plan to its next stage. The gnolls helped to load several carefully wrapped bodies onto the luggage area atop the vehicle while Tomi and Fel supervised, the former holding Rio gently in her arms wrapped in a red blanket embroidered with gold images of deadly plants and mushrooms. Sentry and Orin approached, both dressed in traditional Bhaalist attire, intricately patterned black robes with gold jewelry showing just a hint of chest. Sentry pushed back his skull mask, the skull of a predatory big cat, the hood it was attached too decorated in the creature's own claws as well as black feathers. He approached Tomi and leaned in to kiss Rio on her head. “Take good care of her, sister. I'll be back in practically no time at all.” “Of course, brother dear, the little princess will be safe and sound in my care.” The elf giggled, rocking the infant gently. “And naturally, my horrid master, I will be there to assist mistress Tomi with her tasks, ah, though I do wish you'd reconsider and allow me to join you on this errand.” Fel clasped his hands together nervously, looking from Sentry to Orin. “This mission is important, Fel. We will be crowning an Illithid Elder Brain, the fewer people involved the better, less people to worry about casting protections on.” Sentry explained. Enver approached the carriage, dressed in a black horned mask and a set of fine black and gold armor and accompanied by a woman in black leather armor and a similar mask with long red hair. Sentry couldn't help but grin a bit to himself, thinking what a handsome figure he cut in the Banite garb, but he shook it off and instead approached him, taking his hand gently. “Is everything ready?” The tyrant asked, looking to the carriage, which the gnolls were just stepping away from now. “Looks like it. We can leave as soon as you're ready.” Sentry confirmed.

“Alright.” Enver nodded, approaching Tomi and gently touching Rio's little hand. “Father loves you, darling. I'll be back soon.” The simple words his own father never said. With their goodbyes said, the four stepped into the carriage and began the journey into the cursed lands. Orin sat with her hands in her lap, head down. She held her hands tightly together to try and stop the trembling, eyes occasionally darting to look up at Sentry, mercifully obscured by her own helm, the skull of a large predatory bird. Her mind tossed and turned like ship in a storm, remembering their prayers side by side in pools of blood and gore, how many of the sculptures in Sentry's garden they had assembled together when they were younger. His gap toothed smile when he looked at her art back then. It occurred to her briefly that grandfather was wrong, that he had caused this rift between them. She considered briefly abandoning her plans. But then she saw how Sentry rested his head on Gortash's shoulder, arms entwined. She thought of the impure child, her blood polluted by another god's chosen, which Sentry had seen fit to bring into the world instead of a proper child of Bhaal. This had to be. There was no going back. The brother she had adored when he'd first arrived was dead if he'd ever been anything more than a mask for a frightened girl afraid to face her duty before father. This pretender was all that remained.

When they arrived at the tower, they were greeted by Ketheric's usual entourage. Z'rell and Balthazar instructed the ghouls lurking around the tower to unload the latest delivery of corpses and have them taken to Balthazar's chambers. Ketheric himself stood ramrod straight, arms folded behind his back as he watched the carriage being unloaded and his guests stepping out. Sentry and Enver took the lead with Orin and the Banite woman trailing a respectful few steps behind them. Ketheric looked down at the party, Enver and Sentry looked up at him, the secondary representatives keeping their eyes cast downward as was expected.

“Hmm...who wore it better. Gotta say Enver. Sorry old man, you were married once, you understand loyalty to your partner, yeah?” Sentry grinned, looking from Thorm's armored body to Gortash's. “Are you even married?” Ketheric frowned. “Don't answer that, actually. I don't care to know.” “Well, you could at least congratulate us on our new daughter.” Sentry smirked. “You have one of those too, right? The one that ran away in horror the minute we helped you bring her back?” Ketheric's eyes flashed warningly at the Tiefling, but he held his composure. Sentry's smirk became a wide, cat-like grin. Ketheric had been around long enough to know this was a game to the Bhaalist, and he wasn't about to give in to a petulant child looking for attention. “I'm sure your journey was tiring, you should rest before we complete the plan, we will need all our strength to dominate this creature.” Ketheric dismissed Sentry's taunts, forcing his focus back to business. “Excellent. Thank you for your hospitality, General Thorm.” Gortash's voice oozed with condescension as he and Sentry walked past Ketheric into the keep, on their way to their usual guest room.

Sentry walked hand in hand with Enver, focused only on what lay ahead of them. He didn't see Orin approach Balthazar or indeed walk off with him, speaking quietly. He didn't see Orin's hands trembling as her fingers danced over the stilettos he'd gifted her so long ago, nervous and fighting for the strength to do what she believed she had to. “We're almost there, my love. Just one more sleep and the plan will be fully in motion. Word of this Absolute cult will spread across the Sword Coast, not just the city. Your family's hard work will pepper every hint of gossip from village to village outside The Gate. The people are already losing confidence in The Flaming Fist, in the Dukes and the Patriars...Once my prototype takes to the streets they will be begging me to step in and lead them.” Enver paced across the floor of the guest room, gesticulating wildly with excitement. Sentry loved the way his eyes lit up when he spoke like this. The Tiefling lay across the bed, gazing up at his partner and watching fondly as he moved across the room, listening intently to every word as he spoke. “I have a gift for you when we return to the city, a painting to celebrate your rise to power. I finished it just before Rio was born but I wanted to wait to give it to you until the timing was perfect.”

“I always cherish your work, my love.” Enver smiled softly at Sentry. Then his expression became thoughtful for a moment. “On that note, I suppose I really will need to make sure Wyrm's Rock is fitted with a proper atelier for you to work. After all, I will want our family together in my moment of triumph...” Sentry looked up at him wide eyed. He'd never thought about leaving the temple, but he supposed Enver was right. If Rio was to be a proper heir, if their family was going to live like a proper royal family, Sentry and Rio would be living with Enver. His mind turned over the possibilities. He could send Fel as a messenger back and forth to continue giving orders, but some things were spur of the moment, some things needed an instant instruction. Tomi was a smart woman, but she could be flighty and wasn't one to think on her feet, she prefered in depth plans. He would sooner attend a clown show than put Jackal in charge, and Gabraela wasn't a thinker. That left Orin...She had done well in spreading fear of the Absolute Cult after Sentry had spoken to her about the frivolous bits of her murders. If she did well here too, then perhaps she was the solution. The first steps to suck out the poison Sarevok had planted in her mind. She was capable, clever, and while she was impulsive, she got results. Even her latest recruits had been a significant improvement. Sentry had learned much from Enver, one thing being that improvement should be rewarded.

“Well, at any rate. We should get some rest. Tomorrow morning, we descend beneath the tower and there's no going back after that. We need to be at our best.” Enver interrupted Sentry's thoughts, sitting on the bed beside him and leaning in to kiss him softly.

“Yeah, rest...that's a good idea.” Sentry nodded, shaking off the buzzing of his mind and getting up to undress for bed. “Heh...you know, as much as this stuff makes for a great portrait outfit, I kind of hate it. It's so tedious to wear...” He mused as he began to strip out of his ceremonial garb. “I really dread having to put it all back on tomorrow.” He folded the fabric, laying it on a nearby dresser and resting the heavy skull atop it before returning to the bed and crawling into Enver's lap, fingers moving delicately over the straps and clasps of his armor. “Ha! You're one to talk, do you see what I'm expected to wear?” Gortash laughed, nodding towards the armor Sentry was now expertly removing. “Yeah, but like I said...” The Tiefling paused a moment, fingers grasping the shoulder buckles as he leaned in and nipped at Enver's lips before kissing him deeply, that rough tongue sliding into his lover's mouth eagerly before pulling back to finish the thought. “You look so dashing in it.”

[mxsinizter]

Some of Volcan's background 👀?

Volcan had a pack, but not a family. The pack took care of him, they did, but the emotional connection was never there. It didn't help that the pack didn't treat it like a real fire ghoul. They saw him as helpless and too weak and didn't trust his powers. Vol could barely manifest or control them and didn't exhibit the qualities the pack honored in a fire ghoul. For example, Vol was mostly non-verbal and soft-spoken, sensitive emotionally and physically (cried sometimes when playing with pack members cause they were too rough), and had very poor social understanding (got in big trouble once for his curiosity in a pack traveling by). Within a pure Fire pack, the young ones were expected to exhibit a certain type of vigor and fire that they never saw from little Volcan, the equivalent of a wingless bird almost.

Volcan's first memory, ironically, is fire engulfing him and harming him. It's probably the worst pain he remembers experiencing and somehow it didn't scar. A kind, fierce and much, much older ghoulette was the closest he had to a parental figure after the incident - but the pack lost her not long after. He spent time with other small ghouls sure, but he was never their close friend, first choice, or someone they actively sought out, y'know? Volcan got used to living in the shadows of the ghouls among him, cowering from their fire and unable to predict his own. Kept their head low and usually a good boy (one of the only praises it received because at least the pack didn't have to worry about it destroying shit at a certain age as most fire ghoul younglings did). 

Volcan played a lot with scraps, creating things with its hands. A young, but older ghoul once came across their creations when looking for scraps too and invited them to help out at a 'shop' he worked at. The ghoul actually went out of its way to teach Volcan about welding and metal work. (Ifrit reminds him of this ghoul a little bit.) They enjoyed making things for the pack, fixing things, making little toys for the younglings with scraps as he had done for himself. But it didn't fill that emptiness, no matter what, the pack would never be able to fill it. And then the Ministry was looking for an easy fire ghoul to summon. 

Some stuff to explain why and how he got summoned?:

This was between era II and III, ghouls were still frightened and not fully knowledgeable of what was going on. They searched for a fire ghoul preferable who could create. A ghoul to support the main ghouls of the Ministry - first job being the creation of new, well fitting mask and items to hold possibly dangerous ghouls. It'd be easier if it was one of their kind and someone who could infuse Magick. (Metalwork helped Volcan learn its Magick better, and since they are more tolerant to the burn than other ghouls of their pack, it made it easier to teach themself.) 

The pack was astounded when the silent outcast stepped up, reaching out and begging to be the one to be catched by the summoners. To his luck, he was.

Little random notes I think I should point out and that may add to Volcan's lore: 

Fire ghouls can stand heat better the further down they are in hell. The pack Volcan comes from is one of the 'lesser' packs close to the surface. That also made it easier for him to be the one to get summoned. Volcan's difficulty with Magick, yet high tolerance of its effects might hint that they come from a bloodline of a different pack 👀. I don't plan on going anywhere with that though - besides that Vol may turn out to be a lot stronger and powerful than he seemed. 

Don't mind me... just gonna go off and introduce my 🔥 ghoul oc Volcan :D and its relationships with Cowbell and Earth (and mentions of Ifrit)

Goes by it/they/he pronouns, amab, and stands at 5'10 glamoured. Short-ish curly hair shaved on the sides, thick eyebrows, dark brown eyes (hints of red maybe). Meaty, chubby boy. Introverted, not very talkative but a super curious creature. Likes welding. Smiles very easily, will be the one that can't stop laughing at an inappropriate time b/c they can't control it. Cowbell takes advantage of that 💀, speaking of.... very close buddies with Cowbell and Earth! Bell is the one that really started bringing them out of its shell, sparking the fire in him. Met Ifrit through Cowbell and Cowbell has never regretted introducing two individuals more lmao. They love torturing and pranking the poor ghoul. (Will never forgive them for the itching powder in the underwear prank.) Vol and Bell have that dynamic where Volcan can secretly be the more mischievous one at times, yet the blame always falls on Cowbell. Balance each other out pretty well and love just vibing and trying all types of snacks and weird stuff together. Just two goofy guys goofing off, always have some random thing going on. (Currently seeing how many times they can make Earth trip until he realizes that someone is behind it and not him just being clumsy.)

Vol secretly (obv to Cowbell) has a little boy crush on Earth. He just really admires and looks up to him and dies inside when Earth's attention is strictly on it. Earth is somehow clueless of their feelings. Earth sees them and goes 'omg, just a lil guy', despite only being a few inches taller. The two of them can easily find comfort in one another and love having movie nights or going for walks in the forest during sunset or sunrise. Earth is very gentle with them but not in an overbearing and babying type of way and that means sm to Volcan (Cowbell's sometimes guilty of doing this, has reasons why, but still.) There's been a few times they've fallen asleep together; one time, they rubbed noses while half asleep and holy shit Volcan thought it was gonna explode. It's happened a couple of times again while they're both sleepy and somehow end up cuddling and shit does he look forward to the possibility of it happening again.

Earth gave Vol the nickname Bunny/Bun cause of its softness and love for rabbits (has rehabilitated rabbits before, there's quite a lot in the surrounding area, Earth loves helping). Ifrit makes fun of him every time he hears Earth call them the nicknames b/c he notices the effect it has on Volcan.

Little NSFW bit…. Guilty of sometimes thinking about Earth during solo pleasure time and once thought about him calling him Bunny during and holy shit he busted so fast 💀. Ever since the nickname always brings a lil extra reaction if ya catch my drift. He feels so guilty about it.

Little does it know… Cowbell has been trying to convince an insecure Earth to ask him out cause fuck, Earth's starting to fall hard for his little bunny and needs to do something about it.

[crowberry62]

This is gonna have no specific papa as a romantic figure.

This is gonna be angst with some fluff at the end

Tell me if y’all want more of this and maybe I’ll make it a series:)

Your time on earth hadn’t been easy. You missed your fallen siblings and had been cased out for disobeying your creator. You couldn’t join your siblings so you were left to wander the earth with your burnt wings pressed under a coat. What you thought was a eternity of endless wandering came to a end at a loud building. You had snuck your way in and watch from your hiding spot as a group of something played their strange melodies. One song brought tears to your eyes as the man with a skull like face started singing the names of your fellow fallen breather. As the singing came to an end you snapped out of your trance and climbed down to confront them.

“ Papa something feels wrong.” One of the masked creatures spoke to their so called “Papa”

“I’m sure it’s nothing Aether” the skull faced “Papa” said as he took off his shiny jacket

“You should listen to your followers” you spoke as you shed your heavy coat leaving your damaged wings on full display and causing the ghouls to hiss

“ it’s an angel papa!” The shortest creature hissed “it’s come to kill is all!” As it looked ready to kill you.

“What! No I’m not an angel anymore I’ve fallen. You protested as the skull man called “papa” seemed to relax a bit at your proclamation.

“Well my freind I am papa emeritus iv. I’d like to invite you to stay at the ministry for the time being. The skull faced man said calmly.

“WHAT!” Every shouted but the skull faced man. He held his hand up to silence us as the other creatures yelled mixed words of unhappiness.

“Our new freind is a fallen angel so they rebelled against god as our dark lord Lucifer once did so they are welcome to stay with us for as long as they need.” The skull man explained calmly as he shook your hand.

“Welcome to the clergy my friend.”

[incorrectbatfam]

Hi. I love your work it's super hilarious and always makes me smile no matter the bad I had. I know you mostly only do bat family only. But I really love the BuzzFeed unsolved segment you did with Batman villains. Would it be alright to ask if you could do more of that?

Again love your blog. It's so refreshing.

"Hello and welcome to another season of Buzzfeed Unsolved. Today we'll be covering the enigmatic case of the Riddler."

"I see what you did there, Ryan."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

"Yeah, I love a good wordplay."

"It's a double wordplay, actually, since his true identity—as we'll dive into—is Ed Nygma."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"That's a stupid name."

*wheeze*

~

Shane: "I'd love to sit down for a dinner with Poison Ivy."

Ryan: "Except she could strangle you with her plants."

"She seems like a decent lady."

"She's an eco-terrorist!"

"But she's got a good point."

~

"—and that's when Roman Sionis became the notorious crime boss Black Mask."

"Wait, so he fused a mask to his face?"

"Pretty much. Kinda gross when you think about it."

"I can imagine. Like, you know when you were a kid and you'd cover your head in saran wrap and try to melt it on with a hair dryer?"

"No?"

"You didn't try to encase your head in plastic when you were a kid? That was a whole thing at my school."

"The fuck kind of school did you go to?"

"You didn't do that?"

"Why the hell would I do that?!"

~

"Harleen, known for her genius-level IQ, got her PhD in psychiatry at Gotham State University."

"But Gotham's not a state."

*wheeze* "I mean, it's so cut-off it might as well be."

"Also, if my math's right, that means she went to school with Bruce Wayne."

"What are you implying?"

"You know how college is."

"So you think Bruce Wayne and Harley Quinn were—"

"Smashing pumpkins?"

"... Sure. Let's go with that."

~

Shane: "If I was Mr. Freeze, I'd give up evil and just drive an ice cream truck."

Ryan: "No offense, but you'd be the stranger danger that parents tell their kids about."

"You don't want my ice cream? My evil Arctic laser ray sundaes?"

"Actually when you put it like that it sounds pretty good."

~

"Here we are in the Joker's abandoned theme park. I'm gonna turn on my spirit box and see if we can pick something up."

"I thought he was alive."

"Depends on your canon."

~

Shane: "Fuck, marry, kill: Two-Face, Mad Hatter, Man-Bat."

Ryan: "Kill Man-Bat and uh... fuck Two-Face and marry the Hatter."

"Interesting. Care to explain?"

"Well, Man-Bat's, like, an animal, right? Or at least part animal. And I'm not into the furry stuff anymore, so—"

"Anymore?"

"It was an experimental phase."

"Sure. A 'phase'."

"It was!"

"Don't worry Ryan, your secret's safe with me." *winks*

"I'm not—" *takes a deep breath* "Anyway, so kill Man-Bat. Then I'd have a one-night with Two-Face 'cause I think his two halves can get creative, you know?"

"Why're you asking me if I know? Do I look like I know him?"

"Honestly I wouldn't be surprised at this point."

"And then I'd marry the Hatter 'cause Batman's gonna send him back to Arkham in like a week anyway so I'll be free."

~

"Welcome back to Buzzfeed Unsolved: Postmortem, a show where we answer your most pressing questions about the latest episode of Buzzfeed Unsolved, which was Red Hood. All the questions we have today are from our Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and directly on the video on BUN."

"Our first question comes from user@jasontoddsnotdead on Twitter: Is it possible that Red Hood was actually a former protogé of Batman who felt he was let down because Batman won't do what's needed?"

*Shane and Ryan glance at each other*

Both, in unison: "Nah."

~

Ryan: "Our next fan art comes from @robin4 on Instagram. It's basically the Ghoul Boys as a vigilante duo."

Shane: "Would you ever become a vigilante, 'cause I wouldn't."

"Sure. Just not in Gotham."

~

"The Hotdaga's coming to Gotham City, and this time, they're facing off against the evil Condiment King."

"That's not a real villain."

"It is."

"I don't believe you. It's too over-the-top even for Gotham."

"Well, you better believe it, 'cause we even got a special performance from Catwoman herself."

"Why did I agree to this show?"

[wolfythewitch]

Hi Wolfy! Could you explain what the wormwood au is exactly about? It seems really interesting, but at the same time it looks like it is inspired or is an au that get things from other show/game etc (like Tokyo Ghoul aus). I kinda of try to understand, but sometimes it looks like there is things that I don't know, and I just don't get it

Sorry if it's confusing

Oh man dear wormwood my beloved

So basically it’s a god au that started out as a four horsemen of the apocalypse au! That’s why wil is famine, phil is death, Techno is war, and tommy pestilence

You are able to turn into a god by being offered godhood, but there are severe consequences if the process goes wrong. It causes corruption, a void like infection that infests your body and drives you mad (coughs, dream is a corrupted god. He is not an evil one, just a pained one. There is a reason he wears a mask, underneath it is pitch black)

However, the reason why gods often don’t offer godhood so freely is because it comes at a price, usually part of the God’s domain. They are able to save a dying mortal if the mortal’s death is within the domain. Say, if you were famine and a mortal was dying of hunger, then you’d be able to grant them godhood (should they accept it). And then that mortal becomes the god of whatever they die from. Phil found Wilbur and techno, and Wilbur found tommy and brought him to phil. Being the god of death, he has dominion over all their deaths so he could grant them each godhood, and in turn gave up parts of his domain: War, famine, pestilence. Techno was the first one, and due to his soul being so fractured, the process didn’t go smoothly. A little corruption seeped through, and from that he got the voices.

If you are a god and you want to save someone dying out of your domain, the sacrifice is a bit steeper. Tommy saved tubbo and he bound his soul to a disc called “blocks” Meleager style. Tubbo keeps the disc with him at all times. Wilbur saved fundy, and that cost his something as well but I can’t mention it yet.

Other gods/mortals to note:

Tubbo - god of pollution

Niki - mortal, priestess to the war god

Fundy - god of abandonment

Sapnap, George, and quackity - mortals

Karl - patron of time

Ranboo - god of discord (techno found him and tried to make him god, something went wrong, corruption spreads over half his face and his memories are foggy at best. Techno blames himself for this. Something about broken gods and broken successors)

Puffy is mom to dream and foolish

[herecomesaspecialghoul]

special!! have you ever gotten sick? can you get sick, in your form??

Ehhhh, not so much in the way that humans understand sickness, no. Us ghouls can have very bad reactions to certain things, like holy water or pure silver- by "bad reaction" I mean, uhhhhh, it's like, well, if a ghoul is using it's glamours, for example, and comes into contact with some kind of holy shit- eheheheheheheheh- then immediately the glamour is disrupted. Like, violently. It happened to me once when I was doing interviews in the Meliora cycle, I touched a door handle or something, it was a bad.... I could barely hold myself together, got to the hotel room and just kinda, uhhhhhh, exploded into full ghoul form. It also immensely disorients us. Sounds rush you all at the same, uhhh, volume, no matter how far away they are, any light level no matter how low becomes far too sharp... Copia once equated it to a very bad migraine attack and I said 'if your migraines also make wings and horns violently emerge from your body without your, um, your consent, then yeah, I suppose that's apt.'

So that's one sort of sickness equivalent, and it's not as prevalent in the touring- I mean, the threat of it is not as prevalent in the touring as it has been in the past, thanks to our incredible road crew. Those guys and gals look out for us, scare off protesters, so on and so on. Next time we're out in the world, y'all be sure to thank our hard working crew, okay?

The other is quite rare because it has to do with deprivation. As I have perhaps mentioned previously, us ghouls are created with an elemental binding that keeps us, uhhhhh, cohesive, here on earth. As a Fire ghoul, I have to periodically set myself on fire. It- eheheheheeh, it's hard to explain in human terms. I suppose it's close to that 'self-care' thing y'all do. Me building a little nest and curling up in it and setting it on fire is equatable, maybe, to y'all getting a massage or doing a mud mask. It just, uhhhhh, it grounds us, I guess. All ghouls have a thing to do now and again, be it the fire setting, sitting at the bottom of a body of water, burying the self, flying into storm clouds, or stargaze... Aethers actually have several methods of grounding, since they're connected to the more, uhhh, ethereal aspects of the earth, I suppose.

Anyways. Deprivation- a ghoul purposely not taking care of itself, really, although I suppose in the far past the church might have experimented with the nature of ghouls by forcing deprivation, but let's not ruminate on that- causes several things. A ghoul's hair and scales lose their sheen. They become unable to successfully engage their glamours. Their skin, uh, kinda falls off, and plops on the ground and disappears in a pinkish flame. Leaves an oily stain on the floor. To be honest I've not seen anything that happens beyond that- I have to assume it's a full deterioration state, y'know, back to Hell. Probably not a pretty sight.