#dying light tahir

[incorrect-dying-light-quotes]

slipknot - AOV

[tafferling]

The Harran Welcome Wagon 

[dr5amatic]

AT THE GATES ,

a sentence starter prompts list comprised of quotes from the novel a reaper at the gates by sabaa tahir. please be advised that this list may involve topics including, but not limited to, murder, death, and violence. change verbiage as needed.

no harm shall befall you. i vow it.

i fear what you will do if harm comes to those whom you love.

i would destroy anyone who dared hurt you.

your heart is made to love. to give. not to take.

it's stupid to fall for a once-dead ghost-talker, i don't care how pretty he is.

who took him? tell me!

talk or die.

unless you're a fool, you'll agree that death would be preferable. i will make it swift.

i could never mourn them. i wasn't allowed to.

you nearly got yourself killed. is that not enough?

you have much to learn, and i do not know how much time i have to teach you.

go or don't, doesn't matter to me. but stop being woeful and useless. i don't have the patience for it.

you didn't ask for assassination. you asked for destruction, and destruction takes time.

you don't have to tell me if you don't wish to.

you don't have to come with me.

not a chance. never again. where you go, i go.

you will fail, usurper.

i thought we would have more time. i thought we'd find a way out for you.

i don't want to let you go. not yet. not so soon.

you are cruel, [name], to give a girl all she desires only to tear it away.

this isn't the end for us, [name]. do you hear me? this is not our end.

you've never been a liar. don't start now.

why are you lurking out there? are you spying on me?

you destroyed my life. you could have saved them. you—you monster.

what of you, [name]? are you not a monster?

fare thee well, [name]. i will see you once more before your end.

tell me what's going on. i can decide whether it concerns me or not.

how the hells are we going to get out of here?

i won't make a promise i can't keep, and neither should you.

any other threats? discussions you wish to waste my time with? none? good. then lets get the hells out of here.

you are new to your power, but that does not mean you do not have it.

i'm not going anywhere with you, not until you tell me who you are.

if i answer one question, will you stop being so annoying and let me get you to a safe house?

why did you not listen to me, [name]. why did you not learn?

what is the point of having muscles if you cannot carry things for others?

she penned a play. i can feel it. don't act the part she's written for you.

why are we not fighting back? night won't fall for hours. we need to use the light that remains.

first, you need to eat. you're irritable and i don't like talking to irritable people.

i can be your ally, or i can be your enemy.

we leave in an hour. come along or stay. it doesn't matter to me.

you must have a guard with you at all times. not because you are incapable, but because you must show your strength. there is strength in numbers.

what, you don't want to pass the time in conversation with me? i'm hurt.

who did this to you?

you're not dead, and you're not going to die. do you hear me? you're going to live. you're going to find whoever did this to you. you're going to make them pay. get up. get to safety.

i'll never let go of what i fought so hard to keep.

stay with me. you don't have to speak. all you have to do is stay awake.

off to get yourself killed again so soon?

i heard you got stabbed. thought i'd come yell at you for allowing it to happen.

some guard you make. you were fast asleep.

i don't know your secrets and so i cannot protect you when others try to ferret them out.

if you didn't need protection, it would be because no one saw you as a threat. needing protection is not a weakness. refusing to trust your allies is.

we're dying out here! while you dine on roast fowl and fresh fruit in a tower that doesn't belong to you.

you are so stupid! you're the only one i have. the only one left! did you even consider that before running into a burning building?

you do not know the weight of the crown. you could never understand.

will it always be chaos for us, [name]? will things never be normal?

if... if i change... if i seem different, remember that i love you. no matter what happens to me. say you'll remember, please—

you seek counsel. i am honor bound to offer it. sit, please. i will speak with you.

no one is safe. have you not yet learned this lesson?

we will see each other again. i swear it.

i'll make my own way. i don't need you.

why do you care so much what happens to me?

there are men back there who were counting on me, and i left them.

mercy, [name]. that is my order. i do not deserve it. i do not even wish it. but you'll give it to me anyway. because you're good.

you dare put those you love before all of humanity? you dare be so selfish?

no need for that. i didn't drag you through a hundred miles of caves so your first act upon waking would be to stab me.

you came for me. you dragged me from the claws of death himself. you have more good in you than you will ever acknowledge.

[dicktat]

(Slight Spoiler Ahead if you haven’t played)

Good morning may I offer you more cursed dying light textposts in this trying time

[crane--here]

anniversary post but it’s them

bonus:

for the bold ones

[the-internal-screaming]

[rahimaldemir]

Who is your least favorite character in the game? Why? What do you believe that the developers could have done to make him better?

The fact that you said ‘him’ makes me think you already have someone in mind.

As for me? Most of the time, my least favorite characters just consist of the ones I don’t love the most. I don’t have any strong negative feelings towards any of the DL characters, as like, characters, I suppose?

Of the main-ish cast I suppose I would say Tahir, just because he’s the least interesting to me? But that seems like a boring answer because he’s not prominent in the story that much. And I don’t know if he needs to be a better character, because I think he plays the expected role of “asshole, beefcake henchman“ pretty well.

If I had to pick someone from the Tower specifically, I guess Brecken? Again, just because I find him the least interesting. I’m just so much more invested in everyone else. But I don’t dislike him at all. I actually really like him as this character who rounded a community up because he has some knowledge and ideas and cares about people, found people looking up to him as a leader, absolutely doesn’t want to be a leader, would rather be out in the field running and gathering supplies, and actually directs people rather poorly under pressure.

How to make Brecken better? I guess… dig more into the side of him that doesn’t want to lead? Contrast his struggles with leading with his strong capability as a runner, so we can see where he really shines.

Most of my negative feelings are reserved for the writers themselves than the actual characters. (I have big beef with how almost all of the most ethnic looking characters of the main cast either died or were evil.)

[madeinharran-blog]

Pact with Rais

[possibly-not-a-ghost]

Okay so I finished Dying Light today and all I can think is just how badly Rais wanted Crane to be his narrative foil. He wanted Crane to be the Hero to his villain. He wanted to make Crane's actions to be fueled by revenge for what he's done. To fall just like him. Rais wants him angry, revenge filled and just as bitter as Rais himself. He wanted Crane to experience the horrors that was the Harran outbreak, to feel as if he was truly just a dog going to fetch. He wanted to believe that Crane with Tahir wasn't just him at his worst low. That it was Crane's truth

All while climbing up that last stretch he shouts it.

"Poor Rais Crane. So consumed with emotion. Burning with the need for revenge. Eaten alive by hatred. Such feelings make you weak!

YOU'RE PROJECTING PRETTY HARD BRO. He tries so many times to make Crane think like him to a desperate amount. Rais wanted Crane to be the justification that everyone would've done what he'd done and become what he had become. God, that's actually a really interesting angle for Rais who up until now I felt fell a bit flat. I really wish it had been more apparent. Or that this is the truth and not just surface level writing

[incorrect-dying-light-quotes]

imagine rais and tahir playing tic tac toe on karim's forehead while he's asleep

[tafferling]

(re)Meeting Tahir, Flunky No1.

[hyperfixatinglove]

Dying Light for the fandom asks?

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most)

Brecken & Kyle! Kyle is obv because I love him.

Brecken is amazing actually. Surviving night run automatically makes you big badass, but I enjoyed how sincere he was & how it was shown how leadership was dragging him down emotionally and I just really loved his accent/vibes (I think it's supposed to be Australian?) I love the fact he was some salesman pre-apocalypse.

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped)

Ezgi! Punk little woman! Love her! She's rebellious, sometimes even dumb because she's teenager but she's great. I love how she knows her home is hellhole (she's not fond of the religion her home has) and leaves on her own accord & gets quite far without help. She's survivor!

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave)

Rocket! He's proud little shit to Kyle & thus player but he's fun! Certainly didn't deserve to die just bc he liked challenging Kyle. I wish we got to know more about him than just his skill in parkour.

Also quartermaster at the Tower & Toygar aka the guy near bulletin board! Both have very few lines but what little we know both are naturally inclined to help others (Quartermaster's bit snarky I love it), it's telling we don't have a name for one of them jfc.

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week)

Dahlia! She does have rather prominent role, well, she has quite lengthy side mission chain, but I still want more of her! I love her being a witch and being arrogant & trying to challenge Kyle's worldview! I love her decorating skills, the closest I'd ID her with witchy terms is death & herbs witch. The way she speaks is intimidating but I love her!

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave)

Rahim.

From what I've seen some consider him annoying but I adored him, he was spunky but over his head outside Tower. Story does present him as pathetic since he did this entire suicide run that Crane promised to do instead just bc he wanted to do it. He did massive mistake by going out w/o telling anyone, getting other runner killed & cherry on top, lied about his bite just so Crane would take the bombs. Everyone in story thought it was utterly stupid of him.

Still love him. And he lives in my canon.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason)

Tahir. He has tormented me enough in turn with his boss fight, with his weird damage immunity at weirdest times, I can grant him some torment as treat. Also he beat up Kyle in prologue, so that must be avenged. The only thing I kinda appreciate is the fact he's build like brickhouse.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell)

Rais of course, the war criminal himself, the guy who killed Jade in game canon, just begone thot.

He's boring as villain but I'd still send him to superhell.

[dicktat]

🦇The first day of Halloween my enemy & me🦇

🩸Dueled in the moonlight flesh in my teeth🩸

Anyways come get some of ‘em Van Crane and idk some bastard tyrant vampire

⚰️⚰️⚰️Happy (early) Halloween to my mutuals

[crane--here]

dying light lgbt headcanons

(dying light + the following edition)

kyle crane: bisexual. no doubts here. very open about it too

rahim aldemir: that is a gay man

jade aldemir: bisexual

harris brecken: he's... actually not quite sure himself! all he knows is had he not been dating lena he'd be down for a date with kyle

spike: gay ace. he and haluk had something going on you can't deny it

alfie: i know sidequest npc. most don't care. but this man is gay

mel wyatt: bi as well! she was questioning her gender too, being a teenager and all

rais: homosexual homophobe.

tahir: not sure but he and rais had something going on

karim: bisexual, with a preference for men though

troy: oh that's a lesbian

savvy: transhet king

ezgi: LESBIAN

jasmine (the mother): lesbian (trust me)

[foradecision]

forthechaos sent :    ‘you're a rat stuck in my maze, crane. nothing more, nothing less. you move because i will it. because you've been taught to follow the cheese.’

     consciousness eluded him for a while. it comes back in pieces, like shards of glass digging into the soft tissue behind both eyes — like the details of what happened before. of how he missed the steel trap buried beneath dead leaves until he was right on top of it, and its teeth had already snapped shut. an explosion: he remembers that. zere’s camp under siege. rahim’s blood still on him when brecken told him to go, cast him out of the frying pan and straight into the fucking fire. but that’s not on brecken. he would’ve gone either way. he always does.

     in hindsight, rais probably counted on it.

     he remembers tracking them — rais’ men, zere’s abductors — back to the garrison and getting inside. parking garage. bullets flying, ricocheting, clipping the meat of his right shoulder just beside the line of his tac vest. a grazer. barely superficial. the place was clear, but it wouldn’t stay that way. crane remembers kicking down a door, telling zere to lower his voice, the blurted intel that he’d given jade his research for camden before she’d disappeared to old town — 

     the lights. the lights went out. 

     and then they came back on.

     six guys. three grunts, and tahir. and roman. and rais himself. the gang was all there. tahir’s gun to zere’s head. roman in the shadows behind them, watching, while rais jammed a blade into the doctor’s thigh. more concerned with preventing his escape, he’d said, but there was something else, something before that, something in the dictum of an order.

     jade. it was about jade.

     hunt the scorpion down. spare no resource.

     the last thing he remembers is a rifle stock swinging at his face.

     there’s the headache. 

     an absolute, unrelenting beatdown of a fucking headache, fireworks of white and threads of black, and every minute shift of movement costs him a nasty lurch of his stomach. it takes a second to get his left eye open; blood from his hairline was holding his lashes together like glue.

     a grunt. a groaned, “... shit.��

     "are you aware of the myth regarding dying in dreams?”

     actually, backpedal. there’s the headache. 

     the room — if it is a room; it’s hard to tell when his spatial awareness is compromised and everything’s out of focus — is scantly lit with a single lantern turned down low. it throws rais into an even deeper cast of shadow, throws the scars on his face into sharp relief and turns the darkness of his gaze to pools of near - black. 

     “they say if you die in them,” he continues, “you die in reality. fortunate, then, you've decided to wake up and join us. get up.”

     “... fuck you.” but crane does get up. pain skews his vision sideways and through it, his eyes stay on the warlord. “where’s zere, you son of a bitch? if you laid another hand on him, i swear to god, i’ll —”

     “what, crane? what will you do, hm — ?” 

     “you’re a dead man walkin’, rais.”

     rais tuts softly. the low sound raises crane’s hackles like the hiss of a viper from a curtain of tall grass. “you bark, little dog, but as it would appear ... you have finally begun to lose your bite.”

     “wh— the fuck’s that supposed to mean? answer me, motherfucker.” 

     “is that not why you left roman alive, when you stole my explosives?”

     the school. of course he knows they were at the fucking school. somehow, he doesn’t think the information came from roman; any of the others on site, maybe. all it would’ve taken was a glimpse of him going in or out. words overheard. details that don’t even matter in the here and now because the bottom line is that rais knows, and that opens the floor for a whole other kind of threat. 

     it’s not that he knows about crane crossing paths with roman. 

     it’s that crane crossing paths with roman might not be all he knows. 

     “why don’t you ask him yourself? i told you, i’m done with this shit. tell me what you did with zere.”

     “the doctor is alive,” rais says, smooth where crane is rough. “for the time being.”

     “where is he, rais?” 

     a smile. sharklike, all teeth. he’s fluid in the way he moves toward crane, tuts again at the practiced reach for a weapon that’s no longer there. “if i were you, agent, i would be less concerned for him and more concerned for yourself.”

     the breath crane had pulled in catches halfway down his throat. it holds. blood pounds in his ears. agent. friends on the outside. 

     he knows. 

     “you come to us,” his voice carries a serrated edge to it now, a commanding volume without lifting to a shout. the distance between them gets smaller. everything about this fucking place gets smaller, walls closing in. “like a snake in the grass. here, in a city of lies — you are the biggest liar of them all. did you take me for a fool, crane? did you think i would not find out, that it does not behoove me to know from which filthy corner the vermin scurry?”

     a door opens behind rais, flooding the room with light. no, not a room: a shipping container. two men enter, flanking the warlord, awaiting his order. roman and tahir. 

     his right hand, and his left. 

     crane’s hands flex into fists, the cut of his jaw clamped tight. so tight that he could almost swear he hears a crack of molar. 

     “you’re a rat stuck in my maze, crane. nothing more, nothing less. you move because i will it. because you’ve been taught to follow the cheese.”

     crane snaps. red mixes with the white and black. he jerks forward with his arm coiled to spring — and, that quickly, both roman and tahir are on him. tahir’s knee flies up for a brutal blow to his gut, doubling him over, but they haul him back up, keep him standing. in the greyish light, roman’s eyes meet his. 

     something is different. just like at the school. 

     something isn’t right.

     then the order comes.

     “throw him in the pit,” rais tells them, already walking away. “then we will truly see how well the GRE trains its operatives.” 

[evies20dollars]

Top Books of 2020

(name 10 of your favourite books you read this year / you can do less if you don’t have as many of course)  Thank you to the lovely @tidemakar​​ for tagging me! 

This is a bit late, but when i tried to do it like a week ago tumblr crashed on me and made me lose everything and then i got annoyed and gave up for a bit lol -- there are a couple books I would expect probably would end up on here but i haven’t read them yet, specifically The Burning God by R.F. Kuang and A Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir

I’m only going to count books on this that i read for the first time in 2020, not rereads, cause otherwise this list might look a bit different; i’m also not gonna go in a particular order because ranking is hard, but i loved all of these books

Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik --> fairytale style eastern europe with competent female leads and jewish mc

The King of Crows - Libba Bray --> final book in The Diviners series, one of my all time favorites, 1920s, lots of ghosts and strange happeings, poc rep, lgbtq rep, found family

The Kyoshi Novels - F.C. Yee --> atla universe, Kyoshi’s origin story, spoiler (not really) she’s gaaaaaaay and has a gf

The Dragon Republic - R.F. Kuang --> second book in The Poppy War series, fantasy China during the Sino-Japanese wars, very dark, but super good

Swimming in the Dark - Tomasz Jedrowski --> Two boys have their gay awakenings together in Poland in the 1980s while it was still under the USSR and take very different life paths, tragic, but so good

Know My Name - Chanel Miller --> Extremely powerful memoir of Chanel Miller, survivor of the Stanford rape that made headlines in 2016

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab --> young woman makes Faustian bargain in France in the late 1600s to live forever, but is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she encounters

A Deadly Education - Naomi Novik --> boarding school for witches and wizards only they acknowledge it's deadly af upfront (no hogwarts bs) there are no teachers and you graduate by not dying

Catch and Kill - Ronan Farrow --> Details of Farrow's efforts to break the Weinstein story that spurred Me Too and the enormous and insidious web wealthy white men have spun to protect themselves from having their predatory nature from coming to light

Hollowpox - Jessica Townsend --> Third book in the Morrigan Crow series, middle grade, fantasy, this one featuring a plague which bore an unfortunate likeness to our current situation, right down to the incompetence of political leaders and increased bigotry that has resulted from it

I am tagging @youboughtmeawall @vfd-inked-kid @astrarche-x @tanemiduchis @mydearldydisdain and @madam-orpheus if you guys want to <3