#eldritch abominations? oh boy checked

[rwdelady]

Given the whole fiasco of the RTX involving v10, and the strike I doubt that we'll be getting any rvvby content for a while now, so...

I once again urge the RWDE side of the fandom to read Kubera: One last god. I promise you all that it's so good that a good chunk of the reason I didn't touch this blog in so long was precisely because I hyperfixated in it and despite its length I have made several re-reads of it.

It's a story rich in worldbuilding, lore, characterization, philosophical and moral questions, and A LOT of grey morality, of every single shade running around, even from the most upstanding of the characters, and right out of the bat it's announces as a story "with no heroes or villains, only victims."

Some of my favorite lines from it aren't even accompanied by impactful images, just a black bg with text, like a quiet acknowledgement of their situation:

Sure, the art of the 1st season is a little wonky, and some of the humor seem outdated (it started on 2011), the official translation can be awkward to read, but come on, this fandom was given a lot worse in terms of quality of animation, art, and dialogue from the v1 didn’t we? And unlike RT, the author delivers on everything they set up, and continuously improves, you can tell she has everything planned and knows exactly where she wants it to end.

And look at how she portrays herself, as a literally Currygom, meaning a curry+bear in Korean (yeah, it's one of those authors who don't like showing their faces)

Every single promise that the RVVBY series has failed to fullfil for the audience? Currygom delivers far above and beyond, and she has a whole ass encyclopedia of comments for almost every episode of the story, just to fill in lore or the occasional blank.

So, try to give it a chance, please.

Also, if you doubt me on the art evolution, here's some proof, the first images are very early s1, and the second is from s3.

[sonnyaavce]

DP x DC prompt # 6

There’s a kid crying, a blue skinned white headed kid that was just sitting there crying his eyes out in a panic as he was covered in a very large and dark cloak that was dwarfing him… that was cute to see but, the thing wouldn’t be an issue if there weren’t for the clusterfuck of dead cultist surrounding a green ominous portal under him while the poor kiddo shed luminescent tears nonstop.

“Why is there a kid?” ‘dumb question to ask Captain but sure let’s go with that yeah?’ scoffed annoyed Constantine after eyeing the magic champion while some of the members of the Justice League finished some of the goons that were still alive and resisting, Constantine just watched in dumbfounded stupor the crying baby eldritch abomination still wailing over there.

“I’ll go check on him first” said Wonder Woman, being the first to react after finishing her part, slowly walking forward with gentle steps and humming tunes to make the small baby calm down a bit and refocus on her. Dianna never went too closer to grab the small kid, but she slowly crouched in front of him, palms out and leveling her face in a calm expression, so the kid wouldn’t freak out while she still hummed songs and cooed calming words.

The poor kid wails gradually subsided and ‘oh my god, why are those eyes way too green!’ His eyes were completely black except his irises being a bright neon green shine, his small body trembled when only small hiccups stayed, in his small crying fit the lad had ended up sucking his thumb in a desperate attempt to calm down while looking for any non-frightening competent adult and after only seeing Dianna in front of him he tried to raise his small arms towards her but immediately cried as his arms wouldn’t move at all.

“I think the little boy is injured…” said Wonder Woman, breaking the silence once all suspects were aprehended and tied down “explain what you can see Wonder Woman” chastised Batman as he tried to walk towards her to check on the small boy only to be stopped by Superman, who had his eyes shinning red as he looked at the kid “For what I can see, the small child seems to have some broken bones and some internal bleeding… also there’s seems to be a sphere in the middle of his chest?”

“The demon baby is hurt?” Constantine blurted out incredulous, Zatanna wacked him furiously for that comment “if you haven’t heard what Superman said, he said he saw a sphere so it’s not a demon John! it’s a tuttelagé you idiot!”

“How the fuck would you know that isn’t a démonos, Z?!” cussed the magician as he moved a bit back while Zatanna then moved towards Wonder Woman, with spells already healing the poor baby body “tuttelagés are known to be protective spirits of kids that died wishing to protect their loved ones, their wish is then concentrated in their chest as a sphere so to see a young one hurt like this…” Wonder Woman looks grimm at the implications while Zatanna finish healing the young spirit and allows Dianna to pick him up once he’s done healing and calmed down bit.

“Someone must have hurt his protegué so bad that his body is getting affected by it” sentenced Batman as he glared with concern at the small baby who now is now resting his head in Wonder Woman arms and falling asleep.

MEANWHILE

Danny is soo scared and hurt all around his tiny body, the wounds he had while being subjected to the examine table makes him tear up in pain while also making his chest feels funny once the weird forced summoning spell stops pulling his being into existing; green stops flooding his vision only to be meet by a dark and open space full of dead people dressed in weird costumes, so the only answer he has to this is to wail.

Because thats all he can do now, cry. He cries and cries after all what had occurred to him; he cries for his parents betrayal and rejection of his being, he cries for the cruelty they subjected him into, the torture he had to endure and almost making his core break, he cries for his friends deaths when they tried to free him from all his pain but failed.

He cries and cries until the pain into his core is unbearable because he just lost his fright, his connection to the living, his reason of being here. He’s still crying when his senses tenses the moment something changed in his surroundings, he hears fighting and grunting and something falling down and he cries harder; because he’s scared and tired and he just wants Jazz to carry him and…

There’s someone humming, nice humming, calm humming, steps coming closer and then he looks up, scared and hurt and just tired only to find a beautiful black headed and blue eyes woman dressed in a nice outfit crouching in front of him, she’s humming something to him and just looking at him with calm and such gentleness that it makes him croon at her because he feels his core sing ‘she’s nice and pretty and safeSAFEsafeSAFE’ he tries to reach out to her but his arms fell numb and ouchie and he looks up to her, in a silent plea for her so she would carry him but she’s not moving, just looking at him gently.

Until he sees another woman coming closer to them and he tenses up again, afraid and cautious, still a bit frightened by her aura but her hands are starting to glow and he immediately feels his body swaying and feeling a lot better, so he relaxes his body and let’s the pretty woman carry him so he can rest his head and nuzzle asleep.

His core sings pleased ‘I’m safe… she’s nice and safeSAFEsafeSAFE’

-TBC-

masterpost

[lutiaslayton]

HI.

HELLO.

WHAT THE FUCK.

I used a different save on my HD UK mobile version of Curious Village in order to speedrun through it, solve as little puzzles as possible, and then see Granny Riddleton as early as I could. I wanted to get the puzzle lore. AND BOY DID I GET PUZZLE LORE OH MY GOD.

I cannot believe my shitpost guess was actually right on the money (or at least close enough) and I did not even have this scene in mind to just, y’know, ACTUALLY CEMENT IT AS CANON.

I am shook

(PS: The last image with the bottles was a screenshot I took from a random playthrough on Youtube, because apparently in the mobile version they replaced the cute bottle lore with a list >:c)

ANYWAY I cannot wait to get there in the actual playthrough, this is going to be a TREAT to study the Japanese and US versions to compare with.

Quick run-through of what these screenshots teach us:

Vines growing on a house is apparently not normal (or rather, letting the vines grow is unusual). In my shitpost theory, the explanation was that since puzzles are made of random stuff such as dust, dead leaves etc, unclean and/or untidy places are more likely to have puzzles appear naturally.

Puzzles can literally either appear out of the blue or move of their own accord. “I could’ve sworn there was nothing there a minute ago” means that either the puzzle just poofed into existence while Luke was not looking, or the puzzle just moved on its own and decided to settle itself within the door’s lock. By the way, did I forget to say that this is a SLIDING BLOCK PUZZLE? That APPEARED OUT OF NOWHERE?

Layton being unfazed by Granny Riddleton being clairvoyant shows that the distinction between what is normal and what is not in this world is VERY skewed compared to our world’s vision of normal. Clark and Luke being able to talk to animals? Unusual, but eh, relatively mundane. Granny Riddleton saying that there are many fortune-tellers with actual powers over there, but that having power over puzzles is a lot more impressive than predicting the future? Yeah, checks out. An ancient civilisation capable of actual magic, prehistoric manatees, puzzles being eldritch abominations you can find at any corner? Pfsh, classic. But NOW, an entire village populated only with robots? Unheard of.

(Little theory edit: Calling it now. Fortune-tellers who can “see a few days into the future” were somehow able to subconsciously or somewhat consciously communicate with the Illusory Forest and lost all their powers after the end of Azran Legacy. It was less than a year before CV so it would still be relevant for Granny Riddleton to mention it.)

(Another point that was brought by the lovely @alto-tenure​ on Discord: Perhaps the actual reason why Layton and Luke are so surprised about the St. Mystere inhabitants being robots and having so many puzzles around is because (direct quote) A. “Most of the puzzles in the shack wouldn’t be hidden puzzles, they would be puzzles given by the NPCs. Maybe that’s the reason a village of puzzle robots is so unbelievable—the idea that someone could replicate the puzzle generation process…”, and (direct quote again) B. “Given our current concept of what puzzles are, they are very much something that more pop up around people than get made. And in-universe, they wouldn’t really have a clue about what makes a puzzle, just that they exist. So the fact that Bruno managed to figure out how to get his robots to make puzzles—or at least facilitate the process—would be very difficult to believe.”)

(And yet another point brought this time by @multiversal-madness​, on Discord as well: “What if puzzles can just, stick themselves to paper. Like the paper is not just part of the puzzle, but they can just choose to rest on the paper. I said it as a joke earlier but they do seem pretty content to just sit in Hershel’s puzzle index, and at Granny Riddleton’s, there are wrapped bits of paper in the bottles. Imagine if they don’t only sell/make puzzle compartment things, but journal/notebook things where puzzles can sit on their own pages. Granny Riddleton just goes the extra mile and gets them not only their own sheet of paper, but their own bottles and puts those bottles in their own little puzzle house lol” —— To which, I personally replied that this was the idea I had specifically for Curious Village’s first puzzle! The map puzzle was pretty much a puzzle resting on the map itself, and going “solve me if you want me to move and let you see the actual map.”)

Puzzles are self-conscious enough to take decisions such as agreeing to stay with her or not. They also live in a little house, as if they could have their own little life too. Also, we should knock on the door before visiting, it would be rude to intrude and disturb them uninvited.

Granny Riddleton keeps other stuff as well aside from our puzzles. Either they are other puzzles, or other things altogether (which are probably just as weird).

She also keeps the puzzles (at least Layton and Luke’s puzzles) inside of jars. One per jar exclusively, because do you remember what I said about keeping multiple puzzles in the same confined space?

Shitpost only edit: I love the fact that tumblr cuts my post at exactly the right position for its "View Post" button to act as a swear word bleep sound. This kind of coincidence is peak comedy to me.

[nuclearr-wessels]

‧⁺✧ Eldritch Horror Romance ♡°‧

edit: out with the first edition, in with the second! Check it out here!

Get it at playstore | amzn | kobo | BoD | your local library service and more! Read a tumblr snippet here ♡

Oh boy, am I glad this thing got out before Halloween lol

Have you ever seen a 1980s body horror abomination and thought "I want to hold their hand/tentacle/vaguely insect-ish limb"? I sure did, so I wrote a horror love story and decided to publish it as a romance novel! It'd be my honour to introduce you to Christopher and Gyth, eldritch sweethearts ♡

Synopsis of "Far Beyond The Moon"

The life of 38-year-old Christopher Ennington is in shambles. Battered by abuse, disease and loneliness, he cannot believe his luck when he crosses paths with a mysterious stranger. Gyth is kind, dreamy, and just as much of an outsider as Christopher. Birds of a feather flock together. But people in rural Massachusetts do not take kindly to this blossoming relationship. It is only when Christopher learns of Gyth’s true nature that his world starts to finally change – and he himself with it.

Cosmic horror and body horror entangled in a steamy queer romance – literally!

More about "Far Beyond The Moon"

118,000+ words

409 pages for you to devour

14 chapters full of hurt/comfort

7 smut scenes with eldritch body horror

2 loners who finally find their perfect match

1 cosmic-mad, brain-melting, sweet-as-honey romance

and too many tentacles to count!

.

Since it deals with trauma and mental illness and serves as an abuse survivour fantasy, parts of the book are fairly dark even outside of the body horror genre aspects. I have written this very much in the spirit of a hurt/comfort fanfic. Still, I encourage you to check out the CWs on my carrd before buying or renting the book.

By now it should be available internationally; I have been told US stores need a bit longer. There is a special e-book discount until 6 December 2023 that you might wanna take into consideration! (I will say that I have no control over international prices of the paperback though. It had to be at least 14€ to cover the printing costs but is often more expensive in stores outside of my country.)

Overall, I hope this story reaches its right audience lol, it does venture into ero guro territory at times after all. And I've already found several typos in it (rip). That said, holding this book in my hands, I am insanely proud of it and its story. Seeing yourself in "the other", SA as body horror etc. etc. (To be very honest my therapist loudly encouraged me to publish this lol) The two main characters are adults and very much two dads™, though without any mpreg, for those who want to know.

I want to revise this book very badly for a second edition because I'd like it to be as perfect as possible, but that depends on how well this baby sells in the first place. Maybe give the eldritch sweethearts a try!! If not, I'd be happy if you still spread the word ♡

[coraxaviary]

Spier(s)

Summary: A discussion about the name Speirs, and what it implies.

Word Count: 1.5K

Author’s Note: At end

Warnings: Basically none.

Taglist: I don’t think this kind of fic is what taglists are for

.

“So uh, you ever wonder why his name is Speirs?” Skip says from one of the barn beams, far above. He has a single straw of hay between his teeth, and he talks around it, slurring slightly.

“Whatcha mean?” responds Malarkey, who lazily cranes to look up at Skip, whose legs are dangling so he can’t see his face. Malarkey absently worries his rifle strap between his fingers, and lays farther back into the hay. “You mean his first name?”

“Nah, his name. Speirs,” says Skip back with overly hollowed-out vowels, and he spits out the hay. “Like, why?”

“Don’t think it does good to wonder anything ‘bout him,” says Penkala, sitting against the wall, fiddling with a field ration package. The sky is darkening outside, and there are only a few rays of sunlight that slip through the cracks between the wooden slats in the barn. Soon there would be none. Penkala moves into the spotlight of one last white streak of light, and makes small foil crunching sounds until the bag opens.

“His name is Speirs. But, like,” says Skip, echoing from above. “Two of ‘em. Two Speirs.”

“It’s not spelled the same,” says Malarkey. The barn door creaks open, and the three men see a pair of silhouettes slip inside and close the door.

“Hey fellas,” says a strange voice. It’s not exactly deep, but it is familiar.

“Sir?” says Penkala, straightening in sudden fear.

“Hell naw,” says Luz, bursting out in laughter. The other tall man -- Toye, it seems -- laughs quietly behind Luz. “It was that good?”

“Yeah,” says Penkala shortly, and he goes to sit back down in the hay.

“Hear y’all talking about Speirs,” says Luz loudly, and all the other men shush him. “Not like he’s gonna appear if ya say his name.”

“Don’t tempt fate,” says Skip.

“How’d ya get up there?” asks Toye, looking up at Skip, who is swinging his legs but not really able to do anything but sit.

“Ova there,” says Skip, pointing to a ladder that leads to a shallow loft. “Climbed on the beam.” Skip looks down at the ground, a long distance away. “Maybe I should get back, huh. Should get some sleep.”

Toye doesn’t say anything, just hums in passive agreement. Penkala eats his rations, staring somewhere distant.

“So, whatcha think, Luz?” says Skip, voice moving back eerily in the barn as he scoots along the beam back to the loft. “Why ‘Speirs?’ Why ain’t he named ‘Speir?’“

Malarkey snorts. Penkala chews. Toye moves around fluffing up hay to find a good place to sleep, and Luz shuffles.

“Ain’t names just... passed down?” says Luz. Malarkey mm-hmms in agreement.

“I guess,” says Skip, who is now trying to dismount from the beam and get into the loft, hanging awkwardly with one leg and both arms hooked over the beam, and his other leg -- too short -- scooping for purchase, inches away from the loft floor. He untangles himself, hangs by only his arms, and makes it onto the loft with a hollow bang and a cloud of dust. “But his name. Implies there may be a Speir. A single Speir.”

There’s silence, broken at this point only by Skip thumping down the creaking ladder and Penkala spooning more rations into his mouth with a clack of teeth on metal.

Luz makes a sound of revelation. “I got a story.”

“Thought you were gonna answer my question, Luz, but okay--”

“It’s the answer.”

“Oh, alright,” says Skip, finally on the floor, and he crashes down next to Malarkey, sending flicks of hay into the air. Malarkey coughs, waving a hand uselessly through the dust.

“So, uh,” says Luz. “I read somewhere in an article or something--”

“Didn’t know you read, Luz,” interrupts Malarkey.

Luz continues, unperturbed. “That sometimes you got siblings, like twins or something. But one’a them doesn’t make it. Dies, I think. Can’t exactly remember.”

Penkala shifts uncomfortably, and shoots a glance out a crack in the wooden panels to look in the general direction of Dog Company.

“So, like, inside the mom, like... the womb,” says Luz, “One’a them eats the other. And they become, like, uh, one kid.”

There is silence for a few beats.

“You’re saying his name is Speirs because he ate his twin in the womb,” Malarkey says sarcastically, not so much a question as a sarcastic statement of conformation.

Luz nods uselessly in the darkness. “Yeah.”

Malarkey turns to Skip. “Ask dumb questions, get dumb answers,” he says.

Penkala suddenly laughs through a mouthful of food. “So there were two’a them Speirs and then he ate one? He’s actually two combined separate Speirses?”

“Well, where else would he get his creepy personality?” says Luz.

“Hey, he’s not creepy,” interjects Toye. “Just got some dark rumors around him.”

“Rumors which are based on reality,” says Malarkey. “Remember I told you, when I was walkin’ away after he handed ‘em all--”

“Yeah, yeah, you told us this story a thousand times, Malark,” says Skip. “But I mean, it would explain some things if he did eat a twin in the womb--”

“Wait, wait,” says Penkala. “You got this all wrong. For Speirs to have his name, it got passed down by his dad, right?”

The men chorus a series of mm-hmms, except for Malarkey, who sighs.

“So it was someone way before his dad. The original Speirs. The original Speirs started out a Speir, and it was him who ate his twin.”

“Hey, this is all based on an assumption,” Malarkey begins, sitting up straight with his M-1 in his lap. “I’m sure Luz isn’t even right about eating babies. It sounds like bullshit news to me--”

The barn door creaks, and all the men go quiet, eyeing the door with trepidation. It’s someone tall and straight-backed, an officer. Toye stands up, and all the others do too, until a voice from the door tells them to go back to whatever they were doing.

“Just checking up,” says Winters with a comforting nod that is lost in the dark to half of the men. He gives no sign that he had heard their conversation, except perhaps a slightly raised eyebrow. The men who notice tell themselves that they are overreacting. Winters wouldn’t believe they were seriously discussing the eating of babies, would he? He drums on the door with his fingers, and starts to close it. “Goodnight, boys.”

“ ‘Night, sir,” the enlisted men say, and the door shuts with a creak and a small thud. The men stay in silence for a while, thinking, and the sound of crickets rises in the distance. Someone shifts against the hay, and Penkala rustles with the last of his ration pack, and clangs around with his spoon.

“Hey, guys?” says the voice of Skip into the silence. Malarkey groans, already thinking he knows what Skip is going to say. If it isn’t what he predicts, it would probably still be a brain-dead statement anyway. “If Speirs ate the other Speir and that’s why his name is Speirs, then did Winters eat a Winter?”

The silence that follows is short and shocked. Penkala and Luz gasp momentarily, and Toye sputters out a sound of indignance.

“Oh my God,” said Malarkey, and he settles back deeper into the piles of hay, trying to close his eyes and drift off to sleep.

The sounds of argument drift far over the barn and out past the thin wood slats, carried by the cold French wind eastwards over Dog Company. Ronald Speirs, at the edge of his company, sitting by himself with a can of rations, wonders what the men in the barn are talking about.

He lights a cigarette for himself, and takes a drag, feeling the burn in his lungs and the smoke going down and then circling in his sinuses when he blows it out through his nose. Someone on the border of Easy stumbles by in the deep, murky darkness, and he swears to himself, kicking at the rock in his path. Speirs can’t tell who it is, but he still keeps his cigarette case in his hand, knowing the low flame-colored glow of his lit one will illuminate a small area in the relative dark.

“Cigarette?” asks Speirs into the impenetrable black of night.

“N-no, sir,” gets out the man, who lingers for a second before absconding westwards into the safety of his company and the seeing eyes of the watchers stationed around the border.

Speirs almost smiles to himself, tucking the case back into his pocket, and he enjoys the cigarette while it lasts. It doesn’t last long, like most things, and he drops it onto the ground and watches it sputter before grinding it into the dirt with the heel of his boot.

He listens to the drifting conversation of the East men in the barn until it becomes wavering static, and the sky and its stars become too bright.

And he thinks briefly of his family -- Mother, Father, and the four others. He lays down in the grass and dirt, and then thinks of the one who had been.

It is not now, and yet a part of him. He smiles, eyes sparkling and teeth gleaming, and he lets himself dig deep, for a millisecond, for the other.

And then they sleep.

.

Hi, this is a 2:00 am random idea that me and my sister were scream-laughing about: Why is Speirs plural? And what do the men think about it?

I don’t usually write in present tense, but today it kind of came out and I think it lends the prose a kinda weird, immediate, present feel, kinda like you enter the void of starless night where you encounter Keter-class abominations and eldritch terrors for one dream a day and then this strange universe that contains a nightmare Speirs is what plays in your head lol

As always, this is not meant to reference the real historical soldiers. This is based on the fictionalized HBO versions.

I made art for this, by the way.

.

[goliath-de-senfina-sango]

Whenever Danny went to the past and was seen by others, the moment he came back to the present there were these weird threads sticking to him.  they didn't seem to do anything and nothing bad was happening - heck he felt stronger every time he saw new ones actually.  Still, he was curious as to what they were.

It started when Danny first came back from the Infinimap event. He felt the tug and pull of something on his core, some kind of… tingling? He wasn’t sure how to explain it. But among the whole ‘the Infinite Realms both do and do not exist at every feasible and non-feasible point in space and time across the whole multiverse’ revelation it wasn’t exactly something that Danny was focusing on. Instead, he was making sure Sam and Tucker’s heads didn’t explode with jokes to distract them. “Thanks for eating your veggies for the first time in your whole life, Tuck.”

Tucker rolled his eyes and elbowed him in his ribs. “Yeah, you owe me for that. I’ll take all your best copies of videogames.”

“How about you name three videogames and I’ll get them for you,” Sam countered. “You really did save our butts back there. And so did you, Danny.”

“Yeah yeah, who else is gonna do it if I don’t?” They laughed, there was ribbing, and the day went on.

After that, however, Danny found himself stumbling through natural portals more and more often whenever he went into the Zone. they lead to the past, often, and he found himself helping people out as much as he could before another portal could be found and he could find his way back to the Fenton Portal or at least to Frostbite or Dora or wherever he’d been planning to go. Tucker and Sam, of course, got caught up in it too. That wasn’t even the weirdest part though.

Every time Danny returned to the present day after a time-traveling shenanigan he felt stronger. As soon as he set foot on Earth, blue and silver threads of light reached out from him into the world, pulsing with energy, and Danny felt less tired, less weighed down by everything. He’d explained it to Sam and Tucker and saw that he even had these threads leading to them, though the strands leading to them were different. Tucker’s was golden and silver and UV orange, while Sam’s was green and silver and black. There was even one leading back to Jazz, violet and white and blurple. Sam said Blurple wasn’t a color, but Danny said that she couldn’t see in Ultra Violet so she didn’t get to name the colors in the spectrum. She bought a blacklight soon after.

The oddest thing, however, was when he saw people in the street walking to the Nasty Burger or to the library or park that the strings connected to. Usually, the blue ones, though sometimes it was the silver ones. When he passed by one such person, a guy in black pants and white jacket with sunglasses on, Danny reached out to wrap his fingers around that thread between them and narrowed his eyes when it felt like a tangible thing. So he pulled on it. The man stumbled a bit, lifting his sunglasses to look around - mostly up at the sky - and Danny snickered. Once he was a distance away from the man he started tugging on the other strings, gently at first but then he got curious. One of the blue threads held an extra green sparkle to it, and Danny weighed his choices and options carefully, making the most educa- he yanked on the glowing green invisible string coming from his core out into the world to see what happened.

The air in front of him twisted, light shifting around until it was purple and green and everything in between and a guy with pale green skin, oily purple hair and bright green eyes fell through the portal, floating over the sidewalk in an outfit befitting the 70s more than it did the millennium. The portal hovered open behind him and everyone on the sidewalk stopped, staring at the ghost, who was staring at Danny slackjawed and wide-eyed. “I’m gonna ask that you please go back into the Realms, I really don’t wanna deal with this right now.” More gazes shifted to Danny for that but really, he had to try to solve his problems with words at least once or twice, right?

The ghost looked down at the thread between them - wonderful, ghosts could see that, that was just fanfreakintastic - and then back up at Danny. Then he nodded, seemingly in shock, and floated backwards into the portal from whence he came. It snapped closed behind him and Danny blinked a couple of times. “I didn’t think asking nicely would work. I’ll have to tell Mom about that.” Now, Danny simply had to perform the task of becoming metaphorically invisible instead of literally. This proved difficult, however, as everyone ID’d him as The Fenton Kid pretty easily. He pulled out his phone, dialed Tucker, and ignored the stares best he could.

After the mishap in the streets, Danny noticed a new thread form in real-time, blue and sharply visible, as though daring him not to see it. When he got to school the next day, he saw that it lead back to Dash fucking Baxter of all people - who was showing off something as usual. When the trio made it through enough of the crowd to see what Dash had done that connected Danny to him like that, they saw a tattoo of Danny’s DP symbol inked onto reddish-pink raw skin. Danny let out a hum and wrapped his fingers around that string, tugging gently and watching as the tattoo glowed bright enough for everyone to see it. “Holy shit, I just felt that. It’s like Phantom pulled on me!”

“Whoa, dude! What if like, wearing Phantom’s symbol connects you to him somehow?” Oh, how Danny hated that Kwan was so much smarter than Dash and yet so easily lead by him. “Oh, hey, maybe you can like, pull back?”

“Perhaps if I get a tattoo myself then my ghost boy will always know where I am so that he can find me for a date!”

Danny would’ve paid any mind to the rest of the chatter around Dash had he not been floored by a tug from the other side of this newfound and unwanted connection. Warmth appreciation caution excitement echoed like words in a cave, searching for someone to hear but not close enough to truly communicate. Danny took a deep breath, holding onto Tucker’s shoulder for support, and carefully pulled his attention away from Dash trying to get it. “Save me.”

“They’re gonna start a cult,” Sam said with poorly concealed mirth. “Oh my gosh, this is going to spiral disastrously out of control and it’ll be hilarious.”

“Sam, I’m about to have a bunch of jock thoughts beamed into my head, and you’re laughing at me.” He sighed, rolling his eyes. “With my luck, they’ll try and make an official religion around me.”

Tucker snorted and shook his head, tapping away at his PDA. “Ya know what’d be really funny? What if all those extra threads are like, cults that worship you?” Tucker laughed at the idea, and Danny did too for a moment, elbowing him gently in the side. Sam, however, was not laughing, and once Danny noticed that he stopped laughing as well.

“Sam?”

“You said that you first saw these threads when we went time traveling around, right?”

“Yeah, every time we go to the past and someone sees us do stuff there’s more weird strings. They don’t pop up when we come back and didn’t get caught though.”

“So when you and Vlad fought over Rome and burned it down, and fought in that one temple and near destroyed it…”

“Oh, holy shit. Hold on Sam, I gotta check.” Tucker tapped away at his PDA at speeds that Sam informed Danny were not normal. He wanted to pretend he didn’t understand what they were getting at, revel in the bliss of ignorance and all that, but he was getting less oblivious these days - he was he swore.

“Guys, the cult joke isn’t going too far now, is it?” Tucker hummed at him, and Sam started walking toward class, dragging them both behind her. “Guys, this isn’t funny anymore!” Honestly, Danny had every right to be whiny about this. He fought eldritch abominations every day, he didn’t need to have a cult to deal with too.

“Wow, that’s a lotta results. You’ve been seen in the past by a lot of people - me n Sam too. Maybe that ghost you summoned was like, one of your cultists who died?”

“There’s only one way to find out,” Sam half sang. “Someone’s gotta hold a seance and ask a ghost a question.”

“Sam, please, we’ve asked enough ghosts enough questions without dragging them here from their afterlives.” His friends were laughing at him now, which lead to yet pettier whines. “What would I even do about this if I have a cult?”

[death-himself]

Hidden in Shadows—Remus’s Story (pt. 1)

Summary: What has Remus been doing all this time? And who let him take care of eldritch abomination children?

Word Count: 1,511

Warnings: Body Horror, Homelessness, Angst

Part 2 (AO3 Link)

Failure. What an absolute failure. The darkness wasn’t sure what to do with its creation anymore. Its creation, who had decided to go by the name “Virgil”—and what a human thing it was to want to go by such a name—was going against everything it had taught him to do. He was too weak to kill, too weak to take souls, too weak to do anything.

He acted too human.

It watched as the young monster hid in the corner of a human child’s room, bobbing his head back and forth as if listening to his own music, using a small scrap of paper and a pencil to doodle. It had been a year since the darkness had let him out of the shadows. A whole year had passed, and no souls had been taken.

No matter how much the darkness tried to guide its creation into doing what he was made for, nothing happened. He was a disgusting failure of a monster. So, something else would have to do. And so the darkness began the process all over again, feeding its hatred for humanity and desire for their destruction into a new being.

Another five year wait was ahead of it.

Remus huffed as he pulled his coat tighter around himself. Well, he had expected this to happen eventually. Granted, he had expected his mom to beat the shit out of him, but not actually kick him out. Didn’t know she would do both.

He didn’t really have any friends to turn to; he had met them all online and the closest, his boyfriend, lived a state away. He huddled down into an alleyway in a relatively safe part of town.

Where could he go? He remembered back when his dad was alive and still with his mom there was this uncle that mom had absolutely refused to let come over. Maybe Remus could try to find him?

He shook that thought out of his head immediately. If his uncle was anything like the rest of his family, he wouldn’t want Remus around, either.

He shrugged off his backpack, hid behind a dumpster, and pushed the bag under his head. Maybe he could start making his way to Emile tomorrow. Or at least call him and see if there was anything he could do.

With that thought in mind, he took a deep, steady breath, shut his eyes, and went to sleep.

Remus awoke to a sharp pain in his chest. He opened his mouth to yell, but nothing came out. He forced his eyes open, his vision blurry. What looked to be a ball of light was slowly emerging from his chest.

Remus turned his gaze up slightly to see a hand with needle-like fingers hovering above the ball. The hand was attached to a long, gangly limb, which was attached to a horrifically bony figure, which was attached to a face. The first thing Remus thought when he saw that face was Oh wow, that’s disgusting.

The left side of the creature’s face appeared to be rotting, skin torn up and seeming to bleed a black substance that dripped onto Remus’s shirt. Its eye sockets seemed to be completely hollow, with sadistic glowing toxic yellow irises coming from somewhere inside them. Its lips were split into an unnaturally wide grin that only seemed to grow wider as the glowing ball was pulled more and more out of his chest.

It was horrifying. Remus loved it. With whatever strength he had left in his body, he punched the creature in the rotting side of its face. It reeled back, howling in pain as black liquid fell from its eyes. The ball of light immediately went back into Remus’s chest, and his strength returned.

He leapt to his feet, watching as the creature continued to howl and cry. It was in pain. He noticed the shadows seem to pull closer to the creature and he quickly pulled out his flashlight, turning it on with even louder protests from the zombie-like thing.

“Go away!” It yelled. “Leave me alone!” The voice caused Remus to pause. Holy fuck it has the voice of a child. Remus looked over its body again. It looked like a five year old boy’s dead body had been pulled and stretched into a roughly five-foot tall thing.

He watched the shadows swirl unnaturally at the edge of his light. It wanted to get to the kid, maybe to heal him. But Remus had a bad feeling in his gut as he watched it; he could almost feel its ill-intent.

He kept the light on the kid as he pulled bandages from his bag, then cautiously walked over. The kid was still clearly in pain, maybe the rotting side of his face was a lot more sensitive than normal skin.

Realizing he’d need both hands, Remus put the end of the flashlight in his mouth and gently laid a hand on the kid’s shoulder.

The kid shrieked, smacking his hand away and curling in tighter around himself. “I’m not gonna punch you again, calm down!” With the flashlight in his mouth he was barely understandable, but he got the message across.

“Liar. Humans are liars.” The kid muttered.

“Well, can’t argue with that. Humans are pieces of shit, and I don’t wanna be one of those Not All Humans types of guys. We’re all pretty terrible.” He noticed none of what he said seemed to elicit a reaction from the kid. But, at least he wasn’t screaming anymore.

Remus sat behind the kid, taking the flashlight out of his mouth and tossing it between his hands. “I don’t think I’m the worst human. I mean, I can definitely list at least a hundred people worse than me. There’s Jared from my math class—it’s always a Jared—there’s Bryce, Lucas, those are just three examples and those are just people I know personally. Then there’s also some celebrities like—”

“Is there a point to what you’re saying?”

“No, not really. How’s your face feeling?” The kid looked over his shoulder at Remus, eying him for a moment before looking away.

“It still hurts.” Remus hummed, grabbing a bandaid. “Alrighty, then come here. I got just the thing.”

The kid hesitantly sat up and turned to Remus, looking him up and down cautiously, before creeping closer. Once the creature was close enough for Remus to treat, he took the bandaid and stuck it onto a healthy patch of skin, as close to the area he had punched as he could get. The kid blinked and skittered back in alarm.

“Presto changeo, and you’re healed!” The kid ran his fingers across the bandaid, eyebrows furrowed.

“Really?”

“Nah, it’s this thing called the placebo effect, works great on little kids. I didn’t punch you hard enough to cause any real damage so,” Remus shrugged, “a bandaid works just fine.” He wasn’t sure if the kid had any idea what the placebo effect was, but it seemed to be a decent enough explanation to him.

“...Thank you.” Remus hummed.

“You got any parents to take care of you?”

“Parents?”

“Oh, that’s a no.” Remus went to lie down next to the dumpster, then pat the concrete next to him. “Go ahead and stay here. I’m sure whatever the hell those weird shadows you came out of are are bad news.”

“The darkness takes care of me! It’d never hurt me!”

“Well, then do whatever you want. I won’t stop you.” Remus turned to face away from the kid, closing his eyes and listening closely.

The kid looked into the darkest part of the alley, ready to allow the shadows to bring him home.

But that’s when he felt something angry and frustrated within the darkness. He gulped, slowly backing away towards the human he had just met. He gave himself only a moment to think, before lying down next to Remus and holding tightly onto the back of his shirt.

Remus smiled triumphantly to himself and turned around to look at the kid. “Guess you’re staying with me, then?” The kid clung onto Remus’s shirt, not meeting his eyes as he nodded.

Remus ruffled the kid’s hair. “Well, then it’s good to meet ya. I’m Remus. What’s your name?” The kid glanced up, confused. “Do you have a name?”

“I don’t think so.” Remus hummed in thought. “Mind if I give you a name?”

“Okay.”

“I shall now call you...Ballsack.”

“No.”

“Lil Shit?”

“No.”

“Asshole!”

“I don’t like your names.”

“Alright, alright, fair enough. You can name yourself.” The kid went silent for a moment. Remus checked his phone, seeing just how late it was.

“Actually...let’s save that for tomorrow. Sleep on it, and all that.” He ruffled the kid’s hair again, closing his eyes. A few moments later he heard a quiet huff from the kid, and he closed his eyes as well.

Remus was now the father of a five year old demon thing at the age of fifteen. It was just like in his fanfiction.

[nanamis-bigtie]

🏰 👾 😭 😳 🍎 🍏 💓

🏰 - Fave marine?

Answered in previous edition, I’ll copy~

Oh damn, this is much harder question than I thought. My first take was Smoker, but then I realised a lot of characters I adore are in fact Marines, I just don’t think about them as Marines, because they’re not plot-wise put in a role usually taken in the story by Marines.

In the end I will go with Coby, mostly because of the character development he went through and the possibilities the plot already revealed for him. From the point of view of OP universe he - not Luffy - has the biggest chance to be the one who will change the old order for something better. Well, Coby is in fact Luffy, in the meaning of the role he has in the plot - but on the other hand he’s his complete opposite and yet individual character with his own progress and history. I simply love him - as a character and as a representation of Oda’s genius character writing.

👾 - Fave villain?

Answered in previous edition as well~

Doflamingo.

Oh, how I love and hate this wicked monster. He’s one of the best written villains ever and for me a peak of Oda’s master character writing. The perfect backstory which explains but not justifies, which makes you understand and pity him, but doesn’t draw your attention away from all the bad things he had done. The way he matches the one of the main messages the plot of One Piece has - that injustice creates monsters. His design - from his chaotic bisexual style, to his Devil Fruit. His relations with his Family. All those parallels he shares with Law, giving them both amazing plot-wise depth. Oda, in my opinion, is very good in writing villains - but for me Doflamingo is perfect example how every villain ever should be written. And can’t wait to see why Oda spared him - because I’m sure there’s a reason for that. I just hope Law won’t have to be involved in said reason, he had enough.

😭 - Saddest scene?

Oh boy.

Okay, first of all - I’m a person who is capable of crying over a toilet paper commercial. I’ve cried over One Piece so many times I can’t possibly count. Heck, now when I know what scene is coming next, I cry even more, so re-reading takes me so slow I’m sure Oda will end the manga before I’ll get through it for a second time xD

This being sad, I still think Sanji’s backstory in general caught me the most. Even now when I think about my hands shake a bit as I’m writing. A lot of personal agenda, so I won’t get into details.

But Jesus.

To harm a kid to this point just because he didn’t match expectations...

... Holy shit, now I want to hug Sanji T^T

😳 - Any crushes?

Okay, but listen. The only reason I started reading One Piece is a friend of mine showing me fanarts with Law. Damn hot, need to check it out. 50 volumes till I see him...? Okay, I can do that.

And then I saw Zoro.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Law, he’s like still the part of my shameless selfpoly but - Zoro is something different.

I can’t even explain why. There are a lot of characters I’d like never ever let out of my bed. Robin, Drake, Smoker, Okiku, Denjiro, Barto, Hina, Rocinante... I can count till tomorrow.

Law already is a different level, since he’s like an epiphany of a fictional character for such a lost soul like me.

Zoro is even more. I just look at this dude and that’s it. It’s over. Bas is dead, Readers, Bas is dead.

Also tiddies. Those are the best tiddies.

🍎 - Fave Devil Fruit power?

I love Robin’s Hana Hana no Mi. It’s so aesthetically pleasing, yet absolutely horrifying and powerful. Robin is a goddess AND eldritch abomination in the same time thanks to her DF and I absolutely ADORE it.

🍏 - Would you eat a Devil Fruit if you had the chance to?

As a kid I fucking took a solid bite of a soap and ate it just to prove my cousin he’s a coward. What is a Devil Fruit comaring to eating soap? xD Also: I can’t swim anyway  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

💓 - Which character do you relate to the most?

Again, a lot of personal agenda, so I won’t get into details but... I’ll just tell I’m so glad I had a chance of meeting my own Corazon, my beloved aunt, who dragged me out of shit and thanks to whom I’m still alive.

And I hella miss her, I haven’t seen her since the self isolation started and phone calls and facebook are just not the same  .･ﾟﾟ･(／ω＼)･ﾟﾟ･.

Thanks for asking ( ´ ▽ ` ).｡ｏ♡

[johnandrasjaqobis]

3x07 spoilers for White Vault, I was slow listening to the patreon release but it drops everywhere today so it’s fine and HOO BOY

Ureta is dead. 100% convinced she’s gone, about 75% convinced that was her on the radio frequency they picked up.

pls check the theater. except pls never go in there.

Lucas is alive but gone to them. He’s more of a threat than anything else at this point, the combination of attacking Simon and trying to get Eva in on the mantra with him (because she accidentally started it once hoo boy) just solidifies that for me, I feel like one of them is gonna have to end up killing him. maybe indirectly, the mountain isn’t safe, but somehow.

Eva honey. I don’t know what’s going to happen to you but it’s not gonna be anything good. Ironically the creepy things ignoring you is equally troubling.

SIMON MY SON, of course he has a fiance, of course he’s gotta bring that up just as it’s getting so clear that he’s not getting off this mountain. oh I was wincing SO HARD at that whole ankle sequence. I’m glad he’s not hesitant at all about his distrust of Lucas, but oh son it’s not gonna help at this point

bugs have the camp. Eva can get supplies apparently but take them where? To the cave? Are they just already shifting everything into the cave because lordy it took the Fristed team a whole season for that to happen

granted Fristed team had a concrete bunker between them and whatever was out there. Piedra team has tents. really missing that concrete bunker right about now. They got claw marks. Piedra gets rips through the walls.

Dr Liu ready and willing to fight off an eldritch abomination with a frying pan is,,, so good. Who knows -- she’s genre savvy, she knows kind of what’s happening, maybe she’ll be this season’s Graham.

that FREAKING RADIO SIGNAL. on one hand REALLY shows how much Travis has improved as a sound designer, like I also assume just different qualities of radio but the difference between this one and what Fristed was picking up is so impressive.

tl;dr - oh they’re all gonna die. (if anyone makes it, I might put my money on Dr Liu right now)

[kanchelsis]

sarkic squad appearance headcanons

saarn

serpent body instead of legs. much speedier but the shedding is a nightmare

slitted eyes that never blink

in her youth (early years of ion's revolt) she usually wore dark clothes with a hood, possibly a mask too, because of all the sneaking and spying she did. can't be an effective assassin if you're obviously an eldritch abomination

as the years went on she exchanged the spy gear for iridescent silver armour styled like scales

forked tongue and bonus points if she like. actually smells with it ghsfjks

i imagine her with very dark brown hair and choppy bangs

lowkey thinkin that saarn is capable of leaving her physical form behind and literally becoming shadow shhh

orok

i hc that when he used to fight in the pits he actually lost an eye, and only later when the power of nälkä grew he became cyclopic

out of everyone he's the most likely to have a Monster Maw™....... big teef

doesn't really need armour but if he did it'd be made of bone

honestly digging the idea of sections of bone being exposed and engraved. his spine is visible and marked with sarkic sigils

cannot stress this enough: HOOVES

tapetum lucidum

nadox

i guess the most eldritch out of the lot? talking about him sometimes being a shifting mass of hands and eyes here

decked out in bright red robes and scarves, they seem to move in the wind even when there's no breeze

eye colour varies day to day. usually brown or gold yet he Has Been Known to experiment with electric blues and purples

very human trait incoming: freckles

"vibe check!" *slaps someone with 847194819 hands, killing them instantly*

doesn't hide his sufferer's mark. it's a direct challenge to the daeva. throw a rock at him and see how many limbs you'll have at the end of the day

always imagined him with super long light brown hair?? almost down to his waist. it's unkempt and he may or may not be raising a baby bird in there

eyeliner

lovataar

jewellery. so much of it. typically gold bangles but does a bit of everything: necklaces fashioned out of bone shards, rings of shining iron, ivory piercings and jade hairpieces

stag antlers adorned with as much glittery stuff as the rest of her

lips are painted red with an...... unknown substance

lova has the most fun with the shape she takes. as a somewhat aphrodite-like figure she's smart enough to know that beauty comes in a wide variety of forms. it wouldn't be unusual to see her looking completely different from what she did the previous day, but people always seem to know it's her

insect wings, specifically a dragonfly's

long n pointy claws. also painted red via the mystery substance

fair haired, could be blonde or even ice white

ion

oh boy.

ion falls directly into the uncanny valley and here's why

he looks so.. normal

charcoal coloured hair that goes down to his neck. welcoming brown eyes. a little bit of stubble around his jawline. attire varies from cult robes to a nicely tailored suit

a smug "i-can-sell-you-anything" smile that's a little too perfect. an accent that you just can't place: guesses vary from russian to polish to scandinavian. tall and of a lean build. you could see him in a crowded place and not blink twice.

the more you look at him, though, the stranger he seems. there's something under the skin. something that's looking back out at you

his "true" form (i don't think sarkites would agree with the concept of a true form, flesh being malleable and all, but i'll use that phrase for everyone's sanity) is just totally beyond comprehension. we're talking on a lovecraftian brainbleed level

gonna keep it real: you can clearly tell i'm an ionfucker from reading this

that's just about it. ofc when we take into account the sheer power of the grand karcist and his klavigar, it's obvious they could probably take any shape they wanted, but here's just what i imagined when reading. feel free come into my inbox and screech about sarkicism i'll love you forever 💕

[cosmosfated]

  TWENTY SEVEN DAYS.  That’s how long he had stayed in the ward.

  Just shy of a month, just shy of four weeks.

  It wasn’t bad, per se. The people were... nice. They understood, though Fleur knew it was one of their jobs to understand to the best of their ability. The people that he was with also were extremely nice, when they weren’t having their own troubles. He wasn’t sure whether or not to expect the worst or go into it with high hopes. He wasn’t sure whether to be himself there or to be a bit more restrained, in order to trick people into thinking he was better off than he was, better off than he knows people thought he was supposed to be.

  He remembers going into it afraid. He remembers walking into that establishment and having his guardian, having Whisper sign him up for the psychiatric ward for care and being afraid for his life. He’d never been in one of these before. He didn’t know what to expect. And oh, this was long before his madness had taken a grip on him again. So there wasn’t that to worry about (yet). He remembers being afraid of the walls. The staff. The fellow people in the ward with him. 

  They told him to relax, and he remembers being even more afraid for a couple days. His roommate was a lovely lady that couldn’t have been older than twenty one, human;   Fleur didn’t ask her reasons for being here, she didn’t ask his, they left it where it was. She introduced herself as Cass. Cass said she had been there for months now. She told him that the staff would take great care of him, but she couldn’t really help the fear of being there for a first time. It’s a bit scary, she had told him. Being here when you’re so young. Being here and being part of the media. She had smiled then and said yes, she knew of him from the television, from the news, but she doesn’t judge. The two of them made fast friends. He really liked Cass. She was a nice introduction. Three days in, she was someone irreplaceable to him.

  Five days in, he was starting to settle into the routine. Taking his medicine was normal. Going to therapy was normal. Talking to someone about what was really bothering him, now that was hard. No one really believed him. That’s why he kept being told that he had stay longer than the two weeks initially. Dying countless times, the death of innocents on your hands, madness so sickening that it would make a chill run down your back, eldritch abominations, pacts with keepers, enchanted weapons, other worlds. Who would believe him? He’s practically gone insane in their eyes. He eventually gave into their words and said they were just dreams. Just dreams that he had due to the medications. Dreams and nightmares. Oh how does he wish that was all it was. 

  And of course, there was... not hurting himself.

  Nightmares is all they were. That’s what he told them. That’s what they wanted to hear, in the first week and a half. For that first little while, that’s what they were. Nightmares that made him unable to get restful sleep. Waking up in the middle of the night, frightened and tossing and turning, but nothing more. They were being frightfully nice to him. It scared him. 

  And then one night after about a week and a half, his magic flared up and he lashed out against the staff that were trying to help him calm down. He had dug his magically enhanced claws into his skin and tore down, clawed away at himself. Clawed, clawed, clawed away until he could feel nothing but numbness and blood down his arms and chest and the wounds glowed with purple light against his will. The burn of Perseverance was agony and beautiful wonder when he wanted to feel anything, just anything against the moonlight and emptiness, but it still burned and he wanted it to stop. Maybe that’s when the staff there finally began to learn that he wasn’t joking. That he was telling the truth about at least some of it. 

  A part of him howled and laughed and cried all at once towards the moonlight, and he could see Cass out of the corner of his vision that night, and she looked... scared. Not of him, but rather for him. It was a strange feeling, seeing someone being afraid for him instead of being afraid of him. So he laughed and laughed and laughed some more, howled like a madman as his mind threatened to break underneath the weight of his LV that even just a smidgen more would tip over the edge into madness. They didn’t get him to calm down for at least two hours, but when they finally got him to calm down, it was sudden. With a crash into sudden serenity and awareness of self. With staring at the people around him and apologizing for causing a ruckus and trying to give his word to prevent from doing that again. 

  The very next day, he was in and out of tests. So many tests. They thought he was struggling with some version of brief psychotic disorder that is so strong when it shows up that it disrupts everything that he’s doing and can cause him and everyone around him harm. Thus the reason for extended stay, yet again. More days, more concern, more days without his phone, without contact with the rest of the world, without his garden, without his pokemon, without his friends.

  It’s so suffocating.

  Cass had approached him after a few days of extensive therapy and tests and medicine treatment with a snack, though she had checked with the doctors to see if she could offer it to him in the first place. “Hey, Fleur. You look like you’re ran pretty ragged.”

  He looked up from his place at the bed, still scratching at the bandages that are irritating the places where he had scratched himself rather raw. “There’s so many tests. I’ve tried to explain what that episode was. They don’t believe me. My medicine is fine. I don’t think I’m psychotic... mad, maybe... wait, is that the same thing as psychotic?”

  Cass laughed, somewhat awkwardly. “I... can’t speak for that, but it may fall on the spectrum?” She took a seat on the chair nearby, resting her head on the palm of her hand.

  Fleur sighed rather heavily, taking the snack, a nice apple, and bites into it.

  “You know, you definitely look healthier than when you came in here.” Cass said after a few minutes of silence. “You’re probably still afraid of this place, I would be too in your situation, but... you seem like you’re getting better. You might be out in a month or so. As long as you’re recovering nicely from whatever put you in here to begin with. You know?”

  He went quiet, thinking about what he knows put him in here to begin with. Too much to think about, there. Too much to consider. Too much to put him in the ground. He’s actually kind of glad that he considered doing this, but he’s also nervous that because he had that meltdown, they won’t let him out of here. Not until they figure out what’s wrong with him, at least, and that might be forever. He shuddered. Don’t consider that. “I know. Thanks, Cass.”

  Another few days go by.

  The tests started calming down. They all seem satisfied with some answer they’ve gotten from him. He doesn’t know what they’ve gotten out of him, his answers haven’t changed, but maybe they’ve just found something they’ve come to accept. Or maybe they’ve just come to accept that he’s a little off his rocker. That would be bad for him. Worry gnaws at him, now. 

  He didn’t really know what to do with the information that they had gotten some of what they intended to get from him. It meant that he had complied with what they wanted. It meant something bad, usually. It meant something had gone wrong. That’s what it meant for doctors! That’s his experiences with doctors! The worry grows. But nothing happens, not for a while. Therapy continues. Medicine continues. Friends are easy.

  Smiling is easy.

  Around a week until he left, he had another lapse of reality. 

  But this one, he was unresponsive to everything outside of himself for hours on end. Nothing could get through to him. Not music. Not touch. Not even the mention of family members or friends. He was growling and snapping and snarling at everything and everyone that came close to him, sometimes whimpering, for the entire time he wasn’t himself. He only snapped out of it after a few hours and then sat down and apologized for another hour, claiming that he didn’t know what he was doing, that he didn’t have any control over himself. In reality, he truly didn’t. But they didn’t know anything about that. 

  They put him through some more tests and more therapy. He didn’t see Cass for a while after that. He did notice Cass looking much more tired after seeing him like that though... he had wondered why but he didn’t have the chance to ask before he was ushered into a different room.

  After a few days of being taken care of, he heard talk about being given leave to go home. His spirits soared, but then they sank again. It’s been so long. He had gotten used to people taking care of him. How could he get used to taking care of himself again? It would be so difficult. He’d need help. So much help. How could he bear to rely on them for something like this? Fear took over. How could he do something like that to them?

  “Cass?”

  She had looked up, the hour before he was due to be discharged. “What’s up, party boy?”

  “... What if I just end up back here?”

  “Well. You know you’ve got a friend here.”

  Fleur smiled. He does, doesn’t he? That’s a little less scary. “Thanks, Cass.”

  Upon seeing his soulmate again, he couldn’t hold anything back. He wants to go home. He wants to go back to see his sister, his sibling. His garden. His pokemon. He wants to see his friends. He wants to see everything that he’s missed. He’ll do whatever it takes to stay better.

  He’ll do whatever it takes. He’ll get better, and stay better. He hopes.

[knivxsanddespair]

Chapter 1; The King.

"Daddy, Why am I staying here?"

Two left eyes was met with the child's, and he mustered up a smile somehow. "Sweetheart, Dad has to...attend to some people who are not very nice, and they want to do mean things to people in this land. That is something your old man does not want, in fact it's the last thing I want, for people and families getting hurt."

"Daddy, is it gonna take a while?"

Gosh, how he hated himself for lying like this, but what else can he tell his child? "It's only for a while, Hugo. I'll promise to be back with as soon as I'm done, okay?"

"Alright Daddy, I'll be a brave little boy till then."

"That's my boy!" A kiss on his forehead and a big ham leg was given in case he was hungry. Back to the order of business. He must confront her before she gets to him.

Like hell if that will ever happen, not on his watch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The long ascension upwards did not falter The Vader's motivation for purification one bit, step by step advancing towards her next victim in due time. Sounds of her foot tapping against the metal steps alarmed nobody else but the one sole inhabitant of the room.

The first thing he said was...

"You've finally waltzed in, Vader. It sure took you an eon to finally grace yourself with your presence. But, I have a feeling you aren't here for a family reunion. Go back home, you'll cause nothing but trouble up here."

Always keeping her icy assurance, The Vader said...

"Is that not what I did? Because here within, is indeed the cradle of my father. As much as you can expect, your guardians fell one by one. You are a King of a palace that continues to cease to exist."

Suprised, but not even the slightest taken aback, he asked...

"Why the hell did you whack the nation that I have rebuilt?"

That was easy for Vader to answer.

"Have you even for once, considered to be in this forsaken place to do the slightest, damndest thing? You have a role, being as the father to take care of him. That role, you have failed miserably. You are here, and your very reason of existence is why I must complete my sacred mission."

Continually barricading the speedy insults droned out from The Vaders pompous, pretentious monotone aristocrat-like tone in the battle of words between them, the King decided to tell it like it is, straight to her.

"I did this all for the kid. Don't you think I want my child to be happy?"

As if trying to keep a snide expression off her face, she countered his statement. "Well oh dear, how silly of us. All this effort to create one birthday party and we forgot who the birthday boy is."

That statement, that will not fly and go scot free as far as the King is concerned. "You're a real party pooper, you know that Vader? I ain't letting you lay one finger on the boy who brought us both into this world. Consider yourself whacked, today. And here is the closing statement, if this was some sort of parent-teacher meeting, you can count yourself to be the worst version of a Karen or a Linda there is."

"..."

"..."

"SAY THAT TO MY FACE, YOU TWO EYES ON THE LEFT HAVING, ANCIENT GREEK WITH CLAY SKIN STATUE LOOKING , NEW JERSEY ACCENT HAVING ELDRITCH ABOMINATION." For someone who doesn't have any emotion, that statement made Vader's blood boil.

"I would, but you covered half of your face. I wouldn't blame ya, I would too if I ever have this much ugly attitude in me."

"...I will enjoy swinging my bat violently on you, King Pitcher Fieldius."

[PURIFICATION IN PROGRESS]

(Welp, I promised @the-queen-of-zones I would write something for the swapped Batter and Vader Eloha au so check that picture out and give it some love if you haven't already! I hope you like it fam! Also don't mind me giving Batter a new name! OvO )

[internethorrorfan]

Commentarypasta: Slenderman vs. Eyeless Jack (originally posted on deviantart in 2017)

You know what's almost as creatively bankrupt as Jeff the Killer wannabe stories and Slender Mansion fics? Versus stories. Today's gem, hailing from the Spinpasta wiki, is one such story. Because why write original suspenseful horror stories or possibly put a new creative spin on an older idea or character when you can just take two unrelated creepypasta icons and have them lay a WWE smack down on each other, right? Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this story... Slenderman vs. Eyeless Jack by OptimusPrime27 There are legends of the Slender Man. Some say he's a kind nurturing father figure that lives in a big beautiful mansion full of other monsters and killers as one big happy loving family who do all sorts of cute family activities with each other when they're not going on mass murder sprees. Nobody over the age of 12 believes such things.

He is a dark spirit. He is truly evil. Wait, what you mean to tell me is that the murderous, child snatching eldritch abomination who forces people to become his slaves in order to commit horrific acts on his behalf is evil? You don't say? He stalks people and murders them. But now he is gone. He's been gone. People don't know why, but he just... disappeared. Everything changed after the Fire Nation attacked. One day, he just left. Never to be seen again. Except in terrible fanfiction written by pre teen girls. Only a few people still remember him. This sentence is so easily contestable that I won't even bother. I wouldn't even know he existed if it wasn't for that dark, dark night... and that video-game that made. That sort of helped... This joke might have been funny is the grammar wasn't messed up.

You see, Slender Man disappeared because less people feared him. This sounds awfully similar to Freddy's plot in Freddy vs. Jason. Instead of that dark, mysterious force he became that cool, popular guy. "Yo Slenderbro, pass me that brewski when you're done droppin' those phat beats!" Just that guy. People didn't care how terrifying he really was, they just liked him. What if people liked him because he was terrifying? I like Slenderman because he's creepy.  Creepy if done well at any rate. Video-games, toys, shirts, Hold the phone here, since when has there official Slenderman merch? he was everywhere. Less people feared him, and he became more of an internet icon than a despicable creature. So you can't be a despicable creature and internet icon at the same time? Someone better tell [insert well known internet personality who gets a lot of hate here)! More people knew him and they learned to stay away from him, how to avoid him, There's no official way to avoid Slenderman. and thus he didn't get their souls. Many people don't know this, but Slender Man needs souls. Many people don't know this because you completely made it up. They give him energy. He harvests them. He feeds of them. He lives. But now people don't fear him at all. He's just that guy.

That guy. He's just that guy who stalks people, kidnaps kids and drives people insane. Ya know, nothin' special.

But you see, Eyeless Jack is a different story. A story so bad its own writer personally asked for it to be deleted from the creepypasta wiki.

Eyeless Jack is a dark, undead spirit. Says who? A young boy brutally murdered, his eyes ripped out of their sockets. A vengeful spirit, Eyeless Jack's a ghost now? he spent the rest of his eternity getting his revenge. Which he accomplishes by eating random people's kidneys. Out to find the man who killed him. Until then, he could never truly be at peace. Less powerful and less famous, Jack was just a little kid compared to Slender Man. Which might have something to do with Slenderman being 6-10 feet tall. No match for this monster. Stories over! Goodnight everybody! Slender Man is basically the king of modern horror. I'm a huge Slender-verse fan and even I think that's bit of an overstatement. How can he be the king of modern horror anyway if supposedly no one takes him seriously or cares about him anymore? Creepy, mysterious. Slender Man has given existence to many wannabes and copy-cats like Jeff the Killer or Laughing Jack. Laughing Jack and Jeff the Killer have nothing at all to do with each other let alone Slenderman.

Slender Man saw potential in Eyeless Jack, and decided to use his superior power to manipulate the poor lost soul. This is literally just the plot of Freddy vs. Jason. One night, Jack was lurking through the forest, when Slender Man, now weak but still more powerful than Jack, appeared before him. Jack was shocked, but then the figure seemed to disappear into thin air. Jack turned around as Slender Man reappeared in front of him. Slender Man began to stalk the evil spirit as he ran through the forest. What sounded like static assaulted Jack's ears. He fell down and began to faint, everything else in the world fading away... Slender Man was now in control of Jack, and ready for the harvest. Now this is where I get involved. Me and my friends were having a sleep-over. It was a dark, rainy night. Lemme guess: You really wanted to write "it was a dark and stormy night" but you realized that was too cliché even for something called "Slenderman vs. Eyeless Jack" so you thought wording it differently would mask the unoriginality.  Newsflash: it didn't. We were watching a crappy, blood-filled generic horror film, yet we kept screeching. We didn't know what true horror was yet. It's certainly not this story, I'll tell you that much. Not yet. You could’ve removed those last two words entirely and just said you "didn’t know what true horror was. Yet". We heard the back door creek open, so me and my friend Anne went to go see. The suspense was killing us. Suspense from what? The door creaking open? Do you guys flip out every time there's a light breeze? The entire house was pitch black. Turn on the lights then. We stepped into the dark hallway and slowly stepped closer and closer to the door. We heard heavy breathing from behind the door. And...JUMPSCARE! We went to grab the door knob, and when we saw what was behind it, we shrieked in terror. It was just our friend Mark. You held the tension here for 1 sentence. He and his friends Brad and Chuck were here. The idiots tried to scare us. "They're gonna be dead soon is what I'm saying." Me and Mark are sort of more than friends, but not really dating. Just sort of... into each other or something. It's complicated. We watched the movie together, and the guys kept making fun of us when we got scared, but they themselves kept getting freaked out now and then. Suddenly, we heard glass breaking. Mark volunteered to go check it out because how we were such "chickens". His words, not mine. I'd say that last sentence was completely superfluous but this whole story is completely superfluous. He walked into the hallways, closing the door behind him. He saw broken glass on the floor. He knew somebody had broken in. He turned around to warn us, but saw a masked, hoody-wearing creature. I thought he was a spirit. Now he's a creature? The mask was blue, with deep, empty, black holes where the eyes were supposed to be. I asked myself this same question when reading the original Eyeless Jack but how can they tell he has no eyes when he's wearing a mask in the dark?

The creature grabbed Mark's throat, squeezing it tightly. Mark gasped for breath, but the grasp on Mark's throat increased in strength. Tighter, tighter, until Mark couldn't breathe. Mark closed his eyes and dropped down onto the ground as the creature finally let him go. The creature observed his corpse, as if marveling at his own work of demented art. Oh no, not Mark! He was such a well developed character that we knew so well!

It was half an hour later, and we were worrying. I went to go check on him and found his corpse. So all of you just stood there and waited for 30 minutes while a monster choked Mark to death instead of alerting the police? What truly wonderful people you guys are.  I nearly puked. There was no brutal damage or harm to it, but that's what scared me. In the movies it's always bloody and chopped up, nearly unrecognizable. But this was... was so real. Just a lifeless body there on the ground, nothing more to it. The police said he was strangled to death by... something. Poor Eyeless Jack always getting described as a "something". The finger prints on his neck Fingerprints is one word. Like, nobody writes "head aches" or "bed rooms" do they? were something odd. They tasted great! They scanned them and all, but the person they belonged to was murdered long ago. Jack Robins was a young boy who was brutally killed back in the 1970's. I sure am glad these cops committed every important detail of this decades old case to memory. His parents were on a date, and he was being babysat by a local teen trying to get some quick cash. You say that as if all teen babysitters aren't just looking for quick cash.

A strange man broke in while he was asleep and the sitter was busy on the phone. Being on the phone doesn't automatically cancel out all other sounds. I think she'd be able to hear someone breaking in. The man went through the house stealing everything he found useful. The sitter saw him and shrieked, only to be shot down by the robber. The robber found Jack and pulled out his carving knife. Jack saw him and shrieked. The robber, not wanting to get caught, shot him, and then cut his eyes out with the knife. Why? How could cutting out Jack's eyes possibly benefit him in any way? If he's trying to be sneaky then carrying someone's eyeballs around would be super easy to trace. There is literally absolutely no reason for this guy to cut out Jack's eyes other than "well he's gotta become Eyeless Jack somehow!"

I was shocked when I heard this. That poor kid. But what was the killer doing with his fingerprints? Was it a coincidence? You don't know what coincidences are, do you? Was the killer the same one who did this terrible, terrible thing all those years back, and the sicko kept Jack's hands with him? If the killer took Jack's hands the cops would've said that. How is that your first thought? Why would a robber cut off the hand of someone they murdered, keep it on their person and use it decades later to strangle some random person to death? I was scared. Me and my parents were staying in a hotel room since the murder, but I couldn't help but wonder if he was still in the house... Meanwhile, in the woods, Jack woke up. He saw that he was in Slender Man's body. I'm sorry, what? This is a body swapping story now? Why does "Slenderman vs. Eyeless Jack" need to be about body swapping? But more importantly, he actually saw. He discovered that Slender Man didn't just take over his body, he switched both of their souls into each other's bodies. I have so many questions. This story keeps calling Jack a spirit so how can he have even have a body/soul to swap? Since when did Slenderman have a soul? Didn't this story also say Slenderman ate souls?  How would swapping souls allow Eyeless Jack to see? How can EJ do all the things he does if he can't see? I have the sneaking suspicion that none of these questions will go answered. Jack, now able to see, used this to follow the Slender Man's foot prints to the house. The police were investigating the scene of the crime, and went into the basement. The entire house was totally dark. If the power went out it'd be nice of you to let us know that. The two police man walked slowly down the stairs, and entered the dark room. The basement was flooded up to the police men's ankles because of the rain. Our house was an old one and it was always in a really crappy condition. Get it remodeled it then.

They found the old light switch and flipped it, only to be attacked and killed by Slender Man in Jack's body. He took on the other cops as they ran down the stairs. Their bullets did nothing. The body may have been harmed, but it was just flesh and bones. Useless flesh and bones. If they're so useless why did Slenderman even do this whole body swapping thing in the first place? How does switching souls with Eyeless Jack benefit Slenderman in anyway?

As the battle in the basement was going on, Jack in Slender Man's body broke down the front door, searching for his impostor. He rushed down the stairs to confront Slender Man. Slender threw his knife into Jack's face, distracting him as he grabbed a metal pipe up from off the floor. He hit the already dazed Jack in the head, knocking him to the floor. Remember: Jack's in Slenderman's body. So according to this story Slenderman can be stabbed, dazed and knocked to the ground. Jack got up and pulled the knife out of his head, impaling Slender Man with it. Slender Man seemed to slow down for a bit, but no real harm was done. "Besides the gaping chest wound I mean." Slender Man tore the knife out and dropped it to the ground. It was useless. Slender Man hit Jack with an uppercut, grabbed him and threw him into the furnace, closing him in and turning it on. Jack struggled to break free, but Slender Man was holding him in with all his strength. Eyeless Jack's body is capable of picking up and throwing the body of Slenderman, who is a 6-10 foot monster with teleportation powers, tentacles, and psychic abilities. Ok then. Jack pushed against the furnace with all his might, and finally jumped out, tackling Slender Man over. He held Slender Man's face down under the water, trying to drown him, but Slender Man managed to push up and knock Eyeless Jak down. Wow, Slenderman knocked Eyeless Jack down so hard the c fell out of his name! Jack reached for a nearby tool bag and pulled out a drill, sticking it into Slender Man's face. He turned it on, and it began to cut into his face. Why is EJ trying to kill Slenderman when they've switched bodies? I assume the body swapping is the reason EJ is mad at Slenderman in the first place so why would he ruin his chances of ever getting his real body back? Guys, Eyeless Jack is drilling into his own face. Slender Man grabbed the drill and pulled it out, throwing it over onto the stair case. Getting shot, drowned and stabbed didn't kill him so cutting into his face with a drill probably wouldn't either. Shouldn't Eyeless Jack know the limitations of his own body? Slender picked up the carving knife, slashed Jack across the chest with it, and jumped up and cut a pipe above Jack's head. Tons of sewage poured down onto Jack, knocking him to the ground and covering him with the slop. Did the writer of this even know Slenderman's power set?

Slender Man left, leaving Jack to die. Slender Man grabbed a thing of matches on the kitchen counter, lit one, and threw it to the ground, burning down the building as he turned and ran out the back door. The entire house burnt up and collapsed in, crushing Jack completely and seemingly finishing him off. Slenderman is leaving his own body to burn to death. Slenderman of all beings should know fire doesn't hurt him! The police told me and my parents about what happened. The cops that were there were killed before any of this crap even happened. They didn't know anything about the two killers or what really went on, but they knew that the house burnt down. I was devastated, but I was hoping that... that THING... was killed in the fire. Can't be, the story's not over yet. Unfortunately. I thought it was all over. I wish it were all over so I could do something more productive with my time like watching paint dry. I told my parents I was ready to go back to school, but they hesitated to let me. We talked it through, and they decided I was okay.  What teenager wants to go to school?

The next day at school, my friends from the sleepover, Anne and Lauren, asked me what happened. I told them everything. Jack, how Mark died, the house burning down, etc.,etc. They were shocked. Everyone who overheard was shocked too. One kid approached us. He said that Jack never really died, and that he is still alive. Everybody that he was crazy, but he said that Jack's spirit still wanders the Earth, searching for the man who killed him. Who is this kid and how does he know any of this? The janitor saw all the commotion, and told the kid to go down to the principal's office. He turned to the rest of us and said to get to class. The principal told the kid that the legend of Eyeless Jack was just crazy talk.

Rumor spread that all these stories of monsters and ghosts and stuff was all actually real and the adults were keeping it from us, like some crazy conspiracy. This kind of conspiracy I hope. Now it was like a rebellion was on the horizon. How could these things really exist without anybody letting us know? It's our right to know these kinds of things! If they're trying to protect us it clearly isn't working because now Mark has been murdered! OK we get it author, you really like Freddy vs. Jason. Can you please quit rehashing plot elements from it?

I was angry. We were all angry. I'm angry because it feels like this story should be over by now. But we still had to carry on. The prom was coming soon, and I planned on asking Mark to go with me and maybe we could officially start dating, but then this whole crazy thing happened. Multiple people, including your own boyfriend,  have been brutally killed by supernatural forces and you're worrying about the damn prom? I went with Brad, Mark's friend, but I felt really guilty. Just because Mark was killed I went out with his best friend? It was messed up, I knew it. Yeah, taking your boyfriend's best friend to the prom the day after said boyfriend was murdered is pretty messed up.

Everything was fine at the prom, until... it happened. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xe0Ba… Chuck and Anne sneaked away to make out or something dumb, and then he came. Obvious joke is obvious. They went over by the lockers and made sure nobody was looking, but then they heard footsteps. They thought they were caught, but it was much worse. That masked man that strangled Mark. It was here! It grabbed Chuck and held him up against the wall by his throat. Anne shrieked in terror as the creature stared into Chuck's eyes. Stared deep down into his soul. You'd think someone called "Eyeless Jack" would have a hard time staring at people. Then it took him and it threw him straight out the window. A car was driving by, and Chuck's body landed straight on the windshield, nearly shattering the glass. The principal and the gym teacher both came running to help us out, but they were no match. The masked man grabbed both of the two and hit their heads together, knocking them unconscious, and then he stuffed both of their bodies into a locker. He slammed the door, locking them inside, and then turned around to face Anne. He ripped a locker door off of the wall and hit her upside the head with it, knocking her down. Why is Slendy-in-Jack's body here in the first place? Doesn't he have better things to be doing than picking off stupid teenagers? She got up and ran, and the man... no, not a man... the DEMON rushed after her. Demon? Wasn't he a spirit earlier?

She ran into the gymnasium, where we all were, and told us to run. Too late. The creature bursted in and impaled her with a leg he tore off a desk. Ah yes desks: a common thing to find in gymnasiums. She dropped to the floor, and he tore the leg out of her corpse. We all ran out screaming, but some of us weren't as lucky. Me, Brad, Lauren, and the janitor all got out alive and took off in Brad's van. The janitor drove us away, and said that he knew about Eyeless Jack. What a totally non contrived coincidence that some random janitor at some non descript school knows all about Eyeless Jack, Slenderman and the conspiracy covering them up. He confessed to us, telling us that the kid from the hallway was right all along. He was privy to this information how exactly? They just didn't want kids knowing to try and keep them safe, but it clearly didn't work. As we were driving, a flaming man in a tuxedo ran out into the road,   Tuxedos and business suits aren't the same thing. and we accidentally hit him. The janitor thought it was a victim of Jack from the prom, He didn't notice that Slenderman was 6 feet tall and you know, lacking a face? so he rushed out to save him, but the faceless man got up and grabbed him, throwing him into the sky with all his might. We screamed in horror, and Brad leaped into the driver's seat, ramming over the man. So did the janitor come down or did he fly into outer space or something?

We drived off as it tried chasing us on feet, but we managed to escape. We were all scared, and none of us knew what was going on. I remembered the faceless tuxedo man, though. I could never forget him. It was the Slender Man. But he was real? Of course he's real! You've seen him attack people and you just ran him over with your car. UGH. We didn't know what was happening, You and me both. we just knew to get away as quick as possible. Meanwhile, Slender Man and Jack had a score to settle themselves. Jack (in Slender Man's body)arrived at the school to face his foe. A high school: truly the best place to stage the climatic showdown of your story.  The two saw each other, and nothing could stop them. Nothing else in the world mattered. It was just them, face to face again at last. Sure, Slender Man had won it the last two times, but now Jack knew better. Jack grabbed the knocked-over punch table, lifted it up over his head, and threw it right at Slender Man, knocking him over. It's damn confusing reading this and having to remember that EJ and Slenderman have switched bodies. Almost like it's pointless or something. Jack quickly ran over and started punching Slender Man repeatedly. Is EJ gonna use a single one of Slenderman's powers while inhabiting his body? Slender Man kicked Jack in the chest and knocked him over. Guess that answers my question. Slender Man started to kick Jack in the face over and over, even stomping on his head. Jack got up and overpowered Slender Man, picking him up and throwing him up on the stage. Jack ran over and jumped up, hitting Slender Man in the chest several times and damaging his decaying ribcage. Jack grabbed Slender Man by the throat and threw him down onto the ground. Jack grabbed one of the band's amps, lifted it up with all his strength, and dropped it down onto Slender Man. Jack picked up a bottle of water off the floor and poured onto his semi-crushed opponent, frying him completely. Eyeless Jack has apparently succeed in destroying his own body. Hooray?

Jack, victorious, left to find me and the others. We were at Brad's house, Can we please just stop with the constant POV and tense changes because this story is testing my patience as it is. and we went inside we saw his dad, dead, hanging from the ceiling by a rusty metal chain. NO! Not Brad's dad! He was almost as well developed a character as Mark! We were shocked, and Brad broke out crying. Me and Lauren let him have his moment, so we went in his room to discuss it. Lauren said that maybe somebody in the town was the one who killed him and that's why this is happening, but I knew it had to be something more. You think it might have something to do with those 2 monster guys running around? You know, the ones you killed your friend and that janitor right in front of you?

I mean, why was Slender Man there? Better question: why is this story still going? Brad walked in, still sad, and asked what was going on. Lauren told him her theory, but he didn't believe it either. Suddenly, a corpse was thrown straight through the window, crashing onto the foor. We all shrieked in terror as we saw the message. It was... written in blood on his chest! It said "If you yourself do not release than it will come to take a piece". "YOU ARE WRONG". He was spying on our conversation? How? Why? For what reason? Suddenly, Jack kicked the door down. Of course, he was in Slender Man's body so we couldn't tell it was Jack at first. How could you tell it was Jack after the fact? How do you know any of this crap involving Jack and Slenderman? He as holding the corpse of Brad's dad, and threw it right at Brad, knocking him to the ground. Brad screamed, and we all ran off, being chased by Jack. We got outside and into the van, but the tires were slashed. Suddenly, Jack ran out of the house and jumped up on the hood of the car, kicking the windshield. It shatter and broke open, and he reached in to get us. Brad kicked him in the face and we ran out, trying to escape on foot. Suddenly, a beaten up and bloodied Slender Man (in Jack's body) I think everybody knows they've switched bodies by now! ambushed us and stabbed Brad in the heart several times with his knife. We shrieked and ran off, when suddenly a car stopped right in front of us on the road. It was Brad's mom, home from shopping! How wonderfully contrived. She said she heard about what was happening and immediately left the store to get us! We drove off as the two monsters fought each other once again. Slender Man stabbed Jack in the face several times, but Jack was unharmed. Which Slenderman should know wouldn't work because it's his body. He grabbed Slender Man, lifting him up off the ground, and threw him into the streets. Jack charged at him, but Slendy kicked him in the stomach and then got up and punched his face several times. Jack overpowered Slendy and pushed him down to the ground, elbowing him in the face. The two struggled and pushed eachother around, until Slender Man managed to push Jack up and throw him off of him. Slender Man got up and ran off to find us, leaving behind Jack. Just finish him off already! There's no reason whatsoever to chase after these dumb kids!

We told Brad's mom what happened, from what happened to Mark, to Jack, to the house burning down, and what happened at the prom. She was depressed that her husband and her son were both murdered, and we were sad about all the murders too. "All these murders are a major bummer, man."

Suddenly, a truck rammed into the car and sent us off road into the forest. The truck chased us into the woods until we hit a tree and the car went tumbling down a path. We jumped out the first chance we got and watched in horror as the car rolled down the nearby docks and fell into the water. You're still alive...how, exactly? 

The truck came crashing after us, and Slender Man stepped out. He began to chase us, and we managed to get to an abandoned factory. We picked up a wooden plank and put in through the door handles, locking him out. If Slenderman was in his own body he could just teleport in the building. Hell, he could've teleport them outside the building if he had his old body. See what I mean about how switching bodies with Eyeless Jack doesn't benefit him in anyway? We went into another room so we wouldn't be able to hear the freak pounding on the door. We were terrified. There was no hope left. What could save us now? Hopefully nobody because all of you are such bland characters that I couldn't care less whether you lived or died.

Suddenly, Jack arrived. Slender Man turned around to face the creature, and was immediately kicked in the gut. He stumbled backwards and slammed into the door. Oh goody, another fight scene. Because we haven't had enough of those now, have we? He grabbed Jack by the throat and began to strangle him. He eventually just lifted Jack up by the throat and threw him down into the ground. He kicked Jack in the face several times, but Jack got back up. How do you kick a faceless man in the face? Jack grabbed Slender Man and threw him over into the distance. Slender Man saw a little canoe and picked up the ore, charging at Jack and impaling him through the ribs with it. Slenderman's body can apparently be impaled with a rock. Sure. Why not?

Jack pulled the ore out and hit Slender Man upside the head, knocking him down. Slender Man got up again, only to be smacked by the ore and sent flying. Slender Man landed on the docks, and Jack ran over at him. Meanwhile, we thought the coast was clear so we opened the door and looked outside, stupidly enough. We saw the two fighting on the docks and couldn't help but watch. Standing there and watching the two fight is obviously a better option than running away.

Jack hit Slender Man with an uppercut, knocking him over. Slender Man got back up and punched Jack in the face repeatedly, knocking him back a bit. Jack picked the ore back up and hit Slender Man in the face with it, knocking him down. Jack was serious now. This time...it's personal. He lifted the ore up above his head and pushed it down into Slender Man's chest. He kept stabbing him and stabbing him with it until Slender Man managed to get up and take the ore from him, throwing it into the water.

Lauren yelled out to us, pointing at a stick of dynamite she found. Oh there just happened to be a stick of dynamite lying around on these boat docks? Oh how convenient. What's next, is Brad's mom going to pull out a lighter she just so happened to have and use it to light the dynamite so they can kill Slenderman and Eyeless Jack? Brad's mom pulled out her lighter and lit it. I was joking! We threw it onto the dock as the two were fighting. This was it. Our last hope. Slender Man and Jack were brutally beating each other, and didn't notice the TNT. Suddenly, it finally went off, and it blew the two into the air. They went off into the sky, and crashed down into their watery graves. It was finally over! Oh thank God! Finally I can move on with my life! We were saved! We ran out to get back to town, but little did we know it wasn't over. Why not? Everything's been resolved. There's no reason to keep going.

Slender Man and Eyeless Jack awoke in a fiery pit, surrounded by a whole crowd of demons. They seemed to be chanting some weird spell, when a strange, creepy statue of Link from the Legend of Zelda series Oh come on! appeared before the two, and smiled deviously.

"Men..." he said, "What seems to be the problem?" You couldn't even have BEN say either of his catchphrases? Either "You shouldn't have done that." or "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" would have worked here. I sort of appreciate the shout out to one of the unused endings from Freddy vs. Jason but missed opportunity here, come on. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And that, my friends was "Slenderman vs. Eyeless Jack". I have but 1 question to ask: What the hell was the point of any of that? Slenderman eating souls, Eyeless Jack being a spirit, the town trying to cover them both up, Slenderman needing people to fear him in order to gain power and Eyeless Jack's whole backstory were all introduced and then forgotten about. None of the human characters were interesting and they barley impacted the plot at all. The body swapping was completely unnecessary and just made everything extra confusing for no reason and there were just way too many fight scenes. The whole thing just dragged. On the plus side the sentence structure was good and there were relatively few grammar mistakes. It's just that on top of all the other problems the whole premise was silly and it took itself way too seriously from the get go, which is my problem with most vs. fics to be honest.

[bookshelfpassageway]

Campaign: Trashparty (171)

Even longer running campaign endgame! Oh boy!

This is Eugene's current ongoing game. The characters have just started to roll over to official real level 20.

So, previously on, we went to Hell to finish up some business (read: kill) a devil called Thulmik that had previously been a major (MAJOR) turning point in the game. But, we were also called there to meet with him to work out a business proposition he'd made. If the proposition's terms sucked, we would take him out right then and there. If it didn't… We could call a truce to work together to fight off the oncoming Illithid invasion, he could provide an army while we served as a strike team.

He could also call off his contract with our warlock Beltari (who'd bound herself to a celestial lock keeping an eldritch abomination in check, but was still tied to Thulmik legally, her soul would go to him upon her death), IF, we could assassinate his direct superior, the Archduke of Dis, the clever and wildly paranoid Dispater.

We agreed to his terms, and went to Dis under the guise of buying supplies for his army for the upcoming battle. The city was miserable to be outside in, and acidic smog made it so staying out too long physically hurt you. The party quickly found an Inn, and Eugene and Rothwin stayed back to recover and research, while the others made a show of going through the fake shopping list.

At the end of this outing, Beltari, an eternal aficionado of tea, went to the favorite tea shop of her former patron, and got something for everyone, including some to-go. With her order came a note, to meet in the back.

The tea was, for the record, terrible to everyone who wasn't Beltari. One tasted like bogwater (but did grant immunity to poison. It also granted Bog Sweat!), another tasted like having a cold. Beltari had a nice chai that may or may not have been made of bones.

Eugene, after about an hour of crashing in the hotel room, decided he'd catch up with the others. And so Eugene headed out into the streets of Dis.

In Hell.

Alone.

He sent out his familiar Cornelius as a scout, and found that the plane seemed to change the little owl slightly. Eugene, canonically, knows fuckall about birds, particularly Cornelius, and for the 5 years this game has run no one has known whether the compact and salty familiar was fey, fiend, celestial, or a secret fourth thing. It turns out, Cornelius is quite at home in Hell, and we have our answer.

In the meantime, the rest of the party has gone into the back of the tea shop. They're met by a half-devil named Damien, who takes them into a secret back room, and disappears to let them get settled. The observant party notices a sprinkler system, runes underneath the seats, secret drawers, and a series of non-evil holy symbols on the walls.

Damien returns, and struggles a bit to get the party to actually sit down given the trapped chairs. But, after a lot of dancing around and tensions, he reveals that he is on our side, and Thulmik had him meet us to help us. He's also much less lawful than other devils, hence the holy symbols, the holy water sprinkler system, other defensive measures, and the complete secrecy and security to speak freely in this room alone. Killing Dispater would be a boon to him, so, he's here to help us.

He gives us a series of usable paths through the Iron Tower, the labyrinthine home of the archduke, whose rooms are all connected by a series of doorways opened only by a system of marked petals of flowers that grow inside the tower. He also offers us resources, weapons, disguises, things that might make our task easier, but he'd need a day or so to pull them together.

Meanwhile, back on the city streets, Cornelius, scouting ahead, spies a familiar figure about to cross paths with Eugene. The extravagant procession of a lich named Athas, someone that Eugene had met with Rothwin and the Other Party in the Shadowfell, in whose tower that party had rested overnight, and who they got advice from in exchange for bringing him a soul from the black market.

Athas never got his soul, as the party was too busy escaping an absolutely furious dragon by way of hitching a ride in an Arcanaloth's Scavenger vehicle.

So, to avoid the awkward and/or lethal meeting, Eugene quickly hid down an alley, threw out an illusion, and acted inconspicuous. He called up Rothwin and told him to let the party know if he didn't call back in the next five minutes (Rothwin didn't need context explanations, and as one person was unlikely to try to cause a scene and pick a fight in the street), and Rothwin announced he was on his way immediately.

Eugene was noticed by the passing Athas, who managed to get inside and start to probe around his mind. Eugene didn't resist, but did frantically focus on anything that would provide absolutely no useful information as to who he was. Eventually, the procession passed, Athas left him alone, and Eugene let Rothwin know all was well, and continued on his way to the tea shop.

The party agreed to Damien's terms, and picked out their items [TO BE DETERMINED OVER THE COURSE OF THE WEEK], and agreed to meet back in a day or so to "finalize the tea shipment". They toasted over a bottle of Jotunn wine, which caused our gnome bard, Elwyn, and the Amazon fighter's human fiancée, Eleanore, to get hit with the effects of the Confusion spell for the next hour. They step out to find a just-arrived Eugene, who, upon seeing the two wildly inebriated partymembers, decides not to touch the carry-out tea Beltari gives him.

They make it back to the inn, and prepare to break into the Iron Tower.

(also, it is worth mentioning, if we kill Dispater with no collateral damage or identifiable traces of what we've done, Thulmik will pay us 30k platinum.

Each.

So we're going to do our absolute damnedest.)

[desertwares100-blog]

Not Quite Human Fic Recs

Leviathan by rest_in_rip https://archiveofourown.org/works/13216827/chapters/30232824 

“Izuku's only truly used his quirk once. He was four years old. He took thirty-two lives that day. Now, he's sworn never to let that power possess him again. Hiding the true nature of his quirk from everyone, he hides behind the thin facade of a useless, showy quirk, refusing any and all connection to the mysterious creature recognized in a few sparse news reports as the Leviathan. Lies don't last forever, however, and one day or another, his world will have to come crashing down.” 

His Father’s Son by Pipefoxesonthemoon https://archiveofourown.org/works/13853094/chapters/31864188

 “Izuku Midoriya doesn't have a quirk. Quirks are things of wonder and awe, destined to make great heroes out of those who master them. Izuku has a curse. A thing. A horror that burnt his skin, ruined his life and filled his head with monsters. His only chance at normality was to suppress the darkness with self-hatred, silence the demons with medication, and focus everything left on the singular goal of maybe one day turning his curse into a force for good. But can such horror, such darkness, ever be used for good? Or will he eventually fall to shadow and flame? After all, Izuku is his father's son.” 

Elysium Risen by Haurvatat https://archiveofourown.org/works/14937575/chapters/34608164 “The very first time Izuku raised the dead, he assumed his success was because the internet guided him through the process.” 

Cuckoo Bird by ElectricBoomerang https://archiveofourown.org/works/14716793/chapters/34013636 “There's something off about Midoriya Izuku. (change·ling /ˈCHānjliNG/ noun a child believed to have been secretly substituted by fairies for the parents' real child in infancy.)” 

The Worm That Dorks by Servbot52 https://archiveofourown.org/works/15766674/chapters/36674568 “Midoriya is a kind boy able to turn into a mass of tentacles and teeth. Whether this is his quirk or if he is an eldritch abomination from beyond space and time is debatable. Despite being a nightmare made flesh he has the drive to be a hero. Even if his classmates are trying to banish him to the outer realms, or worship him as a god, or whatever Aoyama is trying to do. Regardless, he’ll save people with a smile on his face and not eat anyone else's sanity while doing so!” 

Puerem Magi: Izuku Midoriya by Mapleseruhp https://archiveofourown.org/works/14746667/chapters/34094306 “All-might does not save Izuku from the sludge villain that day after school. Instead, Kyubey saved Deku by offering him a wish in exchange for becoming a magical boy. Able to attend U.A, Deku must disguise his ability as a quirk while balancing his life of fighting witches with training to be a hero.” 

Who am I? by WereKoalaPL https://archiveofourown.org/works/14699403/chapters/33968448 “Tuesdays, they are really not my day, I surmise after the paramedic checks my one remaining eye for brain damage. Not ten minutes ago I have awoken, laying flat on concrete, with cable still cutting into my neck, after being killed, hung by a group of maggots. Oh, right, I didn't introduce myself. The name is Midoriya Izuku, and as you might have figured out, I have just come back from the dead. Coming back from the dead, wouldn't sound absurd in a world filled with quirks, if I wasn't quirkless. --- One in which Izuku Midoriya is so much more than he thinks. Where mythology comes to life in the strangest of ways, and where Izuku has a penchant for axes, roasted hogs, and adopting every little kid he can find.”

 Magic Runs Deep by draconicshinx https://archiveofourown.org/works/14045577/chapters/32351859 “ "Midoriya Izuku has always been good at making friends. Not human ones, really, but they are good friends nonetheless. " Izuku can see and talk to and interact with mythical creatures. It's not exactly the quirk he was hoping for, but he's going to use it to help humans and his non-human friends all the same.” 

For Want of a Name by rest_in_rip https://archiveofourown.org/works/15066902/chapters/34931009 “ “If someone takes your name, they have complete control of you, and you are powerless to resist. It is why we guard our True Names so carefully.” Izuku stares at her, suddenly terrified. “I- You’re not a human, and… I gave you my True Name.” “That’s the thing, Midoriya-kun,” Manami says, staring at him with an expression he can’t decipher. “You didn’t.” Izuku stares. “But you said-” “I know what I said,” Manami says quietly. “You gave me your first and last name, but it wasn’t your True Name.” “Then… What is my True Name?” Izuku asks. “Midoriya-kun…” Manami whispers. “You don’t have one.” In which Izuku is something that should not exist, an impossibility in a word that he's never truly known.”

[marvelousbirthdays]

Happy Birthday, mattmurdocksgirl!

March 25 - Matt Murdock/Natasha Romanoff. I'm thinking that they've been secretly seeing each other for a while, and at some event (after a battle team up with the Defenders & Avengers, or some event where they'd all be together) their respective teams find out somehow. I'll leave the rest up to you. for @mattmurdocksgirl

Written by @backwardsandinhighheels

They were fighting the latest eldritch abominations that had escaped onto Broadway when a roar split the air.

“What was that?” Danny asked, as the tourists all turned their phones to capture the latest excitement.

“I think it's the Hulk?

It's all the Avengers,” Matt corrected, as a vaguely human shape toppled over, an arrow in the vague area of its throat. “Hawkeye is up there, Iron Man is one avenue out east, Cap is south of our position with the Black Widow.”

“Hawkeye, Iron Man, even Cap I get with the giant frisbee. But how did you recognise Black Widow?”

Matt paused. “Uh. I'm a big fan.”

Jessica laughed, actually laughed, in delight. “No way. I never took you for a fanboy.”

“Can we focus here?”

“I can multitask.” She punched the next abomination with such enthusiasm, it soared past three tourists and exploded on impact, covering a living statue in grey goop. “Does your new girlfriend know about your little crush?”

“What new girlfriend?”

“Dude. I’m a private investigator. Just because you somehow manage to give me the slip doesn’t mean I don’t notice you sneaking off.”

“You’re not as good at sneaking as you think you are. And yes, she does know.” Before Jessica could grill him some more, he let the tide of battle sweep him away from her. If his new location allowed him to ‘watch’ the back of a certain red-headed Avenger, well, that was just being a good neighbour.

~~~

Once the eldritch abominations had been dispatched back to their home dimensions, the two teams met up in the middle of Times Square. Iron Man had barely landed when Jessica took it upon herself to do the introductions, with an enjoyment that was more unsettling than the abominations had been.

“...and this is Daredevil. He’s a big fan. Mostly of the Black Widow.”

“Oh, really?”

Matt could hear the smirk in Tasha’s voice.

“Absolutely,” he replied, straight-faced.

“I’m flattered. Always nice to meet a fan.”

There was a sharp intake of breath from Hawkeye, who was perched on some overturned bleachers nearby, followed by a sigh. “Not my business,” he muttered, inaudible to mostly everyone, save Matt’s enhanced hearing.

From the way Captain America frowned, he heard it too, and Matt could almost hear the gears ticking over in his head.

Knowing the other man would soon put two and two together, Matt angled himself towards Tasha, cocked his head in the slightest approximation of a question. After a heartbeat, she responded with a tiny shrug.

“So, do you come here often?” he asked, with exaggerated casualness. “I hear there’s a bumper crop of Tony nominees if you’re in the mood for a musical.”

Most of their teams laughed, though Jessica gave him what he was sure was a suspicious stare.

“You do know that Black Widows eat their mates, right?” Iron Man quipped. “And you’re not even a little bit nervous?”

“Good thing they call me the man without fear.”

Even Jessica groaned at that.

Ignoring her, Matt stepped forward and offered Tasha his arm. “Would you like to go for coffee? All of this fighting has made me hungry.”

“I’d love to,” she replied, tucking her hand into the crook of his arm. “You boys can take care of the cleanup.”

As both their teams stared in surprise, they sauntered away. As soon as the crowd closed around them, they sped up to avoid the inevitable questions. Thankfully, the tourists had already begun to lose interest and were busy taking photos of the destruction. Matt could hear Jessica swearing up a blue streak in realisation behind them, and he grinned.

“Did you really want coffee?” he asked, when they paused at an intersection, several blocks away.

“The weirdlings interrupted my dinner, so I’d rather something more.”

“Pizza?”

Tasha lit up. “Sounds perfect. I - Are you going to wear the suit to dinner?”

“I have a feeling we’re going to get tracked down if we stay in public. Probably best to go somewhere quiet.”

“Mmm,” she agreed. “Meet you at my place? I’ll order the pizza if you bring the wine.”

“I thought you preferred vodka? I’ve got a bottle in my freezer.”

“I knew I liked you.”

~~~

No-one took a second look at the couple kissing on the corner. One guy in a weird suit looks much like another, and there are at least three women dressed as the Black Widow around Times Square on any given day. If they vanished onto the rooftops a tad faster than might be expected, no-one bothered to hang around long enough to notice.

(Jessica might’ve noticed, but she was on her way to Matt’s apartment with a list of questions and a camera. She also checked his office and three dumpsters before giving up. Not the most satisfying end to the day, but at least she got to punch things.)