#freed vessel - hollow

[seinnens]

facing the one you turned away from.

[dunaldoodles]

Have I ever mentioned that Ardent has kids? They really love kids. They keep collecting children, some of them are even from them, and Hornet keeps getting heart attacks when egg formation nearly kills both them and Tiso or coming home with yet another lost grub that may or may not actually have parents looking for them.

[summertimemusician]

Sleep Deprived Linked Universe Au concept that I think could be neat, everything is the same but the Chain or a Chain Member (Wild, Sky or otherwise) is like the Sky Children/Moths in Sky Children of the Light. Or where we drop one of the children of light or a moth with the Chain as a substitute for therapy which I really think they could use.

Or secondary Sleep Deprived LoZ/LU Au concept: everything is the same, but either one of the Chain members is like the Vessels in HK, or we straight up drop the Pure Vessel in BOTW when Link/Wild emerges from his 100 year power nap (goodness I wish that were me) after having his brain scrambled like an omelette and they and Link unwittingly imprint on each other and adopt one another as found family, which helps them deal with their respective traumas, bonus points if Wolfie/Twilight/TP Link is also there and unwittingly part of the found family, and if it bleeds over into LU the Chain has to suddenly cope with the fact this eldritch bug being from another world entirely meant to be a vessel for a maddened deity basically adopted one o their own as a sibling. Could also somehow throw Ghost or Hornet in there later on.

I will not elaborate further.

[theamalgaverse]

Is there anybody in here that the skykid actually likes!?!? I MUST KNOW!!!

Hmm… seems they’re best affiliated with other bug-likes!

First time with me drawing her so the Repairing Mantis/Kat's design is made by @moth-from-hell!

[spacey-xannabelle]

Traitorous Vessel. Sealed away along with the accursed Light.

----

Ooo boy how do I begin to explain this hdfgjdg-

Basically! Hollow knight and Outer Wilds DLC crossover of sorts!! Me being very normal about HK and Outer wilds, I noticed some similarities between THK and Pris. So I thought it'd be fun to turn Pris into a vessel akin to THK itself!

Major spoilers for Outer Wilds and Hollow Knight under the cut! It's probably not that coherent but I just wanted to spew my thoughts

(Noting for those unfamiliar with Outer Wilds, I recommend playing the game before continuing bc the game is very knowledge based and knowing anything may change how you interact or perceive the game)

Both THK and Prisoner being sealed away in darkness for eternity... One as a sacrifice for its kingdom while the other as punishment for betraying their kind.

Their homes long gone or stuck in perpetual darkness (Hallownest being in a stasis and the whole timeloop business in Outer Wilds).

Both characters forced to "live" with the consequences of the decisions made by themselves or by the people around them. Never knowing if they'll ever find closure

And by the end, they do find closure. Thanks to a little friend.

Both are freed from their eternal prisons, both can finally die knowing they can finally be at peace.

The Dream No More ending of HK and the farewell vision Prisoner leaves you.... The cycle is finally broken. The shades can finally rest now that Radiance is gone, and Prisoner's vision features them going into a sunrise like *bursts into tears...* That fucks me UPPPP........

Poor sealed fellas who deserve all the good in the world and who deserve to REST.....

[lunarw0rks]

that fic about simons first time with the reader is magnificent I swear 😭

can you do something similar but when the reader tries to take control a little, maybe go down on him for the first time?

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨ first-time with simon (pt.2) ୧⋆ ˚｡⋆

// warning(s): nsfw, gn!reader ────have a request? ˗ˏˋ ASK BOX ˎˊ˗ // ♡ PART ONE ♡ PART THREE ♡

simon thought nothing of it, the foreplay leading up to intimacy.

typically, you were at the mercy of his skilled fingers for several minutes — until you wanted nothing more than him buried inside you.

tonight was different. it was your turn to do something for him, to make him feel the same semblance of euphoria he gave you every time.

after a few minutes of making out, dry humping against him, you knew you wanted to do this for him. without skipping a beat, you began sliding down his lap, fingers fumbling with his zipper.

"love, you really don't need to do that for me... are you sure?" he leaned back against the mattress, halting your movements with a hand on your arm.

you were sure, completely sure. it was only fair.

"i want to," you reply, shrugging off his hand and finishing off the rest of his zipper. you peeled back the opening of it, exposing the bulge in his ebony briefs. "let me do this for you, simon."

there was no refusing that, despite how unnecessary it seemed to simon. you wanted to service him for a change, and by now, he was already picturing the sight of your lips wrapped around his length.

after a few moments of contemplation, his eyes watching as your fingers peeled back his boxers, he caved and nodded. "just... don't want to be fussed over." he shifted awkwardly against the sheets, trying to let his gentility towards you overpower his lust.

you stared at him through your lashes, palming his finally freed erection, "it's not fussing," you licked a stripe along the base to coax him into relaxation.

his hips bucked upwards instinctively, whilst his muscles tensed. his willpower dwindled the moment you ran your tongue along, and looked at him that way.

"f-fuck, if you do that again—" simon's fingers clenched around the sheets. he hadn't had a partner use their mouth on him in ages, it was practically a whole new sensation again.

no answer from you, except you licking along his cock again, then wrapping your lips around the tip of it. his pre-cum coated your mouth, lubricating it as you swirled your tongue. all that restraint, gone in an instant.

a palm found the back of your head — but it never pushed it down or forced its movements.

he needed to touch you in order to enjoy this, even though he was only supposed to lie back and savor it. "goddammit." he gritted his teeth, letting out a guttural moan when you hollowed your cheeks around his manhood. through your hooded gaze, you savored every reaction of pleasure he supplied your ears.

he was more sensitive than you imagined him to be — all the stamina he had must have been reserved for being buried inside you because currently there wasn't any. he was putty; a complete mess, despite how nonchalant his posture was.

simon hissed when you finally found a fluid pace, his eyes half-lidded with intense infatuation.

you bobbed your head at a moderate pace, relaxing your throat muscles so your throat could take as much of him as possible. tears pricked at the corners of your eyes, but nothing would discourage you from easing up. his thighs were shaking, more so when you kneaded the flesh of them with your fingers.

he wasn't long for release; the sight of your mouth wrapped around his girthy cock, the spit, and pre-cum making a squelch each time you came up for air.

in a matter of seconds, he fisted your hair, forcing you to a stop. his curses were drawn out and barely audible, your throat used as a vessel for every last drop of cum drained from him. the warm, sticky spurts went down when you swallowed around him, cockwarming his length for a few seconds until his release had finished.

you drew in heavy breaths when he released the hand on the back of your head, feeling the remnants of fluids drip down your chin.

simon's chest was heaving a mile a minute. though he was blinded by lust, he still looked apologetic for the way he got forceful at the end, if it could even be called that. "bloody christ, you're too good for me, love." he breathed, motioning for you to return to his lap again.

"fussing over me now, huh?" he asked with a playful edge to his words, sitting you atop his exposed lap like you had been before the idea arose. his breath tickled your ear when he leaned in, "think you've earned some attention now, haven't you, sweetheart?"

[dotthings]

Have many thoughts from my rewatch of My Bloody Valentine. Good example of how some episodes (in this case one that was already strong) gains even more richness on rewatch and with knowledge of a full series run.

So Dean fully loses all his appetites. While Cas, who doesn’t have food appetites, takes Dean's plate and starts eating. Just something about Dean and Cas being yin-yang in how Famine is affecting them. Cas taking Dean's plate to eat.

What Dean needs, the reasons he feels hollow, isn’t something that can be fulfilled by food or one-night stands and what Cas actually wants isn’t anything to do with food either.

And this is all Cas not Jimmy. Even if Cas blames Jimmy his vessel by name, but canonically, Jimmy's soul is already in Haven by this point. Jimmy's been gone since the start of S5.

To review: Cas was blown to bits by an archangel twice, at the end of S4 and the end of S5. In The Man Who Would be King (S6), Cas specifically references being put back together after being exploded at the end of S5, however, the same thing happened to him at the end of S4. In The Things We Left Behind (S10), we get a reveal that Jimmy’s soul was freed after Cas was blown to bits and reassembled but which time isn't specified. “The human soul, it can only occupy a body while it retains a certain … structural integrity, and this vessel, it was … It was ripped apart on a subatomic level by an archangel” and he tells Claire that Jimmy's soul was freed from his body and he's in Heaven. The "subatomic level" fits the end of S4, since both times the body left physical traces (end of S5 Bobby is splattered with blood, start of S4 Chuck has a molar stuck in his hair).

In season 5, Cas's body is his own, a soulless container that holds Cas's grace and essence.

Therefore, in My Bloody Valentine, Cas blaming Jimmy is Cas in denial. It's all Cas, or rather, his own physical shell, and Cas's own feelings of emptiness, in play. Even if on its own, Cas's grace might be unaffected by Famine, he is vulnerable because of his meat suit. (At the time MBBV aired, we did that explanation, now it's transformative bleedback that adds another layer for Cas in MBBV and the Dean mirroring is more than a slightly symbolic displaced thing where it being Jimmy is a way to suggest it's also Cas, no, it's textually all about Cas).

In MBBV Cas isn’t facing up that it’s his own feelings of hollowness. And he not only tries to push it off on Jimmy (whose soul is gone), he uses the language of addiction.

“I’ve developed a taste for red meat…I’m an angel I can stop any time I want.”

This conversation with Dean and Cas plays out in background audio, while on screen we see Sam spiraling into withdrawal symptoms.

(The shift in Cas’s language makes me wonder if there was already a note in a file somewhere about Cas's vessel and it didn't get spelled out until S10. Authorial intent is tricky, and my thesis isn't based on authorial intent but full series knowledge/reveals, but there are signs in MBBV that Ben Edlund may have intended that it's all Cas, just Cas in there, and Cas is an addict in denial. Who knows.)

While Dean and Cas’s effects from Famine are framed as yin-yang, or complementary, Sam’s is on its own track, as his craving for demon blood gets jacked up.

Sam has grown in self-awareness to the point where he asks to be “locked down” and Dean and Cas team up to continue working the case. Which fits with the yin-yang of Dean and Cas in this ep.

But it isn’t just Dean and Cas who are mirrored. Sam and Cas are mirrored through addiction behaviors. Cas’s denials. Sam’s withdrawal symptoms. While Dean is his own category with his absence of appetites or addictions. Dean is his own black hole of emptiness.

Cas then moves beyond the denial stage of the addiction and admits to Dean that burgers make him “very happy.” Cas is spiraling, yeah, but it’s also Cas no longer falling back on distancing by using Jimmy as an excuse or addiction denial or bragging about how because he's an angel he's immune. It's vulnerable. Yet he's still in denial because unlike Sam, Cas can't admit he has a liability and he pops out of the Impala to go kill Famine by himself before Dean can even finish speaking his sentence of his doubts about the plan.

Before that, Cas asks Dean why he’s not hungry and Dean’s explanation is almost plausible: that because Dean doesn’t deny himself his appetites the way many people do, he’s “well fed” and content, therefore not hungry.

We know that's not really it. I like how Cas asked. Dean showed his concern for Cas’s sudden gluttony, Cas shows his concern for the total absence of appetites from Dean.

Famine to Dean: “Hunger doesn’t just come from the body. It also comes from the soul...that’s one deep dark nothing you’ve got there, Dean. Can’t fill it, can you?…I can see inside of you, Dean. How broken you are. How defeated. You can’t win and you know it but you just keep fighting. Just keep going through the motions. You’re not hungry, Dean, because inside you’re already dead.”

Which is Famine speaking some truths on what Dean is feeling in S5. Famine sees the truth of the torment Dean is in. But it isn’t The Truth about Dean.

Famine wants Dean to give up and give into the despair inside of him, because that's the way he'll say yes to Michael and how Famine, the horsemen, and the archangels all get what they want. But we know Dean won’t give in and that Famine is wrong, because that isn't all Dean is. He maybe going through it in S5, but he isn't giving up and he’s got plenty of life in him. He’s more than how their enemies see him and he’s more than what their enemies wish would devour him whole, the things they have wanted Dean to believe about himself.

Because so long as Dean keeps fighting, they know they’re screwed.

Famine is giving a truth that’s also a lie. Dean in fact isn’t empty. He thinks he is, and Famine picks up on it, but Dean isn't empty. He’s full of love. And strength. But that doesn't mean he's not depressed. It doesn't mean he can't fall into despair.

What’s extra heartbreaking about Dean’s lonely prayer to God at the end of the episode is that he’s looking for help in the wrong place.

First we see Cas sharing Dean’s vigil while Sam goes through withdrawal in Bobby’s panic room. Dean isn’t alone, and Cas tries to comfort Dean. But Dean’s in so much pain he walks out, away from his friend who cares, to pray alone in the junk yard to an uncaring God.

God was never on your side. God doesn’t care. God’s entertained by all this suffering in fact. God’s not even God, he’s the demiurge, and Sam and Dean are his playthings. The help, the answers, are each other. The help for Dean is the people who love him, who he loves. He has Sam and Bobby and Cas. And they will be enough.

[akirameta84]

have this post-canon hollow knight idea i dont think i ever shared here for some reason. originally came up with this months ago. its intended to be dark comedy if it was in fic form, progressing after this incident. but the incident in question is very dark.

as such: warning for suicide being described and suicidal thoughts being mentioned

so basically: post-etv, hollow is living with hornet. ghost is mia, assumed likely dead. hornet cant find them. hollow is recovering...decently. physically at least theyve started being able to walk again, unassisted (even if they should really be using a cane to make it easier). mentally...yeah you know the drill

one day they have a particularly bad nightmare and wake up to hornet not being in the house. they cant take it. theyre tired of doing this, tired of trying to be *alive* when they are supposed to just be a *tool*. a vessel. with the constant way their sister looks at them too, its clear theyre failing at her orders to be alive. they *wish* she hadnt. theyre crippled, too, half blinded, missing an arm, and their sister says its doubtful theyll regain full mobility again.

so they bash their already cracked mask into the wall, claw at it, pound at it- until it gives out and fully shatters like they wanted

they expect death. they do not fully expect to be floating above their shattered mask, rest of the body nowhere in sight...because that is now their shade. the shade they now are and *god dammit, i wanted* death, *not this-*

and so they just flatten themselves to the ground in frustration as a sad little blob. tucked into the corner of their room and glaring at their mask thats been shattered in half

an hour later, hornet comes back, enters their bedroom to tell them she has breakfast, and blinks at the *broken mask* of her sibling and their *freed shade* balled in the corner. shes just. what the fuck how did this happen did you fall and it hadnt healed right??

hornet starts to mend their mask with silk but the whole time she cant coax a sign response or movement at all. their shade just sits warily in the corner, eyeing her

its when she offers the glued and silk bound mask back that they move- fleeing under their bed to where she can only see their eyes.

"Is it...not mended enough?

No response

"...Do you not want to come back? Did you do this to yourself?"

she would assume they knew theyd not fully die though. they thought they would

[saphira-artandoc]

C3 Swap AU

Imogen Temult

•

•

•

This post can contain spoilers!

If you wonder what the swap AU is, I recommend checking it out right here!

Major thanks once again for @theplatinumcritter for helping me brainstorm these characters !

Quick note, this one is slightly darker than the others we have so far...

Title: Lady Imogen Temult, Exaltant Hope of the Crimson Twilight

Age : 58 (28 at the time of death)

Class: Sorcerer (Awakened soul, inner aberration)

Campaign 3 E1 - E55

Imogen is a Hollow one Ruidusborn sorcerer. She grew up in Whitestone but was excluded by many due to her being born under one of Ruidus’ flare. When the Briarwoods took over Whitestone, many villagers ostracized her even more, believing she was a bad omen to the city.

She worked at the stable with her father and mother until she received the invitation to attend a wonderful feast at Whitestone castle. She was brutally murdered after and hanged on the Sun tree as the effigy of Keyleth of the Air Ashari.

When she woke up, she had the worst headache of her life caused by the antlers nailed to her temple. She is prone to migraines ever since she was brought back, believing it’s phantom pain from her trauma. She began developing magical abilities since the tragedy and used her telekinetic powers for her own survival. Months later, she began hearing in her head the voice of her murderer, Delilah Briarwood. Believing she’d never be able to fully heal as long as she stays in Tal’Dorei, Imogen left for Marquet, hoping to build a better life of solitude.

She met Ashton in Gelvaan while trying to escape a mob of angry villagers believing her to be an anomaly. She was rescued by Ashton who violently retaliated against the mob, saving her undead life. Both of them began travelling together, hoping to find a way to help one another. They made her a little horse doll filled with sands when she mentioned missing her filly, Flora. She carries it with her ever since.

Imogen used to have a Whitestonian accents back in her youth, but while spending more time in Marquet than Tal’Dorei, she completely changed her ways of speaking. She wears glasses with fake lenses to appear more appealing and hides her scars from the feast with her hair and ear cuffs, since Ashton and her would be travelling to more populated area. She had a difficult time trying to get rid of the red paint used to dye her hair, and many strands were still stained by the time she met with the other members of Bells Hells.

When Otohan Thull tried to awaken Ashton’s abilities, she killed many members of their group, including Imogen. When this happened, Imogen’s soul was trapped by “Delilah” in a memory of Whitestone, clouded inside a red storm. Once “Delilah” was defeated by Bell’s Hells, Imogen could be brought back to her friends, but her soul was never freed of the influence of “her tormentor”. She gained the ability to create a little companion using the Flora plush doll, showing more of her sorcerous abilities. The doll gained consciousness and has a thicker southern accents.

If needed to, Flora can create patchwork wings and use them to fly. If destroyed, Imogen can reacreate the Sand Specter by using scrap pieces of fabric and sand.

When it was discovered she was an Exaltant, and possibly a vessel for Predathos, the entity posing as Delilah dropped the act, revealing itself to be an inner aberration born from her trauma of the Sun tree. She was supposed to be exalted by what she went through, but instead Imogen cast aside her emotion and left it to fester away. With the Soul Anchor, she became more in touch with her Ruidusborn abilities than before and finally let herself accept her aberrant self, accepting who she is.

She is in a relationship with Laudna.

Masquerade ball

When deciding for outfits, Imogen had a hard time to choose for herself. She ended up choosing a dress that reminded her of her first home, with a patch of fur on the overcoat. She tied her hair into a long braid, hoping the familiar hairstyle of her late mother would bring her strength for the mission ahead.

She travelled with Dorian, Fearne and Orym to the ball.

She was introduced as Maud by Dorian.

The Flora doll has a hand made horse coat to fit with Imogen’s outfit, born of the idea it would be nice to see it be matching Imogen at the ball.

Uthodurn - Saviour of the Diarchy

In Uthodurn, her group were recognized as the saviour of the Diarchy and were given the opportunity to change their clothes. She was finally able to get rid of the red stains in her hair. She abandoned the ear cuff to prevent frostbites and wears druidcrafted yellow peonies to hides the scarred ears.

Flora is adorned with a golden bow, fitting with her Mistress.

Vasselheim - Exaltant Hope of the Crimson Twilight

In Vasselheim, Imogen modified her outfit from Uthodurn to be ready for the battle ahead. She ripped many of the frills from the upper layer of the dress and used black dye the create an ombré to the blue of the dress, reminiscent of a storm.

Flora wears a beaded chain to matches Imogen’s bead cage.

Embrace of Havoc

With the Soul Anchor, Imogen felt more secure in herself and the source of her power. Using Embrace of Havoc, her body stretched, her limbs elongating and her skin turning into a deep burgundy colour, with her hands and feet fading into a deep purple. Her lightning scars become more prominent, going from purple at the tips of her limbs to a bright reddish light where the anchor resides. Lightning circles around her body, attacking whoever is near 5ft of her.

This form is different from canon Imogen’s, taking inspiration from the old theory that Ruidians used to be Exandrians before being corrupted by Predathos’ influence. It is a beautiful amalgamation of herself and the aberration she created.

Dinner with the Briarwoods :

When she was invited to Whitestone castle, the Briarwoods made her change into different clothes. She didn’t comment on it at the time, believing it was part of a dress code she was unaware of.

It’s only after the dinner that she realizes what were the Briarwoods’ intentions for her and the other guests. Unfortunately for her, she had not awakened her power and couldn’t do anything to change her fate.

Relationships

Ashton Greymoore : Ashton was the first person Imogen met who had no animosity towards her for simply existing. When she told him what happened, they made sure they would be here for her. They made a doll out of scrap fabric and sandbags for Imogen when she missed Flora and share their pain with her. They are like family to Imogen. When they were separated by the Malleus Key, Imogen was worried sick for them.

Laudna : Imogen’s girlfriend. Laudna believed they had met before which was what drew her in and both women quickly became friends. Imogen was baffled by Jiana Hexum’s treatment of Laudna. She promised her that they’ll find a way out of her debt with the elf. Couple of days after their reunion in Marquet, Bell’s Hells had to help Imahara Joe in Bassuras, which ended with Laudna going to the All-Mind’s-Burn palace seeking help to assist the attack on the Malleus Key with Imogen. She commented she believed Laudna could have lived in the All-Mind’s Burn palace if it were cleaner, since it “matched her vibes” and even compared her to a noblewoman. Laudna half-joked and half-confessed to Imogen that a noblewoman would need a partner to rule, and Imogen seems to suits that role. She agreed and later asked if she could kiss Laudna. She agreed and are dating since.

Matilda Bradbury : Matilda consider Imogen to be a very capable young woman and is amaze by her tenacity after everything that happened. Imogen vaguely remembers her from the feast and mourns the fact they never had a chance of becoming friends when they were alive. She lets the two girlfriends alone when needed to, opting to let them enjoy some privacy.

Fearne Calloway : Imogen wondered if Fearne’s horns have ever given her headaches in the past. At Fearne’s confusions, Imogen explained what happened to her and showed her the scars on her temples. Fearne was the first member of Bell’s Hells after Ashton to know what happened to her in Whitestone, second being Laudna and eventually the rest of the group. Fearne is also the one helping Imogen recenter herself while letting her power flows, thus calling Fearne Professor Calloway. She is the one to style Imogen’s hair into a milkmaid braid during their time in Uthodurn.

Lilianna Temult : while travelling alone in the first months of her rebirth, Imogen struggled to keep it together. What would help her the most were constant reminders her mother would tell her, like “Keep going, Imogen”. At the masquerade, Imogen wore her hair into a long braid hoping to channel some strength from her mother to face many people inside the ball. She hoped to see her mother again after waking up from the Sun tree, but having found no trace of her parents in Whitestone after the tragedy made her wonders if they were also killed or simple fled the city.

Bells Hells : Imogen loves this group of rascals. She feels like she owes them all for helping her get rid of “Delilah”. She often wondered if the reason she was still alive after the Briarwoods was to help them achieve their goals to save Exandria and stop Ludinus Da’leth.

•

•

•

And that’s it for Imogen! But you might be wondering, If we mixed up the years and made Imogen older than she would be in canon (being Keyleth’s effigy on the Sun tree) is Liliana still alive and working with Ludinus, or did we pick somebody else..? I guess we’ll have to wait and see!

Know that the subclass used for Imogen is based of a preexisting homebrew named Awakened sorcerers, inner demon. For the sake of this AU though, we debated a lot of Delilah should be real or a figment of Imogen’s trauma. By the time I’m writing this paragraph, I had my answer by making it the repressed Exaltant power, taking shape into an aberration of self loathing and identity crisis. The Embrace of Havoc form also didn’t had clothes at first. It was supposed to be ephemeral like how the Everlight is portrayed in TLOVM, but I feared of being flagged so…. Fancy robe it it!

Flora is our version of Pâté De Rolo. With Imogen being less fun scary and more “hiding in the crowd” type, Flora wouldn’t be fleshy. With the ties to Ruidus, storms and dreams, I took a more creative approach and created the Sand Specter. (Because sandman mythology - Ruidus dreaming of Exandrian - Ruidusborn are the children of the One who Sleeps, etc)

Also the part about All-Minds-Burn palace is actually a short story I have written when E70 came out! It definitely needs to be reworked though and mayyyyyybe I’ll share it vjgcjhfx

Next character will be Dorian, who should be done by next week, but don’t quote me on that

[shentheauthor]

Sorry guys I’m thinking about the toxic hollow knight (who I call Vess) and radiance relationship now and I’m about to make it everyone’s problem.

(Disclaimer: this can be seen as romantic or platonic or a secret 3rd thing)

Just. Vess missing the Radiance, despite everything. They were created to contain her, and without her, they feel empty in a way they never have before. It isn’t even the empty they were supposed to be. It just feels awful and disgusting, like they’ve been scooped out and left to rot alone.

Vess missing her, loving her even, because she’s all they’ve known for centuries.

She knows them better than any other, and in turn, they know her. They know her rage because they were on the receiving end of it. They know her sorrow because they held her through it unwillingly.

The Radiance hates them in a way that wraps back around to being love. When she centers her existence around hating them because that’s all she can do anymore. Ancient enemy, Wyrm-spawn, Vessel. They’re everything she is opposed to, and yet they are her only companion.

Love and hatred that rots Vess from the inside out. Suffocating determination and obsession that stomps the Radiance into an ember desperately searching for kindling to set ablaze. And yet, if one is freed without the other, they will feel empty, because something was there that just isn’t anymore.

The world is better off with the Radiance gone, but Vess misses her regardless.

Anyway yeah I’m not normal about hollow knight.

[one-of-many-journeys]

Day 47

Song's Edge

An hour or so before dawn I set off down the path to the Grave Hoard. Admittedly, I’ve stuck around in the Cut longer than I needed to, maybe longer than I should’ve.

Who knows how far the Eclipse have progressed with their plans in the west, but there was more to do once the Daemon was defeated. I might have come here seeking truth alone, but in taking up a Chieftain’s mantle I took responsibility for the tribe with it. I’ve left that behind now, but as time went on I felt I owed the tribe more than deeds for the sake of reputation, but deeds for their own sake. They needed me. 

If only it were that easy to gain favour with the Nora. 

I picked myself up a mount to the south then rode toward Devil’s Grief, hoping to harvest more ancient artifacts for sale in Meridian just as I found in Devil’s Thirst. Before I could get far, I spotted the spoke and dark flags of another bandit camp. After facing Ohlgrud’s band in the Cut, this camp seemed small and poorly defended. As usual, I picked off their sentinels and marksmen from a distance, then snuck around and climbed to higher ground to destroy their alarm and take down a few more of their number. My new Banuk bows, built to tear through metal, tear through flesh like air. 

Then I descended and struck with spear on foot, freeing the camp’s Nora prisoners and leading them on to the final section of the camp. The freed prisoners made a good distraction, ducking out of fire while the bandit’s heavy gunner took three of my arrows to the skull. 

With the camp cleared, the Nora exiles and outlanders of the area flocked to the camp, along with a few Banuk wanderers. No sign of Nil. I guess this camp is too far afield, even for him. If he’d turned up I would have known for sure he was following me. 

As the snow cleared, with the warmer south in mind, I changed into some Nora garb that I bought off one of the new residents of Hollow Fort. She knew who I was, and applied the visage of a seeker. Better than that foreign, faithless look, she said. Motive aside, I’ll choose to see it as a reminder of my mission. 

Riding south to Devil’s Grief. Good scavenging—I found many ancient vessels and metal flowers, along with plenty of valuable scrap and interesting datapoints from the ruined city. Back in the lands of corruption I know, far tamer than Hephaestus’ rot. 

I spent the afternoon exploring the ruins, the tainted old places. Even after all the incredible places I’ve seen, this is the place I love most of all. It’s beautiful, and quiet, lonely. The metal rings with grief and loss. All I feel while wrapped up in its magnitude is deep longing. Curse to cursed, it’s like I belong here. 

I even swam out to the edge of the ruins just to see how far the watery horizon stretched on. Too far for sight. Plenty of corrupted Snapmaws to avoid along the way.

Again, lingered too long.

Returned to land, I rode hard into the west as the sun set. More ruins, open plains. Found another metal flower too. 

I soon came to the border gate, much quieter than Daytower. Dawn’s Sentinal, it was called, usually host to Banuk outlanders, not often Nora. By the machine I rode in on, the guards knew who I was. They wanted to know all about the day I saved their city from Dervahl. 

I slept out in the open; back to the east, face to the west.

[spinallyspiraling]

Shoel (The Pit)

When the practitioner undergoes a Kundalini awakening the result is the lightning flash of creation and an enforced descent into Shoel (the pit). The electromagnetism expels from the brain and the heart as a result of the opening of the pineal gland and the heart center. The base of the skull transforms and in turn the Kundalini current is freed from the body and allowed to ascend upwards as a result of the changes made to Golgotha. When in Shoel the heat of Shin brings forward Kundalini fire and burns within the central nervous system. When falling into Shoel the left hip realigns as an etheric or astral spiral comes down around the body and exits the root chakra. The body literally becomes depressurized as a result of the anti matter created by the superfluidity of the hearts electromagnetism. The pit is a hollow pressure-less state of being resembling that of a decarbonated soda with the can opened or the top removed. The pit tests the initiate with trials and tribulations that test his or her mind and body with this walk along the razor's edge. The pit forces the root chakra to collapse making the insides of the practitioner fall and prolapse outwards. Once in Shoel the magician is met with this fight between survival and surrender. The pit is a void that's oxygen-less and comes with an immense amount of cranial pressure as the vessel's internal pressure is dissolved. The Kundalini will either fly upwards out of the crown or downwards off the tailbone and into the earth. When the Kundalini current flies off of the tailbone it becomes known as Satan's Tail. The pit when fully depressurized releases a seven headed dragon or serpent out of the Sacrum and the Coccyx. The seven headed serpent begins it's ascent upwards and out of the pit. The Sacrum and the Coccyx are known as the holy bone or the resurrection bone which is where the seven headed serpent is activated. The pit is only accessible due to the temporal paradox that is created through the Kundalini. Kundalini kills the vessel as a means to allow the vessel to remain alive (temporal paradox). In the pit the practitioner will hear, see, smell, and connect to unfathomable consciousness and entities seemingly within and without of themselves that instruct the magician to rise out of the pit and begin the integration of the spirit back into the flesh. This brush with death in the near death experience brings about ego death and a renewal in the magicians ability to perceive. This resurrection of the mind and body as a result give the practitioner a newly found respect for their existence and a sense of condition-less love because of the way the light from ineffable spheres on the tree of life can now freely flow from above to below and this is the rebirth of the self and the reason why the expansion of consciousness happens. When in Shoel the magician is made to be fully aware of the opened chakras in their body and above it. When the magician ascends out of the pit he will experience a diminished ability to perceive his environmental stimuli and internal vortices of energy. Rising out of the pit causes the merging of spirit and matter. The traversal of the soul into the body is achieved by sexual energy and libido. When in Shoel the sexual organs are lacking a current of electricity therefore the process of obtaining arousal is nearly impossible. In order to leave Shoel one must know their selves enough to figure out a methodology to achieve arousal and to cause alchemical processes to be jumpstarted once again. The descent into Shoel is synonymous with the hanged man tarot card. The lightning flash of creation is synonymous with the tower tarot card. Without the tower the magician would never successfully experience the hanged man. The hanged man is the teetering between life and death granting insight and knowledge from the world. The experience of Shoel and the hanged man deposits the insight and knowledge inside the awareness of the magician.

~ spinallyspiraling

[neonpaperlanterns]

I hope you are willing to hear a hollow knight theory.

So, Broken Vessel shows some "life" before kicking the bucket after being"cleaned" of the infection puppeteering its body.

And knows nail arts. While they are a mere puppet during their boss fight. We can see them use Dash Slash, at the very least. In the boss fight.

So, what if Broken Vessel was this unknown Esmy that Sly was following in his infected dreams when we woke him up and sent him back to his shop.

Esmy the broken vessel, a named vessel. Wonder where'd they get the name from. How would Sly know it since Vessels can't speak?

What if, Esmy the broken vessel was a adopted child of Sly. Maybe not adopted per say but taken in by him at the very least.

Learned nail arts alongside the nail masters, and stayed with Sly until something drew both them and consequently Sly. Down into the earth

Broken Vessel, or Esmy is one of three surviving vessels we run into. Who may not be alive for long but still, they lived through the boss fight only to stare up and reach towards us after being freed from the infection. Then they slump, never to move again.

Another vessel we know nothing about, yet could've ran into if Hornet didn't get to them first. Was the vessel slain by Hornet (Don't know who else at that point would impale the vessel with its own nail so hornet is my best bet.)

Only theory I have on it is that. Someone taught it how to stitch if it made the cloak itself, otherwise someone gave it the cloak either as a gift or as a transaction. Maybe Moth and Esmy had a sibling relationship under Sly as hands for his shop?

I love the vessels so I wanted to run some thoughts on these two, unknown, possibly child-like automatons of Void and Soul.

Thoughts?

I am always willing to hear a hollow knight theory.

This makes the Broken Vessel fight all the more heartbreaking and I am here for it.

The idea that what was keeping Sly trapped in his own mind, slowly being over taken by the infection, being him searching for his missing child is just really good. And it would make sense as well.

I imagine that Esmy felt compelled to venture into the depths because well the Little Ghost is, so I see it as something all vessels just need to do. An innate desire if you will. So Sly would follow after them, possibly Esmy was the last of the his children to leave and Sly had grown worried. He seems to know where the other nail masters are but where could Esmy have gone?

And they reach out in their final moments of lucidity because they recognize something about the Ghost. Be it that they are the same or maybe it’s in the way they fight. Reminiscent of their family they didn’t get to say goodbye to.

I get the impression that the Broken Vessel and the one found in Greenpath did not know of each other. We are still unsure how any of the vessels even escaped the Abyss. At least if my memory serves correct.

It’s possible they helped each other but I see the vessels not wanting to be around one another. There is nothing to gain with further interaction because they are made of god and void. Empty creatures waiting to be filled. They would not gain that from another vessel. So they part and find something that will belong to them. That will give them something that will fill that void that was forced upon them.

[buwheal]

(ignore this if the other anon sends their story I suppose)  I am new, not the same storyteller, but I can still give you the end you look for.

CONT.

And the stars said to the boy as his body in the dream became charred under their gaze yet, "We see all things the world upturns, and know how nothing ever returns. Your grief and despair have swayed us. We have seen you turn your head towards our domain since before you even knew what we were. We have watched you grieve and watched you yearn, for things that never were, and thus can never return. And so, we will offer you one boon, little one who mourns."

And to the stars the boy said, "I cannot bear being trapped on the ground. Please, can't you make me like you? I wish to be untethered from the cold mud and colder oceans in which I feel drowned. Let me shine and sing, hung up in the heavens with the stars and moons that dance like angels. That will be my wish, to be freed from this indifferent and sodden mound that pulls me down. If you could make me bright and gleaming like you, I could find what I grieve and what I mourn."

The sky accepted his wish to be cut away from his home and strung up, woven into the sky, but not without a warning.

"You should know: that to be a star is to be a fire that eternally burns. There are so many things that a star can never be, places that can never be visited and thus never returned to. Nor are the void of our skies Heaven, nor are they Hell. Such places exist, but both are empty. Our home however is so, so full and so, so loud. What you grieve and what you yearn are not things that your wish will earn. Though determined as you are, we will help you search and help you learn how to find a way to return to a home never built. And when you burn, we will be there, beside you in the sky."

The boy heard the stars, but did not listen to their words because the sight of his dreams blinded him. Blithely he pleaded to the heavens for instruction on becoming divine.

The stars answered in turn, "Travel to the tallest mountains where the air is thin and the rocky peaks are so sharp they could pierce the hearts of giants. Then, look for the darkest cave upon the mountain and crawl into its narrowest passage. Once you are there, gouge a small groove into the wall until from the stone gushes sticky ink that shines so brightly it hurts to look. For one year you must drink nothing but the sanguine ichor that bleeds from the carving. Through this you will be transformed, and become like us."

The boy asked the stars why the mountains bleed light.

"Long ago, a god abandoned its body and hurled the hollow vessel upon the mountains so that it may become mortal. The gilt and rotting tallow that melted from the carcass made the mountains last eternal, and now within the stone burns the same molten power that we in the sky radiate," the stars sung to him.

When he awoke, the boy obeyed the stars' orders and it twisted him, but not into a star, nor into a moon. His parents grieved his absence, and yearned for his return which would never come. The mountain blood scalded his tongue and throat and sat cold and heavy in his stomach. If from the pain he allowed rivulets to spill down his face, it melted and burnt his skin, searing lines down from the corners of his mouth to the bottom of his jaw. Still he persisted, unable to put to rest that which never was, and will never return. By year's end he felt heavy and strange, the ichor in his system like leaden weights upon his limbs and his voice, stretching and breaking his body into bizarre proportions. He did not care. He believed it would earn him everything that he grieved and everything he mourned. 

Waxen wings made of the soft and pure gold of the abandoned god's rendered tallow sit upon his back.

The stars gladly welcomed him into the sky, but upon finally meeting his heaven face to face, their light and their heat set his golden tallow wings ablaze like candles.

As his wings melted, the stars were saddened, but offered him another boon, in hopes he could be saved from such a nasty fall. The boy wished for another chance to sit in their sky. The stars thought quick, and wove ropes and cables from the tails of green comets. The boy was gifted the cables, and he gladly tied them into harnesses on his own body. The stars hung his cables from his world's moon as a pale reflection of their own light and every day they sung their songs to him as he swayed in step with the tides of the oceans he tried so hard to escape. He saw his parents, who grieved upon the muddy ground he ran from, but had no body of their child to bury. He saw all the presents and treats they left to rot at the headstone of an empty grave. He watched his parents tell the people who asked: We grieve. We yearn. For our child who could only bear to be turned towards the sky and now will never return.

- 🥩🕊

answered

[spoiledleaff]

could you bless us with some bottom dew x top rain where dew wants to go out to annoy rain but rain wants to spend time with dew so when dew tries to leave rain like strips in a flirtatious way and dew gets all weak for that and then rain fucks dew into the mattress? 🙏

ohoho!! anon, i've been staring at this ask for much too long, haha! you know that 'heart-eyes, motherfucker' meme? yeah, haha! that's been me staring this down!

anyways! some silly little filth below the cut ♡

They're onto him. He knows.

Dewdrop's been so awfully fucking bored this entire goddamn evening, and Rain had offered to spend some time in their dormitory together. Now, Dewdrop had thought that this was super-secret water ghoul horny code for 'hey, i'm also bored. wanna have me fuck your ass so hard, you can feel my balls in your chest?'

You'd think. But, no.

Rain's had Dewdrop tucked into their side for the past hour and a half, one of Cumulus' silly little romance novellas - a stupid human excuse to just read actual porn in public, as Dew might call it - perched half on their chest as their arm is wrapped over Dewdrop's shoulders, keeping him close.

The interactions between the two have been so goddamn chaste, that Dewdrop's absolutely fucking certain that they must know what Dewdrop's actually here for. He's been dragging his claws over the exposed little sliver of Rain's stomach, casually wiggling his own mangled tail over Rain's upper thighs and crotch, and even angling his body up to nibble on the translucent flesh of the fins decorating Rain's inner ear. In response? Rain linked their claws through Dewdrop's mischievous digits, entangled their tail with Dewdrop's before practically throwing them both out of reach from Dewdrop's target area, and even going so far as to twist their head away from Dewdrop's nibbling teeth.

Sathanas below, normally the ear nibbling move would have Rain's mouth on his chubbed up cock by now. They have to know.

But this? This kind of playing hard to get is just boring. Which is not a word that Dewdrop would often use to describe Rain of all ghouls. But, well, the poor fire's sin has been awfully under-stimulated since breakfast, and Dewdrop would much rather be the sexy kind of overstimulated right about now, to be completely honest.

"'M gonna fuck off to my room, I think." Dewdrop mumbles, already ducking underneath Rain's arm and untangling their tails so he could go literally fuck himself.

"Running away, droplet?" He could hear Rain's fluttering voice, croaking at first due to having not used their voice for some time.

"Tired." He lies, feeling as though he could run three different fucking marathons with how much sheer energy he can feel coursing through his vessel's veins.

"Too tired for me, pet?"

And, ohhhh. That made Dewdrop pause.

Turning on his heel, Dewdrop cautiously glances over his shoulder, immediately going fucking bug-eyed when he sees Rain toying with the buttons of their uniform's collar. They've already popped open a couple of the topmost buttons, their claws now torturously swirling slowly around the rim of the next button. Dewdrop can see the sharp edges of their collarbones peaking over the slight ruffling of their shirt, the way those twin arteries seem to flutter underneath Dewdrop's predatory gaze, and the way there's this one specific bead of sweat that's slowly falling down Rain's Adam's apple and pooling in the hollow of their throat.

The tip of that one merciless claw has drifted down towards the side of their chest, tap-tap-tapping over the area where Rain's perky little nipples are almost certain to be hiding underneath the sinfully thin layer of Rain's undershirt. They've dropped their book, and their newly freed hand is now able to teasingly grope at the laces and ties keeping their pants secure over their waist. Those ink black claws are now toying with the ends of those uniform laces, slowly - excruciatingly fucking slow - pulling on one of the ends of the ties.

(...Dewdrop wants to rip those laces off with his fangs; tongue fuck the hollow of the water ghoul's fucking throat just to get a sip of their nectarine sweat.)

But, Dewdrop can't. All he do is stay frozen, watching helplessly as Rain proceeds to slowly pop open those buttons without hesitation. Inch by inch of indigo skin slowly being revealed to Dewdrop's ravenous gaze. The saliva gathering in every corner of his mouth suddenly feels overwhelming; choking.

Rain's undershirt falls open as the last shiny button is removed, finally.

Their nipples are hard and pebbled, small beads of sweat trickling down the length of their sternum, and Dewdrop's eyes are fucking glued to the neat trimmings of hair leading down to the agonizing bulge hidden just beneath their trousers. Rain's claws graze up their stomach and chest, teasingly swirling around their newly naked nipple before flattening their palm over the edge of their collarbone. They cock their head to the side, and Dewdrop audibly gulps at the way a singular strand of dark curly hair falls over their face.

"Hot in here." Rain quips, those sharp eyes raking over Dewdrop's frozen body in an unfairly predatory way.

"Uh, yeah." Dewdrop says, dumbly. His trouser suddenly feeling much too restricting.

Rain laughs at him, perhaps a bit too cruelly considering the unfair situation. Their legs fall open further, the unmistakable bulge of their arousal already soaking through their pants with the amount of precum Rain's already fucking leaking. Goddamn water ghouls-

"Get on the bed, baby." And Dewdrop fucking dives for his previous position of being sprawled out on Rain's sheets. Although, with the way his knees suddenly collapsed under him, it was more like the fire's sin stumbled into those satin sheets.

Again, they laugh, slipping off their bed as they begin to slowly slip their unbuttoned shirt off their shoulders. Dewdrop twisted his body around to watch as their shirt slowly fell off their slight frame. Rain swirled their hips, their tail performing a mesmerizing dance behind their shifting legs as those beautiful claws plucked and played with the idea of unlacing those trousers.

"Rainy..." Dewdrop whines, his own hands quick to reach between his thighs and cup himself. Rain doesn't tell him off for touching himself without explicit permission, but Dewdrop gulps at the way their eyes darkened behind those elegant eyelashes.

"Take your pants off," Rain hardly had to even finish their sentence before Dewdrop was yanking at his own respective lacings, "panties too."

(Dewdrop flushes noticeably at how Rain fucking knew that Dewdrop chose his favorite pair of silk and lace panties to wrap his pretty little cock in.)

By the time Dewdrop's focus is once again zeroing in on the way Rain's groomed happy trail shimmers underneath their room light, Rain's ties are fully unlaced and the material is being pushing down their spread thighs.

And their fucking cock bounces free from its constraints. Because apparently Rain wasn't the only one who decided on some more risqué choices of undergarments for the day. Or, well, lack thereof.

"Turn around, slut." Rain suddenly demands, their tone turning dark and the sound of it suddenly makes Dewdrop that much closer to pure shamelessness.

Dewdrop flops over onto his stomach almost immediately, propping up his ass and wiggling his tail in Rain's direction.

"Gonna fuck me, Rainy?" Dewdrop teases, shaking his ass as one of his hands ducked in between his thighs once more, palming and stroking at his growing arousal. He's fucking dripping.

"I'm gonna shove my cock inside this tight little hole," Rain growls, kneeling onto the bed and quickly slapping Dewdrop's ass, "and I'm gonna fuck you so hard, you'll feel my cum dripping down your throat, droplet."

Rain presses closer, leaning in to dribble spit over Dewdrop's fluttering asshole, immediately lining up the tapered head of their cock with Dewdrop's asshole. When they push in, it's all in one go. Rain fully sheaths the length of their dick inside Dewdrop's tight ass with a low groan, the pace they set fucking into Dewdrop's hole is brutal; cutthroat. They press the entirety of their front against Dewdrop's clammy back, one of their hands reaching over to shove Dewdrop's face further into their mattress, their other smacking Dewdrop's ass as Rain nuzzles their face in the side of Dewdrop's neck.

"Unholy Father, baby," Rain groans, dragging their nose over Dewdrop's sweaty jawline, "I always love sinking my fat fucking dick in this tight little hole of yours. My favorite way to spend the afternoon-"

Dewdrop gasps as Rain's knot bounces against the rim of his asshole with every harsh thrust. There's another smack to his ass, and the fire's sin prays to every unholy deity that might be listening that he'll feel those hits for the next week.

He can already feel the imprints of the stitch work of Rain's once pristine sheets pressing into the meat of his cheek. Fuck, this is so much better than Christian fucking cuddling-

[lesbianyaomo]

jigokuraku spoilers

the mirror between gabimaru and rien really doesn't become apparent until near the end of the series but when it hits you...

both of these characters are driven by the same core motivation—to be reunited with their loved one. rien trying to bring jofuku back from the dead, gabimaru fighting to come back from a kind of social death (through criminalization) to return to yui (the island can even be read as a kind of purgatory that he must traverse to return to the world of the living). love is something that transforms them both—gabi from a hollow vessel to a person with something to protect; in contrast, rien in losing her love, but still trying to revive it, shuts off everyone around her.

to be sure, they're both willing to go to extreme lengths to achieve their goal. on many occasions gabi reverts to his "hollow" way of being, willing to kill others and even to sacrifice himself to survive/win. it's easy to see how his sympathies could, for a moment, align with rien, who is an amplification of that ruthlessness to the magnitude of millions of people. what keeps him from going down rien's path are the connections he comes to accept (as opposed rien's pushing away and grinding down)—yui, of course, and importantly sagiri, the set of individuals who are willing to see his humanity and put their faith in him and his ability to change.

i see a lot of these little echoes across the different pairings that come into conflict over the course of the story.

mudan, who modified humans to be their playthings but thanked the group for freeing them of their thousand-year purgatory; senta, who was always discomfited by what the yamada-asaemon did with human life and found a sense of relief in death, freed to imagine and desire whatever he wanted, both of them unbound from obligation.

jufa and taofa facing off against the aza brothers in a pair, lovers against siblings, halves of a whole, with one half taking upon themselves to relentlessly protect the more vulnerable half, regardless of how much they have to take from other people or sacrifice themselves for the other's safety.

gantetsusai imagining that taofa (and the rest of the tensen) must be like him, someone who desires the thrill of battle, only to have her shoot him down ("it's not fun at all")—and boy, does he come around to her point of view in the end.

much of zhujin's driving force being to please their family, haunted by their own sense of inadequacy; their efforts to please everyone ironically bringing zhujin into confrontation with shion and nurugai, who both feel they failed their respective families, by failing to protect one of them (tenza) or for bringing genocide to her home.

even shijia, gabimaru, and sagiri's fight (with zhujin in the background) contends with these themes of rejection/acceptance; after all, shijia was raised in the same way gabimaru was (which is also similar to the way rien's children were raised). as demonstrated during the battle though, shijia was fighting alone.

guifa, sagiri, and mei's conversation is also important to me. of course, these three are the point of connection, the first spark of the idea that both parties don't have to keep taking from one another. i also see these characters as having to do with truth, either knowing and revealing it (as guifa or mei) or uncovering it (as sagiri—not only as to the mysteries of the island but her efforts to uncover what lies in people's hearts/"the sword reflects the truth"). it's fitting that guifa and mei get featured in the epilogue, which came from sagiri's pov before the time jump.

shugen, gabimaru, and rien are interesting as well. circling back to the initial point—is the fact that shugen did not have a "love" the reason he could deal the final blow? is he the "wicked" who won them the battle?

in the end, it's gabimaru's hesitation that saves everyone. he identified himself in rien and she did the same. she also hesitates to kill him, and instead asks the question that saves them. it's such a lovely conclusion. the thing that deters mutual destruction is identifying yourself in the enemy. people don't have to choose cruelty and mutual destruction with their last breath. not being able to swing the sword can be the thing that saves us.