#hope you don't mind me continuing this!

[villainmade]

  this isn't yamatai, of that she's certain — though frankly, she's certain of little else. even as she asks the question of her companion, lara wonders if she wants to know the answer. she's no stranger to the grotesque and disturbing, but this ... this is something else entirely. her eyes remained transfixed on the substance before them; it's only the sound of james's voice that seems to break the trance.

  this place. it reminds her that she still doesn't know where she's at, how she got here, what her presence here means for sam and the others ... a lump forms in lara's throat. sam is out there somewhere. is it possible that she'd been transported (even using that word seems ridiculous, but lara can't find any other way to describe this situation) here as well? or is she still in very real danger from matthias and his following?

  " and what exactly is this place? " she asks haltingly, doing what she can to clear her head enough to gather the facts. " one moment, i'm fighting for my life in a lost kingdom and the next, i'm here. " it just doesn't make sense. judging by what they'd just witnessed, though, nothing really does here.

  lara draws in a deep breath, gesturing vaguely for him to lead the way. she doesn't know much about the man, doesn't even know if she can trust him, but so far, he's the only person who might have the answers she seeks. " how long have you been here? " the words he'd spoken earlier suggest that he's been here longer than she has. " i'm searching for someone, " lara adds after a moment, allowing herself to hope for just a moment that sam might be here, that james might just be able to reunite them. " her name is sam. "

@punishdsin ( continued )

[a-hell-of-a-time-archive]

@themosthatedbeingg continued from X

"And yet the Ars Goetia are held to the same standards and order as the heavenly realm." Which was ironic given the fact that Hell was what Lucifer said it was.

"It is...not easy to rebel, and my family cannot avoid any further losses." He had already sacrificed much to attain and keep his position, and the thought of losing it all didn't sit well with him.

[webbedphantom]

What are the Odds?

[@guidedhearts continued from here]

He usually would've brought an umbrella. His luck was the worst of anyone he's ever met, so he tried to be prepared for anything. Unfortunately, as an example of said bad luck, his bookbag had gotten stolen while he was on patrol... again. And since that's where he was keeping his umbrella-

"Nah, it's probably my bad..." he admitted, rubbing his neck in embarrassment. "This isn't even the first time an event I've gone to got rained out. And unless Yusuke's somewhere in the crowd-"

His voice trailed off. She probably wouldn't get that joke.

"... doesn't matter, I guess. Assigning blame's not gonna stop the rain from falling."

He notices her starting to shiver, and immediately considers lending her his jacket. Unfortunately, it wouldn't do much good, having gotten just as soaked in the trip over here.

... though that wasn't the only coat he had on hand.

He took a quick glance at their surroundings to make sure no one was looking their way, before summoning the coat of his costume, turning it inside-out so the spider logo wouldn't be visible, and draping it over her shoulders.

"Here. Hate for you to catch a cold."

... I highly doubt her immune system is that fragile.

'Oh, can it! I'm trying to be nice.'

And putting our identity at risk in the process-

'... You worry too much.'

[gamenu]

          Naira had been giving away her thaumarks too when people gave them to her. She saw no need for them, had no need for them. She knows she's slipped a few Ruggie's way too before. Before the Prefect told her to start storing and saving them. Had Naira make a small 'bank' in the dorm where if anyone gave her that stuff, she just put it in there. And they would use it to get things from the dorm. Even telling the little fairy when they were going to use it. But that it was hers should she need it.

          Most students now give Naira little treats instead though, when they ask what she wants, it's usually something like that. She can easily continue working and not have to worry about leaving or scrounging for quick food. But this jerky...was really tough. Able to eat one, and liking the taste, she didn't like how it hurt her teeth.

          So why not give it to someone who can eat it a lot easier than she can? She hops off of Ruggie's head and flutters back over to her table. Grabbing the bag of jerky (with a bit of dust to make it lighter for her to carry) she brings it back over to him and sits it down on the table in front of him. Landing next to the bag, she gestures to it with a bright smile on her face.

         "Here! I have strawberries from Idia I'm gonna eat."

                                                  ( @nyangau )

[childrenofthelab]

@not-nancydrew | continued from here

Fred Benson, for the most part, is an arguably normal person. Sure, he's a nerd, and maybe he gets a little too focused on the school paper from time to time, but by and large, he skates under the radar. Not quite weird enough as such for the school bullies to focus on, but far from getting anywhere near the popular crowd, an altogether average. And he's quite content with that.

Of course, the still relatively new scar that bisects his nose and cuts across his cheek has jarred that a bit, but the talk has mostly died down in favour of other things.

The weekly talks with Miss Kelly suck, but honestly the nightmares and the headaches recently have been worse, and he rubs at his temple a little, adjusting his glasses on his nose.

"Feels like a lot lately...do you have any tylenol?"

[the0isfuckingsilent]

@helluva-hazbins continue from here

"No, you know what's really fucking frustrating? You just. don't. get. it." Blitz said, voice rising a little as he could feeling his anger boiling again, but it wasn't really anger at Stolas. Yeah, it pissed him off that the Goetia was trying to change their whole dynamic, and it pissed him off that Stolas didn't understand what he was trying to say, but was that really any of Stolas' fault?

"And it's... it's... it's because you can't get it. You just can't! Because you're a fucking HIGH and MIGHTY Goetia and I'm just a piece of shit Imp trying to live his life in fucking HELL while ignoring all the shitty shit that happens in this shithole! You can't understand, because you've always been above the shit, you've never been knee deep in it like I have!"

A spark of an idea. Maybe a bad one, they usually are, but... it could work?

"That's it! You need to be knee deep in the shit with me! No, wait, stay with me here, I'm having a fucking epiphany and it doesn't happen often. You, Mr. Pampered-Prince, never had to face the real shit I have. You need a lesson in Blitz's School of Hard Fucking Knocks!"

[electricea]

@fjinyumi continued from here.

He was as surprised as the decision as she was, given that it had been rather spur of the moment but...when he really took a moment to think about it, Sumire was really nice and they did have the commonality of sports - even if their choice in sports was different. Maybe he wasn't expecting this to turn into a full blown relationship but as far as seeing where this went? He was open to that.

"You will..?!" His eyes brighten as his cheeks flush and he cheerfully nods, careful to keep his excitement contained. "Awesome! You maybe want to grab a meal after school, then...?"

[risa-milody]

A long day at work is sure to drive anyone insane, so when Cassidy got home, the first thing she thought about was going to bed, not finding a half-naked man with a skull mask and tribal jewelry... "what the actual fuck"

........

You know what could be cool? If we could all write a story together! Like if someone were to start off with.... ehhhh give or take a paragraph and continue along with each person! :3

[chirpsythismorning]

Fun fact: In the original pitch for Stranger Things, El had a little brother.

After being rejected by almost 20 studios for the Montauk pilot, the Duffers were finally green-lit by Netflix. It was at this time that they began casting and then writing the first season officially, which included reworking a lot of that first episode.

This led to the removal of the brother reference, and with it, removing any sort of arc El could have had about her apparent brother.

But the thing about this moment, is that it might not have been scrapped entirely...

Going into the final season, no one can explain why or how El recognized Will back in 1x02. And while there are plenty of things on the show that are left unexplained, with a small portion likely left that way with the intention to uncover it later, what sets this moment apart from the rest is that there are very few possibilities here.

Because for starters, the story presents El's ability to see people in the void in s1 as requiring either a picture of that person for reference, or having met that person before.

But when El see's this picture of Will, she's never met him before. Or maybe she has, but we wouldn't know because they never showed us. They could have just not done this scene at all, given that it's clearly a copy/paste/edit of something scrapped from the pitch. Or they could have even still included it, but explained it.

One explanation could be that the lab had shown El a picture of Will before, similar to what they did with the Russian agent they wanted to spy on. But then that begs to question, why would the lab show El a picture of Will? Why would they want to see what he was doing? That alone is incriminating in and of itself, implying that Will is more connected to the lab than we realize.

The only other, and frankly most likely explanation, would be that El stumbled across Will at some point on her journey between escaping the lab and Will going missing. This is actually something that happens in The Other Side comic, which explores all the things Will may have experienced during his time in the Upside Down.

Though it’s worth noting the comics aren’t technically canon, and I highly doubt they would outright spoil everything in relation to Will’s time there, years before it was intended to be revealed. But still, let's humor this for a moment given that I do think Will's time in the UD is going to be very relevant in s5, which means it's highly likely they will finally address how exactly El saw him.

Basically, in the comic, Will see’s El walking through the woods, almost apparition like, glowing as she passes by, while also sporting the Benny’s burgers shirt. This means they would have crossed passed within a short span of time, between when El escaped Benny’s when the agents arrived, but before she was found by the boys.

Though it’s worth noting that we’re seeing this all from Will’s perspective. This means from the UD, Will was capable of seeing El on the other side, despite them being on different sides. And not only that, but she also looks back at him.

What confuses me about this, is that it doesn’t make sense for El to be in the woods, only to randomly decide to pop in to the void for a moment. She was trying to escape the lab and everything that came with it. I doubt she had any desire to lurk back there for some reason, not until someone encouraged her to. Not to mention, it would make no sense for her to go there and see Will if she wasn't even looking for him in the first place. And so this would mean Will and El could see each other, with Will being in the UD, and El being on the other side.

While it does seem pretty far off, given that you would think Will and El wouldn't be able to see each other from different sides, it is true in the story that El not only recognizes Will, but knows that he is in danger. She mentions that he is hiding specifically.

Which means she has likely seen him within the last 24 hours regardless.

This, in combination with Will being able to respond to El in the void at the end of the season in Castle Byers, when no one else outside of Terry and flayed-Billy have been able to, seems to imply that there is indeed something special about Will that makes him capable of communicating with El from the UD. Not only that, but El also seems to have an ability to be in this constant knowing state of how Will is doing, without even checking again to confirm. She's just certain of it. And she seems terrified about it.

Going forward, El never uses a picture of Will to find him. She never did. And more often than not, they don’t show us what she see’s either, not until the very end. And that’s the moment they reveal that he was able to communicate with her.

Again, there was really no reason to have El recognize Will. If anything it complicates things. But the fact that they chose to introduce this concept, with a scene from the original pitch that was related to El’s younger brother, with her pointing at his name cryptically, startling Benny, only to revamp it and have El not say anything at all while pointing at the picture of Will, startling Mike… It just really makes you stop and think.

Which brings me to the other aspect of this that might have people doubting, which is that El’s brother was originally younger than her.

We know Will is not younger than El, so how could this apply to him?

Well, it might be helpful to consider that in the original script, El was actually 10 years old, while the boys were always 12. Meaning that for some reason, they decided to age her up to the age of the boys, aka the same age as Will…

Ever since @erikiara80 shared this brother discovery with me, I have been sort of reeling. It then led to other little discoveries of changes they made between Montauk and Stranger Things.

It’s important to understand that the Montauk bible and the original script precedes what we ended up with in the final product, with it finally changing and evolving months, maybe even a year since that original vision. Even casting occurred before writing started for the first season. We know this because casting announcements were made in June and August of 2015, with writing not starting until August going into early 2016, simultaneously while they were filming.

And believe it or not, what I've discovered is that a lot of the changes they made between their original plans and what we see in the final product, have to do with not only Willel, but also Byler.

If you've read the original script for Montauk, you'll know that Mike's crush on Jennifer Hayes was focused on right from the jump, along with the birthmark on his face being focused on, which was the main cause of the bullying he experienced.

This has actually been talked about recently, and some of the claims people make do fit with what I am genuinely starting to consider here, which is that the initial plan for what makes Mike an outcast shifted.

I think when they completed casting, and started actually deep diving into what they wanted this world to look like, both from a short-term and long-term standpoint, they were presented with some pretty interesting discoveries, arguably already hiding in their initial plans without realizing it.

And this is where it sort of becomes a 'chicken or the egg' situation. Because which one came first? Byler or Willel?

I can't say for certain, because obviously this is all just speculation. But in the case that Willel came first, I think Byler would come very naturally after that.

The Duffers themselves are twins. Then they hire Noah, who is a twin. Then they're thinking and planning for El's past and how her family all fits into this, and they're thinking... wait a damn minute... We could totally Star Wars this bitch!

And then when they think it couldn't get any better, they uncover another layer that they hadn't planned or really considered in their initial plans.

While Will was always going to have sexual identity issues according to the Montauk bible, meaning that the writing process for him likely involved sitting down imagining scenarios that encapsulated this arc for Will from the beginning, they were simultaneously now finding very interesting aspects of Mike's character that made it hard not to at least consider the possiblity that Mike is not exactly straight.

Just think about it. The Byers and Wheelers are basically polar opposites on the spectrum of what a family looks like. While Will's discovery and acceptance of his queerness is interesting to explore because he comes from a low-income, single-mom household, all while having been bullied for years based on his perceived queerness, he also has a mother and brother constantly reinforcing that they will accept him no matter what. They've been sort of hitting us over the head with it for years, and so it wouldn't be very satisfying for his entire arc to merely lead up to something we've known all along. It's pretty much a given at this point.

On the other side of the spectrum, Mike comes from a more upper-middle class family at the end of a cul-de-sac, more aligned with what a nuclear family looks like. Mike's family is also presented as being more conservative, and while Karen does give that very queer-coded speech to Mike in s1 (I'm convinced they only wrote this after deciding to explore queer-coding more heavily with Mike), it also comes with comments from Ted and even still Karen that hint that they are probably not as open-minded and accepting as Will's family is to him. Which means Mike's arc would be a lot more about acceptance around him from his loved ones who we have been led to believe might not be as accepting of his queerness in contrast to Will.

And so as they're putting this story together, and they're being presented with something very interesting. Two similar experiences that play out in different ways because of the characters circumstances.

Will goes missing, and his twin sister with a buzzcut pops up and has the ability to help them find Will.

This leads to several moments where El is being compared to as not only a boy, but Will as well.

Now suddenly, their initial plans to have Mike's arc be about having a girl be interested in him and to hopefully have his first kiss and feel like less of a loser, starts to look a lot like what the experience a queer kid in his position might encounter growing up in the environment that he did.

And if you don't want to take my word for it, just hear the Duffer's themselves hinting at what they initially planned for Mike and the fact that it changed.

The changes don't stop there.

Believe it or not, 'It was a seven', did not exist in the initial pitch. When the boys went outside bickering over Nancy, they leave right after that.

Another thing that changed from the first script, was Scott Clarke's introduction:

And so you might be thinking, who cares? What does that have to do with anything?

Well, it's interesting because the line we end up with on the show is arguably one of the most on the nose Twelvegate proofs to date. Mind you, this is from the first episode:

Why chuck the original version, which was arguably more interesting and fascinating in terms of it hinting at the mysteriousness surrounding this story, only to replace it with him listing off tips about their upcoming test?

Well, I think it's the irony of it all. Here Mr. Clarke is practically telling us where to look to figure stuff out for ourselves what is going on, with all the kids filing out and ignoring him...

I relate to Scott a litttle too much in this shot here, any time I try to drop Willel evidence.

And the changes go on, as they obviously would.

Things like Terry Ives not even being El's mom, but actually a man who more so aligns with the characterization of Murray.

And one very interesting one I almost overlooked was in Hopper's introduction, where instead of a kids drawing done by who we assume to be Sarah, we actually see a picture on the wall of him and his wife and daughter... Interesting that they decided to switch it something that is a lot less definitive in presenting what Hopper's past looked like...

If you've made it this far, congratulations.

If you still think I'm out of my mind, just remember that El was going to have a brother in the original script, but they scrapped the scene and gave a near identical one to introduce her connection to Will instead 😘

[essenceofarda]

Of Blessed Thyme and Thistle - Chapter 1 | Page 1

Faramir's cousin, Lothiriel, comes to Minas Tirith to become a companion of his new bride, Eowyn, something that he hopes will ease Eowyn's rough transition into Gondorian Society. Eowyn, for her part, decides her new companion would in turn make the perfect bride for her brother Eomer, King of Rohan. Matchmaking shenanigans ensue 😏

Yayy I finished page 1!! I plan to do at least another page this weekend, but do let me know if you'd like me to continue!! I survive on encouragement 😆

Also yes i know i Know "Black" is the color of Sauron, shhh let's just pretend that now that Sauron is out of the picture Normal people can be goth or wear black without moral issues lol

[incorrect-koh-posts]

Your knowledge of medieval stuff is really impressive! You said in the tags of that ask you answered that you majored in literature? I would love to hear more about your passion for medieval literature and just medieval times in general. Did it start with Kingdom of Heaven or were you interested in it long before watching the film?

Ahh, I'm glad you think so, thank you! ☺️

I did my BA with a major in German literature and linguistics and a minor in English lit. For my MA (which I'm almost finished with save for my thesis defence), I switched to English full-time. My interest in medieval literature is really something that came with my studies - I've always had a general interest in history and read lots of historical fiction while in school, but I'd had basically no exposure to medieval texts (or the knowledge to engage somewhat meaningfully with them) until I had to take my first compulsory "Introduction to Medieval Literature" class at uni. From then on, I just kind of fell in love with the subject. We had a great prof - a really cool older lady who gave the most engaging lectures and with whom I later took seminars on topics like the medieval idea of monsters or animal depictions in chivalric romance.

Within all things medieval, the area that perhaps fascinates me the most is medievalism studies, which is a sort of sub-discipline of medieval studies that investigates, broadly speaking, the reception and depiction of the Middle Ages as well as medieval texts and topics in post-medieval media. Idk why it had to be that field in particular, but there's just something so beautiful in finding parallels and continuities between our world and the medieval one, especially since misconceptions about the Middle Ages are still so prevalent. Unsurprisingly, I wrote both of my dissertations on such medieval/modern overlaps: In my BA thesis I looked into the portrayal and function of mentor-mentee relationships in medieval literature and modern adolescent fiction (lots of commonalities there, interestingly enough!), whereas in my MA diss I focused on the construction of dystopian scenarios in recent British Arthurian fiction and how these respond not only to the older Arthurian material but also to present-day environmental and political anxieties. (Sounds a bit complicated but it makes sense, I promise.)

Perhaps this is why KoH has had such a chokehold on me these past 4 years. It's such a flawed piece of media that it makes me want to dig my teeth into it, in an academic as well as a fic-writing sense. There are so many moments in it that could be right out of a chivalric romance, yet also so many others where the film blows its pretence to historicity to all hell; there are so many interesting characters who only scratch at the surface of the historical figures behind them, and simply so much wasted potential. It's just ... ahhh.

The funny thing is that my growing interest in medieval literature kind of coincided with me discovering KoH, which in turn made me dig even deeper into the research side of things (a vicious circle lol). I think I wrote another post on this about a year ago, but me discovering - or rather re-discovering - Kingdom of Heaven was basically the result of the following chain reaction: I somehow stumbled upon an old novel covering the same events as KoH (Graham Shelby's The Knights of Dark Renown) > something in that book's depiction of Raymond of Tripoli scratched my brain in the right place > I investigated further and found KoH > I saw that skrunkly Mr Irons was part of the cast and decided I had to watch it immediately. In such matters I'm a simple girl - nothing will incite me to watch a film more than an old history man being hot 😂

And then half-way through the film I remembered I'd actually seen it before - with my former best friend during the early years of secondary school when she was obsessed (and by that I mean obsessed) with Orlando Bloom and made me watch literally every film with him that she could get her hands on. Which was a good thing only insofar as it made me discover Lord of the Rings. Though in hindsight it's very funny because she clearly intended for me to join her in her Orlando insanity, whereas confused 11-year-old me instead stared at Aragorn and Tiberias like this: 😳. Yes, I've always had impeccable taste, obviously.

And thus, in the spring of the year of our Lord 2020, I entered my KoH era, and so far the brainrot is still thriving.

I do wonder, though, how many people in the fandom have a similar background? The handful of people that I know or have interacted with seem to skew that way, with mostly history- or literature-related fields of study, but I wonder how representative they are of the overall fandom 🤔

In any case, thank you for the fun ask that did not flatter me at all!

[crowroboros]

That "probably" is doing a lot of heavy lifting cause I know for a fact that @civilotterneer is aware of how semiconductors work, thus proving that statement wrong.

In fact, let me revise that image...

[merrilark]

Went to a flower festival with my girlfriend tonight. It was over Discord because we're long distance, but they showed me all the flowers and we sat on a bench and admired the lake. They told me about the bees and what the air smelled like, and showed me the little arts and crafts shops and ducks and cool flowerbed arrangements. We imagined what it would be like if we could sit there together, holding hands, and soaking up each other's company.

It was sooo nice. One day I hope that it won't be over Discord and there won't be any need to imagine it because we're there together.

[prismaiden]

⚘ @thcdoomed // cont.

Dronia’s protest was a brittle shield, and Anri was determined to cleave through it.  Moving as swiftly as her armoured form would permit, she knelt beside her companion, reaching out to touch the hand stubbornly sealing the wound.  

Behind ivory ribs and steel plating, Anri’s heart clenched.  Dronia’s battle-ready and capable body had betrayed her, her breath coming in ragged gasps, her skin clammy beneath the streaks of dirt and blood.  Her gaze darted away, evasive, as if ashamed of her vulnerability.  

“Enough,” Anri murmured, her soft voice carrying a stern undercurrent, one rarely heard.  With hands gentle and deft, she carefully pried Dronia’s fingers away from where they plugged the wound.  Blood bubbled hot and immediate against Anri’s palm.  Too much of it, too quickly.  Her throat tightened with a familiar, second-hand pain – one that always pierced her whenever she witnessed another’s suffering.

“You would never permit another to press on in this state, and I will not permit it of you,” Anri continued, her attention sliding to their surroundings.  They were alone, walled in on all sides by dense forest.  Hardly ideal, but they would make do.

“Allow me to tend to you, to make you comfortable,” Anri implored, her focus settling back on Dronia.  Through the leather of her gauntlet, she was aware of that raw heat, of the life’s blood that soaked her. In its loss, there was an urgency that could not be ignored.  “We can make camp here, you can rest.”

[electricea]

@fantomevoleur continued from here.

He had to admit that he'd had crumbs of doubt - when he'd purchased the gift, had mulled over how to explain it and even now.

The last thing he wanted was to guilt his friend or worse yet, remind him of a farewell that was soon to come. Admittedly, he hadn't known Akira for very long in the grand scheme of things - although it felt as though he had known him all his life. What he did know about his friend was that Akira was an extraordinary person who was able to make an impression on almost everyone he met, good or bad - and somehow, Ryuji had the sense that was the same outside of Tokyo. Akira, no doubt, would continue to meet and befriend several different people - Ryuji just...wanted to be remembered as one of them.

"I'm glad you don't think that it is, I just wanted to give you something just as a reminder of...everything," He didn't expand on what the 'everything' was - it didn't need expanding or explaining. So long as Akira knew what he meant, that would always be something unique and shared between the two of them.

Grasping his friend's hand with a firm but gentle grip, he nods his head, feeling tears to himself, but he manages a joke.

"Heh, I bet wherever you go, you'll never have a right hand guy quite like me, yeah? Especially with this awesome hair!" He laughs, now gesturing to his hair.

"...But seriously, I couldn't have asked for a better leader to follow,"

[rifleseye]

@maximummuses cont.

— Perceptor regards her explanation with earnest awe. He's not usually impressed by weapons, but the almost cobbled-together nature of Javelin's rifle intrigues him so. And the intricacies of a rifle is not so easily missed by him.

He glances at his rifle and gives a half-shrug. " Modified from a standard Autobot-issued rifle. Fabricated the extended barrel myself. Scope is derived from the same technology that makes up my own. Reinforced stock to help offset the recoil when using higher caliber rounds. "