#i may or may not be insane lol

[awkwardgtace]

Forgotten Pasts

day 10 Ancient.

Today we have an ancient being trapped for who knows how long and two explorers who come along... maybe finding him.

Forgotten Pasts

Corus tried to stretch. He could barely move before touching the walls again. This prison was small and cruel. If it were his choice he’d be deep in a stupor. His brother had called to him and forced his consciousness back to awareness. He hated that it happened, but knowing that the bond was still there made it worth the numbing emptiness. Zeke could have left him. Gone home and been bound to another being of destruction. All his prior cages were big enough for Zeke to visit. Not this time. They left barely enough room for him. He just had to wait for the mortals to need him again, he’d be free and they’d both make sure he was never trapped like this again.

He forced himself to focus on the words that woke him up. To put the struggles of his cage away. The first thing said to him in a century, “Someone’s here.”

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ok maybe you were right about this,” Kaya said as they walked out of the houses they found on the wall. Mira had walked away to look around while they were inside.

“I told you. Any danger would be one we could handle. The best archeologist and the best cave diver weren’t going to fail now,” she smirked. Ash kicked up around her feet as she walked. Kaya wouldn’t be able to walk on their own during this. The ash would make them sick.

Mira left the flashlight’s glow behind her as she wandered. It was easier to see in the dark for her than in the light. Kaya needed it though. Rootlings had terrible night vision, but Mira was better than even other humans. It was why she had been able to visit more places than anyone else.

She stared up at the ceiling. It was so high even she couldn’t see the end. Mira pulled her zipline gun from her hip and aimed. The anchor would reach the ceiling and she’d send one of her glow sticks up. She pulled the trigger, watching as it flew up and up and up. It could go over a hundred feet, nothing should be this high. Especially when the entrance was maybe a foot taller than her.

As soon as it started to fall she panicked. “Kaya!”

“What?” they called. Mira flinched, missing the anchor as it fell. The heavy object landed with an echoing crack as soon as it hit the ground. The coughing told her that Kaya had come running. Mira took a long stride to scoop them up and away from the ancient ash. “What did you do?”

“Kaya, the ceiling is over a hundred feet tall. There’s something off. We… we need to stay close. I don’t think going in the walls is a good idea.”

Kaya’s folded arms fell to their side. They stood on her palm and looked back towards the ancient homes. She could feel their reluctance, fingers digging into her skin. A sigh joining the feeling. She watched them nod and made her way over to retrieve the flashlight. She brought her hand with them to her chest, the shoulder felt dangerous right now.

Mira grabbed the flashlight and clipped it on her shoulder, a guiding light for her and Kaya. Although she’d see more without it. She went right back to where her anchor fell, crouching and blowing away the ash. Once clear she set Kaya down, fixed the flashlight angle, and grabbed the anchor to add it back to the gun.

“Mira…” they whispered. She grunted. “This thing, it’s the old script. Back before we used human languages. I’m pretty sure it’s a name.”

“What?” she holstered her zipline gun and leaned forward. Kaya shooed her back. If she hovered they would lose their light.

“Look, it’s too big for a house or something similar. Too big for a grave marker too. It… it almost looks like a human wrote it.”

“That’s impossible. Humans didn’t even know Rootlings were sapient back then.”

“Look at it!” 

Mira reached down for it, contact with it caused her to shiver. A strange feeling entered her heart, almost like she knew this. As if it belonged to her. Curling her fingers around it cemented that feeling. Kaya gave her a strange look, but in her mind she knew this was hers. She pulled it from the ground, carefully wrapping it in protective cloth and dropping it in her pocket.

“I guess we found our proof then?” she tried to sound happy. It was what they wanted. Proof this is where Rootlings had been. Where some had died, possibly because of humans. 

“We can’t stop now!” Kaya’s conviction made her nervous. She didn’t like this place. Instead of answering Mira pulled out her zipline gun and replaced the anchor. The new one had a spot for Kaya to clip a carabiner.

“We won’t stop, but be ready to reach the loaded anchor and escape.”

“We won’t need that.”

“Kaya, this place is wrong. I… I need to keep going, but I need you safe too. Can’t put my favorite sibling at risk.”

“I’m your only sibling.”

“Doesn’t change anything, so promise? We’ve done this before. This time you won’t be relying on a flimsy set up. I got the actual Rootling clippable ones.”

“Fine.”

Mira holstered the gun again and set a hand down for Kaya. She moved them to her shoulder and stood to her full height. Something was going to happen today, she just hoped it left them alive at the end.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Corus clutched his heart. Something had hit his binding. He couldn’t place it, but… it was the spirit who summoned him. She’d come back. It meant he could go free. All she had to do was find him. She’d seen them trap him like this. She would know where to look. For the first time in centuries he reached out to his brother. A single phrase pushed with all his strength through the seals. “This one.”

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mira walked in silence for at least an hour. A few times Kaya would notice something. A relic of a bygone past that was swiftly tucked away for further study. There were more markings of the old script, much smaller than what she’d cracked. Kaya could even translate the others. The one they found first was different for some reason.

“Mira, I want to study this area. There’s so many residences,” Kaya said. Before she answered there was a click of the carabiner releasing. She held a hand up, moving to what looked to be the center of a town.

Mira crouched, lowering Kaya to the ground. “Did you bring a mask? I might have one in my pack from the last time. The ash is thicker down here.”

“Don’t worry. I got it.”

Mira watched Kaya walk off into the darkness. She started to set the flashlight down, angled towards the houses for Kaya. A chuckle escaped her as their little light came from behind a house. She shut her own off, taking the chance to see what stood out in the darkness. It felt heavy in her hand as she stood.

No stalactites, no stalagmites, nothing to show any passing of time. It seemed like the place was frozen after the fire. Maybe even before it. She took a step away from the soft light and closer to the darkness. Staring into the emptiness seemed like nothing else would or could ever exist. She could walk and walk and walk without ever finding the end.

A feeling started to pull at her heart. She took one step, then another, then a few more. Something wanted her in that emptiness. She could disappear, just like the stories. There was a burning against her chest, where she put the thing they found earlier. For a moment the darkness terrified her. She quickly hit the flashlight, illuminating the end of the cave…

“What the…?” she whispered. 

She walked to the edge and ran a hand across the smooth stone that hadn’t been there. It wasn’t like this before. She knew that… Mira’s eyes went wide as she spun around. Kaya’s light was moving, they were safe. Mira tightened her hold on the flashlight, quickly sweeping the ground. A glint caught her eye. 

She stepped cautiously over. The feeling of the darkness weighing on her mind terrified her. If she lost the flashlight she might actually be lost to it. Each step brought her closer to some strange reflective surface. It was small enough she could hold it in one hand. So small that even Kaya wouldn’t be too comfortable in it.

When she aimed the flashlight away it blended into the darkness. The hairs on the back of her neck rose and a shiver ran down her spine. This was wrong. It didn’t belong. It shouldn’t exist. She grabbed the strange object as soon as it was in reach. It made her feel wrong… Shaking her head, she set the flashlight on her shoulder and rushed back to Kaya.

She didn’t have to say a word. They felt her steps and met her back in the town center. She knelt in front of them, holding the egg-like object. Kaya ran up to it, but for some reason Mira didn’t want them to touch it. She pulled it away just as their hand would have made contact. Kaya looked hurt by her action. An action she couldn’t explain.

“Mira? What is that? It almost looks like one of those rocks that you break open for a geode,” Kaya said. She shook her head, and they reached out again. She couldn’t let them touch it. She… she had to protect this-this whatever it was. She had to… to do something. “Mira? Mira talk to me! We… I-I think we found enough we should go!”

Mira shook her head. She didn’t want to leave yet. Kaya… she needed Kaya safe. She shot her hand out, curling her fingers around them. Kaya yelped, they never yelped when it was her. She just… she needed them safe and on her shoulder was safe. She didn’t give them a chance to ask before dropping them on her shoulder and climbing to her feet.

“Mira! What the heck!? What’s wrong with you?” they shouted. She heard the carabiner click. They were safe. Perfectly safe. 

The spot on her chest burned again. She brought the egg thing close to her face before reaching for the carefully wrapped plaque. As if she’d done it a hundred times she pulled it free and set it against the object. Kaya was talking, but she couldn’t hear them. It was the right thing to do. She held the egg and slab of writing at arm’s length.

The cloth burned away, but her fingers stayed safe. The long forgotten script glowed with an eerie black light. A blue and red mixed together slowly filling in what must have been letters. As each filled she could hear a voice in her mind, one that sounded like her own, chanting a name again and again. 

As the red and blue reached the final marking, Mira’s mouth moved. “Corus.”

A flash of the black light shot out from the egg thing. It knocked out the light of her flashlight. The feeling that pulled her towards the darkness, the feeling that nearly swallowed her, reappeared. She finally moved her hand that had once held the nameplate and used it to press Kaya to her neck. Their fingers dug into her skin, she curled her fingers around them to keep them safe.

The energy from the egg didn’t stop. She almost wanted this to be some weird energized geode from the past. As the light finally started to fade and she was able to breathe, she noticed the feeling of the egg thing was gone. Instead she felt a weight she knew almost too well. The weight of a Rootling.

It took a few more seconds for it to end, for her other arm to move. As her eyes adjusted she found a small man in her hand. He didn’t look the same as Rootlings. His ears weren’t tapered, and there was no sign of leaves in his hair. It made her worried. If he wasn’t a Rootling what was he, and how did he get here?

The small man groaned. Mira pulled her hand from Kaya to add another beneath the man. Kaya gasped, the carabiner clicked, but they didn’t climb down. Mira felt them climbing around her neck. She knew what they were doing, the click shot a bright light onto her hands. A light that was enough to make the man open his light blue eyes.

“Are you alright?” Mira whispered. The man glared at her as soon as she spoke. A part of her wanted to let him go and run. The way he stared at her, the too human traits on him. It all made it hard to stay calm. “I… where did you come from? Were you inside that egg thing?”

“Who are you?” the man asked. His voice was commanding and almost painful to hear. It didn’t fit the size he was.

“I think I get an answer first. You are sitting in my hand.”

The little man climbed to his feet and looked around. “I suppose that is true and that merely adds to the problem. Tell me now. Where is the woman who freed me? I know very well it can’t have been you.”

Mira narrowed her eyes. She curled her hand into a fist around the man, other Rootlings panicked when she did this. He just glared at her again. Suddenly she hoped he couldn’t see Kaya there was something wrong. She shifted her head to use her hair to hide the flashlight. She wanted the advantage here. 

Mira brought him close to her face and stared at him. He was a bit cute, pale skin and a solid build. The lack of concern that she was holding him in a fist was weirdly reassuring. Kaya was the only other Rootling to trust her like this. Except this wasn’t trust, it was something else. It was like… like he knew he could get free in no time.

“I suggest you return to your previous hold.” 

“Or what?”

“Or my brother will be quite angry when he arrives. His patience will only go so far for your kind human.”

“I don’t think I’m scared of a rootling or his brother.” A bluff through and through. Rootlings had magic, they could be terrifying. Except she was the kind of human they hated. The kind immune to it.

“Humans do fit all the stories don’t they? Not a single doubt that you’re right. Maybe I’ll make you regret it on my own for handling me like this. I need to find the one who freed me and you are halting that.”

“It was you though,” Kaya whispered. 

Mira tried not to show a reaction. The man had caught on to something with her. He grinned, she almost wanted to keep this dance going. Who would actually succeed in the bluff contest they had going? Unfortunately Kaya was her bigger concern. This wasn’t a normal Rootling and Kaya was already smaller than him. She couldn’t do this.

“Whatever. I got what I wanted from this.”

She had every intention of walking away. Setting Corus down and leaving. The first successful expedition here. He was probably just another adventurer who chose to explore. When he realized she wasn’t a grave robbing human he might even let her give him and his brother a lift out. Except she couldn’t move. The grin on his face faltered. If she didn’t know better she’d say he looked worried.

A blinding light filled the cave. There was no remnant of the darkness that once tried to devour her. The ash even began to clear out around her. A clean, well lit city surrounded her. Kaya pressed themself against her neck, whatever froze her didn’t touch them.

“I warned you,” Corus’s voice was morose. It made a pit form in her stomach.

Mira blinked and a man at least two feet taller than her appeared. She was relieved for whatever had frozen her then, there’s no way she wouldn’t have jumped and thrown Kaya. He glared at her, green eyes burning. His look filled her with the same feeling as the darkness she almost walked into. Something told her this was the brother.

The man held his hand out to her. As much as she fought it her fingers started to loosen. All her bravado fell as finger by finger she let him go. Her voice wouldn’t work anymore. All she wanted was to beg the new man to make this stop. Not to let her drop Corus. There was nothing that would ever make her actually hurt someone so small.

Corus didn’t even look bothered. He was completely fine falling to what could very well be his death. The last finger holding him to her palm moved and he… stayed where he was. The new man reached out and grabbed Corus. The man cupped his hands in front of his face and all his anger fell away.

“Corus,” the man whispered. 

“Hey Zeke,” Corus said. Tears fell from the strange man’s eyes. Mira felt the muscles in her body relax, she could move.

“I was starting to think you’d never get out.”

“Thanks for not giving up. They would have found someone else to bind to you.”

“As if I’d walk away from my brother.” Mira tried to take a step away, but both sets of eyes were locked on her immediately. “Do not leave that spot.”

Mira tried and failed to ignore the order. Her feet had been glued to the floor. The eyes left her and she tried to roll her shoulder without knocking Kaya off. Words would draw attention. Kaya might even draw their attention. A small hand tapped three times against her neck. They knew what she wanted. As soon as their small weight was on her arm she felt like crying. They knew, all she had to do was watch for the two monsters in front of her for their attention.

“Did the human hurt you? I can deal with her,” the other man, Zeke, said. Mira tried not to start panicking at that. What would dealing with her mean?

“I thought I was supposed to be the one causing chaos and destruction,” Corus laughed. Mira tried to hide her fear. Corus looked at her, the gaze making her heart race. This man could somehow see straight through her. “She didn’t hurt me. It seemed more like she didn’t trust me. I don’t think we need to be worried about her.”

“I haven’t forgiven the humans for what they did. To you or them…” 

“...How long has it been? Where is she? It was her who let me out. I know it was.”

“Corus… It’s been more than a few centuries. She… she died not long after you were sealed away. I found her body on my first trip away from you. She didn’t die alone, both of us failed.”

“But… but I felt her. It… it had to be her. She can’t be gone. We… it was going to work. We were… We did it Zeke… Both of us there’s no way they can be gone…”

Mira felt a tap on her leg. Kaya was ready. The two in front of her had entered a silence that made her nervous. None of this was going to end well for her. As long as Kaya got out she wouldn’t care. They’d make sure this place was locked away. That her death would keep others safe.

Zeke closed his eyes and she moved. A quick tug to free the zipline gun. A half turn of her body, aim at the entrance. Her only goal was to get Kaya as far away as possible. Then she fired. The noise of the anchor firing felt deafening. There was no way the two hadn’t heard. She just needed to hope they’d ignore it.

Unfortunately both she and Kaya had no luck. Her body froze up painfully this time. The anchor froze in the air. This was her idea, her plan, and now they’d both die. Zeke walked by her, depositing Corus on her like she was a table. His look only made her angry. Pity wouldn’t save her sibling.

“I hate you,” she whispered. She hadn’t expected her voice to work. Corus looked hurt. Good. She had to use her voice while she could. “I don’t care what you do to me, just let them go. I convinced them to come here. Pushed us forward. Opened your stupid fucking egg.”

“You let me out?” he whispered. She couldn’t move, but it was clear he didn’t expect an answer. He walked up her arm to her shoulder and set a tiny hand against her face. If she could move she’d grab him in a tight fist. Anything to get Kaya away.

“It’s ok, you’re safe now,” Zeke’s voice drew her eyes from Corus. The look on his face was different than when he took Corus close. Almost loving. She stared in fear as he lifted Kaya from the anchor. Their carabiner didn’t do anything to stop him. He carried them back over in a loose fist. They were shaking, that was always the worst way for them to be carried.

“Please,” her voice croaked. Corus’s fingers dug into her skin. “Don’t hold them like that. They get scared. Please…”

Zeke actually looked shocked at her. He changed his hold to a flat palm with the other hand around like a railing. Mira felt tears fall from her eyes. At least he listened. The hand on her face disappeared. She felt somehow cold without it. Like it was a promise that things would work out.

Zeke stood in front of her. He felt bigger this time, as if he could crush her under his foot. She swallowed all her words as he stared at her. Corus’s feet left a burning trail down her arm as he walked away. There was a part of her that didn’t want him to be gone. Zeke set his hand with Kaya near Corus.

“Are you hurt?” Corus asked. He held a hand out to them, but they shied away. Mira just wanted them to get out of this. It was her idea, her fault.

“Why won’t you let us go?” they whimpered. Mira felt more tears trail down her face.

“I am doing what we were summoned for; keep humans from trapping you again.”

“They aren’t-” Mira tried to argue, but the glowing eyes from Zeke stopped her voice again. This shouldn’t be possible. 

“S-summoned? How did we summon you?”

“Zeke, you said it had been a long time?” The man who honestly felt like he grew each second nodded. She wanted Kaya away from him. Safe with her. “Then… was the method lost? They can’t have you transcribe my name anymore? Bind us both?”

Mira closed her eyes and tried to think of something to say. It wasn’t as if these two would let her talk. Corus almost seemed to follow Zeke’s actions blindly. It would possibly get Kaya out if she could talk to him without the man taller than her around. A feeling of a burning warmth ran down her spine. She snapped her eyes open, this time seeing Corus with a glow all over his body.

The burn flowed through all of her body. A strange sensation that made her muscles relax as it moved. Slowly she moved the arm Corus stood on. She left her hand flat next to Kaya, the burning had only grown more intense. They scrambled off Zeke’s hand, jumping the inch of space she hadn’t filled yet. 

As soon as Kaya was on her hand she sped up. Corus didn’t flinch at all at her speed, despite standing on her forearm. Kaya grabbed her clothes as soon as they were close enough. They climbed faster than she moved her arm. She followed their path up to her shoulder with her other hand. Corus kept glowing long after Kaya had hidden themself with her hair.

“You let me out?” he asked. Zeke’s eyes widened as Corus stared up at her. “Not the one on your shoulder?”

“It was me…” Mira was tempted to use whatever Corus was doing to free herself. Run and get Kaya out. They’d hunt her down, but she didn’t care.

“Then that ancient contract worked in the end. I wonder… Zeke, if they’re together and this is her then the other must be your bound… right?”

Zeke actually looked away. The feeling of his form continuing to tower over her fell away. He nodded, a sheepish almost sweet movement. Wind blew near her, moving the hair Kaya had hidden with to reveal them. “I felt it as soon as I saw them… I thought, you truly haven’t been trapped by this human?”

“We’re siblings!” Kaya’s anger bled out. They were always angry at anyone who questioned them. Some people thought Mira was using them, others thought they paid Mira off. Neither would ever be true. “Humans aren’t bad, they haven’t been bad for centuries.”

“Humans and Rootlings live together, they have since the fires. The fires that brought us here to find the history that was lost back then.” 

Corus moved on her arm again. He walked closer, staring at her in a way that made her heart flutter. There was something with him that made her want to believe he wasn’t some monster about to kill them. That he’d let them both go home, give the two a chance to pretend none of this ever happened.

“Humans invaded, they had knowledge of the people here,” Corus explained. The fire burning in her body faded, but she could still move. Zeke had given her freedom. “They knew what I was and trapped me. Only one person could set me free, but she had been taken.”

“She died trying to get back here, at least that’s what I assumed when I finally went to seek her out,” Zeke added. “She died with her closest friend beside her. The two had been the only ones who showed either of us kindness.”

“Most treated me like a tool. They treated Zeke like a monster because he tends to be human sized. It didn’t help that he could get bigger. We wanted to stay together so we made sure it would happen. If they died by any means they’d come back.”

“You two would be who had come back.”

“What?” Mira’s voice was quiet.

“No… that was supposed to be a myth,” Kaya’s words shocked her more than the other two. “A being of chaos and destruction, bound to a girl of lavenders. A being of order and control, bound to one who was at once both and neither…”

“What the hell? Are you trying to insinuate that after the threats and fear you just put us through we’re some ancient lovers of yours or something!?”

Zeke knelt in front of her, bowing his head. Corus jumped from her arm. He landed gracefully on Zeke’s shoulder, taking his own bow in turn. Kaya stood on her shoulder, grabbing the hair that had finally returned to hide them. She could feel the way they shuffled to look at the two. 

“What now?” they whispered. Mira gave the smallest shrug she could. They stumbled a bit from her movement. She had no idea what to do now.

“The contract holding me has been broken. You have freed me now as you had many times in an ancient past. I beg that you give me a chance to prove my love for you… To give me a chance to show I am not a danger to you or those you deem worthy,” Corus’s words filled Mira with a flame again. She wanted to say yes.

“If you my small love will give me a chance,” Mira could feel Kaya’s body freezing as Zeke started to speak. “I would like a chance to show I am safe for you. That I will not use my power against you or those who you trust.” He lifted his head, giving Mira a look. “Human or otherwise.”

“We humbly request to stay by your sides.” The two spoke in unison. The words sent a fire down Mira’s spine that made her fall to her knees. Kaya was an ice cube on her shoulder, hanging on only because of the precautions they always took.

All of this was insane. She and Corus were basically threatening each other. Zeke probably wanted to kill her. Kaya was terrified of both the men they faced. Yet she could tell that saying no would rip out a piece of her essence. A life of pain and misery, only changed by Kaya being there for her. She brought her hand up to them, if they said no she said no. That would be it.

“We have that extra room,” they muttered. Mira couldn’t stop herself from laughing. The dry stains of her terror induced tears forgotten. After all of this they were taking ancient embodiments of order and chaos home.

“I guess we did what we came here for then,” she said as she quieted her laughter. “The long abandoned history is right in front of us. I’d be a failure of a search and rescue cave diver to leave them behind.”

“I don’t think I’d be able to be the best archeologist if I let living relics walk off on their own.”

“Does that mean…” Corus started, hope in his voice.

“You’ll let us stay with you?” Zeke finished the question, his own voice filled with relief.

Mira stood up and grabbed Kaya. The carabiner clicked before she pulled them away. She held them to her chest and faced potential monsters. Everything could fall apart. They could use whatever power they hold to destroy everything. 

“Come on, we ignored some places Kaya wanted to look at on the way in. All of us can go home after that.”

[danikatze]

[ID in alt text]

Guys he's so pretty..

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

forever obsessed with dynamics between vampires, specifically that of a maker and fledgling, as a way to explore abuse. the creation of a vampire itself can so easily be a literalization of the lasting impacts of trauma and also much more simply the ways a perpetrator might shape their victim’s very identity. the extremes of isolation in the way that the new vampire, in most narratives, must cut all ties to their mortal life, or else go through an elaborate charade to maintain the facade of humanity, while forever still being removed from it. and the sheer dependence and vulnerability of being in an entirely new state of being, wholly uncertain of what it entails, and relying on another person to define… everything.

[mortal-kingss]

“I guess the Corruption likes you as a moth. I think it’s fitting. Do you know what a moth is to a spider, Jon?”

“You know I don’t.” His back is to Martin, and he can feel another set of hands creep to his waist.

“Prey.” Martin whispers into his ear, taking his hands as he laughs softly.

—

HELLO!!! i made a fic for this piece, its an au!!! please check it out, i spent a long time working on it i hope u enjoy it <3 https://archiveofourown.org/works/49448209

[verflares]

some body type + colour practice feat dragon (chicken) zeldie... and of course link my good friend link

[charmac]

"I fell for you and I get clobbered. You then fall for me and I, again, somehow get clobbered. I'm tired of being clobbered, you know? It's, it's just not worth it."

Rob McElhenney naming Mac and Dennis alongside Ross and Rachel as one of the greatest "will they, won't they?" couples in sitcom history forever altered my brain chemistry.

[bacchuschucklefuck]

❗❗Official Class Swap Sorcerer!Kristen Post Alert❗❗ you can: look at her

[ricky-mortis]

The speed and fervor with which I sprang to draw this is unmatched

Anyways here’s Cowboy (Agent) Curt Mega

(Thanks to @smytherines for triggering the idea)

[sadcoms]

i adore how protective nine is of rose but i also think what is regarded a lot of the time as ten not caring about or valuing rose in the same way is him having more faith in her. it’s kind of like when people complain about rose not challenging ten the way she did nine when they’re just much more on the same page in s2 because they know each other better, so she doesn’t really need to.

in theory, ten could have yelled at rose in the idiot’s lantern for not waiting for him when she confronted magpie. but he doesn’t, he loses his mind trying to save her (VERY nine) and also acknowledges that her observation was spot on. the whole “domestic approach” line gets attention but i have never really interpreted his intention as being to insult her; in some ways, i feel her reaction is a holdover from nine, who did put down the idea of domesticity (and also actively manipulated her into leaving her mum in world war 3 which never really gets mentioned).

and of course, rise of the cybermen is a parallel to father’s day. the doctor starts out harshly talking to her the way he did when he was nine, forbidding her to see her father, but then he gives in when she just looks at him. which is exactly what he does that in father’s day too of course.

like, why do you think she refuses to be sent away in doomsday, another direct parallel to parting of the ways? she’s saying she’s not a kid anymore, that she already made her way back to him once before. she can’t be protected from the hard choices anymore and she won’t be, because she understands everything that it means to be the doctor’s companion. you never see it on-screen but clearly sometime between tooth & claw and doomsday she asks about what happened before he regenerated; she has to learn that she is the bad wolf, especially when she is to continue her journey of turning into nine in s4 and making hard choices. ten wouldn’t have known that, but it’s a mark of the respect and faith (he believes! in her!) that he stops protecting her from the truth.

[plounce]

if trump does win in the fall, it will not be the fault of people who are against genocide. it will be the fault of biden, his government, and the DNC for holding onto wildly unpopular and horrific policies that are costing them vast swathes of their voterbase.

[caramelldansenu]

bonus

[thenightisland]

in various conversations with my doctor about the insane life changing effect adhd meds have had on me one of the things he said was that it's not uncommon for people who have dysthymia/pervasive depressive disorder to have undiagnosed adhd at the root of the problem. and i think we forget that like. major depressive disorder is supposed to be something that eventually stops. it's episodic. like even people with depression very often are not in a state where it's just like. every day is a misery virtually nonstop for 15+ years. but with dysthymia/pdd it very much so is. which you can have pdd and mdd both at the same time too which is evil but anyway. it is wild enough conceptualizing that there is in fact a difference between the two things bc i very much so got depressed around age ten and just. never stopped. and when you live like that for the bulk of your life you just sort of get used to it? like it sucks but you just assume a degree of that is normal. so even on several antidepressants i never once aimed for "not depressed" i was always aiming for "mildly less miserable" i had just accepted that i would always be a degree of miserable and that my default was going to be feeling bad and if i was very lucky there might be a few days where i felt a little less bad now and then. the goal was "bearable misery" which is nuts to type out like wow! bleak!

anyway something i noticed when they started me on the adhd meds was that all the Racket in my head just. stopped. for weeks i just said to people "it's so quiet in there" because i didn't have dozens of loud competing fast thoughts all the time. and it took a while to pin down why this effect made me less depressed and worked better than literally any antidepressant had. and it's bc it /stopped thoughts/ and when i was depressed the Thoughts did not stop and they were not pleasant ones so i'd get stuck in these awful mental doom spirals and nothing i did would make it stop. and then this medicine made it stop. and it turns out it's much easier to not be sad when your brain doesn't have the Sad Channel turned up to high volume and is forcing you to deal with it clockwork-orange style. bc historically it was like oh god do we really have to do this again do we have to listen to the you will always be alone and unloved and nothing you do will ever be enough and your life will never be fulfilling in any way spiral again?? do we really have to i'm so tired. but now that channel is muted. a lot of channels have been muted. no amount of cbt/dbt techniques or various other therapy tactics had ever managed to mute those channels before.

and it's just insane it's like the thing about how stunned people with chronic pain are to learn that the normal amount of pain for someone to experience on an average day is none. it's just that but emotionally. bc even with the challenges i still have for autism reasons, most days now i'm fine. the emotional pain is zero on an average day. i now understand what people mean when they say "i'm having a bad day" bc there's a difference. but you see. all my days used to be bad. all of them. even the "good" days involved a degree of visceral emotional suffering and dread. and you don't realize how pervasive the bad is until the bad is the exception and not just an ordinary day.

i do not sit around consumed by the same thought patterns and doom spirals and mental quicksand now i'm just going about my day like an ordinary person and it's amazing how much less life /hurts/ and that's the only way i can think to put it is that every day used to hurt and it doesn't hurt now. past-me was incapable of conceptualizing a life where my baseline wasn't "profoundly and painfully sad and aching at all times" i was 100% prepared to just live like that forever!!!! and now if i have a bad day that's all it is an outlier i thought people in movies were just doing a bit when they had a "bad day" and the solution was just have a big piece of cake and cry a little and go to bed early and you'll feel better tomorrow bc i never felt better tomorrow! now i just feel better tomorrow if i have a bad day! most days the emotional pain scale is a 0/10.

like this is so long already but those of you who have been around for a long time you know how nuts this is for me. and i'm a firm believer in everything happens for a reason even bad things and for a few years i've been like huh wonder what the reason is for the whole getting beaten in the head thing though. well. it exacerbated the working memory issues. and it got on my goddamn nerves. so i asked to try this medicine so i could remember to get my soup out of the microwave. and then it fixed all the problems that have plagued me since i was a small child. and now i'm able to conceptualize a day to day life that isn't just Hurting all the time when i once thought i would never do anything but hurt.

[louismygf]

some louis tomlinsons i never posted ^_^

[awakeskydoesntdraw]

Posting in this blog after an eternity because I feel like I'm going insane here and my friends are asleep so I need to dump my brainstorm SOMEWHERE (SPOILERS FOR ARLECCHINO'S BACKSTORY/SHORT ANIMATION!!)

The TLDR is basically I think that the whole story with Arlecchino and Clervie is foreshadowing for Lyney and Lynette's future

I think the parallels between Lyney and Arle don't need to be too explained for the most part. Pyro Visions, Arle wants him to be the next "king" while he doesn't seem to be too into that idea just like her younger self didn't want it, both are associated with Rainbow Roses (they both use them as ascension materials)

Plus, I'd argue they look kinda similar here. I'm not sure exactly what is that makes the resemblance, maybe a bit of the hair, bowtie and shorts and you could say it's something she has with the others too (her kid design resembles Freminet, current one Lynette) but I thought it was good to mention anyways

Meanwhile, Lynette and Clervie are the two closest companions to their respective pair

Lynette's has Lumidouce Bells as an ascension material. Clervie is very clearly represented with the same flower (if her necklace wasn't enough, there's this)

Plus, a bit of a smaller connection, but they both have clear sweet tooths

(Lyney saying "we talked about this" implies this is a frequent event. The animation showing Clervie with cake twice while it only had 7 minutes to tell the whole story has a similar effect)

So, if Lyney is a parallel to Arle while Lynette is a parallel to Clervie, where does this leave us?

Well... Not exactly in a good spot-

To be fair, I don't think Genshin would actually kill a playable character (or at least, so I hope), but it's very possible Lynette gets really hurt, either directly by Lyney or by being close to him

Arlecchino swore to be nothing like her mother, but in the end, the way she's acting towards Lyney by wanting to make him the next king may be very similar to it

Once upon a story quest, Lyney said similar words to a woman who claimed he'd end up all alone. I can only pray that the writers will have mercy at my soul and that they wouldn't go that low with a playable character

If I were to make a mildly self indulgent guess, as the Freminet main I am, I'd say that he may be the key that's going to make things turn out different for the twins. His presence is the biggest difference between the twins vs Arle and Clervie, who seemed to have no one else that was even mildly close to them. From the 4.6 trailer we know that he's the one that has been hiding stuff and we do see him blocking out Arle's attack, so I don't think it's a stretch to say he'll have a really important role in this whole thing

So yeah! If you read all my rambling, thanks I guess, hope you enjoyed it. In the end, all I can hope is that the Fontaine siblings all turn out fine for the sake of my own mental wellness because God knows these 3 stay all day spinning in my head as if it was a microwave

Also, for the record: No, I don't have a clue about what the hell is going on with Freminet apparently finding "Clervie" (ghost?? Illusion??) and hiding her from Arle. Until this short my best shot was that she was some sort of mermaid creature, but that idea is out the window so it could be anything really

[hamletthedane]

Falling deeper into obsession over the parallels between Hamlet and Juliet’s characters, and how both plays are ultimately about children playing out their parents’ revenge fantasies. Protagonists placed in the position of puppets who only exist to further the ends of others.

The revenge of their stories is not their own. They did not cause the problems that they now suffer for. And somehow they ended up as the protagonists to a story already in motion.

But that’s where it gets interesting: they actively CHOOSE to struggle against the legacies and ancient grudges of their parents. The plot is not their own, but they MAKE IT SO.

The story of Hamlet is not that of Othello or Macbeth or Henry V: he is not self-motivated in his revenge, and can only be the passive participant of the inevitable plot (as R&G Are Dead points out to great effect). The things he does don’t ultimately matter: this is his father’s story, and his father’s revenge will occur in one way or another. “The readiness is all…” But he can do something: he can choose to end the story, to accept his fate and refuse to forestall his doom any longer.

The story of Juliet is not that of Rosalind or Merchant’s Portia: her defiance and cleverness, struggling against the edicts of those who raised her to create a renaissance generation, does not result in happy marriages ever-after. She dies trying to change the course of her fate and trying to defy the inevitability of a revenge plot coming to a head. She dies at her own hand, aware that only her and Romeo’s deaths can resolve the story they’re in.

Incredibly, in the inevitably of a narrative set in motion - doomed from the start - there is still an element of choice.

We have two very different characters driven by very different goals but still bound by the contract of their narrative to play out the tragedy. They’re children doomed by their parents and characters doomed by their narrative and stories doomed by the audience’s consumption of them. But what makes Hamlet and Juliet exceptional is their struggle against it. Somehow, in all the chaos and violence of the stage, they gain a small amount of power and control - for just a brief moment, they make decisions that change their story.

(And maybe those changes only work to immediately end their story, but they work nevertheless. In the horrible time-loop of a tragedy narrative, their escape is arguably the ultimate resolution of their character arcs. They “take arms against a sea of troubles/and by opposing, end them” at last)

[rowanoftheunknown]

“I hope I’ll find all the pieces of my mind that fell out of my head over all those years, and that I’ll be able to put myself together again. I hope the echoes of pain will fade, and memories of sorrow will die, and that you’ll visit me here some day…”

“And I hope you have a happy ending of your own.”