#i'm the highwayman!

[sugared-violets]

in honor of my yearly rewatch:

[asterdeer]

i know the original poem is over 100 years old and loreena mckennitt's rendition is nearly 30 but i don't think i'll ever get over "the highwayman", it gets better every time i listen to it. just the parallelism of the way he and she strain to reach for each other -- he for her hand, she for the trigger -- and the descriptions of their faces -- "his face burned like a brand" when she lets down her hair, "her face was like a light" when she hears him on the highway (and then, rule of three, "his face grew grey to hear" when he finds out that she's dead). it's unbeatable romance for me, this is my "the gift of the magi," this is my orpheus and eurydice

and the way both characters are framed...........it's named for him but she's the closest we get to a hero. we see and feel from her perspective, she's attacked and abused and she keeps her composure, she bloodies her hands to either free herself or free him, she wields the weapon, she is the one who gets a win over the redcoats. she's noble, she's strong, she's faithful, and, you know, she's in love with a highwayman. meanwhile, he does not keep his composure, he goes wild with grief and rage, his emotions overpower him -- and when he dies, it's not heroic, it's an anticlimax, it's undignified and abrupt and almost shameful. but they're both so HUMAN, it's not a lovely innocent woman wearing white waiting, faintingly, for him by the window, and he's not a strong brave hero who sweeps her away to safety. the romance is in the fact that they are not Romantic. the romance IS her bloody hands and her undone hair and his shriek of grief and his death like a dog in the highway. does any of this make sense, am i coming thru. orpheus and eurydice want what they have

[roach45]

dismas….!!!! no!!!!!!!

[perepecha]

Day 2: drink

[mnyehlike]

would it be cheesy of me to say that a tear genuinely came to my eye

[mumbledpie]

How I feel about reymas. 

[esteemed-excellency]

this was one of the best side stories I've ever played I'm devastated now

[clonerightsagenda]

Read the Scarlett and Browne books and while I didn't care for it as much as his other series, I'm fine with Stroud continually rehashing 'angry young woman who wants to explode authority figures with her mind befriends person who can actually explode people with their mind'. Also apparently his #vision is that the first thing a young man does when he drinks the societal kool-aid is invest in a dramatic swooshy jacket.

Finally this is always a dangerous move for an unfinished work but I'm going to preemptively claim Scarlett for my aspec quota because the poor girl tolerates this ditz of a boy because he fills the annoying little brother-shaped hole in her soul but everyone keeps writing sexy pamphlets about them. A victim of amatonormativity if I ever saw one.

[coffee-in-veins]

Chapters: 37/? Fandom: Darkest Dungeon (Video Game) Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Relationships: Crusader/Highwayman (Darkest Dungeon), Reymas, background Jester/Leper (Darkest Dungeon), Minor or Background Relationship(s) Characters: Highwayman (Darkest Dungeon), Crusader (Darkest Dungeon), Jester (Darkest Dungeon), Leper (Darkest Dungeon), Plague Doctor (Darkest Dungeon), Occultist (Darkest Dungeon), Heir (Darkest Dungeon), Grave Robber (Darkest Dungeon), multiple background OC heroes Additional Tags: Non-Linear Narrative, Established Relationship, Denial of Feelings, Fluff and Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Mutual Pining, Sexual Tension, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Survivor Guilt, Drug Abuse, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Self-Loathing, Self-Disregard, Self-Harm, Trauma, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, therapy isn't invented yet, Body Horror, Crimson Curse actually mutates people into bloodsuckers, social segregation, Canon-Typical Violence, Mutilation, Period-Typical Homophobia, this is still Gaylet though, Character Death, i mean it's DD character death is expected here, Dismas creative and explicit cussing, Implied Sexual Content, explicit sexual content in future chapters, Social drama, Religious Bigotry, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, no beta we die like seekers in DD1, Crimson curse (Darkest Dungeon), i'm in reymas hell and it's cozy in here Series: Part 1 of Nowhereland’s Apocrypha Summary:

I do not consent to having my work uploaded onto lore.fm or any similar app with similar functionality or to having my work re-uploaded by anyone else or used for any AI related fuckupery If I will find my work on any of those or similar apps, I will take it as a sign that my works are not needed by my readers and will delete all of them and will not upload any new stories ===

Ruin came to Hamlet, and a new incurable plague sweeps across the lands, turning people into monsters and blurring the line between friend and foe. Amidst the tangled thread of inner fighting, religious hysterics and double-crossing intended to keep the feeble peace, an odd dance takes place: one step forward and two to the side, as a supposedly unbreakable relationship between two unlikely "dearest friends" hobbles time after time over the stumbling stone of their feelings towards each other. But this dance of affection, desires, devotion and lies, however pleasurable and painful, can't last forever. Yet another eldritch horror descends upon surrounding lands, leaving both men wishing that they were if not straight, then at least straightforward with each other from the start.

=== Updates every two weeks, on Tuesday

[jellicle-chants]

Not sure if anyone has ever thought up an Old West/late 19th century Cats non-rep, but boy, do I have a regional production for you:

There's a few other videos from the show on the channel, but otherwise I have no info about who staged this or when. I am incredibly charmed by the costumes, though.

[angrybatart]

Saw the prompt list for "Repostober", but I don't have old stuff saved to my phone. So I'm just redrawing old stuff like I had been planning to for a while.

So here's a redraw of a panel from one of my oldest Darkest Dungeon comics.

The original panel! You'd have to scroll for QUITE A BIT (unless there are shortcuts on pc that mobile doesn't have) to find the full original comic.

[unbearable-lightness-of-ink]

so anyway I took another look at the old hatefic which went on pause because the source material is actually unredeemable but I still really stand by all the bits I added and the ocs and the concept overall so here's what I'm thinking:

actually go through and check which lines are mine and which are sourced so I can be sure I'm not plagiarising any phrasing. it's unlikely bc I remember really hating the source writing style and rewriting lots of entire scenes to be less painful to me but I need to be sure

rework some of the characters and setting to actually work for me, which also gives me tons of leeway for the plot stuff too. scrap anyone who isn't an oc and create ocs to replace anyone who's still necessary

figure out what's going on with all the characters who don't take off on a trauma bonding camping trip

figure out what the actual plot is. there's enough foreshadowing I didn't bother to figure out the meaning of that I should be able to do that, especially since I no longer have to be in any way beholden to the source worldbuilding

assess how gay it is and then make it gayer

[angrybatgaming]

Here you go! The Darkest Dungeon pics I promised!

(It's all on my PS4, so...again...I apologize for the quality...)

Took me 251 weeks to get to where I was in this old file...

And...EVERYBODY has the Crimson Curse! Except this poor Crusader and...like, two or three other heroes.

My last remaining Leper because the others suddenly kept dying. Also this MAY or may NOT be the Leper I based that one comic on. (The one about the Leper confessing to cheating at cards.)

Kept these two alive so far! And Reynauld apparently cured himself of his kleptomania! :D Dismas, however, is still not allowed in the gambling parlor. (Which is fine, as there are plenty of other places I send him for stress relief, and it doesn't affect him negatively.)

Asshole Jester. Makes everyone cry. For no reason.

And here he is! The man! The myth! THE LEGEND! MY BOI!!!!!!!

And now onto why I'm having issues with money...

I'M FILTHY STINKING RICH, AND IT SUCKS. BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING TO SPEND IT ON OUTSIDE OF TREATMENTS, ACTIVITIES, SUPPLIES, AND TRINKETS I ALREADY HAVE.

All because of THIS. I would have made just as much with just a single Antiquarian!

Who is unfortunately sitting in the unemployment office due to the bank. Used to have two, but one of them died of stress. (I swear, I take good care of my heroes. Stupid just likes to happen out of the blue when you least expect it.)

Annnnd that's it. For now. Deciding whether I should continue and finish this campaign, or if I should just start a whole new file. If I continue, I wouldn't mind any advice on what equipment and skills the heroes should have. Or if I should lock or remove certain perks/quirks.

I have at least one (if not multiples) of each hero. The image limit on here won't let me put up screenshots of each and every single one. I'd have to reblog this one to post them all.

[chiropteracupola]

but still I keep your hand, as a precious souvenir...

[wahoo-fish]

Someone in a beloved shared server on discord had a v good idea/kindly allowed me to attempt it as well (*´罒`*)

[kestrelscribe]

Wyvern chasing a griffin chasing an archdemon

Fossils from my years-long Dragon Age hyperfixation.