#misery is cyclical

[minhyongi]

thinking about the fact that Loki's very first comic appearance was him being trapped in a tree and his last mcu appearance was him being trapped in a tree

[clanborn]

13! :3

Good day, back to the beginning

Cycles never-ending, living on the outside

Living on the outside

We're going hungry and we're out of time

Faith in The Child keeps us pretty alright

Just past the dividing line

Between the blessed and cursed of Antimai

Ring 8- Poverty by The Dear Hunter

[acertifiedmoron]

seeing some prophecy discourse which has once again reminded me why i personally find the prospect of dany as the prince that was promised really compelling. and it makes the targaryens so much thematically richer. like, they only survived the doom through the power of prophecy and then the visions marked them forever and this thing, this blessing which gave generations of targaryens some existential meaning eventually morphed into a curse which brought so many of them great misery—"my brothers dreamed of dragons too, and the dreams killed them, every one." (aemon, affc) and in due course almost ended their line once again with rhaegar. but then dany happened.

almost four hundred years since the doom when prophecy saved them and nearly killed them again on the trident, dany was born. dany who carries echoes of all her targaryen ancestors within her. she's aegon the conqueror come again but she's also maegor the cruel when she promises the khals who had hurt her khalasar would die screaming. she's rhaenyra in her struggles to wield power and establish legitimacy as a woman, she shares her sense of egalitarianism with egg, and she drinks from the cup passed from rhaegar, i.e. inherits (what he once thought of) his narrative destiny to help defend the realms during the long night.

dany who is both their beginning, since she's the first targaryen created and introduced to us on page and the narrative end point of their dynasty. which reflects all the way into her arc being cyclical by design as it calls back to the foundation of the valyrian empire in essos—during the fifth war the freehold torched old ghis with dragonfire so nothing would grow there again and centuries later this girl, the last dragon, is going to help plant trees there again. it's not about retreading old ground or rejecting her house words but about redefining what it means to be the blood of the dragon. which is not to say all that came before her was meaningless since this recontextualisation is only possible through the three centuries of ancestral history weighing on her. and dany's very existence echoes back in time because the prophecy itself has influenced the lives of generations of targaryens. three hundred years of history, all the glory and the horror concentrated in this one person-point. the prince that was promised not simply as a figure of the long night but as someone who is the apotheosis of their house. dany as both their beginning and their end, because the iron throne is presently a symbol of stagnation, a world in stasis, and it has to go. no restoration, instead the old world dying in fire and a new world being born in the aftermath.

[pseudowho]

Pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder

So, while I normally don't post hypersensitive things about me on here, I'm going to share an important thing I'm going through.

Since I've had children, and my menstrual cycles have become more regular (as they often do once you've had children), it's become apparent that patches of anxiety and depression that I've had since my teens, are actually cyclical, and related entirely to the progesterone spike that women experience post-ovulation.

This progesterone spike makes most women a bit hornier, a bit more emotional with some mood swings, bloated with sore boobs, a bit hungrier. This is what's called PMS.

For me, this progesterone spike ties me up and throws me into the back seat of a car. Someone else is driving and all I can do is watch on in mute horror as they drive. I become irrational, hyper-anxious, suicidal, aggressive, unable to cope with even the most basic daily demands, my hips hurt badly, I'm exhausted but can't sleep, and I cannot see a way out of the dark.

Having been diagnosed now as severe and at risk, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, with a wonderful doctor who is an ex-colleague of mine, placing me on a new treatment of continuous oestrogen patches (almost like nicotine patches), to stop ovulation and stop that deadly progesterone peak.

It means I will no longer have periods and no longer go through the monthly hormonal changes that cause me so much misery, and turn me into someone that I know I'm not.

While it will likely take some dose titration to get the dose perfect for me, I actually cried with happiness when she handed me the prescription which may actually save my life.

And all for free, on our wonderful NHS.

Just a small snippet of my life behind the writing. Like I said, I don't normally share much about things like this. Just fancied it this evening.

As always, the wonderful @mrhaitch is my safe haven.

If you're interested and have read this far, thank you! Writing continues to be my chiefest method of relaxation, and I love coming to play.

All my love, as always,

☝️ @mrhaitch when I'm finally better, probably.

-- Haitch xxx

[kaurwreck]

I think Dazai, while young, became attached to Natsume when Natsume was lonely and so was he (which is why he calls him Sensei in the Dark Era, like the protagonist in Kokoro); that Natsume brought Dazai to Mori after Dazai attempted suicide (which is why Dazai never touches him in Bar Lupin, why Natsume follows him from the Port Mafia to his meeting with Taneda and then to the Agency, why Dazai knows Natsume well enough to allude to his history to Tanizaki and to recieve the jump drive Natsume brings him in the Cannibalism arc— Dazai knows him); and that Natsume performed a partial skill transfer similar to Kyouka's mother to ensure it could not come that close ever again (and that's why Dazai is one of the few if not only touch/contact-based skill users whose is involuntary).

I think No Longer Human isn't merely nullification, I think (similar to how Bram's skill reverses death but through the framework of vampirism and Atsushi's slices skills and regenerates in addition to his transformations), there is more to Dazai's skill such that it precludes him from dying (which is why he can stand in front of a hail of bullets and be thrown by Chuuya through several buildings in the Port Mafia, why he can't seem to commit suicide successfully, why Kunikida and Chuuya remark on his preternatural inability to die, why Dazai says to both Atsushi and Fyodor with such certainty "you can't kill me," and, cheekily, why Kunikida tells Dazai in 55 Minutes "You're no longer human! You've lost that right!" when Dazai says he finally managed to die, however briefly).

I think Natsume's skill bends reality in the shape of the narrative structure over which he had such mastery and he decided that whoever he failed to snatch from the cyclical jaws of misery and suicide before (again, borrowing from Kokoro), he would not let this boy die; and how cruel that must have felt at first (which is why Dazai hates pain— he's been denied the easiest escape from it that he knows), but how reality bent to weave a narrative such that Dazai could be saved again and again in such a way that might shatter Koroko's inescapable loneliness (this is why, in 55 Minutes, it's implied HG Wells might not have existed, might have been an apparition from an earlier era, as if reality itself rippled space and time to reconjure someone who made sense to protect Dazai when it seemed unlikely anyone else could; why Akutagawa happened to have business there; why Akutagawa and Atsushi happened to cross paths).

It's well known that the titular cat in I Am a Cat is a calico. But, the story was based on Natsume's IRL cat, who was a black, striped cat. And aren't Dazai's bandages a little like stripes?

[katyspersonal]

LRB Marika IS an more complicated character than someone who wanted control and power, of course. In a way, she hates the nature of life itself. Rulers raising only to fall, civilisations forming only to rot into the point of being overthrown and replaced with new ones, biomes forming only to be destroyed by new natural disasters... births happening only for there to be deaths. Endless torment cycle of life and death, in history, nature, and everything else that exists or will exist.

Like, you can't blame her either. I think many people wondered whether it'd be better to stop it and reach perfection, stability and immortality. Heaven promised in many religions touches the similar concept after all - no more pain, destruction, turmoil and deaths. And it IS ironic how the entity that had that perfection, Greater Will itself, didn't want that and searched those cycles instead. And Marika experienced being treated as just another cycle first hand, when it decided it was time for her to go and be replaced by Gloam-Eyed Queen. But I feel like she might have seen the larger picture than just her authority and power being threatened, because that low blow was just a part of the larger "issue" - how life itself works. She is Eternal maybe not in vain, but to become the 'face' of the rebellious concept of stopping the cycle and ensuring stability, the same thing forever. She manifests that idea of stability, and then does it again when she counts on Tarnisheds to battle into eternity. Because eternal battle with no winner is ALSO stability, it is ALSO a way to halt the vicious wheel from taking new turns.

In other words, she sees a sadistic design in the cycles, maybe more sadistic than whatever oppression she could have forced on others to establish the stability. Fromsoft consistently mocks the pursuit for not letting the fire die that ultimate stability in their works, so it is clear what side THEY take. Because, yes, like Melina said, it is beautiful that new life will still sprout from death. The cycles are not only misery, but also joy, and hope, and enjoying what you can when you are STILL here. And earlier than that, Ancestral Followers understood this idea and they could not be more happy! But I always loved that characters who dread the cyclic nature are given respect and can be sympathetic, they are never treated as simply ignorant, vain villains in the writing

[doublel27]

Only Boo ep 8 was such a lovely close to the second act and to throw us into the fire of act 3. I’m so pleased with this show and it’s current plotting. I’m hoping it stays here, but it’s seeded the upcoming drama so well that I don’t worry about it feeling forced.

They really did a wonderful job of showing how deep in this relationship both Moo and Kang have become before sending them off from their romantic bubble to some larger problems as the tensions of their dreams will come into focus.

In the first episode, Moo’s mom sent him out of Bangkok to focus on his studies, hoping giving him a slower and less distracting setting would force him to buckle down. And in that way we’ve really been in a bubble the first two acts. We have the school, the dormitory which has the restaurant on the first floor, the food cart circle at the park in the evenings and the gazebo as our main settings. All of our main characters aside from Moo have been living in their typical patterns and Moo has been the disrupter.

But now, we are shifting gears and the boys are heading to Bangkok. We are leaving the safety of our bubble and going to the big city. This is Moo’s territory and we are adding in three characters who have lived relatively cyclical lives up to this point.

It’s a huge change and shift that, to the directors point comes with discomfort or as was pointed out by @happypotato48 is better translated to misery and you need to hold on to what makes you happy through it.

As for Moo himself, he’s held onto Kang as his happiness through the change of being sent away to school. Now Moo feels he’s gotten all of his dreams (mostly, but just being in the New Wave competition feels like a win), but the reality is both of his dreams are potentially in conflict with each other, as Neth pointed out this episode.

Now with our new changes, we have Moo, Tae and Yos competing as 3/10 contestants in a reality show which is going to remain a strain on these characters who trained to get here together. They’re not just competing against the other contestants, but each other. And knowing Yos doesn’t want it but is actually incredibly talented…delicious.

Additionally, we have Kang leaving home and moving in with his boyfriend and agreeing/suggesting to keep their relationship a secret for Moo’s benefit. That’s a lot of change for a man whose life up to this point, following his father’s death especially, has mostly contained his mother and Neth and his customers. Even Neth tells Moo very few people have ever been able to see past Kang’s hard exterior and speech. And he’s slowly allowed himself to accept his feelings for Moo and dream again, but it’s going to be a huge shift for him.

There’s likely going to be some stress of being in a new space with new routines, as moving in with a significant other is hard no matter how attached to the other you were before moving in. Then, Moo being involved in the competition as well as Kang going to art school. Being kept a secret in general is also really hard, especially if you’re away from your usual support system as Kang will be. He doesn’t strike me as someone who would push Moo to come out, because of how willing he was to offer to keep it a secret. Not to mention we know his mom has some back issues…which her health could crop up again in the future as an issue that pulls his attention away from school. As @respectthepetty has pointed out, Kang is our bluest boy, and blue boys are often so committed to duty they can martyr themselves for others. I would not be surprised if Kang makes some choices in service of doing what’s best for his mom, Moo, or realistically Both.

I really cannot wait.

[dirtyrottenimbeecile]

love pre hiatus fall out boy and they way they encapsulate the anguish and destruction and hypersexuality and romanticism of misery and inner turmoil of cyclical self loathing to malice that goes on inside when having a car crash brain and a black hole heart.

[saintmachina]

Closing out your twenties brings many joys and gentle lessons but it also really drives home that yes, many of your cyclical miseries are self-inflicted.

[evilios]

My thoughts on Winter Harvest by Ioanna Papadoupoulou will be under the cut. I have a lot to say about this book, praising and critical alike.

TL;DR: I liked it a lot. The main plotline is interesting, there's enough action sequences and enough dialogue part. It doesn't feel heavy or hard to read. Inclusion of minor mythological entities is a good choice. There are some narrative choices I personally wish were toned down but they worked for the story. I have some critique about certain characterization choices. Overall, solid 8/10.

Anything under the cut will contain spoilers for the plot of the book. I don't think I can spoil the Hymn to Demeter to anyone reading this, but the specific narrative choices are mentioned further.

Click for a detailed review:

This book is written and published in English as the author resides in Scotland, and I have to offer praise to her language. It remains relatively light throughout the narration and doesn't drop in register, allowing you to feel the divinity of her characters. A lot of myth retellings forget that the Gods that speak like modern humans do not create this sense of separation from humanity. In this narration, the Gods speak like the Gods would. Aside from maybe two or three times when we hear Demeter swear out of frustration, her speech remains lifted and mature.

I found the splitting of the book into chapters titled as seasons a very smart choice. We start in Winter, we end in Spring. Not of the same year, not even of consecutive years. I think it creates the cyclical nature of the text that any retelling featuring Demeter requires.

Next are lists of things I liked, felt neutral about, and disliked about specifically the plot of the book.

Things I liked:

All action is set in different parts of Greece that align with the areas of this or that cult of Demeter.

Demeter is the protagonist, at last.

Her motherly grief and rage are shown very explicitly. There are chapters that nearly entirely center around her changing emotions and a lot of the author's commentary is devoted to exploring her feelings.

She has tangible, strong bonds with other characters, a lot of them being women. I loved the bond she has with Hestia a lot, and her distant care for Hera is very sweet.

Demeter has a steady, prominent character growth. A lot of myth retellings go down the path of girl-bossing their main characters or turning them hostile, but she seems to follow a very "leveled" path of development. She learns to care for the children she first left behind, show compassion after being thrust into misery, and more.

DEMETER MELAINA MENTION.

But, seriously, the author is very clearly closely familiar with various epithets ascribed to Demeter in Boeotia and Arcadia. All of her main ones and two more rarely seen ones are mentioned, and she acquires them slowly as she goes through changes within herself.

This story closely follows the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and dwells on some local myths, it's very detailed.

There are a lot of "minor" mythological characters that are mentioned in the story. Entities such as Despoina or Arion that I never see mentioned in H&P retellings play a bigger role than just a footnote.

MINTHE MENTION.

Triptolemus' plotline is very nice, I like when retellings don't forget about him. Their connection with Demeter is very pleasant to witness.

Demeter is Scary just like how I like her.

The establishment of the Eleusinian Mysteries is a big focus.

As for other Olympians, I adore characterization for Hestia. She feels warm and welcoming all throughout the story and even her moments of anger feel more like frustration than wrath.

Hekate is characterized in a very positive manner. Her presence isn't long-lasting but I like that she and Demeter have a positive interaction and part on friendly terms.

Helios is there, he's pretty chill. He feels monumental and revered.

Poseidon, despite his... questionable motivation, is very realistic, if I can say that about a God. His temper, anger, ruthlessness are very palpable. He's well written.

Persephone's marriage is shown as more of an equally beneficial agreement that she personally enjoys despite her inner fear. While the abduction is still criticized, there's a part of Minthe's speech that shows she's more of an equal to Hades.

Persephone's characterization is overall rather sweet. Also I like that she gets to meet her siblings.

Things I felt neutral about that worth noting:

Due to how visceral and raw most of the narration is, we are shown, in rather precise physical detail, the process of swallowing of the children by Kronos as well as multiple instances of childbirth. I wasn't put off by it, I found it necessary for the story, but some readers might want to know.

The author follows the myths where Demeter is repeatedly forced into submission by her brothers, which is something that I personally read as metaphorical but readers might need to be warned that the book contains scenes of sexual assault.

This book follows the... version? that "Kore" is Persephone's first name, and it MAKES SENSE in this book's plot, but it's worth noting that "Kore" just means "girl, young maiden". I'm not sure if it was ever actually meant as a name or as a title of her in a cult.

Hades is not given many lines but there's a "brother I loved the most" thing with him and Demeter, and I found it interesting. I see why she'd be the closest to the God dwelling underground and I like that choice but not enough to focus on it as one of my favorites.

Things I disliked:

The characterization I liked the least across all female Divinities is Hera. While she is definitely a cunning woman who knows what to do to get what she wants, she's also put in the position of the victim. On one hand, I understand this choice. On the other, I'd like to see more happy Hera who loves her husband. Theogamia and all.

Most of the male Deities are more negative than they are positive. I realize that this is Demeter's POV and to her, they might have come off so, but it would be nice to see someone besides Hades show some semblance of positive qualities.

Zeus is mostly arrogant, pushy, and violent. It serves the narrative but I wish there was more of the saving, helpful, caring God he is in cult. His characterization is very one-sided.

Hermes has a very episodic role in the story but for the short time he is present, he kind of acts like a bit of an ass.

There are scenes where Demeter is unnecessarily cruel to certain female characters, namely spring nymphs that didn't see who kidnapped Persephone. I didn't like that scene.

Overall, I liked this book. I recommend it if you're tired of retellings that try to focus on a woman but end up making her resentful towards everyone she meets or turn her into a girlboss that doesn't need anyone's help.

Also. This line:

[m1nd-r0t]

Random asteroids, and their meanings

270 Anahita : Nurturing, abusive, and being blameless.

465 Alekto : Expression of hatred, the desire to punish.

36672 Sidi : Abuse/betrayal by a loved one, need to distinguish justice from revenge, fury, need for coolness and restraint, a prodigy.

949 Hel : Hell. What part of your life is Hell and where you feel it. Your own personal Hell and place of suffering and torment, and in some cases inflicting that suffering onto others.

1063 Aquilegia : Pathos, loss, misery and terror; tragedy, destruction or victimization of things fragile and precious that are or deserve protection; to protect and defend that which warrants protection; to exploit negativity for political reasons or in order to advance an unrelated, perhaps selfish agenda.

7724 Moroso : The physical aspects of death, violent death and terminal sickness, impending fated doom, being wrathfully torn apart. (You can hide for as long as you want, but I will always find you. After all, fate is inevitable, and so am I ~ MOROS)

110298 Deceptionisland : Self-explanatory.

774 Armor : Also self-explanatory.

(248835) 2006 SX368 : Symbolism and the Eternal Return. Transcending the mundane. A new beginning born from the source in the original beginning that one seeks to return to in order to find meaning. Spiritual nourishment by reexperiencing and participating through myth and ritual in the source, the beginning which contains the only reality available. Narrative, Drama, The dramatic idea through unification of choreography and musical composition. Reinventing oneself. Jealousy about the inner spark that you feel you lack. Nostalgic yearning for the mythic beginning that is ever beyond your reach, but that you can mystically participate in through ritualized behavior. Beginnings and what evolves from them. The spiraling cyclic natural pattern. UFO’s and aliens as our spiritual roots (seeding the planet). Drama and dance as ways to experience the Eternal Return. To come back or return in a new form. Repetitive circles of slightly varied operation. Dramatic extremes. Immense unexplainable loss. Rediscovering the mythic, archetypal wisdom of the past. Seeing the past as better, truer, more fulfilling.

[the-red-thread-that-strangles]

It tugs, sometimes. Curious and foolish.

That traitorous heart mana of his, reaching out, drawing in, seeking connection in the way that's in their blood, their soul, their nature. Synchronicity.

Rei's not known it, before.

Where other demons might be attuned to family, Rei has no one to claim the spot. So, his heart mana sings, unblemished, its lonely little sonata, the song of his homeland. All there is to him, granted by air and earth and starlight.

He has so much to give, and yet, it isn't good enough. Discordant, they say. Human, they snarl, disgust evident in their tones.

Thus, growing up Rei learns to compose himself. Pushes himself to the brink in order to rewrite his heartbeat's melody. Puts himself out there, gets stronger, richer in experience, whenever he draws back. Over and over and over again.

Until one day, pushing himself past reason, he almost doesn't return.

But while he hasn't been looking, a new melody has taken residence by his side. Soft and steady high notes, barely perceptible.

Morofushi Hiromitsu, faded, yet giving himself so generously.

Rei hears him, takes him in and amplifies the notes he's given, until others may do so, too. Until Hiro may do it himself.

Their hearts mana, separate but inseparable, resonating in response.

And Rei's called back home.

.

Rye is low notes, a deep bass, slow and steady.

He could enrich their harmony, if only he wasn't so gratingly offbeat.

Rye's unrefined and ever-contradicting himself. Cold and uncaring, yet bleeding red like the rest of them. A long-ranged combatant, always too close. The smartest fool Rei ever has had the displeasure of meeting.

He takes Rei's heart mana greedily, gives it back tenfold.

Then he takes Scotch's, and their tentative song, not yet given voice, dissolves into dissonant whispers.

.

When they meet again, Rei doesn't want to feel Akai's heart mana for the longest time.

It's too painfully familiar, echoes of the past still trapped reverberating within. Misery-in-resonance almost dusts Rei.

It's his duty to be here, and so he stays, but there's others to preoccupy himself with.

So, he remains a careful distance away from Akai. Doesn't see the muted melancholy wrapped around him until it's too late, until Akai's almost gone dark and quiet.

When he heals Akai, he pours all of his heart mana into him. Their hearts still sing the same tune, after all these years, discordant notes and all.

.

The journey is too perilous to allow them senseless grudges. Their lives are one. If either falls, the story ends.

They rely on each other's mana like air, sharing desperate breaths like drowning men in a land that wants to drag them under.

What even is left of their individual songs? It doesn't matter, anymore. They've shared so much it really is one and the same, disjointed notes smoothed out through time and touch and trial, into an elegy for Scotch.

.

As they finally reach tentative harmony, they rip themselves apart.

.

There is dissonance in Demon Lord Furuya’s heart. A furious ache that even Hiro's return can't soothe.

But he has a duty, to his land and his people. He can't stop to rest. Besides, the one to replenish his heart mana, he who's grown so good at it over the years, has left, exiled by Rei's own hand.

Akai is a fool, but so is Rei.

He clings to the thrum of Akai's low warm notes, barely an echo within himself.

.

Da capo al coda, the cyclical rhythm of life remains the same.

Rei's still not good enough.

He's bested their best. He's saved the realms. And all that matters, in the end, is that they see his heart mana, and find it lacking.

But he's no longer the lonely manaspawn he once was. His song no longer just his own.

He's holding the position through skill and strategy, through force of personality. With the help of friends and allies gathered on his journey.

They'll have to listen to his tune, this time.

.

The key, of course, is an argument.

Their feverish crescendo crashes into mellow adagio - along with their lips.

Rei knows, then: if no one else accepted him, the boundless love in Akai's heart would be enough to supply his heart mana for as long as he lives.

It's exhilarating, to share every last bit of himself, to accept all of Shuuichi in turn. Synchronized in full, for now and as long as they live.

Pulsating, between them, the potential to compose a new melody, together. Point and counterpoint. Bright and warm and vibrant and home.

.

When he takes Akai's hand, leads him to the dancefloor, the festive joy of friends and family soaking the ambient mana with joyous ringing, it's enough to put pressure even on Rei's heart mana.

He can't help thinking that this should've been so much easier. But theirs has never been the easy way.

And it's not the conclusion, but the overture to their new life, together.

The waltz of their future, a thunderous symphony.

.

@floofiestboy's Demon King Furuya AkAm AU is giving me too many feelings. Go read it here.

[neversetyoufree]

Good chapter!! I'm too tired to try and parse through most of that text (because hooboy is there a lot of dialogue in this chapter), but what I could read is super intriguing!!

I love that we're directly calling out the cyclical nature of trauma and violence between vampires here! And of course I love seeing the awful truth of Roland and Astolfo's falling out. I love when suicidal misery drives somebody to horrible violence. Sure hope that doesn't have any relevance for other characters :).

It also feels to me like we're shifting away from this bit of chasseur backstory now, what with the whole "who will play next" transition, which is promising. I dunno if we're going back to the mains yet, but as much as I enjoy getting Astolfo lore, I'm very excited to see what this next present-day arc is actually going to bring.

I'm still convinced the next arc is gonna be a Noé-centric arc, which, combined with how this chapter ended, creates some fascinating possibilities.

[hollowchaoscrescent]

Hi! This is me asking for your post-canon Dracfield thoughts! How would Renfield gain the upper hand? What would their dynamic be like? In what fun ways would Renfield torment Dracula, and how does he react? 😃 And/or any of your thoughts you'd like to share 🖤

I'm a big ole fan of Renfield manipulating Dracula in his weak state by regulating/witholding what he eats and doing the most fucked up Misery-type micromanagement. A caretaker that doesn't have your best interests in mind can Fuck Things Up in very inventive ways.

ALSO there is a magic route. If Dracula can be restricted in a circle, like a demon, why can't he be bound by spells to do man's bidding? My favourite manga answers this question... (quickly plugs Hellsing) and we can use the same mechanic with Robert ordering Dracula around. In this case he might be at his Full, somehow ethically-sourced Power, and still have to obey Renfield's every whim.

Speaking of the dynamics, I imagine Dracula as a brat. Someone who has to be forced into submission, but gets aroused by it and enjoys it, with humiliation only making the guilty pleasure stronger. I see Robert as a patient and strict, no-nonsense Dom, who sometimes gets carried away. And Dracula has to suffer (and enjoy) all the pent-up aggression Renfield's releasing.

Now, to the Torments. I love the idea of Dracula being forced to do housework and held to the same impossible standard Renfield was. Extra points if Robert stands in the way of actually getting shit done because he stimulates and fucks Dracula. The toy buried deep in Dracula's ass that starts vibrating when Renfield uses an app on his phone is a good example of that. And if the vampire breaks the dish he's washing... guess he'll be punished for that one, too. Also, Dracula would have to put his rusty Imitating Human 101 skills to good use, because Robert would force him to be civilised in social situations. Please and thank you, not biting people's heads off and NO more manipulations, naturally. If Dracula gets a good mark for a social interaction (normal to want and possible to achieve), he gets some more action. And if he doesn't... I imagine vampires as very sexual creatures, so a chastity belt is very much in the question. Revealing clothes at home, red bitemarks all over the skin from Renfield drinking his fill, being forced to sleep on the floor... the list is endless, and Robert has no reason to stop, because Dracula had done the same or worse for years.

I imagine Dracula having pretty cyclical reactions for this — initial rejection, trying to look proud and indignant, but sinking lower and lower, becoming more and more submissive as his needs, his hunger and lust, get the best of him. He can be very sweet when he wants something, but he immediately tries to act like nothing happened the moment the afterglow fades. Of course, Renfield never lets him forget that things changed, and have a few of very physical reminders, like a collar, at hand.

[everyones-least-favorite-bard]

thinking about 0th yjhs decision to regress

he just wanted to know his purpose!! he wanted to know why he was made, and made to be so loved!!!! to want to know what future he must have lived to have been so beloved by the stars themselves GOD

and 51 kdj/od knowing he is going to suffer and knowing the utter misery he is going to be put through AOUGH OUGH AGH

hsy writing yjh to be loved , ,,yjh living thousands of lives to come to love kdj, ,,,kdj reading those lives and sharing that love with 1863 hsy THE CYCLICAL NATURE OF LOVE AND DEVOTION

[skybristle]

[RBS > LIKES]

if you saw me post this last night no you didnt it got 2 notes and i got sad. something about the Parrelels between these two man even under incredibly different circumstances and emotions binding them to it. blind determination and stubborness as you walk right on in to hell's doors. [transcript below cut if you need it]

[Glacé Berry] "...Messenger?" [Messenger] "Hm??" [Glacé Berry] "I-I've been thinking. Admittedly, long before we really met." [Glacé Berry] "-About the cyclical nature of the lives we lead. Me, perpetuated further into my misery by rage and the animal instinct to survive. You, something else, as your sister has told me, but all the same nonetheless..." [Glacé Berry] "Eventually, inevitably, we will have to let go. As I have known for a long time, the current will bring us downstream some day." [Messenger] "..." [Messenger] "I know." [Messenger] "I won't stop swimming against the tide, not yet. Not until no-one else is drowning upstream." [Messenger] "After all..." [Messenger] "I tossed plenty in there myself."