#nightmares from the depths

[fhtagn-and-tentacles]

STAR SPAWN OF CTHULHU

by Nightserpent

[beastlyidiocy]

[hipsternumbertwo]

Hatchetfield Characters Google Search - Lex Foster [insp]

[vse-kar-vem]

together in every universe. or something

[lotrmusical]

haven't talked enough about how good the watermill lament for moria is. i will never recover

[fellthemarvelous]

Can we please talk about the Department Of Government Efficiency??

They're literally calling it DOGE.

Send help.

Fuck Donald Trump.

[acerikus]

It's always so funny to me when I see people say things like 'uty will never be undertale!' and list all the things they think it did wrong/inaccurately to the og game. Don't get me wrong I think it's completely valid to not enjoy it for those reasons, but at the same time it's a non-toby fox game that I never felt tried too hard to PRETEND to be a toby fox game, y'know?

There's quite a few things I think it misses the mark on when it comes to canon compliance with undertale, but I don't really mind that tbh (especially when it gave us such a fun fanon take on flowey, which is pretty damn accurate to undertale even if it doesn't make sense with the timeline and even if itd makes him a little too developed by the time frisk falls to make sense). To me, uty is a game that takes place in a world SIMILAR to undertale, by different people, that isn't quite trying to do the same thing. It doesn't have the same soul as undertale sure, but it doesn't need to. Different games serve different purposes and especially w the context of yellow being a completely free project done in fans' time as a labour of love to a game that they enjoyed, I think they did a pretty damn good job.

(again this isn't me throwing shade at people who don't like it, more an excuse for me to get some of my own thoughts out about the game lol)

[fruitsofhell]

One of my new surfacing gripes with FF7R is how a lot of moments from the original game that rested heavily on player investment seem completely stripped out of the remake in favor of everything being a constant 60 hour long movie experience.

Like every now and then I hear the original game get shit for not taking its political messaging seriously at certain key set-pieces that are too game-y and chill like Costa Del Sol and the Gold Saucer, but that's not the whole picture when you consider how much control the player has over the party in that game. Costa Del Sol was just where you landed on the next continent and there was like a guy or two to talk to to point you in the other direction, a few lighthearted interactions to break up the fucked up shit that happened on the boat ride over, and then you could leave. The idea that the original Costa Del Sol indulged in the tourist trap goes only as far as how you as a player approached the space, if you got to Costa Del Sol and felt "Oh, this is a shitty Shinra colonial project I hate it here" you could book it outta there and maintain some of that disgust, but you fucking can't in the remake and its horrible.

For some fucking reason the boat ride over is on a cruise ship instead of a military vessel like before, so instead of a funny moment of humanizing the soldiers by being miserable with them, you get this fucking card tournament quest where everyone is suddenly SUPER into all this shit and doesn't care about any of the obvious underlying bullshit of the boat? And then its even worse when you get to Costa Del Sol because likefhsjkdhf? Everyone is OK with this glaring parallel to real world colonization and exploitation of island nations? Even Barret who literally had an amusement park built on the ashes of his home village by the people who burnt it down? EVEN YUFFIE WHO'S WHOLE SHTICK IS HOW HER HOME WAS INVADED AND TURNED INTO A TOURIST TRAP????

I cannot speak 100% for the original, because I remember it also missing these opportunities and besides that my memory is hazy, but its the fact that it wasn't flooded with all these ridiculous cutscenes and extra set-pieces that force you into experiencing areas a certain way, and a way that is just really fucking OOC?? And like for as OOC as the original could be, THE REMAKE IS 25 YEARS YOUNGER AND WISER THAN IT, PICK UP THE SLACK? But instead we get a fucking beach episode where you can put the girlies in bikinis or some shit. It's such a waste.

I can't think of like a single moment of subtly that the Remake retained from the originals. And it DOES have them under all the silly tonal whiplash stuff that the Remake cranks up to an unhealthy extent.

[icharchivist]

ok im sharing because it's been my theory for years and i was surprised when i realized it's not something i really see in the fandom? (granted i do avoid the fandom a bit but i've been lurking since da4 was announced)

But i'm like. convinced. deep in my bones. that the Nightmare Demons in DAI is actually Fear from Dirthamen's codex entry. And Envy is Deceit.

they're also mentioned in Falon'Din's codex entry like this:

Nightmare's realm is full of the Crow's status we usually see in Kirkwall, which would make sense to link to Dirthamen. (also note how the first pieces of Red Lyrium and Corypheus himself are found under Kirkwall, which has adopted the Double Raven's Iconography as its own. Note also that the Lost Temple of Dirthamen is on the other side of the sea, nearby the Free Marches, possibly implying the Free Marches used to be Dirthamen's domain -- especially since Inquisition calls the Double Raven's aesthetics "Free Marches" in the decor settings).

Yet we're in Orlais, and while the Fade does what the Fade does, it's odd to see this iconography here after we associated it to the Free Marches for so long. Unless it represents Dirthamen's minions even more so than the Free Marches. (especially since otherwise we see the Double Raven in Elven Ruins or, even more accurately so, in the Shattered Library, place of Knowledge (which is credited to Dirthamen), in which "Librarians" are currently turned into Terror Demons alike to Nightmare.)

Nightmare's realm is also where we find that one codex that is most likely about the Evanuris talking through the Blight:

Nightmare=Fear makes so much sense to me. It's a Fear Demon. It has knowledge of the Blight, the ravens are everywhere in this realm, and this codex would suggest it is working with Corypheus because it knows it can help the Evanuris be freed one day.

Meanwhile the other demon who actively helps Corypheus is Envy, from the Champion of the Just questline. A Demon who physically approaches the appearance of Terror Demons, who swap its appearances to look like the people it envies, deceiving people all around in order to start shit. In COTJ the Bad Future is told to us by Envy showing what it intends to do once it takes our appearance- making US be the one person to deceive our allies to do Corypheus' bidding.

in the myth, Fear and Deceit were left without master to wander the Fade and prey on the souls of the Deads. The idea that they could be lurking, waiting for someone with whom they could team up?

And who's best to help the ex-representant of Dumat, God Of Silence, than the two minions of the God Of Secrets?

[girlfromthecrypt]

The sea breeds giants. So did I.

(TW: forced impregnation; non-graphic, basically implied. Also non-human.)

When I was young, I became aware of a peculiar talent of mine. When in the sea, I can dive as deep as I want without ever having to come up for air. The pressure seems to have no effect on me, either. The ocean turned into my playground.

I was born and bred in a small coastal town. Growing up, I came to know by heart the sound of the waves crashing against the rugged shore and the smell of salt carried across the land by every breeze, hanging in the air with every breath. My parents were never reluctant to let me go swimming by myself. Whether that was out of faith and trust in nature or simple negligence I'll never know, but I was grateful for it nonetheless. I wouldn't have had it any other way. When I went down to the beach, I would always go alone. I'd always return to the same desolate little spot that was all my own. Nobody ever found me there. Nobody ever wandered by.

I started, quite literally, testing the waters. I'd stay under for longer each time, exploring new depths at every opportunity. The further I swam, the more I saw of the world below. The masses of water didn't crush me as they would have a similarly unprotected body.

The volume of air in my lungs never seemed to decrease with my descension, and I never felt so much as a hint of pain when surfacing. I could open my eyes and my vision would be just as good as on land. Furthermore, I could swim faster than what should have been possible. Occasionally, I'd get so lost in the motion that I'd swim for a couple minutes only to then come up, turn and find that I couldn't see the shore anymore.

I did encounter a bunch of creatures that had intentions of eating me, but I was able to escape every last one of them, always getting away without so much as a scratch. Sometimes, I actually found it exhilarating. I know just how dumb I was being, willfully putting myself into danger, but at the time, I felt invincible.

There I was, a tiny human exploring the dark, vast expanses others were so intimidated by—all on my own. It was a deeply spiritual experience. I was by myself, sometimes so deep underwater that I could hardly see the light from above at all anymore. It was these pitch-black spaces that truly intrigued me. While I could see much better in the darkness than most people, it was still kind of… off-limit. These areas somehow struck me as distinctly more threatening, more dangerous and unnerving than just the wide, open sea.

They were yawning, abysmal maws, practically brimming with mystery. Then one day, I just… did it. I swam further and dove deeper than ever before. I plunged into the darkness, into the murky cold. I had never minded the freezing temperatures, and I didn't now. I was solely focused on what was below, without a clue on what I expected to find. I figured there had to be something amazing. Or perhaps there was nothing there for me to see. Maybe I was simply doing it to prove to myself that I could go the distance.

Perhaps I really didn't think I would discover much. Which made it all the more surprising when I spotted a greenish-blue glow in the distance. It immediately drew my attention and I started moving towards it, slower than before but just as deliberate. While a primal sense of dread began to creep further up in my chest with every stroke that carried me closer to the unearthly light, my curiosity far outweighed my apprehension. The colder and deeper it got, the brighter it became. Where in the world was it coming from?

I kept steadfastly heading towards it, until I could finally make out the source. When I realized it, I stopped, freezing mid-movement. Floating in the dark masses of water, seemingly endless widths and depths both above and below me, I was hovering motionlessly in the void of space. And staring at me from within the blackness beneath was an enormous glowing eye.

It sat within a horrid face, above a mouth so big it could have easily swallowed me whole, and a dozen people more. It opened its maw a mere slither, revealing rows upon rows of needle teeth, each one longer than I was tall. The body this head was attached to was so gargantuan that the better part of it remained invisible to me, hidden in the nebulous spheres of the bottom. I cannot describe to you the fear that I felt in that moment.

It wasn't just the terrifying sight in front of me, not just the teeth and glowing eyes; it was the sheer size of this monstrosity. I suddenly felt like I was merely a grain of sand on a big, long beach—a tiny speck among billions so easily carried away with each lap of the tide. If I was the grain, then this was the wave. Hulking, mighty, boundless; unaware of such a minute little being as myself, unaware and uncaring. If this creature were to swallow me, I would forever be forgotten, and it would live on none the wiser of my panic in the face of its vastness.

I stayed perfectly still, floating in place despite the icy currents pushing and pulling at my body. Stayed perfectly still, my blood frozen, my heart in my stomach as the snake's giant eyes bored into me. I knew then and there that I had been wrong.

This being was aware of me. And when I heard the voice in my head, the tiniest of whispers, I realized that it was even more than that.

"You are very small for a thing with purpose."

I don't know how I responded. I suppose I simply thought the words, but somehow, the Ancient did hear my question.

"What are you?" I asked the thing in the dark.

"I am."

"Are you going to kill me?"

"Not if I can help it."

Despite the relatively soothing nature of these words, there was an undertone to the murmur they were spoken in. There was calculation there, raw and vicious.

"Will you let me go?"

"Afterwards."

I kept staring, my thoughts racing as I feverishly contemplated whether to flee or to linger. Something told me that if I moved a single muscle, I would be sucked into the space behind those needle teeth within a heartbeat.

"I have a need for you."

My throat constricted when a strange fog seemed to ooze from the creature's body; swirling, misty tendrils mixing with the water and enveloping me in their strange pale haze.

"What is this?" my mind cried out in terror.

I struggled, kicking and flailing to maneuver my rigid form out of this strangely contaminated zone. For the first time in my life, swimming did not come effortlessly. Through my clouded vision, I could see the unearthly green light slowly fading as the Ancient shut his eyes, masses of water shifting as it sank down to the very bottom once more.

I was then hurled up to the surface by a current that dragged me almost the entire way back to shore. I was swept onto dry land by the waves, and on the beach I laid, trembling in the summer sun as my eyes gazed into the far too bright sky. When I was found, I was burnt and blistered and covered in my own vomit. A group of surfers happened upon me by chance and took me to a nearby hospital. It took three of them to carry me. My stomach had swollen to the size of a beach ball.

The doctors couldn't explain it. Neither to myself nor my parents. Without ever having known intimate human contact, I was pregnant. The unborn baby was growing rapidly. I was rendered immobile by its weight and size merely three days after the conception. A week later, I gave birth. I don't remember any of it, having been sedated during the process. But I can still see the faces of the medical staff looming over me, the last image from before I fell asleep etched into the folds of my brain. Their eyes wide open, features contorted in shock and disbelief.

My daughter was released into the sea a couple weeks after her birth. I hadn't yet regained my ability to walk, so my father carried me down to the shore to watch as my baby slithered into the shallows and disappeared in the waves. During her brief time on land, her weight had already doubled and tripled. Nobody had any idea what to do with her besides letting her go.

It's been two years since then. I haven't set foot into the water since I met the Ancient, and I avoid the beach however I can. But yesterday was different. Yesterday, something enormous washed ashore. I recognized the Ancient by the form of his severed head and his lifeless round eyes. I recognized the father of my child. There was no trace of the rest of his body, except the red that tainted the shallows. I don't know if the Ancient had envisioned this end for himself, but whatever the case, I felt light as a feather gazing upon his mangled remains.

Thank you, baby girl.

______

OOC: Hi! Followers of mine who have migrated from nosleep likely know this story already, but since I'm still getting the hang of this whole Tumblr-thing, I figured I'd post it here, too. Basically as a test, though I guess I'll pull a lot of other stories from there over here, too. Either way, this is a a dark one I'm rather proud of. I hope you guys enjoyed!

[theninjamouse]

The biggest of Shore vibes

[r95irth]

And the new chapter is up!!

With an illustration that is more fit to the previous chapter and "poetic" because...Well i really wanted to go back to play TOTK :T But i do hope you'll still like it!! Both the illustration and the chapter !

See you next Tuesday :D

[starpros-sunshine]

We <3 hearing things

[puppyeared]

"i dont really like horror" vs posting about The Trees back to back is so funny godspeed and good luck 🫡 they are not the worst thing u will find running around unfortunately !

WHY DOES GOD HATE ME

[bloodshotgun]

good news: i finally had a nightmare inspired by house of leaves!

bad news: by house of leaves, the literal book. i had a dream of fucking forgetting it somewhere and losing it forever, which is not the fun kind of terror i wanted if i'm being completely honest

[spotaus]

Pt 10! (Very relevant to all their stories!)