#not the human being made out of clay/stone

[allurilove]

Calm Yandere x you

“Your expressionless boyfriend.”

Rated 18 + — mature short content!

Includes: calm yandere x talkative gender neutral reader, mutual pining?, strangers to friends to lovers, cute fluff in the beginning… other stuff later on. wink wink. ♡

Calm yandere was known to be a little cold. His default face is an unamused one, the ends of his lips always downward, and it certainly scared you away from him when you first saw him. He didn’t like to socialize as much as you did, and when you talked to him, he only seemed to nod. “Mhm,” and “uh-huh,” was all you could get from him. He didn’t hate nor dislike you— you’re an absolute perfect specimen, and a normal, and adaptable human being. You were everything he wanted to be. You were everything he wanted, period. He started to form a crush on you, and it was a minuscule one at first. He appreciated how you were able to carry a conversation, how bright and confident you looked compared to him, and you were this bright light in his grim dark reality.

Calm yandere was surprised when you made the first move. You wanted to be friends, and being just friends with you felt like torture. Although, he agreed—not wanting to miss the opportunity to be by your side even more. He followed you around, agreed to show up to all hangouts you planned, and he even invited you to his house. His house was surprisingly warm. He had soft white curtains, light pink decorations here and there, and it smelled like freshly baked cookies. Warm and sweet was what you would describe him now that you got to know him. He was the perfect host. He was showing you around the backyard, and he pointed out a couple of butterflies that liked to come by. His voice was flat and monotonous when he explained his favorite butterflies to you, but you could see a slight glimmer of happiness in his eyes. And most importantly, he showed you his bedroom. He had manga books on his shelves, Smiski figurines, and one of the compartments was just filled with snacks. He had an old dog named “Mini” that was sleeping on his huge bed, loudly snoring, and kicking her feet as she dreamt of running around.

Calm yandere had asked you to be his partner months later. You were shocked when he confessed his feelings for you, and here calm yandere was, thinking that he had done a good job of hinting at it. You did notice the glances he would send your way, and how they would linger a bit longer than before. You then started to think back to the times he would do things for you. He would bend down and tie your shoelaces. He gave you his jacket when it was raining, and he would walk home soaking wet. He carried you on his back when you tripped and hurt your ankle. He let you into his house when you fought with your parents, and tried his damn hardest to crack a worried expression on his stone-like face. It wasn’t like you weren’t into him, you tried to give him signals too.

Calm yandere was oblivious, just as you were oblivious. You had literally invited him to every place you could think of. You made pottery with him, and even put your hands on his to help him shape his clay into a vase. That was a very intimate act. An act that made you flustered and blushing when you had pressed your body behind his. Him, on the other hand, didn’t even blink at the action. When you had told him that you found him cute and adorable, he just said “okay.” OKAY?? Clearly that meant he didn’t like you back, and you quickly put on a strained smile and went on with your day.

Calm yandere was an active listener, not really a replier, but a listener. He might look like he was disinterested, but any subject you brought up was the most interesting, and fascinating, topic of all time. You would talk his ear off, and you liked to speak your mind. “So, as I was saying…” you continued. He nodded along, his cheek resting on his hand, and he leaned even closer to play with the strands of your hair. He liked feeling and touching you. It reminded him that you were real, that you were in front of him, and you were officially his. Your lips were perfect, always moving and speaking, and it would form the world’s most beautiful smile. He could tell that some days you didn’t want to hear any solutions from him, and only wanted to have someone to talk too. So, he does exactly what you want.

Calm yandere was happy to advance the relationship even further! He would show finally show some PDA. An arm would casually be slung around your shoulders while you two walked. Whenever you sat next to him, and he didn’t like the distance between you two, he would grab onto the leg of the chair and pulled it in closer. He then would kiss your cheek, and as fast as it came, he had pulled back before you could reciprocate. He knew that being a boyfriend meant that he had to do some certain things… He was feeling bold when he saw you wearing shorts, and without really thinking, his hand reached out to touch at your thighs.

Calm yandere was taken aback by the overwhelming positive reaction. He didn’t imagine that a single brush from his finger tips would cause your brain to go haywire. You had pushed him onto the couch, and he fell back with a little grunt. He saw that you had climbed onto his lap, straddling his hips, and had placed his hand on a sensitive spot of your body. He felt up the flesh, and his fingers slipped underneath your shorts. He kept a watchful eye on your facial expressions, and he hummed in delight when you spread your thighs even further for him. He rubbed his fingers up and down the length of your privates, and he started to collect some of the wet substance that had leaked out. He heard you breathe out his name, and when your voice soon became whiny and you had pleaded for more, he knew you had to be close.

Calm yandere had you on your back. He pulled your shorts down your legs, flinging them to the side after he revealed your lower half to him. He leaned down to greet your sex with his tongue. You were loud and talkative in bed, just as you were out of it. Your back arched, and your hands painfully gripped at his hair. Your body started to tremble, almost trying to squirm its way out from underneath him. His hands had to keep your legs from closing on him, “don’t try to keep me away from you.” your boyfriend said firmly. He then gestured to the growing tent in his pants, “this is all your fault. I’ll make you feel good if you can do the same for me.”

Calm yandere liked to lick his fingers in front of you. His tongue swiping at the salty cum before he fully puts his digits inside his mouth. He could feel the wrinkles and ridges of his pruned fingers, and he gleefully sucked off the excess cum and saliva that had gathered on there. You were lying on the couch with a bit of a daze, your chest rising and falling, and you could still feel his eyes wandering on the work he had done. You had love bites on your neck, trailing down to your inner thighs, and lower towards your ankles. He had bit you down there to keep his voice down while he had himself buried deep inside of you. What could he say? You knew how to press his buttons and drive him wild.

Allure: this is calm yandere after you had called him cute.

Allure: A little update: I’ll work on the master list soon after this, and I’ll have to update a couple of lists such as the yandere kink ones… so that should be done next!

[foone]

You know, It doesn't matter if you belive in God or Science or Both, trans people are natural and awesome.

God? Well, we humans are made in God's image. We're all a little figurine of the Creator, and we Create. We create ourselves, our environments, our situations... God made the world and Man gave names to all the animals. We catalog and explore and determine and change. We make the wine and the bread, God made the grapes and the wheat. Of course we make our genders just as much as we make houses and clothes and stories and names. There's a bit of the divine in all of us and it's the part of us that Creates and Loves.

And Science? Oh boy! We are tool-users of the highest order. Changing things is just what we do. We built the pyramids and the dog and the horse and the computer. We've built cities out of swamps and lakes and put flags on the moon. Changing things so they work better for us is just our very nature. We heal our broken bones and build glasses and hearing aids and wheelchairs, because fuck our limitations. We invented corn and the Amazon rainforest. Transformation is in our nature just as much as being bipedal and featherless. We see a world and a body and a mind that doesn't work for us, and we change it. We build roads and skyscrapers and prosthetics and drugs, and the resulting humanity is better. We spent thousands of years building our world and our knowledge of how to change it and we're very good at it by now.

My point is, it doesn't matter if you think we're a unique creation by an omnipotent creator or a hairless ape that evolved to be particularly good at being social tool-users who can cook and throw things, our nature is Creation and Transformation. Of course some humans would be transgender and non-binary and generally genderqueer: those things are just reflections of what it means to be human.

God gave Adam the first tongs so he could smith, and the ape knapped a stone into a point so a spear could be deadlier than just a rock. Transformation is the core of humanity. Of ourselves, our environments, our tools, our stories. There's never been a humanity that was unchanging and rigid: we're not made of stone. We're made of clay and wood and reeds. Endlessly shapeable and cuttable and weavable. We decide what shapes and purposes we are meant for.

[catcas22]

Hi Cat!

I was wondering if you have any thoughts on the description of the Lamenter's Mask!

A stone mask twisted into an expression of rapturous grief. Use while disrobed to transform into a lamenter.

The change cannot be undone except by death. Using this mask while already transformed causes the head to swell in size.

This transformation tallies with the state of a denizen of paradise, but the people of the tower denied and hid it from the world. In their foolishness, they viewed true bliss with deep fear.

I think this could have some interesting implications for the Age of the Crucible. It's also rather curious that the Hornsent ("people of the tower") would "deny and hide" the Crucible transformation.

As an aside, what do you make of the Lamenters in general? They have the skin/horns/scars of Omens, but their humanlike proportions are what throws me. With the exception of Morgott and Mohg (who are demigods and therefore probably not good type specimens), Omens have this barrel-chested, stubby, ogrelike physique. The implication that Lamenters are made, not born, and the ways in which their appearance differs from the Omen are super interesting to me.

Hi Bri, thanks for the ask!

This one kept me up all night :P I think I actually found a plausible answer! Let me start by laying out what we know of the Lamenter at face value.

Lamenter's Mask

A stone mask twisted into an expression of rapturous grief. Use while disrobed to transform into a lamenter.

The change cannot be undone except by death. Using this mask while already transformed causes the head to swell in size.

This transformation tallies with the state of a denizen of paradise, but the people of the tower denied and hid it from the world. In their foolishness, they viewed true bliss with deep fear.

Lamenting Visage

A stone lantern carved to resemble a lamenting human head, the eyes vacantly beaming out light. Can be raised up when equipped in the left hand, illuminating more of the surrounding area. The unusual expression somehow imparts a sense of contentment. The languid ease of one who needs not sight.

Prattling Pate "Lamentation"

Twisted clay sculpt in the shape of a human head. Emits a blissful "Lamentation".

The voice resounds, seeping into the brain.

Weeping, weeping, weeping. Ever weeping.

Other important points -- all of these items (and the Lamenter himself) are found in the Lamenter's Gaol, one of three gaols where those who will become jar innards are held and tortured before being processed. Additionally, the Lamenter seems to have horns curling back into both his eye sockets.

I see a common thread between these three descriptions. Despite all evidence, we are told that the grieving individual is actually perfectly content. The grief is "rapturous," the blinded Lamenter is experiencing "true bliss," his expression is actually one of "contentment" because he doesn't really need his eyes. Despite the Pate "weeping, weeping, weeping, ever weeping," we are told that this lamentation is "blissful." I don't buy it... And apparently, neither did the Tower Folk. Instead they viewed their creation with fear.

Let's back up a bit. We know that via the means of chopping people up and packing them in jars, the hornsent hoped to create "saints," specifically via rebirth.

Bonny Village Spirit

For pity's sake, your place is in the jar. Nigh-sainthood itself awaits you within. For shamans like you, this is your lot. Life were you accorded for this alone.

Greatjar

A greatjar which fits comfortably over the head when upturned. Attire of the shamans who perform their worship at gaols. Increases the power of thrown pots of all sizes. They offer their prayers to the innards of the greatjars, such that they might be reborn one day into sainthood. This is the cycle of death and rebirth, taken into the hands of mortal men.

(Note: In the first quote, "shaman" is translated from the Japanese "Miko," which consistently refers to Marika's people and could be better translated as "shrine maiden." In the second quote, "shaman" is translated from the Japanese "kitoushi" and connotes something more along the lines of a priest or an elder.) Thank you @drenched-in-sunlight!

We also know that the hornsent see horns as a symbol of the divine, the bigger the better.

Fine Crucible Feather Talisman

A talisman fashioned from thin feathers that embody the aspects of various creatures. Said to have grown on the human body long ago. Improves backsteps but increases damage taken at all times. Hornsent view the Crucible as sacred for the refinement wrought through its evolutionary gifts. Most prominently, their tangled horns.

Horned Bairn

Doll of a tanglehorn bairn. Uses FP to summon vengeful spirits around the caster that autonomously chase down foes. Tangled horns are a symbol of spirituality, but most young born bearing the oversized horns meet a frightfully early demise. These fetishes are made to memorialize them.

Looking at omen in the base game, their horns seem much more chaotic and impractical than those of the hornsent. Most hornsent have a very manageable little crown of horns on their heads, and even the Horned Warrior's horns don't seem terribly impractical. Whereas omen horns seem like they would be both painful and extremely cumbersome.

(Sourced from BonfireVN on youtube)

While the standard omen enemies from the base game don't match the physique of the Lamenter, we do see a few examples of omen with lankier builds. Morgott is obviously larger than a common omen, but his proportions are that of a tall, rangy human. The Sanguine Nobles also seem to be omen, as they have horns that do not appear as part of their armor set.

(Sourced from Zullie the Witch on youtube)

The more ogre-like omen seem quite similar in build to the bloodfiends from the DLC.

Also, compare Mohg's build to Morgott's (both images sourced from Bonfire VN)

I wonder if the short, broad stature might be a side effect of glutting oneself on the power of the Formless Mother. We know she tends to choose her vassals from among the oppressed, we know that Esgar Priest of Blood was proselytizing in Leyndell's sewers, and we know from the Sacred Bloody Flesh item that the bloodfiends consume her blood as a standard part of their diet. The Sanguine Nobles seem to break the pattern, but they could be newer recruits, or they could be more judicious in their consumption of blood. Either way, we have a few examples (Morgott and the Sanguine Nobles) of omen with a build similar to the Lamenter.

One more point before I start bringing this to a conclusion -- although we only have visual clues to go on with the omen, with the misbegotten we know for a fact that their Crucible mutations come with health complications and cause them a degree of pain. Perfumer Tricia made it her life's work to treat such cases, and in the main game we see many misbegotten in Leyndell who appear to be seeking treatment from other perfumers.

Back to the Lamenter. I proposed in a previous theory (x) that omen might be the product of the hornsents' attempts to produce a "saint." Via the Dungeater's questline, we know it works in concept. By torturing a person in a specific way and doing unspeakable things to their soul, you can cause them to be reincarnated as an omen. I think that's exactly what the Lamenter is -- an early success. A saint.

The problem being, he's in obvious pain. He has horns growing through both of his eyes, and he's constantly wailing. He is everything that a hornsent raised in that culture would aspire to be, and by that same fact he lives a life of constant pain, darkness, and misery.

Of course they reject him. First they try to convince their followers that his weeping is actually an expression of bliss. He's blind because he's too enlightened to need his eyes (think the way the cultists in Midsommar talk about the disabled oracle). When that doesn't catch on, they lock him away and keep trying. It adds yet another twist of tragedy to the atrocities of the Potentates -- sainthood is not a goal just beyond their reach. They've already found it. And after all the innocent lives that they sacrificed to create that saint, they can't stand to look at him.

Thanks for the ask!

[kandy-sticks-zaza-blogs]

What do the Seven Deadly Sins think of each invidual class of people in Hell? IMPS, Sinners, Ars Goetia, ect.

Goetia

They are known for their thirst of knowledge and new things.

They knows about the Goetia when they are born about the 16th century in England.

Somehow the Goetia appearance have different animals parts of the body and that weirded out Samuel when the Goetia are born.

Asmodeus is one of the Goetia when he is created and related to them.The Sins let Asmodeus joined the high ranks as the Goetia gained immortality when they grew up to become adults and be immortal forever in their old age.

Hellhounds

They see them as pets instead of being a person before they evolved anthromorphic.

Beelzebub created them from dead dogs fur pelts as they are created from different habitat of the rings.

She made various hellhounds as she treats them like people or pets.

The other sins finds Beelzebub disturbing since she keeps treating them very spoiled and lives luxury.

Imps

The imps are created from stones as statues like gargoyle but the stone cracks as they turned flesh.

The imps are mischievous being as the Sins finds them confusing since they are existing out of nowhere.

They let the sinners teach the imps how to evolve during the medieval period as they begin to gain intelligence and conscious.

Succubi

Lilith created the succubi from Lust magic when she always seduce me as she made them from cherry and clay as the succubi are born.

Asmodeus created them from smokes as the empire of succubi from Lust rings expand.

The sins finds them annoying since the succubi are seductive and being lustful.

Asexual succubi are rare since they have white patches patterns on their faces.

Hellborns

Many hellborns are born from the different rings when they don't look like the others they exist during the primal period like humans.

They are from different places they are born have different distinguished features and skin.

The sins finds the hellborns very interesting when they have different looks and shapes.

Sinners

They absorbed the negative energy from the sinners whatever they want.

They love watching them breaking their limits and betrayed the purity when they embrace their murderous nature.

They all find them very amusing since they manipulated human easily by whispering through their ears or control their inner thoughts.

But they are annoying when they made a bloody mess everywhere and bad smells yikes.

If they die they became a ghost as they would probably go to their graves so often or the lamp that absorb the dead sinners.

But everyone dies easily if they are killed or reach to the old age such a pity for them.

[quitealotofsodapop]

Monkey King Reborn - Reincarnation

referencing this post about an idea for Reborn's version of Sun Luzhen.

After the events of Reborn; the Pilgrims leave Five Village Abbey, now content with Yuandi's death + the restoration of the Ginseng Tree, but saddened by the loss of Fruitie/Qi Energy.

Until they pass by a Temple to Nüwa and find the snake-creaation goddess holding a large lump of wet clay and a pile of bone ash. After the initial shock of seeing the goddess (Zhu Bajie gets smacked for staring), they realise that she's just as delighted to see them. The Pilgrims all come closer thinking that they're witnessing how the goddess creates new life.

Nüwa: "Ah! Sun Wukong! Just the person I needed to see!" Smokey: "Huh? Why?" Nüwa: (*hands Smokey the lump of clay and some ash*) Smokey: "???" Lump of Clay: (*glows with soul energy*) Sha Wujing: "There's something moving inside! Is it a soul?" Nüwa, explaining: "Sometimes little ones skip Diyu all together and find me so I can make them a new vessel. This little one didn't have a strong enough body to reincarnate into." Smokey: (*absent-mindly rolling/shaping the clay into a rough egg-shape*) "Why is that?" Nüwa: "Because it's soul used to belong to the first Demon King Yuandi." The Pilgrims: (*all in various stages of shock*) "what." Nüwa: "No earthly vessel could hope to contain the primordial energy that laid within. So it came to me seeking help to be born. However I don't create life from my own power anymore. My new creations need a parent to mold from in order for the body to be made. And since Stone Monkeys can absorb their parents Dao through their egg, I knew exactly *who* to wait for." Smokey: (*pauses and finally stops rolling the clay/ash lump*) Egg-shaped Clay: (*hardens in Smokey's hands. Now resembling an actual Stone Egg*) Smokey, realising: "WAIT?! DID YOU JUST-!" Nüwa, cheeky smile: "I hope you come to love your little heir. They'll hatch soon enough." (*The Goddess disappears into the stone floor of the temple*) The Pilgrims: "!?!?" Smokey, shell-shocked: "I think I'm a father now."

The Pilgrims ofc are panicking at the fact that the very demon they just perma-banished/killed has literally reincarnated into Smokey's arms. They argue over whether or not to smash the egg (the monkey hisses and clutches the Egg tighter) or to go back to Five Village Abbey and hand it over to Zenyhuan for the immortals to deal with. But then there's the chance that the gods may just destroy or seal away the egg anyway.

Smokey is super conflicted since he has repressed grief over losing Fruitie, and doesn't want the only other Stone Monkey (he knows) to be raised by humans or risk becoming an experiment for Lao Tzu. Also his Stone Monkey instincts have been activated and he hisses at anyone who comes close to the egg.

So they decide for now to keep the egg, and the resulting little monkey, until they can figure out whether or not the soul contained even remembers being Yuandi.

A different argument quickly crops up along the way.

Sha Wujing: "So... what should we name them?" Zhu Bajie: "Why not just call them Yuandi? It's who they are." Xuanzang: "We are not naming the baby after who they used to be. Yuandi is dead. This little one is alive." Smokey, holding the egg: "Also, what if it's a girl?" Zhu Bajie and Xuanzang: (*protective-uncle mode activated*) "GIRL!?!"

And since this little reincarnated baby is Reborn's version of Sun Luzhen, I wanted their name to include one of the major characters. It was difficult cus "Lǚzhēn" (履真/"to tread/shoe" + "reality") is a compound name. One naming idea I have is; "Zhēnzhì/真志" - is a compound of "to tread" + "ambition". That or Smokey nicknames the baby "Xiao Lǚ/Little Shoes" cus of little shoe-like markings on her back feet. Also matches her "twin" Xiao Qi. :3

Once the truth comes out about Liang's little stowaway being a Stone Egg they stole found at the base of the Ginseng Tree, the Pilgrims of course ask about their choice of name.

Sha Wujing: "So did you name your cub that when you found out it was once Qi Energy?" Liang: "Huh? No, I just called them Xiao Qi [小气] cus they're a tiny bundle of energy. It was either that or Peachy, since they're pink and fuzzy like a peach." (*kisses the giggling Xiao Qi's face*) The Pilgrims: (*all give Smokey a sly smile*) Smokey: (*hides face/blush at the fact his rival/crush has similar naming themes for babies*) Zhēnzhì/Xiao Lǚ: (*paps Smokey's face with tiny hands*) :P

The pair of cubs are like Yin and Yang. One dark and demure, the other light and wild. And they of course act as a perfect reason for Sun Wukong and his estranged ex-friend to reunite and have to work together to ensure their stable upbringing. >:3

[audreyscribes]

Ω PJO DEMIGOD HEADCANONS: 🌏 GAEA: PRIMORDIAL OF EARTH 👩‍🌾

Author’s note: *put head into hands* Alright, so I may or may not have went off from the usual formula (Do I even have a formula for writing these at this point?) and I think I may have made the primordial demigods here more cryptid cause they’re the literal by-product of primordial beings that are also half-mortal? I won’t be including the usual blurbs at the ending cause all of them are probably pushing the word limit Tumblr has but worry not, I made up for it by putting more storylines into the whole thing. PRIMORDIAL DEMIGODS MASTERLIST: [LINK]

You’re formed right as the war with the giants and Gaia has begun and afterwards. You’re not sure when you started to form but you could feel the clay that humanity was formed from, and the combination of all the blood and bones spilled by mankind and nature, and had been buried down within the earth. While you don’t appear monstrous or with any obvious monstrous parts like the King of Athens Erechtheus, you could feel the monstrous potential flowing through your blood. However, your skin and flesh feel too foreign to you for your own liking.

You came out of the ground, peering right up at Ouranus’ domain and felt anger and annoyance as that was the first thing you saw and not your mother’s domain.

As you can imagine being formed from blood spilled onto the earth, the bones of individuals buried both by violent and non-violent means, you have a preposition of anger and violence while also being very giving and nurturing. Just like Mother Nature. Fitting as you’re Gaia’s child.

You struggled to get used to having a physical form and the bones within your body. You almost fell over the edge once but you felt something grab you as you were helped upright, before taught how to walk. That was when you met the child of Tartarus, born and raised in Tartarus itself, and further nurtured by Gaea when she opened the Doors of Death.

With your broiling anger, you expressed a desire to take revenge for your mother against the gods and their heroes. The child of Tartarus did not explicitly cheer at your words, but agreed to follow you as they didn’t see a reason to deny you either. Together, you searched for the other primordial demigods as the child of Tartarus revealed you two weren’t the only ones.

As you can imagine, being a child of Gaea means you have the ability of Mother Nature; from the plants, water, rock, even calling forces of acts of Nature. However, due to how broad your power is, you have a hard time controlling it because as much as you can bring them forth, you can’t really control nature itself.

All aspects of the Earth seem to gravitate to you, listening to your whims and demands. Even the sea will part for you if desired as Pontus, the personification of the Sea, loves Gaea and follows her will. Animals will fall under this and no matter how dangerous the animal, the animal will follow you to your command. 

Careful how you use your power though. Your abilities are too much for your mortal body to handle, even if you’re a child of Gaea. Don’t try to take control too much of other’s domains when you face the god’s heroes. While you also can do the same as them, those realms are their’s and their godly parents. There’s only so much you can do but there’s much you can do as well.

As time goes on, your form can change like the clay it was once was. Gaea also being known being the mother of monsters and with evidence of her children/offspring having inhuman and monstrous, you also have the ability to have such traits; from growing scales on your skin to act as armour, or sprouting wings from your back to fly, you can switch as you will. Be wary though, if you stick with those forms too long, the monstrous aspects will take over and you may never become mortal in both body and mind.

Your key feature is your form. You look like a clay or stone sculpted and chiseled into a form of a human statue, perfect, flawless, but seemingly unreal. You can feel your mother’s blood coursing in your body, both nurturing and destruction. You can feel your delicate form barely holding the destruction underneath you and if you let it, you’ll find yourself turning into a monster, mindless, destructive, and unforgiving. Both features of Mother Earth.

[moonyheartache]

LMK SEASON 4 SPOILERS

This is also kind of a meta theory sorry the brainwomrs insisted I make this post.

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So, Nüwa The Creation Goddes made MK out of clay (or at least looks like it), reasons still unkown.

Because well, if this theory is true, it means two things

1. The reason MK is so similar yet so different from Sun Wukong is esencially because Sun Wukong was created by nature, little by little, millenia after millenia, step by step. And if you know the first thing about nature, is that it is both chaos and order, the one and only perfect machine, the one that invented itself. So, Sun Wukong is, at heart, a force of chaos and nature, and even then, there method in his madness. There is order in chaos.

But MK, MK was crafted to be like that, by the person that helped nature into existance, or at least kickstarted it. MK's birth was rushed, and if the dirt clinging to him when he first met Pigsy, quite literally half-cooked. He is nature's missing child, meant to be a replica of something that didn't need replacement, but needed rest.

And following what Sun Wukong said, that he never really saw himself being a menthor, and that he was watching MK some time before he got the staff.

So this leads me to think that Nüwa knew that Sun Wukong was always going to be needed, but that he still isn't ready to come back. MK was crafted to help Sun Wukong recover, to take over when he needs rest.

But of course, Sun Wukong would never accept that, his pride and fear of compromise wouldn't let him.

So if we remember MK's flashbacks, the stone egg shaters and get put together again. So Nüwa weighted her options and used pieces from Sun Wukong's stone egg to make a being that, either he wanted it or not, would be always attached to him. But this needed to be at a time when Sun Wukong wouldn't notice something like that, and she needed to be fast.

So that's why MK has human looks, Nüwa needed to make him fast, to hide him, and to make sure that he would be, most importantly, safe. Because, A mortal child with the powers of the Great Sage? If Tripitaka had it hard traveling as a grown ass man who (sorta) knew to take care of himself with a whole ass set of super powerfull demons and a dragon, just imagine MK, small, little, inocent just-happy-to-be-here MK with only Tang and Pigsy to protect him

And 2. It would mean that this, this specific ass scene in seson 3?

This would be foreshadowing.

And I would start making a collection, this one goes right after Hunter and the Flapjack onesie.

[badass-at-fandoming]

Hi, you were recommended to me by ryttu3k fir your knowledge of Anatole.

Their is one question from clan novel saga by the Prophet that always confuses me.

"the young wizard’s sire is within the clay.”

A bit of context- he is saying this with two Kindred present, Victoria Ash, and Jeremiah (an obfuscated nosferatu). It is said within Leopold's art studio.

The young wizard is obviously Leopold. It is revealed that he is not a toreador but is the childe of tremere antitribu, Nikolai.

But the sire is in the stone????

There are a few named statues at the art studio. A bozetto of Petrodon, but he's the deceased nosferatu Justicar and Sire of Cock robin and Julio Martinez. There is also a bust of Victoria Ash. Later their is a tower made of gangrel and Hannah (a tremere) fuses with it. But neither are Leopold's sire.

This causes Ms Ash, unaware of Jeremiah or the Justicar bozetto, to think that Anatole is saying Leopold is her childe. He is not. This causes the nosferatu to gain this incorrect info temporarily too.

It does save the day at the end, as Ms Ash walks up to Leopold (and eye of hazimel) and this distracts him long enough to be killed by Ramona.

But, as far as I'm aware, their is no Nikolai sculpture in the book. Cock robin is not a "young wizard" so it can't be about the bozetto.

The only thing I can think of, was that Anatole deliberately lied to cause Leopold to be distracted later in the book and die. But why would the prophet of Gehenna deliberately lie?

What is the answer to "the young wizard’s sire is within the clay.” since I swear there's no Nikolai sculture?

If you can't tell, Anatole is one of my favourite non nosferatu vtm characters of all time.

Hello! Awww, I'm honored to be considered to have insight into Anatole and his Malkavian prophecies. Thanks @ryttu3k! You seem anxious for an answer, @roseate-felidae, so I'll do my best. Honestly, I'd probably need to have read the Clan Novel Saga for a confident answer. Browsing the wiki and the context you've given me are good enough for guesses. In order of most to least likely:

1) Your first instinct is right, Anatole is lying. More accurately, Anatole could be manipulating his report of his vision to achieve a better final outcome. A fun layer to Malkavian visions is the difference between the vision itself and the interpretation of the vision. For example, Anatole used to think his visions were literally God talking to him, but now he's like, nah, just a Kindred power like Potence or Celerity. He could be false reporting what he's seeing or hearing, or only sharing a suggestive portion, like you first guessed.

As why would Anatole lie: well. He and Victoria Ash aren't friends. She manipulated hunters into burning down his Paris haven, with his ghoul Paul inside. She's too powerful and connected to eschew outright, but I wouldn't describe their relationship as "good." At the end of the Saga, Hesha Ruhadze has the Eye from Leopold, and Hesha is on friendly terms with Anatole and his faction, the Mnemosyne. It could be that Anatole foresaw that Ash & the Nos thinking Leopold was Ash's childe would benefit him in the long run. Maybe he foresaw and wanted the happier ending you described. That, or he just wanted to throw a spanner in the works of Victoria's plan and/or general unlife.

Being a Prophet of Gehenna and a Malkavian doesn't preclude Anatole from deceit. He has to lie to humans all the time, remember, about his identity and Kindred status. He lies to his friends, including Beckett, about what's under Jerusalem. Victoria Ash points out the obvious logical flaws in his prison "rehab" program, and he self-deceives that there's nothing wrong. "We're natural liars," as Beckett says.

2) Nickolai is in a stone/clay building. While the location in Leopold's studio jumps the mind to clay sculptures, the Malkavian Cobweb's reach is not limited by immediate geography. From the wiki, I can glean that Nickolai is in his haven in NYC, which is warded with blood sorcery. NYC has stone buildings, or clay might be a ward ingredient. It's probably not a reference to a basement encased in clay-type soil, because NYC's soil is the silt-loam type of dirt (yes, I looked this up). This theory can be disproved with a description of Nickolai's haven, so I kicked it down the list.

3) The young wizard is Aisling. This theory switches the young wizard part of the equation. Malkavian visions are not necessarily about the topic at hand, after all. To a methuselah like Anatole, Aisling Sturbridge is quite young and she's a Tremere. Instead of Leopold as the "young wizard," Anatole could mean Aisling, and the clay part a reference to her sire, Lucien de Maupassant. Lucien disappeared while on a mission from the Inner Council in 1948. "Within the clay" could be any number of hints to his fate, including his ashes mixing with dirt.

4) Nickolai is being controlled by the Eye. This is a biiiiiiig stretch, but whatever. Hazimel used to a stone mason, which is a profession that works clay. Compared to Hazimel, Nickolai is an incredibly young wizard. Nickolai thinks he's manipulating Leopold and the Eye to his own ends, but perhaps Hazimel is working him. Anatole is saying that Nickolai is within Hazimel's thrall, or influence, and Nickolai is being shaped like clay under a mason's hands.

The number of problems this theory has is Many, no matter how much I like it. First off, I don't think the Eye shows full sapient intelligence: it more like, makes its bearers into powerful rage machines, like the Beast. If someone as cool as Hazimel was controlling it, the Eye would be more sophisticated. The theory is also very Lord of the Rings-y with the whole "cursed object wants to return to its master." Vampire: the Masquerade doesn't draw inspiration from Tolkien. Last, the theory falls apart under a Doylist lens. In-universe, sure, Hazimel could know that manipulating Leopold and Nickolai would drop his Eye in Hesha's hands, and Hesha would find the Eye too hot to handle and therefore drop it on Beckett, and Beckett would return it to him. Out of universe, the Clan Novel Saga was published 1999 to 2000 in a hysterical frenzy. The story of the Eye's return appears in Beckett's Diary, which launched its Kickstarter in 2016. Sixteen years is a loooonnnggg time to pay off one line in a previous book. Possibly longer than 16 years, depending on if the story was written after or before the Kickstarter was funded. A meticulous planner could do it, of course, and maybe a nebulous idea of the Eye's return existed in the White Wolf writers' heads, but I am full of doubt. The BJD story itself doesn't call back to Anatole's prophecy either, which weakens the idea further.

The prophecy is a fun puzzle! Thank you for bringing it to me to play with. If any other Clan Novel Saga or Anatole fans want to chime in with their ideas, feel free :D :D :D

[hell-drabbles]

Been brainrotting abt companion au. So have this scuffed WIP of angelified companion meeting the whb version of my OC Karma meeting. The hoodie is bc. 1 too keep it as ambiguous as possible, since idk canon look. 2. Waiting for more lore/CGs of angelficatin. And 3.im lazy. Anyway hope ur having a good timezone. Been a fan of ur works for a while

Heheheh I always enjoy when people write or make art to me. Makes me feel like I'm a part of a big collaborative project or something.

I don't really have a canon look for the Embittered Companion, it's just whatever you like. A vague blob of clay for people to form into whatever they like or are into. Go wild, do whatever you like with it.

It's getting more and more difficult to be alone. The open spaces of heaven did little to block the bright light that shine upon the clouds you stand on. The beauty of it was lost to you. All you could do was scorn it, glare at it as your hands itched to cup and worship the maker of this light.

You're here, in the middle of who knows where, woken up from another long, long trance towards what was probably a place of prayer. You were commanded to go there, you know this. Because the fear of disobeying was crawling up towards you. A gripping fear, a crawling guilt. It screamed at you to keep going, to bow and accept that your existence was nothing without the orders of the angels on high.

A slight such as this, you would have to maim yourself for forgiveness. Are all angels like this? Do all angels view themselves as nothing more than a fabric made by god, to be torn asunder and rebuild again and again until they're patched together into a perfect quilt? Are they so frustrated with the limitations of their expression of faith that they turn to bodily harm?

Ah. The shattered pieces of your halo twirl and flow. Piece by piece, they're attaching themselves together, and that insidious light, those voices that lay in them, began to fill your ears.

A minute. You were only here for a minute and now you're being dragged under the blinding fold of feathers. You dug your fingers into the stone below, your nails bending then snapping. Pain. Human pain, brought upon yourself not as a display of worship, but by your own fallible human self. And angels hands would not be so delicate. They wouldn't bleed this much.

But, your nails fell and new ones grew in. That part of you wasn't human in the least.

You can't even keep this part of you, huh?

"Don't panic. You're fine."

A command that laced itself through your being was always laced with silver and gold. But, these words weren't a command. They were just a voice, as much as the wind was simply that, the wind.

So of course you looked up, but there nothing in the skies. You searched around you, for the voice that didn't grip your being and forced it to bend to their will.

"Over here." There? "Look up."

On a balcony. Horns on one side of the head, a halo that nearly embraced their whole face, a patchwork of a person covered in crossing stitches.

"...who are you?" You breathed out.

[lemongrass--tea]

chat i got ✨freaky✨ and made a new au

uhm tw: violence and angst and some suggestive content nothing toooo bad just very melodramatic

Fae connor x fae hunter elliott👁️👁️

this is super long so ill break it up under the cut

dragging this in the house and dropping it off like a kitti bringing u a dead rat

Intro:

Setting: modernish fantasy. Big cauldron full of SOME modern tech mixed with fae, magic and medieval tropes

In this universe Connor is born a fae to a human duke. This is seen as a bad omen, but his mother pleads for him to be kept, appealing to the duke’s compassion as he’s only a newborn, and the way he lays peacefully with his twin sister is surely a good sign. It would be a shame to break the two apart so soon, give him some time. They were born with connors baby tail, covered in little stringy starts of feathers wrapped loosely around cara’s abdomen, neither cried after birth.

Unfortunately for Connor, as his claws and fangs grew in, the estate grows more uneasy, while he is gentle natured and well meaning, his magic and energy makes him a bit too rough for human standards, not that his sister cares. Cara finds his antics amusing, the two finding ways to tease the staff around the estate or go on short excursions to the woods just outside the city gates. They end up constructing a crude fort out in the woods, made of felled logs and clay.

By the time the twins are 13, the duchess falls pregnant with their youngest sister, Khipz. The duke grows more restless of Connor's presence, especially with servants and residents spreading rumors of a generational curse and expressing fear of the now 6 foot and still rapidly growing creature they had to call ‘lord’. The duke fears for his newborns safety and public opinion, so he demands that Connor leaves the city. Now he’s 13 and terrified because his father threatened to have him executed if he wasn’t gone by morning, so he gathers what little he can carry in one of his satchels, and leaves while cara is asleep. He ends up staying in the same fort they’d built, bolstering up the walls with stones he finds lying around, then just collapses in there to mull over the fact that he's on his own now and having to process that it wasnt just his imagination like cara would reassure him, people did fear him. He is a monster.

Side note, Cara throws a FIT over this the next morning when she finds out that connor got sent away. She has a hunch to where he ran off to so she goes off to the little fort to find him there sulking and hungry. She sneaks him food from the estate as often as she’s able, and as khipz gets older starts bringing her along as well, so the siblings still remain close despite connor being in exile.

Over time, Connor gets to a point where he’s surviving decently on his own. He has no intentions to meddle with the city, and to a degree fears the people there, especially with growing hostility towards the fae. He watches as hunting troops are sent out frequently to clear the woods of local beasts, mostly due to the duke’s ever growing fears and guilt. He moves around mostly in his fully beast form, staying in a local cave as a den, since its provides him more hidden shelter than the fort that he’d upgraded over the years to be a homely cottage stocked with more pleasurable items, like artisan wines and cheeses that he trades meat and fish for in the markets.  Whenever he makes his trips into the city gates, he takes on his human form, the only indication of his fae nature being small markings where his horns and wings would sprout, which are mostly inconspicuous and can be explained away as simple scars.

Elliott is a fae hunter, one of the most skilled and reliable in the field. He gets commissioned for a very particular quest by the duke: eradicating the harpy from the woods, having overheard where the beast has struck up its den from cara and khipz’s rendezvous. He has concerns that if left to his devices, Connor may one day seek revenge out of resentment for him and the city in general.  

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Meeting and getting together:

Elliott makes his way into the woods, without a hunting party because he prefers to work alone, he has better control of the situation so he says, particularly with more unruly beasts when he isn't also concerned with the wellbeing of other hunters and dogs. For this trip he arms himself with a trusty longsword and a light spear.

Connor can sense him approaching the den, but makes no moves to aggress. He’s had a few hunters come after his bounty, but he would send them retreating swiftly enough with minimal injury, usually he could scare them long enough to force them into a corner and either fly off or damage their weapons.

Elliott arrives at the mouth of the cave, spear drawn and poised to strike. He’s slain harpies before, a well aimed stab to the heart made quick work of the creatures. The beast locks eyes with him, creeping closer slowly, like a cat careful not to frighten its prey. As it sits up fully, just about to open its maw, elliott lets his spear fly with quick precision, lodging itself directly into his heart. Beads of golden blood seep around the shaft of the weapon as the beast cries out in pain, his hackles immediately raising. Elliotts eyes widen, something is off. Usually a harpy would be felled within a few moments of impact, incapacitated at the very least. But this one..his tail lashes and fangs bare from the birdlike maw. He watches in horror as the creature pulls the spear from his chest with a deep snarl as if it was a mere splinter, the steel shaft snapping in its claws. Its eyes stayed fixed on elliott as the wound gushes over the gravel beneath its talons. It charges him, wings flared and casting a shadow over the armored man. It bows its head, pointing the blunt front edges of its horns for his chest. Elliott swiftly dodges to the side, drawing his sword and in a swift motion with a sickening crunch, severs the lower portion of its arm. The cut is far from clean, and the beast hisses and kicks his taloned leg up, swiping across the right side of elliott’s face. The rest of the encounter is a blur. He feels the warmth of the mixture of blood coating his skin, the metallic pang of it on his tongue. By the time he comes down from the adrenaline high, the beast is gone, nothing but bloodsoaked feathers, and the chunk of severed flesh left behind. 

The encounter leaves elliott blinded and scarred on his right side, which he now covers with his bangs and makeup. During his recovery he meets a man at the docks, he immediately notices his right arm, or what's left of it, wrapped in a slightly bloodied leather sleeve, crudely stitched and pinned together and secured around his torso. He seemed to be struggling with a fishing net, trying to draw the apparatus, heavy with his catch from the water, holding a section in his teeth, another in his left hand with a fishing knife sticking out at a precarious angle, likely to shiv a clumsy passerby if he hadn't been alone at sunrise on a secluded section of the coast. He was balancing on one foot trying to nudge a loop of netting free from the corner of the pier, growling as he watched more fish wriggle free and back into the water. 

“Do you need help?”

The man bristles as he catches sight of elliott, he turns his attention back to his task, successfully freeing the net and tugging a bit more of it onto the pier. He responds with a muffled “no.”

Elliott watches him struggle for a few minutes more, his brow furrows as the net gets caught again, and the man trips, his sandal getting stuck between the slabs of the pier. Elliott catches him before he could hit his head, and rights him up, helping to unhook the tangled net and fully get it onto the deck. 

The man huffs. “I would have gotten it eventually.”

…yea right. Elliott simply hums, not wanting to upset the man by arguing over the truth of that statement. “Thank you i guess…but im not some broken bird. I can see you staring.”

Elliott flushes at that, realizing that he had let his eyes linger at the wrappings on his stump. “Apologies…i was just wondering why you were working out here alone when that looks..fresh to say the least.” 

He shrugs, “a mans gotta eat though.”

[im sick of writing dialogue lmao pretend they exchange names and elliott shows him the wounds on his eye. Elliott explains it was a hunting accident, not clarifying what kind of hunting and connor explains his to be from a car accident] (side note, think like model t looking cars, not super modern, closer to carriage shape i just think theyre neat lmao )

As the weeks go by, Elliott sees how connor struggles with alot of his daily routine as he is adapting to only having one arm. The stubborn man refuses to accept help unless he’s at his wits end. He cant help but let his mind wander to the harpy he’d hunted during his “accident”. Assuming it hadn’t died from the wounds, it would certainly be having a difficult time adjusting, especially out in the wild. A shred of guilt plagued him when he looked at the events in hindsight. In truth the beast never attacked him until he launched his spear. It almost felt cruel, alot of his hunts went that way. Ambushing an unsuspecting fae or beast and ending its life before it had the chance to react….

When elliott recovered fully from his wound, he elected to retire his blades. That shred of guilt gnawed in the back of his mind, he wasnt sure that he could follow through with the implications of his actions, besides he technically had accumulated enough wealth over the years to support an early retirement, not to mention the residuals from his injury sweetened the pot. 

The two make a habit of meeting at sunrise at the dock, eventually their meetings spread to the local tavern. After a few months, the two of them are alone on the pier where they met, mildly tipsy, and they share a kiss. Connor, loosened up by the wine in his system plus his trust in elliott, sprouts a few feathers and the markings where his horns would sprout form little nubs. Elliott doesnt connect the dots exactly, but upon hesitantly stroking the feathers on his back and shoulders, connor shares that he is a fae, but he has to promise not to tell anyone or he’ll be forced to bite him (all in good joking fun). 

Elliott felt worse about his previous occupation than ever. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Conflict:

After a few months more of being together casually, Elliott expresses concerns for connor being out  in the woods alone. He’d visited the cottage he called home on the outskirts of the city, but between his disability and the lingering threat of both more dangerous fae and the fae hunters that frequent those woods, he doesnt feel that its safe for him to be out there in that glorified shack (at this point still unaware of his bigger den or his true identity). Elliott invites him to stay with him in the city. His home is in a less populated area, and he had more than enough resources for the both of them. It took a few instances of convincing, since connor was known to be stubborn and independent but eventually he relents. The men begin moving some of connor’s items over. It didnt require much of a trip. Most of his clothes fit into a satchel and the rest was just his collections of wines and various trinkets.

Fast forward to that night. They fuck real nasty. 

After the railing, connors all cock drunk and in the back of his mind is all like fuck. I love this man…so he decides to show elliott his full fae form

AND THEN IT ALL GOES TO SHIT

Once connor shifts, elliot realizes oh fuck- i shouldve known. Of COURSE the fae man, who is missing an arm, and lived in the same woods where he’d been on that hunt IS THE SAME FAE HE TRIED TO KILL. He’s just in shock, staring, gripping the blankets and internally freaking out.

Connor whimpers a bit, thinking maybe it was too much he is really big after all, and the fangs and eyes and talons dont particularly help, so he shifts back to his more in between form. “I-its still me…its ok right?” “connor im so sorry- i should have-” elliott can barely get the sentence out fully without choking on his words. Connor’s totally confused, until elliott finally tells him that it was him that took his arm. He wasnt just a hunter. He was the same hunter that stabbed him in his den and lobbed off his arm. 

Connors whole perception of him shatters, he trusted elliott with more than he’s ever given any person ever, even moreso than his sisters. He just was balls deep in his puss 5 minutes ago for gods sake WHAT DO YOU MEEEEAN YOURE THE BITCH THAT CUT OFF MY ARM.

Hes pissed, naturally, both of them are crying, in tears, elliott from remorse, connor from anger. Connor is convinced now that he must have known this whole time and just felt like he was a charity case, like he was righting some moral folly where he gives up his sword and “fixes” the man he broke down while under the control of his hirer.

Connor storms out, nearly broke the door off the hinge, didnt even put his pants back on, babe just flies right out in creature mode, hes used to being naykee in the woods anyway. BUT this causes him to get spotted by a certain duke WHO WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT THE HARPY WAS DEAD. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Making up:

A few weeks pass and both connor and elliott are emotionally in tatters. Connors holed up in his den sulking and elliotts holed up in his house sulking, but when he DOES go out to the tavern for a drink and some food to cool his brain. He hears a party of hunters talking about a group that recently went out to the den of the harpy, which freaks elliott out because theyre talking about finally killing the thing, aka CONNOR, and they already left. The way this man BOOKS IT out the tavern and rummages through his attic looking for his sword and armor, its just a bit tight on him, having gained a little weight in his more domestic time now that he was technically retired.

He runs as fast as his legs could take him out to the woods, he bangs on connors cottage door, praying to every god that maybe he’s there instead of the den, safe and sound, he can still be pissed, just dont be in danger. The piercing caw off in the distance tells him otherwise so hes back to navigating through the trees, hoping to get there in time before he gets hurt. 

He finds the hunting squad  trying to restrain connor, who was clawing and lashing against ropes and hooks digging into his flesh.

Elliott practically blacked out in that moment, all he knew is he charged straight into the fray, swinging with far less grace than he usually held.

Once the fighting died down, elliott rushed to connors side, ignoring the blood pooling at the back of his head from being thrown against the cave wall a few too many times. New wounds around his eyes marred his face, he could hardly see what he was doing between a likely concussion and all the injuries. Once the ropes were loosened, connor fawned over him, his tail anxiously flicking side to side.

��Elliott what the fuck are you doing here, you could have gotten killed- there were like 6 of them”

Elliotts practically bleeding out in his arms “i wasnt going to let them kill you.”

“This wasnt your fight, why would you throw yourself in harms way for me of all people”

“Because i love you. Is that so difficult to believe?”

Connor falls silent at that, before shifting his attention back to the blood pooling on his hand under elliotts head. He shushes him and flies him back to the cottage rummaging through dusty vials and bottles of herbs and brews.

He ends up having to snip elliotts hair to access the wound properly, much to the dismay of the poor man, who sobbed and screamed like that was killing him more than his concussion and lacerations. Connor applies the medicines and channels some of his magic through the wound, causing the bleeding to stop at least.

Elliotts vision cleared up and he sniffed, mourning the loss of his precious locks.

“Never do that again you foolish man.” Connor shifts to his halfway form, gently pressing their foreheads together.

“I would do it again and regret none of it.”

Of course it still takes time to repair the trust in their relationship, but connor is willing to open the door to him again, seeing that he quite literally risked his life to come to his aid.

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extra headcannons:

Elliott gets an insecurity regarding his scars especially while his hair is short after being cut. Connor constantly touches his face, traces his scars and when his hair grows back, encourages him to not hide behind it. He braids his hair and weaves his own feathers in it.

Elliotts eye injuries leave him severely visually impaired so connor forms a habit of making vocalizations whenever he’s moving in the house, mostly coos and trills.

Elliott takes up writing in his retirement he deserves it

more to be added as i think them up lmao

themb

ran out of steam before i could color anything but there will be more soon cuz im OBSESSED

Frothing at the mouth and running in circles over them

also thank you to @magnificenttragedysandwich for being the icon that u are and greatly contributing to the plot and whipping my thoughts into a usable shape ur so slay 💖💖

[beevean]

Walter + Leon | 44. …out of lust.

In his long existence, Walter had believed to have seen it all. Humans, in the long run, were no more unpredictable than beasts to be tamed, their anger, their hatred, their sorrow, they were all toys in Walter's hands, and he had learned by heart the right words to shape them like clay. If they didn't make the funniest noises when in the throes of despair, he would have already grown bored of them.

Leon Belmont did not merely surprise him. He was the first human in a handful of centuries that had done the impossible: he impressed Walter.

(He refused to dignify the surge of emotion that overcame him at the blow that shattered his precious Ebony Stone.)

Oh, Walter had not fought with such gusto since immemorial times! The whip that he lashed with the strength of a demon did not dent his armor, but stung as if crosses were being nailed inside his flesh! The human was quick on his feet, focused, and his blood sang the most melodious of melodies, that of pure, undistilled, deadly fury.

The blood of the maiden Walter had bitten rushed through his body in delight. He liked this one. He would have to thank the knight's friend for proposing him such a treat.

But, naturally, Walter was no young creature of the night: no, he was the night, and he would take for himself whatever he deserved and coveted. The knight was still a lowly human being, and as such, fallible and destined to become prey.

The knight could not protect himself against Walter's Demonic Disaster. The sight of his true form was enough to paralyze him for a second: more than enough for Walter to lunge and grab him by the throat, enough for him to feel the blood pumping underneath his fingertips.

"Keep struggling, brave knight! Perhaps, if you are lucky, my little finger will slip off!" Walter laughed at his efforts. The kicks to his stomach were as light as caresses, but he had to commend the human for his foolhardiness. "Your woman was much of the same, thrashing around and screaming, powerless but oh so brave... I wonder," he brought him closer to his mouth, his lips brushing against his ear, "if you taste and feel as delicious as she did."

He waited. How he enjoyed that split second when his words soaked in, and the men realized what he had done to their former maidens.

Limbs frozen in place. Eyes wide. Heart hammering so strongly, it drowned every other sound. And, most importantly, mouth agape.

"No... you...!"

Walter cared not for any stale insult the knight might hurl at him; hence, he took his fill.

He did taste as delicious as his woman. The knight's mouth was coated in blood from their battle: the pungent taste of holy only invigorated Walter, as he subdued the stubborn human still punching him and pulling his hair. His God may have given the strength to overcome the challenges Walter put in his way, but in the end, he had fallen into his hands, and thus, he was his to do as he pleased.

The promise he made to himself boiled warmly below his belly. He graciously allowed the man to breathe.

"You know, it would be a waste to kill you. With your delicate features and amusing skills, you could make for a fine doll." He trailed his lips down his jaw, on his throat, ripe to be opened as the rest of his body: his shivers only fanned the excitement pumping in his chest. "You have been victorious against my most formidable lieutenants: therefore, I will reward you handsomely. I shall keep at my side for as long as I wish it--"

And then fire engulfed him.

Walter shouted, in surprise and pain, white-hot pain blinding him, consuming his flesh; he stumbled backwards, dimly aware that he was vulnerable - no, he had been bested by a toy!

The Belmont stood there, trembling, but with a vial of holy water clutched in hand. Without a word, but his teeth snarled at him, he lifted that cursed whip once more.

Well. Walter will make sure to break him, before playing with him.

[inspofromancientworld]

The Control of Fire

Fire holds within it the ability to create and to destroy. It can clear the underbrush so that a forest can renew itself or destroy the forest entirely, depending on many factors. Fire is important to a lot of ecosystems, so much so that there are trees that only release seeds after the heat of a fire. But, it can also lead to excessive erosion.

By The original uploader was Ischaramoochie at English Wikipedia. - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3983727

The fossil record of fire goes back to plant life appearing on the land, about 470 million years ago. Plants gave fire something to burn as well as helping algae increase the oxygen levels in the atmosphere. While lightning likely existed from the beginning of our atmosphere existing, oxygen and a fuel source are needed for fire to exist. In the fossil record, we find charcoal from plants that burned.

CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=179218

Fire was critical to the evolution of humans from early hominids to modern homo sapiens. It provided warmth, protection, light, and the ability to cook food, which makes calories more readily available, allowing our brains to grow larger.

By Tanja Lage - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64177646

Fossil evidence of controlled fire go back as far as 2.0 million years, that evidence being 'microscopic traces of wood ash' that was used by Homo erectus in eastern Africa around Kenya and Tanzania. These traces are somewhat controversial, though, given how minuscule the traces are. Less controversial are traces from about 790,000 years ago near the Jordan River that were apparently used as a cooking fire. This was over 500,000 years before modern homo sapiens evolved, which happened about 125,000 years ago.

By Tonto National Monument - Flint-knapping Demonstration, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72726786

About 300,000 years ago, flint blades that showed signs of being heated in fire started to appear in Morocco. Heating the stone in fire before knapping it made it easier to get flakes off the stone. There are also stones that were purpose heated about 164,000 years ago in Pinnacle Point, South Africa.

By Zhangzhugang - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15220548

It was during the Neolithic, about 10,000 years ago or 8000 BCE, that fire was used to dry out clay, making it much stronger and more durable than just allowing the clay to dry naturally, turning clay into pottery. Some remains in Xianrendong Cave in China, though, are pushing that back to about 20,000 years ago.

[little-caeruleum-blog]

LMK || The Clay-Made Monkey

ATTENTION!!! THIS HAS SPOILER FOR SEASON FOR OF LMK, SPECIFICALLY THE IMAGES THAT ARE ADDED HERE!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

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* After many months, Sun Wukong finally found it. He had searched many times all around Flower Fruit Mountain, turning over every rock to find more rocks. Searched the caves hidden deep inside the mountain and the cold beaches that he refused to go near until now. He finally found it. The one.

The perfect rock.

The rock perfectly fit both hands, wrapping it around as a whole. He held it close to his chest and cuddled it, happy he had finally found it! This was it! This would be the one for him to use.

The perfect rock to make his son.

So many years, decades, centuries, of him being alone. He may have his small army of monkeys and a throne in the waterfall cave, but he was lonely. Lui Er would only visit so rarely as he traveled with the wind to find his music. Baijie, Tripitaka, Wujing, and Dragon Horse were long gone, passed away, and reincarnated into who knows when and where.

He needed someone to talk to. Someone that could hold a conversation. Someone to be able to take care of. Fill his lonely heart with love. Someone like a son.

Sun Wukong reached the top of Flower Fruit Mountain, the very same place where he was born out of stone that touched both earth and heaven, the south, east, west, and north corners pillars. Where he began his life but never reached death. 

On top of the mountain stood Nüwa. Nüwa was the mother goddess, crafting humanity out of nothing due to her own loneliness. She, too, understands Sun Wukong's own feelings about wanting a companion. She appeared in a bright yellow light to answer the old Monkey King's prayers as he begged for a life he can take care of. In her right hand, she held a bowl full of yellow clay, and in her left, tools to craft the clay. 

“I see you have brought the rock.” She spoke in a soft mystical voice. A smile formed on her lips as she glided herself towards the Monkey King. “It is a beauty. Tell me, why did you choose this one out of all the other ones?”

Wukong chose his words carefully. He knew whatever he answered would influence how Nuwe would craft his clay child.

“This rock,” Wukong spoke. “This rock in my hands fell on my lap one day when I was outside my cave. It was warm from the sun and covered in moss from when the water touched the earth. No wind could have pushed this or heaven would have destined this upon me. No other rock would have fallen down from where it had come from except for this. This is how I had come upon my child. This is who my child will be born from.”

Nüwa's silence was comforting as he held out the rock towards her. With his strength, he split the rock in half. Inside it was hollow, the perfect place to put his clay child. Sun Wukong placed the pieces on the mossy stone pillar where his stone once stood. There, he sat down on the floor and watched Nuwe perform her craftsmanship.

Nüwa started off by collecting the clay from the bowl into her hands. Her coarse hands moved with grace as she created life out of a lump of moist yellow clay. The figure took shape into a small monkey with lumpy spiky hair and a messy heart shape mark over its eyes and nose. And the little tale that kept sliding off of its bottom. But Wukong was patient, for once, as his tail eagerly wagged left to right watching. He knew what Nuwe was doing. Another test of his was to learn patience as her craft took time to get its shape perfectly. 

With a quick flip of her hand, a small fire erupted from a small crack in the ground. Its light was hot despite how small it was as the mother goddess placed the little clay body near it. She laid out her tools in front of her, her hands waving around before she picked up the smallest carving knife. She picked up a small knife and gently made her large adjustments on such a delicate-looking body. The eyes were wide, bright-eyed as it looked straight ahead at Nuwe. Its body was like a form between a human and a monkey with long human limbs but the fur of an animal all over the elbow, shoulders, thighs, and calves. Its messy heart took the form of a perfect little peach, just the same as Sun Wukong's birthmark. The crooked smile on the toddler's face made Nuwe laugh as she gently massaged its spiky hair, carefully wrapping it around a little hair tie to hold it in place

What seemed like hours turned out to be slow minutes as she held out the beautifully crafted ceramic piece in front of Sun Wukong. Wukong stared at it in awe, tears that would never fall mist his peachy eyes as the little figure was dropped in his hands. It was beautiful. This was going to be his little sun.

Wukong felt a small tug on his head and the slight pain of his hair being plucked out. He looked up and watched as Nuwe placed the orange hair in the small open hands of the clay figure.

“Sun Wukong. Your son is ready to be born from my hands but the mind of yours.” Nuwe declared. “May its life prosper in both heaven and earth as it becomes full of life!”

“Thank you… Goddess?” He said but as he looked up, all that was left was a fading bright light. She had disappeared, fulfilling her duty.

Sun Wukong shook his head as he smiled, a little chuckle leaving his lips. “Looks like it’s just you and me, bud.”

Sun Wukong placed the little clay figure inside one of the halves of the broken rock. He grabbed the other half and placed it over the other, covering up his little clay child before he used his strength to stick the halves together. Patting it down on the stone pillar, he took a few steps back. 

He sat down, legs crossed and his hands on each side, and he waited. He would wait for as long as he needed for his son to come out. With his eyes closed and a deep breath, he meditated. And with his heart full of glee, he stayed calm and waited. Wait… wait… and wait.

[sonicasura]

You can blame the anime Ushio and Tora for this idea.

Trollhunters but every time Jim uses the amulet, he slowly becomes a troll.

Let me explain. In the show Ushio and Tora, there's an weapon called the Beast Spear. A magical item that grants the wielder the power to slay evil spirits. Though there is a cost as the wielder will eventually become a beast, specifically Tora's species: Azafuse for 2015 reboot or Bakaneko in the original series.

Amulet of Daylight had always been made for Trollkind but it never gotten a human holder before. Well, at least until it chosen a certain Jim Lake Jr. Knowing who made the amulet and Merlin's skewed viewpoint about how things should be handled... I won't be surprised if he added such a function.

Now it starts as a slow process that wouldn't be noticable at first. His skin begins to feel dry, grows a bit hairier, teeth looking a bit sharp. Subtle changes as the deeper the transformation, the harder it is to reverse it. Next an odd coloration to his skin akin to bruising in some spots alongside minor headaches and toothaches.

The signs something is wrong will become noticeable to Jim when he finds dry blood on his pillow from the small horn nubs and some teeth fall out to be replaced with troll tusks later. His skin drying out until it flakes off to reveal soft clay skin like a scorpion molting. Further changes are more painful though mainly cause it involves his insides.

Jim's skin hardening to stone, his ring finger merging with the middle, horn growth, and two toes on both feet merge together aren't gonna be as painful as this. If I were to describe the pain, I say it's like being molded, stretched then dried in fire similar to clay. Albeit the clay is human bones and organs.

Things only get worse as certain items such as the Gritshaka, Gravesand and the Triumbric Stones accelerates the process. Yup! Jim's Eclipse armor practically triples the transformation speed but also set his new troll species: Gumm-Gumm. Specifically one just like Gunmar albeit more like an opposite. If the Gumm Gumm King is Yin, then Jim shall be his Yang.

He purifies those converted by Gunmar, undo Creeper's Sun poison and potentially so much more. A living manifestation of what a Heartstone is meant to do than Jim's twisted opposite. To heal instead of rot.

Jim's transformation would fully be completed during his stay in the Darklands as Gunmar's Decimaar Blade will speed up the process as well. He got his wish in a way. Jim replaced his son species wise but he will never control the Trollhunter.

Reunions for Team Trollhunters and the Lake Family is gonna be very awkward. Everyone, especially Jim, needs a shit ton of hugs. Someone needs to let Barbara whale on Merlin with a broom.

I just realized an Ushio and Tora AU would definitely fit with Draal as Tora while Jim takes Ushio's role. Although Jimbo will need a curse item like a prototype or twisted amulet replica and accidentally turns Draal into a Demon Troll using it. It takes place at least a year before Trollhunters canon mainly for shenanigans. Kanijar completely unaware of his son getting into trouble and then finding out in the most insane way sounds hilarious to me.

Bular fits too as Tora was quite antagonistic at the beginning. He also ate humans until he was imprisoned. Bular had been kidnapped by humans before in canon so it would be plausible to have him sealed up in someone's basement by an object like a long sword.

That's my opinion anyway.

Edit: You guys can also have a shot at this! I crave chaos and I love to see what people can come up with.

[itsmmatchaa]

NICO

.*𓆩♡𓆪⸸･ﾟ “the red flags are big but so is my dick” :)

𓆩♡𓆪.SEX: god male

𓆩♡𓆪.SEXUAL ORIENTATION: yes

𓆩♡𓆪.SPECIES: demon? incubus prince? sex machine? the name you'll be screaming tonight? a nuisance for sure. Half demon prince, half human

𓆩♡𓆪.NAME: Niccolo Cifarelli

𓆩♡𓆪.NICKNAMES: nico, nilo, "the angel of art department", nicky, asmoday, the son of asmodeus, your highness

𓆩♡𓆪.OCCUPATIONS: prince of second circle of hell (lust), art student and a barista

𓆩♡𓆪.AGE: 246-ish

𓆩♡𓆪.BIRTHDAY: 6/9 nice (6th september)

𓆩♡𓆪.HOMETOWN: hell/woods in Italy

𓆩♡𓆪.HEIGHT: 195 cm

𓆩♡𓆪.APPEARENCE:

𓆩♡𓆪.EYECOLOR: Nico's eye color changes accordingly to his emotions, thats why he hides his eyes with glasses or his hair. Usually they're brown with golden hues, but can have hints of purple when he use his demonic powers, when he's angry or feeding himself with sexual energy, blood or flesh.

𓆩♡𓆪.HAIR: thick dark hair that cannot decide if it's black or dark brown, wavy and fluffy.

𓆩♡𓆪.BODY INFO: Nico's body is ripped. he use a lot of his time working out and carrying weight, art equipment and stones or clays since he likes sculpting. all that activities helped to turn him into a very strong guy. He also enjoys deadlifting and helping his dad with mechanics when he's fixing up cars.

𓆩♡𓆪.SKINCOLOR: Nico has a tanned skin thanks to the amount of time he gets under the sun helping his mother with orange harvest and sketching people.

𓆩♡𓆪.ABOUT NICO: son of asmodeus himself and a human woman. his mother died in Triora centuries ago being judged as a witch, when in fact she was just a very beautiful young and intelligent woman without a husband and refunsing to marry a old man.

when nico's mother arrived in hell, the demon asmodeus was amazed by her beauty and kindness, he decided to woo her and take her as his wife. she was strangely kind even though she was in hell. Asmodeus knew that someone had probably misjudged her and sent her to hell, which at this point was a daily basis (seriously heaven/hell bureaucracy is a mess), but asmodeus didn't want to lose her and decided to hide her existence. asmodeus waited years for her to feel comfortable enough to get into a relationship and copulate with him and together they had only one child: niccolo.

Niccolo was born human and very weak, unfortunally the infernal air was not good for his weak human lungs, he was always coughing a lot so asmodeus took his wife and children to a wood cabin to live in the human world. years passed and despite the efforts of his mother and father, unfortunately niccolo died at the age of 13, due to the plague and his fragile health, on the island of Poveglia, along with other infected people. Asmodeus knew that he could not interfere with his son's death, otherwise the boy could become a lost soul without memories of his life, however the demon lord had a little bit of hope that maybe his son could turn into a demon when he died.

after niccolo's death, a search was made after all the dead souls hoping to find asmodeus's son but without success. nico disappeared for about 200 years until a young boy suddenly appeared in hell, looking for his parents, saying that heaven was too boring.

"I really tried be a good boy, but I couldn't do anything and they were already pointing their swords at me.”

when asmodeus learned that the heavens had kept his son for all this time, he was pissed, but at his son's request nothing was done and he wouldn't declare war to heaven... this time.

"it took me a long time to see you father, and I don't want to look at any angels so soon."

Niccolo was now "dead", and as asmodeus predicted, he became a demon and a refused soul (when you ascend to heaven but get kicked out). asmodeus was proud while nico's mother was slapping his shoulders while crying after so much time without seeing her only son.

After spending time with his family, niccolo had been given the title of asmoday, reborning as a hell's prince, and no one demon ever speak his name again. * (please check trivia for more information)

𓆩♡𓆪.PERSONALITY: even if he's flirtatious, full of shit and sometimes mysterious, he's kind and caring, he's a goofball honestly. his demonic personality does get the best of him sometimes, he can't fight the urge of making jokes and stealing people's heart with his looks (and he will seduce you in purpose, yes) but at the same time he's also clumsy and cute.

hes the type of guy that makes every woman's heart beat fast not matter the age, the type all mother want to their daughters. the way he talks to mrs. Amelia, an old lady and his neighbor, like she's young again, it's so cute, and it's so beautiful to see her smiling and blushing because of the compliments that Niccolo has said. he knows that a little compliment makes the day of the old lady.

"Oh Mrs. Amelia, you're shining today! May I have the pleasure of your company to the train station my lady?"

Nico also enjoys his time alone, listening to music or running early in the morning, doing calisthenics or painting. But there's nothing he enjoys more than vacation, when he goes back to Italy and can see his parents in the human form, and pretend they are normal humans for a bit, helping his mother taking care of her farm, and helping his dad when he's messing up with old cars. that one hobbie made Nico a big fan of races, it's not rare seeing him in street racings with his chevelle SS 1970 and believe me, he's fast as fuck when wants to win.

Nico is like a puppy dog when in love, he'll cherish and love you, you're going to be his sun, his moon and all his starts, he'll draw you, sculpt you and kill for you if necessary. he´s the type that would wear a "my girl is hotter than you" shirt and he would be proud about it, even if he's supposed to be bad, if you ask, he'll be the most loyal puppy in the world. but don't be surprised if one day you wake up with a very hungry half demon boyfriend next to you needing sexual energy. after all he's kind of the heir of luxury and when incubus fall in love they can only feed from his beloved and oh boy he's insatiable.

𓆩♡𓆪.LIKES: playing bass, cars, sculping, oranges and tangerines, messing with cars, iced coffee with 2 spoon's of sugar and milk, cats, the smell of rain

𓆩♡𓆪.DISLIKES: flu, hospitals, extreme unhygienic people and places, blank pages, when he miss a race, pure milk (he only drinks milk with chocolate powder or sugar). Cooking (he can't cook for his life), churches

𓆩♡𓆪.TRIVIA:

names are sacred to demons, so when a demon makes himself known he is given a false name or title. Some demons are so ancient that we only know their titles. If you speak the real name of a demon, you can end up dying or you will feel enormous pain. The only ones who can speak a demon's name are those close to them or to whom the demon has made a confession (the act of telling the demons name).

can't cook for shit, but he's very good at making drinks. he work as an barista with Yao Mei.

each demon has a way of protecting its name, by telling it to everyone and putting a seal on themselves, or being so powerful that even if everyone knows it won't change anything. Or killing everyone who knows their name.

[thoughtfulfangirling]

2024 Reads

Another human invented marker of time has passed moving us from one year to the next. It's a good reason to start over my lists right?! XD 2023's list can be found here! 2024 starts below!

You Made a Fool out of Death with Your Beauty - Awaeke Emezi

Pussypedia: A Comprehensive Guide^ - Zoe Mendelson & Maria Conejo

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek -Kim Michele Richardson

Meru - S.B. Divya

The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South^ by Radley Balko & Tucker Carrington

Watching the Tree: A Chinese Daughter Reflects on Happiness, Tradition, and Spiritual Wisdom^ - Adeline Yen Mah

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong

The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg^ - Helen Rappaport]

Pride and Prejudice* - Jane Austen

Fresh Girl - Jaida Placide

Butts: A Backstory^ - Heather Radke

The Girl Who Chased the Moon - Sarah Addison Allen

The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides

The Blue Sword - Robin McKinley

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex^ - Nathaniel Philbrick

A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico^ - Amy S. Greenberg

This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible^ - Charles E. Cobb Jr.

This Is Your Mind on Plants^ - Michael Pollan

The Silent Patient*~ - Alex Michaelides

Finding Me^ - Viola Davis

Wuthering Heights# - Emily Bronte

Exit Strategy~ - Martha Wells

The Girls Who Went Away:^ The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades before Roe V. Wade - Ann Fessler

Bowling Alone:^ The Collapse and Revival of American Community - Robert D. Putnam

Fugitive Telemetry%~ - Martha Wells

The History of Wales^*% - History Nerds

The War on Everyone^% ~- Robert Evans

Searching for Black Confederates:^ The Civil War's Most Persistent Myth - Kevin M. Levin

The Great Influenza:* The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History [2004] by John M. Barry

Network Effect~ - Martha Wells

Zelda Popkin:^ The Life and Times of an American Jewish Woman Writer - Jeremy D Popkin

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon

Medical Apartheid:^ The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present - Harriet A Washington

The Assassination of Fred Hampton:^ How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther - Jeffrey Haas

The Death of Vivek Oji - Awaeke Emezi

Mutual Aid:^% Building Solidarity in This Crisis (And the Next) - Dean Spade

Passin' Through - Luis L'Amour

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store - James McBride

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro

Histories of the Transgender Child^ - Jules Gill-Peterson

Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curiosu Man^ - Mark Kurlansky

When I Fell from the Sky:^ The True Story of One Woman's Miraculous Survival - Juliane Koepcke

Dear Senthuran:^ A Black Spirit Memoir - Akwaeke Emezi

Emma* by Jane Austen

Lud-in-the-Mist - Hope Mirrlees

Woman:^ The American History of an Idea - Lillian Faderman

System Collapse - Martha Wells

A Dark and Starless Forest - Sarah Hollawell

The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love^% - Bell Hooks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks^ - Rebecca Skloot

Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America^ -Rachel Hope Cleves

The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle^ - Lillian Faderman

The Woman in Me^ - Brittany Spears

Reclaiming Two-Spirits: Sexuality, Spiritual Renewal & Sovereignty in Native America^ - Gregory Smithers

Being Huemann: An Unrepentant Memoir of Disability Rights Activist^ - Judith Huemann

The Unthinkable: Who Survives When a Disaster Strikes and Why^ - Amanda Ripley

The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta Stone^ - Edward Dolnick

Utopia for Realists:^ How We Can Build the Ideal World - Rutger Bregman

The Echo Wife - Sarah Gailey

To Believe in Women:^ What Lesbians Have Done for America - Lillian Faderman

Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon

Tribe:^% On Homecoming and Belonging - Sebastian Junger

Freedom^% - Sebastian Junger

Our Wives Under the Sea - Julia Armfield

Nonviolence: 25 Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea% - Mark Kurlansky

Bridehead Revisited# - Evelyn Waugh

The Witch Elm - Tana Frencyh

Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

HumanKind: A Hopeful History - Rutger Bregman^

Autumn at the Willow River Guesthouse - C.P Ward

From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World Find the Good Death^ - Caitlin Doughty

A Study in Drowning - Ava Reid

The Turn of the Screw - Henry James

Gideon the Ninth* - Tamsyn Muir

See What I Have Done - Sarah Schmidt

Plain Bad Heroines* - Emily M Danforth

Tell Me I'm Worthless - Alison Rumfitt

On Killing:^ The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society - Dave Grossman

Camp Damascus - Chuck Tingle

The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror - Daneil M. Lavery

The Night Gardener - Jonathan Auxier

The World of Lore: Wicked Mortals^ - Aaron Mahnke

The Willows% - Algernon Blackwood

Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones% - Alvin Schwartz

The Motion of Puppets - Keith Donohue

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow% - Washington Irving

Wisconsin's Ghosts^ - Sherry Strub

Trauma and Recovery^: The Aftermath of Violence—from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror - Judith Lewis Herman

An Enchangment of Ravens - Margaret Rogerson

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell* - Susanna Clark

Portrait of a Thief - Grace D. Li

The Five^: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper - Hallie Rubenhold

Countrymen: The Untold Story of How Denamrk's Jews Escaped the Nazis, of the Courage of their Fellow Danes^ - and the Extrondinary Role of the SS - Bo Lidegaard

The Road to Jonestown^: Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple - Jeff Guinn

The Scary Book of Christmas Lore^ - Tim Rayborn

On Tyranny^: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century - Timothy Snyder

The Old Magic of Christmas:^ Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year - Linda Raedisch

(last updated 12/15)

Currently reading: Christmas Truce (print), The Hogfather (Audio), HTN (with spouse), and Midnight Never Come (audio to fall asleep to)

Key: * = Reread ^ = Nonfiction ~ = Read with Empty % = Novella #= Doc book club

My goal for 2024 is for 40% of my reads to be nonfiction. I've had two years within the recent past where I managed 20% of my reads to be nonfiction, so I'm aiming to double that. THIS WILL BE HARD FOR ME! Not because I don't enjoy nonfiction but because I enjoy fiction a lot more and have a lot more practice reading it. Haha Also for me, I am in circles where I'm just going to have more awareness of fictional books that I'm likely to enjoy more so than nonfiction. I'm kind of hoping that this years journey will change that a bit too!

Okay, below the cut I'm putting the nonfiction books on my tbr, most of which I have the lovely people of Tumblr to thank for the recommendations!

1968: The Year that Rocked the World

The Age of Wood; Our Most Useful Material...

The Assassination of Fred Hampton

Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the...

Being Human

The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shelf

Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man

Bowling Alone

Brave the Wild: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped...

Butts: A Backstory / Evermore Recommended

The Cadaver Kin and the Country Dentist / Automatuck9

Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America

Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse...

Dear Senthuran

DisneyWar

Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with...

Finding Me (Viola Davis)

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed...

The Food of a Younger Land

The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women...

The Glass Universe

The Great Hunger: The Story of the Famine...

The Great Influenza

Helping Her Get Free: A Guide for Families and Friends of an Abused Woman

The History of Ireland

The History of Scotland

The History of Wales

How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Indifferent Stars Above

In the Heart of the Sea / ecouterbien

In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death...

The Last Days of the Romanovs / Automatuck9

Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical...

Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During the Crisis...

A New World Begins

Nonviolence: The History of a Dangerous...

This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get you Killed / Empty

Radium Girls

The Road to Jonestown

Paper: Paging through History

People's Temple

Pussypedia / Bookstagram Rec

Salt: A World History

Say Nothing

Sea Biscuit: An American legend

Searching for Black Confederates

This is Your Mind on Plants

Unmasking Autism

The Unthinkable: Who Survives when Disaster Strikes - And Why

Watching the Tree / found all by my little self

We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow we Will be Killed...

A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln and the.. / Rose

The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta...

I will actually add to this list as I get more recs and whatnot. And I still have some coming which I ordered from Thriftbooks. Once those are here, I'll add those. I'm a little sad there aren't more memoirs, but there's plenty of time for that yet! This is already 37 books, and given lately I've been reading about 70 (nonfiction may slow me down tho), these should give me plenty of ability to reach my 40% goal. Now it's just a matter of if I do it XD