#seattle occult

[edgeofthecirclebooks]

[yukoishii]

book of the sun (akashic records) mixed media assemblage Available only on artful home: https://www.artfulhome.com/navigate?searchTerm=yuko

[khornedog]

Tumblr is where you're supposed to be weird on purpose, so I'm sharing this short film I helped a bunch of my friends make. It's a holiday special and it's a comedy!

Come for the adult theater nerds, stay for the esoteric wisdom and sight gags!

[sunflowervoltwentyeight]

Happy 28th! Here is my September 2024 fic rec, organized by word count, from longest to shortest. You can view my other fic recs here. Enjoy!

Godless, Graceless, and Young by kiddle / @bluejeanlouis (110k)

Seattle, Washington, 1991

It takes a special breed to have a slacker persona and still be a millionaire rockstar. Harry is about halfway there. He's the guitarist in a Seattle grunge band that could finally be headed somewhere, but he's also been sleeping on his bassist's sofa for the last three months and has been fired from every day-job he's had. Money doesn't equal success, but it does pay the bills.

When a job offer and a new lead singer stumble into Harry's life, he might be getting a lot more than he bargained for. Like a couple of extra gigs and a boy who can teach him more than just how to mix a few drinks, and it's gonna take a few band brawls and a whole lot of heart-searching to get there.

He's gotta have one somewhere...

Coax the Cold by mediawhore / @mediawhorefics (86k)

England, 1897.  

English Professor Louis Tomlinson’s passion for the occult has been a source of mockery and derision for most of his life. When he hears whispers of a travelling freak show newly established in London claiming the existence of a monstrous sea hybrid, half-man, half-fish, Louis sees it as his ticket to credibility amongst his peers. The summer he spends undercover working on the show, however, gives him much more than that.

Late Nights and Good Intentions by princelouisau / @princelouisau (71k)

“About last night,” Harry says suddenly, as if he’d been debating on whether to say anything. Louis whips back around to look at him.

“Do not finish that thought,” Louis says just as abruptly.

Harry looks at him oddly, as if assessing him. With a small frown, it seems the assessment is over. “I only wish to say that you do not have to dwell on it. The rest of the men will surely forget by tonight.”

“And you?” Louis asks, raising an eyebrow. “Will you forget?”

“I will remember every second of it fondly,” the Lord says, no trace of a tease in his words. or, a Victorian era au where Louis pines for his overprotective older brother’s very charming best friend.

For You, I Would Ruin Myself by wildestdreams / @thelavendrhaze (54k) WIP

It was the perfect last day of summer. They built sandcastles, wrote their names in the sand, and caught crabs, which they eventually let go when one of them pinched Louis and he was near tears. Afterward, they swam in the ocean, splashing each other playfully before moving toward one another in sync, lips pressing together in sweet kisses. When their skin turned prune-like, they returned to shore, laying out on their towels beneath the bright sun, snacking on fruit and chocolate while talking about everything and nothing.

At some point, Harry had shared, “I think this has been my favorite summer yet.”

“Why’s that?” Louis asked, a smile peeking out as though he already knew. He looked so pretty and cool with his sun-kissed skin and black Ray-Bans covering his eyes.

Harry rolled over on his towel until he was half-pressed against Louis and placed his palms on top of Louis’ chest, tucking his chin over them. “Because I had you.”

or

Harry’s unrequited crush on Louis turns into a whirlwind summer romance, only to leave him heartbroken in the end. Years later, a return to his hometown forces Harry to confront his past and the one person he was running from.

Tarnished but so Grand by tilthesundies / @tllthesundies (32k)

Louis hides in places. Harry always finds him.

I'll Be Your Love Tonight by dinosaursmate (20k)

“I don’t know how I’m ever going to walk away from you.” “So don’t.” Harry ran a fingertip over Louis’ thigh. “Stay with me.” - It's the summer of 1999 and Louis Tomlinson has been abandoned at a house party. A dispute over Smirnoff Ice and several night buses later, Louis is unsure how he'll ever walk away from this lovely, curly-haired boy.

Green in the Morning and Blue Afternoon by wildestdreams / @thelavendrhaze (14k)

“Harry,” Louis whispered beside him.

Harry hummed, his hand coming up to stroke Louis’ back. Louis was still on top of him, his body sagging against Harry’s, heavy and warm, and Harry loved it.

“I don’t think it was a one off.”

“Me either, Lou.”

or a Friends AU.

A Few of My Favourite Things by sweariwouldnt / @sweariwouldnt (8k)

Harry and Louis do cat sitting.

[nosferslotu]

The Auspectives

One thing about me is if a game can have a detective, it will. Here’s three across three of the chronicles I play in/run

I.M D’amore - toreador, gentleman detective based in New York CittttAaay

Remington “red” herring - hardboiled noir detective and columbo kinnie based in Seattle. Sire of Harvey Darling

Renata “deadeye” Giovanni - hecata and occult detective, currently based in Salt Lake City

(Their old designs are under the break)

What Four months of improvement does to a homie

First designed them in June. Re addressed them in October. Super happy with the improvement!

[casuallycryptidcider]

Creating a WOD Character Weekly pt. 1

(Note: I got to use Florence for our emergency one shot last night. So, she’s officially a PC of mine!)

First OC of the new year! I’ve had this PC idea bouncing around in my head for a while now, so I am excited to actually make it!

Florence Du Bois began her unlife after being hanged for doing the alleged crime of witchcraft. She spent many years in the Salem area with her sire researching folklore, the origins of it, and how it relates to the fears of dominant groups. Wanting to discover herself, Florence parted ways with her sire and made her way to Seattle to look more into the regional stories. There she joined the anarch group called The Unbound. Currently, Florence works as the librarian (specializing in the occult) for the group and also acts as an anarch contact for House Carna. However, she recently formed a sexual relationship with a Tremere in the Camarilla called Q (xe/xem).

Florence has the merits of occult library, high purpose, and spirit mentor. She has the flaws of sleeping with the enemy and haunted. The idea between the merits/flaws of spirit mentor and haunted is ghosts that work like an angel and demon over your shoulders.

[worlds-worst-anecdotalist]

The Masque of Carcosa

Dated June 3rd 1903 

 “Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” -Freidrich Neitzsche 1886 

Abstract: 

A story about demonic, potentially eldritch, possession and spatial manipulation as recounted by Dr. Samuel J. Innsmouth, Orca Island Asylum, Collected by Prof. Johann D. Van Alden, Dept. of Occult Sciences, Miskatonic University, for further academic study regarding; spatial manipulation, parasitic possession, and extra dimensional entities.

Testimony of Dr. Samuel J Innsmouth: 

As a young man I was always fascinated by masks, especially the horrific and grotesque masks of the theaters of antiquity. Now there is no particular cause for what I saw in them. Perhaps it was the archetypes of the human psyche laid bare and unformed yet still hiding the truth beneath a mockery, an illusion displayed for the sake of the story's convenience. But that was my youth. As I grew older I learned more about the world. I studied in the manner of my family to be a psychologist to learn the inner workings and structures of the human mind. 

After taking what I thought would be a beneficial position, I soon  found myself trapped in a remote asylum on Orca Island in the San Juan channel in the Pacific Northwest. I was working as a resident, studying and learning the trade, when a curious case crossed my desk. That being the case of Mr. Leopold Penn, an actor from Seattle who was displaying all the common signs of what was a sudden albeit particularly violent personality split, despite never having any prior recorded mental or physical ailments of any particular note, beyond a mild fear of spiders. 

Upon the completion of my transit from Orca Island to Seattle I was soon greeted and ushered to the city's hospital where for the time being they were keeping Mr. Penn in the psychiatric ward, I met Mr. Penn as he was sitting in his cell patiently reading Edgar Allen Poe’s Cask of Amontillado which in hindsight was quite an ironic pick considering what I was about to learn. As I began the interview and evaluation I quickly was informed by Mr. Penn that he was in fact a Mr. Shepherd Carcosa or at least so he claimed. He spoke with a strange almost snake like accent and he wore thick yellow robes stained with refuse and other offal and a Il Capitano mask, its crows beak nose drawn out long and hooked over a matted mustache. His mask was stained, yellowed, weathered, and withered with age and it hid his face or at least most of it. I was informed by one of my colleagues that whenever they tried to remove his costume the patient would go into a violent psychotic rage. 

As we conversed Mr. Penn speaking as his alter ego Carcosa revealed things that he should not have known, things that were… distressing.  But more so than that his eyes disturbed me to an even greater degree as he stared like a corpse, not at me but past me unblinking and unflinching. 

After hours of conversation, with him dodging my questions like a well trained ballerina doing pirouettes, he slumped over. When he arose again he asked where he was. He asked who I was. I answered these questions and I asked him who he was as I had similarly before. He replied that he was Leopold Penn or Leo to his friends. When I asked him to remove his mask the patient seemed… hesitant? Slowly, obligingly,  he tried to tug the mask off to which he failed causing the patient to panic and attempt to rip the mask off with great frenzy. In the dark pits of the mask's eyes I saw his terror.  He asked… no, begged for me to assist him before he slumped over again and passed out. 

Over the coming weeks he came into and out of consciousness innumerable times, frequently as Carcosa, increasingly rarely as himself. But the worst was yet to come for during a fit of unconsciousness we had him x-rayed to see what had come over him physiologically and what we saw scarred many in the room that day… myself included. The mask had grown, mutated, hell fused to his face. His bones became the masks and vice versa. Like a horrific parasite the weathered leather of the mask had become his skin and yet the eyes did not emerge; they remained sunken and obscured.

 Then the nightmares that plagued my team and I began. I dreamt of roiling seas of reeking yellow bile, that flowed seamlessly to a pus colored sky with black stars of gleaming obsidian. I alternately dreamed of crumbling cities scorched in flame, of things indescribable in their wickedness, and of strange sigils and signs etched in the dark and in the flames. In quiet moments when all the world should have been still I swore I heard something nowhere and everywhere within us and without us. laughing a sickly and wretched laugh as if it was mocking me, mocking us.  

Over the week following our examination of the mask on Penn/Carcosa, my colleagues began to degenerate and eccentricate acquiring bizarre habits and perversions. Eventually I was the only one left on the case, the only one stable enough to continue on.  And so, despite my own dreamlike horrors and trepidations  I entered Mr. Penn's padded cell, ostensibly to resume my investigation. 

To my horror,  when I entered I wasn't met with a hospital cell but rather I saw a grand and impossible city embraced to the east, west and south by the roiling sea of wretched reeking ochre bile from my dreams. It crashed against stained sizzling rocks, flowing into a fetid pus yellow sky adorned with black stars of obsidian just as in my nightmares. Everything was smothered with a steaming sulfurous humidity. The name of this abhorrent city rang in my mind like a foul requiem bell: “Carcosa… CARCOSA… CARCOSA… C A R C O S A!” 

I knew from my bones that this abysmal city had at one point appeared to be a beautiful metropolis without equal or rival in all the world. Through all the ages it was now sundered and crumbled to ash. And yet through glimpses, more like flashes really, I saw it for what it once had been in days of bygone glory and it was as beautiful as it was terrible. Its architecture was Vedic or something older. It reminded me of India but far older from either a time before the time of the brahmins' history or from a time they refuse to speak of.

The city was warped, crooked and bent in ways that it shouldn't have been, that it couldn't have been. Its citizens dressed in the fineries and excess of carnivals grander than Venice or anywhere of this world. All of them were wearing… masks… abhorrent wretched but beautiful masks. They appeared to be enslaved by their masks. They jerked to and fro stiffly, like demented marionettes flailing and contorting with agonizing efficiency. They didn't seem to speak and they didn't seem to breathe. 

At this point I decided to retreat to sanity and plan a new course of action. But to my horror, like a marionette, I felt my limbs move me forward from my entrance deeper and deeper into the city passing impossible architecture and bizarre puppets. After an eon of this madness I saw the palace wrought wholly from a single piece of alabaster. Throngs of pilgrims flocked to its gates and I flocked with them. Yet, as I approached the palace steps, flashes of rebellion and of treason most foul flickered across my mind. These were not pilgrims. These were revolutionaries. They parted before me…  parted like Moses parted the Red Sea. 

Against my will, I was carried up those steps and led by my own legs into a gaping pillared hall. Courtiers were locked in an endless waltz yet no noise came from them, not even the steps of their feet. Despite the glory of their robes I saw their chains. They were not here willingly but they were held here by iron will. Lo and there the throne rose above the masquerade, its occupant seated upon it exuded a regal air. As I approached I saw him for what he was, a necrotic and withered corpse bound to the throne. His body was augmented with unknowable clockwork. His eyes sunken and forgotten eons ago. His chains were rusted and yellow. Vile ichor foamed from the corners of his mouth past yellowed teeth, contorted in an endless scream. And yet I recognized something about this abhorrent cadaver, this Necrotic corpse. This wretched thing was Leopold Penn or what remained of him. 

Then HE arrived to great and grand fanfare; the braggart prince, wearing the same stained Capitano mask and the same faded yellow robes Mr. Penn was last seen in. HE strode forth with great swagger and bowed deeply yet mockingly before me. With a voice that sounded like a choir of suffering he spoke: “My most humble and deep seated apologies for being unable to present this domain to you Dr. Innsmouth.  I had the most pressing and urgent business. I see you've found our mutual friend? Don't worry he isn’t dead.” He chortled this last line with the sickening grace and bravado of someone who operated every fiber of their being manually and consciously. I realized this world, this place whatever it was, danced at his whim. He was the puppet master and this was his stage.

 I demanded he remove his mask and reveal himself. He, however, refused, for he wasn't wearing a mask at all. The horror of this realization caused me to scream. My spirit imploded under the might of that king of rotten amber, the lord of yellow, the eldest of the four, the chamberlain of the hanged king of thorns. As visions of terror, death, and woe seared themselves into my mind I saw a veiled king with a crown of stars, abhorrent temples dedicated to forgotten gods, a great web plied by its arachnian master. I saw many more things but then I awoke on the floor of Leopold's cell but Leopold Penn was not there. In fact, he was never seen again. I believe he yet lies in that deathless hell, caught in a vice between life and death, a sacrifice to the masque of Carcosa.  Conclusion by Prof. J.D. Van Alden: 

Upon further independent investigation I found no reports of one Leopold Penn beyond a few panning reviews from critics, as well as a missing persons poster dated to around the time of the incident. However, aside from those scant records there is no other documentation of this man. No birth certificate, no death certificate, no admissions documents from the hospital or any other such papers or records. 

Because it is clear a Mr. Penn existed and was an actor as claimed by Dr. Innsmouth I am inclined to believe the veracity of Dr. Innsmouth’s testimony. Further evidence and investigation is needed to make any proper deductions or examinations of the claims made regarding possession and spatial manipulations made by Dr. Innsmouth..  Addendum from Professor Johann Diederik Van Alden to the Faculty of the Miskatonic University Occult Sciences Department

Dr. Samuel J. Innsmouth is still working at Orca island asylum and still seems to suffer from night terrors. It would be wise to refer him to Mr. Siegel for study and observation. If any peculiar developments arise please notify me at the earliest possible time.

[invcstigative]

#invcstigative. a literate and descriptive original detective character . 18+ only // minors dni

Muse Name: Detective Beau Dayton Age: 42 Gender: Cis Male Orientation: Bisexual Hometown: Seattle, WA. Travels the US for work.

Ever since he was a kid, Beau had a love for noir films and mystery novels, and while at first he had every intention of becoming a police officer, he became disheartened by the system and thus his dreams shifted and he struck out on his own to become a private detective with a focus on cold cases and helping those who can't afford fancy agencies. Gruff, a love for coffee, and a little mysterious, Beau is straight out of a noir film, though it's unknown if this is just a show he puts on or if the aesthetic truly runs that deep.

While I do tend to write him as a regular detective, I am open for writing him in a more paranormal setting where Beau is a medium, able to converse and see spirits whilst focusing on cases that have to do with the occult and helping spirits finish their unfinished business.

--

I love writing ships, romance is one of my favorite things to write, but I will not enforce it, nor is it the only thing I will write. I don't force ship, and I appreciate if you do the same. That being said, if you ask, it's more than likely I'll say yes, we just need chemistry in our writing.

You must be over eighteen to write things of a NSFW-rated nature. There are no exceptions to this rule. I will unfollow you if I find out you lied about your age. Period. This is not a game. 

My ask box is always open, and if you ever have a comment or a concern, please feel free to write me! Anonymous hate will be deleted and not published — I don’t feed trolls.

Hate of any kind will absolutely not be tolerated on this blog. If I see someone who is a friend of mine, or a mutual player, getting hate, I will stand up and defend them. If I find out you, as a follower, have been spreading hate — whether it be on your personal or your RP blog, you will be unfollowed. I have a zero tolerance policy.

Things are tagged, NSFW things are always tagged as #nsft

I’m happy to write with multiple versions of the same character.

[orbitalsparkle]

!Orbital Sparkle Masterpost!

Welcome to the Orbital Sparkle campaign page! Here, you will find everything having to do with the game, the players, and the general plot! As well as that, there will be links to each player's introduction page, and any other important posts. So without further ado, Campaign name- Sparkle Rolls: Orbital Sparkle

Game- Blades in The Dark (minorly hacked) Story- Magical Girls GM- @eldrigeonsss

Total player count- 7 Sessions played- 1

The Players

Sierra ( @moreclaypigeons) Character: Urania "Raini" Playbook: Leech Planet/Bird: Uranus / tba

Guthrie ( @guthrie-odonto ) Character: Kuro Seti Playbook: Hull Planet/Bird: Pluto / masked lapwing Devo ( @cambriascall ) Character: Lulu/Cythe Playbook: Vampire (modified) Planet/Bird: Venus / Fruit Bat Robin (@melonkittii ) Character: Mimi Imi Playbook: Whisper Planet/Bird: Saturn / tba Dylan ( @/blsbaddie [discord] ) Character: tba Playbook: tba Planet/Bird: Mercury / tba Serenade Character: tba Playbook: tba Planet/Bird: Ceres / tba

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

The Crew

Crew type: Occult Reputation: Daring Tier: tba Hold: tba

The Setting

Welcome to the beautiful city of Newol Seattle, in the beautiful year of 2068! If you haven't heard, The Great Year is soon approaching, so the cities citizens are all getting ready for its arrival.

It has been about 50 years since the Catalyst Event that caused all of earth's society to crumble, and our rebuilt world is better than ever! Perfect, one might say. Yes, even though the Rewritten Years were hard on everyone, humanity is resilient, and through the collapse of Old Age government, capitalism, and structure, we have found something much more valuable! Community! And through community we have found our city! Built on the rubble of New and Old Seattle, Newol Seattle is the pinnacle of the country Washington's glory Not that there is much outside of it Sporting some truly astounding architecture, with very organized city structuring, you will find that this is the city of your dreams. Take a ride on the light rail, see the first ever building to touch into space, tour through some of the most beautiful gardens in all of the world. Or go down further, find the neon-lit night markets, see Old Age technology first hand in the scrap pits, discover tunnels that lead down into places unkown. The possibilities are endless, so feel free to get lost in our illustrious city!

The Story

tba ^^

[edgeofthecirclebooks]

[yukoishii]

the 7th sun mixed media painting, wax on wood panel © Yuko Ishii

[gyakusama]

Ears lift, only barely, beneath cascade of white hair. What was he? However, instead of ... something polite, or even introductory, her lips part: ❝ Did you cut your bangs in the middle of a mental breakdown? I get it ... I did it once. But it turned out like ... bad. The bob is cute! ❞

❝ 's that any way t' speak to a customer? ❞ Yes, he cut his hair in the middle of a mental breakdown, but that was forever ago!

Now, what brings Captain Shinji Hirako all the way out to a little occult shop in Seattle, Washington? To find something that cannot easily be purchased in Japan or the Soul Society, of course. Something unique. Something that might help make up for his absence from the World of the Living...

Most of the Visored (and Kisuke) have their birthdays towards the end of the year────a time Shinji anticipates being, unfortunately, very busy. So he might as well do a bit of shopping while he has the free time. Hachi in particular seems to have taken up an interest in ❛ human magic ❜ recently────which makes sense, if you think of Kidō as the Shinigami equivalent to magic.

❝ Ya got any...spellcraft...things? ❞

[thisandthat-whatever]

How do you like New York City overall?

I like it way better than LA . It fits my vibe better.

Hell-A is my least favourite city in USA. It is not a coincidence that most who like NYC don’t like LA and vice versa. I know some people who would prefer LA, so it is a personal choice. I have been to many cities here through travels mostly , from Seattle (where I actually lived for six months when I first came to USA) to Ohio City (passing through. Too rural for me), from San Francisco (pre-whatever is happening there now) to Chicago, etc.

To live I would recommend Seattle and NYC. To visit , like if you have only a few days to visit somewhere in the US, I’d say NOLA because New Orleans is the most interesting and different American city compared to all others. It has that occult intrigue on top of everything. 😂 I was there for only three days but I wanna go back because I don’t think I explored their cajun cuisine enough.

[blamelessfish]

Silver Part One

Master List // Next

The smell of ink and candle smoke mingled with the stench of blood. I straightened up, glanced down at the corpse, and sighed. I rubbed my temples. At times like this, my brain just logged what I saw, not reacting. He'd been eviscerated, throat to groin. The amount of bleeding showed that he'd still been alive, but there was no rope burn on his wrists and the cut was clean. Almost surgical. Like the work seers or Necromancers did on corpses sometimes. "Old hand," I murmured,  and glanced at the ritual circle the body had been curled around. The lines were bizarre, the Arcane frequencies were incongruent, suggesting a ritual invoking passion and emotion, but the wavelengths had been secured. The circle around the ritual hadn't been made with salt or something grounding, but powdered copper. There was items from the first five gates, skip the fifth and sixth, and then an Angel's Feather. And the power source was celestial. Celestial power for a ritual of blood. I was unsure what to make of it. That made me nervous. There was a knock on the door, and I glanced around the dingey one room Seattle apartment. There were photographs on the walls. It looked like Ronald was a nature photographer. My eyes lingered on a picture of a coyote, its eyes seeming to stare back out at me. There was another knock on the door, and Alphus cleared his throat. I looked at him. He was a mountain of a man. Nearly seven feet tall, wearing a jacket in the July heat. His expression was unreadable, hidden behind a beard and mirrored sunglasses. He cooked his head towards the door. I sighed. "Let them in. It might be good to get a second pair of eyes on this."

             "That bad?" He asked in a voice like grating stone. I gestured to the circle.

             "Any ideas?" He didn’t say anything, and opened the door. The two feds that stepped into the room looked the part. Cheap suits, mirrored off brand shades, shoulder holsters. If I hadn't known any better about the C.O.D's finest, I might even have thought they knew what they were investigating. One was a shorter, plump woman, and the other was a tall thin man. They both seemed to cast a wary glance at Alphus and I. "We don't bite," I promised. They started to come in, then they saw the body and froze. Alphas closed the door. "Greetings from the Order of the Corpus Sacrement," I said to break the silence, "I am a Keeper of Gates and a Warden of the Emerald Domain, Silver Harrows." I gestured to the body. "I wish the circumstances were more pleasant." The woman nodded and stepped forward while the man stepped forward and started to examine the body. She shook my hand.

     "I'm special Agent Cassidy Burns of the Cryptozoological and Occult crimes Division of the FBI." She cooked her head at the man examining the body. "Special Agent Burns." He grunted, and stood up.

     "A single, clean laceration," he said with a tone like that was the one big clue that would crack the case. "Whoever did this was an old hand," he turned to me. "Who do you know that could open someone up like that? Like a surgeon?" Alphus chuckled darkly, and I couldn't hold back a grin. I shook my head and glanced at Special Agent Cassidy. She shrugged.

     "First case in the C.O.D. Got here after catching a Loup Garou that dropped a few bodies." I let out a low whistle and looked at the man. He didn't look like he could tangle with one of the Moonhexed.

     "Respect," I said, "but you're asking the wrong person the wrong question."

     "Why? Do you know a lot of people with medical training?" I ran my hand through my hair nervously.

     "Not exactly," I said. "It's just that most Practitioners worth their salt, specifically in the fields of Divination or Necromancy, which involves a lot of magic, would be able to do this." Special Agent Burns seemed to think for a moment before speaking again.

      "I thought Necromancy was frowned upon," he finally said.

      "By the Unenlightened," Alphus said. "To Practitioners, a corpse without a soul is just more material." I let out a short, amused exhale. He was uniquely equipped to speak of Necromancy. There was a pause as Burns seemed to process the information.

      "But he wasn't dead when the cut was made," he finally said. "Any living person would buck and struggle, and even if he was restrained," he paused as he checked the ankles and wrists. "Even if he was restrained, there would be evidence of that jerking, bucking movement as he was killed." I nodded. The man wasn't stupid. "Unless,"

       "Unless he was unconscious or charmed. Maybe both." I finished. He nodded. I gestured to the ritual circle. "What can you get from this?" I asked. He set to work, and while it was clear he didn't know what he was looking at, he at least had the good sense not to touch anything. I crouched next to the corpse again. Next to Ronald, again. His face was twisted in agony, his features a distorted parody of what they would have been in life. Special Agent Cassidy crouched next to me.

        "Not unconscious then," she said.

        "No," I agreed. The image flashed in my mind. Unable to move, unable to scream, held in place as I was eviscerated. I winced and shook my head, unsure if it was a reverberation or just my imagination. I opened my eyes to see Cassidy reaching out to close the corpses. I stopped her, grabbing her wrist.

        "Why not?" she asked. Her voice carried a tiredness in it that I knew well. Resignation that things could always get worse.

       "We don't know what spells did this, or what he fueled. Until we do, it's unwise to touch him without protection." She nodded. I murmured a few words under my breath, and traced a few sigils in the air. His eyes slowly closed. She patted my shoulder. 

      "I'll call Arcane Hazmat."

      "Just know that he's at peace," I lied easily, "and we'll catch whoever did this."

      "What do you think sat here?" Burns asked. I stood, and turned, glancing at the carpet he gestured to. A heavy rectangular object had only just started to depress the fibers. It was barely noticeable. I hadn't seen it.

     "Nice catch," I said, crouched next to it, and ran my fingers along the carpet, murmuring words of protection. All that happened was that my fingers tingled. I grunted. "Could be a few things, but it was probably a tome," I straightened up, my knees popping as I did.

    "Like a wizard's book of spells?" Burns asked, smirking. I shrugged.

    "Not quite. It's a grimoire, but it's also more. Each tome is unique to the author. They can't be reproduced. A bit of your own soul, your own magic, goes into making the book. It holds all manner of Arcane Lore. Rituals. Incantations. Names. Formulae. Miscellaneous Magical Minutiae." I shrugged. "I can get more in depth about grimoires if you'd like."

     "Sure," Burns said. 

     "So-" I started.

     "It's two thirty," Alphus said. "We have to go." I grimaced, remembering that I'd agreed to meet with Marcilla at three. Alphus handed Agent Cassidy my card as I packed up my kit. Just a few things like moon water for cleansing and arcanically receptive stones.

      "We'll be in touch," I said as we left.

      "Should I be expecting a raven tapping at my window?" Agent Cassidy asked, grinning.

       "Actually, my familiar is a toad." She laughed as Alphus closed the door. I grimaced. Alphus was silent until we got to the elevator, and the doors closed.

      "You lied to her," he said simply. I nodded.

      "They didn't want to know." Alphus remained silent, but I could tell he agreed. Neither of us wanted to know either. We didn't want to know that the whole time we were investigating, Ronald's ghost was chained to his body, split open, and screaming like he couldn't when he died.

[rockytilly]

BASIC INFORMATION.

full name: rocky tilly

age: twenty seven

birth date: 5th march 1996

birth place: new orleans, louisana

nationality: american

gender: cis male

pronouns: he / him

orientation: bisexual

occupation: main street records + heartbeat station

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE.

face claim: oliver stark

hair colour: light brown

hair style:

eye colour: blue

height: 6"2'

weight: 163lbs

build: athletic

PERSONALITY.

+ compassionate, jovial, ardent, punctual and resilient - airy, brazen, imprudent, boastful, pessimistic

FAMILY.

mother: joanie tilly

father: ramsay hart

grandmother: brandy hart

BIOGRAPHY.

joanie tilly and ramsay hart were never supposed to be parents — they met while ramsay was touring with his band across the deep south, where they drank tequila at shitty dive bars, screwed each others brains out in the bathroom and fought into the early hours at various motels when joanie would catch ramsay flirting with another woman or ramsay would cacth her flirting with another man.

it was a tumultuous romance, the kind that never should have lasted longer than a weekend and would have ended long before it actually did if it wasn't for joanie falling pregnant and giving birth to rocky nine months later.

motels and dive bars were no place to raise a new born baby, but his parents were hellbent on trying. the type of parents who believed a baby had to fit into your life, not change it.

it was when rocky was six years old that they dropped him off at his grandmothers, relinquishing their parental rights to ramsay's mother. the nine years that rocky spent in new orleans with his grandmother were the happiest and most stable years of his life — even if she was slightly unconventional.

rocky spent his days after school at his grandmother's store for all things magick and occult, where she hosted clients seeking comfort and closure after losing a loved one. marianne hart was an eccentric woman, a self proclaimed medium but she loved rocky with every fibre of her being and there wasn't ever a day that rocky doubted that.

he was fifteen years old when his mother knocked on his grandmothers door, a minivan parked outside with all of her belongings inside after splitting up with ramsay for good this time and claiming to wanting to start a new life with rocky — in montana.

despite begging her to let him stay in new orleans where he had built a life, joanie promised rocky that things would be different now and that she was ready to be a mother — she was lying, of course. joanie just didn't want to be alone now that she'd split up with rocky's father.

readjusting to life in montana wasn't easy for rocky, everybody he knew and cared about was back home in new orleans but he was resilient, being abandoned by his parents had at least taught him that. his teenage years spent in montana weren't always smooth sailings. joanie hadn't lied when she said she was through with ramsey for the last time. unfortunately that opened a revolving door to new men who never stayed long enough for rocky to learn their names. none of them lasted longer than a few months, some only as long as the weekend.

sometimes rocky would be left home alone for the weekend or several days, the longest joanie was ever gone was a month. returning only when her latest fling had ended. it was during these years that rocky made a conscious effort to focus on his school work, determined to graduate with grades that would make any school in the country give him early admission and get away from his mother as fast as he could.

rocky left montana shortly after graduation, returning to new orleans to spend the summer with his grandma before heading to fairford, seattle to complete his bachelors degree in music production. joanie and ramsey might not have shared much with rocky, but they did share a love for music. however, where ramsey's passion was with performing, rocky's was producing. whenever he listened to the music his parents or grandma played growing up, he'd often wonder how it was produced.

once rocky graduated from fairford community college after completing his bachelors degree and masters in music production he landed himself a job at heartbeat station as an intern where he worked his way up to host in the last three years. it's not the career he wants in music, but he considers it a stepping stone in the right direction.

TIDBITS.

during his years in college he worked at main street records, quitting after graduating but returned to work there part-time recently simply because it's one of his favourite jobs he has ever had.

working at the radio station is a means of networking for him, hoping to discover new talent and meet other people in the industry to help him get a foot in the door.

by no means considers himself a celebrity or even a local celebrity despite being a local radio host

has a tiktok channel that he posts tiktoks of himself producing music in the same vein of charlie puth's "anything can be made into music" tiktok series.

WANTED CONNECTIONS.

PLATONIC.

friends / best friends / acquaintances / ride or dies / co-workers from main street records / co-workers from heartbeat station / old college buddies / drinking buddies / smoking buddies / room mates

ROMANTIC.

friends with benefits / first loves / ex-boyfriend + girlfriend / skinny love / doomed love / flirtationship / tinder matches / grindr hook-ups / college exes / college hook-ups

ANTAGONISTIC.

enemies / former friends / people he has burned bridges with / exes / petty rivals

CURRENT CONNECTIONS.

ex something of @thaddcarter. dated for a little over year and a half, never quite managed to put a label on it and ended recently after rocky got scared of things getting too real and self sabotaged their relationship by kissing somebody else

[carcosapr]

HAUNT and SAVAGE MASTER Announce Thee Eternal Reign U.S. Tour

American heavy metal savants HAUNT and SAVAGE MASTER unite for heavy metal glory as they prepare to blaze across a 27-city US tour dubbed Thee Eternal Reign. Kicking off August 2 at The Lost Well in Austin, Texas, the bands will leave a path of steel shavings through nearly two dozen states, concluding August 31 at Dive Bar in Las Vegas, Nevada. See full dates listed as follows: Thee Eternal Reign Tour Dates: 08/02 – Austin, TX @ The Lost Well tickets 08/03 – San Antonio, TX @ Bonds Rock Bar tickets 08/04 – Lafayette, LA @ Freetown Boom Boom Room 08/06 – Pensacola, FL @ Handlebar tickets 08/07 – Winter Park, FL @ Conduit tickets 08/08 – Charlotte, NC @ Snug Harbor tickets 08/09 – Richmond, VA @ Cobra Cabana tickets 08/10 – Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie tickets 08/11 – Brooklyn, NY @ Kingsland Bar and Grill tickets 08/12 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery tickets 08/13 – Youngstown, OH @ Westside Bowl tickets 08/14 – Louisville, KY @ Portal + Artportal tickets 08/15 – Chicago, IL @ Cobra Lounge tickets 08/16 – Milwaukee, WI @ Club Garibaldi tickets 08/17 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club tickets 08/19 – Denver, CO @ HQ tickets 08/20 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Aces High Saloon tickets 08/22 – Richland, WA @ Ray’s Golden Lion tickets 08/23 – Seattle, WA @ El Corazon tickets 08/24 – Portland, OR @ Dante’s tickets 08/25 – Eugene, OR @ John Henry’s tickets 08/27 – Albany, CA @ Ivy Room tickets 08/28 – Oxnard, CA @ Mrs. Olson’s tickets 08/29 – San Diego, CA @ Brick by Brick tickets 08/30 – Phoenix, AZ @ Nile Underground tickets 08/31 – Las Vegas, NV @ Dive Bar tickets About HAUNT:

Founded in 2017 as the solo project of Trevor William Church, HAUNT quickly became the face of the new wave of traditional heavy metal. Since the band's kickstart six years ago, the heavy metal titans have released eight studio albums and multiple extended plays. Dubbed a "prolific songwriter-shredder" by Rolling Stone, Church continues to champion what was once a bygone era of heavy metal. Their latest album, Dreamers, dropped March 1 via Church Recordings.  About SAVAGE MASTER:

One of the most exciting and electrifying bands in the occult metal scene, SAVAGE MASTER swiftly built an impressive canon of work by releasing two cult albums, an EP, and over-the-top live shows. Founded in 2013 by guitarist Adam Neal and vocalist Stacey Savage, the band was inspired by their love of heavy metal and horror. Shortly thereafter, Savage and her hooded henchmen began their assured ascent through the underground, touring nonstop across North America and Europe, playing festivals such as Keep It True, Hell Over Hammaburg, Legions of Metal, Frost and Fire, Ragnarokkr, Hell's Heroes, and many more, helping land their longstanding album deal with Shadow Kingdom Records. HAUNT Social Links:  

https://hauntthenation.bandcamp.com https://www.facebook.com/hauntthenation https://www.instagram.com/hauntthenation https://twitter.com/hauntthenation SAVAGE MASTER Social Links: http://savagemasterofficial.bandcamp.com https://www.facebook.com/savagemasterofficial https://instagram.com/savagemaster_official "You can’t stop Trevor William Church, you can only hope to contain him." – Decibel Magazine "...the album has everything you’d expect from an ’80s metal purist." – Hard Noise "...it’s not just Trevor Church’s prolific output that’s impressive, it’s his continued evolution."– MetalSucks "...true, old school, pure heavy metal..." – Velvet Thunder "...(SAVAGE MASTER) certainly (does) put on a show from every angle imaginable..." – Mystification Zine  "Singer Stacey Savage channels Ann Wilson and Ozzy, spinning tales of pure D&D glory — magical seers using mystic objects to look into the beyond, creatures of the night and lustful devils." – LEO Weekly