#someone wanted to see ferryman on it so i did

[4natri]

Alternative ver.

[elizaaarts]

[AU] LITTLE NIGHTMARES: DARK FATE (PART 53)

A brick fell in my eye 😭

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This part has an emotional weight focused on Six, what she feels, how she is suffering from all this, the feeling of lingering betrayal. She misses her little boy before he turned out to be someone completely different from the one she knew. That's why she says Mono is "a stranger" in the previous part.

Six is just tired of everything that's happening. So much so that she's kind of "accepted" her fate as The Lady, she didn't even struggle to refuse like she did the first few times. Six just wants time so she can save her friends and return them to Little Paradise safely. This part is also about time, will Six and Mono have time to be friends again? We'll see as the other parts unfold.

By the way, a curious fact is that Ferryman doesn't understand human feelings very well and he's also not one to be close to any child, but he understood that Six was suffering a lot at the moment and wanted to stay a little while, even though he felt uncomfortable with the hug.

I won't lie that this part really affected me, I felt a lot of pity while I was drawing this. I just feel PAIN (which is ironic).

A little spoiler: PART 54 will be a new journey, a new adventure in a new place and with this new dynamic between Mono and Six.

See you next time!

[clonerightsagenda]

"There's some that came here never believing they were dead. They insisted all the way that they were alive, it was a mistake, someone would have to pay; made no difference. There's others who longed to be dead when they were alive, pour souls; lives full of pain or misery; killed themselves for a chance of a blessed rest, and found that nothing had changed except for the worse, and this time there was no escape; you can't make yourself alive again. And there's been others so frail and sickly, little infants sometimes, that they're scarcely born into the living before they come down to the dead. I've rowed this boat with a little crying baby on my lap many, many times that never knew the difference between up there and down here. And old folk, too, the rich ones are the worst, snarling and savage and cursing me, railing and screaming, what did I think I was? Hadn't they gathered and saved all the gold they could garner? Wouldn't I take some now, to put them back ashore? They'd have the law on me, they had powerful friends, they knew the Pope and the king of this and the duke of that, they were in a position to see I was punished and chastised... But they knew what the truth was in the end: the only position they were in was in my boat going to the land of the dead, and as for those kings and Popes, they'd be in here, in their turn, sooner than they wanted. I let 'em cry and rave; they can't hurt me; they fall silent in the end."

most chilling take on the ferryman I've read

[superchat]

there was one persons interpretation of what this visualization is and it hit me so hard i think about it a lot

spoilers under the cut. ill be brief (if i can help it) and keep it pretty cut and dry without much flowery imagery (if i can help it) but whoever reads it can take the pieces and put them together and fill the gaps in with humanity

the various paintings of "isle of the dead" flash through elster

ALSO though the isle of life. (important)

a word that is IN the game is "carcosa" but the word is redacted in every mention of it. users only found it due to datamining.

"carcosa" is a term used in the "king in yellow", and a short story "an inhabitant of carcosa" which was inspired by a poem called "carcassonne". in the short story, there is an ancient, abandoned and ruined city called carcosa and the person wandering it is dead who used to live there. they forgot they were dead and forgot what the city was. until they see their own tombstone and then they remember. the story brings out themes of unfamiliarity, longing, contemplations of death, home

there was a promise made. (did elster make a promise? was it a promise they made to each other? either way.) elster at this moment remembers the promise.

the isle of the dead can very easily be interpreted to be "carcosa". a longing for death, to move on. to be at peace.

elster is bringing that to ariane. bringing her carcosa, her promise. there are several moments that present elster as the ferryman who carries souls from life to death. elster is bringing death to ariane (as was their promise?)

but there can be more to it than that. elster herself, is arianes carcosa. someone dear to her, someone special and someone who is home for her. elster is making her way back to ariane so they can be together (as was their promise?) remember, the isle of life painting ALSO flashes in elster,

maybe their promise was that they would never leave eachothers side. or that they would die together, or that ariane wouldnt suffer. or maybe that neither would suffer. maybe it was a promise to take care of eachother and be there to finish things for the other when time came. or that no matter how bad things got, theyd be with eachother.

but i absolutely LOVE the dynamic as framing elster as the harbinger of death for ariane but also as a harbinger of peace and comfort for ariane. she wants to die, but. she wants elster too. if she could live in peace and comfort with elster. i dont think shed want to die. but she cannot live in peace or comfort. in every sense, elster is her carcosa, and in that moment, elster remembers.

[itstimetotheorize]

The Mall's cruel fate, an unneeded existence

How odd. The fleshy mass Noone encountered in ch.3 is similar to the flesh walls we saw in the Tower, and yet...its existence was different.

The flesh in the Mall tried to give Noone whatever she desired. By reading her mind, it knew of the things she had and the things she always wanted, and yet…none of it satisfied her…because she could feel herself lose interest in it all. Noone had become disconnected from the things she used to love as a child, inevitably leading her to a very sad, yet very real realization...she was growing up, not necessarily in the sense of age, but in the sense that she had matured. The things she saw, the things she faced and the things she did to survive another day, both in her home and in that place of nightmares she was in, had finally begun to take its toll. And had it not been for this realization of maturity, Noone might have lost herself completely in all the wonders the flesh offered her. When the flesh attempted to find some sort of connection to her by pointing out the pendant it gave her, it was desperate to find any way of showing her it could give her a life where she could have everything, but it was precisely its desperation which drove so many other children away, it was careless, unlike the flesh we saw in the Black Tower.

Unlike the Mall, the Black Tower resided in a place where it not only thrived, but was also in control. It was surrounded by various Residents as it consumed and decayed everything. The children(Mono and Six) were held inside it, deep in its spell, infected with escapism and surrounded by what reflected their desires. And while we have always theorized Mono wanted nothing more than a friend, resulting in him being left in a bare and empty room, it offered Six a room which not only contained the music box which soothed her, but everything a child like her would want, such as the toys she saw around the Pale city. Unlike the Mall, the Tower was able to accomplish the one thing the Mall struggled to do…trap someone.

The flesh in the Black Tower was cunning, it hid itself perfectly while still watching Mono and Six through the televisions we saw all around the Pale city, planning its steps carefully and waiting for the right opportunity to re-obtain the host which wielded the power to help it continue to thrive, Mono.

And yet... when Noone encounters the flesh in the Mall, she describes it as being in a place surrounded by complete silence, there was nothing and no one around it, nor inside it, it was terribly lonely and she in turn could feel it. When she came along, it was desperate to keep her... but the Ferryman wouldn't allow it to keep her....but why?

Noone said the Ferryman/Candleman wanted her to open up to the "place" she was in...and yet...as she ran from the flesh, he pointed to the pendant around her neck, the one thing she was willing to take from it, as if telling her to rid herself of any and all connections to the flesh which now aimed to keep her by force. The Ferryman/Candleman wanted her to open herself up to the place she was in, but not to the Mall she had entered. As the flesh cried out, “don’t take her, not this one to”, we learn Noone was not the first child the Ferryman/Candleman had taken away from the flesh...but why couldn't it keep them? unless...what if maybe...just maybe....it was not fit to keep one. When Noone first entered the Mall, it tried to maintain appearances, but all around, Noone could see errors upon errors. The shops had nothing to display, the doors were gone, the movie in the theater, which she used to love, was out of order and unappealing to watch, and when it attempted to speak throughout the Mall, she could hear it slip, allowing its desperation to get the better of it.

Many theorists and I have theorized there were always other living structures throughout the world like the Maw and the Black Tower, but we have only ever seen what had become of those which succeeded in dominating wherever it was they took root...but…what if this was not the case for all the others?, what if…there were some who failed? If the Mall is truly a living structure similar to the Tower and the Maw, and if it has truly been restricted from keeping any child which could take the role of its host, then...what if maybe...just maybe...this was its punishment for failing to live up to its existence.

Without a host, the Mall would have no way to thrive, and with no one and nothing around it...would it have simply been left to die? Warped by pain, growing weaker and weaker as time went on to the point it could barely maintain itself and appear as the mall Noone expected it to be?....maybe. We've always theorized powerful structures like the Maw and the Tower were extensions of the eye entity, and so long as places such as this continued to live and thrive, the entity would as well....but if smaller...more insignificant places proved to be worthless to it, then...what good would it do it if they continued to exist. The Mall needed someone...but it couldn't even have "No one"... but hey...its just a theory...a Little Nightmares theory.

[isoilibrairywanderer]

Okay theory time: I've watched the gameplay footage from LNIII ten times or something like that, and I have some theories about it. Notably concerning the presence of normal-looking adults inside the Necropolis.

While they are dead, they're unmistakably normal adults. As far as I know, it's the first time we see actual non-monstrous adults in the Nowhere. Which, of course, leads to the question: how the heck did they arrive here?

The Sounds of Nightmares is currently the only Little Nightmares source that explicitly states how one can enter the Nowhere: by being transported through dreams, with the potential implication of the Ferryman one way or another. But this process seems to only work with children, as Otto is denied access because he's too old.

So, those adults must have come another way, but how?

Well, I think that those dwellers came with their city. I think the Necropolis hadn't been built into the Nowhere, but that it had been taken from another world. Some (or maybe even all) of its adult inhabitants were taken with it inside the nightmarish realm, only to meet their end when Monster Baby decided that it was her new playground.

This could even applied to other locations in the Nowhere: the Pale City for instance. Some doors in the city are sealed off, but in a way that is impossible for a child.

Plus we have numerous elements that seem to show that this city was once a regular city, but that it had been left to rot. Therefore, I think that it was effectively a normal city once, but that it was transported into the Nowhere. The denizens either started to turn into Residents or fell into despair, wanting to escape this world and their close ones who were now monsters. That feeling of wanting to escape was exactly what the Signal Tower - a being that feeds on escapism- needed to prosper and grow.

We can even argue that the township from the second issue of the 2017 comics is a place that is in the process of being assimilated: this is why we children don't seem to know about monsters while there are no other adults.

The Residents are just starting to slip in, and while someone managed to understand that and trap the Mirror Man, most of the kids here believe the monsters to be some kind of fairy tale.

Maybe even the whole Nowhere is only made of such place, a patchwork of stolen cities and landscapes across the many other worlds around. It would reinforce the dream-like nature of this reality. You know, the way places of your reality show up in dreams, not as they are but as you perceive them, as you remember them, as you feel about them, so you always know that something isn't quite like it should but you can't tell what exactly?

[sezez]

I know it's been a while since The Sounds Of Nightmares is pretty much finish (sadly), but I feel like it has potential for a TSON 2 kind of thing. So, the last ep finish off with Noone choosing to stay in Nowhere and Otto targeting the next kid; Ethan. And that makes me wonder.... What would happen if there will be a second part to TSON? I have three theories on what could TSON be about so let's go ahead on the first one.

A Detective investigating Noone's disappearance:

This one is the one I think will most likely happen, that being a detective investigating the Counties for Noone's disappearance and asking Otto some questions since he was the one who was taking care of her.

I do think it'll be interesting that this Detective will find the tapes and find out what really happened to Noone, and that it's kind of Otto's fault though really it's the Ferryman's for making Noone believe she'll be safe in Nowhere. Nowhere is far, far worse than what Otto is doing to her.

I also think it would be cool if the Detective and Otto might team up to try and find a way to bring back Noone or even the other children. I know this sounds unlikely, but LN is known for unexpected events.

Ethan helping Otto to get better:

Okay I know this sounds weird and all, but I feel like as Otto tries to get his answer and thinks Ethan is experiencing the same as Noone. He'll come to realize that Ethan isn't having nightmares at all, or Ethan is the one who will tell him that.

And I also think that maybe Ethan will try to talk Otto out of the obsession of Cici, or even making Otto talk about his trauma! Like I imagine Ethan is saying something that is triggering Otto's trauma and that he is trying to make him talk about it while Otto not wanting to say anything, until he yells out about something relating to Cici.

And the possibility of Ethan giving Otto a chance to let go of the past is gonna be a impact, cause I think Otto does the same to his patients before Noone, Otto realizing he was making himself that he was making Noone worse than better. He was suppose to help children, not make them worse, he did dedicated his life to help his patients overcome their ailments.

Backstory of Cici and Otto:

Now this one would be interesting! I really think it would be cool if we get to hear what Cici is going through, like she is talking about it to a therapist (who doesn't have any knowledge about Nowhere nor having to experience it or someone they know). And her slowly starting to give in to Nowhere while the therapist is confuse, scared and completely lost of what is happening.

I also think it would be cool if mid-way, the story changes a bit to Otto's perspective. Like after Cici disappeared, Otto was taken to therapy and is getting better and slowly starting to forget his trauma (until he met Noone and that's where everything goes wrong).

But, I honestly feel like that maybe in the last ep, the scene changes to Otto meeting his old professor again and tells him everything. And his professor sees how Otto didn't get better, because his trauma got triggered by meeting Noone and that he'll tell Otto to let it the past fly away from him. I really think that Otto should have a talk with his professor.

[grim-faux]

a massive headache of an analysis of two very terrible people in my projected ideas and observations

I mentioned this on the discord that I think that the fandom is coddling Noone a bit too much. but hear me out before you "she's just a child, you monster. She was subjected to emotional abuse and Otto is a terrible guy for being a doctor and a trusted adult in her life."

That's all valid. but one thing we should ALL REMEMBER is that the children who are approached or ensnared by the Ferry/Candleman, are not targeted because of the "sordid and sympathetic story of bullying and internalized trauma". Under my observations, I would say the Ferry/Candleman pursues children that are vulnerable and easily manipulated. And of course he's not monitoring these children for any specifics or potential, his role is to catch kids and drag them to the Maw. For profit.

And I wanna sympathize with Otto - very carefully - cause this man is a mess. He's terrible, he's a jerk, he loses control over himself over a >10 child call out on his toxicity. AND HE SHOULD HAVE APPROACHED THE SITUATION DIFFERENTLY, WHICH WOULD HAVE MAYBE SAVED NOONE FROM THE FERRY/CANDLEMAN AND THE NOWHERE.

And I would wager that this last betrayal and abandonment by Cece2.0 tossed Otto the edge of all moral practice. Otto was a horrible guy, he betrayed his patient and Noone's trust - but all of that was not done for himself per say; he didn't throw Noone to the Candle/Ferryman for glory, for discovery, for personal promotion. He was doing this out of his childish desperation to find or at the very least see his sister. Yes, that is absolutely selfish, yes he hurt someone along the way, and he will continue to hurt other kids on his journey to finding Cece.

But Noone also isn't completely blameless. She is of course a child, she is a flawed, sad, and a broken child. Of course when someone said to her, "escape the pain and awful world you live," she leapt at this opportunity, no questions. No thoughts, head empty. But Noone is far from innocent, and she will not stay that way when she goes native to the Nowhere-ville.

Over the course of the podcasts, we see evidence that Noone- among the children she encounters - adapt to this hostile world. Children actively ignore Noone when she calls to them (see Ref noisy children die), others are swift to abandon her when the terrors find them kiddies. And Noone herself begins to react and fight at the hostilities in her environment - this proven in Chapter 5, when a girl tried to take the nome (see Ref mushroom fairy), she threw A FUCKING BRICK AT HER ARM. And especially in Chapter 6, she slammed a bottle over the marionette pinned to the table, killing it probably. Subjected to the Nowhere and the violence there, children either adapt and defend themselves, abandon others - or they die.

And my Discord did have a big analytical study and discussion over Rusty - the trapeze boy from the circus. Rusty was an interesting character, not only because he was a teen - probably inhabited Nowhere for a long time - but he was hinted to knowing a way out of Nowhere. This latter factor, I doubt - I do not think Rusty had any real knowledge of how to escape Nowhere, and all he wanted at the end of the day was escape the circus. We choose to ignore the giant pillars stretching to the ceiling not important no siree. That's the best case scenario. But Rusty and his group suggested one of two things (or all of these things). Kids left to Nowhere REALLY REGRET THAT DECISION EVENTUALLY (maybe you get older and realize how much of a dumb brat younger you was). Or, and also, Rusty was not there because of the Candle/Ferryman guiding him to Nowhere. Otherwise, Rusty would be property of the Maw, since Ferry/Candleman gives not two ceramic dolls who has a kid or what entity wants a kid - Ferry/Candleman will escort that child to MawcDonalds.

So Rusty and his trope came to the Nowhere on their own accord - either through a liminal space or other mysterious and obscure portal people should really avoid in the normal world. And they did not know really how to find their way back to the world they lost.

The last problematic matter of Rusty, is he is sus, like a lot of characters of the Little Nightmares world. He's invested in his survival and happiness and safety. So when he and the group are presented with Noone, they jump at this opportunity. It's not crazy to think Rusty was very invested in getting himself away, and ditch anyone else along the way. Case in point when he suggested Noone to be the lookout (wink-wink, nudge-nudge, teehee), "for the man in the purple suit." Noone later realizes she has no idea what the real plan for escape is, aside from alert Rusty that the man in the purple suit is there. She's told only to signal Rusty nonverbally, but she decided to scream at the teen "big top", which he thinks is a good idea. Yes, of course he would. And apparently whatever happened to Rusty was so horrific, it locked Noone in a panic attack. Which is terrible, since it is most probable Rusty and his group only needed Noone there to draw the attention of the man in the purple suit, use her as bait - but that didn't work out. F for Rusty, you big L.

These incidents with the children - of being exploited and bullied, not just in the Nowhere but from her world, drives Noone closer to the edge of the metaphorical doorway. And Otto exasperated the condition by pushing her closer to the threshold of commitment, all to seek a hint that Cece was still there and he might find her. But it was also Noone who took the plunge, despite Otto beseeching her to wait for him - this is the moth to the light, flying closer to that which is enticing and promises comfort, only to be snuffed out when the moth reached the flame.

One of the running themes of Little Nightmares is that of children succumbing to a fate or falling into the same cycle of torment, they are fighting to avoid. For Six, she becomes the next proprietor of the Maw, unable to leave - only so she can survive. With Mono, we follow him through his struggle to find and free his friend from the Tower, only to get thrown aside and abandoned; then he becomes the thing that he fled from, and eventually destroyed - the Broadcaster of the Tower. The children of Nowhere are not escaping a terrible world for another terrible world, they are accepting of the violence and malice that shaped who they are, and turn that back onto the world that inflicted it - perpetuating the trauma which forged them. There are no happy endings of Little Nightmares, only acceptance.

Otto succumbs to that fate as well. He doesn't seek to help Noone so much as he sought to fulfil his own selfish needs. Noone did not wait for Otto to confront the Ferry/Candleman, or wait for him to turn the Candle/Ferryman away - she took the hand offered and abandoned Otto. Which, in turn, leads to Otto's descent into his tragic villain arch. To be clear, Noone isn't responsible for this adult man who should know better, Otto is far from her responsibility. But this mindset may have been what drove Cece from her lil brother Otto - a clingy child she wanted nothing to do with. And ill reiterate, Noone was not responsible for Otto or his actions, as he was the one who swore to help her, he was the doctor and the figure of authority in her life - Otto was supposed to come to her aid.

But when Otto was at his most vulnerable and had no power over Noone any longer, and he begged her to wait. She did not. As with all monsters of the Nowhere, when the child has the upper-hand or has discovered a clever trap, the child dispatches their tormentor.

As equally as she despises Otto, she favored the Ferry/Candleman for the lies he gave her. For the truth he wove amongst the promises.

Though we can dissect Noone's character and grasp what led to her actions, her story is not one of triumph or escape - it is of acceptance and defeat. She does not overcome a great adversary, she submited to the conditions of the world that created the monsters she hated. Her story has only begun in terms of the Nowhere, and it is far from over. She is not journeying through the Nowhere to reach some enlightenment or to become stronger than the shadows that will chase her, or overcome the hazards that await her. Noone becomes another cog in the machine which keeps the Nowhere and its inhabitants gleeful and fulfilled.

It is fair and fine to sympathize with Noone and her fate, she is a child and a victim to all that was set upon her - left with no protectors or sympathizers. And she fell prey to a master manipulator, as did Otto. in this story, the only one who claims success is the Candle/Ferryman, who orchestrated the whole thing.

[lwprodz24]

Old Enemy, New Possession

Backstory: You had gotten sexually involved with Rafael shortly after he had lost his girlfriend but ended things just before his first full moon. Landon was a kind and gentle soul, except when it came to you. As friendly as he was, his mood would always change around you, he despised you. This was solely because he knew that you didn’t truly care for Rafael, you just wanted him for sex and to feel less lonely. In fact, it was Landon who forced you to end things with his brother before Rafael simply decided to end things with you himself. You and Landon continue to loathe each other despite not having spoken to or seen each other since.

Summary: You were killed and you end up in limbo where you immediately run into the new ferryman, Landon Kirby. (takes place a year after 4x20)

Pairing: Landon Kirby x Female!Vampire Reader

Genre: Smut

Words: 5k+

Triggers: degrading, marking/biting, over-stimulation

Y/N’s eyes flutter open and you sit up, groggy and disoriented as you gaze around at your new surroundings.

‘Everything is dark and has a blue-ish hue to it.’ This is the first thought that crosses your mind as you get to your feet.

You walk through the woods until you end up in the small town that is Mystic Falls, still confused by your surroundings and unsure of what happened that put you here.

“Y/N?” You freeze at the sound of the voice, recognizing it immediately as someone from your past, yet you still turn around to see where it came from.

“Landon?” You’re still puzzled by everything but now, you’re getting nervous at the sight of Landon Kirby.

“Where am I? What’s going on?” You decide to speak up on your confusion now that you have come in contact with another person.

“You’re in limbo. If you’re here, that means you’ve died.” Landon tells you where you are before revealing that if you’re in limbo, it means you’re now dead.

His words hit like a train as you remember what had happened before you woke up in this place.

You run your hands through your long, wavy hair as you process the fact you’ve died, and have reunited with Landon as result.

“I’m going to be honest, I thought you’d be one of the first people I saw here but better late than never.” Landon’s voice is as bitter as it always was with you but now it sounds colder than you remember, which has you stare at him in confusion.

“What happened to you, Landon?” You speak in a soft, genuine tone while asking what happened to him, clearly concerned, but he just smirks at you in response.

“You’re going to need a drink if you want to hear what I’ve been up to these past two years, Y/N. Come on, I’ll take you to my bar.” Landon simply tells you that you’ll need a drink in order to hear his story then motions for you to follow him as he claims that he’ll take you to his bar.

You’re still confused and are unsure if this is the Landon Kirby that you remember but you follow him anyway, wanting to know what he’s been up to.

He takes you to the bar under the clock-tower and motions for you to take a seat as he walks behind the bar.

“What do you drink?” Landon asks you what you drink as he places a glass in front of you then one in front of himself.

“Whiskey.” you give him an answer and he grabs a bottle of whiskey, opens it, then pours it in the two glasses.

“So, when did you drink? And become a bartender?” You look around the bar as you wonder when Landon started drinking as well as when he became a bartender but he just chuckles.

“That part of my life comes closer to the end of the story.” Landon’s response infuriates you for some reason but you take a deep breath to calm down before taking a sip of the drink that he had poured for you.

So, Landon starts at the beginning, telling you everything about Rafael, Hope, the Salvatore School, and all the things that led up to his death and being in limbo.

You stare at him in shock, completely overwhelmed by everything that he’s just shared and you struggle to process it all, but the biggest pill for you to swallow is that Landon is now soulless.

Downing your drink in one gulp, you help yourself to another glass and down that one as well in order to help you process all of the information you just got.

“I told you that you were going to need a drink.” Landon gives you an ‘I told you so’ with a smug tone in his voice, which sparks your anger but you hide it.

“So, you’re the ferryman and run limbo while being soulless?” You’ve seemed to have processed most of what he told you but you still can’t seem to wrap your head around this, mainly his lack of soul, which he seems to notice.

“Well, I’m not soulless, I just lack some of my empathy. For now, anyway.” Landon corrects you, saying that he simply lacks some of his empathy before adding an implication that all of his empathy will fade and he’ll actually be soulless eventually.

“But what about you, Y/N? What have you been up to these past two years?” Landon changes the subject to you, wanting to know what you’ve been up to, but you look away from him evasively.

“Have you been spending the past two years of your life shacking up with every grieving man that might want you?” Landon has faux-sympathy in his voice, making it clear to you that he’s still holding onto what you did and assumes you’ve spent your life doing the same to other people.

However, his tone of voice has you crossing your legs as you sit on the bar stool, feeling a certain appeal to him talking to you this way.

“No, I haven’t. Shortly after we broke contact, I got involved in the wrong crowd and I got killed but I didn’t die. At least, not permanently. After I woke up, I was told that I was in transition to being a vampire and I was forced to feed. I had been adapting to vampirism ever since until I died again.” you share your story with Landon, revealing that you’re now a vampire, after admitting that you haven’t done to anyone else what you did to his brother.

Landon stares at you for a long moment and you stare back, trying to figure out what emotions are currently in his eyes but the only emotion you see is embarrassment before you start staring into his eyes.

You have never realized how pretty his eyes were yet then again, you were too involved with Rafael to even pay attention to Landon.

You see his eyes scan down to your hands, which are promptly on your glass, and you suspect that you’ve made him uncomfortable.

“I don’t see any jewelry on you. I assume that means you were never given a daylight ring.” Landon takes note of the lack of jewelry you have then makes the assumption that you weren’t given a daylight amulet.

“No, I was given a daylight bracelet. It was removed before I was killed.” you reveal that you did have a daylight amulet but it was taken off before you were killed and he hums lowly in response.

You feel your legs pressing themselves closer together, despite being cross-legged, due to his low hum and you have to bite your tongue to hold back a whimper.

‘What the hell is he doing to me?’ you ask yourself a question that you don’t even have the answer to, but all you know is that you want to hear more of his voice.

“Well, if you’re the ferryman then surely you can send me on my way to peace.” Your words have Landon glaring at you in return, making you as nervous as you were when you first reunited with him.

“You’re right, Y/N, I am the ferryman. Although I’m confused on what made you believe that I was going to be sending you to peace.” Landon confirms that he is the ferryman yet expresses his confusion on when he gave the impression he’d send you to peace.

His expression is dark and his tone low but slightly aggressive, which has you subtly squirm in your seat as you bite your tongue again.

It becomes clear to you that Landon has officially detected your discomfort towards him, so he puts on a lighter expression with a fake smile.

“You know what, how about I show you where I’m staying. You’ll stay with me.” Landon suggests that he shows you where he’s living and makes it direct that you’ll stay there with him.

Against your better judgment, you stand to your feet and follow him out of the bar, letting him take you to his place.

“Now, I was staying at the school but I decided to get an apartment for fun.” Landon explains that was formerly staying at the boarding school but chose to get an apartment simply for the hell of it as the two of you walk inside.

“It’s a nice place.” You compliment the apartment as he closes the door behind him, still very uncomfortable by the fact that Landon doesn’t seem to have any intentions of letting you go to peace.

You turn around to face him, only to see that he’s started walking closer to you, and you can’t help but get nervous, especially when you can see nothing but anger in his eyes.

“Um, why aren’t you going to send me to peace?” Despite your nervousness and his anger, you start backing up as you choose to ask him why he won’t send you to peace.

He raises his eyebrows as an incredulous look crosses his face, seeming surprised by your question.

“You did not just ask me that.” Landon emphasizes ‘not’ as he voices his disbelief of your words.

He grabs you by the waist in order to spin you around and walks you backwards until you’re pressed up against the wall.

“As the ferryman, I say who does and who doesn’t go to peace. So, what makes you think that I will send you to peace after what you did?” Landon’s face goes dark, as does his tone, while reaffirming that he’s the ferryman and because of it, he decides who stays and who goes before wondering why you think you’d go to peace, bringing up what you did again.

You press your legs together yet again, feeling a throbbing sensation course through your body this time, as he gently places hand around your throat.

Your breathing hitches as you try not to show what he’s doing to you but it doesn’t take long before he distinguishes that what he thought was discomfort is actually attraction.

“Hmm, it looks like you’re enjoying my lack of intentions in letting you leave.” Landon hums lowly again before being vocal about how your body language has caught his attention.

You look away evasively once again as you try to get out of his grasp but he removes the arm around your waist and begins slowly pressing his body against yours, making you squirm more.

“How would you feel if I did this?” Landon moves his free hand down to pull your legs apart, so they’re no longer pressed together, and quickly places his thigh in between them to make sure you can’t press them back together.

A whimper tears its way through your lips at the feeling of his jeans in between your bare legs and hovering close to your underwear.

Landon gives another low hum in response to your whimper, causing you to do it again.

He removes his hand from around your throat and gently places it in your hair before harshly tugging it back so you can look up at him.

“You’re still a dirty little whore, aren’t you Y/N?” Landon smirks, realizing that you haven’t changed a bit as you moan and bite your lip at the degradation in his question.

Removing his hand from your hair, he uses his body to pin you back to the wall then presses his thigh further between your legs, causing you to gasp at the feeling and discern just how much you want him right now.

“I think I can work with that. You see, the only thing I feel when I look at you is anger and hatred so I’m going to use this time to take my frustrations out on you, is that something you’ll be okay with?” Landon believes he can work with your needy behavior before he reveals that he only feels anger with you then leans closer to your face, whispering, as he confesses to wanting to remove his frustration on you, and proceeding to purr in your ear to ask if you’ll be okay with what he wants to do to you.

You shudder at his words, attempting to press your legs together only to get blocked by his thigh, which has you whimper once more.

“I, uh… mm.” you try talking to him so you can give an answer, but he makes you moan again by applying more pressure between your legs, implying he isn’t currently taking no for an answer.

“Do you want me to fuck you, Y/N?” Landon doesn’t hold back when he asks you this very straightforward question, causing you to stare at him for a long moment.

‘Holy shit, did he just say that? That word sounds so hot leaving his mouth. I want him to say that word again.’ These were just some of the thoughts that crossed your mind after he asked you this but a definitive answer of yes or no weren’t in any of them.

Unfortunately, the part of your mind that cares about your physical needs answers first by nodding desperately before you could actually give him one, not that it matters as you quickly register that your answer was going to be yes anyway. 

He smiles at you, tucking some of your hair behind your ear, before he places his forehead against yours and dropping the smile.

“I don’t believe you. If you want it, you’re going to have to show me.” Landon’s breath feels hot against your mouth as he admits that he doesn’t believe you want him and that he wants you to show him.

You breathe in deeply, getting a taste of his breath in the process, which smells of various alcohols but mostly whiskey and a hint of strawberry.

“How?” this is the only thing that leaves your lips, as it is the most important question because he won’t fuck you until you show him that you want him to.

“Move against my thigh. I want to see how desperate you get.” Landon tells you what he wants you to do then slightly lessens the pressure that he placed on your underwear to allow you to move as he admits to wanting to see your desperation.

You keep your eyes locked on his lips as you start to grind down on his thigh, increasing your pace by the second.

Feeling him reapply the pressure he had lessened, you whine while continuing to grind on his thigh and keeping your eyes on his mouth.

You clench your legs together as you grind in an attempt to get more friction, and also try to ignore how wet you are from doing this.

Landon places a hand on your face, stroking your cheek with his thumb, causing you to clutch onto his jacket sleeve as you start to feel a throbbing sensation course through your body again.

Your grip on his jacket sleeve gets tighter as do your legs, along with the inside of your body, and you comprehend that you’re close to the edge with just this but something holds you back.

Landon stares at you in amusement, seeming to know that you’re close, then places his lips on yours as he applies more pressure with his thigh and with that, you lose it.

You moan in his mouth, still tightly gripping his sleeve, as you start losing balance but he keeps you pinned to the wall so you won’t collapse to the ground.

The kiss breaks and you have to catch your breath, feeling that your underwear is now soaked but to your surprise, even after you already came, Landon continues to rub his thigh up against you.

“What’re you doing?” You decide to ask him what he’s doing, now that you’ve caught your breath, yet he simply smirks at you in response.

“You’re clearly enjoying this. And because I’m enjoying watching you become a pathetic mess, I want to see how many times I can make you cum with just this.” Landon points out how much you’re enjoying riding his thigh then adds that because he’s finding enjoyment in your desperation, he wants to see how many times you can fall over the edge with just his thigh.

Your eyes close when you whine at the degradation, although you’re not sure why as he’s insulted you many times in the past but this time it feels different.

“Please, just fuck me.” you beg him to fuck you already as you start grinding on his thigh again, your eyes still closed.

“Begging already? Poor little slut, I’m not even close to wanting to fuck you.” Landon’s tone has faux-sympathy in it again, like it did earlier when he made the assumption of what you had been doing for the past two years, and he also degrades you again, which  earns a whimper from your lips this time, as he implies that he doesn’t want to fuck you until a lot later.

You don’t know what’s wrong, if it’s you, your body, Landon’s new found confidence, or maybe, it’s all of the above but you’re desperate for him in a way you’ve never felt for anyone before, and all you want is for him to be inside of you but that doesn’t seem like it will happen for a long while.

Landon has taken up slowly moving his thigh in sync with your grinding, causing you to lose some of your senses and cum an unknown amount of times, you’ve lost track after the third time or maybe it was the fourth, all you know is feeling.

“Look at that, you ruined my pant leg.” Landon’s voice snaps you out of your daze when he tells you to look at his jeans and you discover that he has your hips pinned to the wall so you can’t move them anymore.

You glance down at his jeans and sure enough, his one pant leg is ruined, even though you can feel that you’re still wearing underwear.

“I, um…” you attempt to speak but he quickly shushes you with a deep kiss, having you moan as you taste his breath again.

“It’s okay, I don’t care about it.” Landon soothes you by saying he doesn’t care about his pant leg as one of his hands rubs your hair.

You start to grind your hips, even though his thigh isn’t between your legs anymore, yet he stops you from doing so.

“Oh no, we’re done with that.” Landon assures you that you’re done with riding his thigh as he places his hand on your cheek.

You can’t help but shudder when you actually feel his hand on your skin and it’s freezing cold, colder than your skin. 

He had touched your cheek with his hand before but you weren’t paying attention as you were on the verge of going over the edge for the first time.

“Your hand is ice cold.” you whisper your recognition of how cold his hand is against your heated skin.

“I’m sure it is, compared to your skin.” Landon shrugs off the comment, assuming that the reason his hand is cold to the touch for you is because he heated up your body.

“Are you going to fuck me now?” You change the subject back to him fucking you, staring at him with hopefulness and desperation, since he said that you were done with thigh riding.

“Not yet. I have something else in mind first.” Landon denies that he’s going to fuck you, causing you to whine at his refusal, yet he adds that he something else in mind.

His words have your body igniting in anticipation, curious as to what he’s going to do to you, even though you should be worn out due to the amount of times you came from riding his thigh.

Landon catches you getting excited by his words, having him tuck your hair behind your ear in order to whisper in it.

“You are such an insatiable little slut, Y/N.” You moan as Landon degrades you while feeling his hot breath on your ear.

He kisses your neck, which makes you identify that although his breath is hot, his lips on your skin are cold but you enjoy the feeling on your skin.

You feel his hands run down the back of thighs before he wraps your legs around his waist, still kissing your neck.

“This shirt does not go with this skirt.” Landon whispers into your neck as he voices his distaste towards your sweater and tells you it doesn’t go with the skirt you’re wearing.

Before you can retort, his hands slide underneath your shirt and lifts it over your head, your arms subconsciously going in the air as he removes your sweater.

You can’t hold in your moans as he starts kissing your neckline, feeling his tongue and the small grazes of his teeth on your skin.

“Landon, please.” A whimpered beg escapes your lips, pleading him to continue what he’s doing, yet this has him stop.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.” He whispers into your mouth that you shouldn’t worry and that he’ll take care of you then proceeds to give you another deep kiss that makes your head spin.

You’re not sure what you want anymore, for Landon to keep kissing you, for him to keep kissing your body, or for him to actually fuck you, and the problem is you want all of it but he seems keen on only giving you one of those things as he eventually stops kissing your lips and goes back to your body.

He places your legs back on the ground as he goes lower down your body and despite the fact you’re dead, as well as a vampire, you can feel him leaving marks on you with his teeth.

You detect him focusing on the left side of your rib cage where your heart is for a little longer than he did the rest of you until he stops.

Whimpers emit from your mouth when he stops kissing your body, earning a breathy laugh from him that allows you to sense his hot breath on your skin.

“Shh, it’s okay.” he shushes you, saying that it’s okay, before he takes his right index finger, hovers it over the part he’d been focusing on earlier, and drags it down your rib cage.

You yelp in surprise at what he’s doing before it turns to moans at the sensation it sends through your veins.

Landon smirks victoriously at what he’s done then places a kiss on his work, sending a chill down your spine as he does.

“Please.” you whimper out a plea, although you’re not entirely sure for what, but it seems to spark something in Landon that causes him to bite down on your rib cage.

An electric feeling courses through you, further igniting your pleasured head-space, as you release a loud, unintelligible groaning noise at the sensation of his teeth completely pressed against your flesh.

Landon removes his teeth then proceeds to press gentle kisses on and around where he bit you, his teeth having left an imprint on your skin.

You feel something dripping down your inner thighs and you conclude that what he did had made you cum, which he realized as well, since he starts kissing your inner thighs to clean it up.

He plants small kisses, making his way back up your physique before stopping in front of your face, and then, without warning, puts your legs back around his waist.

“Do you think you’re worthy of being fucked now? Or are you still a desperate little whore?” Landon wonders if you think you’re worthy of being fucked or if you want more of what he’s been giving you, grinding his hips into you.

You whimper at the feeling of him pressed between your legs once again while you wrap your legs around him in response to the degrading but you’re too far into your pleasured head-space to actually think so you just nod.

“Which one, Y/N? Use your words, slut.” Landon has a gentle tone when he asks you which one you want then grips your chin to make you look at him, his voice changing to harsh, then degrades you again as he demands that you use your words.

You simply wrap your legs tighter around him in response to his words while moaning at the manhandling.

He gives you a look that should intimidate you but all want is more pleasure at this point, so everything he says and does just makes you want more of him.

You open your mouth to try to answer his question, only for whines to leave your lips, revealing to him that you don’t care anymore and he smiles at this development.

“I have to admit, I’m very much enjoying how insatiable you are. Let’s see if it matches mine, shall we?” Landon expresses his enjoyment in the fact you want more then suggests that they compare your insatiable nature to his.

Not actually knowing what he’s suggesting, you just moan at the sound of his voice then nod in agreement to his words, assuming that whatever he said meant more pleasure.

He kisses your mouth deeply before going to your neck then goes further down, removing your legs from his waist so he can kiss down your torso.

Landon stops when his face is between your legs then places his hands under your bra, his nails touching your skin, and drags them down your stomach, earning a loud moan from you.

Every time you think that you can’t get wetter by any of his actions, he surprises you, and he does so again when he teases you by kissing your ruined underwear, having you grip at the wall behind you with one hand and run the other hand through your hair in order to grasp then pull it back out of pleasure.

You feel him hike your skirt up and pin your hips to the wall, most likely to ensure you won’t move them, as his tongue continues to tease you.

“Landon.” A whimper of his name rips its way out of your mouth as he moves your panties to the side causing him to place a gentle kiss on your now bare pussy.

You whine at the sensation of his cold lips pressed up against that part of you and you attempt to move your hips for more but he’s pinning them to the wall.

He marks up your inner thighs, gliding his teeth across your skin, before doing the same to your pussy.

You struggle in trying to squirm and grind your hips against his lips as he continues to keep your hips pinned to the wall.

His cold lips, hot tongue, and the grazing of his teeth on your bare pussy was too much but became even more so when he soon found your clit, causing your legs to start trembling as you cum.

Landon keeps doing what he’s doing, even though cum is now dripping down your thighs, furthering the over-stimulation and your pleasured head-space.

“Such a desperate, needy little thing, aren’t you?” Landon mutters into your body as he makes his way back up to your face and you moan at his words.

He wraps your legs around his waist again while your legs are still trembling then starts heatedly kissing your lips as he takes off his jacket, letting it drop to the floor.

You can taste yourself as the two of you are kissing before he abruptly stops.

Landon strokes your face with one of his hands before removing your back from the wall and while still having your legs around him, walking towards then placing you on the bed.

So used to being against the wall, you let out a gasp of shock when you feel the soft, plush sheets underneath you.

He takes his shirt off and although you should be worn out by now, you’re not, instead your body is buzzing in anticipation as you realize that more pleasure is to happen.

“Do you think you’re ready to be fucked now, Y/N?” Landon moves one of his hands between your legs and makes two of his fingers dance along your clit as he wonders if you believe you’re ready to be fucked.

Chills travel down your spine at the contact of his cold fingers dancing along your clit as it causes you to begin squirming for more.

You get hit with a case of uncontrollable moans and whimpers as he slides his two fingers inside of you then slowly moves them in and out before dragging them across your pussy, toying with it.

Your back arches while you continue to moan and squirm as he puts his fingers back in you.

He proceeds to finger you until your clit starts getting sensitive, which is when he stops. 

Even though a part of you wants to stop, the rest of you wants to be fucked despite how overstimulated and sensitive your body is.

Landon grabs your hips and flips you onto your stomach then drags his nails down your back, leaving scratches while making you whimper.

You keep whimpering as he kisses your back, leaving hickeys and other marks on it to go with the scratches he left.

You can hear him undo his belt then jeans before he lifts your hips off the bed so you’re now face down with your ass in the air.

He places his fingers into you once more then removes them and drags his fingers down your spinal cord, marking you with your own cum.

Spreading your legs just enough, you feel him glide his dick along your clit before he slowly but finally slides himself inside of you.

You squeal, squirm, and grip the sheets as you deduce that every part of his body is just ice cold compared to yours.

He released a moan as you tightened around him upon penetrating you that made you shiver.

Moving out of you until it’s just tip, Landon then grasps your hair tightly and without warning, harshly thrusts into you with all he has, forcing a loud whine from you.

With every harsh thrust, it’s like you can hear every story that relates to the anger he’s felt and all the frustration he has.

Landon is merciless in fucking you, taking his free hand, wrapping it around your throat, and pulling you up to him so your back is against his chest while you’re both kneeling.

Every now and then, Landon will grip your hair tighter or slightly choke you, as he keeps hitting the spot that keeps you falling over the edge.

You can’t stop coming in this position but you’ve reached the point where you can no longer make noise and your mind is completely blank, all you’re officially capable of is coming and feeling Landon’s body behind you.

He removes his hand from your neck and touches the part of your rib cage that he bit earlier, tracing the work with one of his fingertips, spelling the letters LK, which reveals that he had branded you with his initials.

After Landon has vented all, or at least most, of his frustrations on you, he lies on the bed, holding you close to his chest and gently plays with your hair while you sleep.

You smile in content at the situation you’re in, deciding that Landon Kirby is what you’ve been waiting for your whole life even when you didn’t know or want to admit it.

“You’re mine now, Y/N.” Landon whispers a possessive statement about you being his before pressing a kiss on your hair while still playing with it. 

All you do is subtly nod in agreement and you discover that you are now addicted to the ferryman.

[literalliterature]

Light Motif: Preview

[Removed all but the preview as I submit this for publication!]

Orpheus went into the Underworld with a guitar case covered in scuffed stickers. He didn't have his plastic 7/11 cup, where he would always put some of his own change in at the start of the day, so that when anyone passing on the street threw money his way, there would be a celebratory rattle for all to hear. He didn't care, this time, whether anyone on the street was around to hear or not. And money does nothing down there anyway.

Orpheus went into the Underworld and passed newly made shades on the way down. He nodded to a few and wasn't surprised when they didn't return in kind. It's hard, sometimes, to nod to people in a big city. They see a smile from a stranger and think you want something out of them. (To be fair, Orpheus usually did. He did now.)

Orpheus came to the River Styx. The River Styx was an episode of Hoarders. The River Styx was the aftermath of the Galveston Flood. The River Styx flowed at a crawl these days, so choked was it with the refuse of lives. Wood beams and alarm clocks and open umbrellas and rings and socks and shelves and marble mantles and mattresses where love was made or fucking occurred and favorite sweatpants and the old toaster from someone's grandma's house and bricks from someone else's hometown's elementary school and the spot of carpet stained with cat urine and refrigerators and closed door after closed door after closed door. Everything that the dead had had to leave on the shore went in, items divorced from their meaning like the symbols of a language everyone has forgotten. There was more of the debris now than there was of the gray water. If you were to try to ford the channel yourself, you'd be not so much swept away as crushed in the crunch of things.

Orpheus went into the Underworld to find Charon on a smoke break. This was the only kind of break he took, and he seemed to always be taking it. There was no use in talking to the ferryman on break, certainly not if you didn't have a fare to give him, so Orpheus sat for years on the shores of the river, watching disorganized spice cabinets and roofs topped with rooster-shaped weathervanes drift by. The Model-Ts gave way to Teslas. Around him on this side of the shore milled the specters of the dead buried wrong, that is, without a means of paying their way across. As it turned out, burying people with coins over their eyes or in their mouths was a practice that had fallen out of fashion, meaning that nearly no one these days came down able to pay Charon, who took the excuse to work very little.

[columbocorners]

hola! I loved your little nightmares Otto ramble! Like you can tell that the world they live in is already messed up the patients being so separate stuff like that. Giving the adults more sympathy and them also being victims in both tson world and the world of nowhere is just so much nuanced then kids good adults bad! But anyway I’d love to hear your Otto ,noone or any ln hc

you have!

HONESTLY THATS WHY I KEEP GOING ' I just don't see otto as a bad person ' because in spite of every little thing that this man has done it is rooted in the fact he couldn't get over a trauma and he has to live with that daily. to me, there is obviously a lot of characters in the games who've displayed signs that they're not all entirely good, but then moments where none are entirely bad either. mind you I feel like I'm one of the few people who also think about six's betrayal and go ' in her perspective, it was understandable ' because no one ever really thinks about how she saw mono's face, in spite of the fact that her being transformed into a monster was as horrible as it was, she was comfortable and safe for one of the few times in the game beyond the start, it was an imprisonment that she could at least respect, so mono " saving " her from becoming a monster, and then seeing his face and knowing he was ultimately just the thin man all along was really a gut punch of her having her world crashing down, and in general I feel like to some degree a lot of the people who become monsters within the realm of TSON / LN really become DIFFERENT people, they always have, so not only was six vengeful but, she wasn't entirely herself after that. you could chalk up the monsters like the teacher as being potentially at one point normal, because she still engages with a lot of the habits a teacher does but then it's like, is she? because she still is very aggressive, in ways a teacher shouldn't be, she morphs, all of that, and it's just odd. this world not only brings about nightmares but it twists people the longer they stay there and it has always been the adults in some means but it just as much the children, because to put it bluntly : all of them have the capacity to become worse people, within any time of their lives.

it's just those who haven't are likely the most lucky ones, and to me otto is probably the BEST person we could ever get who genuinely is just good who isn't a child, and I feel like people need to understand, he is so shitty, but he is nuanced in what he does. his comfort to noone is as much projecting as it is he genuinely cares for her and he can't help but project in my eyes because he sees' someone experiencing that all and just does not want to go through it again. noone and otto are kind of trauma bonded like that to me. but otto goes so far, he mixes his own desires of wanting things for himself between wanting to help noone and it shows. going, " he is your tormentor " in ways whereas noone is and isn't tormented. she is not afraid of the ferryman / the candleman. otto is, he always has been, and he just merges that idea into one. all of his actions are attempts to try and do better, and honestly like : one of the things I genuinely always thought of as like ' otto just wants to try and do better ' is the fact he did not tell noone about her tumor. yes, she did need to know but after all was said and done, they'd been arguing and he had no real way to bring it up and he still wanted to find out what was going on with the nightmares, with cece, so how could he? and also it's like, that is something that ultimately needed to be looked into because it was a spiral-like eye tumor in her BRAIN, like dude. yeah, I do think that's cause for concern, and he doesn't have this sort of ' oh I win ' attitude when she finds out, he's as cold as he is really upset to me. and it's why after all is said and done, he tried to at least still do an experiment while she was asleep at least to figure out for himself what was going on and honestly idea because I think of it : the flesh eyes from little nightmares 2 which are connected to the thin man, I feel like they're infecting noone's brain because it is so SPECIFIC to have noone getting a tumor as a result of the constant nightmares like the flesh is literally taking over her body from the inside the more she has them and doesn't allow the ferryman to take her. so, it's like, I feel like something will happen to otto but I feel like something WAY WORSE is going to happen to noone. because it kind of adds up especially with the way otto had an interaction with an eye on that monitor and freaking out the way he did and the thin man's soundtrack song lightly playing in the background of that.

part two of this because I wrote a lot

[crowskullart]

• Wisteria's Garden •

Aunt Wisteria... Oleander hadn't known he had an aunt. Though again, he hadn't known of any family other than his brothers, and parents. So her presence was a shock, especially since she'd arrived in the nick of time to save him and his friends.

Learning that Mother had a sister... Now that was surprising. She looked a lot like her, sounded like her too. But she acted nothing like her. She was... Warm. Kind. Gentle. Loving.

She loved him.

And she said so too. She didn't shy away from that fact, or make him wonder for even a second that he was worth her praise and attention. She held him, told him all of the wonderful things he wished Mother would say to him. She wiped his tears away and assured that despite them, he was so, so brave.

Of course someone this wonderful, this kind to him couldn't still be living.

Wisteria was dead. She had been for many years by now, she would explain to him. But death wasn't always so black and white, especially for those with unfinished matters. The Ferryman has granted her this favor, to speak to her nephew. To guide him, to protect him. To give him hope that his fight wasn't one of vain.

And to give him hope that perhaps somewhere, deep down, his mother did love him. She sparked the hope in him that perhaps the dark entity Vyshta hadn't consumed all there was of Belladonna Umbral. Perhaps, at her core, she was still there. She could be saved.

And that hope was what Oleander needed. Hope that things could be different. That all of the pain and horror he'd experienced could lead to something more. Something better.

Their time together was short. Oleander wished he could stay with Aunt Wisteria, he had so much he wanted to tell her, so much to know of the life she'd led. But the living can't stay with the dead forever. And there was still so much he needed to do.

They parted ways, though not without Wisteria's promise that Oleander would see her again, and a brooch imbued with her energy gifted to him.

And even as Oleander stood back in the material plane, back in the graveyard he'd met with The Ferryman in, clutching her gift in his talons, what stuck with him the most were the words she'd spoken:

"You are so very loved, and cared for."

-----

I don't write very often, but I love this piece and I love Oleander and Wisteria. And I spent like 3 months on and off working on this, so wanted to say a little more than my usual "yaaaay art!" captions I write lol

Anyways. Hope you guys enjoyed! I posted speedpaints of this too! Which you can see on my Instagram here, or my TikTok here :>

[random-ln-stuff]

NEW THEORY ON THE PODCAST:

[Previous Theory Post (Recommended since this theory uses information from it)] (adding links later so Tumblr doesn’t eat the post)

(Under a readmore because spoilers for Episode 3)

So in ep 3 it’s revealed that:

Noone is physically travelling between the real world and Nowhere when she sleeps, disproving my Prophecy Theory and the other Dream Theory at the same time. (Also there seems to be heavy time distortion because Noone was gone for a moment in our world and an entire dream in Nowhere.

The Ferryman speaks. “Faraway drifts near. Tread long, then, sink deep. Two flows from one, and here, is whole again”

Some other stuff I’ll get into later.

First, the dream.

Noone starts the dream experiencing someone letting go of her hand and letting her fall, and she then ends up stumbling across a mall.

In the mall, she finds herself practically showered with gifts and other things to keep her busy and happy in the various stores across the mall. Dolls that she’s always wanted, a red pendant, dresses (including the one she first wore to the Institution) and a movie that she claims to have seen “a hundred times”, so she obviously really likes it.

However, she also hears voices speaking to her from the PDA System. Telling her not to leave and arguing with each other over how to keep her happy. Things are also ever so slightly off in the entire mall as well, as if it can’t quite replicate reality, but is trying its best.

The floor tiles of the mall are also mentioned to somewhat resemble veins (hint hint.).

Eventually, Noone stumbles across the thing speaking to her over the PDA. A mass of flesh using an eye as a movie projector, with the entire mall actually being this mass of flesh. She runs out of the mall as it begs her to stay and argues with itself over how it lost her, and finally sees the Ferryman waiting with an outstretched hand as she runs out, with the Flesh yelling “Don’t take her! Not this one, too…” before everything goes dark and she wakes up.

This. Dream. Is. important.

Where the previous two dreams were symbolic representations of The Lady, the Maw and Guests. This dream isn’t symbolic at all. The entity in here is none other than the ACTUAL SIGNAL TOWER FLESH WALLS. or at least the thing (things?) that will eventually become the Signal Tower.

For proof:

Noone starts this dream with an unseen person letting go of her hand, and she falls into the actual dream. In other words, she experienced Six dropping Mono into the Signal Tower from Mono’s perspective. She fell (or was more accurately dropped) into the Flesh Wall’s domain just like how Mono was (or more accurately, will be.).

The entire dream has a theme of distraction and escapism. The Mall constantly gives Noone anything that it believes she wants, so she’ll become distracted and stay, hopefully forever. These themes are the core themes of the Signal Tower and Little Nightmares 2 as a whole.

Both the Mall and The Signal Tower have warping effects on time. Not only did Noone disappear for only an instant in the real world before reappearing, experiencing more time in the dream than in reality, but even inside the dream time doesn’t work properly. Noone describes that in the mall, the toys range from both old and new (and by new I mean like 1948-1950-ish).

The Mall and the Signal Tower are basically the same thing. A building that’s actually organic, with veins running through the tiles.

The Mall’s head(? Main mass? Brain?) IS A SINGLE EYE BEING USED AS A PROJECTOR, ESSENTIALLY BEING A PRECURSOR TO THE SIGNAL TOWER’S CONNECTION TO TVS AND FILM.

But there’s more. The Mall (which I’m just going to call “The Flesh Walls” for now) is the only entity in any dream that’s actually acknowledged the Ferryman’s existence.

None of the Shadow Workers or The Lady In Chains saw him. Jester and the Not-Guests also didn’t see him or react to his presence. But the Flesh Walls did. I think this implies that the Flesh Walls are a being similar to the Ferryman. Fully aware entities existing in this dream world and possibly being able to drag people into their domain, which may explain why Noone experienced a Signal Tower-esque Entrance into the dream this time. The Ferryman didn’t bring her here this time. The Flesh Walls did, and the Ferryman came to find her.

For another piece of evidence there, the Flesh Wall’s reaction to the Ferryman and the Ferryman’s final action in the dream of reaching out a hand towards Noone heavily reminds me of a certain scene from the comics:

The Ferryman taking the Refugee Boy away from the North Wind.

The Ferryman encounters a child on the run from another powerful entity and he reaches out a hand as an offer. He’ll take the child away and give them safety from the entity, but at a heavy cost of the child now being claimed by another, equally powerful entity.

The Entity cries out as the Ferryman does this: “No I was so close! This isn’t fair!”/“Don’t take her! Not this one, too…”

It’s probably a very good thing that Noone doesn’t get the chance to take the Ferryman’s hand.

So with this new information, we have new questions:

Why are the first two dreams symbolic when this one isn’t?

What’s the deal with the Flesh Wall?

How is Nowhere a different place and how does it work?

So here’s my new theory, that I have named:

Cipher Theory:

The theory goes that the Nowhere acts a lot like the Nightmare Dimension from Gravity Falls.

You have the real world on one side, with real people and Noone and Otto and then you have the Nightmare World on the other side, which is essentially a chaotic soup of eldritch horror and madness.

The dreams that Noone (and presumably some other children like Otto’s presumably missing (and also presumably a child because we still know nothing about her) Ceci) are having are them temporarily crossing over into the nightmare world or even more likely, to a place somewhat between the two, where dreams and reality meet.

The Eye, The Ferryman, the Flesh Walls and The North Wind (because you just KNOW he’s going to appear any episode now) originate from this Nightmare World, and appear to all be aware of each other, but the Lady, Thin Man and other characters we’ve seen in the games DONT originate from here. I’ll get into them later.

My theory goes that this Nightmare World, being a “chaotic soup of eldritch horror” is just that, horribly distorted and filled with stuff that just doesn’t make sense. The things in Noone’s dreams, especially the Stone Giant with an endless snowy field on top of it filled with clockwork, shadows, a Lady wearing chains and thousands of tortured souls, just can’t exist even in the Nowhere we see in the games, as even the Maw had to conform to physical space and the Signal Tower gets a pass, plus it’s all too symbolic of things we see in the game to be coincidental.

But then where do the games happen if the Real World is the Real World and The Nightmare World is too nonsensical?

This is where the second part of my theory comes into place:

Tell me. In the 2012-2016 TV show Gravity Falls, what is Bill Cipher’s plan with HIS nightmare dimension?

A full crossover. The two dimensions opening up to each other and forming a Nightmarish Hellscape.

The Real World and the Eye’s Nightmare Dimension will combine to create the Nowhere, and that’s where all the games happen.

In the Nowhere, The Real World is turned into a nightmare hellscape, while the Nightmare Dimension is somewhat restrained and tempered by the Real World’s “Reality” and “Physics” unless you deliberately seek out areas where reality is particularly fucked (The Nest’s Weird Gravity) or you go inside the Signal Tower, where time becomes a liquid thanks to the Flesh Walls that actually make it up.

Explaining some other things using the Lady:

Think about this: The Lady in Chains is a product of the Nightmare Dimension. She somewhat resembles the Lady we know, but she’s different, with different powers, different methods of remaining young, and she controls a giant Stone Giant powered by clockwork filled to the brim with tortured souls. She’s essentially the Proto-Lady, and is basically just a representation of several ideas (mostly the heavy symbolism of eternal youth or the fear of aging), given a tangible form.

Meanwhile, we know that the real Lady used to be a citizen of the Pale City, but she left once the signal tower showed up to find the Maw and possibly the Nest. We also know that when she originally left, she already had her shadow powers and was using a mask to hide her age. But think about that for a second. The Lady was a citizen of the Pale City, PRE-SIGNAL TOWER, meaning before the Flesh Walls showed up and therefore BEFORE the world went to shit and created the Nowhere.

In other words, during the Events of The Sound Of Nightmares, The Lady is split across two entities: the Lady in Chains in the Nightmare Dimension, and a human woman living in the Pale City (if that even is it’s name in the real world) in the Real World.

When the Nightmare and Real Worlds finally collide and merge, Entities like the Lady In Chains will also merge or possess or empower or just generally add to real world Entities that best fit their ideas and what they represent. The Lady In Chains will find this Woman in the Pale City who best represents what she is and the ideas that make her up (someone desperate to remain young and alive no matter the cost) and do Something (Warp, Empower, Become, Possess, Merge, it’s all on the table here) that gives this woman her magic and creates The Lady.

The same presumably goes for Monsters like the Hunter, Teacher or Doctor, but the Lady In Chains and therefore The Lady seem to be particularly powerful. Especially once you consider that The Lady didn’t create or originally own the Maw. She took it over by force and banished its original owner to the depths.

The Flesh Walls, Ferryman and North Wind are all different though. While the other denizens of the Nightmare World seem to be just like living ideas or symbolic concepts with little else to them (which is probably why they’re forced to change themselves or do something to certain human beings once the Nowhere is made), these three seem to be especially powerful and aware, not really being ideas or concepts given form like the rest. Maybe they were created by the Eye personally while the rest just sort of.. Exist alongside it.

Finally, I want to look at the Ferryman’s words:

“Faraway drifts near. Tread long, then, sink deep. Two flows from one, and here, is whole again”

Tread long, then, sink deep: Possibly instructions? Either on how to enter the Nightmare World or how Noone will get stuck inside or something along those lines.

Two flows from one, and here, is whole again: This line is why I think Noone and The Ferryman (and The Flesh Walls) are entering a point between their two worlds instead of crossing over outright. Two Worlds flow from one, but here, they’re whole again. It’s a point where Reality and Nightmares overlap ever so slightly, where the Ferryman and Noone can both exist in the same place.

But Finally:

Faraway drifts near.

This quote just makes me believe more in the Real World and The Eye eventually crossing over. A Faraway World (presumably the Nightmare World) is drifting near. The faraway Nightmare World is approaching reality, and it’s only getting closer.

[littlenighttales]

Live thoughts of E6 of The Sounds of Nightmares. As always, expect spoilers for that. Edits in parenthesis if I decide to do any, etc etc.

Spoiler warning over let’s goooooo!

The Lonely Way

Gee, guys, way to make even the title depressing. Are we going to the Maw this week?

Also crinkling noises. Otto eating candy?

Otto: “Brain machine broke”

Noone: “Understandable, have a nice day.”

Apparently Noone disappeared for a lot longer than she normally did. Otto feels powerless, so he clearly needs some AA batteries.

Otto planning to use Noone to bring out the Ferryman now. Abusing his power to do so, sounds like. Noone is clearly angry at him.

The tumor has the poor girl worried. Otto slips and let’s Noone know the Ferryman’s name. Tantrum time.

Science talk that I don’t understand, cool, cool. Noone doesn’t understand either. Nice.

Otto being insistent on candy and this plan, forcing her into both. Naturally. Still a bit peeved at him over last week, so obviously Noone would be.

Dream time!

Armless and faceless mannequins. Did the Lady’s mannequins have arms? Lot of fancy clothes.

Pink tutu and shoes, yellow raincoat. And a puppet.

Yellow raincoat draws Otto’s attention. Liking my theory that CiCi= that girl in yellow raincoat from the paintings. Possibly Raincoat Girl? Six didn’t get hers until after being taken to the Nowhere.

Spying through a keyhole. New mannequin. Not sure what to make of this, might be unique location as the others have been. Could be in LN3, maybe. Maybe even 4.

The Nowhere curing Noone, as we knew from a few episodes ago. Unfortunate sacrifice.

Science talk from Otto, for Otto.

Time for the realm of nightmares.

They’re together in dreamland. Neither can see. Like most nights of sleep, really.

Misty room. But they’re somewhere Noone was before… with the Ferryman. Maw? Yes, I’m still thinking of the Maw.

A door in the distance. Otto is so close (so close). Noone isn’t waiting.

Eye door. Verrrry ominous.

Ferryman is Ferrymanning all over the place.

“Only youth blooms, (something) pure but not rooted, spoils white within.”

Otto talks to the Ferryman! And the other way around. He basically just tells Otto that CiCi is in a wide, wide world. Implying alive. Maybe still Six? Unless a prequel.

Eyes. Lot of eyes. All watching Noone. Uncomfortable. Reminds me of poor Mono.

Otto wants to come, but Ferryman tells him he has to be pushed into it. Maybe because he’s too old?

“Sleep now, Ruth?”

(Noone is just a nickname? Middle name, maybe? I thought Noone’s nickname was No One and only that.)

Dang it, riddles. I can’t catch them all.

And Otto sounds like he’s about to cry… ):

“Give her back! Give her back, damn you!”

Damn, really two times they’re making me feel bad for Otto. Such a broken man.

I think Noone is trapped. Otto wakes up, starts freaking out… and Otto starts considering the abandonment comment.

Otto is the little brother? Thought he was the older one. That’s depressing as heck. (Really making me like the “RCG as a big sister/mom friend of the group” personality I have for her. CiCi COULD still be Six, assuming Six woke up at some point after dropping Mono (we were separated from Six even during the adventure, and the Ferryman still stalked her after the drop).

Brings up a toll to be paid. Start recording, end recording. Start recording.

Is there more next week? No way anything significant comes up within the next like two minutes.

Another patient named Ethan. Sudden sleepwalker. Only mumbles, but Otto is telepathic apparently. He’s gonna use this kid.

Aaaand he really just did it. The “sweets for my sweet”.

Candy could be helping the travel? The Nowhere is curing disease, so maybe all the kids were very sick before coming? Ferryman might be saving kids from their diseases in exchange for them being there.

Okay it’s over. Go read someone else’s post now I guess. Go. Go on. This post is over.

[rosecoloredtarot]

Hey there, I hope you're doing well!

Do you, by chance, know a hex to cast on someone, so that they experience the same thing they did to me? I'm desperate at this point and I can't see them run around without experiencing consequences for their actions.

If you don't know, that's alright too, like I said, I'm desperate 😭

Hi! I'm doing well, thanks! ^.^

Inb4: baneful magic is serious, don't do it flippantly, use appropriate protections before and after, blah blah blah.

Anyhoo, the first one that came to mind was a spin on the lovely @breelandwalker's Ferryman's Curse. Not exactly what you asked for, but with some light tweaking it could totally fit the bill. Only caveat is you need access to your target to give them the coin.

Another option is @orriculum's Red in your Ledger curse. Pretty much what it sounds like you want to a tee. Should work well and the materials are easy to obtain.

Both of those curses seem to be pretty gnarly (full disclosure, I have not cast either, so I don't have first hand experience with them). If you want something a bit less extreme - grab a taglock or poppet and put it in a compact mirror. You know the one that folds in half that people keep in their purse? It's even better if both sides have a mirror on them. Then tie it up in either black or red thread. This is more of a binding than a hex, but should reflect the crap they do back upon them.

If you can't get your hands on a taglock from the actual person, like hair or nail clippings, a picture or even their name and address written down can work, albeit (in my opinion) less effectively.

Happy Hexing!

[random-bi-writer]

Six is not the Lady, but the Lady is Six

I can’t believe it took me this long to realize this but the first game is literally just Six being Mono in the Maw.

Why I think of this is because of how similar the Lady is to Six.

The Maw is supposed to be a safe haven for all, the comic kids would rather stay there despite the obvious dangers.

The Lady sees the Maw as the only thing that makes sense, and would do anything to keep it running.

Shadow Six wanted her to come to the Maw, but Six didn’t.

The Ferryman forced her to come to the Maw, and Six tries to escape.

And this is where the similarities pop in.

In LN2, Six wanted to be safe, to live in a world where she can play forever and the tower tricked her and turned her into a monster.

And Mono is forced to fight her to set her free.

NOW, in the first game. Six is now forced to fight the Lady. An adult who doesn’t want to leave the Maw for it is the only thing that makes sense to her.

It’s like looking at a mirror.

Also; mirrors usually symbolize arrogance and vanity.

In LN2, Six was too stubborn to realize that ignoring reality can hurt her and others.

But now; she’s fighting someone a lot like her. Someone else that refuses to accept the reality outside her bubble.

And honestly? If Six never met Mono, there was a big chance that she would choose to stay at the Maw forever.

But Mono is the reason Six is brave in her game, their journey in LN2 did taught her something.

In Six’s eyes; Mono was braver than her and anyone she knows, and she wants to be just like him.

She’s always followed him around and will continue to do so even when he’s not by her side anymore.