#talk of cemeteries

[ollyrewind]

merlin and arthur hunting ghosts? yes, great, BUT hear me out

[ptieuca]

iwryfanficmarathon's 20th anniversary

bangel + locations ↳ cemetery

[fallenangelkitten]

my headstone or whatever

[momowoah]

Eddie asking himself how could Buck be the same after the lightning strike and wondering if that means they lost the something that they had before. Telling Buck "Experiences like this, they change us. So what changed in you?" during the cemetery scene knowing full well that what changed for him when he died was that he realized he was in love with Buck, but that wasn't what changed for Buck. After being told by Buck that he feels like Natalia truly sees him. Eddie's death pushing him towards Buck and Buck's death being the reason why Eddie decided to pull away, because Buck didn't find it out and he thought it meant he didn't feel the same. I'm unwell.

[purple-petrichor]

The Count when his dear friend Jonathan Harker is staying over:

[sarifinasnightmare]

Aww, he's their Bucky. I like that. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Formal Introductions

SarahBucky Summer Prompt Fest 2023 - Week #3: AJ & Cass Wilson

Relationship: Bucky Barnes, Cass Wilson, AJ Wilson | Rating: G | Word Count: 1,000

* * * * * *

Cassius Casper Wilson’s vault isn’t old and fragile like many in the old cemetary, but on his birthday, when Sarah and their two sons visit, they still lovingly tend to it to make sure it looks nice. They bring the old red Radio Flyer—formerly Sam’s and Sarah’s now belonging to Cass and AJ—loaded with brooms, brushes, cleaning rags, and a couple of spray bottles of water, along with flowers, sun hats and a small ice chest of cold soft drinks.

On the way there, Cass and AJ tell Bucky about how graves are above ground in New Orleans, that there are famous people buried in the city—including “a real pirate”—and they tell him about some of the special customs people do at graves. Sarah elaborates on those.

Initially, the man formerly known as the “Winter Soldier” had some trepidations about being in the midst of so much death, after decades of he himself being the cause of so many deaths, but before they all left for the cemetery, he placed a brown paper bag containing a few special items into the red wagon that the boys took turns pulling to the gravesite.

He was at a cemetery in New Orleans with Sarah and her sons, because the boys asked him to come with them.

* * * * *

Two weeks earlier, sitting at his desk, going over some maps and blueprints for Team Cap’s upcoming mission, he could hear them coming up the stairs talking.

He couldn’t help the smile that started in his chest.

He knew they were heading up to the attic because they didn’t slow down at the landing to go to their room. After a few seconds of excited whispering, two small fists knocked on his door, so he closed his laptop and turned his chair to face the door.

“Yes?”

“Can we come in?” Cass spoke first. “We have something important to ask you.”

“But we can ask you later if you’re doing a Uncle Cap computer meeting!” AJ offers.

“Hey! Come on in, fellas!”

They tumble into his room, and rushing over to his desk, immediately began their pitch:

“Daddy’s birthday—“

“It’s next Saturday, and—“

“Nuh-uh! Next Saturday is Free Comic Book Day!”

“Oh yeah! Daddy’s birthday is Saturday after next!”

“—and we go visit him. Mama and us.”

“And we tell him about stuff like school—“

“—and Little League, and books I been reading and—“

“Mathletes and Star Wars!”

“And we want you to come too this time.”

“Because you and Mama are all going steadily!” AJ says to Bucky like it’s still kind of a secret.

“Ah…going steadily, huh?” Bucky leans back in his chair, nods thoughtfully, and through the window, he heard the squeak of the screen door below, Sarah softly singing to herself as she walked down the porch steps, turned on the spigot and was pulling the water hose over to the vegetable garden.

“AJ!” Cass dramatically ran one hand down his face, then leaned over and whispered into his little brother's ear.

“I mean going steady,” the young boy said, crossing his arms and mirroring Bucky’s thoughtful nod.

“So…do you want to come? Mama says you might not want to, and we understand if you don’t, but…”

Bucky sat up, rested a hand on each knee and gathered his thoughts before he spoke because the last thing he wanted to do was disappoint them.

“Listen. I know visiting your father on his birthday is a special thing you guys do. You and Mom. Are you sure you guys want—”

“Heck yeah we do!” Cass insists.

“We have to introduce you to him. You’re family now. You’re our Bucky!”

Looking at their faces, he sees their mom, and their father, who he’s seen photos of. He even sees a hint of Sam, along with his and Sarah’s parents Paul and Darlene Wilson.

He sees the family that he’s somehow now a part of, and he thinks about his own family: his Pa, Ma, and his sister Rebecca, all now long gone.

(You’re family now. You’re our Bucky.)

The boys see him look down at his now clasped hands. One flesh and blood, warm. The other one metal and wires and…

They’ve seen him think like this before, and for a few seconds they’re sure he might not want to come with them just yet. Then he looks up at them, places one hand on Cass’s shoulder, and the other hand on AJ’s.

“Cass, AJ, I would be honored to be introduced to your father. Thanks for inviting me.”

“Yesss!!!” The boys high-five each other, and fist pound the youngish old man sitting in front of them.

“We gotta go tell mama!! Thanks Uncle Bucky!!”

“Any time, fellas!”

He sat and listened as the small tornado of boys rushed down the stairs.

“Goin’ steadily…” he muses, not trying to keep the grin from turning into a full-out smile.

A few minutes later, in the middle of writing about extraction logistics and post-mission debriefing, he looks up from his notes, stood, walked over to the window, and looked down at the boys and Sarah across the yard, in the garden.

Narrowing his focus, he can hear them.

“Mama! Guess what?”

“He said yes!!”

“Oh, really?” She smiles, adjusting Cass’ askew glasses. “He did?”

“YES!!” the boys say in unison.

She gathered her sons into her arms, kissing them on the tops of their heads. Then she looked up at the attic window. He knows she can’t really see him from there, but he could read her lips as she mouthed “Thank you.”

He went back to his desk, picked up his phone, pressed a button, spoke, and after a few rings…

“Hey, Sam. Yeah, fine. We’re all fine. You? Good to hear.

What? Well…yes. I am happy. What? I’m not grumpy all the time, Samuel.

Listen. You got a minute? I have a few questions about Cass’s and AJ’s father, and about traditions.”

* * * * * * * * * *

: : ICYMI : :

SarahBucky Summer Prompt Fest 2023

Week 1 - July 1-7 Prompt: Cookout

[shannonsketches]

I’m playing TotK again because I don’t have TP available to me yet but can we talk about how the “Great Central Mine” is this close to the Gerudo border and how it is the only mine under central Hyrule, while there are two additional mines under Gerudo valley, both underneath the desert’s only natural water sources 🫠

[kunikiiida-kuuun]

Kunikida appeared in Dead Apple for a grand total of 15 mins but still gave us this banger of a line

[thanatika]

yeah i agree with your point about survival mechanics and i feel the same way about the lack of combat mechanics. "why would an educated city doctor need a weapon" because shit is hitting the fan in every way impossible and pretty much everyone is walking around armed... also why am i supposed to believe the the fact that he's a man of intellect will somehow provide him with food? i don't think anyone is going to be too eager to share food during an outbreak intellectual or not...

+ follow up for the previous ask but actually my favorite quest from the original pathologic is the day 11 bachelor quest that involves shooting down soldiers. i think it really drives the point home about how this random fuckass guy who is supposed to be battling a plague doesn't even have the time to do that anymore because the people in charge are asking completely irrelevant things of him now and he's at a position where he cannot refuse what is being asked of him. like i think it was good storytelling that even as the guy who lowkey wants to deal with the plague and solve its mystery you still have other, more pressing, less interesting and or pleasant tasks to complete

i agree! honestly, i feel this way about the combat mechanics even more than i do about the physical survival (food, health, illness, sleep) mechanics. because sure, i can see how it makes sense for daniil's position of authority to mean that his basic needs are somewhat provided for -- although i don't think it makes more sense than what we got in the original game. i've never seen anyone bring up "isn't it kind of unrealistic that the bachelor isn't given lots of food during a massive food shortage?" as a plothole that needed to be resolved. the townspeople generally don't like him much, and most of the people with power don't either, except for the kains. sure, maybe it's kind of weird that you can go see the kains while broke and on the verge of keeling over from hunger, and they won't do anything to help you, but... the kains are pretty self-centered, and they're so goddamn weird that maybe they forget that you need to eat food to live anyway. and it's half-implied that the powers that be are ultimately giving daniil this role as a convenient way to kill him, so it makes sense that they would put no pressure on the town authorities to keep him alive.

(and honestly, artemy is taken under the olgimsky's auspices as much as the kains take daniil's under theirs! which is to say, selfishly, with ulterior motives that are more important to them than the well-being of their healer, but... the olgimskys are set up as the wealthiest of the 3 families financially, as well as the ones with the most access to food, given their control over the meat industry. so if anything it's "weirder" that artemy isn't more materially provided for, though to be clear i don't think there's an actual plothole there either way.)

but anyway, you could handwave it and say that daniil's position of privilege and authority gives him more perks than he got in the original game, but the amount of fighting you have to do to get through town is... kind of an unavoidable physical reality? like you're given so many sidequests that you often wind up walking around town after dark, and that's when the bandits come out. is the idea that the bandits would be too scared to attack him because he's so important? because that doesn't make a lot of sense to me, and even pathologic 2 establishes that he's seen as a valuable target by the bandits:

and then there's the quests where combat plays a more direct role in the story itself, like getting involved in saving andrey from the firing squad, or killing guards to break artemy out of prison, or the quest where you have to kill var in attempt to stop the arsonists (which i include on the same tier as the other ones because i really like the quest journal entry he has if you complete it where he blames himself for willow's death. it's a good character moment.)

hell, even in pathologic 2 itself, one of the biggest Bachelor Moments is on day 11, when you have that big dramatic convo with him after he killed a soldier for the papers he was delivering. plus one of bad grief's idle dialogues in patho 2 is commentary on the bachelor being "quick on the draw" and that he "already shot someone". like he just straight up is not living a combat-free existence. and overall, combat isn't just a good tool from a mechanical perspective, heightening the stakes and placing pressure on the player (though it is), it's also pretty important for him on a thematic level imo, almost as important as artemy and his "rivers of blood". in patho classic, daniil has this early interaction with the inquisitor:

which, thinking about it from a doylist perspective, was probably the writers' attempt to make it sound more plausible that this random medical researcher from the big city was competent with multiple types of guns. and i appreciate them coming up with that hint of backstory to cover their bases a bit, but with those bases covered, i think the fact that daniil ultimately spends more time shooting people than he does prescribing medicines for them actually does a lot for him thematically? i mean, if his whole thing is that he's this "tempted destroyer", someone who frames his career as a combative battle with death rather than a quest to save people's lives, whose "default" solution is to raze the town with artillery because he's too limited by his rationalist worldview and military upbringing (and bitterness over being manipulated and sabotaged) to come up with a solution that saves the any remaining infected survivors on his own. plus the way that clara frames artemy and daniil as two sides of the same coin in being violent destroyers and killers, who without player intervention will immediately devolve to running around chasing each other down in what's either an insanely dedicated tom and jerry LARP or some really elaborate foreplay. imo, that whole dichotomy (which is pretty core to the game, as the idea of dichotomies are core to it in general) works so much better with the way they're both presented in classic, stalking around with gun/scalpel in hand. hell, not to mention the effect that spending 12 in-game days trying not to starve and getting killed by bandits or guards or worms or soldiers every day would have on the player, and the way it would make them feel about the town and their natural projection of those feelings onto dankovsky, who is a perfectly fitting vessel for them as the avatar actually undergoing those virtual experiences.

ultimately i think they are mainly going this direction out of a desire to do something more creative and original, which is fine... it just seems a bit silly to me that they keep saying "well obviously that doesn't really work for the bachelor's scenario", when, well... even as recently as patho 2 in 2019, they seemed to think it fit his narrative pretty well! i'm also guessing that a lack of combat won't be that bandits are just no longer roaming the streets at night. it sounds more like pathologic 3 is set to be more of a nonlinear experience, where you'll probably fast travel from place to place instead of having to walk across town so much? so you'll be avoiding bandits just in the sense that the gameplay will be avoiding them. i guess i'm hoping that at the very least, there's still the implication of the crunch of not getting enough sleep or food and the threat of being stabbed to death while trying to get through town occurring to dankovsky in the background, even if those mechanics are deemphasized in favor of more macro-level town resource management, time control, and sherlock holmes fruit ninja or whatever the hell they were on about back in 2022 lmao.

[tankgotstuckinthecircusgate]

«i had a dream about my funeral tonight» carlo after moretti's murder, who sometimes wonders if the same fate will befall him

«I sullied my youth with the most vulgar of dreams: In black cars that look like big turtles Shouting out over other people's thoughts in their skulls I'll have a dream about my funeral The bitter rubber of drunken saliva stretches and stretches, a stubborn thread And it ends, thinning When it ends, I'll be gone too Find me, find me, find me under the fence Eyes, eyes, eyelids, lips Black flame» ^ won't link the song but here's the other one that may fit the mood i guess. anyway it's a good song

«Dad, the kids are out in the yard They're burying a bird Not a pigeon or a tit Dad, give me two rubles I'll throw it in the pit Dad, we're family Don't be dramatic

Dad, my collarbone's been hurting all morning Somewhere in the middle of the yard There's a bird buried Dad, give me some milk I'll pour it in the pit»

[superbat-lmao]

Robin was standing on a roof a couple buildings over, following orders. Batman told him to wait while he dealt with the GCPD and that he would meet him at the car. So Robin was waiting.

He flicked his gaze around the accompanying roofs and tried to count his breaths. Anything but looking at the pavement below.

There was a flicker two buildings over and he turned his gaze absently, watching for shifting shades of black and grey that denoted movement. He waited.

There.

He moved quietly towards whatever was on the other roof and approached low and out of sight.

There was a series of clicks in the distance and short inhales of breath. He still didn’t have a clear sight line and shifted forward from behind some brickwork to get a better view.

It was a kid in a grey hoodie with some piece of metal in his hands. A camera.

The kid was moving down the fire escape and clicking the shutter when the opportunity presented itself. They were pretty high up, at least 7 stories. Robin snorted at the resilience of the kid, even in the alley he’d known better than to go more than 5 stories on a rickety fire escape if he could avoid it. But then, no kid in the alley would have been able to afford the equipment in the kid’s hands.

There was a sharp inhale next to him and a short shout. Robin sprung forward, realizing the kid must’ve heard him and looked down to see his eyes widen as the fire escape lurched. The kid over balanced, Robin was hurtling towards him, firing his grapple but it wouldn’t be enough. The kid started with a good 20 feet between them and Robin couldn’t overcome physics.

There was a wet crunch below him and then silence.

Someone was screaming.

Batman found Robin covered in blood with his arms wrapped around what looked to be a kid, eyes blank and busted camera lying near his feet.

He wasn’t screaming anymore, and Batman couldn’t keep up with all the words he was saying, but the tragedy was clear. He knew he would have to step forward and pry his son away from the fallen boy, there would be parents to inform but for a minute he just stood there.

First Garzonas and now this.

Two falls was enough for the night.

[flickeringflame216]

graveyards are places of history and memory WHY did we let them become creepy-coded

[lover-of-mine]

Fought 'til you tethered me, swept under surfaces, never enough of it...

[fallenangelkitten]

[asquareinverona]

what happens in the goblin emperor please help

Hahah that's an understandable feeling either having read or not having read the book.... Either way, a very unprepared, anxious 19 year old gets thrown into the seat of Emperor very unexpectedly because his father and all the other heirs die in a airship crash and then lots and lots of court politics happens.

I love the book so much. The complexities of an unwanted heir suddenly accending to the throne after living their entire life in exile, the court politics, the assassination and coup attempts? All so good. The Witness for the Dead and The Grief of Stones, the two other books in the series, are brilliant as well, although they follow another character.

[best-enemies]

remember when the doctor and missy literally had this exchange?

doctor: two hearts.

missy: and both of them yours.

like... it really happened. i keep re-reading it. i made it my blog name. i think about it all the time. and i still can't believe it happened. we really got this. this is insane