#that is not something I have ever feared happening when encountering a bear

[chaos-in-one]

Watching the whole "would you rather be in the woods with a bear or a strange man" debate go down is so funny to me as someone who has gone camping up in the mountains a good portion of my life and actually seen bears because like

They are NOT nearly as dangerous as some of the people mad about people choosing the bear are making them out to be. Even grizzlies. Generally, unless you are near their babies or they are literally starving, they'll leave you alone as long as you leave them alone. I actually did not feel that unsafe the handful of times I saw a bear in the woods because I understood that as long as I wasn't a complete fucking idiot about it, the bear wasn't going to do shit to me. Bears generally do not want to attack humans. About the only one that has been known to actually try to hunt humans is a polar bear, and you're not going to find a polar bear in a fucking forest.

[misswynters]

Stormbound

Jacaerys Velaryon x pregnant!reader

[WARNING: pregnancy, mentions of difficult pregnancy terms, fluff

[SYNOPSIS: You were heavily pregnant as you and jace encounter a wild dragon while a storm raged on.

[NOTE: you had poor jace stressed out, we love jace being protective over the reader: also if you would like something specific, send an ask!

"Where are they?" he muttered to himself, running a hand through his dark curls. The maesters had assured him that everything was fine, but he couldn't shake the feeling of dread that had settled in his chest.

Your pregnancy had been difficult, and the tension had taken its toll on Jacaerys. He had tried to be strong for you, but the fear of losing you, or the child, was ever-present. He couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to you both.

Just as he was about to go in search of you again, the doors to the hall creaked open, and you stepped inside. Despite the strain of pregnancy, you carried yourself with the grace and strength he had always admired. Your hand rested protectively on your swollen belly, and your face lit up with a tired but genuine smile when you saw him.

"Jace," you said softly, your voice a soothing balm to his frayed nerves.

He rushed to your side, his hands immediately going to your belly. "Where have you been? I was worried sick."

You laughed lightly, the sound easing some of his tension. "I just needed some fresh air. The castle can feel so confining sometimes."

He sighed, pulling you into a gentle embrace. "You should have told me. I would have gone with you."

"I know, but you worry too much," you replied, leaning into him. "I wanted a moment to myself. Besides, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

Jacaerys pressed a kiss to your forehead, his heart swelling with love and protectiveness. "I know you are. But I can't help it. I love you too much to let anything happen to you."

You smiled up at him, your eyes filled with warmth. "And I love you, Jace. But you need to relax. Stress isn't good for either of us."

He nodded, though the worry didn't entirely leave his eyes. "Alright. Let's find somewhere quiet. I need to feel you and the baby close."

Hand in hand, you led him out of the grand hall and towards the more secluded parts of Dragonstone. The storm outside raged on, but within the castle, it felt as if the two of you were in your own world. The soft glow of torches lit your way, casting flickering shadows on the ancient stone walls.

You reached a small alcove near the courtyard, a place where you had spent many quiet moments together. Jacaerys helped you settle onto a bench, his hand never leaving yours.

"You know," you began, your voice soft and contemplative, "I sometimes wonder what it would be like to just... leave all of this behind. To take our child and live a simple life, away from the responsibilities and the danger."

Jacaerys looked at you, surprise flickering across his face. "You've never mentioned that before."

You shrugged, a wistful smile on your lips. "It's just a thought. I know we have our duties, and I wouldn't trade our life here for anything. But sometimes, it's nice to imagine a different path."

He squeezed your hand, his gaze intense and loving. "If that's what you want, we'll find a way. Your happiness means everything to me."

You shook your head, a gentle laugh escaping your lips. "No, Jace. This is our home, and we belong here. But it doesn't hurt to dream, does it?"

"No, it doesn't," he agreed, pulling you closer. "As long as we have each other, we can face anything."

For a while, you sat together in comfortable silence, listening to the distant roar of the storm and the crackle of the torches. The tension that had gripped Jacaerys slowly began to fade, replaced by a sense of peace.

But peace was a fleeting thing in times of war and unrest. As the storm continued to rage outside, a distant, echoing roar pierced the night. Jacaerys tensed, his protective instincts flaring to life. "Did you hear that?" he asked, his voice low and urgent.

You nodded, your own heart racing. "What was it?"

"Stay here," he commanded, rising to his feet. "I'll go check."

"No," you protested, grabbing his arm. "I'm coming with you."

"___, you're pregnant," he began, but the look in your eyes silenced him. "Alright. But stay close to me."

Together, you made your way through the castle, following the eerie sound. The further you went, the louder the roar became, until you found yourselves standing at the entrance to the courtyard.

And there, in the middle of the storm, was a dragon unlike any you had ever seen. It was massive, nearly as large as Vhagar but with a wild, untamed look in its eyes. Its scales were a deep, iridescent purple, shimmering in the lightning flashes.

"Aero," Jacaerys whispered, awe and fear in his voice. "The Catastrophe."

You had heard of Aero, the wild dragon that roamed the skies near Dragonstone, but seeing it in person was an entirely different experience. The dragon's presence was overwhelming, and for a moment, you were frozen in place.

But Jacaerys didn't hesitate. He stepped forward, his voice steady and calm despite the fear in his eyes. "Aero," he called out, "we mean you no harm."

The dragon turned its gaze towards you both, its eyes glowing with an almost intelligent curiosity. It took a step forward, and Jacaerys instinctively moved in front of you, shielding you with his body.

"Jace," you whispered, fear gripping your heart.

"It's alright," he said, his voice firm. "Just stay behind me."

Aero lowered its massive head, sniffing the air around you. For a moment, it seemed as if the dragon was considering whether to attack or not. But then, with a huff that sent a gust of hot air over you both, Aero turned and took to the skies, disappearing into the storm.

Jacaerys let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, turning to pull you into his arms. "Are you alright?"

You nodded, clinging to him. "Yes. That was... incredible. And terrifying."

He chuckled, though the tension hadn't entirely left his body. "That's one way to put it. I can't believe we just saw Aero up close."

You leaned into him, the adrenaline slowly ebbing away. "We should get back inside. The maesters will have our heads if they find out we were out here."

He nodded, but didn't move to leave. Instead, he held you close, his hand resting on your belly. "I'm so glad you're safe," he whispered, his voice filled with emotion.

You kissed him gently, your heart full of love for this brave, protective man. "I am. Thanks to you."

As you made your way back inside, the storm began to die down, leaving a sense of calm in its wake. Jacaerys was still tense, but the fear had been replaced by a fierce determination to protect you and your unborn child. Later that night, as you lay in bed, Jacaerys held you close, his hand never leaving your belly. The events of the evening had only strengthened his resolve to keep you safe, no matter what.

"___," he murmured, his voice soft in the darkness. "I promise you, I will always protect you and our babe. No matter what it takes."

You smiled, feeling a sense of peace settle over you. "I know you will, Jace. You will be a fine father."

In the quiet of the night, with the storm finally gone, you both drifted off to sleep, your hearts full of love and hope for the future.

taglist: @benjicotblckwood

banner by: @cafekitsune

[flowersforchoso]

—Bi-han courting you ᥫ᭡

it's hard to imagine this blizzard of a man ever falling for someone, but he does, and he falls pretty hard when it happens although it's like, an extremely rare occurrence.

it's the classic love-at-first-sight scenario. you're at the restaurant, conversing with madame bo from a distance, when you catch his attention. he likes what he sees, and like the typical man, he discreetly stares until you're out of sight

he doesn't think much about you afterwards, but the seed of attraction has already been planted and soon grows.

somehow, coincidentally, he meets you again at the same place (fate perhaps?) but this time, it's different—you're both face-to-face and introductions ensue.

since the lin kuei trio occasionally unwind at the establishment after a mission, and you're a healer who madame bo often consults, it's no surprise your paths cross

bi-han is laser focused on you as the said woman introduces you to the group, observing you like a specimen: your physicality, mannerisms, demeanour, and finds himself magnetized by your graceful aura

but he doesn't speak to you at all while pleasantries are exchanged, making him the odd one out. however, his assessment of you is positive indicating a romantic interest.

despite the brief interaction, you leave a lasting impression on him and have begun to take up permanent residence in his mind.

but it doesn't end there; he sees you quite often due to your affiliation with the old woman, and each time he does, his heart skips a beat; he's emotionally incapacitated, rendered powerless (proximity to him is the only way anything can happen tbh)

he represses this newfound emotion until he's unable to resist, ultimately surrendering to it. and believe it or not, he makes the first move. surprisingly

i know the consensus is that he's pretty much inexperienced in romantic relationships and hence wouldn't approach, but for a man of his calibre, there's no way he hasn't been in a committed relationship, even if short-lived. moreover, he goes after what he wants, romantic matters are no different; the only issue is it'll take him forever to get to it.

he has to first wrestle with himself over his feelings towards you. and once he overcomes this internal struggle, it'll take your sustained absence to propel him to finally pursue you out of fear that you might slip away from his grasp.

while he won't directly approach you, he communicates his interest via subordinates, which leads to unexpected appearances—a blue-clad ninja at your doorstep bearing gifts

you're very confused, but they explain they've been sent by their grandmaster. it is then you come to the realization that the standoffish, intimidating man you encountered at the restaurant has taken a liking to you! but wait- how does he know where you live? (he's gathered bits of information about you)

in his quest to conquer your heart and claim it as his, he first aims to impress. expect to be bombarded by gifts or flowers every fortnight. he also does this for ego reasons, to flaunt his status before eventually requesting a date—through a mouthpiece, of course.

the occasion is quite awkward, overly formal, with you doing most of the talking because he wants to know all about you like the back of his hand

if you attempt to redirect focus on him to satisfy any curiosity you may have, he basically shuts it down by saying something along the lines of, "i lead a formidable warrior clan, that is sufficient enough." you can't tell if he's just reserved or severely lacking in social skills, but if you peer hard enough, the lines are blurred.

he is actually very mindful of his words and respectful towards you. he is aware of how blunt and abrasive he can come across and doesn't want to scare you away; that would undo all his efforts and bring them to naught, and he isn't going to self-sabotage, not after coming this far

he's gentlemanly, and its obvious from his body language and actions he's infatuated with you. but being a conversationalist and showing affection aren't his strong suits, so this is where you come in. the ball is in your court to steer the budding relationship forward otherwise it'll stagnate

[idkfitememate]

Hello!! I've been here since your first creation, Boar! Creator. And I'm thinking about something.

What about Squirrel! Creator 🐿️

Like, squirrels in Genshin really have no fear, all they think about are pinecones. Many times I approached them, but they didn't run away like other animals, they just stood there, near their pinecones.

So I imagine a character who has a hat, like Mona or Venti walking in the forest and a pinecone gets stuck in their hat. Then a squirrel followed them all day, leaving them confused, not knowing why the squirrel was following them. And what the worse was that the squirrel had no fear, they even followed them into the city!

Mona Encounter

૮꒰˶ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ˶꒱ა Pairings : Gn! Squirrel Reader x Mona

૮꒰ྀི∩´ ᵕ `∩꒱ྀིა W.K. : 649

໒꒰ྀིᵔ ᵕ ᵔ ꒱ྀི১ Tags/CW&TW : fluff & crack

໒꒰ྀི˶˙Ⱉ˙˶꒱ྀིა Author’s note : Mmmmm big bushy tails the floofa :3

Future note: Mona has a house… not right now she don’t-

Mona was a woman of business.

Booming business?.. Admittedly no, but business nonetheless.

Spending her nights charting the stars and giving out fortunes to those brave enough to handle her sharp tongue, she was more than busy in her life, even if she was just barely getting by.

… Where does she keep all her astrology books, tools and otherwise when she has nowhere to stay? Up your ass that’s where.

One busy night of watching the stars in a forest had worn the poor girl down, and the grass was so soft, and the gently breeze that rustled the leaves was so nice and oh… she’s asleep.

So deep in sleep, she didn’t notice the pinecone that fell into her hat.

Nor did she notice the you who was perched on a branch above, salivating at the mere thought of that now slightly forbidden cone because it fell on a human, and you told yourself not to go near them, if not for self preservation than just to not interact with them.

It wasn’t as if you didn’t ever want to interact with them, it was an inane fear that something might happen so on so forth, especially since you found out that you were in SAGAU. Fuck that chance. Trees, apples and pinecones is enough for you.

But this… this chance… fuck it it was to much to bear. You jumped right on into the hat, curling around the beloved pinecone. Nothing else mattered now except the piney scent and the cold comforting darkness of this idiot’s hat.

Fuck yeah.

૮꒰づ˶• ༝ •˶꒱づ ˚ʚ ꒰⁐⁐⁐⁐୨🎂🍩🍰୧⁐⁐⁐⁐꒱ ɞ˚

When morning came, Mona opened her eyes with a groan and popped her back considering the awful position she slept in. She blinked blearily as she took in the morning air. Feeling around, she grabbed her hat that had fallen off her head, not even noticing the extra weight, and plopped that sucker right on her head, somehow not even feeling your tiny little shivering feet.

Oh shit you fell asleep in her hat and now she was standing up. You sat as physically still as you could as you felt the somehow oblivious woman rose and begin walking.

The swaying motions wasn’t very nice on your stomach, ears twitching and eyes constantly moving around the space to try and find any kind of exit.

For a moment everything stopped, and your tail hitched and breath stilled. Suddenly, a hand reached up into the hat and in a panic you lightly jumped onto the fabric of the back of the hat, staring as the hand scratched the spot you once were and reach around a bit, finding the pinecone you once held and threw it out the hat, muttering some random stuff that was muffled to your ears.

After a few moments of stillness the astronomer was on the move again. And you were in her hat. Trapped. Alone.

૮꒰づ˶• ༝ •˶꒱づ ˚ʚ ꒰⁐⁐⁐⁐୨🍡🍮🍪୧⁐⁐⁐⁐꒱ ɞ˚

City noises were weird when you’re hearing them from inside a hat.

That was your deduction as Mona walked through what you could only assume to be Mondstadt. The hustle and bustle and overall joyfulness permeated even the fabric of the hat you were currently trapped in and made life just the slightest bit brighter, shocker.

Mona was just walking around as far as you could tell, no real destination in mind. But, you were hoping for her to stop soon, your paws hurt a little bit from their harsh grip on her hat and wanted a rest. Issue being, of course, you couldn’t rest on her because then she’d find out you were on her head for Archons knows how long.

The space you inhabited was just barely lit from the sun. The back of the hat behind you moving around due to a slight wind.

As the woman you were riding on continued further into the city, the only thing you could think was:

“Oh Fuck.”

໒꒰ྀི˶˙Ⱉ˙˶꒱ྀིა Author’s note : I was writing this years old when I found out Genshin has squirrels-

Also yes I purposely left off like that for requests/future stuff to pick up on lmao I’m sorry-

[akutasoda]

Oh? Well in that case, might as well get in line. Ahem Requesting Cyno x Reader(Originally I would go for F!Rrader, but u can do gn if u want) reader doesn't fear Cyno for some reason despite hearing what he's capable of, The Scary General Mahamatra being ruthless and stuff. As people would usually avoid his gaze but to Reader. Reader finds his Stern gaze attractive, his scary appearance, his voice... she admires. Let's just say his dangerous aura gives her the thrill, and Reader would try to romance him, wanting to go out with him. Like giving flowers and wanting to get closer to him. Reader's eyes was pure of nothing but adoration. You can write this in Headcanons if u want. I just wanna see what Cyno would do when he have someone who actually had a crush on him >:}

you don't know what a crush is?

synopsis - he was always used to people avoiding and fearing him, so he never could recognise the signs

includes - cyno

warnings - gn!reader, oblivious cyno, fluff, slight crack(?), wc - 635

the general mahamatra.

someone the everyday akademiya goer often never saw only ever hearing about him through stories. most people only ever encountered him if he was fulfilling his duties, those that were honest and followed the rules rarely ever saw him. even if they did happen to come across cyno they would slink away silently and avoid him.

and cyno didn't mind. the average person in the akademiya's opinion doesn't matter to him, they're behavior isn't of his concern - well that was until they did something that required cyno to do his job.

his position didn't exactly make him popular, but he never cared. cyno didn't do it for popularity. he had those who he cared about and the rest were just people in his eyes. so that's why he never really recognised you at first.

you who had seen cyno in passing glances across the akademiya and immediately become entranced. from his appearance to the way he presented himself made something inside you stir, your heart racing and your mind blocking out everyone around you. of course you recognised him, you had heard the hushed rumors and complaints of the man.

but how could they accuse that stunning man of anything?

cyno was completely oblivious of how you looked at him. he was so used to people avoiding his gaze entirely that when you two locked eyes accidentally, he passed it off as you zoning out or a complete accident - but if so, why did you never immediately look away like everyone else?

or he was, until you become more direct and confident with your approaches. waving or smiling at him or the rare occasions you saw him around sumeru, approaching him for conversation, or even inviting him to hang out.

cyno didn't quite understand your sudden interest in him and he did find it rather confusing but he wasn't exactly denying your request to spend time with him. everyone that knew cyno well enough could see the signs and would gawk at how oblivious cyno was.

even when you started giving him gifts, he passed it as a token of wanting a closer friendship. cyno wasn't far off with that assumption but it wasn't just a close friendship you were hoping for.

all the longing stares and undivided attention toward cyno went completely misinterpreted by him. he couldn't wrap his head around the idea and so he didn't acknowledge that possibility. you never minded that he missed the admiration in your eyes - you knew why he let those things go unnoticed.

his friends couldn't bear the sight of cyno being completely oblivious to your intentions per se. they, mainly kaveh, tried expressing the idea to him hoping that he got his head round it and confronted you about it.

but cyno didn't see it that way. there was no way you had a crush on him. he had been completely and utterly desensitized to the idea of love. surely this was just a joke? at his expense no doubt but he could forgive them for it.

it wouldn't take you long to realize that an extremely direct approach was needed - asking him out directly.

but even then you realized he took it platonically. you had a lot of work to do..

taglist - @little-miss-chaoss, @frankiesteinn

[str8rat]

WHAT IF THERE WERE 'LOST SOUL' ( AKA UNDERTALE STYLE ) ENCOUNTERS IN THE ISAT/FUNGER AU?????

-> REMIND

( You ask the Lost Soul to remind you of a word you've been searching for, trying to pretend being annoyed with your memory issues. She's not sure why, but she feels urged to jog your memory.. )

-> TIME CRAFT

( You remind the Lost Soul of when she used Time Craft to stop you from looping back. Her fist seems to clench on her side. )

-> MEMORY OF SECRET QUEST

( You remind the Lost Soul of the time you've spent searching for a Familytale. You remind her of the conversation you've had, about searching for a home, about feeling "other". Suddenly, the memories are flooding back..! )

-> PUN

( You say a really terrible pun. The Lost Soul seems to love it, quickly bursting with a loud, infectious laughter. Something about this seems so very familiar to him.. )

-> TOUCH

( Hesitantly, you reach out towards the Lost Soul, trying to take his hand. He seems to become nervous, his hand becoming clammy in your own. His fingers twitch. He seems to be remembering something.. )

-> MEMORY OF STARGAZING

( You remind the Lost Soul of the time you've spent Stargazing. You remind him that you have never, ever been ashamed of him. Not even a little bit. Suddenly, the memories are flooding back..! )

-> POINT

( You point to the Lost Soul's nails, trying to mimic the same motion you always do when she's anxiously biting them. Somehow, this seems familiar to her.. )

-> CHANGE

( You remind the Lost Soul of the time you've met the God of Change. She doesn't know why, but she feels an odd, bitter feeling in her chest at the mere mention of the God. )

-> MEMORY OF FAITH

( You remind the Lost Soul of the time you've spent together on that bench in Dormont. You remind her that she doesn't need to change for the sake of her fate, if she doesn't want to. Suddenly, the memories are flooding back..!)

-> RECIPE

( You ask the Lost Soul if they'd like to make malanga fritters together. For some reason, they feel giddy at the thought. )

-> HUG

( You hug the Lost Soul carefully. They seem to stiffen in your hold. They're not sure why, but they really want to hug back.. )

-> MEMORY OF TRAINING

( You remind the Lost Soul of the time you've spent together, training in the outskirts of Dormont. You remind the Lost Soul, that they don't need to feel guilty for things that are out of their control. They are loved, and they're doing enough as it is. Suddenly, the memories are flooding back..! )

- - -

DID ANYONE THINK OF THAT??? I couldn't stop thinking about this. I'm not re-entering my undertale phase again please not again

Ok so this is still in relation to my Fear and hunger / Isat AU, so bear with me here. What if Loop's battle didn't only consist of fighting them? Maybe they've come to know some sort of forbidden craft, which stole the party's memories? Kind of trying to erase their memories of "Siffrin", and instead enter "Loop" in it's place. Since Loop doesn't want to, nor can, be Siffrin anymore- if they actually manage to kill Siffrin and insert themself instead of him into the timeline, they can live with their identity as Loop, with the party already loving them, having no memory of Siffrin. There would only be Loop. And then Loop could finally be happy, and have their family back.

And well everyone knows how it goes, Siffrin enters a battle with each of the party members, which is interesting i think, since we've only ever fought Sadnesses in canon Isat (not counting the king) Picturing the party attacking Siffrin would be awesome lmao. I also really like the idea of the memories we gain from each party member's hangout actually having more of a role rather than just being buffs or skills to learn.

here the memories of their hangouts are essential to jog their memory, and also i feel like it would be kind of cool if it granted them like the ability to remember those occurnaces, even though they know now that it didn't actually happen. not in this loop anyway. With them being aware of the loops by that point in the story, and aware of the hangouts happening countless times before in other loops, they would realize just how hard Siffrin tried to grow closer to them. I feel like that would tighten the party's ties together. so yeah, cool.

Siffrin jogs all of their memories, which causes them to either pass out or fight alongside them. i think the latter would be worse for loop though, having those people fighting them. It would hurt them a lot.

well, I still think Siffrin would fight Loop alone and everyone else would be passed out. I like to keep the 'Loop wins the fight' as the canon outcome here, with Loop not being able to bring himself to kill Siffrin after everythin that happened. Siffrrin comforts them, Loop cries, Siffrin cries, Loop fades away, the party soon wakes up and confronts Siffrin on what had happened, he passes the fuck out from craft exhaustion before he can explain anything. WOO

hope this made sense cuz it's like 2 am and my brain is NOT working rn

[joannechocolat]

On Turning 60

When I was a child, someone told me: “Every life is a story.” I used to wonder what mine would be like; what adventures I would have. My favourite stories were from Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book, which my grandfather used to read to me:  thus I imagined my own story as a forest adventure in which I would run wild with my friends, and pick fruit by the wayside. I never imagined growing old, just as I never imagined the adults around me ever being young. And death, if I thought of it at all, was a monster that kept to the shadows, and never dared to show its face outside of the scariest stories.

I was four years old when I first encountered the monster. It was in France, when my great-grandmother died, having been taken suddenly ill as she and I were playing a game. I still remember that suddenness, and my mother’s tears, and the whispers of “not in front of the children”, and the various well-meaning relatives trying in their different ways, to explain to me why I shouldn’t be sad, how at sixty-five, Mémée was old, how death was completely natural, and that she was watching us from above. These stories varied considerably, from the fanciful to the macabre. Even at four, it didn’t take long for me to understand that the grown-ups were as much in the dark as I was about the whole affair. Children are analytical. They process information according to what they have been told. And at four, I concluded, both with certainty and a singular horror, that Mémée’s story was over, that death happened to everyone, and that I had more or less sixty years of life before it happened to me. For years after that, I would lie awake at night and think of the monster waiting for me in the dark, and tell myself that sixty years was a very, very long time, and that this suffocating fear would pass with age and experience.

Now I’m approaching sixty. At sixty, we’re meant to examine our lives, and think about mortality. And yes, it seems like a very long time. It also feels as if no time at all has passed since the night my great-grandmother died, and I first encountered the truth that lives at the heart of all fairytales. That was when I decided, with relentless, childish logic, that if death was the ultimate monster, then perhaps I could only hope to keep them at bay with stories.

And so I began to tell stories, first to myself, in secret, and then to anyone who would listen. Of course it took me a long, long time to understand that what I was really doing was trying to make sense of the world. In a universe of chaos, stories give a shape to our lives. They teach us to believe in love; to mistrust what is too easily won; to know that every stranger could be a deity in disguise. They teach us that happy endings exist; that kindness can sometimes bring reward; that life, like so many of the stories we read as children, is a journey through the woods, where anything can happen.

This is the advice I’d give my younger self, if I could. Life is like a story with a beginning, a middle, an end. It is not always as structured or as ordered as a story might be, and some are longer than others, but the journey is ours in part to direct. We can choose the paths we take, the places in which to linger. We can choose the people we travel with, the ones we make a part of our lives. Choose wisely, I would tell my younger self at the start of my journey; not everyone who seems friendly is a friend. True friends are not easy to come by; always cherish the ones you find. And bear in mind that the journey matters more than the destination. We live in a world where everything seems focussed on the future; events to plan; deadlines to meet; months and seasons flashing by. Time seems to accelerate as we get older; and yet there are ways to slow it down. We don’t have to rush through everything in order to rush through something else. We can exist in the moment. Stop. Pick the flowers. Feel the sun. Remember we only pass this way once, and that every step is a privilege.

These woods are filled with obstacles, and challenges, and wonder. Not all paths through it are easy. Stay curious, I would tell myself. Never stop asking questions. Wear your achievements lightly, and don’t be afraid of failure. Failures are a sign you tried; markers on the road to success. And as a teacher of 15 years, one thing I have learnt is this: There are no teachers, just pupils. We are able to learn from every angle, every stage of our lives. Elders may speak from experience, but some of the most important things I have learnt have been from younger people. Bringing up my son has been the lesson of a lifetime; I learn new things from him every day. So take your lessons where you can, and pay them back to others in kind. And don’t be afraid to make mistakes: mistakes are part of your story too, every one a lesson learnt, every one a challenge.

Nor should you fear the changes that time imposes on us. Change is what drives your story. Sometimes it brings grief and loss; sometimes, unexpected joy. And don’t be ashamed of the signs of age: in a world in which youth is prized far above experience, it’s all too easy to feel diminished by wrinkles and imperfections. But your body is a living map of everything you have experienced. Everything leaves marks on you. Childbirth; laughter; damage; grief. Be proud of those marks. They are proof that you have lived. When I look at my face now I see the faces of my family. I see my mother, my grandmother. I carry their stories inside me, coiled as tight as DNA. And I have told them again and again, just as they were told to me. We process the world through stories. We learn to live through stories. Through stories we connect with the past and understand where we came from. I mostly know my great-grandmother from stories my mother told me. The story of the day she died; her life in rural, wartime France; her recipes; her sayings; her jokes. Through stories, my son can know her, even though they never met. And of course, you know her too: she was the prototype for Armande, the fierce old woman in Chocolat. Through stories, people can live on, and be loved and understood. This is one of the things I have learnt on my journey through the woods; perhaps the most important thing: Remember to tell your stories.

Now, after many stories, I’m reaching that part of the forest where monsters lurk in the darkness. Three years ago, I had a brush with a monster I called Mr C - an aggressive kind of cancer, which luckily was found early. I survived that encounter, thanks to the care and vigilance of the NHS, but one of the lessons it taught me is that life is fragile, and precious, and short - much shorter than we imagine. Over the past few years I have lost too many loved ones to Mr C. One of them was my grandfather. Another was my oldest friend. Some were writers: Iain Banks, Jenny Diski, Graham Joyce. I have carried their stories with me, just as I carry the stories of my parents and grandparents. I hope my son will do the same. We stay alive through stories.

But right now, at sixty, I don’t feel old. I doubt anyone who loves stories really ever does. I remember Ray Bradbury telling me, at 81, that when he looked in the mirror, he saw a ten-year old boy with inexplicably white hair. And he was still writing–furiously, sublimely - till the day he died. I can relate: time is speeding up, and there are stories left to tell. I sometimes find myself trying to calculate how many I’ll have time to get down, especially as they’re still popping up like mushrooms all around me. I am more conscious of time passing by. I feel the change of the seasons in a way I didn’t before. But my walk in the woods has been beautiful. I have fulfilled my greatest dreams. I do what I love for a living. I’ve travelled the world, and had many adventures, and met many interesting people. I’m married to someone I love, who loves me. I have a son who makes me proud, and who I love more than words can say. I’ve faced down monsters, and survived. I’ve learnt a lot, sometimes the hard way. But as the French author Jules Renard (a favourite of my grandfather’s) once said: “Aim to die with regrets, not remorse.” I think I’m on the right side of that. And in spite of what I thought at four, approaching sixty is nothing to fear. There are still unwritten chapters to my story to be lived; places to discover, new things to learn. I mean to explore all those things, and more. I want to climb mountains. To travel through space. To see the depths of the ocean. Some of those things I may never know except in stories, but books are the way in which we live our many alternative, possible lives. I feel I’m just beginning to understand what matters to me; to find my equilibrium in this vast, bewildering world. For so many years, being sixty felt like the end of a journey. Now I see that it’s only another clearing in the woods. Maybe I’ll sit here awhile. Enjoy the sunshine. Pick the fruit. But soon I’ll be on my way again, picking up stories wherever I go. Because no story ever ends, not really. It just travels somewhere else, picked up by another storyteller. So, to whoever picks up my story, good luck with it. Maybe give me a wave. But for now, I think I’ve seen a path at the end of the clearing. It’s new, and therefore exciting, and promises adventure. I think I’ll follow it awhile; see what fruits are growing there. Stories flourish along these paths. Let’s see which ones I can find. After all, that’s what I do. And those monsters won’t defeat themselves.

[ghcstao3]

what about werewolf!ghost x vampire!soap 👀

hope you don’t mind me using the occasion to revive the rileys for an awkward family dinner

-

Being brought home to meet Ghost’s family is probably one of the more interesting moments of Soap’s (unbearably long) life.

And not only because he’s never properly dated someone as long as he has Ghost before—it’s also because said family isn’t human, and is more than aware of the fact that he drinks blood to keep himself alive.

So. Interesting is where he stands.

Soap is lured in with a false sense of security from two things—the first being Ghost’s insistence that his mother, brother, and sister-in-law are all nicer than him. The second being the warm smile Mrs. Riley offers him at the front door, entirely friendly and sincere, not like the brandishing of sharp canines that Ghost has flashed Soap with once or twice.

She’s pleasant to talk with, already siding with him when it comes to her son’s tendencies, and she even goes so far as to pour him a glass of pig’s blood she’d purchased just for the occasion. And being that it’s so nice, Soap doesn’t have the heart to tell her that he can only tolerate the stuff at best, especially now that he only ever takes from a specific source these days.

It’s through this lovely conversation with Ghost’s mum and the general sense of domesticity that has Soap believing that he shouldn’t encounter any problems when Beth and Tommy arrive.

But how wrong he was.

Beth at least tries to be polite, though Soap doesn’t miss the distasteful scrunch of her nose once she obviously catches scent of what Ghost so lovingly calls the wrongness of vampirism. Tommy, on the other hand, doesn’t so much as bother trying to hide his disdain.

(Thank God Soap finds out later that it’s mostly just the whole protective older brother act, but still. It hurts Soap’s feelings, just a bit.)

Dinner is absolutely stifling when all but Soap are eating what Ghost’s mum has made, all chatter dying off much too quickly in what little bouts Ghost, of all people, tries to initiate. Soap traces his finger around the rim of his barely-touched glass all while he tries to ignore Tommy’s pointed looks like Soap had done something to personally offend him.

Maybe he had.

“You’re sure about this, Simon?” Tommy eventually, finally asks after nothing but pressing silence. Though the question is asked to Soap’s left, he still feels golden eyes near identical to Ghost’s bearing down on him.

Ghost drops his fork onto his plate, his frustration palpable, emanating in waves. “Do you have to be such a prick, Tom?”

“Boys,” Mrs. Riley scolds from her end of the table. “We have a guest.”

“Yeah, and that guest’s a vampire, Mum,” Tommy spits, throwing out his hand in gesture to Soap. “He eats people.”

“Tom,” Beth hisses.

“Common misconception,” Soap mumbles. He feels all attention shift to him, as if they all remembered he was present—right, super-hearing. He clears his throat, raising his voice, “Only the… bad ones do that.”

“Besides,” Ghost is adding, and Soap is a little fearful of where he plans to take this, “he only feeds off me.”

A tense silence blankets the table. Soap wants to sink into the floor.

“…What?”

“It was my idea,” Ghost attempts to amend, but it’s already much too late. This is already a disaster, beyond disaster, and maybe Soap should’ve stuck to his guns about not meeting a family of werewolves as a vampire.

“Doesn’t matter, Simon!” Tommy exclaims his disbelief.

Ghost rolls his eyes. Soap had not at all imagined this to be where the night would lead. It’s what he desperately wished wouldn’t happen. Because he loves Ghost, and Ghost loves his family—so Soap had felt he needed to be in their good graces.

There goes that idea.

“I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t trust him, Tommy,” Ghost says slowly, challenging. “Is how I feel about him not good enough?”

This finally seems to stun Tommy into some form of submission. Soap doesn't miss Beth reaching out to flick Tommy's ear.

"S'pose it is," Tommy grumbles.

"Good." Ghost sits back in his chair, and resumes eating with a smug self-satisfaction poised in his broad shoulders.

There's a kick under the table delivered to Tommy, though Soap can't tell by who. He only knows its recipient by the muttered sorry, John, that follows.

Soap supposes he can be content with that for now. He gives Tommy a close-lipped smile, fearing that any show of fangs might provoke him.

All things considered, things could be worse. Even his military training wouldn't give him a considerable upper-hand against a natural-born werewolf.

He'll have to talk to Ghost about it later. Maybe when the werewolf is shifted, and Soap can dig cold fingers through thick fur. Then again another time, when Ghost can respond with more than huffs and whines and low growls.

They'll figure it out—they've already done it once before with just each other.

But they definitely have to smooth things over sooner rather than later, or else it's going to be real awkward when Soap finally gets the courage to pull out the ring that's been weighing his pocket down for little over a month, now.

It's fine. Everything will be fine. Soap can manage interesting.

[thewisecheerio]

Subversive Design in Soulsborne Games

There are a lot of mechanisms to induce fear in horror games. Lighting (or lack thereof), soundtrack, jump scares, and a myriad of other things all work well to make you feel unsettled.

But my favorite strategy is to establish a pattern for the player and then break it.

Soulsborne games are infamous for this subversive game design, which is part of why they have a reputation for being "unfair". But it's important to remember that the pattern was formed from your assumptions about what the rules of the world are; no accord was ever actually made nor broken. The devs are simply anticipating the pattern you are likely to pick up on, and then breaking it to induce fear. These are horror games, after all.

I tend to find this subversiveness hilarious, so here are some of my favorites:

Boss Phases

Soulsborne games use 2-phase bosses so often that you begin to expect that the most phases a boss will ever have is 2. Thus, the second that you vanquish a foe's second phase, you breathe a sigh of relief. However, there are at least two times that Soulsborne games have broken this promise: Sister Friede of DS3 and the Scadutree Avatar of Elden Ring.

Both came equipped with 3 phases, which catches people out the first time that they encounter it. You may have exhausted resources during Phase 2, not realizing you had miles more to go. As such, it's great at inducing an immediate sense of panic due to feeling underprepared.

Guiding with Diegetic Lighting

Soulsborne games love to use diegetic lighting to guide players where to go next or what to notice. This often takes the form of a carefully placed item that glows to draw your eyes, forcing you to notice something you might have otherwise overlooked. Below is Auriza Hero's Grave with an item-bearing body (already looted in this screenshot, but circled in red) hinting at a drop off point to a floor below:

However, sometimes the game abuses your trust in the diegetic lighting. As you walk toward it to investigate and see what it might be signaling (if anything), an enemy might pop out and attack, or throw a molotov cocktail at your head. It's a trap!

Possibly the funniest incarnation of this is Patches. Patches will leave glowing markers to draw you toward an edge. There might even be devnotes suggesting "Something amazing this way!" to tempt you even more. But the second you get close, off the cliff you go!

Pincer Attacks

Another way Fromsoftware abuses diegetic lighting and your own paranoia is pincer attacks. Because so many enemies like to hide behind corners and jump scare you, players get used to checking corners before entering a new room to grab a clearly visible item. However, sometimes you check those corners dutifully, think you're in the clear after having vanquished the corner foes, and still get attacked on your way to the item.

This is because the trap was never about the enemies hiding behind the corners. They are a distraction, there to make you feel that you have been sufficiently paranoid when you have not actually been paranoid enough.

Rather the problem was never the corner enemies, but the two new enemies that drop off walls in front of you (before you get to them) and behind you (only once you've passed them), forming a pincer that is much harder to escape. Elden Ring's Fanged Imps often do this in catacombs, and the Giant Ants sometimes pull this off in Ainsel and Siofra.

Boss Doors

Sometimes a "rule" Soulsborne games break actually has nothing to do with in-game rules, but rather expectations devs know you have from other games. For example, boss arenas are often very well-signaled so that you can prepare. Either there is Grand ArchitectureTM to tell you something big is about to happen, or you have to explicitly interact with an item to enter the boss arena.

And then there is Bloodborne, who will happily let you get frightfully lost in the Forbidden Woods only to stumble into the boss arena by accident:

(It's me, I stumbled in.)

Sure, there are some big stones there. But by nature of being a multi-tiered level, the Forbidden Woods is FULL of underpasses that go below broken logs or fallen graves. This one doesn't look much different at a glance. You have little reason to believe that this underpass is different from the one you saw earlier that goes underneath a gigantic fallen tree. Consequently, you might walk right in only to be surprised with a boss bar popping up on your screen.

Closing Comments

What every single one of these tactics has in common is that it's playing on your expectations of how the game universe should work, and then subverting it. And when you fall for their antics, it can be hilarious.

It's a very clever design strategy to keep players constantly on their toes. It can get you to learn a new skill or break out of a routine. Overall, it's there to maintain player interest in the game and keep things from feeling stale. And I'd say the Soulsborne games are exceptional at using it to keep you interested.

[viridiave]

I recently learned of the 4 trauma responses

Fight: facing any perceived threat aggressively.

Flight: running away from danger.

Freeze: unable to move or act against a threat.

Fawn: immediately acting to try to please to avoid any conflict.

Potentially, if we were to assign the octogang to the above categories, which ones would they be?

Hi!! Thanks for the ask! I'm assuming you meant the OT1 Octoang so here it is! I guess I'll try explaining what traumas they'd have to react to too but I'm not an expert on any of this so please bear with me. Please feel free to correct me if I get anything wrong too!!

Ophilia

In terms of trauma I think the thing that would affect her the most is her having lost her family from war. A big part of Ophilia's character is her loving the family that she now has, but she's no stranger to loss – personally, she's had enough time to stew in it. By the time Chapter 3 happens and she's told that Josef died, not only did she KNOW it was bound to happen but she also had to deal with the fact that Lianna hasn't experienced ANYTHING like this before. I can argue that her way of coping with resurfacing trauma was to pay it forward with love.

My first instinct for her was Fawn because honestly that's exactly what happened between Chapter 3 and 4, because this was an Ophilia that has already developed with the love of her adopted family so I imagine she has an easier time dealing with it. I think she grew into this from Freeze in her youth.

Cyrus

I have no idea what sort of trauma I could attribute to Cyrus honestly. With the way he's constantly portrayed he's too mentally strong to really get a good read on so it's easy for me to assume that he was living a very stable life in terms of avoiding traumatic events in his youth? Whether he was sheltered or entirely focusing on other angles of the conflicts he encountered, I have no idea. I can see his focus working against him if he were ever forced to redirect that to something painful though. Not sure if I see him having a traumatic response to blood like most people, he sort of underreacts to the whole blood magic business in favor of delivering his judgment.

IF he had to be faced with trauma. I headcanon it to be something recent and he'd have a Freeze response. If he has companions, he'll have a Fight response as a way of overcompensating.

Tressa

Tressa's noted to have a number of fears, and I dunno how much of this would exacerbate her trauma – but she lives in a port town, and a lot of things can happen in a port town, so hear me out – she had to grow out of the trauma of seeing corpses wash up on the shores of Rippletide. If we squint, it's said that she's scared of ghosts and thunder specifically – debts too but my point is that maybe she had to grow desensitized to the sight of the 'unfortunate souls' of sailors who lost their lives of sea. The war against the G'rohans in COTC took place NEAR Rippletide, there's no way that people who lived in the Coastlands and Riverlands didn't have to deal with corpses washing ashore. The wreckage of the ships at sea would have left rumors of 'ghost ships' floating around, and even with shipwreck stories she'd have to deal with accounts of boats being capsized in thunderstorms.

My honest guess for Tressa is that she had Flight responses at first, but grew out of it when the sight of corpses just became inevitable. I should note that I think Tressa's not scared of seeing corpses after the fact, but having to stomach the sight of someone in the process of being killed or reanimated from the dead would probably provoke her Flight response.

Olberic

I'll keep this brief because we know what traumas Olberic has had to endure for eight whole years, and we've seen him react to most things relating to Erhardt with anger – so, Fight, primarily. What made this interesting to think about though is how he didn't react to seeing Erhardt in the flesh with that same response, and to be fair I think at the time the response was offset by the fact that he's already in an active conflict with the Lizardmen. I wouldn't say he froze when the dust settled, he's just in deep reflection.

Werner is a different story though – he DEFINITELY had a Freeze response in the middle of the battle when Riverford's revolt was at its lowest (being reminded of his greatest failure, failing again to see a sworn cause to its end, being put in a scenario where he can't protect EVERYONE alone, etc.), and he had to be shaken out of it by Erhardt's arrival. I think past this event however, when faced with a similar situation he'd have grown out of it and into a Fight response.

Primrose

Same case with Olberic, we know what it was that traumatized her. I'm playing with tricky ground here because. Do Primrose's 8 years of scheming count as a trauma response? Either way, I think she Fights her way into most things – heck she's actively trying to START conflicts, that was half the point of her story and four whole people died from this. More if we count the goons being summoned.

Chapter 4 is where this changes though and I think for Simeon specifically, she developed a Freeze response. Based on the cutscenes before both of Simeon's battle phases, we see her on the verge of a full-on mental breakdown. I would even argue that Simeon's entire first phase was a Freeze response, since they're not actually fighting – that was Simeon trying to get in her head to break her and it almost worked. I like to think that by the time she encounters his phantom in the Gate of Finis, she would have responded against him with anger again.

Alfyn

Alfyn definitely had to grow up seeing a lot of gruesome things out of professional necessity so I'm blanking out on what sort of trauma anyone could inflict on him. My first thought was Miguel, and then some part of me remembers SOMETHING from somewhere saying something about Clearbrook being a place home to a lot of former bandits and crooks. Alfyn had to grow up with these people, mind you – it's not impossible that the reason he was so set on helping Miguel was because he had live proof that folks like him could be redeemed. So I GUESS his trauma could come less from people like Miguel committing atrocities, and more from the way that he had to take a life with his own hands? In which case he probably should have had more of a problem with Primrose and Cyrus killing their antagonists? We definitely see him bothered by all the killing happening in Cyrus's Chapter 2 at least.

He's visibly in a depressive slump in Chapter 4, but we know this has less to do with the trauma itself and more with the fact that his ideals were challenged in a way that he doesn't know how to deal with yet. If confronted with the scenario again, I think he'd definitely have a Fawn response.

Therion

Three for three with people that we actually know the trauma of! And to no one's surprise I definitely think Therion has multiple Fight responses! He has so many examples in the game that I'd be here forever if I tried going over all of them one by one! He lashes out so much in varying degrees and it makes SENSE, and if I were more forgiving towards the execution of his story I'd even call it interesting! I'm STILL not sure if he straight-up killed Gareth in Chapter 3 or not, we never see the guy again after Therion leaves him in the dirt.

Should his complete avoidance in trying to form close connections with others be considered a Flight response? The woes of not being an expert on this topic are hitting me square in the face.

H'aanit

I'm putting her in the same boat as Cyrus in the sense that I have no idea what the hell sort of trauma I could be giving her. Unlike Cyrus, we're privy to more details of her youth – nothing that points to her being traumatized by any particular events though, unless maybe her parents had particularly gruesome deaths? She doesn't mention them very often though, so either she's made peace with the loss and eventually stopped having a trauma response to their fates as she grew older, or it's been repressed so heavily by years of a hard but communal lifestyle in S'waarki? I don't know. She didn't even have that big of a response towards Redeye's Redeyeness, so if she was going to be traumatized by anything, it definitely wouldn't be anything wilderness-related.

My personal guess is that if she HAD a trauma response, she'd have a Flight response – playing into a Hunter's instinct and escaping to live another day but this also runs on the assumption that she's unused to dealing with trauma altogether. Otherwise, like Cyrus, if she was with companions, I can see her having a Fight response.

[havenesc]

kicking my feet over that jason au

i will 10/10 willingly give up any information anybody ever wants over rancher jason. like now!

i think he should wear carhartts and wranglers and get bullied for being the city boy even though a couple of months working with him makes everyone realize that -- yeah, he may be city, but he can learn ranching fast. i think kacey should gift him a hat and then on their next trip to town, have it properly shaped for him. when a protective cow runs jason into a fence over a calf, mclaren gives him his first real set of chaps to protect him. it's not the body armor of the red hood but it feels just as strong.

i think jason should encounter wildlife who are unnerved by him -- wovles who stop in their elusive, loping tracks to eye him from a distance, deer that scatter even if he embodies silence. bears stand on their hind feet to get a better look at him, and it's 50/50 on if he's going to have to haul ass on blue from a charging bear or if he's a scarier threat by Existing than a grizzly wants to chance.

(jason stops being invited on hunting trips, and that's fine by him, because he realizes very quickly he can't stomach the killing. ironic.)

jason who is wary and a little prickly at first, muted by the need to blend in but barbed by the fear of being found out, but he settles in eventually. goose, laura, and kacey adopt him into the fold. they stay up talking about their hometowns, also none of them native to the area. they play grab-ass and pull pranks on each other like unbuckling rear cinches or playing cowboy chicken or daring one another to climb on the old bucking bull, c'mon, he's a sweetheart, and that's why jason limps for three days after getting tossed but laughs harder than he has in a long time.

i want bruce tearing his hair out trying to pick up the traces of his boy, terrified that his last words to his son were something bitter. dick and tim who are spending long hours pouring over ends that aren't loose, they just aren't there, wondering why it's been four months and jason hasn't slunk back into the underbelly of gotham. they're worried sick for him and bruce won't say what happened. the mother city is lost without one of her children, and the patrols are fucking miserable -- more with the ache of knowing jason isn't there than the mess it's left behind.

jason is never sure he wants to come back home but he's also not sure he can stay. the batfamily wants him back so badly they'll do whatever it takes to bring him home. they just have to find him first.

[yanderes-galore]

Can be Platonic/Romantic Yandere Golden Freddy

Sure! Sorry if the formatting is weird, I am writing this on PC and that changed how the fic looks on mobile at times. Also the plot I came up with ended up becoming purely platonic so my bad so I hope that's okay!

Yandere! Platonic! Golden Freddy Concept

Pairing: Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Stalking, Forced friendship, Supernatural occurrences/ghosts, Hauntings, Manipulation, Possible implied murder.

Golden Freddy is an interesting case.

Unlike the other bots you encounter in the pizzeria, this version of Golden Freddy may not even exist.

In this concept I ended up thinking of Golden Freddy as a spirit.

Just a strange golden suit lurking about while you do your job.

Then disappearing out of your sight.

Honestly in regular FNAF, no AUs, I can only ever see Golden Freddy as a ghost.

A simple ghost stuck in a bad situation... that happens to see the new Night Guard as a new friend.

Unfortunately, being this ghost's friend has consequences as you soon find out.

For the most part, Golden Freddy isn't much of a problem compared to everything else you're most likely going through.

You already have a lot going on, you have bills to pay and are struggling to stay awake.

Meanwhile Golden Freddy patiently watches you from the darkness.

Honestly Golden Freddy is quite shy to show himself fully to you.

As said before, you'll see him from the corner of your eye but he quickly disappears afterwards.

Golden Freddy seems like he'd be the silent stalker type.

He isn't entirely hostile and prefers to just lurk.

At times you think you only see him in the Pizzeria, only to learn later you swear you see him in your house.

But... it's all just a trick of your mind, right?

There's no way there's an actual ghost after you... right?

Golden Freddy attaches himself to you for company.

You'll be doing your work, only to feel a presence around you.

His obsession is all very subtle.

You'll swear you're going crazy before you manage to grasp what's going on.

You second guess yourself, always going back to that yellow bear that keeps appearing.

Golden Freddy may even see your reactions as part of some sort of game.

He likes to appear around you just to see you freak out.

Yet soon he'll reveal himself to soothe you.

Golden Freddy doesn't want to drive his new friend off after all....

You'll always feel his presence but rarely actually shows himself.

When you finally see him he just looks like a recolored version of a Freddy suit.

Yet you can tell by all the floating and the translucence that he's something else entirely.

I'd imagine Golden Freddy doesn't say much, either.

He mostly stays quiet and watches you.

There's times he'll stay visible and watch you look at cameras.

Honestly showing him the tablet makes him curious.

Almost like a child... which disturbs you greatly.

You may even find yourself idly talking to the ghost, another fact that confuses you.

How are you accepting this all so quickly?

Is it due to the ghost's influence?

You hate that he follows you home, yet find yourself accepting it.

It's almost like Golden Freddy is making you accept his presence.

You fear there's nothing you can do about it.

While Golden Freddy appears rather docile and friendly, that most likely changes when they realize you could leave him.

Maybe he fear you'll forget him.

Maybe he just doesn't want you to leave the Pizzeria.

It could be just as simple as Golden Freddy wanting you to be more like him.

By the time you're used to the ghost and his attachment... it's already too late.

The next step is to make sure you never leave him as you're his best friend...

Which may sadly include your inevitable demise.

[regretsofaghost]

Day 27- My love for you is true, I swear it is, it just will kill you in the end

AO3 link to chapter 27- here Tumblr link to chapter 26- here Tumblr link to chapter 28- here

Word Count- 700 words

It was not the Baby-Doll Demon.

It was not Simon.

A manifestation of fear.

A Tulpa?

But those were static, they did not change based on who they encountered.

A soul forged by years upon years in Hell.

A soul that had escaped Hell once by itself, once with help.

F-F-G-F

F-G-F-F

G-A-F-F

His magic felt like static beneath his skin, eager to jump out of his outstretched fingers.

Perhaps that was the only reason he had not frozen again, had been able to choose to fight rather than freeze.

It was hard, to focus, to remember.

The words felt thick in his mouth, but his voice was strong, careful, even, he attempted to keep each syllable from blending into the next.

There is no one else, no one else, that I would go to Hell for.

Edwin had to be the one to handle it.

If he could not, then no one could.

It had been luck, that Esther had not tried to target Charles as well.

The pain was unbearable, but he would bear it, for it meant Esther would leave Charles alone.

It would be easier, to let go, to let himself be discorporate, to slip into oblivion.

Bu Charles, Crystal, Niko. They all needed him.

Edwin had believed he was used to the effects of the potion, that he could handle drinking so much, so deeply. He was unsure how much of his own energy he had used, how much it would take to combat the urge to rest, to become an orb.

He could not afford uncertainty.

Still, the world swam around him as he sang out the spells, as the creature shifted and changed.

He could not recall all the people it tried to trick him with, as it shifted from Simon to the boys at school he could barely remember, to Sa’al, to the many souls he had encountered while trying to escape Hell.

Oblivion would be better than Hell.

What if they were able to escape?

Then they would be separated, should Edwin not fight.

Niko had shown him a picture of two cats, a sign posted on their cage that labelled them as a bonded pair, and to not separate them.

She had told him that it was them, Charles and Edwin.

Edwin stumbled over his feet, moving quickly, if not all that elegant, as the thing shifted again, and again, and again.

It was frustrating, for his eyes refused to focus, the words starting to come out slurred and slow, as fire and wind and magic spun around them, each and every spell Edwin could think of, could remember the harmonies for, could think of with intent and purpose.

A-A-B-D-B-E

D-A-B-D-B-E

It could not be a misery wraith, those worked in a different way.

Same family?

Was it possibly a demon?

But which one?

Edwin would have stayed there, fighting, refusing to give up, had arms not wrapped around him, the familiar warmth, comfort, love, surrounded him.

It was not safe-

G-B-D-C-B.

A blue shield erupted in front of Edwin, blocking large limbs covered in tiny baby-doll hands from grasping him and Charles.

It was never safe.

“Edwin-Edwin!” Charles’ voice was loud in his ear, Edwin fighting against his hold, refusing to turn, keeping his eyes trained on the demon that had killed him again and again and again.

Charles had been in Hell.

Were they back?

Green, dark-

“Edwin-“

He.

He was not sure what happened next.

There was the blue shield in front of him.

The swimming colours -green, pink, blue, so much blue-

He could not move.

He had to stay, had to keep Charles and Crystal safe.

The potions effects had slowed his movements, but it was the only reason he had the energy to keep them safe.

Right?

Charles was in front of him.

That was certain.

Charles was standing much too close, much closer than they were ever normally.

Charles was blocking his view of the Baby-Doll demon.

Edwin opened his mouth, to warn, to say something.

When things stopped making sense.

Charles’ lips were pressed firmly against his own, hands clenching Edwin’s dress shirt sleeves tightly.

Charles tasted like tobacco and candy floss.

[jacobsbigmelons]

after waking up from my nap, i am now only thinking of Jacob (edit. and pain. did i mention pain? yeah pain)

i’m so very sorry but after having one angsty thought now I need to make it happen (reqs i see you fear not!)

A shot not worth shooting

Jacob Custos x Male reader(?)(idk if this necessarily counts but let’s roll with it)

angst, reader character death, slight gore descriptions, reader turned werewolf, arguing, maybe ooc jacob? i legit have 0 clue how he’d act

The tourniquet Abi applied to your thigh a little while ago helped stop the profuse bleeding from your thigh, your wound, slightly exposed to everyone since your pant leg was ripped from the top definitely wasn’t the best sight to see.

“How do you feel?” Kaitlyn said as she stood in front of you, your arms wrapped around your one healthy leg as your wounded one laid to the side. “I don’t know…I feel like my senses are overloaded or something.” You slowly laid your head on your knee as to try and ignore the very apparent headache that’s made it’s way ever since your encounter with…whatever that thing was.

“Do you remember what it looked like? We couldn’t really decipher a lot from how panicked you were a bit ago…” Dylan said, tilting his head in slight curiosity incase you’re able to give any information. “God like…a human but a dog? it moves like a dog but looks like a human? I don’t know, I really don’t.” It became clear with your hands now beginning to run through your hair as a means of trying to sooth yourself that something was wrong and it wasn’t because of blood loss or anything.

An hour maybe two went by, you were able to muster the willpower to find yourself with Jacob close to the dock, the quiet lake was peaceful despite the crickets and their chirping. Your leg was surprisingly not too painful when you walked, could be that the tourniquet is numbing it or maybe your mind is at way too many places to focus on the pain. You two sat on the dock as Jacob held you his arms as a way to sooth the fear from earlier.

Your forehead laid upon Jacobs forearm as his pulse from his wrist was distinctly becoming more and more apparent to your ears, a slight ringing accompanying the random fixation. Your heart rate picked up, your fingertips became numb, your saliva glands kicked into overdrive but not before Jacobs voice brought you back to your bearings. “You okay?” He said slightly concerned while his thumb rubbed against the back of your hand.

“Sorry I…I think my adrenaline from earlier is barely fading away or something, so i’m feeling pretty tired.” You gave him a small toothless smile before resting back onto his forearm. A half hour went by before Emma, Kaitlyn and Dylan were in the building behind you two. Their voices slightly heard made you in a way feel more safe knowing your friends are with you. You should feel more comfort, even secure knowing they’re there right…? Those thought peered into your mind, you only felt safer for just a few seconds when you realized they were there so why is your heart racing so much? Why is your breathing beginning to get a lot more heavy?

“Babe you okay?” Why was your breathing becoming so much faster? your healthy leg more fidgety? The smell of iron in the air so much more apparent? Louder voices? when did they get here…why is everyone so loud…when did you get on your side? “Why the fuck are they making that sound?!” Kaitlyn said, her gun in her hand, trying to find every excuse she won’t have to use it.

The groaning- no growling coming from you was throwing everyone off track, Jacobs hand on your back wasn’t helping and everyone trying to make sense of it only added to your irritation. If they weren’t already freaked out, the sudden, very loud blood curdling scream you emitted definitely would. Your legs picked yourself up without you even trying to get up, you were practically clawing at your face while trying to figure out any way to stop this sudden overwhelming feeling.

Jacob took it as his sign to back up from you to the others, though everyone freaked when Kaitlyn backed up slightly as she aimed down sights directly at you. “Kaitlyn! what the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” Jacob snapped “You can’t just shoot him!” Dylan chimes in “Shut up! both of you!” Emma also chimed in. You were merely making whimpers at this point before you finally looked behind you at Kaitlyn, directly in her eyes as a barrel of a shotgun was pointed right at you. “Kaitlyn please for the love of god put the fucking gun down please!” Jacob pleaded, clearly not understanding the situation at hand. Dylan’s quick back-stepping elicited Emma even Kaitlyn to do the same which eventually Jacob followed too.

Your heaving breaths had this disturbing addition to it, a noise almost like reverb which made everyone on edge. Until you quickly returned to loud whining as you fell back to your knees as the clawing at your face was happening again. “R-Run, fuck you guys need to get out!” Your voice now with a disturbing echoing reverb of your voice made way. “Guys let’s just fucking go” Emma demanded, Dylan nodded along with her “What?! We can’t just fucking leave him-“ Jacobs sentence interrupted by your now booming voice “FUCKING RUN, JUST GO AND LEAVE ME ALONE.” You screamed out as Emma practically had to yank Jacob before he even got the chance to think, the others running behind them. “Why the fuck are we leaving he needs fucking help!” Jacob yelled “Did you not see him?! He’s becoming one of those things, Nick did the same shit…kinda but still the same-“

The sudden howl made it all obvious what was happening, Jacobs denial not wanting to believe what you are now, though his thoughts don’t last long before a loud growl through the trees somehow caught up with the group. “Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck what the fuck is actually happening” Kaitlyn said to herself, Jacob had a cold sweat as his mind put everything in perspective unfortunately. What he didn’t know was the silver bullet cocked into the shotgun. Their run was cut short as you leaped out at them in hopes for your first kill, though you were just barely off Kaitlyn immediately aimed right back at you again.

“Dude it’s fucking y/n, you can’t shoot you just- you can’t.” Jacob begged as his hands were trembling “So what? let him kill us? I can’t just not do anything” Kaitlyn said, her gaze on you for as long as possible, thought her one mistake was staring at Jacob for just that split second. You took the opportunity and ran disturbingly quick at the group, Emma’s screams and Dylan’s panicked screaming for Kaitlyn to shoot brought her focus right back to you.

You…the councilor that everyone felt like they could befriend? the councilor that was that perfect mix of sweet yet sarcastic? The councilor now boyfriend of a pretty yet dumbfounded guy? Kaitlyn can’t shoot, she wouldn’t do that to Jacob. Or at least that’s what Jacob thought. The sound of a shotgun filled the air, Jacobs balled up fists hiding his gaze from you, the others quiet.

The writhing of your newly transformed body tried to fight its way back to life in any way it could, the bullet hole going right through the shoulder. “Fuckfuckfuckfuck this didn’t just happen” Jacob tried to reason with himself as he finally turned just a bit as your now limp body laid on the dirt road. Your limbs twitching as the abnormalities began to slowly revert back to much more of a human look.

Kaitlyn couldn’t help but drop her gun after coming to terms with what she had just done, both of her hands now covering her face out of guilt as she muffled apologies, unable to look anyone in the face. Jacob couldn’t bear what he was feeling as he once again looked away before staring Kaitlyn down, his eyebrows creased with anger. “YOU FUCKING SHOT HIM?!” Jacob screamed taking a step towards her “WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU WANT ME TO DO?! LET HIM JUST KILL US? DID YOU?” Kaitlyn retaliated, moving her hands from her face.

Both had red puffy eyes, their voices cracking from fighting with one another. Emma’s lament pulled the two away from one another as she was now next to your body, now back to its human form. Blood pooling beneath your corpse as Emma couldn’t help but weep for what happened. Dylan merely sat, hands around his head trying to contemplate the last few minutes. “This night has to be some fucking nightmare” she cried as her accusation was proven false by just how real your body felt, the blood that covered her hands as she felt your lifeless body.

At this point the two were done fighting, now slowly making way to where you were. It didn’t take long before the four councilors sat next to you, as dangerous as it was with whatever these things roaming the forest were, they couldn’t leave. Let alone Jacob.

His hat somewhere along the dirt, his hand holding yours, begging to feel some kind of sign you’re still alive. Though your lifeless, bloodied eyes only stared at Jacob with lost hope as you breathed your last breath awhile ago.

[league-of-starlight]

Lux Voice Update concept:

First Move:

“The future can be bright, so long as we let hope live.”

“Come on, we’ve got a job to do.”

“In the name of magic, I shall punish the wicked!”

Long move:

“The people of Terbisia need me. Until I’m certain we can live without fear, I can’t return to Demacia with clear conscience.”

“The world might have darkness, but there’s still a lot of light if we go looking.”

First encounter:

“Have we met?”

“It’s not too late to leave.”

“I’d rather not blast you, so you can go.”

Joke response:

*Snort of laughter* “Okay, okay, that got me.”

Taunt response:

“I’ve been more afraid of my aunt than you.”

Killing:

(General):

“Go to the light. It can’t harm you…”

“I’m sorry, but it was the only way.”

“It had to be done…”

Recall:

“Be right back!”

“Starting to dim, got to brighten myself up!

Death:

“No…”

“Wait…”

“Sorry…”

Respawn:

(Stressed.) “If that happens to me one more time, I’m going to start blasting! Kidding, kidding…” *sigh*

“Woah! I’m… okay?”

“That was… dark.” *Nervous giggling.*

Character specific dialogue:

First encounter:

Annie: “A magic teddy bear? Now I’m getting jealous!”

Ezreal: *To herself* “Just ignore him, maybe he’ll leave.”

Fiora: *Imitating her accent* “En Guard, Miss Laurent!”

“Do you do anything besides fight?”

Galio: “Hey, sleepyhead! I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve grown up a lot since we last spoke. Three inches, to be precise.”

Garen: “…This is awkward.”

Jarvan: “You better keep an eye on those mageseekers.”

Jinx: “Have we met before? There’s something familiar.’

Katarina: “You might’ve helped me, but I’ve got my eye on you.”

Quinn: “Hi Quinn, hi Valor!”

Ryze: “If I win, could you teach me some rune spells? Please?”

Shyvana: “Has Jarvan ever ridden you into battle? What? I’m curious.”

Smoulder: “Aw, a little baby dragon!”

“I know someone who would love you!”

Sylas: “What do you want now?”

“Don’t you have enough magic?”

Mages:

“If you get tired of fighting, I know somewhere you can stay.”

Taunt:

Crystal Rose: “Oh, I remember going to royal balls. So many would-be suitors.” *shivering sound.*

Ezreal: “I’m flattered but you’re really, REALLY not my type.”

Garen: “I’m not just your kid sister anymore.”

Jinx: “I think I had a dream about you? Uh, that’s not weird to say, is it?”

Sentinel skins: “Sentinels of Light? Mind if I tryout?”

Katarina: “Have you and Garen made it past first base? Come oooon, tell me!”

Zoe: “You can have that Ezreal guy. Please, I’m begging you.”

Taunt Response:

Garen: (playfully) “Don’t be mean, Garen!”

Katarina: “Wait till I tell Garen about that!”

Nocturne: “Big talk for a shadow.”

Kill:

Ezreal: “Take a hint! Honestly…”

Garen: No, no, no, I’m sorry, I’m… *sigh*

Jinx: “…Why did you look so happy when I blasted you?”

Ryze: “Looks like I win.”

Sentinels: “Did I pass? …Oh. Hm. Too bright?”

Sylas: “The future will be bright. I just wish you could see it.”

——

Joke: “What’s a double rainbow? Ah, well… give me a minute, um…”

(Second time.)

“Well, a "double rainbow" is a phenomenon of optics that displays a spectrum of light due to the sun shining on droplets of moisture in the atmosphere. Does that explain it?”

(Third time in quick succession.)

“I’m not saying it again. Sorry.”

[joy-haver]

Have y’all encountered this “would you rather be alone in the woods with a man or a bear” thing that’s going around?

It’s pretty much all over my feed on social media

The gist is, women are pretty much all saying they’d rather be alone in the woods with a bear. Which, I think is largely a reasonable choice. People say things like “well the worst thing a bear will do is kill me, a man would probably rape and kill me”. Or “people would believe me if I was attacked by a bear”

And…I get where they are coming from. From the numbers people are posting, it seems like men are wayyy more likely to kill a woman than bears are. And I’m sure that’s still be true if we only compared examples of men in the woods and bears in the woods. And I think there is a genuine fear of men that a lot of women (and people perceived as women) have of men being violent.

But……at the same time….

I think there’s a lot of harmful things that are happening in this trend.

I think there is a misattribution of where that violence comes from, what the scale and frequency of that violence is, and, I think there’s an over emphasis on the danger of the woods as a place

The vast majority of gendered violent attacks don’t happen by strangers. And they don’t happen in strange places. Most gendered violence is interpersonal. Taking place between people who know each other. Its partners, parents, family, coworkers, community members. It arises from power dynamics, and communication issues, and domination.

And it just bothers me how much people seem to want to attribute that violence to random strangers. That they want to think it comes from some evil creep, who has some evil plot and plan, lying in wait for you. I think that misattribution gets in the way of us actually addressing these problems.

I also think it’s just a bad idea for us to frame woodlands and natural areas as these dangerous and evil and scary places. Even in the example where people are choosing the bear, the assumption is still that *things are in the woods to hurt you*. And, in reality….thats not very true.

I’ve spent my whole life in the woods. As a little kid (albeit, before transition) I would camp out in the woods all the time. It was a refuge for me. A way to escape a home life of abuse and hard labor. A place of safety. And I encountered a lot of men there. And they didn’t hurt me. They were some of the kindest, nicest, friendliest men i ever got to interact with as a kid.

And now as an adult, I see random men in the woods pretty much everyday. And I still have the same experience. Even when they are clearly bigoted, conservative, white men, sometimes with confederate flag tattoos or other symbols of bigotry. They are less cruel in the woods, not moreso. They are kinder. It’s an easier place to have a conversation. We talk and they see me as human in a way that in city streets and jobs and schools they just..wouldn’t.

But that isn’t most of the men I encounter either. Most of the men I see out in the woods are men who are trying their damndest to create a loving relationship with nature. They are kind, gentle listeners. They are often patient, and old. Or young, and recovering from something. Many are new parents, or retirees. Some are young boys wondering.

But the thing is. None of them scare me.

What does scare me, is that in all of these comment sections I see men saying “I won’t go to the woods anymore….i don’t want you to feel threatened.” And I see women saying “see, this is why I don’t go to the woods. That place is dangerous”

And I can’t help but think of how many parks have been closed down from non attendance. How many forests cleared because they had no defendants. I can’t help but think of the gay men arrested for cruising in the lovely natural locations.

And in the end, I guess I would just say this. I’d rather be alone in the woods with the bear. Not because I’m afraid of men. But because I love men in the woods, and I see them everyday. And if I saw a bear, I would have more to talk about with them