#the snake shed arc

[a-echo-of-gotham]

Waters of Youth: A shimmering sky blue liquid that swirls eternally, sitting in a small circular bottle. The muse becomes a child and loses all memories of adulthood

(do how long you want Mun Kore!!)

Tim gasps awake. His eyes blurry with tears and a ache in his chest.

He was just floating in the Eclipso. He used to be Dead. He isn't supposed to be alive.

Softly he stands up on wobbly legs. It looks like Gotham? But like a playhouse version? Weird.

He peaks under the clothes he is absolutely swimming in and gasps seeing no scales. No diamond?

He tightens the clothes and curls in the cloak as he walks around. His hand tight on his Kunai.

@humanity-forgot-me

[a-echo-of-gotham]

It flicks open. Pages glowing Black before fading into a single one

Uuuuh.

Open Sesame Ominous Journal

@a-echo-of-gotham

[dreampearls]

while i personalyl think her short hair is cuter i do like that they gave her longer hair if only to further cement her theme of rebirth But more importantly. Most importantly. she is transgender

[amuseoffyre]

While poorly, I've been rewatching Deadloch again.

I've watched the show so many times and yet every single time I notice something new. Like the prevalence of snakes and snake imagery all the way through the whole thing from the opening scene. Even the cakes Ray is putting out are snakes.

Especially in Margaret's arc - she's always pointing out other people as the enemy and the threat and using snakes as an implicit threat, when it turns out she - the colonising white lady - is actually one of the dangers.

Something about Margaret - the living incarnation of entitled white colonial power - being bitten by a tiger snake on stolen land that she killed to keep, then dying on the grave of her ancestor who colonised the area, ending her family line just... perfect poetry.

It also delights me that for all that Margaret goes on about snakes as the unseen danger, Tammy wears a hoodie with snakes all over it and Faye redecorates the exterior wall of the community centre with a beautiful mural of a tiger snake.

Also reading about tiger snakes in Tasmanian lore - the snake recognised as a protector of the land & also tied with the flow of rivers. Interesting then that the murderers in the show meet their ends a) on an island denied to its rightful people and b) in a powerfully flowing river.

Bonus aaaaaa about the symbolism of a snake shedding its skin - renewal and rebirth and the way the show ends with a new sense of community for all the people finally able to be and live as themselves in Deadloch. Especially Tammy and Miranda both adorned in ochre, something they've been denied for years because of the Carruthers family.

I love the layers and layers that the writers have built into the storytelling. The more you watch, the more you see in it. A multi-textured tapestry which makes such a fantastic complete image that at first you might overlook the little details all the way through it.

In conclusion I love Deadloch with a fiery passion and can't wait to see what shenanigans they get up to in Darwin in S2

[sgt-tombstone]

different first meeting au

after Ghost escapes Roba, he runs and he doesn’t look back. a part of him doesn’t care enough to go back and kill him; the rest of him can’t stomach the thought. it’s cowardly, he knows, but he doesn’t care about that either. after eight months of being tortured, the last thing he wants to do is go back. but he also doesn’t want to go home.

he runs to Belize. there’s a safe house there, he knows; a well-stocked one. it’s deep in the jungle, far from civilization: just what he needs. it takes him a while, but he gets there, and the safe house is paradise in earth. hot and humid, with bugs the size of small dogs, but it’s the same forest that Chiapas was in, so he’s used to it, and this… is definitely not Chiapas.

Belize, he has to admit, is beautiful. the forest is a riot of color and sound, sunlight filtering through the dense foliage to glitter off of perpetually dew-coated leaves. the forest is thick enough that he never worries about running into anyone because no one in their right mind would be out here.

and the house… it was obviously built by someone with money burning a hole in their pockets. some rich drug lord, if Ghost had to guess; probably got arrested and their property confiscated by the British government before Belize gained independence. he doesn’t think too hard about it. the house itself is massive. two stories, nestled deep in the forest, with floor-to-ceiling windows facing the sunrise. if he squints a bit, he can almost see the Caribbean sea, or maybe it’s just isolation setting in. either way, he’s never been happier. the house even more well-stocked then he’d hoped; there are several month’s worth of food and supplies piled in the pantry and closets.

he originally only intended to stay for a few days, maybe a week. long enough to catch his breath, lick his wounds, and get back on his feet. but a week comes and goes and no one has found him. no one has shown up at the door threatening dishonorable discharge for going AWOL. technically, he thinks, he’s MIA. they probably think he’s dead. strangely, he doesn’t have any particular urge to disavow them of the idea.

as one week turns into two, he starts to relax. he keeps his semi-automatic by the door and his sidearm by his bed, just in case, but access to all the food he could want, no responsibilities, and nothing but calm surrounding him urges him to let his guard down. it’s a heady feeling after so long being on guard; his whole life, really.

he finds himself lying in bed at nights, staring at the ceiling, wondering if he ever has to go back. Roba is still alive, still a danger, and he should probably do something about that. he’s the only one alive to do so. but the alternative is even more alluring. he could simply… disappear. shed his skin like a snake and start over. take the opportunity for what it is and let Simon Riley die for good.

he’s been moving for so long that stopping feels foreign, and yet. good.

would it be so bad to stay? he could let it all go, all the pain and trauma and torment. the stress and rigidity and discipline. would it be so bad to lay it all down?

it’s a pervasive thought, and he tries to convince himself that it’s not fear. he doesn’t let him think about stagnation, about endless days stretching before him. he tries to enjoy every day, one day at a time, and resolutely shuts out the looming threat, bigger than even Roba: boredom.

he’s been moving for so long that stopping feels foreign.

at the four week mark, there’s a knock on the door, and every ounce of military training comes rushing back. he has his gun in his hands before he even registers the sound. no one should be here. no one should know this place exists. it’s completely off the map, known only to SAS who have used these lands for training. which can only mean…

they’ve found him. he tries to quell the panic that the thought sends arcing through his chest as he presses himself against a wall, breath held in his throat, gun clutched tightly. he’s not hiding, he’s not. he just wants them to go away.

the knock echoes again, heavy and insistent. yet still… polite. the fact that they haven’t busted the door down is shocking, if they know who he is, if they’re here for him. if they’re not…

he slowly approaches the door, weapon at the ready, and nearly shoots the man who falls through the entryway in the head before his reflexes kick in, just in time.

he studies the man for a moment, assessing. trying to figure out what the fuck to do, because it’s not every day that your safe house gets infiltrated by a passed out soldier bleeding heavily from his head and leg. finally, Ghost drags him further into the house so he can close the door, and grabs his first aid kit.

several hours later finds the man patched up as best as possible, given the limited resources, and propped up in one of the spare bedrooms. Ghost sits on the floor next to the bed and tells himself that it’s for security and not because the man is unfairly attractive. young, maybe a little too young for his tastes, with a stupid looking mohawk and a couple of inches missing, but what he lacks in height, he makes up for in bulk. his lips are caught in a perpetual pout, jawline and cheeks accented by a light brushing of stubble, grown out a bit from being stuck in the jungle for days, if not weeks.

he’s obviously SAS, and if Ghost had kept track of time, he wouldn’t have been so shocked; the SAS always sends a new batch of fresh-faced hopefuls to Belize this time of year. this one must’ve gotten separated from his squad. it happens with every new group; at least one wanders off into the jungle and usually is never heard from again. this one got lucky.

he wakes up a few hours later, and Ghost forces himself to pretend that the man’s piercing blue eyes aren’t the most gorgeous thing he’s ever seen. the first words out of the man’s mouth are, “I need to get back,” which is odd because the first words out of Ghost’s mouth are, “I’m not going back.”

stalemate.

the man, Soap, he learns, is an enigma. he’s grumpy about his leg and the fact that he won’t be able to walk for at least two weeks, which is fair. he’s cheerful, though, in a way that Ghost can’t fully wrap his head around. he thanks Ghost profusely for saving him, which Ghost shrugs off because what was he supposed to do, let the man bleed out in his foyer?

Ghost tries not to let on that he’s former (current?) SAS, which is a doomed attempt from the start; looking the way he does and acting the way he does, he could never be anything hut military, and Soap’s not an idiot. he sees the muscle mass and the facial scarring and the close-cropped hair and clocks him in an instant. Ghost finds that he doesn’t really mind. even worse, he finds that he’s kind of missed it. the discipline, the camaraderie, the purpose.

having Soap in the house is… something. infuriating, at times, because the man could talk a wall into crumbling if he set his mind to it, but it’s mostly relaxing in a way Ghost isn’t quite ready to explore yet. Soap’s presence, his constant chatter, highlights just how lonely Ghost had been. he finds himself gravitating towards the other man as often as possible, finding excuses to be in the same room no matter what they’re doing. he learns that Soap likes explosives and baking, that he has a big family back in Scotland, that he joined the army at 16 and he’s hoping to be the youngest candidate to pass SAS selection. Ghost doesn’t like the way his smile drops whenever he says that, reminded of his injury and the fact that he’s probably not even considered a candidate anymore.

as Soap heals, something in Ghost does, too. every passing day makes the restlessness under his skin itch more, makes his fingers ache for the pressure of a trigger. nightmares of Roba’s torture shift to dreams about Roba’s death, about bloody hands and slit throats, but not his own.

still, he’s not ready to give up the tranquility yet. the itch hasn’t gotten bad enough to don his fatigues once more, and Soap doesn’t seem to be in a rush either. even after his leg heals, he seems content to lay around the house, soaking up sun and sleep like a lazy teenager. which… he’s only eighteen, so Ghost supposes it’s not wholly inaccurate. not that Ghost is any better; his mid-20s body is more than willing to take full advantage of the rest he gives it, the rest he’s never been able to have before.

one month turns to two, and still they linger. they linger around each other, too. somewhere along the line, Soap started to let his gaze wander over the shape of Ghost’s body when he thinks he’s not looking, and Ghost would feel flattered if he weren’t the only human being in two hundred square miles, at least. Soap is a hot-blooded soldier stuck in the middle of the jungle; of course he’s making eyes at the only thing with a pulse in sight. but Ghost can’t deny his own growing attraction to the other soldier, built day by day, shitty joke by shitty joke. it’s their favorite pastime, even if they both profess to hate each other’s jokes, and one day, Soap makes a joke so bad that Ghost can’t help but to lean over and kiss him, just to shut him up.

it’s like a dam opening, and every surface in the house gets christened. every ounce of pent-up frustration and desire gets poured out in between them, soaked up into bare skin and open mouths. but even this is, ultimately, relaxing. there’s no rush, no sense of urgency, and something about it makes Ghost’s skin prickle. he can tell it’s getting to Soap, too.

three months after Soap’s arrival, Ghost tells him about Roba, tells him about his torture and his escape, tells him that Roba is still out there somewhere. tells him that you get six months of MIA before they consider you dead. it’s too late for Ghost, but it’s not too late for Soap. he could still go back.

together, they make the decision.

together, they set out, leaving the house behind. it feels weird, being in fatigues again, holding his weapon again, marching alongside someone again.

he’s been stopped for so long that moving feels foreign, and yet. good.

together, they kill Roba. it’s not easy and it’s not painless, but they work as well together as Ghost thought they would; they meld together seamlessly, following each other’s unspoken commands as if they were in each other’s heads, and the sparks of satisfaction that race along Ghost’s spine are only partially due to Roba’s rotting corpse that they leave behind.

when Ghost picks up the skull from the floor, the same one that Roba had used to torture him all those months ago, and carefully carves the front off, Soap doesn’t question it. and when Ghost pulls a black balaclava out of his pack and carefully affixes the skull plate to it, Soap stands by patiently, watching without a trace of judgment. and when Ghost pulls it on for the first time, settling the hard bone over his own face, gazing out through white eye sockets, he doesn’t miss the way Soap’s own eyes darken at the sight.

with an unspoken agreement, they head back to the UK. back home. getting out of Mexico is hard, especially once the US border control gets involved, but a flash of Soap’s rank opens doors. sergeant, Ghost thinks approvingly; he’s never thought to ask before, but it suits Soap.

when they get to the UK, all hell breaks loose. Price is, to put it mildly, livid, but Ghost can see the true concern and relief tucked under his ridiculous mustache and boonie hat. it’s been a year, almost to the day, since Ghost had gone missing, and four since Soap went AWOL. their return causes a stir around base, and the upper brass push for both of them to go through selection again, but Price pushes back just as hard, and within months, they’re both reinstated and under Price’s command in the 141.

they keep their relationship secret, or as secret as they can, because neither of them is nearly as subtle as they think they are, but Price doesn’t care. they’re essentially trauma bonded; do not separate. eventually, Ghost will tell Price what they did together, what they left in their wake at Chiapas, but he doesn’t need to know for now. it’s enough that both of them seem settled, seem happy. it’s enough that they’re both alive.

every single night, as Ghost settles into his uncomfortable barrack cot, the sounds of sleeping soldiers seeping through the walls, Soap curled up in his arms, he thanks whichever higher power is listening that he didn’t stay in that safe house.

[a-echo-of-gotham]

Ooc: GAH PLS PRETEND THAT WAS ON ANON

A VERY large Pigeon hops over. Gently it places down a letter. His collar says Gerry.

"I am out to see if I can save Bart. I will be slightly unreachable as to maintain cover. Remember, I'll be ok. -Echo, Mage of Gotham.

Reading over the letter, Duke just could hope that Echo remained as safe as he could be. He thanked Gerry, keeping the letter close to himself now.

[incorrect-riordanverse]

Riordanverse Characters as quotes by people i know have said

dedicated to @lord-of-pterodactyls, i know you asked for friends in particular but i’m broadening it as even people i consider my nemeses (old ass philosophy teacher) are funny

Percy: i truly feel as if nothing will ever incapsulate my being as truly as the singing monsters water wubbox

Annabeth: *screaming from adjoining room* GET LOST APPLE MUSIC PRIVACY

Piper: *in bikini* i don’t like people with big boobs

Jason: *trying to compliment piper* your hair looks like dementia

Leo: *emerging from the stinky depths of his room after being in there for 16 hours straight and no showers with clothes from 5 days ago, red scabs all over his body and lips so dry it looks like a snake shedding its old skin by how crusty it is* guys on a scale from 1 to 10 how sexy do i look rn?

Hazel: *yeets her foot out and jiggles her toes menacingly at people she dislikes as an intimidation tactic because her toes are particularly hideous*

Frank: *after literally being targeted by a racial ‘joke’* worse than that, you white people eat spam

Grover: *pats air purifier* a good trusted friend

Nico: *drifts into hazel’s room* bro i ain’t even gonna lie, the holidays are better than the black plague *leaves room before she can question him further*

Reyna: *sleeptalking* stallion le meghan

Rachel: *pretending her coloured markers are vapes*

Thalia: *pointing at luke* my bro be the victim and the perpetrator

Tyson: *when talking about doing math* all i have are my fingers and a dream

Clarisse: *sees a sick person in bed* you’re looking pretty vulnerable *proceeds to ransack their room and steal their sheets like some gremlin*

Octavian: i am THE riddler *speaks in riddler voice and puts on devious little expression* what is... a curtain?

Will: *sees a dying person and looks pointedly at nico* and thats because they didnt take their cenovis vitamin c

Luke: i am constantly one snap away from either committing homicide or suicide

Apollo: *feeling face after new skincare routine* gosh my face feels as soft as a silicone tit

Meg: *pointing at apollo after redemption arc* YOU WON’T GO TO HEAVEN BECAUSE YOU ARE A COMMUNIST!

Magnus: *eating falafel* this is an orgasmic experience

Samirah: *substituting random words in english for arabic and not realising no one understands what she’s saying*

Alex: *laughing at the death threats she gets online after posting a meme about BTS in the military*

Blitz: *does something naughty* omg sorry im such a libra（＾ν＾）

Hearth: *walks into room* god is dead.

Carter: *walking into sadie’s room visibly upset with a box of cadbury favourites* here take them. if you don’t im going to eat them all. please, dont make me do this

Sadie: take a shit and be late to school or dont take the shit and be on time hell loop

Zia: my top artist on spotify this year will be xi jinping’s wife

Walt: *simply, appreciatively and completely without context* yeah, buddha is a pretty amazing guy

Anubis: i dislike being emo because i can only go as death note characters for halloween

Bast: *absolutely entranced by watching love island uk and is just repeating everything any person says back in a treacherous essex accent*

Bes: *walking into classroom full of young teens with an oversized ‘free james assange’ shirt* today i am a nice, trendy leftist. tomorrow, who knows?

[mr-and-mr-diaz]

Eddie's Character Arc This Season and Why I Have Issue With It:

Eddie Diaz has been going through some character arcs, and the way they're treated and the accompanying lobotomies transitions have me concerned. Here's why:

The mustache arc: We never had moments with Eddie alone with the mustache that gave us clues as an audience of his motivations for it, how it represented him hiding and denying himself joy. It means that the whole moment with the priest was, frankly a ridiculous amount of "tell" instead of "show", and it also means that when he shaved it off, instead of feeling incredible catharsis as an audience, we were like "okay then, cool for him, I suppose." That needed to be set up and executed WAY better

Additionally, making the mustache the punchline of multiple jokes instead of giving Eddie serious moments with people who love him to address it was a huge mistake and a disservice not just to him but to the other characters--the way Bobby interrupted Eddie's heart-to-heart to make a jab at the mustache? OOC for both of them, and such a slap in the face to Bobby's relationship and rapport with Eddie. In Eddie's shoes, after that, I wouldn't go to Bobby for advice again. This was so MCU-snappy-humor coded I wanted to throw up.

Can the writers please stop treating Eddie's Stoic Caretaker personality as if it's a fatal character flaw? It's who he is as a person, both for good reasons and bad, and it's one of the main things that makes him so endearing as a character. Does he take it too far and forget himself sometimes? For sure, but that doesn't mean he should shed the whole thing like old snake skin and become someone else--a more self-interested, constantly emoting, abandoning-his-friends kind of Eddie.

On a more personal note, I really hate the general idea of media making characters so self-interested, telling audiences that the way to be a better person is to stick your head up your own ass and wait for the sun to rise in there. It won't. And meanwhile it's very hard for us an audience to like the character, in the same way that in real life we don't like selfish, self-congratulatory people.

Eddie going on an arc where he finds the balance between being there for himself and being there for others? Awesome, as long as they don't keep leaning into this "funny, punch-line Eddie" that the writers have been leaning into that isn't like Eddie AT ALL. Can he be goofy? Yes, especially when he's doped up on Funny Brownies. But Eddie's brand of goofy is VERY different from what they've been trotting out lately, and while making him Mr. Funny Guy, they've also been demoting his personality from stoic and in control to this over-emotive mess. It actually reminds me of what they did to Sherlock (in BBC's Sherlock). A little character transition is great, a complete lobotomy? Like who is this man?

Anyway, thanks for listening to my Ted Talk, and I'd love your thoughts on this--what do you think?

[simplegenius042]

Music Monday

Tagging @socially-awkward-skeleton @shallow-gravy @direwombat @derelictheretic @adelaidedrubman @g0dspeeed @nightbloodbix @carlosoliveiraa @corvosattano @cloudofbutterflies92 @chazz-anova @voidika @onehornedbeast @softtidesworld @minilev @titiagls @wrathfulrook @afarcryfrommymain @aceghosts @turbo-virgins @deputyash @purplehairsecretlair @florbelles @inafieldofdaisies @josephseedismyfather @josephslittledeputy @ladyoriza @megraen @skoll-sun-eater @snake-in-the-garden @starsandskies @thewanderer-000 @strafethesesinners @strangefable @la-grosse-patate and @shellibisshe + anyone else who is interested. Here's the taglist for those who wish to be continued to tagged or not.

Songs for Far Cry The Silver Chronicles, Life, Despair & Monsters and A Radioactive Calamity Of Love, Bombs & Gore. Music below the cut.

Vega, my Fallout 76 OC, is one of the "Residents" of Vault 76. Originally a settlement planner, she is now on a quest of revenge against the other residents of Vault 76 for "wrongfully" leaving her behind in the vault. Truthfully nobody wanted to deal with her bullshit and didn't want to wait on her when they had a job they'd been waiting 25 years to do, so they left her to sleep in (because she had a bit wee too much to drink during the night of Reclamation Day), thinking she'd catch up to them later. Vega did not take it likely. She also has a particularly concerning obsession with Vault 76's Overseer, viewing the older woman as her rival (even if the Overseer views Vega as merely a minor annoyance at best and always poking holes in Vega's delusions). This song pretty much sums up Vega's POV regarding the Overseer (and her fellow Vault 76's Residents).

"Oh, wherever you go You know I will follow you You know I will run to you Oh, the sun and the moon It don't matter what you do You know I will run to you

Can't believe in all this time I'm hurting for you But you feel like hold down The love you give it lift's so high I'm dying for it I'm dying for it And I can't let you go

Hide away, hide away from me Hide away, hide away from me Hide away, hide away from me Or you'll lose, or you'll lose Hide away, hide away from me Hide away, hide away from me Hide away, hide away from me Or you'll lose, or you'll lose

If you hide away I'll hunt you down And follow you to the end of the Earth My heart beats with yours My lungs breathe with yours You're a piece of me I can't hide away

Oh, I'm under your spell I'm making and I'm fading And nobody can see I'm your heartbeat You're part of me

Can't believe in all this time I'm hurting for you But you feel like hold down The love you give it lift's so high I'm dying for it I'm dying for it And I can't let you go

Hide away, hide away from me Hide away, hide away from me Hide away, hide away from me Or you'll lose, or you'll lose Hide away, hide away from me Hide away, hide away from me Hide away, hide away from me Or you'll lose, or you'll lose."

Have a lovely ship song between Mercy Omar-Seed and Carmina Rye (the former is the daughter of Silva Omar and Faith Seed, the latter the daughter of Nick and Kim Rye). While Old Dusk (the WIP of the New Dawn arc) can be quite bleak (not as bleak as Silva's Hope though) due to the circumstances, this relationship is one of the most heartwarming highlights that I've been developing.

"Let's go below zero and hide from the sun I'll love you forever where we'll have some fun Yes, let's hit the North Pole and live happily Please don't cry no tears now, it's Christmas, baby

My snowman and me, hey My snowman and me Baby

Don't cry snowman, don't you fear the sun Who'll carry me without legs to run, honey? Without legs to run, honey? Don't cry snowman, don't you shed a tear Who'll hear my secrets if you don't have ears, baby? If you don't have ears, baby?

I want you to know that I'm never leaving Because I'm Mrs. Snow, 'til death we'll be freezing Yeah, you are my home, my home for all seasons So come on let's go."

Imagine being amongst a group of individuals who have been brutally mutilated, experimented on or in general fucked over by the same short dude who's not only from another dimension and can travel through it to other worlds, but also runs a cult-like science organization dead-set on ruining humanity's life to help them "evolve" and laugh at their despair... well, that's the crux of Life, Despair & Monsters, a group of individuals, some of whom sure weren't the greatest (but still didn't deserve what happened to them), whose lives were negatively and irreversibly impacted by that of one Sir Enigma Malvolio and his Ruins of the Midnight Rise. All because he wanted to see how humans could cope with erratically spontaneous and disastrous change to their livelihoods.

"You say I'm craving hope in this darkness You say I'm just a joke, just a joke

Shivers my spine so much Swimming in the river styx too much They try to let go of us But the truth is... Once you're in then You're one of us

Truth is... Once you're in then You're one of us One of us Truth is once you're in then You're one of us

My darling in fire My darling rolls in fire You liar You say my darling rolls in fire, in fire You say my darling burns in fire You're a liar."

[a-echo-of-gotham]

Almost instantaneously waves of overwhelming peace/fear/shove it down down down burns through like a wild fire.

Liar

Cruel

Safety

Danger

Over and Over and Over and Over and Over and Over and Over and Over and Over and Over and Over and Over and Over and Over

Who am I again

I want hal. I want Eddie and Venom. I want my people

They are safe

Over and over again

She Moves Beautifully. Is this blood?

More tea. More more more.

I am so thirsty.

Sorry

Sorry

Sorry. Lantern. Remove Yourself before the claws dig too DEEP

The Connection is bitten and blood spills from his wrist slowly.

Uh Hal. Did you forget your Telepathic Connection to Echo?- Fae Anon

I don't know if it can reach him. That entity seems to be.. way too powerful.

But i will become stronger than it, i am going to be improved. I will get better.

{{ooc. @a-echo-of-gotham pspsps, come here}}

[leahnardo-da-veggie]

The Serpent, part 2

Prequel, part 1

It is two weeks before I come across the first of the enemy. The land has slowly died around me, the trees shedding their green, the air growing stale, the ground itself turned black with necrosis. My horse I abandoned long ago, in favour of riding the serpent coiled around my bones. It carries me with implacable evil, the roiling snake marching against the rotting slaughter.

I smile at Death when I see it on the horizon, the ink of my serpent spreading across my skin like pre-blood, swinging my blade like a child's toy. The revenants do not pause their ravaging, gulping down still-living flesh like I am not there. The serpent wishes to join them, to sample the vile death of the undead. 

With frenzied delight, I cleave through their bodies. My scythe slices them open like a butcher gutting fish. The blood splatters in a rainbow arc behind my blade. Three hundred years of memory soaks into my skin with the blood, and I smile. It is not a smile I have worn often. It is the smile of the broken, of the cursed. It is the smile of the Shatterer of Worlds. 

By the gods, I had missed it.

There is still a living child amongst the ruins of the fallen village. She stares at me with frightened eyes. For a moment I yearn to have her blood mingle with the undeads', but it passes. Tenderly, I coax her towards me, hoping to bring her to safety.

I suppose children have an innate instinct to shy from cursed things, for she flees deeper into the village. The serpent in me cares not for her, having caught scent of murder ahead. I let it pull me through the night, relentlessly moving towards the Lich-Queen's castle.

How do I know where it is? I cannot say. I suppose it is the serpent's doing. 

Nonetheless, I find myself at the Lich-Queen's gates in double-quick time. Darkness hangs about it like a mantle. Even I, with all the bloodshed I have seen, am shocked. Skulls hang on its walls like the flies that buzz in the air. 

In my heyday, I had killed thousands, shredded entire villages with my blades. But this woman, this Lich-Queen, has made me look like a child beside the weight of her death. 

The serpent has found its match.

Taglist:

@coffeeangelinabox, @dorky-pals, @calliecwrites, @kaylinalexanderbooks, @shukei-jiwa

@thewingedbaron, @pluppsauthor, @cowboybrunch, @wylloblr, @possiblyeldritch @ramwritblr, @urnumber1star, @fortunatetragedy, @bigwipscholar, @ratedn

@vampirelover890, @possiblylisle, @illarian-rambling, @the-ellia-west

@finicky-felix, @evilgabe29, @glitched-dawn, @rivenantiqnerd, @dragonhoardesfandoms

@drchenquill, @everythingismadeofchaos, @owldwagitoutofyou, @dimitrakies, @beloveddawn-blog

@riveriafalll, @the-golden-comet, @rascaroni, @trippingpossum (Anyone else who wants to get added can tell me in the comments, pm me, or send me an ask about it!)

[a-echo-of-gotham]

C'mon kid. Try to connect to Hal... use eachother as something to lean on and keep sane. -🪭

Mmmm.

Mk.

Uh. U̵̧̧͈̳̖̪̭͈̜̰̜͛̔̈̉̏̈́̌͝n̷̨͎̺̮̘̺͚͓͚̔́̅͒̿͂̋̓̉̐͜c̶͗̑̃͊̃̚͘ͅļ̷̧̨̹̘͖̻̝͔̐͌͐͆̄̀͑̎̈́̆̂̓͑e̴̖̣͇̲͗̾͌̀̀̈͗͒̎̏̊̚̚͠ ̵̖͈̖̭͉̫̗̭̥͒̆H̷̢̼̲̹͖̖̙̥̥̗̬̱͈̋̈̀̇̅͗͜a̸̡̯̜̲͔͓͐̿́͊́̑͛̈̄͛̓̊́͘͝l̶̟̑̆͒̍͝͝?̴̘̙̃̒̍̎

(Uncle Hal?)

Ẅ̶̨̛̦̟̙̤̺̙͔͙͈̻̥́̉͊̅̉͒̒͆̓̔͗̕̕h̵̫͑̈́͌̒̑̾̅̂̂̒͝à̵̛̛̱̻͖̯̹̈͋̽͐̊̒̕͠͝ͅͅt̵̡̘̰̝͖̤͎̙̗̥̗̏͑̑̈̈̚ ̴̢͎͕̲͓͎̲͓̬̙͎̐͠i̵̧̧̭̮̱̼̜̍͌͜s̵̡̡̛̙͖̱͕̝̬͇̳͔͍͐̋̾̈̌̍̐̿̓̈́͘̚͜͜͜͝͠ ̶̠͕̜͓̮͈͍̝̯̥̻̬̮̼̞̂̂͂̏̌́̇̈̆̂̌͝g̶̜̿̏̆̂͐o̵̢̡͔̤̖͝į̵̧̳͇̣̫̥͇̮̭̝̘͍̞̄̈́̒̓̈́ņ̷̨͈̲̂͗̓̌̂̈͋g̸̜̲̬͉̅ ̷̯̥̦̳͖̰̳͖̻̼̩̎̾̎̿̐̑̃̇̃̿͊͜ȍ̷̧͇̳͙͙̗̗͖͕̜̣͔̔̏̏͐̎́̀͒̚͜͠ͅn̶̛̺̄͌̓͛̔̈́̓̓͘͝͠?̷̧̛͔̫̜̻̣̼̘͗̆͊͐̀̐̄̅͆̔̀̒͝ ̵̧̟̫͔̭̰̺̘̩̝͉͇̮̠̬͂̈́̑̈̊̀̈́͒͌̏͘̚T̷͍̓̔̾͗͑͝ḩ̶̨̞͖̣̭̻͚̟͓͔̺͇̯̾̉̏̾͆̀̒͋̈́̈́̇̃͘͘ͅè̶̼̺͝͝ͅ ̷̢̦͊͆̎͑̒͒̂̎̄ͅÄ̸̜̈́͛̑́̋̽̈͊̿͝ņ̴̢̨̖͊̂͒́̑̕o̴͇̜͇̫̙̖̱̫͈̺͇̹͋̈́́́͗͆̂̒͗̀͝n̵̨̖͓̹̞̖̙̘͉̎̄͆͑̓̿̈́̐͆̔̈͝s̵̢̪͚̟͕̪̻͗͒̐͂ ̶̤͇̊̓̄̀̈́͐͌â̷̯̹̪͚͖͍̜͒̅͂̆͋͂̌́͛͐̎r̸̠̰̙̂̽̈́́̓̀̐͛̍͐̈́͂̚͝e̷̻̠̫̯͚̘̠̮̿̈́̂̍͝��̗̱̩ ̶͈̯͚͛͛̈̑̈́͋̏̃̄̐͘̚̚̚͘s̵̙͎͎̞͈̩͂ç̸̢̬͎̣͒̀̽̎͂̌̎͝a̸̘̪̰̻̪̩̟̅̂̄̊͋̇͜ŗ̸̭̲̗͓̖͓̰͖̮̅̃i̴̢̧̛͙͕͇̙͓̲͓͒̑̀̑̕̚͜ͅͅn̶͖̣̦̒̔̚g̴̢̛̺̟̤̖̠̮̦̖̤̙̜͎͇̜̎̉͑̍̀͒̀̾͂̄̊̄̊̕ ̵͈͑͗̂̈͐̌̏m̵͙̖̆͂̂͆͂͌̿͑̉̌̚͝ë̴̤́̈̿̂̄̇̌͌́̕̚̕̚ ̸̝̲̘͇̘͚̥͎͚͚̺̮̎̌̚͠ͅ

(What is going on? The Anons are scaring me)

My head hurtssss

( @oceanicflyboy)

[pics-pizza-peace]

My Saw MLP AU Ship Headcanons

This post includes chainshipping, xrayshipping, and rustynailshipping headcanons/drabbles from my MLP AU(so far). I will be posting about the orhers soon as well.

@j1gsawz

Lawrence Gordon & Adam Stanheight(chainshipping):

Neither of them prefer to call each other by their first/full names after the bathroom trap(go figure), so they call each other by Stan(or Stanley) & Law.

Law idly wondering what Stan's wings smell like, before quickly shaking his head and thinking "who said that?? wtf--" while he's trying to focus on something else.

Stan thinking about the rumor he had heard when he was younger; that unicorn's horns are extra sensitive. He wouldn't know for sure, never having any real friends who happened to be unicorns.

Law recognizing & eventually accepting that he really does like Stan in a lot of ways, but also that the other might not necessarily like him Back in the same ways. They end up mostly just good friends/coworkers as Jigsaw Protégés.

Law can tell(one of his special/magic-sourced talents) when somepony else's feelings are true/false, but he would never use said 'trick' on his loved ones(Only occasionally w/patients, & only if it's a supply/demand/emergency situation. For personal reasons he doesn't feel it's right to use such a power on his family/friends, believes it's inherently selfish/wrong). He also has trouble finding out(and expressing) what his own true feelings often are, which makes this talent ironic for him in this AU.

Logan Nelson & Zep Hindle(xrayshipping):

Logan likes to study unconventional pets(not exotic, just strange choices), especially arachnids. He doesn't have the time to actually work with said animals(already has a time-consuming job), instead treats the study like a hobby/special interest. He doesn't like when other ponies freak out over a spider/snake/bug, and he's almost always the one to offer to take it outside.

Zep wants to do better(this shows in how far he's come from his personal experiences anyway, but for arc reasons he's still working through some other stuff), and be better to others. Especially fillies & foals! He never had a problem(or ultimately harmful intentions) w/young'ns, just an unhealthy infatuation w/fear which he experimented with in the past(never make it personal((unless necessary or untraceable)), one of John's basic rules when working w/him, as Logan already knows). This is apparent when they've both grown close enough for Logan to suggest Zep join him & his daughter for a tea party(or something similar) sometime. Needless to say he's overjoyed at the idea of proving(to himself, mostly) that he's changed for the better. The playdate goes swimmingly, and later they wonder what they were so worried about.

Logan enjoys meditating(or napping, especially near water) when he has the time to unwind. Zep doesn't get it at first, but it grows on him.

Zep at some point wonders aloud if the other might need his help w/anything trap-related, and Logan immediately assures him that he'd never let him get mixed up in such a job again. Even if Zep happened to feel up to the task, or really didn't mind. Logan knows that he'd help if push came to shove & there really were no other options, but he doesn't feel right putting his new friend in any potential danger.

Logan notices that Zep's wings are almost always unkempt/shedding frequently. The other eventually explains that he spends so much time locking his house up at night, that he's too tired to preen them before going to sleep. This routine doesn't help much with his sleep anyway, as he has frequent nightmares. When they've grown closer both problems are fixed rather quickly, needless to say. (Logan's not a pegasus but he knows the basics on their hygiene/care, being in the medical field and all. Zep hasn't had any pegasus friends in years. That mixed with his trauma had caused him to ignore his wings, and largely not use them at all over time)

Zep is fine with being closer friends w/Logan, until he realizes just how much he enjoys hearing his voice. He figures it's just a 'Him' thing, so he doesn't address it for a while. Logan finally notices how flustered he gets after a lengthy talk with him at some point. Zep tries to distract himself with work/study while he speaks sometimes, but eventually Logan insists on addressing it.

Scott Tibbs & Adam Stanheight(rustynailshipping):

Adam(while recovering & training under John & Amanda) hears about Scott's documentary from others, and it takes him a while to find a watchable copy. When he finally views the film, he's not too upset by it. He wonders how Scott's doing, that is, if he survived his little display of course.

Scott's still alive, he just has a big scar/dip on his right shoulder & isn't as strong a flyer aymore. He's also not as cocky/loud-mouthed as he was before the incident. Doesn't mind not being in a band anymore, and still enjoys music enough to consider trying something in a different direction. He knows that he messed up, and eventually wants to do better, he's just not so sure where to start with making real friends yet.

Adam soon decides(when he has time between errands/training) that he should pay Scott a little visit. He runs the idea by Amanda first, of course. The Protégés do value their privacy, after all...

It's autumn(first week of October) when Adam finds Scott working at a Halloween store, which makes for a great excuse to spook him a little at first.

He stays in the entrance near the counter, pretending to check the prices of silly-string & bags of synthetic webbing for a beat or two before raising his voice slightly. "Who's the 'Wuss-Puss' Now, buddy?" He laughs in his direction, checking to see if he had heard him, and notices the look on Scott's face. Like he'd seen a ghost. "Hey, uh sorry-- I'm just kidding, man... You okay?" The question makes his stomach turn. He tries a half-smile, but he already looks like he's gonna puke or scream. He's not entirely sure he should be glad to see Adam.

"I'm on break soon, we can talk then if you want... Anyway you need something?" He gestures to the masks & prop weapons on the wall behind him as he hands somepony else their change & thanks them. "Not really..." Adam mumbles before deciding to check out the costume makeup section of the store to kill some time.

A foal had just come in w/his mother, stumped on exactly which outfit he wanted this year. He hadn't thrown a fit, and he was very focused on choosing correctly for a good while. Finally the small colt had decided on a well-made dragon costume, but didn't know exactly which props would go best with the outfit.

Scott had made sure to dig around in the back for some yellow & orange streamers(for fire-breathing), and a princess pony doll(damsel in distress). His mother was very grateful, "Now you'll be ready if a Brave Knight shows up to the costume party!" she added cheerfully on their way out.

Adam watched carefully while Scott locked the register & counter, pocketing his keys and cigs. He brushed past the other dismissively. "Wanna smoke? I got a minute..." He pauses at the door for his old friend before stepping outside himself.

[plague-of-insomnia]

Thoughts on Ciel’s Brand

I’m not the only one to delve into this topic ofc. There’s a pretty detailed older post about it you can read here.

But since I recently rewatched the canon anime, I started thinking about this again.

As has already been pointed out before, the symbol closely resembles the Caduceus and the Rod of Aesculapius, one of which has two snakes and the other, one. Both have been associated with medicine and healing. There’s also a tenuous connection to devil worship (particularly Baphomet) and ofc the biblical temptation of Adam and Eve.

A staff with snakes associated with a god is said to go back all the way to the Mesopotamian times, and the god Ningishzida, who was associated with snakes and spent at least part of his time in the land of the dead.

[Pictured below, the symbols associated with Ningishzida, two twin, winged beasts on each side of a helix of two snakes entwined together.]

He was often depicted with snakes on his shoulders. Remind you of anyone?

[pictured below, an image of Ningishzida on the left, with two snakes, one perched on each shoulder, and Snake from the circus arc on the right, with snakes wrapped around his body and one each perched on his shoulder in a similar way.]

The brand design very closely resembles this God’s double helix of snakes and ofc the Caduceus, minus the wings, with two mirrored snakes entwined around a staff.

[From Left to Right: Symbols of Ningishzida, Ciel’s brand, and The (Demonic) Caduceus]:

Now even before the Aurora Society, it had already been theorized the cult might have a connection to medicine, or the medical field, and hence the design choice, but now that seems even more ominous.

But why snakes? It seems like an odd thing to associate with healing. It’s possible that the symbolism was due to

… the shedding of the skin that indicated longevity and immortality. The snake's ability to change from a lethargic stage to one of rapid activity symbolized the power to convalesce from an illness.

…Or even rise from the dead?

It gets more interesting when we look at the potential connection to Baphomet, and the famous image by Éliphas Levi, whose art was pictured in the manga.

[Below, a crop from the manga of the famous art work of a goat headed being, a pentacle on his forehead and in his lap, the dual snake helix; no wings.]

Lévi's intention was to symbolize his concept of balance, with Baphomet representing the goal of perfect social order

Maybe this is a stretch, but it reminded me a bit of the Aurora society’s little speech that Stoker gives on the Campania, and their goal of “mankind’s perfect salvation through medicine”:

[a crop from the manga with Stoker talking about all the elements of perfect health]

Additionally, Levi also talked about his image of Baphomet thusly (emphasis mine):

the image of the soul elevated above matter, as the flame, whilst being tied to matter, shines above it

Reminds us again of Undertaker and the Aurora Society, and how humans are composed of a soul and a body (with a cinematic record), and the chant of the Phoenix Society: “the perfect flame that burns within us…cannot be extinguished.”

[A crop from the manga with the visual explanation of the difference between death and life, with the ending of the cinematic record and removal of the soul.]

But things get even more intriguing when we add in something I discovered while doing research for this post. The caduceus in Greek/Roman mythology (emphasis mine):

…would wake the sleeping and send the awake to sleep. If applied to the dying, their death was gentle; if applied to the dead, they returned to life.

That sounds awfully familiar, doesn’t it??

But let’s take it a step further. We know that Undertaker is no stranger to human experimentation in his quest to disrupt death. I’ve theorized that it’s possible that Snake may have been a human experiment, much as Finny was. Both of them recognize the building the FOL Orphanage is housed in.

While it does seem to resemble the Phantomhive manor, what if the reason it feels so familiar to them is because they were both part of experiments and at one time or another lived or spent time in a building perhaps also built by Underaker (and/or his underlings)?

Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that Snake is a “snake boy” who communicates almost exclusively through his reptilian companions.

Could Undertaker be much more involved in the cult and (Our) Ciel’s life than we’ve been led to believe?

But there’s one more potential connection I’d like to discuss: duality. Both the brand on Ciel’s back and Sirius have two parts, and it’s possible the twins being a pair could be connected.

For one, the dual snakes on the brand. One of the myths about the Caduceus is that the snakes were fighting to the death and they were saved—by being separated by the staff—associating it with peace and unity. Another, that a man underwent a transformation and only several years later was he able to return to his true self. Could that be significant when we think of the twins?

We don’t know what Undertaker’s plans are just yet, or what he is doing with the children at the orphanage. Or if he’s trying to create some kind of synthetic soul. But Real Ciel is killed, Our Ciel assumes his identity and transforms, and then Real Ciel appears years later to restore what is “his.” And that’s potentially just the start of where that symbolism could overlap with the twins and Undertaker.

But who was branded? Maybe it’s not something unique to the twins (and therefore that duality isn’t as significant)? We don’t know if any other children were branded, but both twins were. This is established in ch 135:

[Crop from the manga of the twins talking about the brands and if they hurt, with an image of the healing brand on OC’s back.]

If Undertaker is somehow involved, could the brand be related to his ultimate plans for them?

It’s eerie when one looks at the potential etymology for the name Sirius: the Egyptian god Osiris—who was the god of the dead and resurrection.

And then, to circle back to Snake and his possible connection to all of this: the snake on the staff of Asclepius, sister symbol to the dual-snake Cadeceus:

The snake mentioned in the symbol is an Aesculapian snake which belongs to the family Colubridae. Its zoological name Elaphe longissima. Smooth, glossy, and slender, the snake has a uniformly brown back with a streak of darker color behind the eyes. The snake's belly is yellowish or whitish and has ridged scales that catch easily on rough surfaces (like that of a pole or staff).

And who has a snake that fits this description? Snake. In fact, one of the snakes he brought to the FOL Orphanage could be an Aesculapian. With how carefully Yana tends to set things up, this could be important.

[A crop from the manga on the left of Doll holding a snake with distinctive eye markings. On the right, a real photo of an Aesculpian snake with similar markings.]

While we still can’t say for certain the meaning of the brand or if Undertaker and the Aurora Society have any connection to the cult, or if Snake has any connection to either, it’s clear there’s a lot of potential overlapping symbolism. And Yana isn’t a lazy writer. I doubt she randomly picked the brand design, or the name Sirius, or that Snake talks to snakes and not, say, mice or birds.

I am very, very interested to see what else we may learn as Finny and Snake’s subarc unfolds. It’s very possible Snake is more important to the story than we previously imagined.

[ x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x ]

Special thanks to @apocalypticromantic666 for beta reading this and helping with the snake identification.

[dylawa]

"I heard Dad, you know." You blink, and spin around. He overheard your phone call? "What?" "In my hallucination. He was off in the distance, somewhere. I'm surprised you didn't hear him." Apparently, you're too slow to shake the horrified look from your face, because then your brother asks, "Did you hear him?" "I-- no. No, I didn't." "You just... don't like the implications of it,” he substitutes. You nod. Your brother grunts, and swings his legs over the side of the bed, clearly ready to get dressed and get a move on. "Yeah. Me neither. I didn't figure it was worth mentioning, since it took such a far backseat in comparison to the walls and the snakes. But I figured it was something you should know." The reasoning doesn't need to be said. You swallow the knot of anxiety in your throat, and mumble out a "thank you" as you wave down a passing nurse in the hall to retrieve your brother's things.

Chapter 5 of "something that does right by you" is live on AO3! In the aftermath of the seemingly random attack on your brother, fellow hero Tengu comes to shed some more light on the situation.

[grayrro]

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes movie made a lot of minor changes that imo, cumulatively, changed how some of the themes hit

I think one of the most jarring was the Capitol students, and how, placed side by side, the film portrayed Coriolanus as sympathetic, and even decent. That he is somehow “smarter”, takes action compared to a lot of the Capitol students, and even somehow shows more empathy. And he definitely isn’t in the book

First, Arachne’s death. This one is maybe a little more forgiving since Snow’s duplicitous nature is hard to translate on-screen, but still minor changes made some striking differences in characterization. When Arachne is killed in the film, Snow jumps into action, being the first to go to Arachne’s aid, and tries to keep her alive. Whereas in the book, he pretty much shakes in his boots before Lucy Gray shocks him into action, and even then, he’s nearly more concerned with his reputation on camera than Brandy’s nor Arachne’s death.

And then, Clemensia. The academic-focused Asian. In the film, she’s depicted as too greedy for success, butting her way into Coriolanus’ assignment when he gets Dr. Gaul’s attention. When she tries to take the credit for Coriolanus’ work, she “rightfully” gets what she deserves when she’s bit for lying

In the book, she’s more forgivable. She’s distraught over Arachne’s death and doesn’t think that Dr. Gaul would still be expecting the assignment, which both her and Snow were voted into, instead of her volunteering for it. She lies so that it doesn’t look like she’s “feeble”, and doesn’t even hog the credit. Still, for this lie, she gets six mutated and highly poisonous snake bites (and not just the one like in the film lol). In the book, you see her left isolated in her suffering and her body gaining snake mutations from the side effects, even with the quickly administered antidote. It’s such a disproportionate punishment for a pretty harmless action, and shows Dr. Gaul’s unjustifiable ruthlessness

Lastly—and they did her a downright disservice—is Lysistrata. In the film, she’s practically an afterthought. When Jessup’s revealed to have contracted rabies, it is Coriolanus who has to force her to action. He pleads for her to send water to scare him off and that he’s “practically dead”, and precious moments are lost to Lysistrata’s indecision as Jessup chases Lucy Gray, shouting, accusing, “what have you done to me!”

In the book, while she has relatively minor role, it’s still a significant one, especially when you foil her with other students like Arachne, Sejanus, and Coriolanus himself. She’s intelligent, and compassionate. While she’s not as vocal as Sejanus from the start, she voices her opinion against war during discussions, and openly shows her gratitude after Jessup saves her life. She quickly realizes that water is needed to scare Jessup (who in the book seems more dazed, zigzagging into Lucy Gray’s direction, but nonetheless dangerous) and sends so unprompted. She‘s more or less composed, but sheds a tear over his death, and is one of the very first to acknowledge the tributes as human beings.

When you add up all of these differences together, I wouldn’t say Coriolanus’ arc in the film falls in parallel to the books. In the film, Snow is kind of a “good egg” (especially compared to his Capitol-born classmates, who’re either power-hungry, oblivious, or meek to a fault)

In the book, he was never such an outlier. He was never more empathetic than his Capitol-born classmates. But he hung on to the worst parts of himself (the hunger for power, the ruthlessness), and that’s what made him devolve to the President Snow we know in THG