#the horrors persist but so do i etc

[m0r1bund]

this started out as propaganda for my warhammer ripoff hahaha… It’s a reminder to the Manufactory that canaries (people with no biomechanical augmentations) work among them for a reason, and are the first to show signs of suffering when things are about to go sideways. this is one of the few spaces where someone’s vulnerability is an asset, but like most things in the Empire, it is only tolerated because it can be exploited.

then I started thinking about other institutions where someone’s suffering forecasts mass suffering. something something… a society is judged by how it treats its pariahs, scapegoats, and deviants. I don’t want to be a canary for you people, I didn’t ask for this, but it IS funny in a sad, morbid way that my suffering is tied up with the suffering of the masses. your own people will giddily burn you for fuel, not sparing a thought for the sparks at their own feet.

the song is inward and outward. we’re all in our own cages. sometimes it’s easy to recognize that someone shares a cage with you, sometimes it’s very hard. I don’t have a hopeful denouement for this like I normally do but I think the tiger poem will do

these are available as shirts and prints if you like. [women’s t-shirt] [men’s t-shirt]; [variant women’s t-shirt] [variant men’s t-shirt]; [print] [variant print]

[gloomy-prince]

guess I’m going to start make trans comics even harder now.

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

While making @multidimensional-trashcan finish (read: start) his physics presentation for two hours (in sickness and health, my darling), I did a lil doodle.

Look I'm trying to be an Artist who Knows to Art >:]

What are they? Why, the Horrors, of course.

[anatidae-alleyway]

the creeped becomes the creeper

[soupbtch]

.

[commander-diomika]

I am not currently living my best hank life but I stay silly

[ranvwoop]

i try to avoid my acc being Just vntposting . in this world. but man is it going

[cyberboomer]

from an exterior pov, I'm afraid every end and beginning of year in my life must be painful to watch. from october to march, it's just hell, always. I'm like a dying dog refusing to let out his last breath. I power through the horror in the hopes to have my yearly 6 months of happiness, my promised land of joy

[dovveri]

the candy man

synopsis: your girlfriend has convinced you to stay in and watch scary movies for halloween

warnings: its fluff but its also halloween so mentions of scary movies, murder, poisoning etc.

w/c: 2.7k

a/n: i despise halloween AND horror movies never seen one in my life aside from coraline and that took me like 6 tries to get thru the whole thing and i didnt do it until like… this year but id watch a horror movie for sana i GUESS 🙄

🕸 ⋆｡°✩ ⋆｡°

"have you heard of the candy man?"

"...no."

"in 1974 ronald clark o'bryan took his son out trick or treating and managed to slip in some sherbet into his son's candy bag. then when they got home and his son asked him if he could have some candy before bed he said sure and picked out the sherbet stick and gave it to his son. instead of sherbet though, it was cyanide and his son died not long after."

sana gives you a look from the tv to where you're bundled up under the blanket fort you've built in your shared living room.

"what?"

"do you think i'm going to poison you?" she giggles, coming to join you and shuffling around so you're sharing the blanket. she pokes your side in fun.

"no... but..."

"but?"

"sanaaaaa do we have to watch this? you know i hate scary movies!"

sana laughs, squeezing in even tighter against you, "it's halloween! show a little holiday spirit!"

"i hate halloween!"

"because of the candy man?"

you pout, "yes..."

"why would he go after you? actually why did he kill his own son?"

"he was in debt and wanted to claim life insurance on his son."

sana hums, pretending to think, "you have life insurance right babe?"

"sana!"

she laughs again, kissing your cheek even as you try and dodge it, huffing. she pokes at your cheek with a grin, "i'll protect you from all the candy men out there don't worry."

"you're a stick you won't be able to protect me from anything-"

"hey!"

"-like if ghostface came after us right now you'd probably trip and fall onto their knife yourself before you could even try to protect me."

"that's it." you feel her hands dive for your sides, tickling immediately, crawling on top of you when you scramble back to try and get away laughing, hands coming down to try and find hers to stop her, but she's persistent, yanking them away and continuing her assault on your sides.

"sana- stop- haha- stop- i can't- sana!-"

"you still think i'm helpless? can you get away from me now?"

"no that's- what are you going to- haha- tickle them to death-?"

"oh you're really pushing it aren't you-"

her hands start sliding down your sides, grabbing your legs and feet and then resuming her assault on the bottoms of your feet. you squirm, kicking trying to move away, still laughing uncontrollably, the blanket fort coming undone.

"stop- stop- yield! i give up- you can protect me- i give up!"

sana finally lets go of your feet, laughing and coming back up to kiss you. you wrinkle your nose and push her away by the shoulders, "go wash your hands you just touched my feet."

"you planning on sucking my fingers or something?"

"what?! sana!" you blush bright red while she runs away, still laughing brightly, the sound filling the little apartment you shared. you roll your eyes at her antiques, cheeks still flushed while you rearrange the fort and snacks, waiting for her to come back.

she grins, jumping on top of you as soon as she's finished, cuddling into you immediately and grabbing the remote.

"ready?" she looks up at you, eyes sparkling.

"no." you grumble, pulling the blanket up to your nose, ready to duck behind it at any moment.

she giggles, kissing your cheek and pressing play.

🕸 ⋆｡°✩ ⋆｡°

you come to realise that your girlfriend is a terrible person to watch a horror movie with.

it's bad enough that you're scared shitless at every scene, jumpscare or not, but sana was a screamer. for fun.

“is it over?”

“babe nothing’s happening!”

you refuse to peek up from behind the blanket after your latest scare. sana had jumped up from her seat from out of nowhere, nothing had been happening on screen, she had only wanted to scare you. and it worked. you had screamed and clung to her, shutting your eyes and feeling yourself nearly go into cardiac arrest.

she had laughed, letting you down gently and had even taken a picture of your teary-eyed face in glee, saving the photo and cuddling back into you as if nothing had happened.

“i don’t believe you.”

“i’m sorry you’re just too cute not to mess with. i promise i won’t do it again though. pleeeease? come out?”

you grunt, weak to her, slipping the blanket just a little lower so half an eye is squinting at her grinning face.

“yay!” she kisses your forehead, hugging your neck and squishing your cheeks together even through the blanket.

you roll your eyes, “no screaming.”

sana gapes at you, “i can’t control that!”

“control it.”

“i can’t!”

you sulk down, muttering to yourself incomprehensibly, telling yourself there was only an hour left of this, you could do this, you could avoid getting a heart attack.

“i don’t even know what’s going on right now. this movie makes no sense!”

“shh! they’re about to go into the cabin!”

“but why! why would they do that! that’s so stupid oh my god they’re all going to die-“

“shh!”

you sit back after being shushed again, staring blankly at the screen while the college students shove each other trying to get each other to go into the haunted cabin first.

creak.

your heart stops, a cold sweat building up.

“s-sana- sana-“ you poke your girlfriend, eyes flicking around the room in terror.

she shushes you again, completely focused on the tv screen.

“sana- did you hear that?” you’re whispering, tugging on her sleeve, trying to get her attention.

“hear what?” her eyes are still locked on the screen, only giving you half her attention.

okay if your girlfriend didn't hear it than maybe it wasn't anything to worry about. you were just being paranoid. this was exactly one of the reasons why you didn't want to watch horror movies on the night of halloween.

the tv crackles and then goes out.

sana blinks, looking at you in confusion before standing up to go check the tv.

the fairy lights you have strung up around the room go out as well.

you can't help the whimper you let out, cuddling further into the blanket fort.

sana checks the powerpoints as well, humming in confusion, still not completely fearful for your lives like you were.

"it's probably just a power outage in the building babe don't worry." she comes back to the couch and tries to peel the blanket away from you.

"what if it's not?" you squeak out, still speaking in whispers.

sana turns on her phone flashlight and shines it towards you, you squint up at her.

she thinks you're too cute, coming in and pinching your cheeks, "are you scaaaaaaaared?"

"yes sana! because you decided you wanted to watch a horror movie on halloween!"

sana laughs, plopping down next to you, "i can protect you."

"we already established you can't."

"uh i'm pretty sure you conceded actually."

"whatever can you just call the neighbours? see if they're having the same problem?" you curl into her side as she laughs at you, turning off her flashlight to conserve battery and opening her call logs.

you keep your attention on your surroundings while she dials the neighbours' numbers.

"-alright thanks again! yeah you too haha happy halloween! okay babe it looks like it might just be our apartment but don't worry, i'll get the electrician to come in tomorrow and we should be fine. it can even be kinda romantic if we light some candles and all!"

"romantic or ritualistic?"

"well what kinda ritual are we wanting to perform?" she wriggles her eyebrows obscenely and you can't help but giggle, poking her forehead.

"as long as you don't summon a demon."

"not even a succubus?"

"sana!"

she laughs, standing back up to go and get the candles, "do you wanna come with? or can i leave my little baby for 2 seconds and come back with the candles?"

you honestly would've preferred to go with her but after that comment you pout, slinking back into your fort, "i'll be fine." you say curtly, not bothering to look at her and making it known you weren't happy with her teasing.

she only laughs and kisses your forehead again, which you try and dodge, before walking out of the living room to grab the matches and lights.

you shiver a little when you feel a wind breeze through as soon as she leaves, drawing the blanket closer towards you.

there's another creaking sound and you freeze.

"sana?" you call out, praying it was just sana walking around the apartment.

then there's a loud crash and you're up on your feet, heart pounding, "sana!" you call out again, maybe she just fell over something. yeah it was dark, she couldn't see, she was naturally clumsy, that made sense, she probably just fell over something. but why wasn't she responding?

you're deciding between following her into the kitchen or staying put when you feel a brush of... something on the back of your calf.

you yelp, jumping up onto the couch. this was fine, it was probably just a bit of the blanket blowing in the wind.

wait. the wind? why was the window open?

you gulp, nervously looking towards the window at the end of the hallway towards your bedroom, seeing that it was in fact wide open and the night's breeze was flowing in.

"sana if this is you it's not funny!" you huff, jumping back off the couch and stomping towards the open window, slamming it shut. if there were any ghosts or whatever, not that you believed in ghosts, surely the sound would scare them off.

you march back towards the living room, still draped in the couch blanket, determined not to let anything else scare you. it was all the cheap horror film aftereffects anyway, if this had happened any other night you would've been fine. absolutely fine. except tonight was halloween... and halloween was the one night of the year that it was okay to dress up as serial killers and creepy supernatural things and no one would bat an eye if someone was drenched in real blood running from a real murder or whatever. but it was fine! you were in your apartment, with your girlfriend, and you were totally safe. it was fine. everything was fine. why was sana taking so long?!

"sana?! are you okay?"

there’s no response again so you have no choice but to check on her. the apartment wasn’t big enough that you could shout and she wouldn’t be able to hear you.

you pull yourself up, treading towards the kitchen, mindful of any noises and squinting in the dark, trying to see if you can make out your girlfriend.

“sana?” you try call out again, frowning. maybe she just went over to the neighbours to ask for candles, she certainly wasn’t in the apartment if she wasn’t responding. you decide to go back to your phone and try call her, when you hear a creaking sound again.

you freeze, adrenaline spiking, body moving before you can think, stepping towards the sound in the hallway towards the entrance to your apartment.

you can hear your own breaths, heavy, feel the sweat on the back of your neck.

“BOO!”

you scream, flinging yourself towards the door in an attempt to run away when arms wrap around your waist, pulling you back. you continue screaming and kicking against them, tunnel vision locking onto your front door and nothing else, your fight or flight mechanism going haywire.

“-n y/n it’s okay it’s me it’s me!”

your girlfriend’s voice confuses you, but gets you to come to your senses quickly, ears taking in more sound, eyes taking in more light.

“s-sana?” your voice is shaky, on the verge of tears.

“i’m here baby i’m here.”

“w-what- w-where are you speaking from?”

“um… look up.”

you pause, tilting your head up towards the ceiling, where your girlfriend is strung up like spiderman in the dark. you’re so confused. you can make out her sheepish smile when the arms around you loosen.

“um… why are you- what are you doing?”

“um… this is- uh- this was all momo’s idea!”

the person behind you gasps, “no it wasn’t!”

you spin, taking in sana’s best friend who was dressed like a burglar, the person who had jumpscared you.

“okay it was mine but i didn’t think you would get that scared!”

you gape, mouth opening and closing, dumbfounded.

“a-are you okay? i didn’t break you did i? are you mad? i’m sorry baby i’ll make it up to you!”

“no i- just- what are you doing on the ceiling?”

“uhhh… i was going to spiderman rescue you and spiderman upside down kiss you… it was meant to be romantic!”

“how did you get on the ceiling?”

“momo helped.”

you look at the other girl who shrugs, smiling awkardly.

“do you- can you get down from there?”

“yeah! watch!”

she loosens something around her hips and comes swinging down from the ceiling, almost smacking right into you before she’s pulled back.

she turns on the light with a grin, looking absurd in a harness (not the sexy kind) and elastics she must have stolen from that free trial rock climbing session she suspiciously went to on her own and refused your company for.

“can i go now?”

sana laughs, undoing herself from the contraption she’s set up in your front entrance hallway, “yeah momoring thanks for the help. pick the restaurant and it’ll be my treat next week like i promised.

momo brightens immediately, popping a candy into her mouth and waving goodbye before skipping out the apartment to steal more trick or treat candies laid out in the apartment block.

you’re still stuck on the spot, staring at your impossible girlfriend as she struggles collecting the metres of elastic on the floor.

“sana…”

she looks up at you brightly with a smile, “yes?”

“sana i’m going to kill you.”

she frowns, standing up fully, “why?”

“sana!”

“what?!”

“you know i hate halloween!”

“i wanted to make it a better holiday for you!”

“and you nearly gave me a heart attack!”

you feel the adrenaline leaving your body as you slouch, tears coming forward from all the stress and anxiety.

sana’s eyes widen, dropping the elastics in her hand and rushing forward, cupping your cheeks, “oh no baby i’m sorry i didn’t mean to please- it’s okay i’m here now nothing’s gonna get you-“

you pout, rubbing at your eyes furiously, not wanting to cry at something that was meant to be fun, “i was worried about you.”

sana wipes your cheeks with her thumbs, “i know baby i’m sorry i won’t do this again i promise, next halloween we’re gonna stay in with all the lights on and watch my little pony okay?”

you nod, feeling very much like you deserved the baby treatment right now, “promise?”

“i promise i promise.”

you bury your head in her shoulder, squeezing her against you and breathing in her comforting scent.

after a little bit of calming down, you slap her shoulder, “i still hate you. you’re gonna have to make up for trying to pull this prank. it was so not funny!”

“ow! okay okay i will! and please don’t say that. can i get an i love you now? you can’t hate me baby…”

you pout into her neck, hitting her again lightly, “only if you don’t tease me anymore for being scared.”

“i won’t!”

“and get us ice cream from that store across town.”

“…like… right now?”

“they do delivery.”

she sighs dramatically, “fine, fine, can i hear it now?”

you pull back, smiling, “i love you even if you’re a terrible girlfriend who tried to fake rescue me from my worst nightmare.”

she beams brightly at your face again, devoid of tears, kissing you sweetly and knocking her forehead gently against yours, “i love you too my big scaredy cat.”

“sana!”

“i’m sorry no more now i promise!”

[dawnbreakerluna]

very specific and miscellaneous headcanons about the l&ds men because i have nothing else to do

rafayel is the best and most reliable companion (neutral) to an artist or generally creative person. heavily anti-ai and with his success and connections, i can see him investing in something to get rid of ai-generated art just like that. it aggravates him already to see uncredited reposts of art, so what makes you think he wouldn't ride for the authentic artists of the world? if we're pushing it, i see him getting into arguments on the internet against crypto dudes and people who label themselves as "ai artists." would physically fist fight and is ready to do so. (and has..)

xavier has a strong tolerance for horror media. with his persistently calm demeanor and concerningly low heart rate, he genuinely doesn't get startled easily. if he does, the reaction itself is nimble and doesn't imply the surprise. thus, this makes it easy for him to play horror games and be damn good at it too. from the resident evil franchise to silent hill, to the indie horror games that require absolute strategy or utilization of audio tracking, he just knows what to do. (in light of the silent hill 2 remake, he would beat it within 24-30 hours and achieve the 'leave' ending on his first playthrough. takes him a week at least to achieve the rest of the endings; he would go radio silent to do this.)

zayne keeps cat food in his home and goes out of his way to buy it. he's gone as far as researching the best brands, ingredients, and how to portion based on the breeds, cat health in general, etc. the little plates and paw-shaped utensils are definitely a hefty stock along with the cans, toppings, and dressings. you genuinely would think he has a cat based on this, but... no. the man just loves cats, and he wants to make sure the strays that come around his neighborhood are well-fed. he's the pseudo-owner of these strays now, since they all flock to his home. (at one point, he was late for work because one of the strays was pregnant and gave birth to a bunch of kittens, to which he helped set up a place of rest and gave food. likely called his partner/mc to come over to look after the newborns and their mother.)

sylus buys out boxes of collectible mini figurines for his partner if they express any interest in them. if there is any slight mention of disappointment or sadness over a sonny angel or labubu sold out, sylus will find a way. it's genuinely no problem for him and he will do anything to see a smile on your face, so don't be surprised when you're suddenly gifted a whole stock of mini boxes for the collection you were trying to buy. (when you tell him about scalpers for these cute things, it makes him feel a certain type of way. but when there's a will, there's a way - and with sylus' power, scalpers should fear him.)

[foldingfittedsheets]

I used a cica soothing gel once as an alternative for lubricant. Normally, I'd use aloe vera, but I was out of that. This cica gel I was using also seemed safe since it had all those fancy labels (no parabens, colorants, alcohol, fragrance, etc.). But what’s surprising is that immediately after using it I felt my c*nt getting naturally wet. bonus is that when it dries it leaves no sticky feeling, it was a pleasant experience

until a few hours later when my genital area and inner thighs where the gel also touched started to itch 😭

it's been a week since then and the area where it itches has narrowed down to just the vulva area. I’ve used a cerave moisturizer on the external areas, so maybe that helped. i dare not put it on the vulva though, not after how randomly putting stuff down there has led me to this situation

it’s not a painful kind of itching, though. just unbearable, and also it makes me feel sensitive, like I need to constantly touch myself down there. i noticed that I'm also getting too wet down there, and it only takes me a few touches now to make it really wet

i googled stuff, and turns out cica is a phytoestrogen. idk what's that supposed to do, but I swear it feels like I’ve applied an aphrodisiac and it’s not even sexy or anything. it's just hella uncomfortable

When I first started reading this I thought “Oh my god I’m definitely not going to publish an endorsement of putting random stuff on genitals” and then I kept reading to the horror story part and that is a very good lesson in not putting stuff where it doesn’t belong. Also I tried to find reputable sources on pure aloe as lube and couldn’t so I’m on the fence there too unless it’s aloe based lube which is different and made for bodies.

But also if this persists maybe call up your gyno for some help reversing effects.

[horizon-verizon]

People who see the dragons as nukes who must die are completely misinterpreting the story. Let’s apply this analysis to the books though. Does Daenerys receive 3 deactivated nukes as a gift in her wedding day ? Does she press a nuke against her pregnant belly and the chemicals inside of it reach out to her unborn child ? Does she lay 3 nukes in her husband’s funeral pyre to honor him ? Does she lovingly hold and breastfeed 3 nukes ? Does Jon Snow wish that he had a nuke to fight off the freezing cold ? Does Arya consider nukes to be her friends ? Does young Tyrion beg his uncles for a nuke so he can be less lonely ?

Dragons aren’t single purpose objects, they’re living, thinking, breathing creatures, and Daenerys specifically views them as such, she literally thinks of them as her children. Historically, the dragons were essentially enslaved by the blood bond and the problem was that they were used by people who viewed them as weapons first and foremost. Daenerys (a character who is extremely invested in liberation by the way) being mother of dragons, specifically, as in giving them life and literally nursing them herself, is meant to show how her relationship to the dragons is unique from her ancestors. They aren’t just a bunch of flying weapons to her.

Dragons are the living embodiment of a primordial natural magical force (fire), and their extinction was caused by misogyny, human ambition, greed, and by people in the story doing exactly what the “dragons are nukes” crowd does, which is look at them as just Big Weapon (e.g. Aemond and Daeron), and said extinction is heavily implied to be the reason winters are getting harsher (“the summers have been shorter since the last dragon died, and the winters longer and crueler”, “the real enemy is the cold”).  Calling them nuclear weapons is wayyyy missing the point. It was the greater Valyrian sin of trying to control and dominate nature/magic and bend it to their whims that lead to chaos (hello The Doom and hello Valyria Fanboy Euron), which manifested in the dragon lords like the Targaryens as them controlling dragons, but “dragons are nukes” flattens the theme and misses the forest for the trees, and it’s why you get absolutely mind numbing takes like “yeah George brought back the dragons after centuries of extinction just to kill them all off again after two years in existence because Magic Bad”.

I talked about dragons, their symbolism, etc. HERE.

George at one point did compare dragons to nuclear "deterrents" when he speaks about Dany being the most powerful person in the world in 🔗a Vulture article:

When civilizations clash in your books, instead of Guns, Germs, and Steel, maybe it's more like Dragons, Magic, and Steel (and also Germs). There is magic in my universe, but it's pretty low magic compared to other fantasies. Dragons are the nuclear deterrent, and only Dany has them, which in some ways makes her the most powerful person in the world. But is that sufficient? These are the kind of issues I'm trying to explore. The United States right now has the ability to destroy the world with our nuclear arsenal, but that doesn't mean we can achieve specific geopolitical goals. Power is more subtle than that. You can have the power to destroy, but it doesn't give you the power to reform, or improve, or build.

and GRRM does bring it up to express that dragons are so destructive that one can't use their fire for everything, for every problem when it might spell so much disaster. I think you can use dragons more often if the situation will not spiral out of control--Dragonfire does not persist when one attempts to put it out (like with wildfyre) so its destructiveness is not in the exact same scope or horror as a radioactive nuclear missile that can leave behind radiation/devastation for years afterward...nor does it have the sort of reach these modern weapons have.

Dragonfire remains relatively within tighter confines of its targets unless you got really dry ground and don't put it out in time. The reason why dragonfire is compared to nuclear warfare is because like nuclear weapons now in the real digital-age, modern world, for the world it exists in dragonfire is the most powerful possible weapon of war.

It's about how Dany or anyone uses and regards dragons and others' own conceptions of magic and strength/danger that will make/break how they will perceive dragons. Not that dragons are innately evil; you sound like an overly superstitious and hypocritical Seven septon/over zealous Christian that way.

[raayllum]

So I always meant to do a little meta about Rayla and sleep (aka sleeps sitting up in S4, lying down but fully dressed + with her weapons in S5 — and now in PJs without weapons in s6) and it never happened (to my memory), but it did make me think about how I wanted to talk about Callum's whole thing with sleep in S6, namely how bad it is, as well as a bit about Viren and Rayla by proxy.

So in S6 we see Callum have two nightmares (the pearl sleepwalking nightmare and dark magic nightmare, shall we see) in 6x01 and 6x03. He wakes up once in 6x01 and then stays awake all night coming up with the decoy plan and sewing the anti magic blanket. He's still seemingly catching up on sleep days later in 6x03, with Rayla letting him just as she did before, and he has his second nightmare. In the Frozen Ship he struggles to sleep at first because of the cold, as he won't share the blanket, and then wakes up again naturally in the night, but won't let himself kiss Rayla. All except the cold is ultimately rooted in Callum's concerns over Aaravos and his susceptibility to Aaravos because of dark magic.

We see this sleeplessness and concern return in 6x06 as well, before it's 'resolved' (for the season). This nightmare and restlessness is something Viren experienced a bit of in S4 (namely 4x07), but we see it more consistently in S6, specifically with nightmares and fears of Aaravos using him as well, him waking up fitfully twice in 6x05:

Most of this fits with other aspects of the series. Dark magic causes you to fall into a coma-like state that persisted even once Viren 'woke up,' the comas themselves involve nightmares / tormented dreams, and Janai directly cites Aaravos' influence over them (5x03, 5x09): "Aaravos taunts me in my dreams with visions of destruction and despair" (6x02). Dark magic and sleep can both be associated with death, and are both interwoven with passing out, the actual possession, Aaravos' hold over you being a canonical fate worse than death (restful eternal sleep), hence why both Viren and Callum choose it over continued control.

The thing that I thought was interesting that was not only how frequent is Callum's lack of rest in S6, after seasons of routinely sleeping fairly well, as an overarching consequence leftover from 5x08 and everything going on... but also that his insomnia isn't exclusively because of Aaravos or dark magic guilt either, as in Viren's case, but also (more positively) because of his bond with Rayla.

Of course to begin, there's the subtext that Callum feels safe sleeping beside / around her (your partner should give you rest from the horrors of the world, etc etc, particularly with her continued opposition to Aaravos' hold on Callum that S6 is going to make direct text after seasons of subtext). But in the vein of Rayla's hold on Callum being 1) equally powerful and 2) can overlap with more circumstantial qualities (sometimes good, sometimes bad) for his.

For example, Callum is sleepless in 6x05 because he's trying to figure out the ice heart spell in order to defeat the 'behemoth':

We later learn (though myself and many others already suspected) that his fixation on it through the night was because he knew the reward for defeating the 'monster' would be quasar diamonds, and he wanted them for Rayla's family.

Then, just as 6x06 opens with Callum being sleepless, the episode also closes in a similar manner. Whereas before it was anxiety and Aaravos keeping him awake, this time it's Rayla and the promise of full reconciliation. A redo.

What does this all mean, though? Well:

Sleep (+ nightmares) are used to further link Viren and Callum in S6 with mirrored fears of being used by Aaravos

It strengthens the connection between Aaravos, dark magic, and dreams/nightmares, as well as bringing Janai into the loop

Like Callum and Rayla, Janai is also sleepless in 6x02, but is seeking Amaya's story, and lets her partner in. Callum does the same with and for Rayla throughout S6

Callum's relationship with sleep being influenced in a negative manner by Aaravos (anxiety, insomnia, nightmares, puppetting) and a positive manner by Rayla (comfort, thoughtfulness, love, mutual devotion) is another way the two elves are put in opposition to each other for Callum's fate and wellbeing without making them complete opposites

and I think that's all pretty cool

[s-aint-elmo]

*twirling my hair* do you have some good yuri manga recs?

(lying on my stomach and kicking my feet) i'm SO glad you asked!

to preface this i'll be excluding better-known yuri or yuri that's recently gotten its flowers (whether thru virality or adaptations) (e.g. in love with the villainess, love bullet, bloom into you, etc. etc.) and will instead be recc'ing works i don't often encounter in the wild. some will be more well-known than others, but all of these i've enjoyed and would encourage others to check out! under the cut because. this got. so long. i heart yuri <3

multi-chapter

the princess of sylph (ongoing; self-publishing): plot-heavy fantasy yuri between a bereaved princess with the aura of a thousand sad hamsters and a persistent nun whose silliness conceals a deep well of trauma. gushed about it plenty here. i recommend starting with the serialized version, the proceeding to the twitter version + extras. cw: blood, violence, dismemberment (nothing too graphic, more standard monster-fighting fare).

i love amy (completed): school loner strikes an unlikely friendship with the girl known (and feared) for her violent tendencies and single-minded obsession with the school prince. cute but striking and skilled art with a surprisingly nuanced handling of trauma and neurodivergence. cw: attempted child murder, animal death (non-graphic). there are also depictions of standard yandere fare (kidnapping, torture basements) but they're always presented comedically.

i see you, aizawa-san! (ongoing): girl who steadfastly pretends not to see ghosts meets one she just can't seem to ignore: a deceased classmate and former j-pop idol, who has taken to haunting their classroom. ft. art that harkens back to classic shoujo and a supernatural mystery centred on the relationship between the two leads--that one of them can't seem to remember. cw: blood, body horror.

school zone girls (on hiatus): slice of life yuri comedy ft. a massive interconnected web of girls spanning at least three schools. it juggles gut-busting comedy with genuine heartfelt moments of character growth and connection and expresses it all through a solid, dynamic art style. the sprawling cast also makes for incredible outsider pov moments that lets us really appreciate how far some characters have gotten. this genuinely motivated me to revamp how i approached ensemble casts for my ocs.

brides of iberis (completed): wedding planner unenthusiastic about her engagement falls in love with a bride she's taken as a client. bittersweet but deeply loving; and so compassionate to each and every character, even the men the female leads have relationships with. cw: infidelity.

destroy it all and love me in hell! (ongoing): model student finds her miserable, tightly controlled life unraveling after being blackmailed by the class truant into indulging her ugliest impulses. toxic yuri extravaganza eleganza between two girls desperate for escape and the catharsis of fucking! shit! up!!! also hits that sweet sweet "love triangle as a conflict of ideals" beat. cw: blackmail, coercion, bullying, violence, emotional abuse, physical abuse, verbal abuse, adult/minor relationship.

yuri is forbidden for the yuri otaku (completed): passionate himejoshi enrolls in an all-girls private school to observe class s yuri in action, but never to engage in it herself--at least, until a misunderstanding wins her the resident gyaru's heart. a surprisingly poignant exploration of being queer in a repressive society and experiencing your queerness through the safety of unobtainable fantasy.

the superstar idol crushes on me today too (ongoing): failed idol-slash-middling radio personality finds an unwanted superfan in the country's biggest superstar. explores the merit of pursuing your artistic passions in the face of repeated failure, and what makes an emotional anchor in the fraught seas of showbiz. they are also just so so funny. what if i emphatically declare you my rival in show business but you've been in love with me since you saw me in a cooking show as a child actor and you take any excuse to spend time with me and have my attention with blinding enthusiasm

normality and monsters (ongoing): outcast weirdo witnesses the class idol devour their homeroom teacher in one bite and begs to be trained in the art of appearing normal. the art is snappy and charismatic, the monster design is properly grotesque, and the friendship of convenience between the two leads teeters between overcoming the monster's nature and just being a prelude to the monster acquiring a new meatsuit. cw: blood, gore, death, body horror.

a monster wants to eat me (ongoing): suicidal girl meets carnivore mermaid who promises to eat her if she develops a desire to live. it's been a while since i read this one, but the monster designs are once again sick as fuck and the drama of being cared for by a creature that finds you tantalizing is sooo juicy. cw: suicidal ideation, blood, gore, violence, body horror.

liar satsuki can see death (completed): high schooler who can see corpses before the death occurs strives to save as many lives as possible despite being branded a liar by the entire student body. this and ryouko's other manga, a walk to death, are pretty banging declarations on the value of living ironically (or maybe aptly) wrapped in so much death. blanket cw for blood, gore and death bc i tell you every mini-arc somebody dies in a fun new way and we'd be here all day if we listed them out.

anthology:

i'm the villainess but i'm being captured by the heroine?!: an anthology featuring heroines of otome games swerving hard and sweeping the villainess off her feet. i am such a sucker for villainess yuri. mean women forever. my favourite chapters are vol. 1 ch.1 and vol. 2 chs. 1 and 4.

honourable mentions:

my idol sits the next desk over! (completed): loner idol otaku ends up deskmates with her oshi and between jealous sabotage from a rival stan and the herculean task of acting normal around your fave, lands herself in the first and closest friend group of her life. one girl does explicitly have romantic feelings for another girl, but i bumped it down here because it isn't explored to the extent it could have been. it felt like it was setting up a slow burn only to end abruptly. do not recommend if you want a love story, do recommend if you want lonely people forging deep and enduring bonds of friendship.

the one within the villainess (ongoing): the villainess of an otome game reawakens for her condemnation and sets off on a path of vengeance for the sake of the beloved transmigrator who's occupied her body for years. it's ostensibly het, but to hear the way that the villainess speaks of her transmigrator, the first person to love her wholeheartedly and wish for her happiness and so inadvertently prevent her from becoming the hollow bitter woman she originally grew into...... like. that is yuri. like what if i knew your life in its entirety and loved you for it and i found myself in the position to give you the happiness i always wished for you to have. what if we wrote fix-it fic for each other on the fabric of the universe. what if we never even had a conversation but we knew each other the best and loved each other most. and we were both girls. do you understand why i'm insane about them. cw: blood, gore, violence.

[soupbtch]

wizard spell of love be upon ye 🧙‍♂️🪄🔮✨❤️🌟💖⭐💕🌠💞🌈🫶

thank you wizard, I needed this 💖

[gateway-2000]

"the horrors persist but so do i" acrylic frog on a log necklace.

every purchase goes to help a disabled intersex trans lesbian pay for its necessities such as rent, bills, transportation, food, cleaning supplies, etc.