#time is coming

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Testament - Time Is Coming

[christinescupofcoffee]

DAY 3 — Creatures — What animals/beings/entities exist in your wip? Are they more lore or plot related? Do any have a special connection to the human/mortal characters?

Quarter After Twelve

Andy befriends a Frenchie, a Bedlington terrier, a Skye terrier, a cocker spaniel, and a Newfoundland, and he protects them all with his life.

Jeremy and Zero have Dachshunds. Spanakopita has a Rottweiler.

Tina talks about wanting a horse, and that she’s loved horses since she was a girl.

Allison befriends a Yorkshire terrier and names her Frida after Frida Kahlo.

As the Seasons Grey series

Bats, birds, and all things that fly. It’s implied that it’s Chris watching over Christine from beyond the grave.

given the motif of water throughout, there’s also a few aquatic creatures in Christine’s dreams. It’s meant to symbolize deep, often sensual emotions rather than sadness, and also letting go and starting afresh.

A kind of blink-and-you-miss-it one with Nelly: her “feathery” blonde hair and her pointed false nails at Halloween. Plus her knowing everyone in the school.

there’s this odd equine theme throughout, and I didn’t realize it until recently, either: Marlene, Valentina, Sabrina, and Colette are collectively referred to as the Sundaes, a play on the Sundays, an English Mazzy Star-ish band most known for a really pretty cover of “Wild Horses” (chapter three of Dark Roots of Earth is also titled “Wild Horses”) plus you have one of the chapters being titled “A Horse with No Name” after the America song and Alex giving Christine a broach in the shape of a horse, too (Alex and Christine also make a joke about being “hung like a horse” at one point). Taken literally, horses symbolize strength and courage. Taken figuratively, it’s a metaphor for being high, as “horse” is slang for heroin.

Throughout the Dark Months of April and May

Ziggy the labradoodle. He keeps Richard company.

the farm animals on Jeremy’s farm: there’ll be a chapter where he points out that they know more about a person than humans do.

Midnight Oil

There will be those big draft horses/Clydesdales, given we’re in Germany and Central Europe.

CATS

The Skeleton Key

In the latest chapter, Alison tells Alex that she would love to see him on the back of a palomino. She also calls him a stallion.

The Confectioner’s Tale

Not so much actual animals, but Hannah makes cookies in the shape of bats, cats, dogs, rabbits, and unicorns, and introduces a Swiss roll with a jaguar pattern on the cake part.

Time is Coming

The witches, being witches, have familiars (cats, bats, ravens…)

There’s also a blackbird that haunts the shores of Lake Ontario and it gives Chuck an uneasy feeling. Helps that it’s inspired by the blackbird of Chernobyl.

[lucybellwood]

Fucking slain in my tracks by this postcard on my friend’s dresser

[daftpatience]

slow down for your disabled friends. thats like a bare minimum kindness that we shouldnt have to ask for. i love that youre so quirky and walking fast is a cool personality trait to you and all that but i bet you can count your physically disabled friends on less than one hand

[yeepof]

I understand that tall men are our POV characters, but surely being like a foot taller than everyone around them would have some occasional consequences

[yourmajestybee]

EVERYONE NEEDS TO LOOK AT HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON UNTRAINABLE THE STAGE PLAY RN

[cafeyote]

me and gang at the haunted house

[kochei0]

I turn to Ares.

Thanks to Tyler Miles Lockett who allowed me to draw inspiration from his ARES piece for page 2! Look at his etsy page it's SICK

⚔️ If you want to read some queer retelling of arturian legends have a look at my webtoon

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Expertise can't help you here.

[pangur-and-grim]

alright, I’m annoyed with the class that I’m taking. it’s about writing novels, and I thought it would have cool stuff about balancing your narrative and developing themes etc, but instead she spent the first class talking about how every book fits into the Hero’s Journey (the monomyth template). and I was somewhat of a contrarian, and said “can you give us examples of books that don’t fit into this template?” and she said “no. because all books fit.”

but I dunno man, I just finished reading this Korean book where the plot is just the character having a string of hookups and reflecting on them without changing in any way. I don’t know if it’s possible to contort that into the Hero’s Journey.

[inkskinned]

you said you were stuck in a time loop, which was fine. i feel like late-stage capitalism has us all in a time loop, ammiright? you came barging in at 5:33. in the morning. i hadn't even processed the idea of coffee.

but you had this look of utter panic in your eyes. terror like the ocean. you grabbed my cheeks. im in a time loop.

i don't know why in movies the first reaction is to deny it. when someone is panicking like that, it's not appropriate to ask them to calm down. it didn't matter if i believed it, what mattered was that you believed it so much that it was consuming you.

so here we are. i pour you some of the dark roast. "you look like utter and entire hell," i say.

you push your fingers into your eyes. "you always say that."

i try to think of something funny to say that i wouldn't have said on previous time loops, but jokes don't land without the proper timing (lol). "remind me to think -"

"-yeah, of a joke that only works in the future. and before you say anything, i know you're pissed i just stole your punchline." you bolt the coffee, which is wild. it's very hot. you don't seem to notice.

i blow on mine to cool it down. i both am very pissed at you and also i can't see you in this amount of panic without wanting to help. but i'm also not really sure what we are, not since i saw you kiss her like that, no offense. it just was like, kind of rude when you knew i liked you.

and besides. i'm just like, barely a person. i write omegaverse fanfiction. i love the concept of a time loop, but what the fuck am i gonna do? send an alpha in there? i open my mouth.

you point at me. "you're about to ask why me. and then say some disparaging shit about yourself. i'm just a nerd who plays dnd or something. that self-own is slightly different each time." you sigh. "i know you think you can't really help me. i don't know who can help me. i only came to you because you fucking believe me." you check your watch, sigh, and throw your head back. you cover your eyes with one hand. "i've come here on 26 separate revolutions," you say. "you have believed me every time. and yeah, i have no idea how you fit into this but i just -" you sigh again. "i just like fucking talking to someone about it."

"do you need more cof-" i start, but you're already holding the empty cup out. i frown at it. "you're not getting any more until you promise not to bolt this one like an animal."

you laugh a little and sit up, pushing your hair out of your face. "okay, that's new dialogue. but to be fair to you, i'm not usually this rude. i'm still pretty new at all of this." you check your watch again. another sigh. i guess you're cruising for a personal best in the Sigh Olympics.

i almost tell you im not an NPC but i've played enough video games to know i'm very much an NPC. i pour you another cup. "so what happens in the loop?"

"really bad explosion." you mutter into the mug. you put your elbows on the table (rude) and bury your face in your arms like an angsty teenager. one hand floats up while you talk, because evidently you literally can't talk without your hands. "i have to save the day and there's this bomb and i have no bomb training and it keeps moving, you know."

"do i die?"

you peek up from your arms. "yeah. bigtime. you keep trying to run or stay or do anything and you always super die."

"oh."

"to be fair, like, everyone dies in it though.... so you're in good company."

i hate that you make me laugh. i hate that being around you always feels tingly and strange, this electric tension between us. something that is evidently (given how you stuck your tongue down a stranger's throat literally 3 days ago) (well. 3 for me) super one-sided. i take a sip of my coffee and close my eyes.

i die today, i guess. a little spark of panic starts at the top of my hands and starts whipping up my wrists.

"shit," you say. you look at your watch and jump to your feet. "i have to go. if i can come back, i will. i am still trying to figure out when is best to do everything, you know? the order of stuff. maybe morning isn't good for us."

i look up at you and think about how you keep kissing me in the back of my car and in alleyways and in the dark. and i can never fucking get a read on you. and i also think about how incredibly panicked you look. how broken. how long have you been doing this? "i don't want to die," i say.

you glance downwards. "well, you're not really dead, you'll come back in the loop."

"but i will have died." my hands are shaking. i am trying really hard to stay calm.

you push your hands through your hair again. "i really have to go. i will have this discussion with the next version of you, though. it is like, something i am thinking about."

"but i don't get a next version," i say. i don't really have the language for this, because i haven't had 26 tries with you. i only have my memories: you, a week ago. drunk and telling me you loved me in my ear. you, kissing her anyway. you, months ago, throwing up on my birthday, whispering to me i ruin everything i touch, always, over and over. please don't ask. i can't ever fucking have that be you.

i run my finger along the rim of the mug. "i don't want to die in this one."

you seem baffled by this. "i get that but - time will reset, you'll be fine, you won't even remember we talked about this."

"but i know now." i stand up too. "i have to live the rest of this day knowing i could die. knowing i probably am going to."

"you could always die, to be fair."

i feel my hands get out of control. "earlier, you said i always say a different insult about myself. what if you're just going through different parallel universes and those are all just different - but real - versions of myself? what if you're not in a time loop, you're in a fucking universe loop?"

"if it helps, i've wondered this too. also, you're hot in all of them. if that helps."

i point at you. "no flirting. i'm trying to figure out if i die today."

"who's flirting?" you catch my wild hands and give me that long, perfect smile. like we're in this together. "i won't let ya die." you check your watch and sigh again. "well. maybe not this time."

i grit my teeth. you are so not making quips at me while i try to explain the existential dread i'm having. "does the time loop reset if i fucking kill you?"

"honestly i don't know how long it continues after i die, because i just wake up. it could be that the loop goes until the explosion for everyone, and we're all in the loop, or it could be that when i die, the loop restarts. when i die i wake up, is all."

i pull away from you and stalk into the kitchen and start doing all 3 of my dishes. "okay, first, you know i was joking. and secondly, this is exactly my point. you don't know if this is just a parallel universe. maybe in the ones where you died, the explosion happened and nobody reset and it's just you travelling." i have to stop and push the heel of my palm into my eyeball. "... how often have you died?"

i look at you. you look at me. you give me this very sad, halfway smile and a little what can ya do shrug. something in that action seems so old and weary that i want to burst into tears.

"i have to go," you say. "really. for real. there's this family of five i save from getting into a car crash. and i know it's like oh but we're all gonna die in the explosion anyway, what's the point. and..." you shrug again. "it matters to me, is all. at least i saved them for now. at least i saved anything."

you pad over to me and wrap me in a tight hug. you always seem so tall against me. i feel your cheek rest against the top of my head for a moment. for a second, it's just us, and the space is warm, and my heart is a little broken hare.

you leave me there, and i stand in my stupid badly lit kitchen with my stupid mugs. i think about you. i start texting my mom that she needs to get out of the city, but it feels pointless.

i don't know what to do. tomorrow is the same day for you. but i have to prepare to die in my today.

[christinescupofcoffee]

DAY 2 — Haunting — Is there anything that haunts your characters? (be it literal haunting/chased by the past or the concept of haunting the narrative)

Time Is Coming

The Headless Boy. The new ghost that haunts Joey’s apartment complex. Though he had said goodbye to Vera, Mr. Lang, Nerissa, and Mrs. Snow, they were immediately replaced by a boy whose head comes clean off.

Mrs. Snow also has a daughter: Tilly. And she likes to take a pair of bolt cutters to Joey’s feet if he even thinks of jerking off.

The witches out in the woods. Also, whom the Bennetts and the boys refer to as “the Jaguar.”

The fact Joey came so close to dying by drowning. You just don’t walk away from something like that and not have some repercussions.

[galaxyspeaking]

Save me lesbian jayvik save me

[hansoeii]

Jayce's Journal - A Hidden Entry