#where my horror writers at?

[evilminji]

For once! Purely BNHA! Because I CAN NOT stop Pondering It!

Quirk: Transfer.

Vague name, right? Well it would have to be. Because NO ONE would believe a Self Insert, even in a world of Quirks. They wouldn't WANT to believe. Because? The prospect would be horrifying and terrible.

It's far easier to say it's "Quirk Related Neurosis".

Because "no, no, you silly child! Your Quirk can't POSSIBLY have grabbed a random soul from another dimension, which it now holds, as the ONLY thing powering your body! You can't have died, with all the trauma and loss that entails, only to be shoved into the body of a toddler! Silly baby, such wild imagination! Maybe your Quirk 'transfers' memories, too!"

Except NO, asshole. They are the one with the metaphorical arm here. THEY are the one who would know which way it does and does not "Bend". But trying explaining a something to someone who doesn't want to hear it. Something that makes them uneasy, that is outside of their world view.

That touchs on the random, unfeeling, chaos of the Universe and how it relates to their soft and supposedly sensible lives. What do you MEAN sometimes Bad Things happen to good people? What do you MEAN sometimes, even if I do everything "right" and take every precaution, terrible calamities can occur?

That I could Die?

That my very Soul could be ripped away from it's rightful rest, too some far off land?

That can't happen! That's not FAIR. It's not RIGHT. Crimes are Illegal! You can't be telling me that sometimes people DONT uphold their duties! Abuse their power! That things are unfair and injustice can strikes, no matter HOW safe I think I am!

That's Scary!

I'd rather believe you were wrong.

That things Make Sense and there are Rules I have to follow. That I am Safe and you are just a liar. Bad things happen for a reason. Bad people are bad BECAUSE they are evil and bad. Let's not think about this any more. Let's talk about TV shows and take-out.

What a terrifying Quirk.

To be held, at the nonexistent mercy, of the Universe's randomness and decay. Reliant on the compassion and understanding of Others, to cope with what has occurred.

Because while the Universe is uncaring, your fellow man SHOULD be. Bonding together against that great and frightful void. Making sense of it all. The compassion of stardust and all that. Children born of this universe, who in turn look back and observe it. Yet? To them you are either mad... or a liar.

Do they hide it fast enough? Do they even think too, in time?

Or is their's a childhood being told "your past is nothing more that hallucinations and stolen memories" before being fed pills, for illnesses they do not have? Do they doubt? Break down and believe. After all, everyone around them is telling them their memories are false.

Not to trust their lying mind.

Children have so few rights. Madmen even fewer.

Do they lie? Smile, nod, and agree with whatever the doctors say? Do they know their mind or does this destroy them? Perhaps... they are lucky. Good doctors and better care. Long talks and learning to cope, with no one believing. After all, hallucinations don't "go away" just because you know they aren't real.

Why would their memories?

A childhood never quite forgiving the ones who locked them away. Being treated as "insane". Being alone. Not sure if you WANT to "make friends" but trying anyway. Because humans are social animals. Because you know what an alarmingly intelligent and self disciplined child, who ALSO happens to be notably asocial, looks like to people.

A life of fear and lies.

The chronic, extreme, stress, and what it must do to their health.

Does Transfer grow with them? Most Quirks do.

What a terrifying childhood. To know, one day, it could just... quit. A straining muscle that finally gives out. The Quirk that binds you into this body just... running out of strength. Letting go.

Maybe grabbing a different soul.

After all, no one ever said YOUR soul was special. And no one believes you. So no tests have ever been done. And that hold? How strong, you must wonder, IS it?

Do they drift? In and out. Does their body suffer, from stress and a soul barely bound to it? Poorly transfered, by an Infants first manifestation? Why was it a SOUL? The first thing they Transfered? Was it based on need? Or was it always meant to be this way?

Can the Transfer other things, now? Or still just themselves? Still nothing but Souls? Is it even a transfer at all?

And what happens if it stops? Or gets copied? Influenced in anyway? Do they have a moral obligation to avoid those they know could be potentially killed by them? Who could potentially kill them by accident?

And, oh! Oh the QUANDARY of children! Quirks are GENETIC. Any mutation or variation of their Quirk? Will bring about ANOTHER. Do they have that RIGHT? Too kidnap another soul? Even if it's just to no longer be alone? Too condemn them to live when they may not wish too?

Their whole bloodline would be Self Inserts. No guarantee they'd be from the same universe! But they would be Reincarnations just like you. Born into a Story. One you KNOW, by nature, can never be peaceful.

Because a peaceful world is not an interesting Shonen Story.

Just as Batman can never truely win, just as the day never truely stayed saved, so too will this world forever decend back into chaos. So a new Protagonist can rise to meet it. What RIGHT would you have, to knowingly bring an innocent person into such danger, trapped in the body of a child?

I ponder the Self Insert Quirk.

How horrifying and numbing it must be. How crippling, the terror that, this? Is merely the beginning of a Tale that will destroy them. To be inserted into story's they long ago forgot, again and again, with no way to stop it. Forever.

Damned to be set dressing in another's grand campaign, even as they slowly go insane.

What a horrifying Quirk.

The Self Insert Quirk: Transfer.

@hdgnj @hypewinter @nerdpoe @the-witchhunter @lolottes @babbling-babull

[uncleardyn]

man i love that character. you know, the deeply paranoid author who made a pact with a dark entity that ultimately ended with him stranded in another dimension separated from his loved ones for years at a time? takes place in the pacific northwest? has twin imagery associated with him and a reoccurring specific piece of symbology related to the unfortunate situation they're in? doesn't ever explain the reasoning behind his actions and instead just kinda goes "bro trust me"? yeah he also wears an outer layer of clothing with elbow pads on it, that one.

[murdleandmarot]

A quick bluebelle painting :))

[rhcenyra]

YELLOWJACKETS ⇢ 1x01 | PILOT

[ansburg]

[clownprince]

*gently places these panels in your hands* here have these curated baby joker images that i collected from streets of gotham: house of hush

[vivi-scera]

was reading a gofushi fic the other day and it was so uncanny like the undercurrent of grooming was there very clearly but the narrative refused to acknowledge it? and even if it did it was guised as something romantic or silly. remember that time i raised you and now your romantic affliction is a reflection of my own tastes? silly of us colleagues on equal footing. and then the scene would just move on as if i hadn't just read a 2 sentence horror story. as if the grooming was a mundane part of the backstory/meet-cute as relevant as idk hair color. which is kind of slay actually. schrodinger's grooming up in here

[morningstarnomore]

the horrors are incomprehensible. to YOU. they come to ME in my dreams.

[stinkbeck]

my terror of accidentally offending someone by praising them for something they dislike is ruining my fucking life

[scribe-of-stories]

Once upon a time I had a nightlight in the neighbor's lawn

I live on the second floor of an otherwise average suburban home, a rented room from a childhood friend. It's quite spacious, more like a loft than a room; and curiously it has the only round window in the house. A port-hole looking thing with six frames crossing it, colliding in the center and forming a wooden circle in the middle of the glass. It also happens to be the only window in my room facing the street.

You'd be hard-pressed to really see anything out of the window. Between the frames and the height of the wall it sits at, it really only shows the tree line and sky. That said, you can stand right in front of it and get a rather pleasant view of everything bellow. I've rather taken to giving the view a few moments of my time here and there. Usually when it rains, or when the sun is setting, or late at night.

And from my window, perfectly in frame, is a lamppost across the street. Tall, black metal, dome of glass with no framing; bright white light that really doesn't travel so far. Feels more like a light house warning everyone "hey there's grass here" rather than doing anything to properly light up the yard. It's pleasant though. Only one of its kind I've seen in the neighborhood, and the only source of light outside of a house at night.

A couple months ago I was up late at night, as per usual, and decided to brave the downstairs for a cold glass of water. Now to access my kitchen I have to cut through the dinning room; and the dinning room has large windows looking out the front of the house. I didn't notice it till I was on my way back up. It was dark outside. Strange, the lamp must be dead or something; that's a shame.

I went back upstairs, spent time on my computer, paid it no mind. But then I heard rain on my roof. "Oh, lovely, night rain is beautiful." So I go to the window to look out and enjoy the scene. And I see it: the short white light and the tall black lampost. Huh, must be on a strange timer. But obviously this all doesn't really stand up to reasoning. It's like 2 am right now, and I got my water well after midnight. I've seen the lamp on much earlier in the day.

So I go downstairs again. The front door is glass, and it's pitch black outside. Maybe a bad angle; but no! I come into the dinning room and there it is: complete darkness outside and the pitter patter of rain. I remember a sort of panic setting in. Something was wrong and I had no clue how to fix it. If there even was something to be fixed. I checked multiple times throughout the night and got the same result. Through my window I could see the lamp, but from nowhere else.

I didn't sleep that night till the sun came back. But it was still there when I woke up, and gone again when I was downstairs. There was a day or two that I thought that this was it. This was going to become my quarter inch. I was going to obsess over this till it lead me down dark paths and into the bowls of hell.

But the attic door never lead somewhere new, the only night time noises in the house were the cats, and the only scary things in the walls were the electrical wiring. I've come to the conclusion that humans, or at minimum myself, are rather capable of coping and turning anything mundane. Not to say the lamp went to the background, more so that I grew used to it. I imagined where it was when I passed it on the road, often saying hello or goodbye. I came to treasure the view from my room, something literally no one else had.

I've spent more time looking out my window the past few months, basking in the light of my own little anomaly. Which is why I was watching when someone else finally noticed the lamp. He, or maybe they or it would be more precise, walked right up to it one evening. It came out of the darkness and into the lamps' light as if apparating into existence. Long coat, rimmed hat, vaguely human looking but a human wouldn't be tall enough to reach the lightbulb without a ladder. Much less reach through glass to touch it.

It's touch took the lamp's light, and the lamp hasn't been back since. Now, I don't think it saw me watching, but I don't know. The darkness outside seems worse. Morning brings with it the sun's light which takes away my fear. I find myself incapable of sleeping till then. Once upon a time I had a nightlight in the neighbor's lawn, but now I can't shake the feeling that whatever took it is still out there.

[cool-as-steel]

review for the first half of t kingfisher's the twisted ones, precisely as I texted it at 1:30 am last night: "do not even remember the last time I got this scared by a work of fiction. I’m going to see can I sleep with the lights on. book’s great."

review for the second half: "uhhhh sure was a book I guess"

[astriiformes]

"Lures my friends with the promise of clone murder, I know what corner of the Eighth Doctor Who fandom we met in"??? Nate what the fuck happens in Eight's time? Am I missing something??????

HJMFJKL WELL

Off the top of my head there is not an example of vast swaths of clone murder specifically in any of the Eighth Doctor's books or audios, although I could be forgetting something. But there is an awful lot of extremely fucked-up sci-fi and fantasy horror throughout Eight's era, because when you go and take a show like Doctor Who off the air, people start exploring a lot of concepts that would be a little too messed-up for family television but got a pass because of the shift to different mediums (this is also why a lot of the Eighth Doctor Adventures novels read like straight-up whump fic; Eight absolutely has the worst time of any Doctor and it's due to being the Hiatus Doctor).

When I was active in the Doctor Who fandom it was amongst the niche of Eight fans that were really into how dark some of the off-air expanded universe media got, so I figured "Hey, this other piece of media has some pretty messed-up speculative fiction elements" made for a decent selling point!

[goatsandgangsters]

the good news is that I finished a book and it got me out of my reading slump where I would start things, not finish, switch to something else, not finish

the bad news is that "yes daddy" by jonathan parks-ramage is one of the worst written books I've read in a whiiiile. bland expositiony prose, flat characters, a bunch of weird plot detours. Written like a 200-page Wikipedia summary instead of an actual book

the worst news is that it has such intensely favorable gushing reviews on goodreads, and the people who hated it mostly hated it for a different reason, and so I'm left alone like oKAY BUT THE PROSE WAS SHIT, HOW DO YOU NOT SEE THIS

[foxy-the-silly-little-hooligan]

The TMA x FMA AU

Hey! For those who don’t know, I’m Jay! I’m one of Luna’s (@thevoidcannotbefilled) partners and a longtime friend~

We’ve been working on an updated version of this AU together, and thought it’d be fun to ruminate on the new ideas we’ve written together thus far.

A LOT OF SPOILERS FOR TMA, FMA 03, FMAB, AND THE FMA MANGA AHEAD!!!

To start, we’ve kept the original setting of 1914 Amestris and alchemy is still a large part of the universe and story. After all, alchemy is treated as an objective science in the world of FMA. We’ve kept many of the major plot points too!

So… what’s really changed in the AU?

The fall of Xerxes was the birth of the first philosophers’ stones, inhabiting the bodies of two men. One brought the science of alchemy to the West, the other the science of alkahestry to the East. These men were hailed as myths and prophets - the founders of modern alchemic science.

But something else came through the Gates of Truth that day.

Something big and evil and crushing and invisible to the men of this land.

But, to the two injured men that awoke on the outskirts of a dead city, they were well aware of what followed them.

They, too, learn the secrets of alchemy.

400 years pass. Amestris was founded. Alchemy became a leading science for both military and industrial uses, and the country continues to expand over the decades. The East has perfected alkahestry for medical uses.

And in Resembool, a small, rural hamlet in the southeastern region of Amestris, a small family lives alongside a lonely old man covered in scars, and a doctor and his own small family.

None are unfamiliar with loss.

Hoenheim leaves behind two young boys and his kind, forgiving wife. She shortly passes away after.

The doctor and his wife are taken by war, an uprising in the East.

The lonely old man, Jon, lost his husband centuries before, along with his sight.

As the story goes, the orphan boys, the Elric brothers, learn alchemy. They study whatever they can get their hands on. They ask the old blind man to teach them. They find a teacher in Dublith that trains their minds and bodies for their craft. They commit the ultimate sin, and try to bring their mother back from the dead.

Humans are not gods.

And such powerful science has laws to abide by.

Edward Elric, the older brother, lost his right arm and left leg, and replaces them both with limbs of iron. Alphonse Elric, the younger brother, lost his body, and now exists in the failed remnants of their transmutation.

Now, with Edward becoming a State Alchemist, a ‘dog of the military,’ a human weapon for the country of Amestris, he and his brother pursue one thing - the philosopher’s stone - to restore their old bodies.

But old gods and evil forces won’t let them get it that easily. And Fear is one hell of a powerful element.

Ok, ok, that’s out of my system. Let’s break some stuff down a bit.

We’re borrowing a few different ideas for this AU - not only the canon story from Brotherhood and the manga, but also a few bits and pieces from 03. And, of course, plenty from The Magnus Archives.

So, let’s start at the beginning with the end of TMA. The fears, along with Jon and Martin, are implied to have been sent Elsewhere. Elsewhere happened to be Amestris, or, more specifically, Xerxes, right after its fall.

With that first transmutation, the science of alchemy was irreversibly corrupted, tied to the Fears. The Fears, over time, also took new forms.

There are 7*:

Fear of The Fractured - loss of identity

Fear of Conflict - devastation and war

Fear of the Maker - what results from science going too far

Fear of Oblivion - ceasing to be

Fear of Decay - disease, starvation, poverty, etc

Fear of Confinement - being trapped or manipulated

Fear of Disconnection - losing humanity, connection, or empathy

*Obviously, in line with TMA, there’s some additional room for interpretation for each.

Each fear is tied to one of the 7 homunculi created, or taken in, by Father:

Fear of The Fractured - Envy

Fear of Conflict - Wrath

Fear of the Maker - Pride

Fear of Oblivion - Sloth

Fear of Decay - Gluttony

Fear of Confinement - Greed

Fear of Disconnection - Lust

Now, I said we’d be borrowing some aspects of 03, and the creation of homunculi is one of those things. Despite its many flaws, I think 03 had a few interesting ideas to explore, particularly the concept of homunculi being the result of human transmutation. So, while some homunculi keep their canon roots (Pride, Gluttony, and Wrath for example), others have a shift in their backstories. Lust and Greed were willing human siblings who agreed to take the stone, but Greed has decided he doesn’t wish to keep his end of the bargain with Father. Envy (and this is probably gonna piss some people off I’m so sorry) is Izumi’s lost child, found then stabilized, and now resentful of typical humans.

Sloth is Martin. Blame Luna for that one.

It should be noted that human transmutation is Still Impossible in the AU. What results is an unstable mess that needs a philosopher stone core or Fear to keep them stable, And while a philosopher's stone is a refined, perfect combination of alchemical ingredients, Fear can also be refined and crystalized (such as in 03’s version of the philosopher's stone) which can and will corrupt the user over time.

A perfect stone refines both. A perfect stone can elevate you beyond an avatar. A perfect stone can turn one into a god.

And that’s precisely what Father’s after.

Alright that’s fine and fun and dandy, but what’s this about Al’s body??? And Jon teaches them alchemy???

Ok, ok… Al’s body is indeed flesh and blood in this version, what you may call an incomplete homunculi or somewhere between human and homunculi. After all, he’s the soul that ended up in their failed attempt to bring back their mother.

The manga and Brotherhood explain how this is possible fairly well, both in The Blind Alchemist - a side story in the manga and Brotherhood anime - and in a few chapters/episodes of the story proper. In canon, Al’s soul briefly entered the body of their failed transmutation attempt before it was rejected. The referenced side story further expands by implying that a soul might still inhabit the transmuted girl (though it's left up to interpretation whether there is someone inside or if it's even the original soul), as the body was stable and presumed to be living.

Human transmutation, as is its intended use, is still impossible. But a working body can hold a soul - see Al’s armor in canon.

His body is unstable and often-times unreliable. The armor helps keep him together, and frequent transmutations help to re-stabilize him (explained further down). While he doesn’t face as many issues with his soul being rejected from his body - and it's still a risk - he does face many issues that a living body that isn’t working properly can face: sleep is unneeded but he can feel fatigue, he can’t feel pain and is much stronger than he should be, but he can still get hurt (takes a lot to risk killing him though), he needs food but it often doesn’t taste like much of anything, etc.

Instead of wondering if he’s real, Al often grapples with the question of if he’s human (or WHAT he is in general).

I mentioned frequent transmutations to keep Al in tact, but to explain that, I need to explain Jon.

Jon and Martin arrived 400 years ago, we know that much. The figure out the situation rather quickly, all things considered, and manage to settle down in what would eventually become Amestris (after, of course, some stumbling from place to place and recovery from their injuries with what help they could find).

Strangely enough, things settle down for the two of them. They grow old together, build a farm and a happy life, travel and learn new things - Jon takes a particular interest in alchemy as a new science to explore (and, possibly, he’s drawn to the Fear attached to it). They raise cows! They meet and befriend a man named Hoenheim, who seems to relate to their story and helps expand their knowledge on alchemy and its uses. Jon uses what he knows of modern medicine and his studies of alchemy and alkahestry (with Hoenheim’s help) to develop his own form of alchemy, one that expands on the ideas of medical alchemy - the same alchemy he eventually teaches to the brothers to keep Al together.

After a happy several decades, he loses Martin to old age. It's a peaceful death, one Jon saw coming long before it happened. Jon’s barely aged by comparison - though he’s no longer tied to the Eye, some effects still linger. He promises Martin he’d live as a human, and die like one, when the time was right.

But, Jon isn’t ready to let go - not of life, not of Martin. Fear still works to keep him alive.

The transmutation to bring Martin back, however, fails horribly, and Jon loses his eyesight. It's a bit ironic, isn’t it? The Avatar of the Beholding loses the ability to see the world around him.

Hoenheim’s an old friend. If anyone understands what he’s going through, it's him.

So it's not so surprising that Jon eventually settles down in the quiet village of Resembool.

Aaaaand that’s the basics really! We’re still figuring out a more specific plot and exploring different ideas because the lore we ended up with for this baby is Hefty, and this isn’t even everything we discussed or the individual relationships between the characters!

If my dear Luna wishes to expand or ruminate on ideas, they are more than welcome to add.

They helped me write this, after all! This is as much their fault as mine. lol

If you made it through this, thanks for reading! And uhhhh… wow, you’re patient, have a cookie.

[gracemwrites]

I love meeting other writers in real life! I love hearing their stories, their methods, their inspiration! However, all of them are cozy fantasy, children's books, inspiration writers and telling them about my fucked-up body horror angst filled fantasy novel is always so so awkward.

[fluffypotatey]

[BBC Merlin writers room]

Writer: Ready?

Intern, holding a pen over blank notepad: Ready.

Writer: Okay. Keep up with me now. So the episode is "The Lady of the Lake." She's gonna be Merlin's girlfriend just like the myths.

Intern, taking notes: Nice, nice. What version of her name are we using since Nimueh and Vivienne are taken?

W: Freya. We're gonna call her Freya, after the Norse goddess of love and beauty and magic and war. Her name means "The Lady" and she rides in a chariot pulled by cats. Cool, right?

I: Uh, yeah, cool, cool, nice parallel to Merlin with the goddess thing, I like it-

W: And we're gonna curse her. Weird-ass pointless curse that turns her into this giant winged panther every night and kills people for no fucking reason at all. And we're gonna name the thing she turns into after an Egyptian cat goddess of medicine and fertility and healing, because that makes total sense, right?

I: Wh- Um-

W: And then we're gonna kill her.

I: wat

W: Yeah, Arthur's gonna stab her, and she's going to die in Merlin's arms, and he's going to send her body out into the magic lake, get it? And we're never gonna mention her again except this one 30-second scene where she gets to FaceTime Merlin through a puddle, and like, these two times when her arm comes out of the Lake to take Excalibur. But that's it. Got all that down?

I: But-

W: Good! Cut, print, check the gate, moving on.

I: ............whatthefuckjusthappened?

yeah uh, bbc writers, do you accept some tweaks i have to this episode's plot? i'll hand all of it to the intern and see how they like it if that will lead to your approval!